Al Capone Shines My Shoes - 2012 Book #21

Al Capone Shines My Shoes is the sequel to Gennifer Choldenko's Al Capone Does My Shirts. The story is once again told by Moose Flannagan about his life on Alcatraz Island. His sister Natalie goes off to school, and Moose finally learns what it feels like to have his mother's undivided attention. He's made friends both at school off the island and on the island. Life is good. But then, he receives a message that he thinks is from the convict Al Capone. It says, "Your turn." Moose thinks it's a message telling him that now it's his turn to do a favor for Al Capone in return for the favor Moose thinks Al Capone did for him. Moose's friend Annie finds out and gets mad when Moose refuses to tell his parents. Moose doesn't want his dad to get fired or anything, so he doesn't want to tell. It seems that everyone gets mad at Moose for something. Jimmy seems to be mad, because Moose's friend Scout makes fun of his baseball skills; Piper's mad because Theresa catches her and Moose about to kiss; Natalie's mad, because she's been away from Moose; Annie's mad, because Moose won't tell about Al Capone; and Scout's mad, because Moose tells him to stay away from Piper. Moose is just trying to please everyone, but it seems that trying to please everyone isn't as easy as it seems. On top of all that, it seems that someone off the island is trying to help the convicts escape, and it seems as though they are trying to pin the blame on Moose's family. He was just starting to like his life on Alcatraz Island and doesn't want his dad to lose his job, so he must do everything he can to stop that from happening.

This book is a great sequel to Al Capone Does My Shirts. It's fairly fast-paced, keeping the reader interested. It has real historical facts scattered throughout the book, and the story is based off of events that actually happened on Alcatraz Island during that time period. The author includes a section in the back of the book that explains all the historical details that the book was based off of. This was a great read.

Murder by the Book - 2012 Book #20

Murder by the Book was written by LDS author Betsy Brannon Green. The story is told by the main character, Kennedy Killingsworth, a young librarian in the small town of Midway. After an older man in the town comes in to the library and signs up for a library card, she hears of his supposed suicide that same day and doesn't really believe that he would do that. Why sign up for a library card if you're planning on killing yourself? She expresses her concern to the local sheriff who allows her to help with an investigation of his death as long as she works with the deputy Cade, her ex-husband. She agrees to this in her eagerness to find out what really happened. Cade takes this as a sign that she might want to get back together with him and tries to keep asking her out.

During her investigations, she also attracts the attention of some other young men in the town: Luke Scoggins, the nephew of the man who died; Drake Langston, the rich man who was waiting on the dead man for a land deal in his new development project; and Sloan, the head of Drake's construction team. The only problem is, she's not sure if she can trust any of them as they are all suspects. What starts out as something exiting that Kennedy's only read about in the books she loves, suddenly becomes very real when she finds out that her life could be in danger if she keeps digging to find the truth about what really happened to Luke's uncle.

This book is written very well, with lots of action and unpredictable events happening. I was a little disappointed with the ending. It wrapped up the story and answered all the questions of what happened with the mysterious death, but it leaves what happens in the future open to question, which is okay but makes me wish there was more. Overall, it was a very good read.

The Book of Wonders - 2012 Book #19

The Book of Wonders by Jasmine Richards is a fun, engaging read. It tells the story of Zardi, a young girl who just turned thirteen, the age of womanhood. She is now old enough to be taken by the sultan as his praisemaker. The praisemaker has to shout the sultan's praises from a tower for three months, and then they are hunted and killed by the sultan himself. The only way to escape the sultan is if she gets married. Her nonna tells her that she has a great destiny to fulfill. Zardi doesn't know what this is.

Zardi's sister is about to get married when she is taken by the sultan to be the new praisemaker. Her father stands up to the sultan, demanding that his daughter be released. Instead, the sultan takes him prisoner as well, promising that once he's through with Zardi's sister, Zubeyda, he's coming back for Zardi. Zardi decides that this is her destiny: to save her sister and father from the sultan.

Earlier that day, she and her friend Rhidan had seen the great sailor, Sinbad. She had heard that Sinbad was setting out for a nearby city where there where rumors of the rightful prince still being alive. She decides to disguise herself as a boy and go find Sinbad to help her. Her friend Rhidan comes along not only to help her but to find out more about who he is and where he's from. Earlier, Sinbad had made a comment about seeing other people like Rhidan, and Rhidan hopes that Sinbad can help him find his family.

So Zardi and Rhidan set off an adventure involving pirates, brass giants, sorcerers, fortune tellers, djinnis, magic amulets, and evil serpents.

