The Declaration

Book: The Declaration
Author: Gemma Malley
Audience: Teen
In a Nutshell: immortality=illegal children

The year is 2140. When the scientists and drug companies developed Longevity drugs, it meant the end of cancer, AIDS, and eventually aging itself. World leaders quickly realized that they could have an extreme population problem soon, so they developed The Declaration. Any person wishing to take Longevity drugs, which is almost everyone, must sign a Declaration promising not to have children. Children born in opposition to the Declaration are known as Surpluses. Surplus Anna has lived in Grange Hall since she was two, ever since she was discovered and taken away from her parents, who were sent to prison. Surplus halls were created to raise illegal children and turn them into vaulable assets, instead of simply burdens to the world. They are also taught their place, which is barely human; they live like slaves and have virtually no rights at all.

Anna is a model surplus and prefect at Grange Hall, raised to consider herself worse than dirt and hate her parents for their selfishness in giving birth to her. Her ordered life is first disturbed when a woman she works for gives her a journal, and she secretly writes in it- a very illegal activity at Grange Hall. Then a new surplus boy named Peter arrives, and he challenges Anna to question what she's been told by the horrible Mrs. Pincent and the other teachers. He says he knows her parents, and they love her and want her to escape and rejoin them. She resists at first, but Peter's persistence, his love and friendship, and then his imminent danger spur her to action.

A very compelling dystopian story that explores ideas of life and worth, love and sacrifice, and whether you'd really want to live forever.

This Is What I Did

Book: This Is What I Did
Author: Ann Dee Ellis
Audience: Junior High
In a Nutshell: boy who won't speak up becomes junior high pariah

Something bad happened to Logan, but he doesn't want to talk about it. He's always been kind of a shy kid, but now he avoids everyone, stays in his room as much as possible, and tries to stay out out of his new tormentors' way. After The Incident, his parents even moved across town for a "fresh start," but the first thing his mom does is call all the neighbors and tell them what happened and that he's deeply depressed, so it's not very fresh. It involved his best friend Zyler, and now people avoid Logan like the plague. The crueler ones call him a sicko, and crapstock, and a pervert. Boy Scouts is torture, especially since the Scout Leader is the head tormenter's dad, but Logan goes just so his dad thinks he's okay.

There is one girl, Laurel, who is nice to him. She's obsessed with palindromes, and they trade notes of new examples. Through his friendship with Laurel, his participation in the school production of Peter Pan (he's a Lost Boy), and the therapy his parents take him to, Logan is gradually able to come out of his self-imposed solitude and talk about Zyler, Zyler's abusive father, and what happened that night.

Quick, engrossing read with no real chapters. Short paragraphs are interspersed with silhouette icons that sometimes mean nothing at first, but gradually take on significance. Logan has an awkward, honest voice, and very sympathetic. He really is a lost boy through much of the book, which makes the steps he takes in the end toward knowing who he is and exerting himself very satisfying to read.

Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac

Book: Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac
Author: Gabrielle Zevin
Audience: Teen
In a Nutshell: Lose your memory, find yourself

When she wakes up after her accident and head injury, Naomi has lost the last four years of her life. She can't remember how to drive, or where her new house is. Her best friend Will, their co-editing of the school yearbook, her boyfriend Ace, even her parents' divorce are all missing from her memory. And from some of the things she's learning, the person she was isn't someone she wants to be anymore. For one, there's the mysterious bad boy who first came to her aid, someone the Old Naomi would never associate with, but whom she is drawn to. There's the popular kids she eats lunch with by virtue of the fact that she's Ace's girlfriend, but she doesn't really like them, and they obviously don't think much of her. While she's waiting and hoping her memory will return, Naomi gets a chance not many people do: an excuse to start over, to reinvent herself.

A very good, often funny, book. It's divided into three parts: I was, I am, I will. Zevin has some great similes in here. I forgot to mark the exact page, but to paraphrase: "he looked confused and a little frightened, like Bambi after his mother gets shot." A great look at doubled-edged treasure and burden of memory and personal history. It can make us who we are, but also sometimes trap us there.

