Monthly Archives: October 2015

The Shadow Cabinet…Book 3 Shades of London

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Johnson, Maureen. The Shadow Cabinet (Shades of London, Book 3). New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 2015. 978-0-399-25662-2. $17.99. 376p. Gr. 8 and up.

The Shadow Cabinet, Book 3 of Johnson’s Shades of London series, picks up where The Madness Underneath ended.  Stephen is dead; Charlotte is dead; Callum has run off, and Rory is trying to figure out what has happened.  Rory is determined to find Stephen’s ghost, but since she is still supposed to be missing, Thorpe, the group’s new head, refuses to allow her to search.  Instead she is to remain unseen, but, per usual Rory, she can’t do that.  Instead, she follows a lead to Highgate Cemetery.  With that lead literally dead, Rory, Jerome, her ex-boyfriend, and new team member, Freddie Sellars, begin to follow clues surrounding Jane, Rory and Charlotte’s therapist (and kidnapper) and the cult-ish past with siblings Sid and Sadie Smithfield-Wyatt who supposedly died in 1973, along with their followers; all except Jane.  As the team searches for clues, Charlotte, and Jane, they realize that more than just ghost hunting is at stake; black magic is ruling this investigation and only Rory can save Stephen, but at what cost.  THOUGHTS:  This is a fabulous murder-mystery story, with a bit of paranormal thrown in for good measure.  It may be the best volume of the series thus far.

Paranormal Mystery Erin Parkinson, Lincoln JSHS, Ellwood City

The Distance Between Lost and Found

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Holmes, Kathryn. The Distance Between Lost and Found. New York: Harper Teen, 2015. 978-0-06-231726-1. $17.99. 292p. Gr. 7 and up.

Hallelujah Calhoun has been a selective mute since “the incident” six month earlier with Luke Willis, the preacher’s son.  Now, at a church youth camp in the Great Smoky Mountains, Hallie must confront her friends, Luke, and his friends or remain quiet and alone forever.  With her choice to remain quiet and take the cruelty from the group, new-comer Rachel realizes something is wrong with Hallie and is determined to get to the bottom of the story.  During a group hike, Rachel has enough of everyone and decides to leave the hike and head back to camp in order to be sent home.  Hallie and Jonah, Hallie’s ex-friend and Luke’s best friend, go with Rachel because they want to go home too.  After a mistake on the trail, the group becomes lost in the mountains with only the clothes on their backs and the food they backed for a day-long hike.  Will they be saved before it’s too late, or is the vastness of Creation the trigger each needed to confront their situation, accept the past, and move forward?  THOUGHTS: With Christian undertones that allow the reader to question his/her beliefs without being preachy or overbearing, this is a great addition to adventure/survival collections, especially for female fans of the genre.

Realistic Fiction, Survival Erin Parkinson, Lincoln JSHS, Ellwood City

This is a great novel for female readers who enjoy realistic fiction, a little bit of romance, and some adventure, but don’t think this is completely for girls because the adventure and character of Jonah will definitely keep boys interested too.

 

New MS and YA Nonfiction…Drowned City; Legalizing Marijuana (In Controversy series)

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Brown, Don.  Drowned City: Hurricane Katrina & New Orleans.  Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2015.  978-0-544-15777-4.  96p. $18.99.  Grade 6 and up.

Don Brown is well known for his ability to put historical events into a graphic format with beauty and an emotional punch.  This, his latest work, addresses the events of Hurricane Katrina and the lasting impact it has had on the City of New Orleans.  The pictures, illustrated in somber blue, gray, and brown tones, impart a feeling of foreboding.  Brown depicts the horrific hurricane, the flooding, and the efforts of citizens to survive on rooftops and in the fetid New Orleans Superdome.  Brown does not shy away from controversy in his telling of events.  He illustrates the widespread suffering, crime, and bureaucratic disorganization at all levels of government involved in the rescue/cleanup.  The story ends on a hopeful note with the reconstruction of the city, but it also acknowledges that New Orleans will never be the same again.  THOUGHTS: This book is an essential purchase for libraries looking to provide information on Hurricane Katrina.  It will appeal to fans of graphic literature, while being an extremely powerful work in its own right.

976.3, U.S. History      Susan Fox, Washington Jr./Sr. High School

Drowned City literally made me cry.  I lived in New Orleans for two years at the end of the 1990s.  It is a city that, once you have lived there, becomes a part of you.  Brown’s work is both stunning and devastating.  There is one small error in the book (which I was surprised wasn’t noticed by the book’s editors);  the author refers to New Orleans’ suburbs as “parishes”.  In actuality, parishes are Louisiana’s version of counties and are a long-standing reflection of Louisiana’s Spanish/French/Roman Catholic heritage.  I wouldn’t let this mistake stop a library from acquiring the book, but it is something to be aware of.

 

Brown, Don. Drowned City: Hurricane Katrina & New Orleans. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2015. 978-0-544-15777-4. $18.99. Gr. 7-12.

