Legend by Marie Lu

Legend by Marie Lu

This is another new dystopian novel that’s getting lots of positive buzz from both readers and librarians.  Told in alternating voices, this book describe a frightening future United States that has been ripped apart and at war with itself.  The western part is the Republic and is a totalitarian government ruled with an iron fist by Primo ______.  June Iparis lives here and is part of the elite, born into wealth and now a military prodigy.  Day also lives in the Republic, but is its most wanted criminal for his numerous acts of anti-government terrorism, that interestingly enough have never killed a single person.  While trying to escape from his most recent escade, Day is nearly captured by a young captain named Metias.  They both shoot, wounding each other but that gives Day the chance to make his escape.   When it comes to light that June’s brother Metias has been killed, not just injured, she is put on the team as someone with “fresh eyes” to try to catch Day, who has been eluding the army for years.  What follows is non-stop action, as June fights for revenge against her brother’s murder and Day uses all the resources he can muster just to stay alive.  The plot is full of twists, and will keep readers wanting more.

The parallel perspectives from both Day and June really let the readers see into the minds of both characters and become invested in their futures.  The fact that June’s entries are more like straight-forward reports while Day’s read more like a personal journal really adds to the novelI highly recommend this title, Lu’s debut novel, to dystopia and science fiction fans, and anyone looking for a fast and engaging read.

Here’s a book trailer you can watch from home:

The Christopher Killer by Alane Ferguson

The Christopher Killer by Alane Ferguson

First in the Forensic Mystery series, this book introduces us to Cameryn Mahoney, a 17 yr old girl in Colorado whose father is the county coroner. Always fascinated with forensic science and having studied on her own, Cameryn convinces her father to hire her as his assistant. After assisting on a case, Cammie is drawn into a friend’s fascination with a television psychic. When the friend becomes the victim of a serial murderer known as the Christopher Killer, and the psychic who predicted the murder comes to their town, Cameryn is determined to find who murdered her friend. The crime scenes are not as graphic as the descriptions of the autopsies, but the author does a good job of eliminating the gross-out factor. Fans of the CSI shows will love this series!

Reviewed by Ms. Goldstein-Erickson

Across the Universe by Beth Revis

Across the Universe by Beth Revis

When Amy and her parents signed up to be cryogenically frozen to travel aboard the spaceship Godspeed for 300 years to help settle a new earth-like planet, they had no idea what was in story for them. The opening scene of the book sets the stage for what will follow, with the family being frozen one-by-one, which readers learn is a painful and frightening experience. Amy’s father gives her the option of changing her mind at the last minute, and staying with extended family on Earth, but the seventeen year old can’t imagine never seeing her parents again. Readers then eavesdrop as Amy has nightmarish dreams during for forced sleep, but then she is violently awoken 50 years too early when someone unplugs her pod. Has someone tried to murder her??? She meets Elder, the ship’s leader-in training, upon awakening and his kindness makes her feel safe, but the current leader (Eldest) is another matter altogether. He acts like he would as soon jettison Amy out in space as make a home for her on the ship.

Even though Elder is supposed to be training his protege’ Eldest to care for the passengers and ship, Elder knows the old man is withholding critical information, keeping the ship’s running and very structured society a mystery to the teenager. When the teenagers realize someone is trying to unplug and kill all the frozen colonists, they begin a quest to try to figure out the truth about the murders and the ship’s other closely held secrets.

The book is told in alternating chapters between Amy and Elder’s perspectives. This makes it all the more gripping as we see life through two completely different views. I read this amazing story in one weekend because I could just not put it down. It has elements which will attract readers with lots of different tastes because it includes a dystopian setting aboard the ship Godspeed, a murder mystery involving the frozen colonists from Earth, a Science Fiction plot and even a little bit of romance.

I highly recommend this book to all teen readers and am eagerly awaiting the next installment of the story.

Here’s a video book trailer you can see from home:

The Body of Christopher Creed by Carol Plum-Ucci

The Body of Christopher Creed by Carol Plum-Ucci

Christopher Creed was the kid at school that everyone knew, that everyone disliked, that everyone made fun of.  But that didn’t stop him from always  tagging along, irritating people, and just being weird. In fact, he was so annoying that he was beaten up all the time.   In fact, everyone had an  “I beat up Chris Creed” story or two to tell.  That’s just the way it was. Until Chris disappeared.  When he vanished without a trace there were lots of rumors:  he ran away from home, or he killed himself, or he was getting revenge, or someone killed him.  What does turn out to be true is that he sent the principal an e-mail before he disappeared, stating that he knew no one liked him, and that he would make it easy for everyone and simply remove himself from their lives.  It almost sounded like, a suicide note, but there was no body.

