Teen Read Discussion

Half Brother by Kenneth Oppel

2011-11-12T11:00:00.000-09:00

Ben’s father, Dr. Richard Tomlin, a highly regarded behavioral psychologist, has finally been offered the resources to try to teach a baby chimpanzee American Sign Language. A university in Toronto has agreed to take on the project and provide him with a chimp. Only a few days old, the baby chimp was taken from its mother’s arms at a facility in New Mexico and given to the Tomlin family, its new human family.

At first, Ben is unsure of the situation. The baby chimp, Zan, is stealing his parent’s attention and creating a spectacle of his family. Ben avoids interacting with Zan altogether. However, as time wears on, Zan and Ben become accustomed to one another, and grow more and more attached. Ben begins to regard Zan as friend and a brother.

As the experiment progresses, Ben becomes increasingly critical of the way his father is treating Zan. While part of the experiment is to make Zan feel like one of the family, Ben realizes, to his father, Zan is not a son. He is just a test subject. When the future of the project becomes questionable, Ben begins an all out fight to ensure a safe future for his brother, Zan.

This book will make you question the use of animals in science, however harmless or mild the tests may be: from injecting chimpanzees with deadly viruses, to rocketing them into space, to teaching them sign language. At what point is animal experimentation considered cruel? It’s a hard question to answer and this story certainly addresses the issue.

VIRALS by Kathy Reichs

2011-09-18T13:51:00.003-08:00

Fourteen year-old Tory Brennan and her three close friends live on Morris Island, located offshore from Charleston, South Carolina. Further off the mainland, sits Loggerhead Island, where Charleston University conducts scientific research. This is where Tory’s dad, a marine biologist, works. The remoteness and wildness of Loggerhead Island often draw Tory and friends to explore the place. On one such adventure, they discover an old military dog tag. This discovery changes their lives, forever. Their curiosity to locate the owner of the dog tag reveals a mysterious, unsolved past and some disturbing truths about what kind of research is actually going on at Loggerhead Island. Their exposure to a laboratory-produced disease, adds a whole new element to their attempt to uncover the mysteries of the dog tag and Loggerhead Island.

I thought this book had a similar feel to the Twilight series.

This title is available as an audiobook at SCL.

PEAK by Roland Smith

2011-05-02T18:31:00.003-08:00

When I got this book I thought it was a true story, something on the order of a teenage version of Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer. It was only when I looked at the fine print on the cover after I was a couple of chapters into the book that I realized it was a work of fiction. No matter – it felt like a true story from start to finish.

Peak is a fourteen year old living in New York City who is addicted to climbing. Climbing is in his genes, his parents were both pretty famous climbers in their day. But Peak is now living with his mom and step-father in NYC with no mountains in sight. So he scales high rises, a totally illegal activity, and ends up getting caught and hauled off to jail via a helicopter. He ends up in court and only misses doing serious time in jail when his long lost father, now the owner of a large climbing business, shows up and offers to take him to Thailand. The judge agrees to the plan, hoping to stifle copy cat kid climbers, if Peak just disappears from the media circus.

After being diverted to the base of Mt Everest Peak realizes his father didn’t tell the court or his mom the entire plan. He and Sun-jo, a Nepalese boy, end up climbing Everest together, with and without his father’s teams, and have to make some tough decisions on the way. The book takes you from the streets of New York to Thailand and up through all the camps on Mt Everest. Peak realizes he is a pawn for his father and has to work through a lot of anger and doubt as the story unfolds. But, in the end, he is a 14 year old boy with the opportunity to climb Mt .Everest with his famous climbing father and one of the most famous lead Sherpas in the world. What would you do? Yea, get over it and CLIMB!

Peak is a really good read and a good introduction to Everest climbing lore. I was surprised to learn that the author is a zoo keeper and doesn’t appear to have any climbing history. He did some excellent research and ended up with a great read.

GONE by Michael Grant

2011-04-10T17:15:00.002-08:00

Poof! Gone! Everyone over the age of 14 disappears on page one of the book and the 13 and under group has to survive on their own. Gone had me right at page one and kept me riveted the entire book. It’s a bit like Lord of the Flies, but not as violent or as creepy as I remember Lord of the Flies being. Two kids step up to the plate – one good, one seemingly evil – and the story is off and running.

What happened to the rest of the world? Is there a way past the electrified wall that seems to have enclosed them within their area? How do they keep the power on, water and food supplies available? Who should be in charge - should anyone be in charge? Does anyone know how to drive? Take care of babies? Splint a broken leg? Should an eleven year old be in charge of shooting a gun? What’s the plan?

