What Goes Up

What Goes Up  by Katie Kennedy

200 teen scientists vie for two positions with NASA's Interworlds Agency.  The tests cover math, science, problem-solving...and a lot more.  Rosa Hayashi is an obvious choice.  Eddie Toivonen is not.

Then gravity flutters, which it definitely should not do.  Immediately after, alternate-dimension aliens show up, and they look human.  In fact, the alternate-dimension aliens look exactly like the astronauts who just left Earth, only these astronauts are carrying a very dangerous cargo.

What could possibly go wrong?

Part Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, part Ender's Game and part literary roller coaster.  Put it all together for a fast-moving, fun book with an intriguing premise and appealing characters who make nerdy the new cool.  Highly recommended!

Ages 12 to adult.  Some cussing, some kissing and some unbelievably corny knock-knock jokes.

Like a River Glorious

Like a River Glorious  by Rae Carson (Gold Seer Trilogy #2)

Lee Westfall and her companions have arrived (mostly) safely, in California.  Soon Lee's "witchy" senses are detecting more gold than all of them will ever need--it's in the water, in the dirt, and in the rock walls above the small encampment they build.  

But the citizens of Glory are not the only gold seekers in California.  Her wicked uncle Hiram still hunts her, and he has plans for Lee that she has never dreamed, even in her worst nightmares.

Solid historical fiction with just a touch of magic.  The issues faced by the Chinese, the local native tribes, and the "confirmed bachelors" are not ignored, which is refreshing.  Of course the problems faced by women--considered akin to property or livestock by US and territorial law at the time--are essential to the story.

This is a fitting companion to Walk on Earth a Stranger, with some (not lots) of cussing, discussions of drug use (laudanum), and some referrals to prostitution (not shown on the page).  

Recommended for readers ages 12 to adult.

The Girl From Everywhere

The Girl from Everywhere  by Heidi Heilig

I'm one of those readers who always skips over the maps embedded in books.  But to skip the maps in this book would be a big mistake.  The maps aren't just illustrations:  they are part of the story.

Nix was born in Honolulu around 1868 but she has spent her life on board her father's sailing ship Temptation, sailing across the world, across time, and across mythology itself.  She has seen magic and collected mythical artifacts like the caladrius bird that can cure any illness, sky herring from the clouds above legendary Skandia, and a bottomless bag that will carry anything, of any size.  

As long as the captain has a map for it, he can sail the ship to any place or time, real or imagined.

However, the combination of the captain's opium addiction and his obsession with Nix's dead mother are bound to take the Temptation into trouble.  If he succeeds with his goal of revisiting Hawaii before Lin's death, he might even erase Nix's entire life.

With a strong female narrator, a terrific premise, and a fabulous setting ("everywhere!"), this story is sure to be a hit with readers who enjoy a ripping adventure through mythology and history.  With a little less action (and much less blood) than either Bloody Jack (L.A. Meyer) or Pirates (Celia Rees), this book will still appeal to fans of both. There are a few intimate scenes but no body parts on stage--is there Star Trek Sex or not?  If so, it's pretty subtle. The reader will have to decide.

The audiobook, adeptly read by Kim Mai Guest, kept me in the truck and making excuses to drive places so I could listen.

Highly recommended.

I am Princess X

I am Princess X  by Cherie Priest

May is still mourning her best friend Libby, who died a couple of years ago when the car went off a bridge.

But maybe Libby didn't die.

The comic character created by the girls, a princess with blue hair, red Chuck Taylors and a katana suddenly shows up in graffiti all over Seattle.  Then, May finds clues hidden in a webcomic: clues that lead her all over town, with a trail that might end with the discovery of a hiding, still-alive Libby.

This quick-moving story is interspersed with pages from the Princess X comic, and features action, adventure, friendship, mystery, and NO ROMANCE.  Extra points for racial and gender diversity among characters that does not feel forced or tokenistic.  

Things get a little name-droppy in the Seattle department, but at least the author used to live here and understands that just because there's a Starbucks on every corner doesn't mean that most natives actually buy coffees there.  

Recommended for readers of print and graphic novels, ages 12 to adult.  

Carry On

Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

• A boy magician, identified at age 11 as "the Chosen One" and taken away to a magical British school
• A series of books about the boy and his friends as they battle the enemy of all Wizard-kind
• Lots of magic, magical creatures, action, adventure, mystery, and good vs evil

You know the boy I'm talking about, right?  Yes!  It's Simon Snow!

Wait.  What?

