Captivate

Reader: Megan W
Age: 17
Title: Captivate
Author: Carrie Jones
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Pub Date: 01/05/10
Galley: Yes
Nominate for Teens’ Top 10: No
Recommend: Yes
How would you convince a friend to read the book: I would tell them that Captivate is a fast-paced, adventurous tale of a girl who has some rather bad encounters with pixies. This is a sequel to Carrie Jones' novel Need, so it would be a bit difficult to read it without having first read Need. I really enjoyed the book, and even though I didn't remember much about Need, it was easy enough for me to remember what had happened. (Thankfully characters would mention things that had happened so I could have a vague idea) The main character, Zara, is back, along with her friends. They thought that they had solved their pixie problem in the previous book, at least temporarily, but of course, all chaos is broken loose when more pixies arrive.
Compelling Aspect of the Book: At times this book reminded me a lot of Melissa Marr's book Fragile Eternity (especially near the end) but for the most part it was an original plot. It was a real page turner, and I managed to finish it in a long car ride home from South Dakota. At times I was really frustrated with the characters, but I kept reading. I was especially upset at the end of the book when it ended on an unfinished note. I'm almost wishing that I had never read Captivate, for Need had ended happily, while Captivate did not. I guess I'll just
have to wait for the next book.
Did you finish: Yes
Were you disappointed with the book at all: There were moments when the decisions that the characters made seemed way too mature for a bunch of teenagers. I mean, I know that they've had to deal with some pretty awful situations, but still. I did enjoy the writing style though; it was easy to read and understand. As I stated earlier, while I didn't remember hardly anything about Need when I picked up this book, I quickly got sucked back into the world of pixies and shape-shifters.
Comments: Unfortunately, I'll have to wait for the next book, because I am in too deep to just not care about the characters. Will Zara have made her decision for nothing? I anxiously wait for the next book, if only for the reason that I have to know what will happen next. I found that I didn't really care about any of the characters except Nick; the others seemed rather shallow and undeveloped to me. Still, it was a pleasant read.
Did it reflect the contents: The cover, as the title implies, is captivating (at least to me) I love how there is only half a face, and how the black contrasts with the pale skin of the person's face. Just like the book before this one (Need) there is an insane amount of gold makeup on a person's face. While I think the tear is a little weird, I do love the overall effect of the cover. In my opinion, it reflects the book's contents fairly well.
Age Range: 16-17
Quality: 4Q Better than most
Popularity: 4P Broad general teen appeal

Once I Was Lost

Reader: Sabrina K
Age: 15
Title: Once I Was Lost
Author: Sara Zarr
Publisher: Hachette Book Group
Pub Date: October 09
Galley: Yes
Recommend: Yes
Convince us to read the book: This book has a great message to never give up, even in your darkest moments—that there is always the slightest bit of hope somewhere, in any situation. This book has a great message of showing that during the hard times you can decide to either make the best of it—and be optimistic, or do the complete opposite.
Compelling Aspect of the Book: The author did a great job showing that every one person is important and affects one another. The character Sam realizes this when Jody goes missing. In the story, even people that knew her just a bit were affected by the loss of her and were there to support her family in help to find her. And that they were willing to do whatever it took to get her back.
Comments: At times it was a bit overlapping with all the subplots going on and some details were stressed out a bit too much. But overall it was a great story that had a deep and powerful message behind it.
Did the cover tempt you and/or reflect the contents of the book: The cover did tempt me to pick it up—it was visually intriguing. It did reflect the content of the book because Sam was always talking about fixing the garden/yard to make it look similar to the one at New Beginnings, the rehab facility her mother was staying at. This flower was one of them that Sam mentioned I believe and it, to me, represents hope—which is the main theme throughout the story.
Quality: 4Q Better than most
Popularity: 4P Broad general teen appeal

Fire

Reader: Manee T
Age: 16
Title: Fire
Author: Kristin Cashore
Publisher: Dial Books
Pub Date: 09/2009
Galley: Yes
Nominate for Teens’ Top 10: No
Did it reflect the contents: Yes, because it was had a very nice soft red shading that resembles a different form for the title "Fire" which made it stand out.
Recommend: Yes
Convince to read book: If you love supernatural books, or magical realism or even fantasy books, you'll definitely want to read this prequel to Graceling.
Did you finish: No
Were you disappointed with the book at all: This book was put in high regards because of Graceling, which I hadn't read, however I was very intrigued and pulled into the story. I only regret that I don't have the time to finish it.
Age Range: 14-15, 16-17, 18 up
Quality: 4Q Better than most
Popularity: 5P Everyone wants to read it
Comments: I expect Kristin Cashore to have more books put into the galley collection.

