Book Review 23: The Big Field by Mike Lupica

Blech. This was a very hard read for me. Yes, the story was good I suppose. But all the baseball talk and terms was so annoying, or not annoying exactly, more time consuming to read and try to figure them all out. I mean, the last game of the book, yes, the championship game, was basically a play by play of all hits, up to bats, catches, every single play. Some of which I didn't understand, but I knew the main character and his team would have to be the winners, that's just how it usually comes out in kids' books. My thoughts are that this is so bogged down in baseball specifics and terminology that it won't be a popular hit among many readers. Yes, I know there are lots of kids out there who play sports. I also know that a lot of those kids aren't really big readers either, so you've cut down quite a bit on who will read the book. Now, that's just my opinion, I could be completely wrong. I just don't feel the story was strong enough outside of the baseball stuff that it will be a big hit on the Truman list.

The pattern I mentioned in my last blog about sports books is that the main characters are really good at whatever sport they play, but not THE best one on the team, they have a person who is their competition. The other thing is that their dads always seem to be former "really good athletes" who went on to do something other than sports because of an injury, or something else, and you can tell that the dad misses their sport and that affects their relationship with their athletic child. Now, I've really only read 2 sports books, so I guess I don't have that big of a scope to judge from, but I know there are a couple in the Mark Twain books I'll be reading soon, so I'll have to keep that in mind as I read those later and compare my thoughts when I blog about them.

Only 2 more on the Truman list to go!! Next is Antsy Does Time by Neal Shusterman. I've seen a couple books by Shusterman that looked interesting, this one was not one that jumped out. It is actually a sequel, and I'm assuming I'll be able to read it without reading the first one? I'll be sure to post my opinion on whether I'm missing something by reading this way when I blog in a couple days about it.

Book Review 22: The Rule of Won by Stefan Petrucha

Wow, I have to say I REALLY liked this book. It's basically kind of a spoof on the book "The Secret". Where it says if you want something bad enough, and you picture yourself with it, and write about wanting it, etc, that you'll get it. I personally know this is a load of crap as I've been trying to get a library job for about 5 years now, and I've pictured myself over and over and over in a library and I'm still stuck in a classroom teaching science, as well as all the daydreaming I do about David Cook, and yet I'll never really end up with him.

It starts that a boy named Ethan actually has a sister who can make things happen by drawing pictures. No one knows this, but they all buy in when things that they agree to wish for together start happening, the funding for a new school gym, the basketball team wins a game. Caleb is the main character though actually, and he is a slacker. Doesn't want to have to work hard for anything. His ex-girlfriend, Vicky, is running for Student Council president, and convinces him to join giving him the impression it'll help him get back with her. Soon, things happen to cause their wishes to come true that don't seem right. One girl wants to pass her algebra test, so they wish for everyone to pass it, and a teacher has a car accident. Other bad things happen like this. And it turns out, that someone may be causing these things to happen, only it might not be Ethan's little sister.

It reminds me a bit of the book The Wave, in how all the students get so sucked into it that they'll be violent to those who don't agree or participate. It even gets teachers and the already lousy principal involved. The girl who wished to pass the test, tries to kill herself because of the teacher getting in an accident.

This was a great book, and I will recommend it to many students.

My next book is another sports book, Big Field by Mike Lupica. And after the last sports book I read, Boost, I'm seeing a bit of a pattern in sports books. Ones I probably haven't seen before because I normally don't choose to read them. I'll talk more about that pattern in my blog about that book when I finish it.

I'm almost done with Truman list, only 3 more to go, then I'll be on to Mark Twain.

Book Review 21: Boost by Kathy Mackel

Boost is about a 13 year old girl named Savvy who is REALLY tall and REALLY good at basketball. She's just moved to live with her aunt because her father has lost his job and her aunt needs some help. She decides to try out for league basketball, different than school basketball. A person she meets convinces her to leave the middle school age tryouts and go to the high school tryouts. They make it, but Savvy starts out on the bench, because while she's good, she needs some work. The coach gives her drills and all that to help her do better. They call it her "boost" list. The cover shows pills, so you assume he gives her those, but it's not, it's just drills and ways to improve her game. Her sister is older, and a cheerleader. A cheerleader who has gained weight over the summer and must lose it in order to stay on the new school's squad. At a big stakes game, pills are found, and they lead to Savvy's locker. Savvy doesn't know where they came from, but many people don't believe her, and she decides to do a drug test to prove her innocence, which it does.

