Tag Archive | conflict

O is Oryon in Changers: Book 2, by T Cooper & Alison Glock Cooper (book review)

Apr17

book cover of Changers Book 2 Oryon by T Cooper and Allison Glock Cooper published by Black SheepWhich body will it be this time?
What lessons will Ethan learn this year – the hard way?
Any closer to discovering zer personal life mission?

Four bodies in four years – a rough way to go through high school, and with deadly enemies trying to unmask and eliminate every Changer teen!

This is the second book in the Changers series, which began when Ethan suddenly became Drew (my no-spoiler review here), so ask for them both at your local library or independent bookstore.

Visit the wearechangers.org site to post your ‘unselfies’ and consider empathy and life.

Could you stay yourself if your gender, race, or personal skills changed overnight?
**kmm

Book info: Changers: Book 2 – Oryon / T Cooper & Alison Glock Cooper. Black Sheep/Akashic Books, 2015.  [T Cooper author site]  [Alison Glock author site]   [publisher site]  Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: Waking up on first day of sophomore year in a new body as Oryon, this teen must learn to deal with prejudice and discrimination as he struggles to obey Changer rules by avoiding his best friend from his previous identity as a girl.

Transformed overnight from a petite white female cheerleader into a tall, lanky African-American male does make Oryon’s life challenging. This year the Changer Council has kept him at the same high school, explaining his white parents as his newest foster family.

And sweet Audrey, closest friend from last year is in his homeroom! Yes! But of course, she doesn’t recognize Oryon in this body so unlike Drew’s….

Oryon decides to try out for football, but being nearer to Audrey and the other cheerleaders also means being much too close to her brother, a vicious Abider, sworn to wipe out Changers like himself…

Halfway through his/her four years of changing bodies to discover which one s/he’ll live in forever, Ethan/Drew/Oryon has to deal with the conservative Changers Council, the Radical Changers who escape the rules, the Abiders trying to uncover all Changers – and falling in love, again!  Second in the series which began with Changers Book 1: Drew.  (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

N for Nightbird, by Alice Hoffman (book review) – secrets, community, threat?

Apr16

book cover of Nightbird by Alice Hoffman published by Wendy Lamb BookxA family curse,
the lure of night and flight,
secrets kept and truths discovered…

Nightbird was published just this week; you can read chapter one here for free.

Hoffman’s magical realism shines here as it does in her Green Angel (my review) and Green Witch (my review), asking questions about love and curses and understanding.

And the wonderful Pink Apple Pie that Twig’s mother bakes? The author kindly provides a recipe here for those of us whose apple trees were not planted by Johnny Appleseed himself!

Should we hide what others might not understand about us?
**kmm

Book info: Nightbird / Alice Hoffman. Wendy Lamb Books, 2015.  [author site]  [publisher site]  [author video] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: As her day-hidden brother soars nightly over their small New England town to taste freedom, thirteen-year-old Twig wishes for friendship, little realizing that the witch’s curse on their family may link both their dreams.

The finest apple pie baker ever, her mother retreated from New York City to the family apple farm when Twig’s father left them, hiding James in the attic where his wings wouldn’t remind the folks of Sidwell about the curse on the Fowler family.

Twig is delighted when teen sisters Julia and Agate from the city move in next door, is devastated when townspeople seriously set to hunting the Sidwell Monster as James flies nightly, is determined to discover the truth about the generations-old curse that gave James his wings.

Will Twig’s mother ever feel safe in her own home town?
Who – or what – else roams the Montgomery Woods besides James?
Can love heal an ancient wrong?

Become a Nightbird  with James, delve into history and happiness with Twig and Julia, and find out why this charming town has a sudden grafitti problem in this magical tale. (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

M is mystery at Enchantment Lake, by Margi Preus (book review) – unspoiled forest is motive for murders?

Apr15

book cover of Enchantment Lake by Margi Preus published by University of Minnesota PressA treasure under enchantment,
unspoiled northwoods beauty,
a killer determined to own it all?

