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Circle of Gold, by Guillaume Prevost (fiction) – kidnapping, time-travel, treachery

May9
book cover of Circle of Gold by Guillaume Prevost published by Arthur A Levine BooksA treatise on magic,
Seven special coins,
Stone statues as time-travel portals,
One villain intent using them to loot the world’s treasures.

For World Wednesday, this concluding adventure in the Book of Time trilogy pits fourteen-year-old Sam against the shadowy Archos man in a final battle for control of the time-travel gateways that only a few can travel.

Sam always seems to be putting the safety of others first, from his cousin Lucy to the lovely Alicia to his grandparents and his father. Now he’s determined to learn enough of  time travel’s secrets to stop his mother’s car before her fatal crash three years ago. Can the avenues of Time stand the strain of this potential paradox?

Whether visiting the vast tomb of an ancient Chinese emperor or walking through an Egyptian pyramid’s secret passageways, author Guillaume Prevost‘s background as a history teacher brings fascinating perspectives to Sam’s many journeys through Time.

Get the whole story at your local library or independent bookstore, starting with The Book of Time (book 1- my recommendation) and The Gate of Days (book 2 – my recommendation), then join Sam on his search for The Circle of Gold.
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Book info: The Circle of Gold  / Guillaume Prevost; translated by William Rodarmor. Arthur A. Levine Books, 2009. (Book of Time trilogy #3).    [author interview]    [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My Book Talk: The time-traveling talent shared by Sam and his father may be their undoing, as the Archos man tries to wipe them out and plunder all of Time’s riches for himself. But he underestimates Sam’s desire to make the world’s time-stream right again, even if the teen loses himself in the process!

Alicia, the girl that Sam adores, has been kidnapped from their Quebec hometown by the mysterious Archos man. Of course, the ancient book that the villain demands as her ransom is located far, far away in Renaissance Rome. Rescuing Dad from Vlad the Impaler’s dungeon and surviving the eruption of Vesuvius seemed difficult at the time, but this time, Sam will have to travel back in time alone, as his cousin Lucy is away at summer camp; her great problem-solving skills would help so much!

So Sam must use the ancient stone statue in the basement of his father’s bookstore to open the Gate of Days again, using a certain combination of special coins to land in Rome – just as a battle begins. The book is inside the city walls, and Alicia is being held prisoner by attacking forces who offer Sam a different option for redeeming her life.

Will her captors really try to double-cross the Archos man?

Could Sam’s collection of time-travel coins help him find another way to rescue her?
Does the gold bracelet really allow time-travel without having to use the stone statues?
Will he have to travel to future time to defeat the Archos man’s greed once and for all?

All of the time-journeys and trials which Sam experienced in The Book of Time (book 1) and The Gate of Days (book 2) lead him to this final race for The Circle of Gold. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

Girls Don’t Fly, by Kristen Chandler (book review) – dreams, family, blue-footed boobies

May8

book cover of Girls Don't Fly by Kristen Chandler published by VikingA chance to study far away instead of babysitting all summer…
Maybe go to the university instead of dental hygienist school….
Prove to ex-boyfriend Erik that she’s better off without him.

Myra imagines herself in the Galapagos Islands with its Darwin’s finches and blue-footed boobies, famous tortoises and amazingly blue sea waters, even as her little brothers break things and mud-wrestle, her big sister drops out of college and moves back home pregnant, both parents work long hours, the family’s carpool schedules look like battle plans – no wonder that Myra feels like she’s holding everything together, even when Erik breaks up with her.

Visit Myra’s study group site at Antelope Island on the Great Salt Lake in the author’s slideshow, watch for the next little brother disaster, and cross your fingers that Myra wins that scholarship!

Find Girls Don’t Fly  at your local library or independent bookstore; if you order from the author’s favorite  local indie bookstore, be sure to request an autographed copy!
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Book info: Girls Don’t Fly / Kristen Chandler. Viking, 2011. [author’s website] [publisher site] [book trailer]

My Book Talk: Oh, how Myra feels trapped! Her perfect big sister is suddenly pregnant, her three little brothers are a constant noisy mess, and now Erik wants “some space” – this isn’t how spring of senior year should go!

