• Behemoth

    Overall Rating: ★ Rating:86 Fullstar:4 Star Piece:0.3 Fraction:4.3★ Rating:86 Fullstar:4 Star Piece:0.3 Fraction:4.3★ Rating:86 Fullstar:4 Star Piece:0.3 Fraction:4.3★ Rating:86 Fullstar:4 Star Piece:0.3 Fraction:4.3½ Rating:86 Star Piece:0.3 Fraction:4.386%
    Behemoth (Leviathan, Book 2)
    Scott Westerfeld
    Simon Pulse, 2010
    Fantasy
    ISBN: 1416971750
    496 pages

    Synopsis

    The behemoth is the fiercest creature in the British navy. It can swallow enemy battleships with one bite. The Darwinists will need it, now that they are at war with the Clanker powers.

    Deryn is a girl posing as a boy in the British Air Service, and Alek is the heir to an empire posing as a commoner. Finally together aboard the airship Leviathan, they hope to bring the war to a halt. But when disaster strikes the Leviathan’s peacekeeping mission, they find themselves alone and hunted in enemy territory.

    Read more »

    Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
    Posted in 2010, Best Of, Classroom, Fantasy/Science Fiction, Geography/Culture, Ignite Imagination, Recommended, Reviews, Science/Engineering, Series | No Comments »

    Blue Fire

    Overall Rating: ★ Rating:81 Fullstar:4 Star Piece:0.050000000000001 Fraction:4.05★ Rating:81 Fullstar:4 Star Piece:0.050000000000001 Fraction:4.05★ Rating:81 Fullstar:4 Star Piece:0.050000000000001 Fraction:4.05★ Rating:81 Fullstar:4 Star Piece:0.050000000000001 Fraction:4.05☆ Rating:81 Fraction:4.0581%
    Blue Fire
    Janice Hardy
    Balzer + Bray, 2010
    Fantasy
    ISBN: 0061747416
    384 pages

    Synopsis

    Part fugitive, part hero, fifteen-year-old Nya is barely staying ahead of the Duke of Baseer’s trackers. Wanted for a crime she didn’t mean to commit, she risks capture to protect every Taker she can find, determined to prevent the Duke from using them in his fiendish experiments. But resolve isn’t enough to protect any of them, and Nya soon realizes that the only way to keep them all out of the Duke’s clutches is to flee Geveg. Unfortunately, the Duke’s best tracker has other ideas.

    Read more »

    Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
    Posted in Best Of, Fantasy/Science Fiction, Ignite Imagination, Recommended, Reviews, Series | No Comments »

    The Celestial Globe

    Overall Rating: ★ Rating:71 Fullstar:3 Star Piece:0.55 Fraction:3.55★ Rating:71 Fullstar:3 Star Piece:0.55 Fraction:3.55★ Rating:71 Fullstar:3 Star Piece:0.55 Fraction:3.55½ Rating:71 Star Piece:0.55 Fraction:3.55☆ Rating:71 Fraction:3.5571%
    The Celestial Globe (Book 2-The Kronos Chronicles)
    Marie Rutkoski
    Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2010
    Fantasy
    ISBN: 0374310270
    304 pages

    Synopsis

    When Prince Rodolfo’s discovers who has tricked him, he sends his evil monsters attack Petra Kronos and her father. In just the nick of time, she is spirited away to London by none other than the shifty British spy John Dee.  However, in order to protect her, Dee must imprison her within his own house. As she struggles to escape, Neel and Tomik sail the high seas, in search of her and an elusive, powerful relic, The Celestial Globe.

