The Lost Hero

The Heroes of Olympus, Book One: The Lost Hero
Riordan, Rick.  The Lost Hero, Book One of the Heroes of Olympus Series.  Disney, Hyperion Books.  New York, NY, 2010.
Annotation:
The first book in the Heroes of Olympus Series. 
Jason Grace wakes on a school bus to find he has amnesia.  Attacked by storm spirits, Jason is defended by his best friends Leo and Piper.  Rescued and given safe haven at Camp Half Blood, Jason struggles to remember who he is and why he has no memories, and yet everything seems so familiar.
Jason, Leo, and Piper are sent on a quest to rescue Hera from one of the greatest threats to face the demi-gods in eons.


Book Talk:
Jason awakes in a school bus full of kids from the Wilderness School, headed on a field trip to the Grand Canyon.  He is sitting next to his girl friend, Piper, and his best friend, Leo.  There's one tiny problem: he doesn't remember any of them.

Attacked by storm spirits on the sky walk over the Grand Canyon, Jason struggles to remember the names of things that seem so familiar to him, and yet he just can't understand why they seem familiar. 

Rescued and taken to Camp Half Blood, Jason is shocked to hear the words "You're supposed to be dead!" as his greeting from the Camp Director. 

Struggling to recall who he is, and why everything seems so familiar and yet strangely different, Jason is sent on a Quest with Leo and Piper to rescue Hera before the Solstice.  Reassured by the Oracle that he is one of the champions who will fulfill the prophecy, he takes off with his friends on a broken, flying mechanical dragon in order to query the winds and find Hera before time runs out.

Will Jason remember who he is?   Will this memory be the end of Camp Half Blood?

Author's Web Site:
http://www.rickriordan.com/home.aspx

Reviewer's Note:
Excellent Read!  I wasn't expecting this book to be as good as the original Olympian Series with Percy Jackson.  I was happily surprised.  Every Rick Riordan fan will enjoy the book.  The old characters from the Olympians make appearances, but they are not the main characters.  The characters in this book stand alone on their own merit.  Looking forward to the next book in the series!

Disclosure Notice: This post contains links to my Amazon Affiliates account.  By purchasing through this link, you support this blog.  Thank You!

Lockdown

Myers, Walter Dean.  Lockdown.  Amistad, a division of Harper Collins Publishers.  2010.


Annotation:
Reese, an inmate at the Progress Juvenielle Detention Facility is given a rare opportunity to remake his life.  He is put on a work release program at a nursing home.  As Reese struggles with life within the walls at Progress, he realizes that life is about the choices that you make.

Book Talk:
Reese has been serving time at Progress for 22 months.  He stole prescription drug pads from a doctor in his neighborhood and sold them to a drug dealer.  For the first time, he has been given the opportunity to change his life.  He has been admitted to the work-study program where he will be able to learn job skills which will help him to support himself once he is released from prison.  With a job, he won't have to return to stealing in order to support himself and his family.  He needs a plan.  He needs to make a plan for his life in order to keep him out of trouble when he returns home.

But life in the prison is tough.  Kids come and go, and all of them have an agenda.  Everyone wants to prove that they are the toughest kid on the block, and that they are not to be messed with.  Each new arrival looks for a victim as soon as they arrive.  Unfortunately, the always settle on the smallest kid, Toon.  Reese doesn't want to lose his one opportunity to get out of jail early.  He doesn't want to mess up and be sent upstate to the next level of prison - with the adults.  But can he honestly just sit back and watch as Toon gets beaten up by the newest arrivals who are out to prove themselves?

Author's Web Site:
http://www.walterdeanmyers.net/

Reviewer's Note: 
Walter Dean Myers has taken a place in my heart as one of my favorite authors of YA literature.  He was the first ever winner of the Printz Award - which is the best book written for young adults every publishing year.  I began my teaching career 20+ years ago in an inner city neighborhood.  Although I have since moved on, my heart has forever been touched by those kids who were exposed to the rough side of life entirely too young.  I find his books to be an honest look at the issues kids can face.  He tackles these issues with love, candor, and understanding.