This book is very engaging and keeps the reader wanting to know more right up to the last page. The story ends, making it very clear that the story is not over; there must be a sequel in mind for this book, because Zardi's and Rhidan's adventures are not finished. Unfortunately, that sequel has not been written yet.

Wicked Will - 2012 Book #18

Wicked Will by Bailey Macdonald was an interesting book to read. It's told in first person by a young actor called Tom who's traveling with a troup of actors with his uncle. Upon their arrival at a small town, they meet a boy named Will, who is the young William Shakespeare. He is really curious about everything the actors do and asks a million questions. Tom is worried about all Will's questions, because Tom is hiding a secret. But Will won't go away. He insists on showing Tom around the town the first day. Later that day, after the sun's gone down, the two boys find a dead body in the river. It's the body of an old man in town whom nobody really likes. Shortly before he was found dead, he had been seen in a bar fighting with Tom's uncle. From this knowledge, Tom's uncle was arrested. Tom, not having any place to stay, goes home with Will to stay at his house. Will is determined to find the real murderer and prove Tom's uncle innocent. He comes up with all sorts of crazy schemes to try to find the culprit. With town drunks, cranky actors, ghosts, twin sons of the victim, and Will's father, staying out of trouble seems to be difficult for Will, and Tom is unsure of whether or not Will is someone to be trusted.

This book is really fun, and it is interesting to read one example of how William Shakespeare might have been when he was younger. The ending of this book, however, doesn't seem to really match the almost lighthearted feel the rest of the book has. This book was engaging with a nice flow. Overall, it was a good read.

Al Capone Does My Shirts - 2012 Book #17

Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko was a great read. This book is told by the main character: a twelve-year-old boy named Moose. His dad just got a job as a security guard/electrician at the Alcatraz prison, so his family moved to live on Alcatraz Island. He hates the move, but a lot of the guards' families live on the island, and they also moved so his sister could go to a special school. His sister has some form of autism, and a lot of the story is centered around how his family deals with that, since at that time, nobody really knew anything about autism or how to deal with it. Moose tells about how he and his family deal with that, while he's also going to a new school and trying to make friends and get used to life on the island. Some of the other kids on the island get up to some pretty crazy antics, and Moose has to decide if he's going to join them or not.

One thing that Moose is excited about is baseball. The kids at his school get together to play baseball once  a week, and he feels like he's finally found a place where he fits in at his new school. But then, his sister doesn't get accepted into the school his family had been hoping she could attend, and Moose has to watch his sister every day after school. His mom wants him to take him everywhere that he goes, but he's pretty sure it would be a bad idea to take her when he went to play baseball.

As the book progresses, it's interesting to see how Moose's relationships with the other characters int he book change. This book has some really good character development. One thing that was a little confusing in reading this book was when Moose would start talking about things that had happened in the past. Most of the story is told in present tense, which has always been kind of weird to me in novels, but then Moose talks about things that happened when he was younger, so it's a little confusing occassionally when he's having flashback kind of moments. One thing I really liked though about the format was that at the beginning of each chapter, it has the date, so it's really easy to tell exactly how much time has passed since the last chapter.

This was an easy read, but it also had some good messages and great character development in a well developed story. There is a sequel to this book that I am excited to read.

Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher - 2012 Book #16

Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher by Bruce Coville is a story about the boy Jeremy Hatcher who unknowingly ends up buying a dragon's egg when he happens upon a magic shop while running away from bullies at school. Once he discovers that it's a dragon's egg he has, he struggles to figure out how to take care of the dragon on top of other things going on at school. At school, there's a girl who likes him and who has declared her intent to kiss him, there are the bullies from the beginning of the story who continue to bother him, and his art teacher seems to hate him. This last one seems particularly hard for Jeremy to deal with since art is his favorite subject, and no matter how hard he tries, his efforts never seem to be good enough to his teacher.

As the dragon grows, it becomes harder and harder to keep it a secret, not just because of the dragon's size, but by how much it eats and also Jeremy wants to tell others about the dragon. His best friend is curious to know what's going on in his life, and Jeremy's not sure that his friend will believe that he's been raising a dragon, especially since the dragon seems to be invisible to everyone but Jeremy.

This book is a fun, easy read and shows the growth in the relationship between Jeremy and his dragon, but it could have been a lot longer and more in depth. The book kind of skims over lots of time and doesn't go into a whole lot of detail about particular aspects of the story. There could be a lot more character development if the book was a little longer with more added scenes in the times that are just skipped over. But overall, it was a good read.

