Jonah is a man with a plan… To break every bone in his body, that is. Seriously. His family is so messed up that the only way he can “deal” with it is to break — and often. His friend Naomi is there to help with moral support and to get it all on tape. And the only other person who actually knows about Jonah’s plan is his younger brother Jesse, whose extreme food allergies keep the entire family operating in a constant state of fear. Why does Jonah think this is such a great idea? How is it possible that his parents could let this [continually] happen to their child? Why isn’t social services involved by the time Jonah breaks bones 15, 16, & 17 in the opening chapter? And how in the world can his friend think that she is doing him any favors by supporting this self-destructive behavior? I’m gonna leave you hanging so that you’ll have to read the book to piece it all together for yourself. But, don’t worry — it’s definitely worth the read!

Oh… And just a quick warning: this book is not for the faint of heart. There were several moments when the descriptions of the intentional “accidents” had me feeling a little green. Heck, the third line of the book is a description of a fall where Jonah explains, The sound is like a mallet against a crab. OK…  You’ve been warned.  Now go and read the book!

Happy Reading!

Although this book takes place in the same world as Graceling, it contains only one person with a Grace.  Instead, we delve into the fantastic world of monsters — beautiful, colorful creatures who also have a great deal of power.  Fire is the last of her kind, a “human monster” — half-human, half-monster — whose name was chosen because of her beautiful hair in varying shades of red, orange, and pink.  Much like Katsa (of Graceling), Fire is amazingly strong and fast.  She is also musically gifted, can control people’s minds, and can incite an attack (by monsters or men alike) with the mere presence of her unnatural beauty.

The Kingdom of the Dells is on the verge of war, with multiple people planning to overthrow the king, and the royal family is hoping that Fire will help them to keep the king safe.  Fire’s abilities make her the perfect ally, since she can easily extract information from enemy spies, but she has conflicting feelings about using her powers… even if it’s for good.  Because her father, Cansrel, had used his powers to bring about so much pain and destruction, Fire feels guilty for merely being a “monster.”

There are so many layers to the story that it is difficult to explain without giving away too much.  Cashore has a little something to offer for every reader — romance, mystery, suspense, humor and pain.  I’m very confident that if you liked Graceling, you will want to read Fire too!

Happy Reading!

Since I am currently pregnant, the premise of this book made it difficult for me to even pick it up and start reading.  In all of my excited planning and prepping for the impending arrival of my second child, it’s hard to imagine how any girl/woman could not feel the same sense of love for and connection to her baby.  It’s even harder [nearly impossible] to imagine how depressed/desperate a woman would have to be in order to put her baby in the trash.  But, statistics show that this happens to approximately one baby per day in the United States — despite Safe Haven laws which provide consequence free drop-off zones.  Before working as a librarian, I worked as a permanent substitute at an area high school, and I even taught a girl who was later found guilty of “throwing away” her baby.  I always wondered what she could have been thinking.  Even if her baby was stillborn, as her lawyer asserted, why didn’t she call 911 instead of putting that baby in the garbage?  We may never know…

Fortunately, the baby girl in this story was found alive and survived her ordeal.  But, the story is about so much more than what happened to the baby.  In fact, the baby is really more of a footnote in this story.  After is primarily about the consequences faced by the baby’s mother, 15-year-old Devon Davenport, once her secret is discovered.  We get to see Devon’s journey from complete denial and a near-catatonic state to acceptance and the drive to get her life back on track.  Devon’s life in a juvenile detention facility is interspersed with flashbacks to how she arrived where she is, as aided by conversations with her court-appointed lawyer.  We get to see how Devon was able to convince herself, and everyone around her, that she is not pregnant — despite mounting evidence to the contrary. We see how Devon’s reputation as a straight-A student and soccer star are enough to maintain the illusion that she is trustworthy enough not to question further.  And we get to experience the horrible night when her fantasy world came crashing down around her as Devon’s body goes through the process of giving birth to the baby whose existence Devon refused to acknowledge.  A tough read, to be sure, but one that helps people to better see where these terrified girls/women are coming from mentally and emotionally.  Hopefully, this book will end up in the hands of at least one girl who needs to see that she is not alone, and that there is plenty of help available, before she does something she will regret for the rest of her life.

