Tag Archive | memories

Read with your ears! Free audiobook downloads all summer with SYNC

Jun1

SYNC summer YA audiobooks logoWoo-hoo! Summer is finally here!
time for road trips, new jobs,
Wordcount Blogathon,
lazy days by the pool…
so “read with your ears” while you work or relax – for free!

The popular SYNC program returns this summer with free audiobooks of YA and classic books, so you can read with your ears at your computer, on your phone, or with any other enabled electronic device.

Once you’ve downloaded a SYNC audiobook, it’s yours to keep and listen to for as long as you like!

There is a catch, of course – each pair of audiobooks is only downloadable for 7 days (Thursday through Wednesday).  I’ll remind you of each title pair and the SYNC download site weekly, but you can also have the program send you alerts by email (sign up on the SYNC site) or by text message by texting syncya to 25827 (standard message rates and fees apply).

Our first free pair of books take us to the stormy sea – download them before 11:59 pm US Eastern time on Wed, June 5th!

CD cover of Of Poseidon audiobookCD cover of The Tempest audiobook by BBC RadioMay 30 – June 5, 2013
Of Poseidon by Anna Banks, read by Rebecca Gibel (AudioGO)
The Tempest by William Shakespeare, read by a Full Cast, with music (AudioGO)

You’ll note several BooksYALove favorites on the line-up for SYNC Summer 2013 below – the link to my no-spoilers recommendation appears after those.

So get ready to read with your ears, all summer long! Which SYNC audiobook are you looking forward to most?
**kmm

June 6 – June 12, 2013
The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place, Book 1: The Mysterious Howling by Maryrose Wood, read by Katherine Kellgren (HarperAudio)
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë, read by Wanda McCaddon (Tantor Audio)

June 13 – June 19, 2013
The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater, read by Will Patton (Scholastic Audiobooks)
Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya, read by Robert Ramirez (Recorded Books)

June 20 – June 26, 2013
Once by Morris Gleitzman, read by Morris Gleitzman (Bolinda Audio)
Letter From Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King, Jr., read by Dion Graham (christianaudio)

June 27 – July 3, 2013
Rotters by Daniel Kraus, read by Kirby Heyborne (Listening Library)
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, read by Jim Weiss (Listening Library)

July 4 – July 10, 2013
Carter Finally Gets It by Brent Crawford, read by Nick Podehl (Brilliance Audio)
She Stoops to Conquer by Oliver Goldsmith, read by a Full Cast (L.A. Theatre Works)

July 11 – July 17, 2013
The Peculiar by Stefan Bachmann, read by Peter Altschuler (HarperAudio)
Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens, read by Simon Vance (Tantor Audio)

July 18 – July 24, 2013
Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers, read by Erin Moon (Recorded Books) – my recommendation here
Hamlet by William Shakespeare, read by a Full Cast (L.A. Theatre Works)

July 25 – July 31, 2013
The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen, read by Charlie McWade (Scholastic Audiobooks) – my recommendation here
The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain, read by Steve West (Blackstone Audio)

Aug 1 – Aug 7, 2013
Death Cloud by Andrew Lane, read by Dan Weyman (Macmillan Audio) – my recommendation here
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle, read by Ralph Cosham (Blackstone Audio)

Aug 8 – Aug 14, 2013
Enchanted by Alethea Kontis, read by Katherine Kellgren (Brilliance Audio) – my recommendation here
Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll, read by Miriam Margolyes (Bolinda Audio)

Aug 15 – Aug 21, 2013
Sold by Patricia McCormick, read by Justine Eyre (Tantor Audio)
Let Me Stand Alone by Rachel Corrie, read by Tavia Gilbert (Blackstone Audio)

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.

Armchair BEA! Book bloggers wishing we were there…

May28
sketch of stacked books typewriter person reading from 1clipart.com

(c) 1Clipart.com

The biggest US book event of the year starts now in NYC, and I am among the many book-fans not attending BookExpo America… sigh.

But, hark! There in the blogosphere… it’s Armchair BEA, a chance for book bloggers not thronging Javits Center to gather together virtually and celebrate our love of books and blogging!

