39 Clues: Maze of Bones Bk 1

By Rick Riordan
Ages 9+
The story starts when Grace Cahill dies and scatters cryptic clues to a mysterious fortune around the globe. Lead-off hitter Riordan (The Lightning Thief) mixes just the right proportions of suspense, peril and puzzles in a fast-paced read (Riordan mapped the narrative arc for the series, but other high-profile authors have written books in the series). 


Likable orphans Amy and Dan Cahill have moxie (plus Dan can memorize numbers instantly) and frailties (Amy hates crowds). As the siblings compete with less honorable members of the Cahill clan, all distantly related to Benjamin Franklin, to win the fortune by collecting all 39 clues (only two are found in this first book), they learn about their dead parents, each other and world history. 


While waiting for the next book you can go online and play to get more clues and to have more fun: www.the39clues.com.


Here are the books so far!

1. Maze Of Bones (2008) by Rick Riordan
2. One False Note (2008) by Gordon Korman
3. The Sword Thief (2009) by Peter Lerangis
4. Beyond the Grave (2009) by Jude Watson
5. The Black Circle (2009) by Patrick Carman
6. In Too Deep (2009) by Jude Watson
7. The Viper's Nest (2010) by Peter Lerangis
8. The Emperor's Code (2010) by Gordon Korman
9. Storm Warning (2010) by Linda Sue Park
10. Into The Gauntlet (2010) by Margaret Peterson Haddix

(HINT: The books are found on the shelf under JFic Thir for 39 Clues. )

Sabriel

by Garth Nix

Please welcome our first teen blogger, Elizabeth! Thanks for the GREAT entry!

I was wandering my school's library and praying for a good fantasy book to do my report on. Finally I gave in and typed 'fantasy' into the search engine and Sabriel came up as a result. The cover looked interesting so I hunted it down and read the back. It sounded like just what I needed, so I checked it out. Then I proceeded to spend weeks reading the rest of the series because Sabriel was so amazing.


Sabriel is the adopted daughter of the Abhorsen, a necromancer sworn to help the spirits back into Death. When her father goes missing, she takes up the seven bells of the Abhorsen, and goes in search of him, hoping her meager knowledge of necromancy is enough. She finds companionship in the form of Mogget, an incredibly powerful Free Magic creature, and Touchstone, a prince imprisoned in the wood of a ship's figurehead for several centuries. She and her friends must track down Kerrigor, a spirit from beyond the ninth gate. Sabriel has to imprison Kerrigor to free her father. Will she do it?

Well I sure ain't tellin'! What I love about this book, is the fact that it is subtly eerie and scary, without being an all-out blood bath. Garth Nix keeps Sabriel focused with a believable familial loyalty, and puts her necromancer skills to the test in many unusual and unexpected ways. The cover makes you really wonder about what will happen, and gives you the chills.

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.

Lightning Thief

by Rick Riordan
Grades 5+

Percy Jackson is a 12 year old diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia, who has been expelled from several schools. After a terrifying encounter with Mrs. Dodds, the math teacher who isn't human, Percy comes to realize that he is different. With his mother and best friend Grover, Percy is taken to a Camp Half Blood for other different kids--kids who are the children a Greek god and a mortal. Percy is a demi-god.

Days after discovering his parentage, Percy is challenged to go on a quest to discover who stole Zeus' lightning bolt. Percy and his friends must figure out the mystery before the summer equinox or risk the destruction of the world as we know it. Percy faces the wrath of the gods and of the mythical creatures we all thought didn't really exist.

This is the first book in a triology and has recently been made into a movie. Rick Riordan writes an action packed, mythological book with humor and friendship. If you liked this book then you should try Riordan's newest series The Red Pyramid or wait for the fall for the next generation of campers at Camp Half Blood.

At the Main Branch library on July 15th at 3:30pm there will be a Percy Jackson book discussion. Come and join others in their love for this adventure series! Call the Main to reserve your spot 782-4882 ext 215

Peter and the Starcatchers

by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson
Grades 5+

I've just finished listening to this book, read by the talented Jim Dale of Harry Potter reading fame.

