The Total Tragedy of a Girl Named Hamlet   by Erin Dionne

    Being invisible to anyone who might make your life miserable, or even uncomfortable, is the goal of many junior high students.  Nothing could be worse than saying the wrong thing, and opening up yourself to humiliation.  So, you don't say anything at all. You don't want to attract the negative attention of your teachers, so you do your best to pass your classes.  On the other hand, you don't want to be considered a geek by fellow students, so you certainly can't do really well in your classes. You must wear the same kind of clothes as everyone else, like the same music, watch the same TV shows, and generally do your best to fly under the radar.
     Such is the goal of Hamlet Kennedy.  Her higest wish is to have a good, normal 8th grade year.  She never could have imagined how difficult that would prove to be. It was bad enough that she has the strangest family anywhere, but now it appears that her genius 7 year-old sister will be attending her school to take some fine arts classes.  Can life get any worse?  An appearance in Renaissance garb by her Shakespeare-loving parents, a befriending of her little sister by her two worst enemies, and a secret admirer who keeps putting origami pigs in her locker say yes!
    A fun, light-hearted story, The Total Tragedy of a Girl named Hamlet, hits the nail on the head when describing the troubles and anxiety of an 8th-grade girl. On the 2011 Texas Lones Star list, and available in the library.
                    ~reviewed by Mrs. Sams
   



A Season

of Gifts

by Richard Peck

      I've got to admit, A Season of Gifts is a great example of my favorite kind of book--the plot not so important, but filled with funny, quirky characters doing sweet and hilarious things, filled with witty turns of phrase.  In this case, it's Mrs. Dowdel who lives next door to the new Methodist preacher and his family.  Mrs. Dowdel is old as the ground her dilapidated house sits on and as big as the side of a barn.  But she doesn't let that stop her.  She is busy from dawn till forever every single day, working in her garden and doing a variety of other things that keep her and half the town fed and clothed.  She hides a heart as big as all outdoors with a grouchy exterior.  She has a finely tuned sense of justice and has the creativity to see justice served when no one else is able to. Just ask Roscoe Burdick, the town troublemaker.  Most people either know to stay out of her way, or are foolish enough to think she's a helpless old woman.  Woe to the one who underestimates her abilities! 

      In A Season of Gifts, Peck follows the adventures of Bob and his sisters Ruth Ann and Phyllis as they settle in to small-town life next door to Mrs. Dowdel.  From haunted houses to a funeral for an Indian princess, Peck keeps the laughs coming.  Season is a companion volume to Newbery award winner, A Year Down Yonder, and Newbery Honor book, A Long Way from Chicago, which is in our school library.  This heart-warming story is a quick read and highly recommended.   ~reviewed by Mrs. Sams

Hero
by Mike Lupica

Mike Lupica is known for his outstanding sports novels for young adults.  With Hero he takes on a whole new genre--superheroes.  Zach Harriman and his parents live in an amazing apartment on Fifth Avenue in New York City.  Zach can look across the street to Central Park, a place he loves better than any other.  Zach's dad is some sort of top secret trouble-shooter for the U.S. government, and answers to the President.  Very cool, except he's always gone, and Zach can't help being resentful.  Then, one day Zach just knows that his dad is dead, and he runs all the way home from school to learn that his father has died in a plane crash.  Zach knows something isn't right, because his dad was the best pilot on the planet.  Something is definitely suspicious.  
      Zach knows he won't be able to move on until he visits the site of his father's plane crash.  With the help of his best friend, Kate, he makes plans to take a bus out to the crash site.  Once there, strange things begin happening, including the appearance of an old man named Mr. Herbert, who seems to know all about Zach and his dad.  And he tells Zach that he has the magic, just like his father did.   At that moment, Mr. Herbert walks away fast, with Zach following.  And then, all of sudden, Zach finds himself back in New York City, though seconds before he had been three hours away.  So begins Zach's discovery of the magic within him.  He begins to exhibit more and more powers, and he just knows when he needs to leave the apartment for an encounter with the "bads."  He learns that he can trust very few people, even the ones he thought he knew the best.  Hero is a classic tale of good against evil, which just cries out for a sequel as Zach becomes more and more confident in his super abilities. 
Recommended.    ~Reviewed by Mrs. Sams
     


    

THEODORE
              kid lawyer
BOONE
By John Grisham

Theo Boone, 13, already thinks of himself as a lawyer.  He is the only child of two good lawyers in town, he knows most of the other lawyers, judges, clerks, and bailiffs in town and at the courthouse, and he has picked up a lot of knowledge about the law by hanging around and listening.  It is no wonder that all his classmates at school come to him when they have problems connected with the law--everything from a dog in the pound to an older brother in jail on drug charges. 

