Maximum Ride: School's Out--Forever

Author: James Patterson
Year: 2007
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Pages: 407
Reading Level: Intermediate (ages 9-12)

Genre: Action/Fantasy
Series Information: Second of the Maximum Ride series
Location: Eastern United States, especially Virginia, Florida
Time Period: Present Day (2006)

Plot: Maximum Ride and her five friends: Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gassman, and Angel are special. Kidnapped in infancy, they've been raised in a lab where they were genetically altered. Now they are half human, and half bird, and they are trained with military defense tactics. Max and her flock have escaped from the lab, and now they're on the lam. However, they quickly meet trouble when the Erasers (a human/wolf/bird hybrid) catch up to them. Fang is mortally wounded in the fight, and he has to be taken to the hospital. The FBI finds out about Max and her flock, and a head agent offers Max the chance for all of them to stay at her house and recouperate. The next thing Max knows, she and her friends are all enrolled in a private school, and the FBI agent is talking about making the arrangement permanent. This doesn't sit well with Max, who has her own agenda: to find the lost family members of her flock, and to take down the evil power that genetically altered her flock in the first place. Can she convince the others to leave their comfortable new existence? SPOILER! When Max and her flock discover that the FBI agent is actually one of the heads of the lab where they were made into mutants, Max and her flock head off on their own again. They head for Florida for information about their past. Following a lead that points them to the headquarters of a large corporation, Max and her friends break in and are very nearly captured--but not before learning more about their past and their possible future destiny.

Comments: I picked up this book thinking that it looked like one that would appeal to boys. Even though the cover shown here isn't the same as the cover of the book I read, it has the same idea: the silhouette of a winged teenage boy. Surely that boy was the main character, Maximum Ride? It was therefore rather surprising to me to find out that Max is actually a winged teenage girl. Kudos should be sent to James Patterson for writing a very strong female character, but I still think this type of book will appeal to boys more than it will to girls.

All in all, the book was a fun, quick read. Sentences are short and to the point, as are the chapters, which average about two pages in length. Patterson's writing style fits perfectly with this setup. Dialog is quick and witty. The book is filled with one-liners. The action scenes are extremely fast-paced (and a little gruesome). And, impressively, even though Patterson gives hardly any recap of what happened in the first book in the series, the plot is still easy to follow. This is achieved by the fact that most of the book is written from Max's perspective, so you get a lot of her innermost thoughts. Even though Max is "Avian-American," she still has extremely human emotions. And lots of them since she's a fourteen-year-old teenager. This makes Max relatable even though her actions are tough.

Perhaps the biggest downfall of the book is that so much of the book is spent with hardly anything happening. This allows us to get to know Max better, and it's part of why she's as relatable as a genetically enhanced, military trained being can be, but if this series is supposed to be a sci-fi thriller, why are they taking a break to attend school? I wasn't too bothered by this fact while I was reading the book. The fast-paced dialog does help this section move along, but it's something that puzzles me now.

Themes: Evil Corporations, School, Definition of what a Family is, Saving the World

Red Flags: Violence (breaking bones, explosions, etc.) in the fight scenes.

I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You

Author: Ally Carter
Year: 2006
Publisher: Hyperion
Pages: 284
Reading Level: Young Adult

Genre: Action/Adventure
Series Information: First of the Gallagher Girls novels
Location: The Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women in Roseville, VA
Time Period: Present (2006)

Plot: Cammie Morgan is a second generation Gallagher Girl. She attends a top secret school for spies in Rosemont, Virginia. The residents of Rosemont think Gallagher is en elite private school for socialites, and they look down on anyone who goes there. When Cammie meets a cute town member named Josh while on a secret assignment, she can't tell him who she is. Josh likes Cammie because she not like any of the other girls at the local high school, and Cammie likes Josh because she gets to play the part of a normal girl instead of a genius spy in training. Things quickly get out of hand, however, and Cammie must decide where her loyalties truly lie: with her new boyfriend, or with her fellow classmates. SPOILER! Cammie eventually decides that she is tired of living a lie with Josh. She knows he won't like her if she tells him who she really is, so she decides to break up with him. She sneaks out of the school to talk to him, and is "kidnapped" in front of Josh by her covert operations teacher as part of the sophomore class final. Josh immediately tries to save Cammie, and learns the truth. The book ends with Cammie knowing that she truly belongs at the Gallagher Academy, but whether she and Josh can get back together remains uncertain. It is implied that Josh has been slipped a memory modification drug that will cause him not to remember the truth about Cammie.

