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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
This mysterious tale introduces the reader to Dusty, a fifteen-year-old girl who lives in a small British town with her recently divorced dad. It is wintertime, and everything is covered in snow and ice, giving the novel a physical and emotional atmosphere of desolation. Dusty is home alone when she receives a phone call from a boy who knows things about her, and Dusty is convinced that this strange boy is the key to solving the mystery behind her missing brother, Josh. However, the more Dusty tries to follow or speak to the boy, who remains unnamed, the more mysterious her world becomes. More often than not, she meets up with danger, keeping the novel moving steadily through each suspenseful chapter. The mystery of the boy is never quite concluded, but Dusty does find out what has happened to Josh, even if these issues are not quite resolved. While the descriptions of Dusty’s bleak surroundings sometimes distract from the pace of the action, they do provide depth to the emotion of the book. Frozen Fire is mysterious, suspenseful, and fantastical, if a bit on the weird side. Readers who like something different, rather than the standard YA fare, will gravitate toward the ideas presented in this story.
Recommended to high school readers.Call number: YA BOWLER (Teen Room)Reviewed by kate the librarian
Kyle is stuck. Stuck in time, stuck in guilt, stuck in a shrink’s office once a week. All because he’s stuck with the memory of his best friend’s death, or the lack of memory, which makes things even worse. No matter how hard he thinks about that morning, and no matter how many times his mind repeats the scenes leading up to and following, he just can’t remember exactly how the bullet made it to Jason’s body. Vividly, Kyle can describe the scenes in which Jason and he had breakfast with Kyle’s parents and sister. Then they went outside and played around in the snow briefly before checking out Dad’s shed. There was some cool stuff in the shed, including the old film reel, which fascinates Kyle, whose dream is to be a movie director. It’s Jason who finds Dad’s old gun, but the loaded weapon ends up in Kyle’s hands while Jason lies in a pool of blood.
Following the shooting, Kyle needs to try to go back to a “normal” life, this time with his family, a parole officer and psychologist watching his every move. Kyle struggles to deal with life without his best friend, and with the fact that he could be at fault in his friend’s death. As Kyle writes screenplays detailing the various scenes leading up to, and immediately following, the “accident,” he begins to better understand the course of events, and the place that Jason held in his life. Despite the heavy material, this face-paced read offers humor and hope. Some friends offer emotional support from unexpected places, including a loner at school, the school librarian, Jason’s brother, and even his own sister. The characters are well-drawn, and the conclusion is overwhelmingly satisfying. Recommended for older middle and high school readers.Call number: YA AYARBE (Teen Room)Reviewed by kate the librarian
Abby Savage is the only normal one in her family. She thinks so, and pretty much everyone else around her thinks so, too. Abby has two sisters, a mom, a largely-absentee alcoholic dad, a stepfather (who is also her sister’s ex-boyfriend and the biological father of her niece), a niece, another niece on the way, and – surprise! – another sister on the way. She also has a gay best friend, Cody, and a love interest in Cody’s older brother, Jackson, who are also her next-door neighbors. This mish-mosh of characters perfectly represents the way that this novel is written. This is a just-for-fun book that presents too much sexual banter, drinking, and overall “unwholesomeness” to really warrant a positive recommendation. However, despite the lack of quality that goes into the plot or authentic character development, teenage girls are bound to be sucked into Abby’s drama. The text is quick-moving and readers might just feel compelled to follow through to see how everything wraps up. The characters are all entertaining in the style “Jerry Springer,” but if you have an aversion for soap operas, you might want to choose an alternative brand of chick lit. Without the quality to make up for the content, too much underage drinking and out-in-the-open sexual behavior limit this book’s readership.Call number: YA GEERLING (Teen Room)Reviewed by kate the librarian
