Mothership, by Martin Leicht and Isla Neal (fiction) - pregnant teens, space yacht, attacked!

Pregnant at sixteen,
the dad leaves town,
by 2074, some things haven't changed.

But having such a surplus of unused earth-orbiting luxury cruise ships that one can be repurposed into a school for unwed mothers? That definitely puts this book into sci fi category (aliens as high school teachers and vid-ads targeted to your personal nutritional and health needs are just bonus!)
 
You can find Elvie's rather offbeat pregnancy journey at your local library or independent bookstore as it's a 2012 release (still waiting on publication date for book 2).

Anyone you know been abducted by aliens lately?
**kmm

Book info: Mothership (The Ever-Expanding Universe, Book 1) / Martin Leicht and Isla Neal. Simon & Schuster BFYR, 2012. [Martin's info]  [Isla's info]  [video interview]   [publisher site] [book trailer]  

My Recommendation: Elvie wanted to go into space, but as part of the Mars colonization project, not as a pregnant teen in the first-ever low-orbit high school for unwed mothers… Getting attacked by paramilitaries wasn’t part of the plan either, but Elvie still has some brains despite the Bump.

She’s been planning her whole life to travel everywhere, like her mom didn’t get to do, dying when Elvie was born, leaving behind a huge book of maps with notes about future family trips. Her dad has an emergency plan for absolutely any possible (or improbable) event and decides that Hanover School for Expecting Teen Mothers is just the place for her; he obviously didn’t know that Elvie’s nemesis in the Class of 2076 would be part of the school’s first group, too.

And the baby’s daddy? Vanished into thin air as soon as Elvie told him the news. Thankfully, she has best-friend-for-life Ducky as backup; that guy is so dorky about researching pregnancy stuff. Too bad he’s on Earth, and Elvie’s in orbit with snooty cheerleader Britta, who got pregnant a couple of weeks before her. No, Elvie won’t tell her that Cole fathered both babies; she doesn’t have a death wish.

When an unexpected ship docks onto the space cruise liner, Hanover is boarded by paramilitary forces…including Cole, who tells Elvie that her teachers are aliens and that their babies aren’t exactly their own anymore. She decides her baby belongs on Earth when it’s born in a few weeks, so she and the other very-pregnant teens waddle through escape routes and try to sabotage the aliens’ plans along the way.

If the teachers are aliens, what are the paramilitary guys?

Should Elvie believe the handsome hunk who knocked her up and left town?

Will there be any chocolate-pretzel-caramel-prenatal ice cream left in the snack center?

In this first book in the Ever-Expanding Universe series, Elvie’s life changes drastically in a short time; the rest of Earth’s population is in for a big surprise as well!  (Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher)

Safekeeping, by Karen Hesse (fiction) - on the run, will home still be there?

The president assassinated!
Martial law declared.
No travel without permits.

She got her plane ticket home as soon as she could, leaving the sweet children at the Haitian orphanage where she volunteered. But there was no way for Radley to know that her parents would not be at the airport waiting for her and that everything she knew as safe would be gone.

Listen to the first chapter of Safekeeping  here, then grab the book at your local library or independent bookstore so you can consider each of each black-and-white photograph as you worry through Celia, Radley, and Jerry Lee's desperate journey away from despair and danger.

What would you do to survive if you were in Radley's mud-soaked shoes?
**kmm

Book info: Safekeeping / Karen Hesse. Feiwel and Friends (Macmillan), 2012. [author's blog]  [author video interview]  [publisher site]

My Recommendation: When the president is assassinated, Radley rushes home from volunteering at a Haitian orphanage, but everything is going wrong. Her parents should be waiting for her at the airport, but they’re not. No one answers the phone at home, her credit cards no longer work, her cellphone is dead, and US marshals are everywhere.

New curfews and travel restrictions mean that the teen must walk for days to cover the hour’s drive home, avoiding checkpoints and scavenging food where she can find it. Arriving at her empty house, Radley passes dark stains on the pavement and hides in a secret attic room as police pound on the door in the morning, over and over.

