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!

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!

Shift, Jennifer Bradbury (2008)

The nose of the seat bit into my shoulder as the toe clip scraped the back of my thigh.

Three months before high school graduation Christopher Collins and his best friend Winston Coggans decided to bike across the country, from their home in West Virginia to Seattle, Washington.  Friends since the third grade, best friends since the 6th grade, Chris and started their trek the day after graduation.

Chris and Win have some great adventures as they travel across the country, but Win was always playing games.  Chris would often get sick of him.  It wasn't a surprise that Win decided to ride on his own as they crossed the Cascade Mountains. 

They never saw each other after that fateful moment, when Chris had to stop to fix his flat.  Chris never called Win to see if he made it.  The first week of college Chris learns that he was the last person to see Win.  FBI Agent, Abe Ward shows up at Chris's dorm.

"This," Ward said, "is an investigation."

"Of what?"  I asked.  "Me?"

Chris finds himself as a suspect in the disappearance of his friend.  Shift is a captivating mystery of what happened to Win, and what could happen to Chris if he can't find the truth.

*minor language

9 out of 10 stars

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