Reader: Claire W.
Age: 13
Title: Mortal Gods
Author: Kendare Blake
Publisher: Tor Teen
Pub Date: 10/14/14
Galley: Yes
Top 25: Yes
Convince us to read the book: The whole plot is really great. You can tell
that the author really spent time researching the Trojan war and Greek
mythology. This is the second book in a series and it flows very nicely from
the first. The plot felt like it was leading up to a very predictable ending
but I was pleasantly surprised. Character development was great. The author
does a great job of showing Cassandra's mourning for Aidan. She also shows her
inner turmoil really well and believably. The dialogue was good, not great, but
good. Also the setting was pretty good. The only slight problem was the passage
of time was pretty warped.
Memorable or Forgettable: The book was quite memorable for me because not
many authors try to write a book about Greek mythology because it involves a
lot of work. But Kendare Blake did and it was well worth it.
Cover: I liked the original cover of the first book
much better. And the girl on the front of the second book cover has the wrong
color hair which bugs me quite a lot.
Age Range: 12 through 17
Quality: 4Q Better than most
Popularity: 4P Broad general teen appeal
Annotation: Cassandra still can't believe that Aidan her
boyfriend, who was really Apollo, is dead. Every day she wakes up with new hope
that he will appear and say the whole thing was just a joke. But Athena is
keeping her going. Cassandra has the ability of prophecy and to kill gods. But
she is on the side of Athena, Odysseus and, Hermes. All the gods are dying in a
different ironic way. Athena is going to choke of feathers. Hermes will die of
malnourishment. Aphrodite is rotting from the inside out. And Hera is turning
to stone. But part of Cassandra just wants to kill all the gods (good or bad)
just to rid them of her life. All she wants to do is stop fighting and make the
Gods leave her alone forever.
tags: fantasy / The Goddess War series / Greek mythology / paranormal / romance / ya lit
Reader: Allen D.
Age: 14
Title: Summoned (Redemption's Heir #1)
Author: Anne M. Pillsworth
Publisher: Tor Teen
Pub Date: 06/24/14
Galley: No
Top 25: No
Convince us to read the book: Summoned is a book for people who enjoy magic or The Alchemist, by Michael Scott. It is a
book full of adventure and has a very steady plot line.
Memorable or Forgettable: It is unforgettable because of how the author
carefully uses every character he enters.
Cover: The cover is why I picked it up. And it reflects
its contents very well.
Age Range: 14 through 17
Quality: 5Q Hard to imagine a better book
Popularity: 4P Broad general teen appeal
tags: fantasy / Redemption's Heir / ya lit
Reader: Sam D-G
Age: 14
Title: Amulet #6: Escape From Lucien
Author: Kazu Kibuishi
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Pub Date: 08/26/14
Galley: No
Top 25: Yes
Convince us to read the book: The author of the Amulet Series obviously has a
huge imagination. As the story goes on Kibuishi delves deeper and deeper into
the details and concepts of his magical world. The books are brimming with many
interesting characters. However, some of them are a bit one dimensional. The
fast paced, thrilling plot of these novels will make it so once you pick one up
you won't put it back down until you've finished it... About thirty minutes
later.
Memorable or Forgettable: One great quality of this book is the likability
of the characters. They are easy to sympathize with, and you will always want
to know what happens next. The author does a good job of stringing the entire
story together with an overhanging plot... You always know whatever happens
next will be even more intense then the last.
Cover: This would be one of the books I would say you
could judge by the cover. It has a big, cool looking, robot and some people
with glowing stones. In the background there is a mysterious face with glowing
eyes watching them. It definitely draws you in.
Age Range: Under 12 through 17
Quality: 4Q Better than most
Popularity: 4P Broad general teen appeal
Additional Comments:
It's a graphic novel.
Annotation: It's the next installment of a captivating
series of graphic novels in which a brother and sister are transported into a
magical land ravaged by war. In this land robots live among people and there
are rare mysterious magical stones that give the user mystic powers.
tags: graphic novel / fantasy / ya lit
Reader: Katie J.