Torey Adams is one of the boys who picked on Christopher story, but readers quickly learn that he had nothing to do with the disappearance.  He doesn’t believe that Chris was murdered, so decides to do a little investigating on his own.  He’s joined in his search by Ali, Torey’s childhood friend who is also Chris’s neighbor, and Ali’s boyfriend, Bo, a “boon” (shorthand for boondocks) with a juvenile record.  Some clues the teens discover are that Chris’s mother completely controlled her son’s life, that Chris created a fantasy world in his diary, and that Chris actually envied  Torey.  The more Torey finds out about Chris, the more convinced he becomes that Chris didn’t kill himself, and that he will uncover the facts.

I really liked this book and think it’s a great choice for most high school readers, especially those looking for an engaging mystery.  There are lots of plot twists and turns, guaranteed to keep readers on the edge of their seats.

Beastly by Alix Flinn

Beastly by Alex Flinn

For sure, it’s another take on “Beauty and the Beast,” but Flinn brings something new to her story, by making the two main characters teenagers at an exclusive prep school in New York City. Junior Kyle Kingsbury is so superficial and downright mean to his fellow students, that readers won’t be too sad when a goth-looking witch turns him into a werewolf type beast. He slowly transforms into a caring, thoughtful human being with the help of his blind tutor, housekeeper, and Lindy, a scholarship student from his old school. The changes in him and his relationship with Lindy make the book hard to put down, despite the happy ending we all know is coming.

We’re posting this review again since the movie just came out a couple weeks ago.  It’s getting pretty decent feedback and below is a preview you can see from home:

The Gardener by S.A. Bodeen

The Gardener by S.A. Bodeen

This captivating book is an great start for readers who want to try science fiction, but don’t want to commit to the huge titles (500+ pages) that many of the well-known authors write. The Gardener tell the story of Mason, who lives with his mom in small town where everyone works for the local Biotech company, TroDyn Industries.  Although Mason’s mom used to be a scientist there, she now works in a TroDyn-owned nursing home, although the reasons for her career change have always been a mystery.  Mason’s father, who he’s never met, but listened to reading The Runaway Bunny of a DVD he takes everywhere, is/was also a TroDyn scientist.   When Mason tells him mom he wants to do an internship at TroDyn to earn money to help pay for Stanford, she reacts almost violently, refusing to even consider the possibility.

The action starts when Mason sneaks up to the sixth floor of his mom’s job and after confronting her about her history with TroDyn, finds a group of comatose teenagers, when all the while he thought his mother cared for the elderly.  He especially notices a beautiful platinum blond with dark brown eyes, whose skin seemed to glow with vitality.  She wakes up when he randomly plays his DVD of his father reading the children’s story, but seems to have some sort of amnesia.  “Don’t let the gardener find me,” is all she keeps saying, and Mason becomes determined to rescue her.  So starts the long chase, slowly giving out facts about Mason’s family, the “brain damaged” teenagers, and his parents involvement with the seemingly malevolent TroDyn Industries.  When readers realize that the bioengineering company is using these teens as part of some experiment to solve world hunger, they won’t be able to put the book down.

I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to SciFi fans and readers who like to ponder about our society and how we use/abuse our scientific knowledge.  At just over 200 pages, it’s a fast read that is perfect for a reluctant reader who might not want to commit to something more involved.

Room by Emma Donoghue

Room by Emma Donoghue

Room is the only world five-year-old Jack has ever known.  He lives in the 11 x 11 foot room with his Ma and has never left it. When Jack and Ma watch TV for an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening, Ma tells him the things he sees on it aren’t real, they’re just in TV world.  When Jack goes to bed at night, he sleeps in the wardrobe so he won’t be visible when Old Nick comes by at 9 o’clock to visit his Ma.  Although the story is told entirely from Jack’s perspective, the readers realize early on that Jack and Ma are captives and that Ma was kidnapped by Old Nick seven years earlier.  Somehow she has created a daily life for them that feels normal to Jack: eating their three meals, exercising, reading, cleaning, TV time.

