This Librarian's Quick Picks: Overturned

Overturned
by Lamar Giles
Scholastic (2017)
Mystery Fiction

What It's All About:

Nikki Tate's father has been on death row for killing his best friend in a gambling dispute, but he has always maintained his innocence, and now his conviction has been overturned and he is back at the casino, where high school junior Nikki has been operating illegal poker games in the hopes of saving enough money to get out of Vegas after graduation--and now he is determined to find the real killer, and Nikki is inevitably drawn into his dangerous search for the truth.

Why You'll Love It:

• A fast-paced, compelling mystery and memorable characters and relationships make this selection a first choice.
• The mystery never feels forced and seems to flow naturally, gaining momentum as Nikki peels away each layer until everything is ultimately revealed.
• Racial elements at play - the Tates are black while their rivals, the Carlinos, are white - hover in the background, adding another layer to Giles's murder mystery.

Who Should Read It:

Perfect for 7th grade and up.



What Else You Should Read:

• Endangered by Lamar Giles
• Con Academy by Joe Schreiber
• Scarlett Undercover by Jennifer Latham

Books by Theme: If you liked The Hunger Games

"And may the odds be ever in your favor!"

~ from Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games

I thought a Hunger Games-esque post would be just the ticket in light of the upcoming movie. I know pretty much everyone and their brother has already read the trilogy. If you read it, liked it, and need more of it, check out the books below.

Enclave 

by Ann Aguirre

Feiwel & Friends, 2011

In the aftermath of war and plague, most of New York City's survivors have moved underground, establishing enclaves where they eke out an existence and hide from zombie-like Freaks. After 15-year-old Deuce, an enclave-dweller, earns the rank of Huntress, she is paired with a mysterious outsider named Fade...and the two of them discover a secret that could destroy their precarious society. While there are hints of a possible romance between Deuce and Fade, this violent, gritty, and suspenseful read will appeal most to those who like the world-building and pulse-pounding action of the Hunger Games books.

Ashes

by Ilsa Bick

Edgmont, 2011(Thanks for the suggestion, Sandra!)

Seventeen-year-old Alex is on a solo camping trip in the woods (and playing hooky from her seemingly pointless chemo treatments) when a series of electromagnetic pulses renders all technology useless, kills most of Earth's population, and turns many of those left alive into ravenous, bloodthirsty cannibals. But Alex isn't entirely alone; she teams up with an eight-year-old girl and a young soldier on leave who, like her, weren't transformed by the pulses, and the three of them fight together for survival. Terrifying and exhilarating, this rather gruesome read is one that fans of the darker bits of The Hunger Games (or similar blends of world-building and action, such as James Dashner's The Maze Runner) will devour.

The Unidentified

by Rae Mariz

Balzer & Bray, 2010

Hunger Games fans who are fascinated by the culture of Capitol residents will be drawn in by this thought-provoking novel, in which schools of the future are taken over by corporations and housed in shopping malls. With no interest in being "branded" like the popular kids, whose every move is observed and tallied by advertisers as market research, nonconformist teen Katey "Kid" Dade looks for -- and finds -- others like her who want to buck the system. But can she really trust them? Suspenseful and full of great characters, The Unidentified will keep you turning the pages right up to its end.

Divergent

by Veronica Roth

Katherine Tegen Books, 2011 (thanks mom!)

In this book's far-future, post-apocalyptic Chicago, everyone belongs to one of five factions, each named for the virtue that its members devote their lives to cultivating: Candor (honesty), Abnegation (selflessness), Dauntless (bravery), Amity (peacefulness), and Erudite (intelligence). At 16, all citizens choose their permanent factions, and Beatrice Prior has just shocked her family by rejecting Abnegation to become Dauntless. But in order to join the ranks of the bold and brave, she'll first have to survive their brutal initiation...and keep a secret that could cost her life. Combining thrills, action, and violence with heady romance, Divergent is a great pick for fans of the Hunger Games trilogy.

Books by Theme was inspired by both Melissa at One Librarians Book Reviews's feature Listless Monday and Court at Once Upon a Bookshelf's Listed feature.  Be sure to check out their lists!

This Librarian's Quick Picks: High School Edition

The Queen of Water
by Laura Resau
Genre: Fiction

Summary:

Living in a village in Ecuador, a Quechua Indian girl is sent to work as an indentured servant for an upper class "mestizo" family. 

