Simon Bloom, the Gravity Keeper

Simon Bloom is on his way home when he feels a breeze. The breeze seems to blow him in a certain direction and he ends up in Dunkerhook Woods, a magical place where he finds a magical book - The Teacher's Edition of Physics. Simon takes the book home and finds it is full of formulas - not very interesting until he tries one and finds himself floating around in his bedroom like an astronaut in outer space. He and his friends Owen and Alysha try out some more of the formulas and are having a great time until they discover that others are after the book and their lives are in danger. They must learn the formulas and be able to use them at a moments notice in order to save the book and return it to its rightful owner. This was a funny science fiction story with lots of actual explanations of scientific principals and how they could be applied or what would happen if they were not there. Kids who like science would love this book. The information about the author on the back blurb was very funny and could be used in an introduction to the book. This is his first novel, but I see a series on the way.

Marked by P.C. Cast

Zoey Redbird Montgomery is marked by a vampyre tracker and must go to the House of Night, a vampyre finishing school in Tulsa, Oklahoma where she will learn to become a vampyre. There she meets Neferet, the High Priestess; Stevie Rae Johnson, her new roommate; Erin and Shaunee who act like twins; Damien, who is gay; Aphrodite, the school queen bee and head of the Dark Daughters Society; Erik the new love interest. Zoey learns that she has extraordinary powers and pits herself against Aphrodite. With the help of her friends, she takes over as leader of the Dark Daughters and begins her training for High Priestess.

This reminded me of the Harry Potter series for vampires. She goes off to a special boarding school, meets new friends, separates from her parents, takes special classes, has more powers than the ordinary fledgling, must overcome the evil student who is in charge. Not very well written. The author's daughter helped write the book so that the dialogue would be true to the way teenagers talk. It is, but it will be quickly dated because of all of the slang used. This is the first in the House of Night series. Some sexual activity and profanity but not too bad.

I Know What You Did Last Summer by Lois Duncan

Julie, the cheerleader; Ray, her boyfriend; Helen, the TV Golden Girl; Barry the star quarterback are coming home late one night from a party, driving too fast, when a 10 year old boy on a bike appears in front of them. They hit him, but don't stop to help him. They call the police, but the boy died enroute to the hospital. They make a pact not to tell anyone what happened, but it affects all of their lives. One year later, Julie receives a letter - I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER. Ray gets a copy of the newspaper clipping about the accident. Helen receives a picture of a boy on a bike and Barry, who was driving, is shot. Who is sending the messages and who knows about the accident? Should they go to the police and tell them what happened? Are all of their lives in danger?

This is a very good mystery, but it is really dated. It was originally written in 1973. One of the main characters has just returned from the Viet Nam war. The phrases used by the teenagers are dated. A comment is made about TV - if you don't have one, there's one in the lobby. The phone is out at one of the houses - no cell phones, of course. I just wonder if there are enough out of date things in the story that it would not be of interest to today's teens.

STORM: the Infinity Code by E.L. Young

Will and his friend Gaia attend a special school in England. They are both extremely bright. One day Gaia invites Will to join STORM, a group hoping to combat global strife. The group is headed by Andrew, a teen software designer, and millionaire. Another friend Caspian also belongs to the group. After rescuing a plane load of passengers during a solar explosion or CME, the three find out that a new weapon is being developed to create a black hole in space and destroy the new space hotel. Caspian's father has been kidnapped and has asked for Caspian's help with the project. By following him, Will, Gaia, and Andrew go to St. Petersburg, Russia and discover a secret missile launching site. They only have minutes to destroy the launcher before the new weapon explodes. Will discovers that his mother, an astrophysicist, has also been forced to work on the project. The three teenagers manage to destroy the device and Caspian and Roden Cutler, the man behind the plan are captured. This science fiction novel is packed with action and adventure. Will is an expert inventor, coming up with James Bond type gadgets to help with their quest. Gaia is a strong female character who creates bombs. All of the students are gifted. This would appeal to science fiction fans, gifted students, and those interested in science.

42 Miles by Tracie Vaughn Zimmer

Jo Ellen lives 42 miles from her father's farm. She and her mother live in Cincinnati during the week. She lives with her father on the farm during the weekends. She has two very different lives, even two names, Joey on the farm and Ellen in the city. She feels like she has two personalities and doesn't know who she really is. She decides she is going to become her own person. She takes the best of both worlds and combines them to become JoEllen. This book is a novel in verse.

Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen

Auden decides to spend the summer with her father and new stepmother, Heidi, at the beach. They have just had a new baby, Thisbe, who is very fussy. Auden has always lived with her mother in the world of academia. She only concentrates on her studies, books, learning, classes. She walks into a totally different world of fun, relaxation, biking, babies. She meets Eli, whose best friend was killed. Together they spend their sleepless nights making up for all of the things Auden has missed in her lifetime - food fights, parties, making friends, beer joints, riding bicycles, prom. She gets scared when things get serious with Eli and at the same time, her father and Heidi separate. With the help of her new friends, she gets things back to normal and improves the relationships with both her father and her mother. She gets back with Eli and she, Eli, and her new friend Maggie go off to college in the fall.

The Letter Writer by Ann Rinaldi

Harriet Whitehead, 11, lives with her half-brother Richard, his wife Pleasant, their baby William, sister Margaret, and Mother Whitehead on a plantation in the South in 1831. Her best friend is Violet, who is her slave. Her brother is a Methodist minister and is very strict with her upbringing. Since Mother Whitehead is going blind, Harriet becomes her letter writer. She begins correspondence with her Uncle Arthur in England and writes all of Mother Whitehead's letters about the running of the plantation. She and Violet hear about a slave preacher named Nat Turner who baptizes in the river. They go to see him. Nat ends up working at their plantation and tells Harriet about a loving and forgiving God - very different from the vengeful God that Richard preaches about. Nat asks Harriet to draw a map for him of the surrounding area so that he can go to different plantations to preach to the slaves. What he ends up doing is leading a slave rebellion and killing 57 people on the surrounding plantations, including all of Harriet's family. Harriet and Violet are the only ones left. Harriet contacts her Uncle Arthur in England and tells him that everyone is dead. Harriet runs the plantation until Uncle Arthur can get there. She feels responsible for giving Nat the map. When Nat is captured, she is afraid that she will be blamed for the map. She and Violet find the map and Harriet wants to destroy it, but Uncle Arthur arrives and insists that they turn it in to the sheriff. Harriet finds out that Uncle Arthur is actually her father and that Violet is her half-sister.

The book contains graphic descriptions of the killings done by Nat Turner. Uncle Arthur also explains about his affairs with a slave resulting in Violet's birth and also with a writer in England, who was Harriet's mother. Ann Rinaldi explains in notes at the end that Nat Turner is a great mystery to historians because they don't know why he revolted and killed all the people that he did. All of his previous life he had been a minister who preached peace and love. The author presents both sides of his personality without painting him as either a hero or a villain.