Heir Apparent by Vivian Vande Velde

 

"It was my fourteenth birthday and I was arguing with a bus. How pathetic is that?"

LOSE THE GAME, LOSE YOUR LIFE

In the virtual reality game Heir Apparent, there are way too many ways to get killed - and Giannine seems to be finding them all. Unless she can
get the magic ring,
find the stolen treasure,
answer the dwarf's dumb riddles,
impress the head-chopping statue,
charm the army of ghosts,
fend off the barbarians,
and defeat the man-eating dragon,
she'll never win. And if she doesn't win, she will die - for real this time.
Rating: 9 out of 10
Available: Stevens Middle School Library
                 North Olympic Library System (to reserve use this link:https://pac.nols.org/polaris/Search/request.aspx?pos=2&new=1)

The Enemy by Charlie Higson

 

"Small Sam was playing in the parking lot behind the Waitrose supermarket when the grown-ups took him." 

They'll chase you. They'll rip you open. They'll feed on you...When the sickness came, every parent, policeman, politician - every adult - fell ill. The lucky ones died. The others are crazed, confused and hungry. Only children under fourteen remain, and they're fighting to survive. Now there are rumours of a safe place to hide. And so a gang of children begin their quest across London, where all through the city - down alleyways, in deserted houses, underground - the grown-ups lie in wait. But can they make it there - alive? (Goodreads.com)

Rating: 10 out of 10

**Violence

Available: Mrs. Hope and Sikes Library

                 North Olympic Library System (reserve using link)

https://pac.nols.org/polaris/Search/request.aspx?pos=6&new=1

Gym Candy by Carl Deuker

"My earliest memory is of an afternoon in June."

Mick Johnson is determined not to make the same mistakes his father, a failed football hero, made. But after being tackled just short of the end zone in a big game, Mick begins using “gym candy,” or steroids. His performances become record-breaking, but the side effects are terrible: Mick suffers ’roid rage, depression, and body acne. Gym Candy’s subject matter is just as hard-hitting as its football scenes. You’ll find yourself unable to look away as Mick goes down a road that even he knows is the wrong one to travel.

Rating: 10 out of 10

**Mild language, steroid use

Available: Mrs. Hope and Sikes Library

                 Stevens Middle School Library

                

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

 "When I wake up, the other side of the bed  is cold." 
 
In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.

Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister's place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before—and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that will weigh survival against humanity and life against love. (Goodreads.com)

Rating: 10 out of 10 
**Violence
Available: Mrs. Hope and Sikes Library
                 Stevens Middle School Library
                 North Olympic Library System (reserve using link) https://pac.nols.org/polaris/Search/request.aspx?pos=9&new=1)

Witch and Wizard by James Patterson

                      "IT'S OVERWHELMING. A city's worth of angry faces staring at me like I'm a wicked criminal--which I assure you, I'm not. 

The world is changing: the government has seized control of every aspect of society, and now, kids are disappearing. For 15-year-old Wisty and her older brother Whit, life turns upside down when they are torn from their parents one night and slammed into a secret prison for no reason they can comprehend. The New Order, as it is known, is clearly trying to suppress Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Being a Normal Teenager. But while trapped in this totalitarian nightmare, Wisty and Whit discover they have incredible powers they'd never dreamed of. Can this newly minted witch and wizard master their skills in time to save themselves, their parents--and maybe the world? (Goodreads.com)


Rating: 10 out of 10
** Violence, mild cursing 

Available at Mrs. Hope/Sikes Library 
North Olympic Library System (reserve here:https://pac.nols.org/polaris/Search/request.aspx?pos=4&new=1)

Slob by Ellen Potter

"My name is Owen Birnbaum, and I'm probably fatter than you are."

Twelve-year-old Owen Birnbaum is the fattest kid in school. But he's also a genius who invents cool contraptions - like a TV that shows the past. Something happened two years ago that he needs to see. But genius or not, there is much Owen can't out think. Like his gym coach, who's on a mission to humiliate him. Or the way his Oreos keep disappearing from his lunch. He's sure that if he can only get the TV to work, things will start to make sense. But it will take a revelation for Owen, not science, to see the answer's not in the past, but the present. That no matter how large he is on the outside, he doesn't have to feel small on the inside.

With her trademark humor, Ellen Potter has created a larger-than-life character and story whose weight is immense when measured in heart.
(Review by Good Reads)

Rating: 9 out of 10 

Available: Mrs. Hope/sikes Library
               North Olympic Library System (reserve using this link: https://pac.nols.org/polaris/Search/request.aspx?pos=1&new=1)
                

Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

It is the first day of November and so, today, someone will die.

