Arena One

Rice, Morgan. Arena One. Book 1 of the Arena 1 trilogy. 2012. 300p. ISBN 9780984975310. Available as an eBook on Overdrive.

A second civil war has devastated the United States, and the few survivors became prey for the slaverunners to feed their Arena, where people fight to the death for the entertainment of those who remained in the ruins of the city.

Seventeen years old Brooke and Bree, her thirteen years old sister, escaped New York before it was nuked and escaped to Catskill, where their military father had a cottage. For the last two years, they have been surviving off the land in a harsh, lonely, and terrifying environment. On the day that Brooke discovers a new safer hiding place filled with food and survival gear, slaverunners come and kidnap her sister.

A race ensues with Brooke trying to catch up to the slaverunners before they make it to New York. Riding a motorcycle at breakneck speeds, she comes across Ben, who just lost his little brother to the same slavers. They team up and chase the runners all the way to the gates of New York City. Unfortunately, their luck changes, and they are caught. Now, they are slated to be the next fighters in the ring of Arena One, the worst slaverunner venue. Forced with the choice to fight or die, Brooke and Ben will have to make the ultimate sacrifice to save themselves and their siblings.

Fans of the dystopian novel will like this book, and might also enjoy the following: Starters, Maze Runner, Ship Breaker, Reboot, Not a Drop to Drink, Birthmarked and Divergent.

Scarlet

Meyer, Marissa. Scarlet. 2013. 452p. ISBN 978-0-312-64296-9. Book 2 of the Lunar Chronicles. Available both as a book at FIC MEY on the library shelves and as an audiobook on Overdrive.

Scarlet’s grandmother disappeared three weeks ago, and Scarlet is willing to do anything to find her. The police have ruled it a voluntary disappearance, but her ID chip and her port monitor were both left behind. A farmer by trade, Scarlet has been living with her grandmother since her dad abandoned her six years ago. During one of her deliveries, she meets Wolf, a foreign fighter in an underground network of fighting bouts. She quickly discovers that Wolf knows more than he lets on about what happened to her grandmother.

Meanwhile, Cinder manages to escape from the Eastern Commonwealth’s prison with Thorne, a petty criminal and former member of the American Republic military who happens to own a stolen transport ship. She had been imprisoned there after she had tried to assassinate Queen Levana of Lunar. Her escape provides the excuse Queen Levana needed to launch her war against Earth.

Scarlet is connected to Cinder through her grandmother, who served as a pilot in the European Federation and who spent some time on Lunar forty years ago. When it came time to rescue Princess Selene from the Moon, Michelle Benoît was the one who hid her and nursed her back to life in a secret facility underneath her barn.

As both Cinder and Scarlet are desperately seeking Scarlet’s grandmother, Wolf may be playing his own game. Who is he really, and why does he display such wolfish tendencies? Meanwhile, Emperor Kai finds himself cornered as the war starts and must make a momentous decision: fight Levana, or marry her.

As the two worlds collide, Cinder, Scarlet, and Kai risk becoming the victims of something that is spinning out of control.

This series continues in Cress.

Cinder

Meyer, Marissa. Cinder. 2012. 390p. ISBN 9780312641894. Book 1 of the Lunar Chronicles. Available both as a book at FIC MEY on the library shelves and as an audiobook on Overdrive.

Cinder is a lowly mechanic who works in one of the marketplaces of New Beijing. Her life forever changes when Crown Prince Kai comes to her to fix his nanny android, Nainsi. Self-conscious, Cinder is terrified the Prince will discover her secret. Cinder is in fact a cyborg, a sixteen years-old girl who has several cyborg appendages and a computing unit embedded in her brains.

Adopted at the age of 11, she does not remember her previous life, but she has powerful memories of a fire. She’s been told that she was involved in a terrible hovercraft accident that literally cost her an arm and a leg. And the father who adopted her died of Letimosis, a powerful contagious disease that cripples then kills its victims, leaving her alone with her stepmother and her two stepsisters. Both Adri, the stepmother, and Pearl, the older stepsister, are horrible to her and mistreat her every chance they get.