When their AP Biology teacher announces a scholarship to study birds in the Galapagos Islands, Myra decides to go for it, even if it does require early morning Saturday excursions to Great Salt Lake Marina’s bird observation area and a “high level” scientific study proposal write-up and… $1,000 toward travel costs. Maybe she can scrape together that much money in just 3 months working part-time at the ice cream shop, right?

Saturday 6 a.m. really is early, but the University of Utah graduate assistant who’s leading the bird studies is enthusiastic enough to wake everyone up. Pete is excited that two high school kids from his hometown have a shot at this scholarship, so he helps them all with their project proposals as much as the rules allow.

Erik makes yet another mistake at the ice cream shop and expects Myra to cover for him like she did while they were dating. When she doesn’t and the manager insinuates that she’s irresponsible like her big sister, Myra just quits.

Now she’s got to find another job in this little town. Mom and Dad think she’s saving money to go to dental hygienist school; Myra hasn’t exactly told them that the scholarship requires that $1,000 travel fee, and they don’t seem too optimistic about her winning it anyway, especially when future-dentist Erik is also a competitor.

When the marina secretary quits, the Lake ranger offers Myra the job, part-time till school’s out, then full-time in the busy summer. Alright! A chance to earn the money she needs, do some extra bird-watching for the seminars, and Pete is at the marina whenever he’s not in class.

But can Myra really get away from this town where her family is judged because they don’t go to church like everyone else?
Can she come up with a scientific study idea that’s better than Erik’s so she can win the scholarship?
Can she keep thinking of Pete as only the group’s study leader instead of something more?

Everyone knows that Girls Don’t Fly, but Myra is determined to change all that in this story of family, dreams, life, and longing. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Lessons in blogging from classic movies (reflective)

May7

Today’s Blogathon2012 theme is “5 movies that have inspired my blogging,” so here are 5 classic movies that remind me of what to do and what NOT to do on BooksYALove – the movie title links go to Internet Movie Database.

Coincidentally, these movie-based lessons also reminded me of Ranganathan’s Five Laws of Library Science, the pithy truths that underpin everything I do as a “librarian-at-large” on BooksYALove, as a contributor to www.abookandahug.com, and when I recommend books to family and friends.

image of old movie film reel
Clipart courtesy of webweaver.nu

1) Blue Hawaii – yes, the Elvis movie. During a family visit in spring 1969, all the kids got packed off to see this movie so the grownups could have some time without us. It didn’t matter if we liked Elvis or not, we had to go. Decades later, I still regret those 102 minutes spent at the Saturday bargain matinee when I could have been reading! So I want to make sure that I never say that “everyone will just love this book” on BooksYALove – because it just isn’t possible! Ranganathan’s Second Law states “Every reader his/her book.”

2) Planet of the Apes – wow! Seeing this movie as a young teen in the late 1960s was powerful and disturbing- because I had absolutely no idea of what it was about until we were in the theater watching it (another well-meaning extended family outing with all the kids, regardless of their ages). Ranganathan’s Fourth Law is “Save the time of the reader,” so BooksYALove aims to give enough taste of each book that readers can decide whether or not it’s one they’ll want to try.

3) Star Wars – the first one, the real one, the one that I saw 7 times (twice in French!), and I still have the 1970s t-shirt. The power of story was evident in this movie (known as A New Hope to youngsters)- classic struggle between good and evil, between doing the expedient thing and the right thing, choosing friendship and loyalty over the easy way out. Hmmm… sounds like the best themes in young adult books today. Ranganathan’s Fourth Law = “Every book, its reader.”

4) The Empire Strikes Back – We took my youngest brother to see this movie for his birthday during its first theatrical release (long ago…). As the opening  filled the screen, he leaned over and whispered “You know that Darth Vader is Luke’s daddy.” No, I did not! Why would I want to know the ending? Ruined the whole movie for me (at the time, it was the last in the Star Wars saga). So I will never give away special plot twists or the ending in any book recommendation on BooksYALove – a no-spoiler site by design and choice! “Books are for use” says Ranganathan’s First Law, not to stay on a shelf or be locked away – and I never want to make a book stay unopened because I spoiled that delicious journey of discovery for even one reader.

