Princess Cora and the Crocodile

Princess Cora and the Crocodile

Laura Amy Schlitz
Illustrated by Brian Floca
Candlewick Press

Princess Cora is overwhelmed.  Her parents love her so much and want her to be successful, so they fill her day with the things that are most important to being an excellent princess and queen - taking baths (a queen must be tidy), studying (a queen must be intelligent) and physical activity (a queen must be strong).  Cora often tries to suggest to them that they're over doing it, but they don't listen.  One day, Cora has had enough and she writes her fairy godmother a letter, asking for help in the form of a pet.  Cora wants a dog, but her fairy godmother has other plans.  She sends Cora a crocodile, and a naughty crocodile at that.  Hilarity ensues, and eventually (after a little gnawing from a crocodile dressed like a princess) the king, the queen and the nanny all realized that Cora does need a bit of a break.
This is a great book with a kind of sad twist to it.  At first, none of the adults even notice that it's not Cora but a crocodile - they are all to wrapped up in "worrying what might be wrong with her". And every minute of every day is planned around training for Cora by the time she is seven years old.  I enjoyed the story when I first read it for it's absurdity and silliness, but as I think about it more, I can't help but see some parallels in the way we currently raise and educate our children.
Are Schlitz and Floca trying to subtly tell us something?  I recently read an article about the life lessons found in Chinese children's literature vs. children's literature in the United States, and it got me thinking about how what we read shapes our beliefs and thoughts.  I can't help but wonder who will benefit more from reading this book - children who might learn that it's OK to play and to ask adults for what we need, or adults who might need to be reminded that kids need to be kids.
In any case, the book is absolutely worth the time for readers of any age.

Dragonborn by Toby Forward

Dragonborn

by Toby Forward

Bloomsbury

2011

In my time as an elementary librarian, I've learned that dragons are awesome*.  Kids LOVE dragons.  Heck, adults love dragons.  At my local library, there are over 277 books about dragons.  And that's just at one branch of the library.  When I search all branches of the library for the entire county, we're talking thousands of books (okay, so just a thousand, but still).  So when I'm shopping for books, any books that are about dragons get put in the cart and read as soon as they come in.

I was pretty excited when Dragonborn finally came in.  It looked perfect for elementary - cool cover, not too thick, but not too thin, etc.  Turns out, looks can be decieving.  I think.  I'm not certain yet.  Lemme 'splain.

First, a summary:  Sam is a wizard apprentice to the great wizard Flaxfield.  At the beginning of the book, Flaxfield dies and Sam must oversee his "finishing".  All the wizards who completed their apprenticeship under Flaxfield begin to return, and they doubt Sam's abilities and they even begin to doubt whether or not he really was an apprentice.  Sam, who has really only ever known life with Flaxfield, fears that these adult wizards plan to send him off to the coal mines to work and decides to run away with his pet dragon Starback. His adventures lead him to a wizard college and to the mines that he is so afraid of.  All the while, an evil...person? being? someone of indeterminate species... named Ash is after Sam...I think.  It seems that Flaxfield trapped her, and her creepy unexplained companion named Bakkmann in a tower somewhere and if they can get Sam, they can get out.  There are also roffles (they seem like dwarfs, but I'm not certain) and memmonts (no idea really - maybe they're cats?) and all kinds of other magical things that inhabit Sam's world that are explained only through excerpts from Sam's apprentice notebook.  Oh yeah, and dragons.  I almost forgot the dragons.

Was that summary odd?  Well, it makes sense because the book is rather odd.  The excerpts from Sam's apprentice notebook are meant to connect things together and to give background information, but often end up confusing the reader.  I went back and re-read the excerpts often, trying to make sense of the story line through the excerpts.  But usually, that didn't help.  The chapters and sections that relate to Ash and Bakkmann are just as confusing, but end up making sense at the end of the novel, even if they don't answer all the questions they raise at the beginning.  The book is clearly written to be part of a series, I'm just not certain its written well enough to encourage readers to read the rest of the series.

However, I'm an adult, and I read books very differently than my students.  There have been books in the past that are similar to Dragonborn that I didn't enjoy and my students LOVE.  Since the book is written for young readers, I think I should reserve my judgement about the book until I can get an expert opinion or two about it.  So I'm going to book talk it this week, hope someone checks it out and then ask their opinion.  I promise I'll report back if I can.

In the meantime, I would recommend this book to any young reader interested in fantasy, mystery and dragons.  The reading level places it at a 4th grade level (at least), and I think students up to 7th grade would enjoy it.

*I couldn't help myself.  That video is so unbelievably random and weird, it's awesome.  Also, I bet that guy is single.

