Table of Contents

I would be remiss to not add the fact that I added an introduction to this blog many months ago when I was starting the project.  As it is not a blog on a piece of teen information strictly speaking, I am not including it with the rest of the list of items.  However, I feel it is important to my understanding of the work, and so one might read it when beginning this blog...                 

Author - David Elliott

And now for the Table of Contents.  I am doing it once by Alphabetical Organization, and then re-organizing it again once by type.

Table of Contents - Alphabetical

1 - The Amazing Spider Man : Election Day

2 - Alison Rules

3 - Battle Royale

4 - Blood Roses

5 - Bone - Out from Boneville

6 - Bone - The Great Cow Race

7 - The Book Thief

8 - City of Bones

9 - The Clash

10 - Clueless

11- A Crack in the Line

12 - Crank

13 - Dark Flame

14 - The Devouring

15 - Dial L for Loser

16 - Encyclopedia Mythica

17 - Everybody Hurts :The Essential Guide to Emo Culture

18 - Fallout

19 - Ferris Bueller's Day Off

20 - Gale Opposing Viewpoints

21 - GamePro

22 - Girls Rock : Fifty Years of Women Making Music

23 - Go Ask Alice!

24 - Gossip Girl

25 - How to Ruin My Teenage Life

26 - The Hunger Games

27 - I Don't Need a Record Deal! : Your Survival Guide for the Indie Music Revolution

28 - Identical

29 - Just Listen

30 - Little Brother

31 - Nevermind

32 - Rogue Angel : Solomon's Jar

33 - Rolling Stone

34 - Serenity : Those Left Behind

35 - 17 Again!

36 - Shadow Kiss

37 - Small Eternities

38 - Sorry For Partyin'

39 - Splendor : A Luxe Novel

40 - Spy vs. Spy : Missions of Madness

41 - Stolen

42 - Student Resources in Context

43 - The Summoning

44 - Teach Me

45 - Teen Ink

46 - Ten Things I Hate About You

47 - Veronica Mars - Season 1

48 - The White Darkness

49 - Wintergirls

50 - A Year Without Rain

Table of Contents - By Item Type

Books

     Genre: Adventure

1 - Rogue Angel : Solomon's Jar

     Genre: Biography

2 - The Clash

     Genre: Chic Lit

3 - Alison Rules

4 - Dial L For Loser

5 - Gossip Girl

6 - How to Ruin My Teenage Life

7 - Splendor : A Luxe Novel

     Genre: Drama

8 - The Book Thief

9 - Crank

10 - Fallout

11 - Identical

12 - Just Listen

13 - Stolen

14 - Teach Me

15 - The White Darkness

16 - Wintergirls

     Genre: Fantasy

17 - Blood Roses

18 - Dark Flame

19 - Shadow Kiss

     Genre: Graphic Novel

20 - The Amazing Spiderman : Election Day

21 - Bone : Out of Boneville

22 - Bone : The Great Cow Race

23 - Serenity : Those Left Behind

24 - Spy vs. Spy : Missions of Madness

     Genre: Horror

25 - The Devouring

26 - The Summoning

     Genre: Non-Fiction

27 - Everybody Hurts : The Essential Guide to Emo Culture

28 - Girls Rock : Fifty Years of Women Making Music

29 - I Don't Need a Record Deal! : Your Survival Guide for the Indie Music Revolution

     Genre: Science Fiction

30 - Battle Royale

31 - City of Bones

32 - A Crack in the Line

33 - The Hunger Games

34 - Little Brother

35 - Small Eternities

CD

     Genre: Alternative

36 - Nevermind

     Genre: Pop

37 - A Year Without Rain

     Genre: Punk

38 - Sorry For Partyin'

Magazine

     Genre: Games

39 - GamePro

     Genre: Literature

40 - Teen Ink

     Genre: Music

41 - Rolling Stone

Movies

     Genre: Comedy

42 - Clueless

43 - Ferris Bueller's Day Off

44 - 17 Again!

45 - Ten Things I Hate About You

     Genre: Drama

46 - Veronica Mars - Season 1

Websites

     Genre: Educational

47 - Encyclopedia Mythica

48 - Gale Opposing Viewpoints

49 - Student Resources in Context

     Genre: Informational

50 - Go Ask Alice!