Fixing the Prince’s android creates a cascade of events and throws Cinder’s life into chaos. First, Kai appears to be falling in love with her, and he invites her to the Ball thrown every year by the Eastern Commonwealth. Second, Cinder is given by Adri to the authorities as a test subject for the Letimosis plague, but when injected with the disease her body defeats it. The doctor examining her realizes she is more than she thinks, and he eventually reveals to her that she is a Lunar.

Coincidentally, the Lunar Queen, Levana, arrives on Earth to participate in the funerals of Kai’s father, who died of the Letimosis plague. A villainous queen who uses her bio-electric abilities to glamour those who see her and influence their thoughts, the queen seeks nothing more than total world domination, beginning with the Eastern Commonwealth. Kai has been investigating the murder of her niece, Princess Selene, thirteen years ago, hoping to find a solution out of war, but he knows that time is running out and when Queen Levana does not get what she wants she will send her armies to fight Earth.

When the Queen sees Cinder, she realizes that there are Lunars on Earth and obliges Kai to give her up so she can be brought back to Luna, tried and executed. Kai loves Cinder, but a rash move gets her imprisoned in the palace. The doctor then reveals to her that she is in fact heir to the throne of Luna. She is Princess Selene. And her life is in mortal danger.

Cinder must now make a decision. Will she use her Lunar gift to influence others to escape, fulfill her destiny and claim the throne, or will she remain plain old Cinder? Can she survive the intrigues beyond her control?

Cinder's story continues in Scarlet. If you liked The Selection or Matched, you will definitively enjoy this series.

Antigoddess

Blake, Kendare. Antigoddess. 2013. 333p. Book 1 of the Goddess War Series. ISBN 0765334437. Available as an audiobook  on Overdrive.

Gods and goddesses are immortal. They can be hurt, they can be physically injured, but they cannot be killed. And for thousands of years, the gods have been playing with humanity. Athena, goddess of war, shipwrecked Odysseus and prevented him from going home for ten years. Apollo, god of the sun and of prophecies, toyed with Cassandra of Troy, first giving her the gift of seeing the future, but then cursing her by ensuring that no one would ever believe her. Hermes, the winged god, delivered messages and enforced the will of the gods in Olympus.

Today, however, the old gods are dying. Athena has begun sprouting feathers, and is slowly transforming into an owl, her symbol of wisdom and war. Hermes’ speed is slowly consuming him alive. And as death looms for them, camps are drawn. The gods will fight amongst themselves to survive. But they need weapons, and Cassandra the prophetess is one such weapon.

Cassandra lives in Kincaid, New York, and is an average teenager, except for the fact that she sees the future. She can accurately predict a coin toss, and she has visions of what will happen. So when she begins to see horrific monsters and the murders of innocents, her boyfriend, Aidan, becomes concerned for her. Her protector, Aidan is really Apollo, and as the other gods converge on Kincaid for a final stand, Cassandra’s universe is thrown into question and her real identity is revealed even to herself.

As two worlds collide, Cassandra and her friends are thrown in the fight between immortals, and it may just cost them their lives!

Fans of The Alchemyst will revel in the merging of legends and reality.

ESP

Kallen, Stuart A. ESP. 2013. 96p. ISBN 978-1-60152-472-0. 133.8 KAL on the library shelves.

Extra sensorial perception, or ESP, has always intrigued. From the ability to communicate information telephatically to moving objects through the astral plane, from visions of the future to remote viewing and spiritual travel to other planets, ESP comprises everything that our five senses cannot perceive. This sixth sense is intriguing enough to attract a lot of attention from people as well as from military and scientific authorities.

In this book, Kallen discusses several aspects of ESP and explores the history of sixth sense testing. In particular, he focuses on American and Soviet military efforts to develop actuable ESP weapons to provide their side with an edge during the Cold War. He also explores how ESP was perceived in the 19th century and how it evolved to today. Several cases of unexplained phenomena are also presented.

