Juliet's Moon

Rinaldi, Ann.  Juliet's Moon.  2008.  Harcourt, Inc, New York, NY, USA.

Hardcover: $17.00.  ISBN:978-0-15-206170-8.

Book Talk:

Juliet is living in Missouri.  Around her the Civil War rages on.  Barely escaping the clutches of the Yankee Army when they come to her house, she watches in horror from her secret place while her father is murdered and their home is burned to the ground.

Juliet's brother, Seth, finds her later that day and takes her to the house of his intended.  Here, he feels she will be safe and sound, and protected from the uncertainties of life that surround everyone in the days at the close of the Civil War.

But wait!  Seth is a member of Quantrill's Riders, a notorious group of guerilla warriors who roam the countryside at will and harass the Union Army wherever they may go.  While their tactics are effective, anyone who is associated with the Riders is in danger because the Union Army will stop at nothing in their attempt to stop Quantrill's Riders. 

When the fateful day arrives and everyone - Juliet, the family she is staying with, her friends from surrounding farms - everyone who might possibly be affiliated with the Riders is arrested.  They are taken to town and tossed into a prison on the second floor of a house.

When that prison collapses with all of the prisoners inside, Juliet faces a quick lesson in growing up. When she discovers that most of the people who were prisoners with her were either killed or will be maimed for the rest of their lives, she experiences what is only the beginning of her new reality.

All of us experience a dark moon inside of our soul.  Juliet is about to discover hers.  How far will she go in order to save all that is precious to her?

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

A Note from Bettina:
I was not expecting to be this swept away by this book!  I have read it all in one sitting, breaking only for lunch.  Holy cow!

I wanted to point out that this book is based on true facts.  I had never heard of this particular tale before.  All of the girl relatives of the Quantrill Raiders were in fact, herded up and sent to prison in a dilapidated jail - The Grand Avenue Prison- in Kansas City.  The jail did indeed collapse,  and most of the girls were killed.  The author created a beloved family of characters that were a part of this collapse.  The tale of survival, of love, and determination in the face of adversity is an enchanting tale that needs to be heard again and again.

The Oceanology Handbook

The Oceanology Handbook: A Course for Underwater Explorer, by Professor Pierre Aronnax
edited by Clint Twist.  2010.  Candlewick Press, Summerville, MA, USA.

Hardcover: $12.99.  ISBN: 978-0-7636-4874-9.

Book Talk:

Join the crew of Captain Nemo's submarine, the Nautilus.

This richly illustrated book introduces you to the oceans of our world, and how people set about exploring them.

Professor Aronnax shows you the various ships that have been used throughout history to help people explore the great, wide world that exists just off the edge of the land.

Find out more about the oceans, currents, and life at all levels of the ocean.

Find out how people first dived down to the bottom of the ocean and what their diving suits looked like.

Discover how animals live deep in the ocean where there is no light.

What are ocean currents?  How are they formed?  Where do they come from and where do they go?

This book takes you on an in depth tour of the ocean and how people have explored, discovered, and interacted with it for thousands of years.


Note From Bettina:
In case if you're wondering, yes, this is the same Professor Aronnax and ship that is in the classic 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.  The pictures in this book are amazing, richly illustrated, and engaging.  This would be an awesome book for reluctant or struggling readers who are fascinated by ships, oceans, and sea life.

The Storm in the Barn

Phelan, Matt.  The Storm in the Barn.  2009.  Candlewick Press, Summerville, MA, USA.

Hardcover, $17.35.  ISBN: 978-0-7636-3618-0.

Book Talk:

Jack lives in Kansas.  The rain has not fallen in four years, and the ground is dead.  People are leaving and moving out, but Jack's family remains.  Jack's sister has what is known as dust pneumonia, and his family believes the he himself is losing his mind.

Jack struggles to help, to find a solution, to make everything alright again so that his sister will survive.

When he finds a strange, lurking figure in an abandoned barn, Jack is intrigued.  Noticing that the figure has a face like lightning, Jack is determined to find out if this strange creature has anything to do with the missing rain, and force it to make the rain come back again.

Is Jack losing his mind, or is there really an entity that controls the rain lurking in the barn?

Find out in... the storm in the barn!

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

Note from Bettina:
This book is set during the Great Dust Bowl, in Kansas.  Many of the events of this story are true events from that time period.  Matt Phelan states in his end note that he was first inspired by photography of Dorothea Lange and Arthur Rothstein - who took haunting images of the people who lived through the dust bowl.  Further research had Mr. Phelan watching a documentary entitled "Surviving the Dust Bowl".  This haunting film showed actual footage from the Dust Bowl, and included stories and tales from the survivors.  As a result, he began to work on a story, told through the eyes of a child about the Dust Bowl.   It's a haunting tale, a mix of true facts, with just a touch of folk lore tossed in.  After the first reading, I found myself going back again and again, enchanted with the story, and haunted by the circumstances in which these people found themselves.

*The publisher recommends this book for children ages 10 and up.

Grimm

Nick Burkhardt has a secret.  A very big secret.  He is a Grimm.

Imagine that the creatures and characters that were presented in the Fairy Tales by the Brothers Grimm actually existed.  That each of those characters, and each of those tales, is real.  There is a hidden world that exists within our own every day world.  Within this world are creatures, humans, who have the ability to transform into other characters. (Think the Big, Bad, Wolf, 3 Little Pigs, etc.) 

Most of these creatures are good, kind people who live and work in the human world without a problem.

Nick is a Grimm.  The Grimms of the world run around, killing these fairy tale creatures.  However, Nick is a different kind of Grimm.  He has a conscience, and he doesn't indiscriminately kill.  He enforces the law, and helps the innocent, regardless of which world they live in.