No electricity, no food left, only mom’s photos escaped the looting. She can’t stay here, she’s got to get away – from the marshals, from the uncertainty about her parents’ whereabouts, from the totalitarian state that New Hampshire has become.

So she heads north to Canada, traveling by night, avoiding other people and their potential dangers, staying clear of the small towns swarming with soldiers, until a big dog comes to her and begs that she follow him. Radley finds Celia ill and feverish, nurses her until the trio can continue plodding north through the rainy woods.

A small, safe place – that’s all they need – somewhere away from the soldiers and curfews and guns.

Can Radley, Celia, and Jerry Lee actually make it to Canada?

Where are their parents, their neighbors, their friends?

Will they ever be able to go home, or will martial law grip the US forever?

Karen Hesse’s own black-and-white photographs of the places where the girls and dog travel fill this book with darkness and light, as the cadence of her words measures the steps and steps and steps that Radley takes on this long journey.  (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

The Forsaken, by Lisa M. Strasse (fiction) - teens on prison island, survival at any cost

Her parents torn away from her,
Easier to pretend she's always been an orphan.
Government mind drugs don't work on her.
Keeps her head down, keeps quiet.

The government-mandated brain scan shows that she has  tendencies toward anti-social behavior and criminal violence, so 16-year-old Alanna Fanshawe is no more. All mention of her is erased from official records of the UNA, the chaotic nation founded by force when the food crisis hit Canada, the United States, and Mexico.

The Forsaken  evokes reflections of The Hunger Games, similarities with Lord of the Flies, and echoes of 1984, yet is truly its own dystopian world.

Grab this first book in the Forsaken series now at your local library or independent bookstore. Who knows how long Alanna will survive feral hoofer boars, manipulative leaders, and attacking drones on the prison island?
**kmm

Book info: The Forsaken (Forsaken, book 1)  / Lisa M. Strasse. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2012.  [author's website] [publisher site] [book trailer]

My Recommendation:  Banished to the Wheel?! Alanna was sure she’d pass the government test that weeds out subversives, but she failed. Now she’ll be deported to a remote island, into a savage world of other teen misfits where few survive.

When she was ten, her parents were dragged away by United Northern Alliance soldiers for quietly questioning the new government’s policies. After six years in UNA orphanage with so many others, Alanna has learned to ignore her implanted earpiece’s constant propaganda and the prescribed thought pills, just going along quietly, not making trouble.

But the Test brain scan shows that she has “criminal tendencies” so she’s whisked away to Prison Island Alpha, where the life expectancy is 18 – no overcrowding, no chance of escape, no hope of ever finding her parents now. 

Alanna and new friend David try to avoid wild animals as they search for a rumored settlement. Suddenly they find themselves in a war zone, since they were dumped into an area being disputed between the villagers and the Monk’s followers. Soon this city girl must learn to fight, to track through the tropical forest, to trust (or not trust) the village leaders. Avoiding the drugged-up “drones” who blindly follow the masked Monk is survival priority one.

Why is the mysterious Monk controlling his follower-drones like throwaway toys? What secrets are the village leaders hiding? Why did the UNA abandon so many kids who are as normal as their classmates? How long will Alanna survive on the Wheel? 

This compelling book leaves questions in the reader’s mind about how much a government should control its citizens and how far someone would go to defend their freedom to think, their family, their very life. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Ashen Winter, by Mike Mullin (fiction) - survival

Enormous snow drifts where green summer cornfields should be thriving...

How long will the volcanic ash in the atmosphere keep the sun from shining through?

Can teens armed with determination, taekwondo skills, and dwindling supplies rescue their family members in peril?

Grab Ashfall (book 1, reviewed here) at your local library or independent bookstore so you know the whole story, then bundle up warmly to continue Alex and Darla's chilling journey through Ashen Winter on its October 8th publication date.

