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

Runner, by Carl Deuker (2005)

I've read about kids who hate their parents for being alcoholics.  I've never understood that.

Chance Taylor is a senior in high school.  His dad is an alcoholic.  The kind of alcoholic that can't hang onto a job.  They live on a broken-down boat in Seattle.  Chance's mom left.  When she told Chance she was leaving, he understood.

I'd heard them arguing at night.  I knew my dad drank way too much and worked way too little.  "You won't leave me too, will you?" I said.

"No, Chance.  I won't ever leave you.  I promise."

Running is the only thing Chance has ever really liked to do, and someone from his marina notices this.  He also notices the time of day Chance likes to run, and his route.  

After his dad has lost yet another job and can't make the moorage payment, Chance realizes he has to do something to pay the bills.  

"So listen, and listen carefully.  You're in trouble, and I can get you out of that trouble.  I'm offering you a job, kid.  Very good pay; very short hours."

Chance will get paid $200 a week to run his regular route.  But instead of simply touching the maple tree that's growing out of the boulders, he has to look for a package.  No questions.

Runner is a fast-paced, suspenseful read.  The plot is filled with twists and turns.  The chapters are short, so you just want to keep reading one more chapter.

Rating:  10 out of 10 stars
*mild language

To check this book at NOLS, click HERE!

Hole in My Life, by Jack Gantos (2002)

The prisoner in the photograph is me.  The ID number is mine.  the photo was taken in 1972 at the medium-security Federal Correctional Institution in Ashland, Kentucky.  I was twenty-one years old and had been locked up for a year already - the bleakest year of my life - and I had more time ahead of me.

When Jack Gantos was 19-years old, he felt like he was stuck in high school, and he wasn't living at home.

I had unlimited freedom.  No supervision whatsoever.  I had spending money.  I had a fast car.  I had a fake ID.  My entire year was a grand balancing act between doing what I wanted and doing what I should, and being who I was while inventing who I wanted to be:  a writer with something important to say.

Tough times hit Jack and his family and he was offered $10,000 for college tuition, to escape his dead-end life.  He agreed to help crew a boat loaded with drugs from the Virgin Islands to New York City.  What happened during this time is what makes this a great memoir.

Rating:  8 out of 10 stars
*language, drug use, excessive alcohol consumption, rape

This book is not available at NOLS...yet!

Bitterblue, by Kristin Cashore (2012)

When he grabs Mama's wrist and yanks her toward the wall-hanging like that, it must hurt.  Mama doesn't cry out.

For 35 years the people of Monsea lived under a spell of a madman. 

Father is the King of Monsea.  No one knows he has two different colored eyes of a Graceling; no one wonders, for his is a terrible Grace hidden beneath his eye patch: When he speaks, his words fog people's minds so that they'll believe everything he says.  Usually, he lies.  

Nine years have passed since King Leck was killed.  Bitterblue is now queen.  She is 18-years old.

Bitterblue notices that everyone flinches away from direct reminders of the time of Leck's reign, or fall apart.

The more I see and hear, the more I realize how much I don't know.  

I want to know everything.

Bitterblue begins to question her advisers and sneaking outside of the castle to find out what's really going on in her kingdom.  She is willing to risk everything to save her kingdom.

Rating:  8 out of 10 stars
*language, sexual inferences, homosexuality, rape

To check this book out at NOLS, click HERE!