Library Connections Newsletter, Oct. 2014

This Song Will Save Your Life

This Song Will Save Your Life is actually my favorite stand alone book ever. That means yes in my opinion it beats The Fault in Our Stars. With out spoiling too much of the book, the story follows Elise, a girl who had been bullied her entire life. Elise takes walks very late at night if she can't sleep, and on one these walks she stumbles across an underground nightclub and through a series of events, she becomes the DJ. It's one of the most funny, relatable, and heartfelt stories ever. It'll make you laugh, it'll make you cry, so please, please at least give it a shot.

You can read the first 95 pages of this book online at Google books: http://tinyurl.com/songwillsave.

~Review by Sarah W., SJH student 

Maze Runner by James Dashner

Want a little more action, but not so much blood, gore and such? Do mysterious puzzles and test appeal to you? Then you should read Maze Runner by James Dashnur. It is about a boy named Thomas who wakes up one day without any memory, and finds himself in a place called the Glade. He, along with the rest of the boys( they call themselves the Gladers) must find a way out of the maze in which the Glade is in. But danger lurks around every corner, with hideous creatures called the Grievers and walls that move daily. Can he find a way out and recover his memories? Or will he have to accept defeat and die? Find out, and explore with Maze Runner (Book 1 of Maze Runner Series).

Read the beginning of Maze Runner online at Google Books.  Other books in the series:  Scorch Trials; The Death Cure; The Kill Order.

~Review by Alley R., SJH student

Legend: Cross between Divergent and Hunger Games

Imagine a dystopian world where the government doesn't care about its people, and our two heroes are male and female. Is it the Hunger Games? No! It is Marie Lu's book Legend! Based in the future, Legend shows what would happen if the US was formed into two separate countries: The Colonies of America, and The Republic of America. Set in downtown Los Angeles, we first meet Day, a 15-year old boy on the run from the Republic. While young, he has been officially been the Republic's most wanted. Stealing guns and blowing up the airships. One day, he watched a young girl save his friend Tess from a fight, and here enters June, the female protagonist of the story. June is the countries smartest girl, having gained a perfect 1500 on the trial test kids take at age 10. But when her brother Meties, a caption of the city, is murdered, June suspects Day and is out for revenge. So when they unknowingly join forces, will Day figure her out, or will June kill him first? Full of adventure, danger and humor, Legend is the perfect mix between Divergent and the Hunger Games, keeping you on the edge of your seat and pushing you to read more. Legend is the first of the Legend Trilogy, and I guarantee it is worthwhile!

Read the beginning of Legend at Google Books.  Books in the trilogy: Legend, Prodigy, Champion. They're all available at the library.

~Review by Alley R., SJH student

The Babysitter by R.L. Stine

I have just recently finished the book The Babysitter by R.L Stine. I loved this book. It spooked me and gave me creeps. This book is mainly about a girl named Jenny, who met this little boy at the mall and started to babysit him. But their was one problem. In the news their have been a number of babysitters getting beat up and killed, by someone who has broken into the houses where the babysitter was babysitting at.

So, Jenny takes the job to earn money for her mother that is not doing very well money wise. Like everyone would do. So when Jenny started babysitting this little boy name Donny. Donny is one of those boys who just loves, I mean loves to scare people. Especially, Jenny. So while Jenny is babysitting Donny, she notices that Donny's dad is kind of nervous. All the time.

Jenny starts getting these weird phone calls, she has this weird "neighbor", and all this crazy things start to happen, Donny starts to get suspicious, and then she finds something out about this family. The worse thing is,  she goes snooping around and finds something, she is not suppose too. When she gets caught, you won't believe what happens to her.

If you want a good mystery/creepy book I recommend this book, and the book that comes after this book in the series, The Babysitter ll. 

~Review by Faith W., SJH student

Ender's Game

 

In honor of the movie coming out a while ago, I wanted to tell people how awesome Ender's Game is. I loved the book because it was easy to relate to characters or situations in the story (To feel for them I mean, obviously I haven't been in many zero gravity battles recently). Orson Scott Card also includes some moral dilemmas that make you think. The book is part of a series (Ender's Shadow, Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide). I mainly wanted to write to the people who have yet to see the movie. If you haven't read the book yet, don't watch the movie... yet. I say this because it is really tempting to go take in a story in 2 hours instead of the time it takes to read a novel, but this book has layers and parts that really deserve closer inspection. Here is what Amazon.com says about it: 

"In order to develop a secure defense against a hostile alien race's next attack, government agencies breed child geniuses and train them as soldiers. A brilliant young boy, Andrew "Ender" Wiggin lives with his kind but distant parents, his sadistic brother Peter, and the person he loves more than anyone else, his sister Valentine. Peter and Valentine were candidates for the soldier-training program but didn't make the cut--young Ender is the Wiggin drafted to the orbiting Battle School for rigorous military training.