Simon Snow's evil roommate Baz says that Simon is probably the worst Chosen One ever chosen, and he's probably right.  Most of the time Simon doesn't know what his magic is going to do...if it does anything.  His magic wand is a hand-me-down, his spell casting is capricious, and although the Sword of Mages comes to his hand sometimes when he needs it, it's never reliable.

And then there's Baz:  rich.  pale.  mysterious.  wicked.  and a vampire.

Wait.  What?

The reader joins Simon and Baz mid-story, after they have already survived adventures in six other books fighting chimeras, goblins, bone-teeth hunters...and each other.  Unlike that other series of books about a boy magician in a magical school, this series has never been written.  And Carry On isn't the series itself either, it's a fan-fiction novel.

Keep up, will you?

Only Rainbow Rowell could write a fanfic salute to a series that she invented as a "prop" for a different novel...and only Rainbow Rowell would start by writing the end of the story but not the beginning!

And just wait until you get to the romance between Simon and XXXXXXXX    ....oops.  Sorry, no spoilers here.

Fast-paced adventure and a flawed hero with flawed friends, awesome love story and terrific world-building.  

Highly recommended.

Mechanica

Mechanica  by Betsy Cornwell

Nicolette is an inventor of amazing tools and toys, just like her mother before her.  

Oppressed by her selfish "Steps," she spends days cooking, cleaning and sewing, and spends her evenings in the magical hidden workshop left behind by her mother, where she builds gadgets to help her with the daily tasks.  But when the king announces a spectacular Exposition and Gala (with accompanying ball to seek a prospective wife for the Prince), Nicolette emerges from her sooty basement to grasp at the opportunity.

This recasting of the traditional Cinderella story is delightfully constructed, with nods to a fairy godmother, a magical coach, and the essential glass slipper...but with an unexpected twist.  And perhaps a sequel?  We can hope!

Fans of Cinder will demand this similar but unique tale.  And they will join us in demanding a second book. 

Recommended for ages 12 to adult.

The Girl With Borrowed Wings

The Girl with Borrowed Wings  by Rinsai Rossetti

Everything Frenenqer Paje does is controlled by her father.  He has rules for how she must dress, speak, move.  She must never slam doors, or read too much, or allow milk to drip from a spoon.  She must do whatever her father thinks she must do, always.

One day, in an unprecedented act of independence, Frenenqer rescues a sickly cat from the Animal Souk...and the cat turns out to be much more than a cat.  Sangris is a Free Person, living completely without rules.  He's not even stuck in the shape of a cat--he can take the shape of a person, or a dragon, or an animal that nobody has ever imagined before.  And Sangris loves Frenenqer.

Unfortunately, "love" is against the rules made by Frenenqer's father.

Imaginative, lush, and intriguing, this unique story is not a quick read.  It will not be quick to forget, either.

No cussing, some kissing.  

Prairie Fire

Prairie Fire  by E.K. Johnston

​Listen!  For the Song of Owen has a second--and final--verse.

Owen Thorskard ​, Dragonslayer of Trondheim and his bard Siobhen barely survived the extermination of the dragon hatchery, and Siobhen's hands were severely damaged in the fire.  She still hears music in the world around her, but she can no longer play most of her instruments, and she can't even write the music down anymore.

And yet, she and Owen have officially joined the Oil Watch. 

Instead of being posted in a new and exotic locale, the team falls victim to political corruption and in-fighting, and are stationed in Alberta.  However, it turns out that in Alberta there are dragons everywhere.  Really nasty dragons.

A solid companion to The Story of Owen, this book does not stand alone easily.  Romances are kindled, and some go a bit further than that, but all intimacy beyond flirtation is taken tactfully off-page.  However, the dragon-killing action (and evisceration for disposal after) sweats, slashes, oozes, stinks and explodes right on the page.  Especially in the final chapters...

Recommended for readers ages 14 and up.  

I really wish somebody would produce an audiobook edition of this, it would be fabulous.

The Girls at the Kingfisher Club

The Girls at the Kingfisher Club  by Genevieve Valentine

Jo and her sisters are known to the dancers and musicians and club owners and bartenders only as "Princess."  

They don't disclose their names to anyone, they reveal no details about themselves or their lives outside of the speakeasies.  And at the end of a night of dancing, with their shoes wearing thin, the twelve dancing princesses slip away together, disappearing into the anonymous darkness.  

With a nod to the Grimm's version of "The Twelve Dancing Princesses," twelve sisters escape imprisonment by a domineering father to the freedom of the dance halls.  Even with a fairy tale as a root story, these characters are firmly rooted in Prohibition-era New York City, and are heavily influenced by the fast-changing social landscape for women in America of the 1920's.  