Why you'll love it:

• Rooted in Farinango’s true story, the honest, first-person, present-tense narrative is occasionally detailed and repetitive, but it dramatizes the classic search for home with rare complexity and no sentimentality or easy resolutions. 
•  Bright spots of humor and warmth are woven throughout, and readers will agonize for Virginia while seething at her tormentors. 
• The complexities of class and ethnicity within Ecuadorian society are explained seamlessly within the context of the first-person narrative, and a glossary and pronunciation guide further help to plunge readers into the novel's world. 

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The Darlings Are Forever
by Melissa Kantor
Genre: Fiction

Summary:

Best friends Jane, Victoria, and Natalya, who call themselves the Darlings, find their relationship tested when they start their freshman year at three very different high schools. 

Why You'll Love It:

• The girls are easy to care about, and the message-that true friendships can change and grow and still be maintained-will appeal to fans of Ann Brashares's "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" series (Delacorte).
• The problems and crises that arise are credible and not always predictable, the dialogue rings true, and the girls are well-developed characters that avoid stereotype.
• The third-person narration shifts from girl to girl as it sensitively explores their experiences.

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Between Shades of Gray
by Ruta Sepetys
Genre: Historical Fiction

Summary:

In 1941, fifteen-year-old Lina, her mother, and brother are pulled from their Lithuanian home by Soviet guards and sent to Siberia, where her father is sentenced to death in a prison camp while she fights for her life, vowing to honor her family and the thousands like hers by burying her story in a jar on Lithuanian soil. Based on the author's family, includes a historical note.

Why You'll Love It:

• A tender and moving story filled with details that make the places and events described come to life.
• Ruta Sepetys drew inspiration for the book, her first novel, from interviews with Lithuanian refugees and her own family’s experiences. Not surprisingly, then, the characters, with all their foibles, dreams, and flaws, are incredibly realistic and sympathetic.
• Though the book has heavy themes, readers will race through it, desperate to know what happens next.

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Consumed
by Kate Cann
Genre: Supernatural Fiction

Summary:

A new manager brings many changes to Morton's Keep, capitalizing on its gothic atmosphere and history, but Rayne sees ominous signs indicating that the one thing that has not changed is the evil presence she had thought was destroyed.

Why You'll Love It:

• Kate Cann is a top-notch suspense writer, weaving together a murder mystery with pagan folklore to build to a thrilling climactic confrontation of good versus evil.
• Rayne’s spot-on teenage uncertainties, her complex romance with Ethan, and the small details of life at Morton’s Keep create a convincing reality, making the story’s supernatural elements even more striking.
• Readers of Possessed, the previous book, will be uneasy as the mysterious new manager, Miss Skelton, gradually takes control of Morton’s Keep. (Those new to the series may want to start with Possessed to enhance their experience.) 

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Blink and Caution
by Tim Wynne-Jones
Genre: Fiction

Summary:

Blink, hoping to steal some breakfast, is forced to go on the run after stumbling upon the fake kidnapping of a CEO and recovering the man's cell phone, and he meets up with Caution, a girl trying to ditch her drug-dealing boyfriend, who identifies Blink as a mark until he tugs at her heart strings.

Why You'll Love It:

• The crime-drama element of the novel, involving a dispute over corporate uranium mining on Indian-owned land, has enough suspense and action to keep readers interested while they forge a connection with the main characters.
• Separate narratives-with spot-on dialogue and an effective use of a second-person point of view-come together to unite the two characters in a breathtaking thriller as they search for the kidnapped businessman and maybe make a fair sum of money in the process.
• Wynne-Jones does an excellent job of portraying the pair's budding relationship as they learn to trust one another in highly charged circumstances.

This Librarian's Quick Picks: Middle School Edition

Lost in the River of Grass
by Ginny Rorby
Genre: Survival Fiction


Summary:


When two Florida teenagers become stranded on a tiny island in the Everglades, they attempt to walk ten miles through swampland to reach civilization.


