Reading Abounds

Title: Life as we Knew It Series: The Last Survivors Series (Sometimes called the Moon Crash Series) Author: Susan Beth Pfeffer Perma-Bound Catalogue #: 10855 Description: After a meteor hits the moon, teen Miranda must quickly grow from self-absorbed to selfless as she and her family try to survive in a post-apocalyptic world. Rubric Rating: Level 4 - Love It! Why I Read It: This book was given to me by a co-worker to read.  I love that the colophon (the page with the publication date, printers information etc) is designed like a moon. Lori's Notes: Life as we Knew It is a dystopian look at the world after a series of environmental catastrophes.  The first book in the Last Survivors series we find Miranda and her family struggling to survive in the country after a meteor has crashed into the moon pushing it closer to the Earth.  This throws the seasons out of balance and the family must struggle to find food, heat and safety in a new, sometimes hostile w...

Title: Michael Vey: The Prisoner of Cell 25 Series: Michael Vey Author: Richard Paul Evans Perma-Bound Catalogue #: 57580 Description: Michael Vey, a fourteen-year-old who has Tourette's syndrome and special electric powers, finds there are others like him, and must rely on his powers to save himself and the others from a diabolical group seeking to control them. Rubric Rating: Level 4 - Love It! Why I Read It: This book was recommended to me by a co-worker.  The cover looked very interesting too.  Although, at first glance I thought it might be a more sci-fi oriented title  He looks like he's on a space ship to me.  Nope, he's not.  That's the prison cell. Lori's Notes:   Michael has always been a little bit different.  Dealing with his Tourette's Syndrome and constantly moving form city to city has made life hard for Michael.  He has a good friend in Ostin who is exceptionally smart, funny and lives in the same apartment building...

Title: Catching Fire Series: The Hunger Games Trilogy Author:  Suzanne Collins Perma-Bound Catalogue #: 36682 Description:  By winning the annual Hunger Games, District 12 tributes Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark have secured a life of safety and plenty for themselves and their families, but because they won by defying the rules, they unwittingly become the faces of an impending rebellion. Rubric Rating: Level 3 - Laud It! Why I Read It: I enjoyed the Hunger Games so much I immediately picked up this novel to read next. Lori's Notes:  As a special 75th Hunger Games approaches, the districts are showing signs of rebellion and President Snow wants to maintain his oligarchy.   This year the combatants in the Hunger Games will be chosen from previous winners putting Peeta and Katniss in jeopardy once again.  They must find a way to outwit the games and escape from the Capitol once and for all.  But we also see Katniss winning over citizens o...

Title: Just Ella Author: Margaret Peterson Haddix Perma-Bound Catalogue #: 167305 Description: In this continuation of the Cinderella story, Fifteen-year-old Ella finds that accepting Prince Charming's proposal ensnares her in a suffocating tangle of palace rules and royal etiquette, so she plots to escape. Rubric Rating: Level 1: Leave it. Why I Read It:  The premise of the story sounded quite interesting.  What happens once Cinderella moves into the castle. Lori's Notes: A slow read, starting after Ella has moved into the castle.  Happily ever after is not everything she dreamed it would be.  The prince isn't so charming, life isn't so good, she's bored and repressed, and falling in love with her tutor.  The action in this novel is a long time coming and not worth the read.  I was happy when the book ended. Recommended Reader: If you have a girl who is a budding feminist and enjoys fairytales this would be a good selection.  Grade 6 a...

Title:  The Hunger Games Series: The Hunger Games Trilogy Author: Suzanne Collins Perma-Bound Catalogue #: 30907 Description: In a future North America, where the rulers of Panem maintain control through an annual televised survival competition that pits young people against one another, sixteen-year-old Katniss is challenged, when she voluntarily takes her younger sister's place. Rubric Rating: Level 3: Laud It Why I Read It : There were so many people talking about this novel and recommending it, I thought I better get on the bandwagon. Lori's Notes: In order to protect her sister Prim, Katniss volunteers to take her place in the Hunger Games.  Before the games begin, Peeta, the boy chosen from her district, confesses to having a crush on Katniss.  She thinks this is just Peeta's strategy for the game.  However, it gives them both an opportunity to survive. Something that has never before happened in the games.  However, this may put Peeta and ...

