Reviews

Teen Review

Red Queen

By Victoria Aveyard
Star Rating
★★★

Rated by Kate M.
Apr 17, 2015

Mare Barrow's fate is sealed. She is a lowly red, born to work hard and serve the ruling silvers. With her birthday approaching and no job prospects, Mare will be conscripted in to the army like her older brothers. Fighting in an endless war, Mare will surely die on the battlefield. Desperate and out of options, Mare takes a big risk to sneak into the castle for a chance to pick pocket from the rich and powerful silvers that hold her fate in their hands. Stealing from silvers isn't as easy as it sounds as each is gifted with an ability due to their silver blood.

Staff Review

The Hunt

By Vinterberg, Thomas
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by Megan C.
Apr 16, 2015

What are the limits of friendship? The Hunt explores this question when a misinterpretation of facts unleashes a chain of consequences in a small town in Denmark. Lucas, a newly divorced father and kindergarten teacher, is tested to the limits of his emotional endurance as he slowly becomes an object of suspicion and mistrust among his coworkers, the townspeople, and even his closest friends.

Teen Review

Jellicoe Road

By Melina Marchetta

Rated by Library Staff (not verified)
Apr 13, 2015

I know this is a somewhat older title with a copyright of 2006, but I missed it back then and every year since. Why? Why did I wait SO long to read it? And why can I only give it five stars? I want to give it ten on scale of one to five!

Teen Review

The Lost Tribes

By C. Taylor-Butler
Star Rating
★★★★

Rated by Chris K.
Apr 13, 2015

Combining world travel, video games, puzzles, archaeology, advanced technology, mysterious parents, growing danger, and a group of ambitious teenagers, this is quite the adventure.

Staff Review

Bones Would Rain From the Sky

By Suzanne Clothier
Star Rating
★★★★

Rated by Helen H.
Apr 12, 2015

“Even scientists fall in love, and it is said that some even talk to their dogs.”

Not memoir, not a training manual, not quite a call to arms, Bones Would Rain From the Sky is a combination of all of these. And more. Clothier examines her own journey from a child who longed to be an animal to a person who helps people like you and me connect deeply with, and better understand, our pets.

Staff Review

The Clockwork Dagger

By Beth Cato

Rated by Library Staff (not verified)
Apr 11, 2015

While steampunk as a subculture may be best known for corsets, goggles, and extraneous decorative gears, beneath those trappings is rich fodder for fiction often featuring plucky female protagonists--and publishers have certainly been taking note. Beth Cato's The Clockwork Dagger is one such tale, complex enough to entice existing steampunk fans but approachable enough to those new to the genre.

Teen Review

The Alex Crow

By Andrew Smith
Star Rating
★★★★

Rated by Kate M.
Apr 8, 2015

Camp Merrie-Seymour for Boys is the home to Ariel and Max for the summer. Six weeks without technology, living in the Jupiter cabin (all the cabins are named for planets) they quickly realize they are different from everyone else at camp. Sent there not to overcome their addiction to technology (the advertise goal of the camp) Max and Ariel are there because their father works for Merrie-Seymour and camp tuition is free for employees. The only ones not obsessed with getting a sweet taste of the internet, the boys of Jupiter quickly begin to win the cabin competition.

Staff Review

Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End

By Atul Gawande

Rated by Library Staff (not verified)
Apr 8, 2015

In short, this book is about dying. Yes it is sad, but also eye opening in showing how doctors are poorly equipped to deal effectively with the natural process of dying and the limits of medicine. Dr. Gawande is a surgeon at Brigham and Women's Hospital who also teaches at Harvard Medical School. In this insightful and worthwhile book, Dr. Gawande wonderfully tackles the question of whether the objective of medicine should be pure survival at any cost, including more pain and suffering, or about the quality of life and what it means to die with dignity and control.

Staff Review

The Silent Sister

By Diane Chamberlain
Star Rating
★★★★

Rated by Colleen O.
Apr 7, 2015

Riley MacPherson's older sister, Lisa, committed suicide when Riley was just 2 years old, leaving her family changed forever. Now Riley has returned to her father's home shortly after his death to settle his estate and check on her angry, mentally ill brother. She soon finds evidence that much of her life has been a lie when an acquaintance suggests Riley was adopted. Then she finds evidence that Lisa may have faked her death at age 17 to escape a murder charge.