BRAIN JACK by Brian Falkner

Title: BRAIN JACK
Author: Brian Falkner
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
Release Date: September 28, 2010
Number of Pages: 349
Source of Book: Library Check Out
Author's Website: www.brianfalkner.com

Goodreads Summary:
In a dystopian near-future, neuro-headsets have replaced computer keyboards. Just slip on a headset, and it's the Internet at the speed of thought. For teen hacker Sam Wilson, a headset is a must. But as he masters the new technology, he has a terrifying realization. If anything on his computer is vulnerable to an attack, what happens when his mind is linked to the system? Could consciousness itself be hacked?

Brian Falkner, author of The Tomorrow Code and The Project, delivers an action-packed and thought-provoking sci-fi thriller in which logging on to a computer could mean the difference between life and death.
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BRAIN JACK is a great boy book, especially for those into computers, code, or the hacking world.  I've always been intrigued by those who have the technological skill to be hackers and this book showcases them in an exciting way. This book is an exciting, don't-want-to-stop-reading, dystopian, techno-thriller full of action. The interesting thing the author did is created the action through much of the hacking moments by writing the coding actions as if they were a battle themselves, thus making it more exciting. This world Falkner created where neuro-headsets are used to make your computer usage faster by skipping the brain to hand keyboard and mouse step, is a scary vision of where technology could go. It's definitely a commentary on how far we should allow technology to go - and is there a time where the technology could get smarter than the people using it? This book has a future world where online gaming is now an addiction as we see drug use in today's society - people can't unplug and it ruins their lives. There are terrorist attacks all the time (in fact Vegas is now a radioactive wasteland) and there are secret and not-so-secret government groups protecting the people and looking for the terrorists - by trying to find the computers from which they are hacking in. It's a book that makes you question who is good and how do you know?

I never knew what was coming next and each time a plot point felt wrapped up and I couldn't imagine where he would take it next, a twist would be thrown in that I was never expecting. It kept is exciting and made me not want to put it down and stop reading. There wasn't too much character development compared to stories that I'm used to, but as far as thrillers go, I think it was fairly typical - this book is more about the action and excitement and suspense. However, I did love Sam and Dodge was great comic relief. This book is one to read, but with the caution that there are some very technical terms, so if you're not familiar with coding/computer technology, it may take a little getting used to, but it's worth the effort.

4 STARS for BRAIN JACK

Dystopian Book Club

It's the end of the quarter, and the grading has been piling up, meaning I haven't had much time to read books and write reviews lately.  So...I was feeling bad about the lack of content, and was working on planning for next quarter, so I thought I'd share what I'm doing book-wise.  Starting on Monday, I'll be doing a book club class (I have a period of the day to do curriculum extension work), and since I can't get my hands on enough multiple copies of single titles, I decided to focus on a specific genre that students could all read a book from, they would be interested in, and would prompt rich discussions.

So, I thought I'd share my working list of titles I'll be introducing to the class to choose from for our Dystopian Book Club. (no pictures because that would take up too much room, but all titles link to goodreads and are in random order as I could think of them)

THE HUNGER GAMES / CATCHING FIRE / MOCKINGJAY by Suzanne Collins
THE GIVER by Lois Lowry
CANDOR by Pam Bachorz
DELIRIUM by Lauren Oliver
DIVERGENT by Veronica Roth
THE MAZE RUNNER / THE SCORCH TRIALS by James Dashner
UGLIES / PRETTIES / SPECIALS / EXTRAS by Scott Westerfeld
MATCHED by Ally Condie
THE GARDENER by S.A. Bodeen
SKINNED by Robin Wasserman
INSIDE OUT by Maria V. Snyder
SHIP BREAKER by Paolo Bacigalupi
THE KNIFE OF NEVER LETTING GO by Patrick Ness
THE FOREST OF THE HANDS AND TEETH by Carrie Ryan
LITTLE BROTHER by Cory Doctorow
RASH by Pete Hautman
FEED by M.T. Anderson
INCARCERON / SAPPHIQUE by Catherine Fisher
THE UNIDENTIFIED by Rae Mariz
BLACK HOLE SUN by David Macginnis Gill
ACROSS THE UNIVERSE by Beth Revis
THE ADORATION OF JENNA FOX by Mary E. Pearson
EMPTY by Suzanne Weyn
BIRTHMARKED by Caragh M. O'Brien
EPIC by Conor Kostick
THE LINE by Teri Hall
GONE by  Michael Grant
CITY OF EMBER by Jeanne DuPrau
AMONG THE HIDDEN by Margaret Peterson Haddix
ENDER'S GAME by Orson Scott Card
THE DECLARATION by Gemma Malley
MEMENTO NORA by Angie Smibert
UNWIND by Neal Shusterman
THE OTHER SIDE OF THE ISLAND by Allegra Goodman
THE LAST BOOK IN THE UNIVERSE by Rodman Philbrick
THE BAR CODE TATTOO by Suzanne Weyn
GIRL IN THE ARENA by Lise Haines
NOMANSLAND by Lesley Hauge
BRAIN JACK by Brian Faulkner
NAUGHTS & CROSSES by Malorie Blackman
THE ROAR by Emma Clayton
SURVIVING ANTARCTICA: Reality TV 2083 by Andrea White
TRASH by Andy Mulligan
ROT & RUIN by Jonathan Maberry

