The Other Side of the Island by Allegra Goodman

Global warming has caused the polar ice caps to melt and sea levels to rise; consequently, much of the Earth’s land has disappeared, leaving only high-lying islands. A corporation run by a woman known as Earth Mother now rules all of the islands. Honor and her family have moved to Island 365, and from the outset it looks like they’ll have a hard time fitting in. First of all, Honor’s name is all wrong. Everyone born in her year has a name that begins with H, but Honor’s name has a silent H and is therefore all wrong. Honor’s family also sings songs (forbidden), stays out past curfew (a serious offense), and worst of all, has a second child. Honor grows more and more embarrassed by her family’s disrespect of the rules, but her embarrassment turns to concern when she finds out what happens to people who do not fit in. This book is similar to other futuristic children’s books, like the City of Ember books and the Shadow Children series. If you liked those books then you’ll probably like this one; however, it’s not a standout. I liked how some of Earth Mother’s rules were similar to the rules of the former Chinese ruler Mao Zedong, like how all people had to hang a picture of her in their house and have a book of her sayings. It is truly frightening how Earth Mother and the people who work for her are able to control the population. Review by Katie Corrigan

Piggy by Mireille Geus

This is a very disturbing book. It's the story of a girl who is content to lean against a lamppost and watch the neighborhood boys play ball in the street, until one day, on the opposite side of the street, there's another girl leaning against a lamppost, watching the kids, just like she is doing. The story pretty much goes downhill from there. The first girl, Lizzie (who calls herself Dizzy because of the dizzy spells she suffers), tells the story, and it's somewhat disjointed as it jumps back and forth in time between the aftermath of the terrible thing that happened, and the story she is telling to a nice policewoman about the terrible thing that happened, and the time when the terrible thing actually happened. See what I mean? Lizzie tells the story firsthand, but I'm not sure I really got a sense of her as a round, complete character. She is very detached, but I guess that is the point, and the bully character, Piggy, is very emotional. There is a strong sense of foreboding throughout the book, but little explanation of what is actually different about Lizzie. This is a quick read, but it will be a while before I stop thinking about it. Review by Stacy Church

My So-Called Family by Courtney Sheinmel

I really enjoyed this book. It deals with an unusual topic: having a father who is just a sperm donor. Leah told everyone that her father lived in Europe until she was in the fourth grade and her mother told a new friend the truth about her parentage, and the friend told her daughter, who was a friend of Leah's. That's when she gained the nickname "Science Experiment." So when her mother and stepfather tell her that they're moving to a new city to live, Leah realizes it's the perfect opportunity for a fresh start. The new school is good, she makes friends right away, and her new friends even like having her little brother, Charlie, around. Leah is an interesting character, because even though she seems so independent, her desire for people to like her and not find out the truth about her background makes her willing to go along with her friends plans even when it gets her in big trouble with her parents. She also finds herself drawn to a website she discovered: Lyon's Sibling Registry. It's a website that connects the children of sperm donors from the Lyon's Sperm Bank. She uses her mom's credit card to join, and learns about a girl who has the same father. In secret, Leah becomes friends with her and even goes to visit her without her parents knowing. I'm not sure how believable the story is, but it doesn't really matter. I like the resolution: Leah finds out that her parents and her new friends are a lot more accepting and understanding than she thought they would be. Review by Stacy Church

