Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor
Great world building, characters you come to love (and hate), and intense emotion combine to make a really enjoyable, poignant teen paranormal romance in Taylor opening novel in the Smoke & Bone trilogy. From the outside, Karou seems like your (not really) average artsy teenager. She attends a fancy art school in Prague, stays out too late with her friends, and is having trouble with an ex. Her blue hair grows that way, she can wish extreme and embarrassing itchiness on her conniving ex, and sometimes ditches her friends to go through magical doorways in search of exotic teeth for her demon adoptive father. Typical, right? When black handprints start appearing, burned onto the magical doorways, Karou slowly begins to realize that she is in a much more dire situation than she could have ever imagined.
Holley, Emmet O’Neal
Timebound by Rysa Walker
(Powells.com) "In this time-travel adventure, which won the 2013 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award in the YA category, Walker delivers a solid, leisurely paced tale that mixes romance with temporal intrigue. Kate Pierce-Keller is stunned when her formerly estranged grandmother tells her about a secret family history involving time travel and a conspiracy by a rogue scholar from the future to rewrite society through the use of retroactively inserted religion. When history alters, and Kate's family is lost, only she remains to travel back to the 1893 World's Fair and prevent the murder that changed everything. Walker has clearly thought through the complicated layers of world-building and temporal hijinks, keeping the story's multiple strands from getting too tangled. Kate is a strong, memorable protagonist, and her romance with Trey, the boy she meets in an altered timeline, is sweet and believable. However, the plot simmers for much of the book, heavy with infodumps, informed backstory, and little progress. The dense mythology seeks to pack more than necessary into an already crowded narrative, leading to an imbalanced, though entertaining story. Ages 12 — up. (Dec.)" Publishers Weekly
Michelle, Irondale
Every Day by David Levithan
(Powells.com) Every day a different body. Every day a different life. Every day in love with the same girl. Every morning, A wakes in a different person's body, a different person's life. There's never any warning about where it will be or who it will be. A has made peace with that, even established guidelines by which to live: Never get too attached. Avoid being noticed. Do not interfere.
It's all fine until the morning that A wakes up in the body of Justin and meets Justin's girlfriend, Rhiannon. From that moment, the rules by which A has been living no longer apply. Because finally A has found someone he wants to be with — day in, day out, day after day.
With his new novel, David Levithan has pushed himself to new creative heights. He has written a captivating story that will fascinate readers as they begin to comprehend the complexities of life and love in A's world, as A and Rhiannon seek to discover if you can truly love someone who is destined to change every day.
Michelle, Irondale
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (for adults who like to read YA or high school age YA readers)
(Powells.com) At once wildly original and stuffed with irresistible nostalgia, Ready Player One is a spectacularly genre-busting, ambitious, and charming debut — part quest novel, part love story, and part virtual space opera set in a universe where spell-slinging mages battle giant Japanese robots, entire planets are inspired by Blade Runner, and flying DeLoreans achieve light speed.
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.
For years, millions have struggled fruitlessly to attain this prize, knowing only that Halliday's riddles are based in the pop culture he loved—that of the late twentieth century. And for years, millions have found in this quest another means of escape, retreating into happy, obsessive study of Halliday’s icons. Like many of his contemporaries, Wade is as comfortable debating the finer points of John Hughes's oeuvre, playing Pac-Man, or reciting Devo lyrics as he is scrounging power to run his OASIS rig.
And then Wade stumbles upon the first puzzle.
Suddenly the whole world is watching, and thousands of competitors join the hunt — among them certain powerful players who are willing to commit very real murder to beat Wade to this prize. Now the only way for Wade to survive and preserve everything he knows is to win. But to do so, he may have to leave behind his oh-so-perfect virtual existence and face up to life — and love — in the real world he's always been so desperate to escape. A world at stake. A quest for the ultimate prize. Are you ready?
Michelle, Irondale
The All Souls Trilogy by Deborah Harkness (for adults who like to read YA or high school age YA readers)
A Discovery of Witches
Shadow of Night
The Book of Life
(Powell.com, A Discovery of Witches) A richly inventive novel about a centuries-old vampire, a spellbound witch, and the mysterious manuscript that draws them together.
Deep in the stacks of Oxford's Bodleian Library, young scholar Diana Bishop unwittingly calls up a bewitched alchemical manuscript in the course of her research. Descended from an old and distinguished line of witches, Diana wants nothing to do with sorcery; so after a furtive glance and a few notes, she banishes the book to the stacks. But her discovery sets a fantastical underworld stirring, and a horde of daemons, witches, and vampires soon descends upon the library. Diana has stumbled upon a coveted treasure lost for centuries — and she is the only creature who can break its spell.