Comments: This was a fun read. More adventure story than romance, teens will like the idea of a teenage spy who takes classes about how to blow things up instead of the usual subjects like art and history. The book has a good message as well: be true to yourself and your friends.

A book like this could be either very engrossing, or very badly written. The writing style was a little campy, but also fun and frivolous. Cammie, Josh, and Cammie's friends were all believable characters, even though they were put in unexpected and unfamiliar surroundings. An easy, light-hearted book that makes for great pleasure reading.

I did a little research on this book, and found that it's been optioned as a movie, so it may come out soon. The possible directors also directed The Princess Diaries and Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, which I believe are good read-alikes for this series.

Themes: Spies, First Love, Families, Friends, School, Being True to Yourself

Red Flags: None

Coraline

Author: Neil Gaiman
Illustrator: Dave McKean
Year: 2002
Publisher: HarperCollins
Pages: 162
Reading Level: Young Adult

Awards: 2003 ALA Notable Children's Book, 2003 ALA Best Books for Young Adults

Movie Adaptation: Coraline

Genre: Suspense/Adventure/Horror
Location: A large house which has been renovated into apartments
Time Period: Present Day (2002)

Plot: When Coraline goes exploring in her new home, she finds a door that leads to nothing—the room behind it has been bricked up. However, weird things are happening, and Coraline is hearing strange noises coming from that door. When Coraline investigates, she finds that the door is suddenly not bricked up any more. Instead, what's behind it is an exact replica of her own house, only better and more exciting. An exact replica of Coraline's mother and father are there too, and they're happy to see her. There's just one problem. Coraline's Other Mother and Other Father and all of the other living beings in that world have black buttons for eyes. Coraline thinks this other world is wonderful, but in order to stay, she must replace her eyes with buttons too. SPOILER! When Coraline refuses the Other Mother's offer, the Other Mother takes revenge. She kidnaps Coraline's real parents, and is keeping them and the souls of other children she has captured in hidden places throughout the Other house. It is up to Coraline to find the souls of the other children and her parents before the Other Mother successfully steals Coraline's soul as well. With every soul Coraline finds, the Other Mother gets more and more vengeful. And when Coraline succeeds, she still must get through the bricked up door before she gets trapped in the Other World forever.

Comments: I have never read Alice in Wonderland, but this seems like a more menacing version of the Alice series. With that said, this may seem like an extremely terrifying book, but the scariness factor was mostly okay for me, and I don't do very well with scary. It obviously helped me that this is a horror book written for children, but I think older children should be fine with it as well. Coraline is definitely a braver, pluckier heroine than I would ever be, but that's the point. You have to be that strong when you are facing evil forces.

If this book was all about the scariness of the situation (see below for examples), I definitely would not have liked it. However, there were a few good morals/important points that helped me like the book and helped me see a point for the strangeness of it all:

1. Coraline realizes that the witch and the scary things around her don't really have any power. In the words of the book, the Other Mother "could only twist and copy and distort things that already existed" (p. 118).
2. Coraline realizes that giving in to the Other Mother will not make her happy: "I don't want whatever I want. Nobody does. Not really. What kind of fun would it be if I just got everything I ever wanted? Just like that, and it didn't mean anything" (p. 120). Ah Coraline, you are so wise.
   

Themes: Importance of Family, Sticking up for What You Believe In, Confronting Fears, Learning that Immediate Happiness is not always the Best Kind of Happiness, Using Your Head to Think Through Problems

Red Flags: Battling a Witch, Humans turning into Blobs, Disappearing Parents, A Man who always has Rats up his Sleeves/Under his Hat, Sinister Plots, People with Buttons for Eyes, An Animate Yet Disembodied Hand Chasing Coraline. (For the Movie: A Claymation/Digital Lady who is Mostly Naked)

Read All About It!

