Winter Reading 2015 The Dragon Lantern

In the proud tradition of "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen," (although without the racier bits), comes The League of Seven. There have been various leagues throughout history, as far back as Atlantis. Archie, Hachi, and Fergus are believed to be the first three members of a new league. With guidance from the Septemberist Society, a group dedicated to remembering the leagues and watching for signs that they were needed again, these young people are attempting to find and bring back an artifact known as the Dragon Lantern. The leader of the society believes that the lantern is extremely powerful and also will provide answers to some of the mysteries puzzling the league and society members. Each of the kids has some sort of incredible power that helps them in their endeavors. Archie is nearly indestructible and very strong (picture the Fantastic Four's Thing, but in human form). Hachi is a Seminole girl with incredible athletic powers. Fergus MacFerguson, complete with kilt, is a brilliant inventor and maker of gadgets - I picture a very young, steampunk version of Star Trek's Scottie. 

Their world is an alternative version of the 1870s, with the Transcontinental railroad not yet completed, and many steam-driven machines like robotic butlers and even giant steam men armed with heavy artillery and carrying troops inside. Famous people from our world are present in their alternate personas. George Custer commands one of the steam men. Edison is around. So is Robert E. Lee. You get the idea. In their world, terribly dangerous creatures known as the Mangleborn must be defeated and imprisoned to prevent them from enslaving all of humanity. The league's members come from all over the world with their skills to track down and capture Manglespawn.

For fans of steampunk, ensemble hero stories, and fantasy/action adventures, the League of Seven is a wonderful recipe for fun. Recommended for readers of The Glass Sentence or The Rithmatist.

I read a preview excerpt (8 chapters), provided by the publisher through NetGalley. And now I have to go back and read the first book in the series so that I will be ready when this second installment comes out in June.

Winter Reading 2015 The Maloney's Magical Weatherbox

Have you seen the movie, "The Avengers"? Not the Marvel superheroes movie, the other one - based on the 1960s TV series. There's a scene where John Steed and Emma Peele visit a place called Wonderland Weather. It is the latest thing in custom meteorology; you simply request the weather you wish to purchase and it is delivered to you through your phone line. 

The magical weatherbox in the title reminds me of that scene. Liz, Neil, and Owen live with their parents in a house that has a vintage callbox in the front yard. Although from the cover illustration, it looks as if the box has come from "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure" or perhaps a "Dr. Who" episode, it actually is the way in which each season is welcomed in by their father, the Weatherman. Unfortunately, someone else wants his job and has been scheming for years to get it. Everything from embezzlement, fraudulent investments, kidnapping, and cut phone lines are used to bring about this change in power. 

Neil has been trained his whole life to take his father's place, and Liz has trained to be his Shieldsman and protector. But no one is prepared for what happens when Autumn doesn't arrive and Summer seems stuck permanently. Throw in a bog beast, several witches, some eco-terrorists, and a tourist in a large lorry, and you've got quite a story.

Readers who enjoy fantasy, action, and mystery all swirled together (like a super-storm), will enjoy this book. 


I read an e-book provided by the publisher through NetGalley.

Winter Reading 2015 The Darkest Part of the Forest

I first encountered the writing of Holly Black in the Spiderwick Chronicles, Doll Bones, and then The Iron Trial. Each of her books has a unique setting and characters, but they are all stories that deal with the unusual in one way or another. In The Darkest Part of the Forest, the unusual is considered daily life in the town of Fairfold. Residents of the town know that there are "fair folk" in the woods and that is better to set out a bowl of milk and carry iron in your pockets. Tourists who come through the area may be carried off or have vicious tricks played on them by magical beings, but that's the way it has always been. Until now. Suddenly a strange sleeping sickness is spreading through town, then a monster stalks the halls of the high school, and people begin to panic. It seems that the Alderking and his subjects have decided that the townsfolk are fair game. Hazel, her brother Ben, and their friend Jack seem to be the only ones trying to solve the problem, rather than just running away or blaming others. But what can three teenagers do against an ancient faerie king and his entire court?

I heard about this title in a webinar on "Myth Makers." This definitely has some seriously wicked mythical/magical elements, and there's a bit of the creepy in there, too. I would recommend it for ages 13+, due to some PG-13 content. Holly Black fans, readers of fantasy, and faithful viewers of shows like Grimm, Once Upon a Time, and Supernatural will enjoy this book.

I read an e-book provided by the publisher through NetGalley.

For more about the author and her books, visit her webpage.

