Cross My Heart and Hope To Spy by Ally Carter

Cross My Heart and Hope To Spy by Ally Carter

Before returning to her school, the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women, for spring semester, Cammie Morgan stops at CIA headquarters for interrogation. The agents question her about Josh, her ex-boyfriend, referred to as the “Subject.” Since Cammie’s school is a training ground for spies, with a cover story of being an exclusive boarding school for rich, snobby girls, the agents want to be sure Cammie and the school have not been compromised. After the semester starts, Cammie and her roommates overhear her mother telling the Covert Operations teacher something mysterious. The girls learn that boys from Blackthorne Institute, a training school for boy spies, will be going to school with them for spring semester. How they move from competing with each other to carrying out a cooperative mission becomes a real challenge, complete with suspicious behavior from many sources. This is the second book in the Gallagher Girls series, with humor and action aplenty! I am especially enjoying getting to know all the characters and look forward to seeing what happens in the next three books in the series.

Review by Ms. Goldstein-Erickson

Solitary: Escape From Furnace #2 by Alexander Gordon Smith

Solitary: Escape From Furnace #2 by Alexander Gordon Smith

Book one in this series ends with the cliffhanger of Alex trying to escape the Furnace Penitentiary by jumping into a raging river that he hopes flows to the surface.Unfortunately, it doesn’t and Alex and his surviving friend Zee are caught by the warden and his black-suited, demonic guards, and sentenced to 30 days in solitary confinement.  The real kicker is that no one has survived and kept his sanity for longer than seven days in these tiny, underground quarters.   To his shock, Alex finds out that he and Zee are not the only survivors beneath the prison.  In addition to the flesh-eating giant rats, three boys have also made their way into the subterranean caverns, and pin their hopes on Alex to help them escape.

If you can believe it, this book is even more graphic and gruesome than the first one and fans will be thrilled.  The pace is just as fast, jumping quickly from one harrowing escape to the next.  I recommend this book to fans of the first installment, Darren Shan addicts and all teen horror fans.  We also have multiple copies of the third and fourth titles in this series.

         

Ashes

Ashes by Ilsa J. Blick

This gripping book will not allow you to set it down.  Really.  While trying to  run away from her incurable brain cancer, seventeen-year-old Alex survives a series of electromagnetic pulses that end up killing off most of humanity.  She’s gone off into a national park alone to spread the ashes of her dead parents, and try to make some sort of peace with herself about dying.  She ends up with two traveling companions who are also alone from different circumstances–a bratty eight-year-old girl called Ellie and a young soldier named Tom.  This makeshift family will have to face the “changed,” humans left alive after the Pulse but who have been transformed into flesh-eating zombies.

This was an amazing book.  It’s action-packed plot will keep readers up late at night trying to find out what happens next.  Bick ‘s twist on the usual zombie story makes the story unusual, but similar enough to other apocalyptic stories like The Walking Dead  and  Forest of Hands and Teeth to easily please horror fans.  I recommend this to readers looking for an exciting thriller, zombie fans and horror fans.

Here’s a fan-made video trailer you can watch from home:

Trapped by Michael Northrop

Trapped by Michael Northrop

When the snow starts in the morning at the beginning of second period, Scotty Weems doesn’t think much about it. He’s more concerned with the opening home game of basketball season that night, since he’s a sophomore on varsity.  By third period, when the snow is getting heavier, students and teachers start paying more attention. Scotty’s best friend Pete is hoping for early dismissal because of the storm, but their friend Jason asks them to stay after school to help with his go-kart shop project, saying his father will pick them up. Even after early dismissal is announced, they decide to stay, since they’ll have the shop to themselves to work on the cart.  When Les Goddard, known as a thug and psycho, finds them in the shop, they all go to the hall where the only teacher is waiting with the seven students who are still there. No one’s cell phones and the only pay phone won’t work because of the storm, so they wait and watch the storm cover everything, including the roads. After the teacher goes for help, the seven students are left alone. Just when they think it won’t get worse, the power goes off.  As they try to work together to stay warm, they keep hoping someone will come. By the second day, with the storm still going, they realize they’re on their own. Scotty narrates how they try to find food and organize themselves, even as there’s no sign of any help coming.