Authors: Lara and Jenna Bush
Illustrator: Denise Brunkus
Year: 2008
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Pages: 32
Reading Level: Beginning Reader (ages 4-8)

Genre: Picture Book
Location: Good Day Elementary School
Time Period: Present Day (2008)

Plot: Tyrone loves school. He loves hanging out with his friends and solving math problems and watching the science teacher make things explode. However, there is one thing he doesn't like—reading books. Tyrone doesn't pay attention when it is time for story time. But one day, even Tyrone becomes enthralled with the book Miss Libro reads to the children for story time. Suddenly, the characters in the books seem to pop right out of the pages and visit with the schoolchildren. SPOILER! When the children's favorite story character, a pig strongly reminiscent of Wilbur, disappears, Tyrone and his friends go on a search for him. They eventually find the pig and all of the other characters they have met throughout the year in the school library.

Comments: I don't usually read the picture books written by celebrities. It seems highly likely that the books are getting published not because they have any literary merit, but because the author's name is popular and thus profitable. However, I do have a soft spot for Laura Bush since she's a fellow librarian, so I thought I'd try the children's book she wrote with her daughter.

On the whole, but book was cute. The message of finding good friends in a book (and in the library) was a little contrived, but isn't that one reason why I read? I like meeting new people and wondering what it would be like to be them. The pictures were bright and clear and interesting, and there were a lot of fun details specific to each page that were fun to find. For example, the class Book List and Class Rules changed on each page.

The most distracting thing for me was a small thing that most readers wouldn't even think twice about: All of the signs, books, posters, etc. in the artwork used fonts that you'd find in word processing software. They weren't painted in like the rest of the picture, but were obviously added in digitally later. It was just slightly jarring to me. But on the whole, I think this is a good book that young elementary-age readers will enjoy.

Themes: Reading, Story Characters, Libraries

Multicultural Elements: One or two of the children in the classroom are obviously of different races, but that is it.

Timothy and the Strong Pajamas

Author/Illustrator: Viviane Schwarz
Year: 2007
Publisher: Arthur A. Levine Books
Pages: 40
Reading Level: Beginning Reader (ages 4-8)

Genre: Picture Book/Animal Adventure Story
Location: Not Specified
Time Period: Present Day? (2007)

Plot: When Timothy Smallbeast's mother fixes his favorite pajamas with "patches of power" and "buttons of braveness," Timothy suddenly finds that he has super strength. Determined to use his new superpower for good, he sets out to help an elephant, an old lady, a princess, some sailors, a zookeeper, a kitten, and a bear. SPOILER! When Timothy's pajamas rip, he loses his super strength, and must ask for help from those he just helped himself. When he gets home, his mother fixes his pajamas again.

Comments: If the storyline of this book is not fun enough, Schwarz makes this book even more fun by using various font sizes to emphasize particular points. The pictures are also bright and full of bold, yet simple color schemes. At times this book looks like a graphic novel, with different panes on one page. At other times, a single image takes up the entire page. I especially liked the comments of Timothy's stuffed monkey, who gave commentary on Timothy's feats of amazing strength. This is a book that I think any child will enjoy.

Themes: Friendship, Favorite Objects, Helping Others

How I Became a Pirate

Author: Melinda Long
Illustrator: David Shannon
Year: 2003
Publisher: Harcourt
Pages: 44
Reading Level: Beginning Reader (ages 4-8)

Awards: 2004 ALA Notable Book, 2004 Book Sense Book of the Year

Genre: Picture Book/Adventure
Series Information: First of the Pirate books
Location: High Seas
Time Period: Present Day (2003)

Plot: When Braid Beard and his crew land at the beach, they meet Jeremy Jacob, a boy whose family is vacationing at the beach that day. Braid Beard notices Jeremy's talents at digging in the sand, and he asks Jeremy to join the crew and help them find the perfect place to bury their treasure. Jeremy agrees, and at first he enjoys eating with his mouth open and staying up past his bedtime. Jeremy starts to rethink his decision when he realizes that pirates don't get a bedtime story and goodnight kiss each night. SPOILER! When a terrible storm hits, and the ship loses its mast, Jeremy decides he has had enough of being a pirate. He suggests that Braid Beard and the crew hide their treasure in his back yard, which they do with the promise that they'll come by to see if he ever needs help.

