Purple Heart by Patricia McCormick (2009)

"Can you feel that, Private?"

Eighteen-year old Matt Duffy, a private in the army, is stationed in Baghdad, Iraq.  Six hours ago he was brought into the hospital; he has TBI, Traumantic Brain Injury from a Rocket-Propelled Grenade (RPG).  At first he can't remember anything that happened before the explosion, but he slowly begins to remember a few pieces of the memory.

"You don't remember?"

Matt shook his head.  Even that tiny gesture sent pain shooting through his skull.

"It was yesterday," Justin said.  "Remember yesterday?"

Matt tried to remember.  Nothing.

"You sure?"  Justin glanced over his shoulder, the way he did when he was scanning the rooftops for snipers.  "Nothing at all?"

"Why?  Did someone get hurt?"

Justin pinched his brow between his fingers.  "Only a couple hajis," he said.

As Matt tries to put the pieces of the memory together, he thinks of a young, homeless boy he befriended, Ali.  The last time he saw Ali was when they were patrolling the market near the al-Hikma Mosque.  Ali always stayed close to Matt, begging for anything he could sell.

"I keep seeing it in my head.  Or parts of it, anyhow."  He wiped his hands on his pant legs, not looking up.

"That's not unusual," she said.  "A lot of soldiers have flashbacks, disturbing memories, nightmares..."

"It doesn't make sense," he said, his voice cracking.  "I keep seeing him."

"Who?"

"This street kid," Matt said, toying with his plastic hospital wristband.

Purple Heart is a heart-wrenching story of Matt's experience in Baghdad.  This is a great book for teens who maybe don't know much about the war in Iraq, or maybe know someone who has been deployed there.

Rating:  9 out of 10 stars
*language, sexual reference

The Evolution of Mara Dyer, by Michelle Hodkin (2012)

I woke up on the morning of some day in some hospital to find a stranger sitting in my room.

Mara Dyer can't remember anything after seeing her ex-boyfriend, Jude, appear at the police station.  But she is sure she saw him.  She learns that she's in a hospital.

"It became an emergency situation, so under the Baker Act, your parents were able to consent for you."

I whispered so I wouldn't scream.  "What are you saying?"

"I'm sorry, but you've been involuntarily committed."

Mara knows that she isn't okay.  Her family and Noah are afraid for her safety, but while Noah believes her, her family thinks Mara just might be truly mentally ill.  The Evolution of Mara Dyer will make goosebumps rise on your arms as you feel Mara come unraveled.  If you liked The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, you'll love the second book!

Rating:  7 out of 10 stars
*language, sexual references, rape

To check this book out at NOLS, click HERE!

Between Shades of Gray, by Ruta Sepetys (2011)

They took me in my nightgown.

Fifteen-year old Lina Vilkas was taken from her home as she was getting ready for bed by the NKVD, the Soviet Secret Police.  Her family was given 20 minutes to pack.  Her father is missing.

"Promise me that if anyone tries to help you, you will ignore them.  We will resolve this ourselves.  We must not pull family or friends into this confusion, do you understand?  Even if someone calls out to you, you must not respond."

Almost a year before, Lina's home country, Lithuania, was annexed into the USSR.  Others were rounded up and put into a truck with Lina, her mother, and her younger brother, Jonas.  Lina learns that her mother speaks perfect Russian.

Forty-six people are crammed into a cattle train car.  One of them is 17-year old Andrius Arvydas from a nearby town.  They travel for six weeks inside the crammed, filthy car.  Lina learns why they were deported.

"Stalin has a plan, my love.  The Kremlin will do anything to see it through.  You know that.  He wants Lithuania for the Soviet Union, so he's moving us out temporarily."

"But why us?" I asked.  "They already moved into Lithuania last year.  Isn't that enough?"

"It's not just us, dear.  I imagine he's doing the same to Latvia, Estonia, and Finland.  It's complicated," said other.