Maybe this will give you some ideas for titles to read if you love dystopian books also. If you can think of any other dystopian genre books that would be good for 8th graders, I'd love to hear your suggestions!

DIVERGENT by Veronica Roth

Title: DIVERGENT
Author: Veronica Roth (she's only 22!)
Publisher: HarperCollins/Katherine Tegen Books
Release Date: May 3, 2011
Number of Pages: 487
Source of Book: Won an ARC from the author's blog contest
Author's Website: veronicarothbooks.blogspot.com

Author's Book Summary:

In Beatrice Prior’s dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can’t have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris, and struggles alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together, they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes-fascinating, sometimes-exasperating boy fits into the life she’s chosen. But Tris also has a secret: one she’s kept hidden from everyone, because she’s been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers unrest and growing conflict that threatens to unravel her seemingly-perfect society, she also learns that her secret might be what helps her save those she loves . . . or it might be what destroys her.

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A weird thing happened to me when I started reading DIVERGENT. I kept turning pages although I couldn't figure out why. I'm not sure if I went into this with a little bit of a skewed perception. I have already been hearing so much hype for this debut book, and I had just finished another dystopian that was haunting in an entirely different way. But, I just couldn't put this book down. I couldn't quite figure out what it was that was making me want to keep reading because it wasn't feeling mind-blowing to me, in fact, it was seeming a little bit predictable, but in the end, I LOVED it. I read it so fast that when I finished, I wanted to go back and reread the whole thing again to pick up on things I may have missed the first time around. So, I guess what I'm saying is, it took me a little while to feel fully engaged in the characters and this world, but at the same time I never wanted to put it down. DIVERGENT is an engrossing read. It's scary in showing how easy it was to get to this point with a world built of the five factions. It was really interesting to see how the world ended up divided by the five different strengths people valued. It is definitely a book that caused some deep thinking/analyzing (as any good dystopian should!) of our current societal beliefs.

DIVERGENT has a page-turning, action-packed, fast-paced, twisting plot from the very beginning to the very end full of heart-pounding thrills and wrenching shocks of sadness. This book definitely has a thriller feel to the plot as well. Smaller plot points would be important and keep me wanting to read and then the big overall conflict came together at the end in a way that was not totally expected earlier on in the book. I loved how it deals with fear and bravery in interesting, thought-provoking ways. It has lots of commentary on people and perceptions and control and fear and focuses on figuring out what true strength is. Some parts were horrifying in what this world has become (when it started with the best intentions) and shows the worst part of human nature. Other parts were inspiring in how people with the best intentions can use their strength to overcome odds and work for those they love.

DIVERGENT has likeable characters and I enjoyed spending time in Beatrice's head. I did feel that some secondary characters could have been developed a little bit more though. Ultimately it's about Tris' journey to figuring out how she can go against what she's always been conditioned to do/believe. Tris is a strong, kick-butt, take-no-crap character who always does what she thinks is right, but with a caring heart. She's so smart, but doesn't always realize it, but when she finally does, her bravery and intelligence shows through in unexpected ways. Tris struggles in this book between family obligation and what she thinks she wants. She's having to start dealing with the consequences of actions and discovering how she can affect her world. Seeing her insecurities and struggles through her eyes, but most especially seeing how she dealt with them with sass and wit, really made the book for me. Some parts seemed a little predictable - it was obvious who was going to be the love interest, but I still enjoyed seeing how that played out and how they grew closer. I felt that way about most things though - the way everything was tied together in the end made me feel better about the whole book because it all made sense. It was just an exciting book and a fast read - make sure you have time to get through it because you won't want to put it down.