What We Found in the Sofa and How it Saved the World

What we Found in the Sofa and How it Saved the World
by Henry Clark
Little Brown & Company
2013

I know, you're probably starring wide-eyed at your computer in utter shock that I'm actually writing a book review.  It's shocking to me as well.  Let's see if my old brain* can remember how to compose a thoughtful, coherent book review...here goes!

cover art courtesy of Follett Titlewave.com

Three friends, River, Freak and Fiona, wait together for the bus every morning.  One day they find a sofa at their bus stop.  They can't figure out where it came from, but they're curious.  They decided to search the couch for lost change and they find a few interesting items: a double-six domino, a double headed coin, and a rare zucchini colored crayon.  They discover that the crayon is actually worth quite a bit of money and decided to auction it off online.  And thus begins their adventure, where they discover that their seemingly dying town of Cheshire and the now "dead"area of Hellsboro are actually the center of an evil genius' plot to  take over the world. Along the way they learn about each other - until now their friendship has been somewhat superficial - and themselves and how living on the edge of Hellsboro has shaped their lives and brought them to this exact moment.
The story line is creative, and Clark embeds so much learning in the book - everything from chemistry to history - and he does it seamlessly.  Young readers will learn so much from this book without knowing they're learning.  I can see students wanting to learn more about various subjects because of this book.

I truly enjoyed this book. I stumbled across it thanks to Amazon.  During my first year working in an elementary library, I realized that my library is focused on books for beginning readers (k-2) and intermediate readers (5th & 6th grade).  My poor 3rd & 4th graders have very little they can read in the library.  So this summer I concentrated on trying to find books that fit their needs.  What We Found is almost one of those books.  I'd say this book is about perfect for 4th grade or an advanced 3rd grade reader.  It covers all the difficult topics: being bullied, feeling left out, trying to fit in, and doing the right thing. And it covers all these topics with equal parts of humor and brevity.  I would recommend this book for just about any student 4th through 6th grade, and for their parents - it would be a great dinner conversation piece.

Happy Reading!
S

*Totally typed "brian" there.  Yep, my brian (brain) is officially old.

Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Cinder

By Marissa Meyer

Feiwel & Friends

New York

2012 

Oh holy lord how I have waited to read this book.  Two of my FAVORITE things are science fiction and fairy tales.  And Cinder is written by a woman who is the melding of the Brothers Grimm and Orson Scott Card*.  Since I read a review in Booklist back in the fall I’ve been DYING to read this book.  It just sounds so good! And it was.  I only have one teeny tiny little qualm with it, but I’ll get to that later.  Let’s talk about it’s awesomeness first, shall we?

Cinder is a cyborg – she’s part human, part machine, and she also happens to be an orphan.   Her adoptive father has passed away, and she now lives with her adoptive “step”mother, who never wanted her in the first place, and her two stepsisters:  Peony, who loves her dearly, and Pearl, who is repulsed by her cyborg-ness.  Cinder also happens to be an extremely talented mechanic, which comes in handy since her stepmother is more interested in making her daughters look beautiful (and possibly, hopefully, marrying them off to wonderful men who will provide for her).

Cinder’s mechanic skills are what cause her to meet Prince Kai, who, of course, is much more handsome in person.  Prince Kai has an android that recently malfunctioned and needs Cinder to fix it for him.  Cue complicated love story:  Prince Kai doesn’t know Cinder is cyborg, so she’s torn whenever he flirts with her because she’s sure he wouldn’t be interested in her if he knew she wasn’t completely human.

Another plot twist comes along when Peony catches a deadly plague-like disease called Leutmosis.  Cinder’s stepmother blames her and sells her for scientific research.  None of the cyborgs who have volunteered (or been drafted) have survived the testing as of yet, so Cinder goes to the research center, certain she will die.  Enter plot twist #2: Cinder turns out to be immune.

Plot twist #3 arrives in the form of a crazy queen of the moon (I always wanted to be queen of the moon when I was a kid…).  Queen Levana, and most of the people who live on the moon (“Lunars”) have the ability to “glamour” – or mind control anyone in their presence.  It’s possible to resist their control, but it takes lots of practice, and guts – once Levana knows she can’t control you, she has you killed.  Nice lady.  Anyway, Kai basically has to marry Levana or she’s going to wage war on earth, and earth will lose.

What I loved about the book is that it is so creative and ingenious - I truly love it when author’s take ancient tales and retell them.  I think it adds layers to our years of reading experience.  I loved that Cinder was independent, strong willed and smart.  I also loved that she had a freakin’ lie detector embedded in her eye! Talk about handy...

What I did not love was the ending.  You all know how picky I am about endings.  I do not like it when books end clearly needing a sequel.  Cinder doesn’t really have an end.  It’s almost as if Meyer’s editor said “hmm…a 600 page YA novel?  Methinks not, let’s split that bad-boy into a novel or two.”  The next book in the Lunar series will literally have to pick up exactly where Cinder left off.  As I finished all I could think was “this cannot be the last page!” but, it was.

I would still recommend Cinder to any fan of sci-fi or fairytales.  Like I said, it’s a great take on a classic tale, it’s completely middle school appropriate in both content and reading level, and it is a very fun read.  Unfortunately, the ending has turned me off to the rest of the series.

