The Death Cure, by James Dashner (2011)

It was the smell that began to drive Thomas slightly mad.

Thomas has been in complete isolation for three weeks.  Thomas has endured the Maze and the Scorch Trials and has been infected with the Flare.  All at the hands of WICKED.  What's next?

WICKED had taken his life and those of his friends and were using them for whatever purposes they deemed necessary.  No matter the consequences.

On the 26th day, the door opened:  Rat Man.

"Do you think we enjoy all this?  You think we enjoy watching you suffer?  It's all been for a purpose, and very soon it will make sense to you."

Rat Man admitted that WICKED has done some awful things to Thomas and his friends, but he insists that it's all part of a plan that Thomas not only agreed to, but helped set in place.

"You are obviously well aware that we have a horrible disease eating the minds of humans worldwide.  Everything we've done up till now has been calculated for one purpose and one purpose only: to analyze your brain patterns and build a blueprint from them.  The goal is to use this blueprint to develop a cure for the Flare.  The lives lost, the pain and suffering - you knew the stakes when this began.  We all did.  It was all done to ensure the survival of the human race.  And we're very close.  Very, very close."

The virus is man made, airborne, and highly contagious.  Thomas learns that he and most of his friends are Munies, and on the outside they are really, really hated. 

The Death Cure is the third and final book in the Maze Runner trilogy.  Can Thomas and his friends stop WICKED from starting another round of trials?  Can they find a cure?  Can Teresa and Brenda be trusted?  Is this the end of our world?  You'll enjoy this thrilling, and often times terrifying, adventure.

Rating:  10 out of 10 stars
*mild language

To check this book out at NOLS, click HERE!

Goliath, by Scott Westerfeld (2011)

"Siberia," Alek said.  The word slipped cold and hard from his tongue, as forbidding as the landscape passing below.

Goliath, the third book in the Leviathan series, picks up exactly where Deryn and Alek left off in Behemoth. Leviathan, a thousand-foot-long airship made from the life threads of a whale and over one hundred other species, is traveling farther from Europe and the war.  No one will confirm their destination.

"If anything," Volger said, "we should be headed southwest by now, toward Tsingtao."

Alek frowned.  "The German port in China?"

Alek, son of the late Archduke Ferdinand and a Clanker prince, is on the Darwinist ship.  The war between the two technologies (Clanker and Darwinist) is spreading faster every day.  His best friend is Midshipman Dylan Sharp, a girl disguised as a young man so she can fly with the British.  Only Count Volger knows she's a girl.

First the Russian Czar sent a message.  Then the Leviathan picked up mysterious cargo in Russia. 

"There must be a clue in that cargo we picked up from the Russians."

The ship's destination, Tunguska, is an endless fallen forest.  The trunks of the trees had been stripped of their bark and they all pointed in the same direction.  The captain of the airbeast has ordered a rescue.

Dylan helps rescue the 28 men who have made an encampment to protect themselves from the fighting bears.  Leading the group is Nikola Tesla - Clanker boffin, maker of German secret weapons - who says he has always known the cause of the fallen forest.

"I've always known the cause.  I was only curious about the results...I must remain secretive at the moment, but soon the world will know."

Tesla worked for the Clankers until he saw what the war was doing to his home in Serbia.  Alex's parents were killed by a group of Serbian revolutionaries, a plot organized by his granduncle and Germany.

Tesla has created a massive weapon to end the war:  Goliath.

"Tesla is a Serb," Volger explained slowly. 

"Our country attacked his homeland,

not Germany."

Alek felt the weight of the war settling

on his shoulders again. 

"My family is to blame, you mean."

Goliath is an exciting resolution to the Leviathan series.  Find out if Deryn can keep her secret.  Can Tesla's weapon end the war?  And what is Alek's destiny?  Meet interesting characters in Tokyo, Mexico and the United States. 

Rating:  10 out of 10 stars
*mild language

To check this book out at NOLS, click HERE!

Crossed, by Ally Condie (November 2011)

I'm standing in a river.  It's blue.  Dark blue.  Reflecting the color of the evening sky.

Far from her safe home in Oria Province, Cassia Reyes is in a work camp looking for Ky. 

If I'm going to find Ky, it has to be soon.

Ky is somewhere in the Outer Provinces.  Young men are sent to abandoned villages so the Enemy thinks the Society still lives there. 

Do you time in the villages and we'll bring you home in six months.  We'll give you Citizen status again.