4 1/2 STARS for DIVERGENT
This is the first book in a trilogy and I will definitely be in line to get my hands on the next book in this intriguing dystopian series (although it'll be a really long wait now since I got to read this one early)!

Book 6 of 12 for DAC2011

 

DELIRIUM by Lauren Oliver

Title: DELIRIUM
Author: Lauren Oliver
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release Date: February 1, 2011
Number of Pages: 441
Source of Book: Bought the Hardcover because I'd heard amazing buzz about this book and loved her first book, BEFORE I FALL
Author's Website: www.laurenoliverbooks.com

Goodreads Summary:
Before scientists found the cure, people thought love was a good thing. They didn’t understand that once love -- the deliria -- blooms in your blood, there is no escaping its hold. Things are different now. Scientists are able to eradicate love, and the governments demands that all citizens receive the cure upon turning eighteen. Lena Holoway has always looked forward to the day when she’ll be cured. A life without love is a life without pain: safe, measured, predictable, and happy.

But with ninety-five days left until her treatment, Lena does the unthinkable: She falls in love.
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It's been a few days since I finished reading DELIRIUM, and I can't get Lena's story out of my head. It's a haunting story about love and trust and opening one's eyes to the world around you. Disclaimer: I love dystopian novels - there's just something about stepping into a world that is like ours, but has a different view on something that drastically changes how people live. In this case - love. Love is seen as a disease that can kill, so they've created a procedure (basically brain surgery) that eliminates the possibility of any form of love from those 18 and older. Everyone has the surgery because they're scared not to because they've seen how crazy love has driven others. They believe the world is a better place this way, and Lena believes what she's been told as she is ninety-five days away from her procedure when the book begins. What she doesn't completely see is how unengaged all of the Cureds are. DELIRIUM reminds me a bit of Matched meets Uglies with a little Hunger Games thrown in. And if it reminds me of three of my favorite dystopians, you know I loved this one, too.

I've been a fan of Oliver since reading BEFORE I FALL in which her writing and story arc made me grow to care about a character who was dislikable in the beginning - and that takes quite a bit of talent to make one feel so strongly one way and then be able to guide them toward another through the course of a book. She has a beautiful writing style with descriptions that grab you and heart-wrenching moments and a way that makes you live in this world and care about these people. She makes you want to jump right in and grab them sometimes and cry when they cry and fear when they fear and love when they love. Lauren Oliver's writing is a sophisticated writing style with a literary feel to it. It's writing that makes me really feel for the characters and what they're living through, while feeling fully engaged in the story and the world that she's created. This novel deals with the idea that if you can't feel pain, you can't really live and love - it's all a part of the same emotion.

DELIRIUM was a long book, but a page-turner. It's starts off more subtle, but leads to heart-pounding chance scenes. Following Lena and her discovery of living in a world of lies, a world ruled by fear, made me frustrated at times, brought tears to my eyes at others, and made me want to push her in the right directions as she started to make her own choices and live for herself as she discovered who she was for herself. I almost liked the secondary characters, Alex and Hana and Gracie (there better be more of her in the next book!), more than Lena for many parts of the book; although Lena was the most fully developed character. It became a race to the finish, a ticking clock to beat a deadline, and a hope that friendship and love would win out in a world that doesn't believe in the goodness of love. And the end, oh the end...while feeling resolute also left me really wanting to know what happens in the next few minutes after the book leaves the scene. It's really the end that I can't get out of my head, and the choices made by Lena and Alex, and how they fulfill their hopes and dreams, and how they feel about them that sticks with me the most.

4 1/2 STARS for DELIRIUM
It's going to feel like a really long wait for book 2, PANDEMONIUM, in 2012 and book 3, REQUIEM, in 2013.

ACROSS THE UNIVERSE by Beth Revis

Title: ACROSS THE UNIVERSE

Author: Beth Revis

Publisher: Razorbill (Penguin)

Release Date: 1/11/11

Number of Pages: 398

How I Got It: Won a signed hardcover copy from publisher's facebook contest

Author's Website: www.bethrevis.com

Goodreads Summary:

A love out of time. A spaceship built of secrets and murder. 

Seventeen-year-old Amy joins her parents as frozen cargo aboard the vast spaceship Godspeed and expects to awaken on a new planet, three hundred years in the future. Never could she have known that her frozen slumber would come to an end fifty years too soon and that she would be thrust into the brave new world of a spaceship that lives by its own rules. 