An index and a list of websites are also provided. Fans of the sixth sense, or those who are interested in ESP will enjoy this book.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid #1

Kinney, Jeff. Diary of a Wimpy Kid. 2007. 217p. Book 1 of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. ISBN 978-0-8109-9313-6. Available as FIC KIN on the library shelves and as an eBook on  Overdrive.

Greg Heffley is heading back to school in September, to the dreaded middle school. His mother offers him a diary in which he can write whatever he likes. Calling it a journal, Greg decides he will use it to comment on his middle school experience through text and drawings.

As an undersized middle schooler, Greg finds himself amid other students who have already bloom and who need to shave. They are taller and meaner than Greg, and he often becomes the victim of their actions. Through hilarious experiences shared with his best friend Rowley, Greg talks about his daily experiences with his peers, his brother Rodrick, and his family.

Greg also experiences jealousy when Rowley becomes more popular than him. The elaborate plots and plans to hitch himself to Rowley’s rising fame may lead to popularity for Greg, but it may also cost him everything.

The drawings are absolutely essential to appreciate this story, and it reads very quickly. Look no further for an entertaining look on the painful years of middle school.

The story continues in Diary of a Wimpy Kid #2: Rodrick Rules. For another entertaining look at the illustrated life of a middle schooler, take a look at Jake the Fake Keeps it Real.

Crescendo

Fitzpatrick, Becca. Crescendo. 2010. 427p. Book 2 of the Hush Hush series. ISBN 1416989439. FIC FIT on the library shelves.

After surviving a murderous attempt on her life in Hush Hush, Nora Grey has returned to a semblance of normalcy, despite knowing that Angels and Nephilims share the planet with humanity. Patch, who protected her, has gained his wings back, and is now her guardian angel. Nora is very attracted to him, but doesn’t know how he exactly feels about her. When she blurts out that she loves him, Patch turns cold and immediately drives away. Not sure why, Nora can only watch in horror as Patch hooks up with her archenemy, Marcie Millar.

Vi, Nora’s best friend, told her about Patch, that he was a player and now that she had admitted she loved him, he was done. Enters Scott Parnell. An old family friend, Nora and Scott used to hang out when they were five years old. Now Scott is back, and he is hot. Nora sees that Scott will be the perfect tool to hurt Patch, and she goes on a few dates with him. But trouble follows Scott, and Nora discovers that he is in fact Nephilim, and that he has been branded by the Black Hand, the same person who killed her own father 2 years ago.

Her life gets even more complicated when she sees her father twice, and both times she survives an attempt on her life. Her universe is clouding in again, and she’s aware that someone out there is hunting her. But now that Patch is no longer her guardian angel, Nora’s all alone. Desperate for answers, she keeps pushing, but the truth of what happened to her father two years ago could destroy her.

The Madman’s Daughter

Sheperd, Megan. The Madman’s Daughter. 2013. 420p. ISBN 978-0-06-212802-7. FIC SHE on the library shelves.

About a decade ago, Juliet’s father was accused of conducting gruesome vivisection experiments on animals. Shunned by society and one step ahead of the law, he disappeared and was never heard of again. Juliet and her mother were abandoned and had to fend for themselves. The fall from upper middle class to indigent forced Juliet’s mother into a “kept woman” role until her death of consumption. Since then, Juliet has worked as a maid at King’s College, hoping to save enough money to escape her current situation.

One evening she comes upon a vivisection performed by some of the students in the middle of the night. She puts an end to it by killing the rabbit, but discovers that the students had been inspired by an old piece of paper they had discovered. On it were some of her father’s diagrams and notes. She finds out where the students got the note, and discovers that Montgomery is in London.

A boy only a year older than she, Montgomery was a servant in their household prior to her father’s scandalous experiments, and he disappeared with him. Ten years later, Montgomery looks like a man, not the little boy that Juliet had been in love with, but the attraction is still there. Eventually Montgomery confesses that he is in London to purchase supplies for her father, who is on a remote island in the Pacific. Dr. Moreau is still experimenting on the island, and Juliet wonders if he did go mad or if it were only the rumors spread by those who opposed him. How could he simply abandon her mother and herself, Juliet wonders? Accompanied by Baltazar, one of the island’s deformed resident, Montgomery is happy to see Juliet but refuses to let her come with them.