No one lasts six months.  Ky has been here for 12 weeks.  There isn't any way the boys can defend themselves because the ammunition isn't real.  Replacements are sent, but they are much too young.  Ky is familiar with the area of their new village assignment; he decides it is time to run away.

Can Cassia find Ky?  What is Xander's secret?  Does the rebellion exist?  Who will Cassia choose?

Crossed offers more insight into the history of Society and the Rising.  It's a delicious read, especially if you enjoyed Matched.

Rating:  9 out of 10 stars
To check this book out at NOLS, click HERE!

The Berlin Boxing Club, by Robert Sharenow (2011)

As Herr Boch finished the last lecture of the school year, I sketched one final caricature of him into the margins of my notebook. 

His mom is agnostic, his father is atheist.  Fourteen year-old Karl Stern grew up in a secular household; he has no religious background or education.  Living in Berlin in 1934, Karl and his family are Jewish.

Karl, a gifted cartoonist, is a student at Holstein Gymnasium.  He doesn't look Jewish with his light hair.  There is a group at his school who Karl calls the Wolf Pack; the Wolf Pack likes to terrorize the five Jewish students who attend the school.  

Up until that moment I had managed to avoid them, assuming that I had kept my background hidden.

Unfortunately the Wolf Pack eventually caught up to Karl and beat him up.  Karl is tall and skinny, terrified of fighting, terrified of people finding out he is Jewish.  Later that same evening Karl meets Max Schmeling, der Meister, the champion boxer, hero of Germany.

Max and his wife buy two paintings from Karl's dad who owns an art gallery.  He pays for one, but offers a barter for the second.  He offers to teach Karl how to box.

"Surely you can't put a price on private boxing lessons with Europe's greatest heavyweight?"

Max offers boxing lessons because he believes every boy should learn to defend himself.  And thus begins Karl's transformation, beginning his training on the three hundred.  Then, he trains at the Berlin Boxing Club. 

Karl is in love with Greta Hauser and she wonders why he wants to fight.

      "Then what's it for?"

     "To prove something."

     "What...but why does that matter?"

     "To prove to myself that I'm not afraid."

Germany is not a safe place for Karl and his family.  As the Nuremberg Laws go into effect, Karl's life is forever changed.  The Berlin Boxing Club is a gripping novel that explores what Berlin was like in the early 1930s as the Nazi government rose and started to dominate Europe.  Boxing helps Karl reinvent himself, but in the process he learns what's worth fighting for. 

Rating:  10 out of 10 stars
*Issues of religion, circumcision, Nazi Germany, Holocaust

To check this book out at NOLS, click HERE!

The Eleventh Plague, by Jeff Hirsch (2011)

I was sitting at the edge of the clearing, trying not to stare at the body on the ground in front of me. 

Fifteen year-old Stephen Quinn has only known what life is like after the war, the Collapse, and the chaos that followed.  The war with China had started five years before Stephen was born.  Reacting to what should have been a minor incident with American students, the United States launched nuclear weapons at China and its allies; China responded with P11H3, the Eleventh Plague.

The last reliable news anyone heard before the stations went off the air said it had killed hundreds of millions in the United States alone.

The Collapse quickly followed P11; everything just shut down.

Stephen, his father, and his grandfather have survived by scavenging for items to trade, avoiding other people, and staying on the trail.  Danger lurks everywhere.

After Grandfather dies, Stephen and his father run into slavers.  In an effort to save others, Stephen's father makes a decision that will change their lives forever.

Stephen finds himself in the safety and security of Settlers Landing, a place where people live in houses, kids attend school, play baseball and have real friendships. 

"Who are you people?" My voice sounded strange and distant, like pieces of wreckage bobbing along on dark water.  "What is this place?"

Stephen meets Jenny, a Chinese-American girl who is a defiant prankster.

"Jenny, I don't know.  If we get caught - "

Suddenly Jenny and Stephen find themselves in the center of a battle that will change their lives, and the lives of everyone they love, forever.

The Eleventh Plague is an exciting read for students who haven't read many futuristic dystopian books. 

Rating:  7 out of 10 stars

To check this book out at NOLS, click HERE!

Slob, by Ellen Potter (2009)

My name is Owen Birnbaum, and I am probably fatter than you are.  This isn't my low self-esteem talking.  This is pure statistics.  I'm five foot two and I weigh 156 pounds.  That's 57 percent fatter than the national average for a twelve-year-old boy.

In addition, Owen is very intelligent.

