Fangirl

Rowell, Rainbow. Fangirl. 2013. 438p. ISBN 978-1-250-03095-5. FIC ROW on the library shelves. This book has been nominated for a Flume Award in 2015.

Cather and Wren have spent all of their lives together. Inseparable as twins, they have followed the adventures of Simon Snow, one of the most popular book series in the world, and have become famous fanfiction writers in their own right, creating several alternate novels involving Simon and Baz, the evil character.

But as they head to college, Cat will not be Wren’s roommate. Wren feels like she needs her own life and needs some distance from Cat. Miserable, Cat moves in a dorm with Reagan, an intimidating junior. She also meets Levi, whom she supposes to be Reagan’s boyfriend. Still writing fan fiction, Cat participates in her classes but has a rocky relationship with Wren and her own roommate, Courtney. She connects with Nick, a fellow writer in her Fiction class.

As the semester advances, however, Cat’s life becomes complicated. Her father’s mental health begins to break; Wren is ignoring Cat and is out drinking just about every night; her writing relationship with Nick is complicated; she’s scared of Reagan; and she doesn’t know how she feels about Levi.

Cat and Wren’s mother ran away when they were eight, and now Cat has abandonment issues. Her only true friends are Simon and Baz, and now that she’s been abandoned by all, Cat must make a difficult decision. Will she live her life and explore what Levi has to offer, or will she remain in her Simon Snow fantasy world?

The World’s Fastest Cars

Martin, Michael. The World’s Fastest Cars. 2006. 32p. ISBN 978-0-7368-5455-9. 629.228 MAR on the library shelves.

Ten of the world’s fastest cars are described in this slim volume. From the Enzo Ferrari to the Koenigsegg CCR and the Bugatti Veyron, Martin presents information and statistics on these powerful muscle machines, and how they have evolved over the years. Beautifully illustrated, this book will be appreciated by car lovers.

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

Sáenz, Benjamin Alire. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe. 2014. 359p. FIC SAE on the library shelves. This book has been nominated for a Flume Award in 2015.

It is 1987, and Ari is a loner who deals with issues of loss. His father fought in Vietnam but doesn’t talk about it. His mother loves him dearly and they have a stable relationship, but she mourns the loss of her older son, who is in prison and whom Ari hasn’t seen since he was four. Ari’s sisters are also much older, so he lives alone at home with his parents. And no one talks about their feelings or emotions.

When the summer of his fifteen years begin, Ari meets Dante at the pool. Quirky, bright, talkative and artistic, Dante is the opposite of Ari. But they both hit it off quickly when Dante offers to teach Ari to swim. A friendship like no others begins to blossom. When Dante finds himself in the street, tending to an injured bird, it is Ari who saves his life by jumping in front of the car that would surely have hit Dante.

Ari recuperates from his wounds, and Dante and his family, who are the opposite of Ari’s family, move to Chicago for a year-long sabbatical. Communicating through letters, Ari and Dante continue to explore their feelings towards the world and towards each other. Are they more than friends? Dante wants it to be so, but Ari’s not sure. Can he deal with all of his issues before finding peace with the person he really is?

Ketchup Clouds

Pitcher, Annabel. Ketchup Clouds. 2013. 272p. ISBN 978-0316246767. Available both as a book an eBook on Overdrive. This book has been nominated for a Flume Award in 2015.



Zoe got away with murder, but guilt eats at her. She can’t share with anyone what happened that night in the woods with brothers Max and Aaron, and how one of them ended up dead. She decides to write to a Texas murderer on death row and share with him her feelings, building up to the big night when everything got terribly wrong. And unlike Mr. Smith, Zoe got away with it.

Through her letters over the course of six months, she shares with the inmate her family life, how her relationship with Max, the most popular boy in school, started, and how she met his brother Aaron, with whom she instantly fell in love. She talks about sorting through her feeling, trying to do what’s right while her family life falls apart over her younger sister Dot’s deafness and her grandfather’s heart attack.


The love triangle is a powerful one, and Zoe must ultimately decide whom she will choose, even if it ends badly.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian

Alexie, Sherman. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian. 2007. 230p. ISBN 0316013684. FIC SHE on the library shelves and as an eBook on Overdrive.

Arnold Spirit, also known as Junior, lives on the Spokane Indian Reservation. Sensing that his horizon is limited, and encouraged by a high school teacher on the reservation, Junior, a budding cartoonist, decides to attend the all-white public high school in the off-reservation town of Reardan, Washington. The only other indian there is the school mascot. Junior must travel off the reservation every day to catch the bus that will take him to school. However he leaves behind his best friend Rowdy every day, and as Junior develop relationships with white students, including the pretty Penelope, his relationship with Rowdy becomes increasingly strained.

Junior joins the basketball team and eventually plays two games against Rowdy and his former high school team, and he is instrumental in winning the second game for his team. Rodwy and Junior reconcile their differences and decide that they are better friends than enemies, and though the road they travel might be different, they will always be friends.

Abundantly illustrated, this novel has often been challenged for the issues it raises, including drug use, sex, poverty, and death. Read it to find out why some parents would not want you to read this book!