How to Disappear Completely and Never Be Found by Sara Nickerson

Sixth-grader Margaret's life has gone downhill since her father's death. Her mother spends entire days lying on the couch in front of the TV, her younger sister is obsessed with "The Hardest Jigsaw Ever Made," which she takes with her everywhere, and their "Family Fun Day" involves going to the laundramat and the grocery store. So the girls know something is up when their mother loads them into their pick-up truck one Sunday, drives them a long way to a broken-down mansion at the end of a lonely road, and then plants a "For Sale" sign on the lawn. Boyd lives next door to the mansion and is obsessed with a series of hand-drawn comic books by an author named Ratt. He finds the comics at the local library which isn't really a library at all: there's no catalog, all the books are hand-written, and there are no patrons except for Boyd, who comes every day to get the latest Ratt comic, which will have shown up on the doorstep during the night. This is one of only two books that I know of that incorporate graphic novel sections into the text. The other is The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick, published in 2007. Margaret goes into the mansion when her mother isn't paying attention, and finds an unopened package addressed to her mother. It's marked Return to Sender, and Margaret takes it. When she opens it later, she finds a comic book, a swimming medal and a key to the old house. Margaret's father drowned, so when she finds out the championship swimming medal was his, she knows she has to find out what really happened to him. How could he have drowned if he was a championship swimmer? There are other mysteries, too. Who is in the old mansion and what is he trying to tell Boyd and Margaret? Is he trying to kill them or help them? He chases them out of the house, along with some growling, hairy monster they never really catch sight of, but he also leaves them pages from comics that chronicle whatever has just happened or is about to happen. This is a creepy mystery with lots of suspense. For more about this book, visit http://westwoodyoungadultbookclub.blogspot.com/ Review by Stacy Church

Well Witched by Frances Hardinge

If you like your creepy books with a dose of reality, then this book is for you! Ryan, Josh and Chelle are hanging out in town one summer day, when they realize that they don’t have enough money to catch the bus home. Josh, the unspoken leader of the group, comes up with the idea of taking the money from a nearby wishing well. Big mistake. Over the next few days, strange changes happen to them – electrical devices go haywire around Josh, Chelle starts spouting out thoughts and words that aren’t her own, and Ryan develops warts on his hands that have…eyelashes. Soon they discover why these changes are happening, and how it’s connected to the money they stole from the well and the spirit that lives there. This is an original paranormal story that pulls you in right from the start. What I like best about Well Witched are the characters, and their growth throughout the book. The author really understands what it’s like among three kids that are friends - how Ryan and Chelle always feel a little odd together when Josh isn’t around, and how the person with more confidence than the others is the unspoken leader. But the dynamics of the kids’ relationship takes a twisty and unexpected turn by the end of the story. The book also addresses family conflict, abuse of power, and if we really want what we wish for. Review by Katie Corrigan

Triskellion by Will Peterson

This is the best fantasy book I have read in quite a while, and I'm so happy that it's the first volume of a trilogy! The second book is due out in May: Triskellion 2, The Burning. Twins Rachel and Alex are being sent to spend the summer with their grandmother in England, who they've barely met before. Their parents are going through a horrible, messy divorce, and their mother wants them to be out of the way for a while. They travel alone for the first time, and as soon as they arrive in the village of Triskellion they know something strange is up. There's no one around, and then when they do meet someone, it's a pair of brothers who beat Alex up! Things don't improve much -- they go exploring in the woods, climb up into a tree fort and witness the savage beating of the brothers who tormented Alex, seemingly as payback for their bad behavior. The men doing the beating are dressed up in strange costumes with blackened faces! The story seems to revolve around a chalk diagram in a field in the shape of a triskellion, or three-pointed blade. There are a number of evil-seeming characters who do their best to make the twins feel unwelcome, clearly warning them off about something. They are befriended by a strange boy named Gabriel, who can join the twins in their telepathic communications with each other, and he seems to be hated or feared by the people in the town. There's plenty of mystery, intrigue, fighting, and attempted murder (the twins' friend, the beekeeper, is locked in his shed by the band of Green Men, and the shed set on fire!). There are a lot of references to folk lore and mythology, which you can research if you want to, but the story makes sense (well sort of) anyway. I'm glad there will be a sequel, not only so that I can read more of their adventure, but also hopefully some of the more vague parts of the story will become clearer. Review by Stacy Church

