Across the Universe by Beth Revis

Amy isn't sure that she agrees with her parents' decision to be frozen for 300 years in order to board a spaceship that is venturing out to colonize a new planet. Her mom's expertise with genetic biology and Dad's military background make them "essential" to the future colony's success. Amy has been given special clearance to accompany her parents as "nonessential cargo." And though she doesn't necessarily agree with the decision, she can't imagine NOT going with her parents . . .

But 250 years later, aboard Godspeed, Amy is woken unexpectedly, prematurely, and perhaps accidentally. Now she's on a spaceship that isn't even going to land for another 50 years, and she feels completely alone. She's frustrated by the weird structure of the population aboard the ship, especially the unbalanced dictatorship of the Eldest. But little-by-little, she learns a bit about the life of those whose entire existence is breathing recycled air, never setting foot on real soil or seeing real stars. And little-by-little she is even more convinced that this life just isn't right.

Across the Universe is the first in a trilogy, completed with A Million Suns and Shades of Earth.
Reviewed by kate the librarian.

Laddertop, volume 1 by Orson Scott Card and Emily Janice Card, illustrated by Honoel A. Ibardolaza

Years ago, aliens came to Earth and provided humans with advanced technology that could power the entire planet. There are four giant towers, called Ladders, that stretch high into space that must be maintained in order to keep the power on. And because of the small tubes and tight spaces, the job requires children. Only the best kids get accepted to Laddertop Academy, and from them only a few get selected to actually participate in going up to the Laddertop stations.

Azure and Robbi are eleven-year-old girls who are best friends, and both are selected into the Academy, where there are weird tests and training to determine who will be selected for the journey to the stations. Who are the aliens, why did they disappear, and why specifically do they need children for their work?

Reviewed by kate the librarian.

Bad Island by Doug TenNapel

The absolute last thing that Reese wants to do is go on this family boating trip that his father is super enthusiastic about. Reese insists that he's responsible enough to stay home alone, and his father insists that this is a FAMILY activity.

So, they embark on the boat trip only to be shipwrecked on an abandoned island. When creepy things start to happen, Reese, his parents, and his little sister must figure out where they are and how to survive long enough in order to get back home. In a Lost-esque atmosphere, there is certainly a lot to learn about the island itself, as well as it's dangerous creatures who seem to be out to get them. But Reese and his family figure out a way to defeat the bad that seems to be part of the island's very groundwork?

Recommended to middle grade boys, with maybe a few exceptions

Reviewed by kate the librarian.

A Long Long Sleep by Anna Sheehan

Rose is sixteen, but she was born 100 years ago.

The setting for Rose's world is somewhere in our future, where there have been significant leaps in technology and business, and her family has been at the forefront of most of it. She is the only child in a very rich, politically-connected family, and she's never known anything different. Her parents travel a lot for work, and when they do she is put into stasis, a dreamlike state that slows ones body down to just a step above death -- your body ceases to grow or change, and when one wakes up it feels as though only a moment has gone by.

When Rose is kissed awake by a young man, she discovers that 62 years have passed, the world has undergone major and disastrous changes, and everyone she knows is long gone. She must learn to accept her new world and her new life, through her heartache, her confusion, and her unwelcome fame.

Those who enjoy dystopian novels will be able to get into this story before too long. For some, it might take some more time to become absorbed into Rose's life, but those who stick with her will be glad they did. This novel from first-time author Sheehan fits in solidly with the rest of its genre. Recommended most to scifi teen girls.

Reviewed by kate the librarian.

The Maze Runner by James Dashner

He knows that his name is "Thomas," but he can't remember much else to tell you.  He arrived through the Box same as all the other teenage boys, one a month for two years, all with no memories of life before and all feeling pretty rough around the edges.

Thomas quickly learns the ropes of life in the Glade, knowing immediately -- though he doesn't really know why -- that he wants to be a Runner.  The Runners spend all day, every day out in the Maze that surrounds the Glade, methodically mapping out the maze and searching for exits or clues to figure out a way of escape.  Each day they have to return before the doors of the Glade close and the deathly Grievers come out to play, otherwise they'll be trapped out in the Maze all night, a sure death sentence.  Those who even just get a taste of the Grievers' claws or spikes must be given a serum, and even then suffer through the Changing, a horribly painful process that none will talk about, but those who have been through it are never the same.

The day after Thomas arrives, a girl is dropped off in the Box.  From that moment on, nothing is the same.  Will the Gladers be able to figure out the Maze, or will they give up all hope of survival and getting back to whatever unknown life they were forced to leave behind?