But now that he’s five, Ma starts telling Jack about her life before the room, and explaining that most of the things they see on TV really do exist in the Outside.  At first Jack has difficulty imagining life outside the four wall which are all he’s ever known, but eventually Ma devises a risky escape plan that includes Jack as her hero and rescuer.

I really enjoyed this book and it haunted me for days after I read it.  I recommend to all readers who love a mystery and especially those who love realistic, gritty stories.

Rag and Bone Shop by Robert Comier

Rag and Bone Shop by Robert Comier

Although this is a thin book (less than 200 pages), I promise it will leaving you thinking about if long after you’re done.   Jason, who’s almost thirteen, is shy and has always been bullied at school.  When his seven-year-old neighbor girl is murdered, he’s shocked and horrified.  It’s especially scary because he was the last one known to have seen her alive.  He wants to do whatever he can to help find her killer, so when the police come to his house, he tells them everything he knows.  What Jason doesn’t realize is that Detective Trent has already decided in his mind that the teenager is the murderer.  And Trent is known for getting confessions out of suspects, and in fact, has never failed to get one.  The confrontation between these two at the climax of the book is terrifying, and shows what can happen when police pursue justice at any cost.

I really enjoyed this book and highly recommend it to all readers.  I could not get the ending out of my mind for day, and it made me wonder about how easy it is to manipulate young minds.  It would be especially perfect for fans of television police procedural, like CSI:Miami and Law & Order.

The Things a Brother Knows by Dana Reinhardt

The Things a Brother Knows by Dana Reinhardt

“I used to love my brother.

Now I’m not so sure.”

So begins this book, told to us in the first person perspective by seventeen-year-old Levi.  His older brother Boaz has just returned from serving in the Marine Corps for three years, fighting somewhere in the Middle East, in what Levi calls “some desert country half a world away.”  Levi’s Israeli-American family realize rather quickly that something’s wrong with Boaz, when he locks himself up in his room without even coming downstairs to eat.  Although the military screened Boaz when he finished his service and said he was fine, the family knows different and Levi refuses to just go along with everyone, knowing something is terribly wrong with his brother and wanting the sibling he knows back.

When Boaz takes off on a hiking journey, he will no longer ride in cars for some mysterious reason, Levi follows him, using a map the older brother has written notes on as a guide.  As they visit veterans and families on their  way to Washington, DC, Levi slowly learns the trauma Boaz has gone through in the Middle East.

I really loved this book.  It helped me understand what our troops overseas are going through and how some of them respond when they return.  It reminded me a little of the movie called The Messenger that came out last year.  I would recommend this to readers who like O’Brien’s Things They Carried, Walter Dean Myers’ Sunrise Over Fallujah or Fallen Angels, and Purple Heart by Patricia McCormick.

Wayback Wednesday – Acceleration

Acceleration by Graham McNamee

I chose to feature this book again because it’s one of the most popular ones when Ms.Goldstein-Erickson and I booktalk titles for classes.  It starts off with a bang and doesn’t let up until the end, a quality that guarantees its interest for teen readers.

Duncan has been forced by his dad to work in the Lost and Found department of the Toronto underground subway. Could it be more boring? Only his friend’s job at the Burger Barn sounds worse! But when he finds a journal written by what sounds like a serial killer in training, he can’t help but try to stop him. At first he tries to turn the book into the police, but they basically laugh at him, telling him the whole diary is part of some nut case’s imagination.

But Duncan can’t let it go. With his two best friends, he works on tracking down the killer before he is actually able to carry out his chilling plan. All I can say is that before the book is over, we get to see the killer’s torture chamber before he takes chasing Duncan, determined to make him his first victim.

I recommend this book to readers who like fast-paced mysteries and books that keep you on the edge of your seat.

The Vinyl Princess

The Vinyl Princess by Yvonne Prinz

When I found out this book was written by one of the co-owner/founders of Amoeba Records on College Avenue, I knew I had to give it a shot.  Believe me when I say that I was not disappointed.  This fun, light story is about Allie, who works at Bob & Bob Records on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley, an independent record store.  She’s a complete music fanatic, able to tell customers all about an artist, a particular CD or vinyl record, who that artist played with previously, their best songs…you get where I’m going with this.  Her vinyl collection is outstanding; having first choice of all the records and acquisitions at Bob & Bob’s makes her like a kid is a candy store.  Now that it’s summer, she’s there full time, and decides to spread the vinyl love by starting a Zine and a blog called Vinyl Princess.  She’s hoping to connect with other music fans, but isn’t really sure if they’re out there.