Life on Thisby Island, population 4,000 is quiet, except in November.  The closer it gets to November, the more capaill uisce - water horses - the sea spits out. 

These are not ordinary horses.  Drape them with charms, hide them from the sea, but today, on the beach: Do not turn your back.

During the month of October, until the first of November, the island becomes a map of safe areas and unsafe areas. 

Puck Connolly understands too well what the capaill uisce ("copple ooshka") are capable of.  Her parents were killed at sea.  Puck lives with her older brother, Gabe, and younger brother, Finn.  Gabe works at the hotel to keep the family together, and Puck and Finn work odd jobs to earn some money.

Suddenly Gabe tells Puck that he's leaving the island.  To make him change his mind, Puck tells him she's going to enter in the annual Scorpio Races - races with the unpredictable capaill uisce.  Gabe finally admits that he'll stay on the island until after the races.  To enter the races, though, Puck needs to find a capall uisce.  Forced to make a choice, she decides to ride her beloved horse, Dove.

Sean Kendrick has worked in Malvern Yard since he was 10 years old.  He has a way with the capaill uisce, he understands their magic.  The capaill uisce can play tricks on the rider, coaxing him to trust and to join the beast in the sea.  Sean knows how to tie knots in the horse's mane, use threes in sevens, track iron counterclockwise on the horse's withers, and make circles in the sand and spit in the center.  Sean and his favorite capall uisce, Corr, have won the Scorpio Races four times.  But Corr belongs to Mr. Malvern, and more than anything, Sean wants to own Corr.

Mr. Malvern is a powerful man on Thisby.  He owns most everything on the island, including Puck's house.  Equally as cold, his son, Mutt, hates Sean and will do anything to hurt him.

Both Sean and Puck must win the races to save what they love the most.  But can they survive?

Even if you don't know anything about horses, The Scorpio Races is an exciting read, full of lovely imagery and strong characters.  And there's even some romance in unexpected places.
(http://readlotsandprosper2011.blogspot.com/)

Rating:  10 out of 10
*mild language, some crude British humor, mild violence

One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies by Sonya Sones

"American Airlines Flight 161

I'm not that depressed,
considering that this
gigantic silver bullet with wings
is blasting me away from my whole entire life,
away from Lizzie Brody,
my best freind in the world,
away from Ray Johnston,
my first real boyfriend."

My name is Ruby This book is about me.
It tells the deeply hideous story of what happens when my mother dies and I'm dragged three thousand miles away from my gorgeous boyfriend, Ray, to live in L.A. with my father, who I've never even met because he's such a scumbag that he divorced my mom before I was born.
The only way I've ever even seen him is in the movies, since he's this mega-famous actor who's been way too busy trying to win Oscars to even visit me once in fifteen years.
Everyone loves my father.
Everyone but me.
 
In one- to two-page breezy poetic prose-style entries, 15-year-old Ruby Milliken describes her flight from Boston to California and her gradual adjustment to life with her estranged movie-star father following her mother's death. E-mails to her best friend, her boyfriend, and her mother ("in heaven") and outpourings of her innermost thoughts display her overwhelming unhappiness and feelings of isolation, loss, and grief ("…most days,/I wander around Lakewood feeling invisible./Like I'm just a speck of dust/floating in the air/that can only be seen/when a shaft of light hits it"). Ruby's affable personality is evident in her humorous quips and clever wordplays. Her depth of character is revealed through her honest admissions, poignant revelations, and sensitive insights. This is not just another one of those gimmicky novels written in poetry. It's solid and well written, and Sones has a lot to say about the importance of carefully assessing people and situations and about opening the door to one's own happiness. (School Library Journal)
 
Rating: 10 out of 10

Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelsen





"Cole Matthews knelt defiantly in the bow of the aluminum skiff as he faced forward into a cold September wind."

 

Within Cole Matthews lie anger, rage and hate. Cole has been stealing and fighting for years. This time he caught Peter Driscal in the parking lot and smashed his head against the sidewalk. Now, Peter may have permanent brain damage and Cole is in the biggest trouble of his life.
Cole is offered Circle Justice: a system based on Native American traditions that attempts to provide healing for the criminal offender, the victim and the, community. With prison as his only alternative, Cole plays along. He says he wants to repent, but in his heart Cole blames his alcoholic mom his, abusive dad, wimpy Alex everyone but himself for his situation.
Cole receives a one-year banishment to a remote Alaskan island. There, he is mauled by Mysterious white bear of Native American legend. Hideously injured, Cole waits for his death His thoughts shift from from Anger to humility. To survive, he must stop blaming others and take responsibility for his life. Rescuers arrive to save Cole's but it is the attack of the Spirit Bear that may save his soul.
 
Rating: 10 out of 10
**