The Giver by Lois Lowry

You would think that since this was like my sixth time reading this book that the ending wouldn't frustrate me so much but it totally does.  I just want to shake Lois Lowry.  I hear that reading the quartet ties up Jonas's story but I'm so distrustful at this point that I refuse.  I refuse!


Honestly, this is a classic for a reason and if you haven't read it already, you should.  It speaks volumes that I have read it six times now.

Jonas lives in a futuristic world where there is nothing unexpected and everything is safe.  In the community, people are assigned their careers, apply for spouses and children, receive their meals from Food Delivery People.  Orders and reminders are broadcast over a speaker.  In the mornings, families share their dreams.  In the evenings, they tell their feelings.  There is no color, no weather, and no emotion.  When somebody commits a serious offense against the rules, they are "released."  Every home only has three books: a dictionary, a rule book, and a directory.

Jonas is about to turn 12, which every child born in his year does at the same time at a ceremony.  At 12, children are assigned their work and begin to train for their careers.  Jonas is nervous.  There is nothing that he is particularly interested in or good at, though he does well at most things and is open to possibilities.  But when it is his turn to receive his assignment, the Chief Elder passes over him completely.  Jonas's stomach automatically drops.  What did he do wrong?

But Jonas has been chosen.

The most honorable position in all of their community is that of Receiver.  The Receiver holds all of the memories of the imperfect past so that the other members of the community don't have to.  The Receiver has wisdom from the memories and is sometimes asked to give an opinion on a change in the rules based on this wisdom.  When Jonas begins to receive the memories, he begins to question the world around him and whether it is better than the way the world used to be.  Is it different Elsewhere?  How can he find out? -RYQ

Friends, Fugues, and Fortune Cookies, by Michelle Schusterman (Tween)

Friends, Fugues, and Fortune Cookies is the sequel to I Heart Band, by Michelle Schusterman. This is a cute middle school book and it's perfect for ages 8 to 12.

Holly is looking forward to the winter dance and she wants to go with Aaron, her crush. She's so sure that he's going to ask her that she turns down her good friend Owen's invitation, only to find out that Aaron is asking her friend (and former enemy) Natasha.

There's also a band fundraiser going on where the different sections are having bake sales and competing to see who raises the most money. Natasha and Holly are also competing for regional band, so their friendship is in a tense place. Holly also feels awkward around Owen, with whom she usually plays video games, but when she shows up at the dance, forgetting that she lied to him about having a date, she knows she has to tell him the truth to make things right.

What I love about this book is there are lots of good details about middle school; girl drama, romance angst, band details, and some fashion thrown in for good measure. This book is fun, fast pace and clean.*JK*

I Heart Band, by Michelle Schusterman (Tween)

I Heart Band is a delightful read, especially for anyone who fondly remembers being in band, being a perfectionist, or being a middle-school kid just trying navigate the importance of friendship. 7th grader Holly has been practicing her French Horn all summer to be ready for 8th grade advanced band class. But her best friend Julia went to band camp this summer and has made a new friend, Natasha, who also plays the French Horn. What promised to be an exciting year is turning out terribly and it's all Natasha's fault.

Holly is such an adorable, funny, and heart-warming character. Also, her relationship with her mom and her older brother is well described. This book captures what it's like to deal with the ups and downs of middle school friendship like nothing else. It's also neat to think that the author really understands the middle-school age mindset.  So I highly recommend this book! This new series is full of drama, but is a great clean tween read. *JK*

Keeper, by Kathi Appelt

Ten-year-old Keeper is part mermaid. At least, that's what she's always believed. After all, wasn't her mother, who swam away when Keeper was only three, a mermaid? How else could Keeper hear the cries of the gumbo-bound crabs, pleading for someone to rescue them before they became dinner? 

Of course, listening to those crabs is what turned the best day ever into a total and complete nightmare! Now Signe, Keeper's guardian, won't be able to have everyone over for the traditional Blue Moon dinner. Now Dogie won't be able to ask Signe the special question he's waited ten years to ask. Now Old Mr. Buchamp won't ever find the one thing he's been searching for since he was a boy. Everything, everything is ruined. And it's all because Keeper listened to those crabs.