Comments: Boys especially will like this story of a boy who gets to act up as much as he wants, but determines that he'd rather be home with his parents. Shannon's paintings are full of detail, and his pirates are hilarious. Even on pages that are mostly text, pirates are drawn around the edges, giving the effect of pirates looking at you from above as you lay on the floor looking up. The text is fun, but the best part of it is the crew's habit of repeating whatever it is the captain says in large, bold, messy letters.

Themes: Pirates, Treasure, Acting Up, Appreciating Regular Life

Red Flags: Small instances of Peril; Most of the characters are pirates, but they're harmless ones.

Kensuke's Kingdom

Author: Michael Morpurgo
Year: 1999
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Pages: 164
Reading Level: Intermediate (ages 9-12)

Genre: Adventure/Survival
Location: An island somewhere in the Indian Ocean
Time Period: 1988

Plot: When eleven year-old Michael's parents decide to leave their home in England to pursue their dreams by sailing around the world for eighteen months, Michael is ecstatic. One stormy night halfway through the voyage Michael and his dog Stella are thrown overboard. Michael and Stella are miraculously saved by a seventy-four year-old Japanese man who lives on a nearby island. Even though the Japanese man provides Michael with food every day, he does nothing else with Michael, dividing the island into two separate parts and refusing to allow Michael to build a signal fire. Months go by. Frustrated with his imprisonment on the island, Michael avoids the man's warning not to swim in the ocean, and is attacked by a deadly jellyfish. The man rescues Michael, and the two finally bond as the man, named Kensuke, cares for Michael's wounds. SPOILER! Michael learns that Kensuke was washed up on the island during the World War II when the ship he was serving on was attacked by American bombers. Kensuke has had some contact with the outside world—enough to know that his home, Nagasaki, was destroyed by an atomic bomb, which most likely also killed his family. He also hid on the island when men came to the island on a hunting trip. Left alone for years and years, Kensuke has come to the conclusion that man is innately cruel. This is why he avoided Michael at first. As they get to know each other, Michael encourages Kensuke to learn to hope again and to consider going back to Japan. When Michael's parents finally find the island, Kensuke refuses to come with Michael, convinced that he needs to stay with his new family, a group of orangutans. Kensuke makes Michael promise that he won't share his story for ten years. When Michael finally speaks out about his experience, he learns that Kensuke's family is still alive.

Comments: As I was writing the outline of this story, I realized how depressing it sounds. Michael meets a man who has decided that man will always want to kill one another, and he doesn't want to live in that kind of society any more. This, however, is not the point of the story. Although the book does have a somewhat sad tone, it also has a stronger hopeful one. Kensuke has worthwhile goals in life. He takes pride in beauty, and he does everything with care. He has come to learn to love his neighbors the orangutans, and he stays on the island out of a want to protect them instead of out of fear of the unknown. This story has many different elements that should appeal to a wide range of readers. This book reads a lot like a modern day Robinson Crusoe. There's the adventure aspect, with details of a life at sea and the courage it takes to life a life of survival on a deserted island. The book also has a philosophical side, discussing the need of man to stop and reflect and learn to love his surroundings. I also liked how some harder issues such as the bombing of Nagasaki and man's cruelty to animals was brought up. It was a very well-written book and I enjoyed reading it.

Themes: Life at Sea, Shipwreck, Survival, Leaving the world a better place than you found it.

Red Flags: Men come on the island to kill the adult monkeys and steal the babies. Seagulls trying to eat baby turtles, Jellyfish attack, Michael is thrown overboard and separated from his parents.