Francie is not a NYPD detective, but she played one on television, and that’s more mystery-solving experience than the local sheriff seems to have!

As deaths keep piling up (each by a different cause), even her eccentric great-aunts’ unique food combos (curry with a side of pickled beets, anyone?) can’t distract the teen from worrying that they will be the next victims.

A departure from the author’s acclaimed historical fiction Heart of a Samurai (my recommendation here) and Shadow on the Mountain, this first book in the Northwoods Mystery series is equally well-written, with interesting characters and setting.

Death by hot-dish? What casserole would you choose for your last meal?
**kmm

Book info: Enchantment Lake (Northwoods Mystery, book 1) / Margi Preus.  University of Minnesota Press, 2015. [author site]  [publisher site]   Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: When her great-aunts say that they’re in danger, Francie leaves summer drama camp in New York City to find mysterious deaths and rumors of treasure in the remote Minnesota lake town where it’s assumed that the 17 year old orphan can solve all mysteries because she played a kid detective on TV.

On the far shore of deep Enchantment Lake, eccentric Astrid and Jeannette tell Francie that city folks want a road through the peat bog so more mansions like the Fredericksons’ can be built. Property owners along the right-of-way have been dying oddly, and local real estate man Buck Thorne is pressuring their heirs to sell.

At the latest victim’s funeral, a poisoned casserole kills Buck, and the suspect list grows since everyone in town owns a serving dish made by the local potter.

What was Buck going to tell Francie about her long-lost mother?
Why does Buck’s stepson need so much money suddenly?
Can young law intern Nels help make any sense of these recent deaths?

Uh-oh, Francie’s grandfather demands that she return to drama camp or he’ll stop paying her expenses! But how can she when her aunt is arrested for Buck’s murder, a little boy who gets grimy every night goes missing, and someone tries to sink her kayak – with her in it!  First in the Northwoods Mystery series. (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

K is killing rain in H2O, by Virginia Birgin (book review) – one drop of rain, one more death

Apr13
book cover of H2O by Virginia Birgin published by Sourcebooks Fire | recommended on BooksYALove.com

Every cloud carries death, rain that kills millions –
now in the drinking water, no cure in sight…
but somehow she will find her father!

“If you are reading this, you are very, very lucky to be alive…but you already know that, right?” (p. 7) says Ruby, in a near-future where an asteroid – blasted to bits before hitting Earth – brings a deadly plague that rains down, seeking the iron of our blood.

Listen to the prologue of the UK audiobook here free, as Ruby begins the story of the end of humanity, raindrop by raindrop, and her race to find Dad in far-off London.

Published as The Rain  in UK, there is a sequel to H2O; hope it gets to the US soon!

Ruby was kissing Caspar in the hot tub when the rain began – where would you want to be when the world started to end?
**kmm

Book info: H2O / Virginia Birgin. Sourcebooks Fire, 2014.  [author site]  [publisher site]  [book trailer] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: As deadly rain sweeps across the world, Ruby fights thirst, well-meaning survivors, and the army so that she can get to London and her father.

Blowing up the asteroid saved earth, but doomed mankind to die by the blood-eating virus it carried, now sweeping down as rain, every drop lethal, no cure.

Trying to find anything safe to drink, staying away from rain and groundwater and tapwater, the teen and her stepdad survive longer than most.

Despite the odds, Ruby must get to her father, so she finds a car with keys and heads toward London with a nerdy classmate, a frightened-silent child, and a single driving lesson – watching the sky every minute for the clouds bringing more death.

Is there any place to hide from the rain?
How much further?
Dad, are you there?

The Rain (UK title) doesn’t care where it falls, but will Ruby survive to see The Storm sequel? (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

I for Infandous, by Elana K. Arnold (book review) – mom & daughter share everything?

Apr10

book cover of Infandous by Elana K Arnold published by Carolrhoda Lab| recommended on BooksYALove.comDreaming of mom as a mermaid who loved a wolf,
Creating fantabulous art pieces from discarded items,
One misstep away from homelessness…

Sephora has always loved her so-beautiful mother, disliked her own name, and wondered why her dad abandoned mom before her birth.