Debut novelist Deborah Harkness has crafted a mesmerizing and addictive read, equal parts history and magic, romance and suspense. Diana is a bold heroine who meets her equal in vampire geneticist Matthew Clairmont, and gradually warms up to him as their alliance deepens into an intimacy that violates age-old taboos. This smart, sophisticated story harks back to the novels of Anne Rice, but it is as contemporary and sensual as the Twilight series — with an extra serving of historical realism.
Michelle, Irondale
GENERAL DISCUSSION: A great companion read to the second novel in the All Souls Trilogy, Shadow of Night, is Ian Mortimer’s The Time Traveler’s Guide to Elizabethan England.
Descendants of Darkness by Yoko Matsushita
(Powells.com) As a Guardian of Death, Asato Tsuzuki has a lot to think about. First of all, there are all the dead people. Someone's got to escort them safely to the afterlife. Then there's all that bureaucracy. The affairs of death come with a lot of paperwork, budgetary concerns and endless arcana. Combining supernatural action with heavy dollops of romance, sex and humor, Descendents of Darkness proves one thing: Death is big business ... and business is good.
Samuel, Five Pts West
Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers
(Powells.com) From the moment Mary Poppins arrives at Number Seventeen Cherry-Tree Lane, everyday life at the Banks house is forever changed.
It all starts when Mary Poppins is blown by the east wind onto the doorstep of the Banks house. She becomes a most unusual nanny to Jane, Michael, and the twins. Who else but Mary Poppins can slide up banisters, pull an entire armchair out of an empty carpetbag, and make a dose of medicine taste like delicious lime-juice cordial? A day with Mary Poppins is a day of magic and make-believe come to life!
Samuel, Five Pts West
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
(Powells.com) This ingenious fantasy centers around Milo, a bored ten-year-old who comes home to find a large toy tollbooth sitting in his room. Joining forces with a watchdog named Tock, Milo drives through the tollbooth's gates and begins a memorable journey. He meets such characters as the foolish, yet lovable Humbug, the Mathemagician, and the not-so-wicked "Which", Faintly Macabre, who gives Milo the "impossible" mission of returning two princesses to the Kingdom of Wisdom.
Samuel, Five Pts West
Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
(Powells.com) At her birth, Ella of Frell was the unfortunate recipient of a foolish fairy's gift--the "gift' of obedience. Ella must obey any order given to her, whether it's hopping on one foot for a day and a half, or chopping off her own head! But strong-willed Ella does not tamely accept her fate. Against a bold backdrop of princes, ogres, giants, wicked stepsisters, and fairy godmothers, Ella goes on a quest to break the curse--once and for all.
In this incredible debut novel comes the richly entertaining story of Ella of Frell, who at birth was given the gift of obedience by a fairy. Ella soon realizes that this gift is little better than a curse, for how can she truly be herself if at anytime anyone can order her to hop on one foot, or cut off her hand, or betray her kingdom'and she'll have to obey? Against a bold tapestry of princes, ogres, giants, wicked stepsisters, and fairy godmothers, Ella's quest to break the curse once and for all and discover who she really is is as sharply funny as Catherine, Called Birdy and as richly poignant as Beauty, and has all the marks of a classic in the making.
Samuel, Five Pts West
Auntie Mame by Patrick Dennis
(Amazon.com) "Outrageous, hilarious, ribald, sophisticated, slapsatiric." The Denver Post
With a wit as sharp as a vodka stinger and a heart as free as her spirit, Auntie Mame burst onto the literary scene in 1955 -- and today remains one of the most unforgettable characters in contemporary fiction. Follow the rollicking adventures of this unflappable flapper as seen through the wide eyes of her young, impressionable nephew and discover anew or for the first time why Mame has made the world a more wonderful place.
Samuel, Five Pts West
Strange Fruit, Vol 1: Uncelebrated Narratives from Black History by Joel Christian Gill
(Powells.com) Strange Fruit, Volume I is a collection of stories from African American history that exemplifies success in the face of great adversity. This unique graphic anthology offers historical and cultural commentary on nine uncelebrated heroes whose stories are not often found in history books. Among the stories included are: Henry "Box" Brown, who escaped from slavery by mailing himself to Philadelphia; Alexander Crummel and the Noyes Academy, the first integrated school in America, established in the 1830s; Marshall "Major" Taylor, a.k.a. the Black Cyclone, the first black champion in any sport; and Bass Reeves, the most successful lawman in the Old West. Written and illustrated by Joel Christian Gill, the diverse art beautifully captures the spirit of each remarkable individual and opens a window into an important part of American history.
Jon, Avondale
Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi
(Powells.com) Originally published to wide critical acclaim in France, where it elicited comparisons to Art Spiegelman's Maus, Persepolis is Marjane Satrapi's wise, funny, and heartbreaking memoir of growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. In powerful black-and-white comic strip images, Satrapi tells the story of her life in Tehran from ages six to fourteen, years that saw the overthrow of the Shah's regime, the triumph of the Islamic Revolution, and the devastating effects of war with Iraq. The intelligent and outspoken only child of committed Marxists and the great-granddaughter of one of Iran's last emperors, Marjane bears witness to a childhood uniquely entwined with the history of her country.
