Hollow City by Ransom Riggs

Hollow City by Ransom Riggs is the follow up to Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. Though it's a much easier title to pronounce, it's just as peculiar and strange and fascinating as the first one.

Sometimes I feel like book 2 is just a bridge to book 3 and didn't necessarily need to be written. This book 2, however, also has character and plot development. My only recommendation is that if it's been a while since you read the first book, review the ideas and creatures from the first book as I couldn't quite remember what they were when I started this book.

I can't wait to see the first book turned into a movie and directed by Tim Burton. I usually have to wait until movies come to Redbox, so if you see it first, let me know what you think.

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Hollow City
By Ransom Riggs
Publisher: Quirk Books
Year: 2014
Ages: Young Adult

Where the Wind Leads by Vinh Chung

Let me start by saying that this book is written for adults. It is not intended for a YA audience. This book is the story of Vietnam refugees and talks about a lot of difficult things. War, killings, beheadings, rape, miscarriage, dehydration, starvation. But none of it gratuitous or graphic. It's up to you if you think your older teen is mature enough to read a book with these elements in them. Even so, I highly recommend this book to anyone with the maturity to handle it.

Where the Wind Leads is the story of a family of refugees who escaped from Vietnam in 1979. The story of what they overcame before, during, and after that time is incredible, heartbreaking, and inspiring.

This book is important in that it can help you understand another human experience and make you profoundly grateful for what you've been blessed with. This book is also timely because though the details are different, the issue of refugees is very much relevant today. This would be a good book to read and discuss with your older teen, or to just read on your own if your children are still too young.

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Where the Wind Leads
By Vinh Chung with Tim Downs
Publisher: W Publishing Group
Year: 2014
Ages/Themes: Young Adult Books, Diverse Books, Refugees

Indie Bound's Summer 2016 List

As I've mentioned before, Indie Bound is one of my go-to places for book recommendations. They have a new list of adult books every month, and a seasonal list of children and YA recommendations. Here are a few books from their Summer 2016 Kids' Indie Next List that I've put on hold at my library:

Raymie Nightingale by Kate DiCamillo. I would read anything by Kate DiCamillo. I honestly can't choose a favorite. My kids love reading her Mercy Watson series and I love The Tale of Despereaux, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, and The Magician's Elephant, among others. You can count on memorable characters, fun stories, beautiful illustrations, and often lovely tales when you read Kate DiCamillo. I'm even more excited to read this book because it is set in Florida, where I live right now. I've been wanting to read more books set here. 

Reviews of Wolf Hollow by Lauren Wolk have compared it to one of my favorite books of all time, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Though that's a tall order to fill, it intrigues me enough to check it out.

Towers Falling by Jewell Parker Rhodes is a middle grade novel that tackles the difficult topic of 9/11. As someone who was an adult when it happened, it's hard for me to make sense of. And as a parent, I have no idea how to talk to my kids about it. This book has been praised for opening up a dialogue about this turning point in American History with children who weren't even born when it happened. It's recommended for teachers to use in their classrooms, but I'm looking forward to reading it as a parent.

These are the books I'm most looking forward to from this summer's list. What new releases would you add to it?

For some adult recommendations, check out this NPR List.

Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson

This year I was introduced to Brandon Sanderson and have become a big fan, especially of Steelheart and the other books in the Reckoners series. My brother told me I had to read Mistborn next.

Let me clear up something that confused me: the first Mistborn novel is called The Final Empire. I was thrown off by the word "final" and thought that must be the last one in the series. The title makes sense in context of the novel, but the book marketer side of me just sees the confusion it can lead to.

On Brandon Sanderson's site this book is described as "a hybrid epic fantasy heist story." I couldn't have said it any better myself. In fact, I'm not sure how I would have described it by myself. Note the word epic, which means really long. I was a little daunted by the length, and it took me a while to get into the book. It's set in a world with completely different rules than ours, so it took a while for the author to establish those rules and for me to understand what was happening. But with a promise to my brother that I would read it, I pushed on.

And I'm glad I did. By the end I was immersed in the world and invested in the characters, which will make the other books in the series easier to get into. This is not a light read--you have to invest time and thought into it. But if you (or your kids) are into hybrid epic fantasy heist stories, it's a great read and a fun world to be a part of.