Snag this March 2015 book at your local library or favorite independent bookstore (those aren’t referral links; never any monetizing links on BooksYALove!) to see how Sephora copes with a fairy tale ending that’s anything but charming.

What kept secrets should remain secret?
**kmm

Book info: Infandous / Elana K. Arnold. Carolrhoda Lab, 2015.   [author site]  [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: Eclipsed by her beautiful mom, California teen artist Sephora steps out of her comfort zone with guys and finds the fairy tales she loved as a child transformed into something much Grimmer.

Retaking summer school geometry so she can graduate next year, Sephora swelters over her found-art pieces in a storeroom of the cruddy apartment she shares with her single mom and looks half-heartedly for a part-time job (she’ll visit her aunt and family in Atlanta soon, so really what’s the point in looking?)

Skateboarding and surfing are good ways to forget how almost-broke they are, to forget that older guy Felix from spring break, to try to be someone else like in the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm (Disney lied).

Why can’t she and mom go back to sharing everything?
Why is her mom so interested in the young surfer guy down the hall?
Why isn’t working on her art taking her mind off Felix and stuff?

The Grimm versions of several fairy tales appear between sections of Sephora’s story, reminding us that rarely are their endings happily-ever-after but often as shocking as this book’s conclusion. (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

H for harmonica in Echo, by Pam Munoz Ryan (book review) – 3 musicians play a promise

Apr9

book cover of Echo by Pam Munoz Ryan published by ScholasticTerror as father is taken,
fear of orphan brothers being separated,
despair at losing friends and opportunities.

Three young people whose lives are terribly disrupted in the turbulent years leading into World War II find comfort in playing a harmonica with magical music and unknowingly fulfill a pleasing prophecy.

Find this wonderful spring 2015 release at your favorite local library or independent bookstore so that you can discover the intricate music this wonderful harmonica threads through lives that need it most.

Have a story of an object that connects you to history? Please share in the comments below.
**kmm

Book info: Echo / Pam Munoz Ryan. Scholastic Press, 2015.  [author site]  [publisher site]  Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk:  A harmonica crafted through magic and mystery links three young people in different countries and times as they use their musical talents to overcome terrible odds.

In 1933 Germany, Friedrich apprentices in the harmonica factory with his father and uncle, away from those who mock his facial birthmark and conducting of the music he’s heard. As the tide of Nazi fervor overtakes his sister, threatens free-thinkers like his father, and condemns the harmonica as uncivilized, the melodies that 12 year old Friedrich plays are a small consolation.

At a Pennsylvania orphanage in 1935, Mike and little Frankie are determined to stay together. When a lawyer requests ‘musical children’ specifically, the brothers find themselves in a grand mansion whose owner wants to adopt one daughter! Tragedy took music out of Mrs. Sturbridge’s life years ago – perhaps 11 year old Mike’s practice for Hoxie’s Harmonica Band auditions can make her smile again.

Ivy plays harmonica concerts for her brother Fernando before he joins the army in 1942, before Papa is hired to care for a Japanese family’s California orange groves while they are detained in internment camp. The bigger cottage is nice, but not the rundown Americanization school for Mexican children – will the fifth grader be allowed to play in the new orchestra at the main school?

“Your fate is not yet sealed.
Even in the darkest night, a star will shine,
a bell will chime, a path will be revealed.”

Bracketed by the prophecy and promise fairy tale of the harmonica’s creation, the stories of Friedrich, Michael, and Ivy playing this fabulous instrument Echo with hope, joy, and longing to ensure their families’ well-being.  (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

G is Garage Band, graphic novel by Gipi (book review) – guys+music=rock band?

Apr8

book cover of Garage Band by Gipi, translated by Spectrum, published by First Second Books One borrowed garage, four teen guys,
four instruments, four opinions,
their own garage band!

The new band’s problems, from equipment problems to practice schedules, mix with Gipi’s gritty sketch-plus-watercolor art to show just how far four working-class Italian teens will go to make their music.

