The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer is covered with award stickers, including the National Book Award, Newbery Honor, and Michael Printz award. After reading this very excellent and suspenseful cautionary tale, I'm not surprised. 

Detailing a future where cloning is commonplace, The House of the Scorpion takes place in North America, which has been splintered into territories ruled by powerful drug lords, including the country called Opium.

The main character, Matt, is a clone of the tyrannical patriarch of the Alacrán empire, El Patrón. Unlike the clones that are made "eejits" at birth, Matt's mental faculties are left intact, and he grows up being cared for by Celia, who loves him like a son, and knowing that he is has a special role to play in the Alacrán family. When he meets other children in the Alacrán world, he learns that most people react to clones with fear and disgust. Yet, the little girl Maria, always treats him like the person he feels he is.

An exciting survival story begins to unfold, as Matt fights for his life, in more ways than one, and builds unlikely alliances, from Maria, to Tam Lin, a bodyguard with a dark secret, to the "Lost Boys" orphans that he meets later on. 

Highly recommended.

As a huge fan of Graceling, I was excited to see the announcement that the sequel, Bitterblue, is scheduled to be published in May, 2012. If you haven't yet read Graceling, and you enjoy fast-paced action/adventure stories featuring a strong female character (along the lines of Hunger Games), I'd highly recommend it (see past review for more info.)

Just FYI, even though Fire was published AFTER Graceling, it is actually a prequel, so Bitterblue will be the first book to continue on the exciting plotline of Graceling.

For those who have been waiting and waiting (I've had a reserve list for years, now!) for the conclusion to Christopher Paolini's Inheritance Cycle, the wait will be over soon.

The series that began with Eragon, which Paolini started writing at the age of 15, continued with Eldest and Brisingr.

The last book is Inheritance and is scheduled for release on November 8. You can get on the reserve list now, by emailing me at mtownlibrary@yahoo.com

We have a few giveaways for anyone who is a fan of Julie Kagawa's Iron Fey paranormal romance series that begins with The Iron King. The publisher sent us some buttons and bookmarks to coincide with the release of The Iron Queen, #3 in the series.

I have not yet read these books, but Jenelle, who works in the circulation department, highly recommends them.

If you'd like a button or bookmark....just ask at the youth desk.

I was sad to see that a great author, Eva Ibbotson, died today at 85 years old. She is the author of two favorite books of mine, Island of the Aunts and The Star of Kazan. I also know quite a few readers, including my daughter Kennedy, who name Journey to the River Sea as a favorite. We have many more of her books, as well as some books to listen to on CD.

Island of the Aunts has one of my favorite openings of any book: "Kidnapping children is not a good idea. All the same, sometimes it has to be done." This is a like Roald-Dahl-but-nicer story that has a great message, interesting characters, is suspenseful AND, best of all, has a kraken in it.

I'd recommend the newer book, Girl in the Arena by Lise Haines, to people who like the Hunger Games, Graceling, Tamora Pierce, the Uglies series, Maximum Ride, and other action books featuring strong heroines.

With a few futuristic touches, this dystopian novel has a pretty contemporary feel, with the exception of the inclusion of a reality-tv-like Gladiator subculture, where gladiators fight (often to the death) for mass entertainment. The Gladiator lifestyle is simultaneously revered and scorned by the overall society.

Lyn is the daughter of seven gladiators. As is common in Glad culture, Lyn's mother remarries a new Gladiator each time she is widowed. The book opens as her current and favorite father, Tommy, prepares to go into the arena. When the winning gladiator claims Lyn's dowry bracelet (worn by Tommy for good luck), the Gladiator Sports Association (GSA) tries to force her to marry the victor.

Lyn is a fiesty and likable character who is determined not to let the powerful GSA control her life. She is equally determined to protect her younger brother, Thad, whose special needs make him especially vulnerable. If you can get past the author's confusing use of dashes, instead of quotation marks to denote dialogue, this is a pretty exciting and suspenseful read.

I just finished reading the teen book, Guardian of the Gate by Michelle Zink, which is the sequel to Prophecy of the Sisters, about twin sisters in an ancient prophecy where one is the guardian and one the gate. If you haven't read the first book...this review might ruin some of the suspense of the first book. 

