Don't farm out this one - Proxy by Alex London

I really enjoyed this book.

Rather than a plot summary, let me share a few thoughts about the novel.    

a) I was hoping this would be a stand-alone novel, but I see it's part of a series.   I'd have been happy with the ending.   Loose ends?  Sure.  But let the reader interpret.  Still, with the knowledge of another volume, I'll be looking forward to it.

b) Chapter 11 - redefined.  I'm not usually a big fan of gay characters, but I like Syd.  He's not a stereotype, he's not a token.  It's who he is, it works within the context of the novel, and it works for me.

c) On the topic of Syd - good choice of names.   Tie it in with A Tale of Two Cities, of course.  (This is a hint, ELAR teachers.)

d) Not overly preachy.  Yeah, there's some.  Rich vs. poor.  Ethics. Religion.  Business.  Diversity.  But nothing feels overdone.

e) Plot twists!!  Yes, some of it you can see coming.  Read other reviews with spoilers, if you want.  But I recommend just reading and enjoying the ride.

Yes, there are the inevitable comparisons to The Whipping Boy.  Use them in parallel.  Or use as a companion to A Tale of Two Cities.  Or just keep in mind that when it all comes down to it, there's really nothing new under the sun.  

Read, and enjoy!

Run - don't walk - for The Runaway King by Jennifer A. Nielsen

    Picking up shortly after The False Prince left off with Jaron’s return and coronation, it is time for the funeral of the royal family.   Jaron slips out to the garden for time alone only to be attacked by two intruders, one of whom Jaron never expected.  He is given a deadline – surrender to pirates in ten days or Carthya will be attacked.    Encouraged by Gregor Breslin, captain of the guard, to go into hiding and allow a steward to rule until he is older, Jaron instead secretly leaves with Mott and Tobias for Farthenwood.  From Farthenwood, Jaron sends Tobias back to the palace and leaves Mott behind, setting out to join the pirates to bring about their downfall from the inside. 

     Along the way, Jaron resumes life as the orphan Sage, meets Rulon Harlowe, a minor Carthyan nobleman, enters Avenia, joins a band of thieves, avoids detection by the Avenian king Vargan, and with the help of Erick,the band’s leader, is taken to the pirates where he becomes one of them.  The pirate king Devlin is suspicious of Sage, but Sage’s troubles truly begin when someone from his past returns to the camp. 

    How will Jaron save himself, his friends, and ultimately his country?  Who is really responsible for the death of his family and political turmoil in Carthya?  And  the girls -  how does he feel about Imogen and Princess Amarinda, and what do they really think of him?   

    Jaron is as reckless as ever, but he is also clever and fiercely loyal to his friends and his country.  Both a convincing thief and a competent royal, he displays all the hubris one would expect from a royal, but he balances it with the humility learned through life on his own.   The cast of characters, the unexpected twists and turns, and the mystery and adventure build on to The False Prince and will leave readers clamoring for the next book – and it can’t get here soon enough!

Chickenhare by Chris Grine

While this is a reprint of a book originally published in 2006, this edition of Chickenhare will find a new audience that will be delighted by the original creatures and dark humor.  Chickenhare and Abe, a bearded turtle, are recognizable recombinants while other creatures such as Meg, Banjo, and the Shromphs are new.   Though the obvious focus of a graphic novel is its pictures, there is more to Chickenhare; the dark humor makes the book a pleasure to read.  A Santa Claus look-alike named Klaus is a sadistic master and taxidermist determined to keep his unusual pets by killing and stuffing them.  The banter between Meg and Banjo is less than playful – they’ll end up killing each other or falling hard for each other.   A long-dead ghost goat tied to its frozen corpse plots its revenge on its former master.   The cute little Shromph have sharp, pointy teeth, and they aren’t afraid to use them.   You’ll find no blood, and violence is more implicit than explicit, but this is no bunny-and-buddies tale.  In other words, it’s the perfect pick for a middle-school audience. 

True Story! Review: Lincoln's Grave Robbers by Steve Sheinkin

So you think you know everything about Abe Lincoln?  16th president.  Honest Abe.  Civil War president.  Emancipator.  Mary, Robert, Tad, Willie.  Target of grave robbing plot.   Hold on there!  What was that?

What do Lincoln, coney, the Secret Service, and grave robbing all have in common? 10 years after the president's death, a counterfeiting ring plots to steal Lincoln's body as part of an attempt to blackmail the government into releasing one of the best coney men around. At the time, the Secret Service agents' primary job was to stop counterfeiters, not provide protection for presidents, but one agent stumbled upon the grave robbing plot.

Look for some period- and setting-specific lingo. "Coney", "shover", and "ropers" might be unfamiliar terms. But the book is well equipped with a glossary at the back as well as extensive source notes. Sheinkin obviously did his research. There's also a bonus section about "body snatchers" - resurrectionists - and the practice of grave robbing in the nineteenth century. 

It's true!   Check out Lincoln's Grave Robbers by Steve Sheinkin.  

Review - Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys

Ruta Sepetys is rapidly climbing my personal list of favorite authors. After her debut novel Between Shades of Gray focused on the Soviet occupation of the Baltic states and deportation of Lithuanians, Sepetys moves a decade forward and across the ocean to New Orleans. Here we meet Josie (Jo, Josephine), an 18-year old with dreams to escape the Big Easy in which life is so hard. It's not just the city Josie wants to leave behind but also the baggage that comes with being the daughter of a prostitute. 