Why You'll Love It:

• Readers will pull for Sarah, thirteen, and Andy, fifteen, as they face poisonous snakes, gators, fire ants, and hunger and thirst while they try to make their way out of a remote part of the Everglades on foot. Sarah insists on adopting a duckling, Teapot, to Andy’s dismay—it will only slow them down—but Teapot is a good mascot, and caring for him gives them a psychological boost through their ordeal.
• Details about the Everglades and the plants and animals that inhabit it emerge contextually in the suspenseful narrative, giving the story its distinct sense of place and adding depth to the adventure: “Things in our path slither away in startling bursts of speed. If what flees is a gator, it leaves a trail of tiny bubbles on the surface. . . . Water snakes, once they sense the vibration of our approach, swim along the surface, and disappear into the saw grass.”
• Sarah and Andy’s relationship is believable—their romance alternates between being prickly and being affable; they snipe at each other, but they obviously care for one another.

Pathfinder
by Orson Scott Card
Genre: Fantasy


Summary:


Thirteen-year-old Rigg has a secret ability to see the paths of others' pasts, but revelations after his father's death set him on a dangerous quest that brings new threats from those who would either control his destiny or kill him.


Why You'll Love It:

• The first in a series, Card’s latest title has much in common with his Ender Wiggins books: precocious teens with complementary special talents, callously manipulative government authorities, endlessly creative worlds, and Card’s refusal to dumb down a plot for a young audience.
• While Card delves deeply into his story's knotted twists and turns, readers should have no trouble following the philosophical and scientific mysteries, which the characters are parsing right along with them.
• This novel should appeal to Card's legion of fans as well as anyone who enjoys speculative fiction with characters who rely on quick thinking rather than violence or tales of mind-bending time-travel conundrums.

Demonglass: A Hex Hall Novel
by Rachel Hawkins
Genre: Fantasy


Summary:


After learning that she is capable of dangerous magic, Sophie Mercer goes to England with her father, friend Jenna, and Cal hoping to have her powers removed, but soon she learns that she is being hunted by the Eye--and haunted by Elodie.


Why You'll Love It:

• Rachel Hawkins’s sequel to Hex Hall combines everything fans could ask for: a sprawling and splendorous castle (thirty-one kitchens! ninety-eight bathrooms!), a hot love triangle, an enchanted ball . . . and multi-limbed ghouls, creepy demons, and necromancy.
• Sophie Mercer continues to win over readers—and warlocks—with her arch sense of humor. (When a vampire orders Earl Grey at high tea, Sophie cracks, he’ll actually getEarl Grey.)
• Hawkins keeps upping the intrigue: How is it that ghosts can’t see or hear the living, but Elodie’s ghost keeps trying to talk to Sophie? Why does Sophie’s upcoming summer destination, Thorne Abbey, sound so familiar? And how—and, more importantly, why—did Daisy and Nick, two teenagers suffering from retrograde amnesia, get turned into demons?
• Some of these questions are answered in an explosive, world-inverting finale—which, along with the questions that remain, will have readers counting down the days to the next Hex Hall installment.

Evolution: The Story of Life on Earth
by Jay Hosler
Genre: Nonfiction/Graphic Novel


Summary:


In graphic novel format, follows Bloort 183, an asexual alien scientist, as he explains the fundamentals of evolution to King Floorsh and his son.


Why You'll Love It:

• Clear and thorough text describes the history of life on Earth from its very beginning.
• The information is kept light and entertaining, delivered by alien scientist Bloort to lofty King Floorsh and the enthusiastic—but easily distracted—Prince Floorsh.
• Detailed artwork helps readers visualize life forms from the five-eyed opabinia to wild boars, and dramatizes abstract concepts such as natural selection.
• The book includes plenty of fun jokes as well. For example, it imagines Charles Darwin saying that people went “ape” for natural selection, and pictures eukaryote cells and endosymbiotic bacteria visiting a therapist to discuss how much they need each other.

This Librarian's Quick Picks: High School Edition

Cloaked
by Alex Flinn

Summary:

Seventeen-year-old Johnny is approached at his family's struggling shoe repair shop in a Miami, Florida, hotel by Alorian Princess Victoriana, who asks him to find her brother who was turned into a frog.

Why You'll Love It:

• Because it's the sequel to Beastly! Haven't read it yet? Go read it now.
• Instead of a well-known classic, several lesser-known tales combine here to give the book a nice blend of the familiar (the frog who needs a kiss to transform) and the novel (how will a puny kid best two giants?).
• Rapid action and amusing situations make it a quick read that will easily entice even reluctant readers.