Calamity Jack

Reader: Mollie W

Age: 15
Title: Calamity Jack
Author: Shannon Hale and Dean Hale
Publisher: Bloomsbury Children's books
Pub Date: Jan. 2010
Galley: Yes
Nominate for Teens’ Top 10: Yes
Annotation: When Rapunzel and Jack find out that the mayor of Jack's hometown is
secretly doing harm to the town, it's up to Jack and Rapunzel to save the day.
Recommend: Yes
Convince us to read the book: It's a cute little story that is a continuation of the book Rapunzel's Revenge. It includes little connections to childhood stories (like in this one the book is based off Jack and the Beanstalk). Since the stories short and easy to read it's not very time consuming and is definitely worthwhile. This series is laid back and fun and works for all ages.
Compelling Aspect of the Book: The best part of the book is the adventures that Rapunzel and Jack seem to always be getting caught up in. There's always something going on which is important if the story is short, like this one is.
Did the cover tempt you and/or reflect the contents of the book: The illustrations in this series are very vivid and playful. It definitely pricks your interest when you see it.
Did you finish: Yes
Age Range: All ages
Quality: 4Q Better than most
Popularity: 4P Broad general teen appeal

The Adventures of Benny

Reader: Payton G
Age: 13
Title: The Adventures of BennyAuthor: Steve Shreve
Publisher: Marshall Cavendish Children
Pub Date: 09/01/2009
Galley: Yes
Nominate for Teens’ Top 10: No
Recommend: No
Compelling Aspect of the Book: It was short. And each little story had a moral that was clearly defined.
Did the cover tempt you and/or reflect the contents of the book: The cover had almost no affect on me. I read it because someone told me I should. The cover reflects the contents really well.
Did you finish: Yes
Age Range: Under 12
Quality: 3Q Readable
Popularity: 3P Some teen appeal

COVER PROJECT: The Absolute Value of -1

We are so grateful to Carolrhoda Books for including us in developing ideas for the cover of their upcoming release, The Absolute Value of -1, by Steve Brezenoff, There is nothing us TKBs like more than sharing our opinions with anyone who will listen. ;) What an exciting opportunity it is to be involved in a part of the actual publishing process!

First we got to meet the author, Steve Brezenoff, editor, Andrew Karre, and publicist, Elizabeth Dignmann at our August meeting—how cool is that? They graciously distributed fresh-off-the copier manuscripts, which we anxiously took home and poured over. Once we all got a chance to read it, we began brainstorming cover ideas, sketching, scrounging up random images on the interwebs, and discussing these on our top secret blog. Then we met in October to look at and discuss some rough cover mock-ups, and again in November to share our reactions to a couple more narrowed-down covers.

The whole process was fun! We loved Brezenoff’s book (especially the controversial twist :0) and enjoyed the company of Steve, Andrew, Elizabeth, and all their friends at our meetings!

We can’t wait to see The Absolute Value of -1 in print!!

Two TKBs, Andrew, Elizabeth, and Steve.

Just got our manuscripts!

Andrew Karre

Steve Brezenoff

Photos by Elizabeth Hudman

Incarceron

Reader: Sophie D
Age: 13
Title: Incarceron
Author: Catherine Fisher
Publisher: Dial Books
Pub Date: Feb. 2010
Galley: Yes
Nominate for Teens’ Top 10: No
Recommend: Yes
Convince us to read the book: It's dark, it's depressing, it has a creepy prison and politics, it has a good plot. The story is the kind where you can't predict what will happen so you have to read the whole book.
Compelling Aspect of the Book: The settings are very interesting. It flips between a creepy, huge, underground prison with forests and caves, and a futuristic setting where everyone's life is a lie and a game. The two settings draw you into the book.
Did you finish: Yes
Were you disappointed with the book at all: There were really only two disappointments. One was the characters. They were pretty flat and all of them, except one, only cared about themselves and what was going to happen to them. Then the ending was a let-down, because they were supposed to rescue everyone from the prison, but two people got left behind. That annoyed me.
Did the cover tempt you and/or reflect the contents of the book: The cover did make me want to pick it up. It has a very eye-catching design of a shiny key and metal leaves. These two things really do reflect the contents.
Age Range: 12-13
Quality: 4Q Better than most
Popularity: 3P Some teen appeal