Tag Archive | war

Cascade, by Lisa T. Bergren (fiction) – time travel, romance, the Black Death

Aug15

It’s mysterious Monday (after time off for a wonderful Caribbean interlude last week at the International Association of School Librarianship conference in Kingston, UWI-Mona), and we’re hurtling back to 14th century Italy with Gabi and Lia.

Have the teens convinced their rational archaeologist mother that they can truly travel into the past? Worry that time is moving faster in Marcello’s world while she is in the present is causing Gabi true pain.

And consider the classic time traveler’s paradox – if they do go back and stop the people of Castle Forelli from succumbing to the Black Plague, will that change history as we know it?

Romance, adventure, intrigue, and a trio of strong women make this second novel in the Rivers of Time Trilogy as good as the first book in the series, Waterfall. And the final volume, Torrent, will be released on September 1, 2011 – I can hardly wait!!
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Book info: Cascade / Lisa T. Bergren. David C. Cook, 2011. [author’s website] [publisher site] [book trailer]

Recommendation: Her heart belongs to Marcello – Gabi knows this now that she’s back in modern times and he is in 1342. But she and her sister Lia had to come back to find their mother – and find a way to keep the black plague from wiping out their friends in old Tuscany.

Their archaeologist mom can’t quite believe that her daughters have traveled to the 14th century and back; her scientific background demands proof. When the three Bettarini women visit the ancient tomb, Mom gets more than proof – she goes back with them!

Marcello’s betrothed has given him up for his older brother, who is finally recovering from his long illness; becoming Lady of Castle Forelli is a political move, of course. Free to express their affection at last, Gabi’s reunion with Marcello is interrupted by invaders from Castle Paratore.

The regional war between is still going strong, as the republics of Siena and Florence fight over the borderland castles. So the enemies of Castle Forelli would love to capture the Ladies Bettarini who are strong and wise and fearless in battle.

Intrigue, conflict, and the coming Black Plague – can the “She-Wolves of Siena” turn the tide? Will the troops of Florence break through the Sienese defenses to capture the capital? Will Gabi stay with Marcello in 1342, or will Lia and their mom try to draw her back to their own time?

This second book in the Rivers of Time series answers questions raised by Waterfall (#1 – blogged here July 26th) and leaves readers anticipating more intrigue and romance in Torrent (#3 – Sept 1, 2011 pub date). (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy courtesy of the publisher.

Waterfall, by Lisa Tawn Bergren (fiction) – time travel, romance, sword-fighting

Jul26

You’d think that archaeology was exciting, digging into the past and all that – well, not to Lia and Gabi, teen sisters who’d rather be back in Colorado with their friends. Who cares why the Etruscans disappeared from Italy? But Mom is carrying on the search for ancient tombs that she began with their father, so recently killed in a car crash.

Neither sister is good at waiting around, so the chance to see even a looted tomb is worth doing. But when their hands touch the matching handprints on the wall, they are swept into the past – Knights and castles? Is this a re-enactment? No – they’re really in the past!

Relying on her wits and fencing skills, Gabi navigates the courtly customs of 14th century Tuscany and its local politics. As she searches for her sister and frets about the oncoming black plague, Gabi may be losing her heart to the young knight who rescued her, who is betrothed to another…

Swordfights, romance, and a gal with guts – and this is just the first book in The Rivers of Time Trilogy! Watch for my August notes on Cascade , while Torrent will be published on Sept. 1, 2011.
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Book info: Waterfall / Lisa Tawn Bergren. David C. Cook, 2011. [author’s website] [publisher site] [book trailer]

Recommendation: Another summer of ancient ruins in Italy? Teen sisters Gabi and Lia risk sneaking into the latest find, only to be whirled away when their hands touch the handprints near the warrior mural!

Gabriella emerges from the old tomb into the middle of a battle, with horsemen with swords, archers firing arrows through the woods! Where’s Lia? Now the ruined castle on the hill is a bustling fortress. Rescued from the leering soldiers in red by a handsome knight under the gold flag, Gabi is soon convinced that she’s truly landed in the past.

The handsome young knight Marcello explains that her hiding place sits on land that the red bannered Paratores are trying to seize for a rival ruler. Her modern jeans exchanged for a suitable gown, Gabi says she’s from faraway Normandy to explain her unfamiliarity with local customs at the Castle Forelli and asks her rescuers to help search for her sister.

