Katniss Everdeen, an acomplished poacher of wild animals, lives in District 12, the coal-mining region of the country of Panem. Located in the remaining habitable regions of a devastated North America, Panem’s 12 districts are harshly ruled by the distant Capitol. Each year, as a form of entertainment and a brutal expression of the Capitol’s absolute control, a boy and girl from each district are forced to compete in the Hunger Games. This is the ultimate reality show in which the contestants fight to the death before a live TV audience. All citizens are required to watch. Only one contestant will survive. Can Katinis, who has spent her life just barely avoiding hunger, hope to compete against bigger, stronger rivals from the richer districts? Will her drunken mentor help her or only speed her death? And will the government stack the odds to guarantee that a more acceptable candidate wins?

This story has complex and believable characters, political intrigue, romance, and tons of exciting action. The only down-side? It’s the first in a series and the next one won’t be out for quite a while.

Highly recommended for grades 7-12.

By Mr. Doyle

A direct impact by an asteroid on the moon is big news for scientists but for Miranda, a typical teen growing up in modern day Pennsylvania, it just looks like an excuse for more homework from her teachers. The asteroid turns out to be more massive than expected and the collision alters the moon’s orbit, pushing it closer to the earth with devastating effects. Tide surges, earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions kill untold numbers of people and wipe out most coastal cities. All of which leads to the swift breakdown of society, with schools and stores closing and gas and electrical service disappearing.

Miranda and her family are left to survive on their own. Thanks to Miranda’s mother they have a store of supplies but they can’t last forever. Day by day old, mundane concerns lose their importance and are replaced by more urgent needs like food, heat and water. And as global climate change makes the earth less and less hospitable to life they wonder if there will be any reason to keep on living.

Told through Miranda’s journal entries this is a truly frightening story. Although death and destruction are all around they are not described in any detail. It is the plausible day-by-day disintegration of Miranda’s life that makes the story scary. This is a book that is hard to put down and a it is a story that will stay with you long after you finish it.

By Mr. Doyle

Stopmouth is a human boy living in a brutal world where humans and other sentient creatures (”beasts”) hunt each other for survival. All of the plant life in their world is poisonous so eating flesh is the only way to survive. The humans and the beasts hunt each other for food. Stopmouth, who has a severe speech impediment, is thought to be dimwitted by his tribe. If he cannot contribute to the tribe then he may become a “volunteer”. The old, the sick, the injured, and other non-contributors “volunteer” to be traded to beast tribes– flesh for flesh. So, to live, Stopmouth must show he can help provide for the tribe.

Events conspire to shake Stopmouth’s world to its very core. First he is betrayed by the brother who has always protected him. Then a beautiful woman falls from the sky into his village. And suddenly several beast tribes, who have never been able to communicate well, begin to cooperate and to hunt other species to extinction. It is only a matter of time before they turn their attention to the humans. Stopmouth learns that things are not what they seem and he embarks on a most unusual hero’s journey.

Because of it’s size the book will intimidate some readers. But it is filled with riveting action and there is enough depth to make the reader think about big ideas (loyalty, duty, honor, morality, etc.). Highly recommended for grades 7 and up.

By Mr. Doyle

Like Ms. Haddix’s other books (Among the Hidden, Don’t You Dare Read This, Mrs. Dunphrey,etc.) this one pulls you in quickly and doesn’t let go. The story begins with a plane appearing out of nowhere at an Ohio airport. No pilots, no crew and no flight plan, just a plane full of… well, read it for yourself to find out. Jump forward 13 years. Jonah is 13 years old. He is an adopted child and his parents have been very open about it. To Jonah, it is no big deal. Then the letters begin arriving. “You are one of the missing,” is the first ominous message. Other adoptees, all 13 years old, receive similar notes. Soon the FBI comes into play and strange men appear and disappear seemingly into thin air. No one is who they seem and our protagonist doesn’t know which way to turn. The book ends with Jonah, his sister Katherine, and his friend Chip facing an uncertain fate.

Like the “Shadow Children” series this one seems certain to attract a large and loyal following. Librarians and book store employees should brace themselves for the onslaught of questions about the arrival of the next installment (according to Ms. Haddix’s web site, “Book Two, Sent,coming 2009.”)

By Mr. Doyle

Marcus Yallow and his friends are on the streets of San Francisco playing an Alternate Reality Game when terrorists blow up the Bay Bridge and the BART Trans-Bay Tunnel. Unable to find shelter, they are swept up by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and are questioned and tortured in “Gitmo by the Bay.” They are humiliated and broken and released, warned not to talk about what happened.

Marcus discovers that his beloved San Francisco has become a police state. Determined not to take it lying down Marcus declares a digital war on the DHS, organizing a teen rebelion against the suspension of civil liberties. Using open source software and encryption protocols they create an underground computer network and use it to organize against the authorities. But can they stand up to the nearly unlimited resources and personnel of a federal government gone bad? To find out, read

Little Brother

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By Mr Doyle

The book draws readers engaged into the entire story. >From the first chapter to the last words of the book, the reader will remember the book for years.

The story is about a man named Matteo Alacran who makes a clone of himself by using skin cells and placing the embryo inside a cow. The embryo grows into a baby and is named Matt (which is the shorter version for Matteo Alacran). The child grows up facing a different kind of racism. He is disliked between the family all because he is a clone. One girl named Maria, however, actually has a sense of infatuation toward Matt at the age of only six.

