Death Coming Up The Hill

Crowe, Chris.  Death Coming Up The Hill.  2014  HMH Books for Young Readers.

Hardcover, $12.74.
ISBN: 978-0544302150

Book Talk:

The time is 1968.  In South East Asia, the Vietnam War is being waged.  Hundreds of our young men are dying every single week.

In the United States, a young boy named Ashe is struggling with understanding - who he is, what the war is about, and where his place in the world is.

In horrid fascination, he watches as his own world falls apart, mirroring the chaos in Eastern Asia.

And then, a young girl enters his life, and Ashe finds purpose, meaning, and love in the midst of chaos.

But no matter what, in 1968, when you are a young man facing your 18th birthday, you are facing the knowledge that you will be drafted into the United States Army and could very well be dead at the hands of the Viet Kong in less than a year.

As Ashe struggles with the reality of his world falling apart around him, he makes decisions that will forever change his future.

Author's Web Site:
http://www.chriscrowe.com/

Earthbound

Pike, Aprilynn.  Earthbound.  2014.  Penguin Group, New York.

 Hardcover$17.99,  ISBN:978-1-59514-650-2.

Book Talk:
Tavia's life has taken an unexpected turn for the worst.  The only survivor of a plane crash that killed both of her parents, she is living a quiet life in New England, attempting to recover from her injuries when things begin to get decidedly weird.

Her friend Benson, who works at the library, has been her constant companion and friend throughout this ordeal.  He has listened to her, held her confidences, and encouraged her when things seem like they are at their lowest point.

She is seeing a therapist - Liz - who is helping her deal with the traumatic fall out of her accident.

And she is living with a step-aunt and her husband- Reese and Jay- that she met once, at a funeral 10 years before.

Her new life is as far from normal as anything could ever be when she begins to have visions of a mysterious man who seems as if he's from a time 200 years in the past.  He appears to her, encourages her to follow him, and talks to her.

A stranger in town, Sunglasses Guy, begins following her around.  Wherever she goes, there he is.  He's outside of the therapists' office, outside of the physical therapist's office, and outside of her home.

Through it all, Quinn becomes a constant presence, encouraging her, attempting to lure her away from her life.

Coming home early from an appointment one day, Tavia hears Reese speaking with Liz on the phone, and realizes that they are speaking about her. Hearing just enough to fear for her safety, Tavia decides to make a run for her life.

Running from her foster parents and sunglasses guy, Tavia decides to chase after Quinn.  She wants to find out why he is haunting her visions, her dreams, and appearing wherever she goes.

But the truth could be more than she can handle...

Chased by two warring factions of Earthbounds, running from Sunglasses Guy, and running towards she knows not what with Quinn, Tavia clings to Benson for security, warmth, and love.

But, is everything as it seems?

This non-stop thrill ride will keep you gripping the edge of your seat from beginning to end.
Unexpected plot twists, as well as a love triangle you will never expect will keep you guessing from beginning to end!

Reviewer's Note:
I read the middle book, Earthquake, before this book.  While I knew what happened next, I was blown away by some of the unexpected turns that the plot took in the first book that had not been elaborated upon in the second book.  Even better, as I was reading the book, I kept finding myself saying "NO!!! Don't you see what he's doing here?"

Excellent, excellent read!  Well worth the time!

Author's Web Site:
http://www.aprilynnepike.com/

Earthquake

Pike, Aprilynne.  Earthquake.  2014. Penguin Group, New York, NY.
Hardcover, $17.99, ISBN: 978-1-59514-652-6.

Book Talk:

Tavia was in an airplane accident a few years ago.  The sole survivor of the flight, she remembers very little.  What she does remember is earth shattering:

She is Earthbound.  An eternal being, who reincarnates every time she dies.  Unfortunately, she can not recall her past lives until she finds a piece of her past that will remind her of who she is and all of the memories of her past lives.  Unfortunately, because of the airplane crash, she is only able to remember the most immediate past life with Logan.

Somewhere on the planet is her eternal partner.  Logan is out there, somewhere, also equally unaware of who he is, and his past life.

Someone is trying to kill her.  The airplane crash that killed 255 people was meant to kill her.

She remembered her most recent past life with Logan, from 200 years ago, when she touched a necklace that he had given her.  Somehow, she must find Logan and reawaken his memories.  And she needs to do it before the people who are trying to kill her succeed and kill either her, Logan, or both of them.

Running constantly from danger into danger, not knowing who she can trust, Tavia finally finds Logan - only to have them both captured by the Reduciata before Logan's memories are restored.

While being held in the prison of the Reduciata, they are rescued by the rival faction of Earthbounds- the Curatoria.  But, has she really been rescued, or is she just being held prisoner in a more elaborate trap?