Lina witnesses hundreds of horrible things, things a human should never have to see or endure.

"How could they do this?" I asked aloud.  I looked around the train car.  No one spoke.  How could we stand up for ourselves if everyone cowered in fear and refused to speak?  

I had to speak.  I'd write everything down, draw it all.  I would help Papa find us.

Between Shades of Gray is the emotional story of Lina and her family as they're deported from their beloved home in Lithuania and eventually make it to the most desolate area of all in the Arctic region.  It was delicious and it broke my heart into a million pieces.

Rating:  10 out of 10 stars
*mild language, sexual inference

To check this book out at NOLS, click HERE!

Reached, by Ally Condie (2012)

Every morning, the sun comes up and turns the earth red, and I think:  This could be the day when everything changes.  Maybe today the Society will fall.  Then night comes again and we're all still waiting.  But I know the Pilot's real.

The third book in the Matched series, Reached concludes the story of Cassia, Ky and Xander.  Xander is an official, a physic.  Cassia is a sorter.  And Ky is a pilot for the Rising.  They wait for the Pilot's voice to start the Rising.

 

This is it.

 

The Rising said it would look like this.

Reached was a solid conclusion to the love triangle of Cassia, Xander, and Ky.  I loved the poetry, art, and descriptive language throughout the book, and even though the first half was a bit slow, I really enjoyed the second half.  I liked seeing how questions were answered and what happened to each character.

Rating:  8 out of 10 stars

To check this book out at NOLS, click HERE!

Stolen, by Lucy Christopher (2010)

You saw me before I saw you.  

Gemma was traveling with her parents from London to Vietnam.  On a layover in Bangkok, she went to a coffee stand in the airport.

"Let me buy it," you said.  Your voice was low and soft, like it was meant only for me, and your accent was strange.

Ty is in his mid-20s, too old to be hanging out with a 16-year old girl.

You must have thought of everything: a ticket, a new passport, our route through, how to get past security.  Was it the most carefully planned steal ever, or just luck?  

He steals her away to a desert in Australia.

"Why?"  I whispered.

"I had to take you."

Written as a letter to her captor, Gemma describes her experience.

So I wrote the only words I could think of:  imprisoned, confined, detained, constrained, incarcerated, locked up, interned, sent down, abducted, kidnapped, taken, forced, shoved, hurt, stolen...

Stolen is a beautiful, frightening story.

Rating:  8 out of 10 stars
*language, sexual inference, drug reference, prostitution

To check out this book at NOLS, click HERE!

Every Day, by David Levithan (2012)

I wake up.
     Immediately I have to figure out who I am.  

Every morning, A wakes up in someone's body.  He only gets to stay in that body for one day, to live that life for one single day.  He is never the same person twice, but every person he's ever inhabited is the same age as it.  He also doesn't thinking of himself as male or female (my interpretation for writing this review).  On day 5994, A inhabits the body of Justin, a 17-year old jerk.  A meets Justin's girlfriend and everything changes.

I have spent years meeting people without ever knowing them, and on this morning, in this place, with this girl, I feel the faintest pull of wanting to know.  And in a moment of either weakness or bravery on my own part, I decide to follow it.  I decide to find out more.

They go to the ocean for the afternoon.

I want to give her a good day.  Just one good day.  I have wandered for so long without any sense of purpose, and now this ephemeral purpose has been given to me - it feels like it has been given to me.  I only have a day to give - so why can't it be a good one?  Why can't it be a shared one?  Why can't I take the music of the moment and see how long it can last?  The rules are erasable.  I can take this.  I can give this.

How does someone make a meaningful life living one day in other people's lives?  Every Day is a gorgeous read.  The resolution is perfect and I would be so disappointed if David Levithan every made a sequel or a companion novel.

Rating:  10 out of 10 stars
*sexual references, drugs, religion, mild language, gay relationships, sexual identity

To check this book out at NOLS, click HERE!