Multicultural Elements: Kensuke is Japanese

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane

Author: Kate DiCamillo
Illustrator: Bagram Ibatoulline
Year: 2006
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Pages: 200
Reading Level: Intermediate (ages 9-12)

Awards: 2006 Horn Book Award

Genre: Fantasy/Talking Toys
Series Information: Not Part of a Series
Location: Various Towns across America
Time Period: Several years throughout in the mid-1900s.

Plot: Edward Tulane is a china rabbit whose ears and tail are made of real fur. He is loved deeply by his wealthy owner, a girl named Abilene, but Edward doesn't think much of anyone other than himself. When Edward is accidentally thrown overboard on a ship headed for England, he begins an adventure unlike anything he has ever known. He is found by an old fisherman and taken home as a present for his lonely wife. He is discovered by a tramp and travels across the country. He is used as a scarecrow in a vegetable garden. He is given as a present to a poor little girl who is on her deathbed. Through all of these adventures, Edward listens to the people's stories, and he learns to think of others and love them individually. SPOILER! When Edward is shattered by a thoughtless store owner, he is taken to a toy repair shop. He sits on the shelf for many months, afraid to love again because it hurts too much. Then one day a woman and her daughter enter the shop. The woman is Abilene grown up, and she takes Edward home.

Comments: This book is now on my list of the best books ever written. The story is beautifully told in an otherworldly, dream-like style with lyrical prose. The pictures are individual works of art, and they compliment DiCamillo's writing style perfectly.

I have described this book as a work of art, and this is true, but it is also a very simple story that can be enjoyed by children as well as adults. It has a very simple message, as is summarized by an antique doll towards the end of the novel: "If you have no intention of loving or being loved, then the whole journey is pointless."

Readers who liked this story may also like The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams. Both stories not only include toy rabbits, but also deal with the theme of the power of love and are written in similar styles.

Themes: Pride, Love, Dealing with Loss

Red Flags: Death, Running Away from Home, Homelessness, Cruelness to Others

Hatchet

Author: Gary Paulsen
Year: 1987
Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers (Simon & Schuster)
Pages: 195
Reading Level: Young Adult

Awards: 1988 Newbery Honor Book, Other Awards

Genre: Realistic Fiction/Adventure
Series Information: First book of the Brian Saga
Location: Canadian Wilderness
Time Period: Present Day (1987)

Plot: When the pilot of a two-seater plane suddenly has a heart attack and dies, Brian Robeson finds himself flying alone over the Canadian wilderness and unable to contact any help. He manages to land the plane in a lake, and is washed on shore with only the clothes on his back and the hatchet his mother gave him as a present a few hours before. For the first few days, Brian tries to do the absolute minimum to survive, convinced that a search and rescue team will come to his aid. As the days progress, however, Brian realizes that he is on his own and he learns to adapt to his new surroundings: creating a shelter, building a fire, making tools, finding food, and learning about his environment. SPOILER! A tornado runs through the area, ruining Brian's shelter and dragging the plane from the bottom of the lake to the shore. Careful to avoid the pilot's body, Brian goes through the contents of the plane in search of supplies. As Brian is rummaging through the things he found in the plane, he unknowingly trips an emergency transmitter that sends out a signal for help. Brian is rescued 54 days after he originally crashed.

Comments: This book was recommended to me by three different people over the course of one week. After reading it, I can see why. Every day, Brian has to fight for his life. He has to relearn how to do the simplest things—things we take for granted in today's society with today's technology. I'm not sure I could have lasted as long as Brian did, or that I could have figured out how to survive as well as he did.

I did have a few problems with the book, but they were very small:

1) I'm not sure this story could happen now, simply because of the strict airline codes of our post-9/11 world. Even though Brian is flying on a private two-seater plane, I'm not sure he would have been allowed to take a hatchet with him.

2) The "Secret" that Brian worries about isn't central to the plot, and never even gets resolved. I know Paulsen introduced the Secret as a means of showing that Brian is upset about his parents' divorce, but it's completely unnecessary and detracts from the survival theme of the book.These two problems are slight, however, and I don't think they should dissuade someone from reading this book. Suspend your belief in reality when you get to these parts and enjoy the ride—you'll be glad you did.

