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By Veronica Roth
Genre: Science fiction (Dystopia)
Rating: 4 stars
In a future ruined world of Chicago, people have separated into 5 factions: Abnegation (the selfless), Candor (always tell the truth), Amity (tolerant), Erudite (the smart ones), and Dauntless (the brave, army-like ones). At the age of 16, you are tested and then allowed to choose your faction. Although most get results for their own faction, Beatrice's results are inconclusive, meaning she is "divergent." Her tester is alarmed and promises to cover up the results, although she doesn't explain why being divergent is bad. To everyone's surprise, Beatrice (now Tris) chooses Dauntless as her new faction, and is soon thrown into harsh physical training as an initiate. But then her mother visits and warns her about being divergent. And Tris also overhears some other disturbing talk of divergents. What is so wrong with being one? And why can no one ever find out? As Tris struggles through training, she also makes friends for the first time and puts her toe into the waters of romance. But the rumors around divergents don't go away--will Tris survive training to become a true Dauntless? This is a very compelling story that will draw fans of books like The Hunger Games in. It moves a bit more slowly than that, but readers will stick with it until the end to find out what happens.
By Gary D. Schmidt
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Rating: 4 1/4 stars
Henry Smith lives in an old house on the North Shore of Massachusetts in a small town. His family has been there for generations, and his brother Franklin and sister Louisa attend the prep school in town and do all the proper things a Smith should do. Then one night, the unthinkable happens--Franklin, the one with a future so bright, is hit by a pick up truck driven by Chay Chuoan, a Cambodian immigrant student who fell asleep at the wheel. Franklin's accident reverbrates throughout the small community, fanning fires of hatred and resentment towards the nearby Cambodian immigrants. Henry's family, meanwhile, falls apart--his parents and sister are barely able to function, and Henry is only able to survive when he rescues a starving black dog from the ocean and takes her in. The family is even more at a loss when Chay gets a very light sentence. One more thing keeps Henry going--he and Franklin had been planning to climb Maine's Mount Katahdin and Henry latches onto the idea of hiking it on his own for the sake of his brother. So it is that Henry, his best friend Sanborn and Black Dog all sneak out one night to get to the mountain to climb it...but they find help in an unlikely source. And the help they find makes Henry see everything differently because there is never just one side to any story. A fabulous tale of breaking apart and coming back together and seeing the world as a whole, both good and bad. Wonderful.
by Jack Ferraiolo
Genre: Action/Adventure
Rating: 4 stars
Do you like action? Superheroes? Humor? A bit of romance? Then you are in for a treat. Meet Bright Boy (AKA Scott Hutchinson), the sidekick for Phantom Justice. There are plenty of superheroes, both good and bad, in the world--they can either have super strength, super speed, or super intelligence. On rare occasions, some have two attributes, and are called plus/plusses. Both Phantom Justice (AKA Trent) and Bright Boy have super strength and speed. Scott has been raised by Trent since he was found in an orphanage at the age of 6. But now that he is a young teen, Scott is a bit embarrassed by his colorful clinging tights. Then, Scott accidentally finds out the secret identity of Monkeywrench, the sidekick of arch nemesis Dr. Chaotic, and Monkeywrench finds out his identity, too. Shockingly, they go to school together. Now everything changes as Scott is forced to look at being a superhero completely differently. Even more disturbing, Trent seems to be growing more rigid and angry, especially as Scott begins to break out of his nerdy shell. And there are evil plans afoot! Where will our sidekick end up? The plot is fast-paced and there is even room for a sequel...so jump in and enjoy!
By Catherine Fisher
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 4 1/4 stars
In this interesting beginning to the Relic Master series, 16 year old Raffi is an apprentice to Galen of the old Order--a group with some mystical powers who are able to manipulate certain old relics from times past. The Order is now hunted mercilessly down by the Watch, a brutal army-like organization, although most villagers still support the Order in secret. Carys is one of the Watch, acting as a spy, trying to bring in Galen dead or alive. But when she finally makes contact, she is surprised to find that the "tricks" the Watch told her about have roots in truth. And as Galen and Raffi work their way towards the ruined city of Tasceron to try and find salvation for Galen's lost powers, Carys joins their quest. Can the unlikely trio find what they are looking for? A great, fascinating beginning to the series. Readers will want to move onto book 2, The Lost Heiress. You may also want to check out Catherine Fisher's other excellent series, including Snow-Walker, Incarceron and the Oracle Prophecies.
By Donna Jo Napoli
Genre: Historical Fiction/Fairy tale retelling
Rating: 4 1/4 stars
Xing Xing's father is dead, and Xing Xing is now basically a servant in her own Chinese cave home to her stepmother and stepsister Wei Ping. The whole goal of her stepmother is marry off her daughter well so that the rest of them will be taken care of and to that end, Wei Ping's feet have been bound in the traditional way to help make her walk in that desirable way. As Wei Ping suffers the pain of bound feet, Xing Xing's only joy is the beautiful fish that lives in the nearby spring that comes to her when she calls. Xing Xing believes it is her mother's spirit, helping her. When Stepmother sends Xing Xing off on a journey to sell nuts to a doctor, for the first time she begins to find a little independence and self-reliance. And slowly, Xing Xing realizes she may be worth more than the nothing she was always taught she was. A Cinderella tale set in China during the Ming dynasty which will hold readers with its very different setting.
By Gary D. Schmidt
Genre: Historical Fiction
Rating: 5 stars
If you haven't read The Wednesday Wars by this author, that's okay, you don't need to for this book to make sense, but I recommend it highly. In this story, Doug Swieteck is forced to move with his family up to nowheresville Maryville, New York in the summer of 1968 to a house Doug quickly names "The Dump." Both his father and older brother are abusive, and Doug feels like the whole town is going to label him a stupid thug, too. Then he wanders into the local library and sees a painting that changes his life. It is of an Arctic Tern and it is an original plate by the famous Audubon. Doug is fascinated, and although drawing is stupid, he can't resist when Mr. Powell the librarian begins to teach him how to draw. And although every time it seems like something is looking up for Doug, something bad happens, still, life begins to balance out a bit more. Then his older brother Lucas comes back from Vietnam, missing his legs. And everything goes bad one more time. But if there is one thing Doug begins to learn, it is if you don't want to be a chump, you have to be the one who makes the effort to change how people see you. This is a fantastic story and readers will be hard put to not fall hard for the wonderful character of Doug and all he goes through to come out the other side. Wonderful, through and through.
By Wendelin Van Draanen
Rating: 4 1/4 stars
Sixteen year old Jessica is a star runner on the track team. Then the unthinkable happens--an accident with their bus on the way home from a meet causes the death of one teammate and Jessica loses a leg. When running is the core of who you are, how do you even think about going on? But go on, she must. Jessica works her way through the many stages of recovery, and very very slowly, as she finally gets a prosthetic leg, starts to feel a tad bit better about herself. Then her coach shows her a video of people actually competing with special prosthetic legs. Jessica is excited until she realizes the price tag of such a leg is $20,000. How can she focus on that when her own family is struggling to pay the medical bills? But each time Jessica wants to despair, she finds another reason to hope, especially when a new friend in the form of Rosa, a girl with cerebral palsy enters the scene. Readers will be moved by Jessica's struggles and may even shed a tear or two at the end of the book. Fans may want to read a similar comeback story in Izzy Willy-Nilly by Cynthia Voigt. Good stuff, striking all the right notes.