In an evocative and fast-paced adventure on the high seas and on a faraway island an orphan boy named Peter and his mysterious new friend, Molly, overcome bands of pirates and thieves in their quest to keep a fantastical secret safe. Riveting adventure takes listeners on a journey from a harsh orphanage in old England to a treacherous sea in a decrepit old ship. Aboard the Never Land is a trunk that holds a magical substance with the power to change the fate of the world - just a sprinkle and wounds heal and just a dusting and people can fly.

Sound familar? Bestselling authors Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson have turned back the clock and revealed pre-quel to J. M. Barrie's beloved Peter Pan

The authors plait multiple story lines together in short, fast-moving chapters, with the growing friendship between Molly and Peter at the narrative's emotional center. Capitalizing on familiar material, this adventure is carefully crafted to set the stage for Peter's later exploits. This smoothly written page-turner just might send readers back to the original.

This is a great book for (not just 5th graders) anyone who hates evil pirates, loves adventures, and always wish s/he could fly! Highly, highly reccommended!

The Red Pyramid

by Rick Riordan

Ages 9+

Up until now I have only blogged about books that I have read in their enireity. I will have to make an exception today. Last night I started this book and it is incredible. The adventure started with page 1, actually before page one. The book opens with a warning (I love when a book warns me about reading it!) that the book is a was a dictation and was taken down as carefully as possible but it is dangerous to read.

Here is the plot of the 1st 40 pages: Since their mother’s death, Carter and Sadie have become near strangers. While Sadie has lived with her grandparents in London, her brother has traveled the world with their father, the brilliant Egyptologist, Dr. Julius Kane. One night, Dr. Kane brings the siblings together for a "research experiment" at the British Museum, where he hopes to set things right for his family. Instead, something goes terribly wrong and Julius disappears. Carter and Sadie are wisked away to New York (by some kind of magic) and discover that they are not the "normal" family that they thought they were.

See what I mean? Adventure from the first page. It's freaking awesome!

Where Percy Jackson took on Greek myth, in the Red Pyramid, Riordan writes about Egyptian myth. If you liked Percy Jackson you are going to LOOOOVE this.

Flush By Carl Hiaasen

Grade 5 Up–In Flush (Knopf, 2005), Carl Hiaasen's ecological concerns focus on illegal dumping of raw sewage from a floating casino. Noah Underwood's dad has sunk the gambling ship, the Coal Queen, in protest. Now the elder Underwood is launching a media campaign from his jail cell to raise public awareness since the sewage-spewing ship will soon be back in operation. Though Noah and his younger sister Abbey believe in their father's cause, they also fear their mother will file for divorce if he continues to react so outrageously to environmental issues. After a few false starts and run-ins with the casino owner's son and the ship's hired goon, the siblings come up with a plan to use food coloring to expose the hazardous dumping. Working with Shelly, the casino's bartender, and aided by a mysterious white-haired man, Noah and Abbey set their trap, but end up adrift off the Florida Keys. Rescue and an unexpected family reunion make their successful exposure of the corrupt casino owner even sweeter. It takes a few more plot twists before the Coral Queen is closed forever, and by then Noah's parents have learned better ways to manage their marital problems.

I really enjoyed reading this book . I predicted based on his other book Hoot that it would have an enviromental issue in it. The characters were believeable and it gave me a new appreciation for the enviroment in Florida where the book is set. It also made for a great discussion book becuase of not only the enviromental issues but, beacuse of many of the other issues about character, divorce, bribery, and even going to jail and the lesson of whats right and wrong.

Tunnel in the Sky By Robert A. Heinlein

The final exam for Dr. Matson's Advanced Survival class was meant to be just that: only a test. But something has gone terribly wrong...and now Rod Walker and his fellow students are stranded somewhere unknown in the universe, beyond contact with Earth, at the other end of a tunnel in the sky. Stripped of all comforts, hoping for apassage home that may never appear, the castaways must band together or perish. For Rod and his fellow survivors, this is one test where failure is not an option....

I was skeptical reading the first couple chapters of this book because, normally I would not just pick up a science fiction novel to read. However, what a surprise as I continued to read further in this novel the more I loved it. It was a book published back in 1955 but, could easily happen today. In reading the book I could picture what it was like to be one of the characters stranded in this unknow place with only limited reasources to use to survive. I definetly was hooked into this page turner of a novel and was rooting for Rod Walker and the rest to survive thier test and make it back alive. This was a great read and a perfect book for a book discussion!