5) The Sound of Music – My Girl Scout troop went to see it on the big screen in the mid-1960s (and broke into song during meetings regularly thereafter – “the HILLS are aLIVE with the sound of muuuuuuusic”) – we thought we were just going to see a nice musical. But we also got a glimpse into war’s perils, not graphically or violently, but at age ten began seeing that there were many unfair things that happened to good people, that there was a big world outside our Air Force base housing, and that ordinary people can make a difference. “The library is a growing organism” is Ranganathan’s Fifth Law, and I hope to help readers grow their personal libraries through BooksYALove, as we discover other worlds and other lives through books together.
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Children’s Book Week – for everyone (reflective)

May6

Happy Children’s Book Week!  Read-to-me kiddos and independent readers, little ones to teens – this week is for you!

There are so many great books – and great book blogs  – out there that readers can find great suggestions for what to read next, be it something brand-new or a classic. Give www.abookandahug.com a try – take a short quiz to find out what Reading SuperHero you are or browse books for babies, kids, tweens, and teens by keyword, genre, and more. (Full disclosure – I contribute many recommendations to abookandahug, but receive no compensation for them).

book cover The Order of the Odd-Fish by James Kennedy published by Random House
courtesy of Random House

Even young readers can be reviewers as the hilarious family conversations about books captured on the Bookie Woogie blog show. Just “some kids and their dad, talkin’ about books” their reviews even include the kids’ art about the book they’ve read together. Enjoy their impressions of the wacky and inventive middle-grades book The Order of Odd Fish, by James Kennedy (Random House, 2008) here:  http://bookiewoogie.blogspot.com/2012/04/review-117-order-of-odd-fish.html.

Coincidentally (or perhaps not), I found an interview with Odd-Fish author James Kennedy on another blog last week, following his lengthy visit with the middle school and high school students of Springfield Township, Pennsylvania. He was excited to read what students had written, view their fan art based on his books, and talk with them about writing. 

Whether you’re lucky enough to meet authors in person, enjoy a class visit through Skype, follow them on Twitter/their blog/their website, or just learn a bit about them through the blurb on their book covers, you’ll find that knowing more about your favorite authors can enhance your reading experience.

Which authors have you met “in real life” and who would you like to meet next?
Happy reading!
**kmm

Books in Space for Star Wars Day (reflective)

May4
photo of Darth Vader, woman in pink shirt, Storm Trooper

“May the fourth be with you” – it’s Star Wars Day*!

Outer space is a great setting for young adult books. Sometimes it’s the distance from home and safety that’s the major plot factor. Other times it’s the way that young people overcome obstacles which are magnified by limitations on oxygen, gravity, and other resources. And often enough, it’s other people who are the challenge to the heroes and heroines we meet in space-related stories, with results ranging from comic to tragic.

Check out these space faves on BooksYALove (my recommendation links open in a new window/tab) at your local library or independent bookstore:

book cover of The Moon Maze Game by Larry Niven and Steven Barnes published by Tor BooksThe Moon Maze Game, by long-time sci fi authors Larry Niven and Steven Barnes, takes live-action role playing games to new heights as teams of veteran high-tech LARP simulation players are pitted against each other in a self-contained habitat on the Moon. Its puzzles, tricks, and traps may become the players’ allies when terrorists hijack the game habitat.

While today’s LARPers are limited to Earth, you can learn more about classic live action games at www.larp.com which has gathered info, strategies, and locations for 15 years.
cover image of Astronaut Academy Zero Gravity by Dave Roman Published by First Second BooksSchool in space sounds like the most fun thing ever, but Astronaut Academy: Zero Gravity seems perilous to Hakata Soy, who missed the first weeks of school due to his crime-fighting assignment. Learning Spanish (and spying) with Senor Panda, dinosaur racing, – this graphic novel by Dave Roman brings stories from students and teachers in space.