Amy quickly realizes that her awakening was no mere computer malfunction. Someone-one of the few thousand inhabitants of the spaceship-tried to kill her. And if Amy doesn't do something soon, her parents will be next. 

Now Amy must race to unlock Godspeed's hidden secrets. But out of her list of murder suspects, there's only one who matters: Elder, the future leader of the ship and the love she could never have seen coming.

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I'm struggling with what to say about this book, but in a really good way! ACROSS THE UNIVERSE is one of those books that just stays with you even after you've finished reading it.  It's deep and haunting and shocking and intriguing and scary and hopeful. I finished it late last night and it's been haunting the back of my mind all day. It's a book that starts off kind of subtle, but the more you get to know and the more you learn as you go through it, the more intrigued you are to find out what's really going on. It becomes one of those books that you just don't want to put down because you want to know what's going to happen next.

There are themes in this book that slap you across the face as you read them, and things that come as a complete surprise when you come to them (some even a little heartbreaking). This book feels claustrophobic being stuck on this ship with Elder and Amy in outer space with no way out. It's terrifying in the way of causing you to think about what people are capable of doing in the name of something they feel is right. It's thought-provoking in it's subtle ways of examining and commenting on power and leadership and hope and survival. There is a definite theme running through on why people do the things they do and what they will do to keep things the way they want them.

There is discovery to be found as the reader journeys with Amy and Elder to discover the lies and secrets on this ship, and what that means for the world they're now living in. There is a mystery to follow along with, but the story is much more than that. The world Revis has created is engaging and scientifically advanced with it's gravity tubes and embedded wireless communication devices. The descriptions are vivid and make you feel as if you're there on the spaceship with the characters, seeing what they're seeing and feeling what they're feeling. The book ends with hope - and as the book tells us - we need hope to survive and have a reason for being. I know I'll be anxiously waiting for the next book in this planned trilogy to spend more time with Amy and Elder and see what they do next now that their whole world has been turned around!

*I do need to warn you that there are a couple of mature scenes in this novel during the "Season" that caught me a little off guard from what I was expecting.


4 1/2 STARS for ACROSS THE UNIVERSE
Don't forget to look at the other side of the dual-sided cover for a map of the ship.

Book 3 of 12 for DAC 2011

Why Young Adult Lit?

Last week, Dr. Harold Koplewicz, an adolescent psychiatrist, posted an article in The Huffington Post titled "'Hunger Games': Why Kids Love Disaster, Distress, & Dystopia" which addresses a question/concern I hear quite often about young adult books and the choices students are making. It seems to be a common theme lately with people questioning why teens are choosing and obsessing over the books or genres that are most popular or most commonly talked about. His statements share many similarities with the things I share with parents myself. Teens sometimes need a safe outlet in which to deal with their ever-changing emotions during adolescence - books can provide that safe place in which to figure out how one can or would deal with difficult situations of their own. It's called imaginative rehearsal. Adolescence is all about discovering who oneself is and what one's dreams and desires are for the future - all while dealing with the drama of the middle and high school years when living in that microcosm of a social hierarchy can make every little decision feel like it could change one's life (and sometimes it can). Sure, in the future they may look back at those years with fondness or cringe-inducing mortification, but at that time, everything seems like the most important decision ever because it truly is a time when they're expected to make choices that could impact their entire future (no pressure there!). Teens are at a time in their lives when they're experiencing massive amounts of changes, and they need to know they're not the only ones to have ever gone through that. All of this while building an identity for themselves of what kind of person they want to be for the future.

Teenagers today are living in a very different world than I experienced fifteen years ago. Technology allows immediate access to a world-wide audience and perspectives that I never would have known about when I was their age. Teens need to gain perspectives on the world outside their own little sphere of self-awareness, and to realize that there is a really big world out there where people may deal with different situations and difficulties than they themselves have in their own lives. In addition, teens may find books that help them deal with things that they can't talk to anyone about, but an author may have been able to create a character who speaks to teens and can help them in a way that no one around them could, especially during adolescence where they all feel alone at times. I think the growth in the young adult publishing world only exemplifies the fact that today's teens need access to books that help them discover their own identities, beliefs, feelings, and ideals, and the broad range of topics out there is helping build the next generation into more socially aware citizens of a 21st century global society. Ultimately, I think it comes down to one thing - if they can't grapple with these issues safely in their own heads through reading a book, how else might they choose to experience them or how will they know how they want to handle them? I'd much rather have teens reading about things that may help them to gain perspective on their world and discover ways to make better choices within the safe confines of the pages of a book. That is the true benefit of young adult literature today and why it's so important for teens to have access to a large variety of books to choose from to find the ones that speak to them and open their eyes to the "real" world (whether that be through contemporary-realistic-fiction, fantasy, science-fiction, romance, paranormal, or dystopian genres). This is why young adult literature.

