Tag Archive | conflict

Ghost Knight, by Cornelia Funke (book review) – murder long-passed, a knight long-dead, danger now!

Jun7

book cover of Ghost Knight by Cornelia Funke translated by Oliver Latsch published by Little BrownGhostly rider with blood on his sword,
evil sidekicks with murder on their minds,
how many centuries can a death vow stay alive?

Every ancient cathedral and old castle has unexplained deaths in its history, many have ghosts who appear with a bit of regularity, but most don’t feature bloodthirsty murderers’ specters threatening schoolkids in their beds!

Listen to an excerpt of the audiobook version here and be sure to view the book trailer of the author visiting Salisbury Cathedral and reading aloud the section where Jon meets the Ghost Knight  for the very first time.

The paperback version was published in May 2013, so you should be able to find it in several formats at your local library or independent bookstore.

Would you call on a ghost to help you solve a dangerous mystery?
**kmm

Book info:  Ghost Knight / Cornelia Funke.; translated by Oliver Latsch. Little Brown, hardback 2012, paperback 2013.  [author site]  [publisher site]  [book trailer]

My book talk: Boarding school, rain, Mum in love with a dentist – Jon thought life couldn’t get worse…until he’s threatened by ghosts who can injure him, meets a girl with an adventurous streak, and invokes a dead knight to right the wrongs!

It definitely wasn’t Jon’s idea to attend the same boarding school as his late father, but after his many attempts to make his mother fall out of love with The Beard (as Jon called the dentist who tricked his little sisters and dog into liking him) all backfired, the 11-year-old found himself on the train to Salisbury. He doesn’t care about the ancient city’s history that his houseparents love and doesn’t care that he wasn’t selected for the cathedral school’s famous choir.

But the ghosts whispering threats about killing him, trying to ride him down on ghostly horses – those are another matter! Ella at school takes Jon to visit her grandmother who gives ghost tours. They discover that Lord Stourton and his henchmen were hanged for the death of Jon’s relatives centuries ago, vowing revenge. Zelda says Jon is in danger if he stays here, but he doesn’t want to go home to Mum and The Beard.

So Jon calls on the knight Longspee who originally captured Stourton, asking the ghost knight to help him rid the school of these wicked specters and save him from their vengeance.

Can Jon and Ella trust Longspee who wants to stay away from this world?
Can the trio truly send Stourton and crew back to their graves forever?
Can Jon find any way to keep The Beard from becoming his stepfather?

Through Latsch’s flowing translation, the noted German fantasy author of the Inkspell trilogy brings readers into the echoing aisles of Salisbury Cathedral and the windswept ruins of old castles as Jon and Ella fight enemies they cannot touch with mortal hands. (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Memory of After, by Lenore Appelhans (book review) – sinister stop-off between life and heaven

Jun6

book cover of Memory of After by Lenore Appelhans published by Simon SchusterDead, but not gone,
memory lives on,
in limbo, but never heaven?

Felicia figured she was more likely to end up in hell than heaven, considering what she’d done with Julian and to her best friend before she was banished to Grammy’s small town, but her time with Neal was slowly convincing her that forgiveness was possible.

And then she died – bam – end of second chances… or was it? Given a choice of revisiting memories of Neal forever or trying to change a corrupt system, she does have a second chance – if she dares to act.

In an unusual turn, the publisher realized that the hardback title Level 2  and its cover art (shown next to My Book Talk section) did not fit with the story, so the paperback (issued just 3 months after original pub date) uses the new title and art seen above. I agree that their first choice made this book look and sound like some paranormal video game, rather than the contest between good, not-so-good, maybe-evil, and oh-so-bad that it is.

Could you give up your favorite memories to move on?
**kmm

Book info: The Memory of After (Memory Chronicles, book 1) [hardback title: Level 2] / Lenore Appelhans. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2013.  [author’s blog]  [publisher site]  [author video interview]

book cover of Level 2 by Lenore Appelhans published by Simon Schuster, reissued as Memory of After

original hardback cover art & title

My book talk: Felicia’s not in heaven or hell, just stuck in Level 2 reliving memories over and over. When another girl in her pod vanishes and no one else remembers she was there, the teen thinks something’s amiss. When a dangerous guy from her past on Earth invades the pod to recruit her into a revolt against the angels, she knows something really strange is going on!