The animals seem to be mutating – snakes that fly – gotta love that - wolves that talk. And some of the kids have strange powers – like being able to slam you against the wall from 20 feet away – or kill or maim you in with a blazing ball of fire.

“The blast narrowly missed Sam. It passed his head with a whoosh and hit the wall behind him. It was like napalm, jellied gasoline, liquid fire that stuck to the wall where it hit and burned with mad intensity.

For a second he could only stare, frozen in amazement.

Insane. Impossible.

The little girl cried out in terror and raised her hands again. This time she wouldn’t miss.

This time she would kill him.”

Gone is the first in a series by Michael Grant. I can’t wait to read book 2 Hunger hoping to find out if anyone else in the world has survived or if the kids manage to survive after their initial supplies run out.

AIRBORN by Kenneth Oppel

2011-04-02T10:58:00.006-08:00

We have another anonymous guest blogger to expose you to another great young adult read:

If you like fantasy adventure stories this book is for you. Although it started a bit slow once the action started it was non-stop. This is the first book in a series revolving around Matt Cruse a cabin-boy aboard an air-ship luxury vessel. Matt, a poor working class type, meets up with Kate, a rich passenger. Kate has in a quest to redeem her grandfather’s good name, an eccentric scientist who disappeared while traveling in an air balloon looking for fabled giant ghost birds. Matt just happened to be the person who found the balloon and rescued her dying grandfather. Once Kate and Matt meet up and share stories and ideas you are off a grand adventure complete with air pirates, strange flying winged creatures, killer storms and enough death and mayhem to keep anyone glued to the pages. The ships are like cruise ships – only in the air – an interesting idea on it’s own – but when you combine it with pirates and high altitude rescues and battles – it ends up being a very fun book. Looking forward to the sequel…

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

2011-01-11T14:08:00.003-09:00

Last month's guest is back again to post about the third and final book in the Hunger Games trilogy!

District 12 has been destroyed, Peeta is in the hands of President Snow and seems to now oppose the rebellion, countless citizens of Panem are losing their lives in the name of freedom from the ever-oppressive Capital, and Katniss feels vehement pressure to be the symbol of the revolution, a role she is not sure she wants. She, along with the other District 12 refugees, have been taken in by District 13 and must adapt to their regimented lifestyle where everyone lives underground in dorm-like quarters, wears the same clothes, eats carefully rationed cafeteria meals, and adheres to a strict schedule. The leader of District 13, the driver of the rebellion, President Coin, seems less than ecstatic about Katniss’s reluctance to whole heartedly commit to the rebellion. However, when President Coin agrees to pardon Peeta, and the other captured Tributes, of any anti-rebel actions and promises that Katniss have the honor of killing President Snow, Katniss agrees. She becomes the Mockingjay. She commits herself to gaining support for the rebellion, to wiping out the Capital and fulfilling her promise to protect Peeta.

Early on in the book in a Capital broadcasted interview Peeta asks everyone, both rebel and Capital supporters, to consider the implications of the threatening war. “Is this really what we want to do? Kill ourselves off completely? In the hopes that – what? Some decent species will inherit the smoking remains of the earth?” In saying so, Peeta becomes a traitor in the eyes of the rebels. At the end of the interview Peeta warns that, “if everyone doesn’t lay down their weapons – and I mean, as in very soon – it’s all over, anyway.”

Is Peeta right to question the rebellion or is it justified because of the horrors the Capital has subjected the Districts to over the years?

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

2010-12-04T10:48:00.003-09:00

This month we have a special guest, an anonymous patron from Seward Community Library, who wanted to share her take of this story:

Every year in the nation of Panem the ever-powerful Capital mandates that the Hunger Games take place. They require that each of the 12 districts send one boy and one girl to fight to death, until but one child remains. The Capital does this to demonstrate their might, to frighten the nation into submission, to show that even children do not receive their mercy, and to remind the people of Panem that they live within the tightly regulated grip of the Capital.

However it seems the Capital’s grip may be loosening, or perhaps what they’re holding onto is simply becoming angrier, stronger, and even volatile. It could be that the people of Panem are just looking for a reason and an inspiration to rebel. And perhaps last year when Katniss and Peeta defied the laws of the capital, by both coming home victors, they provided just that. Maybe, without even knowing it, they lit the fire of rebellion.