Remember? I'm picky.

*Since she’s female I couldn’t say something catchy like “she’s the love child of the Brothers Grimm and Orson Scott Card”, but that’s definitely what I think.

Mirror Mirror by Marilyn Singer

Mirror Mirror

by Marilyn Singer

Illustrated by Josée Masse

Dutton Children's Books

New York

2010

Funny story behind me reading this book. See, since last fall I’ve fallen in love with the Cybils awards (mostly because I aspire to be a judge someday...), and I’ve  slooowly been working my way through the winners.  Many of the young adult books I’d read, so I kind of skipped those and headed for the elementary books – they’re the group of books I usually don’t get around to.  So where’s the funny part?  I accidentally bookmarked the 2010 winners in the elementary category.  So I’ve slooooly worked my way through LAST YEAR’S winners.  You’d think someone as “techno-saavy” as me wouldn’t make such a mistake.  But you’d be wrong.  Either that, or I’m not as “techno-saavy” as everyone thinks.  Anyway, I’m especially thankful that I made this mistake because I’ve found some really great early reading books!  One of those books is one that I haven’t been able to get out of my head for weeks.  It’s called Mirror Mirror.  The inside cover reads:

Ther are two sides to every story, from the princess and the frog, to the beauty and the beast, to Sleeping Beauty and that charming prince.

Now in a unique collection of reversible verse, classic fairy tales are turned on their heads.  Literally. Read these clever poems from top to bottom.  Then reverse the lines and read from bottom to top to give these well-loved stories a delicious new spin.

Isn’t that a fantastic idea?  The author calls these reversible verse poems reverso.  I wasn’t sure how it would work, but once I read one, it all made sense.  Here’s what one of the poems looks like:

It may be such

a fairy-tale secret,

this much

I know:

The road leads

wherever

you need to go.

When you reverse it, it looks like this:

You need to go

wherever

the road leads –

I know

this much.

A fairy-tale secret?

It may be such.

Isn’t that fantastic!?!?  The illustrations are also fantastic – each illustration is split in half and matches each side of the reverso.

Who would I recommend this book to?  Uh, just about anyone.  And I totally understand why it won…last year.  Now I’m off to find this year’s winner!

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

Shiver

Maggie Stiefvater

Scholastic Press

2009

Two apologies to start off this review:

1.  I'm WAY behind the times in reading this book.  And for that, I'm sorry.

2.  Dear Maggie Stiefvater:  I'm sorry I read this book when I did.  I know you've written a great novel (er, trilogy), and I should have read this book years ago.  Any book that followed the high of Daughter was bound to get a meh reaction. That’s just the way things are. But I'm still a little sorry.

With Shiver Stiefvater has taken the “forbidden love” plotline and threw a big, rather hairy, wrench into it. Grace and Sam have always admired one another, but from afar.   Grace has always admired Sam from her kitchen window, and Sam admired Grace when she came into the bookstore where he worked during the summer.  So why don’t the two just talk to each other?  Because Sam isn’t a typical teenager: he’s a werewolf.  When the weather gets cold enough, he turns into a wolf and stays that way until the weather warms enough that he can turn back into a human.  In their small town of Mercy Falls, MN, there has been lots of wolf activity recently – a student was mauled and killed by the wolves.  When a hunting party shoots Sam, he is able to turn himself into a human and luckily Grace is there to save him.  Finally united in their human form, Sam and Grace make the best of the time they have together while trying to find a cure AND save the town from Jack, the oh-wait-he-didn’t-actually-die new werewolf in town.
Being a non-fan (antifan?) of the romance genre for the most part, I thought I was destined to dislike this book.  It sounded Jacob-gets-Bella-esque from the description, so I was leery.  However, the super creative twist (think Ladyhawke only sans Ferris Bueller, and for teenagers) made it completely readable to us Nicholas-Sparks-loathers.  I will say that the plot dragged a little for me, and there were times when Grace and Sam were gazing deep into one another’s eyes and I kind of hoped for a wolf to jump out and bite them, but again, I blame the timing.  I’m pretty sure if I’d read this book in the fall, or even six months from now, things would be different.  But I digress.  In general, it was a pretty good read.  I can absolutely see the teen attraction, and the last chapter or so hooked me.  I would love to say I’m going to read the rest of the trilogy: Linger and Forever, but unfortunately, I just don’t have time.  The pile of books-to-be-read grows daily, so I rarely read sequels (Laini Taylor, if you’re reading this, that sentence does NOT apply to your books.  Just sayin).
Regardless of whether or not I find out what happens to Grace, Sam, and all the other great characters from Mercy Falls, I would highly recommend (and already have, twice) this book to just about any teenage girl who loved Twilight.

The actual review for Daughter of Smoke and Bone

The Daughter of Smoke and Bone

Laini Taylor

Little Brown

2011

Ok, so yesterday’s post was kinda mean.  Well, not mean, but it wasn’t really a review as much as it was a demanding rant.

