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Marriott, Zoe. SHADOWS ON THE MOON
Marriott, Zoe. SHADOWS ON THE MOON Somerville, MA : Candlewick, 2012 IL YA ISBN 0763653446 “On my fourteenth birthday when the sakura was in full bloom, the men came to kill us. We saw them come, Aimi and me. We were excited, because we did not know how to be frightened. We had never seen soldiers before.” Suzume is a shadow-weaver. She can create mantles of darkness and light, walk unseen in the middle of the day, change her face. She can be anyone she wants to be. Except herself. Suzume died officially the day the Prince’s men accused her father of treason. Now even she is no longer sure of her true identity. (Booktalk by New Hampshire Flume committee)
Saturday, July 27, 2013
Book of the day 07/27/2013
Friday, July 26, 2013
Book of the day 07/26/2013
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Cline, Ernest. READY PLAYER ONE
Cline, Ernest. READY PLAYER ONE New York : Crown Publishers, 2011 IL AD ISBN 030788743X It’s the year 2044, and the real world is an ugly place. Like most of humanity, Wade Watts escapes his grim surroundings by spending his waking hours jacked into the OASIS, a sprawling virtual utopia that lets you be anything you want to be, a place where you can live and play and fall in love on any of ten thousand planets. And like most of humanity, Wade dreams of being the one to discover the ultimate lottery ticket that lies concealed within this virtual world. For somewhere inside this giant networked playground, OASIS creator James Halliday has hidden a series of fiendish puzzles that will yield massive fortune—and remarkable power—to whoever can unlock them. A world at stake. A quest for the ultimate prize. Are you ready? (Booktalk by New Hampshire Flume committee)
Thursday, July 25, 2013
Book of the day 07/25/2013
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Stiefvater, Maggie. THE RAVEN BOYS
Stiefvater, Maggie. THE RAVEN BOYS New York : Scholastic, 2012 IL YA ISBN 0545424925 Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them—not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her. His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble. But Gansey is different. He has it all—family money, good looks, devoted friends—but he’s looking for much more. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents all the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul who ranges from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher of the four, who notices many things but says very little. For as long as she can remember, Blue has been told by her psychic family that she will kill her true love. She never thought this would be a problem. But now, as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore. (Booktalk by New Hampshire Flume committee)
Wednesday, July 24, 2013
Book of the day 07/24/2013
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Laybourne, Emmy. MONUMENT 14 New York : Feiwel and Friends, 2012 IL YA ISBN 0312569033 Your mother hollers that you’re going to miss the bus. She can see it coming down the street. You don’t stop and hug her and tell her you love her. You don’t thank her for being a good, kind, patient mother. Of course not--you launch yourself down the stairs and make a run for the corner.Only, if it’s the last time you’ll ever see your mother, you sort of start to wish you’d stopped and did those things. Maybe even missed the bus. But the bus was barreling down our street, so I ran. Fourteen kids. One superstore. A million things that go wrong. (Booktalk by New Hampshire Flume committee)
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
Book of the day 07/23/2013
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Carter, Ally. HEIST SOCIETY New York : Disney Hyperion Books 2010 IL YA ISBN 1423116399 When Katarina Bishop was three, her parents took her on a trip to the Louvre…to case it. For her seventh birthday, Katarina and her Uncle Eddie traveled to Austria…to steal the crown jewels. When Kat turned fifteen, she planned a con of her own--scamming her way into the best boarding school in the country, determined to leave the family business behind. Unfortunately, leaving “the life” for a normal life proves harder than she’d expected. Soon, Kat’s friend and former coconspirator, Hale, appears out of nowhere to bring Kat back into the world she tried so hard to escape. But he has a good reason: a powerful mobster has been robbed of his priceless art collection and wants to retrieve it. Only a master thief could have pulled this job, and Kat’s father isn’t just on the suspect list, he is the list. Caught between Interpol and a far more deadly enemy, Kat’s dad needs her help. For Kat, there is only one solution: track down the paintings and steal them back. So what if it’s a spectacularly impossible job? She’s got two weeks, a teenage crew, and hopefully just enough talent to pull off the biggest heist in her family’s history--and, with any luck, steal her life back along the way. (Booktalk by New Hampshire Flume committee)