They had my IQ tested in the second grade.  I won't tell you my score.  Actually, I can't tell you my score because I promised my mother I wouldn't do that anymore.  I used to tell everyone.

Owen faces humiliation and bullying at school every day, but things get out of hand when someone steals his beloved three Oreo cookies from his lunch box.  And he thinks it was Mason Riggs, one of the scariest kids at his school.

In his attempt to find the culprit, Owen has to come to terms with other losses in his life. 

Most of us would probably like Owen.  Most of us probably knew someone who was similar to Owen.  Slob is a great read to help teens learn how important it is to take time to not judge someone by the way he or she looks.  They're probably a really great person.

Rating:  8 out of 10 stars

To check this book out at NOLS, click HERE!

How to Save a Life, by Sara Zarr (January 2012)

I am writing in response to your Love Grows post from Christmas Day.

I think I might have what you're looking for.

It should be available on March 1.  Or around March 1.

Six weeks ago Jill's mom announced she was going to participate in an open adoption.  It hasn't been quite one year since Jill's dad was killed in a car accident. 

I've tried convincing myself it has nothing to do with me.  It's Mom's right to do this.  Yet I can't help thinking, Am I not enough?  Mom and I have had our issues...It has occurred to me that she sees the baby as a do-over.  A chance to correct my failings and to finally have a child that's all hers.

Eighteen year old Mandy Madison Kalinowski is eight months pregnant.  She knows she can't ever return to her mom.  She met Jill's mom on an adoption website and agreed to the open adoption.  The only communication they had was through email.  Now that Mandy is in Denver, she's not sure what she should do.

Maybe I should tell her that I have doubts, too, that there are small moments when I remember July and feel sure what this baby is evidence of and want to keep it.  That it's the only evidence I have.  And that's why, in the end, even though there are those small moments, I want to protect it by keeping it far from me and where I've come from.

How to Save a Life eloquently describes how Mandy and Jill arrived at this very moment, which will affect how they deal with this life-changing situation.  I think it's a delicious read that teens should read with a parent to have some important conversations.

Rating:  9 out of 10 stars
*teenage pregnancy, language, issues of sexual abuse

Not available at NOLS...yet!

The Scorpio Races, by Maggie Stiefvater (October 2011)

It is the first day of November and so, today, someone will die.

Life on Thisby Island, population 4,000 is quiet, except in November.  The closer it gets to November, the more capaill uisce - water horses - the sea spits out. 

These are not ordinary horses.  Drape them with charms, hide them from the sea, but today, on the beach: Do not turn your back.

During the month of October, until the first of November, the island becomes a map of safe areas and unsafe areas. 

Puck Connolly understands too well what the capaill uisce ("copple ooshka") are capable of.  Her parents were killed at sea.  Puck lives with her older brother, Gabe, and younger brother, Finn.  Gabe works at the hotel to keep the family together, and Puck and Finn work odd jobs to earn some money.

Suddenly Gabe tells Puck that he's leaving the island.  To make him change his mind, Puck tells him she's going to enter in the annual Scorpio Races - races with the unpredictable capaill uisce.  Gabe finally admits that he'll stay on the island until after the races.  To enter the races, though, Puck needs to find a capall uisce.  Forced to make a choice, she decides to ride her beloved horse, Dove.

Sean Kendrick has worked in Malvern Yard since he was 10 years old.  He has a way with the capaill uisce, he understands their magic.  The capaill uisce can play tricks on the rider, coaxing him to trust and to join the beast in the sea.  Sean knows how to tie knots in the horse's mane, use threes in sevens, track iron counterclockwise on the horse's withers, and make circles in the sand and spit in the center.  Sean and his favorite capall uisce, Corr, have won the Scorpio Races four times.  But Corr belongs to Mr. Malvern, and more than anything, Sean wants to own Corr.

Mr. Malvern is a powerful man on Thisby.  He owns most everything on the island, including Puck's house.  Equally as cold, his son, Mutt, hates Sean and will do anything to hurt him.

Both Sean and Puck must win the races to save what they love the most.  But can they survive?

Even if you don't know anything about horses, The Scorpio Races is an exciting read, full of lovely imagery and strong characters.  And there's even some romance in unexpected places.

Rating:  10 out of 10 stars
*mild language, some crude British humor, mild violence

To check this book out at NOLS, click HERE!

Cuss, by Kristine L. Franklin (2003)

The grape train pulled into Roslyn on a hot August day in 1925.  The air felt like the devil's breath.

