Do you like Sherlock Holmes?

I’ll just come out and say it–I love Sherlock Holmes. I love the show, Sherlock, and I love the Robert Downey, Jr movies. I loved teaching Sherlock Holmes short stories, and I’ve read a couple of modern interpretations of his story. Sherlock Holmes is an interesting character, though, in that I wouldn’t want to be friends with him in real life. When I really like a character, I usually wish that we could be friends in real life, but Holmes is an exception. He’s cool, but he would be too stressful for my real life.

This week, I read a Sherlock Holmes-esque tale, but this book differed in the fact that I really liked the narrator, and the detective was a bit more lovable.

If you like detective stories, check out Jackaby!

The narrator in this book is Abigail Rook, a young girl who has traveled to America to find adventure and venture out from under her parents’ plans for her. As soon as she gets off the boat in New England, she starts looking for work. A notice for a job as an assistant to a detective leads her to R.F Jackaby’s house. As soon as she enters his house, she realizes that there’s something different about Jackaby. Like Sherlock Holmes, he is an observant detective who is loved and hated by the local police force. But, unlike Holmes, he focuses mainly on supernatural cases–he even shares his house with a ghost and a former assistant who was accidentally turned into a duck.

At first, Jackaby is nervous about having Abigail help with his cases (that whole assistant turning into a duck thing really messed with him), but once he realizes that she notices normal details, not extraordinary details like he does, he lets her join the case. Together, they catch a serial killer, who, of course, ends up being not quite what he seems.

I really loved this book. The mystery was great–it kept me turning pages, anxious to figure out what was going to happen. And, like I mentioned before, I really liked Abigail, and I enjoyed how wonderfully weird Jackaby was. The supernatural elements were interesting, and they seemed believable. I hope there are more in this series!

This would be a great mystery for junior high or high school readers! Please check it out!

A Tree That Was Not So Friendly

Over the Thanksgiving holiday, I found myself reading The Night Gardener by Jonathan Auxier.

 

I was drawn to this book because, as I learned by looking at the writer’s notes in the back, it was inspired by creepy tales like “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” This story definitely had a creepy, dark quality that I really enjoyed. But, above all, it was a really great story, which I appreciated after reading my last selection.

Molly and Kip, the protagonists, are siblings who traveled from Ireland to England to find work and food. They find a job in manor house, and on the way there, they encounter the local story teller who informs them that the house is not what is seems. She warns them to stay away, but desperate for food and shelter, the kids continue to the house. Almost as soon as they begin working, the kids notice that the house has a weird atmosphere. Everyone seems to be haunted by nightmares, and mysterious dirt footsteps appear in the hallway every morning.

One night, Molly discovers that a creepy man, dubbed the Night Gardener, visits the house every night, visiting each member of the household and collecting sweat off their brows. Then, the takes the sweat and uses it to water a tree that has attached itself to the house. As if this weren’t weird enough, Molly realizes that the tree grants wishes, and each member of the household has been using it to get different things: money, sweets, picture books, and jewelry.

Molly and Kip realize that the tree is slowly killing each person in the house, and so, they decide to escape. As you can imagine, the Night Gardener doesn’t take this lying down.

I loved this story. It was creepy and dark, and I really enjoyed the characters. I enjoyed how Kip grew and became more brave and assured throughout the story, and I loved that two children could help a family escape a painful situation. The ending was tense, but I thought it was satisfying.

This book would be great for middle school or high school readers. It’s engaging and complex, and it would be great for an older reader.

If you’re looking for a creepy tale to take you through this holiday season, check out this great book!

 

On being young and elite

Remember when I read The Legend Trilogy, and I loved it a lot? So, then, as you can imagine, I was really excited to see that Marie Lu wrote a new book called The Young Elites. 

This book was really different from The Legend Trilogy, and I have to say that it wasn’t what I was expected, and I didn’t love it as much as I loved the trilogy.

This story revolves around a girl named Adelina who survived a horrible blood fever that swept through the nation. This blood fever affected people in different ways, but most of the people who survived had some sort of lasting physical deformity which marked them in the community. For example, some people got different colored eyes or hair–in fact, Adelina’s hair turned white, and she lost an eye. But, according to legend, some people were affected more deeply and were imbued with powers. These people are referred to as “The Young Elites.” As the story begins, Adelina doesn’t believe that she has any powers, but soon, she realizes that she not only has powers but also she has extremely powerful powers that allow her to control illusions. She can create images that look incredibly realistic, and, as she discovers as she learns to control her powers,  she can make someone believe that they are experiencing immense amounts of pain.

