Happy New Year!

Well, it's 2012 and it's time to get rolling! I took a break from blogging for awhile, but now I am back with some reviews of books that I read over the holidays!

This is a new companion series to the wonderful Ranger's Apprentice series by John Flanagan. If you read the Ranger's Apprentice and are sad that it ended, this new series is for you. It is very similar in a sense to Ranger's Apprentice- great characters, life lessons, right versus wrong, overcoming hardships, loyalty, learning how to be a man, action and adventure, etc. So, I really enjoyed this first installment! Great reading and I can't wait until the next one!

It's 1952 and the Scott family has just moved from Los Angeles to London. Here, fourteen-year-old Janie meets a mysterious apothecary and his son, Benjamin Burrows - a fascinating boy who's not afraid to stand up to authority and dreams of becoming a spy. When Benjamin's father is kidnapped, Janie and Benjamin must uncover the secrets of the apothecary's sacred book, the Pharmacopoeia, in order to find him, all while keeping it out of the hands of their enemies - Russian spies in possession of nuclear weapons. Discovering and testing potions they never believed could exist, Janie and Benjamin embark on a dangerous race to save the apothecary and prevent impending disaster.

I read this book in one sitting. I really enjoyed it. It combined historical fiction and fantasy together in a exciting read.

Lots of Great Books to Read!

Ok, so what's on my nightstand?

The second book in the Maze Runner Trilogy by James Dashner- The Scorch Trials.
The second book in the Relic Master Series by Catherine Fisher- The Lost Heiress.
The new series by John Flanagan- The Brotherband Chronicles- The Outcasts #1.
Lost stories from my FAVORITE series, Ranger's Apprentice- The Lost Stories.
AND.........
Inheritance- the final chapter in the Inheritance Cycle!!!

Lots of reading to do....

Relic Master: Dark City by Catherine Fisher

Welcome to Anara, a world mysteriously crumbling to devastation, where nothing is what it seems: Ancient relics emit technologically advanced powers, members of the old Order are hunted by the governing Watch yet revered by the people, and the great energy that connects all seems to also be destroying all. The only hope for the world lies in Galen, a man of the old Order and a Keeper of relics, and his sixteen-year-old apprentice, Raffi. They know of a secret relic with great power that has been hidden for centuries. As they search for it, they will be tested beyond their limits. For there are monsters-some human, some not-that also want the relic's power and will stop at nothing to get it.


I just finished this and I really like it. I will be reading the others in this series. This is a unique series because The Dark City came out in May, The Lost Heiress in June, The Hidden Coronet in July and the final book The Margrave in August. That's a quick series!!! So, they are all out right now and ready for you to read!

The Maze Runner by James Dashner

I finally finished another book! Since I have returned to school, I haven't had much time to read for pleasure- yuck! There are so many good books on  my list!

One of our patrons suggested this trilogy and I really liked the first book. I will definitely read the next two so I can find out what happens. The third book just came out- The Death Cure.

In the Maze Runner, Thomas wakes up in a place called the Glade with no memory except his first name. There are other boys there in the same situation. There is a maze that surrounds the Glade and every morning the doors open to the maze and every night they close, thankfully, to keep out awful things called Grievers. Every 30 days a new boy is delivered to the Glade, but next the first girl arrives and she brings a message.

This was a fast read and a page-turner. I really wanted to know what happened next. I thought it was an interesting concept and enough action, suspense and character development to keep me interested. It ended in a great cliff hanger!

I don't generally read science fiction, but I would definitely suggest this trilogy!

Sparrow Road by Shelia O'Connor

I finally finished Sparrow Road. It took me a long to read not because it wasn't good, but because I have been so busy.

This was a quiet, touching book that had such a sense of longing, I thought. A lot of emotion and depth without the usual weight that goes along with some heavy topics. I thought it was a lovely book, but I am not sure how children will enjoy.

Let me know what you think!

226th Birthday of John James Audubon

Take a peek at these 2 books that are about Audubon!

A Nest for Celeste by Henry Cole for grades 3-5. I really enjoyed this book.

At Oakley Plantation near New Orleans, temporary home to naturalist John James Audubon and his assistant, Joseph Mason, lives a mouse named Celeste. Industrious and sweet, she forages for food in the dining room and weaves baskets of grass. Unfortunately, she is harassed by resident rats, and, attempting to assuage their hunger, she is trapped by a cat and unable to return to her nook under the floorboards. A chase brings her to Mason's room and there develops a friendship between the homesick apprentice and the little mouse.

Okay for Now by Gary Schmidt for grades 6th & up..
As a fourteen-year-old who just moved to a new town, with no friends and a louse for an older brother, Doug Swieteck has all the stats stacked against him. So begins a coming-of-age masterwork full of equal parts comedy and tragedy from Newbery Honor winner Gary D. Schmidt. As Doug struggles to be more than the “skinny thug” that his teachers and the police think him to be, he finds an unlikely ally in Lil Spicer—a fiery young lady who “smelled like daisies would smell if they were growing in a big field under a clearing sky after a rain.” In Lil, Doug finds the strength to endure an abusive father, the suspicions of a whole town, and the return of his oldest brother, forever scarred, from Vietnam. Together, they find a safe haven in the local library, inspiration in learning about the plates of John James Audubon’s birds, and a hilarious adventure on a Broadway stage. In this stunning novel, Schmidt expertly weaves multiple themes of loss and recovery in a story teeming with distinctive, unusual characters and invaluable lessons about love, creativity, and survival.

Grounded

Grounded, by Kate Klise, is a sad book. I really don't do sad. The first page begins by sharing that Daralynn's brother, her little sister and her dad died in a plane crash. It was enough for me to put the book down. I really don't like to read depressing books. So, this was tough.

It would be difficult for me to suggest this to a child. Yet, in all fairness, I did finish the book and thought it really could lead to a lot of great discussions in a group or classroom. The title, Grounded, has many meanings in the story. This story is set in the early 1970s in Missouri. How Daralynn's mother grieves and deals with loss is difficult to endure, but there are a number of side characters that help make the story more palatable. All in all, not my favorite.

The Doomsday Box: A Shadow Project Adventure

The Doomsday Box by Herbie Brennan:
When the CIA created a program to research time travel in the 1940s, they never imagined it could lead to a global pandemic decades later. But after an undercover agent, code name Cobra, exploits the time-travel operation to send the black plague into the twenty-first century, the supernatural teen spies of the Shadow Project are recruited to go back in time to Cold War-era Russia and prevent this devastating chain of events from occurring.

This is a sequel to The Shadow Project. In the beginning, I thought it was interesting- secret mission, time-travel, black plague and astral projection (out-of-body travel). Wow! Right? But by the time I got to the middle, it just fizzled out for me. I didn't feel connected to the characters and I didn't really want to find out what happened to them. In fact, I was very tempted to skip a few pages. For me, it just wasn't a good fit. But there is a reader for every book out there, so if you are a fan of the Alex Rider books, you might want to try this one out! Let me know what YOU think.