This is an okay book. It started out slow, got good in the middle, but then I was bored at the end again. So not sure if kids would like it. But they might!

The next book I'm reading is the Rule of Won by Stefan Petrucha, I'm almost done with it as well. It is pretty good, I'll have lots to say when I write my review of it, probably tomorrow.

Book Review 20: The Youngest Templar: Keeper of the Grail by Michael P. Spradlin

So, I am not really into the whole "Templars" and Holy Grail kind of story. But it was interesting enough. I could see how kids might get into it. I do have a complaint that several of the books I've read leave off. Yeah, I understand it is good to have sequels and keep kids reading, but this one ended right in the middle of major action!! Very frustrating for me. So, not sure this was a favorite. The main character is Tristan, who is an orphan left with monks and a mysterious note when he was a baby. So we get the idea he is someone special. The Templars stop by the monastery he is living at, and he draws the attention of Sir Thomas who wants Tristan to become his squire and train as a Templar. Unfortunately Sir Hugh also notices Tristan, and Sir Hugh is basically a bully, but maybe more as we find out further on. They go to the Holy Land under King Richard the Lion Heart. When the town they are in gets surrounded by Saracen, Sir Thomas gives Tristan the Holy Grail and tells him to make for safer land. On Tristan's way out, he runs into Robard who is a former member of the king's guard, and they are attacked by a band of assassins. They knock one out as the others run away. Tristan feels they must help this person, who turns out to be a girl, Maryam. She is grateful that they've helped her, so she helps them find their way. The book ends on a ship as they try to get to England, in the middle of the storm, when Tristan falls off the boat and begins to sink. Yeah, I know right, what a major cliffhanger.

My next book I started tonight, is called Boost by Kathy Mackel, it's a sports book, female basketball player I think. Not starting off well, I'm kind of bored so far.

Book Review 19: Shifty by Lynn E. Hazen

After Gone I needed a "realistic" fiction type of book, plus, this book I couldn't renew, it had a hold on it, along with some others on my lists that I hadn't read yet. But since I knew this was next, I decided to go ahead and read it, and maybe I can return it before school tomorrow and not have a fine? We'll see.

Anyway, Shifty, or Solomon, prefers to be called Shifty or Soli. He's a foster child, or as his foster mom puts it, a child in a foster home. Marge is his foster mom, and she is also taking care of a little girl named Sissy and a crack baby named Thaddeus, or as they call him, Chance. Shifty is only 15, yet driving. And his driving tends to get him in trouble, parking in handicap spots, flat tires, almost getting towed. There are lots of issues with his family, as you would imagine in this type of situation. Overall this was a good book, and I think there are kids who will relate to this. However I wonder if they like to read this kind of book, or if it would be too hard for them. Not sure what I'll rate this. It was good, but kind of hard and sad to read. I basically read it in one day, and my next book is "The Youngest Templar: Keeper of the Grail" by Michael P. Spradlin.

I also have a new "tentative" goal. I am now on book 20. I'm hoping to finish the Truman books before October if possible. Let's see, 6 more books, 8 more days this month? Well, maybe in the next two weeks I can do it, if not by October 1st. I'd love to get them as close to being done before November as possible, because then maybe I can do NanoWrimo again this year. I have an idea both for a new novel, as well as maybe going back and working on my first one I started, Digging Up Love, and maybe finally finishing that one.

Book Review 18: Gone by Michael Grant

This was a really long book, took me a few days to finish all over 500 pages. The book starts out with Sam sitting in class, and his teacher just all of a sudden disappearing. Just gone. Turns out all adults and teens over 14 have disappeared. The kids are left. Sam also has a secret, he's discovered he has a power. Some kind of flashing light/flame that can create a light or take off someone's hand. Turns out there are others with powers, and some of them are up at the Coates Academy, a private school for troubled rich kids, where Sam's mother works. Turns out that it is possible that Sam's twin brother may also be at that academy. Supposedly their mom gave him up, but kept Sam. Anyway, it's a pretty good story, there's some darkness behind all this, and not only are their kids with powers, the animals seem to have evolved in strange ways as well. Flying snakes, talking coyotes. And when kids turn 15 now, they also "poof". They find a wall all around the town that burns when they touch it. Sam's friend Astrid's younger brother Pete is autistic and may have something to do with the whole mess. There's a big confrontation between Sam and his "brother" at the end, but there isn't a set solution, and it is left for at least a sequel, which we have at the store and I'll have to read after I get done with all my book lists.