Gotta admit that I was a trifle nervous traveling through Yellowstone National Park a few weeks ago, seeing the steam from its thousands of "thermal features" rising up into the blue sky on a freezing morning. Glad that it's all being monitored - but will we truly have enough warning if the supervolcano threatens to blow sky-high?
**kmm

Book info: Ashen Winter (Ashfall Trilogy, book 2) / Mike Mullin. Tanglewood, 2012. [author's website] [publisher site] 

My Recommendation:

The world now is all snow and questions for Alex, trying to locate his parents after all communication was wiped out by the supervolcano eruption, trying to keep himself and his girlfriend Darla safe and alive in the unending winter.

A scrap of news now stirs the teens into action: his parents were accosted by bandits while hiking across the state to find Alex and are alive – for the moment. Desperate times and dwindling food supplies are turning some people into savages of the worst sort.

The government is keeping ashfall refugees within the affected area, in camps that lose more people to starvation and cold than to escape. Avoiding their patrols, staying clear of bandits (and worse), holding onto all their supplies – it’ll be a tough journey, but Alex must find his parents.

As Alex and Darla leave his little sister at their aunt and uncle’s farm, they hope for the best and prepare for emergencies – possible injuries, bandits, sinkholes in the snowpack. But a sudden encounter and an ambush separate them early in their journey, leaving Alex to seek help from the townspeople they met on their earlier travels in order to rescue her.

Can Darla stay alive and unharmed in the hands of the gang? Can Alex convince anyone to go along on the rescue mission? If his parents did make it to the next refugee camp, can the teen help them escape?

This second book in the post-apocalyptic trilogy answers key queries for Alex and Darla (and readers) following the initial Ashfall (book one) while leaving the survivors to wonder what happens next.

(One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

XVI, by Julia Karr (fiction) - in future, 16 isn't so sweet

Sweet Sixteen for American girls can be cake and candles, maybe new driver's license...

But a 16th birthday in Nina's future Chicago means no more protection from sexual assault.

Now added to the government stranglehold on the Media which bombards city-dwellers with advertisements around the clock and all-pervasive surveillance is a mystery about Nina's long-dead father, who may be alive after all!

The over-sexualization of girls by the media has certainly begun. Is it time for young women (and those who protect them) to fight back before a coercive XIV  society takes away their freedom?

While sexuality is a main theme of XVI,  it is not sexually explicit, so read it now, then rush to your local library or independent bookstore for more of Nina's story in the sequel, Truth.

Book info: XIV / Julia Karr. Speak, 2011.  [author's website]    [publisher site]    

My Recommendation: 

Nina’s friends can’t wait to get their XVI tattoo, showing they’re old enough for anything, but this 15 year doesn’t want to be a “sex-teen” that guys can have at will.

Her best friend Sandy might stay a virgin to get into FeLS to move up a social tier or might succumb to the constant media sexteen hype. Nina will do anything to stay out of the program, especially since her mom’s creepy married boyfriend Ed is a FeLS Chooser. If only her dad hadn’t died on the night she was born, forcing them from Tier 5 into the poverty of Cementville…

A bare wrist and implanted GPS should keep her safe in 23^rd century Chicago, but Nina has seen violence against young teen girls that the Governing Council denies. Lately, there have been so many police forays looking for NonCons rebelling against the GC, sudden city-wide silences in the constant Media vid streams, heightened audio surveillance everywhere.

And now her mom has been attacked, leaving Nina to care for her little half-sister in her grandparents’ tiny welfare apartment. Mom’s last words warn her to keep Dee away from Ed and reveal that Nina’s own father might still be alive and hiding out in Chicago!

As Nina looks into her parents’ past, she meets people who knew them both in their youth and realized that their anti-GC opinions would put their lives in danger. Sal and Wei at her new school are level-headed about XVI, cautious about accepting Media news as complete truth.

Could her dad really be alive after all this time? Why did Mom want to make sure Ed never saw Dee again? Why is the GC suddenly stepping up security? What’s the truth behind FeLS?

