The Naturals, by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

The Naturals, the first in a new series by Jennifer Lynn Barnes and due out in November, is about a group of gifted kids recruited by the FBI to investigate (and potentially solve) cold cases. The group's gift lies in their natural ability to read people - to read emotions, to detect lies, to profile. Main character Cassie is a profiler; she can make accurate conclusions about a person's personality and lifestyle based upon seemingly minimal observation. At the start of the story, it's been five years since her mother's (unsolved) murder, and she's living with her father's family, but with the lingering feeling that she just doesn't belong. So, when she's approached by an agent to join the experimental project and move to Washington, D.C., she sees 'YES' as the only answer. She hopes that this will somehow eventually connect her to her mother's case, but she could never have expected how closely linked to it she will become. I won't spoil anything, but before long, Cassie herself is being pursued by a serial killer.

I found the more psychological aspect of the novel so interesting. Obviously, there's analysis of killers, crime scenes, and 'victimology' which was interesting, but more than that I liked the interactions of the various participants in the Naturals group. They're all late teenagers, they all live in a secluded house, they all have an inherent gift, and, of course, they all carry their own unique load of baggage. I love watching their interactions and personalities unfold.

I often pride myself on the fact that when reading mysteries, I can usually figure out 'whodunit' if you will, but this time I really couldn't! I was utterly convinced that the killer in the novel was one of two characters, neither of whom actually turned out to be the culprit. I'd like to think that I just wasn't reading carefully enough, since I was also watching my 13-month-old son while reading, but I don't think that's the case - I think that Jennifer Barnes's plot, characters, and writing are JUST THAT GOOD.

Amazon recommends this novel for ages 12 and up on their website, but I think I'd go more with 14 or 15 and up. The killing scenes are quite graphic - carving off of facial skin and keeping lipsticks as mementos of the kill - and there's some motivation behind a sexual motivation for the murders. I do think that it's these details that make the novel so great though - they make it seem so real.

Also Try: The Name of the Star, by Maureen Johnson; Shadowlands, by Kate Brian; "The Squad" series by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Release Date: November 5, 2013

Zebra Forest, by Adina Rishe Gewirtz

I was expecting a lot out of this book. I loved the cover (I know, I know...) and was super intrigued by the title. It's also the author's debut novel, which always piques my attention.

Zebra Forest is about two children, Annie and Rew - short for Andrew - who live with their mildly eccentric grandmother. They receive frequent visits from a social worker, and don't get to much pleasure out of going to school. They do love reading their grandmother's tattered copy of Treasure Island and playing in the "zebra forest" that's near their house. They don't really know what happened to either of their parents; all they know is that their mom left them and that their father is apparently dead. However, after a jailbreak at the local prison, an escaped convict takes shelter in their house and holds the family of three hostage. They learn new things about their past, and question what they've always thought to be true of their parents.

During the whole novel, I felt like I was waiting for something to happen. There were some big events - such as the convict entering the house - but none of it felt very climactic. I did like the idea of rethinking our views about family and lying, but I just don't see this as a book that would really grab my students. I'll have to see what they think come August!

bully.com, by Joe Lawlor

When I picked up bully.com, I honestly wasn't too sure I was going to like it - mostly because of the cover. I know, I know...you can't judge a book by its cover. BUT, you know how you can tell when a movie is really low-budget because the picture quality absolutely stinks and the special effects are laughable? Yea, well that's how I felt about the cover of bully.com: LOW-BUDGET.

However, I was totally impressed with the plot of the novel, and with the way a male author was able to so expertly capture the true antics of middle school "mean girls".

The novel's protagonist/hero/sleuth-in-training is 7th grader Jun Li, a complete nerd who generally flies under the radar, unless he's arguing with teachers about extra credit, of all things. Jun's low profile all changes, though, when defamatory pictures of stereotypical "It Girl" Kimmie Cole are published to his school's website. Jun is instantly blamed, because he was logged in to a school computer at the time of the security breach, and it's common knowledge that he is a very capable hacker. Jun pleads innocence with the principal, who's feeling tremendous pressure to crack down on cyberbullying. So, the principal leaves Jun with an ultimatum: uncover the true perpetrator's identity in a week's time, or face expulsion. And so begins Jun's journey into a land he never thought he'd inhabit - the land of the Middle School Mean Girls. There are hiccups along the way, but Jun and his trusty sidekick, Chris, make sure justice is served. I was actually really shocked at who the offender was proven to be.