Disclosure Notice: This post contains links to my Amazon Affiliates account.  By purchasing through this link, you support this blog.  Thank You!

Hunger

Kessler, Jackie Morse.  Hunger (Riders of the Apocalypse).  Graphia, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.  2010.


Annotation:
Lisabeth Lewis has had a rough year.  She is battling Anorexia.  She is battling depression.  She has been named Famine, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.   As she travels the world, she brings hunger wherever she goes. 

Book Talk:
Lisabeth Lewis has an ultra-cool black horse that loves pralines.  She has a set of scales.  And, she has a brand new job.  She's been appointed one of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse- Famine. 

Her job is to travel throughout the world and bring hunger and thirst.  Wherever she goes, Pestilence, War, and Death are not far behind.

There's a problem, though.  Lisa is Anorexic.  She constantly struggles with her own inner hunger.  Now, she must travel to parts of the world where hunger is a painful part of everyday life.  As she sees the devastating effects of hunger wherever she goes, Lisa begins to battle her own inner demons- and the desire to be thin - against the needs of the people around her who are suffering. 

Can she find a way to use the powers of Famine for good?

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

Reviewer's Note:
With the graphic themes of Famine, of Anorexia, Bulimia, and a suicide attempt, I would not recommend this book for young teens.  The publisher recommends this book for grades 7 - 10.  I think I'd push that age limit up a bit, to grades 9-12. As a Mom who knows several teens struggling with an eating disorder, I did find this book very insightful.  It was an excellent read, fast paced, and thought provoking.

Disclosure Notice: This post contains links to my Amazon Affiliates account.  By purchasing through this link, you support this blog.  Thank You!

Reckless

Annotation:

Searching for his lost father, Jacob Restless finds more questions than answers in his father's study.  The mirror on the wall provides the gate to a mirror world.  As Jacob explores the world, he searches for the answers about his father. 

Book Talk:

Jacob Restless has been searching for answers.  His father has disappeared, and no one knows where he has gone.  As he is searching his father's study for answers, Jacob finds a mirror on the wall.  Unique in design, Jacob wonders why his father had left the mirror on the wall.  Jacob finds a clue, "The mirror will open only for he who cannot see himself". 

Once Jacob understands the clue, he finds himself in a strange world that is accessed only by the mirror.  There are strange, mythical creatures here.  Creatures that exist only in fairy tales in our world.  Jacob begins a search through the mirror world, looking for his father.

But when Jacob's younger brother Ben enters the mirror world, things get downright dangerous.  Unaware of the dangers of the mirror world, Ben makes a deadly mistake.  He is attacked by a Goyl.  Ben manages to fight off the Goyl, marred only by some scratches.  The scratches contain a deadly poison.  Slowly but surely, they will change Jacob's flesh to stone.  He will lose his humanity and become a Goyl - the enemy of all humans in the shadow world.

The Goyl are anxiously awaiting Ben's arrival, for it is said that he will become the Jade Goyl who will give invincibility to the King he serves.  King Hentzau, the Dark Fairy, and his men are searching for this magic weapon which will allow them to rule the mirror world once and for all.

It is a desparate race against time.....

Author's Web Site:

http://www.corneliafunkefans.com/en

Tales From Outer Suburbia

Annotation:

A short story collection of tales set in the outer suburbs of Australia.

Book Talk:

Living in the suburbs is just so ordinary, or is it? 

Come and visit the Outer Suburbs.  You will discover a magical inner courtyard located within the attic of your house.  Find an unexplained deep sea diver walking down the middle of the street.  Discover a Dugong in your front yard, and find instructions on how to make your own pet! 

Just how far is Outer Suburbia?  It is closer than you think!

(Open the book to the table of contents.  The page is laid out as a mailing envelope.  The stamps on the side are pictures from each of the stories, with the title of the story written on the stamp.) 

