The Clockwork Three by Matthew J. Kirby tells the story of three different kids living in the United States during the late 1800s. Hannah works as a maid in a hotel; the only person in her family who can earn money after her father, a former stone mason, has a stroke. Giuseppe was sold to the evil Stephano by his uncle in Italy and forced to play music on street corners, earning money for his padrone. Frederick was given to an orphanage by his sick mother and eventually saved by a clockmaker to be trained in the art. The three kids all come together through extraordinary circumstances as each tries to solve his/her own problems. They all realize that they'll need help (from one another and from some surprising sources) if they ever hope to get out of their predicaments and live happy lives.
This was an awesome story! I loved the way the three kids all eventually came together and the strength each showed through their hardships. I also really liked the way each character grew and changed over the course of the story.
The Enemy by Charlie Higson takes place in London about a year and a half after a terrible disease has sickened all of the adults over the age of 14. This disease rots the brain, leaving the adults unable to talk or really even think. Their skin is covered in infected boils and sores. Worse yet... they eat children. The children of London have banded together in different areas to try to continue living and hiding from the grown-ups. One group lives in an old grocery store. They have a pretty good system for scavenging food and supplies, and keeping everyone relatively safe. One afternoon, a strange boy shows up at the store, followed by a vicious band of grown-ups. Jester tells the Holloway kids about a new colony of kids who are living at Buckingham Palace. They are growing food, raising animals, and are really making a good life for themselves. Jester's job was to travel around London, searching for other groups of kids to join the Palace group. (Unfortunately, Jester left with a party of 5 and was the only one who made it alive.) Arran, the Holloway group leader and Blue, another group's leader confer and decide to band together and head to Buckingham Palace, following Jester. On the way, they meet many groups of grown-ups who seem to be behaving differently - they are "hunting" and grouping together, almost as if they are communicating and following some sort of plan. They also meet up with a group of kids who have been living on the streets. In a skirmish, one of the girls accidentally shoots Arran and he dies. This leaves Maxie, Arran's second in command the leader of the Holloway kids. Things seem too good to be true once the group finally makes it to the Palace. After a few days, however, Maxie and Blue begin to see David's (the Palace kids' leader) true plan - to take over and rule all of the kids in London. They try to make a plan to escape, but David catches them and locks them up. Now it seems all the kids they were supposed to be protecting will fall under the dictatorship of David and his minions with no chance of escape.
WOW! What an amazing book! It reminded me a little of I am Legend combined with The Scorch Trials and Lord of the Flies. I read this one in a day because I just had to find out what happened. Now I can't wait to get my hands on the sequel - this one definitely has a cliffhanger ending!! There is some pretty gory violence, so I would recommend this to a more mature audience. Anyone who liked The Maze Runner/Scorch Trials, The Hunger Games Series, or just enjoys a good science fiction book will really get into this book!
I am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want to Be Your Class President by Josh Lieb is about Oliver, a dumb, 7th grader who isn't who everyone thinks he is. He's actually a genius who just so happens to be the 3rd richest person in the world. Even his parents don't know about Oliver's vast empire, all of his minions, inventions, and secrets. Oliver has never really cared for his father, who runs the local public television station. His father's big claim to fame was winning his class election for presidency of his middle school. When Oliver's class election rolls around, he gets nominated to run as a joke. At first, he declines, but then he changes his mind. Oliver decides this is the perfect opportunity to show his father that even he, a stupid, fat, idiot could win a class election. Thus, his father would feel worthless, and Oliver would have a renewed sense of power over his father. Things don't play out the way Oliver thought they would, however. He bribes, bullies, and rigs his way through the entire process, all in effort to tear his dad down. What happens in the end is both a wonder and a surprise!
This was a really interesting book. Oliver has everything he could possible want, and if he doesn't have it, he has people who can get it for him. What he doesn't have, is the respect of his father, which turns out to be more important to him than he ever could have imagined. I'd recommend this book to just about any middle schooler!
Birth of a Killer the Saga of Larten Crepsley by Darren Shan is a prequel to the Cirque du Freak series. This book tells the story of a young Larten Crepsley and how he came to be a vampire. It begins when Larten and his cousin, Vur Horston, work for an evil boss (Traz) at a silk factory in their home town. One day, Traz snaps and attacks meek and timid Vur, drowning him in a vat of boiling water. Seeing this fills Larten with rage and he stabs Traz and kills him. Knowing his life is over is he is caught, Larten flees the city, seeking refuge in a graveyard. Here, he meeds Seba, a vampire. Seba offers to make Larten his assistant, and seeing no other options but truly believing this is his destiny, Larten accepts. Seba tests and trains Larten as a human for many years before changing him. When Seba goes to attend the summit at Vampire Mountain, he leaves Larten in the care of Mr. Tall at the Cirque du Freak. During this time, Larten meets Wester, another human boy who reminds him of his cousin, Vur. Larten takes Wester under his wing when he realizes that a strange version of vampire (vampaneze) has murdered Wester's family. Together they try to slay the vampaneze, but are unsuccessful. As a result, Larten and Wester return to Cirque du Freak. When Seba returns, he agrees to take Wester as his assistant as well. Once they are both vampires, Larten's and Wester's training continues until they are allowed to go the the next summit at Vampire Mountain. Following this, the trio goes back to traveling, but Larten begins to feel some unrest. Eventually, the two young vampires break from Seba, preferring to take part on more humanly pleasures - at least for the time being. This is when Larten Crepsley is noticed by Desmond Tiny...
