TECHNOLOGY IN WAR

As a change of pace, I read a couple of nonfiction books that I have been interested in reading for a while. Both books deal with the development and usage of war technology. In Mr. Lincoln's High-Tech War: How the North Used the Telegraph, railroads, surveillance Balloons, Iron-Clads, High-Powered Weapons, and More to Win the Civil War, the authors Thomas B. Allen and Roger Macbride Allen explain the development of these various items and how they were used. I was fascinated by the fact that Abraham Lincoln was a great supporter of these new technologies but his generals preferred to wage war without them. With many photographs, cartoons, and diagrams you feel like you are right in the midst of the Civil War.

My second nonfiction choice was Steve Sheinkin's Bomb - The Race to Build-and Steal- the World's Most Dangerous Weapon. The book tells the development of the atomic bomb and its use on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War II. I learned that Albert Einstein communicated with President Franklin Roosevelt urging him to sponsor the development of the atomic bomb. I learned how Robert Oppenheimer was chosen to run the project and gathered his team. And I learned about the spying by the Soviet Union, our ally, to gain this new technology that led to the Cold War of the 1950s and 1960s. Here also photographs and diagrams help you follow the progress of "the gadget" and meet the people involved. This book is also a nominee for the 2015 Rebecca Caudill Young Readers Book Award.

Look for both of these books in the Blogged Book display when you come back to school next week.

ACTION/ADVENTURE NEW BOOKS

If you know what a cryptid is (an animal whose existence has not yet been scientifically proven, like the Sasquatch), then you are ready for a new series from Roland Smith. Tenacles and Chupacabra are the first two books in the Cryptid Hunters series and they are packed with strange creatures, dangerous situations, and powerful enemies. Marty, Luther, and Grace track these creatures around the world and make amazing discoveries with the help of Dr. Travis Wolfe and his team. Opposing them is Dr. Noah Blackwood who owns several animal theme parks called Arks. Dr. Blackwood will use any means to bring the most unusual animals to his Arks -- stealing them or creating them genetically.

In Cristin Terreill's time travel book All Our Yesterdays, Em and Finn are imprisoned and tortured but must escape to restore the world they remember. Em has found a list of possible plans hidden in her prison cell. Only one possibility remains for them to try -- kill the man who invented the time machine. After they escape, they realize that this will be their last chance. One more trip back to the time and place where the future went wrong is all they have. But can they kill their best friend?

These books will be ready for check out in September. Look for them in the New Book Display by the windows.

NEW SCIFI FOR THE FALL

I just finished reading two new science fiction books that couldn't be more different. First time author Demitria Lunetta has created a frightening version of the future in her book In the After. Life has been pretty good for Amy until the world is attacked by Them, strange creatures -- maybe aliens -- who are always hunger for human flesh. Amy manages to survive for four years due to her own survival skills and an electrified fence that surrounds her home. While her parents and friends are assumed dead (and eaten by Them), Amy rescues a toddler whom she names Baby. Then they are captured by a strange aircraft which turns out to be from community of humans called New Hope who are trying to rebuild the world and its population. Unfortunately for Amy the answer to the identity of Them is also found in New Hope. A brutal, pulse-pounding adventure for anyone with a strong stomach.

On a much lighter note is Wendy Mass's new book Pi in the Sky. In this story we meet Joss, the seventh son of the Supreme Overlord of the Universe. Joss's father rules a dimension that oversees our galaxy and all the universe from The Realms. But Joss's job is to deliver pies until one fateful day when an Earth girl Annika accidentally see

s and travels to The Realms which leads to the complete disappearance of the our world. Now Joss learns his true job as he and the annoying Annika try to bring back Earth. While many facts about the cosmos appear in this story, there are chuckles galore as Joss tries to explain The Realms to Annika while trying to prevent her from learning too much of the truth.

These books will be ready for checkout in September.

I'M BACK!

Sorry for the delay in starting my summer book reviews but something came up and I couldn't get to the computer. But now I'm ready to start with 2 terrific new books that are already in the Lakeview collection.

Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson envisions a future where some people, called Epics, have gained superpowers but, unfortunately, only use those powers for themselves. A few Epics with the strongest powers have taken over major cities and hire Epics with lesser powers to be their enforcers. Chicago is the focus of Steelheart who can turn anything into steel including streets, buildings, even the ground. When David is six years old, he sees his father killed by Steelheart. But he also sees Steelheart injured. David spends the next ten years researching Epics in the hopes that he can kill Steelheart. When he gets the chance to join a rebel cell of humans fighting and killing Epics, it may be time for his revenge. This story of danger, intrigue, and revenge will grab science fiction and adventure readers.