Scotty narrates the details of their urgent situation, even as they try to stay hopeful in the face of serious and dangerous conditions.

Review by Ms. Goldstein-Erickson

Here’s a student-created video you can watch from school or home:

Lockdown: Escape From Furnace by Alexander Gordon Smith

Lockdown: Escape From Furnace  by Alexander Gordon Smith

If you’re looking for a fast-paced, hang on to the edge of your seat, scary and exciting book,  Lockdown is the title for you!  In simple, straight-forward prose, Smith tells the story of Alex, who is framed for the murder of his best friend and sent to the Furnace Penitentiary on a life sentence without parole.  Ever since teenaged gangsters went on killing rampage over what it now known as Summer of Slaughter, there has been a zero tolerance policy on youth crime.  When they built the maximum security, underground Furnace prison, the television news shows were full of shocking and fear-inducing pictures.  Even though Alex was a petty thief, he never believed he could end up there.

It turns out the Furnace is so much worse than anyone could imagine.  The boys are fed slop that’s made out of blended garbage.  The black-suited, giant-sized guards are incomparably cruel, willing to kill an inmate rather than put up with defiant attitudes.  There are huge skinless dogs, who when let loose on the inmates act like rabid animals before they eat the boy for lunch.  And the gangs…let’s just say that what they can no longer do the people outside the  prison they do with gusto inside the the unaffiliated inmates.  Worst of all are the seemingly inhuman creature with gas masks sewn to their faces who come out every so often at night and point to cells to select prisoners for some type of unspeakable experiments.

Alex knows he won’t last long, but somehow devises an escape plan with two of his fellow inmates.  Little does he know that it may cost him everything to execute the plan and try to leave the Furnace behind.  This is a great choice for teen readers, especially those who claim to have never read a “good” book but love action movies and video games.

The writer will be visiting Berkeley High  in February.  We’ll be inviting classes to come hear him talk.  Watch here for more news!

Watch this video book trailer from home:

Wither by Lauren DeStefano

Wither by Lauren DeStefano

In the dystopian future created by first time novelist DeStefano, scientists have used genetic engineering to cure all the world’s diseases.  The only problem is that after the first generation, all young men die at 25 years old and women die at 20.  Although most people live in poverty in what’s left of the large metropolises, the wealthy still exist in private guarded estates, secluded from everyone except the other affluent.  But they’re not exempt to the early death rate, so they hire “gatherers” to collect young women to marry to continue the human race.  Rhine, who lives in Manhattan with her twin brother Rowan, is kidnapped by the gatherers and finds herself a prisoner in a mansion, about to be married along with two other girls to  Linden Ashby, the weak twenty-year-old son of a  rich scientist.  But it is the father, Vaughn who really runs the family, intimidating the sister wives and servants, and lying to his son and the facts of their lives.  In the midst of all this, Rhine remains determined to escape, and enlists the help of the servant Gabriel, for whom she’s beginning to feel more than simple friendship.

I enjoyed this book, and wished it had focused more on the society, how it came about and what people were doing to fight against the oppression.  Since this is the first in the Chemical Garden Trilogy, I assume those aspects will be fleshed out in the next two volumes.  The book did keep me thoroughly engaged, and I especially appreciated the way the author took her time developing most of the characters.  I recommend this book to dystopia fans, Margaret Atwood fans, and science fiction readers.

Retaliation by Yasmin Shiraz

Retaliation by Yasmin Shiraz

This short novel will surely be a favorite of our Urban Drama fans.  It tells the story of two weeks in the life of Tashera, who is jumped by three girls on her way home from school in Washington, DC.  After the seventeen year old ends up in the hospital, her mother and brother Kahlil (a wheelchair-bound former gang member) swear vengeance, no matter what Tashera wants.  As the story unfolds, we realize the attack wasn’t as random as the family originally thought.  Somehow Tashera’s boyfriend Ahmed and his ex-girlfriend seem to be involved.  And Kahlil is getting his former gang associates to listen to him, as he feels the Deuce Tres crew is being disrespected by this attack.

