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In the first book in the new Frontier Magic trilogy, fantasy writer Patricia C.  Wredeintroduces Eff, the 13th child of a large magical family.  Wrede imagines an alternate history of world, where magic and magical creatures co-exist seemlessly with history as we know it. Eff’s twin brother, Lan, is the seventh son of a seventh son; in their magical world he is a rare, special, gifted and powerful person.  Being the 13th child is as powerful, but in the most negative way possible. Seen as a witch, a purveyor of bad luck and misfortune, Eff is shunned and blamed as much (or more) than LanRead More →

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Mark Walden’s debut novel, H.I.V.E. (Higher Institute for Villainous Education) is a fast, fun story with similarities to Artemis Fowl, The Alex Rider adventures, Austin Powers and James Bond.  Here, talented teens attend an elite boarding school learning to be the world’s future criminal masterminds.  13 year old orphan Otto Malpense awakens on a helicopter on the way to a tropical volcanic island; he has no memory of being taken and no idea of where he’s headed.  He soon discovers that he and 200 other teens have been abducted to HIVE, a secret school to nurture those with “a special talent for the supremely villainous.” Otto, who hasRead More →

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In one word: Delightful! Rescuing Seneca Crane is Susan Runholt’s second Kari + Lucas Mystery.  She again delivers a action-packed, clever, well-structured mystery.  Kari and Lucas are perceptive, interesting, self-sufficicient teenagers with whom girls will enjoy spending time solving mysteries and just hanging out. Kari and Lucas are on a trip to Scotland with Kari’s mom. She’s there to interview a piano-playing teen prodigy, Seneca Crane.  At first, Kari & Lucas think Seneca will be too talented to relate to, but soon after meeting her and her over-protective parents, they decide she needs to be rescued from her restrictive life.  What they don’t realize is that they’ll soonRead More →

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Jolted: Newton Starker’s Rules for Survival is a sharp, fun, and quick read.  Newton Starker always knew he would most likely die from a lightning strike. It would all happen in the blink of an eye – Zap! One fried 14-year old Newton, the last heir of the Starker line. Two years after his mother was killed by a lightning strike (as has every other member of the Starker family for generations), Newton is starting a new life at a survival school in the Canadian prairie.  He’s got challenges ahead – having lived most of his life indoors,  sheltered from the menace of the weather,Read More →

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Rita Murphy’s latest novel, Bird, blends magical realism and mystery in telling the story of a girl easily carried away by the wind; a grim secretive widow; and an ominous house on a cliff. Miranda has no memory of where she came from – only that one day a huge gust of wind picked her up and brought her to Widow Barrows and Bourne Manor.  The Widow outfits Miranda with steel boots to keep her on the ground and forbids her leaving the house, but show her no other warmth or kindness. Bourne Manor is also a cold, grim place, full of foreboding, secrets and menace.Read More →

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What is “home”? Is it a physical place we occupy? A memory? A group of people? A time?  In Pamela Todd’s Blind Faith Hotel, we search for home and find it in unexpected places. Fourteen-year-old Zoe feels like her whole world is going to pieces. Zoe’s mother takes her kids away from their father, a fisherman who ships out to Alaska, and moves them to a run-down farmhouse she’s inherited in the Midwest.  Surrounded by strangers and a sea of prairie grass, Zoe loses her bearings: she misses her father and the sea fiercely; she battles with her mother daily; and she’s searching for answers toRead More →

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Burn My Heart is another amazing book from Beverley Naidoo. In this story set in Kenya in 1951-1953, we meet Mathew – the white pre-teen son of a landownder and Mugo – the African son of the farm’s chief caretaker. They share a friendship that is beginning to show the strains caused by their places in the world they inhabit.  A worse threat is looming around them both however, with the growing Mau Mau rebellion led by the Kenyans to reclaim their ancestral land from the white British settlers.  Suspicion, accusations, brutality and betrayal escalate until everything in Mathew’s and Mugo’s world changes. The larger question in this bookRead More →

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Kristin Levine’s debut novel, The Best Bad Luck I Ever Had,  takes place in Moundville, AL in 1917.  12-year old Dit can’t wait for the new postmaster to arrive in his small town because he hopes the postmaster will have a son about his age.  Instead, 12-year old Emma arrives and even more of a surprise to the town is the family’s skin color.  At first Dit is disappointed and wants nothing to do with Emma, but his mama’s rule “be nice to everyone” soon helps himaccept Emma and her family, even if some in the town do not.  Their friendship makes Dit think about whyRead More →

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Kurtis Scaletta’s novel about a cursed Minnesota town and its youth baseball team is a home run.  Moundville has seen 22 years straight of rain – is it a curse or just freaky weather?   Roy McGuire knows he’s in for a dreary, wet summer.  Baseball camp is over but when he returns home, he finds a foster kid named Sturgis sprawled out on his couch. As if this isn’t weird enough, just a few days after Sturgis’s arrival, the sun comes out. No one can explain why the rain has finally stopped, but as far as Roy’s concerned, it’s time to play some baseball. It’s time toRead More →