Tag Archive | travel

Sister stolen by The Ice Sea Pirates! by Frida Nilsson (book review)

Jul13

book cover of Ice Sea Pirates, by Frida Nilsson, translated by Peter Graves, illustrated by David Barrow, published by Gecko Press | recommended on BooksYALove.comChildren kidnapped,
forced to work in a diamond mine
on an ice-covered pirate island!

Of course, Siri will do anything to get her little sister back – but how much can a 10 year old do against feared pirates?

Look for this windswept, icy adventure in hardcover or paperback at your local library or independent bookstore – yes, they can get it if not currently in stock!

How far would you go to rescue someone you love?
**kmm

Book info: The Ice Sea Pirates / Frida Nilsson; illustrated by David Barrow; translated by Peter Graves. Gecko Press, 2017. [author info] [artist’s Twitter] [translator info] [publisher site]  Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: In a heartbeat’s time, her little sister Miki is stolen away by the feared Ice Sea Pirates, so 10-year-old Siri races to save her from Captain Whitehead’s deadly diamond mines on a secret island.

How can she follow the pirate ship Snow Raven when adults won’t help?
Why are only children used to mine diamonds?
Can she rescue Miki before the seas freeze over?

This Swedish tale in translation is filled with adventure and daring, as Siri risks her life and safety to bring Miki back to their grieving father, to their snug fishers’ cottage where a tiny piece of mermaid’s tail decorates the wall.

Tough stories? Listen and learn

Jul5

This week’s free audiobooks from SYNC bring us strong stories from real life and real-life situations.

Download these complete audiobooks from Thursday through Wednesday this week for free, then listen to them whenever you like.

If you miss the free download time, check with your local library through WorldCat to see if they have the CD (or print book or eBook) that you can borrow.

CD of The Invisible Girls, by Sarah Thebarge | Read by Kirsten Potter Published by Oasis Audio, LLC. | recommended on BooksYALove.comThe Invisible Girls (download free here from 5-11 July 2018)
by Sarah Thebarge
Read by Kirsten Potter
Published by Oasis Audio, LLC.

As a young woman remaking her own life in a new city, the author meets a refugee mother desperate to feed her five daughters in a new culture they don’t understand.
Girls Like Us (download free here from 5-11 July 2018)
CD cover of Girls Like Us, by Gail Giles | Read by Lauren Ezzo, Brittany Pressley Published by Candlewick on Brilliance Publishing | recommended on BooksYALove.comby Gail Giles
Read by Lauren Ezzo, Brittany Pressley
Published by Candlewick on Brilliance Publishing

After graduating, Biddy (fists raised against everything) and Quinny (so timid, so very scared) are placed together as apartment-mates and must learn to navigate the world beyond their special education program.

What memoirs and true-to-life fiction have you read lately?
**kmm

Listen, listen to maker-stories – free this week!

May24

This week’s free audiobooks from SYNC include stories about young women creating something personal and important.

Download these complete audiobooks from Thursday through Wednesday 24-30 May, so you can listen to them using a free Audible app, as long as they’re on your computer or electronic device.

Click on the link for either or both books to start the simple download process.

CD Cover of When Dimple Met Rishi, by Sandhya Menon | Read by Sneha Mathan, Vikas Adam Published by Dreamscape Media | recommended on BooksYALove.comWhen Dimple Met Rishi (download here free from May 24-30, 2018)
by Sandhya Menon
Read by Sneha Mathan, Vikas Adam
Published by Dreamscape Media

Dimple wants to win the app development contest, Mom wants to arrange the ideal Indian marriage, and Rishi wants Dimple to agree with their parents that he is the one for her! Was a summer after graduation ever so complicated?  (I recommended this fun book last May at https://booksyalove.com/?p=8797)
 
Baker’s Magic (download here free from May 24-30, 2018)CD cover of Baker's Magic, by Diane Zahler | Read by Tavia Gilbert, Michael Crouch, Stephen DeRosa, Kenneth Cavett, L.J. Ganser, Robin Miles, Stina Nielsen, Elisabeth Rodgers Published by Live Oak Media | recommended on BooksYALove.com
by Diane Zahler
Read by Tavia Gilbert, Michael Crouch, Stephen DeRosa, Kenneth Cavett, L.J. Ganser, Robin Miles, Stina Nielsen, Elisabeth Rodgers
Published by Live Oak Media

Bee discovers that her baking reflects her moods, a rare gift that takes the 12 year old orphan from small village to castle to pirate ship as she helps a new (and royal) friend escape an evil mage.

What stories about creating and making would you recommend?
**kmm

Tales of escape and hope to read with your ears

May3

Songs of desperation and hope thread through his week’s free audiobooks from SYNC to read with your ears!

Remember that although these complete audiobooks are only available from Thursday through Wednesday, you have free use of them as long as you keep them on your computer or electronic device.

Click each CD title to reach the download site – enjoy!

CD cover of Solo, by Kwame Alexander, Mary Rand Hess | Read by Kwame Alexander Published by Blink | recommended on BooksYALove.com Solo (free download from 5-11 May 2018)
by Kwame Alexander, Mary Rand Hess 
Read by Kwame Alexander 
Published by Blink

Blade wants to escape his rock-star dad’s raucous reputation… but a family secret bursts onto the young musician’s present – a novel in verse.
 

The Devil’s Highway: a True Story (free download from 5-11 May 2018)CD cover of Devil's Highway, by Luis Alberto Urrea | Read by Luis Alberto Urrea Published by Hachette Audio | recommended on BooksYALove.com
by Luis Alberto Urrea
Read by Luis Alberto Urrea
Published by Hachette Audio

In May 2001, a group of men tried to cross the desert from Mexico into Arizona, but only half survived. Investigative reporting of a story that repeats itself often, even today.