So THANK YOU...
to the authors who keep writing about these topics that engage teens and help them grow,
to the aspiring writers who keep striving to get their stories heard and books published,
to the publishers who keep getting these books out there to be read,
to the bloggers who keep helping to build buzz and support the industry,
to the librarians who keep putting these books into teens' hands,
to the teachers who keep promoting YA lit trying to get students engaged in reading,
and
to all in the YA Lit community for remembering who your audience is and why these books are so important.

BLACK HOLE SUN by David Macinnis Gill

Title: BLACK HOLE SUN

Author: David Macinnis Gill
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Release Date: August 24, 2010
Number of Pages: 352
How I Got It: Signed Hardcover free from ALAN Workshop

BLACK HOLE SUN is a good guys vs. bad guys type of plot, with the uniqueness of taking place in a future where people have left Earth to create a liveable world on Mars. I was really looking forward to reading this book because I had been hearing good things about it, I thought it might be a good boy book, and Suzanne Collins blurbed it. Unfortunately, I was left a little disappointed - I think mostly because I spent much of the novel confused and trying to figure out this fictional world and because I'm not really a fan of creepy creatures and this book has a few of them. The jacket flap simply says: Durango is playing the cards he was dealt. And it’s not a good hand. He’s lost his family. He’s lost his crew. And he’s got the scars to prove it. You don’t want to mess with Durango. It's an intriguing teaser and shows that the book is all about Durango's journey, but it tells little about his friends that are on the journey with him, the science of this future society, or the sarcasm that you'll find in his character's interactions with his artificial intelligence brain chip. The book gets complicated, but I did want to keep reading to find out what would happen, it just was a little bit of a frustrating book for me as I tried to figure out what was going on..

There is one thing I really wanted from this book that I didn't get - a map of the world they live in on Mars and a glossary of all of the unique terms used in the book.  Each chapter title is the location on Mars and the time the chapter takes place, but in this creative world the author made up with many unfamiliar words for me, I was left feeling lost because I had trouble following the action in the beginning. I would have liked a few more places with exposition in the beginning where the world was explained to me so that I could understand it a little bit more. Ultimately, it's a good book in a creative and unique world with an action-packed story of a boy trying to prove himself and fight off the bad guys, a group trying to figure out how to keep their secret hidden and battle an overwhelming enemy, an entertaining humorous band of secondary characters helping him out, and a lot of sarcasm and wit; but it's definitely a book that takes a lot of concentration and paying attention to keep track of what's going on and to figure it all out.

3 STARS for BLACK HOLE SUN

MATCHED by Ally Condie

MATCHED (out today) by Ally Condie is a book about a dystopian society that thinks it is utopian. In the same vein as The Giver and The Hunger Games, there is a main character who has bought into the way society has been made better, but through the course of events in the story, begins to learn that her society isn't all it's cracked up to be. I loved the characters, the plot, the society/world created, the conflict, the writing - I LOVED this book! This has definitely become one of my favorite books I've read this year, and the trilogy will be on my must-read list for my students!


In Cassia's society, everything is highly controlled by the government: where people live, what they can do, when they can marry and have children, where they can go, information available to them, and who they can be with. On their 17th birthday, the people go to a Matching Banquet where they receive the person that the computer system and technology have found to be their perfect match for their future. At that point, they get to start dating and when they are older, they can choose to marry that person or be single. This is a society in which the government doesn't make mistakes because they have systems that they have found to be better than information that was available in the past.  However, on Cassia's matching day, her disc reveals her best friend as her match, but also shows the face of another boy that Cassia wasn't meant to see. What she chooses to do with this information, how the two boys involved react to it, her family's secret knowledge revelations, her interactions with the officials at the matching department, and the way her world is shown to her once the haze of perfection has worn off become the push for moving this intriguing story forward.


