Author Archives: SSBRC Former Member

Chasing Lucky

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Budding photographer Josie Saint-Martin has spent half her life with her single mother, moving from city to city. When they return to her historical New England hometown years later to run the family bookstore, Josie knows it’s not forever. Her dreams are on the opposite coast, and she has a plan to get there.

What she doesn’t plan for is a run-in with the town bad boy, Lucky Karras. Outsider, rebel…and her former childhood best friend. Lucky makes it clear he wants nothing to do with the newly returned Josie. But everything changes after a disastrous pool party, and a poorly executed act of revenge lands Josie in some big-time trouble—with Lucky unexpectedly taking the blame.

Determined to understand why Lucky was so quick to cover for her, Josie discovers that both of them have changed, and that the good boy she once knew now has a dark sense of humor and a smile that makes her heart race.

I enjoyed the setting of this book, it describes the cute New England style town you dream of visiting. I did enjoy the book for the setting, story, and characters individually. However, I found the main characters to be frustrating and almost annoying when together. The fact that these two former best friends couldn’t figure out how to act like normal humans around each other without constantly being mean and angry all the time seemed over the top. I understand hurt feelings and anger from the past can make things strange, but just when you think these two have it figured out they are mean and fighting again. I wouldn’t go as far as saying I don’t recommend this book but if someone asked for reading suggestions it wouldn’t be first on the list.

The Waning Age

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In this dystopian novel, teenaged Natalina “Nat” Peña lives in a future San Francisco, where she works as a hotel maid, practices martial arts, and cares for her eleven-year-old brother, Calvino. “Cal” should be starting to ‘wane’, where kids in their teens begin to lose their ability to feel emotions. Nat has already waned. Their mother is dead, having died from taking bad “emotion” drugs while trying to regain her own lost emotions. And their dad is estranged and missing. When a corporation kidnaps Cal to do medical research on him to determine why he isn’t waning, Nat feels a series of emotions and this shocks her. Why is she feeling? An interesting premise for a dystopian novel.

What she does next takes up the bulk of the book. And this is where the premise failed for me. There was too much violence, too many unexplained secret weapons, too many unrealistic situations. I just could not buy it. Some die-hard fans of dystopia who are looking for a new book may enjoy it, but The Waning Age is not for me.

Night Music

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Ruby Chertok comes from a well connected white family and her father holds a faculty position at the prestigious Amberley School of Music. Not only that, he’s in charge of the upcoming season at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. Having played and studies piano her entire life, it is expected that she will have a career as a classical pianist. She is confident that she’ll be accepted into Amberly, but she miserably fails her audition. How does she deal with the disappointment of her parents? What does she do next?

Enter Oscar Bell, a young black musical genius protégé who is to spend the summer studying with Ruby’s father. He’s charming, he is a YouTube sensation, and Ruby is smitten with him. Ruby moves in a privileged, mostly white circle. Oscar is from Maryland and is from a very different background. Oscar worries that people will assume he is dating Ruby to make inroads with her father.

Night Music is not just a romance. It delves into the theme of privilege and racial inequality in the classic music world, things most readers would otherwise be unaware of. The book has many musical elements that would resonate with those who play or enjoy classical music.

Into the Clouds: The Race to Climb the World’s Most Dangerous Mountain

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Tod Olson, author of the narrative non-fiction series LOST, tells the story of three separate, but connected, expeditions to summit K2, the second tallest mountain in the world and the most dangerous to climb. The book is divided into three parts. Part 1 tells the story of the first expedition in 1938 led by Charlie Houston, an American medical student. This attempt was primarily intended as a scouting mission to find a route to the summit. They were laying the groundwork for the second expedition to be led by acclaimed German American climber Fritz Wiessner, who planned to be the first man to summit K2. Part 2 takes place in 1939 and documents Wiessner’s ill-fated expedition up the mountain with Wiessner’s team losing three Sherpa’s and one of its crewmembers, Dudley Wolfe, and missing conquering the summit by a mere 700 feet.  Part 3 takes place in 1953 when Charlie Houston returns to K2 with a new crew of disciplined hand-picked men determined to summit.

The stories are gripping with terrifying accounts of falls, injuries including snow blindness, frostbite and amputations, illnesses including altitude sickness and blood clots, and deaths. The author includes primary documents including photographs, paintings and drawing. There is also a Sources section, including author interviews, videos, books, magazine and newspaper articles, and archival sources such as expedition diaries. Source notes are cited, as well as photo credits.

Written at a reading level for middle grade readers, this book is accessible to middle school and high school students, and is a very interesting read even for adults.

Today Tonight Tomorrow

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Today, she hates him.