Sorry about that.

But The Daughter of Smoke and Bone is one of the best books I’ve read in a while.  Holy crap it’s good.  It’s so good that when it ended, I didn’t pick up another book for three days because I couldn’t imagine reading anything else.  And in my world, not picking up a book for three days is a big deal.  HUGE.  My guy was a little worried when I was reading magazines and…gasp…talking to him instead of ignoring him (in my defense, he likes to read as well and is rarely offended when I ignore him).

Every time I give the premise of Daughter, people look at me like I’m nuts.  It’s so involved and so intricate it can be a little confusing.  So stick with me for a minute mmkay?

17 year old Karou lives a double life in Prague.  On the one hand she’s an extremely talented art student who doesn’t have a family and is a little mysterious. On the other hand she’s an errand girl for the chimaera (mythical beings made up of different animals and human parts) who raised her.  However, because they are part animal, part human, the chimaera do not venture out into the human world.  Karou must access them through a one-way portal: she knocks on a door and it is opened to her.  If she tries to open the door from the outside, she cannot enter.  Brimstone, the head chimaera, is a Wishmonger – if you bring him things he wants, he pays in wishes.  And usually what he wants are teeth.  Karou is usually sent out to collect teeth from all kinds of people, both normal and…well…unsavory.  Upon returning from an errand, Karou notices a handprint has been seared into the door of the portal. About a week later, she is attacked by a seraph – a super hot angel dude.  Shortly thereafter, all the portals burn down and Karou is left alone in the human world.  As she tries desperately to find a way back to the only family she’s ever known, the seraph – Akiva – reappears in her life, and Karou is drawn to him for completely inexplicable reasons.

And that? Is only about a third of the actual plot.  The plot is amazing – twists and turns and creativity I never would have imagined. The world Taylor creates is mystical and fantastic and so completely believable you will get lost in it.  And not lost as in “ohmygoodness where am I”, lost as in “I have animals to feed and a job to do? Pah.  I shall read and nothing else”.

And on the last page, you will simultaneously want to hug and curse Taylor.  Hug her because she has created this amazing work of fiction that is romance, action, fantasy wrapped together with a little comedy, and curse her because the sequel Days of Blood and Starlight  (the title was just announced Friday on Taylor’s blog) isn’t due out until this fall.  Oh, the horror.  I seriously don’t know if I can wait that long.  I’ve already contacted Taylor and begged for an advanced copy.

And yes, I will be sending her a link to this review in the hopes that she finds me witty and charming and sends me an advanced copy.

If not, you can bet your knickers I WILL NOT work immediately following the release of Days of Blood and Starlight. I will be reading and neglecting the rest of my life for at least 24 hours.

I also just noticed on her blog that Universal already owns the film rights.  There are only 52 days left until Hunger Games the movie is released.  And you all know how excited I am about that right?  NO LIE: I’d trade Hunger for Daughter.  THAT’S HOW AWESOME IT IS.

So go read it. Now.

The Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

The Daughter of Smoke and Bone

Laini Taylor

Little Brown

2011

There are about a thousand ways I could/can start this review. But I feel like this one sums it up the best:

Stop what you are doing RIGHT NOW and go check out Daughter of Smoke and Bone and read it.

RIGHT. NOW.

Why, dear friend are you still reading this review?!?! Were the capital letters not urgent enough?  Did I not make myself clear?

Go.

Now.

I swear, you’ll love this book and be completely annoyed that the sequel isn’t due out for another six months.

Now go.

JUST GO ALREADY.

Sheesh.

Updated:  I felt bad about this review, so here's the for realsies review 

Zombies vs. Unicorns edited by Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier

Zombies vs. Unicorns
Edited by Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier
Margaret K. McElderry Books
2010

Obviously, with a title like Zombies vs. Unicorns I had to read it.  It did not disappoint, though it wasn’t quite what I thought it would be either.  Of course, I went off of the assumption that it would be a scholarly debate based in fact and research (ahem).  It isn’t.  It’s actually a collection of stories by various YA authors who are either “Team Unicorn” or “Team Zombie”.  The banter between editors Black and Larbalestier at the beginning of each story was the only debate throughout the book, and it’s snort-out-loud funny.

The book started because of a twitter war between Black and Larbalestier about which was better: zombies or unicorns.  Larbalestier is Team Zombie and Black is Team Unicorn.  When I first heard about the book, my I’m-too-much-of-a-wussie-to-watch-scary-movies side immediately agreed with Black that unicorns kick undead hiney.  But when I saw the authors’ that made up Team Zombie, I decided I’d have to give the walking dead a chance.  After finishing the book, the debate still has not been settled: there were excellent zombie and unicorn stories, but there were also crappy/weird stories from both teams as well.  Here’s my favs and my least favs.