Set in a future that divides the Haves and Have-Nots further apart with each generation, XVI considers questions of personal liberty, freedom of thought, and social justice through Nina’s eyes and heart. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

The End: 50 Apocalyptic Visions from Pop Culture, by Laura Barcella (nonfiction)

Global warming.
Mutant diseases.
Alien attacks.

Seems like humans have been trying to figure out how the world will end almost since its beginning. Fifty apocalyptic visions from pop culture are analyzed in this new book (published today) which has many of the usual (Welles's "War of the Worlds" radio broadcast and Dr. Strangelove) and several lesser-known exemplars.

I'm intrigued by Steve McGhee's painting "The Big Swallow" which portrays an enormous storm and whirlpool consuming Sydney harbour (I climbed that bridge, so I don't want it to disappear!) and a 1912 novella "The Scarlet Plague" by Jack London (read here free).

Ask for The End at your local library or independent bookstore and decide which movie, book, song, or artwork has it right. How do you think the world will end?
**kmm

Book info:The End: 50 Apocalyptic Visions from Pop Culture That You Should Know About...Before It's Too Late / Laura Barcella. Zest Books, 2012.   [author's website] [publisher site]

My Recommendation: Climate catastrophe or zombies? Alien invasion or the Four Horsemen on earth? People have long pondered how the world might end. Go behind the scenes of fifty apocalyptic endings from the past five centuries of art, film, theater, books, and music in this fascinating book.

Michaelangelo’s “The Last Judgment” and Durer’s 1498 “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse” translate Biblical “end time” words into stirring pictures. Sandow Bok’s 1995 painting “Course of Empire” shows Los Angeles fractured by ultimate destruction of unknown origin. 

“It’s The End of the World As We Know It (and I Feel Fine)” by R.E.M. is a spotlighted song, as is Barry McGuire’s performance of “The Eve of Destruction”. The peppy tune of “99 Luftballons (99 Red Balloons)” by Nena might hide this Cold War protest song’s strong lyrics from casual listeners.

Barcella highlights important early books The Machine Stops by E.M. Forster (1909) and Earth Abides by George R. Stewart, which Stephen King acknowledges as a huge influence on his work, like The Stand, discussed here as a television miniseries. Alan Moore’s dystopian graphic novel series V for Vendetta and Watchmen are analyzed, as is Brian K. Vaughn’s 60-issue comic book saga of Y: The Last Man.

Almost a third of the book covers movies from “12 Monkeys” to “Waterworld,” with aliens, asteroids, melting ice caps, zombies, atomic war, and other disasters leading to the end of life on earth. Quotes and Unforgettable Moments from every play, book, and movie give the flavor of each one’s style.

The author consulted experts about “the Reality Factor” of The End proposed by each movie, song, or book (almost all are quite improbable) and also lists the impact of each creative work on subsequent popular culture.

Thought-provoking and entertaining, this book gives readers much to think about as its alphabetical list of titles covers the many and varied ways that The End might emerge slowly or drop suddenly from above. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Amped, by Daniel H. Wilson (fiction) - amp your brain, lose your humanity?

Welcome to the near-future!
A simple implant negates epilepsy,
another upgrades low IQ,
yet another amplifies physical performance.

We're not talking 3-D headgear to improve complex visualizations - these are directly attached to relevant brain areas to control problems or enhance capabilities. Shouldn't disadvantaged children be given help to overcome obstacles to their success, to keep them off the welfare rolls as adults?

And people who don't use this technology - the pure humans - feel more-threatened every day by it. Should amps really be recognized as citizens? Aren't they now less than human because of their implants? From lawsuits to concentration camps to outright violence, if you're Amped, you're a target - until it's time to fight back!

The author of Robopocalypse brings us another all-too-possible view of a technology-enhanced future that's more nightmare than dream-come-true. Published in early June, you'll find Amped  at your local library or independent bookstore.
**kmm 

Book info: Amped / Daniel H. Wilson. Doubleday, 2012.  [author's website] [publisher site] [book trailer]  

My Recommendation: Brain implants to control seizures help millions like Owen; why shouldn’t implants help amplify limited intelligence or upgrade physical strength for those with challenges? Wealthy parents began enhancing their children’s mental skills and physical prowess with amp implantation, then The Uplift Act authorized amp implants for low-income kids to help them overcome long-standing disadvantages.