Vampire Academy

Book: Vampire Academy
Author: Richelle Mead
Audience: Teen to Adult
In a Nutshell: high society vampires and the almost-humans who love them

Rose Hathaway is a Dhampir, a slightly-more-than-human with enhanced speed and strength, who is sworn to protect the Moroi. Vasilisa "Lissa" Dragomir is a Moroi princess, pale, sensitive to sunlight, and lives on human blood. You know the type. But these aren't your ordinary blood-sucking fiends. In this story, there are two types of what we'd call vampires. Moroi feed only on willing humans (I guess the buzz is fantastic) and possess various types of nature-related elemental magic. Then there are the Strigoi, who have turned evil and bloodthirsty by misusing their power. They're very strong, but they've also lost their earth-mothery magic.

Rose and Lissa are students at St. Vladimir's Academy in a secluded region of Montana. Rose is in training to hopefully be Lissa's bodyguard. They already have a bond between them that's unheard of since the days of St. Vladimir (you know the one); Rose can read Lissa's emotions, and sometimes can even see from her perspective, literally- as if she was in her head.
There's a war building between the Moroi and Strigoi, and it's starting to touch the school in both small and deadly ways.

Let's not forget Dimitri, the hot, slightly older Dhampir who is training Rose so she can catch up with her class after returning from her and Lissa's time on the run. If you want to know why they were on the lam, you might as well read it.

I've got a thing for vampire novels, and I liked this one too. This twist on vampire legend was intriguing to me, especially the existence of both good and evil vampires. Heck, the Moroi are traditionally even Catholic, kind of. That whole burned by crosses thing not a problem here.

Book 2, Frostbite, is due out in April 2008. Strong start to a new series here.

Tamar

Book: Tamar: A Novel of Espionage, Passion, and Betrayal
Author: Mal Peet
Audience: Teen and Adult
In a Nutshell: subtitle pretty much sums it up

If you liked The Book Thief, here's another really excellent WWII story that covers all sorts of time periods, several characters, and could really be either a teen or an adult book. And hey, it won the Carnegie Medal in England, so it must not suck. ;)

Tamar is reeling from the mysterious death of her grandfather, the man who named her. When she opens a box he left for her, she discovers even more mystery about his and her grandmother's life, both in the present and when they were part of the Dutch resistance during World War II. Unraveling the mystery takes her on a journey up the Tamar River to a surprising revelation at the end- or the beginning.

Interspersed with Tamar's story is the tale of two Dutch men, code-named Tamar and Dart, who were trained in England for covert operations against the Nazi occupation in the Netherlands. It was the winter of 1944, known as the "Hunger Winter," when the weather was harsh and the Nazis were starving the will to fight out of the resistant occupied people. Tamar was charged with the task of uniting the fractious Dutch resistance, and Dart was his WO, or wireless operator. Like many great stories of war and betrayal, it all comes down to a woman: the beautiful country girl Marijke, with whom Tamar had a semi-secret relationship on his last mission.

Both the 1995 and 1944 stories are compelling and interesting, and the language is evocative without drawing undue attention to itself. Since the Printz Award isn't limited to American authors (Peet is British), I put this on my Printz short list. Really excellent stuff.

The Arrival

Book: The Arrival
Author: Shaun Tan
Audience: Ages 10 to adult (seriously!)
In a Nutshell: wordless tale of immigration, only with crazy critters and surreal scenery

I don't know where I first read about The Arrival, but whoever it was, they were really psyched about this Australian book's American release. And whoever you were, you were right. Done in sepia tones in the style of a faded, aging scrapbook, the masterful appeal of this graphic novel defies easy description; you just need to pick it up and see for yourself. The story is an old one: a man leaves his wife and daughter to emigrate to a strange country, where he hopes to earn enough money to bring his family over and start a new life. The reasons for leaving are vague but sinister: huge shadows from spiky tails, tentacles, or worse are cast over everything. The written language in his new country is unfamiliar to the man, and to the reader, and the feeling of incomprehension and confusion comes through amazingly well.

The man meets people along the way who help him, and tell him their stories of how they came to live there. The first friend he makes is actually a little creature that makes himself right at home as a loyal pet. The presence of fantastical creatures and the very surreal, stylized, larger-than-life look of the city and countryside are brilliant ways to jolt us jaded modern people into the sense of wonder and intimidation that newcomers anywhere have felt for centuries, especially entering huge, New York-esque cities.