I like this book, even though the plot was not the most sophicated one I’ve read lately.  It did carry me along, but my favorite part was hearing about the music, artists, albums and songs Allie posted and wrote about on her blog and zine.  This is a sure winner for music fans.

The Body Finder

The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting

Violet Ambrose has always been able to “sense” animals and people who have died violently.  It’s not a gift she’s happy to have, and in fact, no one knows about it but her immediate family and her best friend Jay.  Finding a dead girl in the woods when she was only eight years old left her with nightmares for years.  As she begins her junior year, she realizes that her feelings for her best friend Jay have transformed into something more that best buddies, but she has no clue if he feels the same way.  In addition to this, a serial killer is stalking teenage girls in her rural community, and Vi and Jay actually stumbled across one of the bodies while jet skiing at an end-0f-summer lake party.  Of course, it wasn’t actually an accident, as Violet could sense the dead girl’s echo and it led her to the body in the shallow water near the lake’s shore.  So poor Violet has two huge issues: her blinding crush on Jay, and her need to help find the serial killer, who seems to be stepping up the timing of the murders and making it even harder for Vi’s parents to let her leave the house.

This engaging thriller moves along at a brisk pace, with spine-chilling chapters from the killer’s point of  view thrown in every once in awhile for extra creepiness.  I really enjoyed this book and recommend to anyone who likes horror, mystery and suspense books.  There are  a couple twists that really make the story unique.

Stolen

Stolen by Lucy Christopher

While this intriguing debut novel certainly kept me turning the pages, I also found it creepy and somewhat disturbing.  It is told from the first person perspective, as a letter written from sixteen-year-old Gemma to her kidnapper Ty.  He has drugged and abducted her from the Bangkok airport, where she was traveling with her parents on vacation, and takes her to a house he has built in the isolated Australian Outback.  There she discovers that the man in his mid-twenties has been stalking her for six years, and  says he loves her and would never hurt her.  Ty is determined to open her eyes to the beauty and mystery of the Outback.  If only she will cooperate with him, she will want to stay, he is convinced.

But Gemma is stronger than he realized, and fights back, eventually escaping and almost dying in the desert.  As he rescues her, she begins to see a new side of him that might counter the obsessive young man she thinks he is.

This was a difficult book more me to like, although I found it hard to put down.  Ty is portrayed fairly sympathetically, and Gemma’s eventual affection for me felt wrong.  Her psychologist talks about the Stockholm Syndrome, where captives eventually come to identify with their captors, but she doesn’t see herself as having this.  She continues to see Ty as misunderstood.  At the end, the question is whether or not she will testify against him in court to put him in prison.

Rebecca

Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier

Rebecca is a brilliant mystery written by the authoress Daphne du Maurier.   Several film versions of the book have been produced, the most famous being  Rebecca (1940), a “psychological thriller” by the celebrated Mr. Alfred Hitchcock. The story is about a deceased wife named Rebecca, who has died in a sailing accident on the shores of Manderley Hall. The story is told through the second wife of Maxim De Winter; we never learn what her name is. When she moves into Manderley with Maxim de Winter, she starts to feel the presence of his late wife, and at times, she feels as if she’s channeling Rebecca, as if she is Rebecca. She fears that Max’s love for her is not as strong as she wishes, but when Rebecca’s body is found, Max reveals a secret to her, which surprisingly brings the two together. I recommend this novel to people who enjoy drama, lots of suspense, and a little romance. But this is not a romance novel; in fact, it’s a little creepy at times! But that’s the fun of it.

Review by Myene T.Y. class of 2011

Leviathan

Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

In an alternate history of World War I, European powers are not split as much by political preferences as by their philosophies on progress: Germany and Austro-Hungary are known “Clanker” countries, and are powered by extraordinary machines. England, on the other hand, is a powerful “Darwinist” country, creating fantastic recombinant animals. The main characters each represent one of these powers: Deryn is an English girl, disguised as a boy to serve in her country’s air force, and Aleksandar is the only son of the Archduke Ferdinand, whose assassination started WWI. I was drawn to Leviathan largely on account of Deryn: “Without hesitation, without a thought of what Jaspert [her brother] had said about not drawing attention, and with the last squick of nerves in her belly gone, Deryn Sharp took one step forward. ‘Please, sir. I’d like to fly.’” (P. 33). The quick referral I gave to my friends went like this: “It’s a truly awesome Steampunk version of World War one, with giant flying beasts, a girl proving that there is no “weaker sex”, and it has really nice pictures now and then, as well!”