Not that Felicia was a good girl as a teenager, but dying just a day short of her 18th birthday seems so unfair. After the horrific incident with Julian and her best friend Autumn in Germany, her diplomat parents sent to live with her grandmother Stateside.

Felicia has lived in cities around the world, so the tiny Oklahoma town and Grammy’s strictness strangle her, but maybe it’s punishment she deserves.  School, church, school, home – that’s it. Meeting Neal at church youth group is the best thing in her world. Maybe she can overcome her guilt after all, with his love and help.

Now here she is with other dead teen girls in their stark white pod, not hungry or thirsty, accessing the best-ever memories. like her time with Neal. Suddenly Beckah finds herself trapped in her own terrifying death memory and is gone when Felicia checks on her later…and the other girls swear there never was any Beckah!

Julian’s abrupt appearance in the pod is alarming – no one ever comes in, let alone boys! He says he’s coming back for Felicia, then leaves. What’s going on? How did Julian find her? Is he dead, too?

As the pod is attacked and Felicia flees with Julian, she sees that there are thousands of pods, which means many thousands of people-drones here with their memories instead of in heaven or hell…

Why did angels set up pods filled with good memories that no one wants to abandon?
Why does Julian need Felicia’s help to “restore balance” in the afterlife?
Is Neal in one of those pods?

The battle is just beginning in this new series that takes the power of memories to a whole new level.  (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Reconstructing Amelia, by Kimberly McCreight (book review) – not a suicide, not a chance

Jun4

book cover of Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight published by HarperPrivate school academic pressure
or vicious peer pressure?
What sent Amelia over the edge?

First love isn’t always easy or simple. Lifelong friendships may break apart or simply drift away during high school. Parents don’t know what their children experience every minute; kids don’t think that their parents were ever in such predicaments. Told in several voices, Amelia’s story is both familiar and unusual, with an outcome you might expect, but an ending you won’t guess.

On her website, author Kimberly McCreight asks folks to post “what would you tell your mother or your daughter” – anonymously, if need be –  if they could only find the courage or the right words or the right time, sharing the conversations on her Facebook page, hoping that the right time is sooner rather than too late.

This mystery-tragedy jumped onto the bestseller lists before I could finish this post, so you should easily find it at your local library or favorite independent bookstore now.

Is it ever too late to say the right thing?
**kmm

Book info: Reconstructing Amelia / Kimberly McCreight. Harper, 2013.  [author site]  [publisher site]  [book trailer]

My book talk: Amelia would never cheat, so why would she take her own life before fighting against the false accusation? As her mother tries to uncover the truth about her death, pieces of Amelia that no one knew begin to surface through emails, text messages, and notes.

Known as an over-achiever even by Grace Hall school standards, Amelia writes thoughtful, compelling essays all the time, so the idea that she plagiarized an entire English paper about her favorite author is absurd. Her mother rushes from her law office to the posh private school when notified of her suspension for cheating, only to find that the fifteen-year-old hadn’t survived a fall from the roof. Amelia – suicide?

An anonymous text message “Amelia didn’t jump” pulls Kate from her haze of grief, as the single mother realizes that there are parts missing from the story surrounding her daughter’s death and decides that she must get to the bottom of things. With the help of a new police detective, her law firm’s IT department, and interviews with students and parents, a chilling picture emerges, centered on the social clubs which Grace Hall insists are not official school organizations.

Why did Amelia feel under so much pressure?
Who did she fall in love with and hide from everyone?
Why did she stop sharing secrets with her best friend?
What really went on with Dylan, Zaidie and the other Magpies Club girls?

This riveting story of peer pressure, indiscretions, cover-ups, and missteps on Amelia’s voyage of self-discovery is told through her diary entries, Facebook updates, text messages, emails, notes shoved in her locker, a particularly snarky blog devoted to Grace Hall gossip, plus Kate’s narrative and her own college diary.  (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

School Spirits, by Rachel Hawkins (book review) – ghost-hunting ain’t for amateurs!