Even though it's wordless, resist the urge to flip through quickly. The longer you spend on each finely detailed page, the more you'll see. Considering this book, Printz Award-winning American Born Chinese, and National Book Award finalist The Invention of Hugo Cabret, graphic novels as a mainstream literary art form have taken some serious steps forward in the past year or two.

Guyaholic

Book: Guyaholic
Author: Carolyn Mackler
Audience: High School
In a Nutshell: girl with flakey mother issues is afraid to move from hook-ups to actual love

V rarely spends more than 2 weeks with a guy before she moves on. She figures she gets that from her mother, Aimee, who moved them all over the country following or fleeing from various boyfriends before she sent her to live with her grandparents. V is not interested in any more than she can get from a guy in 2 weeks until she gets hit in the head with a hockey puck and meets Sam. Now she doesn't feel bored with him, and it's freaking her out.

Stuff happens, and after graduation she heads out on a 2,000-mile road trip to visit her mother.

V first appeared in Mackler's Vegan Virgin Valentine as the main character's niece (even though they're only one year apart in age), and fans of VVV will be happy to see V again and root for her own happy ending.

The book is more on the high school end of the audience range than Mackler's other books, for language and non-graphic sex-related content. V is the kind of girl that many other girls hate for her boyfriend-stealing potential, but we get a better look at the inside of her head, and we find more than just a sex-crazed wild child. Slightly edgier than Sarah Dessen, but a good choice for fans of her books.

Cross My Heart and Hope To Spy

Book: Cross My Heart and Hope To Spy
Author: Ally Carter
Audience: Teen
In a Nutshell: girl spies meet boy spies; complications ensue

Cammie Morgan ended her winter vacation with a debriefing trip to Washington, D.C.; her covert relationship with a civilian in the fall caused a lot of complications. Now she promises her headmistress mother (and the federal government) that she will not pursue that relationship any more, and she will be a nice honest Gallagher Girl. Well, as honest as an international spy-in-training can be.

But even without David, boys make the rest of the year very interesting when a group of guys from the previously-unknown-to-them boys' spy school, the Blackthorne Academy, come for an exchange program. The Blackthorne boys become not only competition, but a reason the girls need to get up much earlier in the morning- no one bothered with hair and makeup when it was just girls. And for some reason, a boy named Zach is showing particular interest in Cammie. But not all is as it seems...

This is the second book in what's shaping up to be an ongoing series. Good stuff, clever and funny; chick lit with a James Bond edge.

Shark Girl

Book: Shark Girl
Author: Kelly Bingham
Audience: Teen
In a Nutshell: girl's life goes on after losing an arm

If only. If only Jane had stayed on the beach. If only she had stayed home. If only her brother Michael had gone swimming with her. Any little factor and things might have been different. But things weren't different, and now Jane is trying to put her life back together after losing an arm and nearly dying in a shark attack.

Losing her right arm would be bad enough, but she's also a talented artist- and right-handed. If she can't draw anymore, who is she now? To make matters worse, it was all captured on home video and sold to the national news stations. Jane dreads returning to school and real life, where she's sure she'll be seen as Shark Girl, the one-armed freak.

This novel in verse draws you into Jane's tragedy, her grief, her anger, her slow recovery, and all the downs and eventual ups of figuring out who she is now. Sometimes she's not a very nice person to be around, and realistically so, but she remains a sympathetic character as you read and hope she makes it through the worst of it stronger- which she does.

Eclipse

Book: Eclipse
Author: Stephenie Meyer
Audience: Teen and Adult
In a Nutshell: bloodsucker or dog? Hot or cold? Human or in-?

Bella is counting down to graduation, when Edward and the Cullens have finally consented to turn her. She thinks she's ready, but as the day approaches she's starting to think there are things about being human that she still hasn't experienced- like sex. But Edward wants to get married first.

Jacob's pack is growing- and in a surprise twist of the legend, there's now a female wolf. Several of the wolves have developed bonds- irresistable links to people of the opposite sex outside the pack- sometimes romantic, sometimes just totally devoted. There have been many mysterious killings in Seattle which seem vampiric, but the culprit is a mystery. Soon the high-profile nature will bring the Volturi to clean up, the vampire world's own mafia, which would be bad. The true nature of the deaths forms a threat to both the Cullens and the La Push werewolf pack. With Bella and their turf at stake, the Cullens and the Jacob's pack form an uneasy alliance.