Adelina is soon united with other Young Elites, and she realizes that they are trying to take over the government. The Young Elites have to constantly hide because they are hunted by the king–he wants to kill all of them to insure that they won’t be a threat.

I didn’t really enjoy how dark this story was. Adelina’s powers are increased by the anger she holds in her heart, and in places, her feelings and struggles were really dark. I also didn’t really enjoy the other Young Elites very much. Now that I think about it, I really didn’t like any of the characters that much. And, I couldn’t really get a very good mental picture of the setting–I couldn’t figure out if the story took place in the past or the future, and that bothered me.

I think this story is going to turn into a series, so I will probably read the next one. But, I would definitely not give this a resounding recommendation. I would choose to read The Legend Trilogy over this new book any day.

If you read it, tell me what you think!

I’ve been maze running

Leave it to a movie trailer to make me want to read a book. Once the trailers for The Maze Runner started showing up on television, I decided to take the plunge and finally see what all the fuss was about with this series. Several former students told me it was a worthwhile read, so I ordered up The Maze Runner and prepared to be amazed.

Truthfully, the first few chapters weren’t that interesting for me. In the beginning, the reader is introduced to a society of boys who have their own slang and culture, and I wasn’t really interested in it at first. And, I had a hard time keeping the characters straight. But, I kept reading, and I really enjoyed the book–so much so that I decided to go ahead and read each book in the trilogy.

For those who haven’t heard about the series, here’s a quick synopsis. The whole trilogy revolves around a boy named Thomas who lives in a futuristic world that has been ravaged by a sun flare. This flare causes people to lose their minds and basically become zombies.

In the first book, Thomas finds himself in the middle of a society of all boys who are stuck inside of a town with a huge maze. Thomas soon learns that the maze controls every aspect of the boys’ lives, and they continually run through the maze, risking their lives against horrible creatures named Grievers, trying to find a way to escape. Thomas has no memory of his life before he showed up in this town, but he feels drawn to the maze. He ultimately succeeds in helping the boys out of the maze, but I don’t want to give away any more details.

In the second and third book, Thomas works to understand his life before the maze, and he comes face to face with people who are afflicted with the sun flare. He tries to understand why the maze was created, and he struggles to find people to trust.

There is so much more to the series to that, but I don’t want to spoil any of the twists and turns! These books are full of adventure, and they are pretty gory. The last book, especially, was pretty violent.

I really loved this series, and I think that fans of The Hunger Games  or Divergent would really enjoy these books. They are reminiscent of those books since the setting is a post apocalyptic world, and young people are the heroes, but this series was definitely original and unique.

If you’re looking for a new science fiction adventure series, check these books out!

I didn’t want to like it

I can be fickle when it comes to finding books to read. Sometimes, I like to get on the popular book bandwagon and read trendy things. Other times, I don’t want to read a book, just because people tell me to read it.

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell fell into that second category. I heard from several people that it was a great book and I needed to read it, but I was too much of a rebel to try to check it out from the library. But, when it came in the book drop the other day, I decided to take the plunge. And, of course, I loved it.

This book revolves around two teenagers, Eleanor and Park, who are growing up in the mid-eighties. Eleanor is a poor, red headed girl who lives with her mother, her four siblings, and her horrible, gross stepfather. Park is a middle class half Korean boy who lives with his parents and his younger brother. Park and Eleanor meet when Eleanor is new and has nowhere to sit on the school bus. As the school year progresses, they begin to talk to each other on the bus, and then they start to like each other. However, they cannot spend time together like normal people because Eleanor’s stepfather is abusive and controlling and doesn’t want Eleanor or her siblings to do anything. They have to hide in a back room when he is around, and they have to pretend not to hear when he hits their mother. Despite the harsh living conditions Eleanor finds herself in, she is still able to find joy with Park, and eventually, they fall in love. I won’t tell you any more since I don’t want to spoil the ending.