Monday, July 22, 2013
Book of the day 07/22/2013
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Green, John. THE FAULT IN OUR STARS
Green, John. THE FAULT IN OUR STARS Two years post-miracle, sixteen-year old Hazel is post-everything else, too; posthigh school, post-friends and post-normalcy. And even though she could live for a long time (whatever that means), Hazel lives tethered to an oxygen tank, the tumors tenuously kept at bay with a constant chemical assault. Enter Augustus Waters. A match made at cancer kid support group, Augustus is gorgeous, in remission, and shockingly to her, interested in Hazel. Being with Augustus is both an unexpected destination and a long-needed journey, pushing Hazel to re-examine how sickness and health, life and death, will define her and the legacy that everyone leaves behind. (Booktalk by New Hampshire Flume committee)
Sunday, July 21, 2013
Book of the day 07/21/2013
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Lane, Andrew. DEATH CLOUD New York : Farrar Straus Giroux, 2011 IL YA ISBN 0374387672 It is the summer of 1868, and Sherlock Holmes is fourteen. On break from boarding school, he is staying with eccentric strangers--his uncle and aunt--in their vast house in Hampshire. When two local peopledie from symptoms that resemble the plague, Holmes begins to investigate what really killed them, helped by his new tutor, an American named Amyus Crowe. So begins Sherlock’s true education in detection, as he discovers the dastardly crimes of a brilliantly sinister villain of exquisitely malign intent. (Booktalk by New Hampshire Flume committee)
Saturday, July 20, 2013
Book of the day 07/20/2013
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Wein, Elizabeth. CODE NAME VERITY
Wein, Elizabeth. CODE NAME VERITY When “Verity” is arrested by the Gestapo, she’s sure she doesn’t stand a chance. As a secret agent captured in enemy territory, she’s living a spy’s worst nightmare. Her Nazi interrogators give her a simple choice: reveal her mission or face a grisly execution. They'll get the truth out of her. But it won’t be what they expect. (Booktalk by New Hampshire Flume committee)
Thursday, July 18, 2013
Book of the day 07/18/2013
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King, A. S. ASK THE PASSENGERS
King, A. S. ASK THE PASSENGERS Boston : Little, Brown, 2012 IL YA ISBN 0316194689 Astrid Jones copes with her small town's gossip and narrow-mindedness by staring at the sky and imagining that she's sending love to the passengers in the airplanes flying high over her backyard. Maybe they'll know what to do with it. Maybe it'll make them happy. Maybe they'll need it. Her mother doesn't want it, her father's always stoned, her perfect sister's too busy trying to fit in, and the people in her small town would never allow her to love the person she really wants to: a girl named Dee.There's no one Astrid feels she can talk to about this deep secret or the profound questions that she's trying to answer. But little does she know just how much sending her love--and asking the right questions--will affect the passengers' lives, and her own, for the better. (Booktalk by New Hampshire Flume committee)
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Revis, Beth. ACROSS THE UNIVERSE
Revis, Beth. ACROSS THE UNIVERSE A love out of time. A spaceship built of secrets and murder. When Amy is frozen aboard the interstellar spaceship Godspeed, she expects to be woken in 300 years on a new planet. Instead, someone wakes her up early…and if Amy doesn’t figure out why soon, the next people they wake up might not survive–including her parents. (Booktalk by New Hampshire Flume committee)
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
Book of the day 07/16/2013
