Johnson, Varian. To Catch a Cheat.

Johnson, Varian.  To Catch a Cheat.  Scholastic Press 2016  241p  $16.99  ISBN 978-0-545-72239-1  ms  Realistic fiction  VG-BN   

Jackson Greene is at it again.  After swearing off any more con games, he has disbanded his crew of fellow middle-school con artists and gotten together with Gaby de la Cruz. Unfortunately for Jackson, he and his friends are being blackmailed. They must steal the brutal end-of-term American history final or a doctored security video showing them flooding the school bathrooms will be released to the principal. It will take a fair bit of cunning and ingenuity to defeat the real perpetrators, but Jackson and his crew are up for it. This engaging and suspenseful mystery is filled with excellent characterizations and a well-paced plot. The lively prose, complete with creative plot twists, wit, and drama, provides a wonderful continuation of the first book but can also stand alone for a fun read.  

Summary: Jackson Greene is at it again. After swearing off any more con games, he has disbanded his crew of fellow middle-school con artists, but he is being blackmailed into stealing the brutal end-of-term American history final or a doctored security video showing them flooding the school bathrooms will be released to the principal.

Schools-Fiction, Cheating-Fiction               --Susan Ogintz

Ice Dogs.

Johnson, Terry Lynn.    Ice Dogs.   Houghton Mifflin  2014  279p  $16.99  ISBN 978-0-547-89926-8  ms/hs  Realistic fiction  E-BN 

Victoria wants to buy some dogs from a neighbor who may be getting out of the dogsled racing business.  She sets off with her dogsled team to try.  This is an unplanned and unannounced run.  As she cuts cross-country, she rescues a city boy who crashed his snowmobile.  A blizzard arrives.  Starting out with sarcasm and open animosity, Vicky and Chris eventually learn to appreciate and depend on each other’s skills and knowledge.

While this is a well written sled-dog story, it is also a gripping winter survival story.  As the humans and dogs tire, go hungry and get cold, their very survival depends on the efforts of all involved.  The author obviously knows Alaska, sled dogs and mushing, but she also understands human nature.  She also writes beautifully and powerfully.  The reader is drawn into the story immediately and comes to care deeply for the characters, both human and animal.  An exciting climax near the end of the book holds the reader to the end.

The characters are fourteen years old, so this title is appropriate for upper middle school into high school.  It’s an exciting read.         

Summary: Victoria is a musher.  On an unscheduled run she rescues a snowmobiler who is injured, and then they get lost in a blizzard.  The two, who manage to survive, learn to respect each others’ skills and knowledge.  Lots of exciting action.  Middle and high school.  

Survival-Fiction, Dog sledding-Fiction                --Joan Theal

Johnson, Hal. Immortal Lycanthropes.

Johnson, Hal.  Immortal Lycanthropes.  Houghton Mifflin/Clarion  2012  292p  $16.99 978-0-547-75196-2       Fantasy     VG-BN   

Under-sized thirteen-year-old Myron Horowitz is a boy with an unfortunate name and an even more unfortunate face, which was marred in an accident he cannot remember and which makes him a target for the local bully, but as it turns out, being bullied by larger children is the least of his worries.  After an incident at school, Myron is pursued by violent strangers, rescued by other strangers who tell him that he is an immortal lycanthrope, and then lost by his rescuers before they can determine what form he takes when he is not looking like a human.  With only the faintest clue about what he’s getting into, Myron begins a quest to discover who and what he is. His quest takes him from Pennsylvania to Canada, and all over the North American continent, in the company of others of his kind, some of whom are friendly, while others are hostile, and few are what they seem to be.  From these fellow immortals he learns more about their kind and some useful skills, including wilderness survival, grifting, and dealing with ancient secret societies like the Illuminati and the Rosicrucians.  The story is narrated by a fellow immortal lycanthrope whose other form is a binturong and who cannot resist inserting his own opinions, which he thinks are very clever.  The narrator’s style is reminiscent of Kipling, but his wit is much more vicious, and while both his style and his wit could easily become tiresome, author Hal Johnson has enough sense not to overuse them.  The narrative style will appeal a great deal to teenage readers, and probably make up for the fact that none of the characters is particularly likable, not even Myron.       

Shapeshifting–Fiction, Supernatural–Fiction, Disfigured persons-Fiction                                                       --Bethany Geleskie

Johnson, Rebecca L. Zombie Makers.