As Matt grows on, he learns that he is to take over the place of the original Matteo Alacran. However, his bodyguard says that Matt has a choice to make. He can be a hero and destroy everything the drug lord created or be the organ donor to Matteo Alacran so he can continue to live on. Matteo Alacran dies at the age of 148 years old.

While Matt grows into adulthood, he finds himself with Maria and her mother to find a way to destroy everything Matteo created. In the end, friendship is what saves the young man. He realizes that even if he was a clone, he is still a human no matter what others say. Maria develops her relationship with Matt where they both confess to each other that they are in love with each other.

Matt does meet challenges along the way and develops a sense of care and eventually realizes that he does in fact have a soul within him. This story brings readers to realize anything is possible. This is an unforgettable book as it inspires everyone else to reach their fullest potential and go beyond.

By Jesse Soto

It was just supposed to be a routine examination to check for an ulcer. An endoscopy, an out-patient procedure, is very common but what the doctors saw inside Richard was not normal—not human. Phone calls were made and people showed up. People in suits with hard faces, cold eyes, and guns. People like Ryan, who kills without a second thought. Richard was sedated and they cut him open. And while they had their hands and their cold metal instruments inside his guts he woke up. With the help of a stolen gun he escaped.

Now Richard is on the run and he has to find out what is inside him. They had to be wrong. He is human. He eats, he sweats, he goes to bathroom, he gets excited by the touch of a pretty girl. He’s just a normal, teen-aged human, right? But there it is on the endoscopy video—weird silver, brown, and black things inside him– tubes, filaments, and casings that didn’t show up on x-rays. And the cut they made in his stomach is healing fast—inhumanly fast. He can’t go home, not that a foster home is really home. And he doesn’t really have any friends. The only one he can think to turn to is Eddi. He doesn’t really know her but he knows she lives outside the law, making fake IDs. He can’t trust Eddi but he has no other choice. Can Richard and Eddi escape from Ryan and the others? Can they find out the truth about Richard? Do they really want to know?

Brooks (Martyn Pig, Lucas, Road of the Dead) has crafted a gripping mystery with his trade-mark other-worldly feel. Lots of action early on will hook readers quickly and the mystery of who (and what) Richard is will keep them reading to the end.

By Mr. Doyle

A direct impact by an asteroid on the moon is big news for scientists but for Miranda, a typical teen growing up in modern day Pennsylvania, it just looks like an excuse for more homework from her teachers. The asteroid turns out to be more massive than expected and the collision alters the moon’s orbit, pushing it closer to the earth with devastating effects. Tide surges, earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions kill untold numbers of people and wipe out most coastal cities. All of which leads to the swift breakdown of society, with schools and stores closing and gas and electrical service disappearing.

Miranda and her family are left to survive on their own. Thanks to Miranda’s mother they have a store of supplies but they can’t last forever. Day by day old, mundane concerns lose their importance and are replaced by more urgent needs like food, heat and water. And as global climate change makes the earth less and less hospitable to life they wonder if there will be any reason to keep on living.

Told through Miranda’s journal entries this is a truly frightening story. Although death and destruction are all around they are not described in any detail. It is the plausible day-by-day disintegration of Miranda’s life that makes the story scary. This is a book that is hard to put down and a it is a story that will stay with you long after you finish it.

By Mr. Doyle

This story is set to be in a utopian society years ahead. The society is structured on security rather than freedom. Each of the members in the community each has an Assignment that is a job that each member must do until they enter the House of Old. Jonas, the protagonist, turns twelve and he is nervous of what his Assignment will be. The Ceremony of Twelve is the celebration in which the Twelves are given their Assignment they will be doing as their career and future. Jonas is assigned as Receiver of Memories, which is an Assignment where he must receive memories of the past from generations before about life.

His trainer, which is the current Receiver of Memories, explains to Jonas what he will expect from the memories. Jonas learns that this Assignment will give him new knowledge that is not known to anyone else such as color, love, and warfare. As he accumulates memories, he tells The Giver (the previous Receiver of Memories since he claimed Jonas to be the new Receiver) that there should be some changes to the society and not have Sameness, Climate Control, and to have choices. The Giver realizes that Jonas has gained wisdom and The Giver himself devises a plan to make changes to the community. Once Jonas leaves the community and goes to Elsewhere (the land that is outside of the community) then the memories will make their way into everyone..
This community basically are robots, not literally though, because they have no true emotions and must do their given Assignments and Jonas learns that there is a need for change so everyone can experience the memories of past, have the ability to see colors, and feel true emotions. So in desperation Jonas leaves the community with Gabriel who is an infant living with Jonas’ family unit (a family unit is composed of a husband, wife, one son, and one daughter) who was set to be released (release is actually a term for the injection that kills a person who is old, and immature grown infant, or a member who has done three crimes/ misdemeanors). Gabriel was brought by Father who is a Nurturer and brought Gabriel to see if he would grow but didn’t meet the standards so he was marked to be released.
Jonas takes Gabriel with him and endure nature at the harshest moments. They went through rain, hunger, and snow to make it to Elsewhere by riding a sled down a snow hill. Jonas wasn’t capable of continuing to go on but he gained strength by remembering the people he loved such as Father, Mother, Lily (sister), Asher (friend), and The Giver. Once he is at the bottom of the hill, he could hear music for the first time. This indicates that he was successful at changing the community but it is unclear if Jonas and Gabriel make it alive or not.

By: Jesse Soto

By Shig Kubo