Jun3

book cover of School Spirits by Rachel Hawkins published by HyperionMonster sighted? Check.
Banishment strategy selected? Check.
Ready to walk into high school? No way!

Of course, home-schooling makes sense when your family is frequently traveling to hunt and eliminate otherworldly baddies, but none of her martial arts training prepared practical Izzy for her first major undercover assignment – locate and banish a high-school-based ghost with a grudge!

Makeup, clothes not suitable for stalking in the shadows, a hedgehog mascot for the basketball team …  and very, very attentive boys? Hope Izzy can corner Mary Evans’ ghost during the right moon phase and get out of Ideal, Mississippi in a hurry!

Grab this serious/not-so-serious ghost-trapper tale today at your local library  or independent bookstore, first in new series by Hex Hall author Rachel Hawkins.

Which ghosts of high school would you banish forever?
**kmm

Book info: School Spirits / Rachel Hawkins. Hyperion, 2013.   [author site]  [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: Being a Brannick means hunting down supernatural monsters – it’s the family business. When her big sister Finley disappears before Izzy’s training is complete, the teen finds herself walking into high school for the first time, ready to fight an avenging ghost, but so unprepared for cliques, cute boys, and pep rallies.

A science teacher was nearly killed in his lab with the door locked from the inside, and sightings of the school namesake’s ghost have been reported for the first time in years. So homeschooled Izzy is tapped to infiltrate Mary Evans High School to eliminate the ghost.

One official school club in this small Mississippi town is the Paranormal Management Society, with 3 members, all considered weird by other students. Mom always says that “civilians” who think they can take on the Prodigium make supernatural situations worse; hopefully, Izzy can nab the ghost without involving Romy, Anderson, or Dex.

Ah, Dex, who seems to be Prodigium himself, might have a crush on Izzy? She and Torin (the spirit living in Brannick mirrors for past 400 years) watch many movies and television shows about high school life, trying to get a handle on how to cope with boys who ask for phone numbers and girls who are mean and teachers who just don’t have a clue.

A mangled Barbie doll on the head cheerleader’s locker mimics the dead frog found on the science teacher’s door before he was attacked. Mary Evans appears to Izzy and is much more powerful than a ghost should be. Even after Izzy seals the ghost girl’s grave, Mary steers a speeding car into a crowd at school!

Who or what has augmented Mary Evans’ powers?
How can Izzy banish the ghost when normal techniques fail?
Why can’t she shake the feeling that Dex isn’t who he seems to be?

Vengeful, deadly, tied to high school forever – this paranormal opponent forces Izzy and her mom to delve deep into Brannick lore to find a way to save her classmates from evil School Spirits  in this new series by the author of Hex Hall.  (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

The Testing, by Joelle Charbonneau (book review) – keep friends close, enemies closer?

Jun2

book cover of The Testing by Joelle Charbonneau published by Houghton MifflinFor a chance at your dream, how far would you go?
What would you sacrifice?
How much can you give without giving up who you are?

This dystopian novel of trials and trust, peril and personal integrity, desperation and death is not a Hunger Games knockoff, by any means.

Testing completely done in secret, candidates’ minds wiped after they fail or succeed, the lucky ones who get into Tosu University will be assigned to other colonies and never see their families again.

Gotta be glad that the consequences of our standardized testing in the US aren’t so severe…

This is Charbonneau’s first foray into the sci-fi world and young adult books, as her previous books feature Chicago women who wind up in small towns solving mysteries, one series with inherited roller-skating rink, the other with glee club director. Glad that this is the first in a trilogy, as I can’t wait to see what happens after the candidates get to the university.

Tor.com shares a short prequel to the story, to tide you over until publication day on Tuesday, June 4.

So, how do you decide who to trust?
**kmm

Book info: The Testing (Testing, book 1) / Joelle Charbonneau.  Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children’s Books, 2013.  [author site]  [publisher site]  [book trailer]

My book talk: Of course, Cia longs for a chance to attend the University! But to pass the Testing, she must be willing to do anything and to trust no one… not even her first love. The stakes are high – the dangers are too numerous to count.