Slava Petrovich is 12-years old.  A small coal mining town, Roslyn, Washington, is a melting pot of cultures and languages.  Cuss picks up languages quickly.

I told them if I knew enough cuss words in other languages, no kid would ever be able to pull a fast one in Old Country talk. 

Prohibition started five years ago and once a year the grape train comes to Roslyn.  Since people couldn't buy alcohol, many Roslyn families decided to make their own wine; California grape farmers were happy to supply the grapes.  Every year boys strategize how to steal some delicious grapes.

Boys drop out of school all of the time to work in the coal mines.  Life in Roslyn can be tough, and Cuss's family struggles to survive.  Cuss's two older brothers work in the mine, and it's only a matter of time before Cuss has to join them.  Even his seven-year old brother wants to quit school to start working.  More than anything, Cuss wants to stay in school.

     "You can't stay in school forever," she said.  "That's the fact of the matter."
     "I'm no miner," I said.
     "Put a pickax in your hands and you will be," she said.  "If Ma needs you to, you will right?"

On the day the grape train arrived, Cuss's older sister, Mary invited a gentleman to dinner.  Later that evening, Cuss's older brothers confronted Mary's gentleman caller.

"It's him," said Joey.  "I'm sure."

Suddenly Cuss's brothers, Matt and Joey, are mixed up in something big, and Cuss witnessed everything.  He knew rumors would swirl around his brothers, rumors about bootlegging and mobsters.

In the middle of the night, Joey and Matt leave Roslyn.

"There's talk, Cuss...I hear things," he said, "as in your brothers went to the sheriff, told him the whole thing, and he told 'em to get outta town for fear of the mobsters."

With Joey and Matt gone, money is tight.  After his younger brother gets sick, the family may even lose their house. 

Will Cuss be able to stay in school?  Could Cuss even get a job in the mines now that fuel oil has become more popular?  What will happen to the coal mining town of Roslyn?  Will everyone have to move back to the Old Country?

Cuss is an excellent read if you like realistic fiction, historical fiction, or fiction with strong characters.  It gives great glimpse into what life looked like in 1925 Roslyn. 

Rating:  10 out of 10 stars

To check this book out at NOLS, click HERE!
(Formerly titled The Grape Thief)

The Power of Six, by Pittacus Lore

Plot spoiler if you haven't read I Am Number Four!

My name is Marina, as of the Sea, but I wasn't called that until much later.  In the beginning I was known merely as Seven, one of the nine surviving Garde from the planet Lorien, the fate of which was, and still is, left in our hands.

Marina, John and the other seven Gardes were six years old when they arrived on Earth.  It took a year to travel from Lorien to Earth.  In order for the charm to work to protect themselves, the Garde separated.  Marina and her Cêpan eventually traveled to Spain, finding refuge in Santa Teresa convent.  Eleven years have passed.  When Marina turns 18 years old, she can either stay and join the sisters in the convent, or leave and find her way on her own.  Marina has five months.

For the past five years, Marina has been begging her Cêpan, Adelina, to leave Santa Teresa.  In September, Marina received her third scar, the third warning that another Garde has died.  The Mogadorians are hunting each member of the Garde, killing them in order.

Six members of the Garde are left now.  And the eyes of the Mogadorians are everywhere.

Marina's Cêpan has given up hope for Lorien.  Adelina is meant to help and assist in developing Marina's Legacies.  She feels the mission was doomed from the start; it would be impossible to defeat the Mogadorians and take back Lorien.

"It's all one big fairy tale, Marina."

Marina has been following news stories from Paradise, Ohio.  John and Henri Smith are accused of being terrorists, but Marina suspects that John could be a member of the Garde.  But how can Marina hope to find John when the whole world is looking for him, too?

Be safe and stay hidden, I think.  We'll find each other yet.

John and Sam are on the run.  They are considered a threat to national security and the FBI is offering a $100,000 for information about John, $250,000 if someone brings him in.  Six is with them as they hide in a hotel to recover from their injuries.  Their biggest priority is to find the others and train together.

Six shares with them that the Mogadorians have a cave in West Virginia. 

"No, I can't believe that this whole thing is real.  That you're real or that Six is real, or that a hostile race of aliens has scattered themselves across the planet and nobody seems to know it."

Each member of the Garde has an Inheritance, their Chest.  The moment they die, the Chest unlocks itself and everything inside it disintegrates.  It's one of the most important things that John, Six and Marina need to protect.  It's also one of the things that John and Six need to find.

