Mental efficiency

I found these three books at a library booksale and knew I had to have them. Originally, they were part of a 10 volume set. I only found these three, but I like this grouping - gosh, 10 books on mental efficiency might be a bit too much to take, you know?

Here they are on my fireplace mantel.

Glow review

Glow
by Amy Kathleen Ryan
St. Martin's Griffin
September 2011

First line: "The other ship hung in the sky like a pendant, silver in the ether light cast by the nebula."

This book had so many things that I liked about it. It takes place in a generation starship, designed for over a century long journey to a new world. Just after this first line, setting up what an amazing world readers find themselves in - stars! spaceships! nebula! -- the female protagonist, 15 year old Waverly Marshall, says, "Our ships are so ugly." Ah, I love it! It's just another boring old day on the starship for them.

Waverly and her friend Kieran are the first generation to be born aboard the Empyrean, a secular farming ship. Everyone is curious and concerned to meet up with another starship, the New Horizon which should be light years ahead of them.

There are a lot of interesting controversial topics tackled in this book: religion, infertility, and gender roles. Waverly finds the society on her spaceship vaguely misogynistic... pushy Kieran appears to be a shoe-in for taking over as Captain of the ship one day, and he's eager to marry Waverly and start a family. Waverly, on the other hand, just doesn't feel ready to settle down... and she's also kind of intrigued by Seth, a moody loner.

I thought this might be a simple love-triangle is space story until the real twist in the plot happened - the New Horizon forcibly boards the Empyrean and kidnaps young girls, Waverly among them, hoping to solve their fertility problem. As disgusting as this is, I kind of felt sympathy for the crew members of the New Horizon. They are portrayed as genuinely nice people in a very tough situation. And, [spoiler alert!!!] I was relieved that they don't want to force the girls to become pregnant... rather, they just want to harvest their eggs. Waverly does a great job of organizing the girls once they find themselves on the ultra-religious sister starship and fighting to get their way back to the Empyrean.

As much as I could compare this to various books, I actually was reminded of pretty much every episode of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica, where questions of the survival of the human race and the place of religion in their society ranked very highly. Glow also brought to mind two episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation that dealt with this kind of problem. In When the Bough Breaks - a group of infertile colonists kidnap children from the Enterprise and in Up the Long Ladder, a group of infertile colonists steal DNA from the Enterprise to hopefully clone new crew members with.

With plenty of action and sudden surprises, Glow ends on a bit of a cliffhanger. I can't wait to lay my hands on the sequel, Spark.

Compare to:
Inside Out - Maria V. Snyder
Across the Universe - Beth Revis
Birthmarked - Caragh M. O'Brien

I purchased a copy of this book.

Owl Feltboard

I've had my eye on this great felt board for a while. I've seen a couple of different versions of it... Storytime Katie discovered them through Leah at Sunflower Storytime.

Here's my version:

Easy to make, and I think they look charming!

The Darkest Minds review

The Darkest Minds
by Alexandra Bracken
December 2012
Disney Hyperion


In this dystopian world, Ruby is snatched away from her parents at age 10 and sent to live at a concentration camp for kids with powers. A worldwide epidemic IAAN (Idiopathic Adolescent Acute Neurodegeneration) has killed off most children, and those that remain have alarming abilities. In the camps, the children are sorted into colors: Blues have telekinetic abilities, Greens have eidetic memories and are fast code-breakers, Yellows control electricity, I'm not really sure what Reds do - set things on fire, maybe? The most dangerous of all are the Oranges, who have mind-control abilities. Most of the Oranges are psychopaths who enjoy using their abilities to create murder and mayhem. Ruby is an Orange - she accidentally mindwiped her parents who now have no memory of her - but she's terrified of the other Oranges, so she Jedi mind-tricks the doctor at camp Thurmond into believing that she is a relatively harmless Green.

I had plenty of questions about this world. What's the endgame for the remaining adults? Are they planning for this to be the end of the human race? Why don't they train the Greens or Blues to do useful things? Sure, there probably are some parents who'd be delighted to ship off their teen and pre-teen children - but I found it hard to believe that absolutely none of them want their children back. Why are all of the Oranges totally crazy, and why is Ruby the exception? A few of those questions get answered, but plenty of them don't, leaving lots of room in the sequel to further explore.

Ruby spends six horrible years at Thurmond, until she manages to get broken out by a rebel faction hoping to recruit her to their cause.

The Darkest Minds contains plenty of stock-in-trade ingredients of a great dystopian. There are plenty of car chases, daring escapes, scavenging for supplies in a wrecked and empty landscape, multiple warring political factions and of course, a love triangle.

While Ruby is on the run, she meets up with a small tribe of survivors, Liam and Chubs, both Blues, and Zu a sweet little girl Yellow who doesn't speak. The four of them travel in their battered mini-van nicknamed "Black Betty" throughout Virginia looking for "The Slip Kid" a leader who's supposedly set up an asylum for kids like them.