The biggest murder trial this town has ever had is going on at the courthouse right now, Judge Henry Gantry presiding, and Theo has a burning desire to be present for every bit of it.  The only problem is that he can't skip school.  Fortunately, he and Judge Gantry are tight, and he gets permission for his government class to be present in the courtroom on the first day of the trial.  After that, he has to rush over after school to watch, and then fill in the gaps by hacking into the court reporters' secure system.  Since there is no hard evidence, it looks like the defendent is going to get off scot free, even though Theo is convinced he really murdered his wife.

For Theo, the murder trial becomes personal when a friend of his tells him he might know something about the murder, and introduces him to an eye witness to the crime.  The only problem is that the witness is terrified of the police and doesn't want to testify because he is an illegal immigrant.  He can't afford to be jailed or sent out of the country.  Theo spends several sleepless nights trying to figure out how to handle this situation before he finally trusts the adults in his life.

This is John Grisham's first novel for kids.  While Theodore Boone is a likable character, the plot is a little slow.  Grisham spends a lot of time setting up the storyline, and then there are few surprises.  Still, it is an enjoyable read and would appeal to some kids who are interested in the law, or who don't need tons of action to enjoy a book.  I'd expect a second Theo Boone offering to be much better.        ~reviewed by Mrs. Sams

little princes

One Man's Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal

by CONOR GRENNAN

Stories like Little Princes, which I couldn't help but compare to Greg Mortenson's Three Cups of Tea, convince me that even in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, there is some good in human beings, that people do have the ability to change for the better, and that one man can make a difference.  That evidence, and the enthralling tale of rescuing abandoned and abused children in the middle of a remote and civil war-torn country like Nepal, made this book one that I couldn't put down.  Conor Grennan, a well-educated, international public affairs think-tank consultant, needed a break from his job, and as a single guy with a little savings, he had the resources to take a year off to travel around the world.  He decided to spend the first couple of months volunteering in a Nepalese orphanage, mostly because it sounded dangerous and would impress women in bars.  However, he had only been at Little Princes, an orphanage outside Kathmandu started by a French woman, for a few weeks when these children had completely won his heart.

The more he learned about the background of these children the more he wanted to help them, and when he discovered that most of them were not orphans at all, but trafficked children, essentially stolen from their parents in Humla, a dangerous and distant part of Nepal, he realized he intended to come back and try to reconnect them with their parents.  Back in the United States, Conor raises funds, and makes plans to return to Little Princes.  While in the States, he learns that seven children he expected to be moved to a safe house, had disappeared.  He blamed himself, and his resolve to return, find those seven, and establish his own safe house became his passion. 

The narrative of Conor's return, working with a government official to find his seven children, establishing his own home for children with the help of Farid, a dedicated Frenchman who loved the children as much as Conor did, and trekking into Humla to find the parents of the children at Little Princes, is a fascinating and engrossing story.  Conor Grennan writes with intensity and humor, making Little Princes an inspiring and entertaining read.  Well worth the time!!        Reviewed by Dail 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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dirty little secrets

by c.J. omololu

        Lucy, a high school junior, lives every minute of the day with a shameful secret.  She spends much of her energy just keeping her real life hidden from everyone she knows.  Her secret is something she has endured for as long as she can remember.  Her older brother and sister lived with it too, until they graduated from high school and escaped.  Now Lucy just has to hang on for another year-and-a-half, and she can escape too.  But most of the time it seems like she just can't make it that long.  For almost the first time in her life, she has a best friend, and a maybe boyfriend.  She believes she would lose them forever if they found out how she and her mother live--if they saw the mounds of junk, newspapers, and rotting garbage her mother collects and refuses to throw away inside their house.

       One day Lucy comes home to find her mother's dead body lying on the hallway floor.  She realizes her carefully hidden life will be revealed to the world if she calls 911.  Her dream of living a normal life will be over when she brings in the authorities.  Lucy is just not willing to give up the dream.  It is up to her to decide what to do and to deal with the situation all alone...

              ~reveiwed by Mrs. Sams

The Exiled Queen

by Cinda Williamas Chima

At the end of The Demon King, Book One of the Seven Realms series, Han Alister has learned that he is a wizard whose powers have been suppressed by the silver cuffs he's always worn on his wrists.  The clan leaders take the cuffs off his wrists and promise him an education at the Wizard's school in Oden's Ford in exchange for his vow to help them fight their enemies when called upon.  His long-time clan friend, Dancer goes with him. 