The Underneath by Kathi Appelt

I feel that I should like this book – the reviews have been great, and it won a Newbery honor and a National Book Award. But I quite frankly did not like this book. First of all, the cover is very deceiving. Looking at the illustration of the sad-eyed hound dog and his two kitten companions, you’d think it would be the cute story of an unlikely animal family. While that is part of the story, the rest of the story is dark and depressing. The pregnant calico cat has been abandoned, driven out to the woods and left there by her owners. She finds the dog, Ranger, chained to the porch of a run down house. Ranger’s owner physically and emotionally abuses him, as he himself was abused as a child. There’s also a subplot about a thousand year old snake trapped in a jar that I’m just not even going to get into. The book jacket states that this is a “tale about the power of love.” More like a tale about child and animal abuse, abandonment, alcoholism, deceit and death. Most of the reviews praise the authors writing style, but I found it repetitive and boring. I felt impatient while I was reading it, like I was just waiting for it to be over. Perhaps children who like sad animal stories will like this tale, although it’s certainly not one that I would recommend. I think that the main audience for this book is adults who are interested in children’s literature. In fact, I did not find one review that was written by a child or young adult, which I think is telling. Review by Katie Corrigan

Beowulf by Stefan Petrucha with artwork by Kody Chamberlain

Beowulf is the first epic work written in English. It was written more than 1,000 years ago in verse, but in this retelling the text is in modern English. What makes Beowulf an epic poem is that "the main character is a hero who travels great distances to prove his strength at impossible odds against supernatural demons and beasts" (Wikipedia). In this case, Beowulf must defeat the monster Grendel, who has been terrifying the land for more than a dozen years. Not only that, if he succeeds in defeating Grendel, he has to face Grendel's mother, an even more terrible monster. I love the artwork in this version. It's beautiful and dark, but make no mistake about it, it is a bloody story. Even though the story is told in modern prose, the words retain the sense of poetry of other versions. For another graphic novel version of Beowulf, older readers should check out Gareth Hinds's version in the Young Adult dept. Review by Stacy Church

Bringing the Boy Home by N.A. Nelson

The cover was the first thing that made me want to read this book, with the scary-looking yellow eyes of a crocodile staring out at me (I later discovered that this crocodile is actually called a caiman, which is just as terrifying and dangerous), but it was the story that kept me reading. This book is about 2 boys from seemingly different worlds who have something magical in common. Luka has never been out of his hidden rain forest village and has suffered the humiliation of not completing his soche seche tente, a test of manhood. Tirio, with his disabled foot, was sent out of his hidden rain forest village in a death canoe when he was just a small boy -just a small boy alone to face the terrible caimans and other jungle predators! But Tirio is lucky; he is found by an American scientist named Sara, who has taken Tirio to live with her in California. As each boy nears his 13th birthday, their lives begin to magically and mysteriously change and collide. Review by Loretta Eysie

A River of Words by Jennifer Bryant

Yes, I know, some people will say this is a picture book and so doesn't belong on this blog, but it's a wonderful book, and it's about one of my favorite poets, William Carlos Williams. The book was just named a 2009 Caldecott Honors book for Melissa Sweet's collage-style artwork, which incorporates the text of many of Williams's poems. I have always thought Williams's poetry is well suited for children (check out the Poetry for Young People series book William Carlos Williams) and this book is sure to provoke new interest in his work. I never knew that he was a doctor! His poetry is so appealing, I just assumed that he was a full-time poet. It's certainly inspiring to learn that someone can be so accomplished as a writer when it's not even their full-time job. It's also funny to read about such a distinguished poet being called "Willy!" This book clearly satisfies the Caldecott requirement of being "distinguished." In the back of the book are a timeline of Williams's life, publications, and world events, and also notes by the Author and Illustrator which let the readers in on how the book came about. Review by Stacy Church

Savvy by Ingrid Law

What is a savvy anyway? In Mibs’ family, a savvy is a special gift you get when you turn 13, and Mibs will be 13 soon. It isn’t a gift like a computer, or a bicycle or a cell phone; it is more like a gift you should get when you live in the middle of nowhere, away from water and electricity and people. Mibs is really looking forward to her birthday to find out what her savvy will be, but she is a bit frightened too. She has good reason for fear -- her brother Rocket’s savvy has to do with electricity, and her brother Fish’s savvy can cause hurricanes, and they can both cause destruction. But before Mibs’ birthday arrives, a terrible truck accident leaves her papa unconscious and in critical condition in a hospital far from home. When Mibs finally discovers her savvy, she knows that she must get to that hospital and use her abilities to save her father. Review by Loretta Eysie