Age: 14
Title: While We Run
Author: Karen Healey
Publisher: Little, Brown, and Company
Pub Date: 05/27/14
Galley: Yes
Top 25: No
Convince us to read the book: I didn't like this book. At all. It's the sequel
to When We Wake, and I definitely didn't like that book. If anything, this book
was worse than it. It might just be the genre of the book, or a way of writing
I'm not used to, but I really didn't like this.
Memorable or Forgettable: It was forgettable because I didn't like how it
was written and I didn't like the characters.
Cover: The cover didn't really make much sense to me.
Age Range: 12 through 13
Quality: 1Q How did it get published?
Popularity: 1P Yech! Forced to read it
tags: science fiction / dystopian / suspence / cryogenics / ya lit
Reader: Claire W.
Age: 13
Title: Endgame: The Calling
Author: James Frey, Nils Johnson-Shelton
Publisher: HarperCollins
Pub Date: 10/07/14
Galley: Yes
Top 25: No
Convince us to read the book: First off the book was so confusing I had to
stop reading it and even than I had a headache. There really wasn't a plot or
much insight into the character. There wasn't any dialogue to even talk about.
Memorable or Forgettable: Only that it is one of those books that has
hidden clues in it to find a prize in real life.
Cover: The cover was okay. But it didn't enhance the
book.
Age Range: Under 12 through 15
Quality: 1Q How did it get published?
Popularity: 2P Only for special interest
tags: dystopian adventure / puzzle challenge / ya lit
Reader: Grace KL
Age: 15
Title: Tomboy: A Graphic Memoir
Author: Liz Prince
Publisher: Zest Books
Pub Date: 09/02/14
Galley: No
Top 25: No
Convince us to read the book: This graphic novel felt very authentic and real,
as it should of course, being a memoir. As it portrayed Liz's childhood,
it showed her growing into her identity, so the character development was very
strong here. I also enjoyed how the author balanced showing her feelings
at the time, communicated through dialogue in the scenes, with how she feels
later, shown in the captions.
Memorable or Forgettable: A memorable quality of this book for me was the
way the book focused on a large chunk of Liz's life. It was fun to watch
her confidence regarding her identity grow and grow, especially towards the end
of the book. It would have been easy to make this book solely focused on
gender identity, but it chronicles other aspects of Liz's life as well, which
made for a satisfying read.
Cover: The cover very accurately reflects the
book. The face on the cover shows the sort of unamused expression that
readers will become familiar with throughout the book. However, the words
"graphic memoir" were really what tempted me to pick up the book.
Age Range: 14 through 18 and up
Quality: 4Q Better than most
Popularity: 4P Broad general teen appeal
tags: graphic novel / graphic memoir / gender identity / ya lit
Reader: Gwyneth P.
Age: 13
Title: Nil
Author: Lynne Matson
Publisher: Henry Holt and Company
Pub Date: 03/04/14
Galley: Yes
Top 25: Yes
Convince us to read the book: I thought it was a wonderful book. The elements
of desperation for survival and questioning things we take for granted as lucky
as we are were fantastic. I loved the way that it was never predictable and
there was never anything that seemed cliché. It surprised me, which I enjoy
thoroughly. I also loved the rushed feeling of it - the realistic time
frame of what it would actually be like and the survival elements with all the
desperation blended together were very interesting. The way the plot was
designed and set about was very well articulated and logical which I always
appreciate. It is a great and very original example of survival, its effects,
and all the emptiness inside of it; the parts after the thrill where people
process. I do wish that there would be more description of emotions and
exploration of the island and history of the people on it, but other than that
it was thoroughly enjoyable and held a great message for me. The main characters
weren't very developed. I felt I
understood background characters much more and I realize it was supposed to be
rushed. The dialogue I found very emotional and compatible with my own
experiences which I thought was also quite amazing.
Memorable or Forgettable: I loved the process of thought that I knew was
there behind all of the plot's secrets that I always wanted to discover. It
never left me wishing for more interesting content and it was always full of a
new mystery just itching to be solved. I loved the way all the characters were
very relatable and I felt I always knew what they were experiencing.
Cover: The cover, I think, is beautiful and definitely
reflects Nil's beauty and her ugliness and desperation lying in waiting
underneath as the days tick by.
