ON THE OTHER SIDE

This week I switched over to the world of science fiction and fantasy. First, I read 100 Cupboards by N. D. Wilson. This was a weird and frightening book since it starts off in a boy's bedroom. Henry goes to stay with his Aunt Dotty, Uncle Frank, and their three girls. He has a room in the attic where he starts to hear bumps in the wall. As he peels away the plaster he finds a wall covered with cupboards -- big one, small ones, light ones, dark ones. Henry and his cousin Henrietta begin to explore the cupboards and learn how to get through them to different worlds. Unfortunately something dark comes through to Henry's side. The whole family battles the dark force in an exciting battle. This book is quite a change from Wilson's other book Leepike Ridge, a straight adventure story that I really liked.

Next I went to a future world in XVI by Julia Karr. In this story teens look forward to their sixteenth birthday when they are considered adults, all except Nina who doesn't like the choices facing her. In addition her mother is killed and the father she thought was dead may be alive and in hiding. With her life in turmoil Nina becomes part of the rebellion against the oppressive government forces everyone to live in certain social/economic groups with little hope of moving up into a better group. This is a strange and frightening look at what could become our future. Both of the above books will be new to the collection in the fall.

Finally I came across a book at my public library with the title Alcatraz verses the Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson that I couldn't resist. In this hilarious scifi/fantasy, the orphan Alcatraz who has been bounced from foster home to foster home learns that he is a member of a superpowerful family that fights the lies and ambitions of the Librarians who secretly ruled the world we know. If that wasn't enough, Alcatraz's superpower is the ability to break things and his grandfather's power is to arrive later. Not your usual super powers! With that much of a teaser, I was hooked. And I chuckled through the entire book. This series will be on my first book order of the new school year.

WELCOME

Welcome to my summer blog. This is the place where I will talk about the books I'm reading this summer. Please let me know if you have read any of these books or tell what you're reading on these hot summer days.

I started off the summer with three great fiction titles. First is The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate. This is the story of Ivan, a silverback gorilla, who is caged in a rundown mall circus. Ivan tells his own story about his life, his artwork, and his friends - Stella, an elephant, Bob, a stray dog, Julia, a human child, and Ruby, a baby elephant. Stella, Ruby, and Ivan as caged animals long for freedom from their cages. When Stella dies, Ivan promises to free Ruby. His plan also frees himself.

Next I finished one of the Caudill nominees for 2013, How to Survive Middle School by Donna Gephart. I predict that this book will be one of the most popular nominees. In it, David Greenberg is looking forward to summer vacation before he enters middle school, but his best friend, Elliot, ruins it by going girl-crazy. David has certain fears about middle school that he talks about in his YouTube video show TalkTime styled in the fashion of Jon Stewart's The Daily Show. When school finally starts, it's TalkTime that brings David worldwide fame. But David still has to deal with middle school and its problems.

Lastly, I just finished Brooklyn Nine, A Novel in Nine Innings by Alan Gratz. As a long-time Cub fan, I really enjoyed this look at the history of baseball through the eyes of nine generations of a Brooklyn family. With guest appearances by Alexander Cartwright, Abner Doubleday, the Spalding Company, the All-American Girls Baseball League, and several famous players of the game, baseball history comes right up to the year 2002. A must for every baseball fan, this book will be new to the Lakeview collection in the fall.