Book Review: Insignia by S.J. Kincaid

I have never been a Sci-Fi girl.  You can ask anyone.  I have enjoyed fantasy, horror, chick lit, and mystery, but I could never get into Sci-Fi.  The most I can do is alternate futures, maybe a little time travel, but once you get into space or tech-y stuff, my eyes glaze over and I turn into a vegetable.  It is not pretty.  So, when I got a copy of this from Junior Library Guild I just placed it to the side.  However, as I began reading reviews, I decided to give it a go.  Why not?  If I do not like it, I can put it back on the shelf...
Well, let me tell you, I was pleasantly surprised by this book.  It is the future, and the world is at war (World War III).  The war is fought in space - there are lots of resources there and no inhabitants.  Countries are tied to businesses, and the businesses fund the war - they want to get the resources from the planets and use them to bolster their bottom line.  Giant cruisers do all of the fighting, but they ar controlled by pilots here on earth. 
The protagonist, Tom, is a squirrelly guy who can't seem to do anything right - except play video games.  The government recruits Tom to train in their academy so that he can eventually become a pilot of one of the great space ships. Tom must face many demons, some in human form, others in his head, in order to survive his first year and graduate to the next level of training.
This is a great start to the series, and I cannot wait to see how Tom will grow and develop - I am also excited to see how his relationship with Medusa develops!

The False Prince by Jennifer Nielsen

I ordered this book for the library after I read some great reviews on it, and, I must say, it was FANTASTIC!  It is a tale of a boy named Sage - an orphan and a theif - who is selected by a noble as a part of a secret plan to save the country.  The royal family has been killed, and unless the long lost heir to the throne is located, there will be a civil war.  The nobleman, Conner, has devised a plan to find a young man to impersonate the missing prince and become a puppet king, thus saving the country from certain war.  Sage is selected based on his looks, but he is anything other than princely.  For two weeks he must compete against other boys to determine who could transform into the Prince.  Whoever is the closest match gets to reign as a puppet king; the losers must be kept quiet at all costs.

This is a fast paced book with great action and a wonderfully flawed main character.  Sage is a good kid on a rough road.  He must find a way out of his dreary life, and, although Conner can give that to him if he is selected as the False Prince, he is unsure if that is the best way out of his situation.  He knows that the other boys are his rivals, but he also helps them out when it matters most.

This is a great read for fantasy enthusiasts, but I have also given it to some of my more reluctant readers (not that they can't read, they just do not like to do it.).  I can hardly wait for the next installment in this exciting trilogy!

Welcome back!

Hello, all!
I hope everyone had a fantastic break!  I cannot wait for another year of great teen lit!  Check back often as I will catch you guys up on some great reads!

Book Review: The Emerald Atlas by John Stephens

Oh my gosh, gosh, giddy-gosh! 
I just finished The Emerald Atlas by John Stephens yesterday, and I must admit, I was impressed.  Try to stay with me here, this is going to get complicated...
Imagine three siblings who are torn from their parents at quite a young age to be shuffled from orphanage to orphanage for ten years.  What keeps them going is the promise that their mother made to Kate, the oldest:  they will come back for them. 
When the three are sent to an old, run down mansion in Cambridge Falls, they think they have hit rock bottom.  There are no other children at the orphanage - in fact, there are no children anywhere.  The landscape is barren, the people are openly hostile, and the weather is abominable.  While exploring the old mansion, the students come across a mysterious book - one that can transport them to different times in history.  They are immediately sent back in time 15 years, and Cambridge Falls is completely different.  The landscape is beautiful and the mansion is gorgeous.  The children of the town have all been taken hostage by an evil witch who will stop at nothing to find the mysterious book - the one that just brought Kate and her siblings back to the past!  Kate must figure out a way to save her brother and sister, the town, the children, and find out where her parents are located all without the witch taking possession of the book.  She does not get all of these tasks accomplished, but three out of four ain't bad! There will definitely be sequals!
There is action, adventure, magic, monsters, and even dwarves!!  I found the book to be entertaining and an easy read.  I have already recommended it to some of my fantasy kiddos, and I hope they come back with raving reviews!

Reorganizing the Library Part Deaux

Hello, all!
I forgot to mention that I completed the ficiton re-org that I began at the beginning of the year!  Okay, it was actually completed a couple of months back, but I did not update you on the progress.  We decided on five genres that would best fit our library - general fiction, suspense (which includes mystery and horror), graphic novels, sports fiction, girl's favorites (chick lit.), fantasy, sci-fi, adventure, historical fiction and classics. 
The neat part is now I know what the kiddos here enjoy most.  Fantasy.  Fantasy!  I would have told you it was suspense, but nope, Fantasy.  The top three are Fantasy, Girl's Lit, and Suspense.  My least looked at genre is historical ficiton.  Now I know I need to start creating displays highlighting that genre - there are some real gems in there!!
I have posted some pictures of the library, so you can see examples.


An example of Girl's favorites



Fantasy - the school favorite!