The plot of this book was fast-moving with many events happening that made me want to know what would happen next. It also had great thoughtful and thought-provoking moments. One of the most interesting aspects of this book was the idea of this society that felt that the world had gotten too complicated and busy which affected people in a bad way, so they took the 100 best of everything: poetry, books, songs, etc. and that is all the information/learning people had access to anymore. Ally Condie created a world in this book that I want to keep reading about. The way that Cassia's journey of discovery happens throughout the story made me want to root for her to rebel against what the society has told them. I wanted to root for her to find her own path and to find ways to work against the society as she discovered more about Ky and Xander and what role they both play in her overall view of her society. I also felt they were both represented true feelings and choices for Cassia.


This book is the first in a planned trilogy, and I for one, am anxious to find out where this story will go. Just as anxious as I was to find out what would happen to Katniss, Peeta, and Gale in Catching Fire, I can't wait to see where Ally Condie takes Cassia, Ky, and Xander in the next book in the series. One of the best things about this book though, is that there is a clear resolution at the end for the first part of the story for these characters, and as much as I'm looking forward to what will happen next, I still felt fulfilled by what I was given. It's not a cliffhanger of an ending and it's very satisfying.


5 STARS for MATCHED
I'll definitely be first in line to buy the next one in the series!


Disclaimer: I received an Advanced Reader's Copy of this book from a giveaway on whatchyareading.net which they received from the publisher. I was not compensated or persuaded in any way for this review.

THE UNIDENTIFIED by Rae Mariz

A society in which Generation AAA's schools are now in abandoned refurbished malls, run by corporate sponsors, and all of the main communication is done through social networking - how far into the future is this in reality? THE UNIDENTIFIED takes place in a near future in which teens go to school each day in "The Game" where their every move is monitored by the corporations who sponsor their schools and the more popular they are, the more they can get branded and have nicer things. The majority of their interaction is done through facebook and twitter-like status updates on ipod touch-like handheld devices with GPS tracking. The goal is to set fashion trends, score points at the games (classes), and become popular to be "branded" and hang out in the VIP area while becoming a spokesperson for your corporate brand. Kid is not very popular, and she likes it that way, she can just produce her music and stay out of trouble. It's all fine until the day the body falls into the food court in front of her from the 5th floor railing. The body was a dummy, but the note attached was not - it's from "The Unidentified" - those who are rebelling against the corporate sponsors running their everyday school lives - and refusing to be identified by the material things they own. Once Kid starts to look into it more, she actually becomes more interesting to the corporations and as she gets more involved, she finds out more about how the Game really runs. Can she help out her family without losing herself to the corporate game and lose all of her friends? 


Overall I liked this book and the issues it brought up and the movement of the plot; although, I did have a little trouble totally getting engaged with the characters in the beginning, but was intrigued by the mystery. The book moves along with the mystery to be solved - who are "The Unidentified" and what do they really want and why? It also has quite a bit of action with different scenes wondering what will happen to Kid and her friends and the people she knows within the Game. Ultimately this book is about the choices we make, why we make them, and who is watching. This book is about identity - finding your own, keeping it, and portraying it in the face of others who might be looking for something else. It's an interesting commentary on the social networking society we now live in and the choices we make because we know people are watching - are we really our true selves or are we the self we want to portray to everyone who's reading? 


Reminds me of/Other anti-corporate books like this: Teen, Inc - So Yesterday - The Gospel According to Larry 


4 STARS for THE UNIDENTIFIED

INCARCERON by Catherine Fisher

INCARCERON is one of those books that I think boys will really like because it deals with prisons, fights, escapes, mysteries, secret plans, backstabbing, assassination plots, and science-fiction stuff that has action scenes and is intriguing. That being said, I struggled with it because I was really confused for most of the first hundred pages or so, and it wasn't until page 200 that I had that jaw-dropping moment where I started to figure things out and wanted to know what would happen next. At that point I started to care more about what would happen to Finn and his crew that were trying to find a way out of the prison, while I was eager to see if Claudia, the Warden's daughter on the Outside, would figure out what was really going on and be able to rescue Finn from Incarceron. 


They live in a society that has halted progress. The world's technology got so advanced that they created a prison that was a closed system. They would take all of the criminals and put them in there, lock the doors, and never allow anyone else in or out. Then on the outside, they follow Protocol to live as if it is two hundred years ago without the technology that they are so scared of. One thing I really liked was how the story was told - we get to see part of the story from Finn's perspective and the other part from Claudia's perspective. I'm finding I really like the books that give multiple points-of-view to tell the same story; it's especially necessary in this book where the story actually happens simultaneously in two different places. The book deals with a lot of issues of progress in society, the benefit or detriment of technology advances, and if solutions are really good or just another way of putting someone in a prison.


