ILS Book Banter

Can a sequel and the middle book of a trilogy be better than the first? The answer in this case, YES. This sequel to The Summoning is a must buy.  And to think I only picked up The Summoning (NoveList has recommended this as a read-alike for Twilight readers) because Armstrong is a Canadian author…

The story picks up with Chloe, the necromancer, being held captive at the Edison Group hospital. There she is reunited with her Lyle House nemesis, Tori, a witch (better described by a word that rhymes with witch). During a daring escape, they meet up with Simon, the warlock and Derek, the werewolf. These four set out to travel from Buffalo to New York to find Andrew, a friend of the boys’ father who will help them. The action and suspense never lets down on their journey. And each character’s burgeoning supernatural powers are put to use along the way.  During the exciting climax, they find Andrew and are taken to a safe house for supernaturals to prepare for a rescue of their peers who are being held captive by the Edison Group.

Armstrong pulled off an amazing feat with this novel. She has written a sequel that is better than the first novel. The second book in a trilogy normally seems to be a setup for the final novel with a lot of retreaded action that the reader has already experienced in the first. Although this book is action-driven, Armstrong has achieved a fine balance with it. The book centers around the relationship of the four teenagers and the development of the characters, as they face problems associated with their powers. The characters are well-developed, strong and believable. And for the first time that I can remember, the beautiful girl protagonist is falling for, not the hunky Simon, but acne and BO plagued Derek. What makes this even more poignant is that Simon is a genuinely good person, not the stereotypical, self-absorbed hottie. Derek, an equally good character has led a harder life than Simon and is wounded,  but not a damaged bad boy, has more depth and Chloe has the character to recognize that. Kudos to Armstrong for not only stepping outside the box, but doing it with such subtle sophistication.  

The final book in the trilogy The Reckoning is slated for publication in May 2010.  The first three chapters are in draft on the series website. I don’t know if I’ll be able to resist that tempation.

 This book trailer is exceptionally well done:
 

Like the first, the book has no sexual content or swearing but due to the suspense, I think it would be more suitable for a mature Gr 7 & 8 reader, and high school.  AR IL: MG, BL: 4.1, Pts: 10.0.

If you have students who enjoy good fantasy fiction, rush out and buy two copies of this book.  It won’t stay on the shelves once the first person starts spreading the word.

In the land of seven kingdoms, people who are “graced” or have extreme talent in a particular area are marked by their different coloured eyes.  Katsa, 18 years old, is unlucky enough to be graced with the talent of fighting.  She first discovered she had this “grace” at age eight; when she felt threated by a man, she tried to stop him from touching her and accidently broke his neck.  Katsa immediatly became feared and an outcast in the court of her guardian and uncle Randa.   Randa, a devious king, used the child’s talent and made her his own personal enforcer–bringing pain and even death to those who defied him.  With the help of her cousin, Raffin and a few other, Katsa has formed “the council” to right the wrongs committed by immoral people.  On one particular mission to rescue an old man, Katsa encounters another graced fighter who is almost as good as she.  Eventually they meet again as he is Prince Po who was also trying to rescue the old man who is his grandfather.  Tired of being her uncle’s enforcer, Katsa refuses a job and flees the country with Po in an effort to find out who kidnapped the old man and for what purpose.

It is on this journey that both Katsa and Po discover the true nature of the their “graces”.  They must work together to save their known world from an unscruplous graced king.

The characters and landscape descriptions are beautifully drawn.  The plot is fast-moving (for the most part) with lots of adventure and a touch of romance.  The book contains a map of the seven kingdoms, but a list of characters or geneology would have been helpful.  Our main characters are involved romantically, but the physical aspect of their relationship is not described in any detail and would be suitable for grade 7 & 8.  Because Katsa and Po are such strong protagonists, this book will appeal equally to boys and girls.