Scores for Team Unicorn:

The Care and Feeding of Your Baby Killer Unicorn by Diana Peterfreund – in a world where unicorns are actually savage beasts, a girl saves a baby unicorn from certain death at the hands of a creeptastic  carnie and raises it in spite of putting herself directly in the path of danger.  And razor sharp unicorn teeth.

Princess Prettypants by Meg Cabot – I swear I didn’t like this book just because of the author.  It’s Liz’s birthday and her aunt sends her the most interesting present ever: a for realsies unicorn.  Little does she realize that unicorns aren’t actually my pretty ponies, and Liz must learn how to take care of Princess Prettypants while also trying to win back her friends, all of whom she ticked off on her birthday.

Scores for Team Zombie:

Cold Hands by Cassandra Clare – Adele and James are a young couple in love in the town Lychgate, aka Zombietown.  But when James dies in a car accident, everyone assumes they will not live happily ever after, since Luke will probably come back as a zombie.  Did I mention Luke was supposed to be the Duke of Lychgate?  Yeah, Adele is out to prove that he was murdered.  It’s an awesome story.

Bougainvillea by Carrie Ryan – the island of little Curaçao is a safe haven against zombie – mudo – infestation, and Iza’s father runs the island with an iron fist.  Iza feels stifled and isn’t sure that the way her father runs things will actually keep them safe.  Then one day a mysterious stranger appears on the dock.  Iza should report him, but for some reason she doesn’t, and…well…all hell breaks loose.

Strikeouts in general, regardless of team:

A Thousand Flowers by Margo Lanagan – princess makes it with a unicorn, gets preggers, goes downhill from there.  Way too weird for me, and I can handle weird.

Inoculata by Scott Westerfield – this kills me to say because I heart Scott Westerfield.  I was so excited to read his story and it totally left me feeling meh. In a zombie infested world, there is a group of people living in isolation beyond a fence.  One kid figures out how to get zombie-fied w/o going crazy and then all the kids want to.

This is definitely a book for anyone who likes short stories and stories that present interesting twists on old topics. Even though there were a few misses within the collection, in general, it was a very fun read, and if you find yourself bored with the stories, spend a few minutes looking at the book cover - it depicts an all out battle between zombies and unicorns and is, well, hilarious.

In the end, I’m totally team Unicorn: I’ll take rainbow farts over rotting flesh any day of the week.

Scarlet Moon and the Once Upon a Time Series

Scarlet Moon

Debbie Viguié

Simon Pulse

2004

Part of the Once Upon a Time series

Fairytales will always have a special place in my heart.  When I was a girl, I loved fairytales because of the knight in shining armor.  When I was a teenager, I loved fairytales because they made me feel nostalgic (I know, nostalgia as a teenager?  But think about it, childhood stories would be something we had shed by that age and could look back on with fond memories).  In college, I was able to see and appreciate the strength the female characters possessed in fairytales.  Now as an adult, I have loved reading fairytales to my nieces because I get to re-experience the stories through their eyes.

Last year I discovered the Once Upon a Time series, and I was hooked.  The series takes all of our favorite fairytales and retells them with historical twists.  Scarlet Moon is the retelling of Little Red Riding Hood.  Only in this story, the grandmother lives in the woods because she has been banished from the village for being a “witch”, and Ruth (Little Red Riding Hood) is first attacked by the wolf when she is young because her red cloak attracts his attention.  She survives the attack as a child because her brother stabs the wolf.  Then her brother must go off to fight in the Crusades, and Ruth spends the next nine years helping her father in his blacksmith shop.  As a young woman, she meets the mysterious nobleman William enters her life, she can’t help but fall for him – he’s the only man who not only accepts that she is a woman doing a man’s work, he is attracted to her because of it.  One problem:  William has a very dark secret.  His family was cursed generations before, and, well, he’s a werewolf.

Yep, you guessed it.  He’s the wolf that attacked Ruth so many years before.  And now she has the hots for him and he has the hots for her.  It’s twisted and awesome and I couldn’t put it down.

What I love about Scarlet Moon and all the books in the Once Upon a Time series is that the twist they put on each of the fairytales has to do with different historical periods, making them almost historical fiction.  Scarlet Moon is just as much about the Crusades and how difficult they were on families as it is about werewolves and witches.  Crimson Thread, the retelling of Rumpelstiltskin, tells the story of American immigrants at the turn of the century.  What a great way for girls to learn history!

So obviously I’m completely in love with this series.  Scarlet Moon is one of my favorites, and I’ve read about 8 of the series.  Yes the series is a bit older, but it is TOTALLY worth reading, regardless of age.  The books are written at about a 6^th grade level, so if you have young daughters, they are great books to read with them before bedtime.  If you have sons, yeah…you’re going to want to find a different series.  These books are all girl.  I would highly recommend these books to any female who has fond memories of fairytales.