Recommended to all, but especially older middle school and high school boys.  Fans of The Hunger Games will surely eat up The Maze Runner series!

Reviewed by kate the librarian.

Bumped by Megan McCafferty

Melody and Harmony have nothing in common except for their identical DNA.  They were separated at birth, handed over to different families, and raised without the knowledge of the other's existence. Only recently has Melody, to her horror -- and Harmony, to her joy -- become aware that there is someone in the world just like her.

America has encountered a time during which it is impossible for women over a certain age to get pregnant and reproduce.  Society now can only look to teenage girls to continue to produce offspring, and as a result become pregnant is not only the popular thing to do, but it is an expectation and a responsibly placed on all girls.  Even though Melody is under contract with a wealthy family to "bump" with another "repo" (reproductive professional), she isn't convinced that she wants to satisfy this business and societal requirement.  Without the knowledge of Melody's contractual situation nor her personal dilemmas, Harmony leaves her Christian community to find Melody and help direct her moral compass.  But nothing is really quite as it seems, and it's all too easy to slip up, even within the best laid plans . . .

The interesting concept behind this dystopian existence isn't played out quite as effectively as I would have liked to see, but the story is interesting nonetheless and should be enjoyed thoroughly by female readers.

Reviewed by kate the librarian.

Delirium by Lauren Oliver

Love kills.  It's a good thing that there's a cure.

Lena can't wait til her eighteenth birthday when she can undergo the government-mandated cure for Amor Deliria Nervosa, the condition that goes hand-in-hand with love.  According to The Safety, Health, and Happiness Handbook (more commonly referred to as The Book of Shhh) love is dangerous primarily because it "affects your mind so that you cannot think clearly, or make rational decisions about your own well-being."  Deliria is the reason Lena's mother is dead, and she's counting down the rest of the 95 days left until her procedure.  "The cured, incapable of strong desire, are thus rid of both remembered and future pain."  No pain = happiness.  Therefore, delirium of love = unhappiness. 

But what happens when Lena begins to test the limits of what she's been told by society?  What happens when she begins to question everything that she's been raised to believe?  What happens when she decides that she wants to feel passionately and freely.  Isn't the pleasure of love worth any amount of pain and sacrifice?

Heart-wrenching, thought-provoking, and absolutely enthralling, Lauren Oliver's sophomore effort is recommended to all high school readers.  And when you're finished reading this one, check out Before I Fall, too.
Call number: YA OLIVER (Teen Room)

Reviewed by kate the librarian.

Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalup

Scavengers are poor and desperate.  They need to keep hunting for the next profit of goods that translate into wealth just to stay fed and sheltered.  They form bonds for survival. 

Along the gulf coast, at Bright Sands Beach, Nailer works with a crew of scavengers, pulling copper wire to make quota for the bosses to hand up to the big companies like General Electric, Patel Global Transit, and FluidDesign.  When Nailer makes it out of an oil drum alive, despite being left for dead by a crewmate, he's nicknamed "Lucky Boy," even though his wounds only prove that he's lucky he wasn't left for worse.  Still he survives that and, with the help of Pima and her mother Sadma, he and his dad also survive the storm that rips apart their beach that night.  Lucky, indeed.  On a rare day off following the storm, Pima and Nailer take advantage by exploring a bit, looking for some good scavenge.  What they find is the wealthiest clipper they've ever seen, shipwrecked and forcefully abandoned.  And what they find on the ship -- the young, beautiful, rich, troubled, barely alive daughter of the owner of Patel Global -- is what turns out to be the beginning of a horrific adventure.

This is a dark tale of survival -- of nature, economics, social, and self.  It's incredibly written and the characters are unforgettable in their realness and complexity.  Recommended to older readers with a stomach for violence and a curiosity for adventure.  This title was just announced by the American Library Association as the winner of the Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature.  Read it.

Call number: YA BACIGALUPI (Teen Room)

Reviewed by kate the librarian

The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm by Nancy Farmer

Three children are growing up within the confines of their mansion. They aren't allowed out into the town or interaction with many other people, but they do have a Mellower who helps train them in fighting, tells them stories about history and fantasy, and provides them with comfort daily. When the oldest decide that they want to venture into town to earn their Scout Exploration Badges, the very thing happens that their very powerful and intimidating father had been trying to protect them from -- they are kidnapped in moments.