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Schrefer, Eliot. ENDANGERED New York : Scholastic, 2012 IL YA ISBN 0545165768 Fourteen-year-old Sophie rescues Otto, a young bonobo chimp, from an animal trader while spending the summer at her mother's bonobo sanctuary in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Otto is in bad shape, malnourished and beaten and missing two fingers. --The locals are superstitious, her mother explains - “Soup with a bonobo finger in it is supposed to make a pregnant woman give birth to a strong baby. Putting another finger in the bathwater keeps the baby strong.”Despite her mother’s scolding for encouraging the animal trader with the purchase, Sophie pledges to nurse Otto back to health. Bonobos share 98.7% of human DNA and like human babies, bonobo babies bond with their mother.While Sophie’s mother is on a research trip, the President is assassinated and war breaks out. Sophie has a chance to return home to her father in the United States but can’t bear to leave Otto. Instead, she runs. She and Otto escape into the bonobo enclosure. Trapped between the rebel soldiers and the wild bonobos, Sophie must find her way across the jungle to find her mother... (New Hampshire Isinglass Teen Book Award, 2014)
Monday, July 15, 2013
Book of the day 07/15/2013
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Rosenblum, Gregg. REVOLUTION 19
Rosenblum, Gregg. REVOLUTION 19 New York : HarperTeen, 2012 IL YA ISBN 0062125958 Nick, his brother Kevin, and their adopted sister Cass, have spent their whole lives in a community in the wilderness, hiding out from the robots that have enslaved mankind. The day that Kevin discovers a mysterious piece of metal changes their lives forever - because the metal that tech loving Kevin picked up is some sort of homing device that leads the robots directly to the community. The robots attack, and the three teens barely make it out alive -Taking refuge in their sheltered hideout, they decide they can’t stay put; they have to head for the city to find out if everyone they care for have been taken prisoner. All survivors were captured and taken to one of the robots' Cities -- and they’ve been hearing about the cities their whole lives, a place where humans are treated like animals, living in outdoor pens and forced to build new bots until they drop dead from exhaustion. When they finally get to the city, it’s nothing like they've been told.As they live among the bots for the first time, they realize they're fighting for more than just their family. The robots have ruled for too long, and now it's time for a revolution. (New Hampshire Isinglass Teen Book Award, 2014)
Sunday, July 14, 2013
Book of the day 07/14/2013
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Rosati, Gina. AURACLE New York : Roaring Brook Press, 2012 IL YA ISBN 1596437103 Seventeen-year-old Anna has a unique hobby. She can astrally project out of her body. This is especially useful when class is boring or she needs to get away from her dad’s drinking. Rei, her best friend since forever, worries for her when she projects. Anna thinks Rei is just jealous. Leaving her body, she has traveled around the world, into the cosmos, to the mouth of an erupting volcano.One night, Anna travels to the nearby waterfall where Taylor, a predatory “party girl,” has lured Rei’s buddy Seth. Attempting to seduce Seth, Taylor moves closer to him and slips on the wet rocks.... She falls off the cliff and crashes to her death. Anna returns to her body, only to find it occupied by Taylor, a reluctant spirit who was drawn to Anna’s body. Taylor (as Anna) accuses Seth of murder and tries to seduce Rei. Will Anna figure out a way to exorcise Taylor from her body before it’s too late?Auracle is a suspenseful debut novel by New Hampshire Author Gina Rosati (New Hampshire Isinglass Teen Book Award, 2014)
Saturday, July 13, 2013
Book of the day 07/13/2013
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Poblocki, Dan. GHOST OF GRAYLOCK
Poblocki, Dan. GHOST OF GRAYLOCK New York : Scholastic, 2012 IL 3-6, RL 4.9 ISBN 0545402689 Neil and his older sister Bree are sent live with their aunts for a while while his parents “sort things out.” He meets Wesley, a boy his age, who tells him rumors about Graylock Hall - the abandoned asylum in town - that it’s haunted by the ghosts of several young patients who died under mysterious circumstances, murdered by one of the Nurses who worked there. Awesome -- Exploring Graylock Hall will be the perfect way to spend his summer because Neil is an avid fan of the Ghostly Investigator TV show.Neil, Bree, Wesley and Wesley’s brother Eric band together to visit Graylock and strange things start to happen..especially in Room 13. Their camera stops working. Their flashlight suddenly dies. Bree is overcome with a strange sleepiness in Room 13...Neil thinks he sees a ghostly figure...is it murderous Nurse Janet?When they return home, Nick and Bree can’t explain the strange events that seem to have followed them back...mysterious puddles of lake water, ghostly images of a young girl...the nightmares...Someone is trying to tell them something, but who? And what is their message? (New Hampshire Isinglass Teen Book Award, 2014)
