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The Forest of Hands and Teeth
by Carrie Ryan

This book had me at “hello.”  And then I peed my pants through pretty much the entire thing.  This could be THE creepiest book I have ever read and yet I Could. Not. Put. It. Down.

If the post-apocolyptic freakin ZOMBIES aren’t enough, there is a crazy “sisterhood” running the show with all their secret-y secrets locked up in a cathedral. The whole town lives at their whim inside the fences that protect them from the “unconsecrated” (aka zombies!!!!).  Young folk must marry young and ensure the future of the human race, or so they are told.  Every townsperson’s waking hour is filled with the moans of the zombies outside the gates who yearn to bite and infect them.  But Mary stands apart.  She is passionate and has hope that there is an “out there” beyond the gates where life is not surrounded by death.  She is the consumate heroine as she questions the boundaries of her own world and faces unthinkable choices. 

Her escape is harrowing and tragic. 

I give this book my highest recommendation for kids 12 and older — with the caveat that kids who don’t like bumps in the night will never sleep again after reading this book.  Stick to day time reading only…even for grown ups.

[rating=4]

©2012 MamaBloo. All Rights Reserved.

OH, I exclaimed!!! Romeo and Juliet…. Lord of the Flies….Animal Farm….

My heart started beating faster.  Ya know, I explained to her, reading this literature is so exciting.  It enters you into a “club” of sorts, the club of “well-read” people.  You will become more culturally literate, I tell her.  I then go on to tell her story after story of how knowing the nuances of Romeo and Juliet and Lord of the Flies (especially the symbolism of that darn CONCH) will enrich and enhance her life for decades to come.  That this is only the beginning of a thrilling literary thrillling thrill ride of thrills.

She looks at me.

And says, “I think I need to go put on some deoderant.”

I think I will take that as an endorsement to just how thrilling classic literature is.  So thrilling, one needs to wear deoderant.

Yup.

©2012 MamaBloo. All Rights Reserved.

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Toby has found a lump in his side.  But this time, he is not going to tell his parents.  This time, he is going to be in charge…

not the cancer. 

So, he goes out each day of his vacaton on his bike in spite of his parent’s protests and worries.  One day on his ride, he sees a too-skinny cow and in concern for this cow’s well-being approaches the owner.  This is when he meets 91-year-old Pearl, a poet and a farmer.

Toby is tired of fighting his parents and his cancer and retreats into his morning interludes with 91-year-old Pearl.  Pearl is tired of fighting her daughters for her freedom.  Together they rediscover their “warrior self” and make some needed changes.  This is a quick read – only 116 pages – and errs on the side of simplicity as it revolves around the themes of “standing up” and “friendships” and “freedom”.

But the characters still ring true.  A very quaint story that I recommend to anyone 10 years old and older.   But, have one tissue ready, because you may need it.

Book by Valerie Hobbs

©2012 MamaBloo. All Rights Reserved.

And there is a border… a wall… or maybe a dome that surrounds the town of Perdido Beach, CA.  A barrier that no one can break through.

And (as if all of that wasn’t enough) the animals are morphing, evolving.  And so are the kids. Developing supernatural powers.

In the vein of The Lord of the Flies the kids don’t all agree on how to survive, who should be in charge, and what they should do to keep order.  The bully from the private school, Caine (aptly named, by the way), soon takes over and rules without mercy due to his developing powers.  Sam also develops powers, but is reluctant to step up and lead — even though he is morally and ethically the “good” guy in the story.  It really gets eerie when the local coyotes start organizing, talking, and then stalking the kids.

As a mom this book scared me to death.  To think that 13 year olds would be in charge of everyone and everything was powerfully disturbing.  And the author stays pretty authentic to how this might play out. Cars crash when the driver disappears, gas stoves ignite fires in homes, children cry for their parents.  It takes the kids a long time to get organized, the candy is eaten first, and they forget to check on the babies…. with tragic results.

Because of the gruesome and also the very scary encounters in this book, I would recommend this for older teens or maybe younger teens who can handle Stephen King-esque storytelling.  However, there is a bit of a disconnect because older teens may not be as interested in a book about 13 year olds, but I think the book will still hold their attention as the book is very gripping and hard to put down, if for no other reason than the original and terrifying paradigm of the story.  I have heard some say that it slows down too much in parts.  But as the first book in a trilogy, I am a bit forgiving as the author sets up the round characters and allows the story to pace itself.  If you or your kids liked Hunger Games, you’ll probably like this one, too.

Book By: Michael Grant

©2012 MamaBloo. All Rights Reserved.

I had no intention of liking these books. None.  But because I like to keep up and read alongside what my kids are reading, I went ahead and dove into this one.  And, frankly, it hooked me.  So much so that I finished the whole series in a little less than two weeks.

I really had to get used to James Patterson’s way of writing.  He rights in quick sentences, no fluff, not a lot of detail.  And because this book is told in 1st person from the perspective of a 14 year old girl, he writes in the vernacular and jargon of a sassy teen.  And Max often talks right to the reader. Sometimes I feel like Patterson nails the voice of a 14 year old girl — just gets right in that sweet spot with the cadence and the language.  And at other times, the voice is painfully not the voice of a teenager; it almost yells to the reader “middle age white guy trying to sound like a teenage girl.”  During these passages, well, lets just say some of them are cringe-worthy.  Especially when Patterson — through the voice of Max — gets preachy about responsibility and global warming (yes, you read that correctly, there is a anti-global warming thread throughout this series…).

