FINISHED:

Tinti, Hannah. (2008). The good thief: a novel. New York: Dial.

[Didn't LOVE this one like I thought I would. It took awhile to get going, and I'm not even sure that I felt it really DID ever get going. It took me awhile to read it, too - although I was at a 3-day music festival last weekend and didn't really have any time to read for 4 whole days...]

STARTED:
Collins, Suzanne. (2008). The hunger games. New York: Scholastic.

[Oh, the buzz on this one is palpable, isn't it? Just had a colleague say that she was jealous that I'm reading for the first time because she wishes she could read it for the first time again. Even colleagues that I wouldn't think would be into this kind of thing LOVE IT...]

*

FINISHED:

Going, K.L. (2005). The liberation of Gabriel King. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons/Penguin.

[.]

STARTED:
Tinti, Hannah. (2008). The good thief: a novel. New York: Dial.

[Heard great things about this one when it first came out and then forgot about it. Was trying to remember what it was when I stumbled across it on a list of great adult books that teens might like.]

*

FINISHED:

Baum, L. Frank. (1900). The wonderful Wizard of Oz. New York: Books of Wonder/William Morrow and Co.

[.]

STARTED:
Going, K.L. (2005). The liberation of Gabriel King. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons/Penguin.

[.]

*

FINISHED:

Banks, Lynne Reid. (1980). The indian in the cupboard. New York: HarperCollins.

[.]

STARTED:
Baum, L. Frank. (1900). The wonderful Wizard of Oz. New York: Books of Wonder/William Morrow and Co.

[Was in the mood for a classic - have seen the movie a gazillion times, but have never read the book to see how it differs from the celluloid version...]

*

FINISHED:

Arnosky, Jim. (2009). The pirates of Crocodile Swamp. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons/Penguin.

[Review posted when it's been written...]

STARTED:
Banks, Lynne Reid. (1980). The indian in the cupboard. New York: HarperCollins.

[SFPL doesn't have this book in its collection - except in the Historical Collection which showcases books that are now deemed culturally insensitive. I guess they are considering putting it into the collection and are having the librarians read it, with a lengthy discussion to follow...]

*

FINISHED:

Hunter, Erin. (2009). Seekers: Great Bear Lake. New York: HarperCollins.

[The three bears from the first book are back, with the addition of a new one: Ujurak, the shape shifter introduced at the end of book one - who, I mentioned in my review of that title, kind of took me out of the story. It's one thing to have bears that can talk to each other, but it's another thing entirely to have an animal that can morph into any animal it chooses. At any rate, this installment felt a bit forced to me - it's as if Hunter is stalling and dragging things out just to have material for more books. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed this one, just not as much as the first. In the end, thankfully, all three bears - Toklo the brown bear, Kallik the polar bear, and Lusa the black bear - meet each other and subsequent installments, I suppose, will have them traveling together in search of a place up north in which bears can live where there is still ice, food to eat, and that is far away from "flat-faces." A number of the events in the story seem like they will lead to something bigger that will have lasting impact on the characters, but which actually get wrapped up within a few paragraphs and then are forgotten. In one well-fleshed out storyline, Kallik finds her brother Taqqiq at a mass gathering of bears, but her brother has turned into a selfish creep that steals food from other bears and helps to kidnap a cub in an effort to infiltrate a bear colony and steal their food. For awhile it seems like he's going to remain a jerk, but then comes to trust family over friends. There is plenty to respect here: clearly, Hunter is a spiritual woman - the names of the characters seem to be Inuit and/or Native American influenced, and there is much talk among the bears of "guiding" spirits and the spirits of fallen bears becoming part of the trees or the water - and also much focus on the environment - with discussions of "firebeasts" belching smoke, "flat-face" constructions that are becoming an imposition on bear territory, and a great deal of worry over the disappearing ice and food supply. Though feeling somewhat like a filler installment, she's still got me hooked and I'll be looking forward to Book Three.]

STARTED:
Arnosky, Jim. (2009). The pirates of Crocodile Swamp. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons/Penguin.

[Reading to review for ACL.]

*

FINISHED:

Trueman, Terry. (2000). Stuck in neutral. New York: HarperCollins.

[Whoa...]

