The Monstrumologist

By Rick Yancey
Ages 15+
If you like the TV show Supernatural and you don't mind being really grossed out, you will love this book.

Set in the late-1800s in New England, Will Henry is the 12-year-old apprentice to Pellinore Warthrop, a brilliant and self-absorbed monstrumologist (a scientist who studies (and when necessary, kills) monsters). The newest threat is the Anthropophagi, a pack of headless, shark-toothed bipeds. The great mystery is how they got to this continent as they are indigenous to Africa.

As the action moves from the dissecting table to the cemetery to an asylum to underground catacombs, Yancey keeps the shocks frequent and shrouded in a splatter miasma of blood, bone, pus, maggots, and great vocabulary. The prose style is The industrial-era setting is populated with leering, Dickensian characters, most notably the loathsome monster hunter hired by Warthrop to enact the highly effective “Maori Protocol” method of slaughter.

The story is great. The writing is fantastic. The sentiment feels real. It is a wonderful and scary book.

The Compound

By S.A. Bodeen
Ages 12+
In a burst of panic about a nuclear attack, Eli, his sisters, and his parents move into an underground bunker built by Eli's billionaire father. It's an enormous complex. Only his grandmother and twin brother, Eddie, don't make it in. The first six years of the planned 15 have been fairly routine, but now some food has spoiled, and certain things just don't seem right, or even possible. Eli, who is now 15,  is starting to have doubts about his father's motives, explanations, and sanity.

The novel becomes full of tension and suspense and turns into a true edge-of-the-seat thriller. As far-fetched as the premise may be, Bodeen keeps Eli's actions true to life and uses clues planted fairly and in plain sight. The audience will feel the pressure closing in on them as they, like the characters, race through hairpin turns in the plot toward a breathless climax.

The reader will feel connected to Eli's character even though he is a spoiled, self-centered child. As the years pass, Eli is full of teen angst and anger that develops into a realization of what he must do in order to help his family survive. He may even find that he loves his family--something he never thought he would admit.

Hatchet

By Gary Paulsen
Grade 8-12

Brian Robeson, 13, is the only passenger on a small plane flying him to visit his father in the Canadian wilderness when the pilot has a heart attack and dies. The plane drifts off course and finally crashes into a small lake. Miraculously Brian is able to swim free of the plane, arriving on a sandy tree-lined shore with only his clothing, a tattered windbreaker, and the hatchet his mother had given him as a present.

This is a great novel to help us, in the modern world, realize how spoiled we are with our wi fi, AC, and DVR. Brian's mistakes, setbacks, could be deadly and without this small hatchet he would have survived the 54 days alone in the wilderness. Paulsen effectively shows readers how Brian learns patience to watch, listen, and think before he acts as he attempts to build a fire, to fish and hunt, and to make his home under a rock overhang safe and comfortable.

This story is over 20 years old but is not outdated. It is still a great adventure about survival, lonliness, and family. Paulsen emphasizes character growth through a careful balancing of specific details of survival with the protagonist's thoughts and emotions. This story has stood the test of time.

What are you reading right now...aside from this blog...

I literally just heard a kid say (complete with Davy Crockett hat (I really am not kidding)), "I don't like no books with no pictures in 'em." This statement leads me to wonder what young people these day do like reading or do, even though they don't like it, read.

I know I fell victim to the "My Life is Too Busy" Syndrome and I couldn't find time to read. However, I found time to hang out with friends, go out to eat, go to church, watch TV, and do crafts. In short, just because I was busy didn't mean I didn't live my life, it meant that I lived my life more. So I think that because you are busy you should be reading more as well. And it can be done. While in law school, my sister read the whole wheel of time series (as was published at the time) at least twice. She read during her commute (this is not recommended unless you listen to audio books or you take public transit), she read before bedtime, and she kept books with her so if she had a down moment she could pick up her book. Even though you are busy you can still find time to read.

I'm not saying you need to go to your public library and pick up Ivanhoe and Moby Dick. If you hate the book you are reading you aren't going to read it and that completely misses the point. Just looking at that page with words on it engages your mind and improves your mental capacity. Let me explain what I mean.

I found the joy of reading first in 6th grade when I found the children's classics (I particularly remember Charlotte's Web)  that most everyone read in elementary school. Because of a learning disability I had trouble reading and wasn't able to read at grade level for a long time. After a burst of reading activity, I got busy again. I didn't find reading again until I was a Junior in high school and my sister was telling me all the great books she was reading in college. I picked up several (she was taking a political science literature class and recommended Animal Farm and Fahrenheit 451) of those books and dove into a bright and beautiful world. Then college happened. I was reading plenty of stuff but not for pleasure. During the last year of my graduate school I found an author, Janet Evanovich, and suddenly devoured 12 books in 4 weeks. I have been reading about 3 books a week since then. In 2009 I read 127 books.

Reading has enriched my life in ways I never expected and looking back at my high school and college experience, I wish I had read more. You don't have to read as requently as I do. Obviously you don't have to read at all. But I reccommend that you find some silly or fun series and dive in. If you read 1 book a month then you will be reading 12 more books a year than you did last year. Your life will be better for it.

DISCLAIMER: Yeah, I am a librarian but reading is not my job. As a reference librarian, mostly I refer patrons to educational materials or reference materials. So while I work around books and organize books, I don't read for a living. Oh! What a job that would be!

Gingerbread (Cyd Charisse #1)

by Rachel Cohn
Age 16+
To say goth girl Cyd Charisse feels like she is misunderstood is an understatement to the extreme. Self proclaimed "recovering hellion" was just getting tossed from her posh boarding school. Wild, willful, and coffee addicted Cyd Charisse returns to San Francisco to live with her parents. But there's no way Cyd can survive in her parents' pristine house. Lucky for Cyd she's got her new surfer boyfriend and Gingerbread, her childhood rag doll and confidante.


When Cyd's rebelliousness gets out of hand, her parents ship her off to New York City to spend the summer with "Frank real-dad," her biological father. Trading in her parents for New York City grunge and getting to know her bio-dad and step-sibs is what Cyd has been waiting for her whole life. But summer in the city is not what Cyd expects -- and she's far from the daughter or sister that anyone could have imagined.

Cyd's narative is believable, sarcastic, and pretty funny. Recommended for anyone who has ever felt like an outsider in her own life.