The next book I started yesterday was called Shifty, by Lynn E. Hazen, and it will be my next review.

Book Review 17: The White Gates by Bonnie Ramthun

From the cover I first thought it was a skateboard, but turns out it was a snowboard. Tor is the main character, and the book begins with his mother waking him up late at night because she is the town doctor and she has an emergency to go take care of and doesn't want to leave him alone. It's Tor's first night in Colorado. The emergency is a local snowboard team member. Tor being a new kid in town gets picked on. Supposedly the town is also "cursed" and all doctors who come are never going to stay.

One thing I didn't like is that it alluded a lot to Tor's life with his father, but takes a long time to tell us why he's with his mom now instead of his dad. I almost wondered if something bad had happened to his dad and stepmom from the way it kind of sounded. But no, just his dad having twins cut into his life, and now with his mom he's getting attention. He makes friends, a Ute girl and a boy who is the son of a famous snowboarder, both kind of outcasts/loner, but everyone seems to like them. The girl is the great, great, great grandaughter of the woman who cursed the town. Tor learns to snowboard and gets picked on all throughout the book, and of course solves the mystery of the boy at the beginning's strange death before his mom gets blamed for it, and also takes care of the curse.

It wasn't too bad actually.

I'm now onto Gone by Michael Grant, which is a book I'd actually been interested in for awhile. And it has started with a bang, or you might say a poof.

Book Review 16: Jack: Secret Histories by F. Paul Wilson

So, I've always thought about reading the Repairman Jack novels by F. Paul Wilson, but never got around to it. I'm pretty sure this is supposed to be about his main character growing up. Which means to be accurate to the adult novels that it takes place in the 1980's. While I enjoyed the references to the time period since I am a child of the 80's, I somewhat wonder if kids today will get the references, or even care. At least, that was my first thought. But as I got to thinking about it, at this point, isn't it like me reading about the 60's or even 50's during the 80's? Kids may enjoy it. There is one part where the main characters, Jack and Weezy, are talking about how they wish there was a two-way tv, where you could send questions to all the world's libraries to get answers. Hmm, sounds strangely like the Internet, doesn't it? I wonder if kids would pick up on that, or if it would go over their heads? Basically Jack, Weezy, and Weezy's brother Eddie are out in the woods and they find a mound, like an old Indian burial mound. Weezy is really into conspiracy theories, or as she calls it, the secret histories of the Earth. So she is digging around, and next thing you know they find a mysterious box and a dead body. They tell the cops about the body, but keep the box for themselves to study. Jack is the only one to be able to open it, and inside is a pyramid. There is Sumerian or some other ancient language inscribed on the box and pyramid.

Soon, there are more people dying, of strange ways, heart attacks out of nowhere. And in the town there is a secret Lodge that the men of the town belong to, and it is men from here that are dying. They try to get the pyramid and box dated by experts at a college, and both end up disappearing. One night there are helicopters that show up at the mound site, and when the 3 ride out to see, they are not sure if the guys there are really state patrol cops like the uniforms they are wearing.

There is some side story about a friend of Jack's that he is building a computer with, who is drinking. Not sure if this is necessary, but it does play into the solution of this particular mystery. I can tell this has left off for another one, and they even tell about it at the end of this one. Good story, just not sure what middle school kids will make of the 80's references.

Today I started The White Gates by Bonnie Ramthun.

Book Review 15: Little Audrey by Ruth White

This was a tiny, tiny book for this age of kids to read. Only 146 pages, so no wonder I finished it in the same day as when I started. Don't get me wrong, it was a really interesting story, but I just wonder if the kids in grades 7-9 that the Truman list is for will respond well to such a young story. The main character is Audrey, and she is actually the real older sister of the author. So it is a semi-autobiographical account of the author's life as a child in coal mine town. Audrey is 11 years old, and it is May, the end of the school year. Their father works in the coal mine, and in the past was also in the army until they sent him home saying he had 4 kids that needed him to be home. It actually sounds like the family was kind of better off, financially mostly, when he was in the army. Her father drank a lot, her mother was left home with the kids mostly. There were 3 other girls besides Audrey, that she called the "little Piggies". And there had been another baby that had died before it was a year old from spinal meningitis.