Jacob, Bella and Edward's relationship continue to develop, shift, and get yet more complicated. Ah, to be young and supernatural. But someday soon, Bella will have to make the Choice of No Return, if she's ready.

I still just eat these books up. I put them in the same category as Harry Potter: well but not spectacularly written, but oh-so-readable. I had a roommate who burned her way through Twilight, then turned immediately to the first page and started over. Then read it again a month later. Book Four is a-comin' in August 2008, and I'm already #28 on the waiting list of 80 and growing at my library. Advance entry into the catalog: a true sign that an author has Made It.

Clementine

Book: Clementine
Author: Sara Pennypacker
Audience: Grades 2-4
In a Nutshell: haircuts, ceiling snakes, and a war against the pigeons

Third grader Clementine is always paying attention, but not to what her teachers expect. She means well and tries to help, but always seems to end up getting in trouble, like when she helped her friend Margaret cut her gluey hair off and colored on some new hair with her artist mother's permanent markers. She is very familiar with the principal's office- so much so that she answers the phone- and she's a little worried that there are ceiling snakes because of how often Mrs. Rice looks up at the ceiling when Clementine is in there. She calls her toddler brother a variety of vegetable names because it's not fair that she got stuck with a fruit name and he didn't (we never do learn his real name). She helps her dad, the apartment building manager, in his daily war against the pigeons, and that may be what keeps her week from being really crummy.

Very funny, sweet, and spunky. Good for the Ramona or Junie B. crowd.

Good reading by Jessica Almasy.

As Simple As Snow

Book: As Simple As Snow
Author: Gregory Galloway
Audience: High School to Adult
In a Nutshell: narrator has a free-spirited goth girlfriend who disappears, but no name

Anna Cayne, who prefers Anastasia, moves to town one August, and by February she has killed everyone in town- at least on paper, when she finishes writing their obituaries. She dresses goth but defies definition when she starts going out with a normal, almost invisibly ordinary guy. He considers himself more boring than milk- more like water. His mom is incompetent at everything, his dad hides in his den most of the time, and his older brother barely ever visits their stifling home. He has one friend, Curt, who is the friendly, well-liked school drug dealer- mostly prescription stuff like Ritalin. His and Anna's odd couple relationship is the talk of the school, and her zest for mystery and knowing her world is beginning to rouse him from his mediocre life. Then a week before Valentine's Day, she disappears. The only evidence she leaves behind is a hole in the ice of the river and a dress, carefully laid out next to the hole. No one knows if she's dead or alive. She used to constantly send him cryptic notes and mix CD's, and that doesn't end after she's gone. The narrator- who remains unnamed the entire book- becomes obsessed with figuring out what her clues mean and where she is, even if that means asking TV and phone psychics he doesn't really believe in and trying to catch them out like Houdini did. He and Anna had a code phrase they would use to know if the other person was trying to contact them: "as simple as snow." Now he is seeing and hearing it several places. Even when he seems to be getting nowhere in solving her mystery, his life is changing along the way, mostly for the better.

Very good mystery- although I'm warning you, a lot goes unresolved in the end. Many questions are left with only the smallest hints of answers, but by the end the narrator's life and outlook have changed in such a way that I didn't hate the ambiguity.

This book won an Alex Award in 2006, and for good reason. For whatever mysterious distinction that New York devised, it was published for adults, but it's really a high school book. I mean, really. High school characters, authentic high school voice, some language and mention of sex, but nothing explicit (not that that bars it from the teen shelves). All part of cashing in on the YA book market's enormous growth, I suppose.

Since the hardcover and paperback covers are so different, I included both. Which do you like better? I can't decide.

