2013 Truman Possibility 13: The Death Catchers by Jennifer Anne Kogler

Oh my gosh, I don't know if I can say just how much I loved this book!  The story was really good, but besides that, with it being my first year teaching 7th grade English, specifically about plots and narrative writing, I loved the titles of the chapters, and how the protagonist or main character explained what they meant and how she was doing that with that part of the story.  I could totally see using this with my class some year when I'm teaching this in the future.
This isn't the first book by this author that I've read.  I read The Otherworldlies a few years ago for The Truman list as well.  I wasn't as excited about that one.  It seemed a bit too familiar and like other books that were popular at the time.  Not that it wasn't good, as the first line in my review on that (which you can read if you click on the title) says basically this same thing.  It just didn't grab me like The Death Catchers did.
Okay, so, as I said, this story is being told by our protagonist, Lizzy Mortimer, which means it is first person point of view, as she points out in the chapter titled "Point of View".  Lizzy has to do something to make up for not turning in her project for English class with Mrs. Tweedy.  And so she writes this "letter", albeit a very long letter, to explain why she didn't get the project done, and to hopefully make up for the project.  In the story we learn how she finds out she is a Hand of Fate, just like her grandmother Bizzy.  Only they feel that name is too old fashioned, so they change it to Death Catcher.  The first specter, or notice that someone is going to die that Lizzy gets is for her very best friend Jodi.  Needless to say all Lizzy wants to do is save her. But Bizzy explains that she can't tell Jodi, she can only do her best to keep it from happening.  They are able to save Jodi, but in doing so, Lizzy sees her first Banshee.  A little creepier than they are in the Soul Screamers series by Rachel Vincent.  :-)  And soon Lizzy gets her next specter.  It's the cute guy at school.  And not only that, through research, Lizzy find out that Drake is a little more important than just someone to save.  Saving him will keep Doomsday from happening.
There is mythology in this story, it is from the story of King Arthur.  And while it is a bit interesting to have it happening in California, seeing as how that legend is really from England I think? That does make a bit of a stretch in a way.  But not in a bad way.  It didn't keep me from enjoying the story.
Another thing I totally loved was Lizzy's mother.  She sounds just like the type of librarian I want to be.  According to Lizzy, her whole goal in life was to find the Right Book for that person.  I feel the same.  When I see kids who don't like to read, or who say that, I always tell them they just haven't found the right book.  And I want so bad to make it my mission to find that for them.  And I try, in between teaching, and when I'm working at the bookstore I enjoy finding books for people there too.
Again I have to comment on just how much I loved getting to each new chapter to see what writing tidbit would be the title of that chapter, and how she would explain it as part of the story.  Such an awesome, awesome, awesome book!  I even told one of my students about it, and the chapter titles, and they thought that was such a cool idea!  I will definitely be buying this to keep in my classroom library whether it makes the final Truman list for next year or not.
If you enjoy re-tellings, this is an interesting one for the whole Arthurian legend.  If you are an educator of any sort, classroom teacher or librarian, I can't imagine you not enjoying the fun way this was set up.  The characters are very quirky and likable.  I truly, truly LOVE this book!

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.