Playing with the Boys

Shepherd, Nicole Leigh. Playing with the Boys. 2008. 244p. ISBN 978-1-59514-113-2. FIC SHE on the library shelves.

Following the death of her mother, Lucy and her father move from Ohio to California as an attempt to leave the pain behind. The star of her high school varsity soccer team, she tries out for her new school’s team, but despite the fact that she has the most accurate kick, she does not even make the junior varsity squad of Beachwood High. In frustration, she kicks the ball across half of the field and storms off.

Observed by the football coach, Lucy is approached and asked to try out for the varsity football team as it needs a new kicker. At first, Lucy is not entirely comfortable with the idea. Football, after all, is a guy sport. But during the tryouts she realizes that as the kicker, she’s in complete control of the ball and of the results on the field, and that makes her forget about the pain of her mother’s death. Plus, the quarterback, Ryan Conner, is very cute.

Unfortunately, no one else wants her on the team. Not her teammates, not the school administrators, and not her father, who has always tried to protect her. Can Lucy surmount these obstacles and become the best kicker the team’s ever had, or will she cave under the pressure and the scrutiny?

Fans of Dairy Queen will enjoy Lucy taking on a male sport as they cheered for DJ in a similar plot.

Rebel

Tintera, Amy. Rebel. 2014. 340p. ISBN 978-0-06-221710-3. FIC TIN on the library shelves.

Wren 178 and Callum 22 escaped HARC’s New Austin facility and took with them over a hundred Reboots to the desert reservation where other Reboots are rumored to live.

When they arrive, they are greeted by heavily armed Reboots led by Micah 163. With the arrivals of the escapees, Micah now wants to put his plan of hunting and exterminating all of the humans. Though Wren does not share Callum’s love for the humans, she’s also not interested in killing them all.

Wren and Callum’s relationship is also tested when Wren reconnects with her former trainer, Riley 157, who also escaped to the Reboot reservation and leads the hunting parties. With Micah controlling most of the above 120s, Wren, Callum, and the remaining Austin Reboots are faced with a difficult choice: Stay here and fight against the humans and their loved ones, or attempt to flee the reservation and wander the wilderness. In the end, a confrontation between Reboots is unavoidable, but will Wren and Callum survive it?

Picking up where Reboot ended, Rebel assumes that the reader is familiar with the setting and the characters. Told in alternating chapters from Wren and Callum’s perspective, Rebel concludes this duology.

Reboot

Tintera, Amy. Reboot. 2013. 365p. ISBN 978-0-06-221707-3. FIC TIN on the library shelves

A deadly virus wiped out most of the world’s population. The Republic of Texas endures, however, protected by HARC (Human Advancement and Repopulation Control) and its soldiers, Reboots. When infected teens die, there’s a chance they will reboot to living, but the longer they are dead, the faster they move, the stronger they are, the quicker they heal, and the less emotions they have. Reboots are the ground troops in HARC’s war against crime and those who oppose it, and most humans fear them.

Wren was shot when she was twelve, and she was dead for so long the doctors had given up on her rebooting and had put her in the mortuary. At 178 minutes dead, she has the highest number of all the reboots. Wren is a quick and efficient killer who obeys every single order, but her favorite activities are chasing targets and training new reboots.

When a new batch of reboots are assigned for training, she choose Callum 22 despite her ability to pick the highest number. There’s something almost … human about Callum. He’s slow, he questions everything, but he also make her feel alive in a way she hasn’t experienced in the last five years. In their training, she get even closer to Callum and begins to have feelings for him.

Then she is given a mission. Callum must show immediate improvements or he will be terminated. Wren now faces a dilemma. Should she help Callum by disobeying order, or should she abandon the only one who reconnects her to her lost humanity and remain HARC’s perfect little soldier? The second volume, Rebel, concludes this duology.

Fans of the dystopian novel will like this book, and might also enjoy the following: Arena 1, Starters, Maze Runner, Ship Breaker, Not a Drop to Drink, Birthmarked and Divergent.

Inhuman

Falls, Kat. Inhuman. 2013. ISBN 054547099x. 384p. FIC FAL on the library shelves.

When a virus causing horrible mutations began quickly spreading on the East Coast, the government contracted with Titan Corporation to build a gigantic wall on the western side of the Mississippi, cutting the country in half. Delaney, who calls herself Lane, has grown up on the right side of the wall, where every measure is taken to prevent the virus’ spread that plagues the Feral Zone

When she is arrested for a violation of the contagion law, she’s not sure what to think. Quickly, the director of security makes it clear that they are after her father. Unbeknownst to Lane, her father is a fetch, someone who will infiltrate the Feral Zone and retrieve items for wealthy people. The director knows this, and wants him to retrieve something for her otherwise he will be punished by death. Unfortunately for Lane, however, her father left a week ago for the other side.


Now Lane finds herself on the other side of the wall too, looking for her father. Can she locate him in time to spare his life, or will she succumb to the virus and become one of the mutated monsters who dwell there? It’s a thrill ride with a love triangle and action that will take Lane from Davenport to Chicago in search of her father.