Persepolis paints an unforgettable portrait of daily life in Iran: of the bewildering contradictions between home life and public life and of the enormous toll repressive regimes exact on the individual spirit. Marjane's child's-eye-view of dethroned emperors, state-sanctioned whippings, and heroes of the revolution allows us to learn as she does the history of this fascinating country and of her own extraordinary family. Intensely personal, profoundly political, and wholly original, Persepolis is at once a story of growing up and a stunning reminder of the human cost of war and political repression. It shows how we carry on, through laughter and tears, in the face of absurdity. And, finally, it introduces us to an irresistible little girl with whom we cannot help but fall in love.
Jon, Avondale
Empire of the Sun by J.G. Ballard
(Powells.com) The classic, award-winning novel, made famous by Steven Spielberg's film, tells of a young boy's struggle to survive World War II in China.
Jim is separated from his parents in a world at war. To survive, he must find a strength greater than all the events that surround him.
Shanghai, 1941 — a city aflame from the fateful torch of Pearl Harbor. In streets full of chaos and corpses, a young British boy searches in vain for his parents. Imprisoned in a Japanese concentration camp, he is witness to the fierce white flash of Nagasaki, as the bomb bellows the end of the war...and the dawn of a blighted world.
Ballard's enduring novel of war and deprivation, internment camps and death marches, and starvation and survival is an honest coming-of-age tale set in a world thrown utterly out of joint.
Jon, Avondale
Ashes (Bk 1 of the Ashes trilogy) by Ilsa Bick
(Powells.com) It could happen tomorrow . . . An electromagnetic pulse flashes across the sky, destroying every electronic device, wiping out every computerized system, and killing billions.
Alex hiked into the woods to say good-bye to her dead parents and her personal demons. Now desperate to find out what happened after the pulse crushes her to the ground, Alex meets up with Tom—a young soldier—and Ellie, a girl whose grandfather was killed by the EMP.
For this improvised family and the others who are spared, it’s now a question of who can be trusted and who is no longer human.
Author Ilsa J. Bick crafts a terrifying and thrilling novel about a world that could be ours at any moment, where those left standing must learn what it means not just to survive, but to live amidst the devastation.
Jon, Avondale
GENERAL DISCUSSION: I couldn’t remember the author of this book and asked if it was Mike Mullins but Mullins’ book is Ashfall, the start of another trilogy. Still dystopian.
(Powells.com) Under the bubbling hot springs and geysers of Yellowstone National Park is a supervolcano. Most people don't know it's there. The caldera is so large that it can only be seen from a plane or satellite. It just could be overdue for an eruption, which would change the landscape and climate of our planet.
For Alex, being left alone for the weekend means having the freedom to play computer games and hang out with his friends without hassle from his mother. Then the Yellowstone supervolcano erupts, plunging his hometown into a nightmare of darkness, ash, and violence. Alex begins a harrowing trek to seach for his family and finds help in Darla, a travel partner he meets along the way. Together they must find the strength and skills to survive and outlast an epic disaster.
The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey
(Powells.com) Fifteen-year-old Cassie is the girl who lost it all. Her world ripped apart. Her mother and father dead. Her little brother captured.
On a lonely stretch of highway, she runs from Them. The beings who only look human, who roam the countryside killing anyone they see. Who have scattered Earth’s last survivors.
To stay alone is to stay alive, until she meets Evan Walker. Beguiling and mysterious, Evan may be Cassie's only hope for rescuing her brother — or saving herself. Now, she must choose: between trust and despair, between defiance and surrender, between life and death. To give up or to get up.
Cassie Sullivan gets up.
In multi-award winner Rick Yancey's gripping, epic young adult series, the most dangerous lie is the one that gives us hope.
Jon, Avondale
Hold Me Closer, Necromancer by Lish McBride
(Powells.com) Sam leads a pretty normal life. He may not have the most exciting job in the world, but he's doing all right — until a fast food prank brings him to the attention of Douglas, a creepy guy with an intense violent streak.
Turns out Douglas is a necromancer who raises the dead for cash and sees potential in Sam. Then Sam discovers he's a necromancer too, but with strangely latent powers. And his worst nightmare wants to join forces... or else.
With only a week to figure things out, Sam needs all the help he can get. Luckily he lives in Seattle, which has nearly as many paranormal types as it does coffee places. But even with newfound friends, will Sam be able to save his skin? Hold Me Closer, Necromancer is a 2011 Bank Street – Best Children's Book of the Year.
Kelly, Springville Road