King Dork

Book: King Dork
Author: Frank Portman
Audience: High school to adult
In a Nutshell: Sex, drugs, rock 'n' roll, Catcher in the Rye, and the mystery of a dead father

Tom Henderson has one friend, Sam Hellerman, by way of alphabetical order seating, and a nickname, Chi-Mo, he prefers not to explain. He and Sam Hellerman have a band together, although they have no drummer, no instruments, have never performed, and change the band name about once a week (there's even an index devoted to tracking all the names). Nevertheless, they practice nearly every day after school. Hillmont High School is your basic teenage nightmare: subhuman popular kids, teachers ranging from indifferent to vindictive, and a social ladder on which Tom may actually exist below the bottom rung, if that's possible. In one predictable bit of torture, he'll be reading The Catcher in the Rye again this year. He doesn't understand the cult following surrounding that book, but when he discovers a well-worn copy among his dad's things, he's shocked to discover that his dad, who died when he was young, was a member of the Catcher Cult, too. A series of cryptic notes in the book lead Tom to believe there is a code hidden by his father, and he obsessively tries to figure it out.

Add also life with his spaced-out mother, bitter sister, and well-meaning but parentally-challenged stepfather, a mystery girl he gets to second base with at a party and now can't find again, and the spinning devil-head that looks like his English teacher that pops up whenever he uses a vocab word, just to name a few of his issues.

Without getting into all the insanity, I'll just say that this is a very funny book, definitely for older readers. There's language, groping, a bit of drug use, and fairly regular blow jobs. So now I've either warned you, or sent you running for the library. The author, Frank Portman, is apparently known as "Dr. Frank" of the Mr. T Experience, and if I knew anything about old-school West Coast punk, that might mean something to me.

I leave you with a quote from one of my favorite episodes in the book: the Stratego Sex Inquisition:

"I had just been a participant in the most retarded version of the sitcom sex talk the world had ever seen... Maybe my mom...had told LBT [stepfather] he had to talk to me about sex. He was reluctant but couldn't refuse. And in the course of his research he got sidetracked by Stratego and-boom! My sexual awakening was suddenly all about Vietnam."

don't judge an author by his covers

This is me (behind the paper), my co-worker Ginger (left), and author Richard Peck. Why do I so often look slightly sedated in photos? I don't know. But that's beside the point. Richard Peck writes mostly American historical fiction for the 4-8th grade set, which is not my favorite genre, but the writing is so good that I read and enjoy them anyway. Earlier this week, he visited my library. He's an engaging speaker, and I'm glad I got the chance to meet him.

He touched on a few topics, like writing, the subjects of his books, etc., but there was a refrain that ran throughout his talk. Mr. Peck's mission is to bad-mouth his publisher's art department up one side of the country and down the other.

See that look on his face? That's the way he feels about at least 9 out of 10 of his covers. It was pretty funny, if a bit obsessive. The man never gets the covers he asks for, and the books are less appealing as a result. Which is probably true. They're not bad covers, just very sedate. By his telling, the art department ladies have it in for him and give him the exact covers he asks them not to do. For The Teacher's Funeral, for example, he asked for a fist fight, and they gave him a photo of a one-room schoolhouse.

The international examples got truly bizarre. His most famous character is Grandma Dowdel in A Long Way from Chicago, a cantankerous and independent woman living on a farm in Illinois. Yes, she has a shotgun, and yes, she is extremely wary of unexpected visitors who may be salesmen, but it's all very funny. In Japan, the cover for the book looks more like a deleted scene from Deliverance. I couldn't find a close-up graphic, but squint sideways at the above photo and you might get the idea.

Once you leave out the cover ranting, there were only about 20 minutes left of presentation (okay, maybe 30), but it was good. He's a big supporter of libraries and all the research you can do there. One of his most memorable statements for me was (and I paraphrase): people say you should write what you know; forget that. No one wants to hear about what you know. Write about what you can find out.
I like that. I can find out quite a bit.

Victory

Book: Victory
Author: Susan Cooper
Audience: Grades 4-7
In a Nutshell: two kids, two centuries, one ship, and one set of memories shared

Molly Jennings misses England. Her mother married an American, and now Molly, her mother, and her new baby brother live on the East Coast. In the midst of missing home and friends, hating sailing, and hating her step-brother's obnoxious best friend, Molly stumbles across an old book about Vice-Admiral Horatio Lord Nelson, the hero of the Battle of Trafalgar. She's never been particularly interested in naval history, but she feels strangely drawn to this book. Hidden inside the cover, she is amazed to discover a piece of the flag flown over Nelson's ship at Trafalgar, the H.M.S. Victory. According to the note, it's been passed down from a boy who served with the Admiral in that fateful battle; his name was Sam Robbins. Molly begins to hear strange noises, see strange things, and remember bits of dreams that seem like memories; except she's never been at sea, and she's never been in battle. And the memories get stronger all the time.