Winter Reading 2015 Dino-Mike and the T.Rex Attack

Mike Evans is living a life other kids can only dream of. His father is a famous paleontologist and he has taken Mike with him on a dinosaur dig. As if that weren't enough, his father also had a cool jacket made for Mike. It has protective scales like a dinosaur's skin, the hood has headlights in the dinosaur eyes, and there are more special effects that Mike hasn't even discovered yet. While his dad and the other scientists are painstakingly brushing dirt off the bones they have uncovered, Mike does a little exploring on his own. He follows a mysterious red-haired girl into the woods and makes an important discovery of his own - a live T.Rex! How will Mike keep the hungry meat-eater from chowing down on the scientists and their big BBQ night?

Full of fast-paced action, nifty gadgets, mysterious strangers (and did I mention a live dinosaur?), this is a fun read for early chapter book readers and dinosaur enthusiasts. There are plenty of illustrations to keep things interesting, a glossary of dino terms in the back, and even some cool T.Rex facts. This is sure to create fans that will be waiting eagerly for Mike's next outing.

I read an e-book provided by the publisher through NetGalley.

Winter Reading 2015 Little Robot

I love Ben Hatke's books. In his latest, Little Robot, the story begins with wordless pages showing a truck crossing a bridge, a box bouncing out and falling into the water, and the box slowly floating downstream. Then there are a series of pages with a little girl slipping off to play on her own as older kids board a school bus. When the girl winds up at the riverbank and finds the box, our characters finally meet. As they get to know each other, the missing box is finally noticed and a large robot is sent out to find and retrieve it. Will the small girl and little robot be able to outwit the large, fierce looking robot?

I'm amazed at how much expression Hatke can show on a metal face and a little body language. Little Robot seems happy, surprised, angry - all with a few sounds like "Jonk" "Moorp" and "Zop." It's a bit like watching R2D2 act out scenes from "Short Circuit." And then there is the big, mean robot. We know it's mean because it has a big red eye, a red light on top of its head, and when it comes across a cat we see "Mrow!" and then "Chomp!" It's as if the garbage mashers on the detention level have become mobile and are controlled by SkyNet.

Whether you are a fan of Hatke, robots, or friendship stories, you will all enjoy Little Robot. I read an e-book provided by the publisher through NetGalley.

Winter Reading 2015 Wildlife

Two girls with not much in common, other than a 9-week term at a school's outdoor education campus, are the narrators of this book (told in alternating journal entries). Sibylla has always attended Crowthorne Academy and has known this experience at Mount Fairweather was coming. She hopes to be assigned to a cabin with her best friend, Holly, and wonders if a boy she kissed at a party before the trip will pay any attention to her during their time at Fairweather. Lou has been doing distance education from home all year and has now transferred to Crowthorne for the final term of the year. Sibylla's godmother had her model in a perfume ad campaign and it has made her into a celebrity with the in-crowd at school and she is trying to fit in. Lou is grieving the death of her friend, Fred. She is a bookish girl in "geek chic" glasses who doesn't care what anyone thinks of her.

Through their differing viewpoints, we watch as events play out over the nine weeks at camp. Some of it is silly - like the pranks played by the different cabins of campers on each other. Other things are more serious - like Sib's friend pushing her to get physical with Ben (the boy from the party). As one girl tries to reconnect with daily life as a normal teenager, the other worries over how she is perceived by others and who she really wants to be.

A well done reflection on the grief of losing young love and the pressures of teenage peers to fit in and do the popular thing. Best for ages 13+.

I read an e-book provided by the publisher through NetGalley.

Fairy Tale Reform School: Flunked Blog Tour

Flunked: Fairy Tale Reform School

By Jen Calonita

Sourcebooks Jabberwocky

March 3, 2014

Advance Praise for Flunked: Fairy Tale Reform School

“Charming fairy-tale fun.” –Sarah Mlynowski, author of the Whatever After series.

“Flunked is spellbinding and wickedly clever. Gilly is smart, spunky, and a hilarious narrator!” –Leslie Margolis, author of theAnnabelle Unleashed and the Maggie Brooklyn mysteries.

“Flunked is a fresh and funny take on the enchanted world. (And who hasn’t always wanted to know what happened to Cinderella’s stepmother?”)”  -Julie DeVillers, author of the Trading Faces identical twin series and Emma Emmets, Playground Matchmaker.

“A reform school where all the teachers are former villains.  Kinda writes itself, right?” -Betsy Bird’s Librarian Preview

Book Info:

OUR MISSION:

To turn WICKED DELINQUENTS

and FORMER VILLAINS

into FUTURE HEROES

Gilly wouldn’t call herself wicked exactly…but when you have five little brothers and sisters and live in a run- down boot, you have to get creative to make ends meet. Gilly’s a pretty good thief (if she does say so herself).

