Away (fiction)

Leave your family behind...
Abandon all your technology...
Venture into an uncertain future...

Could you be as brave as Rachel? Could you live in the Unified States whose heartless government refused to rescue any of its citizens who were stuck on the other side of the Line when the crazybombs fell?

This compelling sequel to Hall's first novel (review) takes us to the other side of The Line where "the Others" have lived a generation among ruined buildings with no electricity, scavenging what they can and trying to keep their children alive long enough for them to grow up. Perhaps these psychically gifted kids can help this fragile society survive attacks from ferocious mutant animals and equally ferocious humans who've embraced their savage side with a vengeance.

This couldn't really happen in our future, could it?
**kmm

Book info: Away / Teri Hall. Dial Books, 2011. [author's website] [publisher site]

My Recommendation: Rachel knows she can never return home if she crosses the Line, but it’s the only way to save a man’s life. So she carries medicine into a primitive land – the land where the government stranded some of its own citizens when it sealed the country against enemy invasions when a terrible weapon was unleashed.

Seeing something – someone - on the other side of the Line’s energy field was amazing and dangerous for them both. Pathik asks her to find medicine to cure his father, and Rachel is amazed at her own willingness to risk sneaking anything past the government’s ruthless Enforcement Office.

After her dad Daniel was reported dead in the early fighting, Rachel and her mom were safe at Miss Vivian’s property away from the city. But even in little towns, the EO keeps tabs on everyone and wants to know why Rachel has run away from home and where she went.

Far away from the Line, Rachel finds a world of mutated animals and scant resources. Without the psychic gifts of the other teens here, she’s a liability to her new community until she learns survival skills. Each small village keeps to itself, and only a few Travelers dare to cross the barren land between settlements.

When they hear that Daniel the Traveler has been captured by a nearby village noted for its brutality, the leaders of Pathik’s village decide to rescue him. They reluctantly allow Rachel to go on the mission since only she knows how to use the modern tools she brought across the Line.

Could this Daniel possibly be her Daniel, her father sent unwillingly into battle across the Line? Rachel has to face the dangers to find out.

Can Rachel survive without the psychic gifts that everyone else has here? Can she really make it in a world without technology? What will the EO do to her mom and Miss Vivian since Rachel crossed the Line and went Away?

The dystopian future of Rachel’s life may be closer than we think, closer than we’d like to believe… sequel to The Line. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy courtesy of the publisher.

Whose Internet is this, anyway? (reflective)

If today (January 18, 2012) is "Internet Blackout Day" to protest SOPA/PIPA bills under consideration by the US Congress... then why am I still online? Why are you online, if you're reading this post on the 18th?

Is it because we cannot go a single day or hour or minute without our entertainment and news and communication? Perhaps - but there are still movies and print newspapers and telephone calls that can fill those voids.

More likely, we're online - now and any time - because we must share something. I mean that we are truly driven to share good news, bad news, cute kitten pictures, tidbits of information, and titles of books that someone else will just love; we are humans, and our culture of sharing is part of what makes us human.

To me, giving credit to the originator/creator/performer of a painting, a song, a book, a charming and witty sentence is a moral obligation, according to my upbringing and my education as a librarian. This was much easier when books and paintings were "one-off" and there was only one original with no easy way to copy it. Then along came the printing press, camera, tape recorder, photocopier and so on. Thank goodness for US copyright laws.

Yes, piracy of intellectual property is a real and growing problem. Yes, there do need to be legal ways to stop and punish intentional internet piracy. But I agree with many others that SOPA/PIPA is the wrong way to accomplish this.

This tweet today from Erin Bow (author of Plain Kate, which I recommend) puts it in perspective for me: "I'm an author; I make a living because of copyright, and piracy takes its toll. But SOPA would stop piracy by poisoning the ocean." @ErinBowBooks

Google has started a petition to protest passage of SOPA (the House of Representatives version)/ PIPA (the Senate version); you can sign it here.