Soon, the “pure humans” worry that the “amps” have unfair advantages for college admissions, athletic contests, and job applications. Senator Vaughn and his Pure Pride organization file so many lawsuits against amps that their case goes to the Supreme Court.

Suddenly, amps are no longer full United States citizens, are hounded by Pure Pride, corralled into small enclaves under constant attack. All research on human amplification is stopped, and its leading researchers and doctors are arrested - if the authorities can reach them before they commit suicide.

A final message from his father shocks 29-year-old Owen to the core: his amp is not just for medical assistance, but contains information on amazing skills and abilities that he’ll be able to use some day.  All he has to do is cross half the country without being picked up by the FBI and find Dad’s friend Jim in Oklahoma for some answers.

Did Owen really want to find out about the Echo Company of amp-enhanced soldiers who can access levels of superhuman strength with the flick of a mental switch? Can this calm schoolteacher stand by while Pure Priders attack innocent kids who were amped under The Uplift Act so they could concentrate in class? And exactly what skills did his researcher father add to Owen’s amp?

Newspaper articles and news reports punctuate this fast-moving story, showing the rise and flow of public opinion and occasional outright propaganda in a future not-so-distant from today. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451: The Authorized Adaptation (graphic novel)

We've lost another great master of the written word, of creating stories in our heads through words on a page, with the death of author Ray Bradbury at age 91.

Among Bradbury's most noted works is Fahrenheit 451  (which he says as "four-five-one" not "four fifty-one").  It is our great good fortune as readers that he agreed to its adaptation as a graphic novel in 2009 and fully participated with artist Tim Hamilton in selecting which exact passages from the 1953 book were used in this authorized adaptation.

Yes, all the word bubbles and captions in this graphic novel are Bradbury's own, complemented perfectly by Hamilton's incandescent illustrations.

Get your hands on this great trade paperback book today at your local library or independent bookstore  and keep on reading widely - Ray would like that.
**kmm

Book info: Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451: The Authorized Adaptation / Tim Hamilton and Ray Bradbury, illustrated by Tim Hamilton; with introduction by Ray Bradbury.  Hill and Wang, 2009. [Tim Hamilton's website]   [Ray Bradbury's website]    [publisher site]     [video: Ray Bradbury on his books as graphic novels]   

My Recommendation:  The future sees unified thought as productive, original opinion as unpatriotic, books as divisive. The firemen burn hoarded books to keep useless emotions and original thinking from hurting society in this time of war.

Guy Montag has been a fireman for ten years. As a wandering teen in their neighborhood asks questions about happiness and why everyone drives fast to avoid seeing the flowers, Montag wonders if anyone has real conversations anymore or just watches their television walls all day and all night.

The memory of an old woman who chose to be burned along with her books haunts him now – what is in books that made her stay with them? Montag feels compelled to find out, seeking the answers in contraband books, sliding further and further from unified thought.

This intense graphic novel adaptation of the classic includes an introduction by Ray Bradbury himself, tracing the original book’s development and asking readers which one book they would choose to memorize and protect from destruction.  (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Advice to Graduates & all of us (reflective) - in which Neil Gaiman is quoted, because he said it best

Dear friends who are graduating (and everyone else, too),
I hope you've already seen this video of author Neil Gaiman addressing the University of the Arts Class of 2012 at their graduation.

I hope you've listened to it more than once, especially if you're finishing school (at any level) and are about to go out into the big wide world of work and responsibility and joy and distress and the chance to make a difference.

"Make. Good. Art," says Gaiman. Even if you don't have an artistic bone in your body, those words are meant for you: whatever it is that you are passionate about, do it well, and keep on doing it - through good times or bad, whether it's your vocation or avocation.

It may be your "day job" which fulfills you (like Maggie in Paper Daughter) or something after hours (like Haven in Illuminate).