The Education of Bet - 2012 Book #15

The Education of Bet by Lauren Baratz-Logsted was a very good read. I read the whole book in one sitting. This story takes places sometime in the 1800's. The narrator of the story, Elizabeth, was the daughter of a maid. When her mother died along with the master and mistress of the house from typhoid fever, she and their son, Will were taken in by his wealthy uncle, Paul and raised together until they got older. At that point, Paul's relatives were apalled at how he was raising the two children as equals when clearly they were not. Will was sent off to one school after another, while Elizabeth was left home where she lived not as a servant, but not as a member of the family either.

When Will comes home after being kicked out of school for the fourth time, Elizabeth gets upset at him. It has always been her dream to go to school and receive an education, and Will's had the opportunity his whole life and has just thrown it away. Will admits it's because what he really wants is to go join the military, but his uncle doesn't approve. Elizabeth, or Bet as Will calls her, comes up with a plan that can help them both do what they want. She convinces Will to help her "become a boy" so she can go to school as him, leaving him free to go join the military. He agrees to her crazy plan and helps her learn how to walk and talk like a boy as well as how to dress and write like a boy. Finally, it's time for her to go start school. The two head off to live their dreams, both not really knowing what they're getting themselves into.

Bet is shocked by what she finds at school. She has had an extremely sheltered life at Will's uncle's house and is totally unprepared for bullies, attractive roommates, and school dances, but she is determined to learn as much as she can while she has the chance for an education. Bet finds it harder sometimes than she thought it would be to hide the fact that she's a girl, but she finds friends she can trust with her secret in unexpected places who agree with her that girls should be able to have an opportunity to gain an education.

The one big problem I had with this book was that it wasn't long enough. It seems to rush through certain parts of the story where there could be some more details and added character building to get to the end of the story. Also, at the end of the book, it simply ends right after revealing some major secrets that were kept hidden throughout the entire book. The ending is decent, but it leaves the reader with a lot to guess at. The reader just has to assume that certain things happen or will happen in the story. But, overall, it's a good read.

Anastasia's Secret - 2012 Book #14

Anastasia's Secret by Susanne Emily Dunlap wasn't quite what I was expecting. It is the story of the duchess Anastasia Romanov told from her perspective. It follows Anastasia from before the start of the world war and Russian Revolution. Anastasia befriends the young guard Sasha that works at the palace. He helps her see that everything in the world isn't as perfect as she thinks it is. This book about Anastasia looks a lot more into reasons behind the revolution that happened in Russia and the causes behind all the trouble for the Romanovs. As Anastasia gets older, her feelings for Sasha get stronger, and she finds that he's her only real friend besides her family. He's also the only one that takes her seriously and the only one that will tell her about what's really going on in Russia. Sasha becomes more and more involved with those heading the revolution as Anastasia gets more worried about what will happen to Sasha and her family.

Since the story is told by Anastasia, it does get a little confusing to know what's going on with the revolution and in Russia in general, since the only things the reader finds out about are the things that Anastasia knows about; and she only knows the things that Sasha tells her, which sometimes he is very vague about as he doesn't want to worry Anastasia any more than he has to.

The story remains engaging throughout, although sometimes it's confusing to the reader how much time has passed between sections of the story. Also, as Anastasia becomes increasingly obsessed with Sasha, the focus of the story changes a lot. The ending of the book is really abrupt. It just ends and then has a note from the author summing up the rest of what happened to Anastasia Romanov and her family and friends.

Flood and Fire - 2012 Book #13

Flood and Fire by Emily Diamand is the sequel to Raider's Ransom. It picks up pretty much right where the first book ends. Lilly Melkum, a fishergirl, is stranded in the middle of the ocean after a major sea battle. Pieces of ships are floating all around her as she tries to get Lexy, the Prime Minister's daughter, safely back to her home. Zeph, the pirate boy, returns home after the battle to find that he won't be able to take over as Boss as easily as he thought he would. His half brother Roba is putting up a fight for the title of Boss. But, to make matters worse, the other pirate clans are mad at the state the Families have been left in after the war that Zeph's father started. They want to make Zeph's entire family into slaves or wipe them out all together. In a moment of desperation, Zeph promises to find Lilly and give her and her computer to the pirates to save his Family. Lilly, meanwhile, is lost on the ocean, struggling to find a way out of the mess left after the sea battle. Her computer, or puter as she calls it, begins to complain of being too wet to work properly. Its battery is also running low, and it threatens to cease working if she is not careful.

In an attempt to reboot her computer, Lilly accidently activates a formerly unknown computer called the National Security Response, a computer that is programmed to restore England to the rightful government in the event of the downfall of the government. It is determined to do this at all costs, even at the cost of human lives. Once the knowledge of this computer is discovered, many people want to find it to use it for their own purposes. Lilly wants to find it to help reboot her computer, the pirates want it to help them win their war against the Pirme Minister, Scotland wants it to study it, and Zeph hopes it can be a way out of his promise to betray his friend. In the search for this computer, friendships are tested, new and old characters make an appearance, and help comes from unexpected places.