While many elements of Astronaut Academy are over-the-top funny, Roman stays true to the science of space – human Doug must wear his spacesuit to stay out on the spacewalk all day and oxygen gum helps players stay in the game during fireball tournaments.

cover image of Across the Universe by Beth Revis published by RazorbillMeanwhile, a spaceship continues on its 300-year voyage to a new planetary system with settlers in cryosleep and a rigid hierarchy of crew members tending to the ship’s needs. But as they hurtle Across the Universe, someone starts unfreezing settlers and disarming the cryo-alarms. Some die from their botched reawakening, but teenage Amy is saved.

Still many decades from their destination planet, Amy knows that her scientist-expert parents are still Frozen, and Elder of the crew knows that Amy doesn’t fit into their society. First in a trilogy, followed by A Million Suns, with book 3 scheduled for January 2013 publication.

Of course, there will be great space-based YA books ahead, so keep watching BooksYALove to find your new favorites.
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*thanks to ABDO Books for providing the Star Wars photo-op during the 2012 Texas Library Association Annual Conference in Houston.

Dinosaurs & time travel! Chronal Engine, by Greg Leitich Smith (fiction)

May3
book cover of Chronal Engine by Greg Leitich Smith published by Clarion Books

Rare fossilized dinosaur footprints.

Heart attack, kidnapping, possible murder?

What a way to start a summer!

No one has seen the Loblolly dinosaur tracks on their grandpa’s ranch in years. Max can’t wait – he got the family “dinosaur-hunter” genes, Mom says. Kyle and Emma would rather stay home in Austin the summer before their sophomore year , but with Mom leaving to excavate feathered dinosaurs in Mongolia, they’ve all got to stay somewhere. At least Grandpa’s housekeeper has a daughter their age; Petra seems glad to have some other teenagers on the ranch for a while.

Grandpa’s security-locked basement looks like a 1920s library, if the library had a humming time-travel device in the center. Predicting his own heart attack to the minute, leaving messages in places no one can reach – has Grandpa really used the Chronal Engine to travel through time?

Greg Leitich Smith’s fascination with dinosaurs is firmly woven into this exciting action tale, as our adventurers meet teeny Tyrannosaurs (meat-eaters have horrible bad breath), massive Apatosaurus (even dinosaur expert Max still loves the old name of Brontosaurus), and some human villains back in the Cretaceous Era. You’ll enjoy Blake Henry’s manga-influenced black and white illustrations, too.

I didn’t see any boot prints in the fossilized dino tracks when I visited Dinosaur Valley State Park in Glen Rose, but that’s well north of Chronal Engine‘s setting in the Texas Hill Country, so who knows? Grab this summer thrill-ride read at your local library or independent bookstore soon!

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Book info: Chronal Engine / Greg Leitich Smith; illustrations by Blake Henry. Clarion Books, 2012.  [author’s website] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My Recommendation: All summer out at their grandpa’s ranch? Max, Kyle, and Emma know that rare dinosaur tracks are located there, but they’ll miss their friends and Austin’s city comforts so much. His wild time-travel theories turn out to be truer than they could ever imagine!

Sure, Mom is headed for the most important dinosaur dig in Asia, but the teens have met her father just once; the only time in 15 years that he left the ranch was to attend their own dad’s funeral five years ago. For decades, Grandpa has refused to let researchers on his land to study the dinosaur tracks, even though that “hard science” might erase the taint of craziness left by great-great-grandfather Mad Jack Pierson’s insistence that he’d invented a time-traveling engine.

At the ranch house, it’s nice to meet Petra, who is their age and enjoys the outdoors as much as Max does. She knows the way to the dinosaur tracks and what perils to avoid in the Hill Country.

When Grandpa refuses pecan pie during their first dinner together because he knows an ambulance will arrive in 15 minutes because of his upcoming heart attack, they wonder about it. After he gets Max to promise that all four teens will go to the fossil tracks in the morning and gives him a heavy envelope to open later, Grandpa shows them the Chronal Engine and its last recall device to return to the present time – then has a heart attack, just as the medflight helicopter touches down! If he knew the timing of his own heart attack, does that mean Grandpa has used the Chronal Engine?

