The Great Greene Heist

Jackson Greene is trying to live the clean life after getting caught trying to break into the principal's office and not exactly kissing a girl to annoy a rival.  He knows he's out if he commits one more infraction.

The problem is his former best friend and girl of his dreams Gaby de la Cruz is running for student council president against slime-ball Keith Sinclair.  Jackson tries to stay out of it, but once he discovers that Keith is plotting to win no matter what, he has to involved.

It's bad enough that Keith wants to strip all the clubs in school of funding (except of course for his clubs), but Jackson can't let Keith do this to Gaby.  She deserves to win.

Jackson puts together a team to steal the election.  There's Charlie, his best friend and Gaby's twin brother; Bradley, the inside man; Hashemi, tech support; and Victor, the money man.  Can this team of cons pull off the biggest heist of Jackson's career to win the election for Gaby and maybe the girl of his dreams for Jackson?  Read Varian Johnson's debut book to find out!  I definitely recommend this one for fans of heist stories with a touch of romance and humor.

A Hitch at the Fairmont

Jack's world collapses when his mother dies.  It was just the two of them, and now it feels like he is completely alone.  Then his horrible aunt shows up after the funeral to pack him up and take him away from all his friends to live with him at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco.

Aunt Edith is cruel and demanding, and Jack's existence is miserable.  Just a few weeks after moving in with her, she is kidnapped.  He doesn't miss his aunt, but he doesn't want to live in foster care either, so he goes looking for help to find her.

Who better to help solve a mystery than the famous movie director, Alfred Hitchcock, the master of suspense himself.  At first Hitchcock is reluctant to get involved, but it doesn't take long for the director to get wrapped up in the mystery and to appreciate Jack's artistic talent and quick intelligence.

There is something more going on here than a simple kidnapping, but Jack and Hitchcock will have to plunge headfirst into danger to figure it out.  With a hotel full of characters and potential suspects, it will not be an easy job.

I love Alfred Hitchcock movies, so I was excited to read Jim Averbeck's book.  What a fun read!  This book is filled with mysteries and clues.  Each chapter title is the name of one of Hitchcock's films, and each chapter begins storyboard drawings like Hitchcock used to block out his movies.  You don't have to be familiar with Hitchcock to enjoy this mystery, but that will make it more fun!  Maybe this book will get you interested in some of these classic suspense films.

The Boundless

Will has always wanted an adventure of his own.  His father has had plenty starting with laying track across the Canadian wilderness to saving a railroad baron's life and being promoted to head of the company.  Will's fortunes change with his father's, but he wants an adventure of his own.  Little does he know he's about to have the ride of his life!

The track is laid, the engine is complete, and The Boundless is about to make its first trip across the Canadian frontier pulling miles of passengers, cargo, foreign settlers, and the great Zirkus Dante.  Will's journey begins in a private first class carriage, but when he sees a girl he knew from years ago performing with Zirkus Dante, he sets off to find her on the train.  This decision leads to his discovery that murderous thieves are plotting on the train, and in his attempt to escape the murderer, he nearly misses the train and has to work his way from the caboose to the front while avoiding conspirators.

Will goes undercover with the Zirkus, which is an adventure in itself, but Canada is a wild and mysterious place filled with sasquatches, witches, and deadly avalanches.  It will take all his wits and courage to make it back to the front of the train to warn his father and save the passengers.

Kenneth Oppel's new book is a thrilling adventure ride mixing historical fiction with fantasy and suspense.  It's a must read for thrill seekers.

Atlantia

Rio has lived her entire life below in Atlantia.  Many years ago when the above became too polluted, humanity found a solution.  They built the underwater city of Atlantia, and some were chosen to live there to increase humanity's chances of survival.  Some where chosen to stay above to live in the polluted world and send food and supplies below.

Rio has always dreamed of going above, but when her mother died she promised her sister, Bay, she would stay below with her.  But Rio is shocked when Bay chooses to go above and leave her sister alone in Atlantia.  It is at this moment that Rio reveals her secret.  She is a siren.  Her true voice can bend people to her will, but she has kept this power a secret all her life to stay out of the hands of the council and those who would use her for their own ends.

It is only after Bay is gone that Rio begins to explore more of Atlantia where she comes in contact with her Aunt Mer, a powerful siren.  Rio isn't sure she can trust her aunt or the disturbing truths she learns about Atlantia.