Unwholly, by Neal Shusterman (2012)

He's fighting a nightmare when they come for him.

Five years later Neal Shusterman offers the sequel to Unwind.  Three characters from Unwind continue their fight in Unwholly, while a few new characters join in the plight.  

Starkey is a stork and his parents want him to be unwound.

"Mason Michael Starkey, by the signing of this order, your parents and/0r legal guardians have retroactively terminated your tenure, backdated to six days postconception, leaving you in violation of Existential Code 390.  In light of this, you are hereby remanded to the California Juvenile Authority for summary division, also known as unwinding...Any rights previously granted to you by the county, state, or federal government as a citizen thereof are now officially and permanently revoked."

One out of 2,000 teens between the ages of 13 and 17 will be unwound each year.

Unwholly follows the stories of Connor, Lev, Risa, Starkey, and Cam Comprix was they fight for their survival.  

Rating:  6 out of 10 stars
*language, sexual inference, abortion, religion, abandonment

To check this book out at NOLS, click HERE!

What Came from the Stars, by Gary D. Schmidt (2012)

So the Valorim came to know that their last days were upon them.

Narrated from two points of view, the Valorim of Ethelim and Tommy Pepper of Plymouth, Massachusetts, What Came from the Stars is a book that feels like fantasy mixed in with delicious realistic fiction.

Tommy Pepper lives with his dad and little sister on a beach just outside Plymouth.  His mom died nearly a year ago, and Tommy and his family are filled with grief.  They miss her terribly.  His little sister, Patty, doesn't speak.  His dad rarely paints anymore.

On Tommy's 12th birthday, he received "The dumbest present in the history of the entire universe" from his grandmother:  an Ace Robotroid Adventure lunch box.  In an attempt to hide his lunch box from his friends, something happens.  Tommy saw a quick flash of light from the window and when his lunch box crashed onto the floor.

Tommy Pepper looked down beneath the cafeteria table at his fallen Ace Robotroid Adventure lunch box, and there among the spilled carrot and celery sticks, something...well, something glowed.  Tommy blinked.  Whatever it was, it really was glowing a little bit.  He reached down and picked it up.

A chain.  Green and silver.  Heavy.

After Tommy put on the chain, things started to change.  He could remember a far-off place. His memories of his mom returned and they were clear.

And with that wind in his face, and looking at the sea, and feeling the light fall on him from the first star, and with those he loved beside him, and his mother gone, gone, Tommy felt the chain warm, and he began to sing too. 

In another world, something tragic was taking place.  The O'Mondim, led by Lord Mondus, overtook the Valorim.  In an effort to save the Art of Valorim, Young Waeglim forged it into a chain and sent it to another world.  The Art of Valorim is the most precious and powerful gift.  Lord Mondus will do anything to possess it.

What Came from the Stars tells the story of the Valorim and Tommy Pepper.  The book reads like a typical gorgeous Gary D. Schmidt novel, mixed with science fiction elements.  My favorite parts included reading about Tommy and his family in Plymouth.  The science fiction elements were a bit tedious, but overall, a good story.

Hopefully, Gary D. Schmidt takes one of the characters from this book and spins it into another book, similar to Wednesday Wars and Okay for Now.  :)

Rating:  7 out of 10 stars
To check this book at out NOLS, click HERE!

Fire, by Kristin Cashore (2009)

Larch often thought that if it had not been for his newborn son, he never would have survived his wife Mikra's death.

Seventeen-year old Fire is the last human-shaped monster in the Dells.  Her beauty stuns those who see her, and most people either want to marry her or kill her.  She can also control the minds of anyone near her.

The kingdom is in danger; war is on the way.  Fire is called to the capital city to help the king.  
She learns about the various spies for the king's enemies, but one is the most mysterious.