Dana Reinhardt does it again. Realistic fiction at its best tells the story of seventeen-year-old Harper, who decides to take a break from life, including from her broken family and her none-too-perfect sort-of boyfriend. Her passion for environmental and social responsibility leads her to the volunteer organization, Homes from the Heart, and she ends up spending her whole summer rebuilding a home in Tennessee that was destroyed by a tornado. Upon her arrival, she is stressed out and tired of having to deal with people, but new friends and tough physical work begin to break her down and win her over. More than anything, it is watching her get to know her new friends and fall in love with Teddy, the son in the family for whom the home is being rebuilt, that allows the reader to become completely immersed in the story, wherever it leads. Her ultimate realizations about family, relationships, independence, and love are the icing on top of the cake. The reader is alternatively heartbroken and uplifted by Harper, and by those who lift her higher. Some age- and situation-appropriate language and some sexual encounters might make this story appropriate for an older readership, but the character’s exploration will appeal to teens and adults alike.Highly recommended to high school readers.Call number: YA REINHARDT (Teen Room)Reviewed by kate the librarian
Aslaug is a fifteen-year-old girl who would have been average if she had just lived a different life. Aslaug was born to a woman who claimed to “have never had a lover,” and was then raised in isolation, her only companions being lessons in religion, language, and botany. When Aslaug’s mother dies, she discovers that she has an aunt and two cousins who live nearby. She is fascinated by her cousins, who seem equally fascinated by her, although for different reasons, and her relationships with her newfound family go through dramatic shifts as the plot progresses. Told through shifting time periods, half of the story follows the events following Aslaug’s mother’s death up to the present time; the other piece of the whole covers the trial for the death of Aslaug’s aunt and cousin. Religion, magic, and science play major roles in the mood and depth of this story. Ultimately, this story leaves readers focused on the idea of perspective, and how the understanding of theories and actions can completely change based on the point of view of the storyteller.
While the text of the story sometimes drifts uncontrollably to botany details and longwinded religious debate (mostly historical rather than contemporary controversial), this is an original and fascinating novel about family, self, perception, and love. Because of high-quality content, the writing and story are best suited for high school readers. The cover is breathtaking, and the characters unpredictable, and the story captivating.This book is recommended to high school readers.Call number: YA MELDRUM (Teen Room)Reviewed by kate the librarian
In a society where unwanted teens are salvaged for their body parts, three runaways fight the system that would "unwind" them Connor's parents want to be rid of him because he's a troublemaker. Risa has no parents and is being unwound to cut orphanage costs. Lev's unwinding has been planned since his birth, as part of his family's strict religion. Brought together by chance, and kept together by desperation, these three unlikely companions make a harrowing cross-country journey, knowing their lives hang in the balance. If they can survive until their eighteenth birthday, they can't be harmed -- but when every piece of them, from their hands to their hearts, are wanted by a world gone mad, eighteen seems far, far away.
Ø Could this situation happen? Do you understand how policies are made in government?
Ø What character do you relate to the most? What are the roles that Connor, Risa, and Lev played in this story?
Ø What kind of parent would choose to have their child unwound? Why?
Ø Where does life begin? Where does it end? What does being “alive” mean? Should Unwinds be considered “dead” or “alive,” or something else?
Ø Explain CyFi’s situation. What happens to him, and what do you think happened after he confronted Tyler’s parents?
Ø Describe what takes place during Roland’s last scene with Connor. What is it meant to show about Roland? Is it meant to imply anything about being an Unwind? (Can unwinding take kids that are somewhat deviant and make them far worse? Had the circumstances been different, would Roland have been the same kind of person? “He was a decent kid, protecting his mother like he did, and then his whole situation turned him into a self-centered, power-hungry bully, still with that core of decency that prevented him from committing murder.”)
Ø How did you react to Roland’s final scene? How did you react to Mai’s last scene?
Ø What are your thoughts on the Admiral? Does he redeem himself in the end?
Ø What do you think the ending of the story brings to the story as a whole?
Ø Where there parts of the story that you feel like you missed? Why do you think the author chose to tell the story from three separate points-of-view? How did some of the stories overlap?
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