A self-absorbed mother, a small-time gangster, an open-yet-secretive best friend, an all-seeing madame, an unexpected visitor who provides an entry into upper-class society, a would-be wooer, and a Lord Elgin watch are but some of the threads that weave the tapestry that is Jo's life. The death of a man she meets only briefly becomes a mystery that pulls at her and leads to a string of lies. Lies abound, sometimes to protect, sometimes to avoid, sometimes to conceal. How and when will they come to light? Can hope and dreams survive in the Big Easy?

Sepetys touches on clichés but avoids falling victim to them, not allowing them to drive the characters and events. The use of stories with the story seems to be in vogue as of late, and Out of the Easy is no exception as David Copperfield is alluded to throughout the novel (notice a repeat of Dickens from Between Shades of Gray?). And while the dénouement won't surprise many readers, the climax might offer an unexpected twist. Gritty but delicate, Out of the Easy is a sophomore novel that does not disappoint and promises more hours of reading enjoyment to come.

Happy HalloReads!

Some holidays lend themselves to thematic selections better than others.  I mean, think of all the spine-chilling, freaky, suspenseful, and downright creepy books there are out there!   You could do a list of top-10 Halloween chillers/thrillers with Stephen King alone!

Since I'm in a middle school library, however, I'll have to take a, um, "stab" at a different list.    So here are, in no particular order, 10 excellent (not necessarily the 10 best) Halloween reads.

1.  Harry Potter and the ... (J.K. Rowling)  No, I'm not going to single out any particular one.  And maybe HP is pretty mild.  But come on - witches, wizards, wands, flying brooms, toads/cats/owls/rats, unnameable evil, death - definitely the stuff of Halloween.

2. Unwind  (Neal Shusterman)  Shusterman's description of a teen's unwinding is freakin' creepy!

3. Bliss  (Lauren Myracle)  Voices in one's head, possession, revenge, cats (again), flesh relics, and Charles Manson and the Family's murder trials?  Someone just ain't right in the head.

4. Rot & Ruin (Jonathan Maberry)  You've got to have at least one zombie book on the list.  Tom Imura and his brother Benny aren't your stereotypical zombie bounty hunters.  If there is such a thing.  There are three books in the series so far.  Let's just say that I read the 3rd book (all 469 pages) in a day.  

5. A Tale Dark and Grimm  (Adam Gidwitz)  Lemony Snicket meets the Brothers Grimm.  Yes, it's the stuff of fairy tales, but these are the Grimms' tales, not Disney's.  

6. The Diviners (Libba Bray)  Confession - I'm still reading this one.  But there is a psychic,  an ouija board, a healer, (at least one) murder by a psychotic mass murderer back from the dead, Revelation-like "prophecy", and more to be discovered, all in a 1920's setting.  Ain't we got fun?

7. Ashes (Ilsa J. Bick)  There's also Shadows, the recent second installment in the trilogy.  More zombies, aka The Changed.  Thanks to an EMP - electromagnetic pulse - of unknown origin, most children are alive, teens are dead or "changed" (or dying), and adults are dead.  The exceptions?  Those with significant brain trauma (Alzheimer's, post-traumatic stress syndrome, tumors) are miraculously alive and/or cured and are known as The Spared.  Bick must've thought or been told that Ashes was too mild, because the violence and gore factors increase dramatically in Shadows.  

8. The Skinjacker Trilogy - Everlost, Everwild, Everfound (Neal Shusterman)  Another entry from Shusterman with ghosts, skinjackers, and monsters.  The spiritual world is superimposed over the living world; we just don't see the other side.  

9. The Monstrumologist (Richard Yancey)  In this first book in the series, the monstrumologist Dr. Pellinore Warthrop and his assistant Will Henry are on the search for the monstrous anthropophagi.  After graphic descriptions in early chapters, I wondered if I'd be able to finish the book.   I did.  Full of suspense, blood, & body parts. 

10. Little House series (Laura Ingalls Wilder)   Not scary, you say?  Indians, fires, death of child?  No indoor plumbing or refrigeration? Suddenly going blind?  A potato and stick of candy for Christmas?   Crazy blizzards into the month of May?  Nellie Olsen?  'nough said.

That's my job, you see...

So why am I librarian?   Well, the books, of course!   I love to read and have been that way as long as I remember.   Back in the 4th grade, my amazingly wonderful principal, Guy Wilson, sat down by me one day and asked if I was happy, if I felt like I had friends - basically making sure I wasn't trying to avoid reality by reading.  Nope, I just didn't want to stop reading.  And I'm still that way.

As a librarian, I take joy in discussing books with students, making recommendations, and hearing them gush about their reading.   I love to see the kids who are in every few days - maybe every day.  It doesn't matter if it's short nonfiction, only sports books, only graphic novels and manga, only Erin Hunter's Warriors books.  If they love it, I want them to read it.

We've become a culture where illiteracy is prevalent and aliteracy is often the norm.  I have plenty of adult friends - even teachers - who confess to not really enjoying reading.  My thought: they just haven't found the right book.   I want to help change that.  And it's not just because of books.   It's about information in so many different formats.  It's about access to information.

I want to help students learn how to find information and how to use it.  I want them to be technologically literate.  I want them to be confident in their ability to access and apply information and skills.   Maybe it's in a book.  Maybe it's in a magazine.  Maybe it's online.   I'm pretty sure it's not in a STAAR test.

So I'm going to keep reading.  I'm going to keep listening.  I'm going to keep recommending.  I'm going to keep teaching and learning.  Because I'm a librarian, and that's what I love to do.

Note: Recent events force me to note that the use of the word "book" includes literature in both print and digital formats.   I love print copies, but I'm looking forward to expanding my own digital library.    Nerd, yes.  Snob, not as much.