The fact that it is a true story will probably intrigue some readers, but it is told from a younger age than the kids who read this award nominee list, and often that can put this age off from reading something.

I also have to say that I read a book by the same author, Ruth White, for the Mark Twain list last year. It was called Way Down Deep, and it actually was one of my least favorites, yet made it to the list anyway. I liked this book better, but we'll see what happens.

The next book I'll start is called Jack: Secret Histories, and is by F. Paul Wilson, an author I've actually considered reading his adult novels in the past, but have yet to do. So we'll see how this one goes.

Book Review 14: Compound by S.A. Bodeen

I liked the premise of this book, it actually reminded me of the movie with Brendan Fraser called Blast from the Past, only the book wasn't humorous. The Yanakakis family is a rich and famous one. The father, Rex, was a computer genius. He was worried about nuclear war, so he build the compound. The compound was set up with a full school-size gymnasium, a livestock area, a hydroponics area, huge storage warehouse, doctor's office, beauty salon, each person in the family had their own bedroom, a fancy kitchen, you name it, it was there. They even had running water and electricity. But unfortunately when the bombs get dropped, Eli's twin brother and their grandmother get separated and don't make it to the compound before they have to close and lock the door. So it's just Dad, Mom, Eli's adopted sister Lexie, Eli, and his younger sister Teresa. Soon something goes wrong with the livestock and they have to kill and burn them instead of being able to eat them. Mom notices something is wrong with the wheat. Soon their father must figure out a way for them to survive when the stores they have will run out. Because it will take 15 years for the surface to be safe for them. And the way he figures out, they're called supplements, another way to get protein, if you can think of them that way.

But Eli finds a laptop in his twin brother's unused room that still has an internet icon, and when Eli clicks it, he finds the internet is still there. And Eli begins to wonder, is what his father told him the truth? And why would his father go to such extremes to try to save them, when it is really very unbelievable that his father could have even made the mistakes in the first place that lead to those kind of extremes. This was a really good book, I liked it a lot. The boy, Eli, was kind of sullen, not the "good twin" but that probably made it more interesting.

Today I started Little Audrey by Ruth White.

Book Review 13: My Father's Son by Terri Fields

This was a pretty good mystery with a kind of twist ending. Wasn't sure about it, but overall I liked it. Kevin Windor's parents are divorced. He spends weekends at his dad's house playing video games and just hanging out. Not that his dad doesn't have expectations for him as well. His dad is considered a computer genius, the video games they play are often ones that the company he works for has created and they get to play them before anyone else. Kevin's mom works hard every day to take care of Kevin, and prefers not to talk about his father. Kevin is a junior in high school, has a good friend named Jason, and a possible new girlfriend named Emily, his partner in Spanish class.

Things are going well until one day after school a breaking news report says the DB25 serial killer has been caught, and Kevin's father's face is flashed across the screen. At first Kevin can't believe it, he tries so hard to prove it's not true. He has issues with other people at school and in public because he looks just like his father. When his father doesn't try to get in touch, and even tells Kevin he doesn't want to see him, Kevin begins to wonder about his father. Then, DNA evidence links his father to the crime scene he was caught at. Kevin remembers that his dad had a laptop he'd hurriedly closed and not shown his son what was on it one time. He also loaned his father his jeep recently, when his father said his Lexus was in the shop. Now, was he using it to get to and from the crime scene with no evidence to connect him?

It seems like everything and everyone just makes Kevin so angry, and he starts lashing out so much that he is suspended from school and must take anger management classes.

I think this book was a good look at life in a crazy situation, and how a 17 year old boy handles it, or not. A quick, emotional at times, read. I think it would be a popular read for teens, but has kind of a scary subject.

The next book to read is Compound by S.A. Bodeen.

Book Review 12: The Otherworldlies by Jennifer Anne Kogler

Now, let me start off by saying that this was a good enough book. Whenever I picked it up, it was hard to put down, but it did have some issues, or at least it did for me.

First, the cover, the main character is supposed to be only 12 years old, but the girl on the cover looks older to me, so that was a bit misleading. But I guess to sell it to teens, the section it is in our bookstore at, you probably have to do that. The main character is Fern, she has a twin brother named Sam, and an older brother named Eddie. They call their mother the Commander. Well, Fern has some special powers. She talks to the dog, and hears him talk back. She can predict the weather, and hear people from far away, when they're talking about her anyway. And she comes to find out that she is a vampire, or as they call themselves now, otherworldlies.