...Fire sat alone, puzzling over the boy.  His right eye was gray and his left eye was red, which was strange enough itself.  His hair was blond like wheat, his skin light, and he had the appearance of being ten or eleven...He was sitting facing her, a rodent monster in his lap, a mouse with glimmering gold fur.  He was tying a string around its neck.  fire knew somehow that the creature was not his pet.

He pulled the string, too tight.  The mouse's legs began to jerk.  Stop it, Fire thought furiously, aiming her message at the strange presence that was his mind. 

He loosened the string immediately.  The mouse lay in his lap, heaving with tiny breaths.   The boy smiled at Fire, and stood up, and came to stand before her.  "It doesn't hurt him," he said.  "It's only a choking game, for fun."

She stared at him coolly, so he could not see her bewilderment.  "A choking game?  All the fun of it is on your side, and it's a sick kind of fun."

He smiled again.  His lopsided, red-eyed smile was somehow distressing.  "Is it sick?  To want to be in control?"

"Of a helpless, frightened creature?  Let it go."

"The others believed me when I said it didn't hurt him," he said, "but you know not to.  Plus, you're awfully pretty.  So I'll give you what you want."

Rating:  2 out of 10 stars

* mild language, sexual inference

To check this book out at NOLS, click HERE!

The Rise of Nine, by Pittacus Lore (2012)

6A.  Seriously? 

Beginning exactly where The Power of Six left off, The Rise of Nine shows what happens after Six meets Marina and Ella in Spain.  They're headed to India to find Eight. 

Narrated by John (Four), Six, and Marina, The Rise of Nine is the exciting addition to this series!  The group has separated and Six, Marina and Ella find Eight; John has found Nine.  The teens quickly realize how serious the situation is.

"This isn't playtime.  We're at war, dude - war."

The Rise of Nine is filled with twists and turns, similar to the other two.  

Rating:  8 out of 10 stars
*language

To check this book out at NOLS, click HERE!

The other books in this series:

 

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, by Michelle Hodkin (2011)

The ornate script on the board twisted in the candlelight, making the letters and numbers dance in my head.  They were jumbled and indistinct, like alphabet soup.  When Claire pushed the heart-shaped piece into my hand, I startled.  I wasn't normally so twitchy, and hoped Rachel wouldn't notice.  The Ouija board was her favorite present that night, and Claire gave it to her.  I got her a bracelet.  She wasn't wearing it.

Seventeen-year old Mara Dyer used to be a typical teenage girl.  That was before three of her friends were killed.  In the hospital she learned that she and her friends were in an abandoned psychiatric hospital, The Tamerlane.  The building crushed, killing her friends, leaving Mara unharmed.

She has no memory of even going to the hospital.

"You have to tell me," I begged, 

my throat filled with ash.

My mother looked at me with glassy eyes 

and a heartbroken face.  

"I would if I could, Mara.  

But you're the only one who knows."

Eight weeks after the tragedy, Mara's family moved from Rhode Island to Miami, Florida.  One her first day of school without her best friend, Rachel, she is filled with anxiety.  She sees Rachel and Claire, and hears Jude's laughter.  Rachel, Jude, and Claire are her friends that were killed.  She knows they are hallucinations.

She also meets a Noah Shaw, a boy with a reputation.

Mara begins to remember what happened that terrible night in Rhode Island.

I woke in the middle of the night with a scream in my throat and an anchor in my chest, soaked in sweat and terror.  I remembered.  I remembered.  The flood of recognition was almost painful.

The dream - the memory - kept replaying itself on a loop, disturbing me more than it should have.  Why now, all of a sudden?  What could I do about it?  What should I do about it?

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer witnesses the memories coming back to Mara about that night in the asylum, questions the connection she has with Noah Shaw, and forces the reader to wonder about other aspects of the story that were left hanging.  The book trailer doesn't have anything to do with the story, either does the dust jacket.  I found it interesting, but scary, the first two-thirds of the book.  The final part felt like an entirely different read.  

The book finishes with

end of volume one

I suppose we can expect volume two soon...