Title: A Thief in the House of Memory Author: Tim Wynne-Jones Perma-Bound Canada Catalogue #: 297240 Description:   The death of an apparent stranger in the Steeple family's old home triggers troubling questions for sixteen-year-old Declan as he tries to make sense of his fragmented dreams, random memories, and unexplained coincidences, hoping to learn the truth about the mother who suddenly left when he was ten. ***Canadian Author*** Rubric Rating: Level 2: Like It Why I Read it: I loved this book's title and the air of mystery of the cover.  The gate surrounding a misty mansion evoked such a foreboding atmosphere as well as the idea of something being locked away.  Plus it's a Canadian Author. Lori's Notes:    The book started well, a death in an old mansion on a hill captures your interest right away.  Being based in Eastern Ontario I also found the setting recognizable.  I expected it to be a suspenseful novel but it was rather a bo...

Title: The False Prince Series: The Ascendance Trilogy Author: Jennifer A. Nielsen Perma-Bound Catalogue #: 69857 Description:  In the country of Carthya, a devious nobleman engages four orphans in a brutal competition to be selected to impersonate the king's long-missing son in an effort to avoid a civil war. Rubric Rating: Level 3: Laud It! Why I Read It: I actually picked this book out for my husband to read as he's a fan of the fantasy genre.  However, he left it on his desk and I snatched it up after reading the first chapter. Lori's Notes:  The royal family is dead.  King Eckbert, Queen Erin, and the Crown Prince Darius have been killed - the country of Carthya just doesn't know it yet.  The King and Queen's youngest son, Prince Jaron, has been missing for the last four years and presumed dead.  To prevent a possible war with the surrounding countries or a takeover by one of the twenty regents, Bevin Connor recruits four orphan boys - ...

Title: Holes Author: Louis Sachar Perma-Bound Catalogue #: 138616 Description:   As further evidence of his family's bad fortune which they attribute to a curse on a distant relative, Stanley Yelnats is sent to a hellish correctional camp in the Texas desert where he finds his first real friend, a treasure, and a new sense of himself. Rubric Rating: Level 4: Love It! Why I Read It: This book was highly recommended to me by an associate and I have to say that it did not disappoint. Lori's Notes:   While the cover was quite boring, the contents were not and it quickly became one of my favourite read alouds with my son.  Stanley has had his fair share of bad luck.  It seems to run in the family.  After being wrongly accused of theft Stanley ends up at Camp Green Lake digging Holes. With the plot extending to include Green Lake's shady history, the present day camp, as well as Zero and Stanley's personal family histories, the characters are destined to...

Title: Incarceron Author: Catherine Fisher Perma-Bound Catalogue #: 41041 Description:   To free herself from an upcoming arranged marriage, Claudia, the daughter of the Warden of Incarceron, a futuristic prison with a mind of its own, decides to help a young prisoner escape. Rubric Rating: Level 2: Like It Why I Read It:  I loved this book's cover and title and that's the reason I started this novel.   I was captivated by the beautiful key and I liked that the companion novel's cover shows a keyhole. Lori's Notes:  I'm sad that the inside of the book didn't live up to the outside for me.  A living prison and social experiment, Incarceron has been sealed for centuries and no one has escaped. Claudia, the warden's daughter wants to escape an arranged marriage and through the use of a crystal key meets Finn, trapped within the prison.  Finn has no idea whom he is or how he ended up in Incarceron.  Each day is a struggle for survival bu...

Title:  Breadcrumbs Author:  Anne Ursu Perma-Bound Catalogue #: 72009 Description:  Once upon a time, Hazel and Jack were best friends.  But that was before he stopped talking to her and disappeared into a forest with a mysterious woman made of ice. Now it's up to Hazel to go in after him. Rubric Rating:  Level 4: Love It Why I Read It:  I'm a fan of reimagined Fairy Tales.  I liked the pink skies of the cover -- it reminds me of the saying "Pink Skies at Night, Sailor's delight; Pink skies at Morning, Sailor's take Warning" so my question became -- what is this book's warning. Lori's Notes:   I loved this book.  I love that the main character Hazel has been adopted from India (so she has brown skin, brown hair and brown eyes - not the atypical blue-eyed blond-haired girl of most fairy tales).  Living with her mother, her father is soon to be remarried and is absent in her life.  Her best friend Jack lives next door wit...