All the scientists, teachers, and leaders of the cataclysm-torn United Commonwealth have passed The Testing and succeeded at Tosu University. When graduation day closes with no word from the capital, Cia thinks she’s stuck working on tractors in Five Lakes Colony forever. But the next day brings a Tosu official who tells Cia, Tomas, Malachi, and Zandri that they will leave for the Testing in the morning!

As her family and friends celebrate, Cia’s father tells of his recurring nightmares from his Testing time and  warns her to trust no one. From the moment they leave Five Lakes, everything is part of the Testing. There are only 20 openings at the University and over 150 Testing this year. Coming from her collaborative community, the 16-year-old thinks Dad is exaggerating, until another Testing candidate tries to poison her before the first exams begin!

The academic exams are hard, the practical and cooperative exams are harder, with more and more students failing each level. Phase 3 drops the remaining candidates into a city shattered by war, instructing them to return to Tosu City through hundreds of miles of disaster-blasted territory, equipped only with a few survival supplies and their wits. They can make alliances if they wish, but still only 20 will be allowed into the University… if that many survive.

Has Cia chosen the right equipment for the journey?
Can she locate Tomas near the drop-point?
Is she right to trust the boy she’s known and loved all her life – or is her father right?

First in a series set in a future United States trying to rebuild itself after nuclear war and worldwide geologic shifts, The Testing  asks whether being truly human is more than just surviving at any cost.  (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy through NetGalley and cover image both courtesy of the publisher.

Arm of the Starfish, by Madeleine L’Engle (book review) – regeneration research, bad guys, international plot

May29

book cover of Arm of the Starfish by Madeleine L'Engle published by Square FishResearch with an “interesting” new development,
Remote island lab closed to outsiders,
Whispers of miracles or perhaps monsters…

Adam will have to rely on his own wits and instincts during this summer of 1965, when an amazing opportunity to assist with cutting-edge regeneration research lands him right in the middle of medical espionage, undercover agents, and foreign country misunderstandings.

Written as a near-future story in 1965, The Arm of the Starfish  reads almost like alternate history today, as events in Dr. O’Keefe’s island lab blur the line between science fiction and mysticism, with Adam having to decide whether to believe young Poly O’Keefe or beautiful Kali Cutter about the researcher’s true intentions.

You’ll find this classic beginning to the O’Keefe family stories at local library or independent bookstore in the new Square Fish edition. And, yes, the O’Keefes are related to the Murry family you know from A Wrinkle in Time.

How far should research take us toward a future with no limits on life?
**kmm

Book info: The Arm of the Starfish / Madeleine L’Engle. Square Fish, 2011 (originally published in 1965 by Farrar Straus Giroux).  [author site]  [publisher site]

My book talk: Adam’s summer job as research assistant to a noted marine biologist on a Mediterranean island is a dream come true – until he’s blamed for a young girl’s disappearance from his flight, chased through Lisbon by thugs, and drawn into a secret with international implications.

Unusual for his professor-mentor to send a recent high school graduate to assist Dr. O’Keefe with starfish regeneration experiments. Unusual that beautiful Kali warns him that O’Keefe and his associate Canon Tallis are not what they seem when she meets Adam for the very first time.

Diverted to Madrid by fog, Adam worries that he’ll miss his connection in Lisbon, but Canon Tallis assures him that they’ll wait, especially as O’Keefe’s preteen daughter Poly is on this same plane.  But when Poly goes into the airplane lavatory and doesn’t return, the flight crew tells Adam she was never aboard!

Dr. O’Keefe himself meets Adam at the airport, telling him that Poly has been kidnapped by someone wanting his research results. Before they can get to the boat for Gaea, Adam is chased and shot at, lied to, brought up-to-date on espionage, and sworn to secrecy.

How can they get Poly back safely?
What is so important about this starfish research?
Which side is Kali really on?

