Michael Vey: The Prisoner of Cell 25

The Prisoner of Cell 25
by Richard Paul Evans

From the publisher:
"My name is Michael Vey, and the story I’m about to tell you is strange. Very strange. It’s my story.

To everyone at Meridian High School, Michael Vey is an ordinary fourteen-year-old. In fact, the only thing that seems to set him apart is the fact that he has Tourette’s syndrome. But Michael is anything but ordinary. Michael has special powers. Electric powers.

Michael thinks he's unique until he discovers that a cheerleader named Taylor also has special powers. With the help of Michael’s friend, Ostin, the three of them set out to discover how Michael and Taylor ended up this way, but their investigation brings them to the attention of a powerful group who wants to control the electric children – and through them the world. Michael will have to rely on his wits, powers, and friends if he’s to survive. "

I have many students who absolutely LOVE this series, and when the new one came out this year they literally shrieked with joy when it came into the library. I enjoyed it and it kept my interest, but I definitely didn't love it. There were some things that bothered me that wouldn't bother the targeted age group (see "Areas of Concern" below). Sensitive readers should wait to read this one. But it was a riveting, fun story and I loved that it was a clean read. Boys and girls both will enjoy this series.

Areas of concern:
*Tons of violence - torture, murder, kidnappings... (Nothing was graphic, it was just talked about.)

Suggested Ages:

Publisher's Weekly - Ages 12+

School Library Journal - Grades 5-9

The Zodiac Legacy: Convergence

The Zodiac Legacy:
Convergence
by Stan Lee

From the publisher:
"Stan Lee presents a brand new, magical, super-powered adventure! 

When twelve magical superpowers are unleashed on the world, a Chinese-America teenager named Steven will be thrown into the middle of an epic global chase. He'll have to master strange powers, outrun super-powered mercenaries, and unlock the mysterious powers of the Zodiac."

This book isn't really my cup of tea, but if the length doesn't deter them I'm pretty sure some middle school kids will love it. They won't notice the discrepancies that bothered me, but here are the ones that really bugged me:

*A kid from Ireland wouldn't have made this comment: "Mate....... we all went to high school". 
Pretty sure they go to Primary and Secondary school in Ireland.
*He also wouldn't have said that he had to pick up his math book. They don't say "math" in the UK, they say "maths".
*When a character from France yells out, "Les Poules, yeeahhhh!" and the Irish character wonders who Less Pools is. Has Stan Lee ever heard French? Yes it might look like that is the way it is said, but it sounds nothing like that when said out loud. And how is it appropriate to have the name of a band in a middle grade book be translated as The Prostitutes/Sluts? 

Are those ridiculously small annoyances? Yes. Would they bother a middle school reader? Definitely not. Did they "American-ize" Harry Potter to make it more readable for the US readers? Yes. 
So even though those things bugged me, no one else probably cares. However, there are several very confusing things that happen throughout the book. And there are way too many characters and way too little character development. For about the first 200 pages I had to stop and think every time a different character started speaking. Plus, each major character had 2 names, so you not only had to remember who Josie was, you also had to remember she was the Horse. The different names were used interchangably and not together. Will middle school students stick with this book long enough to get it all straight? I have a feeling there are many who won’t. 

Positives? There is plenty of action and there are pictures that graphic novel readers will appreciate. The second book in the series is already out, so we’ll see if the kids have any interest in going on in the series.

Areas of concern:
*A lot of violence. It isn’t too graphic, but it is constant. 
*Several children/teenagers who just leave home and travel with a bunch of strangers. No one seems to question this or even look for the children. 

Suggested Ages:

Publisher's Weekly - Ages 8-12

School Library Journal - Grades 4-7

Blizzard of Glass: The Halifax Explosion of 1917

Blizzard of Glass
by Sally M. Walker

From the publisher:
"On December 6, 1917 two ships collided in Halifax Harbour. One ship was loaded top to bottom with munitions and one held relief supplies, both intended for wartorn Europe. The resulting blast flattened two towns, Halifax and Dartmouth, and killed nearly 2,000 people. As if that wasn't devastating enough, a blizzard hit the next day, dumping more than a foot of snow on the area and paralyzing much-needed relief efforts.

Fascinating, edge-of-your-seat storytelling based on original source material conveys this harrowing account of tragedy and recovery."

I don't generally review non-fiction books, but as I was getting this one ready for checkout I leafed through it and was sucked in. This is a piece of history I had never heard of and it was fascinating! I love how the author told the stories of several different families and how they were personally affected by the tragedy. Where they lived, what they were doing that morning, how they loved their family... that made it seem more real and that much more interesting. The facts themselves are gripping, but when you are wondering what happens to the Coleman father, or how the Pattison's will ever survive, then you are really hooked. It is a quick and exciting read. I am really glad I read it and learned about that important piece of history. I hope it gets checked out and read by our students.

Suggested Ages:

Kirkus Reviews - Ages 10-14

School Library Journal - Grades 5-8

The Fall

The Fall
by James Preller

From the publisher:

"Through his journal a boy deals with the death of a classmate, who committed suicide as a result of bullying.

