Matched by Allyson Condie

Imagine a world of prosperity and peace. There is virtually no crime, no strife, no true disorder because the Society has their best interests at heart. The day that Cassia (KAHY-sha) has dreamed of for so long, Matching Day, is here. Your Match is the best chance to create a new member of the Society: one that will be healthy and whole, and without defect. To her surprise and delight, her best friend Xander stands as her Match. Cassia can hardly believe her good fortune! This is not a stranger in a foreign land, but a neighbor and constant companion.

At the Matching Ceremony, all are given a silver box with a microcard containing their Match's information: likes, dislikes, pictures. When she plugs her microcard into the port, something very unsettling happens. Instead of Xander, she sees the face of Ky Markham: another boy on her street, someone she has known for years, and considers part of her group of friends. The idea is planted in her mind...and she struggles with the information she has been given. Should she report it to an Official? Should she talk to someone about it? This is obviously a mistake, plugging in the card again brings up Xander's smiling face.

Despite herself, Cassia begins to wonder about Ky. She visits her grandfather for his Final Banquet, (members of the Society die at 80 years). He asks to see the compact he has given her, and she complies. Twisting the bottom, he reveals a hidden compartment. Contained inside is a single sheet of paper with handwriting: poems, two of them. Poems not on the Top 100 Poems list! She makes a promise to him not to rely on her pills (green relaxes you), and to think for herself.

She signs up to take a hiking class for her recreation hours, and is pleased to find Ky there. Their interactions are always careful, his especially. He seems practiced at holding back, keeping his actions in check. His revelation that he is an Aberration shocks her. All summer their feelings escalate as he teaches her to write (no one in the Society knows how to write, only type) and they share secrets.

Her relationship with Ky, her Grandfather's passing, the poems, the writing...all of these begin to work on Cassia, begin to open up her mind to a world of possibility the Society wants to keep from her. Her choices are limited, monitored, and supervised. What hope of happiness does she truly have if her happiness is chosen for her?

This dystopian novel will be a hit with teen audiences. It even has a bit of a love triangle. The text is very Brave New World with more romance.

“They are giving us pieces of a real life instead of the whole thing. They have perfected the art of giving us just enought freedom; just enough that when we are ready to snap, a little bone is offered and we roll over, belly up, comfortable and placated like a dog...” (Condie, 2010).

*Library Link*

If you liked this, check out:
Crossed by Allyson Condie (Matched Trilogy, Book 2
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (Hunger Games, Book 1)

Condie, Allyson B. (2010). Matched. New York: Dutton Books. 

Heist Society by Ally Carter

Kat hasn't exactly had what you might call a "normal upbringing," what with being raised by the best art thief alive and all. That's why she's decided to give up the family business for a taste of normal adolescence. Her best scam yet lands her in an elite boarding school...for a blissful three months.

Of course, her best friend and former partner Hale shows up with different plans. He successfully gets her booted out after framing her for a big prank. With no other options readily available, she heads home with him. It turns out that maybe he did it for less than selfish reasons. Her dad seems to be the target of his own frame job, and is now in very real danger from a mobster whose art has been stolen.

How the pieces were stolen is another matter, and one of the reasons her father is suspected. The security at Arturo's place is state of the art, and that's putting it lightly. Kat tries to talk to Arturo, explain what happened, but he's having none of it. Five paintings were stolen by a thief calling himself Visily Romani. He tells her that if his paintings aren't returned in 10 days, someone will be making a house call, and her father's going to end up dead. With that motivation, Kat gets to work.

First, she does her research. Kat calls up Uncle Eddie (who is almost everyone's "uncle" in the business) for intel on her thief. Visily Romani, it turns out, is a sacred name. Thieves use it as a pseudonym for things too big to be known even between each other. "It is an alias that is not used lightly, young man," Uncle Eddie answered," (Carter pg. 101).

Her next stop is to find out what she can about the history of the paintings, and learns they were stolen by the Nazis during WWII. These paintings are already stolen property. Sometimes it takes a thief to catch a thief, so Kat decides she will steal them back. The paintings are discovered at the Henley, one of the truly great art museums, and one with an overwhelming amount of security.