At first, as I read, I was honestly thinking, "wow, these characters are way too stereotypical - their actions are so predictable." But, the more I thought about it, I could see some of my students fitting into these tight molds - the predictability was totally accurate.

Some parts of the novel were underdeveloped and there were some sections that felt annoyingly repetitive, but overall it was a good read, and a great first novel for author Joe Lawlor.

The Madness Underneath, by Maureen Johnson

Well, I think I found a new favorite author!! I loved The Name of the Star (the first book in this series), and this one was amazing as well.

In the first book, Rory Devaux learns that she can see ghosts. This book picks up where the first left off, with the Jack the Ripper case closed up, and Rory is learning to deal with her new "ability". She's working with a psychiatrist, and they soon decide she's ready to go back to Wexford, the London boarding school where it all went down. She soon reunites with Boo, Callum, and Stephen, her friends with the same ability. Of course, Rory meets up with a crew that is bent on bringing her down - will Rory and her friends be able to overcome the evil?

There were a few lines from the book that I absolutely LOVED, such as this one, in which Rory is describing how her roommate, Jazza, feels about one of their fellow boarders:

"There was an old feud there, one that predated my arrival. Charlotte was the full moon that brought out the werejazza."

I loved this clever comparison and thought the play on words was too cute! Then, there was a quote about normalcy that just seemed so real to me:

"Let me say this...There is no normal. I've never met a normal person. The concept is flawed. It implies that there is only one way people are supposed to be, and that can't possibly be true. Human experience is far too varied."

And then finally, this quote, while Rory is talking about the annoyance of dealing with anticipation:

"...waiting for the punishment was much worse than the actual punishment. The tick tick tick is much worse than the boom."



JBA Post #18: Camo Girl, Kekla Magoon

I finally finished all the Junior Book Award Nominees!

Ella and Zachary are best friends and have been for a long time. They've bonded over their issues - Ella has a physical condition which has left marks on her face (she's called "Camo Face" or "C.F." by a mean boy at school, hence the title), and Zachary's father left, rendering he and his mother homeless. They've isolated themselves from the rest of the school, and fantasize that they live in a better world where nothing goes wrong. Ella can see the reality, though, and realizes that everyone at school thinks they're freaks, but she knows Zachary, "Z", needs her, and continues to play along.

However, one day a new boy named Bailey James - the only African American at the school aside from Ella - enrolls at their school and he offers Ella a chance to break out of her "freak" status. As he and Ella become friends, she realizes that he has his own issues, too, despite his popularity at school. Will she take a chance  and leave Z behind, or will she stick by him?

I really enjoyed this book and loved the way Ella and Z's relationship is portrayed. I also thought that Magoon did a great job of showing real middle school characters - the scenes and the things her characters said/did were very realistic.

Divergent, Veronica Roth

I just finished Divergent and think I read it in record time! I could NOT put it down. It was strange though; sometimes I wasn't even sure I liked the book - I just had to keep reading. It really caught me.

I will say this...Divergent is not for the faint of heart. It's in the dystopian genre and lots of my students that have read Hunger Games have enjoyed it, but the only way I can think of putting it is that Divergent is more sinister than the world in Hunger Games. Lots more fighting, suicides, and just crazy psycho-manipulation kinds of stuff. It was interesting to me, but I'd recommend it to more mature readers who are prepared for those types of things. There's also some discussion of sex, so I'd put this more as a mature 7th/8th grade book.

Anyway, the concept in Divergent is really cool. After a wave of wars, the people decide that there are several reasons for the breakdown of humanity. They then divide themselves into five "factions" based on what they think the error in society is. The factions are the Abnegation who believe that selfishness is to blame, the Dauntless who believe it was cowardice, the Amity who believe that peace will save the world, the Erudite who believe that a lack of knowledge lead to society's demise, and the Candor who believe that honesty will yield a productive, cohesive society.

At sixteen, every member of society chooses which faction they will live under, and begins the initiation rites for that particular faction. They can choose to stay within their family's faction or leave and go out on their own, but their decisions are based largely on an "aptitude test" which predicts which faction their personality is most aligned with. The main character, Beatrice, is deemed "Divergent" after her test, meaning that she has aptitudes for more than one of the factions. Beatrice knows this is rare, but as the novel progresses, she comes to find out just how dangerous her status truly is. To the people of her world, it's worth killing over.

This novel is packed with twists and turns and unexpected action/drama. If you like dystopian novels and are  prepared for some rather grim material, I'd definitely tell you not to be overwhelmed by the length - it's almost 500 pages - and give it a shot! You won't be disappointed.