    Read more »

    Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
    Posted in Reviews, Series | No Comments »

    The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner’s Dilemma

    Overall Rating: ★ Rating:77 Fullstar:3 Star Piece:0.85 Fraction:3.85★ Rating:77 Fullstar:3 Star Piece:0.85 Fraction:3.85★ Rating:77 Fullstar:3 Star Piece:0.85 Fraction:3.85½ Rating:77 Star Piece:0.85 Fraction:3.85☆ Rating:77 Fraction:3.8577%
    The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner’s DilemmaTrenton Lee Stewart

    Little, Brown Young Readers, 2009

    Fantasy Fiction

    ISBN: 0316045527

    400 pages

    Synopsis

    Join the Mysterious Benedict Society as Reynie, Kate, Sticky, and Constance embark on a daring new adventure that threatens to force them apart from their families, friends, and even each other. When an unexplained blackout engulfs Stonetown, the foursome must unravel clues relating to a nefarious new plot, while their search for answers brings them closer to danger than ever before.

    Read more »

    Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
    Posted in 2009, Best Of, Classroom, English/Reading, Recommended, Reviews, Series | No Comments »

    Red Claw

    Overall Rating: ★ Rating:87 Fullstar:4 Star Piece:0.35 Fraction:4.35★ Rating:87 Fullstar:4 Star Piece:0.35 Fraction:4.35★ Rating:87 Fullstar:4 Star Piece:0.35 Fraction:4.35★ Rating:87 Fullstar:4 Star Piece:0.35 Fraction:4.35½ Rating:87 Star Piece:0.35 Fraction:4.3587%
    Red Claw
    Philip Palmer
    Orbit, 2009
    Sci Fi
    ISBN: 0316018937
    464 pages

    Synopsis

    Professor Richard Helms heads up a tight-knit band of scientists and soldiers sent to explore New Amazon, a lush but savage planet seemingly determined to attack them at every turn. When they are done cataloguing every detail of this vast, unfamiliar ecosystem, they will burn it to the ground and make it fit for human habitation. But when the team falls under attack, Helms and his followers are forced to flee into the depths of the jungle. Here, old enemies and petty rivalries surface as they struggle to survive. They soon end up fighting for their lives – against the planet they are exploring, the robots designed to protect them and, most of all, against each other. For the countdown into madness is ticking.

    Read more »

    Tags: , , , , , , , ,
    Posted in Best Of, Classroom, Fantasy/Science Fiction, Nature/Biology, Reviews, Social Commentary | No Comments »

    The Name of this Book is Secret

    Overall Rating: ★ Rating:74 Fullstar:3 Star Piece:0.7 Fraction:3.7★ Rating:74 Fullstar:3 Star Piece:0.7 Fraction:3.7★ Rating:74 Fullstar:3 Star Piece:0.7 Fraction:3.7½ Rating:74 Star Piece:0.7 Fraction:3.7☆ Rating:74 Fraction:3.774%
    The Name of This Book is Secret
    Pseudonymous Bosch
    Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2007
    Fiction
    ISBN: 0316113662
    384 pages

    Synopsis

    Warning: this description has not been authorized by Pseudonymous Bosch. As much as he’d love to sing the praises of his book (he is very vain), he wouldn’t want you to hear about his brave 11-year old heroes, Cass and Max-Ernest.

    Read more »

    Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
    Posted in Classroom, English/Reading, Ignite Imagination, Reviews | No Comments »

    Going Bovine

    Overall Rating: ★ Rating:80 Fullstar:4 Star Piece:0 Fraction:4★ Rating:80 Fullstar:4 Star Piece:0 Fraction:4★ Rating:80 Fullstar:4 Star Piece:0 Fraction:4★ Rating:80 Fullstar:4 Star Piece:0 Fraction:4☆ Rating:80 Fraction:480%
    Going Bovine
    Libba Bray
    Delacorte Books for Young Readers, 2009
    Fantasy Fiction
    ISBN: 0385733976
    496 pages

    Synopsis

    Coasting through life thus far, 16-year-old Cameron just wants to make it through high school. However, he soon contracts a disease that is eating away at his brain and will likely die soon. Fortunately, a mysterious punk angel named Dulcie with pink wings delivers a message that Cameron can be healed from his disease, but first he must go on a quest to find a brilliant doctor. The journey takes him through an often dark but adventurous America, pulling him out of his languorous personality into someone far more engaging with life.

    Read more »

    Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
    Posted in Classroom, Ignite Imagination, Religious/Mythology, Reviews, Science/Engineering | No Comments »