The bills are scheduled for Jan. 24th vote, so you have time to read them yourself (PIPA here, SOPA here) and contact your Representative and your Senators to help them understand that censoring the Internet through SOPA/PIPA will not stop piracy of intellectual property online.

If we do not speak out, how can we help our lawmakers decide?
**kmm

The Big Picture (reflective)

Have you ever WORDLED? I used their free app to create the nifty word cloud here, using my initial blogpost about MotherReader and Lee Wind's annual Comment Challenge for kidlit bloggers, 2012 edition.

What fun it's been to "meet" illustrators, authors, and book bloggers through the Challenge! Getting out of my "writing silo" where I see only my computer screen and the books that I'm recommending so that I interact more with the diverse and supportive kidlit community online - priceless!

Since BooksYALove is a fairly new blog, I'm grateful for new visitors (and new followers - yay!) who will help spread the word about the wonderful YA books from debut authors and smaller imprints that I'm discovering.

After all, I'm writing these recommendations (no spoilers ever! I promise) for YA readers... right book for the right reader!
**kmm

Valley-Westside War (fiction)

In 1967,
during "the Summer of Love,"
someone dropped the Bomb and began nuclear holocaust...

Why did it happen in one time-continuum and not the others? What made this time-stream different? If Crosstime Traffic seals off this alternate, will if prevent this blight from spreading to others where they trade undercover for resources?

Yes, it's all about the money for Crosstime Traffic; researchers are allowed to travel to alternate time-streams if there's a potential commercial advantage for the corporation.

That's why Liz is spending her gap year between high school and college with her scientist parents in this fragmented L.A. time-stream, with its hippie-talk lingo and scavenged technology. But can she hide her intellect well enough to pass for a young woman of this era during a war between neighborhoods?

You can read the six Crosstime Traffic books in any order, as there are different teens traveling the alternate time-streams in each. The Disunited States of America (review) never saw the Constitution signed - alternate history is an interesting and dangerous place!
**kmm

Book info: The Valley-Westside War (Crosstime Traffic #6) / Harry Turtledove. Tor Books, 2008 (paperback, 2009). [author's website] [publisher site]

My Recommendation: Nuclear bombs shattered the US in 1967, leaving pockets of survivors and halting technology development – on this parallel timeline. Sent there by Crosstime Traffic, Liz and her parents pose as traders as they try to discover why this Los Angeles is still a patchwork of neighborhood kingdoms at war with one another 100 years later.

In the nearly abandoned UCLA library lit by oil lanterns, Liz scans crumbling magazines and newspapers with her hidden data device, hunting for the war’s trigger point. She can’t visit the library too often, as women here are expected to run the household and stay quiet – women’s liberation never even got started before someone fired the first deadly missiles. Good thing she’ll be at the real UCLA in the home timeline in just a year, instead of fetching water from cisterns during the ongoing drought.

When the Westside City Council decides to charge a toll for wagons coming through Sepulveda Pass on the old highway, King Zev of the Valley declares war. So it’ll be arrows and knives in hand-to-hand combat, as usual – except someone has found an Old Time machine gun and made it work. As killing from a distance becomes possible for the first time in decades, the stakes are much higher for Dan and the other soldiers.

A chance meeting between Liz and Dan may put both their missions in jeopardy, as Dan invents reasons to visit the Mendoza hacienda in enemy territory so he can talk to her again. It’s hard to transmit data reports to the home timeline when Liz doesn’t know when Dan might show up. He is nice to talk to and look at, of course.

As long as the Mendozas act like regular traders and the locals don’t suspect there’s a time station hidden in their hacienda’s basement, everything will be fine… right?

Turtledove brings readers into another alternate strand of history with this exciting episode of the Crosstime Traffic series, asking “what if?” a single event could change everything we know. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy purchased because it looked interesting.

Butterflies, by Susanne Gervay (fiction) - disfiguring scars, unbroken spirit

If the scars are only on the outside,
why can't people see past them to what's really inside?

