Finn lives in the prison but there are rumors that he is a starseer, someone who has actually seen the outside world. Claudia is the daughter of the prison’s warden and needs to make contact to someone inside the prison so she can avoid an arranged marriage.

The general plot points of the book don’t take too many risks. There’s no real deviation from the standard “I’m just a simple boy” “No, you’re the Chosen One” (Galileo Figero!) fantasy arc. Where Incarceron does keep your attention, though, is in its characters.

I think there’s something wrong with me. I always cheer for the villains in epic stories. Darth Vader doesn’t deserve all the bad press he gets.

The character I rooted for in the prison was the gang leader. Catherine Fisher does a great job describing him. I could picture him sitting on his throne with his food taster chained nearby, much like Jabba the Hutt. Add the villain’s superstition that he holds people’s souls in his rings and you have me intrigued.

Finn has a counter-part, Keiro. He’s Finn’s oathbrother but you never know if he’s going to betray his best friend when the opportunity arises. Keiro is uber-overconfident and struts around Incarceron as if he owns the place. Any scene with him usually has conflict and grabs your attention.

The plot does try to surprise with some character reveals of the “Oh. The hermit was actually a hero the whole time” variety, but you can see it coming. Towards the very end, though, the characters call each other by multiple names, signifying everyone’s hidden identity. It could have been the fact that I was reading during the last week of school, so there’s a potential I had temporary memory loss, but the end seemed a little confusing. It doesn’t take away from the story, but I caution my students ahead of time to pay attention as you near the last third of the book so you know who’s who.

It’s an enjoyable book that falls into the Hunger Games/Maze Runner Kids Being Stalked in an Enclosed Arena genre of fiction. If you liked those books, you should pick up Incarceron. You won’t be disappointed.

And yes, like any good YA fiction, it seems, we need a series. Book two, Sapphique, comes out this December.

Much like when Frank Beddor visited, I now hear Ridley Pearson’s voice when I read his work. I’m on Kingdom Keepers III right now and many of the real-life stories Ridley shared made it into the book. The characters visit the abandoned carousel room, find the maintenance journal for Soarin’, and ride on a crazed Test Track.

If you ever get a chance to host Ridley, take it. He’s a very interesting individual. Last year he taught English at a university in China and was a substitute teacher in St. Louis. Ridley is very successful – he doesn’t need the extra money. He loves working with students. Every chance he gets he teaches To Kill a Mockingbird, one of my favorite books to read and teach.

He’s in a band with Matt Groening, Amy Tan, Stephen King, Mitch Albom, and Dave Barry. Those have got to be some fun rehearsals. It was during one of those band sessions that Dave Barry and he decided to write Peter and the Starcatchers.

As if that wasn’t interesting enough, he has a pass to get into any Disney location for free at any time. He just calls up, says he needs to do some research, and an Imagineer hooks him up. Ridley showed some spooky photos from It’s a Small World at 5 am. If you’ve read the first Kingdom Keepers book, you know what that’s about.

Ridley was a good mix of fun insider stories about Disney and an experienced perspective on the writing process. He also loved what we’re doing at our school, so I pass the applause on to the teachers for fostering an enjoyment of reading in our students.

I predict that it’s going to focus on a new set of campers. (Reading Last Olympian’s final chapters gives you some strong hints.)

While flipping through Hunter’s The Fourth Apprentice, I was looking for the adventure game that is included since I’m always a fan of games.

Picture my excitement when I found a hybrid of the Choose Your Own Adventure/Lone Wolf stories. There’s an adventure for a narrator to lead a group down a series of paths.

But then imagine my surprise when I saw a reference to stats and a character sheet. It’s not just a Choose Your Own Adventure, it’s more like a paper and pencil role-playing game. Very exciting. You don’t have to use someone else’s concept for a character – you can make your own. I’m a hug fan of these types of RPGs because of their storytelling aspects, so I applaud Erin Hunter for taking the series in this direction.

You can find out more about the adventure game by clicking here.

The pacing to the book is a little different. It’s the story of a young, sheltered boy who goes to live on a farm after his parents have been kidnapped. You with quite a bit of scenes of lazing around the farm slowly at the beginning, including pick-up baseball games in the middle of fields. Then you jump to cold arms reaching out of the wall grabbing at people.

That was what caught my attention. The start was awkward and I personally could have done away with it. There’s one piece of dialogue between Henry and his uncle, where his uncle is very nonchalant/aloof to Henry’s troubles. It’s like he says, “Meh. Your parents are being held in South America. Whatever.”

But some of the awkwardness adds to the quirky tone of the book. Things like the protagonists being named Henry and Henrietta living in the town of Henry.

Once the plaster is off the wall, though, it’s a very enjoyable tale of tracking down an ancient evil that has been released through different worlds with some fun literary references.

Final verdict: Stick with it because the second half of the book is worth your time investment.

The offer expires May 8.

Also of note was this space adventure. I remember always unleashing some horrible intergalactic plague.

Well, it’s good to see that the official brand is back.

The premise is that Nobody Owens escaped from a killer and was orphaned at 18 months old. He is raised by the denizens of the graveyard who adopt him. What makes it work is that as we’re reading about death, life is observed. There are some great quotes:

Bod had allowed himself no friends among the living. That way, he had realized back during his short-lived schooldays, lay only trouble.

Really…if you couldn’t trust a poet to offer sensible advice, who could you trust?

But if I Unfade for one person, it makes it easier for other people to see me…

“You didn’t kill them?”
“Of course not.” Bod sad, “This is my home. Why would I want them hanging around for the rest of time?”

There was a smile dancing on his lips, although it was a wary smile, for the world is a bigger place than a little graveyard on a hill…

Love it.

This is a Brothers Grimm for Wizarding families to teach the morals that even though you have magic, it won’t solve all of your problems. I also appreciate the commentary provided by Dumbledore as well as Rowling’s commentary and Dumbledore’s commentary. Librarians will especially chuckle when they read about one of the Malfoys trying to censor books off of Hogwart’s shelf because of the questionably positive depiction of Muggles corrupting the youth of Wizarding communities. It’s Rowling’s own way of responding to the people wanting to censor the Harry Potter series.

We’re now in the rival kingdom following a peasant girl named Cecilia. Cecilia goes about her normal peasant-type chores during the day, but at night she is trained by one of the King’s Order in the ways of being a princess. Cecilia is in hiding for her protection while a decoy princess sits on the throne.

This fits right in with Haddix’s mystery and hidden agendas. Just like with Found, there’s a surprise at the end that ties everything together. This surprise was told to me ahead of time (thanks, Ms. Standhart…) and I still was able to enjoy the book.

There is a romance, but it’s more of the close-friends type through most of the book. If you’re looking for a light fantasy, with people kissing frogs and all that, this is probably not your choice. Castle life is rough, with lots of betrayal and murders. If you like mysteries and intrigue, you’ll like Palace of Mirrors.