Readers will keep pages turning to discover what happens to the "princesses" when their secret is discovered!

Recommended for readers ages 14 to adult.  The audiobook, deftly read by Susie Berneis, is also recommended.

Station Eleven

Station Eleven  by Emily St. John Mandel

On an ordinary, snowy Toronto night, 8-year-old Kirsten Raymonde is onstage watching a famous actor playing King Lear die of a heart attack.

Three weeks later, almost everyone else present in the theatre that night is dead of a virulent mutant Swine Flu.

Four weeks later, almost everyone else in the world is dead of the virus.

Fifteen years later, the Earth is only sparsely populated by survivors of the virus and the social collapse that followed.

Kirsten is one of the survivors.  Twenty years after the flu epidemic, Kirsten is a member of the Traveling Symphony, a ragtag group of musicians and actors on a never-ending tour of the surviving settlements, performing Bach, Beethoven, and Shakespeare because, as the motto written on the first caravan says, "Survival is insufficient"  (a quote borrowed from "Star Trek: Voyager)

This is not a gentle apocalypse.  Some survivors have banded together in peaceful villages.  Others are drawn to Doomsday cults.  Some cling desperately to the glorious history of humanity, telling whispered tales of flying machines, air conditioning, and antibiotics.  Others eschew the past, wanting to spare their children the ugliness of the now-gone world.

The tale bounces back and forth along the timeline, from pre-apocalypse to various points in the collapse, which might be confusing but isn't.  Throughout the novel, the lasting power of art and literature lend small amounts of grace and strength to the characters. From Sartre's "Hell is other people" to Miranda's "Brave new world, that has such people in’t," this novel will deeply affect the way readers view their technology-enhanced world...and each other.

Although written and marketed as a book for adults, this story is highly recommended for readers ages 14 to adult.  Sexual situations are tactfully off-stage, violence is on-stage but not gory.

Afterworlds

Afterworlds  by Scott Westerfeld

18-year-old Darcy Patel wrote the first draft of her novel during National Novel Writing Month, sent it to an agent in New York, and sold it (plus the as-yet-unwritten sequel) for an enormous amount of money.

Darcy takes the aforementioned enormous amount of money and moves to New York.  She finds an apartment, meets other authors who love her work, and falls in love.

As one does.

18-year-old Lizzie Scofield is the main character in the novel Darcy Patel wrote.  Lizzie survived a terrorist attack by entering the "flip side" (world of the dead), fell in love with a hunky guy who is apparently some kind of death god, and now she sees ghosts.

As one does.

This is not an awesome book unless you like reading about YA authors.  

You know how writers are always enjoined to "write what you know," right?

Well, Scott Westerfeld is a YA author, and when he is writing about authors, and writing, and revising, and the whole surreal, frustrating, almost-random world of publishing, he shines.

As one does.

When he is writing about the surreal, frustrating, almost-random world of being a teenaged lesbian living away from home and falling in love for the first time, not-so-much.

Some reviewers have suggested that this is a satire, poking fun at the inhabitants of the YA publishing world, but I think that misses the mark.  Rather, I think the author spotlights a weird but cool segment of the planet that he knows very, very well.  The problem is: a lot of readers don't care to read about publishing.

The exception is readers who are also writers.  For those readers, here is your book. 

It is not a how-to for teen authors who want to get their YA novels published. Westerfeld is actually still writing that book, called How to Write YA.  There's an excerpt of it HERE.

It is, rather, a fictionalized insider's view of the publishing world.  If you read it for that, you won't be disappointed.

If you read it for the paranormal book-within-the-book, ehh.  You'll probably find better stuff elsewhere--and much of the better stuff was written by this author.

Violence : the opening sequence of Lizzie's story is bloody and intense, other parts are scarier but less bloody.
Underage drinking : doesn't anybody ask for ID at bars in NYC?
Some tactful sexual situations in both story lines.

Recommended for readers who write, ages 14 to adult.

Say What You Will

Say What You Will  by Cammie McGovern

Amy is a high school senior with spastic cerebral palsy.  She doesn't walk well without assistance, she talks by using a voice simulating computer, and she has no real friends.

Matthew is a high school senior who has known Amy (kind of) since elementary school.  Matthew is obsessive-compulsive, and his need to tap lockers, count ceiling tiles, wash his hands and avoid the blue squares on the hallway floors is getting worse.  He doesn't have any real friends either.

When Matthew is hired as a peer helper for Amy, the two teens begin talking to each other as they have never communicated with anyone else before.  Maybe they've even fallen in love, despite their catastrophic prom date.

And then...things go wrong.