This was a great prequel to the Cirque du Freak series. I've read the whole series, so I really enjoyed learning the back story of Larten Crepsley. It was interesting to learn about his family, how his hair became such a vivid shade of orange, and how he grew up. This book does have a little gore, so it may be for more mature readers. I recommend Birth of a Killer and the Cirque du Freak series to anyone who enjoys a good horror novel!
Cloaked by Alex Flinn is about Johnny, a seventeen year old boy who lives with his mother and runs his family's shoe business in a South Beach, Florida hotel. Things have been tough for Johnny and his mother since his father mysteriously disappeared when Johnny was only two years old. During the summer of his 17th year, Johnny spends almost all of his time working at the shoe shop - partly to earn money for his family, but partly to escape his apartment where the electricity has been shut off due to lack of payment. One summer day, Victoriana, the Princess of Aloria checks into the hotel. It is the talk of the staff and Johnny desperately wants to see her. Not only does he see her, she offers him a secret mission! Victoriana plans a secret meeting with Johnny and offers him an unbelievable quest: to find her brother, who has been turned into a frog and is somewhere in the Florida Keys. In exchange, she'll marry Johnny! Thinking about the money this marriage will bring to him and his family, Johnny accepts, convinced Victoriana has gone crazy. That is, until she gives him a magic hearing device that allows Johnny to hear the speech of animals who were once men, and a cloak which will transport him anywhere he wishes. Armed with these devices and with the help of his best friend, Meg, Johnny sets out on his journey. Along the way to saving the prince, Johnny encounters witches, giants, deadly scorpions, talking geese and rats and fox, a golden bird, and... the love of his life - who isn't who he thought it might be!
This was an amazing book! It's the kind of story you just want to hug when you shut the back cover. I loved the way the author wove many fairy tales into the story. I especially liked the author's note that summarized each of the less familiar fairy tales so I could make connections to the story itself. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys fairy tales, fantasy, and/or romance novels.
The Gardener by S. A. Bodeen is about Mason, a teen who lives with his single mom. In Mason's town, just about everything is run by TroDyn, a company that does biological research. Mason has been offered a chance for an internship with TroDyn, which would pay for his schooling in return for his promise to work for them after college. His mother is opposed to anything that has to do with TroDyn, but Mason doesn't know why. One evening when Mason's mom is at work, he looks through her drawers and finds a secret she's been keeping about his father and her own involvement with TroDyn in the past. Mason goes to the nursing home where she works to confront her, but finds something unexpected - she cares for teens who are in a catatonic state. While waiting for his mother, Mason pops in a video tape of his father reading a story. This causes one of the teens to awaken, terrified! Not knowing what else to do, Mason helps her escape to his friend's cabin in the woods. This starts a search that Mason could never have predicted. They are on the run, seeking help from the most unlikely places, including an author who used to work for TroDyn! It turns out that his new friend is actually an experiment! The biological engineers at TroDyn have altered her DNA so that she can produce her own food from the sun! The only problem is, she needs to be returned to TroDyn because she has a symbiotic relationship with the rest of the kids who were experimented on. Mason is reluctant to do this, but with help, is able to save her. In the process, Mason learns more about TroDyn's experiments, and his absent father, who is more involved in the TroDyn experiments than he could have imagined!
This was an AWESOME book! I couldn't put it down. I knew I'd like it after reading The Compound by S. A. Bodeen. This book made me really think about the hunger crisis in the world and the ethical implications of testing "good" ideas on humans. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys adventure novels and/or science fiction.
The World We Live In by Susan Beth Pfeffer is the third book after Life As We Knew It and The Dead and the Gone. Just as in the previous two, the story takes place after a meteor has hit the moon, knocking it closer to the Earth. This causes a change in the moon's gravitational pull, which causes natural disasters of all types on Earth. There is a constant haze hanging in the air and little sunlight. Miranda's family (her mother and two brothers) has made it through the winter. Miranda's mother gives her two brothers permission to go to a nearby river to catch fish for several days - it is the first time any of them has been away from the isolation of their home in months. When they return, they bring along Syl, Matt's new wife! Their mother is not pleased, but allows Matt and Syl to remain as husband and wife. When they begin to settle into a new routine with their new family member, a knock sounds at the front door. It's Miranda's father, step-mother, their new baby, Alex and Julie (from The Dead and the Gone), and a new friend, Charlie. Knowing they do not have enough food stored up to allow them to stay long, they hatch a plan. Miranda's father will pretend to be their dead neighbor's son and family so that they can begin receiving food rations from city hall. Their plan works, and soon the new extended family moves into Mrs. Nesbitt's neighboring and abandoned farmhouse. Everything seems to be running smoothly, but not for long... to find out what happens to these families as they try to survive in this strange new world, read The World We Live In by Sysan Beth Pfeffer.
This was a really good story. I liked the way the two families from the first two books come together. It's fun to reconnect with characters from other novels. I also liked the way the author didn't "solve" the problem of the Earth/moon. It doesn't end with a neat and tidy "happily ever after". The ending was sad and unexpected.
The Clockwork Three by Matthew J. Kirby tells the story of three different kids living in the United States during the late 1800s. Hannah works as a maid in a hotel; the only person in her family who can earn money after her father, a former stone mason, has a stroke. Giuseppe was sold to the evil Stephano by his uncle in Italy and forced to play music on street corners, earning money for his padrone. Frederick was given to an orphanage by his sick mother and eventually saved by a clockmaker to be trained in the art. The three kids all come together through extraordinary circumstances as each tries to solve his/her own problems. They all realize that they'll need help (from one another and from some surprising sources) if they ever hope to get out of their predicaments and live happy lives.