When the castle is attacked, Gabi is thankful for her late father’s fencing lessons, but learns that the evil Paratores have Lia! Soon she is known as the warrior Lady Gabriella, as she fights to protect the people who saved her.

Oh, no – the sisters have landed in Toscana just years before the Black Plague sweeps the land! Can Gabi rescue Lia? Is there a reason that they’ve been brought back into the past? Is there a way to reverse the time trip? Can Gabi leave Marcello behind if they go back to the future?

This thrilling first book in The River of Time series sweeps you into the daily life, perils, and people of the medieval Italy that Gabi is growing to love (or is it Marcello?) – followed by Cascade (#2) and Torrent (#3). (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Accidental Hero -Jack Blank #1 (fiction)

Jul25

On this Mysterious Monday, meet Jack, who has a rotten life at the dismal orphanage, escaping through comic books, dreaming of superheroes …

In his not-so-super life, how could he imagine that those evil robots and superheroes are real or that HE has a superpower?

You’ll find this exciting showdown between robo-zombies, ninjas, and superheroes as Jack Blank and the Imagine Nation in hardcover and as The Accidental Hero in paperback.

The Secret War, book two of the series, will be published on August 9, 2011, so watch for Jack’s continuing adventures – and be on the lookout for robo-zombies!
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Book info: The Accidental Hero (originally titled: Jack Blank and the Imagine Nation) / Matt Myksluch. Simon & Schuster, 2010 (hardcover), 2011 (paperback). [author’s website] [publisher site: hardcover & paperback] [author video]

Recommendation: Jack’s hidden stash of old comic books is his only refuge from endless chores and bullying at the orphanage where he was abandoned as a baby 12 years ago. Captain Courage! Laser Girl! Evil circle-eyed Robo-Zombies who turn their victims into Robo-Zombies!

While bailing water from the orphanage’s basement, Jack hears strange noises from its sunken stairway. Suddenly a Robo-Zombie appears, aiming its rocket-cannon arm at him! Jack flees into the surrounding swamp, but can’t escape from the Robo-Zombie. Backed up against the generator shed, Jack wishes once again that he had superpowers and is shocked when he can make the generator blast his attacker.

Of course, no one at the orphanage believes Jack was attacked, instead blaming him for blowing up the generator. But the special agent who comes to question Jack about the Robo-Zombie is convinced and takes him away so he can report directly… to the Imagine Nation, where those with superpowers really do live!

Jack meets his comic book heroes there, as well as other legendary beings. Even though the agent tells Jack that this is his birthplace, the Imagine Nation’s borders are closed to outsiders because of Robo-Zombie attacks years before. When RZ nanites are detected in Jack’s blood, he’s suddenly on the run in this strange world. But why haven’t the RZ circles appeared around Jack’s eyes yet? Why is he still flesh and blood instead of cables and circuits?

Can Jack discover his superpower and learn to control it? Will he be the salvation of the Imagine Nation or its destruction? His new friends stand ready to help him prove his innocence, but superscientist Jonas Smart is ready to dissect Jack, just to make sure… (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy courtesy of the publisher.

Beyond the Mask

Jul24

Crossing the sea in a time before maps, searching for home using distant childhood memories…

Away from Grassland at last, Coriko’s group hopes to find Pippa’s family,
to find a good place to live, to perhaps find safety.

But the raiders of the Outside Lands have other ideas, and our young friends must help village folk and their priest survive the attacks. Can help from Grassland reach them in time?

You’ll want to meet Coriko and friends in book 1, Escape the Mask, and watch them grapple with new truths and new dangers in book 2, Beneath the Mask.

Then enjoy this thrilling conclusion of The Grassland Trilogy, filled with adventure and danger, from the days before written history when story taught about the past and perhaps about the future.

Book info: Beyond the Mask / David Ward. (Grassland Trilogy #3) Amulet, 2010. [author’s website] [publisher site]

Recommendation: Far north of Grassland, Pippa and her friends search for her home village, a place safe from the kidnapping and fighting life of the iron-masked Spears. The boys have been trained as warriors, but hope their skills are not needed on the journey.

At last, they find Pippa’s home and her father, but not a safe place, as raiders from the Outside Lands attack the village, again and again. How can a few young warriors help the villagers defend themselves? Could they get help from Maramuk and the Spears, across the sea in Grassland? Can the village priest’s wisdom and Tia’s leadership vision truly find a way to keep the Outsiders away from the north villages and Grassland for good?

