“Of Metal and Wishes” by Sarah Fine September 16, 2014

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The Facts

320 pages; published August 2014

The Basics

Wen’s life is disintegrating. After her mother died and she was forced to move into the compound of a factory where her father serves as the doctor, she gets drawn into the social tension that grips the Itanyai workers when 200 Noor willing to work cheap are brought in. As illness and injury grip the compound, Wen is drawn into the mystery of the “Ghost” who haunts the workers.

Book Talk

It starts as an angry impulse. Wen is embarrassed after one of the new, barbaric Noor workers lifts her dress and shows her underthings in the factory cafeteria. She impulsively approaches the shrine other workers have set up to communicate with the factory Ghost and – while also proclaiming her disbelief – challenges the Ghost to avenge her. When the Ghost grants her wish in a terrible way, the ripple effect of her flash of anger lead to death, social unrest, a budding forbidden romance, and the slow reveal of all the factory’s many dark secrets.

Random Thoughts

• The author has taken the concept of the Phantom of the Opera and moved it to a startling post-industrial Asian setting. Her creative re-telling and the beauty of the writing create something deeply compelling.
• This was an intense book. I was at turns enthralled and disturbed, thoughtful and grossed out.

But Wait, There’s More!

This is a series opener. Of Dreams and Rust is set for publication in August 2015.

I’ll Recommend This to …

• Fans of Phantom of the Opera
• Readers who love romantic stories
• People with a high tolerance for gore
• Older teens who love fantasy and dystopia

“Splintered” by A.G. Howard May 3, 2014

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The Facts

371 pages; published January 2013

The Basics

Alyssa is a sassy, artistic skater girl and the great-great granddaughter of THE Alice of Alice in Wonderland fame. Tortured by the curse that has plagued the women in the family since Alice’s return, Alyssa seeks out the rabbit hole in a wild-eyed attempt to save her mother from irreparable damage in an insane asylum.

Booktalk

See, what you don’t know is that Wonderland didn’t come from Lewis Carroll’s imagination. It was a real place – a place Alice Liddell visited as a young girl, returning forever changed and forever strange. Her legacy has passed through generations of women in her family to her great-great granddaughter Alyssa Gardner. Alyssa is an intense, risk-taking skater girl, an artist, a vintage fashionista, and is plagued by her ability to hear bugs and flowers talk. She is pushed to the edge when her father decides to administer shock treatments to the mother who has been confined in an asylum since Alyssa’s childhood. Alyssa plunges into the rabbit hole, looking for answers and a way to undo the curse brought on by the mistakes of her ancestor. Her Wonderland isn’t so quaint and pretty as Alice’s. Accompanied by her “above-ground” handsome best friend, Jeb, and led through Wonderland by the disturbing and sexy Morpheus, Alyssa faces a psychedelic array of creepy and dangerous creatures.

But Wait! There’s More:

The sequel, Unhinged, was released in january 2014 and a third book – Ensnared – is expected out in 2015.

Awards/Honors

• Eliot Rosewater Indiana High School Book Award (2014)
• Winter 2012 Kids Indie Next List (2012)
• YALSA Teens’ Top Ten Nominee

I‘ll Recommend This Too …

• LOTS of people
• Anyone who loved Alice in Wonderland
• Readers who enjoy fantasy
• Teens looking for clean, but pulse-pounding romance
• Fans of vivid, beautiful writing and strange, creative stories

“Man Made Boy” by Jon Skovron December 29, 2013

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The Facts

368 pages; published October 2013

The Basics

Boy – the stitched-together son of Frankenstein’s Monster and the Bride – has grown up in isolation and is aching to see the real world. When he makes a break for it, he finds the outside world is both complicated and offers untold adventures.

Booktalk

Boy is basically a typical modern teen growing up in New York City. He feels a bit resentful of his parents. He’s rebellious and feels trapped by his life. He’s got a crush on a pretty girl. He’s into computers. Except that the parents Boy is resenting are Frankenstein’s Monster and the Bride, who built their son from body parts stolen from area morgues. And he really is trapped – living underground and backstage in The Show, a theater company for magical creatures. And the pretty girl he’s crushing on is a green-skinned, silver-eyed troll. And he has just used his computer to create an advanced artificial intelligence with disturbing powers.

When Boy strikes out to try to make it on his own in the real world, he finds life on the outside offers him both more – and less – than he bargained for. His unique situation leads to a wild cross-country adventure filled with mythology and magic, intense danger, pretty girls, and more drama than ever graced the stage of The Show.

Random Thoughts

This book was a clever and fun romp. Boy won my heart almost immediately. The world might see him as a monster, but we know he’s just plain good people.

I’ll Recommend This To …

• Boys who think they know everything about computers and gaming
• Readers who are intrigued by mythology
• Adventure and action fans
• Teens who are interested in something a little quirky

 

“The Name of the Star” by Maureen Johnson October 9, 2013

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The Facts

372 pages; published September 2011

The Basics

On the very day that Rory Deveaux moves from Louisiana to London, someone starts recreating the Jack the Ripper murders. As Rippermania grips the city, Rory gets drawn into the center of the increasingly strange mystery.

Booktalk

Louisiana native Rory Deveaux is a fish out of water when she shows up to the London boarding school where she will be spending her final years of high school. It’s hard to say which is funnier – her wacky stories about the bayou town and redneck neighbors she left behind, or her hilarious observations about the strange life of English schoolchildren.

But Rory’s new life also has a dark side. On the same day she landed in London, a killer began recreating the Jack the Ripper murders in gruesome detail. Then Rory comes face to face with a mysterious stranger on a dark London night – a stranger no one else can see. As news spreads of her odd encounter, she finds herself pulled ever deeper into the baffling and vastly creepy mystery.

But Wait, There’s More!

This is just #1 in the Shades of London series. #2 in the series – The Madness Underneath (February 2013) is also very satisfying; #3 – The Shadow Cabinet – is due out in 2014.

I’ll Recommend This To …

• Mystery lovers
• Fans of ghost stories
• Anyone with a sense of humor
• Readers fascinated by famous serial killers like Jack the Ripper
• Honestly, anyone who asks for a good book. I loved it that much!

 

“Lies, Knives, and Girls in Red Dresses” by Ron Koertge, illustrated by Andrew Dezso October 2, 2012

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The Facts

87 pages; published July 2012

The Basics

What happens after the fairy tales? Is it really so easy to know which characters are good and which are bad? Wasn’t Goldilocks really just a brat? Ron Koertge reveals a different take on stories you thought you knew in short, witty, memorable verse.

The Booktalk

“Do you want to sleep? Find another storyteller. Do you want to think about the world in a new way” Come closer. Closer, please. I want to whisper in your ear.”

If the first page doesn’t get you, this new way of looking at our most revered fairy tale characters certainly will. Sexy, vengeful Cinderella sends birds to pluck out the eyes of her stepsisters. The mole spews bitter memories of Thumbelina. The former Beast longs for his animal days. Watch out for Hansel and Gretel – who love each other a little too much. And have you ever wondered what it would be like to be swallowed whole by a wolf? Red Riding Hood did and so, okay, now, she’s like ready to tell you all about it and about that weird woodcutter who was all like, “Maybe next time you’d like to see my ax.” Gross!

Random Thoughts

The stark, cut paper illustrations are amazing. And the stories are hilarious – in a really dark, wrong, hysterical way.