I have been fascinated by other cultures and how they live and are treated so it's no surprise that I wanted to read Susan Cooper's Ghost Hawk. What starts as a Native American story in early colonial days becomes much more. The story starts with Little Hawk and his winter-long journey into manhood. Before he leaves on this journey a couple of white men and a white boy visit his village. Little Hawk and the boy John Wakeley spend a day becoming friends. When Little Hawk returns from his manhood journey, he finds everyone dead except his grandmother from a white man's disease. Though many villages have been wiped out by this disease, Little Hawk and his grandmother find a new village that takes them in. On a fateful day when Little Hawk again meets John Wakeley, a tragedy occurs. The boys' friendship continues throughout their life overcoming unusual obstacles and we, the readers, get to see how the early English settlers interacted from both the Native American and the white man's viewpoints.

WELCOME!

Welcome to my summer blog. Each week I will update you on what books I'm currently reading. I have quite a stack that I want to finish this summer. I plan to spend most afternoons on my patio with a tall glass of iced tea and lose myself in the exciting world of books. I invite your comments throughout the summer. You may comment on the books I'm reading or make suggestions of books I should read this summer. Let's start a conversation!

LAST CHANCE

With school starting summer is coming to an end. All paperbacks that were checked out for the summer are due on Tuesday, September 4th. Also due September 4th are completed Summer Reading Logs. Since you get a prizes just for turning in a Reading Log, it's not too late to do so. The Reading Log form is linked to the Lakeview Library webpage. Soooo print a copy, think back to the books and magazines you read this summer, and bring a completed form to the IMC on Tuesday. I will meet with students who have handed in Reading Logs over the next few weeks to award prizes and raffle tickets for our Grand Prizes.

IT'S GOOD TO BE BACK!

I have been offline for the last two months as I recovered from knee replacement surgery. It has been an interesting experience which has taken a great deal of energy out of me. As I prepare to start the new school year I have one more group of books to present to you -- books I have read during my recovery.

From our current collection comes Saving Sky by Jane Stanley. This "What If" story presents an United States that went to war after 9/11. Many shortages of food and energy exist because of the war and enemy bombings targeting energy facilities. But worse, as shortages increase, prejudice against Arabs and Muslims becomes more violent and the government begins to round up and imprison Arab-looking men and boys. Sky and her family are quite self-sufficient and believe in living with the land and nature. When a new friend, Kareem, is attacked at school and then wanted by the government, Sky's family tries to help. This is a strong story of courage in a world going crazy.

From the new books coming soon to our collection are the following four titles. First from John Flanagan's Ranger's Apprentice series comes The Lost Stories, a group of short stories that fill in some of the adventures missing in the book series. This book will be placed in the Fiction section with the other Ranger's Apprentice books, not in the short collection section.

Book Two of the Clone Codes by Patricia McKissack and her family is called Cyborg. This scifi adventure continues to story of Clone Codes but now from the point-of-view of a cyborg, part human, part machine. The society of the series restricts clones and cyborgs from full citizen rights, but Leanna, a clone, Houston Ye, a cyborg, RUBy, an artificial intelligence, and their friends try to fight back using the peaceful demonstration methods of the 1960s civil rights movement led by Martin Luther King, Jr.

A new series, Tomorrow Girls by Eva Gray, begins with Behind the Gates. In a future world again torn apart by war, Louisa and her best friend Maddie, posing as her twin, join a lucky few other girls who are taken to a safe location, a boarding school where they learn survival skills. But the school is hiding a terrible secret that the girls must uncover to save themselves.

Ending with a humorous twist is the second book in Wendy Mass's Twice Upon a Time series. In this series the author looks at classic fairy tales and retells them with a twist. This new book is Sleeping Beauty; The One Who Took the Really Long Nap. In alternating chapters Princess Rose and Prince Charming tell their life stories leading up to and continuing after the famous "true love's first kiss." Since each book in this series stands alone, you can read this one or look for the previous book Rapunzel; The One with All the Hair in the paperback rack.

The new school year is right around the corner. I look forward to seeking many of you next week at the Friday Open House. Please stop by with your Summer Reading Logs and tell me about all the great adventures you have had this summer both in and out of books. See you soon.

MORE SCIFI AND SOME REALISTIC FICTION

This past week I've dipped into the science fiction world twice more. First from the Caudill 2013 nominee list is Dark Life by Kat Falls. In a future when ice pack melting has flooded much of the land area, people are beginning to live under the sea. So it is for Ty and his family. Ty's parents helped develop the underwater dwellings and sea farming techniques used in their colony. Now Ty is looking forward to getting his own place until the government steps in and removes its support of underwater colonies unless the notorious pirate Seablite Gang can be brought to justice. Ty meets feisty Topsider Gemma who is searching for her older brother. Together the teens battle pirates, government agents, and underwater monsters until the truth is revealed.

