The Luck of the Buttons, by Anne Ylvisaker (2011)

Tugs Button darted past Zip's Hardware, stumbled over the lunch specials sign at Al and Irene's Luncheonette, and pushed through the door of Ward's Ben Franklin as if the devil himself were chasing her.

It isn't easy being a Button.  Family always comes first in this clumsy, luckless family. 

Tugs Ester Button lives in a small Iowa town called Goodhue.  In 1929, this town is so small it doesn't even have a local newspaper anymore.  No one is even surprised about this until a stranger comes to town.

"Harvey Moore, bringing progress to Iowa one town at a time." 

Tugs isn't too sure about Mr. Moore.  The longer he stays in Goodhue, the more suspicious Tugs becomes.

Twelve year old Tugs is an only child, but her family insists she always play with her 11-year old cousin, Ned.  This includes the most important event of the year: three-legged race at the Independence Day celebration. 

And popular Aggie Millhouse wants to be her friend.  Aggie wants to be Tugs's partner in the three-legged race.  She even invited Tugs to her birthday party.

"Are you sure you're invited?" whispered Mother Button as Tugs laced her boots.

Tugs's one place of comfort is in the public library, where she looks up words in the enormous dictionary on a small table on a high pedestal.  Miss Lucy, the librarian, is the most exotic person Tug has ever known.

"The Independence Day patriotic essays are due tomorrow," Miss Lucy said.  "How is yours coming?"

Tugs writes about President Hoover and progress.  As soon as she finishes her essay, she feels shy and drops it in the trash can, hoping Miss Lucy will fetch it from the can.

When Tugs sees an advertisement for the Independence Day Picnic Raffle, she realizes she really wants a brand new Brownie Camera.

"It's the best raffle prize ever, if you ask me."

Tugs's luck begins to change.  First, she and Aggie win the three-legged.  Then she wins the essay contest.  And finally she wins one of the cameras. 

Can you really change your luck?  Is it worthwhile to hope for something better?  Is Tugs a likeable person?  Can one 12-year old girl stop something terrible from happening to the people of Goodhue?  The Luck of the Buttons is a delightful read.  You cannot read this book and NOT cheer out loud for Tugs Button!  ☺

Rating:  10 out of 10 stars

This book is not at NOLS...yet!

The Dark and Hollow Places, by Carrie Ryan (2011)

The city used to be something once.  I've seen pictures of the way it gleamed - sun so bright off windows it could burn your eyes.

Winter.  Dark City, once known as New York City, is dying. 

Annah lives in Dark City, waiting for Elias' return.  He's been gone for three long years with the Recruiters.  Annah is a survivor in a dangerous place.  Annah is covered with physical and emotional scars.

It's haunted me.  Tormented me.  It's who I am:  the girl who left her sister behind in the Forest of Hands and Teeth.

Catcher finds Annah in Dark City. 

"Because I promised Elias I'd find you," he finally says.

He has brought Gabry with him.

When Gabry and Catcher travelled to Dark City, they passed a horde, awakening thousands and thousands of Mudo.  Unconsecrated.  Plague rats.  Catcher and Gabry hurried to Dark City to save Annah from the horde.  Millions of plague rats are about to overtake the city.

Catcher is Immune, and the Recruiters need him for their survival.  Catcher can gather supplies and food for the inhabitants on Sanctuary.

"Remember this:  Catcher is what matters.  You're just ancillary to that end."

Annah finds the map room, what's left of the world.  Black push pins mean there's nothing; overrun by the dead. 

I stare at the wall, eyes traveling from pin to pin.  Almost all of them are black.  "That can't be right," I say.  The entire country - the entire world - is covered with black pins.

Annah is filled with questions.  What makes us alive?  What is the difference between the living and the Unconsecrated? 

"That's the question, isn't it?  What's life and what's existence?"

Carrie Ryan's third book in the Forest of Hands and Teeth series is equally as exciting as the others.  The relationships the characters have, the morals they follow will resonate with most young adults.  The imagery is, as always, absolutely delicious.  The scene where Annah is in the subway tunnels at the end of the book is gripping.

Rating:  10 out of 10 stars
*violence, religion

To check this book out at NOLS, click HERE!

The Dead-Tossed Waves, by Carrie Ryan (2010)

The story goes that even after the Return they tried to keep the roller coasters going. 

Unconsecrated.  Mudo.  The monsters who are infected, dead, and Returned.  They hunger to rip through your flesh, to infect you.

Gabrielle, or Gabry, and her mother live in the sea town of Vista, far from the Protectorate.  They live in a lighthouse, protecting Vista from the Mudo that wash upon the shore.  They have a quiet life. 