Visiting the dinosaur tracks the next morning, they find human bootprints in the fossilized mud! And Emma’s boot fits the print exactly… but how? A sudden flash of light and a man appears next to their sister, grabs her, and disappears into another flash of light. So Emma has been kidnapped…to the Cretaceous Era? Suddenly Max, Kyle, and Petra decide to travel back in time using the Chronal Engine to rescue her.

Will it work? Will their compass work? Can they survive among huge herbivorous dinosaurs and speedy meat-eaters? Can they outsmart other time-traveling humans who have guns and are ready to use them? Will any of them get back to the present – alive?

This mile-a-minute adventure story includes dromaeosaur babies and bow-hunting, toothed prehistoric birds and T. Rexes and 40-foot-long crocodilians among the adventures encountered by four young teens on a time-traveling mission. The author notes currently known facts and recent theories about prehistoric life at the end of the book, which includes funny/accurate illustrations by Blake Henry. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

The Springsweet, by Saundra Mitchell (fiction) – visions on the high plains

May2

Dowsing.
Divining for water.
Rhabdomancy.
Water-witching.

Whatever the name, being able to show just where to drill a water well is an enviable talent in arid places, but not without its consequences. Who could imagine that West Glory’s “springsweet” would be a young lady escaping back-East gossip by moving to the Oklahoma Territory’s vast plains?

And Zora could scarcely have dreamed that her train trip West would bring her to a sodhouse, a nearby all-black town that reminds her of home, a barn-raising, and two unlikely suitors?

While you can read this just-published book on its own, you’ll get a fuller picture of Zora’s life and gifts by reading The Vespertine (my recommendation) first. Just can’t wait for the promised third book to see where Zora’s talent takes her!

So, do you think that dowsing really works?
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Book info: The Springsweet / Saundra Mitchell. Harcourt, 2012. [author’s website] [book website] [publisher site] [book trailer]  

My Recommendation: Ever-separated from her fiancé and her cousin, Zora decides to escape the strictures of Baltimore society by heading West. How can she face friends who don’t understand her continued mourning, family members who expect her to settle for a normal life after losing Amelia’s visions and Thomas’ healing touch?

Rather than allowing seventeen-year-old Zora to marry a widower and raise his children in some log cabin, her mother arranges for her to stay with Aunt Birdie and little Louella at their homestead in the Oklahoma Territory. Rattling westward by train and coach, Zora is jolted when bandits rob the stage just a few miles from her destination, smashing the luggage, and taking the locket that Thomas gave her.

Stranded by the highwaymen in a sudden thunderstorm, Zora trudges along the muddy wagon road toward West Glory and is rescued from a night alone on the prairie by Emerson Birch. Beside his rugged cabin in his lush garden, somehow Zora knows that his well is dug in the wrong place and can see silvery shimmers in the evening darkness that tell her where he should dig for water.

Aunt Birdie welcomes her the next morning, but is openly hostile to Emerson who jumped the gun to claim his land. Life is hard for the two young women and toddler Louella in the tiny sod house, hauling water from a distant well, making soap, trying to keep their crops alive in the dry plains winds.

When dandy Theo de la Croix arrives in West Glory to teach school, Zora wonders if he’d followed her from Baltimore. One kiss at a dance couldn’t mean that much… could it? Courted by Theo, yet drawn by Emerson’s vibrant connection to the land, she begins to finds pieces of joy in the midst of her mourning.

Her gift for seeing where the earth’s secret waters hide is precious in this dry land, so she hires out as a “springsweet” to tell folks where to dig wells. Not all visions are happy ones, and soon Zora must decide whether to tell unwelcome news or to hide her talents.

But how else can the little family get enough money to get through the bitter winter ahead? Should Zora accept Theo’s offer of marriage, or sneak away to see Emerson, or just run back home to a pampered life in Baltimore?