This book is a roller coaster ride, one event spilling over into another, but there is never a dull moment.  I read it in one sitting, and imagine many teens will do the same.

The Long Walk by Stephen King

The Long Walk by Stephen King

This book tells the story of what happens to Ray Garraty when he volunteers and is selected the the Long Walk, which takes place each May 1.  In this national sport in the United States of the near future, one hundred teenaged boys walk at at least four miles per hour until the only one left standing is declared the winner.  As they stop, collapse or drop below the minimum speed, they get three warnings then are shot dead through the head by the soldiers who ride along near them in all-terrain vehicles.  Naturally the event is televised, and crowds line the road when the walkers are near towns and cities.

Writing as Richard Bachman, Stephen King feels a lot darker and more bleak as a writer.  The repetitiveness of the walking and the jibes between the contestants became a little slow for me a s a reader, but the book was voted as one of the favorite teen novels by the American Library Association published between 1966 and 2000.  I recommend this to horror buffs and Stephen King fans.

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

Hunger Games Movie!!!

Since this movie will finally be released on March  23, 2012, the company is sharing posters and other tidbits with us loyal fans.  (Anyone ready to stand over night in line with me???)

Here’s the official trailer from YouTube that you can watch from home:

Here’s a LINK to the official movie website.

And, finallyere are the posters:

Bedbugs by Ben H. Winters

Bedbugs by Ben H. Winters

Reading this book will probably give you the creeps and make you start scratching yourself; it sure did with me.  The beginning of the story is pretty typical for a horror novel: a couple finds a great apartment that’s got everything they need, in a good neighborhood, and for rent that’s way less than it should be.  But, as it turns out, the brownstone apartment in Brooklyn IS too good to be true!  Susan, an artist and stay-at-home mom, becomes convinced that their apartment is infested with bedbugs, but neither the celebrity exterminator or her doctor can find any evidence of this.  As the book continues, readers, along with the husband Alex, begin to wonder if it’s all in Susan’s imagination,or if there really is a bug problem.  Just keep in mind that everyone may not really be the way they seem; as the saying goes: looks can be deceiving!

Despite the repulsive and disturbing  subject of bedbugs, this book kept me on the edge of my seat during the entire reading.  I really appreciated the ending, because it was not at all what I was expecting!  I highly recommend this to horror fans, aged fourteen and older.

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

The Plague by Michael Grant

The Plague by Michael Grant (Gone #4)

This fourth installment of Grant’s Gone series, following the addictive Gone, Hunger and Lies.  Fans of the series will not be disappointed in this new title.   Sam and friends and Caine and his crew are alive and well, and still fighting against each other.  The overarching plot theme in this book is a terrible flu which is killing off the kids on the mainland, one even Lana the healer is unable to cure.  Readers learn right at the beginning the evil power the book calls Darkness is alive and well, and still living deep in the old, abandoned mine.  An this time, Darkness has made its way into Little Pete’s brain.  No good will come of this, as you can imagine.

This book is as gripping and as action-packed as its predecessors.  I wish there had been a little more review of the past books in the beginning, so help readers remember or clue in new readers.  A lot of plot points and important characterization has occurred and new and continuing readers alike would benefit from some type of synopsis in a prologue.  Despite this very minor flaw, I found this book to be great fun and recommend it to all teen readers.

The Unidentified by Rae Mariz

The Unidentified by Rae Mariz

Taking our corporate culture to a frightening conclusion, this book’s protagonist Kid goes to high school in a converted shopping mall.  There are no teachers, but the students learn by playing various games and moving up through the levels.  They each have an “intouch” device, which is like an super iPhone, that keeps track of everything they do and everywhere they go in “The Game,” as school is now called.  Social networking is also constant, with the kids always aware of the what the people the “follow” are doing, wearing, eating, playing, etc.  The whole time, corporate sponsors are watching the teenagers, developing new products and signing them to endorsement contracts, the ultimate prize for many of them.  Kid knows something is off about this whole system,but it’s not like she has any choice in the matter.  The plot gets really interesting when a fringe group calling themselves the Unidentified host an anti-corporation prank, that captures Kid’s attention.  While trying to figure out who they are and what they believe in, she is noticed by one of the larger corporations and “branded,” becoming a trendspotter for their development team.  The story also involves a love triangle, but that is almost an aside,taking the back seat to the themes of loss of identity, corporate influence and loss of privacy.

