Lucy Hannsson life is falling apart. Her mother's cancer reappears, forcing her to question her faith and her relationship with her long-time boyfriend. Usually, Lucy works at the Christian children's camp every summer. Her dad is a pastor and Lucy has been heavily involved in the church ever since she was born. However, at the insistence of her mother, Lucy takes a job at the summer camp a mile away called Daybreak. Daybreak is a camp for children who have had hard times in their lives. While there, Lucy's eyes are opened to the brutal reality of some people's existence. At first terrified, Lucy starts to get to know her co-workers, who are open and frank and real and everything that Lucy isn't. It isn't long before Lucy falls in love with Daybreak, the children there and her newfound friends. However, Daybreak holds secrets that will directly affect Lucy's relationship with her family and her faith. I thoroughly enjoyed this book,, Lord has created a realistic summer camp atmosphere (having spent time in some in Canada myself) and the situations and experiences fly off the page as genuine. I was interested in Lucy's in and out relationship with her faith as it is not something that is often tackled in YA fiction in my opinion. The writing is sweet yet realistic and frank at times. I know the teens at my library will really eat this one up as they will be fascinated with the summer camp setting and the twist at the end, great stuff!
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The Call is my worst nightmare. In a good way. I devoured this novel in a few hours while waiting for a plane. I loved it. It's a world where the adolescences of Ireland can be "Called" at any moment by the Sídhe, a race of fairies that live in a parallel universe that resides "underground." The Sídhe aren't your run of the mill fairies that sprinkle dust around and attend tiny balls and sit on toadstools all day. They are truly terrifying monsters, and when they "Call" a youth to their land, they rarely let them live. in fact, they ensure that they are hideously tortured and maimed. When a child is "Called", they simply vanish from thin air, leaving nothing but their clothes behind. They stay away for three minutes and four seconds, but in Sídhe it's much, much longer. The land of the Sídhe is Dante's Inferno combined with something from Joe Hill's Locke & Key series. Twisted, depraved and sadistic, the Sídhe love to torture anyone they "Call". The creatures that don't adhere to the Sídhe's rule are usually ravenous and simply want to eat the children. Those that survive the Sídhe are never the same, they are either disfigured or suffering from PTSD so severe they can't properly function. Luckily, Ness and her classmates have been training for years, gleaning any information they can from the survivors so they can endure a "Call" and outlive the Sídhe's hideous land. The Call is a pedal to the metal gore-fest that pits students against each other as they try to train rigidly enough to survive a horrible ordeal. All of them know that at any moment they can be "Called" and that they most likely won't survive. The anxiety and fear the students face are palpable in this novel and the horrors the Sídhe dish out are truly disturbing. With a large group of students who love horror, I know that The Call is going to be one of our most popular books in the coming year! While driving home one evening with his parents, Kofi sees something on a roundabout. It's dark and furry and rolled up in a ball. He thinks it might be a hurt animal, although his gut tells him it's not, and he's right. At first, Kofi thinks it's an alien, but after he speaks and introduces itself as Rorty Thrutch, Kofi isn't so sure. As Kofi gets to know Rorty, he realises that Rorty possess extraordinary powers, like copying things with his mind and making them appear out of thin air. Since Rorty can copy things, he can also delete them. After Kofi takes Rorty in, it becomes clear that dangerous people are hunting him. Kofi and his friends must devise a plan to keep Rorty hidden and uncover where exactly he's from before it's too late. I enjoyed this novel, I thought the description of the bullying and back and forth between Kofi and the other school children was genuine. I know the school children I work with will really enjoy the adventure and friendship elements of the Starman and Me. If you're looking for a book with a lot of heart with children outwitting the adults, this is for you! Four children, Fred, Con, Lila & her little brother Max are on a small plane back to England when it crashes in the Amazon. The plane is destroyed and the pilot is dead. Frantic, afraid, starving and exhausted, the four children must work together in order to survive their ordeal. As they progress through the jungle, they realise they have almost no idea what to do and death seems like a very likely possibility. Then the children discover objects in the jungle that they didn't expect: a used sardine tin, a penknife and a map. This gives them hope, and when you're lost in a place like the Amazon, hope is worth its weight in gold. Upon discovering the Amazon river, they decide to build a raft and try to steer downstream. It's here that they discover a secret that will change everything. I loved this book, the characters are deep and full of life. Fred, obsessed with heroic tales of explorers of old, feels the weight of the world on his shoulders as he tries to work out the best possible route. Con is fiery and brilliant and works together (and sometimes against) Fred as she learns to survive in the jungle's harsh climate. Lila's goal is to take care of young Max, who is far too young to be faced with such an ordeal. Lila becomes one of my favourite characters as her confidence and insight grows throughout the novel. The Explorers is like the Goonies in the jungle, it's Heart of Darkness with children looking for Colonel Kurtz to save them from the world. It's Stand By Me on a river, it's all of those things and a lot more. It's also a story about what's important in life and how you will look back at your time on earth when, as Yeats put it, "you are old and gray and full of sleep." If you enjoy stories with real heart, that are about characters that you want to hang out with for a long, long time, check out The Explorer! |
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