This final book in The Grassland Trilogy is full of promise and peril, as Coriko, Pippa, Feelah, Thief, and Tia must struggle to find their places in a world much larger than they ever dreamed. (227 pages) (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy courtesy of the publisher.

Briar Rose (fiction)

Jul16

Shh… Sneak-in Saturday has a double meaning today, as we consider an adult book that snuck itself into teens’ hearts and then snuck onto numerous award lists before I could blog about it.

Originally written as a novel for adults, Briar Rose won the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature in 1993, but gathered such a following among older teen readers that it was re-released as a Tor Teen paperback in 2002.

Memories of less-often told stories of the Holocaust spill into the present day as Becca tries to carry out her grandmother’s last wishes on a trek to Poland that becomes a heart-wrenching journey into the hellish days of World War II.

A strong, faithful book that reminds us that history’s headlines are not the only important stories.
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Book info: Briar Rose / Jane Yolen. Macmillan/Tor Teen, 2002. [author’s website] [publisher site] [book trailer]

Recommendation: Becca always loved her grandmother’s story about Briar Rose, no matter how many times Gemma told it to her and her sisters. The princess, the black-booted witch’s curse, the mist that covered the kingdom and made everyone sleep for a hundred years… not the same Sleeping Beauty story that you heard or read in books.

Years later, grown-up Rebecca promises her elderly grandmother that she will find out the rest of the story. Upon Gemma’s death, she inherits a small box of photos and papers – clues to the past and the rest of the Briar Rose story that journalist Rebecca must uncover.

From research to refugee camp, Becca traces Gemma’s mysterious arrival in the United States from Europe in the closing days of World War II. The path leads back to a Nazi extermination camp in Poland, not a concentration camp, but a place so deadly that only 4 men ever escaped… and no women ever left it alive.

Why does Gemma’s paperwork say that she came from that place of death? Is she the princess of Briar Rose? How can Becca find her family’s roots when no one in Chelmno will talk about the camp?

A powerful retelling of Sleeping Beauty that explores the brutal depths of the Holocaust. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy courtesy of the publisher.

Annexed (fiction)

Jul13

Anne Frank and the Annex – so many have read her story through her diary. Radio messages from the Dutch officials exiled in London during World War II reminded those who remained in the Netherlands that their diaries and memoirs would be testaments to the Nazis’ atrocities. Anne knew this as she wrote, always striving to be “a writer” and telling the tales of hope and deprivation and worry that circled and recircled in the Annex.

So hearing Peter’s voice brings more to the story, like looking at a familiar statue from another angle gives us a different perspective. Not everyone has been pleased with this alternate view of the Annex, but Dogar’s comments on the controversy reveal that she wrote Annexed because she and her daughter wondered what happened after the Diary ended, not to rewrite Anne’s history.

A gripping story well worth reading (with hankie in hand).
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Book info: Annexed / Sharon Dogar. Houghton Mifflin, 2010. [author interview] [publisher site] [book trailer]

Recommendation: Peter walks slowly, savoring the sun and wind before he enters the Annex. Who knows how long the Franks and his family will stay there, Jews escaping the Nazis in Holland by going into hiding?

Yes, those Franks. This is Peter’s side of the struggle for survival chronicled in The Diary of Anne Frank, as the young man gives up his first romance, his training, his future, just trying to stay alive day by day. Oh, the story was whispered in Amsterdam that both families had fled, far from the ominous army trucks which loaded up in Jewish neighborhoods and returned to the city – empty.

Peter longs for his woodworking tools, not the books that Anne and Margot seem to live in. How appropriate that a bookcase covers the hidden door into the Annex! How difficult it must have been for others to bring food to those in the Annex when there was little to find.

As time passes, books become more appealing to Peter… as does Anne, who is no longer the child who entered the Annex. Anne – who writes to tell the truth, who writes as a testimony against the cruelty of the Nazis.

We know that this saga does not end well. Peter’s tale continues on the horrific train journey out of the city, to the brutalities of the prison camp called Auschwitz. Annexed is a powerful story for mature readers, no less real because it uses the voice of fiction. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy courtesy of the publisher.

Can they ESCAPE THE MASK? by David Ward (book review)

Jul10
Kidnapped children, with no common language…

Forced to scavenge sharp shards from the sand or go into their cages hungry at night…

Trapped in Grassland’s caves and tunnels by the tides, with no chance to escape from the armed men wearing helmets that cover everything but their eyes.