Science and mystical forces weave together in a 1965 outside of our history books on this island paradise where family and community must guard against mercenaries and greed. First of the O’Keefe family stories by A Wrinkle in Time  author Madeleine L’Engle, The Arm of the Starfish  is followed by Dragons in the Waters.  (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Legacy of the Clockwork Key, by Kristin Bailey (book review) – key to danger, love, time itself

May24

book cover of Legacy of the Clockwork Key by Kristin Bailey published by Simon PulseA pocket-watch that is actually a key,
a key made of clockwork
and music and love and danger.

The infinitely intricate clockwork devices made by Meg’s late father and grandfather and other Secret Order ‘amusementists’ make the automatons whirring and blinking in Europe’s royal courts seem like primitive toys in comparison.

Read the beginning of Meg’s story, as Kristin shares part of chapter one here, and be sure to watch the book trailer, one of my favorites!

You’ll want to hurry to your local library  or independent bookstore to pick up this first book of the Secret Order series so you can travel through the mystery with Meg and Will, outwitting mazes and mechanical monsters, solving puzzles on a pirate ship, and trying to stay one step ahead of pure human evil.

What’s the most amazing clockwork device you’ve seen in action?
**kmm

Book info: Legacy of the Clockwork Key (The Secret Order, #1) / Kristin Bailey. Simon Pulse, 2013.  [author site]  [publisher site]  [book trailer]

My book talk: Rescued by a secretive benefactor, Meg is no longer a young lady of good society in Victorian England, but a orphaned housemaid in a mansion that time forgot. When intricate devices point to clues regarding her parents’ deaths, the sixteen-year-old knows she must follow them, despite the danger to herself, her reputation, and her heart.

Meg wonders why every detail here must stay as it was, why the Baron took her in, why the staff knows “he’s always watching” when no one sees him. She mourns for her learned parents, killed in the fire which consumed their clock shop and her future six months ago. If only her grandfather were still alive…

When she asks the Baron’s young coachman to repair the clock-locket which alone survived the fire, it turns out to be a clockwork key. Meg recognizes its design in the parlor fireplace and unlocks secrets about the Baron (and her grandfather) that send her rushing to Will for help. Visiting a graveyard, unlocking more secrets, befriending a young widow – the pair uncovers a far-reaching organization of inventors, a sinister plot, and a terrifying problem.

The unseen Baron fires them both for “unbecoming behavior” and Meg knows that he’s discovered her visit into his workroom. With widowed Mrs. Pricket, they flee London, trying to reach the nearest amusementist (as Lucinda Pricket calls these inventors in the Secret Order) and safety. Although the inventor is long gone, his larger-than-life clockwork-powered amusement remains, and they must reanimate it to find more clues. For if they cannot stop the Baron, then he will kill them as surely as he killed Meg’s parents and Lucinda’s husband and others of the Secret Order.

Can they outrun the man who wants to control time?
Can they survive the perils of the gigantic clockwork amusements?
Can Meg and Will ignore their attraction to one another?

An entire secret organization dedicated to inventing the most elaborate toys on earth, a murderer bent on snuffing out all competitors, a chance for love outside Victorian society’s cast-iron rules – all in the first book of The Secret Order series.  (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Rose Throne, by Mette Ivie Harrison (book review) – powers crossed, palace perils doubled

May22

book cover of Rose Throne by Mette Ivie Harrison published by EgmontA land divided, perhaps to perish,
Ancient prophecy says reunification will save them.
Would that their prejudices were less vicious…

The opposing forces of combative taweyr and nurturing neweyr are a bit like yin and yang, but in Rurik and Weirland if your gender does not match your inborn weyr, woe to you, as every trouble from poor crops to lack of heirs will be blamed on you… whether commoner, noble, or royal.

Just published on May 14th, The Rose Throne  tells of balance and betrayal, power and its price, two strong princesses with complementary strengths which could heal their lands, were they only allowed to use them. Oh, there’s no predictable “happily ever after” ending for this story of political alliances forged and broken, just lots of mystery and intrigue, love in the shadows, temptations and trial.