One thing is for certain.  Rio will find a way to get above even if her feelings get more confused every day.  Atlantia is more dangerous than she ever imagined especially for a siren living in the shadows.  But she is also in danger of losing her heart to True, the clever boy who wants to protect her.

Ally Condie's new book has a similar feel to the Matched trilogy, and you will definitely enjoy Atlantia if you liked the first series.

The Thickety

So, I'm a little conflicted about this book.  The characters and the design skew a bit young, but this is a Dark book.  Yes, that capital D is intentional.  I'm just not sure what to do with it.  It looks like a 6th grade book and reads like an 8th grade book.  I'll just have to see what happens.

When Kara Westfall was five years old, her mother was hanged for witchcraft.  Ever since that time, she, her brother, and her father have been outcasts in the village.  Her father is barely functional stuck in the horror and despair of losing his wife.  This leaves Kara to take care of herself and her sickly younger brother.

The village is surrounded by a dark and dangerous forest called the Thickety.  It's filled with magic and frightening creatures.  No one ventures inside because of the risk of death or worse.

One day a strange creature lures Kara into the Thickety where she discovers a grimoire and begins covertly practicing magic.  She is in constant danger of discovery, but the magic is powerful and addictive.

About halfway through the book, things take a (not so) surprising turn which I won't reveal in the interest of not spoiling the story.  But the twist at the end I did not see coming.

This was a good but disturbing book with an interesting exploration of addiction.  I am interesting to see what J.A. White does with book two.

Saving Lucas Biggs

Margaret is heartbroken when her father is convicted of a crime he didn't commit.  The Victory corporation owns pretty much everything in Victory, Arizona, including the judge who presided at the trial.  Some people see Margaret's dad as a whistle-blower and a hero, and some people see him as a traitor.  Unfortunately, the people in charge see him as a problem to be handled.

The only way to save him, is to use the family "gift" and travel back in time to 1938 to stop the event that turned Lucas Biggs into the hard and cold man he is today.

Back in 1938, things are not going well for the Victory corporation or for the miners who produce the company's coal.  When a disaster in the mine causes increased tensions in the town, the miners go on strike.

There is one moment where everything hangs in the balance.  The first time around resulted in tragedy, and the balance tipped in Victory Corporation's favor.  Margaret hopes things can be different this time.  If she succeeds, she will save three lives and change the future of Victory, Arizona.  If she fails, she loses her father.

This is a story about time travel, friendship, and the struggle between social classes with a dash of environmentalism thrown in.  We get multiple perspectives on the action from both 1938 and 2014.  You will be on the edge of your seat as Margaret and her friends try to change the past to save the future.  Read this collaboration between husband and wife, Marisa de los Santos and David Teague!

The Red Pencil

Amira's life in Sudan is one of hard work, but she is happy.  Her father, Dando, is her favorite person, and he encourages her creativity calling her Amira Bright and finding perfect drawing sticks for her sand drawing.

When her best friend moves away to go to school, a desire to learn is kindled in her heart.  Everything changes when the Janjaweed arrives.  They are a local militia bringing death and destruction in their wake.  When they are gone, the village is destroyed, and many people are dead.

The survivors flee and end up in Kalma, a refugee camp.  Life is now filled with trash and strangers and hopelessness.  It is the gift of a red pencil and a pad of paper from a stranger that begins to wake Amira from her grief.

Amira's dream of going to school comes alive again, and now she will do anything to learn.

Andrea Davis Pinkney's new verse novel is beautiful and heartbreaking story about pain, violence, and the will to succeed.  Be sure to read the author's note at the end for a brief explanation of the true events in Darfur that inspired this story.

The Crossover

Josh's dad, and pretty much everyone else, calls him Filthy McNasty because of his skills on the basketball court.  Only two people can come close:  his twin brother JB and their dad.

But just as their team is poised to take the championship, things start to go wrong.  Josh and JB have always been best friends, but now JB has a crush on the new girl Alexis.  Miss Sweet Tea may be cute and a baller, but it's not easy for someone else to take the number one spot away from Josh.

