I got to hang out with P. J. Haarsma tonight at Barnes and Noble. His Virus on Orbis 1 is a fun read about kids running an entire spaceship until they are sold into slavery. Fans of Pendragon/Ender’s Game/Star Wars need to check it out. He’s really good friends with Frank Beddor (who was awesome when he visited our school) (and whose MMORPG cardsoldierwars.com just went into beta) and has a similar demeanor and personality. Â
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No, he is not my older brother. He decided to stand on a chair. I don’t know why.
Archive for the ‘Sci-fi’ category
Unwind by Neal Shusterman
January 16th, 2008“It’s nothing to worry about.”
It has been a while since I have read a book that has creeped me out SO much. Actual, physical chills. Unwind. If you’re not familiar with the book, it’s the near future (although they sell iPods at the antique store) and parents are now given the option to “unwind” their kids from ages 13-18. (“Unwinding” is donating body parts to people who would better use them.)
Bright Outlook
- Shusterman provides yet another great sci-fi/thriller/horror story. I personally think this is his best because of the challenging perspective on modern politics. Do we truly value life in the United States? How can we best demonstrate the issues with teen pregnancy so people will listen?
- Amidst all of the ethics, the action jumps out at you like a movie. Characters in the beginning are walking along and then BOOM you have cars crashing and people being kidnapped on the highway.
- There are some dry comments that will slide past you if you don’t know what to look for. (But they are well worth it.) Here is one of my favorites (the Heartland War was a giant civil war in modern history):
“How much do you know about the Heartland War?”Connor shrugs. “It was the last chapter in our history textbook, but we had state testing, so we never got to it.”
Bleak Future
- Because it deals with life ethics in a pretty in-your-face way, it’s not for younger libraries. But there is little language issue (cleaner than TV) and no hot/steamy scenes.
- It switches narrators quite a bit, so on chapters like “63. Guard” you have to realize that it’s from the guard’s perspective. This might trick some struggling readers.
I booktalked this book today. We already have 15 holds for this book and I think it’s gonna get bigger. This is a perfect introduction to books like Fahrenheit 451, Brave New World, Slaughterhouse-Five, and 1984.
“When pride comes, then comes disgrace; but with humility comes wisdom.”
Star Wars: A Pop-Up Guide to the Galaxy
December 7th, 2007I’m a total Star Wars fan, so of course I’m biased. But I have a pedestal set up with the book on top and it is one of the most popular attractions before school as well as at lunch.
Return of the Jedi
- Lots of detail! Here’s a video to get across just how much there is, and I didn’t even open all of the flaps. There are flaps upon flaps!
- Easy to read and organized by categories.
[display_podcast]
Revenge of the Sith
- It’s gonna get man-handled. C-3PO is already showing signs of back pain.
- No, students, there is no AR test for the pop-up book as of 12/7/07.
Final thoughts: It’s great to put on a display with other sci-fi books because it will get frequented.
Genesis Alpha by Rune Michaels
November 25th, 2007Before I review this awesome book, I wanted to share this other library gem:
I will avoid the obvious “Harriet the Spy” references. But doesn’t she look like she should play opposite Keanu Reeves?
Keanu: Tubman, look out!
Blam!
Harriet: He just bought a one-way ticket.
Thought you might appreciate what comes across our scanners daily.
Genesis Alpha (almost as exciting as the Underground Railroad) is about a young boy who was created for his stem cells. His birth was sped up at month 8 to be able to save his older brother who had cancer.
Flash forward to his teen years and now his brother is on trial for murder. Should the older brother have been saved at the expense of the victim? Crazy questions arise throughout the entire book. This is suspense in the M. Night Shyamalan sense, less Clive Barker or Darren Shan. The reader constantly has to guess who’s crazy, who’s hurting, and who’s a mix.
One of the coolest parts for me is that the killer, whoever it is, left clues inside a World of Warcraft-esque MMORPG. The main character has to investigate in game (but it’s not one of those lame, “If you die in the game, you die FOR REAL” books). What’s really cool is that violence in video games is brought up but discussed quite eloquently. Yay! (for a change)
Questions of if we are more than just our DNA show up as people freak out about the genetic similarities between the two brothers.
Unlike my in-person library reviews, I can’t give too much more detail. It would be like saying, “Bruce Willis is already dead.”
D’oh.
Michael A. Stackpole Presentation
November 18th, 2007I want to get the audio file up there for people to listen to, but check back for photos and better audio quality (hopefully).
Michael A. Stackpole (who is totally cool for agreeing to let me post him talking) presented on “Gaming: Not Just For Teens”. Great stuff.
Here’s the MP3:
Michael A. Stackpole’s AZLA Presentation
[display_podcast]
Grand Canyon – Kingdom Keepers by Ridley Pearson
November 16th, 2007I saw the new Grand Canyon list while at AZLA and I was glad to see Kingdom Keepers by Ridley Pearson in the midst.
Disclaimer: I love Disneyland.
Another Disclaimer: I’ve never been to Disneyworld.
Kingdom Keepers is every kid’s dream – to be able to stay within Disney park boundaries after closing time. Who wouldn’t want to walk those magical streets?
To fully appreciate the book, you gotta read the acknowledgments. Many thanks to Wayne and Christina for the insider’s scoop on the parks. Can you imagine having your own apartment over Main Street? Someone has to be a first responder.