A Year Without Rain

Title - A Year Without Rain ( CD)
Artist - Selena Gomez and the Scene
Release Date - September 17, 2010

Plot -The second of the CD's released by Selena Gomez and the Scene is the followup album to Kiss and Tell.  The album is named after the title track as she wanted to make sure that the albums themes she wanted to be reflective of that one major song.  This means that much of the albums lyrics reflect joy, love and the freedom to express yourself in whatever ways you wish.  The music was specifically designed to have a largely techno-pop kind of feel, mixing sampling with an upbeat music and vocal styling.

Critical Review-  While this goes along with much of the tween pop genre that is prevalent today, Selena Gomez is attempting to shed a little bit of that mold by bringing a little of her own personality and styling to the music and lyrics.  The themes are often simplistic, but the lyrics as a reflection of the music can be at once beautiful, and haunting.  Disney, in bringing up its young stars has served them well.  Selena has been given a forum for her musical talents and they are pop as its simple, yet catchy, finest.

Reader's Annotation-

About the Author- Selena Gomez got her big start on Barney and Friends, opposite another rising star Demi Lovato.  She was on there for a few years before developing her acting talents in smaller roles, finally landing a show on the Disney Channel called "The Wizards of Waverly Place"  Opposite other young actors, Selena has been the major star on the show with her sassy attitude about the world around her.

From this Disney has given an opportunity to showcase her talents.  Singing the title track for the TV program gave people and opportunity to hear the voice that she was blessed with.  And her self effacing and humble attitude has ingratiated her into homes with her catchy tunes and innocent, yet soulful lyrics.

Genre- Music, Pop

Curriculum Ties - Discuss CD Lyrics as poetry - Literature

Booktalking Ideas - None

Reading Level/Interest Age -Grade 7+

Challenge Issues - None

Why Included - Because my daughter, who is four years old and loves Selena Gomez from the Wizards of Waverly Place, loves her music.  And as I have been forced to listen to the album quite often, and its target audience is primarily teens, I figured it was worth reviewing for my last review for the project.

Just Listen

Title - Just Listen
Author - Sarah Dessen
ISBN - 0670061050
Publication Date - April 2006

Plot - Annabel Greene should have it all.  She is intelligent, a model, and one of the most popular people around.  That is until her world comes crashing around her after she is raped by her best friend Sophie's boyfriend Will.  Sophie does not believe her and ends the friendship; her mother will not listen to her; and everyone at school ends up making her an outcast.  No one seems to want to listen to her. That is until she meets up with Owen Armstrong.  He is the prototypical emo boy.  He wears his emotions out on his sleeve, so much so that he seems to have anger management problems.  In an ironic twist, he runs a radio program called Anger Management, where he has a chance to blow off steam about any of the various issues he has with life.  Through this, Annabel ends up learning that telling the truth, and having people listen to you is more important than hiding the truth and trying to protect someone else's feelings.  By novels end, she has quit modeling; Owen and she have gotten together as a couple,; Owen has punched out Will for raping Annabel; and Will has landed himself in jail as he ends up raping someone else along the way and getting caught; and Sophie winds up alone.

Critical Review-  While the novel could have easily wound its way in a kind of a chic lit Fashion, Sarah Dressen makes sure that both the pace of the novel and the message do not resemble anything that would go on in a chic lit setting.  She focuses heavily on the message of communication.  Through openness, everyone is able to better themselves.  By Owen communicating with others, he is able to work out some of his anger management problems.  If Annabel had communicated with the police, someone else would have been spared a rape at the hands of Will.  And her communicating with her mother at the end of the novel, spares her needing to go back to modeling, and feeling like she has to live up to her mother's expectations.  If Annabel's sisters had communicated with their mother about the pressures and stresses of the job, maybe the mother would not have laid so much of her expectations on Annabel. 

Also the book does a good job of exploring the need to contribute in the other area of communication: listening.  As the book is entitled just listen, it is obvious that listening is a skill that is much needed.  Yes one does need to communicate verbally one's problems and not expect others to guess what they are.  But others need to be willing to listen to what other people have to say or they cause irreparable harm to others.  Sophie will not listen to Annabel about the rape, leaving Annabel out in the cold.  Her mother will not listen to her problems.  And the classmates will not listen to Annabel's side of the story.  If anyone would have taken the time to listen to begin with, it would have spared everyone a lot of harm.

Reader's Annotation- When the world comes crashing down around you. and life seems to be going against you in every conceivable way, sometimes you need someone to just listen.

About the Author- Born in Illinois, but raised in North Carolina, Sarah Dessen spent vast amounts of time connected to higher education.  Both her parents were university professors involved in the arts.  So her parents at an early age were exposing her to Shakespeare and mythology.