A different future world is in Time Riders by Alex Scarrow. Three teens snatched out of time before they could die in disasters become the newest team of time travelers commissioned to keep time on its course. Liam, Maddy, and Sal with their android bodyguard Bob soon find themselves in a frightening new world where Germany won World War II and the Nazis have annexed the United States. The teens must find the point of origin where time went off course and return everything back to normal. Before the teens can act, the future becomes a nuclear wasteland making their mission even harder. This thrilling time adventure will be available for checkout in the fall.

Ending on a realistic fiction note is Laurie Halse Anderson's Catalyst. Kate's only problem should be finding out if she is accepted into MIT, but problems seem to snowball for her. She has boyfriend issues, her minister father takes in a destitute, dysfunctional family after their home is destroyed by fire which includes Kate's nemesis, foul-mouthed Teri Litch, and MIT refuses her and she has no backup plans. Kate's reliance on science appears in the chapter titles which are all science terminology reflecting the action of the chapter. When death touches the story, Kate begins to find solutions to her problems in unlikely ways. 

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.

END OF THE SUMMER

It's hard to believe that the summer is almost over and we will be back in school next week. I have 3 more books to tell you about before I begin concentrating on the 2012 Rebecca Caudill nominees. First is an historical fiction by Caroline B. Cooney, one of my favorite authors. The Ransom of Mercy Carter tells the story of a young girl captured by Canadian Indians during the French and Indian War. Mercy sees her village destroyed and many of her friends and neighbors killed. Then she, her brothers, and most of the children of her village are marched hundreds of miles to Indian villages where they are adopted by Indian families. Mercy shows great courage and curiosity as she adapts to Indian life. When ransom finally comes she must decide if she wants to return to her English home or stay in her Indian home.

Rosemary Wells's Red Moon at Sharpsburg features another courageous girl India who lives in Virginia during the Civil War. Not only does India believe in the cause of the Confederacy, but she is fascinated by the chemistry and biology she learns from a neighbor, Emory Trimble. Repeatedly told that girls do not study the sciences, India holds on to her dream to go to college when the war is over. What India sees of the war and the medicine of the time is quite sickening, but the ending gives hope for a brighter future.

I end the summer with a science fiction book - Across the Universe, by Beth Revis - that takes the reader on a three-hundred year space journey to a new life on a new planet. In alternating chapters we learn the story of Amy, a girl from our time who is frozen along with her parents for the space journey, and Elder, a boy who has grown up on the ship as part of the multi-generation crew. Together these two teenagers solve the mystery of what has been happening on the ship and why the journey is taking much longer than expected -- so long that a totally different society has evolved aboard the ship.

Thank you to those who have shared your summer reading with me. I look forward to hearing from more of you as we meet in the new school year.

ESPECIALLY FOR THE GUYS

Guys, are you tired of hearing your parents and teachers insist that you spend the summer reading? Well, so is Derek in Janet Tashijian's My Life as a Book. Derek expects to spend his summer lying in the grass with his dog Bodi or hanging out with his best friend Matt. But his teacher has assigned 3 books for summer reading and his parents are sending him to Learning Camp! A big extra in this book are the margin drawings by the author's teenage son Jake. In the story they are Derek's drawings of vocabulary words. These stick figure, cartoon-like drawings add to the fun of the book.

A dead body discovered in a nearby river starts off Todd's summer in Tedd Arnold's Rat Life. Although Todd helps out at his parents' motel, he gets no allowance or salary. So when he is offered a paying job at the local drive-in movie theater, he figures this is the best summer ever. At the drive-in he meets Rat and that leads to a host of strange adventures including another dead body, a dangerous flood, and the answers to his questions about Rat. A tinkling murder mystery with all kinds of puzzles to solve in the space of one exciting summer.

NONFICTION THAT READS LIKE FICTION

James L. Swanson has adapted two of his adult books for younger readers. Both books are concerned with the end of the American Civil War and the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. In Chasing Lincoln's Killer, Swanson tells how the assassination of Lincoln was accomplished and of the manhunt for John Wilkes Booth, the assassin, and his accomplices. It is a fast-paced thriller where you have to keep reminding yourself that communication in those days was so slow that it took two weeks before Booth was finally tracked down! Even though you know the end of the story, Swanson's day-by-day account builds with suspense.
Following that book Swanson has given us Bloody Times, the story of the funeral of Lincoln and the manhunt for Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy. While the North mourns the loss of Lincoln and a funeral train slowly brings his body back to Illinois passing millions of mourners, Davis moves further south as the states of Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina become too dangerous for him. Both men were respected by their people, but came to such different ends.
Both books are filled with illustrations, many of them photographs, which helps you get a real sense of time period. I found that I had a hard time putting down either book.