The next book in the trilogy, Insurgent, just came out...can't wait to get started on it.

JBA Post #13: Shooting Kabul, N.H.Senzai

Shooting Kabul was an intriguing book. It starts off in Afghanistan. Fadi and his family live there but his parents see that things are getting tenser and tenser as the Taliban takes more control, and they know that they need to leave and get to America.
So, they pay human traffickers to take them over the border and eventually to America. During their middle-of-the-night journey, though, a member of the family - the youngest daughter, Mariam - is lost. The family leaves Afghanistan without her, and each member of the family carries a huge guilt, thinking that he/she is responsible for losing Mariam.

Once in America (California, to be exact), Fadi and his family struggle to fit in while still keeping hope alive to be reunited with Mariam. Fadi learns of a photography contest at school that could earn him a plane ticket to India - right near Afghanistan - and he becomes obsessed with winning the competition, and getting back to Afghanistan to find his baby sister.

That doesn't exactly work out for him, but the book does end on a happy note.

I loved this novel, especially because it's about a topic that really interests me. I love to read about the Middle East, the fighting there, etc. The novel taught me something that I didn't know - the Taliban actually did a lot of good for Afghanistan. We only think of them as the radical, power-hungry group that is responsible for lots of death and destruction, but before they got to that point they actually did a lot to help Afghanistan.

JBA Post #11: Mamba Point, Kurtis Scaletta

For some reason when I picked this book up, I wasn't expecting to like it. And I was right - I really didn't enjoy it at all. In fact, it almost felt like a chore to read it. I found that my mind would wander so much while I read that I'd have to go back and reread pages because I had no idea what was going on in the story. It just really didn't hold my attention.

Anyway, the Linus Tuttle (a super nerd who has a nervous condition) finds himself moving to Africa after his father gets a job at the U.S. embassy in Liberia. Linus is sick of being known for his anxiety attacks and lack of friends, so he vows that he'll become a newer, cooler kid when he gets to Africa. This doesn't really work out, though.

What does happen is that Linus develops a strong connection with a black mamba snake - a snake that's supposed to be very dangerous to man...lethal, in fact. A native Liberian tells Linus that this connection is called a kaseng, and that the snake won't hurt him. The native is right, the mamba snake won't hurt Linus, but will his connection with it hurt someone else?

As I said earlier, I was pretty unimpressed with this book. Most of the novel was pretty mundane and tedious, and then when the action part FINALLY came, it was over quickly.

I just noticed that the author had an essay in the book Dear Bully that I read a while back - cool!

Wonder, R.J. Palacio

I took a break from JBA books for a few days to read Wonder, by R. J. Palacio, and I'm glad I did!

Wonder is about a boy, August Pullman, who was born with an extreme physical deformity. His face is very deformed - so much so that he's been homeschooled his whole life. However, as he begins fifth grade (middle school), his parents decide that it's time for him to go to a real school.

As he begins school, Auggie struggles with the stereotypical "mean kids" of middle school, and has to figure out who's REALLY his friend and who's been TOLD to be his friend. There was also a mother who was sort of out to get Auggie - his classmate Julian's mom. It's sad to think that even adults can be that cold-hearted.

The book ends well, thankfully, but there were parts that made me almost cry! It's so sad that people can be so mean to one another, and even though this was "just a book," I know that people are actually that mean in real life.

Even though this book is kind of lengthy, the chapters are all really short, which made it move quickly. Overall, it was a great read and I'd recommend it to everyone.

The Boy Project (Notes and Observations of Kara McAllister), Kami Kinard

I bought The Boy Project (Notes and Observations of Kara McAllister) from the book fair on Wednesday afternoon and I finished it on Thursday. It was a quick read, but really entertaining - I couldn't put it down! The book and its message are pretty predictable, but I really enjoyed it nonetheless.

It's about a girl named Kara who is the only one in her 7th grade class that's NEVER had a boyfriend. Not even in kindergarden. So, she decides to use this as her science fair project. She's determined to find out how to find your soul mate and ultimately land herself a boyfriend.

I love Kara's voice in the novel - she's smart and sometimes sarcastic, and really tells it like it is. I also love the multi-genre format of the book. Kara gives you all sorts of charts and graphs that explain her "scientific" findings, you have access to some emails that she receives, there is a page of her blog printed, and there are snapshots of the notecards she uses to record findings about her "subjects" (the boys in her classes).

I also really loved the way that the book was framed around this science fair project. It was such a unique idea. If you need to study up on the scientific method for Mrs. Boyle's class, this book could help you! :)