The Future of Us

Recommended grades 7-10.  Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler bring forward a fascinating question; if you were able to see our future Facebook posts in 1995, what would you think of the life you lead today?  This is exactly what happens to Josh and Emma, high school Sophomores who unwittingly download a free AOL sample and gain access to their Facebook pages in 2010.  The 1995 world they create will make older reader smile, and will make all readers think about how we use social networking technology.  The narrative, which switches perspectives between the two characters, is fast-paced and engaging.  This book is a wonderful thought experiment, and a great coming-of-age story.  Highly recommended, ****.

Mockingjay

Recommended grades 6-9.  Katniss Everdeen is back in the final installment of the Hunger Games series, written by Suzanne Collins.  In Mockingjay (Scholastic, 2010), Katniss is thrown into the most dangerous game of all, actual war with the Capitol that has tortured its people for so long and killed so many of her friends.  As always Katniss is not alone, but she still can't always know who to trust as some of her closest allies are turned against her.  Collins has an artful way of putting concepts of loyalty and authority into question in a more caustic way than other young adult authors (J.K. Rowling comes to mind) have.  Though Katniss always has many people on her side, she is never quite sure who, and why.  Mockingjay serves as a satisfying conclusion to the series, though the writing and flow is a bit choppier than previous books.  Collins has made such a rich and open world filled with battles of epic proportion, though she doesn't always know how to transition between ideas.  Readers may put Katniss and her world to sleep after reading this book, though many will be hungry for more of Collins's writing.  Highly recommended, ****

Catching Fire

Recommended grades 6-9.  In the sequel to her bestselling novel, Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins brings us back to Katniss Everdeen's home in dystopic District 12.  Though Katniss has survived the deathly reality show she was forced to participate in in the first book, she is not out of the woods yet.  The second installment of Katniss's journey is every bit as exciting as the first, with romance soaring higher than ever and political intrigue waiting around every deadly corner.  Katniss continues to be a character to admire, and though she does not always stay ahead of her opponents she uses her skills, intelligence, and allies to pull through.  The audiobook performed by Carolyn McCormick leaves something to be desired. McCormick reads Katniss's voice a little stiffly, and as a result it could be harder for readers to connect.  Overall, Collin's second contribution to the Hunger Games trilogy is at least as strong, if not stronger, than the first.  Highly recommended, ****

The Hunger Games

Recommended Grades 6-9.  Katniss Everdeen charts her way through a dystopian world in Suzanne Collin's young adult novel, The Hunger Games (Scholastic 2008).  Katniss, a resident of District 12, a township in a post-apocolyptic North America is selected as a contestant in a nationally broadcast reality show in a ceremony ominously labeled the "Reaping."  Far from the emotional backstabbing of today's reality television challenges, the twenty-four teenage contestants of the "Hunger Games" must literally stab each other in the back, or kill them in some other way that will please audiences watching in the glittering Capitol.  With Katniss, Collins has created a brave and independent leading lady of emotional depth, and considerable skill.  In addition to fighting to survive, Katniss must also reckon with the forces many teenage girls can recognize; a dysfunctional family, a televised public image and a complicated love triangle.  In this way  The Hunger Games does what few YA books can do; it appeals to both boys and girls with heart-pounding adventure, breath-taking romance, and more than a hint of political subversion.  Highly recommended, ****.