This 2007 graphic novel is still in print, definitely worth your time to read.

Have you ever given it your all striving for a goal?
**kmm

Book info: Garage Band / Gipi; translation by Spectrum. First Second Books, 2007.  [artist/author info – English]  [artist/author blog – Italian]  [publisher site]  Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: When a blown amplifier short-circuits their band’s big audition, four Italian teens must decide whether their integrity or their potential rock music future is more important in this graphic novel by Gipi.

If he’ll stay out of trouble, Giuliano can use his dad’s old garage – perfect place for the band to practice! Also a refuge from the not-so-wonderful family lives of the four guys in the band: Giuliano (obsessed with his music even more than with his girlfriend), Stephano (obsessed with dread diseases after his brother died), Alex (obsessed with all things Nazi after his father fled), and Alberto (obsessed with his father’s precarious health).

Stefano’s dad gets the guys a chance to have a record company listen to their demo songs, so that means lots of practice.

Then their old amp shorts out and can’t be fixed – now what?
“Borrowing” some equipment, that’ll work!
But who they borrow it from…

Italian graphic novelist Gipi’s edgy line art and earth-based watercolors convey all the grit of working class kids trying to make music and make sense of the world on their own terms. (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

F for flying and family in Black Dove, White Raven, by Elizabeth Wein (book review) – wings and war

Apr7

book cover of Black Dove White Raven by Elizabeth Wein published by Disney HyperionTheir mothers were closer than sisters.
They are sister and brother against the world,
and the world has turned its back on Ethiopia…

What do you know about the Second Italo-Abyssinian War? I knew nothing of this conflict which preceded World War II, but have learned that the League of Nations ignored the pleas of Ethiopia’s emperor to stop the 1935 invasion of the only African nation never ruled by Europeans…

Just published on March 31, this story of the flight-loving children of two aviation-daredevil women – one white, one black – connects World War I France with still-prejudiced USA with becoming-modern Ethiopia, as told through the school essays and journal entries of Emilia and Teo over the years.

The author counts Black Dove, White Raven as part of her Young Pilots series, along with the incredible Code Name Verity  and Rose Under Fire (check out the fascinating variations in cover art as published in other countries).

What books about young people in wartime would you recommend? Share in the comments, please!
**kmm

Book info: Black Dove, White Raven / Elizabeth Wein. Hyperion Books, 2015.  [author site]  [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher through NetGalley.

My book talk: With war edging nearer Ethiopia in 1935, an American aviatrix tries to help her adopted country and placate enemy forces while keeping her daughter Emilia and black foster son Teo safe – but some troubles cannot be flown away from.

Retired from stunt flying as ‘White Raven’ when her partner and best friend Delia ‘the Black Dove’ was killed, Momma eventually moves to Ethiopia as the pair had planned, bringing her white daughter and Delia’s half-Ethiopian son in 1930 to the only African nation never conquered by Europeans.

Seeing Emperor Haile Selassie crowned, meeting Teo’s uncles, living in a rural settlement and learning to speak Amharic – Em and Teo enjoy life with Momma, until the true price of the plane given to them by Em’s Italian aviator father is revealed.

Will old secrets send Teo to the battle lines?
Can Momma take reconnaissance photos for Italy and Ethiopia at the same time?
Will Em ever get comfortable with landing the plane?

Warriors with spears against machine guns, the League of Nations turning a deaf ear to Ethiopia’s calls for help, new calendar masking old laws. “Spiderwebs joined together can catch a lion” goes the Ethiopian proverb, but what a fragile thing to carry all the country’s hopes for peace. (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

E for Etherworld, by Claudia Gabel & Cheryl Klam (book review) – escape from virtual paradise turned hell!

Apr6

book cover of Etherworld by Claudia Gabel and Cheryl Klam published by Katherine Tegen BooksEscape from polluted world to nature paradise through virtual reality!
It’s simple, it’s safe… it’s addictive.