CATCH-UP TIME

It's been awhile since I blogged about my summer reading, so I need to catch up. First, there is Avi's new Poppy book, Poppy and Ereth, which he says is the last Poppy book. If you haven't read the Poppy books, you may need to catch up. Poppy is a deer mouse who lives in Dinwood Forest. Her books are full of adventure and friendship. Poppy and Ereth is no different. Here Poppy loses her husband, is propelled through the air and caught by a bat, and manages to escape a forest fire. There's never a dull moment with Poppy!

Another adventurous book is North by Donna Jo Napoli. Alvin is tired of his overprotective mother's restrictions on his life and intrigued by the adventures of Arctic explorer Matthew Henson, so he decides to leave home and make his way north to the Arctic. Though he is a runaway he is aided by strangers along the way and makes it to Bylot Island where he lives with a trapper and learns of the dangers and the joys of Arctic life.

For fantasy lovers I read Serendipity Market, by Penny Blubaugh. When the world gets out of balance Mother Inez calls a group of storytellers to Sependipity Market to tell their stories and restore the world's balance. These stores are from familiar fairy tales and folklore but with a different perspective. It was fun hearing about Cinderella from a mouse or the "prince" and the pea or the shoemaker and the elves from the elves point of view. There are ten tales in all for you to enjoy.

Another fantasy is in a new series from Kathryn Lasky called Daughters of the Sea. The first book, Hannah, which I read, tells the story of an orphan in 1899 who gets a job with a wealthy family as a scullery maid. However Hannah feels an unusual pull to the ocean. When the family goes to their summer house on a spit of land that juts out into the sea, Hannah finds that pull so strong that she cannot ignore it.
In the humorous genre I read I Am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want to Be Your Class President, by Josh Lieb. Besides the incredibly long title which I kept laughing at, the book features Oliver who appears to be fat, lazy, and not too smart, but he is really a genius and a billionaire with his own plan to dominate the world. Unfortunately Oliver wants the approved of his milk-toast father and goes to extraordinary lengths to prove himself by becoming class president at his middle school.

Not to ignore my favorite genre, science fiction, I read Neptune's Children, by Bonnie Dobkin, an Illinois author. Terrorists have released a toxin to kill their enemies that works too well and kills all people over the age of twelve. Several thousand children who were at the amusement park known as the Isles of Wonder with their families and survive the toxin are organized by Milo to create their own community using the resources of the park. This may sound like a great future with no adults to interfere, but problems arise inside and outside the park to threaten the children's safety and Milo's rule.

Finally for nonfiction readers, there is The Secret of the Yellow Death, by Suzanne Jurmain. This book looks at the hunt for the cause and a cure for Yellow Fever that was lead by Walter Reed in Cuba at the beginning of the twentieth century. At that time no one suspected that mosquitoes could transmit disease. Just comparing the medical techniques of that time to what we have today is fascinating. The book is loaded with photographs that are as interesting as the text describing this search.

I hope are enjoying your summer reading as much as I am. Please share your choices with me through this blog or when we come back to school in August.

All Winners

It's been a while since I blogged and a lot has happened in that time -- BUT I DIDN'T STOP READING! I have finished 6 terrific books. Let's start with --
The Red Blazer Girls is a new series by Michael D. Bell. I read the first book The Ring of Rocamadour. The cover advertises "A puzzling mystery! A mystery with puzzles!" and it is as Sophie, Margaret, Rebecca, and Leigh Ann try to find a birthday present that has been hidden for 20 years!

Lois Lowry's new book Bless This Mouse is a sweet story about a community of church mice who try to keep a low profile so the parishioners won't demand the Great X - Exterminator. Each mouse character has a very human-type personality and the illustrations reflect that personality.

Finishing the Crispin trilogy by Avi is Crispin: The End of Time. Now Crispin is stranded in France with the loss of his friends Bear who died and Troth who stays at an abbey to help with her healing skills. Crispin is still trying to make his way to Iceland where he believes he can live free when he falls in the a murdering thief band disguised as musicians. He risks his life to escape with a new friend Owen. Set in the Middle Ages you have a window into life of the the rich, the poor, and the criminal.