Illustrator and author Don Brown narrates this graphic novel about the 2005 Hurricane Katrina, from its meager beginning as a tropical storm to the devastating destruction that left the city of New Orleans forever changed. While the storm was powerful enough to flood the city, the conditions after were the most shocking; police abandoned their posts; communication lines failed; shelters ran out of food, fuel, and water; the flooded water turned black with oil and trash, and federal, city and state aid did not come for almost a week. Brown’s images are murky and morose, reflecting a town wrecked and forgotten. Importantly, the graphic novel provides a timeline of the event, showing that it took more than two months for the water to be pumped from the city. Published on the tenth anniversary of Katrina, this powerful graphic novel is an important, factual look at one of America’s worst recent natural disasters. THOUGHTS:  Drowned City is an essential addition to any teen graphic novel collection.

976.3; US History    Vicki Schwoebel, Friends’ Central School

 

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Netzley, Patricia. Is Legalized Marijuana Good for Society? In Controversy series. San Diego: Reference Point Press, 2015. 978-1-60152-774-5. 96p. $17.99. Gr. 7 and up.

Part of the In Controversy series, Is Legalized Marijuana Good for Society? tackles the current and hotly debated topic of marijuana legalization.  The book features an easy to use format beginning with a short introduction on whether or not marijuana is harmful or beneficial.  The five chapters that follow discuss the origins of the controversy, how it’s used medically, the steps to legalize recreational use, the conflict between state and federal law, and finally how it should be regulated.  Each chapter features bulleted facts that give brief, easy to understand evidence as well as quotes used in other articles and titles on the topics.  These provide students with easy to find material perfect to include in an essay as evidence to support or refute the topic.  Each quote is linked to source notes with complete citation information.  There is also an additional reading section with print and internet sources to help readers further their research.  THOUGHTS:This is a great resource for younger students (grades 7 – 9) to use while gathering information for a persuasive essay or speech.  It’s also a good launching point for older students (grades 10-12) who are more experienced researchers.  It gives basic easy to understand facts and citations about a current topic.

Social Issues   Laura Ward, Fox Chapel Area High School

 

New Fantasy, Dystopian, and Sci-Fi…The Awesome; Prairie Fire; We All Looked Up; 5 to 1

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Darrows, Eva. The Awesome. Oxford, UK: Ravenstone, 2015. 978-1-78108-324-6. 246 p. $9.99. Gr. 9-12.

Seventeen-year-old Maggie Cunningham is not your typical teenager, but that’s to be expected considering she is an apprentice monster hunter. Maggie wants one thing: to become federally registered so she can track and hunt vampires, but in order to do so, she has to lose her virginity. She has to lose the “Big V” to kill the “Big V”. Her mother, Janice, tells her it is in order to protect her since most vampires, especially newbies, go wild for virgin blood. However, losing her virginity is easier said than done. Maggie is home schooled, lacks fashion sense, and well, she hunts monsters. It doesn’t help that her mother swears like a sailor and tends to embarrass Maggie. For Maggie, getting The Sex seems almost impossible. She even fails in a hysterical attempt to have sex with a drunk guy at a party which leaves her vulnerable to a virgin blood crazed newbie vampire who tries to kill her, but is unsuccessful because her mother just happens to be a total badass. The killing of the young vampire leads Maggie and her mother to a vampire prince, which is definitely going to make getting deflowered more complicated. THOUGHTS: Filled with inappropriate language, a little bit of sex, violence, and an incredibly likeable heroine, The Awesome is a terrific supernatural comedy that is just plain fun. The Awesome is awesome. Be warned though, it’s definitely only appropriate for upper grades.

Fantasy, Paranormal   Graig Henshaw, Littlestown HS/ Maple Avenue MS

 

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Johnston, E.K. Prairie Fire. Minneapolis, MN: Carolrhoda Lab, 2015. 978-1-46773-909-2. 298 p. $18.99. Gr. 7-12

Prairie Fire is the sequel to The Story of Owen and continues the story of Siobhan McQuaid, bard and genius, Owen, and their friends. Prairie Fire is a story of friendship, music, alternative history (Canadian and U.S.), fantasy, fable, ecology, and epic heroism. Every dragon slayer must serve time with the Oil Watch which is basically the military for dragon slayers. Owen, Siobhan, and Sadie join the Oil Watch together. While Siobhan overcomes some setbacks, Owen continues to develop into a dragon slayer capable of any task. Due to their growing popularity, Siobhan and Owen are deployed to one of the coldest, dreariest, and most desolate places, Fort Calgary. It is here that Siobhan, Owen, Sadie, and their friends must band together to face off against one of the rarest and most terrifying dragon species, the Chinook. THOUGHTS: Siobhan McQuaid is responsible for “Uptown Funk” because Owen Thorskard is “too hot, hot damn, make a dragon wanna retire man” and is the hero Bonnie Tyler has been holding out for all these years. Prairie Fire is a story that defines friendship and reminds us why we allow Canada to remain a country. It is superbly written, heart wrenching, and heroic.

