The Death Collector

Book: The Death Collector
Author: Justin Richards
Audience: Grades 5 to 9
In a Nutshell: The Victorian London X-Files

George Archer works a quiet job at the British Museum until a scrap of paper and a zombie plunge him into a world of murder, monsters, and a megalomaniacal industrialist (that's fun to say). George has recently been offered a transfer to the Museum's Department of Unclassified Documents, a sort of Victorian X-Files, and what's happening definitely falls under their jurisdiction. His friend, Albert Wilkes, shows up at home for tea and dog walking four days after his own death. The Museum receives a set of diaries from a famous scientist named Glick. They seem like a minor thing until George's friend in Archives is murdered when armed thugs break in and try to steal the diaries. George ends up with the burned remains of the final diary page, and now rich industrialist Lorimer will do anything to get it. The young pickpocket Eddie Hopkins and aspiring actress Elizabeth Oldfield also get tangled up in the hunt for the truth about Glick's research and what Lorimer has in store for the world. There's also George's recently-deceased friend, the giant monster Eddie sees in the darkened fog, a (not entirely) phony séance, and a warehouse full of exoskeletons meant for no good.

Creepy, quick-paced tale with horror, adventure, dinosaurs, zombies- what more is there?

Engaging reading of the audio book by Steven Pacey.

Piratica II: Return to Parrot Island

Book: Piratica II: Return to Parrot Island
Author: Tanith Lee
Audience: Teen
In a Nutshell: heartache, shipwreck, and a pirate Pharaoh

I just loved the first Piratica, so a sequel made me go, "Ooo, look!" in Barnes and Noble. And I wasn't disappointed.

Months after Art Blastside's release from the hangman's noose (see book 1), she has inadvertently started a craze. Piratomania has struck Lundon (alternate spelling intentional), and people of fashion are sporting patches, swords and parrots. Art Blastside and Felix Phoenix are now married, famous, and landlocked, but the last part's about to change. A war between Free England and the monarchy of France is looming close, and the British government enlists the help of Art and her crew as privateers to "worry" French ships on the ocean. Art and Co. also hope to return to Parrot Island and find the maps and treasure they had to abandon before their capture months before. Felix does not want Art to go and risk her life, but the sea is her life, there's no question in her mind that she's going, and so all is not rosy at home.

Meanwhile, the nefarious pirate Little Goldie Girl is also after Parrot Island's treasure, not to mention revenge on Art for besting her and scarring her mean, nasty, otherwise flawless face. Both women will have to look out for the legendary black ship of Mary Hell, the Scandanavian widow out to kill all pirates to avenge her murdered husband. The adventure ranges from England to Mad-Agash to a shipwreck to Egypt, where Ebad, Art's adopted dad, has quite the family obligation to fulfill.

Action, adventure, and colorful characters abound, along with a touch of the highs and lows of married love, and a menagerie of animals such as parrots, rhinos, elephants, and Muck, the Cleanest Dog in England. Plots and characters weave in and out rather intricately, and it all comes together nicely in the end. The slightly alternative world has fun altered spellings of familiar places, like Mad-Agash Scar, and slightly altered history, both of which are fun to spot if you know the originals, but aren't necessary to know to enjoy the story.

Larklight

Book: Larklight: A Rousing Tale of Dauntless Pluck in the Farthest Reaches of Space
Author: Philip Reeve (Illustrator: David Wyatt)
Audience: Grades 4-7
In a Nutshell: Victorian space adventure (yes, really!) with pirates, giant spiders, and a touch of romance

Art Mumby, his older sister Myrtle, and their scientist father live at Larklight, their old and quirky home in orbit just beyond the moon. Art dreams of adventure, and Myrtle dreams of visiting proper society on Earth- more specifically, in London, at the grand, soon-to-be-opened Crystal Palace commissioned by Her Majesty Queen Victoria. They both soon find much more excitement than they bargained for when giant white spiders attack Larklight and capture their father. The siblings manage to escape, and soon find themselves rescued by the notorious pirate Jack Havock, who turns out to be no older than Myrtle. His crew of assorted aliens are really a good sort, but then again, when's the last time you read an adventure story with pirates who were really, truly bad? The spiders haven't given up on finding Art and Myrtle; they seem to think there's a very important key to Larklight, and they won't stop chasing the Mumby's until they have it in their creepy, spidery clutches.

The action blasts from the moon, to Venus, to Mars, to the dangerous and mysterious rings of Saturn, then back to Earth, as Art and Myrtle are separated and eventually reunited as each one does their part to stay alive and save the solar system from destruction (those spiders aren't messing around). I adore Philip Reeve's Hungry City Chronicles for teens and adults, and this is just as good, plus appropriate for the grade school crowd. The action is non-stop, the world is clever and imaginative and full of great creatures like hoverhogs and the Tentacle Twins, and the characters are vivid and likable. Myrtle got on my nerves at first, being all stereotypically proper and girly, but she kicks butt in her own way by the end. Oh, and there are plenty of pen and ink illustrations, which is very helpful in trying to visualize all the fastastical creatures and places. Don't expect space and space travel to behave exactly like they do in real life, but once you hard-core realists get over it, this book is fantastic fun. If it weren't for Reeve's pesky British citizenship, I would put this on my personal Newbery Award shortlist.