Josh's dad used to be a professional player in the Euroleague until his hurt his knee.  His career could have continued if he's had knee surgery, but he has always been opposed to doctors.  The same is true now that he's had fainting spells and shortness of breath.  Heart problems run in the family, but "da man" can't be brought down  so easily.  The fried chicken and donuts don't help.
All of this is driving Josh a little crazy, and he lashes out at JB at a game.  Can these two brothers ever repair their relationship, or is this the end of a beautiful friendship?

I loved Kwame Alexander's story of basketball and family told in verse format.

Abby Spencer Goes to Bollywood

Abby Spencer's life in Houston has been pretty normal up to now.  She's never known her father, but she has her mom and her grandparents plus great friends at school.  Everything changes one day when she discovers she has a serious food allergy.  Nearly dying can give a girl the courage to ask her mom about her long lost father!

That's when she discovers the truth.  She's always known her father was Indian, but the truth is even crazier than that.  He's a Bollywood star and not just any Bollywood star either.  Naveen Kumar is the hottest star of Bollywood cinema!

Abby wanted her life to be more exciting, but this might be too crazy.  She goes to Mumbai to meet her father and his father where she discovers the wonders and extreme poverty of India.  She also gets a taste of the celebrity life!

No one back home is ever going to believe this!

This is a sweet story about family relationships set against the backdrop of a Bollywood musical.  Varsha Bajaj's story is a light and fun read.  If you went to Tweens Read, you may have seen the author there.

The School for Good and Evil

Sophie is determined to be a princess in a fairy tale, so when it comes time for the kidnapping, she does everything she can to make sure she is taken.  The rest of the village takes precautions: nailing windows and doors shut, patrols in the street, the good dirtying themselves up and the bad trying to be a little better.    Every four years, a mysterious creature comes in the night to kidnap the best and worst child in the village.  No one is exactly certain where they go, but the faces of kidnapped children in storybooks are proof enough.

Sophie believes her devotion to personal beauty and carefully planned acts of charity make her the obvious choice for good.  Sophie doesn't really have any friends.  She's too good for anyone in the village, but what started out as one of her "acts of charity" has actually turned into a friendship of a sort.

Agatha is the opposite of Sophie in many ways.  She is dark-haired, wears only black, has a perpetual grumpy attitude, and lives in a cemetery.  Additionally, she thinks Sophie is insane for wanting to be kidnapped.  So, while Sophie is doing everything in her power to be kidnapped, Agatha is trying to protect her.

When the actual kidnapping does happen, the two girls are taken together, but Sophie's exultation quickly turns to dismay when she is dumped in Evil and Agatha is dumped in Good.  How could this have happened?!

From day one Sophie is intent on proving there's been a mistake, getting her prince, and winning her happily ever after.  Agatha sees the true danger around them and devotes her time to finding a way home.  Will either girl get her hearts desire?  And will these two misfits find out where they truly belong?

I really enjoyed Soman Chainani's book about misconceptions and friendship.  I love the way the author picks apart common fairy tale tropes to show how ridiculous the are in "real" life.  I recommend this one for fairy tale and fantasy fans.

Sure Signs of Crazy

Sarah's life is ruled by one event in her past.  When she was little, her mother tried to drown her and her twin brother.  Simon died, Sarah survived, and following trials for both of her parents became media sensations.

It would be nearly impossible to put something like that behind you anyway, but the media dredges the story up every few years, and Sarah's father uproots their lives to move to a new city.  This means they always live in a rent house, Sarah's always the new girl, and she's always ready to pack up and go at the first sign that her mother's story is coming back.

To make things worse, Sarah is worried that her mother's crazy is hereditary, so she's always examining herself for signs of it.  Her father is an alcoholic who drinks until he passes out pretty much every night and on the weekends.

Sarah has always tried to hide her true feelings until her language arts teacher gives her an assignment to write over the summer, suggesting the students start by writing to their favorite characters.  Sarah writes a series of letters to Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird, and this is when she starts to be honest with herself, and she even writes all the things she wishes she could say to her father.

Sarah thought Garland was the armpit of Texas, but as the summer progresses, she will find new friends and start to make her peace with herself and her mother.

I loved Karen Harrington's new book!  It is heartbreaking but funny, and, of course, I appreciate Sarah's fascination with words.  This is a must read!