My feelings about INCARCERON reminded me of when I read The Maze Runner by James Dashner. I struggled through not knowing what was going on in the beginning, got further in and started to care and want to know what would happen to the characters, got close to the end when it through me for a loop with a really weird sci-fi/supernatural element, felt like I had finally started to get to the part where I was figuring things out, and then it ended - but left a huge cliff-hanging ending making me reluctantly eager to read the next book.  I know that's not a glowing endorsement, but again, I think it's just not right up my alley as far as genre goes.  I'm not sure if I'll read the next one, as this one's 443 pages took me quite a while to read, mostly because I wasn't dying to read the next pages enough to put aside other things. I will definitely recommend it to my boy students to give it a try.


3.5 STARS for INCARCERON
The sequel, SAPPHIQUE, comes out December 28th.

MOCKINGJAY by Suzanne Collins

* This review will not discuss any major spoiler plot points*


Have you had the experience with a book where...you get to the end and realize that you read the book so fast because you couldn't wait to find out what happens that you actually want to reread it so you can savor the story the second time? That is what reading MOCKINGJAY was like for me - it's just one of those books.  If you haven't yet read the first two books: The Hunger Games and Catching Fire, you must!  Now that I've seen where Katniss' journey was ultimately headed by the end, I'm so glad I went along with her!


From "The Ashes" to "The Assault" to "The Assasin" the plot of this story kept me on the edge of my seat flipping pages as fast as I could to find out what would happen to Katniss, Peeta, Gale, Haymitch, Finnick, and Prim next.  It was action-packed with twists and turns I wasn't expecting, although with one major one that I saw coming but was hoping for, that kept me guessing as to where the story would end up, but always hoping Katniss would find her way through. It was like uncovering the windows to see a view into the hidden worlds of Panem that I couldn't image in District 13 and the Capitol. It was honest, hopeful, gruesome, empowering, soul-searching, and heartbreaking all at the same time.  


It was truly Katniss' journey to hurt, heal, discover herself, and ultimately find hope in the world she lives in and the role she's been forced into. I really enjoyed the development and growth of the stories of the secondary characters in this final installment.  However, this story is all about Katniss and how she must move past the horrors she's seen in two Hunger Games and to discover who she is meant to be and what kind of person she wants to be and how to become that person, do what's right for her, and help the ones she loves. All of this while dealing with carrying the weight of the entire citizenry of this country at war (which in reality has been at war for 75 years) on her shoulders. Many people talk about Team Peeta or Team Gale, and there is a satisfying conclusion to that piece of the storyline, but really, this series is not about a love triangle at all. It's about growth for these characters, these children, who have to mature and work out a world they've been thrust into, growing up faster than they should ever have to, and the mistakes they make and the way they find their way through.


Suzanne Collins crafted a page-turning story throughout all three of the books in the series that constantly surprise the reader and leave a sense of hope and rooting for for those that survived. This third one was an emotional journey, but I would say this trilogy is one of the best YA series out there!
5 Stars for MOCKINGJAY

My Summer Reading List (Really Quick Reviews)

I didn't have time to do lengthy reviews on each of the books I read this summer, but I wanted to be sure to mention and give quick opinions on all of them, so here goes...

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie 
I love Sherman Alexie's voice - I've loved his writing and movies for a long time, so I was excited to finally read this book.  It is a fabulous book - I can see why it won the awards it did - a must-read! Handles issues of race issues, adolescent boys, high-school, friendships, family, etc in a humorous and sensitive way. I will recommend this to all of my students to read with a caution of some mature concepts.  5 Stars


My Most Excellent Year: A Novel of Love, Mary Poppins, and Fenway Park  by Steve Kluger
For the more mature reader - great book told from multiple points-of-view with three high-school friends who are the main characters. They are almost seniors, and writing an English paper on their most excellent year - all three write about their freshman year and the flashback part of the story is told through their journal entries from freshman year English class.  I really like the voice and methods that the story was told in with letters and emails and instant message chats and journals. Deals with coming out of a gay character in a realistic and sensitive way. It's a book about relationships and discovering who we really are. Made my top books list for the year.  5 Stars