Ender's skills make him a leader in school and respected in the Battle Room, where children play at mock battles in zero gravity. Yet growing up in an artificial community of young soldiers, Ender suffers greatly from isolation, rivalry from his peers, pressure from the adult teachers, and an unsettling fear of the alien invaders. His psychological battles include loneliness, fear that he is becoming like the cruel brother he remembers, and fanning the flames of devotion to his beloved sister. 

Is Ender the general Earth needs? But Ender is not the only result of the genetic experiments. The war with the Buggers has been raging for a hundred years, and the quest for the perfect general has been underway for almost as long. Ender's two older siblings are every bit as unusual as he is, but in very different ways. Between the three of them lie the abilities to remake a world. If the world survives, that is."

Clearly, It's an interesting story, but it can be more than that if you read the book, and THEN go see the movie instead of skipping the novel.  

Read the beginning of Ender's Game on Google books.

~Reviewed by Kash F., SHS student

Leviathan

While I was reading this summer, I found the gem of the Leviathan series. The first book is Leviathan and one of my favorite books I think I've ever read.

Leviathan takes place during WWI but instead of the historical sides in the war, they are divided into Clankers and Darwinists. Clankers rely on machines as transportation and weapons, their technology extremely advanced. Darwinists have been able to create fabricated animals, a mix of animal and science, serving the human needs. The story follows the life of a 15 year old girl Deryn, who secretly enters the British Air Service as a boy. Great Britain is a Darwinist country so after an interesting first day in the Air Service, Deryn is placed on the famous air animal, shaped as a giant whale, the Leviathan.

The book also follows the son of the Archduke and heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary named Alek. When his parents are murdered, starting the war, he knows he is wanted dead. He and his trusty mechaniks instructor and fencing master leave the country at once on their giant Clanker machine, a Stormwalker.

Leviathan is a book packed with action and conflict with an interesting taste of parallel reality science. It is one of my favorites and hope you guys get the chance to read it!

Written by Scott Westerfield, the Leviathan trilogy also includes Behemoth (book 2) and Goliath (book 3).  Preview Leviathan at Google books:  http://tinyurl.com/px2hrt8.

~Review by Katie C., SJH student

Try The False Prince for adventure & suspense

I recently stayed up way too late on a school night finishing The False Price by Jennifer Nielsen.  I saw it listed on a Teens Choice book award list and decided to give it a try.  This book was a refreshing change from all the dystopian novels I’ve been reading lately.  Don’t get me wrong, I love dystopian literature, but this is different.  It has lots of action, suspense, adventure, intrigue, and plot twists.  I was truly shocked a couple of times in the story.  In the middle of it all is a wily, stubborn, and unpredictable main character whom you can’t help but love.

            The book is set in medieval times and includes a royal family living in the fictional realm of Carthya, scruffy orphans, a gang of thieves, pirates – lots of colorful characters.  Here’s the book description from Amazon.com:

“In a discontent kingdom, civil war is brewing. To unify the divided people, Conner, a nobleman of the court, devises a cunning plan to find an impersonator of the king's long-lost son and install him as a puppet prince. Four orphans are recruited to compete for the role, including a defiant boy named Sage. Sage knows that Conner's motives are more than questionable, yet his life balances on a sword's point -- he must be chosen to play the prince or he will certainly be killed. But Sage's rivals have their own agendas as well.”

The False Price is the first book in the Ascendance trilogy.  The second book, The Runaway King, is equally exciting.  The final book of the series, The Shadow Throne, will be released next week, and I will get it for the library ASAP and have it ready for checkout – after I read it, of course.  :-) 
You can read the beginning of The False Prince on Google books:  http://books.google.com/books?id=H8aSwiaUKFQC&lpg=PP1&dq=the%20false%20prince&pg=PT13#v=onepage&q=the%20false%20prince&f=false.

~Mrs. Brownlee