Rating:  2 out of 10 stars
*language, sexual suggestion, sexual inference, tobacco usage, Ouija board

To check this book out at NOLS, click HERE!

The Fault in our Stars, by John Green (2012)

Late in the winter of my seventeenth year, my mother decided I was depressed, presumably because I rarely left the house, spent quite a lot of time in bed, read the same book over and over, ate infrequently, and devoted quite a bit of my abundant free time to thinking about death.

Hazel Grace Lancaster has terminal thyroid cancer.  She knows it's not *if* she dies, it's when.  The cancer has metastasized in her lungs.  She's lived with this disease since she was 13, fighting for each breath.  All of her treatment has been to extend her life, not cure her cancer. 

Luckily Hazel got into an experimental trial.  The drug didn't work in about 70% of people, but it worked in Hazel.  The tumors shrank.  

In the past eighteen months, my mets have hardly grown, leaving me with lungs that suck at being lungs but could, conceivably, struggle along indefinitely with the assistance of drizzled oxygen and daily Phalanxifor.

Hazel hasn't been to a regular school in three years.  Her parents and author Peter Van Houten are her three best friends.

I'd learned this from my aforementioned third best friend, Peter Van Houten, the reclusive author of An Imperial Affliction, the book that was a close a thing as I had to a Bible.  Peter Van Houten was the only person I'd ever come across who seemed to (a) understand what it's like to be dying, and (b) not have died.

To deal with her depression, Hazel is sent to a support group with teens who have cancer.  They meet in the basement of a church.  She meets 17-year old Isaac who has to have his one good eye removed and will be blind in a couple of weeks.  She also meets 17-year old Augustus Waters who has osteosarcoma; one of his legs had to be amputated.  He's been NEC (No Evidence of Cancer) for 14 months.

After the meeting Augustus invites Hazel to come to his house to watch a movie.  As she waits for her mom to pick her up, Hazel notices Augustus putting a cigarette between his lips.  Hazel is disgusted.  

"They don't kill you unless you light them," he said as Mom arrived at the curb.  "And I've never lit one.  It's a metaphor, see.  You put the killing thing right between your teeth, but you don't give it the power to do its killing."

Hazel and Augustus begin spending time together.

Hazel has written letters to author Peter Van Houton for years, always to be unanswered.  Augustus   finds a way to contact the reclusive author and receives a reply.  He learns that Van Houton will answer Hazel's questions if she comes to Amsterdam to meet with him.  Hazel already spent her Wish the Genies gave her.  Augustus knows what he wants to do.

"Ah," he said.  And then, after what felt like a practiced pause, he added, "But I saved mine."

Hazel is so sick a trip to Amsterdam may be out of the question.  And she begins to worry about what will happen to Augustus when she dies.  She begins to pull away from Augustus.

"I'm like.  Like.  I'm like a grenade, Mom and at some point I'm going to blow up and I would like to minimize the casualties, okay?"

"I just want to stay away from people and read books and think and be with you guys because there's nothing I can do about hurting you; you're too invested, so just please let me do that, okay?  I'm not depressed.  I don't need to get out more.  And I can't be a regular teenager, because I'm a grenade."

The Fault in our Stars is an amazing read.  Even though Hazel and Augustus don't have a lot of time together, their relationship is incredible.  Funny, sad, smart, I loved this read.  As Augustus himself said, 

"It is a good life, Hazel Grace."

Rating:  10 out of 10 stars
*language, drugs, sexual inference, issues of death

To check this book out at NOLS, click HERE!

Cracked, by K. M. Walton (2012)

I have wished that Bull Mastrick would die almost every single day.

For more than 10 years, Bull Mastrick has terrorized Victor Konig.  They're now 16 years old, finishing their sophomore year in high school.  Neither one has a happy home.

Bull lives with his grandfather, Pop, and his mom.  Pop's fists are big and strong, and he uses them on Bull.  A lot.  