The summer before school starts, Sam's friend and classmate Morgan Mallen kills herself. Morgan had been bullied. Maybe she kissed the wrong boy. Or said the wrong thing. What about that selfie that made the rounds? Morgan was this, and Morgan was that. But who really knows what happened?

As Sam explores the events leading up to the tragedy, he must face a difficult and life-changing question: Why did he keep his friendship with Morgan a secret? And could he have done something—anything—to prevent her final actions?

As he did in Bystander, James Preller takes an issue that faces every student and school in the country, and makes it personal, accessible, and real. "

I am very careful about books I put in our school library that are about suicide. I don’t want to have any books that glorify it, which I feel some of the YA books do these days. I bought this one because of the many reviews that I read that said it was appropriate for middle school. It is a very quick, easy read and is a good book for reluctant readers. It has very short chapters and keeps your interest (for the most part). The author did a good job of helping the reader to feel the guilt and pain that the main character, Sam, was feeling. I liked that it was obvious that Morgan’s decision (the girl who committed suicide) wasn’t just about one person or one event. There were many things, along with her own poor choices, that factored into her depression and ultimate decision about suicide. Those puzzle pieces are placed together as the book progresses, because at the beginning you feel like you know exactly who and what is to blame. Aren’t those the kind of judgments we always make when someone commits suicide? We want to have a nice little package that tells us exactly what led to it and who or what is to blame. But we can never accurately judge because that person is now gone and can’t tell us what they were thinking or feeling. But as this book evolves, we are led to see there were many other influences at work. Towards the end of the book, there is a very telling conversation:

“I never loved anyone, she said. Ever. Please make that your gift to me.
‘What?’
Love someone. Live long and love someone with all your heart, she told me.”

One thing that was kind of distracting was that I believe this was set in middle school – at least the voices felt very young to me – but the timeline of events didn’t seem to work for middle school. If it was middle school, the characters had to have been in 7th grade because Morgan’s older sister was still at the school, and Mr. Laneway, the counselor, mentions that he liked Sam’s essay from last year. That means that the event that set off the mean girl would have had to happen in 5th or 6th grade, and I just didn’t buy that, so that was a little distracting. 

All in all, I think this is a sensitive and thoughtful look at teenage suicide. It demonstrated the lasting effects that one person can have, whether he or she even knows it. Hopefully any middle schoolers who read this will realize what an impact they can have when they choose to be kind, even if it is just to say a weak, “hi”. 

Areas of concern:
*Teenage suicide.
*Serious cyberbullying goes on.
*Talk of “hooking up” at a very young age.
*Several uses of the “s” word and a couple of the “a” word.

Suggested Ages:

Publisher's Weekly - Ages 9-14

School Library Journal - Grades 6-9

Every Last Word

Every Last Word
by Tamara Ireland Stone

From the publisher:
"If you could read my mind, you wouldn't be smiling.

Samantha McAllister looks just like the rest of the popular girls in her junior class. But hidden beneath the straightened hair and expertly applied makeup is a secret that her friends would never understand: Sam has Purely-Obsessional OCD and is consumed by a stream of dark thoughts and worries that she can't turn off.

Second-guessing every move, thought, and word makes daily life a struggle, and it doesn't help that her lifelong friends will turn toxic at the first sign of a wrong outfit, wrong lunch, or wrong crush. Yet Sam knows she'd be truly crazy to leave the protection of the most popular girls in school. So when Sam meets Caroline, she has to keep her new friend with a refreshing sense of humor and no style a secret, right up there with Sam's weekly visits to her psychiatrist.

Caroline introduces Sam to Poet's Corner, a hidden room and a tight-knit group of misfits who have been ignored by the school at large. Sam is drawn to them immediately, especially a guitar-playing guy with a talent for verse, and starts to discover a whole new side of herself. Slowly, she begins to feel more "normal" than she ever has as part of the popular crowd . . . until she finds a new reason to question her sanity and all she holds dear. "

This book is an interesting, educational, and heartrending look at a young woman with Pure Obsessional OCD. The main character Samantha, or Sam as she prefers to be called, just wants to be normal. She hides her mental illness from everyone except her family and her amazing psychiatrist, Shrink Sue. It is very hard to hide, but she has worked out many strategies to help with that. For instance, she is obsessed with the number 3, so she can’t stop and park her car unless the odometer lands on a 3. She uses the excuse that her parents won’t let her drive anyone because she just got her license. When she can’t get out of driving someone, she pretends to miss a turn so she can keep driving until she hits the 3. It was very interesting to see some of her coping strategies – she had many of them. I also loved that she had an incredibly supportive family at the beginning. However, farther into the book there was a dichotomy between how the parents were portrayed in the beginning and how they acted throughout the rest of the book. Sam starts driving other people all the time, she leaves the house late at night to go swimming (she’s really not going swimming), and they suddenly don’t question those behaviors. 

She has an incredibly toxic group of friends who are the mean/popular girls in the school. (Query: Why do mean and popular so often go together? You would think the nice girls would be the popular girls.) She is so frightened that they will find out about her mental illness that it actually adds to her mental illness. Why does she stay with them? She feels like she doesn’t have anywhere else to go. That is until she makes a new friend who introduces her to “Poet’s Corner” – a group of kids who meet in a secret room and read poetry they have written to each other. After they read, they have glue sticks thrown at them and they proceed to glue their poem to the walls of the room. The new friend tells her this room and these people will change her life. They do.