But if you can put all that aside and read on, you have yourself a solid story that winds up to be compelling, interesting, and a fun read.  Teenagers will love it (mine sure did).  I even think this one would grab the attention of teenage boys, even though it is told from the point of view of a female.  The story spins from one intense moment to the next and the characters are easy to care about.

I recommend this book series for boys and girls age 11 and older.

Author: James Patterson

©2012 MamaBloo. All Rights Reserved.

Ali’s mother, Claire, and her aunt Dulcie have a secret.  And like all good secrets, they yearn to be revealed and discovered.  Who is that girl ripped out of the picture from their childhood? Claire and Dulcie claim that they do not remember.  Ali thinks otherwise. So, when Ali gets invited to go the lake house to babysit her cousin Emma for the summer, she sets out to discover who the girl in the photograph is and why she is such a secret.

This book is written very simply without a lot of fanfare.  The older the reader, the faster the book speeds to its conclusion because the story is pretty straightforward and, I guess, pretty predictable.  I guessed early in the story what the secret was and how this whole thing might play out.  My 12 year old did, too.  BUT, having said that, I still think the story holds the reader (I mean it IS a ghost story, afterall…) and is a good little story.  It is not terribly scary, which is good for a tween novel, and I would rate it as a PG book.  Tweens and teens will relate to the angst that Ali feels at trying to fit in with her hip aunt and her desire to both separate from her mother and defend her.  There are a couple of twists and turns and then the final result brings peace to everyone.

And there is just enough eerieness to keep the story moving along.

And the story definitely puts the ka-bash on secret-keeping, that’s for sure!

So, I would recommend this novel for boys and girls ages 9 to 13.

Book by Mary Downing Hahn

©2012 MamaBloo. All Rights Reserved.

Two days after Thomas’ arrival the only girl who has ever arrived at the maze shows up.  And things change. Now the boys have to find a way out. No matter what.

This is high-concept book with an over-arching consipiracy theme – think The X Files or Lost.   Why are these boys living in a maze?  Why can’t they remember anything about their previous life?  What are the grievers and who put them there?  How do they get out? Throw in dystopia, telepathy, and deadly viruses and, well, I could not put this book down.  It helps that the author ends every single chapter in a nail-biting cliff hanger.  I literally had to ask myself, can I make it until tomorrow to find out what happens. I made a lot of coffee the week I read this book, trying to recover from my late night of reading. The author leaves the reader guessing through most of the book, which can be frustrating at times (and if you follow Lost, you know what I mean – this books has the same feel to it) as you are practically begging for an answer, ANY answer rather than more questions.

And this book is scary.  Perhaps even nightmare scary, but definitely wide-eyed, holy-crap scary.

My one criticism is the characters need some more developing.  As we learn later in the book, these kids are suppose to be the “best of the best”, but even Thomas himself seems a bit whiny and sulky.  But, I chose to put the weak character development aside and just enjoy the action.

This book gets my highest recommendation and it will appeal to both boys and girls 12  years old and up.  The ending of this book actually makes the reader GROWL in complete and utter surprise and disbelief.  Then you will get a DEMAND from your child for the next book in the series – which has not been published yet.

©2012 MamaBloo. All Rights Reserved.

The Naming is the first book in a quartet about Maerad’s epic journey to reveal her destiny.  The hero’s quest and good versus evil (or as we like to say in my family “e-ville”) theme feels very familiar and comfortable. We have a heroine who has humble beginnings but later find out that she is actually aristocracy and that she holds the key to saving the world.  Not unlike Luke Skywalker, Frodo Baggins, Eragon, and countless others…so, the “formula” works. The book has many compelling moments where Cadvan and Maerad face enemies, fight them off, and learn from their experiences. These focal-moments of the story are intense and suspenseful without being terrifying. But in between these moments, the book is a bit slow (and even bogged down) with long descriptions of forests and the story-telling that unravels the very complicated mythology of the Bards.  The mythology (the history of the Bards, explanations of “The Speech”, and so forth) seemed a bit long and, frankly, not that interesting. I can forgive the masters, like Tolkien, for this but it wore a bit thin here.  Like Tolkien, Croggon creates a “real” history and language that is supported by an appendix full of fictitious primary sources.  I found myself wanting to rush through this exposition to get to some of the action, which in itself revealed a lot of what the reader needs to know (without being long-winded).  The book wasn’t slow enough or dull enough to put down, however, and it does end in such a way that makes it nearly impossible not to continue with the series. The last 8 chapters of the book are so interesting and suspenseful, in fact, that it re-focuses and redeems the entire book —  making the first  279 pages a very long, very involved setting of  the stage for future books.

I would absolutely recommend this book for ages 11 and up.  It is a good, solid read that tweens and teens that enjoy fantasy or science fiction will enjoy and they will most likely end up wanting to complete the series.  My 13 year old claims that the story gets better and better with each book. The Naming is a nice send-off into another world where Maerad and Cadvam weave through pitch-black tunnels following a mountain lion, fight off the horrible “wights” from the otherworld, and encounter a secret city with an ethereal queen.

Every week I try to review at least one book.  These reviews are about books I have read and usually one of my kids have read, too. I am not compensated for these reviews — I love books and just want to get the word about good (and sometimes not-so-good) books.

©2012 MamaBloo. All Rights Reserved.