The Good Neighbors; Book One: Kin by Holly Black

Illustrator: Ted Naifeh

Publisher: Scholastic, Inc. ISBN (library bind): 9780439855624

Price: 16.99 #pages: 117 Call number: 741.5 BLA FICTION

16 year old Rue’s mother has disappeared and her father has stopped going to work. Since her mother’s disappearance, things in Rue’s town have started changing and she has started to see strange things that make her think she’s crazy. In The Good Neighbors, Holly Black and Ted Naifeh introduce a world of magic parallel to our own. In Book One of their new series, Rue discovers that she actually belongs to the immortal world and not to the mortal one in which she has grown up. We are left wondering how Rue will adjust to her new life while solving the mystery of her purpose between the mortal and immortal worlds.



Recommended grade levels: 9-12

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

In a town inhabited solely by men, Todd Hewitt is the last boy, and the last innocent. That will change in one month when he turns thirteen and becomes a man. The secrets of Prentisstown are many and dark, although it should be difficult to keep secrets in a place where everyone can hear the "noise" or thoughts of everyone else, including animals. When Todd stumbles upon absolute silence for the first time in his life, he encounters something he never thought he would see...a girl. Todd had been told that all women and girls died years ago when the noise germ was released. Todd soon learns that almost everything he has been told is a lie. As Todd begins to learn the truth about his town and its history, he and the girl must run for their lives. The secrets of the past begin to unfold as Todd learns what it truly means to be a man.

*Slight spoiler alert*
This book started slowly, but I was soon completely engrossed. Todd is a compelling character and the action keeps the story moving quickly towards the conclusion. Unfortunately, the conclusion never comes. Granted, this is the first book in a series, Chaos Walking, but I expected at least some satisfaction. No. This book cannot stand alone. It ends in a cliffhanger that leaves you desperate for the second book, which is obviously the point. My advice, wait for the entire series before you begin or be prepared for disappointment.

Graceling by Kristin Cashore

In Katsa's world, some people are born with an extreme skill, called a grace. Some graces are helpful, such as a grace for cooking or archery, others are useless, such as the abilty to talk backwards. Katsa's grace is for killing. All gracelings are easily recognized by their unmatched eyes, and all are feared and misunderstood. Gracelings are at the mercy of their king, and Katsa more than most. Her killing grace is very useful to her uncle, King Randa, and he uses her to do his dirty work throught the kingdom. Katsa is wracked with guilt and anger. She slowly begins to form an alliance with others who share her desire to help those in danger, without the king's knowledge. It is on a mission for this council that she meets Po, another graceling fighter with secrets of his own. Together Katsa and Po learn new things about their own graces, and terrible secrets from other lands that threaten to destroy them all.

Katsa is a strong, but vulnerable, female protagonist, and Po is a very appealing counterpart. They quickly develop a close friendship, then a deeper bond, but don't expect the usual happily-ever-after. This book provides a fresh perspective on the fantasy novel, a definite page-turner. It will appeal to older fantasy readers who want a little more depth to their story. It's a first novel for Cashore, but others in the series are in the works.

How to Ditch Your Fairy by Justine Larbalestier

In New Avalon, almost everyone has their own personal fairy to help with one aspect of their life. Charlie has a parking fairy. She’s fourteen, she can’t drive, and she hates cars. Worse, people are always trying to make her go places with them just so they can score a great parking space. Why can’t Charlie have an awesome shopping fairy like her friend, Rochelle, or an all-the-boys-like-you fairy like stuck up Fiorenze, or even a loose change fairy. No fairy at all would be better than the parking fairy. Charlie has had enough. She wants a new fairy, but first she has to get rid of the one she has and she’s willing to take extreme measures to do it. Of course, there’s a boy involved, as well as an enemy who might actually be a friend.

Recommended grade levels: 7-12

The Underneath by Kathi Appelt

1- A shape shifting 1000+ year old snake imprisoned in a clay jar far beneath the earth imagining finding her missing daughter when she is released.
2- A bitter, scarred man set out to kill a giant alligator.
3- A gentle make-shift family of a chained hound dog and a mama cat and her kittens who live carefully underneath the man’s ramshackle house.

Three wildly different stories are artfully woven together like a tapestry to tell a gothic Southern tale about what love can do for the human spirit.

This is an animal tale at heart that tugs at your heartstrings. The fantasy elements blend in as though your grandmother was exaggerating one of her favorite tales from long ago.

In the beginning the chapters of each character are so short it’s difficult to keep the reader interested. However, as the mystery begins to unravel, the reader begins to imagine how each story could possibly be connected. Patience is a virtue while reading this yarn.

Eclipse by Stephanie Meyer

The third book of Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight" leaves you wanting more in this love triangle saga. As always Bella is in danger, but this time she is forced to choose between her love for Edward and her friendship with Jacob. She knows her decision may start up a struggle between vampire and werewolf. Graduation is around the corner and the Cullen's agreed to make her a vampire. A choice between life and death. An aging life with her family and Jacob or a forever life in death with Edward without her family and Jacob. Is her love worth a breaking the treaty between the vampires and the werewolf?

Originally posted on the Best Books blog by Ms. Monroe at 2:47 PM on Jan 3, 2008