First things, first – introductions:

Please tell us a little bit about yourself: Who are you? How long have you been blogging? Why did you get into blogging?
I learned to read when I was so little that I can’t remember ever not being able to read – and I’ve always loved reading a wide range of genres and subjects. In fact, being a non-specialist is why I became a librarian, back in the olden days of mainframes and card catalogs.

A few years ago, my husband’s out-of-state job transfer gave me the chance to ‘retire’ early from school library (the retirement checks will catch up in a few years), and I found myself with time to finally read and read. When Barb Langridge asked for guest reviewers for her website www.abookandahug.com where kids search for books themselves, I sent in a sample…and the rest is history! Barb always reminded me that my recommendations belonged to me and encouraged me to share them, so when I heard about WordCount Blogathon 2011 – blogging every single day for a month – I decided to leap in.

Thankfully, my choice of blog name was available, I had a built-in community of supportive bloggers for that first month, and I found my niche recommending young adult books beyond best-sellers. Because of Blogathon, I also got onto Twitter, where I can hear from authors, bloggers, and everyone else (love it).

This year, Blogathon starts June 1 (you still have time to sign up!). I still contribute many recommendations to www.abookandahug.com, too (over 340, at last count).

Where in the world are you blogging from? Tell a random fact or something special about your current location.
Now in a different location for husband’s work – we stay in an RV park during the week, home to E. Texas most weekends. If you drive straight south on road from RV park, you get to the free Lynchburg Ferry which has been running since 1822! After crossing the river, you come to the San Jacinto Monument and the Battleship Texas.

Have you previously participated in Armchair BEA? If you have not previously participated, what drew you to the event?
This is my first year for Armchair BEA. For the past couple of years, I’ve just pouted when all the tweets and blog reports came in from BEA. It sounds like the Texas Library Association conference exhibit hall on steroids, and that would be some kinda huge!

I really like the chance for interaction and community in what can be such a solitary pursuit. It’s just me and 2 sleeping cats here writing reviews with content enhancements, week in and week out.

What are you currently reading, or what is your favorite book you have read so far in 2013?
Oh, gosh, ask an easier question, like favorite book this week! I read very, very fast (so my summer #bookaday challenge should be easy), but really take time to craft recommendations with no spoilers.

Since I concentrate on smaller presses and debut authors, finding the gems among them is so cool. Two very different books by M. Scott Carter are recent reads that I’ll recommend during June so Blogathonners see them: Stealing Kevin’s Heart  and The Immortal Von B.  (both from The Roadrunner Press). Laurie Plissner’s Screwed from Merit Press made me cry; it’s so good, but no easy answers.

Tell us one non-book-related thing that everyone reading your blog may not know about you.photo of couple in traditional Chinese wedding clothes (c) Katy Manck
My husband and I celebrated our 25th anniversary while he was building the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, so we had a traditional Chinese wedding ceremony as our rededication! The wedding planners said they’d never heard of a Western couple doing that before. Lion-dog dancers, acrobats, being carried in a palanquin, erhu and flute music – quite the experience!

Onward, Armchairers!
**kmm

Clipart of reader with books and typewriter copyrighted by and courtesy of 1clipart.com

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.

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.

Hoop Genius, by John Coy (book review) – basketball invented, injuries prevented

May15

book cover of Hoop Genius by John Coy illustrated by John Morse published by Carolrhoda BooksBig kids, small gym.
Lots of energy, lots of injuries.
Time for a new game!

Picture books aren’t just for the toddler set anymore! This E for Everyone book chronicles the invention of Basket Ball by teacher James Naismith over 120 years ago, trying to keep gangly, over-energetic teen boys from turning their indoor winter PE class into a free-for-all.

The illustrations by Canadian Joe Morse are as jostling and boards-thumping as any modern-day photo of NBA playoff action. You’ve seen his artwork anchoring sports writing and advertisements, as well as recent sports picture books, like  Stephen Krenksy’s 2011 hit Play Ball, Jackie.

Children’s Book Week gives all of us a reason to share our favorites, old and new, as we fan the spark of child-like wonder in each of us.