This book brings in Greek mythology in this. It is in a way that makes me wonder if they read the Lightning Thief before writing this. Another similarity is how the vampires/otherworldlies want to come out to "normals" or humans and live side by side. I've now read about this in the Suck it Up by Brian Meehl I read earlier from this list, as well as it is a big part of the True Blood/Sookie Stackhouse series. Not that it's a bad thing, just very familiar to me right now.

There's a big deal about good and bad vampires and not knowing for sure who is good, and the good guys aren't always out for keeping Fern and her family safe, and not knowing who to trust, but in the end Fern does good and everyone is safe. I also see that it is left open for a sequel, so who knows when we might see another in a series. Why not, it's what everyone else is doing.

Tonight I started My Father's Son by Terri Fields. Should be done with it by tomorrow.

Book Review 11: Jump the Cracks by Stacy DeKeyser

So, I'm now over a fifth of the way through the books I've got to read by December 1st. yay!! This book was not too bad. The main character is Victoria, her parents are divorced, happened soon after 9/11. Her dad lives in New York city, so she has to take the train to go visit him. On her trip there she notices a teen mom with a little boy, the little boy has bruises on his arm. The mom seems to not really want the boy around, and leaves him in the bathroom when she gets off the train. Victoria feels for the boy, especially when her dad isn't there at the station to pick her up either. She decides to board the next train leaving and try to make sure that people start taking care of both her, and the little boy she calls Wills. She won't let him slip through the cracks, the way she feels she has sometimes. On her journey it turns out the boy gets reported as being kidnapped, and now she has to decide how to get him home safely to a person who will take care of him, and to not get herself in trouble, making sure people know she only had his best interests at heart.

An interesting story, not sure about it though compared to the others I've read so far. Tonight I started "The Otherworldlies" by Jennifer Anne Kogler.

Book Review 10: Shift by Jennifer Bradbury

I must admit once again I was not expecting to be thrilled by my latest book on the list. And once again I was wrong. In fact, I really, really, really liked this one. I think it would make a good movie. In fact, at the end when the main character, Chris, is watching a slideshow of the pictures from his bike trip across America, I can just see that as the end of the movie. The book starts out telling about how Chris and his friend Win biked across the country. Not motorcycles, actual bikes. They decided their senior year on a whim to do it, and Chris was encouraged by his father to do it for sure, since his father had ended up not taking a drive across country when he was younger because life came up and interrupted him. Win is Chris's best friend, and he comes from a rich, but not close family. He is in therapy because of emotional issues. The story is told in between Chris's present as he starts college and we find out Win never made it back from the trip, and flashbacks to the summer trip. Near Seattle Win took off when Chris got a flat tire, and Chris was unable to find him again. While they remained friends throughout the trip, Win kept mooching off of Chris, although early in the trip, Chris found a ton of money stashed in Win's bike pack. Chris never brings it up. But it irritates him as he runs low on money and Win never offers to pay, when Chris knows he has the money.

Soon an FBI agent shows up to question Chris about Win's whereabouts, but Chris honestly has not talked to him since Win rode off and left him with the flat tire. Win's dad buys Chris's dad's company and threatens to have him fired, all trying to find where Win is. Soon Chris gets some postcards that give him some reminders of the trip, as well as possible hints. If Chris finds where Win is, he has to decide whether to tell his family, or whether to figure out why Win has disappeared and if he should let him stay. I highly recommend this one, it will get a five on my rating scale.

Next on the list is Jump the Cracks by Stacy DeKeyser.

Book Review 9: The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson

Once again, a book I wasn't sure about. I remember someone I'm friends with on Goodreads.com putting this on their to-read list, and at the time I thought it sounded good. But when I picked it up to read for this list, I wasn't sure. It was about a girl named Jenna Fox who wakes up from a coma and can't remember her life. It sounds like a realistic fiction book, but is actually a sci-fi book. It takes place in the future. Most natural plants have been wiped out by strains of genetically engineered plants. Many people have died from problems with vaccinations, and cloning, appendages and organs anyway, are now standard, up to a point. It is into this world that Jenna wakes up to parents that keep her home, won't really talk to her about what happened, and a grandmother who for some reason doesn't seem to like her. I really enjoyed the book after all. I wish it had gone more into some of the science type stuff, but the story itself was good. I know it was a teen/YA novel, but would love to see the same story pulled out a bit more into a longer novel. So much more I would have liked to know about what happened, what was really wrong with her classmate Dane? And more.