Suspense - notice the Darren Shan alongside Willo Davis Roberts

My chart to let kiddos know what the colors mean

The "map" of the shelves so students can navigate their way

Book Review: I Am A Genius Of Unspeakable Evil And I Want To Be Your Class President

While shopping for books to place on the cornucopia of knowledge that is my library shelf, I wandered across this title.  I must admit, I was intrigued.  I began reading reviews ingratiated with phrases such as "laugh out loud funny" and "comedic writing at its best".  Now I was doubly intrigued.  So, I did it.  I bought the book along with countless others that I hoped would grab the attention of my adolescent readers.  Truth be told, I really wanted to read it because I thought, "If the title is this good, imagine what is on the inside!"  In four-to-six weeks the book arrived, and I immediately began reading it.  I was not disappointed.  The book follows the exploits of young evil genius Oliver, who hides his astounding intellect with astounding oafishness.  His mother provides unconditional love, and he loves her right back.  His dog, Lollipop, has been trained in the Basque language so that when Oliver gives her commands like "Kill" or "Maim", people think he is just speaking gibberish.  At school, Oliver gets enjoyment by messing with teacher's heads - he owns a cigarette company, so he has them print messages on his teacher's cigarettes like "take a bath" or "use deoderant".  Kids that try to pick on him generally get hit with some kind of chemical that makes them break out into a mass of pimples or suddenly find themselves with some sort of mysterious rash. 
Oliver has billions of dollars, owns major corporations, and even has his own private blimp, but the one thing he does not have is his father's approval.  Oliver decides that he will gain his father's approval as well as bring his self-rightousness down a notch by running for 7th grade class president.
Oliver must figure out how to run for class president against a worthy-enough-to-run-but-not-worthy-enough-to-win opponent, overthrow a dictator, survive an assassination attempt, and maintain his idiotic demeanor all at the same time.  And, oh yeah, figure out his feelings for the evil junior high "mean girl".
Part of the book gets to be a bit preachy about the democratic process, and it does poke jabs at some of the characteristics of our elected leaders, but overall it was a good read.
The book is hilarious, but I think some of the material might be over many of my students' heads. I have recommended it to my hard-core higher level readers, most of who, have stated they "thought it was funny."  As far as middle schoolers go, that's high praise!

The Seven Realms Series

Hello, all!

I have been neck-deep in series over the last month!  Since the Hunger Games movie came out, I re-read the series to refresh my memory.  I also got hooked on The Seven Realms Series by Cinda Chima.  This is a hard-core fantasy with just the right amount of action, romance, and strong characterization to make any teen reader happy.  It begins with The Demon King.  In this novel, a reader is introduced to the principals, Raisa ana'Marianna - the future queen of the Fells and Han Alister - a streetwise ex-thug who is trying to live his life on the right path.  You are also introduced to various other delectable characters - the Bayers (evil wizarding family), Dancer (Han's clan born best friend), and Amon Byrne (the nauseatingly good soldier/friend of Raisa).  Han and Dancer run into Micah Bayer on the fields of Hanalea when the latter is illegally using a wizard medallion to set fire to the mountain.  Han takes away the medallion so that Micah cannot use it against him, and this sets off an unlucky chain of events.  Han discovers that this medallion belonged to the Demon King, the most evil wizard of all, who destroyed the world a thousand years ago.  The Bayers hunt Han in order to retrieve the very powerful medallion, and they stop at nothing, destroying everything Han loves, in order to get it. 
Raisa, in the meantime, is doing everything a shallow royal does at the age of 16 - kissing boys, arguing with her mother, and being a general nuisance.  When her long time friend, Amon, returns from the military academy, she discovers that there is more to life than just dating.  There is a war in the south, the relationship between the Clans and the wizards is reaching a boiling point, and her mother, the queen, has turned a deaf ear to everyone except the powerful head of the Bayer family, Gavan.  As the Queen falls deeper under the spell of Gavan Bayer, Raisa realizes that the only way to protect her country is to escape it and be free of the clutches of her mother and Gavan. 
Book two (The Exiled Queen) follows Han and Raisa (now known as Rebecca to hide her true identity) in school.  Han has become a wizard while Rebecca is hiding in the military school.  They must each find their place among their peers if they are to help their loved ones and country to survive the certain war that is coming.  
Finally, in book three (The Gray Wolf Throne) Raisa returns to The Fells and she has brought her own trusted friends to help guide her during this tumultuous time – Amon, the captain of her guard, the guard, and Han Alister, her wizard friend who has his own secrets.  When Raisa reclaims the throne, she faces several challenges from the wizards, the Clans, and from outside forces bent on controlling her kingdom.  Raisa foils several assassination attempts and must prove to everyone that she can handle the throne. 
This is a fast-paced series that I could not put down!  Raisa begins as a vapid teen but grows into a strong heroine.  Han begins as a guy trying to make an honest life for himself, but at every turn something awful happens, and he is pulled to the dark side (a la Darth Vader).  Amon is ever-noble as Raisa’s captain, but he secretly longs for her.  And Micah; I have no idea what to make of Micah.  Is he good?  Is he bad?  Han certainly does not like him, and Raisa has every reason not to trust him, but it could very well be he is less like a Bayer than everyone believes.  
I cannot wait for the final installment, The Crimson Crown, so that I can get some closure!  I have loved all three books so far, and I am sure the next will not disappoint!!