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This book has inventions ranging from the mundane [tooth brushes] to silly, wishful thinking [a teleporter].  For each item, there is a page of factual information — about how it came about or why it has not yet been invented — and a page dedicated to “mastering” that invention.  I learned a lot of interesting, albeit mostly useless, information about a great many things.  This is a good book for sitting down and reading a couple pages when you’re bored, but it certainly isn’t something to try and read from cover to cover in one sitting.  I’m sure it would make an excellent gift for the trivia buff in your life!

Happy Reading!

So I will now happily accept “friend requests” from my library teens!  Happy Reading!

Nobody (a.k.a. Bod) Owens has a very unique story. After all the other members of his family were murdered by a man named Jack, 18-month-old Bod escaped his home and made his way into the nearby graveyard. When Jack came after him, to “finish the job” he had started, Bod was rescued by the inhabitants of the graveyard. He was, basically, adopted (and named) by the ghosts and spent his entire childhood living in the shadows of the graveyard. Despite his many friends and mentors in the graveyard, Bod finds that he longs for a “normal” education and friends among the living, so he begs his ghostly parents and guardian to allow him outside the graveyard. Of course, this ends up leading to a variety of problems and complications. The cast of characters was very interesting, and there was a reasonable amount of both suspense and humor, but I didn’t really get into this story as much as I would have expected. Maybe it was just the wrong time to listen to this one… A good book, nonetheless.

Happy Reading!

After reading The Fashion Disaster That Changed My Life, I thought it would probably be a good idea to read our best-circulating (and also most “infamous”) of Lauren Myracle’s books.  I had tried reading it a couple of times before, but I always got confused by the chat-style writing.  It wasn’t the actual chat speak or emoticons that tripped me up…  I am used to those from my own online chat experiences.  It was the fact that I had to keep referring to the left side of the conversation to see who was speaking.  I know, I know…  They even have different fonts to set them apart!  But I am just so used to reading in paragraphs that it threw me off to read this more fragmented style of writing.  It’s kinda like how I actually have to force myself to look at illustrations in a graphic novel.  But, this time, I made myself keep going after the first ten pages.  And, it managed to get a little bit easier as I went.

This book follows three 15-year-old girls — Angela, Maddie, and Zoe — through their tumultuous tenth grade year.  Typical fights between friends, boyfriend troubles, and issues with parents are a given.  The real “meat and potatoes” of the story, though, is how the girls navigate their way through Angela’s guy-based depression, the school-wide scandal caused by Maddie’s party mistake, and the development of an inappropriate relationship between Zoe and one of her handsome, young teachers.  Although it was hard, at times, to suspend disbelief about the Zoe’s relationship with her teacher, news headlines prove that it’s all too possible.  And while there are obviously some people who are or will be uncomfortable with the “mature” themes or language in this story, I think it’s a realistic depiction of high school life for many girls.  Now, I definitely understand why the teens have gobbled this one up…

Happy Reading!

Can it be?  Did I read the subtitle correctly?  This is The FINAL confessions of Georgia Nicholson?!?  Erlack!

The hills are alive with the sound of PANTS, and Georgia is back to tell us all about it!  Though Georgia has already spent more than her fair share of time on the rack of lurve, it looks like there may never be an end to her torment.  Even though she and Masimo have become an official couple,  Georgia’s red bottomosity keeps getting in the way.  She can’t quite get Dave the Laugh out of her head… and then she has a spontaneous puckering problem.  So, when Masimo and Dave have fisticuffs, and Masimo walks off with the hump, Georgia returns to the cake shop of agony.  While Masimo is on holiday in Pizza-a-gogo land, Georgia does her best to keep her chin up and, of course, to keep her nose from spreading all over the place.  Despite Georgia’s broken heart, she and the rest of the Ace Gang continue their usual antics at Stalag 14, landing Elvis (er, Mr. Atwood) in a wheelchair and adding their own creative flair to the school production of Billy Shakespeare’s tragic story, Rom & Jul.  I still can’t believe this series is over… but there was no secret British definition for “final” in the glossary, so I may just have to put on my big girl knickers and move on.