I like to think that somewhere out there is a girl like me who stands in the night and wonders what else exists in the world but who is too terrified to find out. 

As a child, Gabry was proud of her mom's courage, but as she got older, Gabry was embarrassed because her mother didn't quite fit in; her mother grew up in the Forest of Hands and Teeth.

One night Gabry follows some friends over the Barrier to the ruins of an amusement park.  The Barrier separates Vista from the ruins, protects the town from the Mudo.  Gabry is terrified, she's never done anything like this before.  But Catcher makes her feel safe.

Suddenly a breaker runs towards them.  In a mass of confusion, two friends are dead, three are infected and two are missing.  Catcher begs her to leave the ruins, to run home to safety.

"Please, Gabry" is all he says.

"For me," Catcher adds.

Gabry decides to run, leaving her friends to face the wrath of the Militia and the Council.  This one decision fills Gabry's life with many "ifs" and "should haves" - if she would have done this, she should have done that.  Gabry also learns secrets about her past.  Secrets about her mother's past.  Secrets about the Return.  She meets Elias, a Souler, and everything Gabry once knew, changes.  Gabry learns too well that every choice has a consequence.

If I could choose the life I would have wanted to lead, which one would I pick?

The companion novel to The Forest of Hands and Teeth is terrifyingly delicious.  The imagery is rich, the characters are strong, and the plot is filled with twists and turns. 

Rating:  10 out of 10 stars
*violence, religion

To check this book out at NOLS, click HERE!


Next:

Rip Tide, by Kat Falls (2011)

Easing back on the throttle, I slowed the submarine's speed.  The light-streaked ocean around us seemed vast and empty, but I knew better.  We were heading into the biggest trash vortex in the Atlantic. 

Fifteen year-old Gemma has been living with almost sixteen year-old Ty Townsend and his family in their subsea home in Benthic Territory for three months.  While diving in the biggest trash gyre in the Atlantic, Ty finds a township, home to at least four or five hundred people.  Although most townships stay on the ocean's surface, this township, Nomad, was anchored and the hatches were chained shut from the outside.


Everyone on board was dead.

Settlers in Benthic Territory are now allowed to pay their property taxes in cash instead of in produce, and Ty's parents have made a deal to see their crops to a surf township, Drift.  All of the settlers are nervous.  Perhaps the rumors about the ruthlessness of the surfs are true...

When Ty's parents meet Drift's sachem, Hadal, Ty suddenly realizes the danger.

"Pa!" I hollered as I took aim at Hadal. 

"They've got your surrounded!"

Ty's parents are taken.

Gemma is terrified of the ocean, and she moves to the Trade Station.  She is paralyzed by fear when she's in the ocean.

Three townships have disappeared in the past nine months.  Can Ty and Gemma save his parents?  Can they find the missing townships before their sunk beneath the sea?  Can Gemma live in the sea with Ty and his family?

Rip Tide is an excellent second book to this series.  If you like creative action and adventure books, you'll really enjoy this read.

Rating:  9 out of 10 stars

This book isn't at NOLS...yet!

Weedflower, by Cynthia Kadohata (2006)

This is what it felt like to be lonely:

1. Like everyone was looking at you.  Sumiko felt this once in a while.
2. Like nobody was looking at you.  Sumiko felt this a lot.
3. Like you didn't care about anything at all.  She felt this maybe once a week.
4. Like you were just about to cry over every little thing.  She felt this about once daily.

Twelve year-old Sumiko and 6 year-old brother live with their uncle and his family.  Together they grow carnations and kusabana (weedflowers) in southern California.  Sumiko dreams of having her own flower shop when she's an adult.

It is December 1942.  The United States has an oil embargo on Japan because Japan signed a pact with Germany and Italy.

After Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, everything changes for Sumiko, her family, and all Japanese Americans on the West Coast.  They have to destroy anything they own that is "Japanese" - photos, souvenirs, heirlooms, letters.  The FBI arrested community leaders and Issei, first generation Japanese Americans.  Sumiko's grandfather and her uncle were arrested and taken to a prison camp in North Dakota.

In three months 2,000 Nikkei were arrested without being charged with a crime. 

Five months after Pearl Harbor, Sumiko and her family have to evacuate their home and farm.  Before Sumiko left, she found a special strain of kusabana that her uncle had developed, the Sumiko Strain. 

Sumiko arrives in Poston, Arizona.  Her family is assigned to live in Camp Three in the Colorado River Relocation Center on a Mohave Indian reservation.  They were told that they weren't in jail; they're doing their patriotic duty, supporting the war by staying in the camp.  The camp is run by the Office of Indian Affairs.