She loved to read from a very early age; and, she complains, that most of her early gifts were books when she might rather have been getting other kinds of present.  But at the age of around nine, they gave her a gift that would transform her for the rest of her life.  It was a manual typewriter.  She would begin to sit and type her first stories on that machine, developing a sense of humor and the ability to embellish.

She says her high school years were extremely important to her.  She developed a large social circle, out of which she has been able to create a lot of her young adult stories.  She never exactly intended to be a young adult writer, but her editors felt she seemed to have that kind of a voice that came out in her writing.

Genre - Drama

Curriculum Ties - Reading / Literature

Booktalking Ideas - Discuss the nature of keeping secrets and peer pressure.  How does it affect ones standing in a community?  Is the simple answer to always speak out?

Reading Level/Interest Age - Grade 9+

Challenge Issues - There is multiple rapes in the novel.

Overcoming challenges - Have brochures on rape at the library and how it is important that these people speak out.  Express that the message of the novel is for people to speak out about their issues.

Why Included - I have seen Sarah Dressen's books around my library, and the plot seemed interesting.  Plus there was a further connection as there was an "emo" type individual in the novel.

The Devouring

Title - The Devouring
Author - Simon Holt
ISBN - 0316035734
Publication Date - September 2008

Plot - Reggie is a teen whose life has been marred by many sad occurrences, including being abandoned by her mother.  She has a friend Aaron, and a brother Henry who are kind of her life.  She has an appreciation for all things that are considered horror, which is why its not a surprise that she is fascinated by a journal entry in a book store she works for about this evil called the "Vours." 

The "Vours," according to the journal, is supposed to come out every Winter Solstice and take over the bodies of the unsuspecting.  What Reggie starts off believing is simply a myth, starts to take whole new dimensions as she finds the personality of her brother changing in drastic ways after the Winter Solstice.  Her brother who was a picture of innocence now is developing a scary personality, where he is not beyond tearing up his stuffed animals, and drowning his pet hamster in the toilet.

Reggie and her friend then try to find out what is really going on with her brother.  She finds that with the Vours they devour the soul and the real soul is left floating in some kind of other reality called the fearscape.  Reggie then pursues him in there, finding all sorts of nightmarish realities that make a real impact on her.  She must face all of her fears, and the many fears of Henry to save her brother from this harrowing reality.

Critical Review-  Simon Holt has certainly created a fascinating concept in the genre of horror.  Everyone seems to have their own sets of fears in life, and some people seem to have more than others.  What happens if you have to face all of your fears and the many fears of another person in order to save them.  Many people might decide that it would be best to run away from it entirely, but not Reggie.  She goes after her brother and in the process must face some of her worst nightmares.  While I believe that this novel does a good job of bringing out the fears and terrors of its individuals, sometimes I think the characters seem like they are a little too simply drawn and almost caricatures of themselves.  Reggie is the tough older sister who is brave and protective of her younger brother.  The brother is an overly scared little child who seems to fear almost everything.  I think Holt would have created a far more interesting novel if she had made the characters themselves more complex with different strengths and weaknesses.

Reader's Annotation- There is nothing to fear but fear itself.  But when fear itself is after you, do you stick around, or do you run and hide?  Simon Holt explores this in his novel, the Devouring.

About the Author-  Simon Holt has been fascinated by all things horror from a young age.  In high school he began writing for a horror fanzine.  He is said to have developed it himself and overused the school copier to try to publish it.  Despite the detention he received, he kept up with his horror writing, eventually publishing books or which Devouring is the first in the series.

While I am writing this as what I could find on Simon Holt, I have to say that I cannot confirm or corroborate any of this as it was found as suspect information on a website.  When looking at wikipedia, the link to the author of The Devouring took me to a musician.  Some have speculated that the novel was produced by a team or writers, somewhat like the Harlequin Romance series.

Genre- Horror

Curriculum Ties - Discuss the nature of Myths.  What are some of the myths about the Solstice?  Compare the Winter Solstice with the spring Solstice.  (History and Literature)

Booktalking Ideas - Have everyone discuss what some of the things they fear are.  Discuss what makes each of those things scary.

Reading Level/Interest Age - Grade 10+

Challenge Issues - Killing of animals and nature of fears may have some parents afraid it will give kids nightmares. 