Nick discovers that he is a Grimm in episode 1.   Unknown to him, his Aunt is a Grimm.  As his Aunt loses her battle with cancer, Nick's Grimm powers begin to show themselves, and he struggles with what he is becoming and how to adapt without telling the other people in his life about what is happening to him.

Throughout the three seasons, the stories and characters wind in and out, and throughout the series, with intriguing stories, and interwoven plot lines that weave back in and out through each show.   

NBC just finished broadcasting season 3.  Smart, funny, intelligently written, this series is an amazing piece of work.  The special effects are fantastic.  I am continually amazed by the level of special effects in a weekly television series.  It is not what I was expecting.

One last word from me:  This series is not for young teenagers (Tweens).  I believe that with the level of violence and graphic special effects, it's probably not best for the young ones, or for anyone who has a vivid imagination and is subject to vivid dreams or nightmares.  Other than that, it's an awesome show!

The Tinker King

Trent, Tiffany.  The Tinker King.  2014.  Simon & Schuster, New York, NY.

Hardcover, $17.99.  ISBN: 978-1-4424-5759-1.

Book Talk:

New London is a land of waste and ruin following the war.  Scienta is on the edge of a wilderness, where a battle between the forces of dark and light is waging, and will engulf everyone who lies in it's path. 

Since the last war, Syrus has been working as a Tinker, attempting to continue to run the machines that power the city in which he lives.  Empress Olivia struggles as the leader of the new regime, attempting to balance the new world order of equality between humans and elementals.

However, rebellion has reared it's ugly head, and Olivia and Syrus have been thrust into the middle of battle once again. 

While on a trip across town, Olivia has been attacked by a Xiren, and her life hangs in the balance, awaiting the intervention of a Master Tinker.  In the same battle in which Olivia was captured, Syrus was taken hostage by the Xiren.

Imagine Syrus' horror when he discovers that the Xiren have captured his family and turned them into monster hybrids, a cross between humans and the horrible Xiren/ spider people.  They need the expertise of a Master Tinker to help them achieve their goals of taking over and wresting rule away from the Empress.

Nothing, no, nothing, will keep the Xiren from achieving their goal.  And they are above nothing in the pursuit of their goals. 

Without a Master Tinker, the city is falling apart, and Olivia's life hangs in the balance.

Will Syrus choose death over cooperation with the Xiren?

Can Olivia's life be saved?


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

Guys Write for Guys Read

Scieszka, Jon.  Guys Write for Guys Read.  2005, Viking, New York, NY.

Softcover, $11.99, ISBN: 978-0-670-0144-5.

Book Talk: (Kind Of!)
Guys Read is an initiative begun by Jon Scieszka to encourage boys to read.  Getting boys to read any kind of book, at all, has become a challenge.  It is a disconcerting challenge, as we know that our boys need to read in order to succeed, and yet, for some reason, we seem to be failing to connect them with meaningful books that encourage them to read more.  Guys read was designed to help combat this problem and attempt to find a solution.

This book, Guys Write for Guys Read, was written by many, many male authors who all contributed a short story.  I enjoyed the stories.  Written for brevity, many of the authors exposed some embarrassing incident from their own childhood.  These stories left me at turns, laughing, crying, and touched beyond words that these men would open up so honestly with their audience and let the reader inside their own childhood in such a personal way.

The authors included in this collection read like a who's who of Boy Books:  Anthony Horowitz, Walter Dean Myers, Garth Nicks, Dan Gutman, Neil Gaiman, Gary Paulsen, Brian Jaques, Jerry Spinelli,   the list goes on and on, with a total of 92 authors contributing a piece to this compilation.

In addition to this book, Guys Read is a website.  If you are looking for information on Boy Books, from how to help, to a current list of new releases that just might appeal to the little guy in your life, please visit his website.  Mr. Scieszka has done a fantastic job of putting together a website that will guide a parent of a reluctant reader through the mine field of children's literature and connect them directly to the wonderful books that our little guys love to read.

Web Sites:

You can find the Guys Read website here:  http://www.guysread.com/

You can find the link to Jon Scieszka's author website here:
 http://www.jsworldwide.com/yeah_he_wrote_em.html

A Very Long Silence...

I have switched jobs.  I am now working in an academic library.  A medical library, no less.

Previously, my job had me reading a lot of YA literature, and I would share what I considered to be the best of the best on here.  I enjoyed the reading and the writing, and the thought that maybe I had connected some people with new books immensely.

Getting used to working in an academic library has been an adjustment.  Becoming familiar with a very different collection has been an even greater challenge.  The best way to become familiar with any library collection is to read through some of the titles, so you know what is where, and can help people find related titles.

This has involved me reading a lot of books.  It's been an intriguing challenge.  I've learned a lot about some new subjects.   After reading through the recommended titles in the nutrition section, I've changed my eating habits and lost 12 pounds so far!  Hey!  What a nice side effect of a new job!

I am finally comfortable enough with the new collection to go back to the books I love - the Young Adult collection.  Unfortunately, since I no longer work in that particular library, the books I pull off of the shelf are the ones that are sitting on the new release shelf in my public library.  It can be hit or miss with those books, and again, if I'm going to recommend a book on my blog, I have to have read it, and I have to feel that it has merit, worth, and value.  So, we are back once again to a very slow pace of posting books.

I will say this - I did find two gems over this past weekend at the library.  I've almost finished the first one.  I have laughed, cried, and groaned throughout this book.  I can't wait to share it.  The second book looks intriguing.  I read a few pages out of the middle of the book, and I was sucked into that world, and didn't want to leave it.  I'm planning on starting it tomorrow afternoon, along with a cup of tea.

One other big advantage of my new job is that I have a commute, so I can listen to books in the car as I drive.  I'm thinking I should be able to post at least one book a week.  I have a goal of posting on Fridays.