     "We're in camp because of prejudice, pure and simple," shouted Ichiro's friend.
     "We were put here for our own protection," Auntie insisted again.  "To protect us from all the people who hate us."

Sumiko meets Frank, a Mohave.  He understands very well what Japanese Americans are going through.

"You're not the first people to lose things."

Frank's family wants to farm the dry, arid land after the war.  They need to learn what Sumiko's family knows about irrigation.  Sumiko finds meaning in her life as she helps her family and neighbors, holding tight to her dream of one day owning a flower shop.

Weedflower is a fascinating read, and people who enjoy books about World War II, Japanese culture, or like to learn more about different cultures would like this book.  It's an interesting time in American history for young adults.  A good companion to this book might be Farewell to Manzanar (Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston) for middle school students.

Rating:  8 out of 10 stars
To check this book out at NOLS, click HERE!

Diary of a Witness, by Catherine Ryan Hyde (2009)

Will Manson stood up for me today.  Against the jocks.  Stupid.  Nice, but stupid.  I wish he wouldn't do stuff like that.  It's so wrong. 

Will and Ernie understand the rules to survive high school.

The trick is to get small.  Never look in their eyes.  Never look at them at all.  Just look down at the ground and try to get so small you're hardly even there.  That's the only thing that helps.

Will Manson is Ernie's only friend.  Ernie tips the scales at 242 pounds; Will is skinny and has acne.  They each have only one parent.  And they love to fish.  Will loves ocean fishing and Ernie likes lake fishing near his uncle's cabin.  They promise each other that they'll teach each other how to fish their favorite way.

One Saturday, Will's father takes Ernie, Will, and Sam (Will's younger brother) to the coast to ocean fish.  Will's father does not accompany the boys in the fishing boat and just before he leaves them, he tells them to meet him in six hours. 

In a bizarre accident, the boat capsizes and Sam drowns.  Afterwards Will asks Ernie to make a promise.

promise me you won't tell anyone

WHAT

i said promise you won't tell

NO I MEAN TELL WHAT

that it was my fault

As Will's life unravels, the bullying increases at school, as well as outside of school. 

"Will?  Are you going to be okay?"

Diary of a Witness is the story of the ugliness that Will and Ernie had to survive every single day.  Will feels like he is forced to find a solution to their problems with the jocks.  But can Ernie save Will?  Can Ernie protect himself?

Ernie is one of my all-time favorite fictional heroes, and most readers can probably connect to him.  His insights are enlightening, thoughtful, full of strength and determination.  Many readers can probably connect to Will as well, which makes this book a must-read for middle school students.  It's emotionally difficult, but Diary of a Witness forces the reader to think about relationships and how one small thing (good or bad) can lead to a bigger thing.

Rating:  10 out of 10 stars
*Language, religion

To check this book out at NOLS, click HERE!

Forever, by Maggie Stiefvater (2011)

* Plot spoiler if you haven't read Shiver or Linger.

I can be so, so quiet.

Sam Roth has been cured.  He doesn't change into a wolf anymore, but the love of his life, Grace Brisbane, is lost to the woods.  Grace has been a wolf for two months and Sam is lost without her.  Former rock star Cole St. Clair lives with Sam and he wants to study the wolves more. 

"I'm only going to say this once, so you better believe me the first time.  I'm looking for a cure."

Isabel's father, Thomas Culpepper, wants revenge for the death of his son, Jack.  His influence and power in Minnesota is evident.

"My father is meeting with a congressman about getting the wolves taken off the protected list.  Think helicopers and sharpshooters."

The wolf pack in Mercy Falls is about 20 - 30 wolves and in two weeks aerial shooters will hunt and kill every single wolf.

Grace's dad is sure that Sam killed Grace.  And the police want some answers after Olivia's mutilated dead body appears on the Culpepper's property.

Grace, Cole and Sam need to move the pack to safety.  But how?  Beck holds the answers to this question and more.  But Beck is now a wolf and he can't shift anymore.  Sam needs to find Beck for answers, and he needs Cole's help.

Beck had decided to take me.  Long before my parents decided they didn't want me, he had planned to take me...I didn't understand how someone could be both God and the devil.  How the same person could destroy you and save you.



The last person Sam could ever expect for help comes up with a solution.  A location to move the wolves to avoid the aerial hunt.  But Sam and Cole have to make the most difficult decision of their lives.

If you like romantic stories that include humans and wolves, this is a good series for you.  This is the last one in the series, and I only wish I knew what happened with Cole and Isabel.

Rating:  6 out of 10 stars

* Some sexual references, language

To check this book out at NOLS, click HERE!