Going Where Its Dark

Students, kids, and life-long readers,

What is your biggest fear?  One of my biggest fears is to be trapped in a small space, and this book opened that fear.  I don't think I will be entering a cave in a long time after reading this adventure about Bucky.

Bucky and his best friend Dave live in the back country of Virgina and have developed a love of exploring caves. Just as Dave is about to move, Bucky discovers a hidden cave that has never been explored called the hole.  With Dave gone, Bucky is risking much to explore it on his own, and he has the summer to figure out how achieve this mission.

But that is not all.  Bucky struggles with a serious stuttering problem that leads to bully issues and worry for the family.  An unexpected connection with Bucky's uncle may be the one who can help Bucky's stuttering in an unsual manner.

This book has many sides plots and great selection of characters that continually interact with Bucky. The writing style of the cave exploration was so vivid that is increased my fear of small spaces and caves.

If you are looking for an adventure book and enjoy the idea of cave exploring this would be a great book for you.

GENRE:  Adventure/Realistic Fiction

AUTHOR: Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

GRADE LEVEL: 6-8

Save Me a Seat

Students, kids, and life-long readers,

By looking at the cover of this book, you may notice the clear separation of two lunches from the cafeteria and two authors.  This leads to the premise of this book with two very different main characters struggling with school, Joe and Ravi.  Ravi has recently moved from India to America due to his father's change of jobs.  Ravi is very intellectual, athletic, and has enjoyed school throughout his life.  But school in America is not going as planned for Ravi; especially with trying to become friends with Dillon who happens to be a bully to Joe. Our other main character Joe struggles with school, especially with reading and reading out loud in class, and with having friends.  To make matters worse, his mother has taken a job in the school cafeteria and cause more problems for Joe.

Joe and Ravi appear to have little in common, but a single mission will bring them together over the course of this crazy week in school.

GENRE: Realistic Fiction

AUTHOR: Sarah Weeks/Gita Varadarajan

GRADE LEVEL: 5-6

Scourge

Students, kids, and life-long readers,

What if you were diagnosed with a contagious illness that may spread to your family and friends unless you were to be exiled to island?  Would you go through with it?  How difficult would it be to leave the ones you love, during a time that you need them the most?

This is what our main character faces as she has been diagnosed with the Plague or Scourge and is being sent off with an enemy and her best friend.  Once on the island, they learn that man do not survive, and once you are sent to the infirmary, you may never be seen again. But this plot has more layers as she is part of an unwanted section of society known as the River people.  This faction has been at odds with the more noble section of the city, and this separation will be a turning point in the plot.

Our main character has a very difficult struggle ahead of her, and may even need help from those she does not trust.  But not everything appears s it seems and there are many surprises hidden throughout this book.

GENRE: Adventure

AUTHOR: Jennifer Nielsen

GRADE LEVEL: 6-8

Wonderstruck

Students, kids, and life-long readers,

Brian Selznick is back with another novel with a similar style to his renowned tale, The Invention of Hugo Cabret.  Similar to his other title you will find a giant 600-page book with half of it being beautifully drawn scenes that tell a large part of the plot.

This novel follows two story lines - one told with words, and the other told with pictures.  There are also two different time periods and settings.  Ben Wilson has just lost his mother and starts to have questions about his father whom he knows nothing about.  This curiosity and a Wonderstruck book with a hidden message lead him to take a trip to New York City to see if he can find his father.  The picture part of the story is about a girl named Rose who also has some parental issues.  I don't want to reveal too much about the connection between the two plots lines.

The best part of this novel is how the two plot lines intertwine and the continuous mystery of when the connection will be revealed.  I found it hard to put down because I wanted to find this out.  Also, the pictures are very well done, and often I could be lost in the pictures before he brought back a couple of pages for reading.  It is a completely different style of reading that coincides with his books.  If you enjoyed Hugo Cabret, you should definitely give this a try.

AUTHOR: Brian Selznick

GENRE:  Historical Fiction, Fiction

GRADES: 5-7

Lock and Key

Kids, students, and life-long readers,

Some of you may recognize the author of this new series from Kingdom Keepers or Peter and the Starcatchers. Our two main characters, James and Moria, are being sent to Bakersville Academy, a prestigious school, by their father.  But the circumstance regarding this school leave much mystery and deception as a break in seems to cause the decision while their father is acting quite worried, but reveals nothing to the children.  James has much to live up to at Bakersville being the fourth generation first born son to attend.  We are introduced to the other main character the of the story who happens to be his roommate, A YOUNG SHERLOCK HOMES!!!  When I grabbed this book, I had not idea Sherlock Homes was part of the plot as I only grabbed it because of the author.  It was a pleasant surprise.

James, however, wants nothing to do with his new roommate as he is quickly twisted up in a series of clues to find the Bakersville Bible that has gone missing.  Moria forms a friendship with Sherlock and they seek to help James with this mystery.

I really enjoyed the writing style of this book as it is told from Moria's perspective, not James or Sherlock who the story seem to focus on.  I also enjoyed Ridley's take on a young Sherlock Homes.  We see the same confident, witty, and highly intelligent character as he uses his powers of deduction to solve riddles.

Although this book contain Sherlock Homes, I wouldn't say he is the focus the story.  The best part is the mystery behind the missing Bible, the clues that appear, their father's disappearance, and their family history connected to the academy.

AUTHOR: Ridley Person

GENRE: Mystery

GRADE: 6-8

Charmed

Kids, students, and life-long readers,

The Fairy Tale Reform School Series is back with the second book.  If you have not read the first book, here is a book talk about the first book - Flunked.

Our heroine, Gilly has returned to FTRS even though she had the opportunity to return to her family.  It doesn't take long for Alva, our antagonist to return with a bang to free her minions and seek revenge against Gilly.  Now Gilly and her friends need to find the mole that is working for Alva, and fast, as Alva attacks the school, the city, and tries to recruit students from FTRS to join the cause.

Gilly struggles throughout the book with her new role as a hero of FTRS, and her past of doing everything on her one.  The fame and notoriety go to her head as she considers joining Princess Rose's Royal-Lady-in-Waiting to learn to be a noble and princess.  But does that mean turning her back on her friends that stood by her and assisted her to defeat Alva the first time? This book leaves Gilly with many challenges and decisions that will change the fate of FTRS, and an overlying question that flows throughout the entire book is "Who can Gilly trust?".

AUTHOR: Jen Calonita

GENRE: Fantasy

GRADE: 5-7

Masterminds #2 - Criminal's Destiny

SPOILER ALERT - This is the second book of a series.  I strongly advise you to read the first book, and besides the first one is the best book of the series.  You can find the book talk here.

Our second book begins with our crew hanging out at the dormitory school in Colorado, but it doesn't take long for the Purple People Eaters to find them and the chase is on. They are on the run and learn that just telling the police will not solve their problems, but only expound them.  While one the run, our main character are faced with a dilemma - Should they break the law to try and survive, and if they do, does that stem from their DNA.  Are they becoming the criminals?  Can they escape their dreaded past?

There are many twists and turns, suspense, action, and excitement as they search for the truth, make their way back to Serenity, and even try to break someone out of jail.  And who could forget the agonizing question, "WHAT HAPPENED TO HECTOR?"  Many questions will be answered so make sure you don't miss book two in this thrilling series - Masterminds.