There are many things I loved about this book. However, I would have loved it even more if not for the bad language, the making out, and loss of virginity. One of the many passages that bothered me:
“Then I blush, remembering how he kissed me in the water that night. How I wrapped my legs around his waist in the deep end, both of us clothed but kind of acting like we weren’t.”

If those things don’t bother you the way they bother me, then I definitely recommend Every Last Word. One of my 8th grade girls made me read it because she loved it so much, and wouldn’t talk to me until I finished (it took a while)…… actually, she wouldn’t talk to me unless she was asking if I had read it yet – which question was posed over and over again. 

There are many poems in this book, the one that captures the whole essence of the book (and was written in 3’s) is titled, Every Last Word.

These walls heard
me when no
one else could.

They gave my
words a home,
kept them safe.

Cheered, cried, listened
Changed my life
for the better.

It wasn’t enough.
But they heard
every last word.

Areas of concern:
*It was interesting that there were little to no uses of mild cuss words, but there were many uses of the “s” word and at least 5 of the “f” word.
*Quite a bit of sexual content as far as talking about hooking up and making out. A lot of intense kissing scenes described. “Kurt wasn’t a very good kisser. All tongue, jabbing into my mouth over and over again, circling way too fast.” The loss of virginity scene wasn’t terribly graphic, but still disturbing. 
*There is some bullying that never gets addressed and seems to just be expected.

Suggested Ages:

Publisher's Weekly - Ages 12+

School Library Journal - Grades 8+

Need

Need
by Joelle Charbonneau

From the publisher:
""No one gets something for nothing. We all should know better."

Teenagers at Wisconsin's Nottawa High School are drawn deeper into a social networking site that promises to grant their every need . . . regardless of the consequences. Soon the site turns sinister, with simple pranks escalating to malicious crimes. The body count rises. In this chilling YA thriller, the author of the best-selling Testing trilogy examines not only the dark side of social media, but the dark side of human nature. "

This book was intensely chilling for me. Why? Because I can so clearly see something like the plot of this book actually happening. A completely anonymous website that promises to give you things you need just by fulfilling a simple task? And then they reel you in and the tasks become more and more dangerous. Yes, this so could happen in a high school. And while all of the different POV's sometimes confused me, it also showed the different types of teenagers and how they reacted once things started happening. I've known or heard about each of those types of teenagers, and it is scary to think about something like this really happening. So while this was a very entertaining and thrilling book to read, I also think it can teach students the importance of being extremely careful on the internet. A few quotes that I liked:

1. We’re all so used to new things appearing on the Internet every day that we don’t question what’s behind them before welcoming them into our lives. 

2. No matter how many warnings are posted, no one actually believes that online behavior can hurt their lives or the lives of others. Especially if there is a cloak of anonymity. Everyone feels shielded, safe, and invincible. 

Read this for the fun of it, but also read it to become more aware of your choices online. 

Areas of concern:
*A mild amount of cussing. No *f* word.
*Creepiness factor is pretty high. Several deaths of high school students and other intense happenings.
*Talk of adultery.

Suggested Ages:

Publisher's Weekly - Ages 12+

School Library Journal - Grades 7+

The Truth About Faking

The Truth About Faking
by Leigh T. Moore

From the publisher:
"Jason just wants a date with Harley. 
Harley just wants a date with Trent. 
Trent's still getting over Stephanie.

When Harley and Jason decide to fake date, they uncover a school of deceptions. Trent's got a secret, but so does Jason. And the more time Harley spends secretly kissing her fake boyfriend, the further she gets from her dreams with Trent. 

Worst of all, Harley's mom is getting cozy with her hot massage therapy student, and even Harley's Reverend Dad can't fake not being bothered by it. But when the masks finally come off, can everyone handle the real truth?"

This is a pretty good YA book for those middle schoolers who love the YA books. The main character, Harley, is the daughter of a minister, and while some of her friends cuss and party too hard, she doesn't agree with those things and has no problem telling her friends not to swear. Their family is careful about how Harley talks, how she dresses, they keep tabs on where she is, and they have high expectations for her behavior. Her parents are in a very loving and strong relationship. All of those things can be all too rare in a YA book. I also really appreciated how the author dealt with the topics of religion and homosexuality and was very respectful and kind about both. The story itself is cute and the characters are very likeable - with one exception for me, and that was the character of the best friend. She went off the deep end after her parents divorced and went from boy to boy to boy, and didn't seem to be a very good friend to Harley. At the end it wrapped up her story all too neatly and I didn't buy it at all. Other than that, I quite liked this book and think my older middle schoolers will enjoy it.

Areas of concern:
*The *s* word and a few others were used a little too frequently, but the main character never said them and she disapproved.
*The best friend wants to make out with every guy she meets.
*There is suspected adultery.
*There is kissing and tongues are mentioned.
*Homosexuality is discussed.
*Religion is discussed.