Overcoming Challenge - Have a list of phobias that parents can discuss with their teens, including ridiculous ones like triskaidekaphobia.  Encourage parents to discuss with their teens what things they are afraid of and show them that some fear is not based in reality.

Why Included - The cover and the hook on the book fascinated me.

Stolen

Title - Stolen
Author - Lucy Christopher
ISBN - 9780545170932
Publication Date - May 2010

Plot -  Told as a letter written towards her kidnapper, Stolen is the story of Gemma, a sixteen year old girl who is abducted at an airport and dragged off to Australia to start a new life.  From the moment her abductor makes contact with her at the airport, she feels that there is something significant and familiar about him, but she cannot place her finger on it.  He ends up drugging her at the airport in Thailand, and shuffling her off in a plane pretending that she is drunk and that they are celebrating.  Eventually she ends up in Australia, tied up in a small room.  When she is finally allowed some freedom she senses that there is not really any freedom for her, as she has no means of going anywhere, and would not know where to go anyway.  Eventually she develops a bond, and even a sort of love for her kidnapper.  She begins to have an understanding of who he is and why he did things.  Although he continues to maintain certain fictions about her parents so she will not keep trying to escape. 

Eventually she gets bitten by a snake in the outback and is in serious condition, in need of serious medical attention.  The kidnapper is not so heartless that he allows her to die and takes her to the hospital, making sure she lives, and staying with her through a plane ride to safety.  Through this they discover the situation and arrest him, notifying her parents and having them come to pick her up.  She then has to go through a lot of sorting in her mind through the rest of the novel, where she is informed of the idea of the Stockholm syndrome, where the person begins associating and eventually loving their kidnappers. She is being told by everyone else that what she is feeling for this person is wrong.  It takes a while for this message to sink in, and it eventually does, but Gemma never truly hates Ty, her kidnapper.  Some part of her wishes him well, and wants him to grow and live a normal happy life, when he does get out of prison for the crime of kidnapping her.

Critical Review - A fascinating tale, told in first person, as it is Gemma's letter to the kidnapper.  Of course no one really would want her to write this letter to him,  but her therapist felt like she would improve if she could write out her experiences.  By doing so, the readers get a good look into the mind of someone who is kidnapped.  They can see how a person can be transformed from desperation to hatred, from hatred to understanding, from understanding to appreciation, and from appreciation to a kind of love.  We see how the manipulations and lies slowly sink in to the character of Gemma, and before long she begins to appreciate and love this man, loving a part of what he has done for her.  And by the end, before Ty is arrested, she wants Ty with her at all times. 

I also think there is quite a beauty to the ending of the novel, which spends time showing Gemma with her conflicting emotions about the whole issue.  It also shows her growth in a large way about her surroundings, an an understanding and appreciation for her parents.  And I believe there is a beauty that Gemma can see in people through her experience that no one else can.  This is not to say that she negates the wrong done by her kidnapper, but can appreciate the complexities of the human soul.  I believe it is this wonderful complexity that makes the work done by Lucy Christopher an amazing tale, well worth reading.

Reader's Annotation- Gemma is kidnapped from an airport, and drug off to the vast area of the Australian outback.  There is no one around for miles.  Despite this kidnapping, she begins to develop a love for her kidnapper.  Is this really love, or merely Stockholm syndrome?

About the Author- Lucy Christopher was born and raised in Wales, and moved to Australia when she was nine years old.  It was a far away place for her where she was alone a great deal and did not understand what was around her, having to adjust to a whole new lifestyle.  She would eventually grow to love it and stay there until she was working on a MA in creative writing.

At 22 she would go back to the UK in Bath to get her masters degree.  She had several miss starts in various careers but had decided writing is where she wanted to be.  Stolen ended up being her first published novel, written while she was in her masters program.  While she has had no direct experience with kidnapping, Christopher discusses the fact that moving to Australia to nine was a kind of kidnapping for her in that it stole her away from everything that was familiar and forced her into a new place that she didn't understand that was wild and untamed.

Genre- Drama

Curriculum Ties - Discuss the novel as a letter.  How effective is it? - Literature
Discuss the nature of Stockholm syndrome.  Compare it to other famous cases such as Patty Hurst. - History

Booktalking Ideas - Have them discuss why someone would want to write a letter to a kidnapper?  What would the thinking behind the letter be?  Why is much of the letter a jumbled confusion of emotions coming from Gemma's character?

Reading Level/Interest Age - Grade 10+

Challenge Issues - None

Why Included - The story seemed fascinating and intense for a book that was directed for teens.

