Bobrick, Benson. A PASSION FOR VICTORY

Bobrick, Benson. A PASSION FOR VICTORY 
New York : A.A. Knopf, 2012 
IL 5-8, RL 8.7 
ISBN 0375868690 
As I watched the opening ceremonies of the summer Olympics, I was thrilled by the spectacle. The modern technology that allows the amazing show. And the athletes all looked so proud as they marched into the stadium. But has it always been like this? What were the Olympics like years ago? In this book, we find out. We learn about the first Olympic festival in 776 BC. And as we watch celebrities from the world attending the games, could it have been the same feeling when Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Herodotus and other celebrities of their time attended? From the games of the ancient times up through the 1948 games, we learn about the athletes both famous and little known. Like the Cuban marathoner Felix Carbajal, who stopped along the route to shake hands, paused in an orchard to eat some fruit which made him sick. Then he took a nap before finishing the race. And he actually came in fourth! That certainly wouldn't happen in the 21st century!

Falkner, Brian. BRAIN JACK

Falkner, Brian. BRAIN JACK 
New York : Random House, 2009 
IL YA 
ISBN 0375843663 

When the story opens Sam is hacking into the White House Security system, well it's there and supposed to be impenetrable, but when he tries to cover his tracks on the way out he accidentally crashes the international computer grid, and that gets him busted. Not long after he is incarcerated, he gets recruited to work for the government in their super secret cyber defense force. As such he essentially joins a select group of elite hackers as they work to track down and outwit cyber terrorists. “Use your skills to keep the world and our country safe!” 

In not too long evidence of a deadly neuro-virus surfaces on the web; however, their newest and best weapon, a neuro headset that connects your brainwaves directly to the internet thus ramping up response time, skills, and range, also creates an open door that could expose your very mind to the terrorists you are hunting. So, have fun, and buckle your headset! (NH Isinglass Teen Award nominee, 2013)

WHAT YOU WISH FOR : STORIES AND POEMS FOR DARFUR

WHAT YOU WISH FOR : STORIES AND POEMS FOR DARFUR

New York : G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2011
IL YA
ISBN  0399254544

What Your Wish For: A Book for Darfur is a collection of writing and art from an international roster of some of the best authors and artists who are currently working.  Authors like Meg Cabot and Alexander McCall Smith, Francisco Stork, Naomi Shihab Nye, Jeanne DuPrau, Joyce Carol Oates, Nikki Giovanni, Karen Hesse, Cornelia Funke, Ann M Martin, Meg Cabot, R.L. Stine, Jane Yolen, Gary Soto, Nate Powell, Cynthia Voigt -- have all donated their work to this project.  Each piece explores wishes – some are funny, some are creepy, some are inspiring – but all are linked by the universal power of a wish, the abstract things we wish for: home, family, safety and love.

The book was created to raise awareness of the plight of the Darfuri refugees forced to live in camps in eastern Chad.  And funds from sales of the books go toward granting the Darfuri’s wishes – building libraries in the refugee camps.  Their wish is that children growing up in refugee camps will become educated about good and evil and their history and their future, and will therefore be less likely to be recruited as child  soldiers.

What You Wish For is a thoughtful book that sheds light on an important international tragedy. But readers will also become exposed to some very fine writing that will encourage them to continue to read more of these authors’ works.   (NH Isinglass Teen Award nominee, 2013)

Higson, Charlie. THE DEAD

Higson, Charlie. THE DEAD

New York : Hyperion, 2010
IL YA
ISBN 1423134125

The Dead is about zombies…perfectly suited for readers who couldn't get enough of The Enemy, Charlie Higson has written a prequel that throws an entirely different set of characters into jeopardy.

If you don't know or haven't read The Enemy, the zombie disease only affects people sixteen or older. It starts with the symptoms of a cold. Then the skin begins to itch, and spots appear--spots that soon turn into pus-filled boils.

Once the teachers at Rowhurst School in London go on the attack, Ed, Jack, Bam and the other students know it's time to escape and make their way to London. It's a bit easier to escape the adults - they're usually disoriented and wandering. But once on the move, the students run into teens, who are stronger and more energetic, and hide in the shadows for unsuspecting victims.

It's all a desperate journey to get to a fortified shelter - a journey that brings them to hitch a ride on a bus driven by the seeming last lone uninfected adult on the planet…unless…

The Dead is an exciting book. And it's gross. The descriptions of decaying zombies is vivid. But the other characters are fleshed out and well-rounded. We care about them, and we want them to get to safety (even the annoying girls on the bus) Higson doesn't pull any punches or favor one character over the other. The Dead will keep readers enthralled because you never know what might be waiting around the corner. (NH Isinglass Teen Award nominee, 2013)

Thompson, Holly. ORCHARDS

Thompson, Holly. ORCHARDS 
New York : Delacorte, 2011 
IL YA 
ISBN 038573977X 

Orchards is a novel in verse that deals with a difficult subject – bullying and teen suicide. 

