Fever 1793

Fever is an incredible story of a young girl who overcomes the challenges of losing those who are closest to her. Mattie is almost 15 years old when yellow fever strikes Philidelphia in 1793. Her mother, their cook Eliza, and she run a coffee house and when people begin dying because of a new sickness in the city, drastic measures must be taken. But when their plan to escape the fever doesn't work and they get seperated, Mattie learns how to work and is forced into growing up.

No, longer a child, Mattie learns what it means to be responsible for others and sees how she can have a great influence on the lives of those she is surrounded by. Dreams of a bright and successful future must be set aside for now while she learns how to deal with day to day struggles and grief.

This was a fantastic book to read because it illustrates that those who are given responsibility can rise up and prove their ability to lead and take control of their situation. I think I would recommend this book to someone who was searching for a way to claim their future, and help others.

• Reading level: Ages 9-12
  
• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing (March 1, 2002)

A Walk to Remember

This book was made into a touching and wonderful movie, but I found that as I read the book, there were a lot of differences between the two. The movie is one of my favorite "chick-flicks" but the book jumped up to be one of my favorite of all time.

Landon Carter is an only child and has never really had anyone who he felt he could trust. He and his friends are known as the renegades of the small town they live in. When Landon has to take a Drama class as a Senior he is put into the same class as Jamie Sullivan. Jamie is looked at by the other teenagers and younger kids as being odd and she doesn't really fit in with anyone. She spends most her time either at home, or working at the orphanage. She also does a lot of service work and is very involved in her church. Her father is a pastor and as such Jamie has a lot of rules that she has to live by, but she doesn't mind. One of the reasons Jamie is viewed as being weird is because she doesn't dress or talk like most girls her age, she always has her Bible with her and always says she will pray for the person she is talking to.

Little does Landon know that when he walks into his drama class the first day. Throughout the story Landon and Jamie begin to have a friendship due to an act of desperation on Landon's part Jamie tells him he must not fall in love with her. It becomes inevitable and Landon and Jamie will fall in love with each other as the story progresses.

I think this was a wonderful story, and I was super suprized with how different it was from the movie.

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (September 1, 2004)
• Language: English

Invisible

Invisible is an interesting book which explores the depths of a teenage boy's thoughts after experiencing a tragic accident. Throughout the entire book you are trying to figure out what is wrong with the boy that is narrating the story. Dougie is extremely intelligent and focused, but this focus is taking over his life and he is becoming obsessed. Dougie isn't like normal kids and he is often excluded from activities by other kids. The only person that Dougie can trust and that is his friend is Andy Marrow, his next door neighbor. But what's really happening and why don't Andy and Dougie talk about what happened three years ago at the Tuttle place.

This book was really interesting and I don't know how much of it I can summarize without giving anything away. I'm not sure I would even suggest this book to anyone to read.

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• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing (November 28, 2006)

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The Magician's Nephew

The Magician's Nephew is a fantastic book to read. It was written near the end of the Chronical's of Narnia series. However, it is a prequel to The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe. This story helps explain how certain things

The story begins with Diggory meeting Polly in her backyard. Diggory and Polly discover a passageway that connects the neighborhood homes together. Diggory and his monther live with his Aunt and Uncle who seem to lead fairly common and boring lives. Diggory and Polly soon learn that Uncle Andrew has a secret and the secret lies in the mysterious yellow and green rings that they find in his secret study. When Polly is given a yellow ring the adventure begins. Diggory and Polly witness the birth of Narnia, meet the White Witch, and learn what real magic is.

This is a great book that I would recommend reading before the rest of the Narnia books.

• Reading level: Ages 9-12
  
• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins (May 24, 2005)

Fire

A companion book to Graceling, Fire takes a jump back approximately twenty years back and is based in a land beyond the Estill and Monsea mountain range where monsters live.

Monsters are like the Gracelings that live in the 7 kingdoms in many ways. First monsters are extremely beautiful creatures of all kinds. They are colorful creatures that exceed any normal beauty and they lure people in with this beauty. Entering into the minds of humans and other creatures the monsters entice their prey to come close enough to be eaten.

War is inevitable in the Dellian kingdom after the fall of King Nax and his monster adviser Cansrel, who have brought the kingdom to ruin because their cruelty and abuse of their people. The duo created many enemies that would love to take over the kingdom and rule it for themselves, and the duty to reclaim and restore order to the kingdom falls on King Nax's sons King Nash and Prince Brigan. With war looming in the future and spies everywhere the Dellian Royal family needs someone they can trust to help them. So when Fire, the last surviving monster crosses paths with them and in an act of stupidity and bravery saves many soldiers lives she becomes an important piece to ending the war.