Battle Royale

Title - Battle Royale
Author - Koushun Takami
ISBN - 9784872334523
Publication Date - November 17, 2009

Plot - Developed as an alternative time line for Japan, where they have joined a block of nations under a totalitarian ruler, society has been forced to bend to the will of its government.  A group of innocent junior high kids is gassed on a bus and driven to a remote island setting to join a school and sign up for something known as "the program."  As a secret project one discovers it is meant to keep the population subjugated.  Every year, 50 third year high school students are separated and forced to fight for the death.  Only one person is to survive the whole ordeal.  They are given tracking collars around their necks.  Anyone who attempts to escape, dies.  Anyone who enters a forbidden zone, dies.  And if everyone decides that they are not going to kill anyone, at the end of 24 hours, all of their collars detonate, and they all die. 

Each person responds differently to their predicament.  Some become cold and sadistic killers, others try to find a way out.  Eventually there are four people left. Shuya Nanahara and Noriko Nakagawa are first time fighters who really do not want to have to kill anyone but live to fight.  Shogo Kawada has been in the program before and lived to tell the tale.  Kazua Kiriyama is brutal and sadistic and wishes to rid himself of the three and survive.  In a major battle they take out Kazuo and make their way to a big hill where they hope not to be spotted.  Since most of the tracking is through microphone attached to their collars, Shogo fakes the shooting of the other two and takes off their collars, drawing the people in charge of the program to pick up Shogo as the winner.  They all board the ship and overcome security.  Shogo ends up dying from his wounds, and the two others escape, trying to find solace in the freedom of America. 

Critical Review-  Fascinating take on the being placed in a no one situation.  It is a kind of combination of the Most Dangerous Game, with a lot of 1984 thrown in.  While succumbing to some problems that are bound to occur with the translation of any work, as the original story was told in Japanese, there is a power to the story involved.  There are some very important questions implied in the story.  What should a society do when its government seems to want to control every aspect of their lives?  Should a government have the power of life or death over its citizens?  What does it mean to be human and how can one live humanely when put under circumstances that are bound to test the most honorable of people?  There is such a beauty and simplicity to the tale, despite its complexities and nearly 600 pages in length.  It is no wonder that other artists have told such similar tales throughout time, including the Hunger Games.

Reader's Annotation- How does one live when you are forced to kill the people you love?  Can one truly be a friend in such a circumstance?  What does it mean to be human?  Takami explores all of those themes beautifully in Battle Royale.

About the Author- Koushun Takami was born and raised in Japan, near Osaka.  He grew up with a love of reading and literature and would eventually get a degree in literature.  Initially going to further his education through correspondence he dropped out.

Through this he found himself working for a news company.  They were involved in politics and world affairs. Through which he attained a good idea of government and politics and how the political system works.  While completed after he left the news company, Battle Royale has been Takami's signature work of literature thus far.  It allowed him to explore his ideas about politics and power structure through a powerful story about life and humanity.

Genre-Science fiction / Horror

Curriculum Ties - Compare and contrast Battle Royale with other like minded science fiction fare, from the movie Logan's Run, to the more recent futuristic novel the Hunger Games. - Literature

Booktalking Ideas - Have each person in the group discuss what it means for them to be human.  Keep a list and see how much they are willing to ignore if they consider their lives were on the line.

Reading Level/Interest Age - Grade 10 +

Challenge Issues - Death and destruction are leveled against teenage children.  There might be some objection to the level of violence, especially considering the age groups involved.

Overcoming challenges - Develop a work sheet that asks some of the thought provoking questions of the novel.  Be sure to have a worksheet available to parents so that they can work through some of the issues involved in the novel with their children.

Why Included - My wife ended up telling me about the movie while I was reading Hunger Games.  She surprised me with a similar story.  As I went to look it up I found that it was originally a novel, and I found it a must read as I liked the story of Hunger Games so much.

The Clash

Title - The Clash
Author - David Quantick
ISBN - 1560252693
Publication Date - 2000

Plot - This is the story and background of the Band, the Clash.  It begins from the roots of the three major band members, taking it into how the band was able to form together.  The band was competing against several other more well known punk acts, such as the Sex Pistols, without the more self destructive leader in the band that the Sex Pistols had.  They began their band in a kind of backwards fashion, more interested in style than substance.  At first they wanted to develop a kind of a look for the band, which included pain spatters thrown across guitars and other haphazard artistic sentiments.  Then they wanted a name for the band.  According to them, it was drawn out of the frequency with which the word Clash was found in the local papers.  They then went about jamming together and creating musical  rhythms, which would be decidedly punk.  The lyrics were the last bit, and as accepted part of Clash lore, were born when two of the band members attended an event that broke out into a riot and was stopped by the police. 