Juliet is forced to flee, however, when she stabs a doctor who tried to take advantage of her. Montgomery has no choice but to take her on the boat over to the island. During the voyage, they rescue a shipwrecked man called Edward. With a dark past, Edward is more than he seems, but Juliet begins to fall for him too. Will she discover what dark secrets her fathers have been working on all of these years? Has he gone truly mad? Does he still care about her? Does Montgomery? Edward? And, most of all, does her father’s madness run in her veins?

The Giver

Lowry, Lois. The Giver. 2006. 179p. ISBN 0385732554. Available as a book at FIC LOW, as an eBook and as an audiobook on Overdrive.

Jonas lives in a perfect world. Designed to be self-sufficient, the citizens of the community do not suffer, but also do not experience pleasure. A committee of elders make all the decisions. At age 1, all children are assigned a name and are adopted by a family. At age 7, children get their own coats with buttons in front to replace those from previous years with buttons in the back, which require the help of another. At age 8, they begin volunteering at different jobs. At age 9, they get a bicycle, allowing them the freedom to circulate. And at age 12, they are appointed as apprentice to the job the committee determined they would be best suited for. Individuals who cannot meet the community standards or who are old and cannot contribute are “released.”

On the eve of his age 12 ceremony, Jonas’ world is changing. He’s getting ready to become an adult, and he is looking forward to it. But when he is appointed the Receiver of Memories, he is stunned. Only once in a great while is someone appointed to this position. Now, he will be trained to replace the current Receiver. The Receiver of Memories acts as a repository for all memories of the community from times past until now. Memories of love, of happiness, of snow, of sailing, of summer. But also memories of pain, war, famine, accidents. The Receiver holds on to all of these memories so that the community does not suffer them.

As new Receiver of Memories, Jonas does not know what to call his trainer. The man tells Jonas to call him the Giver, as he is giving him the memories one at a time. The Giver gives him memories, but as they share knowledge, Jonas begins to realize that the community and its underpinning social system is not necessarily just or better than societies in older times. Truths that have been hidden from him are slowly revealed. The removal of choice, Jonas notices, prevents people from making mistakes, but also deprives them of the pleasures he’s experiencing in his new memories. When Jonas finds out that “release” involves euthanasia, he is very perplexed. When he finds out that the baby the family has been taken care of is slated for “release,” he decides to intervene and kidnap it before its execution. Can Jonas find shelter for himself and Gabe before they die of starvation or worse, before they are caught by the community?

If you enjoyed this story, you will like Matched by Allie Condie.

Belzhar

Wolitzer, Meg. Belzhar. 2014. 264p. ISBN 978-0-525-42305-8. FIC WOL on the library shelves.

For the last year, Jamaica Gallahue, or Jam to her friends, has been grieving for the loss of her British boyfriend, Ree Maxfield. She has sunk so deep in depression and despair that her parents are forced to send her to a special school in mountainous Vermont called the Wooden Barn.

Her roommate, DJ, has food issues. Everyone one else at the school is dealing with a major physical or emotional trauma. And Jam remains herself lost in her grief. One of her class, however, is taught by Mrs. Quenell, a teacher who’s been here for decades. Only a small number of students are allowed in Special Topics in English, and everyone has to be personally selected by Mrs. Quenell.

On the first day of classes, Mrs. Quenell informs the five students in the class that they will only study one author this year, Sylvia Plath. And like her, students will be expected to write in a journal that Mrs. Quenell gives them. She will not read the journal, but it needs to be completed by the end of the semester. She also tells them that they must look out for each other.

Something odd happens when she writes in the journal. Jam feels transported back in time and space where she can reconnect with Reese. They can only do things they did when they were together, but for Jam this is enough. It allows her to spend time with Reese again

Everyone else in class experiences the same phenomenon, and name the space Belzhar in honor of Plath’s The Bell Jar. All five of them can now go back in time and dwell with their loved ones before their world traumatically changed forever.