Check out the book trailer

There is a booktalk available from the Novelist database. AR IL: UG, BL 5.3, Pts. 18.0

The Summoning is the first book in the Darkest Powers triology by Canadian author Kelley Armstrong. This review contains a plot summary and more spoilers than I normally give. If you have paranormal/supernatural readers, this is a must buy for your collection. I loved this book as much as the students will.

Chloe, 15, is a student at an arts high school, interested in film production. After her and her father have settled in Buffalo, Chloe wants nothing more than to live a normal life in her new high school. Then she sees a ghost and her whole world changes. Her aunt sends her to Lyle House, a group home for teens with mental health problems, telling Chloe that she won’t get into the film college she wants to attend if she isn’t cured.

At the group home, Chloe is diagnosed with schizophrenia and heavily medicated.  But this doesn’t stop the ghosts from contacting Chloe, it only interferes with the transmission. And just when I thought that she was actually schizophrenic, the truth about the other teen residents comes out. Liz is telekinetic, but can’t control her power. After accidentally hurting Chloe by causing things to fly around their bedroom, Liz is sent to the hospital, the next stop for these troubled teens.

Sam and Derek, brothers, are in the home because Derek attacked a boy, leaving him a parapelegic. Sam was put in the home as well because their father mysteriously disappeared and there’s no one to look after him. Sam reveals to Chloe that he is a sorcerer, as is his father, and Derek has supernatural strength. They start to question why all three of them with supernatural powers ended up in the same group home. Derek encourages Chloe to summon a ghost that is in Lyle House’s basement. Furious at being disturbed, the ghost tells them that Lyle House was used for experimention on supernaturals and that several of them are buried in the basement.

They know they have to get out of Lyle House. The night of the escape, Chloe finds Derek in the backyard, transforming from werewolf to human form. During the suspenseful escape, the boys and girls, firestarter Rae has joined them, get separated. Rae encourages Chloe to call her aunt to help them only to discover that Aunt Lauren is part of the group that have brought the teens together in Lyle House. The story ends with Chloe summoning Liz’s ghost to help her escape from the hospital that she knows Liz died in.  

This suspenseful novel is near impossible to put down. The characters are well developed, strong, and believable. The plot is action driven, with a great cliffhanger ending. It will leave readers anxiously waiting for the sequel, The Awakening that Elena is graciously sending to me to “catalogue”. There is no sexual content and no swearing that I can remember. With a little promotion, this book won’t be on the shelves very often.

Check out the publisher’s book trailer

SLJ recommends this book for Grades 6 & up. Suitable for high school. IL: MG, BL: 4.1, Pts: 11.0.

Okay let me say it again, faeries are the new vampires. In Sept and Oct, I read the first 4 books in an adult faery series that are some of the best books I have ever read. Suffering from faery withdrawal, I asked Diane to loan me some of hers. She had to decline, the students are reading them. Geeeeez. Thankfully Cullen’s just- published Prince was just the fix I needed.  And as Diane mentioned in her post for Wicked Lovely, these faeries aren’t cutesy “fairy” Tinkerbell characters. They are the stuff of dark Celtic folklore.

Brendan is the stereotypical ackward, zit encrusted, glasses and braces-wearing teenaged nerd. He goes to a nerd school for the gifted. It would stand to reason that on this level playing field, there wouldn’t be any bullying. But Brendan is picked on. When a substitute teacher arrives, Brendan’s life changes and will never be the same.

This novel chronicles the transformation of Brendan from a downtrodden teenage nerd to a glowing, not sparkly, faery. Brendan was placed in the human world, as a baby, for safekeeping by his faery father.  Aided by the faery substitute teacher and classmate, Brendan learns that he is faery, not human. Throughout the novel, he is the subject of a struggle between “good” and “bad” faeries.

Being the first in a series, this novel sets the backdrop for future adventures. The action is fast-paced, highly suspenseful and gruesome enough to keep boys interested through the narration neccesary for readers to understand the different world Brendan is now a part of. And of course, Cullen liberally sprinkles his humour into the story, like faery dust. (Okay, it’s bad, but I couldn’t resist!)