The Good, the Bad, and the Barbie: A Doll's History and Her Impact on Us
by Tanya Lee Stone
Genre: Nonfiction

Summary:

Explores how Barbie has influenced generations of girls, discussing criticisms of the doll, her role in fashion, and her surprising popularity during her first fifty years.

Why You'll Love It:

• Direct quotes from women and girls showcase the variety of feelings that Barbie engenders.
• Stone discusses Barbie's cultural relevance at length, from her numerous careers and the many races and nationalities she's represented to debates about her effect on girls' body image and even her resonance in the art world.
• There's a whole chapter on how kids sometimes destroy their Barbies!

I Was Jane Austen's Best Friend: A Secret Diary
by Cora Harrison
Genre: Historical Fiction

Summary:

In a series of journal entries, Jenny Cooper describes her stay with cousin Jane Austen in the 1790s, and her entrance into Jane's world of beautiful dresses, dances, secrets, gossip, and romance.

Why You'll Love It:

•A novel reminiscent of Jane Austen’s own works, with sharp analyses of the British class system and societal expectations, as well as misunderstandings that hamper romances.
•Cora Harrison strives to create a balanced picture of the Austens—while they are a warm-hearted, fun-loving family for the most part, they also left Jane’s mentally disabled brother to be raised by neighbors. Harrison doesn’t demonize them for this but neither does she gloss over it.
•Provides a detailed portrait of life during the Georgian period. The extensive author’s note offers greater insight into Jenny’s story and Austen family history.
•Numerous drawings and copied bits of correspondence lend an air of authenticity to this fictional diary.

Real Live Boyfriends
by E. Lockhart

Summary:

As a senior at her Seattle prep school, Ruby continues her angst-filled days and copes with the dilemmas of boyfriends, college applications, and her parents' squabbling, but comes to realize that her "deranged" persona may no longer apply.

Why You'll Love It:

•Real Live Boyfriends maintains the unique charm of the previous Ruby Oliver novels while taking Ruby and her parents, friends, and goats into new emotional territory.
•A spot-on portrayal of the loving gestures, calamitous miscommunications, and nerve-racking uncertainties of a serious relationship. Ruby and Noel make an especially believable, endearing couple.
•The book’s themes of love and self-image come to life in candid documentary transcripts, revealing footnotes, and Ruby’s ruthlessly honest voice.
•E. Lockhart has written a gratifying, moving finale to an outstanding series.

A Time of Miracles
by Anne-Laure Bondoux

Summary:

In the early 1990s, a boy with a mysterious past and the woman who cares for him endure a five-year journey across the war-torn Caucasus and Europe, weathering hardships and welcoming unforgettable encounters with other refugees searching for a better life.

Why You'll Love It:

•An enchanting novel that mixes grand storytelling with an unflinching look at the harsh realities of poverty.
•Koumaïl is endearingly earnest and has a great eye for detail. His winning voice comes through clearly in Y. Maudet’s translation of Anne-Laure Bondoux’s novel, originally published in French.
•Set in the Republic of Georgia, the Caucasus, and Europe around the time of the Soviet Union’s collapse in the early 1990s, the book offers glimpses of a dramatic time in history and fascinating locales that will be new to many readers.

Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers

Fallen Angels
by Walter Dean Myers
Scholastic, 1988
309 pages
Young adult historical fiction
Library Copy

Summary in a Sentence:

Seventeen-year-old Richie Perry, just out of his Harlem high school, enlists in the Army in the summer of 1967 and spends a devastating year on active duty in Vietnam.

My thoughts:

"...For all the angel warriors who fall."

Richie Perry is the face of so many young men who fought in the Vietnam War. Raised in Harlem, Richie joins the army in 1967, hoping for a better future. With no money saved for college, Richie finds foreign jungles more palatable than the streets of Harlem.

Richie and his fellow soldier friends are extremely unprepared for the harsh realities of war. They find that the definition of 'enemy' is not as cut and dried as they once pictured and chaos ensues during much of Richie's stay in Vietnam.

"We spent another day lying around. It seemed to be what the war was about. Hours of boredom, seconds of terror."