(And yes, there is a sweet trash evacuation system in the city of tunnels underground. (I had an ex-girlfriend who shoplifted (after we had broken up) at Disneyland. She got to visit the “Happiest Underground Jail Cell on Earth”.)
The Zip-a-dee-doo-dah
1. Ridley Pearson, also of Peter and the Secrets of Rundoon fame, has a Disney license. Big hook-up.
2. Many of the rides are desribed in detail. The imagery, building on already strong emotional ties, puts you right there.
3. The rides have a nice, twisted spin. The premise of the book is that a hologram system, built to fully immerse patrons in the experience, goes haywire. Imagine the Pirates of the Carribbean firing at the little boats. Imagine the tiny animatronics of It’s a Small World swarming as a tidal wave of chomping faces, singing in a drone, wanting you to smile. (They actually stop up the tracks and spill over into the boats.)
4. It’s really cool trying to name which characters he’s describing. “I see two chipmunks followed by a clumsy dog in a hat.”
The Beast
1. If you are annoyed by Disney merchandising, it might be tough to get through the book. But! There is still good character development (and he even parodies how Disney has to select multi-ethnic teams to be the most staring at a copy that’s on hold right now).
This is definitely one that I wish I had more copies of (as I stare at one that’s on hold).
Uglies: The Movie
November 10th, 2007I just found out about this by reading an interview with Scott Westerfeld.
Uglies is being turned into a movie.
Okay, so we knew it had to be coming. (I mean, How to eat fried worms?) The interesting part, though, is the production company behind it. Davis Entertainment. What have they brought us? Oh, Predator, I, Robot, and AVP-R (coming out this Christmas).
This actually makes me excited. The hoverboard scenes will actually be pretty intense, then. The Specials will be rough and violent, just like they are in my super-charged imagination (complete with explosions/slow motion and a rock soundtrack). I loved what they did with I, Robot. Yes, there are no car chases in Asimov, but instead they put a short story in-between two from the book. An I, Robot supplement. The other thing that helped me was that when Will Smith was on David Letterman he was able to recite Asimov’s three robot laws. The main actor actually is a nerd. Yeeha.
- A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
- A robot must obey orders given to it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
- A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
But the thing that makes me laugh about Davis entertainment is their 2009 project:
Here is an excerpt from the script:
Sim 1: Jooba jooba hurba
Sim 2: Hoo hoo nee do. Ree hee hee!
with a picture of a plane in Sim 1’s thought bubble and a flower in Sim 2’s thought bubble, crossed out. And then the Sim takes a drink from the espresso machine that they had to work three days worth of Simoleans for.
If they speak English in The Sims movie I will boycott it.
By the way: Davis also made the Garfield and Daddy Day Care movies.
What, are you brain-missing?
October 28th, 2007I must admit that part of why I’m kicking this feed is to boost my facerank.
Extras by Scott Westerfeld is the fourth book of the Uglies/Pretties/Specials trilogy (yes, very Hitchhiker’s Guide in that regard). This is one of those books, though, that I waited for the release date like it was a summer blockbuster. I can tell you that I was more satisfied with the book than Transformers/Die Hard 4, but in both cases the hot product suffers from mega-expectations.
The book takes place after the events of the first three books (makes sense) but follows a different character, Aya, on a different continent. Each book in the series tackles a key social issue that teens face. Issues like betraying your friends to be pretty, parent-child expectations, and an environmentally insatiable lifestyle are all laid out in an easy to understand format alongside hoverboard fight scenes and hot air balloon bungeeing.
In Extras, Aya’s society has money. No longer can you get your clothing for free from the wall. The governing board, however, does not want anyone to starve like in the Rusties days, so they set up a system where you can requisition the cooler items based on one of two factors: merit and facerank.
Merits are earned by doctors, teachers, (even lawyers), and anyone who serves the greater community. This takes effort. You have to do homework/babysit kids and that takes time. Facerank, on the other hand, can happen overnight. Think about some of those celebrities who fight custody battles on the E! network or hide their baby girl for months only to end up making her a BabyGAP model.
Aya is ranked 400,000+ in her society (that’s bad). Her brother Hiro is approaching 1,000 (that’s good). Hiro is an experienced kicker (blogger) and Aya wants to gain fame like her older brother. She finds the Sly Girls, a group of teens who want to avoid public scrutiny to enjoy their favorite hobby: surfing on top of 300 mph maglev trains.
Aya has other plans. She’s going to kick a feed so big that everyone will know her name. What she doesn’t realize is that by following danger some of it is going to follow her. “What would you do for fame?”-type thing.
As I’ve talked with students and staff (and after reading it myself), here’s what I’ve heard:
The Nervous-making:
- Tally’s not a main character. Students grow to associate with her and just like in the Shadow Children series, it’s tough to build new connections.
- It’s more sci-fi. Things get strange as Aya follows the Sly Girls on an Earth-changing discovery.
- If you don’t know Japanese culture, some of the jokes/references are lost. Some of the kids get manga-eyes surges, soccer no longer exists – only giant robot suits that fire foam darts
The Kick:
- There’s still lots of action, and not all of it revolves around crash bracelets (a complaint I had about Pretties and Specials).
- Tally does show up, and she’s not happy.
- If you are familiar with the annoying side of myspace and YouTube (people who vlog what their cats ate, users who spam for friends), your annoyances are vindicated.
