I enjoyed reading The Enhanced by T.C. Edge. It is the first book of a series. The story takes place in the city of Haven which is a relatively safe place in a world that has been decimated by nuclear war. It is a class-based society. At the top are the Enhanced, people who have special abilities through genetic modifications of their ancestors and live in the inner city, and the Unenhanced, aka normal people who live in the outer city….
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I’m a big Scott Westerfeld fan and was pretty psyched to start reading Zeroes. It is the story about 6 teenagers who each have a unique, special power. I wouldn’t call them “super powers,” though they were pretty cool: Flicker is blind but can see through other people’s eyes. Crash is able to “feel” electric and electronic fields and manipulate them. Mob can influence the mood of a crowd. Anonymous is someone who people immediately forget about. Scam has a…
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Michael Bornstein was 4 years old when he was rescued from Auschwitz by Russian soldiers on January 27, 1945, which made him one of the youngest Auschwitz survivors.  A few days later the Russians photographed the children that had been rescued to document the event.  Michael Bornstein didn’t see the picture until he stumbled across it many years later as an adult.  Then he found the picture again, but this time on a website for Holocaust deniers.  He decided it…
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I thoroughly enjoyed this journey to 13th century France and I’m glad to have experienced it through a book and not in person!  And for those who are “listeners,” the readers on the audiobook, Jayne Entwistle, Allan Corduner and Fiona Hardingham were absolutely amazing. The tale is told by three narrators: Botille, one of three orphaned sisters who traveled around the countryside stealing food until they found a tavern to run in a small town; Dolssa, a gentlewoman who is…
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The Good Braider by Terry Farish chronicles the experiences of a South Sudanese girl and her family fleeing their war-ravaged country and making their way to the U.S. to start a new life.  Although this is a fictional story, the author, Terry Farish, did a lot of research so that the experiences of her characters would mirror the real-life experiences of refugees from South Sudan. Viola lives in Juba, South Sudan with her mother, grandmother and young brother during the…
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Balcony on the Moon: Coming of Age in Palestine by Ibtisam Barakat is a memoir about Barakat’s struggle to finish school and become a writer while growing up in the West Bank.  It is about her search for an identity as a Palestinian, a people without a country, and her determination to be valued and respected as a girl in a society where women have few rights. Her memoir focuses on her life as a young girl through her teen…
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Have you ever had a dream where you felt like you were running down an endless corridor? Well, that is what the middle of Dark Matter by Blake Crouch was like. A little boring and frustrating. Fortunately, the endless corridor feeling was surrounded by some engaging suspense in the beginning of the story and a creative and exciting finish. Dark Matter is a mystery, science fiction, and romance story. The main character of the story, James Dessen, is a college…
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The Sun is Also a Star is a wonderful romance book for teens.  Do you believe in love-at-first-sight?  In soulmates? In fate? Or is life just a random set of events? Natasha is a practical, no-nonsense sort of person.  Definitely not the starry-eyed and sentimental, ready-to-fall in love at the drop-of-a-hat type.  She loves her friends, school and living in New York City.  Unfortunately, her life is about to take a turn in a very unwelcomed direction.  All because of…
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This is a great Graphic Novel for movie and photography buffs as well as more serious film students. Filmish looks at the history of the film and movie industry, referencing over 300 movies.  Instead of looking at individual movies, one at a time, Ross looks at various cinematic concepts and then references films that illustrate that concept.  His book is divided into 7 themes: The Eye, The Body, Sets and Architecture, Time, Voice and Language, Power and Ideology, and Technology…
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Giant Days is a British graphic novel that follows three “dorm-mates” through their first year in university.  The three, Daisy Wooton, homeschooled and unworldly; Esther De Groot, a bit rash and overly dramatic; and Susan Ptolemy, who thinks she is the only one with common sense; become fast friends despite their unalike personalities and backgrounds.  Hand in glove they help each other navigate the challenges that come with being in a new environment, trying out their independence and making choices…
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