This companion volume to The Vespertine follows Amelia’s cousin Zora as she discovers her own psychic gifts and must decide whether she can truly live with the consequences that those visions may bring. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

All These Things I’ve Done, by Gabrielle Zevin = Z (fiction) – chocolate, crime, deadly

Apr30

Payoffs keep New York City running.
Chocolate and caffeine are illegal drugs.
Paper is scarce and clean water even scarcer.
Welcome to 2083.

Anya has inherited her crime boss father’s business sense, his stake in the mafiya chocolate empire, and responsibility for her mentally disabled older brother, precocious younger sister, and dying grandmother.

What a time to fall in love! And with Win, of all people. Her lab partner for anatomy and physiology class is cute, smart, and the son of NYC’s newest assistant district attorney who is determined to make it to the top by shutting down illegal chocolate operations.

In the face of the frightening choices that she must make to keep her immediate family safe, Anya asks God’s forgiveness for All These Things I’ve Done, first in the Birthright series.

So this is the last A-to-Z Blog Challenge post for this year, 26 new book recommendations in April! On to the 2012 WordCount Blogathon for May and BooksYALove’s first birthday tomorrow.
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Book info: All These Things I’ve Done (Birthright, book 1) / Gabrielle Zevin. Farrar Straus Giroux, 2011 (hardback); Square Fish, 2012 (paperback). [author’s website] [publisher site] [book trailer]

My Recommendation: Illegal or unwise – which choice is worse? Anya’s mafiya family makes chocolate, that forbidden drug, in crime-riddled New York City in 2083. The teen is trying to keep life normal for her grandmother, brother, and sister when someone is poisoned by tainted Balanchine chocolate. Now the police and the mafiya are trying to pin the blame on her.

The cute boy she’s falling for at school turns out to be son of the new DA who’s determined to prosecute chocolate and caffeine trafficking to the max, her older brother is incapable of caring for himself, and her grandmother’s health is failing. If Nana dies, the mafiya will gladly take over all the assets left to her by her dead crime boss father, and the city authorities will separate her from her brother and sister.

Surely Win knows who she is, knows what her extended family does – how can he start a relationship that’s guaranteed to anger his father? At least she’s finally broken up with that loser Gable, who was only after her chocolate connection.

When her brother Leo loses his cleaning job and starts hanging out with some of their more unsavory cousins, Anya warns him that they’re just trying to take advantage of him. No one could imagine that he’d get stuck in the middle of a big mafiya operation or that foreign racketeers might be trying to take over Balanchine’s territory.

Who’s really behind the chocolate poisonings? How can Anya keep juggling her siblings’ needs, her schoolwork, and her feelings for Win? How deep do family loyalties run and how far will their “protective” reach go? (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Y for Letters from Yellowstone, by Diane Smith (fiction)

Apr28

Hidden in alpine valleys are tiny treasures.
Alex intends to find them, to sketch them, to preserve them.
Who knows what wonders are waiting in Yellowstone?

It’s a man’s world in science in the 1890s, but Alexandria Bartram doesn’t care. Her family is sure that she will go into medicine, but her heart is all for botany. Studying Lewisia flowers brought back from the wilderness of Yellowstone makes her eager to see them in their native habitat, so she requests a place on the summer field study team there. If Dr. Merriam thinks that A.E. Bartram is a man, then he’s the one that’s short-sighted.

Like the tough and tender Lewisia itself, Alex finds a way to survive and thrive under harsh conditions, an able researcher and methodical scientist, with an eye for all the beauties of this great national park.

Historical fiction which helps readers see the past more clearly can also help us preserve what’s important for our future. When we visited Yellowstone this summer, I could see areas which Alex would immediately recognize and others which tourism had irrevocably changed.

Yes, the copyright date of 2000 is correct; this charming book is still in print, so check for it at your local library or independent bookstore.
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Book info: Letters From Yellowstone / Diane Smith. Penguin, 2000. [author’s website] [publisher site]

My Recommendation: Alexandria wants to study mountain plants in their natural setting, so she signs on with a Yellowstone research team. But it’s 1898, and the lead scientist thinks that Dr. A.E. Bartram is a man.