Until she gets caught.

Gilly’s sentenced to three months at Fairy Tale Reform School- where all of the teachers are former (super-scary) villains like the Big Bad Wolf, the Evil Queen, and Cinderella’s Wicked Stepmother. Harsh. But when she meets fellow students Jax and Kayla, she learns there’s more to this school than its heroic mission. There’s a battle brewing and Gilly has to wonder: can a villain really change?

Amazon | B&N | BAM |!ndigo | IndieBound

Jen Calonita is the author of the Secrets of My Hollywood Life series and other books like Sleepaway Girls and Summer State of Mind, but Fairy Tale Reform School is her first middle grade series. She rules Long Island, New York with husband Mike, princes Tyler and Dylan, and Chihuahua Captain Jack Sparrow, but the only castle she’d ever want to live in is Cinderella’s at Disney World. She’d love for you to drop her a line at jencalonitaonline.com or keep the fairy tale going athttp://books.sourcebooks.com/enchantasia/

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

Excerpt from Flunked: Fairy Tale Reform School-

There’s a boy up there, standing on the crystal chandelier! He has slightly curly blond hair and is wearing a uniform—­a navy sweater vest over a white shirt with khaki pants—­but his boots are muddy. He’s stepping on priceless crystals with cruddy boots? Is he insane?

“Jax! What are you doing up there?” Kayla whispers heatedly.

“I’m cleaning the crystal for Flora,” Jax says and rolls his eyes. “What does it look like I’m doing? I’m making a break for it.”

Kayla applauds. “Yay! This time I know you can do it.”

I shade my eyes from the light bursting through the stained-­glass window next to the chandelier Jax is perched on. “Busting out? Why?” I ask Kayla. “I thought you said this place was cool.”

Jax laughs loudly and looks at me. I feel slightly stunned. I’ve never seen violet eyes before. “FTRS was fun for a while, but strange things have started happening and I don’t want to be here when something bad goes down.”

Strange things? What kind of strange things? Why does Kayla suddenly look pale?

“He’s exaggerating,” Kayla tells me, but she doesn’t sound convincing.

Drip. Whatever Jax is holding is leaking. Kayla and I move out of the way so we don’t get wet. “Grease,” Jax explains to me. “It lubes the window.” He swings the chandelier, and as it nears the window, he uses a fork to try to pry the window open. “A few more tries and I’ll have it.”

“Then what are you going to do, genius?” I ask. “You’re two stories up.”

Jax’s eyes gleam. “I’ve jumped from higher spots before.”

“It’s true,” Kayla says to me. “Jax once jumped from the gym to the dining hall turret. That was three stories up. We call him the Escape Artist. One time he even managed to break into Azalea and Dahlia’s rooms and borrowed their keys to the indoor pool so the whole dorm could take a swim.”

“Impressive,” I tell him. “And I thought I was good at tricking obnoxious royals.”

“She stole a dragon’s tooth clip from one this morning,” Kayla fills him in.

“Nice,” Jax says. “Your first pull?”

“No, I’ve been doing it for a while,” I brag.

“Me too,” Jax says. “My father is a farmer. You can only get so far trading vegetables. I needed to kick things up a notch.”

For some reason, I don’t think any of us are going to make the transformation Headmistress Flora is looking for. “Why do you want to break out so bad?”

“I’ve got places to see, and Enchantasia isn’t one of them.” Jax swings the chandelier so hard the crystals clang together. The window latch pops open, and I watch Jax leap from the chandelier to the tiny window ledge. I’m in awe. Jax looks down at us smugly before pushing open the window. “Are you sure you two don’t want to join me?”

“There’s no time for us,” Kayla says. “Get out of here. Wait!” Her eyes widen. “You deactivated the alarm on the window, right?”

“There isn’t one,” Jax insists. “If there was, I wouldn’t be able to do this.” But when Jax lifts the window, we hear:

EEEEEE! EEEE! EEEE! Unauthorized exit! Unauthorized exit!

The shrieking sound is so intense that Kayla and I cover our ears. Within seconds, Flora is out of her office and running toward us.

Swoosh!

I feel something brush past me and I whirl around. When I look up at Jax again, a large, muscular man with a long mane of hair is hanging on to the window ledge, his furry hands pulling Jax back by his shirt. How did the man get up there without a ladder?

“Mr. Jax,” the man says in a low growl, “we really must stop meeting like this.”

Fairy Tale Reform School Quiz Link: Fairy Tale Reform School Quiz

If you get sentenced to Fairy Tale Reform School, it will help to have an ally. Take the quiz and find out who your mentor would be.

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