Guest Post: Into the Wild by Erin Hunter

My friend Lisa's son Michael is an absolutely avid reader (I'd put money on the fact that he reads more than I do), and since he has read the Warriors series by Erin Hunter and I haven't, I thought it would be AWESOME to have him do a guest review for me!  I was so right!  What a smart kid!

Warriors: Into the Wild

Erin Hunter

HarperCollins

2003

  

In this book, a young cat, named Rusty, is introduced to the life of a wild cat. One day, he was hunting a mouse in the woods behind his house, and runs into some of the wild cats of the forest. They offer him a place in their Clan, ThunderClan. He accepts the offer, and starts training to be a warrior. Rusty has to be an apprentice before he is a warrior. Rusty’s apprentice name was Firepaw. He doesn’t settle in quickly; a lot of the cats teased him because of his kittypet (house cat) roots. He trained hard to become a warrior with his best friend, Graypaw.  In the end, after saving kits from a rival Clan (ShadowClan; there are five Clans total: ThunderClan, WindClan, RiverClan, ShadowClan, and StarClan), Firepaw and Graypaw become warriors, and their names change to Fireheart and Graystripe. Fireheart’s first moons (months) with the Clan are full of adventure, and there is more to come in Warriors: Fire and Ice. 

The only book I’ve read that is similar to Warriors: Into the Wild is A Dog’s Life by Ann M. Martin. That book is about one stray dog’s journey to try to find a nice home.  I like this book (this series) because it (they) all have a sense of adventure in them. Also, the cats have problems similar to humans* (such as joining a new school, falling in love with the wrong person or being bullied by someone that should just take care of you).  However, in this book (series), I noticed a lot of mistakes. Sometimes, the wrong names were stated or paragraphs were repeated a few pages later. On the Warriors website, the author says this: Since starting the series in 2003, there have been more than forty Warriors and Seekers books, including separate story arcs, mangas, special editions, and field guides. With all of this, you can imagine how many characters and story lines there are to keep track of! While each book is carefully checked and double-checked by the author, the editors, and others, we are only human and sometimes mistakes can slip through. We love your sharp eyes and always listen when you’ve found a mistake so we can be sure to fix it for next time!*

     I would recommend this book to anyone with a taste for cats and/or adventure in 2nd grade and up.  I think any person who likes cats or adventure will really like this book. Before I read the book, I didn’t really have a taste for cats. But now, I would love to have one as a pet.

      If you are wanting to learn more about the “ Warriors “ or the author ( Erin Hunter ), go to the Warrior Website. You can also go to the  HarperCollins Website to learn more about “ Warriors: Into the Wild “.

*As cited on the Warriors website.

THANK YOU MICHAEL!  WHAT A GREAT REVIEW!!!

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
Ransom Riggs
Quirk Publishing
2011

Holy creepy book Batman!  I've admitted to being a wuss before, but I really think this book would give just about anyone the heebie-jeebies.  Having said that, YOU REALLY NEED TO READ THIS BOOK.  Wow.  Wow wow.  It's sooooo good.  And I hate scary things.  But this book had me hook line and sinker from the get go.
So here's the basic storyline.  Jacob has grown up around his very peculiar grandfather, Abe, who always told him stories of children with special gifts - an invisible boy, a levitating girl and a boy who had bees living inside him.  When Jacob was very young he believed his grandfather's tall tales, but as he got older, he realized that there was no way the stories could be true.  When Jacob's grandfather dies mysteriously, Jacob suddenly wants to know more about Abe's odd childhood.  Finally, Jacob convinces his own father to travel with him to the small British Island where Abe grew up in search of some answers.  What he finds are more than answers and will lead him to believe all his grandfather's stories and lead him into great danger.
And that's all I'm going to tell you.
Ok, I lied.  Here's some more.  This book has it all: history, fantasy, science fiction, time travel, creepy crawlies, bullies, bad guys, good guys, bad guys disguised as good guys, oh...and some serious sheep do-do.  But what really makes the book stand out is Riggs' use of antique photographs.  First off, some of the photographs are down right creepy (demonic Santa Clause posed with two innocent children on a reindeer?  Creeptastic).  However all of the photos add to the storyline.  The story starts out with Abe showing Jacob the pictures and telling him the stories, and it comes full circle in the end.
I will admit that I started reading this book one night before bed and promptly had to put it down.  The next day I went through the entire book looking at the pictures in an attempt to un-creepify them.  Then I restricted myself to reading only when it was light outside (though the middle of the book is not so creepy, it's just great writing, so that part I could read before bed).  I also started to freak out about shadows (eeeh...they're ruined for me forever) and, I won't lie, considered sleeping with a lamp or two on one night.  And you can bet your knickers I checked and double checked the locks before going to bed each night.  Which reminds me....

Incarceron by Catherine Fisher

Incarceron
Catherine Fisher
Narrated by Kim Mai Guest

Holy weird book Batman.  I’ve tried writing an intro paragraph to review this book four times and I’ve chucked them all.  There is no way to describe this book other than different, weird, and “how in the H did Catherine Fisher come up with the ideas in this book?”

