Maile Meloy’s (pronounced MY-lee like Miley Cyrus) middle-grade novel The Apothecary is a bit like Harry Potter meets the pharmacy meets the Cold War. Instead of wizards and spells you have apothecaries and magical elixirs, and instead of evil Voldemort you have governments bent on nuclear domination. The year is 1952. The place is London. Janie Scott has been forced to move from Los Angeles with her screenwriter parents who have been blacklisted. Soon she...
Special thanks to my son, co-writer of this blog entry. Steampunk fiction is a sub-genre of sci-fi “set in an era or world where steam power is widely used” (wikipedia). Think 19th century Victorian England with a fantasy/sci-fi twist. Scott Westerfeld’s steampunk novel Leviathan (Simon & Schuster, 2009) is set during the beginning of World War I, and follows many of the historical events of World War I. A big part of what makes this novel...
I first heard about Rebecca Stead’s When You Reach Me (Random House 2009) from a book editor who said, “There is so much buzz about this book, I think it might win the Newbery.” Set in the 70′s in New York City, the story centers on sixth grade Miranda and her best friend Sal. Miranda (a girl) and Sal (a boy) live in the same apartment complex, both are from single-mom families, and they’ve been best friends...
When you’re a sister sandwiched between two sets of twins, you pretty much get ignored. It’s the twins everyone finds interesting, they’re the novelty–you’re just an extra. At least that’s how Miri feels in The Magic Half (Bloomsbury, 2008). This middle grade novel by Annie Barrows weaves a story of family and friendship with a unique time travel twist (and a surprise ending to boot). When Miri’s family moves to a new house, Miri has no one to...
For those of you who loved The Hunger Games, author Suzanne Collins has written a sequel, Catching Fire (Scholastic, 2009). The story picks up where Hunger Games left off, with Katniss awkwardly trying to choose between Peeta and Gale and living a life of ease as a Hunger Games champion. But things start to fall apart when Katniss discovers that her and Peeta’s dual survival was seen as an act of rebellion and has encouraged uprisings...
The Amazing Race, American Idol, Project Runway, The Biggest Loser, Man vs. Wild, Dancing with the Stars–reality shows are all over television. But what if winning Survivor meant being the last one left alive? What if the bloody battles of the Roman gladiators had been broadcast as reality TV? Reality TV meets Lord of the Flies in the gripping new YA thriller The Hunger Games (Scholastic, 2008) by Suzanne Collins. The Hunger Games takes place in a brutal and...
The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary Pearson (Henry Holt, 2008) is a fantastic young adult book–a sci-fi novel that has the creepy thrill of a scary movie. Teenager Jenna Fox wakes from a coma to discover that she remembers nothing of her past. She has to relearn how to talk, walk, eat, live. Her adoring parents have taken video after video of her childhood, and Jenna watches old family movies of herself in an attempt to discover who she is, or at least...
Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson (Tor 2006). I just finished this fantasy novel at the recommendation of a reader comment (see comments for the November post ”Luke Skywalker vs. Edward Cullen”). Mistborn is Book 2 of Brandon Sanderson’s epic fantasy series, and it’s a great read. The main character Kelsier combines the brash devil-may-care adventurism of Indiana Jones with the roguery of Robin Hood and the fighting talents of a ninja as he battles against the...
I thought long and hard about the topic for my very first blog. Something special. Relevant. A fascinating topic with mass appeal. So it had to be Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight. The just-released blockbuster movie is raking in major bucks ($70.5 million in the first week alone). Meanwhile Robert Pattison (vampire boyfriend Edward Cullen) has been attacked by rabid female fans, crazed-Beatle-mania style. Not sure he realized what he got himself into when he...