Beautifully written, here is a compassionate story of two teens who don't fit in. And yes, there is sex in this book -- tactful, and off-page, but there is definitely sex.

Highly recommended for readers who liked the passion and  intelligent banter between characters in The Fault In Our Stars, with the good news:  nobody dies in this book.

To All the Boys I've Loved Before

To All the Boys I've Loved Before  by Jenny Han

Lara Jean has kept all the love letters she's ever written.  Whenever she's trying to fall out of love with a boy, she's always written him a letter, put it into an envelope and addressed it, but not mailed the letter.  It's a great system, until one day her little sister mails them all.  

(Oops.)

Now all the boys Lara Jean has loved are coming to find out more about the girl who wrote those letters.  Including her older sister's ex-boyfriend.

(Very big oops.)

Sweet and funny, this story is bigger on the inside.  The relationship between the sisters is complex and believable.  The coming-and-going of boys is realistically confusing for Lara Jean, who has never had a boyfriend--or a date--before.  The rumor mill surrounding the school ski trip is absolutely ripped-from-the-halls-of-your-high-school.

And the ending...just stops. 

Ahhhh, because book #2 in the series (it's a series??) is set for publication in April 2015.  I guess we'll just have to wait and find out what happens next.

(I hate waiting.)

Erebos : it's a game. It watches you.

Erebos  by Ursula Poznanski
translation from the German by Judith Pattinson

Like most of his friends, Nick Dunsmore enjoys playing video games.  But he's never played anything like Erebos.  The rules are strange:
*  Always play alone.
*  Do not talk to anyone about the game.
*  Don't copy the disk unless instructed by the game.
and strangest of all:
*  You have only one chance to play.  If you break the rules, or if your character in the game dies, the game is over and you can never play again.

Strangest of all, the game itself seems to know when players break the rules.  But how?

As more of Nick's classmates join the game, things get even more bizarre, especially when the game insists that players conduct "missions" in the real world.  Some missions seem quite innocent, like picking up a box hidden in a park and hiding it in a different park.  But soon enough, the missions become sinister.

The story is nearly as compelling as the game itself.  Players quickly become addicted to the adventure, and many are willing to do anything to gain status within the world of Erebos.

Yes, anything....

More dire than Ready Player One (Cline, 2011), with less gore and fewer technology details than REAMDE (Stephenson, 2011), this game-gone-bad novel will appeal mostly to teen gamers.  Sophisticated readers may trip on some of the setting details, some politically incorrect racist and sexist statements which may or may not be a result of translation into English from German, and the distinctly Scooby Doo ending: "foiled by those meddling kids!"

Recommended for ages 13 to adult.

Between Two Worlds

Between Two Worlds  by Katherine Kirkpatrick
Eqariusaq has had an almost life-long association with polar explorer Robert Peary and his family.  When she was very young, the family renamed Eqariusaq "Billie Bah" and brought her to spend a year in America with the Peary family, where she spoke English, wore "civilized" clothing, and was the first of her people to see the modern world filled with trees, horse-drawn carriages, trees, museums, and more.  Billie Bah successfully returned to her people, but she thinks that her journey inspired others to go with the Pearys, and none of these have ever returned.  All save one died of disease...including Billie Bah's own parents.

Now 16 years old, Billie Bah must face changes in her life.  She loves her husband, but she also grows to love one of the sailors she is "traded" to (temporarily) in exchange for guns and ammunition.  She discovers the truth about her parents' death, and she tries to sort out her feelings for Peary and his family and find her own place in the world.

The real Billie Bah with Robert Peary

Woven into the story are fascinating details of life in this tiny Greenlandic community.  Tribal customs and expectations, vocabulary, and descriptions of building fox traps, auk snares, and  rock igloos are described with meticulous detail that never becomes didactic or boring.  Extensive author notes identify factual (and fictional) aspects of the story.

Recommended for readers ages 14 to adult.  An excellent choice for historical fiction or diversity assignments.

Alcohol, death, ghosts, grieving, guys, multi-ethnic, recommended, religious beliefs, sexual situations, star trek sex.

Code Name Verity

Code Name Verity  by Elizabeth Wein

audiobook read by Lucy Gaskell and Morven Christie

The spy known officially as "Verity" starts off her story by confessing that she has always pretended to be heroic.  Yet, when captured by the Gestapo behind enemy lines, the narrator freely admits that she, under pressure of captivity and torture, promptly betrayed wireless codes, details about Great Britain's homeland security and airfield defenses, and more.

In bits and pieces, scribbled away on scraps of paper, a story emerges.  

But the story is not the one that the Nazis think they are getting.