The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume 1: The Pox Party

Book: The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation; Volume 1: The Pox Party
Author: M.T. Anderson
Audience: Teen
In a Nutshell: a young boy is a slave, an experiment, then a rebel fighter in revoluntionary America

Like I've said before, I looove M.T. Anderson. And here he's written another very original, distinctive, disturbing book that sticks in your mind a long time after the last page turns, whether you want it there or not. And he won the National Book Award for it, so bravo! That said, this is not an easy read. It's written in impressively accurate 18th-century-style English, and it's long. Octavian and his mother, Casseopeia, are African slaves owned by a group of radical scientists and scholars called the Novanglian College of Lucidity. In the sober city of Boston, they live in opulence and are treated as exotic royalty, but Octavian must weigh his food and feces. When their fortunes shift and a harsh new benefactor takes control, the experiment of Octavian and his mother takes a dark turn: scientific proof of the inferiority of the African races. I won't give away the details, but some horrible things happen, and Octavian's personal account goes silent. The story picks up in secondary sources and through the letters of a revolutionary soldier as Octavian ends up with the man's unit. The history depicted is slightly alternative, but similar enough to the history books to make readers take a good hard look at what they think they know about the American Revolution.

The book is chock full of themes of human rights, freedom, friendship, and the fuzziness of right and wrong, good and bad in the American Revolution-- and by extension, the whole American experience? Or any world-changing conflict? Let's say yes. After all, that's the sort of thing they hand out National Book Awards for.

Part Two is coming (sometime) and even though I generally have little to no interest in revolutionary fiction, I can't wait.

Endymion Spring

Book: Endymion Spring
Author: Matthew Skelton
Audience: Teen
In a Nutshell: book finds boy. book bites boy. boy must solve book's mysteries and guard its ancient secrets from nasty scholars at Oxford.

Blake Winters and his little sister, Duck, are spending the year with their mother at Oxford. She spends all day in the library researching, so Blake and Duck are stuck there, too. One day, a book bites Blake. No, really- it's got fangs and everything. The book is really, really old, and the cover says only Endymion Spring, whatever that means. When Blake opens it, there are a lot of blank pages and one very mysterious riddle, and he's the only one who can see it. The book is powerful, it seems to have a life of its own, and there' s something it wants from Blake.

The other storyline in the book begins 500 years ago in Germany, where a young printer's assistant named Endymion works with Johann Gutenberg, inventor of the printing press. A very sketchy character named Fust shows up with a very creepy, carved chest that practically screams "I'M EVIL!!", and Endymion finds magic, mystery, and danger within.

This book got oodles of hype before it was published, and it is a good read- if you like books about libraries, books, and mysteries with a dark and sinister historical twist. A bit of a Da Vinci Code angle, if you like sort of thing. But does this story have the crazy blockbuster appeal of Da Vinci? No, not really. But it's a decent readalike for teen DVC fans.

Skybreaker

Book: Skybreaker
Author: Kenneth Oppel
Audience: Teen
In a Nutshell: Indiana Jones at 20,000 ft. with pirates instead of Nazis

Here we have a very worthy follow-up to Airborn, one of the best teen books of 2005. I know, I know, another sequel. Can I help it if authors are writing lots of sequels to my favorite books?

Rather than give you the background on this one myself, I'm sending you to the source. Go check out the official Airborn/Skybreaker website, which is fantastic and well worth a click or two.

Welcome back. So here's my spiel.

At last a student at the Airship Academy, Matt Cruse is on a training assignment when his ship goes too high and spots the Hyperion, a legendary airship thought to have crashed with all its treasures and crew forty years ago. Matt alone knows the last known coordinates, which makes him a target for good and nasty treasure hunters alike- from the ruthless ex-pirate John Rath, to his own friend and first love, Kate DeVries, to the mysterious and beautiful gypsy girl, Nadira. Pirates, gypsies, lost ships, and gold? Who could possibly resist such a combo? Not I. And Oppel does not disappoint. Matt, Kate, and Nadira team up with young captain Hal Slater, whose ship, the Sagarmantha, and crew full of sherpas is one of the few "skybreakers" capable of flying high enough to find the Hyperion.

The Saga makes it to 20,000 ft. and finds the Hyperion with its load of frozen crew members, a collection of rare zoological creatures like a yeti, and a workshop full of inventions. The owner was something of a batty recluse, but a brilliant inventor. But where is the giant pile of gold they expected? Before you think this is adventure is going too smoothly, let's throw in John Rath the ruthless pirate, who doesn't give up easily, and some previously unknown high-altitude creatures that resemble giant flying squid with electrified tentacles. The love quadrilateral between Matt, Kate, Hal and Nadira also keeps Matt's life from getting too simple.

I could not put this book down. Cliched as that may be, it's true, and it's not true very often.