FINISHED:
Oliver, Lauren. (2011). Liesl & Po. New York: HarperCollins.

[.]

STARTED:
Haskell, Merrie. (2011). The princess curse. New York: HarperCollins.

[.]

*

FINISHED:
Applegate, Katherine. (2012). The one and only Ivan. New York: HarperCollins.

[.]

STARTED:
Oliver, Lauren. (2011). Liesl & Po. New York: HarperCollins.

[.]

*

FINISHED:
Cline, Ernest. (2011). Ready Player One. New York: Crown.

[This one was FUN FUN FUN - mainly because it was targeted directly at me. Grow up playing videogames and going to arcades in the '70s? Is Wargames (MGM, 1983) one of your favorite movies? Did you watch all of the great sitcoms of the '80s like Family Ties? Cline (clearly a man that I could be friends with) has crafted a novel that is part Charlie & the Chocolate Factory, part DaVinci Code (only the best parts...) or The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, along with a healthy dose of pop culture nostalgia and dystopian science fiction. 30 & 40-something geeks rejoice!]

STARTED:
Applegate, Katherine. (2012). The one and only Ivan. New York: HarperCollins.

[.]

*

FINISHED:
Reeve, Philip. (2011). Web of air. New York: Scholastic.




[.]



Nolan, Han. (2010). Crazy. Boston: Harcourt.

[.]


STARTED:
Cline, Ernest. (2011). Ready Player One. New York: Crown.

[.]

*

FINISHED:
Lu, Marie. (2011). Legend. New York: Penguin/Putnam.

[.]

STARTED:
Nolan, Han. (2010). Crazy. Boston: Harcourt.

[This one is still lingering on the ACL Distinguished List for 2011... and it's from 2010...]

*

STARTED:
Lu, Marie. (2011). Legend. New York: Penguin/Putnam.

[Going on a trip and wanted something to read outside of what I HAVE TO read.]

*

FINISHED:
Riggs, Ransom. (2011). Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. Philadelphia, PA: Quirk Books.

[Not quite as wonderful as I had hoped/heard it might be - it was definitely worth reading, though. After his grandfather is viciously murdered, Jacob decides that it might be in his best interest to go visit the island and school where his grandfather grew up in order to see for himself if the wild tales his grandfather told were true. What Jacob ends up finding on the island is way more than he ever imagined, and he must ultimately decide if he wants to return to his old life or stay where/when (...) he is... Filled with creepy, apparently authentic period photos, though overall lacking the eerie tone that I was expecting.]

STARTED:
Reeve, Philip. (2011). Web of air. New York: Scholastic.

[Reading for ACL to see if I deem it worthy of inclusion on our Distinguished List...]

*

FINISHED:
Ness, Patrick. (2011). A monster calls. Somerville, MA: Candlewick.

[Whoa. This one is brutal... but amazing. Conor, whose mother is going through cancer treatment, is visited by the yew tree behind their house who says that it will tell him 3 stories, and expects Conor to tell it one story. When his mom seems to be taking a turn for the worse, Conor's grandmother comes to begin making arrangements for Conor to come live with her - something that Conor will have no part of. What is the yew tree after? Why does it keep showing up? What does it want Conor to admit?? Heartbreaking and powerful.]

STARTED:
Riggs, Ransom. (2011). Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. Philadelphia, PA: Quirk Books.

[.]

*

FINISHED:
Jones, Allan, and Chalk, Gary. (2010). The Six Crowns: Trundle's quest. New York: Greenwillow/HarperCollins.

[.]

STARTED:
Ness, Patrick. (2011). A monster calls. Somerville, MA: Candlewick.

[.]

*

FINISHED:
Bruchac, Joseph. (2011). Wolf mark. New York: Tu/Lee & Low.

[Luke is a seventeen year-old living in a trailer with his father, a former Special-ops agent who has turned to alcohol and pot for comfort after the death of Luke’s mother, who does well in school, has a crush on his best female friend, rides a motorcycle, and just so happens to be a shapeshifter. When his father goes missing and he’s led to an old house by a note his father left behind, Luke finally comes to fully embrace his “skinwalker” ancestry by putting on a wolf skin he finds in an old chest which transforms him into a human/wolf hybrid. Luke’s search for his father ultimately ends (with the help of some Russian students at school who seem to be a vampire mafia) at Maxico, a mysterious “cutting edge” research facility in town which, it turns out, needs shapshifters in order to do tests on cellular self-regeneration, with the goal of hoping to stop the aging process. Despite a few encyclopedic asides that assume ignorance of the reader and come across as didactic, and some cultural references that Luke makes which seem unlikely for a teenager of today (“Make it so!” from Star Trek: Next Generation, David Byrne, E.T.), Luke’s personal journey is thorough and thoughtfully realized with a lot of attention paid to Luke coming to understand who he is and what that means (“That, my father’s brief instructions told me, has long been the way of our people. You must learn to be human first before you can accept the power and not be lost in it. Otherwise, you become a creature out of nightmares with no compassion for any being, no urge other than to hunt and kill.”). The novel’s size (almost 400 pages) and lack of much dialogue may be intimidating, but short, digestible chapters and a story which brings in elements of science fiction, thrillers, horror, spiritual lore, and even teen romance help to keep up a steady pace that moves the action along. An Author’s Note speaks to Bruchac’s own heritage, research on werewolf lore, knowledge of martial arts, and wanting to justly depict Russian characters.]

STARTED:
Jones, Allan, and Chalk, Gary. (2010). The Six Crowns: Trundle's quest. New York: Greenwillow/HarperCollins.

[.]

*