I really enjoyed this book and am looking forward to the sequels. Middle years & high school.

After reading this book, I’m truly amazed at Haworth Attard’s diversity. From Theories of Relativity to A is for Angst, and now Haunted, she authentically sets her coming of age novels to the character living in that time and situation in life.

This novel is set in 1919, with the soldiers just having returned from WWI and the Spanish influenza having passed through rural Ontario. 14 year old Dee Vale lives with her midwife grandmother after being abandoned by her mother shortly after birth. Dee’s grandmother is cold and distant, leaving Dee longing for the mother she has never met. Their life is one of rural simplicity, or as simple as it can be considering that the grandmother has the ability to tell the immediate future. Dee herself can see the spirits of dead people and the spirit of evil itself.

When a local girl is murdered, the townspeople start comparing this to similar murders that happened on the mountain over the years. The subsequent investigation, aided by Dee’s “sight” leads them to the killer, someone no one would have suspected.

This novel is fast-paced and suspenseful. Young readers will enjoy the supernatural aspect of the story. And hopefully they won’t miss the amazing snapshot Haworth Attard has given us of life in that era. The novel showcases the attitudes and prejudices of the time – the treatment of women, immigrants, and mentally handicapped people - and has realistic portrayals of the damaged soldiers, returned from war. This made the book a fascinating read for me. (My grandmothers would have been about Dee’s age in 1919.) Although there is a description of a miscarriage and mentions that the murdered girls were “interfered with”, a couple being pregnant, I would recommend this novel for mature Grade 7 & 8 readers and high school.

Athough this book currently doesn’t have a quiz, most of Haworth Attard’s books are AR. This book was just published and you can expect to see a quiz within the next couple of months.

I LOVED this book!  It’s is a “must buy” that will be the April 2010 book display.  Loosely based on an Aesop fable–The Mice in Council--Cynthia von Buhler has created an enchanting picture book that has a mouse who takes on the castle’s eight, spoiled cats.  Tired of being relegated to the drafty cellar, Mouse decides to put bells around the cats’ necks so that jingling sound will warn them when a cat is nearby.  Mouse, accompanied by his friend Bat, ventures into the castle proper only to be thwarted by the cats time and time again.  The cats capture Mouse and play Mouse Ping-Pong with him before he escapes.  The next time he is captured, he becomes the puck in  a game of Mouse Floor Hockey.  The last humiliation is having to be rescued by the Princess just before he is baked in a special Mouse Pie made by his enemy, the Cats!  Not to be deterred and much to the chagrin of the Cats, Mouse finally figures out a way involve the Princess in belling her cats thus opening the castle to the mice.

The artwork by von Buhler is amazing.  Each page is its own set build from carved wood and plaster.  The mouse, bat, cats, and princess are painted into the 3-D sets.  Many of the pages provide split views of privileged castle life upstairs juxtaposed against life in the drafty, dank basement.  Kids will love exploring the illustrations and pointing out differences in living.

Not yet an AR book, I’m sure that it will have a Reading Practice Quiz by the time book display arrives.

I really wanted to like this Newberry Award winner.  I even read well  past the point of no return (page 126) before giving up.  If someone out there has read it to its conclusion or is a follower of Neil Gaiman, please write a new post or add a comment to this one.  Are students reading the book?  Do they like it?

This is a dark book with a dark story.  It opens with the brutal murder of a family as they lay sleeping in their beds.  Thanks to his natural inquisitiveness which has lead him to escape his crib for a night of exploring, the toddler is unharmed.  Unknowingly pursued by the serial murder, the child makes his way to the local graveyard where he is given the protection of the graveyard.  Bod, short for Nobody because no one knows his name, is raised by the ghostly inhabitants of the graveyard.  As Gaiman states, it takes a graveyard to raise a child!  Bod is taught to read by teachers long dead and he is introduced to the secrets of the graveyard and life in general by a cast of characters spanning ancient Romans buried in the graveyard to ghastly ghouls who roam the world making mischief.