Happy Reading!

I have been a fan of the Moon Crash Trilogy since before it was even called the Moon Crash Trilogy…  Since before it was approved to become a trilogy, even!  I have been following Susan Beth Pfeffer’s blog — http://susanbethpfeffer.blogspot.com — for a couple of years now, and I have been anxiously following the development of this world we live in since she first mentioned approaching her editor with the idea for a follow-up story.  I have done my best to stay away from the spoilers on the blog, and I have waited as patiently as possible, but the wait is finally over!  I received my ARC on Monday, and I finished it last night…  Let me just say, “Whoa!”  Even though the other two books have some freaky disasters and frightening situations, this book definitely takes the cake.  I will do my best to give you a decent idea of the story without giving away too much of the plot…  And, if you know me, I may even lend you the ARC so you can see for yourself before the March 31, 2010, release!

It’s been almost a year since the fateful day when the moon was hit by a meteor.  Modern day conveniences, like electricity and running water, still haven’t been fully restored.  No one knows if they ever will.  Miranda, her mother, and her brothers (Jon and Matt) are doing the best they can to survive on the meager supplies of canned foods they get from Town Hall every week.  They’re fortunate that they have a wood stove to keep them from freezing to death, since the shift in climate meant that winter started in about August and still hasn’t let up — even though it would normally be spring by now.  They’re especially lucky to have each other, since so many people have died from cold, sickness, and starvation already.  Jon and Matt do the majority of the wood chopping, and Miranda helps her mom with upkeep tasks like cooking and cleaning.  With occasional trips to forage for supplies in abandoned houses, they are getting by… but barely.

Jon and Matt decide to go on a fishing trip to bolster their food supplies, and return with a bit more than just fish.  Matt met a girl (Syl) during this 3 day trip, and the two have already “exchanged vows,” thus considering themselves married.  Adding this extra person to the family creates a whole lot of tension, since food supplies are already scarce, but Matt insists that he loves Syl and she is not going anywhere.  It seems, however, that adding Syl to the equation is practically nothing compared to when their father (Hal) returns with his new wife (Lisa), their baby (Gabriel), and three of their traveling companions (Charlie, Alex, and Julie).  With six more mouths to feed, everyone starts to worry that the food will run out in no time.  Will they be able to find enough food in abandoned houses?  Or will they find a way to get more food from the town?  Will they have to leave Howell in search of a better-functioning city after all?

People who read the first two books will be glad to learn a lot more about what happened to characters from both Life As We Knew It and the dead & the gone…  And people who haven’t read the first two books should go back and start reading them NOW!  Seriously…  Don’t start this book until you’ve read the first two!  You’ll thank me later.

Happy Reading!

I have considered listening to this audiobook so many times, and yet I had always ended up picking something else… If only I had a clue how stupid I was being. This book was amazing, and the full cast audio recording was phenomenal! I would even go so far as to say that this is one of the top 5 audiobooks I would recommend for a first-time audiobook listener. Between the action-packed story and the talented cast of readers, I can’t imagine a listener who wouldn’t fall in love with this audiobook.

Matt Cruse was born in the sky… in the airship on which his family was traveling.  His father later died while working as a sail maker on an airship called the Aurora, and now Matt is a cabin boy on that very ship.  He has no fear of heights, is a hard worker, and is well-respected by all of his coworkers — including Captain Walken.  While working in the crow’s nest, Matt spots a hot air balloon in distress.  After he heroically helps to rescue the unconscious man aboard the balloon, Matt listens to the man talk about the “beautiful creatures” he has seen and how his Kate would have loved them.  Sadly, the man dies, but the story doesn’t end there…  A year later, Matt Cruse ends up meeting Miss Kate de Vries — the granddaughter of the man in the balloon.  Kate has her grandfather’s journal, and she is determined to find the mysterious creatures he described.  When the airship is boarded by pirates and then suffers damage in a tropical storm, though, no one is sure if the airship — and all of the people aboard — will make it back to land safely.  This book will have you on the edge of your seat at least a couple of times!

Happy Reading!