I recommend this book to readers who like dystopias, social networking, futuristic stories and science fiction.  It’s a fast read and certainly reflects the directions our culture seems to be taking.

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

The Compound by S. A. Bodeen

The Compound by S. A. Bodeen

Fifteen-year-old Eli has been in an isolated, underground bunker since the nuclear war hit Earth six years ago.  His millionaire father had always been paranoid about a nuclear holocaust, and the multimillionaire spent years secretly building the shelter.  When the bomb hit, Eli’s twin brother Eddy and their grandmother didn’t make it to the bunker on time, and ended up dying in the nuclear holocaust.  Eli has never gotten over the guilt of feeling this was his fault, and has become increasingly isolated and hostile towards his parents and two sisters during the past six years.  Even though Eli’s father seemed to have planned meticulously for their supplies to last for the fifteen years it would take for the outside air to be safe to breathe again, certain supplies seem to be running low.  And Eli’s father has been planning some gruesome, if not depraved methods for them to be able to survive the next nine years.  Eli, his mother and his sisters are beginning to wonder if they are better off in this “prison” than they would be taking their chances with the nuclear fallout.

I found this book to be really interesting, if not somewhat bleak.  Even though the main character Eli is extremely unsympathetic, readers will find themselves rooting for him as he tries to make sense of the inconsistencies he begins to discover in his father’s behavior and planning.  Although the ending will not come as a complete surprise to careful readers, it was satisfying and definitely worth readers’ time.  I recommend this book to teens looking for a fast, compelling read, science fiction and suspense fans, and readers who enjoyed Bodeen’s other book, The Gardener.

Divergent by Veronica Roth

Divergent by Veronica Roth

Being “Divergent” may be a death sentence for 16-year-old Beatrice Prior.  In her dystopian Chicago of the future, there are five distinct groups of citizens, all with different characteristics and purposes in her world.  She is a member of Abnegation (the selfless), but the other factions she can choose to become an initiate in are Candor (the honest), Amity (the peaceful), Erudite (the intelligent) and Dauntless (the brave).  As the novel opens, Beatrice is about to take the national aptitude test, which will tell her which group she “belongs in,” but she still gets to choose for herself.  The catch is that if she doesn’t choose her parents’ group Abnegation, she probably won’t ever see them again as the factions don’t mix much.  The worst part is that her test results come back inconclusive, upsetting the tester, who tells her she is “divergent,” but won’t give her any more information about what the term means.  In fact, the proctor falsifies the results to read that Beatrice would fit best in her family’s faction, Abnegation.  Despite this, Beatrice takes the bold step of choosing to become a Dauntless initiate at the Choosing Ceremony the next day, shocking her parents and the rest of the audience.  As she begins her Dauntless training, Tris (as she now calls herself) finds out  exactly how violent, vengeful and ruthless her new faction really is. Will she be one of the ten out of the twenty trainees invited to stay, or will she be cast out, factionless and basically homeless for the rest of her life?

This book reminded me a lot of the Hunger Games trilogy, which many readers are comparing it to.  Since the Dauntless faction members are brave and the defenders of the world, their training is extremely violent, and readers need to be prepared for graphic gore.  In spite of the amount of violence and killing, none of it feels gratuitous or unnecessary.  This is the first in a trilogy, and I’m sure readers will be waiting breathlessly for the follow-up book.  Fans of  Science Fiction, and dystopias in general and Hunger Games  will especially love this new series.