Fire is beautiful beyond reason and her presence in a room tends to make women jealous and ignore her and men desire her. In addition to her exquisite beauty, Fire is able to sense peoples minds, and more often then not can enter their mind and gain the information she needs or cause them to do things she needs. Unwilling to be like her cruel father Fire only uses this advantage to communicate and rarely to control people.

Of course there is a love story entwined in the twisting and ever-changing war story. But if I told you who it was between it would ruin the story. All I can say is it is you'll love it.

Fire finds her place in the world and is able to grow into a person whose beauty is not only on the outside. She discovers that true beauty shines from inside us, and the effect we have on people is what defines that beauty.

I loved this book because it was great to be reminded that true beauty comes from inside a person and that true friends will go to any lengths to help and protect each other. I also thought a good point to this book was the importance to guard your mind. You can build defenses in your mind so that you can discern things that appear enticing and good but aren't good.

* note: there was a few parts where strong language was used. And parts where you would know that Fire was changing the dirty thoughts of the men around her. But it never went into detail and was never explicit or made me uncomfortable.

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Hardcover: 480 pages
• Publisher: Dial; First Edition edition (October 5, 2009)

Incantation

Estrella de Madrigal's world seems just about as good as it can get. Her family is successful and her best friend is like a sister. The de Madrigal family is well liked in the village of Encaleflora. With Estrella's brother studying at the seminary, her grandfather a renowned teacher and her mother who made beautiful blue yarn Estrella thought she knew what to expect for her future.

Estrella is no longer a little girl, and when the quiet village is threatened by the unknown, Estrella learns about who she really is.Estrella's family has always done things a little bit different than her neighbors have and she discovers that her family has secrets. Up until now her family has tried to protect her by not telling her about their family secrets. Once she learns the truth, her life will never be the same. With relationships changing all around her Estrella has to choose who she can trust and who she must lie to.

This is a really good book to read because it teaches a lot about how people will act when they are afraid and tempted with rewards for their actions. This is a super fast read and I think it would be an important book for high school students to read because it also teaches that people have been treated poorly for ages.

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (October 1, 2007)

Graceling

First I must say I fell in love with this book in about the first 3 pages. Once I started reading it I couldn't put it down and to my utter disappointment the book was finished before I'd had enough of Katsa and Po.

Katsa is our main character and her story begins as she is sneaking through a dungeon in the effort of rescuing someone. Katsa isn't like most girls, in fact she's not like most people. Katsa is a graceling. Gracelings are people who have special gifts or "graces" that set them apart from other people. The graces are almost like super-natural powers. Some of these graces are fighting, mind reading, being able to tell what the weather will be like; the grace, could be anything and the person with that grace will eventually grow into their grace. Katsa hasn't fully grown into her grace yet, but as a young woman she knows that she is graced with being able to kill. Because of her grace, her uncle, King Randa, has taken her to be his own personal strong-arm. Sending her to punish those that go against his will. As a graceling, Katsa is also set apart from other people because she has two different colored eyes, an attribute that sets gracelings apart. At the beginning of the book Katsa is nearing a time when she has to decide what she is going to do with her life, and the decision she makes will alter it forever. With an unexpected friend,who's also a graceling, the two set out on and adventure that not only changes them but how they deal with life and their graces.

A thrilling adventure that leads to a wonderful end that makes you want to pick up the next book. I loved this book and thought it was wonderfully written, taking into account the need for adventure, romance, friendship and self discovery.

I would probably recommend this book to a student who was struggling to read because it is an enthralling book that just is begging to be read, and the story goes by so quickly.

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• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Graphia; Reprint edition (September 7, 2009)

The White Darkness

Sym has always been a little different from the other girls her age. She doesn't really fit in and to make her even more different than everyone she talks to her imaginary friend Captain Oates who lived about a hundred years before her. Captain Oates died a tragic death when he and his other shipmates got stranded in Antarctica. Sym dreams of someday going there and when her "Uncle" an old family friend offers to take her and her mother to Paris, the adventure begins. With twists and twirls in the story Sym discovers what's she's made of and that some people aren't what they always appear to be. While on her wild adventure Sym discovers who she is and learns to stand up for herself and discovers who she is.

I really liked this book in the ways it described the area's which Sym and her Uncle went. Sym's depth is incredible to me and I was able to finally see a different side to social situations. While relating to Sym in some ways, others were completely foreign to me and it was good for me to see how terribly frustrating it could be if I couldn't formulate my thoughts and people rushed on in the conversation assuming I was stupid. If I were to use this book in my class it would probably be to help my students understand that there is more to a person than just what's on the surface.

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: HarperTeen; Reprint edition (December 30, 2008)