Sam Robbins and his Uncle Charlie are press-ganged into the Royal Navy when Sam is only eleven- legally kidnapped when Her Majesty needed more sailors. Although it's a difficult adjustment from farm boy to the harsh life of a sailor, Sam grows to love the sea and, like all his shipmates, love Lord Nelson. He is proud and honored when Nelson makes Victory his flag ship for the coming battle against Napoleon's forces, but he's also scared; he's never seen real battle. He knows it won't be pretty, but nothing could prepare him for the horror and grief of what he witnesses.

Molly and Sam's stories come together in a dramatic battle climax as two characters separated by 200 years are joined by one scrap of flag and intense memories that mysteriously bridge the centuries.

British school children learn about Lord Nelson the way Americans learn about Abraham Lincoln, maybe- pick an iconic hero and you've got it. I admit, if someone had asked me about Nelson before I read this book, all I would've remembered was that he's the pigeon-covered guy on the column in Trafalgar Square (apologies to Mr. McKean, my European Civilizations teacher: you tried). So this story was a good history refresher disguised as a sea story for you fans of nautical adventures. There is also touching family drama as Molly comes to terms with her new home, stepdad and stepbrother, as well as finally, properly saying goodbye to her father, who died in a plane crash at sea several years earlier. All nicely tied together with a thread of mysterious fantasy.

Imaginary Men

Book: Imaginary Men
Author: Anjali Banerjee
Audience: Adult and High School
In a Nutshell: sort of an Indian-American Pride and Prejudice meets Hello, Dolly

Lina Ray grew up in California, but her family roots are deeply planted in India. Now that her little sister is married, she becomes the very direct target of her great-aunt's matchmaking efforts. To avoid a horrible set up, she tells her family she's actually secretly engaged. Unfortunately, her aunt insists on coming to America to officially approve of this mystery man. Since there is no such man, and she doesn't want to disappoint her family, Lina has 2 months to find Mr. Right. She even runs a matchmaking service in San Francisco, but that doesn't seem to be helping her avoid some really bad dates. Of course, enter Raj: the most unsuitable match possible. They met at her sister's wedding, and now he wants her to find a wife for his younger brother. You can guess where this is going. To top it all off, he's an actual Indian prince of some sort. It even has some sensitive elements, as Lina gradually lets go of the idealized memory of her dead fiance. I read it in one sitting; but I never could resist a good Pride and Prejudice-type story, and this is one.

If I Have a Wicked Stepmother, Where's My Prince?

Book: If I Have a Wicked Stepmother, Where's My Prince?
Author: Melissa Kantor
Audience: Teen
In a Nutshell: is Prince Charming captain of the basketball team, or a brooding artist?

Lucy's mother died when she was young, and she had no need for another one. But her father remarried anyway, to a furniture-shopping socialite with twin socialite-wannabe daughters who can do no wrong in their mother's eyes. Now she's stuck on the East Coast, thousands of miles from home and friends, and even her dad has abandoned her to work all week out of state, leaving her alone with the steps.

Despite feeling like a social pariah, she catches the attention of the Big Man on Campus with her impressive basketball knowledge and fandom. But all is not quite right, despite her overnight popularity by association. She's stuck for how to finish her art project, the talented guy in her class continues to ignore her entirely, and her step-mother keeps her in the basement with no furniture and horns in on all her time with her dad.

Cinderella retellings abound, and no surprises here, but I really liked this one. Very witty, funny writing, and not all the stereotyped characters are entirely shallow.

Forging the Sword

Book: Forging the Sword (book three of the Farsala Trilogy)
Author: Hilari Bell
Audience: Teen to Adult
In a Nutshell: the fighting gets desperate, spiffy new swords and magical lightning enter the picture, and will the real Sorahb please step forward?