Cyberia by Chris Lynch

Just like most kids, Zane is sick of being watched, listened to, traced, and monitored, but in this story set in a future world, his room even knows when he will need to use the bathroom! With all that technology in his life, Zane is not thrilled when he gets a super new gizmo from his dad called a Gizzard. His dad thinks that this gift is the best ever and that it will let them talk to each other just by thinking about it! Zack is speechless at this news, but his dad will be speechless when he finds out what chaos this device will cause -- it enables Zack to talk to animals - and the animals aren’t happy! Review by Loretta Eysie

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

I loved this book! I thought from the title that the book would be spooky and creepy, but it's far from it. That being said, the book does begin with the murder of a family, and the only survivor is a baby who crawls out of the house after the murder and wanders into a graveyard. The ghosts in the graveyard decide to raise the boy, and they name him Nobody Owens. While "Bod" is growing up, his family and teachers are ghosts from different time periods who have great, quirky personalities. Throughout the book the mystery remains of who killed Bod's real parents, and the murderer is out there looking for Bod. Review by Joyce Levine.

This book was recently awarded this year's Newbery Medal.

Emperors of the Ice by Richard Farr

So you think this winter has been cold and snowy? Try sleeping out in a tent in -77º F temperatures, which is what Apsley Cherry-Garrard did on his trip to Antartica in 1910. At only 23 years old, Cherry was chosen to join Captain Robert F. Scott’s expedition to Antartica to carry out scientific experiments, and hopefully plant the British flag at the South Pole. He was given the title of assistant zoologist, and one of his missions was to collect the eggs of the emperor penguin for study. During the entire three year expedition, Cherry and the rest of Scott’s men experienced a fierce storm that almost capsized their ship, painful frostbite, killer whale attacks, plunges into crevasses the size of cathedrals and, tragically, the deaths of five of the men. This is a true story, but since the author writes in the first person using Cherry’s voice, it is actually a work of fiction. The author researched for the book by reading Cherry’s first person account of the expedition titled The Worst Journey in the World, and also many of the personal diaries that the other men kept. So even though this book is fiction, it reads like a non-fiction book, complete with amazing photographs and footnotes. If you like exciting adventure and survival stories, this is the book for you. Review by Katie Corrigan

Ways to Live Forever by Sally Nicholls

The book is made up of a mixture of lists, questions, drawings and journal entries written by 11-year-old Sam who is dying of leukemia. Sam has already lived through 2 bouts of leukemia, and now that the disease has come back, he doesn't want to go through any more treatments. His friend Felix, who is also terminally ill, goes to school at home with Sam 3 days a week. They are taught by an unflappable tutor, Mrs. Willis, who tolerates Felix's avoidance of work (and keeps him interested by doing experiments where things get blown up), and encourages Sam in his quest to find the answers to his questions, both about life, and about death (Questions Nobody Answers No. 8 Will the world still be there when I am gone?). Mrs. Willis tries to get the boys to write journals, and Sam takes the assignment to heart, using the journal to record not only what's going on with him personally, but also information on topics that he is researching, like what rituals other cultures perform when someone dies. One of the lists is of things Sam wants to do before he dies, and of course, one list is "Ways to Live Forever." The book manages to be quite funny (the conversations between Sam and Felix are great) and even though it's sad, it never made me cry. I think part of why it wasn't so hard to read is that you know from the beginning what is going to happen. Felix insists that Sam include a place in his journal to be filled out after he has died:

"1. Sam's death was:

a. Peaceful.

b. Horrible and agonizingly painful.

c. Kind of in the middle.

d. We don't know --we were at the chip shop.

e. Other; please specify."