The story then marks their rapid rise to fame, from their first showing in 1987, through their music, making a big impact on many of the musicians around them.  Eventually they would land in the US, able to tour stadiums as they had a large enough of a following.  But like many rockers during that time, they would split up because of two major reasons, drugs, and living the rock star life became more important than producing the music which gave them the life.  Eventually by 1985 the band had burned out, and broke up.

Critical Review- A short but interesting biography on the Band called the Clash.  Representative of the bands short life, the biography discusses how they came into being and how they flamed out.  What I really appreciate about the book is that it does a good job to present the lore and try to separate it from the reality of what was happening in the band, not taking anything they were told at face value.  Furthermore, it goes on to discuss the albums that were produced and gives opinion about what albums were worthy of the Clash name, and which efforts were less than stellar.  This is certainly a fascinating read about the early punk movement, and would be an excellent read for any teen interested in the roots of the music scene today.

Reader's Annotation- The Clash. Are they counterculture warriors, or musicians who wanted what every other musician wanted, fame and fortune?

About the Author- David Quantick's career is littered with his involvement in the music scene.  He began his writing in the music publication NME.  He was one of the humorists on the staff, writing witty observations about pop music and culture. Out of which he would later branch into writing for radio and television.

His branching into television would eventually launch his career as a writer for sketch comedy that would appear on different BBC stations.  However, his partnership with Chris Morris would mean that much of his comedy was so cutting edge that many of the censors on the network would ban programming before it was even seen.  Eventually this would lead to working on a show where rock star journalists would sit and chat about their experience with many of the musicians, recalling funny and often crass stories about these wild times.

Genre- Music, Biography

Curriculum Ties - Discuss the book as an example of a biography.  How is it similar to a biography of an individual?  How does it differ?

Booktalking Ideas - Compare the life of the band The Clash, with the life of many of the bands out there.  Is there something about being in a band that engenders division and eventual breakup?

Reading Level/Interest Age - Grade 10+

Challenge Issues - None obvious as it is a biography of a band without over dramatizing the sex or drugs that may have been involved in the bands rise to stardom.

Why Included - I included this ironically because of what I was reading on the back of the book.

A Crack in the Line

Title - A Crack in the Line
Author - Michael Lawrence
ISBN - 0060724781
Publication Date - 2004

Plot - Alaric is a teenage boy trying to recover from the death of his mother two years earlier.  As he has lived with his father since that time in mostly a joyless world, Alaric's world seems to be crumbling around him.  This is until he comes back to the home that was his family home and touches an item that seems to transport him to another world: a world rich and bright and colorful; a world that seems very familiar to him.
In this world we are introduced to the character of Naia.  When Alaric meets Naia, they discover that they look very familiar to one another.  They are practically identical. 

As they explore their situations further, they come to realize that there is something a bit more amazingly similar than their looks.  The houses they are living in look the same, except one being colorful and the other being colorless.  Both of them had mothers with near death experiences: although Alaric's mother died and Naia's lived.  They start to question the whole idea of the possible alternate universe.  And they both find they have an item that can transport them back and forth between the worlds that seems to be identical.  They begin to puzzle the mystery out together of the two worlds, and how their two worlds work.  Everything seems to be going well for them until the item that is transporting the two breaks.  And now each of them are trapped in the other one's world.

Critical Review-  This is a fascinating story of two different kids, whose lives seem to be mirroring one another in so many different ways, and they are thrust together by a kind of fate.  What the reader ends up finding is a twist on the nature of reality.  Is one bound together by all of the different ways that reality could change.  And if one little thing changed in a reality, how much of an impact would that have on any given reality?  Michael Lawrence creates this fascinating world where anything is possible, and everything has an infinity impact on everything else.  As a reader we get to explore the interesting intricate possibilities of both of these juxtaposed worlds.  And just at the moment the reader is getting content with those worlds, a brilliant twist is thrown in.  What happens when these two people whose lives are so different, and yet so similar, are thrust into the other world for good.  It will be interesting to see where Lawrence takes the reader from there.