Have you ever read a book that would qualify as an epic fantasy? What was it?

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Mistborn: The Final Empire
By Brandon Sanderson
Publisher: Tor
Year: 2006
Ages/Themes: Young Adult Books, Fantasy, Epic Fantasy

Guest Review: A Tale of Two Castles by Gail Carson Levine

Guest reviewer Katie is a fantasy writer, avid reader, violinist, and high school student who is happy to be on summer break so she has more time to read. Here she reviews A Tale of Two Castles by Newbery-winning author Gail Carson Levine.
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A Tale of Two Castles is written by Newbery Winning author Gail Carson Levine, who wrote Ella Enchanted. I’ve read many of her books and have loved them all. This one in particular is a favorite. The second time I read it I had forgotten the entire middle of the book so it was a familiar brand new story to me.

A young girl named Elodie decides to set out from home and go to the capital city where she hopes she can aspire to be a mansioner or an actress. Through a series of events instead of a mansioner, she becomes a dragon’s apprentice. Sent to spy for her Mastress, Elodie must figure out who is plotting against a shape-shifting ogre. Is it the greedy king, the giddy princess, the handsome cat trainer, or is it the dragon?

I loved how unique the tale is and the different personalities of each character. I think that this book would be great for girls in middle school and older.

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A Tale of Two Castles

By Gail Carson Levine

Publisher: HarperCollins Publisher

Year: 2011

Ages: Middle Grade Books, Young Adult Books, Fantasy, Fairy Tales

Calamity by Brandon Sanderson

I find I have more time to read when I do it on my Kindle. I read while I'm putting my little one to sleep or before I go to sleep at night and don't have to worry about lights. (That's why I love the Kindle Paperwhite--no harsh lights.) I've been on the ebook waiting list for Calamity for a few weeks. But when I saw the paper version sitting on the shelf of the library, I snagged it and thought maybe I'd start reading this one and then pick up when I got the ebook.

Well, I'm still on the waiting list for the ebook version and I finished Calamity last night. Turns out I find time to read better when it's a page turner, which the entire Reckoners series is. It's an entertaining, fun, adventure. Now that I've started to get to know this author, I have a lot more on my TBR list!

The Reckoners series is great because it takes a well-loved theme, superheroes, and gives it a fresh look. The characters are interesting and the story keeps you guessing. The content is clean and appropriate for any kid old enough to read the books, As entertaining as the book is, it's more than that. I'm still thinking about the ending and contemplating what some of it might mean.

Have you read any Brandon Sanderson books? Which ones are your favorites?

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Calamity 
By Brandon Sanderson
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Year: 2016
Ages/Themes: Middle Grade Books, Young Adult Books, Science Fiction, Adventure, Series, Books for Boys

Newbery Books Worth Reading: Princess Academy

I'm sure you've heard that you shouldn't judge a book by its cover (though as every book marketer and seller will tell you, people do it all the time). Well, I sometimes judge a book by its title. And that's why it took me a few years to give Princess Academy by Shannon Hale a chance.

I actually love fairy tales and their many retellings, but for some reason having the word princess in the title kept me from reading this book. But I changed my mind after reading it. It's certainly not for everyone, but middle grade girls will likely love the story, and lovers of young adult and middle grade books (like me) will likely enjoy this book as well. I don't think it's Shannon Hale's best, but it's still a good one. (Book of a Thousand Days is her best if you're wondering.)

Are you a Shannon Hale fan? Which book of hers is your favorite?
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Princess Academy
By Shannon Hale
Publisher: Bloomsbury Books for Children
Year: 2005
Ages/Themes: Middle, YA, Fairy Tales, Fantasy

Firefight by Brandon Sanderson

For a few years I happily read and followed along with many of the most popular YA trilogies. I read the Hunger Games, Divergent, and Matched trilogies. But over time, I got really sick of trilogies. I've started some YA series and not moved on to the second book, because I'm weary of the books never ending. I really got sick of it with the Maze Runner series. I found the first book entertaining, but I think that the second book could have told the story in a couple of chapters and been part of the third book. It seems that authors have this great idea for a longer story and they know the ending, but since trilogies are a thing now, they have to come up with something for the middle.

