Midnighters 3: Blue Noon - Westerfeld

Blue time occurs at Midnight and time freezes. There are only a select few people who can go out and walk around in the Blue time, and they are called Midnighters. When Jessica, Jonathan, Dess, Melissa, and Rex are in school the blue time happens at 9 am, they become concerned and wonder why Blue time is happening during the day. Rex and Melissa go and visit an old mindcaster that is still in Bixby and she tells them that the darkings are responsible for the Blue time happening during the day. The darklings plan on expanding the blue time to encompass the world so they can feed on humans whenever they want with no one to stop them. The Midnighters come up with a plan to stop the rift the darklings have opened up, but what sacrifices must Jessica, Jonathan, Dess, Melissa, and Rex make to stop the darklings from overtaking the world as they know it?

This book was a very good ending to this trilogy and it left a few things open if Scott Westerfeld wanted to continue the series. I recommend Midnighters 1: The Secret Hour and Midnighters 2: Touching Darkness also by Scott Westerfeld to see how it all began.

Tom Burnham

The Hunter's Moon

In order for the land of Faerie to continue to exist a human sacrifice must be made by the king of faerie on the night of the Hunder's Moon. The Hunter is a worm. A being from the dark. Human cousins Findabhair and Gwen go on an adventure searching for and finding the land of
Faerie. Upon entering one chooses to stay and one to leave. One agrees to be the sacrifice, the other to try and rescue her cousin and best friend from her fate. Perhaps a company of seven blessed by Faerie could overcome the truly evil worm that is the Hunter. All agree it is worth a try. And so it is Dara king of the Isle of Inch and his great aunt Grania healer, Gwen, friends Mattie and Katie met during her travels, Findabhair and Faerie King Finvaara all transformed in wonderful ways with gifts of strength of Faerie go against the dreaded monster. Fans of author Chris Wooding should enjoy this story and sequels.
JDW

Maisie Dobbs by Winespeare

This was on the best book for teens list a couple of years back. Its a first book in a new adult mystery/suspense series set in the early 1900's England. Its a cozy mystery. Nothing is too graphic and Maisie is a sweet, upright, character who has seen bad times. She also has a gift for reading people and understanding the deeper meanings in what they say do. This makes her especially suited to solving mysteries. She is asked to find out if a young wife is unfaithful to her husband. She finds that the woman in question is grieving over the death of a long lost lover. He was severely injured in wwII and never fully recovered. Curiously his grave and those of several others in the cemetary bear only first names not last. This leads to the discovery of a farm retreat for soldiers with severe facial wounds. Something sinister is afoot there. Maisie sets out to discover what before the son of her former employer permanently enters the retreat.
I can't think of a teen who would read this. Also, I knew everything long before it was revealed, but it was kind of fun and maybe someone really really into mysteries would be interested for the thought process Maisie uses to uncover the truth.

The Wrecker's By: Iain Lawrence

This is a novel that takes place in Pendennis, Cornwall. This is a County in England famous for pirates. It is known in History that many shipwrecks occured around this location due to evil happenings. The actual villagers prayed for shipwrecks. The people of Pendennis they lived from whatever they could savage from the shipwrecks. Things they got were dead sailors tools, and trinkets.

The book is written in the style of Robert Louis Stevenson, and Charles Dickens. The book is a tale about bravery, verses, and villainy. The characters of the book are very well portrayed. There is one female character calle Mary that adds flavor to the story. Her Father is called Simon Mawogan who was mixed up with the wreckers. John Spencer, a young man, survived a ship wreck . He was a boy who became a man, and helped a lot with people. He eventually rescued his Father , whome he believed was dead.

This is an excellent read, and lots of action.
LRD 6/19/06

High Heat by Carl Deuker

Shane Hunter may have one of the toughest jobs in any sport played, he's a closer. A closer is a pitcher that comes in and tries to end the game for the winning team. At times they are given a slight lead and must be at their top of the game to not give up a run. Most times it’s just a pressure issue with pitcher in not being able to close out a game but for Shane he feeds off of the pressure. Until his father is caught for laundering drug money for drug lords and commits suicide.