Despite the attention grabbing opener — “There was a hand in the darkness, and it help a knife” — I found this a difficult read.  On more than one occasion I had to reread a line of dialogue or wordy description.  When my attention wandered, I would skim read paragraphs only to have to go back and reread the section when I realized that I had missed an important story thread.   This book requires an accomplished, independent reader or a follower of Gaiman who wrote the popular Coraline.  (Does this mean that I am neither?!)  It appears as if each chapter is its own adventure with a loose storyline holding it together.

Check out Gaiman’s website where you can listen to him read the entire book.  I much preferred the audio version to my own reading of the story.

[BL 5.1; MG; Pts. 10]

I did not like this book.  Although it received a good review from School Library Journal, I cannot  recommend it for purchase.  It has nothing to do with inappropriate content, violence, sex, or vampires…I simply found the story contrived and boring.

17-year old Parker Rabinowitz comes from a wealthy, achievement-obsessed, Jewish family.  He’s smart, popular, handsome, and is expected to attend Yale, Harvard, or Princeton.  He belongs to all the right groups, not because he wants to or necessarily believes in their cause, but because it will look good on his resume.  There’s only one problem with Parker’s idyllic life – he’s bulimic.

The story is told in alternating chapters by Parker and his younger sister, Danielle.  She’s the only one who seems to notice that Parker’s life is one big deception.

An eating disorder from a male perspective had the potential to be a great story.  Unfortunately, the protagonist is unlikeable.  Other than reinforcing his low self-esteem, the story goes now where.  The author seems more intent on preaching about bulimia rather than making it come alive through plot and character development.  I also found the references to Parker’s heritage to be contrived.  At time I thought I was reading one of those “for dummies” books about Jewish people.  As if having a male bulimic wasn’t enough, the father develops cancer — breast cancer — which becomes another preachy moment.  Give this one a pass.

[BL 4.1; UG; Pts. 3.0]

I am not a fan of books for the younger crowd, but this debut novel (published in 2007) will be hit with younger readers (ages 8 to 12)…especially boys.  At one point, I found myself laughing out loud.  Check it out at the book display.

Nine-year old Charley Maplewood lives with his mother and older sister.  He is the family cook–shopping for groceries and whipping up gourmet dinners.  He is fanatical follower of the Monsters & Maniacscomic book series.  He’s organized.  But alas, he is friendless.   When his absentee father sends a birthday card one month early asking how is going to celebrate the big day, Charley starts thinking about turning the big one-oh.  After all, double digits are something to celebrate!  Not wanting to end up like their oddball, loner neighbor–Garry–whose girlfriend has just dumped him, Charley decides to throw himself a birthday party.  This is despite his memories of how he single-handedly destroyed the last birthday party he attended and his vow to never attend another birthday event.  Staying true to his character, Charley makes a list — (1) make friends, (2) watch people with friends to learn how, (3) find a theme–as long as it has nothing to do with ponies and cowboys, (4) think of fun activities, (5) bake a cake….

As Charley’s list grows, so does his determination to make this a party to end all parties.  He ends up inviting an unlikely group of fellow students including the class nerd, bully and side-kick, and female heartthrob and her followers.  In the ensuing party preparations, he almost burns down the garage, ruins his cake, discovers his mother’ new boyfriend is actually a married man, and befriends his neighbor who just happens to be an out of work movie special-effects technician specializing in body parts and horror movies.  Garry takes the scary party theme to a whole new level. 

The plot is faced paced and has just enough humour and gross-out parts to keep students reading to the end of the blow out party!

[BL 4.5; MG; 5.0]

A new category has been added to ILS Book Banter.  Use the “Book Display” category to highlight must-buy books from the preview book boxes.