Well, Brandon Sanderson has broken that stereotype for me. I really enjoyed Steelheart, so I was eager to read the second book, Firefight, despite my misgivings about trilogies (and the second book in particular). Firefight continues the story of the Reckoners, but it stands alone as a good story, and has a complete ending along with anticipation for the conclusion. It had important plot developments and character growth. I really can't wait to read the conclusion, but the second book's conclusion left me with a sense of completion that so many second books just don't do anymore.

So, the point of my long rant about trilogies and second books comes to this: read Firefight. It's just as good as Steelheart. It has adventure and humor and great storytelling.

What is your favorite trilogy? Is there one you think could have skipped the second book?

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Firefight
By Brandon Sanderson
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Year: 2015
Ages/Themes: Young Adult Books, Middle Grade Books, Fantasy, Adventure, Science Fiction, Series

Steelheart (The Reckoners) by Brandon Sanderson

Superhero movies and books are abundant these days. There are even superheroes with dark sides. But what if there were people who gained superhero powers, but none of them were good? What if the world was filled with super villains but there were no good guys with super powers to stop them?

I was in the middle of reading two other books when I started reading Steelheart, the first book in The Reckoners series by Brandon Sanderson. I abandoned those and finished this book as quickly as I could. The premise is intriguing, the story was fast-paced and fun, and its full of twists and turns that I didn't see coming. I'll probably reread it someday to see if there's foreshadowing that I missed. The good news is it's part of a series, so there's more to read.

I recommend this book for anyone who likes superheroes, adventures, or alternate worlds (I hesitate to call it a dystopia, but the world is certainly a grimmer place with villains controlling everything). This would be a great book for teenage boys.

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Steelheart
By Brandon Sanderson
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Year: 2013
Ages: Middle Grade, Young Adult, Books for Boys

You can buy this book on Amazon (affiliate link) or at your local independent library).

Newbery Books Worth Reading: The Blue Sword

Robin McKinley was one of my favorite authors growing up. She writes retellings of classic fairy tales, including two different versions of Beauty and the Beast. And she writes some original fantasy books. The Blue Sword is one of them and it was a Newbery Honor book in 1983. 

McKinley wrote strong female leads before there was so much emphasis on making sure girls read books with strong female leads. In The Blue Sword a young orphaned girl is destined to wield a legendary sword and become the king's rider. I loved reading it as a young girl and I still love it. It's a great book for girls, but there's plenty of action and adventure for boys to enjoy too. And it's definitely a Newbery book worth reading.

You can buy this book on Amazon (affiliate link) or at your local independent book store.
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The Blue Sword
By Robin McKinley
Publisher: Greenwillow
Year: 1982
Ages: Middle Grade, Young Adult
Themes: Newbery Honor, Fantasy

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

I declare this week To Kill a Mockingbird week on this blog. It was my turn to choose a book for book club and was about to choose a beautiful memoir I read last year. But then I heard the news of Harper Lee's passing and I knew I had to choose To Kill a Mockingbird. This book is at the very top of my list of books that everyone should read.

In case you aren't familiar with To Kill a Mockingbird, even though the narrator is a young Scout Finch, this book is definitely for mature young adult readers. I'm not going to designate an age, because each child is different. I highly recommend reading it at the same time as your young adult and having open discussions about some of the more difficult topics including racism and rape. Later this week I will post some discussion questions about the book.

I don't know how many times I've read this book, but I get something new out of it each time. Did you read To Kill a Mockingbird in high school? Have you read it since?
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To Kill a Mockingbird
By Harper Lee
Publisher: HarperCollins
Year: 1999 (40th Anniversary Edition)
Ages: Mature Young Adults

The Rule of Thoughts by James Dashner

The Rule of Thoughts is the second book in James Dashner's Mortality Doctrine Series. It picks up right where The Eye of Minds left off and follows Michael and his friends on their quest to stop a computer program from taking over the world. This time they have to navigate the rule world as well as the gaming world, and its anyone's guess which is which.