Age Range: 12 through 18 and up
Quality: 5Q Hard to imagine a better book
Popularity: 3P Some teen appeal
Annotation: Charley is swept out of a Target parking lot to
an Island and wakes up naked in the middle of a field of rocks. She discovers
other people like herself and learns she is on Nil, an island where there is no
escape unless through elusive gateways.
She must catch one within 365 days of her arrival on the Island or she
dies. She meets the Island leader, Thad, and they become very involved even as
she helps him try to leave the Island with his limited time left.
tags: dystopian romance / science fiction / adventure / survival / ya lit
Reader: Ella O.
Age: 14
Title: Salt & Storm
Author: Kendall Kulper
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Pub Date: 09/23/14
Galley: Yes
Top 25: Yes
Convince us to read the book: The story of Avery Roe. The granddaughter of the
witch of the island. Avery is in line to be the next witch, but her mother who was
denied the role is determined to stop her. Avery was told that witches needed
pain to make magic but didn't realize that pain comes in different forms.
Memorable or Forgettable: The ending will be memorable for me because of
how it took me by surprise.
Cover: I really liked the title so that was what encouraged
me to pick up the book. The knot on the
front of the book does reflect the contents of the book and I think it should
stay there.
Age Range: 12 through 13
Quality: 4Q Better than most
Popularity: 4P Broad general teen appeal
Additional Comments: Beautiful - if tear jerking - plot twist at the
end there.
Annotation: A beautiful book with twists and turns that
grasps you tightly and doesn't let go till the end.
tags: historical romance / coming of age / supernatural / magic / ya lit
Reader: Katie J.
Age: 14
Title: Killer Instinct
Author: S. E. Green
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Pub Date: 06/07/14
Galley: Yes
Top 25: Yes
Convince us to read the book: There were so many plot twists in this book, it
was crazy. Let me just say that if you were to hire anyone for a serial killer
case, don't hire me. I suspected everyone but the killer to be the killer. That
being said, I don't think anyone could guess who the killer is. I literally
could not put this book down. It was plot twist after plot twist, and I think I
screamed a little when she revealed who the serial killer was.
This book is about a girl, Lane, who is obsessed
with serial killers. Her mom works for the FBI, specializing in serial killers,
of course. Lane occasionally sneaks into her mom's office and steals
information. Then everything changes when a serial killer nicknamed The
Decapitator comes to her home town. The Decapitator's claim to fame is how he
or she delivers the bodies. First a head is found, then an arm, a leg, the
other arm, and the other leg. It's kind of graphic. Her mom gets stabbed by the
killer. I can't say anymore without giving away the killer, but it's awesome.
Memorable or Forgettable: Plot twists. Did I mention there were a ton of
them?
Cover: It definitely caught my eye and reflected the
contents very well.
Age Range: 14 through 17
Quality: 4Q Better than most
Popularity: 2P Only for special interest
Additional Comments: I wouldn't read this if you don't like blood and
gory things.
Annotation: A serial killer book that will keep you on the
edge of your seat with page after page of plot twists until the very end.
tags: thriller / serial killers / ya lit
Reader: Claire W.
Age: 13
Title: The Empire of Shadows
Author: Miriam Forster
Publisher: HarperTeen
Pub Date: 11/04/14
Galley: Yes
Top 25: No
Convince us to read the book: The description throughout the entire book was
great and really made you feel like you were in the story. However, the plot
was a bit confusing. This is a prequel novel so maybe it would have been less
confusing if you had read City of a Thousand Dolls
first(the sequel). Now for character development it was pretty bad. You can see
exactly what is going to happen to the main character Mara. It is very obvious
that there is another book afterward that was written before. Also as soon as
you meet the first prominent male character you just know that he and Mara are
going to get together and have a child that is a huge part in the next book.
The dialogue was very lacking and didn't fit with the setting and suggested
time period.
Memorable or Forgettable: The only "original" thing about this
book is that it has people who can turn into animals. This is a topic that has
been done but the author didn't have a twist on it so it was also just a bit
dull.
Cover: The cover was actually the only reason I picked up
the book in the first place. It was pretty and mysterious looking.
Age Range: 12 through 15
Quality: 2Q Needs more work
Popularity: 3P Some teen appeal
tags: fantasy / dystopian / ya lit