What other children’s books about sports would you recommend?
**kmm

Book info: Hoop Genius: How a Desperate Teacher and a Rowdy Gym Class Invented Basketball / John Coy; illustrated by Joe Morse. Carolrhoda Books, 2013. [author site]  [artist site]   [publisher site]

My book talk:  Indoor gym class, big guys getting bored, their new teacher reluctantly faces them with one last game to try – a new game that takes skill instead of hitting, a game with a ball and a basket.

Yes, basketball was invented in late 1891 by James Naismith in desperation, an indoor variation of the Duck on a Rock game he enjoyed growing up in Canada. His class threw a soccer ball into wooden peach baskets for goals, since no boxes available for the first game.

His young men took the game from Springfield, Massachusetts to their hometowns and beyond. Women began playing basketball in 1892, and Naismith met his future wife while refereeing a local women’s game.

Morse’s illustrations vividly show Naismith’s young men who longed to be moving and competing, all big feet and big hands, as well as their teacher’s many attempts to find them an active indoor sport that wouldn’t injure too many!  (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Fox Forever, by Mary E. Pearson (book review) – a favor repaid, lives in danger

May10

book cover of Fox Forever by Mary E Pearson published by Henry HoltA prisoner with a secret,
A revolution waiting to explode,
A reluctant hero with a chilling secret of his own.

Uploaded into a memory cube as he lay dying, just as his two best friends were, after the car crash. Who knew so many generations would pass before Locke, Kara, and Jenna had new bodies for their minds to inhabit? Who knew that only Jenna’s parents had okayed the procedure? Who could imagine that Locke would be visiting his own grave in Boston?

Start with The Adoration of Jenna Fox  (#1) and The Fox Inheritance  (#2)  (my no-spoiler review here) at your local library or independent bookstore, then you’ll be ready for the outcome-not-guaranteed conclusion of this story spanning over 260 years.

Would you want to stay alive if it meant outliving everyone you loved?
**kmm

Book info: Fox Forever (Jenna Fox Chronicles, #3) / Mary E. Pearson. Henry Holt, 2013. [author site]  [publisher site]  [book trailer]

My recommendation: Locke owes a favor, and he’ll do whatever it takes to honor that – return to Boston where he’ll be hunted, befriend a stuck-up girl to get information, put other people in danger. And he’ll find answers to questions he didn’t ask, questions about Jenna Fox and redemption and fate.

It’s a Favor, with a capital F, someone calling in all the chips spent by others trying to get the teen safely to the West Coast after his escape from Gartsbro’s human lab, where the good doctor placed his mind into an improved body, generations after it was illegally downloaded just before Locke’s untimely death.

There’s big money at stake and the lives of thousands of people denied Citizen rights because their grandparents chose the wrong side in a political dispute, too. A leader of the Resistance in secret prison being tortured to get the account number before those billions of duros revert to whatever country the secret account is in, and the deadline is just days away.

So Locke has an impossibly short time to finagle his way into Security Secretary’s household through his teenage daughter, find secret maps to the secret prison, rescue the prisoner and get the account number to the Resistance… while not letting anyone know he was born over 270 years ago and is classified as non-human under current law because of the percentage of Bio-Gel coursing through his body.

Is the prisoner still alive and sane after 11 years in solitary?
Can Locke really infiltrate Raine’s posh inner circle without giving himself away?
How will the Resistance deal with the other information that he uncovers?

This third volume of The Jenna Fox Chronicles weaves the many threads and characters of the series into a heart-pounding conclusion as Locke discovers surprises and truths about himself, Jenna, Kara, and humankind. (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Fire Horse Girl, by Kay Honeyman (book review) – from China to America, from despised daughter to freedom?

May8

book cover of Fire Horse Girl, by Kay Honeyman. Published by Scholastic | recommended on BooksYALove.comNot really believing in curses,
Curious as a good daughter never would be,
Escape to Gold Mountain would be paradise!

Jade Moon knows that her inauspicious birth sign won’t matter when she gets to America, right? But the tongs‘ control of San Francisco’s Chinatown could make it impossible for her to escape their evil clutches.

Look for this spring 2013 release at your local library  or independent bookstore to discover whether Jade Moon can truly find happiness in a new land.