Was there a second ship that left Lorien with 15 Chimaera, 3 Cêpans and a baby?  Can John and Sam find the missing chests?  Can Six find Marina in Spain?  Will they find others?  Will they find Sam's dad?  The Power of Six is an action-packed, exciting read!  I can't wait for the third book!

Rating:  10 out of 10 stars
* some language

To check this book out at NOLS, click HERE!

 

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

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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!

Divergent, by Veronica Roth (2011)

There is one mirror in my house.  It is behind a sliding panel in the hallway upstairs.  Our faction allows me to stand in front of it on the second day of every third month, the day my mother cuts my hair.

In the beginning of the great peace, factions that embraced a particular virtue were formed: Candor (honesty), Abnegation (selflessness), Dauntless (courage), Erudite (knowledge), and Amity (peace).  Their motto:  Faction before blood.

"In our factions, we find meaning, we find purpose, we find life."

Beatrice Prior is 16 years old.  She and her brother are about to take the aptitude test to find out which of the five factions each of them would best be suited for.  After Beatrice's test, she finds out that she displays aptitude for Abnegation, Dauntless and Erudite:  She is Divergent.

"This is different.  I don't mean you shouldn't share them now; I mean you should never share them with anyone, ever, no matter what happens.  Divergence is extremely dangerous.  You understand?"

Beatrice is forced to choose a faction at the Choosing Ceremony.  If she chooses Abnegation, she gets to stay with her family, but she has trouble living the life of selflessness because it doesn't feel genuine.  She is drawn to Dauntless, but choosing a different faction means leaving her family forever.  And failing to complete the initiation into a faction would make her factionless, living a life of misery and poverty.

Beatrice makes a startling decision at the Choosing Ceremony.  Her entire world changes and she doesn't know who to trust.  She is thrust into a competitive initiation where only the top 10 will be accepted; in the beginning there are 19 initiates.  She also is forced to keep her Divergent identity hidden from everyone.  In the midst of this, she discovers a that society may not be as perfect as she once thought. 

When I first started reading it, I thought, This is The Giver and Matched.  Then I read about the fence and I thought, This is Forest of Hands of Teeth.  There are times when Tris feels like Katniss and I think the lights of the games should come on.  But I quickly realized that even though some great authors may have influenced her story, this is all Veronica Roth and it's delicious.  I cannot wait for her second book, Insurgent, to be released.  Hopefully she's a super-fast writer!

Rating:  9 out of 10 stars

* mild sexual references

To check this out at NOLS, click HERE!

The Forest of Hands and Teeth, by Carrie Ryan (2009)

My mother used to tell me about the ocean.  She said there was a place where there was nothing but water as far as you could see and that it was always moving, rushing toward you and then away.

Maria's father is missing and her mom is now dead.  They live in a small village that is surrounded by a deadly forest, the Forest of Hands and Teeth.  The village is surrounded by fence, protecting the inhabitants from the Forest, which is filled with Unconsecrated, aggressive flesh-eating people who were once dead.  The Unconsecrated are driven by the desire for human flesh, spreading the infection.  Maria's village is an enclave of hundreds of survivors in the middle of the vast Forest.  Lost to them is who they are and why they're here.  Life before the Return is a mystery.

The Sisterhood governs the village, the Guardians protect the village, and the Unconsecrated are insatiable.  The secrets the Sisters hold abound.

Unmarried women don't have a lot of freedoms in the village.  They can live with their family.  A man may speak for her, court her, and marry her in the spring ceremonies.  Or she can join the Sisterhood.  But the village is about survival, and all healthy young adults are encouraged to marry.  After their mother dies, her older brother rejects her and Maria is forced to live with the Sisters in the Cathedral. 

"I hear you are to join the Sisterhood," he says.  His words hit me like a slap.  I don't know what I was expecting - anger, pain, regret, but not for him to turn me away.  Not for him to cast me out and leave me to the Sisters before I've even had a chance to speak with him.

While Maria lives in the Cathedral, she notices a gate that leads to a path stretching into the Forest, forbidden by the Sisters and the Guardians.  She notices a set of footprints. 

Someone from Outside has come to our village. 
     Which means that there is an Outside - something beyond the Forest.

Maria begins to ask questions, to wonder about what else is out there.  Her mother always told her stories of life before the Return, especially about the ocean.  Maria's curiosity turns into a desire to know the truth.

There is a breach in the village and Maria is forced to use the forbidden gate to leave the village.  Unconsecrated are everywhere, infecting hundreds of friends and family members.  Can Maria find the truth?