Incarceron is a prison.  A prison world that does not have guards or walls.  It’s a living prison.  Sometime in the future, there’s a huge war and the government decides to create a prison where people can live, move around, marry, have children and even die eventually, and supposedly putting them in their own world – a world that thinks and guards them with some electronic super-intelligence – will create a perfect society both in and outside the prison.  Of course, things don’t work out the way we want them to do they?  Outside the prison, life has gone back to the Middle Ages.  Technology is technically banned, and protocol dictates that everyone life as if it were the 1800’s.  All electronics are banned, but it seems that everyone uses them anyway.  There is surveillance everywhere, and just about everyone knows how to dodge it.
Claudia is the daughter of the warden of Incarceron and she is engaged to the prince.  She and her best friend and tutor, Jared, are convinced that there is more to Incarceron than her father claims and they find a key to Incarceron and try to break in.  Through the key they manage to make contact with people inside Incarceron – a man named Finn who they believe is actually Prince Giles, the true heir to the throne thought to have died many years before.  The more Claudia tries to locate Incarceron and the more Finn tries to find a way out, the more confusing the story gets.  Intrigue and mystery abound in this one, let me tell you.  There is nothing I hate more than a mystery that is too easy to solve – the suspense actually has to be suspenseful for me.  However, this book had so much suspense and intrigue, I actually got kind of lost in it, though I'm not sure it was because of the book itself or because of the narration*.  The ending is not what I would expect and lends itself to a sequel, but to be honest, I’m not sure I'll read it.

*This post is connected to my post about audiobooks.  Feel free to read it!

Hold Me Closer, Necromancer by Lish McBride

Hold Me Closer Necromancer

Lish McBride

Sherman Alexie (on of my favs) is quoted on the cover of this book saying “This is a SCARY funny book OR a FUNNY scary book.  In either case, it is a GREAT book.”  Dude totally nailed it.  I could not put this book down, which, honestly doesn’t say much because I rarely put books down.  In fact, in the future, just know that if I could put the book down, it probably wasn’t that great.

Sam (Samhain) is your typical floundering young man – I think he’s about 20 – working at the local grease pit.  He finds out through a series of extremely confusing events, including being man-handled by a werewolf and having one of his good friends murdered and her head reincarnated (how can a book be bad with a talking un-dead best friend head?), he finds out that he is a Necromancer, or a magical person able to control the dead.  Unfortunately, the head Necromancer in town, Douglas Montgomery, is not a fan of competition.  He kidnaps Sam and forces him to become his apprentice.  Sam has to figure out how to escape and how to help the super hot were-girl Douglas is also keeping captive in his basement.  I could give you more of the storyline (there’s WAY more), but not knowing will make it just as fun to read.  In fact, I picked the book up having been given a completely different description.

This book is perfect for just about anyone – those of us who love fantasy but are really tired of vampire books, anyone who likes scary/paranormal books, or a high school student who likes a laugh-out loud page turner.  Unfortunately for this middle school librarian, it is not appropriate for middle grade students (my favourite line – “So you’re the guy who did the no-no cha-cha with my baby sister”).  So if you are over 15 years old and enjoy books, you should put this book on your reading list!

The Radleys by Matt Haig

The Radley’s

Matt Haig

So I’ll be the first to say, vampire are sooo last week.  Twilight, the Chronicles of Vladimir Tod, and the House of Night are the books that started it all, and now we have TV series like Vampire Diaries and True Blood (does anyone remember the original vampire series – Buffy the Vampire Slayer?  Can I get a heck yeah?).  When I first read about The Radleys on the Alex Award List, I thought “ugh…not again”.  But then I read the jacket and I was intrigued.  Behold, the power of a well written book jacket!

The Radleys is the story of a small town family of vampires, only they aren’t your normal vampires (but when, since Count Dracula, have we had a story of “normal” vampires) because of two things.  The parents are abstaining vampires – they do not drink blood, and the children don’t know they are vampires.  And in classic style, because the children don’t really know what they are, the book opens and both are struggling to figure out who they are.  Rowan has a crush on a local girl, Eve, but lacks the confidence to even speak to her, and Clara is so desperate to get animals to like her that she is attempting to go vegan – a choice that, unbeknownst to her, could ultimately kill her.  When Clara accidentally tastes human blood, her hereditary instincts take over and she accidentally kills someone.  Now that the secret is out, all of the members of the Radley clan feel their lives turn upside down.  Enter Uncle Will – the practicing vampire that can save them all.  But there are more secrets hiding on Orchard Lane than one would expect.