I really loved this book because I felt like it was a great, realistic portrayal of teens. The relationship that blossomed between the two main characters was sweet and tender–it wasn’t gratuitous simply for the sake of being gratuitous. And, the teenagers in the book weren’t portrayed as being full of angst or anger, simply because they are teens. They weren’t overly dramatic or overly romantic. They were real people–not a stereotype of what a teen should be or must be.

I loved this book. I definitely would recommend it for teen readers, just because some of the harsh conditions in Eleanor’s home are hard to read about, but I would recommend it without hesitation.

If you like Young Adult fiction and are looking for something to read other than The Hunger Games, make sure to check out this book!

Series Spotlight: Legend Trilogy

Way back when (three months ago), I was still a high school English teacher. One day, one of my very favorite students said to me, “I have a series that you will love. I am going to bring them in, so you can read them.” I love it when students say those kinds of things to me. I like learning about new books, and I like connecting with the students on that level.

Well, a couple of days later, that student brought in all three books in The Legend Trilogy by Marie Lu, and I raced through them. They were jam-packed with action, and they were a great read.

The basic plot throughout the three books revolves around two main characters, June and Day. June is a prodigy in the Republic military, and Day is one of the most infamous criminals and is wanted by the Republic. June comes from a well-off and respected family, and she has never wanted for anything. Day, on the other hand, has been forced away from his family and has spent years surviving on the streets.

Basically, June is ordered to find and arrest Day after he allegedly commits a horrible crime. She is gung-ho about her mission, until she actually meets Day and finds out that there is more to him and the Republic than meets the eye.

The second and third books continue on with this theme–the pair battle a horrible plague, help discover the truth about the Republic, and, of course, fall in love. There is so much more to each story, but I don’t want to give any details away.

This book was similar to The Hunger Games in that it talks about a United States that has been fractured and ravaged. And, the government who is in control is corrupt and attacks the poor. And, children are forced to take a test, and if they do well, they are entered into the military and have a bright future, but if they do poorly, they are subject to death or have to endure medical experiments.

However, this was a completely original story–while I was reading, I never felt like I was reading a Hunger Games knock-off. Marie Lu is a really talented writer, and her story was really compelling. I really loved this series.

Check out this series if you like Dystopian books, and you are a fan of action and adventure. This series is great for teen readers!

New Favorite Series: The Lunar Chronicles

One of the best things about being a teacher is the fact that I can sign my class up for the Scholastic Reading Club. We get flyers that show some of the best new books, and when kids order, I get teacher points and can get free books. It, really, is the best system. I am obsessed with Scholastic.

One series that I discovered through the book orders is the Lunar Chronicles series by Marissa Meyer.

These books are loosely based on fairy tales, but they are set in the future and are much more modern. In the first book, Cinder, we meet the main character, Cinder. She is a cyborg mechanist who is loosely based on the Cinderella character. Cinder lives in a futuristic society that is threatened by a plague, and they have an uneasy relationship with the Lunar people. Cinder is able to meet the Prince of her nation because she is able to fix his android device, and she also comes in contact with a doctor who gives her clues about her past. Of course, since Cinder is a cyborg, she doesn’t think that the Prince could love her. This book ends with a cliff hanger, but it’s really good.

The second story, Scarlet, catches up with Cinder and adds three new characters. Cinder works through her parts of the story with Captain Thorne, an American pirate, and we meet Scarlet and Wolf. Scarlet is loosely based on Little Red Riding Hood, and Wolf, obviously, is like The Big Bad Wolf. This book tells us more about the Lunar people, and we find out more about Cinder’s past. We also find out how Scarlet and Cinder are connected in really interesting ways.

In the last story, Cress, we meet a new character who is based on the Rapunzel narrative. Cress adds to Cinder’s team as they work to fight against the Lunar Queen. Cinder is reunited from her Prince from the first book, and she breaks up his wedding to the Lunar Queen.

These books are great for adventurous readers who appreciate strong, female characters. They do have a touch of science fiction, but they are still easy to read and relate to. And, finally, they have a touch of romance, but they don’t cross over into the Twilight territory.

These books would be great for more mature upper elementary readers, but they are perfect for older readers as well! My husband and I thoroughly enjoyed reading them, so you can tell that they aren’t childish.

Check out these books if you like adventure stories that have great character development!