Stuck on Earth
by David Klass

The first two chapters of Stuck on Earth are some of the funniest, most attention-grabbing first pages of a novel that I've read in a while.  An alien space ship orbiting Earth is checking out the planet for possible colonization by the Lugonians, a species whose sun is about to go super nova.  Katchvar III, a snail-like creature, has been sent to Earth to inhabit the body of a 14-year-old boy, to evaluate the human race and determine whether it deserves to live or be exterminated.  It is a well-known fact that humans are very violent beings with little positive to be said about them.  Ketchvar's host body, Tom Filber, and his family just seem to prove what is already known--humans are mean and destructive and don't deserve the beautiful planet they inhabit.
        While this story has a funny beginning, not far into to book it becomes obvious how miserable and dysfunctional Tom's life really is.  It is questionable whether Ketchvar is a real alien, or an alternate personality that Tom uses to deal with his unhappy life.  That question hangs over the remainder of the novel, causing the reader to constantly wonder if this is an entertaining sci-fi novel, or an intense story about a troubled teen.  The budding relationship with the girl next door, Ketchvar's environmental project to research the cause of pollution in the local river, and Tom/Ketchvar's struggle to connect with his father make this a novel which can be read on several levels. You will have to decide for yourself whether or not Ketchvar III is a real being from outer space or a figment of Tom's imagination.  Stuck on Earth is on the 2012 Texas Lone Star Reading List and highly recommended.
             ~reviewed by Mrs. Sams

Epitaph Road

by David Patneaude

Earth in 2097 is a very different place than it had been in 2067.  After Elisha's Bear, the plague that wiped out 97% of Earth's male population, women had to take over everything--government, research, teaching, criminal justice, medicine--everything.  And with their control came stability, drastically reduced crime, environmental improvements, reduction of hunger and poverty.  The few men left in the world had two choices.  They could live extremely tightly controlled lives in the high population areas, or they could escape to the wilderness and become "throwbacks" or loners.  Fourteen-year-old Kellen lives in Seattle with his mother, an important official in PAC, the Population Apportionment Council, goes to school, studies constantly to pass his trials so that he might have a chance at a good job and fulfilled life.  His father is a loner and a fisherman, whom Kellen sees only rarely.  And though she had promised Kellen earlier that he could visit his father soon, she now keeps putting him off.  Kellen is becoming suspicious that something big is about to happen, and has little reason to fully trust his mother.  Eavesdropping, he learns that Elisha's Bear will be planted in the area where his father lives.  By doing online research guided by an unorthodox teacher, Kellen and two girls in his class begin to learn the truth about the plague, and decide to escape to the Olympic peninsula to warn his dad about the coming danger.  They couldn't possibly realize how dangerous this decision will be, and the unknown terror they are heading toward.   Epitaph Road is a different take on a future world which had been pulled back from the brink of destruction.  ~reviewed by Mrs. Sams

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THE MAZE RUNNER
By James Dashner

When Thomas wakes up in the dark lift, he remembers nothing about himself except his first name.  When the lift doors open, he is encircled by the faces of boys, maybe 50 or 60 boys, standing in an open glade.  Thomas has a million questions, but the leaders don't seem to be too patient.  However, over the course of several days, he discovers that he has been sent to a place which is enclosed by enormous stone walls.  Every morning, huge doors in the walls open on all four sides of the enclosure, and every evening the doors close.  The boys tell him the walls are for their protection because outside the walls in the maze that surrounds the compound, roam huge terrible bio-mechanical monsters call Grievers.
        Life inside the walls is highly organized with everyone having a specific job.  Supplies come up the lift on a regular basis, and once a month, a new boy arrives.   None of the boys know why they are there, but they believe they are there to figure out how to escape from the maze.  It's all a huge test; everything rests on the ability of the maze runners to figure out where the escape route is.  When there's a new arrival to the glade just one day after Thomas arrives, the first girl ever, the Gladers realize that everything is about to change and that the stakes are higher than ever.  A science fiction novel filled with tense action and terrifying mystery, The Maze Runner is book one of a series, and the reader is left guessing what else can possibly go wrong with the Gladers.  On this year's Texas Lone Star list.  
       --reviewed by Mrs. Sams