How much should we mask our less-traditional talents and interests?
**kmm

Book info: The Rose Throne / Mette Ivie Harrison. Egmont, 2013.  [author site]  [publisher site]  [book trailer]

My book talk: Taweyr and neweyr – the force of brute power beyond muscles and the force of growing life – are only found on this one island shared by two kingdoms, two unlike kings, and a prophecy that could change history. Two princesses hear the prophecy, wonder whether if its fulfilment is finally here, and worry that their own gifts of weyr may not be enough to overcome human treachery.

Princess Ailsbeth loves music, a little-appreciated gift in Rurik, and knows that she’s just a political pawn to her father, King Haikor, who keeps order through might, taking taweyr from his nobles as a tax. Women’s neweyr gift of growth is despised in Rurik, and its crops suffer.  Across the narrow landbridge, King Jaap lets jousts keep the taweyr levels down, and Princess Marlissa leads Weirland’s women in strengthening their green land through neweyr.

When Duke Kellin arrives from Rurik to offer a betrothal between Prince Edik and Marlissa, the princess and her father are wary, since there’s little love lost between the two kingdoms. Accepting the offer will stave off a war and might be the first step in fulfilling the prophecy of a royal child who will have both weyrs and will reunite the island. Perhaps 13-year-old Prince Edik will grow less like his father during their long betrothal…

What a change from the simplicity of rural Weirland accosts Princess Marlissa as she enters Rurik’s cities where no green thing grows, where strict court protocol rules everything, where King Haikor’s hatred of the ekhono who hold the wrong weyr for their gender leads him to hunt them to the death.

Having no gift of neweyr seems no burden to Princess Ailsbeth, who saw that it did her mother the Queen no good in Rurik. But when the young woman discovers that she has as much taweyr as her brother Edik lacks, she must use all her skill to conceal it.

Can the two princesses become allies, if not friends?
Can they survive the treachery and deceit of the Rurese court?
Can they live long enough to give the prophecy a chance to come true?

Required to marry for royal alliances instead of love, regal opposites Ailsbeth and Marlissa are so alike in their love for their homelands in this tale of magic, intrigue, boundaries, and heart.  (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Loki’s Wolves, by K.L. Armstrong and M.A. Marr (book review) – teen Norse gods at Ragnarok today

May20

book cover of Lokis Wolves by KL Armstrong and MA Marr published by Little BrownMidgard Serpent and the World Tree,
Runes foretelling a champion,
Ragnarok shaking the world clean again…

But what if the champion doesn’t want everything in the present world destroyed, doesn’t want a one-way ticket to Valhalla? What if he’s just 13?

Yep, Norse mythology’s end-times playing out now…in South Dakota…with a junior high kid as Thor‘s stand-in! Since the gods themselves are long-gone, it’s up to their generations-down-the-line descendants to fill their places in the big battles.

Oh, you wonder why the authors didn’t use their full names on this co-written venture? As they noted in a talk I attended at the Texas Library Association Conference in April, they wanted to make sure that middle-grade/junior high readers weren’t thinking that their “more mature” books (like Melissa’s “Wicked Lovely” series or Kelley’s “Darkest Powers” series) were the same sort of young teen fun-action-adventure books.

Try out this excerpt from Chapter 8 at Tor for yourself, then head to your local library or independent bookstore to find this May 7th release and jump into the adventure with Matt, Laurie, and Fen.

Will Ragnarok battles begin soon?
**kmm

Book info: Loki’s Wolves (The Blackwell Pages, #1) / K.L. Armstrong and M.A. Marr. Little Brown, 2013.  [book site]   [Melissa’s blog]  [Kelley’s site]  [publisher site]

My book talk: Matt studies Norse legends at school and knows them by heart. But his family history takes on new meaning when he’s chosen for Ragnarok battle – now! And if he and his buddies can’t change this conflict, the end of the world as humans know it is assured.

Everyone in Blackwell, South Dakota, is a many-times-removed descendant of Thor or Loki, so they expect town gatherings on Norse holidays to harken back to their heritage. No one expected that the Seer would pick thirteen-year-old Matt as their champion against the Midgard Serpent. But no one can deny the signs that Ragnarok is coming, when Thor must defeat those attacking the World Tree or the world itself will end… and Matt Thorsen is the closest thing to Thor that the modern world has.