Fantasy  Graig Henshaw, Littlestown HS/ Maple Avenue MS

 

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Wallach, Tommy. We All Looked Up. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster BFYR, 2015. 978-1-48141-877-5. 370 p. $16.99.  Gr. 9-12.

If we learned anything from The Breakfast Club and about a dozen other eighties movies, it is that high school is supposedly all about labels and cliques. The impending possibility of the end of the world provides an athlete, a slut, a slacker, and an overachiever with the opportunity to make changes. Peter, the athlete, must decide whether it is better to fail at something worthwhile or succeed at something meaningless, and whether or not he should pursue true love even if it isn’t the popular thing to do. Eliza, the artsy and misunderstood slut, must deal with her father’s cancer, chronicling the end of the world (leading to unexpected fame), and her feelings for Peter. Anita, the overachiever, needs to decide if she should follow her parents’ strict rules as always, or if she should pursue her dream of becoming a musician. Lastly, Andy, the slacker, must choose between his new safe friends or his old seedy, dangerous friends. They only have two months until the end of the world. During the next two months, the world becomes far more dangerous as people often give in to their malicious intents. THOUGHTS: Although well-written, Tommy Wallach is pessimistic in his view of mankind since most of humanity turns into complete jerks with drug addicts and criminals ruling the day. Maybe I am naïve, but I like to think that if mankind were to find out that the world were about to end, we would band together rather than give into criminal instincts. In We All Looked Up, society falls apart based on whether an asteroid will hit and wipe out two-thirds of the population. The characters, with the exception of Eliza and Peter, are unlikeable. We All Looked Up had me desperately looking for another book to read and longing to watch The Breakfast Club.

Science Fiction  Graig Henshaw, Littlestown HS/ Maple Avenue MS

 

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Bodger, Holly. 5 to 1. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2015. 978-0-385-39153-5. 244 p. $17.99. Gr. 9 and up.

Set in a futuristic Indian society run by women, this Dystopian fantasy focuses on a contest where the women get to select their husbands from a group of able suitors. The title refers to the ratio of boys to girls after years of gender selection. Sudasa is the lucky young lady who gets to choose her husband, but she doesn’t even know if she wants to get married yet. Kiran is the young man who’s family wants him to lose in order to escape India altogether. Her grandmother has thrown her cousin into the mix of suitors, so that Sudasa can save him from what her grandmother sees as certain death. Her cousin knows all the right answers; yet Sudasa is drawn to Kiran. Her father offers Sudasa support and a way out if she needs it. What will she choose? Will she pick the cousin and keep the family intact? Will she choose Kiran though she knows he is throwing all of the challenges in order to be discarded? This story told in alternating voices identified by verse and prose proves to be very different from the norm. THOUGHTS: This is a thought-provoking read because of some real world circumstances (India and China). The premise for the society doesn’t seem that far-fetched. A great addition for HS collections as it offers something very fresh and new.

Dystopian    Kathryn Gilbride, North Pocono Middle School

The Boy in the Black Suit…new YA Realistic Fiction

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Reynolds, Jason. The Boy in the Black Suit. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2015. 978-1442459502. 255 p. $17.99. Gr. 8 and up.

Matthew Miller’s mother passed away from breast cancer at the very beginning of his senior year in high school, leaving Matt and his father struggling to put their lives back together. To fulfill his work study requirements, Matt takes an after school job at a funeral home. He sets up tables and chairs for the repast, serves as a pallbearer, and does other odd jobs for his boss, Mr. Ray. As Matt’s father begins to drink more heavily, and then winds up in the hospital after a drunken collision with a cab, Mr. Ray takes on a protective role in Matt’s life. Matt takes to his work at the funeral home and begins wearing his black suit to school and work every day. He also sits in on strangers’ funerals and takes comfort in knowing he is not the only one in the world who is grieving. At one of these services he connects with Love, his neighborhood crush, whose grandmother has just died. Matt and Love’s relationship is both sweet and realistic, with touches of humor and sass. Matt’s quest to redefine himself without his mother is at the heart of this coming-of-age novel by the very talented Jason Reynolds. In the world he’s created, everyone is nursing some kind of sorrow, and connecting with other people is the best way to heal.THOUGHTS: Jason Reynolds puts a fresh spin on timeless themes of first love and first loss. This character-driven novel is a great fit with the current “We Need Diverse Books” movement, but it has a timeless quality, too.
Realistic Fiction      Amy V. Pickett, Ridley High School
Jason Reynolds won the 2015 John Steptoe New Talent Award for his novel, When I Was the Greatest. All American Boys, cowritten with Brendan Kiely (author of The Gospel of Winter), has just been published. It will be exciting to see what he does next!