Katherine's big sister thinks she should have been able to keep her from tumbling into the firepit as a toddler, even though Rachel was only in elementary school herself.

Her mother couldn't recognize her baby in that hospital burn ward and her father couldn't cope with staying in the city for her medical care. Mama cleaned houses so that she could be with Katherine through every new skin graft and therapy session, instead of taking the girls back to her parents' home in Italy.

Yet Katherine is more a normal teen girl than she is a plastic surgeon's project, even if some people label her disabled when they see her disfiguring scars.

Filled with hope amid all the the surgery and worries, Butterflies reflects what teen burn survivors told the Australian author over and over - "I'm still me."
**kmm

Book info: Butterflies / Susanne Gervay. Kane Miller, 2011. [author's website] [publisher site] [book trailer]

My Recommendation: Katherine is not the burn scars that cover her face and body. Her swim team victories prove that, her academic performance does, too. Is hoping that one more surgery will make her look more like everyone else such a bad wish?

Nearly 18, she doesn’t want to be defined by the accident that almost took her life as a toddler. Dad left her and mom and big sister Rachel soon after her fall into the garden firepit. Mama sat beside her after countless surgeries and skin grafts, giving up her career so that Katherine had every chance. And she has her mother’s gentle stubbornness to thank for finding a school where she’s just another teen, a little nervous about her first dance, wondering if any boy will ask her.

When her swim coach suggests that she try out for the Australian Paralympic team instead of National Team, Katherine realizes that she’s not willing for someone else to set limits on her and begins training to become a surf rescuer. William from school starts dropping by the café where she works – life is getting better, isn’t it? Her grandparents visit Sydney from Italy, bringing sunshine and love. Even Rachel is beginning to hang out with her college friends instead of hovering over Katherine.

But she’s determined that it’s time to ask the Professor to rebuild her missing ear. The gifted surgeon has assured them that someday her skin will be smooth, but surgery has no guarantees – is Katherine ready to risk a failed skin graft on her face?

The author’s time spent with burn survivors enlivens every page of this story of triumph and hope, brimming with life and thankfulness for the skilled hands of doctors and therapists who help so many. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy courtesy of the publisher.

Huntress (fiction)

Years of rain,
Crops rotting overnight,
Monsters infiltrating villages near the Great Wood,
a sudden summons from the Fairy Queen to her hidden city.

The most talented sage-in-training for generations, Taisin has seen a vision with Kaede accompanying her on this quest, and the oracle stones have confirmed it. Kaede is an able enough scholar, but her years at the academy have merely proved that she has no ability as a sage, despite her noble father's hopes. He'd rather solidify a political alliance using her as a marriage pawn, but the King has faith in the oracles and in Taisin's vision - the two young women will indeed answer the Fairy Queen's call, along with Prince Con and his best warriors.

Whether you're saving Malinda Lo's Ash until you finish reading this prequel or you're returning to the sea islands and forests of ancient Cathair, you'll be transported to a far place and a far time as you anxiously accompany Kaede and Taisin on their journey, hoping for their political success and future happiness together.

Find Huntress today at your local library or independent bookseller, and beware the monsters of the Great Wood.
**kmm

Book info: Huntress / Malinda Lo. Little Brown, 2011. [author's website] [publisher site] [book trailer]

My Recommendation: No sunshine, no crops, no hope for their country unless two teens can learn what the Fairy Queen knows about the new monsters attacking under the never-ending clouds. From the sanctuary of their Academy, 17-year-old Kaede and Taisin must travel far – a daughter of the hunt and a sage just coming into her immense psychic powers against threats from… where?

Kaede thought that this quest would be much better than her noble father’s plan to marry her off as a political move, but as their small group encounters human babies born with writhing monster souls and villages scoured clean by ravening creatures of the fog, she’s not so sure. Is it coincidence that the Fairy Queen’s invitation came to the King’s court at this time of great troubles, when only Prince Con could be spared for the journey?