The parents of the three children are overwhelmed with distress and guilt that they weren't able to protect their children from harm and they hire The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm Detective Agency to find them. The three sleuths were all born with mutations following nuclear exposure: Ear has super hearing; Eye has super vision; and Arm is sensitive to touch and also has psychic tendencies where he can feel the emotions of others.

Altogether -- though separately in their quests -- they must survive a variety of adventures, evil powers, old world ideals, and powerful technologies. This complicated and exciting story is recommended to those interested in adventures with subtle discussions of religion and politics amid an atmosphere of fantasy and magic.
Call number: YA FARMER (Teen Room)

Reviewed by kate the librarian.

Carbon Diaries 2015 by Saci Lloyd

The year is 2015 and in an attempt to combat impending global warming, England has issued carbon dioxide rations and strict energy usage plans for families and individuals. At first it's no big deal. There are occasional blackouts and fuel shortages, but Laura Brown is busy focusing on other things like school, a really cute boy, and her band, the dirty angels. But when the weather begins to change and all of a sudden the summers are scorching and the winters unbearable. The snow and rain and drought begin to overwhelm the country and things become increasingly dangerous. The rationing and the eventual destruction begin to destroy Laura's family and she can't seem to hold onto anything "normal" in her life. She doesn't know if she'll ever be able to put together the pieces of her life, even if everyone she loves survives. The images included don't do much to enhance the text, and the personality of the characters might not connect with each and every reader, but the story is compelling enough to keep most interested. Like another "what will we do if the world comes to a crashing end?" story written in journal format, Susan Beth Pfeffer's Life As We Knew It, this book will remind readers how potentially fragile the world is, and how strong adversity can make anyone.

Recommended to most readers, especially those who liked Life As We Knew It and the dead & the gone and other dystopian novels or stories involving environmental crisis.
Call number: YA LLOYD (Teen Room)

Reviewed by kate the librarian

The Compound by S. A. Bodeen

Are you prepared in the case of a nuclear disaster? An escape route, food, shelter, and ensured safety for all of your loved ones? Billionaire Rex Yanakakis, head of “the biggest computer manufacturer and software developer in the world,” has thought of everything. The Compound is an underground shelter built specifically for the Yanakakis family, a pretty close replication of the mansion that existed in their lives before the nuclear attack. One thing that Rex didn’t count on, though, was leaving his son Eddy, Eli’s twin brother, behind.

At fifteen, Eli has survived six years in the Compound. He’s let his hair grow long so that it covers his face, he refuses to touch anyone or be touched by anyone in his family, and he barely talks to anyone if he can help it. He misses Eddy, is reproachful of his sisters, and seriously distrusts his father, who is withdrawn, erratic, and secretive. When Eli discovers a connection to the outside through wireless internet access, everything changes. What if there was no nuclear disaster? What if Eddy and Gram are still alive and well? What if this was all just a game?

This title will certainly appeal to fans of Susan Beth Pfeffer’s Life As We Knew It and the dead & the gone, Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games, and other apocalyptic fiction. There are plot twists that may be upsetting to some readers, but many will be enthralled by this action-packed survival adventure. The underlying reality of the whole scenario is disturbingly exciting.
Call number: YA BODEEN (Teen Room)

Reviewed by kate the librarian

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

This book is worth every enthusiastic review it has already received. The story takes place in an unspecified year in the future in a land once known as North America, which is divided into twelve districts. Each district has a specialty that supposedly benefits the whole, and sixteen-year-old Katniss lives with her family in a district of coal miners. The rulers of Panem maintain control primarily by conducting an annual survival competition that pits young people from each district against one another. The competition is broadcast visually so that all districts can witness the events. When her younger sister is chosen as the female participant from District 12, Katniss volunteers to take her place. Together she and Peeta Mellark, the chosen male, journey to the Capitol to prepare for the Games. Katniss soon learns that not everyone can be trusted, even when those individuals can be counted on for some assistance, advice, and good luck. During both preparation and the actual Games, Katniss must rely on her own strengths and intuition, until she discovers that she cannot win without Peeta. The problem is that only one survivor can win the Games.

This is the first in a projected series and is highly recommended. The gory action, face-paced adventure, and suspense will appeal to boys of all ages, and there is just enough kissing to even further heighten girls’ interests, as well. Read this and then pass it along. (You might also want to try The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau or Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer.)

Recommended for all ages.
Call number: YA COLLINS (Teen Room)

Reviewed by kate the librarian