Code Name Verity isn't just blazingly fabulous historical fiction for teens, featuring two strong and capable girls.  

There is also action, suspense, and plenty of twists in the unreliable narrative.  This is a story of friendship, choices, and--no matter what Verity says--this is a story of courage.  

Descriptions of violence, treachery, and torture are intense but not graphic--much is left to the imagination of the reader.  

Very highly recommended for readers ages 12 to adult.  

No sex or overt sexual situations; this book is included on the SITL list because it features other controversial topics, including violence and torture.

The Wells Bequest

The Wells Bequest  by Polly Shulman

The New York Circulating Materials Repository is back!  This library doesn't just lend out books.  It also lends out significant (and sometimes magical) objects found in books and stories.  In The Grimm Legacy (2010), we learned that the Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm collected more than just fairy tales--they also collected magic carpets, talking mirrors, and many other objects found inside the stories.  

Now, NYCMR head library page Jaya and new-hire Leo explore the contents of the Wells collection: powerful objects straight out of classic science fiction novels.  These include robots, rockets, submarines, a shrink ray and, of course, a time machine.  When another library page threatens to destroy New York with Nicola Tesla's death ray, Leo and Jaya must use the time machine and their own wits (and knowledge of literature) to preserve history.

Delightful, fluffy fiction for book lovers and library geeks.  No sex, cussing, or bloodshed.  A few kisses, a little bit of romance, and a lot of fun.  

Recommended for readers ages 12 to adult.

The Lucy Variations

 

The Lucy Variations  by Sara Zarr

 

Lucy Beck-Moreau was world-famous as a child prodigy at the piano, but at age 16, minutes before taking the stage at an illustrious competition in Prague, she walked away from the piano.  Her family was furious, but Lucy was adament: she did not want to spend her life competing and performing anymore.

 

Eight months have passed, and the family's attention is now focused  on Lucy's 10-year-old brother Gus, who is preparing for his first major public performance.  Lucy wants to help Gus, but she can't help being intrigued by the new piano teacher: a former prodigy himself, Will is attractive, attentive...and married.

 

Lucy's social development was clearly impaired by her years of grueling practice and performance scheduling, but with the help of a few friends, she's learning to relate to her age-mates.  The characters are well-rounded, the dialogues are terrific, and the relationships (even the inappropriate ones) are compelling.  This is a well-written story of a teen who is beginning to make decisions for herself. 

 

Recommended for ages 13 to adult.  A few kisses, and a bit of underage drinking, but nothing to alarm most readers.

The Diviners

The Diviners by Libba Bray
Evie McNeill is a thoroughly modern flapper, exiled from her Ohio hometown for revealing the unwholesome secrets of the son of a powerful local man, and sent (happily) to live with her uncle at the Museum of American Folklore, Superstition and the Occult in Prohibition-era New York City. 

Once there, it becomes obvious to Evie and the reader that the "creepy-crawlies" aren't confined to Uncle Will's museum.  There are strange things afoot...and one of them is a serial killer, returned from the dead and determined to finish the grusome rituals that will release the Beast and drop Hell on the waiting world.

With a huge cast of characters, lots of historical context, accurate political, social and musical references, this book is a terrific immersion into 1920's New York.  It's also a ripping good mystery and thrilling horror story with just a touch of romance.

The audiobook read by January LaVoy is outstanding, and successfully created all the suspense, terror, and fun of the book in the front seat of my pickup truck.

Pos-i-tute-ly adorable book trailer available online HERE.
Search for "Diviners Radio" on You Tube to find episodes of the story interpreted as a radio play

With blood and guts on the page, this book may be overwhelming for squeamish or timid readers.  Be bold if you are able.   Highly recommended--I'm can hardly wait for the second book!

Impulse

Impulse  by Steven Gould

Cent has lived her whole life in isolation with her parents, hiding their secret:  they can jump, or teleport instantly from one part of the world to any other place they have already seen.  There are governmental agencies that would like to use jumpers...and there are other, more nefarious agencies that want jumpers for their own purposes.

Cent has travelled all over the world with her parents.  She is well-educated,, reads voraciously, and helps her mother with emergency relief efforts in third-world countries.  But Cent wants friends her own age. 

When Cent discovers that she can jump too, her parents agree to let her attend a regular high school in a regular American town.

And then, things go wrong.  And Cent may not be able to jump fast enough to avoid the trouble her family has brought to their new community.

This is the third book in the Jumper series; fans of the 2008 movie starring Hayden Christensen will be confused, as the film story has very little to do with the original novel.  However, both feature good action and adventure, mixed with compassion and romance.

Recommended for readers ages 14 to adult.