Webster Bible Church and Webster Christian School Library Blog

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On post-WW4 Earth, sixteen-year-old Cinder lives in New Beijing and works as a mechanic.

When Prince Kai brings his robot to her for repair and ends up falling in love with Cinder, she must make up some excuse why she cannot go the ball with him. After all, her  stepmother would never let her go. Worse yet, what would Prince Kai say if he knew that Cinder was cyborg?

This creative spin on Cinderella has many sub-plots, twists and turns with elements of science fiction, romance, and mystery all rolled together. The ending does not  resolve neatly, leaving the reader looking for the sequel, Scarlet.

Note: includes 2 instances of swearing (p.214, 261).

Book 1 in the Lunar Chronicles series.

Recommended for grades 7-10.

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When her eighteen-year-old mute brother is accused of murdering Coach Johnson, sixteen-year-old Hope works to find the real killer with the help of her two friends, T.J. and Chase.

This is a complex story with many suspects, interwoven subplots, and even a love triangle. While there is no swearing or explicit sexual content, still the story is serious and for older readers because of Hope’s mother who is abusive, promiscuous, and alcoholic. Hope talks about attending church, and in one scene, a church member that meets Hope is public tells her that people at church are praying for her.

Dandi Daley Mackall writes prolifically for readers ranging from elementary level through adult. A variety of Christian publishers have put out her books including Tyndale, Zonderkidz, Standard, Concordia, David C. Cook and Thomas Nelson among others. She has also worked with such notable publishers as Harcourt and Bloomsbury.

One of her books, Eva Underground, is very popular with our high school students and is included on our  9th-10th grade suggested reading list at Webster Christian School. I will recommend this book to high school students who enjoy a good mystery.

Awards/Lists: Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Young Adult Novel, 2012.

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Dressed in a lovely green dress to complement her eyes, seventeen-year-old Cassia Maria Reyes is understandably nervous about attending her Match Banquet.

The society has chosen her future mate for her, based on their calculations of who will produce “physically and emotionally healthy offspring.” Tonight she will catch a momentary glimpse of him on a large screen.

Unfortunately, the society chooses  almost everything for the citizens (for their own good)–what they eat, what they wear, where they live, their vocation–even what music they will hear and what poetry they may read.

But what if Cassia is falling in love with someone besides her “match”?

Cassia knows that if she breaks the rules, the Society will take away everything that she values. And yet, as she follows the rules dictated by the Society, she feels the light within her dying. What can she do?

Fans of Margaret Peterson Haddix might enjoy this refreshingly clean futuristic novel that contains no swear words or objectionable content.

I feel that the story drags at times during this lengthy book (366 pages) and the climax is like a gently rolling ocean wave that never crests and crashes on shore. The ending is lackluster and vaguely hints at a sequel (which has been realized with her book Crossed).

However, the plot is intriguing and even somewhat plausible. The love triangle adds spice, and the family relationships are tender.

I believed that the only respectful way for me to deal with this subject was through the eyes of a child, and particularly through the eyes of a rather naive child who couldn’t possibly understand the terrible things that were taking place around him. After all, only the victims and survivors can truly comprehend the awfulness of that time and place; the rest of us live on the other side of the fence, staring through from our own comfortable place, trying in our own clumsy ways to make sense of it all.

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Louie Zamperini, Olympic runner, joins the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1941. As a bombadier aboard a B-24, he defies death and escapes enemy fire while flying dangerous missions. Nevertheless, the day comes when his plane goes down in the Pacific Ocean, and Louie must survive the terrors of the open waters as well as enemy-occupied land.

Never was there a more fitting title for a book. Louie’s spirit, from childhood on, was indomitable.  Yet the unimaginable things he experienced during World War II brought him to the brink of destruction. Like many war veterans, his body returned from the war but his mind and spirit were not at peace. That is, until one blinding moment of redemption, when everything changed for Louie Zamperini.

Highly recommended.

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Charlie West, age 17, wakes up bloodied and bruised, strapped to a chair.

Strangely, he has no recollection of how he got there. His last memory is of falling asleep in his bedroom.