First she has to build a crew, and that is no small task. This job has to fly way under the radar, even for a thief! Hale is at her side, her cousin Gabrielle joins them, the Bagshaw brothers, and one random (cute male) pick-pocket she found and befriended. This heist was going to be impossible by most standards, but they have to try. Her father's life hangs in the balance. Can they pull it off?

Fast paced, fun, and sassy, Carter has a true feel for action girl stories that maintain a strong female character without diminishing intelligence. I enjoyed this even more than her spy series, highly recommended, especially for girls.

"The guards might have seen the boy throw his arm around the girl's neck and hold a camera out in front of them, snapping pictures. They might have noticed how the couple paced from one end of the wall to the next. They didn't, of course, see that the pictures were really of the positions of the cameras, that their paced steps were mapping out the dimentions of the perimeter wall.
They were simply two teens who appeared to be in the midst of a great autumn.
But, of course, the guards didn't see a lot of things," (Carter, pg. 142, 2010).

*Library Link*

If you liked this, check out:
Uncommon Criminals by Ally Carter (Heist Society, Book 2)
I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You by Ally Carter (Gallagher Girls, Book 1)
Spy Goddess: Live and Let Shop by Michael Spradlin
Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart

Carter, Ally. (2010). Heist Society. New York: Disney/Hyperion.

Z by Michael Thomas Ford

The first rule of zombie hunting: cleanse with fire. The second rule: save all humans, and the third rule? You can't bring them back.

The war happened. The strain of flu that began turning people into zombies was real, and the Torchers were created to fight the very real threat. Flamethrowers are the weapon of choice: only fire can destroy the virus and kill the host at a distance. 15 years later, Josh can't get enough of the video game based on what happened. He is addicted to killing meatbags, and racking up points with his best friend. Despite his mother's disapproval, he's been sneaking around, playing it on the sly.

When the best player in the game, Charlie, sends him a note to meet up, he isn't sure what to think. He's heard rumors about IRL (in real life) games, but that's just an urban legend, right? Charlie is a girl - imagine that, who says girls can't game? She tells him about an IRL that's going on, and invites him to join up. Dream come true...or so he tells himself. He suits up, gets his own flame thrower (how cool is this?!) and gets filled in on the game. Clatter, their benefactor, has designed some animatronic fake zombies and sets up all the games. People from outside pay top dollar to gamble and watch it play out. Members of the team get bonuses for killing z's. This could even be lucrative...although it also seems kind of illegal...

The games get more and more intense, team members are constantly getting hurt or dropping out. As time goes on, Josh starts to suspect that there is more to the game than anyone is letting on. Then there's Z: a drug that Clatter is manufacturing. It makes you feel like a zombie. It's like nothing he's ever known, and playing the IRL on Z is addictive...just like his relationship with Charlie.

Things take a turn for the awful, and Josh realizes he is involved in something so much worse than he realized. Can they possibly find a way out of this mess?

This quick read is great for gamers, zombie lovers, and male readers.

"Now he understood why Charlie liked it. The Z had really helped him get into the zombie mood. He'd seen things differently, felt things differently. Everything had been more intense - primal. He'd hunted the Torchers liike they were animals, smelling them out and following the sound of their hearts beating," (Ford pg. 144, 2010).

*Library Link*

If you liked this, check out:
Suicide Notes by Michael Thomas Ford
Rot and Ruin by Jonathan Maberry
The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan (Forest of Hands and Teeth, Book 1)

Ford, M. T. (2010). Z. New York: HarperTeen.

Every You, Every Me by David Levithan

December Defies Definition 

One of my favorite things about YA lit: its flexibility and willingness to think outside the box. This month I'm focusing on titles that are written in a non-traditional way. One plays with typography and space. One crosses out text to show thought, but not speech. One is written entirely in verse style. Technology continues to provide us with new ways of telling stories, and these are just a few. What is your favorite? 

Everything is different without you. It's been a year, your birthday again...I'm not thinking of you again. I'm not. Walking to school, and I find an envelope just sitting there in the woods. Inside was a picture...of the same woods. Where was it from? Who left it here? I want to show it to you.