Like the first book in the series, the story is told in first person by both Lilly and Zeph. There is still the same confusion at the beginning of each chapter as to who is narrating that section. Also, like the first book, the story is told in present tense, which makes it a little confusing sometimes when they start telling the story at a later point and then tell what happened to get up to that point.

However, despite these points, it is a very engaging read. It has an interesting setting of being in the future but having the feel of being in the past with how people live. There is some advanced technology, but most people don't use and have never seen it. They are certain that it is evil and the cause of all the natural disasters that have happened in the world. It is not super predictable which makes the story interesting to read. Also, it's neat to see how the characters have changed over the course of the story, from the beginning of the first book to the end of the second book. It was a very good read.

Beyonders: Seeds of Rebellion - 2012 Book #12

Seeds of Rebellion is the second book in the Beyonders trilogy written by Brandon Mull. This book continues the story of Jason and Rachel, two thirteen-year old kids from the Beyond, or Earth, as they try to do their part in helping to defeat the wizard Maldor in the land of Lyrian.

Jason is stranded back at home and is struggling to get back to Lyrian. He feels bad about that fact that Rachel is still there, and he's at home. Also, at the end of the first book he discovered a secret that he feels he has to share with the others in Lyrian, especially with Rachel and Galloran. He hasn't been able to just get back to his old life and is continually on the watch for a way he can get back and help his friends. He goes back to the zoo where it all started and finally, finds a way back in to Lyrian.

Meanwhile, Rachel is in Lyrian where she is practicing the Edomic that Drake, who she's been on the run with, has taught her. While she and Drake are trying to lose the mysterious creature that's following them, Rachel can't help but wonder what has happened to Jason. The last she saw him, he was being taken prisoner at Maldor's city, Felrook.

As they struggle in their quest to defeat Maldor, the two kids meet new and old friends and enemies, come across giant monsters, sinister shadow creatures, and the undead. Characters' motives and loyalty are questioned as they try to find out who's on their side and if they have any hope at all of completing their mission.

I really like the way this book is written. It flows nicely, has lots of action, and keeps the reader interested. It also is an original idea and very creative. I also like the characters and how they change and grow throughout the story. Also, I like how Brandon Mull teaches important lessons through his story. There are some good messages in there. Also, the story is not really predictable, so it keeps things interesting.

The ending of the book is a cliff hanger, but not as bad as the end of the first one was. It tied up the mission that they set out to do, tying off some loose ends but also leaving it wide open for the third book and what was coming next. The last book comes out next spring.

Obsession - 2012 Book #11

Obsession is written by one of my favorite LDS authors, Traci Hunter Abramson. In this book, Kendra Blake, who's a famous singer, has a rather paranoid father. He wants her to have security everywhere. She has finally convinced him that she doesn't need all that security and has managed to make it down to having only one bodyguard. But at her latest concert, someone overtakes her bodyguard and plants a bomb that goes off backstage. Everyone is fine, but her dad wants her to come back and live with him and have a huge security team. Kendra doesn't want it, though. She feels as though she's been stifled her whole life and wants some freedom and some time alone to write her songs. Her grandpa offers to let her stay in his cabin in the woods to get away but has an old FBI friend of his put an agent in the cabin next to hers to keep an eye on her without her knowing to make sure she's safe.

The agent in the other cabin is Charlie Whitmore. As he gets to know Kendra, he is surprised to find that she's not the typical celebrity as he had originally thought and dreads the day that she might find out that he works for the FBI and has been sent there to protect her.

Power outages, serial killers, and suspects keep the plot moving as Charlie tries to help figure out who set off the bomb at Kendra's concert and determine whether or not it is safe for her to return home.

This book is written in such a way that it keeps the reader going from chapter to chapter to find out what is going to happen next. It has great character building from the beginnning of the book to the end as the reader gets to know the characters, and they get to know each other. The book has some unexpected twists nearer to the end of the book and keeps the reader guessing. I'm happy to say, though, that I figured it out before the FBI did. All the clues are there to find.

This was a great read that ties into the other books written by Traci Hunter Abramson. Charlie Whitmore is the brother of Amy Whitmore in the Saint Squad Series, and his brother is one of the main characters in the Undercurrents trilogy.