Note - I like to read snatches of the books during book talks.  Michael Sullivan, author of "Boys and Books" recommends reading just a small selection of a story to the children.  This allows them to get engrossed in the book and want to hear more.  It also allows the children to hear the reading level of the book and decide if they want to read it for themselves.  If I were book talking this book, I would read the story entitled "Night of the Turtle Rescue".  It's short- 1 page.  The picture is intriguing, and the story itself is one that will leave the listeners wondering "what's next?".  However, you would need to pick a story that appeals to you...

Author's Web Site: http://www.shauntan.net/

Reviewer's Note:
This book puts me in the mind of The Invention of Hugo Cabret, by Brian Selznick.  The pictures in this book are the rich kind of pictures you would expect of a graphic novel or a children's picture book.  The pictures are as integral to the stories as the words.  Several stories are only told through the pictures- but they are not wordless pictures, the words make up the illustrations and tell the story.  This is definitely an intriguing, off the wall collection of short stories.

Disclosure Notice: This post contains links to my Amazon Affiliates account.  By purchasing through this link, you support this blog.  Thank You! 

Spells by Arilynne Pike

Pike, Aprilynne.  Spells.  Harper Teen. 2010. New York, NY.

Annotation:
Sixteen year old Laurel has been living among humans for most of her life.  She has been chosen to guard the land surrounding the gate to Avalon.  In order to be a better steward of her land, she has been called home to Avalon for the summer to learn how to use her talents as a Fall Faerie to protect her land, her home, and the people that she loves.


Booktalk:
Laurel has been happily living the life of a human for most of her sixteen years, totally unaware of the fact that she is a faerie. She discovered the truth about herself when she burst into flower last year.  Having finally come to grips with the fact that she is a faerie, she has been summoned home to Avalon for the summer.  Here she will learn more about her powers as a Fall Faerie, and learn about the world of faeire that she left at the age of seven.

Laurel's job in the human world is to inherit the land that houses the gate to Avalon.  Many evil and fey creatures would love to access the gate that would allow them to access Avalon and destroy everyone who dwells within.  Living in the human world, Laurel is always at risk of being captured by one of these creatures.  Trolls have been stalking her for years now, they want access to the gate, and nothing is going to stop them from getting what they want.

When Laurel's human best friend, Chelsea is captured by the trolls, Laurel must make a choice for the future of Avalon.

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

Reviewer's Note:  I was enchanted by this book.  This is the second book in a series.  This is a stand alone book.  Not having read the first book, I was easily able to follow the plot line and was introduced to each new to me character.  All of the characters were in the first book, but the author took the time to remind the reader who the characters were and how they were important to the original story line.
Also, I downplayed the love triangle between Laurel, Tamani and David.  It is a compelling story line.  Although this is not a vampire book, I do think that readers who are looking for a read-alike to Twilight would enjoy this.

An Apology

I haven't been able to post recently, and I apologize.  My father in law was diagnosed with Stage 4 Pancreatic Cancer 12 weeks ago.  He was admitted into Hospice Care 3 weeks ago, and passed away 2 weeks ago.  The funeral was last week.

I have been so tied up in our family life that I haven't been able to keep up with my reading.  I finally made it to the library today to pick up new books.  Unfortunately, this time of year, most books that are out on display or on the new shelves are Macabe or Horror.  I really felt the need to find something light and funny this week, but I had a hard time finding something that fit my guidelines.

I have read each and every book that I post on here.  I only post the books that I enjoy reading.  I can't, in good conscience, recommend a book that I really don't like.

This leads me to my problem for the day.  I pulled many books off the shelves, and began looking for something light and funny.  I found two promising books.  The first one put me to sleep within the first ten pages.  Now, keep in mind, I was in the middle of the library, surrounded by strangers and I fell sound asleep.  Once I finally jerked awake, I flipped to the halfway point in the book to see if the story improved at all once I got past the awkward beginning.  Once again, I jerked awake unexpectedly.  This time, I had read an astounding 5 pages.  Needless to say, I did not check that book out.

I do have a new book that I will be reviewing in a few days.  It's going to take a while for me to get back into the "groove" of reading and publishing after the events of our last few months, but I hope to get back into a regular publishing schedule within a month.