The next day, there's another picture. This time it surprised me. It was of me. I never let anyone take my picture. Except you. I showed it to Jack. He said it was freaky. Freaky. Another after school, nailed to a telephone pole. A picture of a bridge. So I went there, and I found another one. A picture of someone taking a picture. Someone else was there that day...

In my locker, another picture: this time of you. Not shoved between the cracks, but taped up; someone broke in to put this here. But I had never seen this picture. "I have never seen this photo before. I have never seen this photo before," (Levithan pg. 52, 2011). How? I knew you better than anyone. Me and Jack. But he doesn't know either. Weren't you the one who said, "He'll never know me like you do," (pg. 61)?

The next photograph showed up in Jack's locker. A picture of a grave. Your first kiss with Jack. Are you punishing us? It had to be someone who knew you, someone with whom you shared a connection...but who? And why don't I know? And why?

More pictures appear holding images of you and someone else. "Sparrow" it says on the back. I'm starting to lose it, I've been losing it ever since you disappeared. Jack doesn't want to talk about it, he wants to 'move on' and he accuses me of being the one who is doing this. He just wants to turn it off, all the hurt and pain and forget you...but I can't.

Evan and Jack tried to be everything for Ariel. Evan was her undyingly loyal best friend, and Jack was her boyfriend. The three of them...until Ariel started getting sucked under by mental illness. Can Evan and Jack discover who is playing this sick game on them? Will they ever forgive themselves for their choices?

Written as a series of pictures and words, this novel is a new take on incorporating mixed media. The photographs are powerful, and the style Levithan choses to express emotion and inner voice are too. Highly recommended, a great story for high schoolers about doing the right thing and forgiving yourself.

"5B
I knew you were at the center of it.
This should not have surprised me, since you had always been at the center of things. Nobody would have put you anywhere else. Especially me.
Even now, you refused to be pixelated, forgotten, silenced, erased. Not that I wanted to erase you. The opposite. I wanted the opposite," (Levithan pg. 42, 2011).

*Library Link*

If you liked this, check out:
Will Grayson, Will Grayson by David Levithan and John Green
The Future of Us by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler
Exposed by Kimberly Marcus
Flash Burnout by L.K. Madigan

Levithan, David, & Farmer, Jonathan. (2011). Every You, Every Me. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

The Geography of Girlhood by Kirsten Smith

Penny is just a girl. Fourteen, no mom, no boyfriend, two pretty good friends...and dread for the fall: the start of high school. Her one best friend is going a little wacko. Her other best friend is starting to push for popular. She's just stuck in between.

The Jenny's run the school. She should know, since Jenny Arnold has threatened to end her life for flirting with her boyfriend. Penny didn't mean to, but who would turn down attention from a hottie like that? It was strictly hands off.

Besides, Randall Faber has a crush on her. Elaine encourages this match, almost more for the normalcy than mutual attraction. Your first kiss has to be someone, right? It feels too controlled, he even picks out her lip gloss flavor.

The Future of Us by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler

There are advantages to having a dad who buys you guilt gifts...like getting a new computer when your dad has his first baby with his new wife! It's 1996, and Emma decides it could definitely be worse. When her next-door neighbor, and childhood best friend, Josh brings by a new AOL disk with a free trial on it, she can't wait to get started! Something weird happens when she signs on though, a site she's never heard of pops up: Facebook. There's a picture of a woman whose name is Emma Jones...and she looks alarmingly like an older version of herself. Whoa, they have the same birthday too.

Weirded out, Emma enlists Josh's help. He's on it too, and he's married to Sydney? One of the hottest girls in school? Wait a minute, what kind of sick joke is this? It isn't until they look through some of the pictures posted as "The Good Old Days," and find a picture that hasn't even been developed yet (they rush to the one hour photo to confirm), that they start to accept the truth: this Facebook thing is a portal 15 years into their future!

Emma starts to notice that little things change, and she decides to experiment. She's going to change her future. She's going to make it better. This guy she's married to now seems like a real jerk. She's not sure what an iPad is, but she's pretty sure her husband shouldn't be using her money to buy one! Goodbye, Mr. Jones; hello, Mr. Right...or so she thinks.