Review by Stacy Church

Knucklehead: Tall Tales & Mostly True Stories about Growing Up Scieszka by Jon Scieszka

This is a hilarious autobiography that follows in the footsteps of some other wonderful quirky memoirs, like Oddballs by William Sleator, and Gary Paulsen's Guts: The True Stories behind Hatchet and the Brian Books and also How Angel Peterson Got His Name. The book is full of pictures of the Scieszka family -- five boys, Dad (a school principal), and Mom (a nurse). Having grown up in the fifites, the context of a lot of the stories was very familiar to me, although my brother and I never got up to quite the sort of hijinks that Jon and his brothers did. It's a good thing their mom was a nurse, because they needed a fair amount of patching up. Each chapter is only a few pages long and each chapter retells some wild story, which often resulted in damage to property or one of the brothers themselves. There's also a quite funny story about learning to read from the Dick and Jane books, the same ones we used in my first grade class. Jon couldn't understand why the people in the book talked funny, "Look. Look. See the dog. That is a dog," and also why they were always neat and didn't engage in the kind of activities his family did --wrestling, tree-climbing, bike-smashing. I highly recommend this book, and if you like it, definitely try the Sleator and Paulsen books. Review by Stacy Church

One False Note: The 39 Clues, Book 2 by Gordon Korman

In Book 2 of the 39 Clues series, Amy and Dan's adventure takes them to Austria, the birthplace of Mozart. As in the first book, it is a race to find the clues before their crazy and aggressive relatives, but sometimes they're not so lucky, and things get dangerous. Amy and Dan are clever, and their resourcefulness gets them out of a few sticky situations. They're accompanied by their babysitter, Nellie, whose knowledge of languages and gutsy personality prove to be a great help. I enjoyed this book, and look forward to book 3, which is due out in March. Review by Joyce Levine

Nightmare at the Book Fair by Dan Gutman

Trip Dinkleman just wants to make it to lacrosse tryouts on time, so he isn't thrilled when a PTA mom asks him to help her move some boxes of books for the book fair. When a book hits him on the head while he's reaching for a box on a high shelf, it's just the beginning of Trip's adventures through time and space. He wakes up and finds himself in what turns out to be only the first of many weird places. Trip isn't sure whether what's happening is real or just a crazy dream, but whatever it is, it isn't long before he's ready to go home! Review by Joyce Levine

Hurricane by Terry Trueman

This book is a fictional accounting of the devestation caused to one small town in Honduras in 1998 by Hurricane Mitch. Jose wakes up the morning after a terrible storm to find that every house in his village, except his own and one other, is gone, completely buried under mud. His father, sister, and older brother were away from home when the storm struck and haven't returned, and his dog ran off during the storm. 13-year-old Jose has to overcome his own fears and help find food, dig up dead bodies, and finally go on a journey to find medical help for his younger brother. I love the way the book conveys how unreal it must have seemed for Jose to wake up and find his whole village gone. The people who are left really pull together to make the best of things, and Jose's knowledge of English makes him an important helper for the military who finally come to help. The author, who has written some of my favorite young adult books, including Stuck in Neutral, adds a note at the end of the book detailing the effects of the hurricane on Honduras. Review by Stacy Church

Little Audrey by Ruth White

Five things you should know about this book:

1. The Audrey of the title is the author Ruth White’s older sister. The book is told from her point-of-view when she was 11 years old in 1948.

2. The story takes place in a coal mining camp in Virginia. Audrey lives there with her parents and three sisters. Audrey had four sisters, but baby Betty Gail died when she was only seven months old.

3. There is no running water in their house. Oftentimes they don’t have enough to eat because their father spends his paycheck on alcohol. It’s not uncommon for him to be gone all weekend on a drinking binge.

4. From pg. 99: “I think of Daddy walking to work in the rain…Crawling around the dark with his carbide lantern strapped to his helmet. Digging coal out of the bitter black earth all day long…And this great rush of pity nearabout swallows me. Oh, Daddy, I’m so sorry you have to work in that place, in the dark, in the cold. I wisht I could go to you and hug your neck, and tell you how much I love you.”

5. When I finished this book, I put it down. I thought about it for a little bit. And then I cried for really a long time.

Review by Katie Corrigan