Dragon Slippers - 2012 Book #10

Dragon Slippers by Jessica Day George is the first book in the series that tells the story of the girl Creel.  It's told in first person by Creel herself and starts out with Creel saying she is going to be sacrificed to a dragon. Her parents died from the fever, and she's been living with her aunt and uncle who are very poor. Her aunt comes up with the perfect solution for what to do with the girl: let her get captured by a dragon and talk a knight into rescuing her, who will then have to marry her. So Creel lets herself get captured by the dragon, but she doesn't want to marry the knight who's coming to rescue her. She wants to go to the capital city and get a job sewing. That will solve her aunt's problem of caring for her, and she gets to do what she wants. So Creel talks the dragon into letting her go and into giving her something from it's hoard. What she chooses is a pair of slippers. The dragon is shocked at her choice and doesn't want her to take them, but he had promised her she could have whatever she wanted, so he lets her take them.

Creel is pleased with her new slippers and continues on her journey to the capital city where she hopes to find work sewing. When the slippers start making her feet itch, and a spoiled princess wants her slippers, Creel wonders if the slippers are worth keeping. But deep down inside, she knows that if anyone else gets their hands on the slippers, something terrible will happen. As Creel tries to figure out the secret of the slippers, she makes some new friends and some enemies, some of them from unexpected places.

This was a really good read with some very surprising things right at the end of the story that make the reader want to read the next book in the series.

The Dead of Night - 2012 Book #9

The Dead of Night by Peter Lerangis is the third book of the Cahills Vs. Vespers series, the follow-up series of The 39 Clues. In this book, Amy and Dan Cahill are searching for a stale orb to trade to Vespers to keep their kidnapped family members safe. Dan's best friend, Atticus, has been kidnapped, and he is determined to save him. Atticus's older brother Jake has decided that the Cahills are in something much deeper than he had first suspected and declares his intentions to help them rescue his brother and find what they are looking for. To add to the confusion Dan is already feeling, while on their search he keeps receiving text messages from someone who calls themselves by the initials of his father, who he had believed had died when he was really little. Was it possible that his father was alive? And if he was, why hadn't he tried to contact them before now? This book is packed full of action as Amy and Dan run from one place to the next searches for clues that will save their family. All the action keeps the reader engaged and wanting to keep reading to find out what will happen next.

One thing that bugged me about this book, though, was that it kept changing which character's point of view the scene was seen through. This alone wouldn't bother me; I do that a lot myself when writing. What bothered me was that it did it in an overlapping way several times throughout the book. It would tell the beginning of a scene as it was perceived by one character and then tell the ending part of the scene as it was viewed by another character, but not starting at the point where the first part ended. It overlapped by a few things that happened. It was confusing what was going on when they kept switching, and, at one point, I reread the two segments three times and still couldn't figure out what had happened exactly. The two seemed to contradict each other.

Other than that, this book was a really good, easy read.

Janitors - 2012 Book #8

Janitors by Tyler Whitesides was a fun, quick read. The book has many exciting twists and turns that keep the reader interested and engaged and curious to know what will happen next. This book is the story of a sixth grade boy named Spencer. He is a new kid at a new school, and sixth grade is the worst time to be a new student at school. He is trying to get used to his new school and make friends, but he is not having much luck. One day, the classroom bully draws on Spencer's face with permanent marker after he falls asleep in class. Spencer goes to the bathroom to wash it off. He uses some soap that was sitting on the counter that burns his face but does get the writing to come off. When he goes back to class, he sees a strange bird-like creature in the classroom. No one else seems to be able to see it, and no one believes he really saw it either. He begins to see other creatures around the school as well. A girl known as Daisy "Gullible" Gates may be the only person who might believe him, unless she thinks he's trying to trick her as well.

This book has many unexpected things that happen. Just when you think you know what's going on, something happens that changes the way you see things. This book also shows through Spencer's experience some important life lessons that readers can learn from this book. This was a great read.

The Fire of Ares - 2012 Book #7

The Fire of Ares by Michael Ford was a lot different than what I was expecting. I saw on a list of books labeled, "If you liked Percy Jackson, try these!" Because of that, I was expecting it to be similar to the Percy Jackson books. It's not anything like the Percy Jackson books. The only similarity is that they both talk about things that happened in ancient Greece and mention some Greek gods and goddesses. The Fire of Ares actually takes place in ancient Greece. The main character is a twelve-year-old boy named Lysander. He has lived his whole life as a slave to the Spartans, the ruling class of Sparta. His mother is ill, and he has spent his days trying to get extra grain in the fields to help pay for medicine to care for his mother in their little shack. He has been training secretly with his friend in the mornings in hopes that one day, he can join the rebel slaves and take over the Spartans to gain their freedom.

His life changes drastically, when one day, a noble sees an amulet Lysander has had since he was born - the one thing of value that he owns. Lysander gets the chance to train as a Spartan. He decides to do it, mostly because his amulet had just been stolen, and he believes it was stolen by someone in the barracks. He brings his friend with him to help him and starts the harsh training of a Spartan warrior.