Reader's Annotation-  What would you do if you ran into a person whose life so mysteriously mirrored your own? And what if you found out that person was from a different reality?  What would you do if you found your mother, who was dead, was alive in this other reality?  Would you fight to stay in this new reality, opposing this other person?  Lawrence explores every possibility in A Crack in the Line.

About the Author- Michael Lawrence is an English writer, born and raised in different sections of the country. He eventually would go to school for art and graphic design.  Despite this he had a love for writing and wanted to be a writer since he was a teenager.  The difficulty he found was in trying to make money in doing it.  As a result, he has had his hand in many different artistic endeavors that include photography, painting and sculpting. It took him about 40 years, according to Lawrence himself, to finally be able to earn a living doing the one thing that he does enjoy, writing.

Genre- Fantasy, Science Fiction

Curriculum Ties - Discussion of probabilities based upon different realities. - Mathematics
Discuss the nature of reality - philosophy

Booktalking Ideas - Have the kids discuss what they would have done if they were Alaric.  What reality would they choose to belong to, the one where there mother was still living, or the one in which their mother had passed?

Reading Level/Interest Age - Grade 9+

Challenge Issues -None

Why Included - I grew up a science fiction and fantasy fan.  Anything that deals with alternate realities and all of the possibilities has always grabbed my attention.

Small Eternities

Title - Small Eternitites
Author - Michael Lawrence
ISBN - 0060724811
Publication Date - 2005

Plot - Small Eternities is the sequel to a Crack in the Line, the previous story by Michael Lawrence.  It begins where the last story left off, with Alaric and Naia sitting in the worlds to which they do not belong.  What they begin to discover is that they are accepted in these new worlds without question, as if they had always belonged to them.  Alaric is happy that in this eternity his mother lives.  Naia is despondent that in this eternity her mother is no longer. 

To further complicate matters for the pair. the people around them are not always they same as they were in their own reality, and they have different memories than the ones that they were familiar with in their own world.  Then Lawrence adds a third complicating element to the plot.  Naia and Alaric are thrust into another world, to which they are related, but in a different time period.   In it, Alaric accidentally kills his grandfather.  Time begins to fracture; and they wonder if they are going to be able to piece it all back together again.  What they are left with are these "Small Eternities" where things could have been a certain way, but they are not. 

It would seem that Alaric and Naia are breaking apart the fabric of time through their own existence and the complications that they create in the other worlds.  Eventually to save Aldous life Alaric risks his own and dies, being thrust into another eternity.  And yet the eternity he had left to save Aldous has a shocking conclusion, a conclusion in which Alaric has gone away and died.  Somehow, Alaric experiences this grief in another reality and he swears to himself that he is going to find a way back there.

Critical Review- Any time story or dimension story always has to deal with its own plot inconsistencies and issues throughout the piece.  This story is no different.  Lawrence spends his time trying to resolve things back and forth between the two realities, all the while preparing them for a third one, and even more, for the pair to be thrust into.  As opposed to the first story, the complexities of this novel seems to tear the fabric of reality apart at its seems.  So the story becomes hard to follow. 

However, as this is the middle book of a trilogy, it is hard to criticize this fact.  As so often is the case with trilogies, the middle book has so much stuff going on in it that you cannot understand.  And yet, you hope, that the author has a way to tie all of the loose endings, even if not perfectly satisfactory.  My one major critique of this novel is that it seems like any given moment you barely have time to set yourself in one place, when you are violently thrust into the next.  So much jumping around from Alaric, to Naia to Aldous occurs that there is no way for the reader to be completely balanced.  Maybe, this was Lawrence point.  When thrust between realities, there is no longer any anchor to which your life is tied.  You are forever a drift.

Reader's Annotation- Thrust into a new reality seems to be an everyday occurrence for Alaric and Naia.  But how many different realities will they have to cross until they find the one they call home.

About the Author-  Michael Lawrence is an English writer, born and raised in different sections of the country. He eventually would go to school for art and graphic design.  Despite this he had a love for writing and wanted to be a writer since he was a teenager.  The difficulty he found was in trying to make money in doing it.  As a result, he has had his hand in many different artistic endeavors that include photography, painting and sculpting. It took him about 40 years, according to Lawrence himself, to finally be able to earn a living doing the one thing that he does enjoy, writing.

Genre- Science fiction / Fantasy

Curriculum Ties - Compare what life was like back in the 1940's versus today.  - History

Booktalking Ideas - Have the kids draw up their own family trees.  Ask them questions about what life would have been like if one major thing in it had been different.