Meanwhile, a virus is destroying earth.  The people, the land, and the monuments are all disappearing at an alarming rate.  Tavia is the only person who can find the cure to stop the ultimate destruction of the planet and all who live here.

While Tavia races to find the cure to her virus, she discovers a secret - a dangerous secret that she has kept hidden from herself and from Logan over several past lives.  It's a secret that has had her killed several different times in the last 200 years, and the reason why an airplane was crashed to the ground.

Can Tavia remember what the secret is before she is killed, again?

Can she find the cure to the virus and save the Earth and it's inhabitants?

Will Logan remember who she is in time?

Can she remember the past lives that have remained hidden from her?

Author's Web Site:
http://www.aprilynnepike.com/

Reviewer's Note:
Fantastic, riveting read!  Several unexpected plot twists and turns, loved them all!
This is the second of a series.  I have not read the first in the series, but the book stands alone.
I do feel a need to go back and read the first book in order to answer a few plot questions I had from the second book, but I am so glad that the author did not dwell on plot from the first book.  She gave enough information to keep the plot flowing, but I'm really curious about what happened first.

Brave New World

* I am cross posting this from my other blog, Mini-Van Mom, http://mini-van-mom.blogspot.com/.  I recently re-read Brave New World, as it is one of the most frequently challenged and banned books out there.  I wanted to remind myself why it was so controversial.  With this thought in mind, I am skipping my usual format for books I review on this blog.  I wrote my thoughts about the book down on my other blog, and I wanted to share them here, on the forum I have specifically devoted to YA literature.  

Please keep in mind, when Aldous Huxley wrote this book back in the 1930's, the world was different.  Take a quick look back at the world situation in the 30's, before you read the book. Huxley intended this book to be a disturbing Dystopic Society.  He intended it to be a warning tale of what could go wrong.  

While you are reading, take a very harsh look at our world and society today. I believe it's still a relevant story today.


Huxley, Aldous.  Brave New World.  1932.  Harper Perennial Modern Classics.  New York, NY.
Softcover, $8.49.  ISBN: 978-0060850524.


I ran across this book the other day.  I vaguely remember reading it before.  I believe I read it at the same time I read 1984 and Animal Farm.  All 3 books are about Dystopian societies.

I had a little time to spare, so I thought I'd tackle it once again, and see what, if anything, I got out of the book.

Funny thing.  Aldous Huxley wrote this book in 1932.  He was writing about an imaginary society that existed 600 years in the future. At that time, Huxley postulated a world in which people had become total wards of the state.  They were bred in a laboratory, hatched in the warmth of a laboratory, and brought into the world.

From the time that their embryos were fertilized, their entire life, from their physical features, to their caste, to their mental capabilities were determined for them by the scientists in the laboratory.

Raised within the facility by the state, divided by caste, these infants are indoctrinated into the philosophies of the state through negative reinforcement, as well as sleep teaching- where a voice droned on and on throughout the night that teaches them the "official" views that they are to keep.

Raised to live alone, these people are also trained to value a hedonistic lifestyle that puts their own pleasure and comfort above all else.

If anything uncomfortable faces them, why, they don't have to deal with these uncomfortable feelings.  The state issues them an official drug, Soma, and they are encouraged to use it whenever those messy feelings get in the way of them pursuing that hedonistic lifestyle that is condoned by the state.

Life and death are meaningless.  No value is placed on life.  Children are conditioned to death in order to make it seem like "no big deal".  With the advances in genetic engineering, the residents never age.  They stay in a perpetual state of youth until they "expire" and are taken to be decommissioned.

There's more. Oh, so much more.  Aldous Huxley wrote this book to disturb.  He intended to shake his audience up a bit, show them what horrible future awaited them if they didn't wake up and realize that their choices - and what he saw at the time in the rise of Communism and the Soviet Union - could easily become the official way of life, with no choices and no free will to make choices in front of them.


I remember back when I originally read this book in 1982, I thought how ridiculously far fetched these ideas were.

Reading it now, over 30 years later, I begin to wonder because so much that future is not only before us - it seems to be coming a reality.

We live in a hedonistic society that places materialism above all else.  Doubt me?  Take a look at the video footage of crowds stampeding on Black Friday to get the best deals.

Advertisers on television and the radio encourage us to pursue a materialistic, me first mentality that ignores the needs of others or the less fortunate around us.

Genetic Engineering is here.  It's a reality.  With the advent of test tube babies (now known as IVF fertilization), we began to cross that uncomfortable line.  While we do not yet have the ability to "design" a human being (read infant) to meet our personal needs- hair and eye color, intelligence, we do have the ability to get into the cells of an embryo who will have mitochondrial disease and change the DNA of that individual before birth.

Cloning.  Huxley didn't even dream of this reality in his novel.  Instead, he spoke of manipulating an ovum so that up to 90 viable embryos could result.  Instead of recreating the ovum, scientists have skipped that step entirely and are capable of taking the DNA of an organism and recreating this organism exactly.