Traveling further into the Wood, whispering winds taunt with empty promises and Xi ghosts try to lure them off the trail. Taisin worries that her spell-knowledge is not enough to protect them. Warrior Shae opines that worry is useless; only action will see them through. Ceaseless rain leaches color from the world and hope from their spirits. The only warm spark in this dismal place is the growing attraction between Kaede and Taisin.

As they near the Fairy Queen’s city, Taisin’s sleeping- self travels to distant icy halls, the Xi ghosts circle closer, and the Huntsman of legend appears with a message. Can they indeed ford that vast river separating Fairy lands from those of humans? Will the Queen know why Cathair’s weather remains always winter? Can she help them bring springtime back to their world?

This evocative prequel to Ash takes readers into a world of menacing shadows trying to overrun a land like ancient China, where much depends on the hearts of two girls who should still be studying in school and falling in love instead of having to fight monsters in order to save their people. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy courtesy of the publisher.

Unison Spark (fiction)

A perfect world made just for you,
optimized to provide everything that you want,
more realistic than real life.
What could go wrong with that?

Future Friday takes us to sprawling Eastern Seaboard City, where the Haves can access the ultimate social network - Unison - and the Have-Nots are relegated to the below-street slums, with its rampant crime among the scabbed-together shacks and cast-off technology bits.

Mistletoe can engineer and coax her hunk-of-junk scooter into maneuvers just beyond the maximum recommended for that old model - good thing, as gun-wielding topsider goons pursue her and lost Ambrose through Little Saigon's alleys and hidden passageways. Why would any sensible topsider come down here?

All good things do have their price, and some revolutionaries think that the price of Unison will far exceed its subscription costs. Can the teens trust the revolutionaries or UniCorp or anyone?

How far is UniCorp willing to go in its search for maximum profits? Can they truly predict every individual Unison user's ultimate needs through process-flow? When does the will of an individual become merely a consumable piece in a worldwide business plan?

This page-turning potential future is available now at libraries and bookstores - grab it!
**kmm

Book info: Unison Spark / Andy Marino. Henry Holt, 2011. [author's website] [publisher site]

My Recommendation: When Mistletoe saves a young topsider from uniformed non-police thugs, she wonders why this wealthy teen is in the grotty lower city. She certainly can’t go up into his world of real sunshine and Unison – the social network that knows you better than you know yourself.

Ah, Unison! Just shimmer in (for an appropriate fee) and enjoy limitless data flow, countless friends, your own custom-structured world for work and play. Everything is clearer, brighter, happier in Unison – as long as you keep paying your subscription. And UniCorp provides all the little things in the real world that make it less painful to be part of the “fleshbound parade” of humans during those so-long moments of being out of Unison.

No one can predict process-flow as well as teenaged Ambrose, who is chair of UniCorp’s profits division well ahead of his older brother Len. Ambrose will today move into Unison permanently, when surgery to his hypothalamus will eliminate his body’s need for sleep and give him 24 hours a day in Unison to maximize profits for their father’s corporation.

A rogue data-transfer message as he enters the UniCorp building tells Ambrose to go down into Little Saigon now, before the surgery, or his brain and dreams will be siphoned away by… who? Len? Their father? Revolutionaries? Contrary to best process-flow data, Ambrose flees for the subcanopy’s depths.

As Mistletoe and Ambrose escape through Little Saigon’s grimy alleys and tunnels on a puttering old roboscooter, they discover that both received the same rogue message “Carpe somnium” and wonder why they’ve been told to “seize the dream.”

Bombs in a world where explosives are illegal, closed off from the data of Unison and allies in the subcanopy, the teens must stay alive and free as they try to discover who’s trying to keep Ambrose out of Unison and why the data message brought them together.

Clever and suspenseful, Unison Spark is an adventure story of the future which threads questions of self and community through its action-filled pages. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy courtesy of the publisher.