It is the end of high school for Rowan, she has spent 4 years hating, and competing to be the best, against Neil. It all started with an essay contest that he won freshman year, and she hasn’t forgotten that loss. They have been rivals this whole time, forcing each other to do and be better for their entire high school career. Their rivalry has often forced them to work together, which both act like they hate every minute of. And now, it all comes down to who is named valedictorian.

After the valedictorian is named and before graduation day, the senior class has one last exciting thing to look forward to. HOWL, a city wide scavenger hunt in downtown Seattle organized by the Junior Class Officers, with a big cash prize to the winner. Rowan realizes this cash prize could help with college next year and it could be the one last thing to beat Neil at.

White Rose

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This novel, written in verse, is based on the incredible story of Sophie Scholl, a young German college student who challenged the Nazi regime during World War II as part of The White Rose, a non-violent resistance group. Sophie, her brother, and soldiers in his regiment, are disillusioned by Nazi propaganda and together they formed the White Rose,a group that conducted an anonymous leaflet and graffiti campaign for a few years in the 1940s. Sophie and her brother were arrested in 1943 for treason and interrogated for information about their collaborators.

The books is organized in sections that move backward and forward in time. We hear Sophie’s thoughts, those of her boyfriend, Fritz, who served in the German army, and those of the Gestapo interrogator. This is a tragic but powerful story which is beautifully told. It is appropriate for middle school and high school students, and adults interested in history and novel in verse will also appreciate White Rose.

The center of the universe

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Grace Carter is a regular teenaged girl who likes astronomy and want to become an astrophysicist; just kind of a geeky high schooler. But her mother is someone entirely different. GC Carter is a celebrity news anchor, blond, thin, with gorgeous clothes and thousands of fans. Grace and her mother are very different. One day GG disappears with no warning. News crews flock to their house and reporters and news commentators speculate about what might have happened. Meanwhile Grace and her family wait for answers from the authorities. Trying to hold her life together, Grace continues to go to school where she grows closer to a really sweet boy named Mylo, who is facing grief of his own.

As the plot unfolds, Grace learns from her father and her grandmother some secrets from her mother’s long-lost past, and the more Grace learns, the more she wonders if she ever really knew her mother.

The mother-daughter dynamics, the friendships from school, and the geeky STEM-loving character of Grace make this an intriguing book. And as a bonus, in the story, Grace interviews her hero, Elizabeth Tasker, who is a real life famous astrophysicist and science communicator. See https://www.elizabethtasker.com/

Goodbye Perfect

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A slice of life story of a British teenaged girl, Eden, and her best friend, Bonnie. Right before their final exams, Bonnie runs away with their music teacher. This is an unexpected shock to Eden, and even though she knows where Bonnie is, her loyalty to her best friends keeps her strong through questioning by the police, the school, and Bonnie’s family.

This is a serious story. We learn how pressured a 15 year old can be when subjected to pressure from her overbearing parents to be perfect with her behavior, scores, exams, and grades. As the plot unfolds, Eden begins to understand how Bonnie was groomed by Mr. Cohn, the music teacher. And, that this is a serious situation and that Bonnie needs to get away from Mr. Cohn.

Here is a significant quote: “I don’t think you can ever really start over. Because if you’re trying to do that, you’re basically trying to run away from yourself. And you can’t. You’re stuck with you, forever. Wherever you go.”

 I recommend this book to those who enjoy “slice of life” realism with mature topics.

The Sky Blues

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What a fun book, I read it in one day! This book, set in Michigan, is a story about an openly gay high school student and his best friends. Sky deals with an awful high school bully, a racist and homophobic school wide e-mail scandal, the stress of having a secret huge crush, and upcoming PROM. During the stress of finishing Senior year, he realizes that friends are the family you get to choose. Sky learns you should fight for those friendships, because through it all, they are the ones who have your back when you need it most.

The Great Unknowable End

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This story is set is the 70’s in a town called Slater, Kansas and involves a girl and a boy whose lives could not be more different. Stella wants to be a space engineer but once her mother dies, and her brother runs off to live in Red Sun, the nearby hippie compound, she feels compelled to stay to help her father and sister. Galliard grew up in Red Sun but leaves it after losing the Artist in Residence position that he feels he deserved. Stella is dealing with her disappointment and grief; Galliard is dealing with living in “Outside” in the mainstream society where his Tourette syndrome isn’t accepted the same way as it was in the compound.

And then strange things begin to happen in Slater, from red rain to eyeless snakes, and the town puts the blame on the Red Sun. The Red Sun returns blame to the Outside. Meanwhile, Stella and Galliard meet and strike up an unlikely friendship.

The book is filled with references to ’70’s music and culture, and reminds me somewhat of The Twilight Zone. It was an enjoyable book, although the ending is somewhat anti-climatic.