Geo Librarian

  ASH'S CABIN written and illustrated by Jen Wang First Second, 2024 ISBN: 978-1-250-75406-6 Source: purchased Ages 14 and up All opinions expressed are solely my own. Book cover & summary provided by the publisher through Goodreads.com. ABOUT THE BOOK Ash has always felt alone. Adults ignore the climate crisis. Other kids Ash’s age are more interested in pop stars and popularity contests than in fighting for change. Even Ash’s family seems to be sleepwalking through life. The only person who ever seemed to get Ash was their Grandpa Edwin. Before he died, he used to talk about building a secret cabin, deep in the California wilderness. Did he ever build it? What if it’s still there, waiting for him to come back…or for Ash to find it? To Ash, that maybe-mythical cabin is starting to feel like the perfect place for a fresh start and an escape from the miserable feeling of alienation that haunts their daily life. But making the wilds your home isn’t easy. And as much as Ash wants ...

THE BORDER by Steve Schafer Sourcebooks Fire, 2017 ISBN: 9781492646839 YA Contemporary Ages 14 and up (grades 9-12) Source: Publisher through NetGalley All opinions expressed are solely my own. ABOUT THE BOOK   One moment changed their lives forever. A band plays, glasses clink, and four teens sneak into the Mexican desert, the hum of celebration receding behind them.  Crack. Crack. Crack. Not fireworks--gunshots. The music stops. And Pato, Arbo, Marcos, and Gladys are powerless as the lives they once knew are taken from them. Then they are seen by the gunmen. They run. Except they have nowhere to go. The narcos responsible for their families' murders have put out a reward for the teens' capture. Staying in Mexico is certain death, but attempting to cross the border through an unforgiving desert may be as deadly as the secrets they are trying to escape... REVIEW I'll admit that this book hit me pretty hard.  I knew when I agreed to read it t...

ENDANGERED Ape Quartet #1 by Eliot Schrefer Scholastic Press, 2012 ISBN: 978-0-545-16576-1 MG/YA Contemporary (Diverse) Ages 12 and up Source: purchased All opinions expressed are solely my own. ABOUT THE BOOK The compelling tale of a girl who must save a group of bonobos--and herself--from a violent coup. The Congo is a dangerous place, even for people who are trying to do good. When one girl has to follow her mother to her sanctuary for bonobos, she's not thrilled to be there. It's her mother's passion, and she'd rather have nothing to do with it. But when revolution breaks out and their sanctuary is attacked, she must rescue the bonobos and hide in the jungle. Together, they will fight to keep safe, to eat, and to survive. Eliot Schrefer asks readers what safety means, how one sacrifices to help others, and what it means to be human in this new compelling adventure. REVIEW Schrefer has crafted a story that is both eye-opening and touch...

ACCIDENTALLY ME by Kim Karras Cedar Fort, 2016 ISBN: 9781462118670 YA Contemporary Source: eARC from publisher (Thanks!) All opinions expressed are solely my own. ABOUT THE BOOK WANTED: Pretend stalker. No experience required. Tall, dark, and quirky preferred. Sabrina is desperate to go to her dream college, but her parents want her to stay close to home. If she wants to maintain her perfect child image, Sabrina must break rules that even her rebel sister keeps . . . REVIEW I wasn't sure what I thought about this book at first. Sabrina kept behaving in ways that seriously annoyed me.  I mean seriously, hiring a stalker to convince your family to let you attend the college of your choice?!  I knew that would turn out badly and it did.  I kept hoping she would start making better choices and then she would make another bad choice.  I did sympathize with her low self-esteem that has skewed her view of not only herself but the way she sees her family ...