But as time passes, and as the journals become filled, Jam begins to learn about herself and her friends. But the truths she encounters on the path to recovery may be more than she’s willing to deal with.

If you liked this book, consider reading Thirteen Reasons Why, Please Ignore Vera Dietz, We Were Liars, If I Stay, Zoe Letting Go, Black Box, The Vanishing Season, or Kiss of Broken Glass. All of these books feature a tragedy and a voyage of self-discovery as the central element of the plot.

Meg Wolitzer discusses her relationship to Sylvia Plath's work in this Time magazine article.

Al Capone Does My Shirts

Choldenko, Gennifer. Al Capone Does My Shirts. ISBN 0-399-23861-1. Available as an audiobook on Overdrive and on the library shelves at FIC CHO.

Natalie Flannagan has autism, but in the year 1935 this disease has not yet been diagnosed. Her father takes a job in the prison at Alcatraz and moves the whole family to the island so she can attend a special school in San Francisco. There, children like her receive treatment that is sometimes successful in pulling them out of their shells.

Moose Flannagan is not happy about this move. He loves baseball and already misses his Santa Monica friends. As the younger brother, he towers over Natalie yet must take care of her. He meets the Warden’s beautiful but dangerous daughter, Piper, who always has a scheme or two up her sleeve to make money. Her goal is to meet Al Capone, an inmate at Alcatraz.

But when Natalie is not admitted to the Esther P. Marinoff school, the family’s life becomes unbearable. Moose’s mother must find work to pay for a specialist, and Moose must babysit Natalie everyday after school. And with inmates and the infamous Al Capone on the island, trouble is never far for Moose. Can he keep his nose down and help his family deal with hard truths about Natalie, or will he get implicated in one of Piper’s mad capers and cost his family everything?

Set at a time where guards and their families did live on the island, this book provides an excellent look at a period and a place in American history that has been mythologized. Fans of historical fiction and of the love that helps a family pull together will enjoy this book.

Candy Bomber: The Story of the Berlin Airlift’s “Chocolate Pilot.”

Tunnell, Michael O. Candy Bomber: The Story of the Berlin Airlift’s “Chocolate Pilot.” 2010. 120p. ISBN 978-1-60734-505-3. Available as an eBook on Overdrive.

After World War II, the victors divided Germany into four sectors to both facilitate its occupation and to prevent yet another rise of an angry and violent Germany. The victors also split up the capital, Berlin, with the Western powers controlling the western side of the city and Russia controlling the eastern side. By 1948, the Russians had enough of the Americans’ presence in West Berlin and ordered a complete blockade of the city. No food or fuel could enter the city through roads, trains, or waterways. The Russians thought surely this would force West Berliners to sue for peace and join the Russian side.

This was counting without the ingenuity of the Western powers, who began airlifting essential commodities into West Berlin. When US Air Force Lieutenant Gail S. Halvorsen first flew into the city in 1948 with his cargo plane, he noticed a group of small children standing by the airport fence. He went to meet them, and gave them his two sticks of gums. Berlin was a city devastated by the war, rebuilding was slow, and the population was deprived of most everything. To the children, this present was amazing. Lt. Halvorsen told them that the next time he flew in he would drop them chocolate from the sky. How would they know which was his plane, the children asked in broken English? He told them he would wiggle his wings on approach.

And thus began Operation Little Vittle. What started as a drop of five bags of candy in small parachutes soon gathered publicity, and news reports from Germany to the United States created a movement to donate an ever increasing amount of candy, clothes, and other essential items. By the time the blocus was lifted, over 23 tons of chocolate, candies, and other sweets were delivered to the children of Berlin.

This short story is an excellent reminder that small random acts of kindness can grow friendships that last a lifetime and change the course of history. This book also contains many photos and copies of letters written by the children of Berlin to Lt. Halvorsen. It's a fascinating read into an ear that is not well-known.