Onto book 10 from the lists, which means I'm a fifth of the way done. I started it today, it is is Shift by Jennifer Bradbury.

Book Review 8: Hershey Herself by Cecilia Galante

I tend to prefer more fantasy or sci fi books. So I wasn't really looking forward to a more "realistic" book. But as I think back now, many of my favorite books as a kid were realistic books: Harriet the Spy, A Summer to Die, From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. So I thought to read Hershey Herself more as if I was a kid. It actually is a pretty good book. Hershey's mom lives with her boyfriend, Slade. Slade is verbally abusive, and at one time threw a glass that shattered and shards of glass went into one of Hershey's eyes and messed it up. Her mom left, but shortly after they left, she found out she was pregnant, so she went back to him. There's no more physical stuff until a couple weeks after Hershey has enacted a scheme her best friend Phoebe helped her come up with to get rid of Slade. Her mother decides now they have to move out, and they go to a women's shelter. Hershey, her mother, and her little sister Ella must learn to live in this shelter. Hershey meets a mysterious woman named Lupe who teaches her to play the piano. She has issues with her friend, and a bully at school. I know there are probably many kids who might read this book who are in this same type of situation. So I think this would be a good book for them to read. So it turned out to be much better than I first thought.

I've started the next book already tonight, it is The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson. I've actually wanted to read it for awhile since I saw it read by someone else on Goodreads.com.

Book Review 7: Voss: How I Come to America and am Hero, Mostly by David Ives

This book was one I actually am not a huge fan of. The story was only a little okay. It was told with bad spelling, to make you "hear" the main characters Slobovian accent. Voss came to America smuggled in with Cheese Puffs. He gets there, looks for a job, which first he finds, then he gets fired, then his dad gets kidnapped and he has to save him, but it turns out it's not just his dad he has to save, and so on. A few funny parts, but one of the misspellings is the b-word, and I just feel like it is kind of a stereotyping book, and don't know that I would recommend it to kids. Just my opinion of course, but it's getting a pretty low rating on my scoring sheet for the Truman books. I actually finished it before bed last night, but no time or should I say too tired to come down and type up a blog. Today I started the next book called Hershey Herself by Cecelia Galante.

Book Review 6: The Other Side of the Island by Allegra Goodman

I'm not quite sure about this one. It was an interesting read at least. I tend to enjoy books that are set in the "near" future supposedly and have political or social commentary. Reminds me of the Giver. In this, I take it to mean that Global Warming has occurred and all the polar ice caps have melted and the Earth has changed. The new leader is "Earth Mother" and the Corporation. They are putting shields over all the Earth so that they can control the weather. The main character starts out kind of young, her name is Honor. In this new world, all babies are named a certain letter for the year they are born. Honor's year is of course H. For some reason her family has moved to this island, that is partially under this shield. The sky is controlled, they only see certain stars and the sky's color is projected by the Corporation. They don't have weather really, although twice in the book there are big storms. Honor's parents aren't quite part of the group. First off, Honor's mother is pregnant, and families in this time don't have more than one kid, or if they do, that other child is adopted by couples who can't have kids. Because she is pregnant she can't get a job. She keeps the baby and the year he is born in makes his name start with a Q, they name him Quintillian. The school Honor, and eventually Quintillian go to is very strict. The books have things cut out, and only certain books are allowed. The pledge of allegiance as we know it has been changed, as well as the students only learn certain things, and happy songs, etc.

The "resistance" as you may call it, is led by the Forecaster. We do get a glimpse at who this is at the very end. But people who resist are "taken". Parents are taken from their children, making them orphans. These orphans have no idea where their parents have gone, but they now must live at the school with other orphans. This happens to Honor's friend Helix when his parents are taken.

I'm not sure as I said, it was an okay book, but since I don't think Global Warming is all that, I have trouble telling what this book is trying to say exactly. But I think kids would enjoy it, and I like that it would get them thinking about issues.

Today I started the next book called Voss: How I come to America and am hero, mostly by David Ives. Again, not sure if I'm going to like this one very much, I think it's kind of weird. I was worried I would get backed up, but starting this book today I am back on track.