THREATENED Ape Quartet #2 by Eliot Schrefer Scholastic Press, 2014 ISBN:  978-0-545-55143-4 MG/YA Contemporary/Diverse Ages 12 and up Source: public library All opinions expressed are solely my own. ABOUT THE BOOK When he was a boy, Luc's mother would warn him about the "mock men" living in the trees by their home -- chimpanzees whose cries would fill the night. Luc is older now, his mother gone. He lives in a house of mistreated orphans, barely getting by. Then a man calling himself Prof comes to town with a mysterious mission. When Luc tries to rob him, the man isn't mad. Instead, he offers Luc a job. Together, Luc and Prof head into the rough, dangerous jungle in order to study the elusive chimpanzees. There, Luc finally finds a new family -- and must act when that family comes under attack. As he did in his acclaimed novel ENDANGERED, a finalist for the National Book Award, Eliot Schrefer takes us somewhere fiction rarely goes, intr...

ORBITING JUPITER by Gary D. Schmidt Clarion Books, 2015 ISBN: 978-0-544-46222-9 MG/YA Contemporary Ages 12 and up Source: public library  All opinions expressed are solely my own. ABOUT THE BOOK When Jack meets his new foster brother, he already knows three things about him: Joseph almost killed a teacher. He was incarcerated at a place called Stone Mountain. He has a daughter. Her name is Jupiter. And he has never seen her. What Jack doesn’t know, at first, is how desperate Joseph is to find his baby girl. Or how urgently he, Jack, will want to help. But the past can’t be shaken off. Even as new bonds form, old wounds reopen. The search for Jupiter demands more from Jack than he can imagine. This tender, heartbreaking novel is Gary D. Schmidt at his best. REVIEW Gary Schmidt is one of those authors whose books I feel compelled to read because they open doors to worlds I've never seen or experienced before. I knew going in that this one was a t...

SILENCE by Deborah Lytton Shadow Mountain, 2015 ISBN: 9781609079451 Ages 12 and up Source: ARC from publisher All opinions expressed are solely my own. ABOUT THE BOOK STELLA was born to sing. Someday Broadway. But everything changed when a tragic accident renders her deaf; she cannot hear, much less sing. Trapped in a strange new world of total silence, she must face not only the loss of her friends, her hopes, and her voice but also the loss of her identity and her life's purpose. Who is she is she's not a singer? HAYDEN is a quiet loner, an outcast, and the only person Stella can communicate with; his profound stutter makes him speak so slowly, she is able to easily read his lips. As they find new ways to communicate despite their disabilities, their friendship grows into an unexpected—but welcome—romance. But is it a romance that can last if Stella regains her hearing and resumes her former life? Alternating between Stella's and Hayden's points o...

Cover Reveal, About the Author, a Sneak Peek of REWIND TO YOU and Rafflecopter Giveaway Goodreads * Amazon  * Barnes & Noble Author: Laura Johnston Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corp. Genre: Clean Contemporary YA Romance Release Date: September 15, 2014; Available for PREORDER now One last summer before college on beautiful Tybee Island is supposed to help Sienna forget. But how can she? This is where her family spent every summer before everything changed, before the world as she knew it was ripped away. But the past isn’t easily left behind. Especially when Sienna keeps having episodes that take her back to the night she wants to forget. Even when she meets the mysterious Austin Dobbs, the guy with the intense blue eyes, athlete’s body, and weakness for pralines who scooped her out of trouble when she blacked out on River Street. When she’s with Austin, Sienna feels a whole new world opening up to her. Austin has secrets, and she has histor...

THE SCAR BOYS  by Len Vlahos Egmont, 2014 ISBN: 9781606844397 Young Adult Contemporary Grades 9 and up ABOUT THE BOOK A severely burned teenager. A guitar. Punk rock. The chords of a rock 'n' roll road trip in a coming-of-age novel that is a must-read story about finding your place in the world...even if you carry scars inside and out. In attempting to describe himself in his college application essay--help us to become acquainted with you beyond your courses, grades, and test scores--Harbinger (Harry) Jones goes way beyond the 250-word limit and gives a full account of his life. The first defining moment: the day the neighborhood goons tied him to a tree during a lightning storm when he was 8 years old, and the tree was struck and caught fire. Harry was badly burned and has had to live with the physical and emotional scars, reactions from strangers, bullying, and loneliness that instantly became his everyday reality. The second defining moment: the day...