Of course, when they find The Slip Kid, he turns out to be none other than Clancy Gray - the president's son. Ruby is torn between sweet and loyal Liam and smooth-talking, well-dressed Clancy who can possibly teach her how to control her powers. She's terrified of accidentally erasing someone's memory again. In fact, I liked that Ruby is not an overly competent Mary-Sue at all. She runs around like a scared little bunny rabbit for most of the book and though she has awesome mind powers, she isn't really sure how to use them and she doesn't really want to.

This book ends on such a cliffhanger! Readers will be dying to know what happens next.

I borrowed this book from the library.

More Short and Sweet Skits review

More Short and Sweet Skits for Student Actors
by Maggie Scriven
Meriwether Publishers
March 2012

This follow-up to Short and Sweet Skits for Student Actors features fifty more in the same vein as the first volume. Simple, fun skits, all of them very easy to produce, feature positive and upbeat messages. Most of the selections feature present-day school scenes with two or three friends in conversation. Kids will relate to issues such as homework, restrictions on cell phone use, having to clean one's room, etc. A few sillier pieces where students play animals such as disgruntled deer, lazy lions or confused houseflies are sure to get laughs. While the collection would benefit from a bit more organization, (arranging scenes by number of players, for example) educators looking for additional classroom scripts for scene study will find this hodge-podge of humorous and squeaky-clean original material handy. The book is prefaced with useful resume and headshot advice for budding actors.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

Picture books mini-review 25

Time for a Hug
by Phyllis Gershator and Mim Green, illustrated by David Walker
Sterling Children's Books
January 2012

Sweet and cozy, this books takes readers through the daily activities of a toddler, including hugs, of course! Cute bunnies don't need much of an excuse for a hug. Reassuring rhymes make this a great choice for very young children and toddlers. Very appealing.

I borrowed this book from the library.

Bully

by Patricia Polacco
Putnam Juvenile
September 2012

A lengthy picture book that covers the problem of "cyber bullying" With mentions of Facebook and cell phones, I think this book has it's finger on the pulse of a hot issue today, but has strong potential to feel a bit dated in a few years. There's a real "after school special" feeling to this one, and it opens with a large, bold-face question, "What would you do?" Sure to be a favorite in school libraries.

I borrowed this book from the library.

Nighttime Ninja

by Barbara DaCosta, illustrated by Ed Young
Little Brown
September 2012

A little boy ninja is on a top secret mission... for chocolate. The text is quite spare, as befitting a nearly silent ninja. The multimedia collage artwork features torn magazine pages, fabric and origami paper. There's a real sense of derring do as the child ninja effortlessly leaps, jumps and climbs past any obstacle to get to his goal. What a great treat for ninja fans.

I borrowed this book from the library.

What Little Boys Are Made Of
by Robert Neubecker
Balzer + Bray
March 2012

Here's an upbeat and boy-positive picture book for little boys and their moms everywhere. What are little boys made of? "Moons and stars and rockets to Mars."

Colorful full page imaginative spreads alternate with quieter scenes of a little boy playing at home. There's a hint of troublemaker energy, but on the whole the boy in this book is more like a much sweeter, gentler Calvin (of and Hobbes fame.) Pair this with Push Button by Aliki which offers another warm and loving picture of little boys.

I borrowed this book from the library.

Top Ten Debuts for 2013

Top Ten Tuesdays is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. 

This week's topic is: Top Ten 2013 Debuts I'm Looking Forward To

I'm pretty sure all of these are by debut authors. Somebody please correct me if I'm wrong!

Splintered

by A.G. Howard

Amulet Books

January 2013

An Alice in Wonderland re-telling.

Dualed

by Elsie Chapman

Random House Books for Young Readers

February 2013

Doppelganger duel to the death!

Level 2

by Lenore Appelhans

Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

January 2013

The afterlife... with a sci-fi twist?

Taken 

by Erin Bowman

Harper Teen

April 2013

I don't even know what it's about - but the cover looks amazing!

Prophecy

by Ellen Oh

Harper Teen

January 2013

Demon lord, royal intrigue, high fantasy.

The Madman's Daughter

by Megan Shepard

Balzer + Bray

January 2013

A retelling of the The Island of Doctor Moreau - from his daughter's point of view.

PODs 

by Michelle K. Pickett

Spencer Hill Press

June 2013

Dystopian, sci-fi, underground. Not quite sure what to make of it, but I think it's just in time for next summer reading club theme: Beneath the Surface.

Nobody But Us

Kristin Halbrook
Harper Teen
January 2013

I don't read a lot of contemporary stories, but this one about teens on the run, told in alternating chapters sounds appealing to me.

These Broken Stars
by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner
Disney-Hyperion
2013

Ah! Teens survive a crash landing on another planet. I love space stories like these.

The Falconer
Elizabeth May
Chronicle Books
May 2013

Historical fantasy. Set in the 1840's, Aileana Kameron is a proper young lady - who hunts evil faeries on the side.

What are you looking forward to in 2013?