Princess Raisa meanwhile, flees from a coerced marriage to Micah Bayer, son of the High Wizard.  Accompanied by her friend and guard Amon Byrne and his cadets, Raisa heads to Wein House, the military school in Oden's Ford, at the advice of Amon's father, to receive the military and political training she needs to effectively perform her duties as queen.

Both journeys are filled with dangers and discomforts, but Han and Raisa arrive safely in Oden's Ford to begin classes in their separate schools.  Though they have met in the past, neither knows the other is in Oden's Ford, and Han knows Raisa only as Rebecca Morley, a blueblood he met back in the Fells.

While at Mystwerk, Han must constantly watch his back, as Micah Bayer, Han's sworn enemy, repeatedly tries to kill him.  To protect himself, Han begins meeting with a powerful and mysterious wizard named Crow, to learn more advanced magic.  Raisa excels in her classwork and puts up with the confining rules Amon has placed on her for her own protection.  Their relationship becomes more complicated and tense as Raisa realizes that they can never marry.  Raisa constantly worries about her mother the queen and what is hppening back in her queendom.

Everything changes when Han and Raisa meet and Han convinces the princess he knows only as Rebecca Morley to tutor him in blueblood customs and history.  As Raisa teaches, Han takes on more polished speech and manners without losing his street smarts.  For her part, Raisa begins to fall in love with Han.

An abduction and impending forced marriage of Raisa by Micah Bayer, and a summons back to the clan camps of Han, delivered by Bird, sends both on separate and treacherous journeys back to their homeland.  Neither knows whether all they have learned in Oden's Ford is enough to ensure their safe arrival, or what they will find if they do manage to make it home.  Chima has given her readers a true cliff-hanger in this second installment of the Demon King series.  According to her website, we have to wait until September 2011 before The Gray Wolf Throne, the third in the Seven Realms series is published.  I love this series!  It's going to be a long year.       ~reviewed by Mrs. Sams

Mockingjay
by Suzanne Collins

In this final installment of the Hunger Games trilogy, Katniss Everdeen grudingly settles into life and training in the underground District 13 facility, accepting the role of the Mockingjay, symbol of the rebellion against the Capitol. Her agreement to be that symbol comes with a number of conditions, most of which irritate President Coin, District 13's leader. Kat's home District 12 has been destroyed by the Capitol, and she feels angry and used by leaders of the rebellion. Only two things keep her motivated--the possibility of saving Peeta who has been captured, and most of all, her intense hatred of President Snow, and her determination to kill him. Kat's life becomes even more confusing and heartbreaking when Peeta is rescued, but has been tortured and brainwashed into believing Katniss is his mortal enemy. At the same time, her relationship with Gale becomes more strained, by the day.

With political intrigue and emotional upheaval the background for this conclusion to the Hunger Games saga, Katniss and the rebel forces enter the Capitol in the dead of winter, fighting their way to the President's mansion in the city center, where finally, the carnage causes Katniss to rethink her mission and do the unthinkable. An amazing end to a an action-packed series.

Gregor the Overlander
by Suzanne Collins

Suzanne Collins has become quite famous recently for her Hunger Games trilogy, but before there were Katniss, Peeta, and Gale, there was Gregor the Overlander.  Gregor lives with his family in a New York City apartment.  Over two years ago, his smart and loving father disappeared--seemingly just fell off the face of the earth.  Since then, he and his sisters and their mother have just existed, trying to make do, and trying not to lose hope.  This summer, Gregor will not be able to attend the summer camp he attended last year.  His mother must work, and there's no one to stay with his 2 year-old sister, Boots, since his grandmother has become increasingly senile.  Gregor is sorely disappointed, but refuses to allow himself to feel anything too deeply.  He stays home, watches his sister, does the laundry, and waits. 

One day, while in the basement washing clothes, Boots falls through a grate in the basement wall.  There's nothing for Gregor to do but follow her in, falling and falling for miles, down to an underground world inhabited by humans, giant cockroaches called "crawlers", enormous and vicious rats, and a variety of other surprising creatures.  Gregor soon learns that his father is in this world being held prisoner by the rats, and he sets off on a quest with a number of companions, not only to find and rescue his father, but to fulfill an ancient prophecy. Those making the quest encounter one danger and adventure after another, battling the dark environment, evil creatures, and treachery within their own ranks.  In the Underland, Collins has created a rich and believable world, and in Gregor, a character full of courage and creative intelligence.  Though Gregor and the Underlanders face frightening and brutal realities, baby Boots provides the comic relief this story needs.  A great read for those who love alternate worlds.
                ~reviewed by Mrs. Sams