My pop renamed me Bull when I was five - said he didn't want me getting any crazy ideas that I was special.  He said I wrecked everyone's life when I came along, like a bull in a china shop.  The name stuck.

His mom isn't any better.

She loves reminding me that I was never supposed to have been born.  That I stole her dreams...She pretty much blames me for just about every bad thing in her pathetic life.  Like never graduating high school.  

Victor's parents don't believe in physical violence or affection.  They remind him of robots; he's never seen them hug or kiss.

Like I said, my parents don't use physical violence; they don't need to.  They've mastered verbal violence.

His mom's term of endearment for him is "My Accident."

She gets such pleasure from telling me that I was never planned.  She never wanted kids.  Ever.  She had too much to do with her life, she said.  Like travel and shop and impress people.

The only being in his house that makes Victor feel important is his mom's teacup poodle, Jasmine.  

The only thing Victor's parents are concerned about are his grades and SAT scores.  His parents are disappointed with his scores.  Even though he received a perfect score on the math, his parents are upset.

"Victor, how could you let those other scores happen...to us?  It's embarrassing."

His parents decide that Victor doesn't deserve to go on their summer trip to Europe; instead he needs to stay home to study.

Victor and Bull find themselves in a hospital room, together.  

Cracked is an emotional read about bullying and serious family problems.  It's a good read for someone who likes an edgier read.

Rating:  7 out of 10
*language, sexual innuendo, child abuse and neglect

To check this book out at NOLS, click HERE!

The Kill Order, by James Dashner (2012)

Teresa looked at her best friend and wondered what it would be like to forget him.

Thirteen years before Thomas and Teresa entered the Maze, Mark lives in a world that has been ravaged by heat and radiation.  Living in an encampment in the Appalachian Mountains in western North Carolina, Mark and his friends have had to fight to survive the year of death and terror.  Life is not easy for the survivors.

The sun flares struck with little warning.

Mark and his best friend, Trina, try their best to be happy and make each day count, but the memories always keep coming back.

The memories.   They never let him go, not even for a half hour.  They always had to rush back in, bringing all the horror.

The Kill Order tells what happened with the sun flares struck the planet.  The intense heat and radiation.  How lucky Mark and Trina were to be underground on the subtrans.  How lucky they were to meet Alec and Lana.

At the camp, everything changed in an instant.

But their laughter was cut off by a strange sound.  Something Mark hadn't heard in over a year, and he hadn't expected to hear it ever again.

The sounds of engines in the sky.

This is the first sign of advanced technology since the sun flares.  The Post-Flares Coalition (PFC) delivers supplies to Asheville, but this berg is unmarked.  Five people wearing bulky rubber suits emerge from the berg, each holding a black tube like a gun.  They spray the survivors with darts.  Some are killed immediately.  Others die a much more painful death.

Alec and Mark make their way to the berg to learn more about this attack.  Sealed boxes with warning symbols.

Virus VC321xb47

Highly Contagious

24 Darts, Extreme Caution

Mark and Alec meet Deedee, a young child who has been abandoned by her village after they were attacked by a similar berg.  She had been shot in the arm, but everyone left her there, alone.  She is immune to the virus.

The Killing Order is an exciting read to learn about the devastation after the sun flares and about the virus, later called the Flare.  Filled with suspense, this was one of my favorites in this series.  

Rating:  10 out of 10 stars

To check this book out at NOLS, click HERE!

The other books in this series:

Prized, by Caragh M. O'Brien (2011)

*Plot spoiler if you haven't read Birthmarked! *

She grabbed the hilt of her knife and scrambled backward into the darkness, holding the baby close in her other arm.

Gaia Stone escaped from the Enclave and Wharfton with her infant sister, Maya.  She has walked for days, miles in the wastelands, and now she is out of formula for Maya.  The baby is dying.  They are rescued and taken her to Sylum.  