The Forest of Hands and Teeth is a fascinating read, but I was disappointed with the ending.  There is a lot about religion and Maria rejects God.  The premise of the book is interesting, but I was dissatisfied with the resolution of the story.  The imagery, however, is gorgeous.

Rating:  6 out of 10 stars
*Mild language, sexual references, violence, religion

To check this book out at NOLS, click HERE!

The companion to this book:

Th1rteen R3asons Why, by Jay Asher (2007)

"Sir?" she repeats.  "How soon do you want it to get there?
     I rub two fingers, hard, over my left eyebrow.  The throbbing has become intense.  "It doesn't matter," I say.

Hannah Baker, age 17, committed suicide.  She was a smart, beautiful girl, full of life and potential, but a victim of bullying and harassing behavior.  The rumors snowballed and eventually took control of her life.  Now she's dead.  But before she died, she recorded seven cassette tapes to reveal the names of the people responsible for her death.  Each side of a cassette reveals someone that led Hannah to her suicide: the Baker's Dozen.

Thirteen people. 

The rules are pretty simple.  There are only two.  Rule number one:  You listen.  Number two:  You pass it on.  Hopefully neither one will be easy for you.

Clay Jensen received the box with the cassette tapes, shattering his life.  He spends the night listening carefully to her words, following her map through the city.  Wondering what did he do it her.  Wondering why he hadn't tried harder.  Wondering if Hannah could've been saved.  Wondering if Hannah ever knew how he felt about her.

Thirteen Reasons Why is a gripping novel.  Once you start, you cannot put it down.  Hopefully Hannah's story won't be repeated, that you'll also try harder when you see the signs.  Eighth grade (and older) students and parents should definitely read this one.

Rating:  9 out of 10 stars
* Language, sexual references, rape, drinking

To check this book out at NOLS, click HERE!

The Necromancer: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel (2010)

Plot spoiler if you haven't read The Alchemist, The Magician, and The Sorceress.

I am frightened. 
     Not for myself, but for those I will leave behind: Perenelle and the twins.

Six days have passed and the twins are back in San Francisco.  Joan of Arc and Scathach are lost, and with the help of Palamedes and Shakespeare, Saint-Germain is looking for them.  Nicholas and Perenelle are finally reunited.  

"For six hundred years we have protected the Codex and kept the Dark Elders off the earth.  We will not stop...we have nothing to lose.  Instead of running and hiding to protect the book, we should attack," she said fiercely. 

"We should take the fight to the Dark Elders."

Josh and Sophie meet Scathach's twin sister, Aoife.  Aoife and Scatty haven't spoken in ten thousand years. 

Josh and Sophie are still suspicious of Nicholas and Perenelle. 

"What do we do, sis?  I don't trust Flamel."
     "Neither do I," she admitted.

The twins basically have three choices.  One, fight with the Flamels.  Two, fight with Dee.  Three, do nothing.  Josh learns the Magic of Fire from Prometheus.

John Dee's failures have upset the Dark Elders, and he has been marked "utlaga."  But the Codex is still in his possession in San Francisco and Virgina Dare joins Dee's fight.

     "No.  I've decided to keep it."
     "Keep it!" Virginia's raised voice made some of the late-night tourists turn to look.  She lowered her voice to a hoarse whisper.  "What for?"
     Dee grinned.  "I am going to use it take control of this earth myself."

Dee plans to raise the Mother of All the Gods from the dead, but he needs someone with a pure gold aura.  He offers to train Josh in necromancy which could divide Josh and Sophie forever.

The man with the hook, who sold Flamel the Codex and who told Perenelle her future, appears.  He is called Marethyu, or Death, and he wants to take them back to the Isle of Danu Talis, before it's destroyed.

The saga continues in The Necromancer.  Machiavelli and Billy the Kid have been ordered to release the monsters on Alcatraz.  Nicholas and Perenelle are aging quickly and they aren't any closer to the Codex and the recipe for immortality.  Fascinating immortals and Elders join the journey, such as Ma-ka-tai-me-she-kia-kiak, Quetzalcoatl, Niten (my favorite - the greatest swordsman in the world), Prometheus, Aten (Machiavelli's master), Zephaniah (the Witch of Endor), and Palamedes' master, Tammuz.  I love the cover of the book with the Aztec symbol and the skull.  True fans of this series will want to stick with it to see how it ends, but this one ends with a severe cliff-hanger!

Next up:

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