Keeper needs her mother more than ever. So she sneaks out of her house in the dark of night, "borrows" the neighbor's row boat, and sets off to the open sea to find the place she last saw her mother all those years earlier. Her mother will know what to do. Her mother will help make everything right again. Won't she?

But what if Keeper's mother isn't there as expected? What if everything Keeper has believed about her life isn't true?

Keeper, by Kathi Appelt, is a delightful story about family, love, friendship, and self-discovery...all with bits of magic and mythology woven throughout. As well as a few surprises. Characters are believable, and Appelt's uniquely poetic writing style gives the story color, life, and depth. Keeper is definitely one of my favorites, and is one of those stories that can be enjoyed by people of all ages (guys and girls too). There's truly something here for everyone. Just read it! You'll be happy you did!

Keeper can currently be found in our Tween section. --AJB

Cold In Summer, by Tracy Barrett

A lost little girl....

A town that's been drowned beneath a lake....

A hundred-year-old mystery....

Fresh from our New Tween Collection comes Cold In Summer, by Tracy Barrett, a fantastic mystery/ghost-story that is so good you'll be reading it under the blankets with a flashlight long after you've gone to bed!

Ariadne's family has just moved from their sunny Florida neighborhood to a small, rural community in Tennessee. Ariadne's family seems to be adapting just fine, but Ariadne, 12, feels very lonely. She misses her best friend, Sarah, and everything about "home." There's nothing in this new place for her.

Then Ariadne encounters May Butler in the woods near the local lake. Despite May's old-fashioned clothes, cryptic way of speaking in riddles, and odd habit of seeming to vanish at a moment's notice, there's something about May that makes Ariadne think this girl could become a friend. 

But not everything is as it seems.

There's a local legend about a young girl who vanished mysteriously just before the local dam was built a hundred years earlier, flooding the valley and drowning the town that once existed there. This missing girl's name was also May Butler. Could Ariadne's new friend be distantly related to the missing girl?

Or is the May Butler of the past and the May Butler of the present the same person?

This is a mystery only Ariadne can solve.

Pay no attention to the drab cover (Rule: Don't Judge!). Cold In Summer is a fantastic middle-grade story! Readers will be drawn in immediately and enjoy piecing together the clues to solve the mystery as it unfolds. Check it out today!

p.s. If you liked Cold In Summer, try Wait Till Helen Comes, by Mary Downing Hahn. --AJB

The Dragon's Tooth, by N.D. Wilson

If you liked Percy Jackson (Rick Riordan) and Harry Potter (J.K. Rowling) and are looking for what to read next, head on over to our Tween Area and grab The Dragon's Tooth, by N.D. Wilson. This is the first in a fantastic trilogy that's packed with high adventure, heart-pounding excitement, and non-stop action that will keep you on the edge of your seat. We promise you won't be able to put it down!

Cyrus Smith never thought there was anything special about his life. Since the death of his parents a few years earlier, he and his sister, Antigone, have lived a fairly boring existence with their older brother Dan and helped operate the family's run-down motel. But not many guests come to stay, so there's not much to do. 

Until...

On a day that begins like any other, a reclusive old man with a skeleton tattoo arrives and makes some very particular demands. By morning, the motel has burned down, the old man is dead, and Cyrus is in possession of a set of very unusual keys that, in the hands of the diabolical Dr. Phoenix, could spell the end of the world as we know it. Just before the bad guys arrive on the scene, Cyrus and Antigone are kidnapped by a hulking stranger who informs them that their family is part of an secret Order of magicians, explorers, and sages who have been keeping the world in balance for thousands of years. Now they must begin training so they can take their rightful place among these great men and women.

But that's not the whole story.

Years earlier, their parents got involved in something that caused them to fall out of favor with the Order (their deaths were no accident). And now, because of this, Cyrus and Antigone are outcasts. But despite being hated by nearly every member of the Order, Cyrus and Antigone must stay within the walls and train. Because staying means they will be offered a certain amount of protection. 

But Dr, Phoenix knows Cyrus has the keys to ultimate power. He knows where Cyrus is. 

And if Cyrus makes one wrong move... 

--AJB