Clever Loki-kin Fen defaults on a promise to the Skulls gang and discovers that they’re shapeshifting wolves being directed by evil forces. Brekkes and Thorsens are usually at odds with each other, but when Matt asks cousin Laurie to help on his quest, Fen figures that getting out of Blackwell alive trumps old grudges.

The friends must collect Thor’s Hammer, shield, and feathers from Odin’s ravens if Matt is going to defeat the Serpent, so off they go across South Dakota. Away to Mount Rushmore hunting for the weapons, into the Black Hills searching for the descendants of Thor’s allies, and skulking through Deadwood to stay ahead of the Skulls gang and Thor’s enemies in this era.

Can they find current-day Odin and Baldur in time?
Can Laurie keep her cousin Fen clear of the shapeshifting Skulls?
Can Matt truly defeat the Midgard Serpent and save humanity?

In their first middle grade novel, bestselling authors Armstrong and Marr have created a believable slice of Norse mythology playing out in the here-and-now as Thor’s many-times-greatgrandson must decide which parts of history he doesn’t want repeated in this cycle. Book two of the Blackwell Pages trilogy, Odin’s Ravens,  is scheduled for 2014 publication. (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Astronaut Academy: Re-Entry, by Dave Roman (book review) – heart-eating monster disrupts space school

May13
book cover of Astronaut Academy Reentry by Dave Roman published by First Second Books

Students from many different places,
with different traditions and expectations,
bound together by Fireball game fever,
while a monster roams their school space station.

Happy Children’s Book Week! Graphic novels and picture books for all ages are some great ways to celebrate right along with the littlies.

With insider nods to pop culture of his own school days, a blithe mashup of then-now-future (dinosaur riding practice after space evacuation drills), and the enduring hope of friendship, author/cartoonist Dave Roman brings us more fun and mystery at the school we’d all love to attend as the second semester begins at Astronaut Academy.

Of course, you’ll enjoy the rivalry, friendship, and secrets of book 2 even more if you read book 1, Astronaut Academy: Zero Gravity  first (my no-spoiler review here).

You can check out an excerpt of the latest adventures at Astronaut Academy here, then head over to your local library  or independent bookstore to reserve your copy now – its book birthday is tomorrow, May 15, 2013!

What would you do with your spare hearts if you had multiples like the Astronaut Academy students?
**kmm

Book info: Astronaut Academy: Re-Entry (Astronaut Academy #2) / written and illustrated by Dave Roman. First Second Books, 2013.   [author site]  [publisher site]  [book trailer] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: A heart-eating monster in space! Friends and arch-rivals, a wicked gang, and a ban on love will make this the toughest semester ever for the students of Astronaut Academy who must guard their hearts as they prepare for the Fireball Championship Match.

Somehow, a shape-shifting monster has infiltrated Astronaut Academy during the semester break, masquerading as the person each student has a secret crush on, tricking them into giving it their extra hearts, then devouring the hearts!

When you attend school in outer space, having multiple hearts is essential, of course. Yes, students can give a heart to someone they care about, but no one with just one heart is allowed to play Fireball for safety reasons. Tak Offsky loses two hearts to the monster, so must recruit his roommate for the Fireball team, despite Hakata’s unfamiliarity with the sport.

The evil geniuses of Team Feety Pajamas challenge Munchie Ng in Monchichimon cards, Hakata’s arch-nemesis joins their rival school’s Fireball team just to spite him, and the monster continues to eat up hearts!

Can the school’s new ban on love stop this monster?
Will Astronaut Academy have enough eligible players for the Fireball finals?
Will Hakata be able to share his secret past without losing another heart?

If the students can get past the cancellation of the Talent Spelling Bee and avoid falling in love, perhaps they can solve this problem and catch the monster that’s wrecking their semester at Astronaut Academy! A great follow-up to Astronaut Academy: Zero Gravity,  the first graphic novel in Dave Roman’s out-of-this-world school series.  (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)