Now Shane's nice cozy life of riches is gone on the ghetto slumps is his new life. All his former friends barely acknowledge his existence. Shane now hangs out with low lives and vows never to play ball again. When Shane gets in trouble with the law and is shoved back into the spotlight, can he regain his early form and once again be the shutout pitcher he use to be?
RH

Tangerine by Edward Bloor

Paul Fisher is going to a new school, and new town, a new state, a new everything. His parents decided to move from Texas to sunny Florida to a new development in Tangerine, FL, which use to be all citrus groves. Paul wouldn't have been an unusual kid if it weren't wore these bottle cap glasses he has to wear because of his near blindness. Paul tells people that he looked at an eclipse but he never remembers ever staring at it. Even though he has to wear goggles when he plays, he's one heck of a keeper (soccer goalie).
When he tried to get in the Soccer team for school he was cut because the school didn't want him to be a liability. Now with nothing to do school has become terrible to cope with until one day when a sinkhole suck down half the school. When given the chance to transfer to another school Paul jumps on the chance to once again tries for the soccer team and hopefully win some recognition from his dad who idolizes his football star kicker brother. Paul wins new friends at his school and is slowly remembering why he really became fully blind.
RH

Hoops by Walter Dean Myers

Lonnie Jackson seems like a regular kid living in the ghetto but he has a natural talent for playing basketball. The only problem that Lonnie has is that he isolates himself from the people around him, his mother, friends and even his girlfriend. When the local gym decides to join in on a city wide tournament, Lonnie is introduce with a street bum named Cal who will be his new coach.
Lonnie doesn't like this new addition to the team and immediately clashes with Cal on how to run the team. When Cal tries to help Lonnie improve his game, Lonnie discovers that Cal use to be a top notch player from the NBA! Cal then talks on how he made mistakes in his career and was banned from playing ever again. Now Cal hopes to teach Lonnie so that he doesn’t do the same. Will the Lonnie get to live his dream of playing pro basketball or will Cal's past come haunt him again?
RH

The Smuggler's By: Iain Lawrence

The tittle of this novel caught my eye, being that some of my ancestors that I have traced, were English pirates that roamed in the Caribbean. This novel is full of adventure, and great characters who are unforgettable. The book is intriguing, and full of suspense.

At the beginning of the book, we find Mr. Spencer, and his son traveling by coach,(not a bus) to Dover, England to purchase a ship called "Dragon." Dragon in the past had been a smuggler's ship.

Now, the Spencer's " Dragon"will be laden with wool for honest trade. We ask ourselves can a ship that has been a smuggler's paradise be used now for normal cargo ? Can John Spencer a 16 year old , a young man be responsible now that his Father died?

Captain Crowe is hired to pilot, and steer the "Dragon," which is not an easy task. In the end, we learn that Cpt. Crowe had been in charge of a smuggling ring.

Read the novel, and find out more details. I myself, found the book exciting, and the characters very unpredictable throughout the novel.

LRD 6/10/o6

Stop That Girl by Elizabeth Mckenzie

A collection of stories that starts off with the main character, Ann Ransom, at age 8 who takes a trip with her grandmother a.k.a Dr. Frost to Europe. When she comes back her mother is a wreck and Ann learns that her grandparents have split up. Fast forward a few years and Ann is getting ready to go off to college. She is working full-time at a pizza place to save money for college. She even takes a trip with her boyfriend to see the college she is considering going to. She talks to financial aid and a short time later gets a full scholarship to college. During her senoir year her granmother reappears in her life the same day as Allen Ginsberg is speaking at her college. Dr. Frost wants to take Ann on a trip to Norway after she graduates. Fast forward another few years and Ann is married and has a son. She is living in a not so stellar house and it takes coversations with her sister to realize that everything doesn't have to be done so fast. She needs to slow down to enjoy the things in life no matter what.

Tom Burnham