Friday, March 30, 2012

Catching Fire

Catching Fire, written by Suzanne Collins, the second installment of the Hunger Games series, picks up where we last left Katniss and Peeta- their return to District 12. Although she is now living comfortably in her new home in her district's Victor's Village, she and Peeta will soon embark on the Victory Tour, visiting the districts of each of the fallen tributes from the 74th Hunger Games, all of which will be expected to meet these two victors with admiration and applause, another cruel display of the Capitol's power and control. However, a startling and threatening visit from President Snow leaves Katniss desperate. She must prove that she and Peeta are truly in love or else the consequences for themselves and all the people they care about will be disastorous. As a result of her fateful decision in the arena, taking out those nightlock berries, a fire has started among the other districts, a fire that reeks of potential rebellion, one that Katniss may not be able to stop.

Reviewed by Kayla Britt

The Carbon Diaries


The Carbon Diaries, a two-book series written by Saci Lloyd, begins in the year 2015. Rising temperatures and environmental disasters cause the UK to make a drastic change- carbon rationing. In an effort to lower carbon emissions, each citizen is given a carbon card and is limited to 200 points per month. This limits how much fuel and electricity you can use and has far reaching effects on everyday lives. This pre-apocolyptic fiction novel, told through the diary of Laura Brown, a london teenager, is a scary possibility of what the future might hold.

Reviewed by Kayla Britt

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey

William Henry just passed away in a retirement home. No one knew his age, he had no friends or relatives, and they couldn’t even tell if Will Henry was his real name. The only thing he left behind was his diary. However the diary seems more like a work of fiction. It claims that Will was born in 1876, over 120 years before his death. Also the stories themselves do not seem real. They depict a young Will Henry who is an orphan in service to an eccentric doctor. The doctor took in Will after his parents died and is now exposing Will to the world that very few wish to see, the world full of monsters. Like his father before him Will learned the study of monstrumology becoming “indispensable” to the doctor. After a year of servitude, a knock on the back door pushes Will away from endless nights of dissecting deformed carcasses and sends him on the hunt for real living beasts. The hunt leads them to multiple people with a horror story to tell, and they make a few horror stories of their own. It’s a book full of interesting characters and side stories that leave you guessing until the very end.

Reviewed by David Downes

Friday, March 9, 2012

Everybody Sees The Ants by A.S. King


Reviewed by David Downes

Monday, March 5, 2012

Imaginary Girls

Imaginary Girls, a novel by Ren Suma, is a story wrapped in mystery and suspense. Chloe, a fourteen year old, lives with her older sister Ruby, a girl whose fiercely independent attitude and attraction no one in their small town seems able to resist. These sisters have an incredibly close bond, but when a typical summer night swimming with friends in the nearby reservoir goes terribly wrong, Chloe is sent away. When Chloe finally returns home, she senses a dark secret Ruby is determined to keep hidden, but how far is Chloe willing to go to find out the truth?

Reviewed by Kayla Britt