NINE DAYS by Fred Hiatt Delacorte Press, 2013 ISBN: 978-0-385-74273-3 MG/YA Contemporary Grades 7 and up Reviewed from library copy. All opinions expressed are solely my own. ABOUT THE BOOK A fast-paced contemporary thriller in the vein of James Patterson and Anthony Horowitz set against the bustling backdrop of Hong Kong, Vietnam, and the border of China. This heart-pounding adventure takes place as two teens, an American teenage boy and his friend, a Chinese girl from his Washington, DC-area high school, must find her father who has been kidnapped—and they only have nine days. Although the characters in the novel are fictionalized, they are based on a real Chinese family who were part of the Chinese Democracy Movement and inspired this story. REVIEW Ethan and Ti-Anna become good friends after Ethan speaks up about the awful things that Mao Zedong did to China during his years in power.  When he discovers that her father, a Chinese dissident, has disapp...

VERTICAL by Janet Berend Breakaway Books, 2012 ISBN: 9781891369988 Middle Grade/YA Fiction Grades 4-8 Review copy provided by author in return for honest review. All opinions expressed are solely my own. ABOUT THE BOOK Skateboarder Josh Lowman witnesses one of the best skateboarders in town (the local bully) commit a crime. For days he agonizes over whether to tell anyone. Meanwhile, his friendships with a fellow skater (who is debating whether to drop out of school), a beautiful girl in his class (who loves to read, and seems to like Josh), and a cool math tutor (a college student who skates) slowly steer him toward a new kind of courage. Josh has a mesmerizing narrator's voice; he rattles off a vacuous Valley-speak while slowly coming into his own, intellectually and morally. There is a hint of Holden Caufield about him. Vivid descriptions of skateboarding throughout the book will keep any skateboarder glued to the page. And a plot that rolls ahead constant...

Tour Schedule The Ugly Stepsister Strikes Back by Sariah Wilson  Everyone knows how all those fairy tales go. The princess gets beautiful, nabs her prince, falls instantly in love, lives happily ever after and leaves her evil stepsisters in the dust. But what happens when you’re the ugly stepsister and your obnoxiously perfect—read pretty, smart, and, worst of all, sickeningly nice—stepsister is dating the charming, tall, devastatingly handsome guy you’ve had a thing for since you were nine years old? Quirky, artistic and snarky Mattie Lowe does not lead a charmed life. Her mother is constantly belittling her on Skype. Mercedes, the school mean girl, has made it her personal mission to torment Mattie. But worst of all? Her stepsister Ella is the most beautiful, popular girl in school and is dating Mattie’s secret longtime crush, Jake Kingston. Tired of being left out and done with waiting for her own stupid fairy godmother to show up, Mattie decides to change her li...

The Ugly Stepsister Strikes Back  by Sariah Wilson  Everyone knows how all those fairy tales go. The princess gets beautiful, nabs her prince, falls instantly in love, lives happily ever after and leaves her evil stepsisters in the dust.But what happens when you’re the ugly stepsister and your obnoxiously perfect—read pretty, smart, and, worst of all, sickeningly nice—stepsister is dating the charming, tall, devastatingly handsome guy you’ve had a thing for since you were nine years old? Quirky, artistic and snarky Mattie Lowe does not lead a charmed life. Her mother is constantly belittling her on Skype. Mercedes, the school mean girl, has made it her personal mission to torment Mattie. But worst of all? Her stepsister Ella is the most beautiful, popular girl in school and is dating Mattie’s secret longtime crush, Jake Kingston. Tired of being left out and done with waiting for her own stupid fairy godmother to show up, Mattie decides to change her life. She’ll star...