Josh on the other hand can't believe his future good fortune! He wants nothing to do with any actions that could negatively influence his happy union with Sydney. Not to mention, ever since last summer when he kissed Emma, things have been weird. This latest adventure bringing them together doesn't change the fact that things can never be the same between them.

When Emma starts acting recklessly, pushing boundaries that a friend shouldn't push, Josh isn't sure what to do. He's trying to move on, and build a future with Sydney. Why is Emma pulling her old tricks? Is she really so selfish? Josh is having his own doubts: could perfect, future wife Sydney be not as perfect as everyone thinks? Now, future Emma is threatening to cancel her Facebook account!

This paired narrative is told in alternating chapters, Asher writes Josh, Mackler writes Emma. Relive the spot on 90s references, along with this sci-fi tinged coming of age story. I related to so much of this story, having been a sophomore in high school in 1996. Some of the references will be lost on this generation, which makes this a great crossover title for adults.

*Library Link*

If you liked this, check out:

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things by Carolyn Mackler

Gimme a Call by Sarah Mlynowski

Asher, Jay and Mackler, Carolyn. (2011). The Future of Us. New York: Razorbill.

My Name is Mina (and I Love the Night.) by David Almond

Mina loves the night. She loves birds and moonlight. She loves black cats named Whisper and weird creatures, like herself. She's writing a journal with all her thoughts and whims. Sometimes she leaves pages blank, just to leave them. Sometimes she reiterates, to let us know something is important. Sometimes she fills the whole page with words that she likes. If she wants, she can write a story in 3rd person. The mind is a place of wonder! It is!

There was a time when she couldn't be so free with her words. When she used to go to St. Bede's, her teacher Mrs. Scullery told her to plan everything she would write. Mrs. Scullery didn't understand why Mina's story did not follow her original plan, or Mina's explanation of "I don't want it to," (Almond pg. 15, 2011). Mina likes being nonsensical!

So she doesn't go to St. Bede's anymore. Schools are cages. She is homeschooled, and Mina and her mom do wonderful things. They eat bananas and make clay models and read encyclopedias and learn about archaeopteryx and talk about Heaven. That's where Mina's dad lives. Once, Mina thought she would go down to the Underworld to steal him back from Pluto and Persephone...but she got scared by Cerebrus, so she decided to go back home.

"Perfection is BORING! Perfection is EMPTY! Perfection is NOTHINGNESS!" (pg. 31). Speaking of imperfection: Mr. Myers' house is far from perfect. Since he died, they have put the house on the market. Mina and her mother are hoping for people who are Interesting! Mina's mom thinks it will be someone who wants a fixer-upper.

Did you know that most dust is made up of tiny fragments of human skin? "EXTRAORDINARY ACTIVITY: Stare at Dust that Dances in the Light" (pg. 73).

Two things happened that led to being homeschooled: SATS Day, and Corinthian Avenue Pupil Referral Unit. Those stories have to be told in 3rd person. The good news is that Mina created some very lovely words like claminosity! and blippistrakor! She also made some friends at Corinthian, but I'll let her tell you the rest.

This prequel to the Prinz Honor award-winning Skellig, is delightful in its whimsical look at early adolescence. Every girl should have a journal filled with just as much fun and honesty, and the publishers did a lovely job with typography. Highly recommended for middle school, and anyone who needs more joy in their everyday. Mina doesn't fit in, but she shows us that it's ok to be different.

"I look into the night. I see owls and bats

that fly and flicker across the moon.

Somewhere out there, Whisper the cat

is slipping through the shadows.

I close my eyes and it's like those creatures are moving inside me,

almost like I'm a kind of weird creature myself,

a girl whose name is Mina

but more than just a girl whose name is Mina," (pg. 10).

*Library Link*

If you liked this, check out:
Skellig by David Almond
Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh
Dork Diaries: Tales from a Not-So-Fabulous-Life by Rachel Renee Russell (Dork Diaries, Book 1)
How to Say Goodbye in Robot by Natalie Standiford 

Almond, David. (2011). My Name is Mina (and I love the night. Anything seems possible at night when the rest of the world has gone to sleep). New York: Delacorte Press.