Soraya, Jiann and Kavi are back for the action-packed conclusion of this historical fantasy trilogy. I made up that sub-genre, do you like it? I think it fits. The lands of Farsala and Hrum are fictional, but Farsala seems a lot like ancient Persia or another proud old culture, and the Hrum seem a lot like Romans. I could call it high fantasy, but there's not a huge amount of magic. So I'm going with historical fantasy. Take it or leave it.

Anyway, the story so far is that the mighty Hrum empire has already conquered 28 other lands, and now it's Farsala's turn. To avoid costly, drawn-out wars, the Hrum give themselves a self-imposed time limit: if they can't conquer a land in one year, they stop fighting and make peace. There are now only 3 months left, and even though the Farsalan nobility (called deghans) were almost all wiped out, the scrappy peasant army led by Jiann is holding its own. With the help of the mysterious desert people, the Suud, they've finally figured out the secret to the Hrum's nearly unbreakable swords (hence the title). Soraya has also gotten a much better handle on her shilshadu, a kind of elemental, nature-based magic. And Kavi is still making amends and doing vital work for Farsala's war effort, but Jiann still intends to kill him when it's over for betraying lots of innocent nobles, including he and Soraya's father, so that's kind of a killjoy for Kavi. Then there's the question of whether there is a real Sorahb, or if he's just a mythical hero invented by peasants.

It all comes to a head with lots of battles, tricky guerilla fighting, spying, working with the enemy, noble sacrifice, and a bit of magical thunderstorm control. If you like a healthy dose of political intrigue with your action, magic, and battle scenes, the Farsala Trilogy is a good one to try. Actually, everything I've read by Hilari Bell is consistently good, so try it out.

Bella at Midnight

Book: Bella at Midnight
Author: Diane Stanley
Audience: Grades 5 to 8
In a Nutshell: girl saves prince and country in this fairy tale style story

Isabela, called Bella, is the daughter of a knight, but since her crotchety widowed father has no interest in raising her, she lives with a loving adoptive family, the blacksmith and his wife Beatrice in the village of Castle Down. It happens that Beatrice was nursemaid to Prince Julian, one of the younger princes, and Julian is constantly spending time in the village visiting them. He and Bella were raised almost as brother and sister, but as you might guess, that relationship changes as they get older, although neither quite realize it at first.

When the father she never knew she had remarries, he calls her back to live with the family (which, of course, includes two stepsisters). She is treated like a servant and actually prefers the comfort of that role, which is more like her peasant upbringing.

Not so long ago, their kingdom had a long and costly war with neighboring Brutanna. To avoid repeating history, Julian is being required by his family to become a hostage in Brutanna, and being a dutiful prince, Julian is willing to go through with it. Even though he snubbed her last time they met, Bella still worries about her friend; even moreso when she hears that his brother, now the king and not the most upright candidate for the job, is planning on attacking Brutanna in secret, even though it will mean the death of his captive brother. Villain! Bella sets out alone on a journey to Brutanna in the hopes of somehow warning or rescuing Julian. To help her, she has a magical emerald ring that shows her people she wants to see. Then there is the legend of the Worthy Knight, a character who is supposed to return and bring peace.

Bits of various folk and fairy tales show up, most obviously Cinderella, but this is more of a mash-up than a cover, an original story that feels very familiar. A lovely tale with lots of heart, honor and bravery, not to mention battle action and romance.

Tracking Trash

Book: Tracking Trash: Flotsam, Jetsam, and the Science of Ocean Motion Author: Loree Griffin Burns
Audience: Grades 4 to 8
In a Nutshell: what Nikes can teach us about the ocean

In 1990, the cargo ship Hansa Carrier lost five containers full of Nikes overboard in a storm during a voyage from Korea to the U.S. As it turns out, sneakers float and stand up to ocean corrosion very well. An oceanographer named Curt Ebbesmeyer saw a golden opportunity to study ocean currents. He recruited the help of beachcombers all along the West Coast and beyond to report back to him where and when they found the shoes that washed ashore. Where they turned up taught him all sorts of things about how ocean currents work. Dr. Ebbesmeyer went on to track a lost shipment of plastic tub toys and plenty of other ocean-going trash.

I skimmed the book and found it interesting. It's pretty texty and in-depth on the topic, which is why I didn't read every word, but there are also good pictures and maps for browsers like me. If you're looking for solid info on oceanography, you'll find that here as well.