Silence

Fitzpatrick, B.  (2011).  Silence.  New York: Simon & Schuster


Wow, was I ready to read this book.  I began by reading Hush, Hush, a must read if you are going to begin this series.  The characters are starting to develop there.  Read them in order too, for you wouldn't want to know something happened but not why it happened.  There are many characters in books out there that you can dream about, Edward Cullen and Jacob Black from the Twilight series, Gale and Peeta from Hunger Games series and then there is Patch from this series.  Patch is in a word heavenly.  All angels usually are.  But his kind of heavenly is on the bad boy side.  What would you do with an angel for a boyfriend?

Nora Grey has awoken from a dream.  She can't place why she is in the cemetery or what happened to her before she came here.  Then she discovers that she can't place five months of her life.  She has amnesia.  No one has any idea where she was or who she was with. Nora was desperately trying to find something that she could wrap her head around. Then she meets Jev in a dark alley that she really shouldn't be in.  Jev is everything that she wants but thinks she can't have.  She starts to have flashbacks in her memory.  Jev is there in her mind.  Did she know him before?  She doesn't recognize the name.  She keeps recalling Patch, but who is or where is he?  Her friend Vee says that he was bad and she is glad he is gone.  Nora does remember and realizes that Jev is Patch.  He had to change his name to stay safe.  He needs her to keep his secret since the man who kidnapped her is also dating her mother.  She feels threatened.  Then she finds out that he is her father.  He gave her up when she was young to protect her, yeah right.  He wants something from her and she isn't willing to give it to him.

Patch saves her many times during the next few days, and then she finds out he has captured her father and has him tied up in his digs.  She claimed she wanted to do him in for killing her father, the only one she knew.  When it comes down to it, she can't.  Then sees that he has Patch's feather from his wing and is about to burn it up.  She doesn't hesitate, she shoots him dead.  Now she must guide his army and keep them from fighting with the angels.

Nation

  

Pratchett, T.  (2009). Nation.  New York: Harper Collins Publishers.

This fantastic tale takes you on a journey that seems very incredible.  A gigantic tidal wave wipes out an entire nation, the Island called Nation.  Mau, a young native boy, has just spent his time on an island to make himself a man.  Upon his return, he finds his whole world has been wiped out, nothing is left of the life he knew.  On the other hand, a ship was beached that had no survivors but one, a girl named Daphne.  In the beginning, they were the only people on the island, but soon others begin to arrive.  They all came looking for something that they had all lost, companionship.  By the time her father finds her, the island has many inhabitants.  The plot is a little choppy but it can be followed.  The point of view is told by Daphne, first person omniscience.  Imagery of things found in the cave was clear enough to visualize and the description of the pantaloon birds makes you believe they actually wear bloomers.  There were many areas that were my favorites but I guess the best part for me was when Daphne took poison to bring Mau back from his semi comatose state.  I really thought she would stay and they would marry, but their lives were too different.  It could have worked out if no one had come for her.

Lafayette and the American Revolution

 

Freedman, R.  (2010). Lafayette and the American Revolution.  New York: Holiday House.

The book takes Lafayette from childhood, to marriage at a very young age, to his burn to join the American cause in fighting for Independence from England.  Although he missed his wife and children, he felt that it was his duty to travel to America to help them fight for their freedom.  He has to fight for no pay and almost no commission having to prove that he could obey orders and control a bunch of volunteers.  I think the appeal to teens would be the compact storyline of the events that happened to Lafayette in his chance to prove to himself and his family that he was worthy of holding a command and capable of winning battles.  My favorite scene was when Cornwallis’ troops were holed in at Yorktown and Lafayette had the common sense to wait until General Washington arrived to begin the battle.  Had he taken the advice of the French commander, they ultimately would have lost and the war would have battled longer.  It was also interesting to see what the young man looked like during all this.  He was a good looking man.

Bride's Farewell

Rosoff, M.  (2009). The Bride’s Farewell.  New York: Viking Books.

Pell was just a young girl of seventeen when she decided that being married to Birdie was not for her.  She didn’t want to end up like her mother, bearing children year after year, and looking worn out at a young age.  She wanted to run away by herself but her brother Bean decided he wanted to go to.  Along the way to Salisbury and after reaching their destination, Pell lost Bean, her horse, Jack and 5 pounds.   She helped a horse trader named Harris buy some horses and he promised her 5 pounds.  He left without giving it to her.  Bean jumped on Jack and followed him getting lost in the process.  The plot was kind of choppy, seesawing back and forth between the past and present, but I could follow fairly well.  It might be a little harder for teens to follow the story.  The point of view was told in third person that followed the voyage of Pell most of the time and only once in a while when it left her thoughts to follow Dogman while he taught his son how to hunt or Bean in the workhouses.  This would be a good book for teens.  They could learn about the different levels of poverty that faced the characters in the story.  I liked the way the book made me feel: sometimes sad, sometimes angry, sometimes happy but always relieved when things worked out for Pell and her family.

Goddess of the Night

Ewing, L. (2000).  Daughters of the Moon: Goddess of the Night. New York:  Hyperion Books, an imprint of Disney Book Group.

Wow, I really loved the plot line of this series and the characters are very believable.  Daughters of the Moon is set in Los Angeles in present time.  The point of view is third person omniscient.  The story is really unique in that each of the four daughters has a special power to contribute to the group.  Jimena can see what is happening in the present, Serena can see into the future and read minds, Catty can go back into the past or forward into the future and Vanessa can become invisible. They all take comfort in the presence of Maggie a sort of mother figure for the four girls.  I think the appeal to teens would be that they can pick up the story, and it’s a fascinating one, by reading another volume.  My favorite part of the book was the way Vanessa described her body molecules floating and enjoying it once she could control herself and that she found a way to control her body when she kissed Michael.    I’m a sucker for a good love story.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Rowling, J.K. (2007).  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.  New York: Arthur A. Levine.

This book is a challenged book and spent many weeks on the N.Y. Times Bestseller list.

Harry Potter, "The Boy who lived", was a 7th year wizard by the writing of this book.  He had been through many things that a 18 year old should never have to deal with.  He had been through all of it because of a prophecy that linked his name to a bad wizard named Voldemort.  Instead of returning to school he decided to go out and find the horcruxes (items that held part of Voldemort's soul).  There had been seven of them, Harry had destroyed the diary in the Chamber of Secrets with a basilisk tooth and Dumbledore had found the ring of Slytherin before he died.  Another one was a locket that Harry discovered was found by Sirius' brother and until recently had been in the Black's home.  They also discovered that Mundungus had lost it to Dolores Umbridge.  They had to get it back and find the others.  There were only so many ways to destroy the horcruxes.  Dumbledore had destroyed the ring with the sword of Gryffindor.  Many things happen to the trio of Harry, Ron and Hermione during their adventures looking for the horcruxes and trying to stay one step ahead of Voldemort and the Death Eaters.  Harry has destroyed the locket and found the cup and needs something to destroy the cup with and remembers the basilisk in Hogwarts.  They need a way into the castle.  They aspirate into Hogsmead where Death Eaters are waiting for anything coming in or going out.  Dumbledore's brother shows them a way into Hogwarts and they meet up with the rest of the students there. They also need to find the diadem of Ravenclaw and destroy it.  Voldemort comes and the fight is on.  The only way to stop the fighting was for Harry to go to Voldemort in the woods.  Voldemort zaps Harry with his wand and believes he is dead.  The only thing that was dead was the Horcrux that was left in Harry the night his mother died.  Now the only part of his soul that is left is in the snake, Nagini.  Harry is still alive to fight.  Neville kills Nagini with the Sword of Gryffindor.  Harry kills Voldemort and the fight is over.  Nineteen years later Harry and Ginny are taking their children to meet the train to Hogwarts.  Ron and Hermione are there also.  All is well in the Wizarding World since the demise of Voldemort.

If you are going to read Harry Potter, start with the young boy of eleven and read your way through the series.  I realize it is a lot of reading but starting here is just the tip of the iceberg.  Watch Harry, Ron, and Hermione grow up under the influence of Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.



I felt so happy when things went well and sad or afraid when they didn't.  I love this series (all seven of them) and especially this book.  It is always refreshing to get a series where almost all of the good guys survive to live another day.  What a good example of happy fantasy.