Using his black belt karate skills, Charlie makes a harrowing escape from his captors only to find that the life he remembers no longer exists. Not only are the bad guys after him, but his parents have relocated and he’s been convicted of a crime he is sure he did not commit.

Where can Charlie turn for help as he tries to make sense of his living nightmare?

Good news: Teenage boys, the target audience, will like this book.

There’s non-stop action, karate, terrorists, guns, cars, police officers, a bomb, survival and adventure. Throw in an adoring girlfriend, and what’s there not to like?

Bad news:  The author’s multiple reference to skin tone–”white,” “dark brown, the color of chocolate,” “brown-skinned and foreign-looking,” “black guy”–are jarringly overt. Charlie gives his captors names like Rat Face and Chunky and describes them as having “mean, stupid features” (p.42) and “idiot eyes” (p.29).

Good news: There is absolutely no hint of inappropriate sexual content. In fact, Charlie likes his girlfriend (whom he describes in a “knee-length skirt”) because she’s a warm and caring person. That’s a positive example for teenage guys. Will it ring true with the readers?

Bad news: The school principal comes off looking bumbling and incompetent. Maybe the author, Andrew Klaven, is trying to portray him the way a teenage boy typically looks at a school principal. However, I felt the character was unrealistic and Klaven’s development of him communicated disrespect for authority (which teenage boys don’t need a lot of help fostering).

Good news:Klaven uses Charlie’s karate teacher, Sensei Mike, to communicate a helpful truth:

The truth is:  you can’t be anything you want to be. All that talk is garbage. I mean, I could try till my ears smoked, but I couldn’t write a symphony–not a good one, anyway.  I couldn’t throw a baseball ninety-five miles an hour or hit one out of a major-league park. I want to do all those things, but it doesn’t matter how hard I try–I just wasn’t given those abilities . . . . But this is also the truth:  if you try your best and better than your best, and work and push yourself until you think you can’t go on and then push yourself some more–then–then if you have a little bit of luck on your side–then you can be all the good things God made you to be. (pp. 136-7)

The Last Thing I Remember, book 1 in The Homelanders Series,  is on the 2011-2012 Truman Award Final Nominees List.

Other titles in the 4-book series include The Long Way Home, The Truth of the Matter, and The Final Hour.

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Six-year-old Helen Keller is clearly brilliant but wild as an untamed horse when Annie Sullivan arrives to try to teach the blind and deaf child to communicate.

Helen’s family pities the child and does little to control her behavior.

WATCH OUT!  Helen has met her match in Miss Spitfire (Annie Sullivan).

Annie, an orphan who was born half-blind and cross-eyed, has had to battle for everything good in her life. She instinctively understands that Helen must learn to obey and love her before Annie can teach Helen.

This fictionalized account covers the first month after Annie arrived at the Kellers’ home and the battle of her Irish will against Helen and her doting parents. Interspersed amidst those events are flashbacks to Annie’s incredibly sad life–the twenty years she lived in a dysfunctional home, a poor house for orphans, and then a school for the blind.

In the book’s afterword “About Annie and Helen,” the author notes that while Helen went on to great fame, Annie remained at Helen’s side for much of the next 50 years but was often overlooked.

This story is a great testament to a woman who fought through incredible adversity, reaching for the impossible–for a miracle.

Highly recommended for grades 6-12.

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Sixteen-year-old Cammie Morgan attends a secret boarding school that trains teenage girls to be spies.

Cammie’s skills are put to the test when her roommate’s father candidates for vice president of the United States. Cammie and Macey, with the help of some other exceptional classmates and teachers, elude kidnappers and face other threats on the campaign trail.

This book cover and title have over-the-top shelf appeal.

Teen girls will want to read it; parents of teen girls may wonder if it’s appropriate given the jaunty short-skirt-wearing girl on the cover.

I was mislead by the cover.

I expected a rollicking suspense (the cover says “The New York Times Best Seller) with perhaps some objectionable boy-girl stuff and/or swearing.

I’m happy to report that, in my opinion, the story is appropriate for middle school readers. There is some mild romance and nothing stronger than half-swearing (“darn” and “oh my gosh”).

On the other hand, the story kind of fell flat for me.

However, teenage girls may find a lot of what they are looking for in this story–particularly close-knit friendships between teenage girls.