West of the Moon

Astri and her younger sister, Greta, live with their aunt, uncle, and cousins.  Their mother died when Greta was just a baby, and their father left for America.  He is saving money to bring his daughters over from Norway, but he's been gone for years.

When Svaalberd the goat man shows up looking to buy a girl work on his farm, Astri knows it won't be like the fairy tale.  In that story, when the bear shows up to take the girl, he leaves her family with riches, and takes her to a world with soft furnishings, full bellies, and kindness.  Svaalberd is a a goat man.  He smells like the goats he keeps, has a hump on his back, bad breath, and a foul temper.

As she suspected, Svaalberd is not a kind a master, and Astri takes the her chance when she sees it to try to escape.  Thus begins her quest to save her sister and get the two of them on a ship to America to find their father.

They will have to face many dangers and challenges along the way, but they will also find friends and uncover the secrets of the past.  Astri knows the traditional Norwegian folktales by heart, and she blends them into her own tale of survival.  But life is not a fairy tale, and as Astri realizes early in the story, no one is going to show up to save her by magical or mortal means.  If Astri wants to be saved, she will have to save herself.

This story was inspired by the diary of Margi Preus's great great grandmother.  Make sure to read the author's note at the end for more information about Preus's ancestor and Norwegian fairy tales.  It probably won't surprise you to learn that I loved this book.  The mix of fairy tales and reality is wonderful, and Astri's tale is dark and painful but also hopeful.  A great read!

The Vengekeep Prophecies

Jaxter Grimjinx is one in a long line of thieves and con artists.  His family has pulled off some of the greatest heists in the five provinces, and Jaxter is destined to join their ranks.  The only problem is Jaxter is the clumsiest kid in Vengekeep, maybe in all the five provinces.  It's hard to pick a lock when when you keep dropping the instruments.  His only real skill is the ability to use plants and herbs to nullify magical charms and wards.

Many years ago a pair of prophetic twins wove a series of tapestries, one for each year, that would warn the inhabitants of Vengekeep of troubles in the year to come.  Each year that tapestry is revealed at celebration.  This year, the tapestry reveals the worst series of catastrophes in history:  fire, flood, earthquakes, horrifying beasts.  But the tapestry also reveals the Grimjinx family will save the town.  Can this be true?  The most reviled family of thieves in town will save them all?

Jaxter comes up with a plan to save Vengekeep, but it will involve sneaking out of town to gather ingredients from all over the five provinces.  With the help of his new friend, Callie, Jaxter will have to overcome his own insecurities and match wits with a range of mages and con artists.  Can Jaxter Grimjinx, klutz and failed thief really become a hero?

Brian Farrey's book is a fast-paced fantasy adventure.  If you think the cover art looks familiar, you might recognize the style.  The cover art and the chapter heading illustrations were down by Brent Helquist, illustrator of A Series of Unfortunate Events.

Tesla's Attic

I love Neal Shusterman as I'm sure you know if you've been reading this blog for any amount of time.  It only takes a couple of pages in this new series starter co-written with Eric Elfman to figure out why.  As with all Shusterman's books, it's clear from the beginning that this is not your average story.  It is his skill with character and plot which transforms what could be a ho-hum story into a clever and surprising tale of friendship, honesty, and long ago scientific rivalries.  Who else could this?

Nick has just moved to Colorado Springs with his father and younger brother Danny following the tragedy that destroyed his home and killed his mother.  The family is still reeling from this loss, and they've moved from Florida in part to escape and in part because the ancient house left to them by a relative is the only housing option they have.

When Nick decides to use the attic as her bedroom, he knows he'll need to have a garage sale to get rid of all the junk that's been hidden there for ages.  But once he gets rid of them, he realizes they are not just ordinary objects.  That may look like an innocent toaster, but when Nick tries to use it, it blows out all the lights in the room.  Did I mention it doesn't even plug into the wall?  And that's the tamest of the objects.

Soon after the stuff is gone, guys in suits show up to demand the items and immediately put Nick on edge.  He knows that stuff is more than it seems.  He also seems to know instinctively that the the white suit guys should not get there hands on any of it.

With a little research, he learns that he and friends are in the middle of an ages old battle between Tesla and Edison.  Not only are they endangered from Edison's modern day followers, but Nick has unwittingly set off a chain events that could destroy the entire planet!