Reading Level/Interest Age - Grade 9+

Challenge Issues - None

Why Included - After reading A Crack in the Line, I was fascinated by the story and wanted to continue on with it.

The Summoning

Title - The Summoning
Author - Kelley Armstrong
ISBN - 9780061662768
Publication Date - July 1, 2008

Plot -  The Summoning is the story of Chloe Saunders, who seems to have a special knack for talking to ghosts.  We are first introduced to Chloe when she is three years old and with a baby sitter who sends her down to get a soda, despite her fear of ghosts she believes to be down there.   She is troubled by the ghost of a Mrs. Hobbs who seems to have it out for her.

Later we meet Chloe when she is growing up and in school. Everything seems to be going well for her as she is invited to a dance, until she ends up experiencing her first period.  This period ends up causing her to have another experience with ghosts, with one particularly troubling one that seems to have their face melting off.  She goes wild and attacks a teacher, landing her in the "Lyle House."

It is at the Lyle house where she is supposed to be recovering from her "illness."  At this place she is introduced to several other characters, including Liz, Derek, Simon, Rae, Tori and Peter.  All of these people seem to have strange occurrences surrounding them.  Rae seems to have burned Tori.  Derek seems to have moments of unexpected strength, and Liz seems to have been able to move things with her mind.  Later, we find out that the situation is much more complicated.  Rae is a demon who can produce fire from her skin, and she accidentally burned Tori in the process.  Derek is actually a werewolf (which we officially learn near the end of the novel).  Liz has the ability to astral project.  And Chloe herself turns out to be a necromancer, someone who can bring ghosts back from beyond.

After complications they remove Liz from the house and Chloe later seems to be haunted by her, which confirms that she is dead.  Things are getting worse at the house and Chloe ends up bringing a ghost who talks about this house as a place where people with power are experimented on, as she herself was a witch.  Everyone decides that they need to escape and a desperate attempt to escape is hatched.   While carrying it out, Derek ends up transforming into a werewolf, which Chloe helps him as he is shifting and turning back into a human.  They escape and get to Chloe's aunt to bring them proof that the house is doing bad things to them, but find that Chloe's aunt is in on it with the doctor, and they are taken.  At the end of the novel, Chloe summons Liz to try to help her escape her captors.

Critical Review-  A creditable beginning to a series of novels by Kelly Armstrong, as she needs to introduce all of the different characters who are going to be important to the series, and all of the powers that they have.  Each of the characters and their personalities are drawn out including much of their likes and dislikes.  Each of the characters is engaging, and the Lyle House is aptly shrouded in a lot of mystery. One is never certain of what their ultimate aims are.  The hardest thing about the novel is that there are a series of questions that need to be answered, and leaving the hero in a bad predicament, especially after only one novel, can drive one to distraction.  Of course this works well when another novel or two are on the way, which is the case with this novel as another one was to come out only a year later.

Reader's Annotation- What if Ghosts were all around you and you didn't know what to do about it?  Well, if you are a necromancer, as Chloe Saunder's is, you should.  Find out what Chloe does about the Ghosts in her basement and of the basement of the Lyle House.

About the Author- Kelly Armstrong was the middle of three children born to a middle class family in Ontario Canada.  She began in college and got a degree in Psychology, and then when she was finished she started to pursue studies in computer programming, ostensibly so that she would have more time to write.

She has a great deal of fascination with otherworldly things, which is why most of the characters in her writing seem to have some sort of power that they are dealing with.  Ever since she was a child, she seemed to have a fascination with the dark and mysterious.  And her current writings reflect this fascination.

Genre- Horror

Curriculum Ties - Compare and Contrast The Summoning to classic horror novels.  - Literature

Booktalking Ideas - Discuss what it would be like to find out one day that you had a power.  What would you do?  Would you share it with friends?  Would you hide it for fear of being experimented on?

Reading Level/Interest Age - Grade 10+

Challenge Issues - Demonic people and people who can raise the undead might be ripe for religious people who might want to have it removed, especially in school libraries where it might be hard to find an educational reason for maintaining in the collection.  

Overcoming challenges - Have items on the nature of experiments done on animals.  Compare and contrast how these people doing tests on people is different than animals.  Make the parents understand that this is a good point to begin talking about animal experimentation and whether or not this is something society should allow.

Why Included - People at my work are always talking about ghosts and whether and how they exist.  This novel seemed to explore that concept.