Perhaps there’s a way to escape? Six young friends hatch a plan that just might work…

Set in a time reminiscent of Europe’s Bronze Era, this fast-reading adventure is first in the Grassland trilogy by Canadian author David Ward. Followed by Beneath the Mask (#2) and Beyond the Mask (#3) – be sure to read Escape the Mask first!
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Book info: Escape the Mask / David Ward. Amulet, 2008 hardback, 2009 paperback. [author’s website] [author interview] [publisher site]

Recommendation: Stolen as children from their villages, young Diggers slave to find ‘shards’ in the sands for the Spears who guard them, men in metal helmet-masks who let the sea tides capture the weak or the slow. The Grassland is scoured nightly by the cold fury of the sea while the Diggers sleep uneasy above it, in the cave-prisons of the mountain cliffs that prevent their escape.

Coriko works and sleeps alongside Pippa, the only other Digger who knows his village language. Pippa can remember trees and her mother; Coriko has no memories beyond this endless drudgery of sift, dig, tote. They pledge to stay together, somehow, through the great Separation when the older Diggers are taken from Grassland…somehow.

New Diggers arrive frequently, since not many survive the First Cleansing of the highest tide. This time, two newcomers speak the language of Pippa and Coriko! Tia and Bran think only of escape… but who can escape the Spears or the prison of the Grassland?

When strange ships appear on the horizon, the Spears cut the Diggers’ food ration, demand more shards, and watch the sea anxiously. Could Tia and Bran be more than dreamers? Can the Diggers escape from Grassland?

This fast-moving, action-packed book is first in The Grassland Trilogy – be sure you can get your hands on Book Two: Beneath the Mask! You’ll be hungry to find out what happens next!! (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy courtesy of the publisher.

Deadly (fiction)

Jul7

Tracking down a killer is just not what “proper young ladies” do, even if the killer is a germ. Prudence would certainly rather unravel a medical mystery than please her instructors at the snooty School for Girls!

Diseases regularly have regularly swept through the poorer sections of cities from the time that humans began clustering together on a permanent basis. In the Middle Ages, people thought that evil humors caused these epidemics; by the early 1900s the theory that filth contained disease-transmitting germs was gaining ground.

How could healthy people in a well-kept household suddenly become deathly ill when they had no exposure to the city slums with their filth and diseases?

Part social commentary, part detective story, Deadly is enhanced by the sketches which Prudence includes as she journals her way through this perilous time, on the trail of Typhoid Mary.
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Book info: Deadly / by Julie Chibbaro; illustrations by Jean-Marc Superville Sovak. Simon & Schuster, 2011 [author’s website] [publisher site] [book trailer]

Recommendation: In her 1906 journal, Prudence worries and dreams and sketches, wondering why doctors couldn’t save her brother’s life, why her father hasn’t returned from the Spanish-American War, how she can make a difference for those who suffer in her neighborhood.

The etiquette lessons and needlework at her school seem so trivial, compared to the life and death, joy and pain that Pru and her mother see during Marm’s midwife duties. When final-year students are encouraged to get part-time jobs using their skills on those newfangled typewriters, Pru leaps at the chance to do useful work.

She is hired by the new Department of Health and Sanitation as a research assistant and is soon swept into their investigation of a typhoid outbreak. Mr. Soper investigates every aspect of any household where the deadly disease has struck. They travel throughout New York City as typhoid sickens some people and kills others – is there a common cause?

When they discover that a healthy cook has been in the kitchen of every typhoid-stricken family, Mr. Soper and Prudence must find medical experts who can help them prove their unusual theory and stop the epidemic.

A compelling account of Typhoid Mary’s history, retold from a young woman’s point of view. When does the public good override individual freedom? Does science have more answers or more questions? Will Prudence take the next step and become a doctor herself? (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy courtesy of the publisher and author.

Disunited States of America, by Harry Turtledove (book review) – alternate history with no USA!

Jul5

book cover of Disunited States of America by Harry Turtledove published by Tor TeenYesterday was a day for fireworks, picnics, and patriotic celebrations. At least, it was in this timeline for the USA… but what if the Constitution were never ratified? What if the states never united?

Welcome to “alt hist” – the alternative histories produced by wondering “what if” some key event of history had happened differently, then writing in great and grand detail about the results of that new path through time.