Life in Sylum is difficult for Gaia to get used to.  There are laws that she must obey, such as men and women are not allowed to kiss or touch.  Mlady Olivia is the Matrarch, the leader of Sylum.  

"You'll listen to me, Mlass Gaia," the Matrarch said, and her voice had dropped to a honey-smooth alto.  "There is only one leader here.  One.  And I speak for everyone.  You will learn to obey our rules, or you will be sent back to the wasteland to die."

She also learns that she has a decision to make.

"Staying in Sylum is like coming through a one-way gate.  You can enter, but anyone who tries to leave Sylum dies.  We don't understand fully why this happens, but we find their bodies."

Even though she and her sister have been rescued, Gaia learns that she's committed a crime according to the laws of Sylum.  The punishment is overwhelming.

"Then from now on, we will consider your sister to be a gift to Sylum.  A small and precious gift.  What's more, in light of your gift, and depending on your compliance during your probation, we may pardon your crime." 

"My crime?"

"You knowingly, deliberately put your sister in deadly harm."

Gaia decides to stay in Sylum to be as close to Maya as possible.  As she becomes more familiar with the town, she discovers an unsettling truth: there aren't many women.  Only one in ten babies born in Sylum is a girl; the last girl born here was two years ago.

Two thousand people live in Sylum; 1,800 are men.  Out of the male population, only 400 -500 are in the pool: those who are eligible to marry. 

Gaia's skills as a midwife become invaluable, and she learns more about Sylum.  If life wasn't complicated enough, two brothers attempt to capture Gaia's affection.  And then she finds someone from her past.

Prized is an exciting read as you find out the secrets about Sylum, and how Gaia overcomes all of the obstacles she must face.

Rating:  10 out of 10 stars

*pregnancy issues, deliberate miscarriage

To check this book out at NOLS, click HERE!

Next:

Shadow on the Mountain, by Margi Preus (Sept 2012)

Against the blue-black mountains, Espen's bicycle was just a tiny moving speck.

Norway, 1940

Nazi Germany invaded the neutral country, Norway.  The Norwegians were not prepared for the German attack.  Fourteen-year old Espen and his friends try to make sense of Nazi-occupied Norway.  Most of his friends want to get rid of the Nazis, but not everyone.

"Hitler envisions a 'new Europe,' a Europe of Aryan people only.  Blond, fair-skinned people - like us.  He wants to hold up Norway as a model."

Espen and Kjell used to be best friends.  They used to spend every waking moment together.    But that was before Germany invaded their homeland.

Espen's teacher asked him to do an errand.

"Don't tell anyone what you're doing," Mr. Henriksen had said.  "Not your sister, not your classmates - not even Kjell."

Espen meets Tante Marie on Fox Farm.  She gives him his code name, Odin, and he's now a part of the Resistance, delivering illegal newspapers.

"You know that every part we play in the underground, no matter how small it seems, is significant," Tante Marie said.

The resistance includes the military, civilian, and intelligence branches; each branch depends on the others.

Nazi-controlled Norway is a dangerous place.  Strictly-controlled laws are in effect, but despite the risks and dangers, Espen and his friends continue their work.  Eventually Espen becomes a spy.  

Shadow on the Mountain is a good read for younger teens who are interested in this time period, or teens who haven't read about other countries Germany invaded.  Based on a the real adventures of a Norwegian spy during this time period, it's an interesting read to learn how the Nazis were able to invade and control other countries, and how dedicated the majority of Norwegians were to finding their independence.

Rating:  8 out of 10 stars

Not available at NOLS...yet!

From What I Remember, by Stacy Kramer & Valerie Thomas (2012)

I am jolted away by sunlight, flooding the room.

Graduation is two days away.  Kylie is the valedictorian, Max is the best-looking guy at school, Will is Kylie's best friend, and Lily is Max's girlfriend.  Kylie and Will do not belong in the luxurious world of Max and Lily.  Their worlds never intersect.