Themes: Survival, Divorce

Red Flags: Plane Crash, Description of Injuries, Instances of Peril, Dead Body

The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle

Author: Avi
Year: 1990
Publisher: Orchard Books
Pages: 210
Reading Level: Intermediate (ages 9-12)

Awards: 1991 Newbery Honor Book, 1991 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, many others

Genre: Adventure
Series Information: Not part of a series
Location: The Seahawk, a ship on the Atlantic Ocean
Time Period: Summer of 1832

Plot: Thirteen year-old Charlotte Doyle is the sole female passenger onboard the Seahawk, which is making a two month-long sea voyage from England to Providence, Rhode Island. When Charlotte she arrives at the port, she immediately becomes suspicious of what is going on when various members of the crew advise her to get off the ship before it is too late. Unable to turn back, Charlotte finds herself in the middle of a feud between the cruel Captain Jaggery and his vengeful crew. SPOILER! When the captain tries to blame Charlotte for his cruel deeds, including the murders of two members of the crew, Charlotte attempts to atone and regain the crew's trust by joining them. After going through many adventures including being dismasted during a hurricane, the captain is accidentally killed and Charlotte is named the honorary captain of the ship. When she arrives home and tells her father of her adventures, she is punished for making the story up. Charlotte longs to be free again, and runs away from home to become a sailor.


Comments: Avi takes a fresh new look on the theme covered by classics such as Treasure Island and Moby Dick. The adventures and intrigue of the novel give it a very fast pace, and I found it easy to get through. There were plot twists aplenty, and most of them were original enough to catch me off guard. There are also handy diagrams and definitions of seafaring terms in the back that I found useful. The fact that the main character of this high adventure story is a girl is refreshing, but was also one of the problem points of the book for me. Because this book tries to be historically accurate in every other sense, some of the things Charlotte did in the book were hard for me to accept. Would she really suddenly become so tough that she could perform daring deeds during a hurricane? After she arrived home, would she really crave freedom from oppression so much that she would run off to become a sailor for the rest of her life? Would the men on the ship really allow Charlotte to do such things? This is a small complaint, however, and one that is easily forgotten when the reader lets him or herself get caught up in the narrative of the story. Read this book for the action, for the adventure, and for the plot twists, and you won't be disappointed.

Themes: Sailing, Adventure, Gender Roles, Loyalty

Red Flags: Murder (but not too descriptive), Mutiny, and Instances of Peril

Multicultural Elements: Charlotte's friend Zachariah is a black sailor from Africa.

The Name of this Book is Secret

Author: Pseudonymous Bosch
Year: 2007
Publisher: Little, Brown and Co.
Pages: 360
Reading Level: Intermediate (ages 9-12)

Genre: Mystery/Adventure
Series Information: First book in the Secret series
Location: Anytown, USA
Time period: Present Day (2007)

Plot: When Cass and Max-Ernest find the hidden papers of a magician who has died unexpectedly, they decide it is up to them to find out what happened. Although unable to prove anything, Cass and Max-Ernest suspect that the magician’s unlikely demise is related to the appearance of two odd people in the town: Dr. L and Ms. Mauvais. When a fellow schoolmate, Benjamin Blake, disappears in a similarly odd manner, it is up to Cass and Max-Ernest to save Benjamin and stop Dr. L and Ms. Mauvais in their evil schemes before it is too late.

Comments: The writing style of this book actually reminded me a lot of the Series of Unfortunate Events books. The book is written in the voice of a third person narrator who constantly interjects his opinions in the book, mainly doing so to warn the reader that a particularly dastardly deed is about to happen and the reader should just stop reading now before it is too late. The narrator’s warnings actually help keep a light tone to the book, though, and I found it easy to read. Besides being a mystery, this book is also appealing because it deals with children who feel it is up to them to save the world since the grown-ups don’t believe what is happening. The book also has a message about the importance of friendship and teamwork.

Red Flags: SPOILER! The villains of the book are actually hundreds of years old. They stay alive through drinking a magic elixir. The villains also torture Benjamin, and discuss performing a lobotomy on both him and Max-Ernest, but the discussion is not graphic.