President Snow is furious. He has made it clear to Katniss that she is to blame for instigating the unrest among the districts and if she does not manage to quell the situation, to settle this sense of rebellion, she will find herself, her family and her friends in grave danger. All of a sudden the cushy life of a past Hunger Games victor seems not so relaxing. There’s no telling how far President Snow will go to make her pay for her defiance of the Capital. And there is certainly no telling what the gamemakers have in store for this years’ Hunger Games.

I was pleasantly reminded and inspired throughout Catching Fire of the ability for one person, no matter how young, impoverished, or inconspicuous, to represent positive change, if only they possess the qualities of a good leader.

Flowers for Algernon

2010-09-13T12:03:00.001-08:00

"Intelligence is one of the greatest human gifts. But all too often a search for knowledge drives out the search for love."

Charlie Gordon is born retarded. Through an experimental surgery, Charlie is able to exceed his I.Q. up to genius level. However, Charlie's experiences lead him to many discoveries about himself and others.

If you could gain the world (intelligence, in Charlie's case), would you want it, knowing it would be gone as soon as it came? Even Charlie struggled with this notion as he became smarter. But do you think he considered it worthwhile, though it was a short-lived gift?

What else touched your heart and mind when reading this book?

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner by Stephenie Meyer

2010-06-22T13:40:00.002-08:00

Most Twilight fans have been on the edge of their seat awaiting the next novel by Stephenie Meyer (http://www.stepheniemeyer.com). Much disappointment came when she had Midnight Sun in the works, and that was ruined when part of the draft was leaked to the Internet. However, she has still managed to capture one of her Twilight saga characters. It is just someone that you would not have expected! The saga continues in this Eclipse novella.

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner has landed on the shelves at Seward Community Library, but it is hard to keep checked in. Bree is a newbie vampire that takes us into her hard-core world of living as a vampire. She is only three months into it, but already her first life seems a faint memory. This book is not as thick as Meyer's other books, but Bree has something to bring to the table. She gives us an incite outside of Bella's narrow human viewpoint. Bree takes her audience through hunting, survival, and even loving in her second life. But what is even more astonishing is that Bree is able to give us a deeper view into what that other set of vampires were conspiring, when Bella could only offer what she learned about the Cullens.

A must-read for any Twilight saga fan. If you can't wait to check out a copy at our library, you can read it online for free until July 5th at http://ld-breetannerbook.libredigital.com/index.html. And as a test for those die-hard fans, where is Bree's short-lived entrance mentioned in Eclipse?

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

2010-06-07T12:19:00.004-08:00

Time magazine recently put out their "100 Most Influential People in the World" issue. And guess who managed to fall into that category amongst people like Lady Gaga, Sarah Palin, and Steve Jobs? Suzanne Collins, writer of The Hunger Games and Catching Fire! Sweet.

I just finished reading The Hunger Games and am patiently waiting for Catching Fire to return to the library so I can read through that as well. For those of you who have read this book, you know the fight-to-the-death story that twists in some complicated romance.

You can check out her book at our library as well as the Time magazine that mentions her name in their top 100 influential people. Or you can view Time's website:

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1984685_1984940_1985512,00.html

and Suzanne's website:

http://www.suzannecollinsbooks.com/

DIARY OF A WIMPY KID by Jeff Kinney

2010-03-20T17:26:00.005-08:00

In honor of the Wimpy Kid movie that is in theaters now, we're putting this book on our discussion blog. This book is enjoyed by many age levels, not just middle school tweens. If you haven't read any of the series.... DO! And if you have read one or all of these books (book 5 scheduled for November), tell us what you like about this book. Greg Heffley is the voice of this book, but does another character catch your attention? Are you into all four books, or is the first the best? Has the cheese touch happened to you or someone you know?

Witch & Wizard by James Patterson

2010-03-07T20:13:00.003-09:00

A wizard for a brother, a witch for a sister? Their parents have been telling them for years that they are special. Now that their lives are on the line, Whit and Wisty find out just how special they truly are. Comedy, action, and... a sequel?? We'll have to wait and see what happens with these two.

Do you see yourself in either Whit or Wisty? Or maybe one of their new friends? What is your favorite part? Your least fave? Has James Patterson outdone his Maximum Ride series or would you rate "Fail" on this one? Are you now pointing a drumstick at your own sister/brother, hoping they'll turn into something despicable?

Check out James Patterson's site about this book or discover other books he's written.

Welcome!

2010-03-02T16:38:00.000-09:00

Welcome to our Teen Read discussion group. We'll be starting our discussion during Teen Tech Week (March 7-13) to kick things off. But first we need a good book to talk about! Something with lots of excitement and controversy. If you have any ideas post here, Seward and Moose Pass teens, so we can get this thing rolling.