Dr. Merriam is quite startled to find that his new colleague arriving from Cornell is female – how will a young woman endure the hardships of rough camp life, he worries. Railroads have just reached the borders of America’s largest national park, so most travel is by wagon and on horseback. Alex has no concerns and is ready for adventure; when a respectable widow arrives on a bicycle tour and remains with the group as an amateur photographer, her chaperonage satisfies everyone.

Each member of the expedition has a different view of its purpose: Alex wants to catalog every variation of the Lewisia plant, Dr. Merriam needs to secure specimens of many plants and animals for the new Smithsonian Institution in the nation’s capital, Dr. Rutherford thinks he can teach a raven to talk as he studies Yellowstone’s avian life, and their wagon driver wants to stay far, far away from Alex and other females.

The story of the summer’s successes and failures is told through letters and telegrams.
Dr. Rutherford is trying to convince the president of his Montana college to expand the botany department, Dr. Merriam reminds the Smithsonian Institution of their promises to fund the expedition and quietly complains to his mother about the problems that beset them at every turn, Alex relates her discoveries to fellow researchers back East, glorying in Yellowstone’s amazing landscapes of geysers and alpine meadows.

Will Dr. Merriam get the full-time position at the Smithsonian? Will Native American conflicts prevent the team from completing their mission? Can Alex continue her field research when summer is over, or will she be stranded in a college classroom forever?

With summer snows and campsites ranging from woeful to wonderful, this novel takes readers back to an age of discoveries, when the idea of wilderness preservation was still new. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

X for the unknown – You Are My Only, by Beth Kephart (fiction)

Apr27

Every mother’s nightmare.
Her baby kidnapped!

Every teen girl knows that her mother really doesn’t understand her.
That’s just the way it is – rules that don’t make sense,
being grounded for no good reason.

We know that the stories of Emmy as a young mother and Sophie as a teen several years later must be connected somehow – author Beth Kephart as much as tells readers this from the start of the book.

But how the connection was made and how it falls apart, that’s the real story, conveyed by the distinctive voices of Emmy in the mental hospital and Sophie in yet another rental house, longing to be with Joey in the world outside.

Published in fall 2011, You Are My Only should be available at your local library or independent bookstore now – don’t miss it!
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Book info: You Are My Only / Beth Kephart. Laura Geringer Books / Egmont USA, 2011. [author’s website] [publisher site] [book trailer]

My Recommendation: Someone stole tiny Baby from her swing, leaving Emmy to face her husband’s wrath, the unbelief of the police, the dark of the mental hospital. Fourteen years later, Sophie and her mom move often, the teen homeschooled and alone, the mother overworked and burdened, always looking to stay ahead of the “No Good” as they find what others have left behind in the rental houses, but never talk about her past.

Then a boy spots Sophie in her upstairs window. Shouldn’t he be at school right now? She would never dare to be near the windows when people were nearby – Mom would be so angry, and the No Good might find them. A young man, Joey, who wants to teach her to throw a baseball, to make cookies with his aunts, to listen as he reads Willa Cather to them to make up for the journeys they can no longer travel together.

Emmy and her vibrant, jangling roommate Autumn have been thinking for years of how they would leave the mental hospital and its moaners and shouters and squeaky linoleum halls. Does anyone on the Outside still remember that they are there? When a message arrives from Arlen, who helped Emmy escape from her abusive husband after Baby was stolen, they know that it’s time to fly.

Sophie wants answers. Joey knows how he was orphaned by a car wreck, knows how he arrived at the home of his aunt Cloris and her sweetheart Helen, knows how they are dealing with Aunt Helen’s failing health. Sophie thinks that answers might be hidden in the boxes marked “personal” that they move unopened from house to house, so she creeps into the basement when Mom is at work.

Mysteries and histories, Cather and cookies, Archimedean solids and wisps of perhaps… alternating chapters told by Emmy and by Sophie weave their stories into a net to catch memories and maybe even the truth. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.