Friday, July 12, 2013
Book of the day 07/12/2013
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Meyer, Marissa. CINDER New York : Feiwel and Friends, 2012 IL YA ISBN 0312641893 Cinder is an updated Cinderella story with a sci-fi twist.In the future, Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She works in a small stall in the crowded streets of New Beijing. Her reputation has spread as far as the palace, because even Prince Kai (you knew there would be a handsome prince) seeks her out to repair a broken android before the ball. A nice twist on the fairy tale is that Cinder has a mechanical foot that doesn’t quite fit, because her stepmother - of course there’s a stepmother! - her stepmother won’t replace the one Cinder got when she was a kid.Along with her stepmother, she lives with two stepsisters (of course) -- one, Peony, she actually has a sisterly relationship with- the other, Pearl, not so much.Earth’s governments are urging Prince Kai to marry the Lunar Queen Levana to establish an alliance between the Earth and the Moon. Some believe that the Lunar people have developed a cure for the mysterious, deadly plague that is sweeping through New Beijing. Prince Kai’s father is stricken, as is Peony (the nice stepsister) is infected. As revenge, Cinder’s stepmother volunteers her for plague research...which unlocks secrets about Cinder, the Lunar people that have been buried for years.Cinder is the first book in a four part Lunar Chronicles. (New Hampshire Isinglass Teen Book Award, 2014)
Thursday, July 11, 2013
Book of the day 07/11/2013
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Maas, Sarah J. THRONE OF GLASS
Maas, Sarah J. THRONE OF GLASS New York : Bloomsbury, 2012 IL YA ISBN 1599906953 A chilling yet romantic fantasy set in a world ruled by a tyrannical king. When the story opens, our teen heroine has been imprisoned in the salt mines. No one lasts long there. So, when she is offered the chance to compete for her freedom, she takes it, even though the competition is to become the despised king’s personal assassin. It’s just for 4 years. She will find a way to get through this. It’s her only chance, and she has a good chance at winning. She is highly trained.She is sent to the castle along with 23 other infamous criminals, and begins training for the competition. Her sponsor is the crown prince and her trainer the loyal captain of the king’s guard. Neither is going to be the kind of person she expects them to be, and an interesting love triangle will emerge as the story progresses.And the story is complex. There are hidden forces at work in the castle. Someone is killing the assassins, and, a presence she can’t explain is emerging in her room. (New Hampshire Isinglass Teen Book Award, 2014)
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Book of the day 07/10/2013
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Lewis, Richard. THE KILLING SEA
Lewis, Richard. THE KILLING SEA New York : Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2006 IL YA ISBN 1416911650 Drawing on his experience as a relief worker after the 2005 tsunami in Indonesia, Lewis spins a harrowing tale of disaster and survival, but also a story of human compassion and cultural awakening.Ruslan, an Indonesian teen is drawn to an American girl when her family's sailboat docks in his town for mechanical assistance. The girl doesn’t even notice him. Boat fixed, her family sails off. Both teens are about to be caught in a massive tsunami.The girl survives, but her mother is killed, her father is missing, and her little brother badly injured. Ruslan also survives the wave and immediately begins to search for his father, who had gone inland on an errand hours before the wave hit. The island has become an unfamiliar landscape of devastation. When the two teens happen upon each other, the little brother is failing. They band together to search for a doctor and their missing fathers. A friendship develops and when the girl, who’s safety is big news, is discovered, she uses the news media’s attention to speak out for what she now understand is the important disaster story - the islanders and their island. (New Hampshire Isinglass Teen Book Award, 2014)
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
Book of the day 07/09/2013
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Klaven, Andrew. CRAZY DANGEROUS