Turtledove is an acknowledged master of alternative history (his Guns of the South and WorldWar series are epic), and this trip with Crosstime Traffic to an alternate timestream is as thought-provoking as it is dangerous for Beckie (native to that timestream) and Justin (visiting with his mom on a trading mission).

Biological terrorism launched before the antidote is ready? Rampant racism and unrest? Remember, this is an alternate history, right?

Among all the freedoms that we celebrate today, be sure to exercise your freedom to read!
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Book info: The Disunited States of America (Crosstime Traffic #4) / Harry Turtledove. Tor Teen, 2011. [author’s website] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My Book Talk: War between Ohio and Virginia? In Beckie’s world, it could happen any day. Justin’s seen enough alternate timelines to know that, as a Time Trader traveling through the many realities of how Earth’s history could have turned out.

Justin and his mom travel to Beckie’s alternate to make sure that researchers there hadn’t discovered Crosstime secrets and to help improve race relations. That North America is a crazy-quilt of big and little countries, and there are certainly no equal rights. If you weren’t white and male, you were powerless (except in Mississippi…strange, strange Mississippi).

This alternate never saw the states become united under the Constitution, so Beckie and her grandmother must have passports and visas and permission-to-travel letters for every border crossing between the civilized nation of California and Grandma’s hometown in rural Virginia. The “cousin” who gives them a ride across the bridge from Ohio gives her the creeps…the big guns hidden in his car give her the chills.

Beckie is glad to meet someone her own age when Justin visits the aunt and uncle she’s staying with. Justin is careful to speak like the locals, trying to blend in. Soon, they’re both glad that they met.

Suddenly, people in border towns start dying of a mysterious fever and Ohio is blamed for it. As Virginia soldiers roll in and bombing begins, Beckie and her ever-grumbling grandma search for a safe place, Justin is separated from his mom with communication lines cut, and the fever is confirmed as the plague. Plague! Who has a cure for the plague?

Will Beckie ever get home to California?
Will Justin and his mom find their way through time to their world?
Can Justin tell Beckie where he’s really from without poking holes in the fabric of time?

Turtledove is the master of alternate history, and his “Time Traders” series takes readers to fascinating timelines that truly make you wonder… what if? (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

Little Brother, by Cory Doctorow (book review) – future USA Homeland insecurity

Jul2
book cover of Little Brother by Cory Doctorow published by Tor Teen

Another Sneak-In Saturday, with one of my favorite books which has crept onto bestseller lists before I could get my recommendation to you!

This chilling near-future USA tale has won numerous awards, including 2009 John W. Campbell Science Fiction Novel of the Year, and is included on many best books lists for young adults.

Through 6 July 2011, you can download the mp3 audiobook of Little Brother FREE at SYNC’s site (2 free YA audiobooks each week all summer – yay!) with free Overdrive listening service, no DRM restrictions.

Or you can have Little Brother delivered free by e-mail (the whole book, in 139 chunks) through the fabulous Daily Lit service on the schedule you select (stop and start as you wish, have the next chunk delivered now, etc.)!

And any time you can download a text-readable version of Little Brother FREE here, with the author’s permission and blessing. Yes, really! Cory has found out that folks read his books and short stories online/on screen, then go buy the print books or eBooks (he’s right – that’s what I did).

Of course, you can pop down to your local library or indie bookstore to get it, too!
Don’t miss Little Brother! Stay free!
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Book info: Little Brother / Cory Doctorow. Tor Teen, 2008. [author’s website] [publisher site] [book trailers one and two]

MY Recommendation: When terror attacks strike San Francisco, Marcus and his friends were skipping school to play a high-tech search game. Getting past the school’s ever-present cameras and snooper-computers had just been a game, too, but the authorities think those technogeek talents may connect the teens to the attacks. Although Darrell was stabbed during the panic following the bombings, Homeland Security detains them for days without their parents’ knowledge.

When the friends are released, but Darrell is nowhere to be found, Marcus vows to use his technical talents to strike back against intrusive security surveillance in every neighborhood, constant wiretapping, and increasing loss of citizens’ personal liberties. Hundreds of others join him online to fight against the “Big Brother” tactics being used to monitor everyone in the city.

But the pressure is on – Why is his social studies teacher replaced with someone who lectures that the Bill of Rights only applies sometimes?
Why don’t the US newspapers report about the chaos in San Francisco?
Will Marcus be able to keep up the fight for freedom of speech while staying a jump ahead of the authorities and still keep his friends safe?

A cautionary tale with a techno-twist. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.