What other stories of escape would you recommmend?
**kmm

Y = You Are Here, but where and who am I? by Jennifer E. Smith (book review)

Apr28

book cover of You Are Here by Jennifer E. Smith, published by Simon & Schuster | recommended on BooksYALove.comShe had a twin brother,
didn’t know till now –
visiting his grave seems right… so far from here.

So… if you just discovered at age 16 that you were a twin, would that explain why you never felt complete?

Emma thinks it’s possible and that traveling from New York to North Carolina to see his headstone will help her in ways that her parents and much older siblings can’t.

Peter longs to escape their small town, and a trip with Emma (just friends) is one way to start.

Another satisfying story of traveling, evolving friendship, and interesting secrets from the author of The Statistical Probability of Falling in Love (my notes here) and Geography of Me and You (noted here).

Your favorite road-trip novel?
**kmm

Book info: You Are Here / Jennifer E. Smith. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2015. [author site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

U= upperworld’s secrets in Freefall, by Joshua David Bellin (book review)

Apr24

book cover of Freefall by Joshua David Bellin, published by Simon Schuster | recommended on BooksYALove.comPreparing to flee dying Earth,
only the wealthy 1% may go,
but lowerworld 99% has other ideas!

This dystopian novel begins with privileged Cam’s stealthy views of Lowerworld economic protests (he must find that golden-eyed girl!) leading up to the corporation-run Upperworld’s elite space migration program launch (slated only for the wealthiest, naturally).

Sofie’s eloquence convinces Cam to help her make the case for allowing some Lowerworld people to go on the Otherworld colonization ships.

But the thousand-year space journey ends elsewhere than mission designers planned! Sabotage?

Can there truly be One World on the new less-hospitable planet when money and propaganda had divided Earth into Two?

And what’s attacking them?
**kmm

Book info: Freefall / Joshua David Bellin. Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2017. [author site] [publisher site] [book trailer] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

T = Typewriter Rodeo! by Jodi Egerton, David Fruchter, Kari Ann Holt, Sean Petrie (book review)

Apr23

book cover of Typewriter Rodeo, by Jodi Egerton, David Fruchter, Sean Petrie, Kari Holt. Published by Andrews McMeel | recommended on BooksYALove.comFree poems while you wait!
Click-clack of manual typewriter keys,
Insights on paper, to keep.

No surprise that Typewriter Rodeo began at an Austin, Texas craft fair in 2013 – four writers creating immediate poetry on portable (and not-so-portable) old typewriters.

This new book collects photos of some poems (which are handed over to their requestors) and the stories behind their creation, from “It’s Valentine’s Weekend…” by Kari Anne for a loved, lost, then refound couple in Austin to “Jeannie” by Sean in honor of a roller-skating, table-waiting cafe owner in Maine.

Yes, the quartet will lug their manual typewriters to your event, far or near, to bring instant poetry on whatever subject they are asked!

What would you request at the Typewriter Rodeo?
**kmm

Book info: Typewriter Rodeo: Real People, Real Stories, Custom Poems / Jodi Egerton, David Fruchter, Kari Ann Holt, Sean Petrie. Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2018. [project website] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.


L = The Leaving Season and love and loss, after graduation, by Cat Jordan (book review)

Apr13

book cover of The Leaving Season by Cat Jordan, published by Harper Teen | recommended on BooksYALove.comSo many leave for college at this time,
but leaving for another country?
What if something goes wrong?

When Middie’s perfect (really, he is the best ever!) boyfriend is kidnapped while on a humanitarian gap year project abroad, she is utterly devastated – and only Nate’s best friend understands how she feels.

If only she and Lee had anything in common besides Nate – or do they?

Read the first chapter here for free, courtesy of the publisher, to meet Middie and Nate as he leaves for Honduras and she tries to start navigating her life without him by her side daily.

How do you cope with folks leaving?
**kmm

Book info: The Leaving Season / Cat Jordan. Harper Teen, 2016. [author site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

J is Japan in Last Leaves Falling, by Sarah Benwell (book review)

Apr11

Knows he is dying,
losing body control, bit by bit –
and finally finding friends who don’t care?

Have a hankie at hand when you read Abe’s determination to get the last word over the ALS that’s attacking his 17 year old body and his almost-too-late joy in meeting peers who look past his condition to help him when he needs it most.

Read the first chapter free at the publisher’s website here (scroll down to Excerpt), then discover the rest of this Japanese teen’s story at your local library or favorite independent bookstore in hardcover or paperback.

What would you do to help a friend?
**kmm

Book info: The Last Leaves Falling / Sarah Benwell (or Fox Benwell). Simon Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2015 (hardcover), 2016 (paperback) [author site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Is ARROW OF LIGHTNING power enough? by Joseph Bruchac (book review)

Mar29

book cover of Arrow of Lightning by Joseph Bruchac published by Lee and Low | recommended on BooksYALove.comBecome the hunters, not the hunted.
Avoid the monsters, human and otherwise.
Survive without killing the human ones?

So many genetically-modified creatures are out to get Lozen, Hussein, and the others who’ve escaped from the Ones who torture for fun. Perhaps she can protect her family and friends without taking a human life…

As Killer of Enemies (my review here) in the tech-blasted future, Lozen had to obey the Ones, or her family would be killed.

Along the Trail of the Dead, Lozen’s family is larger and the dangers are immense.

Arrow of Lightning is a super wrap-up of this #ownvoices trilogy – Lozen is on my heroes list.

To save your family, what lengths would you go to?
**kmm

Book info: Arrow of Lightning (Killer of Enemies, book 3) / Joseph Bruchac. Lee and Low Books, 2017. [author site]  [publisher site]  Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.