Klaven, Andrew. CRAZY DANGEROUS New York : Thomas Nelson, 2012 IL YA ISBN 1595547932 Like “The Last Thing I Remember,” this is about a boy thrown into a puzzling and very tough spot, trying to figure out both how to survive and how to solve a reality that seems surreal. Sam is the son of a preacher. He has to deal with kids who think they couldn't possible relax around him, or include him, or, feel the need to test his goodness. He has very few real friends.One day while out running he is intercepted by the local tough group. They intend to hurt him, but impressed by his spunky responses, end up inviting him to join them. He knows this is not a good idea, yet it seems his best option in the moment, and, he is sort of drawn to it. No one would make fun of him. Eventually he crosses them when they try to hurt a student who is known to be a bit crazy. With this act he becomes her hero, and their no 1 enemy. After all he now knows some of their secrets. She begins telling him about visions she has of impending disaster, and he gets drawn into trying to figure out whether she is hallucinating or is trying to warn him about something real. Trying to find out the truth in time is essential, at times illegal, and quite dangerous. (New Hampshire Isinglass Teen Book Award, 2014)
Monday, July 8, 2013
Book of the day 07/08/2013
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Khoury, Jessica. ORIGIN New York : Razorbill, 2012 IL YA ISBN 1595145958 Deep in the Amazon, in a top-secret compound known as Little Cam, a group of scientists discovered a possible key to immortality. They have labored for years to create an immortal human with the thought of beginning a new human race. Pia, now 16, is the result of their work. She has lightning-fast reflexes, inexhaustible stamina, a quick mind, and a beautiful body impervious to sickness or injury. She is their perfect creation and has been carefully schooled and groomed by the scientists, whom she calls uncles. She is also a kind of lab pawn, and her adolescent still-human soul has started to chafe at and question the restrictions and isolation. When a storm causes a break in the electric fence, Pia ventures into the unknown jungle, where discovers Eio, a boy her age belonging to a nearby tribe. Oddly enough Eio speaks English, and, he knows more about Little Cam and the outside world than Pia. How could this be? Why are her uncles hiding so much from her? About that time a new scientist comes to work at Little Cam. She encourages Pia's curiosity and independence. Pia is going to uncover the secret discoveries and actions that led to her immortality. These will not bring her comfort. (New Hampshire Isinglass Teen Book Award, 2014)
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Kincaid, S. J. INSIGNIA New York : Katherine Tegen Books, 2012 IL YA ISBN 0062092995 Tom Raines life is screwed up. Dad is a down-on-his-luck gambler who loses more money than he wins, so often, Tom must win money for food and hotel room thru his prowess betting on the results of Virtual Reality games. His luck finds a turn - whether for better or worse is up to the reader to decide - when the government taps him for special training. His amazing gaming abilities will be used as a force for the Indo-American alliance in World War III. Since having battles on the earth would obliterate all resources, teenagers have been enlisted to fight space battles via VR type consoles. Tom agrees, but initially balks when the concept of an internal (as in brain) neural processor installation is discussed. However, he realizes the safety and protection of the Pentagonal Spire and the importance he will gain as a member of the Intrasolar Forces will finally show the world he has worth. But with all the speed and intelligence he has gained, what will he be asked to give up?Kincaid has given the YA environment a humorous glimpse at dystopia, to the point that at times I actually laughed aloud. As YA books can be way to serious & angst-y, particularly dystopia, humor is MORE than welcome. The books pages seemed to turn themselves as the reader watches Tom evolve from a short, gangly, acne-riddled kid into a tall, muscular, and confident teen. I totally disagreed with the Booklist review that Tom was a “flat character from a story-driven plot”; rather, I see much character growth and a character driven to make the best place for himself in his world. Technology and gaming abound in this book, which will delight the gamers visiting our libraries. (New Hampshire Isinglass Teen Book Award, 2014)
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