Storm Runners by Roland Smith is an exciting and dangerous adventure with Chase Masters and his father who travel the country turning up wherever there has been or is about to be a disaster. This time they are in Florida just before a hurricane with an unpredictable path hits. Chase and his father each have their own survival tale to tell. It seems that this book is going to be followed by another book continuing the story of survival after the hurricane's landfall. Please let me know if you would like the IMC to purchase this sequel.

For those of you who are not fond of science fiction, Ally Condie's book Mismatched may change your mind. In a story that takes place sometime in the future, society has rebuilt after a total breakdown into a world where all choices are controlled by the society for the betterment of the society. Cassie is excited about her Match Banquet where she will find out who she will marry. Surprised and delighted that her selected partner is announced to be her childhood friend and neighbor Xander, she becomes confused when her microcard shows a different boy. She is further confused when at her grandfather's mandatory death at 80, he tells her about a smuggled poem he wants her to have. This is a story about love, romance, and questioning a society where all choices are programmed.

All of the previous books will be new to our collection in the fall, but I also finished a book that is already on our shelves -- The Water Seeker, by Kimberly Willis Holt. Set in pioneer days this tells life story of Amos, son of a beaver trapper who is also a dowser, someone who can find water using a forked stick. Since his mother dies giving him birth, Amos has a series of mother figures in his life while his father Jake is away most of the time trapping. When Jake and his Indian wife Blue Owl finally collect Amos, they head west eventually joining a wagon party going to the Oregon territory. Amos's story is so intriguing that you find you can't wait to turn the page to learn what new adventure or experience is coming his way.

Two More Great Reads

I love Caroline Cooney's books and I found a great new one to read this summer. If The Witness Lied presents a family filled with tragedy. First the mother dies with the birth of her fourth child Tris. Then in a horrible accident the family car rolls over the father killing him. The only one in the car at the time of the accident is Tris who somehow as a two-year-old was able to release the emergency brake causing the accident. After the accident the family split apart. Smithy goes away to boarding school, Madison goes to leave with her godparents, and Jack stays at home with Tris and his Aunt Cheryl who delights in completely remodeling the family home. One year after the accident Aunt Cheryl has contacted a TV producer who wants to do a series on the tragic family. The siblings are appalled, and come together to protect Tris, about to celebrate his third birthday, from the media. With all that is going on, Jack begins to question the circumstances of the accident and wonders what really happened. Part mystery, part media spectacle, Cooney has again captured a story that could be right out of the headlines.
Tragedy on a larger scale is presented in John Marsden's Tomorrow, When the War Began. Set in Australia, the story follows a group of teenagers who go off on a camping trip for five days in a wild area called Hell. When they return they find their world has changed for the worse. Some unknown army has taken over their rural community and apparently all of Australia. All the teens' parents and community are imprisoned and the teens are on their own. After a terrifying expedition to check on their homes, the teen decide to retreat back to Hell and to plan their next move. Should they hide out until the world returns to normal or should they take action and mount a guerrilla war against the invaders?

Welcome to My Summer Reading Blog

I am starting off the summer finishing off 3 great books. First, I am reading The Throne of Fire, the sequel to Rick Riordan's The Red Pyramid. Like the first book in this series there is lots of action, danger, and a whole lot of Egyptian mythology. This time Sadie and Carter Kane have to stop Apophis, the God of Chaos, from escaping his centuries-old prison -- and they only have 5 days to do it. There is a touch of romance for each of the Kane kids as well as a few new god helpers like Bes, a dwarf god considered lucky by the common people in ancient Egypt.

Next I am finishing Black Mirror, by Nancy Werlin. I started reading this one as a possible addition to the Romeo and Juliet Book Reports list since it deals with the suicide by drug overdose. Now I am beginning to see that it is also a mystery and the death of Frances' older brother Daniel may have been murder. All the action takes place on a preppy boarding school campus where Frances and Daniel are recipients of scholarships sponsored by a showy charitable organization known as Unity that may be involved in criminal activities.

Lastly I am half way through X Isle, by Steve Augarde. In a drowned world, people in the mainland try to arrange for their children to be chosen for the X Isle which is said to be a paradise. Baz and Ray are picked but find that the island is run by a religious fanatic and his brutish sons and the boys are slave labor. Rather than a paradise, the boys each get one can of food a day and have to do all kinds of manual labor without knowing why and are terrorized by the adults and their older teen assistants. The boys are beginning to see an advantage in working together. Their current plan is to create some kind of bomb that will kill the adults so the boys can take over the island. I can hardly wait to find out how it ends.
Please let me know what you are reading or if you have read of the same books I am. Books that I am reading this summer will be available for check out at Lakeview in the fall. Have a great summer and participate in Read S'More, Lakeview' Summer Reading Programs. Details are available on the Lakeview Library webpage.