Letter Grade: A+ . The + was almost taken away on account of the sequel not available yet, but was brought back many times over by the amazing illustrations by Keith Thompson.

Stars, out of 5: 5

Written by Deirdre, class of 2012

Lovely Bones

Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

If you haven’t read this book yet, all I can say is that you must read it this year.  The movie based on it is opening today, and has gotten mixed reviews but the book is just wonderful.  It tells the story of Susie Salmon and starts like this: “My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973. My murderer was a man from our neighborhood. My mother liked his border flowers, and my father talked to him once about fertilizer.”  Fourteen-year-old Susie is narrating the story herself from heaven.  She watches as her family and friends, and even her murderer, deal with her tragic death and change over the next ten years.

Although this book sounds rather somber, Susie’s sense of hum0r, her own struggle adapting to the afterlife, and the injustice of her death will keep you interested until the last page.

Here is a link to the movie review from today’s San Francisco Chronicle.  From what I’ve read, the director decided to exclude certain events from the movie, which in my opinion, changes the story somewhat.  If you’ve read the book and seen the movie, add a comment to the blog telling how you think they compare.

Reality Check

Reality Check by Peter Abrahams

I almost abandoned this book after about 40 pages, and I’m so glad I picked it up again the next day.  This mystery novel has high school junior Cody Laredo at its center.  He used to be an amazing quarterback until he got benched for the season after a serious knee injury and the ensuing surgery.  Then his amazing girlfriend Clea is coerced by her rich father into going to a boarding school in Vermont, allegedly to increase her chances of getting into a school like Harvard.  Cody knows for sure that she’s brilliant enough to follow that path, but can’t help feeling like their relationship is the real reason her father wants her across the country from their small hometown of  Little Bend, Colorado. So with no football practice and no girlfriend (he broke up with her before she left), Cody completely loses interest in school and actually drops out.

Nothing means much to him until he sees the newspaper headline, “Local Girl Missing.”  Clea had just sent him a cryptic letter just the day before, and with that as he only clue, he head out to the Dover Academy in Vermont to try to find Clea.  The part of the letter that felt like some type of clue was:

“…Some of the kids are cool, some are snobby, some make me feel kind of hickish.  One or two I don’t like at all.  It’s hard to know who to trust sometimes.  Like rolling the dice–a cliche’ that turns out to have real meaning.   But that’s true everywhere–right?”

This book is the edge-of-your-seat thriller; I could not put it down until I finished it.  With lots of twists and turns, I guarantee it will keep you in suspense until the surprising conclusion.

Impossible

This is a professionally created book trailer for this title.

Those of you that know my reading habits, know that fantasy titles are not my favorites, but this book blew me away. It had mystery, romance, family issues and even a strange puzzle to solve. I give it a 10 out of 10 stars.

Raven’s Gate

Raven’s Gate by Anthony Horowitz

This is a great book for someone who love action movies with full Dolby sound blasting on a wide screen plasma TV. It is the first part of The Gatekeepers series and is full of action, excitement and twists. This installement begins the tale, and tells how Matt, and orphan from London, gets mixed up in an ancient Satanic plot to bring back some serious EVIL into the world. It starts off when he is busted trying to rob a warehouse with a supposed friend, and is given a choice between going to a juvenile detention facility and living with a Mrs. Deverill in the remote town of Lesser Malling. Can I just say that he should have chosen jail?

If you get engrossed by this book, try Horowitz’s Alex Rider books, available right here in the Berkeley High Library.

The Gunslinger by Stephen King

The Gunslinger by Stephen King

While I have to say this isn’t my favorite horror book, I can see why people are drawn to the Dark Tower series now. This book is the first in a series of seven, at at only about 300 pages, is remarkably short for this writer. Maybe that makes is a good place to start for a reader new to this author. This is the story of a Great Quest, that of Roland of Gilead for the Dark Tower. In the first installment of the series, he is chasing the Man in Black across the desert, sure that he knows how the gunslinger can find the Tower. This blend of fantasy and horror might just be the perfect book to start your summer reading!

This book and the entire series are currently on order for the library.