He is treated differently from the start since many of the boys know that he used to be a slave and aren't sure how he got to be there to train as a Spartan warrior. Many of the boys think he is some sort of spy, and Lysander feels sort of like a spy to. He still feels like he is not a Spartan, and often relates better with the slaves in the barracks. As Lysander struggles to find where he fits in in his new life, he also frantically searches for his missing amulet, and in the process, begins discovering other things as well. Things that he maybe shouldn't be discovering.

What I thought was going to be somewhat of a fantasy ended up being a historical fiction book, which is fine by me, since I really enjoy those as well. There is a lot to learn from this book about how life for different people was like at this time in history. This was a great read, and I look forward to reading the sequel.

Just Ella - 2012 Book #6

Just Ella by Margaret Peterson Haddix is a continuation of the famous Cinderella story. It starts shortly after Cinderella has tried on the glass slipper and has been whisked off to the castle with Prince Charming. It's like a dream come true, for just a short while. Ella has escaped the clutches of her wicked stepmother and stepsisters and is now free to do whatever she likes... As long as she doesn't lift a finger to do work except for needlework, finds time to do anything outside of her many sessions with her tutors who are there to teach her everything from etiquette to religion, and never steps outside the castle. She longs for the day when she can marry the Prince and live her real happily ever after. Right now, she only gets to see the Prince for a few moments every other day with a chaperone.

Life grows boring, until the day that one of her tutors suddenly collapses. She is astounded when her other tutor Madame Bisset seems unfazed by this incident. She says that women shouldn't be told about things like that, but Ella is worried about her tutor. She finally hears news from one of the young maids that works at the castle, Mary. The following day, she wonders if her tutor is well enough to come teach her lessons. Just when she thinks she might have an hour to herself to do whatever she pleases, a young man shows up to teach her lesson. His name is Jed, and his father was her previous tutor. Jed is the only tutor who will actually talk to her like a normal person without all the "Yes, Princess," "No, Princess."

She soon grows to realize that she doesn't even like the Prince. She finds him to be boring, but how will he react if she tells him what she thinks?

This story brings an all new look to the well-known Cinderella story. After a short while of her stay at the castle, Ella is surprised by the rumors she hears about how she came to be in the castle. There are rumors of magic and a fairy godmother among other things. None of them are true. This is the story of a girl who does what she can to accomplish what she wants. This was a great new look at the story of Cinderella.

Dragon's Milk - 2012 Book #5

Dragon's Milk by Susan Fletcher was a good read. The main character, Kaeldra, has always known she was different. She looks nothing like her sisters, which makes sense, because she was adopted, but she looks nothing like any of the other people in the village either. Her hair and skin are much lighter in color than anyone's in the village, and she is much taller than the average person in the village as well; but the most distinguishing feature is her green eyes. No one in the village has green eyes.

Kaeldra lives with her adopted family which includes her two sisters, her step-mother, and her grandma. She helps watch the sheep with her sisters to provide for her family. One day, her youngest sister gets sick. She doesn't get any better, but continues to get worse. They call for the doctor, and the doctor tells them there is nothing he can do about it; no one knows a cure for this illness. It turns out that this is not true: the grandma has heard of a cure, and she tells Kaeldra a story of a girl who had the same illness many years before. Her parents left her in the mountains, expecting to never see her again. Months later, she climbed down out of the mountains perfectly healthy, as good as new. The only difference was her eyes were green. Just like Kaeldra's. The story says that the girl had been fed dragon's milk, and that afterward, she could talk to dragons. Kaeldra's grandma believes that Kaeldra is descended from this girl, and that is why her eyes are green.

Kaeldra decides to go out and try to find the dragon. She finds the dragon and makes a deal with the dragon. She will watch the dragon's babies in exchange for some milk for her sister. As she returns home with the milk, a visitor arrives. It's a young boy named Jeorg, who claims to be a dragonslayer come to slay the dragon that has been eating the villages sheep. At first, Kaeldra thinks this might be a good idea, until she realizes that her sister needs a lot more milk before she'll be fully recovered. She soon grows to enjoy spending time with the baby draagons, Embyr, Pyro, and Synge, but still fears the mother dragon.

But then, everything changes. Jeorg keeps asking her where the dragon is. Rumors are being spread about the girl with the green eyes, and Kaeldra fears for the lives of the three young dragons. Her grandma tells her of a man named Landerath, who is against the slaying of dragons. Kaeldra believes that if she can just find him, she can stop worrying about the dragons she is protecting. She doesn't know who she can trust, or how she is supposed to continually feed the quickly growing young dragons.