Leverage by Joshua C. Cohen

Leverage by Joshua C. Cohen

At Oregrove High, nobody messes with the football team!  When the gymnastics team wants to use the weight room and humiliates the football players in a strength contest, a war of pranks starts between the two teams that escalates until one of the youngest gymnasts is raped by three steroid-fueled football players.  The horrendous act is witnessed by two boys: Danny, a gymnast stuck behind some mats in the back of the storage room and Kurt, a fullback transfer student who beats up the three sick athletes, but has his own history with abuse.  The book is narrated in alternating chapters by these two characters, who could be more different, but eventually become friends.  The suspense of who to tell about the rape or what to do about it kept me on the edge of my seat until the end of the story.

I think this was a great book and recommend it to all mature high school readers. It is dark and realistic, touching on the current hot topic of bullying in a very realistic way.  It gets quite graphic and also has strong language, but both fit perfectly within the context of the story.  I give it 5 stars out of five!!!

The Marbury Lens by Andrew Smith

The Marbury Lens by Andrew Smith

This disturbing, yet addictive story would not let me go until  I finished the book.  In one long sitting, yes.  It is the story of sixteen-year-old Jack, who is kidnapped and nearly raped by an insane man on the night before he is to leave for a vacation in Great Britain with his best friend Conner.  Although he narrowly escapes the next morning, when he and Conner (the only person Jack tells about the traumatic ordeal) accidentally run into the abuser, Conner encourages Jack to take back control of his life, leading to terrible consequences.

Later, when Jack is getting settled in to his London hotel, he meets a stranger in a pub who gives him a mysterious pair of glasses.  Looking through the glasses leads him to Marbury, an alternative world at war where Jack is responsible to two younger boys, Ben and Griffin.  It is a cold, heartless realm with the three boys on the constant run from cannibalistic creatures bent on finding and killing them.  Try as he might, Jack can’t stop himself from putting on the purple glasses and entering Marbury, where eventually he sees his best friend Connor, only he is one of the roving monsters trying to kill Jack, Ben and Griffin.

This book is raw, gritty, bloody and has strong language.  Although it might not be for all readers, I could not put it down I was so engrossed in Jack’s dilemmas.   I recommend it to readers who like alternative universes; gritty, relentless violence; and fans of dark horror like Stephen King and John Saul.

Here is a book trailer you can watch from home:

City of Beasts Trilogy by Isabel Allende

                   

City of the Beasts

When his mother falls ill and has to get special treatment in Texas, 15 year old Alex leaves his home in California to stay with his no-nonsense grandmother in New York City. As soon as he arrives he is on another plane with his grandmother, on the way to Brazil, where she has a magazine assignment investigating reports of a creature like the Yeti (abominable snowman).  Their group travels inland with a local guide and his daughter Nadia, with whom Alex becomes friends. Their search involves local natives, army officers and a wealthy businessman, all of whom have motives for either finding or protecting local lands and creatures. Alex and Nadia’s adventures involve physical danger and mystical experiences. This book is the first title in a trilogy by this famous author, and meets the requirements for a World Lit book.

 Kingdom of the golden dragon

Alex Cold and his friend Nadia travel with Alex’s grandmother Kate to the Forbidden Kingdom, a country in Asia near Nepal and Tibet, when she has an assignment for a magazine story. At the same time an international criminal is plotting to steal the Kingdom’s legendary Golden Dragon, a priceless treasure. Alex, Nadia and Kate are drawn into the plot when Kate is kidnapped along with local girls as a diversion from the real objective. From the very beginning, when we meet the Kingdom’s crown prince and his lama mentor, I was hooked into this story by the exciting plot, the characters and the mystery of the criminal’s identity. Like the first book in the author’s trilogy, this meets the requirements for a World Lit book.

 Forest of the pygmies

Alex Cold, his friend Nadia and Alex’s grandmother Kate, a writer for an international magazine, are on an elephant-led safari in Africa when a Catholic missionary asks them to help him find some missing colleagues. After their plane crashes in a remote area, they travel on foot to find the place where the missionaries were last seen. They discover a village where both local Bantus and Pygmies are held as slaves to an all-powerful king, a ruling commandant and a mysterious sorcerer. Faced with the threat of being fed to a pool of crocodiles, Alex and Nadia have to find a way to free the local people and escape. The plot included exciting events and mysterious characters; I really wanted to know what would happen next! Like the first two books in the author’s trilogy, this meets the requirements for a World Lit book.