Zom-B: Mission

Shan, Darren. Zom-B: Mission. 2014. 175p. ISBN 978-0-316-21428-5. FIC SHA on the library shelves.

Having survived imprisonment and gladiator games at the hands of the Board in Zom-B: Gladiator, B committed to the Angels and returned to Country Hall less conflicted than she has felt for months.

Now the opportunity for an actual mission presents itself when the Angels are assigned a transport mission. They are to protect a group of humans making their way out of London towards the fortified settlement of New Kirkham two days away from the city.

Tragedy strikes even before they leave, however, as B is forced to attack Mr. Burke, her science teacher and one of the few humans who remains with the Angels, after he fired a gun at Dr. Oystein. She accidentally scraped him, and now he has turned into a zombie. B’s only hope is that Burke was vaccinated, and may come back as a revived.

On the way to New Kirkham the Angels and their humans are attacked several times, but they reach the village unharmed. On their way back to London, B gets suspicious as she notices the same dog has been following them, and she tracks it to a large vehicle convoy of KKK members, led by Owl man. This convoy is headed to New Kirkham, where they will attack the settlement. B convinces the other Angels that they must protect the settlement at all costs. Will the Angels follow her in battle?

Worldshaker

Harland, Richard. Worldshaker. 2009. 388p. ISBN 978-1-4169-9552-4. FIC HAR on the library shelves.

Worldshaker is the largest floating steamship ever built, and is the pride of the British. At sixteen, Col has it all. He is the grandson of the Supreme Commander of the juggernaut, and has been groomed to replace him. His life is comfortable and he lacks for nothing.

However, when a Filthy girl named Riff hides in his cabin closet, he begins to question everything he believes in. He’s been taught that Filthies who live below deck and whose labor powers the ship are slow and sub-humans, but clearly Riff can talk and is smart enough to escape the guards. Though he knows he shouldn’t, Col is strangely attracted to Riff, and secretly begins spending time with her. If he’s wrong about the Filthies, what else is he wrong about?

It is now up to Col to try to make things right with the Filthies, but this means open conflict with those above deck, including his powerful grandfather. Will Col risk everything, including his bright future, for those less fortunate than him?

If you liked Worldshaker, you will enjoy The Mark of the Dragonfly, The Inventor's Secret, where Charlotte must lead the fight against the industrial and mechanical might of the British Empire, Etiquette & Espionage, or Leviathan.

Black Box

Schumacher, Julie. Black Box. 2008. 176p. ISBN 0385735421. FIC SCH on the shelves of the library, and available both as an eBook and an audiobook from Overdrive.

Elena has just entered public high school, and is having trouble adjusting as she has always gone to a private school. Her sister Dora made that same transition two years ago, but now at the beginning of her junior year Dora has attempted suicide, and is confined to a hospital psychiatric ward.

Whereas Dora has always been outgoing, athletic, and vivacious, Elena is stoic and invisible. She is the rock upon which the rest of the family rely to keep them together. At a meeting with Dora, her sister asks Elena to keep her safe, and eventually Dora is released and returns home.

Amid all this confusing time, Elena is approached by the boy who sits behind her in her history class, Jimmy Zenk. His mother is a psychiatrist, and he tells her that his brother lived a similar experience to Dora. Elena is not willing to discuss Dora with him, but as Dora sinks further into depression and as hints are dropped that she might hurt herself again, Elena finds herself relying more and more on Jimmy’s own experience with his brother.

Throughout this chaos, can Elena manage to save her sister while remaining the rock she has always been? An amazing look at depression and suicide from the perspective of those who witness it and do not understand it, this book is a fast read, and very much along the lines of Thirteen Reasons Why.

If you liked this book, consider reading Thirteen Reasons Why, Please Ignore Vera Dietz, We Were Liars, If I Stay, Zoe Letting Go, The Vanishing Season, or Kiss of Broken Glass. All of these books feature a tragedy and a voyage of self-discovery as the central element of the plot.

The Lucy Variations

Zarr, Sara. The Lucy Variations. 2013, 304p. ISBN 978-0-316-20501-6. FIC ZAR on the library shelves.

Lucy is a piano prodigy, and has always been playing. Her grandfather has always guided her towards competitions, showcases, and recording deals, and he has relentlessly pushed her to perform. While performing in Prague, she finds out from her father that her favorite person in the whole world, her grandmother, has died, she is crushed. Her grandfather and her father lied to her so she would continue playing and not cancel her performance. Angry, sad, and resentful, she flew off the stage and has not played since.

Now the family has focused its efforts on Gus, her ten years old brother, who is a prodigy as well. When his tutor suddenly dies, Grandfather hires Will, himself a former child prodigy, to tutor Gus and prepare him for the big December showcase.

With a large hole in her life, Lucy has been attempting to fill it with her classwork, but she finds herself empty. Will’s presence rekindles her love for the piano and makes her wonder whether she could or should ever play again.


Lucy’s friendship with Will may cause her to lose that of her best friend, whose father cheated on her mother, and of her little brother who wants Will all to himself. Find out what happens next by reading The Lucy Variations. And for a different type of story told using photos, advertisements, drawings, and youtube videos about a musical prodigy, pick up Chopsticks.