In one of the more terrifying scenes of ambush, so many American soldiers are killed that the remaining boys are forced to burn the bodies rather than body bag and carry them back to the pick-up point. Richie sees the dead boys being burned: "They were me. We wore the same uniform, were the same height, had the same face. They were me, and they were dead." Although this book obviously doesn't glorify war, it doesn't make the judgment call of condemning it, either. Myers presents facts and raw emotion in this narrative, and the language isn't for the faint of heart. Although this book was marketed for young adults, I think I appreciated it even more as an adult.

~ Read for the Vietnam Challenge ~

Bonus: I met Walter Dean Myers at the ALA annual conference last year! Here's a pic:

Also Recommended:

• Sunrise over Fallujah by Walter Dean Myers (a sequel of sorts)
• Full Service by Will Weaver
• Habibi by Naomi Shihab Nye

Other Reviews:

• A View from a Librarian  
• Page Pals 
• TeenReads

A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver by E.L. Konigsburg

A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver
by E.L. Konigsburg
Atheneum, 1973
201 pages
Children's historical fiction
Personal copy

Summary in a Sentence:

While waiting in heaven for divine judgment to be passed on her second husband, Eleanor of Aquitaine and three of the people who knew her well recall the events of her life.

My Thoughts:

Oh, E.L. Konigsburg, how could I ever expect anything less than delightful perfection from you? I don't know how I missed this one growing up, considering From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler was a favorite in elementary school. The cover for Proud Taste has since been updated to appeal to today's audience, but I just love the original cover art, so I included it in this review.

I love historical fiction, but I sometimes struggle to find books in the genre that I know kids will truly enjoy. Proud Taste is one of those books. Konigsburg sets up a clever premise in which impatient Eleanor is waiting in heaven for her husband, Henry II, to move 'up'. While waiting, the readers are told the story of Eleanor's life by three people who knew Eleanor while she was queen: Henry's mother, Abbot Suger (my favorite), and William the Marshal. Each person takes turns relating the life of Eleanor in such a way that the reader doesn't get bogged down while learning about Middle Ages France and England, which is indeed exactly what is going on! Rather than focusing on dates and events, the story is told with a focus on Eleanor's personality, which is quite different than that of most other women of the 12th century. Included in the book are ink drawings separating each of the narratives, along with a map.

~ I read this book for The Tournament of Reading Challenge  and the Four Month Challenge ~

You might also like:

• Catherine, Called Birdy by Karen Cushman
• Beethoven Lives Upstairs by Barbara Nichol
• Shakespeare's Secret by Elise Broach

Beautiful Creatures by Garcia & Stohl

Beautiful Creatures
by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
Little, Brown (Dec. 2009)
576 pages
YA Supernatural Fiction
Winner of the William C. Morris YA Debut Award
Source: My friend Kim foisted this on me so she could have someone to discuss it with :)

Summary in a Sentence:

In a small South Carolina town, where it seems little has changed since the Civil War, sixteen-year-old Ethan is powerfully drawn to Lena, a new classmate with whom he shares a psychic connection and whose family hides a dark secret that may be revealed on her sixteenth birthday.

My thoughts:

I have extremely mixed feelings over this tome of a young adult novel. I usually make the effort to put some distance between a new release with this much hype and my reading of said novel. Unfortunately, I did not give myself enough time with Beautiful Creatures. The book was simply talked up way too much for me to possibly enjoy it as much as I was hoping I would.  Here's my bulleted list of irksome findings:

• I found Ethan, the male love interest, to be very feminine and not much like most sixteen year old guys I know or have ever known. Women authors have been known to write believable male characters and vice versa, but Garcia & Stohl did not hit the nail on the head with this one.
• I think I'm a little burned out on the whole supernatural-I'm-mortal-but-the-one-I-love-isn't-what-will-we-ever-do? theme in young adult literature. Did anyone else feel like this was just Bella and Edward in reverse, just a little bit? 

Not everything is bad here, I promise! I love that it was set in the south (South Carolina, to be exact), that libraries feature so prominently in the book (not just regular libraries but secret occult libraries as well), and that the Civil War is also a main topic in the novel. Many citizens in Ethan's small town of Gatlin, South Carolina, still seemed to be fighting for the Cause with a capital 'C'. For librarians out there, teen readers of Twilight and supernatural series in general will definitely be into this one.

~ Read for the 4 Month Challenge ~

Other reviews:

• Good Books & Good Wine 
• Dog-eared and well-read 
• The Hiding Spot