Terrier (The Legend of Beka Cooper, Book 1)

Title: Terrier (The Legend of Beka Cooper, Book 1)

Author: Tamora Pierce

Year: 2007

Genre: Fantasy

Age: Middle School up

Summary: Tamora Pierce begins a new Tortall trilogy introducing Beka Cooper, an amazing young woman who lived 200 years before Pierce's popular Alanna character.

Beka Cooper is a rookie with the law-enforcing Provost's Guard, and she's been assigned to the Lower City. It's a tough beat that's about to get tougher, as Beka's limited ability to communicate with the dead clues her in to an underworld conspiracy. Someone close to Beka is using dark magic to profit from the Lower City's criminal enterprises--and the result is a crime wave the likes of which the Provost's Guard has never seen before.


Review: It’s been a while since a YA high fantasy book really hooked me, so I was surprised when I bought into this one. Beka is a wonderful heroine at work: smart, skilled, sure of herself. Off the beat, she’s shy and inexperienced. It makes for a delightful combination any girl can connect with. Especially great, --and from what I’ve read, very characteristic of Pierce’s work-- is how men and women are completely equal in this society. I’ve read many a fantasy where women are treated the same way they were in the Middle Ages so equality came as a delightful surprise. I also liked how Pierce trusts the reader to keep up with her world building, rather than throwing a giant info-dump at the beginning of the book.

I just loved this book all around. The fight scenes are interesting. The characters are clever and their actions flow naturally rather than as mechanization's of the plot. The central mystery unravels with just enough information to keep you guessing.

I recommend this book to girls who like fantasy but are sick of the boys getting all the main character roles.

...Then I Met My Sister

Title: ...Then I Met My Sister

Author: Christine Hurley Deriso

Year: 2011

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Age: Middle school up

Summary: Summer Stetson feels overshadowed by her dead sister Shannon, but a secret birthday gift from her aunt reveals Shannon's diary and Summer uses this gift to gain a better understanding of her sister and their family.
Review: A student recommended this to me and I’m glad I took her advice. This book swept me up in Summer’s family drama so effectively I couldn’t put it down and read it in one sitting. Shannon’s diary poses questions for Summer and reveals answers slowly and organically. Shannon’s and Summer’s relationships with their controlling mother are the highlight of the book. The only real fault here is that while the female characters are dynamic and well developed, the male ones remain one- or two-dimensional.

I recommend this book to girls who like family drama.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Title: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Author: Jonathan Safran Foer

Year: 2005

Genre: Realistic Fiction, Drama, and Historical Fiction

Age: Grade 11 and 12

Summary: This story is mainly told from the point of view of nine-year-old Oskar Schell. Oskar lost his father in the attacks on September 11, 2001. Oskar and his father had an extremely close relationship, and they often played games where Oskar's father would lead Oskar on a hunt for some treasure. After his father's death, Oskar finds a key which he believes to be a clue, and this leads him on a journey throughout New York City. Oskar's story is paralleled by the story of his grandparents who survived the firebombing of Dresden, Germany during WWII.

Review: This is a beautifully written story that is enlightening and a tear-jerker. It's disconnected style may make it hard for some readers to follow, but if you can keep up with it, you will be well rewarded. I would absolutely recommend this to any student looking for a modern day classic. The juxtaposition of 9/11 to the firebombing of Dresden is fascinating, and is something that readers interested in history will appreciate. This is an all around wonderful book that I finished in two days because I could not put it down.

Also, make sure you read this one before you go to see the movie, which will be released on January, 20th.

Delirium by Lauren Oliver

Title: Delirium

Author: Lauren Oliver

Year: 2011

Genre: Science Fiction

Age: Middle school and up

Summary: Lena looks forward to receiving the government-mandated cure that prevents the delirium of love and leads to a safe, predictable, and happy life, until ninety-five days before her eighteenth birthday and her treatment, when she falls in love. (summary from Follett Titlewave)

Review: I loved this book so much, I need a cure! Really, though, this book was wonderful. I enjoyed the concept-love as a disease- and the execution. Especially interesting (in how uninteresting they are) are the ‘cured’ characters, adults who have no real emotion. They are just kind of empty presences who shuffle through their days. Lena’s romance and friendships are wonderfully written. The love story particularly grows realistically throughout the book. The plot twists nicely in places, zigging when you think it will zag. The ending is heart-stopping and gives the sequel (out next year) a lot of room to move.

I recommend this book to anyone who wants big, starcrossed romance with a twist

Matched by Ally Condie

Title: Matched

Author: Ally Condie

Year: 2010

Genre: Science Fiction

Age: Middle school and above

Summary: Cassia has always had complete trust in the Society to make decisions for her, but when she is being paired with her ideal mate, a second face flashes on the screen, and Cassia begins to doubt the Society's infallibility as she tries to decide which man she truly loves. (Publisher’s summary)

Review: Condie builds up her weird world subtly and skillfully. This book feels more like a beautiful work of realistic fiction that happens to take place in this Sci Fi world. Cassia is sympathetic and fully rounded. I really identified with her and her plight. Once she starts questioning Society, this book is impossible to put down.

I recommend this book to anyone who likes realistic fiction, but is told they need to read Sci Fi.

Stormbreaker

Title: Stormbreaker (Book 1 of the Alex Rider Series)

Author: Anthony Horowitz

Year: 2000

Genre: Action

Age: Grade 6-10

Summary: Meet Alex Rider, the reluctant teenage spy.

When his guardian dies in suspicious circumstances, fourteen-year-old Alex Rider finds his world turned upside down.

Within days he’s gone from schoolboy to superspy. Forcibly recruited into MI6, Alex has to take part in grueling SAS training exercises. Then, armed with his own special set of secret gadgets, he’s off on his first mission.

His destination is the depths of Cornwall, where Middle Eastern multimillionahttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifire Herod Sayle is producing his state-of-the-art Stormbreaker computers. Sayle’s offered to give one free to every school in the country - but MI6 think there’s more to the gift than meets the eye.

Only Alex can find out the truth. But time is running out and he soon finds himself in mortal danger. It looks as if his first assignment may well be his last...

(Description from Official Webpage)

Review: This story is action packed, and it keeps the reader on the edge of their seat. If you are looking for a quick, easy, and fun read that involves great action sequences, this is the book for you. Also, it is the perfect book to pick up if you like to read books in a series because there are 8 more novels that follow this one!

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Title: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Author: Rebecca Skloot

Year: 2010

Genre: Non-Fiction, Medical

Age: Mature High School Students (Especially students interested in medical research)

Summary: Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells—taken without her knowledge—became one of the most important tools in medicine. The first “immortal” human cells grown in culture, they are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years. If you could pile all HeLa cells ever grown onto a scale, they’d weigh more than 50 million metric tons—as much as a hundred Empire State Buildings. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer, viruses, and the atom bomb’s effects; helped lead to important advances like in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping; and have been bought and sold by the billions.

Yet Henrietta Lacks remains virtually unknown, buried in an unmarked grave.

(Novels Product Description)

Review: I am not usually one to read non-fiction, but this story was utterly fascinating. I was concerned that this novel would read like a medical text that I would never be able to understand. However, Skloot was able to explain all the medical information in the text in layman's terms, while telling the astonishing story of Henrietta's life and the lives of Henrietta's family. The story of how Henrietta's family was kept in the dark while her cells were changing the world is astonishing, and any person that picks this book up will find themselves pondering medical ethics in a way they probably never thought they would.