Lia, who is determined to save the world from the unleashing of "the Souls," is trying to find a way to end the prophecy, while her twin, Alice, wants to see the evil prophecy fulfilled.

The sequel keeps the suspense going, and introduces a new character Dimitri, which also introduces a romantic "Twilight-like" feel to the story. I actually found the "romancy" scenes distracting from the action, but some readers might see it as a plus. The ending wraps up the current book, but also leaves enough unresolved to guarantee a sequel.

While Libba Bray's A Great and Terrible Beauty series is a higher on my own personal list of recommendations, I think that fans of Bray's books (as well as those looking for some of the same kind of suspense and romance of Twilight) would enjoy this series.

Have you ever read a book that you weren't really sure if you liked, but it kept you interested enough that you had to keep reading? Nomansland by Lesley Hauge was like that for me. This dystopian novel has an interesting premise of a future land populated only by girls and women and who are indoctrinated through strict rules and rites to reject the lifestyles lived by those in the Before.

I know that MHS students read Herland in Advanced American Lit, and am curious how the ideas raised in this novel would compare.

Ultimately, my rating on this book was that it was a quick read for mature readers. The ending seems to leave room for a sequel.

If you are looking for a new fantasy series to read, you might enjoy Fablehaven (also the name of the first book) by Brandon Mull. This series is about a brother and sister who are sent to stay with their grandparents, only to discover that their grandparents are the caretakers of a magical, secret preserve of all kinds of fantastical creatures.

This series has been enjoyed by several library staff members, and has recommendations printed on the book cover by science fiction great, Orson Scott Card, as well as Obert Skye, author of the Leven Thumps series. I'd say that readers who have enjoyed series like Magyck (Septimus Heap books) by Angie Sage, The Magic Thief series by Sarah Prineas, Island of the Aunts by Eva Ibbotson, and Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins, would also really enjoy Fablehaven.

If you met author Sarah Prineas this past fall when she visited Marshalltown, you might be excited to know that the third book in the Magic Thief trilogy is out. Here is an interesting piece of trivia from Prineas' website:
'
Here's a funny thing about the three Magic Thief books: their first lines.

The first line of The Magic Thief is:

A thief is a lot like a wizard.

The first line of The Magic Thief: Lost is:

A wizard is a lot like a pyrotechnist.

And the first line of The Magic Thief: Found is:

A wizard is a lot like a thief.

I just finished The Shifter by Janice Hardy, the first book in The Healing Wars series #1. In the community where Nya lives, the conquering Duke has made life very difficult for Geveg residents, especially orphans like Nya and her sister Tali.

Nya is relieved that Tali has been accepted into the Healers' League, but Nya still has to struggle to survive. Even though she shares her sister's healing gift, Nya is different. She is not able to take pain and pour it into pynvium, but has a dangerous ability that she must keep hidden: she is able to shift pain from one person to another.

As Nya learns more about what is going on at the League, she finds that her abilities are even more complicated than she realized. She is faced with some tough choices that challenge ideas about right and wrong, forcing her to explore just how far she will push herself to save those she cares about. 

The new How to Train Your Dragon movie is based on the book by Cressida Cowell (or, if you believe the cover of the book by Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III). This is the first in a series of books. The library has the first book in both print and audio, as well as others in the series.
Also on order for younger kids are beginning readers based on the movie.

If you are a fan of Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson series based on Greek mythology, you will be excited to know that the movie of book one, The LIghtning Thief, will be released in theaters on Friday, February 12.

While often checked out, the entire series is available at the public library in both print and audio formats. You may also want to check out some of the original mythology that the characters are based on in J 292.2, the juvenile non-fiction section.

For Greek mythology fans, there are several other fiction series based on Greek myths, including series by the following authors: Julia Golding, Mary Pope Osborne, and Jane Yolen.

When author Sarah Prineas was here this fall, she recommended Savvy by her friend Ingrid Law, who won the Newbery for this title in 2008. I recently listened to this title on CD, and think this is a great story for anyone of any age.

In the Beaumont family, when a child turns 13, he or she comes into their own unique "savvy"--an ability or gift that he or she must learn to manage and balance (or "scrumble" as they call it.) Mibs has her 13 birthday while her father is lying far away in Salina, KS,  in a coma from a recent car accident...and she is convinced that she needs to travel to Salina so her new savvy can help Papa come back to his family.