Except when a teacher assigns a group project for seniors on the second to the last day of school.  She also assigns partners.  Kylie is partnered up with Max.  Kylie never skips an assignment, no matter what.  Max has no intention to doing the assignment.

Max does something he never has done before.  He texts Kylie and asks her to meet at a Starbucks before starts.  Kylie is relieved to finally get the final assignment done, but someone steals her backpack.  Her backpack with her laptop.  Her never-ever-backed-up laptop with her original screen play and valedictorian speech.

The chase begins!

Max and Kylie find themselves in Ensenada, Mexico, on a wild adventure.

From What I Remember is an entertaining read for an older audience.  The publishers say for kids 14 and up, but it's really more for 16-years and older.  But once you start this read, it's hard to put it down!

Rating:  8 out of 10
*extreme language, homosexuality, underage drinking, sexual inferences

Come August, Come Freedom: The Bellows, The Gallows, and The Black General Gabriel, by Gigi Amateau (Sept 2012)

Ma believed.  One Sunday before sunrise, she headed out early for church at Young's spring with her infant, Gabriel, swaddled and slung across her chest.

March 1777

Gabriel is a slave on Brookfield Plantation.  His ma and pa always believed that once the Revolutionary War was over, their children would be free.

What Ma believed was this: her youngest son would grow strong and grow free.  He would run pick an apple anytime he pleased, even if only to taste the good fruit given by the Lord, and see, from this spot, the amber sunrise painted by His hand.

After Pa was dragged away from Brookfield for wanting freedom, Ma tried to carry on as best she could.  Gabriel tried to make sense of things, believing that he could be free.  The master and his foreman saw things differently.

"Idle African hands are no good for Brookfield, Mr. Prosser.  Negroes that can read and write are dangerous.  I expect ones the size of him, 'specially so.  Considerin' he got his father in him, you might take some action, sir."

Gabriel is sent away from everything he knows.  He's sent to the capital city to be a blacksmith's apprentice.  Gabriel realizes that he can find solutions while he's working metal.

"When I bend over the anvil with my hammer, our people, our worries, and our river all melt together, and all my questions come out like a plan."

Gabriel is faced with a decision: earn money to buy his soul mate's freedom, or fight for freedom for all slaves.

Interwoven with authentic original documents, Come August, Come Freedom was inspired by the trial documents related to Gabriel's Insurrection.  

Rating: 6 out of 10 stars

Personal Effects, by E. M. Kokie (Sept 2012)

Of all the lame sh** on Pinscher's backpack, his War Is Not the Answer sticker pisses me off the most - even more than his Practice Nonviolence button, which makes me want to practice some violence on his face.

Seventeen-year old Matt Foster has a lot to deal with right now.  His older brother, T.J. was killed in Iraq six months ago.  Matt's trying to make some sense of his brother's death, but his father just wants to shut the memories away, pretend like it didn't happen.

On T.J.'s list visit home, he asked Matt if he was serious about enlisting in the army.  

"Do. Not. Enlist."  Each word bounced off my brain.  "Period."

Matt's father has removed all of the pictures of T. J. from the house.  He's also hidden the flag and the small bag of things T. J. was wearing when he was killed.  Matt wants to know more about his brother.  He wants to learn as much as he can about T. J.'s last moments.

All that's left of T. J. is in that bag.

No way Dad would just throw away the flag from T. J.'s coffin.  Wherever it is, the bag has to be there, too.

I'm not giving up.

Three footlockers filled with T. J.'s personal effects show up.  Matt is determined, but his father wants to keep them locked away.

Dad's honoring T. J. by pretending he isn't dead and ignoring every big of evidence that proves him wrong.  But me?  What am I doing?

There is something I can do. And I already know what.  

Personal Effects is a deeply emotional read.  I found it to be hard to put down.  

Rating:  10 out of 10 stars

*language, homosexuality, gay slurs