It may be the first thing you try which makes the biggest impact in the lives of others (like Lex in Croak) or maybe the tenth (like Mercy).

It may be something that you've studied and trained for which turns out to be your best gift to those around you (like Sage in The False Prince) or perhaps not (like Ismae in Grave Mercy).

I hope you'll listen to this talk again when you need a reminder of what you can do to make the world better - just one person, doing whatever it is that you love to do best, finding satisfaction in the doing, not just the result (like Mitch in Payback Time).

Listen well - Make good art, in whatever manner your talent for increasing the world's happiness leads you.
Whether you're a new graduate or older and worldly-wise, remember that every sunrise brings you a new chance to begin to make good art.
**kmm

Lost Code (Atlanteans 1), by Kevin Emerson (fiction) - ozone layer gone, Atlantis calls

Archery, crafts, swimming in the lake,
bright-colored "bug juice" that all tastes the same,
it's summer camp, just like every other summer camp...

A future Earth unshielded by the ozone layer

Camp Eden is trying to make campers feel like everything is just fine, but their 22nd century world ravaged by global warming lurks just beyond the BioDome with its radiation-blocking panels and artificial sky.

So how does average guy Owen find himself drowned on the first day of camp, yet alive and a super-swimmer soon after? Why does any visit to the camp infirmary - from sprained ankle to skin rash - involve a blood test? And that voice beckoning him toward the light deep in the lake...an ancient prophecy? Can the legend of Atlantis be real? Is Lilly part of the prophecy, too?

I met author Kevin Emerson at KidLitCon in Seattle last September, shortly after this book was headed to his publisher, so I was pleased to see its "book birthday" scheduled for May 22 and truly enjoyed reading Owen's adventures in a solar-scorched future with a mystery that ties him to the distant past.


Be sure to request The Lost Code at your local library or independent bookstore soon so you can help Owen puzzle out this mystery of the Atlanteans.
**kmm

Book info: The Lost Code (The Atlanteans book 1) / Kevin Emerson. Katherine Tegen Books, 2012. [author's website] [publisher site] 

My Recommendation:

Drowning on the first day of summer camp was not on Owen’s agenda. He hadn’t planned on being underwater for ten minutes and getting cuts on his neck, either. Or being bullied by his bunkmates or hearing voices call him underwater or kissing a girl or being chased by terrorists…

Owen felt strange at Camp Eden, being outside under the huge BioDome with a real lake and trees instead of safely inside the caves of Yellowstone Hub with his dad. Could those TruSky panels really protect campers from the massive solar radiation blasting Earth since the ozone layer had vanished? Better safe than sorry, they slather on NoRad lotion for all daylight activities.

Failing the swim test was bad, but the itchy wounds on his neck are even worse. Dr. Maria said not to get them wet, but a shower makes the pain stop. Cute lifeguard Lilly told Owen to go with any strange urges he has near the lake, so a night swim with the counselors-in-training sounds great – and he’s suddenly in his element, swimming and diving deep using his new gills. During the daytime, the thick NoRad lotion disguises their necks, and every night the CITs and Owen explore the lake’s depths – and sometimes the voice calls him toward an azure light.

Long-time camper Leech bullies everyone in their cabin, goes fishing with the camp director, and generally is obnoxious. He knows the secret trails in the camp forest and cheats during team challenges. Does he suspect that Owen isn’t just a skinny kid from the Hub anymore?

Touring the Eagle Eye Observatory which watches over the 200,000 inhabitants of EdenWest Dome, wondering if Dr. Maria knows more than she’s telling him about why he survived so long underwater, trying to stay away from Leech while he listens for the lake voice – Owen’s summer is turning out to be no picnic.

Why does the voice tell him of a prophecy? Can there really be people who live and survive outside the Dome? Is the camp director friend or enemy? Can Owen trust the visions about the future of his world and the Atlantis of its past?

First in a series, finding The Lost Code could be the secret that rescues humanity from itself or the final step in sealing their fate. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy courtesy of the author; cover image courtesy of the publisher.