Regan has mourned her father’s death for too many months, watched his fabulous virtual reality creation be exploited by young protege whose mother is profits-first, realized the dangers of Elusion – and discovered that Dad may be alive!

All she has to do is enter Elusion undetected, tweak technical stuff beyond her understanding, and pray that new boyfriend Josh is really on her side…

Just published on March 31st, Etherworld  is the answer to the potential and peril begun in Elusion  (my no-spoiler recommendation here) which recently came out in paperback – so you can read them both now!

**kmm

Book info: Etherworld (Elusion, book 2) / Claudia Gabel & Cheryl Klam. Katherine Tegen Books, 2015.  [Claudia’s website]  [Cheryl’s website]  [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: Missing teens and a criminal conspiracy – if Regan can escape from Elusion using her father’s Etherworld technology, she can prove that the virtual reality system makers knew its addictive dangers, unless they get her first!

In pollution-clogged 22nd century test cities, some teens who hacked their Equips to stay in Elusion far past the safe time limits have disappeared, but the escape-to-nature vr will still be released nationwide.

Regan travels into Elusion with her boyfriend Josh, whose sister is among the missing, as they follow clues that Regan’s father is still alive. Warnings from the Elusion creator’s protege Patrick don’t ring true once they learn that his mother falsified Elusion’s safety data so their company could make millions.

Elusion’s ads say that nothing can harm you in an Escape since your body isn’t really there, but Regan and Josh discover that’s not true! A vicious predator follows them from Escape to Escape, safe havens become traps, and they meet others who cannot be in a two-person Escape, yet are.

Returning from Elusion will land her in the psych ward, staying there may unhinge her mind… but finding her father is worth the risk.

This exciting sequel to Elusion  (my review here) examines the limits of loyalty, the dangers of greed, and the potential good and bad that any new technology can bring. (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

D for Heather Demetrios – I’ll Meet You There (book review) – choose love or escape from sad hometown?

Apr4

book cover of I'll Meet You There by Heather Demetrios published by Henry HoltEndure dead-end hometown one last summer,
escape to art school and freedom…
if only it were that easy.

Skylar can’t leave her alcoholic mother now, doesn’t want Josh to face his PTSD alone, but how can she give up her dream of college?

This strong novel tackles questions of responsibility and abandonment, duty and fear, almost-good-enough and too-good-to-abandon as Sky’s narrative is punctuated with Josh’s often-anguished thoughts.

Don’t miss the author’s letter to the reader here and the book’s first chapters that she shares for free.

Have you known a serviceperson who returned from war-front duty unchanged?

**kmm

Book info: I’ll Meet You There / Heather Demetrios. Henry Holt, 2015.  [author site]  [publisher site]  Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: As Skylar endures one last summer before college, her growing attraction to a young Marine disabled overseas and her mother’s inability to cope with life could strand the teen artist in her rural California hometown.

Math-genius Chris and artistic Sky have vowed to escape this agricultural backwater, heading for opposite coasts on big scholarships in just a few months. It’ll be hard leaving best friend Dylan (who’s never known that Chris adores her) and her baby, but it would be unbearable to stay in Creek View.

Sky and Chris drop by the as-usual-drunk weekend party to welcome home her former co-worker just returned from Afghanistan, but no one told her that brash, womanizing Josh had left his leg behind, as well as his self-confidence.

Counting down the days until she leaves for college, Sky is stunned when Mom loses her fast-food job and crawls back into the booze bottle where she’d retreated for so long when Dad died in a drunk-driving wreck.

Josh begins working at the Paradise hotel with Sky again, between therapy appointments, and they fall into an uneasy companionship that could become something more. Motel-owner Marge’s son died in the war before she moved here, so she understands when Josh suddenly freezes as a car backfires nearby.

The parts are coming together in the collage that Sky’s creating for Marge – more of the ‘California quirky’ that’s making the Paradise its own destination – but Sky can’t put her mom’s life back on track, can’t figure out where she and Josh fit into one another’s lives, and can’t see how she can give up her dreams or go after them either.  (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)