Reviews by Mrs. Goldstein-Erickson

Accomplice by Eirann Corrigan

Accomplice by Eirann Corrigan

Determined to make themselves stand out in the hyper-competitive college application process, high school juniors Finn and Chloe concoct a scheme to stage Chloe’s disappearance. She’ll be hiding in Finn’s grandma’s basement for about two weeks, then Finn will stage a rescue and they’ll both be media darlings.  At least this is their plan…  Of course, things rarely go as smoothly as we hope, even though the two best friends think they have planned for any kind of complications.  Finn is the one who has to face CNN, her friends and the community, keeping a straight face all the while acting bereaved about Chloe.  As Finn’s lies become more overwhelming, she finds herself isolated from everyone, even Chloe during her occasional visits to her in the basement.  Then Chloe’s friend Dean is accused of the kidnapping, and only the two girls know the real truth.  Readers will begin asking themselves if even the truth can save the situation Finn finds herself in after Chloe’s “rescue.”

What I enjoyed about this book was that is was told in the first person perspective from Finn’s point of view.  We feel all her tension, guilt and anxiety as the situation gets nearly intolerable for her.  The writer does an amazing job of depicting these two girls, who even though they are best friends, are very different emotionally.  The end has a small twist, which left me haunted for days.

I recommend this book to readers looking for a suspense novel or a realistic teen title.

Virals by Kathy Reichs

Virals by Kathy Reichs

Kathy Reichs, the writer of the TV show Bones, enters the YA arena with the first book in a new series.  Tory Brennan has recently moved in with the father she has never known, after her mother was killed by a drunken driver.  They live on a remote island off the South Carolina coast, which is owned by the university for which her scientist dad works.  She and her three best friends, all science geeks, are out exploring a “deserted” building in the university compound, when they discover a caged wolf-dog pup, who they learn by reading the cage’s tags has been exposed to a form of Parvovirus.  While trying to solve the mystery of the virus exposure, since the university is opposed to animal testing, they run into a cold case murder mystery, dating back from the Vietnam War era.  Although Tory knows humans are immune to the Parvovirus, their rescued pup has  been infected with an experimental strain, which they learn has very unexpected effects on the four of them—heightened senses and super human strength and speed.  The group quickly becomes the target of some killers, while their virus and murder mysteries begin to unravel themselves and make sense.

Readers looking for a fast-paced, action-packed suspense story will love this book.  Reichs brings her own knowledge of forensic science into the story, making it the perfect choice for fans of her TV show Bones, the CSI series and other police procedurals.

Cryer’s Cross by Lisa McMann

Cryer’s Cross by Lisa McMann

This creepy horror story will keep you on the edge of your seat until the startling conclusion.  Kendall lives in the tiny town of Cryer’s Cross, so small her high school is just one room with twenty-four students!  When a quiet, ninth grade girl disappears, the town is devastated, but when Kendall’s boyfriend Nico becomes the second missing person, she becomes drawn into the paralyzing fear overtaking the community.  Add to this the fact that Kendall has OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder), and the readers see her brain working overtime to stay on this side of sanity.  When Kendall starts hearing what sounds like voices of the two missing students coming out of the ancient, battered school desk they both used, she’s afraid she’s finally toppled over the edge.  Although it’s hard not to suspect that the handsome new student Jacian is involved, he and his sister eventually become Kendall’s allies in trying to uncover the secrets the town has been hiding for years.

I really enjoyed this story and found McMann’s writing compelling.  She tells it in the present tense, so the readers feel like they’re going through all the terror and drama right along with Kendall and her friends.  I even went and picked up McMann’s Wake trilogy (which we DO have) after finishing this edgy ghost story.  I recommend this to all horror fans, readers who liked the Wake series, and anyone looking for a quick read you won’t be able to set down.

Here’s a video book trailer made by one of my online library friends: