Tween Lit » Adventure

Review: First Light

Jenne — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 19:41:30 +0000

Peter is a normal 12-year-old kid living in a tiny New York apartment with his scientist parents. Thea lives in a mysterious underground world with her aunt. Peter has finally gotten the chance to go on an expedition to Greenland with his father and mother. He’ll get to participate in the adventures he had always heard about. Thea has started to worry about her secret home and its ability to sustain a growing population. As she tries to find a way to keep her people safe, Peter is trying to make sense of his new headaches and weird visions. First Light is Rebecca Stead’s first novel. People who like their science with a little bit of magic will like this book about two kids trying to save what is most important to them.

Uglies, Pretties, and Specials

Jenne — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 21:05:14 +0000

By Scott Westerfield

Tally wants nothing more in life than to turn 16 and have the operation that will turn her from an Ugly to a Pretty.Â Then she can move to New Pretty Town and have the time of her life.Â Then she meets Shay, who doesnâ€™t want to have the operation.Â They find out the operation changes more than just a personâ€™s looks.

If I talk about Pretties and Specials, it will give away the ending, so all Iâ€™m going to say is that you should read all three books, preferably in a row!

The target audience for these books is slightly older than tweens, but my 10-year-old literary advisor read them and loved them, especially the science fiction details.

The Extraordinary Adventures of Ordinary Boy

Jenne — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 01:25:52 +0000

This was to be my next book for review here, but my 10-year-old literary advisor has taken off with it, so I won’t get it back for a couple of days. From what I was able to get from the cover, it’s about a boy growing up in a town where everyone has super powers. Everyone, that is, except for the boy.

Howl’s Moving Castle

Jenne — Sun, 22 Oct 2006 20:53:29 +0000

Sophie is the oldest of three girls and she knows she has very little hope of an interesting future. When her family runs into money problems, Sophieâ€™s sisters go off to be apprentices and Sophie stays home to work in the familyâ€™s hat business. Meanwhile, a mysterious castle appears on the horizon, said to be home to a young wizard who likes to suck the souls of young girls. After Sophie is cursed by the Witch of the Waste, she ends up making a bargain with the demon who powers the moving castle. She will help the demon break his contract with the Wizard Howl, and the demon will break the curse on her.

I stayed up all night to finish this book and absolutely loved it. Diana Wynne Jones consistently writes wonderful, fascinating, mysterious, and magical tales.

Review: The Ear, The Eye, and the Arm

Jenne — Sun, 22 May 2005 17:33:45 +0000

Nancy Farmer’s The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm is a thriller set in Zimbabwe in 2194. A high-powered government official’s over-protected children go on an adventure and end up deeper than they thought. When they disappear, their parents hire a misfit detective agency that always seems to be about half a step behind the kids. This is an interesting look at a potential future where plastic is a highly-prized commodity, but old spirits still do battle. It’s a very exciting book, but at some points, I started to get tired of all the scrapes the kids got into. However, the end was worth every minute.

The readers of this book might skew a bit young, but this book definitely tackles issues that are interesting to older readers. I especially love the juxtaposition of futuristic worries with spirit myths of the past.

A review by a New York 6th Grader
A review by another novelist
A review by a Washington girl
St. Charles (IL) public library says if you like this book, you’ll love the books on their list.

Ella Enchanted

Jenne — Thu, 21 Apr 2005 19:02:06 +0000

Ella of Frell has been given the gift of obedience by a well-meaning fairy Godmother. She would like nothing more than to be rid of the gift, especially when her classmates learn they can tell her to do anything and she’ll have to do it.

Heir Apparent

Jenne — Sat, 16 Apr 2005 16:49:57 +0000

by Vivian Vande Velde

Giannine Bellasario gets a gift certificate from her absentee father to play a virtual reality game. Meanwhile, the gaming center is under seige by a censorship group that apparently took its cues from PETA and ELF. While Giannine is under, the protesters damage the game she was playing on. She must win the game or she might die. The game itself features interesting characters like a barbarian king who just wants his crown back and some half-brothers that want nothing more than to off Giannine’s character. While playing the game, she learns about trust and forgiveness. Overall, an engrossing read. I would recommend it to middle school or high school girls who kind of like computers and fantasy, but aren’t obsessed. It would also be a good book for kids with absentee dads.

Pirates!

Jenne — Sun, 10 Apr 2005 15:22:40 +0000

Pirates! by Celia Rees is about a merchant’s daughter and a plantation slave who escape on a pirate ship called Deliverance. Nancy Kington is escaping an arranged marriage to a brutal plantation owner, while Minerva Sharpe is escaping slavery. The lives of Nancy and Minerva are linked in more ways than they know. Kids who like adventure stories with a conscience will love this fast-moving and exciting story.