Kanako Goldberg is half-Japanese and half-Jewish, and a member of the clique of girls whose teasing had something to do with a classmate’s suicide. The classmate was bipolar and had all these issues anyway, and besides, it’s not like Kana was the ringleader… but she didn’t do anything to stop it either. 

Hoping that Kana will reflect on her behavior and develop some sensitivity to the situation, her parents pack her off to her mother's ancestral home in Japan for the summer. Kana spends hours under the hot sun tending to her family's mikan orange groves. 

Kana's mixed heritage makes it hard to fit in at first, especially under the critical eye of her traditional grandmother, who has never accepted Kana's father. But Kana gets to know her relatives, and Japan, and village culture. Through imaginary conversations with Ruth, the classmate who killed herself, Kana begins to process the pain and guilt she feels about the tragedy back home. But news of another tragedy sends her world spinning out of control. 

Orchards is a contemplative, beautifully written book that will evoke important conversations about some very important topics. (NH Isinglass Teen Award nominee, 2013)

Sheehan, Anna. A LONG, LONG SLEEP

Sheehan, Anna.  A LONG, LONG SLEEP
Somerville, MA : Candlewick Press, 2011
IL YA
ISBN 0763652601

Rosalinda Fitzroy is awakened by a kiss. Bren, a handsome young man, was exploring the
basement of the apartment building where he lives with his parents, and found her stasis tube
and kissed her.  Biologically, Rose is 16 years old, but she learns that it’s been 62 years since
she went into stasis.  True, stasis protected her from the plague-ridden Dark Times, but she is
heartbroken to learn that everyone she knows is long dead -- particularly her beloved Xavier, a
childhood friend and first love.  Her waking also spurs a media frenzy: She’s the heir to her
father’s billionaire company that owns and operates most of the world of the future.

It’s expected that Rose will eventually take over the company – a task that she isn’t sure she’s
qualified to do.  She’s quiet and withdrawn.  Her guardians enroll her in the best intergalactic
high school but Rose struggles to keep up and fit in.  She picks up her art again and finds some
comfort in that.  She might be able to piece some kind of life together in this strange future,
except –

The media frenzy surrounding Rose’s awakening triggers another stasis sleeper – a dangerous,
virtually unstoppable killing machine called a Plastine who is programmed to assassinate her.
With the help of a few friends, and her own surprising strength, Rose must face reality –
finally – and defeat the Plastine.

This is a fast moving story, with both anticipated and surprising plot twists.  We move between
the present and the past; Rose is a complex girl whose heartbreaking past is eventually
revealed—we are constantly asking why she was in stasis at all…and the reason is really
disturbing.   ( NH Isinglass Teen Award nominee, 2013)

Roth, Veronica. DIVERGENT

Roth, Veronica. DIVERGENT 

In the future, society has been reorganized; at 16, teens are evaluated and must choose which of the five factions they will join. Each faction highlights a particular virtue to address society’s shortcomings: out of weakness grew the Dauntless, who value bravery; from stupidity grew the Erudite, for those who value knowledge. From selfishness grew the Abnegation, for those who want to serve others; from dishonestly grew Candor for those who value truth, and from hate grew Amity, where happiness reigns. If a teen chooses a faction that differs from the one in which they grew up, they must sever all ties with their family. Beatrice Pryor is turning 16. She lives and serves with her family in Abnegation – a position that she finds very challenging. So perhaps it’s no surprise that her evaluation reveals that she can’t be easily sorted into one faction – she is Divergent, which her tester cautions her is a very dangerous label to have, and she must keep this secret. 

At her choosing ceremony she selects the Dauntless – a rowdy and reckless group. Not all initiates will be accepted and Tris (as she calls herself) must shed her selfless upbringing and excel at the intense initiation period, or risk a fate worse than death: exile and becoming factionless. 

The violent initiation – plenty of hand to hand combat here and some underhanded practices during which Tris is threatened and beat up – combined with a budding romance with a fellow Dauntless will attract many fans of The Hunger Games. Tris is a strong young woman who genuinely struggles with finding her place. She misses her family. She begins to question the “rightness” of the way her society is organized. Can people really be categorized? (NH Isinglass Teen Award nominee, 2013)

Ness, Patrick. A MONSTER CALLS

Ness, Patrick. A MONSTER CALLS 
Somerville, MA : Candlewick Press, 2011 
IL YA 
ISBN 0763655597 

Every night at seven minutes past midnight, a monster visits Conor. But it’s not the monster from his nightmare--the nightmare he’s been having every night since his mother started cancer treatments. The one with the darkness and the wind and the screaming. 