After Kaeldra finds the dragon for the first time, the story gets a little bit slow for a while, but then it picks up more a more as Kaeldra tries to find Landerath while she's also trying to find herself and someplace where she'll fit in.

Pendragon #9: Raven Rise - 2012 Book #4

Raven Rise by D. J. MacHale is the ninth book in the Pendragon series. The tenth book came out a while back, and I decided to reread all the other books before reading the last book, and I finally finished the ninth one. According to D. J. MacHale, it's the Penultimate Pendragon, or the next to last book in the series. In this book, the main character, Bobby Pendragon, is having a good time. He's working to help restore the island of Ibara to it's previous beauty after the disaster with the attack of the dados on the shores at the end of the previous book. Bobby, as the lead Traveler, thinks the struggle is finally over between the Travelers and Saint Dane. He destroyed the flume from Ibara, trapping Saint Dane there with him. Yeah, there was a big mess he needed to clean up from the battle that had been fought on the island, but Bobby was enjoying a rather stress-free life.

While Bobby spent a peaceful time on the beach, Patrick, the Traveler from Third Earth - which is Earth 3000 years in the future - wakes up to find the world has changed drastically overnight. The world is in disarray, pollution is terrible, buildings have fallen down, and there is a strange group called the Ravinians who identify themselves by the tattoos on the arm. The part that is most strange is these Ravinians's tattoos are the same stars as those that mark the flumes which enable the Travelers to travel back and forth between the various territories, and the Ravinians are nothing like the Travelers. After Patrick witnessed Ravinians beat a helpless old man, and light a library on fire, Patrick decides to travel to Second Earth to see if he can find out what happened in Earth's past to cause all these strange changes to happen in what used to be his practically perfect world.

Courtney and Mark are also in for a shock when they return home to find the same group, the Ravinians in their home town, where the leader of this group claims to be the Traveler from Second Earth and lives on top of the flume they use to return home.

Alder returns to his home after the adventure in the last book, to find that the Beedowans are preparing for war with another tribe that lives over the mountain, and to be accused of being a traitor. Alder is confused at how things could change so drastically in such a short amount of time. When he left, his people were living in peace with each other and the other tribes and getting used to living together with the Milago, and now they were plotting the overtaking of other tribes.

Everyone knows that it is getting closer and closer to the event that Saint Dane has been talking about through the entire series: the Convergence. The only problem is, no one really knows what that means. They only know that whatever it is, it must be bad, because it's what Saint Dane wants. As the world seems to be falling apart Patrick, Courtney, Mark, Bobby, and Alder do all they can to stop the events from happening. The question is: can they stop Saint Dane before it's too late?

This book is very fast paced and has many many unexpected things happen as the tension rises throughout the book. The ending leaves the reader with many many questions that still need to be answered, that, hopefully, will all be answered in the tenth and final book.

Raider's Ransom - 2012 Book #3

Raider's Ransom  by Emily Diamand was a very good read. This book is very interesting. At first, it seems like it's a story that took place long ago, when pirates roamed the seven seas and attacked other vessels and cities to raid them for goods. But after reading for a while, it becomes apparent that this story actually takes place far in the future. The story happens in the year 2216. The world has had lots of flooding, and much of England has been destroyed. People in England believe that technology was the cause of all the terrible natural disasters that have happened in the world, and have tried to destroy them. The religion in England basically teaches that technology is bad, and if you use it, you'll be cursed. In Greater Scotland, they still use technology, but much of it has been destroyed by natural disasters and also by angry people during the time called the Collapse where people went around destroying computers and other technology.

The main character in this book is Lilly Melkum. She lives in a tiny fishing village, and has grown up without any knowledge of technology. All those things were destroyed long before she was born. She lives with her Granny and her seacat in a little hut up on a hill. She and her best friend, Andy, have always dreamed of buying a big boat when they grow up and sailing all over the place. This dream is crushed when raiders attack her village while she is away on a fishing trip.

The raiders come and kidnap the Prime Ministers daughter who was staying at their village with an aunt, and because of a rumor of a seacat in the village, they attack Lilly's house and kill her Granny. When Lilly returns, her world has been turned upside down. Her Granny is dead, and she moves in with Andy. But that's not the end of it. The Prime Minister blames the villagers for his daughter's kidnapping, and drafts most of the men, including Andy, into the army for an attack on the Raiders. The others, he holds prisoner and threatens to hang.

Lilly wants to do something to help, but she doesn't know how anyone will let her. She overhears a conversation between the Prime Minister and his sister, and also a seemingly impossible conversation between the Scottish Ambassador and an unknown person. She suddenly knows what she can do. She sets out with a stolen jewel, a letter, and a disguise on her little fishing boat with her seacat in tow to rescue the Prime Minister's daughter from the Raiders.