STARTED:
Hunter, Erin. (2009). Seekers: Great Bear Lake. New York: HarperCollins.

[Saw a review copy of this at BPL and almost peed my pants. For some reason, I REALLY liked the first in this series and have been waiting for this one. Put it on hold when I saw that BPL was getting it, but now I can read it right away!]

*

FINISHED:

Feldman, Jody. (2008). The Gollywhopper games. New York: Greenwillow/HarperCollins.

[Holy cow! Follow the link above to the official website - how fun does THAT look!?!

Total fun, this one! Is it the best book ever? Well, no - the writing and the narrative aren't perfect, but golly-gee it's a compelling bunch of enjoyment. Gil's father was wrongly implicated in an embezzlement scandal at the Golly Toy & Game Company 18 months ago and now he's determined to get his "revenge" by winning a large-scale contest that the toy company is putting on. Gil makes it through the first few rounds of the competition and, as one of the final 10, is invited back to the toy company headquarters to participate in the Gollywhopper Games. Of course, the toy headquarters are an incredible land of large-scale rooms with rainbows, hot-air balloons, snacks, and toys and games galore. Thankfully, the set up is short with the majority being the games themselves. Readers are given the wordgames that the contestants get and can try to figure them out on their own, and there's loads of intrigue and cheating to keep the pace. In a note in the back from the author she says that she was inspired to write the novel after a child in a library asked her for a book that is like Charlie & the Chocolate Factory, and that's pretty much EXACTLY what she has produced here. Sure, it doesn't have the witicism of Dahl's timeless masterpiece, but Feldman does an admirable job. The location, the descriptions of these large rooms and crazy games, the honest boy competing against a couple of creeps, etc. HIGHLY recommended.]

STARTED:
Trueman, Terry. (2000). Stuck in neutral. New York: HarperCollins.

[Recommended by a colleague - looks like a quick read...]

*

FINISHED:

Bode, N.E. (2004). The anybodies. New York: HarperCollins.

[.]

STARTED:
Feldman, Jody. (2008). The Gollywhopper games. New York: Greenwillow/HarperCollins.

[Stumbled across a review of this one that made it sound intriguing. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was name-checked... what more does one need?]

*

FINISHED:

Gordon, R., and Williams, B. (2008). Tunnels. New York: Chicken House/Scholastic.

[LOOK AT THAT COVER! BRILLIANT!! Now THAT'S an attention grabber!!

Hmm. Liked this one a lot, but there were certainly things that I had problems with. For one, it was a bit too long - it shouldn't have taken me a WEEK to read. Will's father is an archaelogist and runs a small, unattended museum in town, and Will and his father go on digs together, finding small trinkets from days past - antique bottles and the like. Will's father comes into possession of a glowing orb in a metal sphere that seems to react to natural light - getting brighter in the dark and lighter in the day - and soon disappears. Will and a friend, Chester, go down in the basement where Will's father has a workroom and discovers a tunnel behind a bookshelf which leads them to an underground world ruled over by pasty, nasty beings. The two boys are discovered and captured, and as it turns out, Will was originally born down there and his mother went Topsoil (to live above ground) shortly after giving birth. Will gets to leave captivity and live with the brother and uncle he never knew he had and then shortly decides to steal away and get back up to the real world. After getting there, however, Will decides to go BACK underground to rescue Chester who was doomed to be banished to the SUPER underground. SO, what I think could've been edited here is the trip that Will took back up above ground because, as I just mentioned, he ends up going back right away. There's really no good reason for him to go back up home except that his new brother goes with him and doesn't like it there... Could've been edited down. VERY atmospheric, claustrophobic, and intriguing (there's a TRAITOR in the midst that you won't see coming!!) - the title is an acurate one - I'll certainly be checking out the sequel... although I think it's supposed to be even LONGER than this one.

NOTE: some of the stuff that happens at the end is PRETTY DARN GRUESOME - more so than I believe it should be for the intended age group... though, really, it's only a couple of paragraphs out of a whole 472 pages.]

STARTED:
Bode, N.E. (2004). The anybodies. New York: HarperCollins.

[Heard good things about this series and keep seeing them in the library. Drawn to the cover artwork as well...]

*