Soma.  In the novel, Soma was used to pacify the masses.  When they experienced feelings, they took drugs to suppress the feelings.  By suppressing the feelings, people never questioned why and never looked for deeper meanings of life.  As a result, they turned away from all religion.  What need is there of religion when the state can guarantee you will never feel the need of anything but the pursuit of pleasure?  Not quite so far fetched, now.  Marijuana is legal in Colorado and Washington State.  Beginning next year, it will be legal in Washington DC and Alaska.  (What really is the driving force behind approving mood altering drugs, anyway?)

If you are up for a read that is going to make you look hard - very hard - at today's society, take the time to read Brave New World.

It's not a "Feel Good Book".  It will make you think, and think hard, about our world today.

Remember, Huxley wrote it to upset his audience.  What does it say that 80 years later, it is still upsetting and angering people?  Why is it still a relevant read?

Four

Roth, Veronica.  Four: A Divergent Collection.  2014.  Katherine Tegen Books, a Harper Collins Imprint.  New York, NY.

Hardcover, $17.99.  ISBN: 978-0-06-234521-9.

Book Talk:

Have you read Divergent?  Seen the movie?  Curious to know more about the world?

Join Tobias in the years when he makes his own choice.

Written by Tobias, this companion guide gives you a glimpse into who Tobias is, and why he has made the choices that he has made.  It's a fascinating look into the world we join in the Divergent Books.


Author's Note:
Veronica Roth wrote an introduction to this series in the front of this book.  I would like to put a part of it here:
The first three stories: "The Transfer", "The Initiate", and "The Son" take place before he ever meets Tris, following his path from Abegnation to Dauntless as he earns his own strength. In the last, "The Traitor", which overlaps chronologically with the middle of Divergent, he meets Tris.  I wanted very much to include the moment when they meet, but unfortunately, it didn't fit into the story's timeline- you can find it instead at the back of this book.

The series follows Tris from the moment she seized control of her own life and identity: and with these stories, we can follow Four as he does the same.  And the rest, as they say, is history.

Author's Web Site:
http://theartofnotwriting.tumblr.com/

Dirt Bikes, Drones, and Other Ways to Fly

Wesselhoeft, Conrad.  Dirt Bikes, Drones, and Other Ways to Fly.  2014.  Houghton-Mifflin Harcourt Publishers, New York, New York.

Hardcover, $17.99.  ISBN: 978-0-544-23269-3

Book Talk:
When Arlo's mother died, a huge part of Arlo died, too.  Arlo's mother was gunned down at a robbery at a convenience store.  In the aftermath of the shooting, Arlo's sister struggles with a deadly illness, and his father loses their family business- the newspaper.  Struggling to make sense in a world gone mad, Arlo turns to the two things he loves best - speed and video games.

Out on the open desert, Arlo flies high and fast on his dirt bike.  He takes reckless chances on his bike, throwing himself into the game of high speed recklessness.  In his video game - Drone Wars - he finds an escape from the dreary, scary world he now lives in.

Flying high and reckless with the video game, Arlo becomes the highest scoring person in the game - EVER.

And then, he finds himself recruited by the Air Force to be a part of their ultra-secret drone program.  Flying drones in Afghanistan, while sitting quietly in the United States, Arlo begins to meld the virtual world together with the real world.

But what about Lee?  The beautiful new girl in town whose father is fighting in Afghanistan?
Intrigued by the mystery of Arlo, she begins to make Lee feel alive again - and wonder where his true loyalties lie...

Will Arlo ever be able to come to terms with his reality?


Note from Bettina:
There is language in this book.  A lot of language.  The themes are mature themes.  Considering the topic of the book- an alcoholic father, a mother gunned down in a convenience store, and a sister who is dying - the language matches the themes.

This book is appropriate for High School students, as well as ANY teenager who is suffering from the loss of a parent to violence.

Author's Web Site:
http://adiosnirvana.com/

Clueless in the Kitchen

Raab, Evelyn.  Clueless in the Kitchen.  2011.  Firefly Books, Buffalo, NY.

Softcover, $14.95.  ISBN: 978-1-55407-824-0.

Book Talk:
The pretzels are gone.  The pop tarts are gone.  The Zombie Apocalypse could happen at any moment, and you don't have any food in the house!  What will you do?

This book will take you quickly and easily from a bunch of raw ingredients on the pantry shelves to a nutritious meal or snack in minutes.  Clear, concise, easy to follow directions will make this cooking adventure an easy process you will want to repeat again and again!

Learn how to make Potato Paprikash, Home Made Pizza Crust, Chocolate Chip Cookies, Smoothies, Salad Dressing, and Buffalo Wings.  These yummy recipes are easy to make, and so much cheaper than buying them from the store!

Are you ready to bake?