Johnson, Rebecca L.  Zombie Makers.  Millbrook Press/21st Century/Copper Beech 48p                 $24.06   978-0-7613-8633-9         2013      ms           E-BN       Nonfiction                                   

With its creepy cover the color of blood red, this book looks like a perfect choice for Halloween night!  What the reader finds inside will be a surprise, even a shock!  Certain creatures reside within us, and after reading this book, even the science lover will be squeamish.  For example, one learns that one-fourth of all humans carry a T gondii parasite inside our brains.  T gondii is the parasite that pregnant women must be wary of when changing their cat’s litter box.  Rabies and worms are other conditions that affect humans.  Both are described in bone-chilling detail.  Creatures that attack and infect can feast on their hosts, but do not always kill them immediately; an example is the jewel wasp, who lays her eggs in the body of a cockroach, and the eggs sip its blood and feed on its organs.  With details such as these, the world of science becomes very interesting to the young reader who craves all of the gory details!  The book’s design is bold and the layout is smooth and alluring.  “Twilight Zone” meets a zombie movie in the introduction to each chapter, and the writing style continues throughout each upbeat and informative chapter.  The photographs provide a surreal look into the world of parasites.  Rebecca Johnson researched this book all over the world, and the reader reaps the benefits of her thorough investigation of just the right creatures to scare the pants off a teenager!   The oxymoron “disgusted fascination” comes to mind as the reader comes to the end of this book!  The glossary is thorough, the bibliography is extensive, and the list of websites directs young readers to You Tube to witness action shots.

 Zombies                                                                                                                                         -–Martha Squaresky  

     

Johnson, Rebecca L. Battle of the Dinosaur Bones.

Johnson, Rebecca L.  Battle of the Dinosaur Bones.  Twenty First Century see Millbrook                   64p         $33.27  978-0-7613-5488-8            2013    ms/hs     VG-BN  series: Scientific Rivalries and Scandals                     Nonfiction

This entertaining and informative book discusses the lives and findings of paleontologists Othniel Charles Marsh and Edward Drinker Cope. The manner in which the story of their lives and discoveries is written draws the reader into the fierce competition between the two scientists.  Both men wanted fame for their discoveries and strived to find the largest fossils and perform the best related research.  They combed each other’s conclusions for errors to discount the other’s findings in an attempt to be the best.  The debate eventually dissolved after their cooperation regarding the Morrison formation, but their notorious Bone Wars led to an impressive legacy for both men.

In addition to the informative, entertaining and crisp text, the book has an interesting visual appeal.  Different color fonts denotes points of interest and brief additional information.  Each chapter intersperses black-and-white photographs and illustrations that enhance the text as well as the visual sense of the era.

This short book will delight young readers that are interested in the work of these two great scientists and their discoveries of dinosaur bones and other fossils.  The book concludes with a timeline that helps the reader place events coherently and succinctly.  The book also includes a table of contents, a glossary, source notes, a selected bibliography, a list of resources for further reading, and an index, making this a great resource tool.
Paleontologists                                                                                                                                     --Virginia McGarvey

 

Johnson, Angela. Sweet, Hereafter (Heaven).

Johnson, Angela. Sweet, Hereafter (Heaven).
Simon & Schuster/Little Brown 2010 118p 16.99
978-0689873850 secondary
Runaway 16-year-old Sweet is the narrator in the third in Johnson’s “Heaven” trilogy set in Heaven, Ohio. Sweet (”Shoog”) tells the reader that “the day I left home, most of my jeans were in the washer, and once I was gone, I wondered what I would have to wear...It don’t look good to have to come back an hour later to get your shit.” We know she’s just 16, tough, and living in a cabin in the woods nearby with an older neighbor and lover, Curtis. Their place is a haven (heaven?) for both--Sweet’s escape from her family although she drives by their house regularly--and for Curtis, who’s been to Iraq and goes AWOL instead of going back. Easygoing Curtis obviously thinks about the “hereafter” and how Sweet will remember him. She has her own private revolution by collecting and junking army recruitment material. Not as much plot as The First Part Last, but Bobby and his little girl, Feather, are mentioned, as are Sweet’s friends Marley and Jos. Will be popular with readers of Johnson’s other books and for the poetic language--Mama’s letter says “you’ve been leaving since you were born.” Gooden, Sue