Book: The House Next Door
Author: Richie Tankersley Cusick
Audience: Teen
In a Nutshell: ghostly gothic love and tragedy
Emma has a funny feeling about the old abandoned house next door, but when her twin brother dares her to spend the night there alone, she can't back down. The dream she has is vivid and frightening: she's wearing old-fashioned clothes, and she is trying to run away with the man she loves. But the there's blood and a fire, something tragic is happening, and Emma wakes up in the present day. Except she's not quite alone: there's a constant presence she's sure isn't her imagination, and she woke up wearing a ring. It's the same ring that her true love gave her in the dream.
Fans of supernatural romance shouldn't miss this one. It's got tragic ghostly (and handsome) boys, haunted houses, danger, psychic connections...all the elements you've come to enjoy in this kind of book.
Book: Romiette and Julio
Author: Sharon Draper
Audience: Teen
In a Nutshell: Romeo and Juliet with a modern interracial twist
Romiette is a black high school student in Cincinatti. Her best friend, Destiny, claims to have strong psychic abilities and swears that Romi will soon meet her soul mate- not that any of the boys at school really interest Romi. Then one evening in a chatroom, she logs on as afroqueen and meets spanishlover, and they really hit it off. Turns out they go to the same school.
Julio is a Latino boy who just moved to town from Texas. He hates everything about Ohio, except the amazing girl he just met. It's love at first sight for Romi and Julio. They would be floating on Cloud 9 if it weren't for the gangs at school, who don't approve of a Hispanic boy and black girl dating. Even their loving parents, who have their own racial baggage, don't accept the relationship right away. Conflict and near tragedy ensue, but love and understanding win out in the end.
I thought it was a likable, readable story, but a little uneven in quality. The dialogue is sometimes very authentic, and other times very forced. I mean, what teenager uses appositives in everyday speech? But most readers won't care about this. The romance, likable characters, the online element, and a good (if slightly overstated) message are all appealing.
Book: Hush
Author: Jacqueline Woodson
Audience: Grades 4-9 or so
In a Nutshell: girl loses her friends, her home, and her name when her family enters the federal witness protection program
Her name used to be Toswiah. She loved her life in Denver, and her father loved his life as a cop. He was one of the only African-Americans on the force, but that didn't seem to matter. Then he witnessed two fellow cops killing a black boy. He testified against them, and life got hard for the whole family. Then it got dangerous. So in the middle of the night, they packed up a few small bags and moved to who-knows-where across the country. Now Toswiah's name is Evie, her sister is angry, her mother has become religious with the Jehovah's Witnesses, and her father just stares out the window all day. They may still be alive, but life as she knew it is over.
It's a lovely story, bittersweet and cautiously optimistic in the end. A pretty quick read, too.
Book: Specials (Book 3 of the Uglies trilogy)Author: Scott Westerfeld
Audience: Teen
In a Nutshell: bio-engineered superteens overcome their brainwashing and save the world
Oh, how I love Scott Westerfeld's books. And oh, how I love it when authors finish strong on a good trilogy. I can now rest easy at night knowing that I can recommend Uglies and Pretties without fear of readers getting shafted by Book 3. Not that I've been losing whole lot of sleep over this, but you get the idea.
When we last left Tally Youngblood, she had been caught by the Specials, led by her former best friend, Shay. Since then, she's had the "special" surgery herself, where they enhanced her strength, speed, senses, and more, basically turning her into a predatory super-human who comes across as scary to normal pretties for primal reasons they are only vaguely aware of.
Tally loves her new body, her new tight relationship with the other Specials, and loves the new feelings of power and superiority that come with it. Their latest assignment is to figure out where the rebel New Smoke camp has moved to, and report back. But they run into more resistance from the Smokies than they expected, and Tally and Shay are caught in a swirl of right and wrong and power and greed, and it's up to them to use their gifts to chose a side and fight for it. Hundreds of years of peace between the cities hangs in the balance. There's also David and Zane to consider. David, the Smoky whom both Tally and Shay have loved when they were young and foolish and now just resent; and Zane, Tally's boyfriend whose brain got fried in the last book trying to become permanently "bubbly" and lucid, free from the brain lesions that keep the population docile. Tally thought he was dead, but surprise! He's not.
I've really tried to keep this blurb short and simple, but after three books of build-up that's no easy task. There's so much action, adventure, survival, gore, intriguing social commentary, love and life and death and stuff blowing up. Just trust me: good books. Very good books. Read the very good books.