I will not say that this is the greatest book I’ve ever read, but it definitely kept me turning the pages.  And I can completely see why this book was chosen for an Alex Award – an award given to books written for adults that experience wide success as YA books.  Haig created enough suspense that the reader wonders what will come next, and there are just enough plot twists to keep you on the edge of your seat.  I had at least two *Gasp* moments, and I once said “OH NO” aloud – which wasn’t a good idea because I was reading…oops.  Though this book may not make my favorite book list, I will say that Haig has definitely taken a somewhat overused genre – vampires – and taken it to a new place and written a great novel.

Here are some other reviews of this book:

NY Times

USA Today

Skulduggery Pleasant

Skulduggery Pleasant
Derek Landy

One of my new favorite things about being a librarian is watching kids get excited about books - especially when they are recommending books to me.  This particular book (actually the series) was recommended to me by Di Herald.  When the second and third books of the series arrived in my library, one of my 8th graders absolutely wigged out.  When I admitted to her that I hadn't read the first book, she literally ran to the stacks, grabbed the book and forced me to check it out right then.  Every day after I checked it out, she came in before school and asked about my progress to see how far into the book I'd gotten and what I thought.

And guess what?  I LOVED it.  What a fun read!  The premise of the book is that the normal, humdrum life of a young girl (I think she's 12 or 13) is upended when she inherits a fortune from her eccentric author uncle.  She meets his close friend, Skulduggery Pleasant, and is drawn into a world of magic she never knew existed because she - like Skulduggery - believes that her uncle was murdered.

Once again, I realize how awesome YA fiction is!  This book moved so fast I had trouble putting it down at all.  And it's not all fluff and silly magic fantasy stuff - there are life lessons hidden in those lines.  Stephanie stuggles with trusting adults and fighting against their opinions that she's 'just a little kid'.  I will say that I was bothered by how quickly Stephanie disregarded her family, but at the same time, she's a teenager (barely a teenager), and we all know how difficult it is for teenagers to think about others.  I really enjoyed the idea of three names - your given name, the name you take and your true name.  By choosing a name (your taken name), you secured your given name and thus break any power that others might hold over you.- in a way, it's like a rite of passage.  What I don't think that young Stephanie (or any teenager for that matter) thought about was the fact that once she chose a name, she would remain a part of the magical world forever.  Sometimes we forget that our actions have lasting consequences - and if your life isn't exactly what you'd imagined it would be, it's easy to make a rash decision that will have long lasting consequences.

Legacy

Legacy
Thomas E. Sniegoski

Can you imagine what it would be like to have Superman as a dad?  Pretty sweet right?  Not for Lucas - a high school drop out who has grown up in a trailer park with his mom knowing nothing of his deadbeat dad.  Turns out his dad is the Raptor - a studly superhero searching for someone to carry on his superhero legacy after he's gone.  But will being a superhero/billionaire negate eighteen years of neglect?  And would you want to go from leading a normal life to being a superhero just because of your genes?

Released last fall, Legacy is an excellent young adult novel about handling the cards fate deals out.  Sniegoski takes something that should be an awesome turn in your life - going from a trailer park to a mansion overnight - under the 'reality' light.  Lucas is a typical teenaged boy in many ways:  he's loyal to the mother who raised him, angry at the father who abandoned him but curious about his fathers dual life, and kind of stoked about the whole 'superhero' thing.  When Lucas finds out that evil takes all forms and must deal with his mother's brutal murder, he grows up quickly.  This is a lesson that many of our teens have to deal with much sooner than we'd like them to.

I'm one of the very lucky people on this planet who has parents who really are superheros - they've been married for almost 40 years and they still flirt (gag) with each other.  They dedicated their lives to making sure I had the best life I could have and I'm so thankful for them.  But for those who haven't been so blessed, this book is a great example of becoming all that you can be despite your parents mistakes.

Mockingjay and what makes a book excellent

Mockingjay
Suzanne Collins

Holy crap.  That's what I have to say about this book.  Holy.  Crap.  I knew it would suck me in just like the first two did, but I had no idea.  None.

I will give nothing away.  Zip.  Zilch. Nada. Nichts.  But what I will say is this:  Suzanne Collins is a masterful author.  Why?  Because she can keep you on your toes for 390 pages, wrap up loose ends and still leave you feeling unsettled.  But I suppose that's what a book about world war should do, regardless of which side is victorious.

Tomorrow, I will proudly wear my "District 12 Tribute" t-shirt that I purchased earlier this week and encourage all of my students to read this series (no offense to Stephanie Meyer, because I loved the Twilight Series, but this series?  So much better).  And I will say - simply for the benefit of those who know me well and know my rantings about how I felt that this series should end:  Suzanne Collins, thank you for the ending to this book.  It is perfect.  Before I read it I wanted only one thing (which I will not divulge at this time).  You presented an ending with the things that I wanted - needed so deeply - but didn't know it.  And, sleep soundly.  I was afraid if the book didn't end a certain way I'd have to hunt you down.  No worries about that now though.  In fact, I should probably bake you cookies or something.

And my humblest apologies to any author whose books I read in the next few months.  Don't know when I'll come down from the high of this book.