This book wasn't totally my thing. And sometimes series of books tire me and I crave a book that will stand alone. But as I thought with the first book in the series, young adults who love science fiction or gaming would love this book, and it would be a good choice for otherwise reluctant readers.

I'm pretty sure I'll read the third book, but I need a little break first. What's your favorite series of books? On the other hand, is there a series of books that you feel really should have just been one book?
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The Rule of Thoughts
By James Dashner
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Year: 2014
Ages/Themes: Young Adult Books, SciFi, Gaming

You can buy this book on Amazon (affiliate link) or at your local independent bookstore.

The Witch's Boy by Kelly Barnhill

I think I heard about The Witch's Boy by Kelly Barnhill through Indiebound's list of recommendations from independent booksellers.

I've tried to describe the story, but I keep coming up short. I loved this book instantly and have recommended it to anyone who likes books that are a little different, a little dark, a little mystical. It's full of magic, unexpected heroes, tragedies, triumphs, family secrets, fantasy, and adventure. It's like reading a fairy tale--not a sparkly princess fairy tale, but a real fairy tale.

This book is great for middle grade readers, but I recommend it for young adults and adults too.
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The Witch's Boy
By Kelly Barnhill
Publisher: Algonquin Young Readers
Year: 2014
Ages: Middle Grade, Young Adult

You can buy this book on Amazon (affiliate link) or at your local independent bookstore.

Alcatraz versus the Scrivener's Bones by Brandon Sanderson

I recently reviewed the first book in this series, Alcatraz versus the Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson. I wasn't going to review this one too because they are very similar. The plot is different, but many of the characters are the same, the writing style is fun, and it's a little bit ridiculous but funny.

I was an English Lit major and so I don't think of myself as a prude when it comes to what I read, but I do want to be careful about what my kids read and what I recommend to other people. I used to rely on Young Adult literature to be free of sex, drugs, and language. But more and more this is not the case.

I read Alcatraz versus the Scrivener's Bones right after I started and had to stop reading four different young adult books because of content. So I really appreciated this book, knowing that it was clean, and that I could recommend it to anyone to read. Alcatraz might not be for everyone, but I can recommend it to anyone.

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Alcatraz versus the Scrivener's Bones
By Brandon Sanderson
Publisher: Scholastic
Year: 2009
Ages: Middle Grade, Young Adult Books, Books for Boys

You can find this book on Amazon (affiliate link) or at your local independent bookstore.

Two Beauty and the Beast Tales

Before there was Shannon Hale, there was Robin McKinley. She was my favorite writer of fantasy and fairy tales when I was a teenager, and she remains in my top five.

One of the most interesting things about her books is that she wrote two different versions of Beauty and the Beast.

Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of the Beauty & the Beast was published in 1978. It's a beautiful and simple retelling. I've reread it many times over the years. It's easy enough and appropriate for kids as young as 10, possibly younger if they're an advanced reader.

Have you ever reread a book many years later and found that it was a very different book? Robin McKinley went a step further and revisited Beauty and the Beast to write a completely different story almost 20 years after her first one. I love Rose Daughter as much as I love Beauty, but for different reasons. Rose Daughter is for an older audience (though still completely appropriate content-wise). The writing is at a more advanced level and the story is deeper, more mature, and more intriguing.

I've always loved the story of Beauty and the Beast in its many forms. Is there a classic story you return to over and over again in different tellings?

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You can find Beauty and Rose Daughter on Amazon (affiliate links) or at your local independent book store.

Guest Review: The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen

I've had this book on hold at the library for weeks, and finally got it today. I'm excited to start reading it, especially after hearing about how great the series is from Katie*, who wrote this review:

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New York Times Bestseller, The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen, is my current favorite book. I read it within a week and then had to read the second, followed by the third. The Ascendance Trilogy is filled with action, lies, friendship, and a hint of romance.

The first book features four orphaned boys who are collected by a man named Conner. His plan is to install one boy on the throne to impersonate the long lost prince of Carthya. Forced to go along with his plan of treason, the boys each must decide whether to lie or to face death.

All three of the books have nice short chapters that help the story move along quickly without dragging it out. I would recommend this thrilling series of books for middle school aged kids and up.