What other immigrant stories would you suggest for young adults on BooksYALove World Wednesday?
**kmm

Book info:  The Fire Horse Girl / Kay Honeyman. Arthur A. Levine Books, 2013; Scholastic, paperback. [author site]  [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My recommendation: Small village, small minds, convinced that Jade Moon’s Fire Horse birth sign will curse anyone foolish enough to marry her. She will have to travel far from this small Chinese village to escape this bad luck, perhaps all the way to America, like her uncle.

But Uncle died coming back from the “Gold Mountain” says Sterling Promise, his adoptive son, Now Jade Moon’s father must pretend to be his brother, using Uncle’s identity papers so they can both enter the USA to pursue the family’s business interests, and they decide to take Jade Moon along to remove her curse from the family lands.

Up the river to the noisy bustle of Hong Kong, across the wide ocean by crowded steamship, Jade Moon and Father are coached by Sterling Promise in their ‘improved’ family history so that their answers will match when interrogated by the immigration officials. Only relatives with real business are allowed into the USA from China, though many others try to enter.

The shores of America look beautiful, but the Angel Island center is ugly. After weeks of waiting, Father fails the questioning intentionally, so Jade Moon is sure they all will be returned to China. However, clever Sterling Promise has bribed someone and will leave Angel Island on the next boat. Jade Moon’s desperation to escape the weight of village condemnation outweighs her fears as she cuts off her hair, locates Sterling Promise’s identity papers, dons his American suit and boards the boat to San Francisco.

Lost in the city, she’s almost caught up in a street fight, but is rescued by Harry Hon, whose father controls one of Chinatown’s ‘protection associations’ and is recruiting muscle and fists for the tong. She winds up staying at Mr. Hon’s home, being called Fire Horse, learning how to fight, helping Harry as numbers runner. Trying to ignore the dark sides of the Hon business becomes impossible when she discovers that a friend from Angel Island will be sold into prostitution and finds a way to help her keep her out of their reach.

Will the tong uncover her involvement in the escape?
How can she keep her identity secret when Sterling Promise appears?
Can this Fire Horse overcome old beliefs to find freedom in a new land?

Set in the waning days of the tongs’ power in Chinatown, this story of Jade Moon’s quest for a new life follows the twists and turns caused by her outspoken comments and daring choices. (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

The Rithmatist, by Brandon Sanderson (book review) – chalk as weapon, geometry as war

May3

Book cover of The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson published by Tor TeenHe has the strategy, but not the power.
She has the power, but not the skills.
Their enemy has all three, and will stop at nothing to have more.

Welcome to a completely new alternate Earth of the early 1900s, filled with islands instead of our current continents, Korea as world power which has pushed out European culture, and Wild Chalkling beasts which threaten to overtake and devour all flesh-based life!

If only he was a Rithmatist, Joel could be such a strong defense against the Wild Chalklings of Nebrask (a nod to author Sanderson’s birthplace)… but the power has passed him by.

Read the Prologue and chapter one here (it’s not ch. 5 as header shows) complete with McSweeney’s illustrations , and you’ll be hooked on this quirky premise which unfolds to become much more than a novelty steampunk/alternate history tale.  Contact your local independent bookstore so you can grab it on Tuesday, May 14, 2013 in the USA (the UK release date is May 23).

Which alternate history world would you like to live in?
**kmm

Book info: The Rithmatist (Rithmatist #1) / Brandon Sanderson; illustrations by Ben McSweeney. Tor Teen, 2013.  [author site]  [publisher site]  [author video interview] (Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.)

My recommendation: n the right hands, a piece of chalk is defense against evil; in the wrong hands, it’s war on humanity; in Joel’s hands, it’s just chalk, no matter how much he longs to be a Rithmatist. When a schoolmate suggests that his dream is indeed possible, he leaps at the chance, right into a puzzle of kidnapping and conspiracy.