Gone by Michael Grant
I expected this to be a dystopian along the lines of Lord of the Flies; however it threw me off with the supernatural parts of it that I wasn't expecting. I enjoyed the basic storyline of a town where everyone over the age of 14 disappears one day, and how the kids survive, but didn't like the supernatural parts of it so much - they distracted me from the main plot. I will probably read the sequel though because I did get drawn in by some of the main and secondary characters. 3 Stars

NUM8ERS by Rachel Ward
I really, really wanted to like this book about a girl who sees a string of numbers every time she looks at a person's eyes. On the day her mother died, she learned that the numbers stand for the day that person is destined to die.  I knew going in that it was a book from England, so some of the words would be different. However, I wasn't quite expecting it to be such an on-the-run story, and I wasn't hooked into the love interest storyline, which became more of a focus at the story moved on.  Overall, I was disappointed in the twist at the end. Several times I wanted to abandon, but forced myself to finish it. Overall, it's an OK book for me. 2 Stars

Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer by John Grisham
I've like John Grisham's adult books, so I was really intrigued to read this one.  There's just something about series books that are obviously intended to be a series from the start so the ending feels a little incomplete that throws me off sometimes, and this is one of those.  Overall, the story was cute with Theo and all of his knowledge of the law and his ability to be in with the judges and other court workers when a big trial is starting. There is quite a bit of law speak in this book, but it is explained pretty well. The plot kept moving fairly well and kept me interested. Overall, I think this is a book for those students who like to watch the procedural shows on TV and would be interested in trial stories and a new series. 4 Stars

Lament and Ballad by Maggie Stiefvater
I love, love, love Maggie Steifvater's writing!  I first discovered her when I heard her speak at a conference and got an advance copy of Linger, so of course I had to go buy Shiver and read it right away (stories with werewolves). As soon as I read them, I knew she was one of my favorite authors, and I recommended the series to all of my students and coworkers.  So, this summer I wanted to go back and read her first books (stories with faeries), Lament and Ballad.  I really enjoyed both of these books: the writing drew me in, I was invested in the characters and what would happen to them, the suspense in the plot and wondering how these human characters would deal with the faeries kept me reading, and I was eager to read the second once I had finished the first.  All of these things are what I want in a book. i enjoy reading books with paranormal/fantasy romance aspects, especially ones by Maggie Steifvater, and these didn't disappoint!  5 Stars


The Last Thing I Remember (The Homelanders) by Andrew Klavan
I picked this book up because I saw the cover in the bookstore and the back summary made me think this might be a good suspense/adventure series that would engage eighth grade boys. Mostly I think it will, but I was a little disappointed. I felt that the beginning, when Charlie wakes up in a room being held prisoner, all beat up, doesn't know what is going on, and doesn't remember how he got there was a great start especially as he's trying to escape and figure out what's happening. It flashes back to the last day he remembers in alternating chapters. The problem that I had was that after he escapes and is on the run it got very slow for me.  It wasn't until almost the end that the plot picked up again and we started to get answers on who these terrorists were. By the end I was a little disappointed because I didn't get as many answers as I would have like on how Charlie ended up there.  I will probably recommend it to boys looking for adventure books, but ask them to read the second one in the series and let me know how it is.  3 Stars

The Hunger Games and Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins 
Re-read these two for the second time in anticipation of Mockingjay's August release, and so glad I did.  It was nice to catch back up on the story of Katniss, Peeta, and Gale after one and two years since I read them, and reminded me of why this is one of my all-time favorite series! 


This series is one of the best dystopian stories I've read - a story taking a country similar to ours and putting it in a near future in which the world has changed in some way in which is is supposed to be better and is controlled by a different leading organization than our current governmental structure. 


In The Hunger Games, the country is run by The Capitol - the only area of the country in which they have enough money and food to live a good life. To remind the twelve districts of the failed rebellion from years ago and to make sure they don't rebel again, they hold the annual Hunger Games, a televised event that everyone in the country watches, in which one boy and one girl, between the ages of 12-18, from each of the districts, enters the game world and fights to the death. The winner is set for life and gets food for his or her entire district. When Katniss goes to the games, things change not only for her, but for the entire country of Panem. If you've been waiting to read these books, now that the third one will be out, it's time to read them all in a row.  5 Stars

Rules of Attraction by Simone Elkeles
I loved Perfect Chemistry so much that I definitely wanted to read the sequel and learn Carlos' story. Overall I liked it, it's a good romance escape novel, but was pretty similar in storyline to the first book. (See full review blog post)  4 Stars

The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan
Enjoyed the new series with Egyptian mythology from the author of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. (See full review blog post)  4 Stars