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The False Prince

By Jennifer A. Nielsen

Publisher: Scholastic Press

Year: 2012

Ages: Middle School and older

*Katie is a fantasy writer, avid reader, violinist, and high school student.

Find this series on Amazon (affiliate link) or at your local independent bookstore.

The Eye of Minds by James Dashner

They Eye of Minds is by James Dashner, the author of the well-known Maze Runner series (two of them have been made into a movie so far). This one has all the same kinds of thrills and adventures, but with a gaming twist. It imagines a world where virtual reality is so real, that gamers actually feel like they're in the game. 

This isn't my regular type of read, and lately I've become a little tired of series (because you never get to the end of the story!). But the ending to this one surprised me and made me want to read the next one.

This would be a great book for young adults who usually prefer video games to books. If you liked the Maze Runner series, you'd probably like this one too.

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The Eye of Minds

By James Dashner

Publisher: Delacorte Press

Year: 2013

Ages: Young Adult

Themes: Science Fiction, Gaming, Thriller, Books for Boys

Find this book on Amazon (affiliate link) or at your local independent bookstore.

Alcatraz versus the Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson

Alcatraz has a talent for breaking things. It's part of the reason why he moves from foster home to foster home so often. Then one day he finds out that the world he knows is a lie. The world is run by a group of evil librarians--they control all the information after all. He teams up with others like him (with talents like always being late and speaking gibberish) to retrieve his stolen inheritance. Oh, and there are miniature, talking, British dinosaurs.

Alcatraz versus the Evil Librarians is a fun and funny book that would be appropriate for ages 10 and up. The protagonist speaks directly to the reader, sometimes even about the writing itself. It reminded me of the style of the Series of Unfortunate Events books, so someone who likes those books would probably enjoy this one.

After reading this book I wished that my tendency to drop things could be construed to be a talent, but I just haven't found it to be yet.
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Alcatraz versus the Evil Librarians
By Brandon Sanderson
Published by Scholastic
Year: 2007
Ages: Middle Grade, YA
Themes: fantasy, adventure

The War That Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

The 2016 Newbery Award winner and honor books have been announced. More than ten years ago when I was working in a middle school library, I made a goal to read all the Newbery Award books. I finished that goal a few years back and eagerly look forward to reading the new winner each year. Since I only have to read one book a year to keep up the goal, I often read the honor books too. And sometimes I like them even better than the winner.

The War that Saved my Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradely earned a Newbery Honor nod this year. I already had this book on my TBR list and I'm glad that gave me the extra push to read it. It's the first full book I read in 2016 and it was a good start.

It's the story of young Ada and her little brother Jamie who leave London to live in the country during the bombings of World War II. Narrated by Ada, it's a powerful story of overcoming hardships. Despite that rousing description, it's a book I would have loved when I was young. It talks about difficult times and difficult issues, but in an age appropriate way. Much better than a ten-year-old reading The Hiding Place. Which I did. Anyway, good book. You should read it or give it to your Middle Grade reader.

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The War that Saved my Life 
By Kimberly Brubaker Bradely
Publisher: Dial Books for Young Readers
Year: 2015
Ages: Middle Grade, Young Adult
Themes: WWII, England, disabilities
Awards: Newbery Honor Book

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs is . . . well, peculiar. It's been around for a while, but it looked a little scary to me. And it was. But not too scary for me as long as I didn't read too late at night. It was the same kind of scary as Neil Gaiman or Tim Burton (who is directing the film version). So if you like them, you might like this book.

The book is filled with real and very strange vintage photographs which gave the author some of her inspiration for the story. It's a little bit historical, a little bit suspense, and a big dose of fantasy. I wasn't sure about the book when I started it, but the first line drew me in: "I had just come to accept that my life would be ordinary when extraordinary things began to happen."

This book was really good and really original (which is hard to do). But a word of caution. Besides being a little scary, this book also has a few curse words. It is an excellent read and I recommend it, just not to everyone.

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Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
by Ransom Riggs
Publisher: Quirk Books
Year: 2011
Ages: Young Adult
Content: some curse words, scary elements