Joel is more interested in the Rithmatics lines that his late chalkmaker father studied than in his regular classes at Armedius Academy. Joel was sure that he’d be chosen as a Rithmatist at age 8, but events interfered with that. Who wouldn’t want to be able to defend the United Isles against the flesh-tearing Wild Chalklings with careful strategy and magic chalklines? The ability was granted to so few…

A new Rithmatist just back from the frontier of Nebrask displaces Prof. Fitch, ending the fourteen-year-old’s hopes of learning more about these arcane arts, for Prof. Nalizar is even more disdainful of ‘common’ students than the academy’s Rithmatics students (if such a thing is possible). Only Melody will speak to Joel as they spend summer term with Prof. Finch – she in remedial studies (her chalklings are stunning; her circles too wobbly to defend anything) and he as research assistant.

When an older Rithmatics student disappears, gossip says Lilly just ran away, but bloodstains and chalkling-attacked defense lines in her room tell another story. Inspector Harding of the national police arrives on campus to investigate, and Prof. Finch is given the task of uncovering any possible rogue Rithmatists.

Another advanced Rithmatics student vanishes, leaving signs of a chalk battle behind – now parents are worried, newspaper reporters clamor for details, and the investigative team at Armedius struggles to piece together the clues.

Is it mere coincidence that Prof. Nalizar arrived just before Lilly vanished?
Are the odd chalklines found at disappearance sites new Rithmatic lines of power?
Will the kidnapper strike again?

In his first novel for young adults, Brandon Sanderson unveils a brilliantly imagined alternative world where Korea’s JoSeun empire has invaded Europe and the Americas are many islands in a shallow sea, where machinery runs on clockwork instead of internal combustion and fear of the Wild Chalklings’ escape from Nebrask drives the Rithmatists’ training, where mere fragments of simple chalk stand between chaos and civilization. Ben McSweeney’s illustrations of Rithmatics lines enhance descriptions of the defenses, duels and battles, while readers can only hope that the Chalkling attackers that he draws stay firmly on the pages. First in a series that promises more adventure, magic, and treachery. (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

Z for zzzzz – Stung, by Bethany Wiggins (book review) – bees extinct, humanity next?

Apr30

book cover of Stung by Bethany Wiggins published by Walker BloomsburyNo bees, no pollination.
No pollination, no food.
No food, now anarchy.

Bee flu? Bioengineered bee-replacements? Vaccine-induced madness coupled with super-human strength? Not the Denver that I want to visit…

You can read an excerpt from the first chapter of Stung  here.

Will we be able to save today’s normal bees and save ourselves?
**kmm

Book info:  Stung / Bethany Wiggins. Walker & Company, 2013.  [author blog]  [publisher site]  [book trailer]

My recommendation: Fiona suddenly awakens in her bedroom, clean in a world of filth and dust, looking like she’s seventeen yet feeling thirteen. She knows she must hide the ten-legged tattoo on her hand, but can’t remember why.

Attacked by a snarling savage man who might be her brother, she flees her family’s shattered house, seeking answers, finding hostility from neighbors. Reward posters offer ounces of rarer-than-gold honey for live captives with the tattoo – she recalls something about bees dying.

Rescued from vicious men by a ragged child, Fi finds a world of refugee Fecs in the sewers. The tattooed ones turn violent as teenagers and are hunted down by the militia before they can mindlessly attack the clean citizens behind the Wall. A three can break a strong man’s arm without effort – what could a ten like Fiona do? But she still feels human…

An attempt to rescue a three from the militia goes wrong, and Fiona is sonic-shocked. She recognizes her captor as Bowen, her next-door-neighbor, the younger brother. He is stunned to hear her speak, as the violent impulses always choke out rational thought.

Eventually convinced that Fiona won’t turn violent, Bowen tells her what’s happened during her four-year memory gap. Scientists tried to rescue dwindling bee populations and created disease, tried to cure the disease and created monsters. Each leg on a tattoo means one dose received –  and one step closer to violence and madness. People with no tattoo weren’t exposed to the cure and won’t turn violent, so healthy ones can live inside the Wall – for a time.

But something is wrong with this theory – if Fiona has ten marks, why isn’t she a mindless monster by now? How did she suddenly appear in a clean dress in her old house? Why can’t she remember the past four years? Why does the Governor want her so badly that he offers full life inside the Wall for her capture, dead or alive?

Battling against more than just loss of water and resources, Fiona and Bowen work on the mystery as they try to escape from the militia, the slavetraders, the Fecs, and the Governor in a frightening future where not one bee buzzes. (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.