Poached.

Gibbs, Stuart.  Poached.  Simon & Schuster  2014      330p  $15.99  ISBN 978-1-4424-67774  elem/ms    Mystery/Detective   E-BN         

Teddy is in middle school and is one of those students who is frequently picked on.  He lives at FunJungle where his parents work.  At the park, Teddy seems always to be involved when something bad happens.  He is the prime suspect when the koala is kidnapped.  Some of the chase scenes between Teddy and the park security read like Keystone Cops.  Absolutely hilarious.  Teddy has trouble walking the thin line between investigating the disappearance, which he feels he needs to do, and staying out of more trouble, which he has been ordered to do.

This story is humor at its best: believable situations where the humor just gets deeper and deeper.  Teddy finds himself in hilarious chases by Large Marge, chief of park security, and her staff.  The other characters who supply humorous incidents are the bullies at school.  They are quite stereotypical, but well portrayed.  Boys and girls will thoroughly enjoy the humor that surrounds this mystery.  This is an excellent purchase for upper-elementary grades through middle school.         

Summary: Teddy solves the mystery of a kidnapped koala at a wildlife park where he lives.  He is the prime suspect because he is caught on camera leaving the enclosure, but he did not do it.  Very funny sequences.  Grades 4 up.

Zoos-Fiction, Humor                                         --Joan Theal

The Boundless.

Oppel, Kenneth.  The Boundless.  Simon & Schuster     2014  332p  $15.99  ISBN 978-1-4424-72884 elem/ms  Mystery/Detective      VG         

This is an adventure story that finds young Will Everett riding the newest train, The Boundless, across the country.  When he finds a treasure room on the train, the bad guys come after him.  To help save the treasure and his own life, Will joins up with a couple of members of the circus troupe that is traveling on the train, and many adventures follow.  This is a really good adventure yarn, with enough steam punk to capture both the adventure-story lover and the steam-punk story lover.  What is not to love here?  You have a train traveling cross-country, you have a boy who stumbles across a treasure, bad guys who want to steal the treasure, and the circus people who want to help the boy.  This said, it took me quite a while to get into the tale.  Once I was pulled in, though, the action was fast-paced and fun to read.  This is an old-school action adventure for youngsters.          

Summary: This is an adventure story that finds young Will Everett riding the newest train, The Boundless, across the country.  When he finds treasure on the train, the bad guys come after him, at which point Will joins up with a couple of members of the circus troupe that is on the train, and many adventures follow.     

Adventure-Fiction                                           --Lynn Fisher

Napoli, Donna Jo. Storm.

Napoli, Donna Jo.  Storm.  Simon & Schuster  2014     368p  $17.99  ISBN 978-1-4814-0302-3        hs  Historical fiction  E-BN

Napoli has provided insight into classic folk tales by asking “what if” questions and postulating a background to the tales.  This time she tackles the flood and life aboard the Ark with Noah, his family, and the many animals.  Since details of life aboard ship are sparse in Genesis and Jewish literature, Napoli is free to let her imagination fly.  This tale centers on the life of Sebah, who manages to climb to higher ground when the flooding begins.  The grisly opening scenes become slightly gentler, but this story of mental and physical survival is not for the faint of heart.  After drifting on a raft, Sebah encounters the Ark and manages to climb aboard with the help of two bonobos (apes).  Living in the animal cages and secretly observing Noah and his family as they come to feed the animals, she realizes that a taste of freedom is required not only for herself but for everyone on board, animals included. Sebah’s keen observations, her cunning, and her sixth sense about animals will fascinate animal lovers.  The attention to detail, both physical environment as well as mental duress, is superb.   This is a novel for action/adventure and animal lovers, as well as an intense look at the human condition.  It makes for compelling reading, yet without significant religious overtones.  This book includes an appendix with a timetable of the events described in  Genesis as well as a list for further reading.    

Summary: This is a captivating, tense drama/action/adventure story based on the flooding spoken of in Genesis and Jewish literature.  This book contains grisly scenes of survival juxtaposed with amazing acts of compassion as Sebah becomes a stowaway on the Ark. Gr 8-12.

Biblical tales-Fiction, The Flood-Fiction                   --Lois McNicol

Baskin, Nora Raleigh. Runt.