The other main character is Zeph, the son of the Raider Boss who has kidnapped the Prime Minister's father. His father wanted to start a war with the English, so he could wipe them out. Zeph runs into Lilly on her journey, and after a strange turn of events, they become friends. But Lilly doesn't really trust him, because he's a Raider, one of those people who killed her Granny.

Through thick mud, dangerous fog, storms, cannons, torture, ghosts, talking jewels, fake uncles, treason, capture, and treachery, it is interesting to watch how the relationship between Zeph and Lilly change over the course of the book.

There were a few things about the book that I didn't really like. The whole book is written in first person present tense. I've mentioned before that I'm not sure I really like reading books in present tense. They're a little harder to wrap your brain around what happens in what order, since everything is happening now. But the main problem was that it was written in first person from the point of view of two different people: Zeph and Lilly. While it was definitely interesting to see the story unfold from each of their perspectives, it was rather confusing to know who was speaking. They switched at new chapters, but not neccessarily every other one. I never knew who was speaking until part way through the first page of each chapter, since there wasn't anything that identified who was speaking at the beginning of each chapter.

The other thing I didn't like very much was the ending. It had a terrible cliffhanger ending. When I first saw the book, it appeared to be a stand alone book, but it turns out there's a sequel - which, luckily, has already been written.

The Last Girls of Pompeii - 2012 Book # 2

The Last Girls of Pompeii by Kathryn Lasky was a very interesting book. I really like historical fiction, because it helps the reader see what might have happened in historical events. It helps people realize that those things happened to real people and see what those people might have felt or been experiencing at the time.

The two main characters in the book are a girl and her slave. The girl was born with a crippled arm, and she always feels that she needs to hide her arm when around other people, especially ones that she doesn't know. Her slave is actually more like her best friend. They've been together since the girl was born, the slave being just four years older than the girl.

From the title, I knew that the volcano had to erupt somewhere in this story, and the anticipation for that built up the further through the book I got. It actually was the main reason I didn't want to put the book down. I knew what was coming, and I didn't know how it was going to affect the characters I had been reading about.

I think this book has a lot of good historical facts in it. The reader can really learn a lot about what life was like in ancient Roman times. They learn a lot about how marriage worked back then, since the main character's sister was planning her wedding, and also learn a lot about how people born with disabilities were viewed in that day as well. The book also includes some about the gladiators, since the girl slave's brother was a gladiator. Also, there is quite a bit about mythology in the book as well, since it was a part of people's daily lives in that it was their religion that they had at the time. I think the book was very educational as well as a good read.

However, I thought the ending was terrible. I guess I shouldn't have expected much better, since I knew the volcano was going to erupt sometime. Other than the very ending, the book was great.

Stravaganza: City of Ships - 2012 Book #1

The first book of the year was City of Ships by Mary Hoffman. This is the fifth book in the Stravaganza series. This is a series of books about two parallel worlds that are hundreds of years apart. Children from Earth in England are "chosen" to be stravaganti who can then stravagate between their world and the parallel world called Talia, which is very similar to Italy in the late 1500s.

In this book, the girl who was chosen as the new Stravagante is Isabel. She has a twin brother named Charlie, who, Isabel believes, is amazing at everything. He's really popular in school, he gets really good grades, and he's the captain of the swim team. Isabel only has a few friends, tries to make herself kind of invisible at school, gets pretty good grades - but not as good as Charlie's - and is afraid of the water. She is always comparing herself to her twin, and thinks of herself badly because of it. Then, one day, she finds a red bag with tesserae in it - the tiny pieces that are used to make mosaics. Isabel loves art and is fascinated by the bag. She falls asleep holding the bag, and finds herself in Talia where she is immediately welcomed by Flavia, her Stravagante in the city of Classe.

The next day in school, one of her classmates asks to talk to her, and asks about her last night. He had known about her finding the bag and wondered if anything had happened. She learns that a handful of other students at her school are Stravaganti who have visited Talia as well, and soon becomes great friends with them.

Things are going well for Isabel when she finds out about an impending war on the city of Classe. The di Chimici have allied with the Gate people and are planning an oversea attack on Classe. Isabel doesn't know what she can do to help with this situation, but she tries to be involved as much as she can. It doesn't make it any easier for her when her brother stars to wonder why her sister is acting so differently than she used to.

The only problem I had with reading this book was the fact that it has been awhile since I have read the first four books of the series. In the book, it kept referring to things that had happened in the previous books, and I wasn't always entirely sure what it was reffering to all the time. Overall, I thought this was a great book to read to start off the year.