Stowing away on a pink bible-delivering bus driven by bumbling Lester, Mibs, two of her brothers, her one and only friend, Will,his angsty teen sister, Bobbi, and Lil, a waitress rescued from a broken-down car, set out on an "Oz-like" journey that takes them further and further away from home.

With lessons about the Savvy in each and every one of us, this sweet and wacky adventure is a story that will stay with you for a long time.

I just finished reading The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins...it was very hard to put it down. This is suspenseful survival story about Catniss, a teenage girl who volunteers to take her younger sister's place in the brutal and sadistic Hunger Game tradition, that pits young citizens from the 12 districts of the dystopic world of Panem, in a fight to the death.

Like Gregor in Collins' Gregor the Overlander series, Catniss is a loyal and self-sacrificing person. She has been taking care of her family after her father's death left her mother unable to cope, and ends up using a lot of her survival skills, including an unparalleled gift for archery, to survive in "The Games."

There are shades of reality-based shows like Survivor that are distorted to horrific proportions, making this fast-moving cautionary tale a sometimes brutal read. Yet, the humanity of the characters in spite of the situation is what keeps you reading.

Copies of this book can be found in the Teen and Adult Science Fiction/Fantasy collections, and the sequel, Catching Fire, was recently released in this expected trilogy.

Just FYI...there is a new Disney movie coming out in November, The Princess and the Frog, and it is based on one of E.D. Baker's books series about the Frog Princess. You can check the first book, The Frog Princess, and other titles in the series at the library.

Lots of movie tie-in books will also be coming soon, like the Disney Read-Aloud storybook for the movie, a junior novelization, and a DK Essential Guide the Princess and the Frog.

I just read an interesting book by the author of the Dealing with Dragons series.

The main character, Eff, is a twin to Lan, who was the seventh born son of a seventh born son (their father.) This quality means he is automatically magically gifted and he receives a great deal of attention from family and community members. Unfortunately, Eff's birth order in the family is not viewed so positively, as she is the 13th child overall, which is said to be very bad luck.

When her Eff's classmates and even extended family constantly bombard Eff and her parents with their ominous predictions of how she will "turn bad," her family decides to take advantage of a college position offered to her father "out west." This move works well for everybody, and even offers Eff the opportunity to study magic with a unique teacher who teaches her to "see" the world a whole new way.

This story is like Magyck by Angie Sage meets Little House on the Prairie. When the family moves west, there are many parallels to early pioneer life, and it is very intriguing how Wrede weaves real history and alters it to fit her story. I've never read anything quite like it.

I just read The Magic Thief by Sarah Prineas, which is not only a 2009-2010 Battle of the Books (Lenihan) title, but is also by an author who lives in Iowa City.

This is a great fantasy chapter book about Conn, a thief and lock pick, who stumbles into a relationship with a powerful wizard (Nevery), then finds out he is a lot less ordinary than he once thought. If you liked Magyk by Angie Sage, I think you will like this book.

This book is a suspenseful read that will draw you in quickly, and make you very excited to read the sequel, The Magic Thief Lost. Another exciting thing is that we are working very hard with teachers to make a plan for Prineas (the author) to come to Marshalltown. Watch for more info!

Also, you should be able to pick up a Battle of the Books list soon and get a jump start on reading for the 2009-2010 school year.

The first book in the Percy Jackson books by Rick Riordan is being made into a movie, Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, to be released in February 2010.

This series has been very popular, with the 5th book, The Last Olympian, just released this month.

 

 

I'm excited to see that the 1994 Caledecott winner, Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo, is finally to be released as an animated movie on December 19.

This is a great classic story about an unlikely hero...tiny Despereaux. I would very much recommend this story as a read-aloud for a family to read together, as an audio (we have a cassette and CD version of this story), and as as gift, as the book itself is very beautiful and elegant.

The producers of the next Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, have announced that the release date has been pushed to summer, 2009 (July 17, 2009 to be exact).

Use the extra time to read the book, or to refresh yourself on the series. We have all the books in multiple formats: print, CD, and in Spanish.