Baskin, Nora Raleigh.  Runt.  Simon & Schuster  2013  208p  ISBN 978-1-4424-5807-9 ms    VG    Realistic fiction

Bullying exists in middle school just the same way it exists in the animal kingdom.  In this creative treatment of a contemporary topic, author Nora Baskin draws a parallel between the pecking orders in the world of dogs and in the world of young teenagers.  Throughout the story she changes the point of view, thus sharing the thoughts of everyone involved in her portrayal of the bully and the bullied.  Elizabeth eternally carries the smell of her mother’s kennel to school, and triggers the bullying when she brags about her poetry-writing skills in English class one day.  Her ex-friend Maggie pulls off cyber bullying to the max when she creates a person2person page about “Smelly-Girl”, who is, of course, Elizabeth.  Elizabeth discovers the page devoted to her on the internet and must choose between seeking revenge and accepting the taunt.

After Stewart urinates on Matthew’s sneakers in the boys’ bathroom at school, Matthew punches him in the nose and is suspended from school.  It is during his stay-at-home period of introspection that he realizes that he accomplished little by hurting the perpetrator because he is miserable at home.  The author successfully leads the reader to despise middle-school cruelty, and older readers will wonder how they ever survived middle school.  The best part of this book lies in the early pages, in which each stage of bullying finds a parallel story in Elizabeth’s mother’s dog kennel, as dogs find their positions in their world in much the same way that humans do.  Baskin does not need to evoke sympathy for Stewart by showing his confusion at growing up in a house with a sister who is a special-needs student.  Readers will despise him too much to try to understand him.

On page 116, the word “an” is missing before “offer”, and there is a spacing error on page 119.  Capitalization of “internet” is found on some pages and not on others. 

Summary: Elizabeth and Matthew, as the victims of bullying, navigate the ensuing pain and embarrassment in a world where there are no clear-cut solutions, and they find that developing coping skills and inner strength is more important than seeking revenge.             

Bullying-Fiction, Middle School-Fiction               --Martha Squaresky

Blair, Jamie. Leap of Faith.

Blair, Jamie.  Leap of Faith.  Simon & Schuster  2013  240p  ISBN 978-1-4424-471-34 hs    G     Realistic fiction

This reads like a Hallmark Channel lifestyle movie.  Leah has only an older sister to share her concerns with, since her single mother is an addict with numerous men coming in and out of her life.  When Leah’s mother agrees to bear a baby for $10,000 for another drug addicted couple, Leah vows that her half-sister will never grow up in the ramshackle environment she has had to survive for 16 years.  With no long-term plans, she steals her mother’s car and cash, takes the baby, and drives to Florida seeking a better life.  Wonder of wonders, she meets up with a kindly extended family who has had their share of grief. Leah rents a room in their comfortable suburban home.  The focus of the story is how Leah covers up her former life and comes to tell her truth, as well as the fact that she is a good person even though she is wanted by the law.  Things fall into place too easily for Leah for the sense of harsh reality that should accompany a high-school dropout with a newborn to care for (for example, the baby is not born addicted).  Leah’s problems are only momentary, and they do not reflect reality, considering she is living without a safety net.  But for lovers of a happy ending, this book provides a whirlwind ride of events that all magically end happily.  It’s a feel-good story that would rarely end so well in real life.                 

Summary: Leah vows her newborn younger sister will never live in the drug-addicted environment in which she has spent sixteen years. She takes the baby and flees, not knowing their future.  She meets up with kind people who show her another way of life. Grades 9-12.    

Romance-Fiction                                        --Lois McNicol

Carlton, Kat. Two Lies and a Spy.

Carlton, Kat.  Two Lies and a Spy.  Simon & Schuster  2013  256p  ISBN 978-1-4424-8172-5  ms/hs  VG-BN     Conflict   

Kari knows it is a Code Black when she gets a text to get milk for her parents. In no time Kari is ditching her phone and climbing out a bathroom window to pick up her little brother at a predetermined place.  Kari contacts her friends to help her find her parents, who have been labeled Russian spies, and clear their names.  Action-packed pages filled with safe houses and disguises, hacking into federal computers, and being rescued from a federal prison will provide the readers with a enjoyable experience right up to the dramatic ending.

Summary: What should a sixteen-year-old girl, Kari Andrews, do when her boyfriend’s father labels her superspy parents as traitors?  How can she protect her little brother, Charlie, and clear her parents’ names?  This novel features action-packed pages throughout.

Spies-Fiction, Adventure-Fiction                          --Linda McNeil