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In the sequel to his Printz Honor book, Stuck in Neutral, Terry Trueman takes us back into Shawn McDaniel’s life:  “Night before last my dad tried to kill me. At least, I’m pretty sure that was his plan. For weeks and months I’d been worrying about it. I guess Dad had his reasons, but he didn’t do it. Obviously. Lucky me, huh? Sorry, sarcasm is one of the few weapons I possess.” (1) The power of Stuck in Neutral  lay in the dynamic between Shawn and his dad, as both characters struggled to understand and connect with each other.  In Life Happens Next, Shawn’s dadRead More →

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Acclaimed British novelist Catherine Fisher (Incarceron – The Times’ Children’s Book of the Year) is back this Fall with a new subtly woven, spooky Faust-inspired, fantasy, Darkwater. In the early twentieth century in a windswept British village on the sea, 16 year old Sarah Trevelyan would give anything to regain the power, prestige, and wealth her family held for generations but lost in the folly of a card game gone wrong.  Reduced to living with her family’s only remaining loyal servant, Sarah’s sickly and broken father sinks deeper into a wasting illness while she is forced to humble herself as a scullery maid at the localRead More →

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Christopher Krovatin’s recent book Gravediggers: Mountain of Bones is designed for readers  who don’t mind horror or creepy concepts like zombies.  Following a plotline similar to that found in R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps series, this book features three middle-schooler’s perspectives: Ian, a hard-headed athlete who thinks muscle will help him outrun any danger; Kendra, a sharp-minded library resident who relies on her brain to out-think a crisis; and PJ, a nervous camera addict who controls his fears by framing and directing shots. On a field trip designed to “separate the wolves from the poodles,” the trio engages with Homeroom Earth, an education program about survival in theRead More →

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Donovan Curtis is a kid who acts; he just goes with his gut, acts on instinct, and lets the chips fall where they may.  And for most of his 13 years, the chips haven’t really fallen in the best places. He gets in trouble at home and at school – a lot.  His pranks are legendary and his pals love to egg him on and then disappear when its time to pay the piper.  Donovan’s latest, which destroys both his middle school’s mascot statue and the entire school gym, is the worst yet. And he knows there is no escaping the major punishment that isRead More →

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For a thrilling, fast-paced, and action-packed paranormal adventure, Mark  Frost’s  Book One in The Paladin Prophecy series is a must read.  In a class with books like Robert Ludlum’s Jason Bourne novels, The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins, and The Maze Runner by James Dashner, Frost’s book explores how disaster wakes up the system. The story features 15-year-old Will West who lives a quiet, contained, and invisible life to ensure he remains mediocre and under the radar of powerful forces who might exploit his true talent.  For him, school is a daily drone, “Novocain for the brain” (4), until Dr. Robbins shows up and offersRead More →

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 Anyone looking for lessons in courage, determination, ingenuity, and selfless giving should read Diane Stanley’s medieval fantasy, The Cup and the Crown, the second in her series featuring Lady Marguerite, aka Molly.  For her brave loyalty and other acts of fealty, a royal decree has transformed Molly from scullery maid to lady.  But this tough, hard, brash, resilient, and joyful girl who can not embroider, sew, or read poetry struggles to match the conventional definition of lady.  A descendant of the great silversmith and magically gifted William Harrows, Molly possesses her own magical gift of visions and other unharnessed powers. To locate one of herRead More →

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If there was ever a character about whom you could say “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”, it would have to be Harrison Johnson in Tim Green‘s latest, Unstoppable.  Harrison is only 13 years old, but in his short life he’s already faced abusive foster parents, beating and intimidation from his fellow foster kids, a system set up to break him down, and the realization that his own mother will never be able to care for him like  a mother should.  When he catches a break and gets away from his most abusive foster family yet and lands in the loving, peaceful home ofRead More →

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David Levithan‘s latest, Every Day, is an interesting exploration of identity. The 16 year old main character, A, has awoken every day in a different body.  At first, it seemed normal, and only around age 5-6 did the strangeness of A’s life without continuity begin to be bothersome.  After accepting the reality of this existence, A developed coping mechanisms to be able to determine the basic details of the life and body of the day and be able to function without causing too much chaos or change in the host body’s life.   Since A has been a boy and a girl, every race andRead More →

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Readers who like plots that revolve around danger and destiny and who enjoyed the Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan will likely find Tera Lynn Childs’ trilogy riveting.  The major difference in the two text sets is the genders of the protagonists and the prominent roles played by mythological monsters—like the manticore, harpies, or Gegenees giant, rather than just gods and goddesses. The second book in Childs’ series, Sweet Shadows, which features Greer, Gretchen, and Grace—the Key Generation—tells the story of the shadow life of the triplet sisters and their mythological legacy.  The diversity of the three girls represents a Pythagorean balance—appropriate for this trinityRead More →