This monster is different. It’s ancient and wild. It’s from his backyard, a huge treelike form, with his uppermost branches twisted into a face with a huge, gaping mouth. Conor assumes it’s just his imagination, these nightly visits, only…only in the morning, there are leaves and branches on the floor. When this monster comes to visit him, Conor finds he’s not actually afraid of him. And he tells the monster so. Because “I’ve seen worse,” Conor tells him. But this monster assures him that he’ll be afraid of him soon enough. Before it’s over…the monster will get the truth out of him. 

A Monster Calls is a heart-wrenching story of loss, of love, and of growing up. Conor must face fears that no child should face – the slow, painful death of a parent. A feeling of displacement in your world, when your world turns upside down. When your dad’s living far away and involved with his new family. When your grandma comes to stay and you can’t seem to keep yourself tidy enough for her. 

Patrick Ness, the author of the Chaos Walking Trilogy for young adults, wrote A Monster Calls based on an idea and characters by Siobhan Dowd, who lost her battle with cancer. The book is filled with beautiful illustrations by Jim Kay. ( NH Isinglass Teen Award nominee, 2013)

Wright, Barbara. CROW

Wright, Barbara. CROW 
New York : Random, 2012 
IL 5-8, RL 4.6 
ISBN 037586928X 
It is 1898 and Moses and his family are living in Wilmington, NC. Moses' grandmother is a former slave who is very superstitious. His mother works as a housekeeper for a rich white family. His father is a graduate of Howard University and works for the largest black newspaper in the state. He is also an alderman in the town. Things should be looking up. The new century is right around the corner. Wilmington is the home of a growing middle class of black workers. Only one generatioin removed from slavery, Moses and his family are looking forward to living a comfortable life. Until a group of white businessmen decide that the blacks are getting too successful and set out to end their upward climb. Race riots ensue and all the blacks are thrown out of office. This little-known piece of history is told through the eyes of 11-year-old Moses.

Tracy, Kristen. BESSICA LEFTER BITES BACK

Tracy, Kristen. BESSICA LEFTER BITES BACK 
New York : Delacorte Press, 2012 
IL 5-8, RL 4.8 
ISBN 0385740697 
Bessica has tried to reinvent herself for middle school but that hasn't gone so well. We now see her wishing she still had her best friend. And sharing mascot duties with Alice, her worse enemy. When the rumor spreads that the opposing mascot is planning on face bombing Bessica and embarrassing the whole school, Bessica tries to find a way to stop it. Whatever "it" is. She has no idea of what face bombing is. Get ready for some more mis-adventures as Bessica travels through sixth grade.

Sklansky, Amy E. OUT OF THIS WORLD : POEMS AND FACTS ABOUT SPACE

Sklansky, Amy E. OUT OF THIS WORLD : POEMS AND FACTS ABOUT SPACE 
New York : Knopf, 2012 
IL 3-6, RL 5.6 
ISBN 0375864598 
Have you ever wished on a star? Do you like looking up at the night sky and wondering what is it like to be in space? What about what it is like to ride into space on a rocket? This is a collection of poetry that celebrates space. From countdown to liftoff to the sky itself, these poems take us on a journey into space.

Dashner, James. THE DEATH CURE

Dashner, James. THE DEATH CURE 
New York : Delecorte, 2011 
IL YA 
ISBN 0385738773 
In the conclusion to the Maze Runner trilogy, we find Thomas and the rest of the survivors of the Scorch Trials being held by WICKED (World in Catastophe, Killzone Experiment Department). WICKED has been formed by the governments of the surviving nations and now have combined forces. They have vowed to keep Flare at bay. Although many of the survivors believe that WICKED is in fact a good thing, Thomas and others do not agree. Together they plot an escape to join forces with The Right Arm who want to overthrow the new government.

Jonell, Lynne. LAWN MOWER MAGIC

Jonell, Lynne. LAWN MOWER MAGIC 
New York : Random, 2012 
IL K-3, RL 3.8 
ISBN 0375866612 
The Willow family has just moved into a new home in the country. Although the children like it, they miss their old home and their friends. Derek gets invited to visit his friends for a week but he'll need money for a train ticket. Money is tight after the move and the lawn mower has broken and needs to be replaced. Can the kids find a way to take care of the lawn and find the money for a train ticket?