Ally’s writing keeps getting better with each book, which is something that I’ve mentioned in other reviews. She’s not a slacker author and works to make each installment of the series memorable. I keep saying, “This one’s my favorite” only to have the next one be my favorite.

Only the Good Spy Young will answer a lot of your questions. But, like with any decent covert operation, with more answers comes more questions. Zach does return, so I know my girls at school will be excited. A new staff member at Gallagher shows up: Agent Townsend, a member of MI6 (you know, like James Bond and Alex Rider). He adds his fair share of complications and leaves you wondering if he’s there to help Cammie or not.

Anyone who has talked with me for an extended length of time knows that I cheer for the villains in any story. It’s a strong villain that brings out the hero’s qualities and tempts them to compromise what they believe in (see also Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight). The Circle of Cavan returns. We find out that their connections reach deep into the CIA and other clandestine organizations.

Cammie doesn’t know who to trust and it’s for this main reason that I love the series. Junior high and high school students are surrounded daily by situations that break their trust. The books frame that dilemma in a spy context. It’s also during junior high and high school that we start to view our parents as real people and not idealized portraits. Cammie is searching for what happened to her father. Throughout her adventure she sees good and bad examples of parents (a moment where she chats with Bex’s father was so simple and yet so awesome) and tries to make sense of her situation.

The boy trouble returns. These two quotes sum up how Cammie has regular teen drama on top of life-and-death situations:

“I didn’t know whether to hug him or hit him (a feeling that I frequently associate with Blackthorne Boys, to tell you the truth)”

“‘He’s a guy, Cam.’ Macey pushed past me and led the way down the hall. ‘And a spy. He’s a guy spy. There’s always going to be something he’s not telling.’”

Readers are able to realize that other people are struggling with the same issues they are and that they are not weird. Cammie has a believable balance between confidence and doubt. She is maturing, though. Gone are the training missions. Every time the Gallagher Girls take on a mission now, it’s a risk.

I remember a conversation I had with Ally when she visited my library (librarians, you need to have her come talk with your students!). I told her how I love spy stories and how there’s a prerequisite for helicopters. Only the Good Spy Young met my helicopter quota. Something else I mentioned, though, was that I respect any YA author who can threaten her characters. Many times there’s too much suspension of disbelief.

I appreciated Mikaelsen’s Touching Spirit Bear because when Cole tries to stab a bear, he gets worked over. Moral of the story? Don’t stab bears. When spies are in the field, there’s a decent chance of them being captured, tortured, and shot. Saying anything more will reveal too much plot from Only the Good Spy Young.

Students, you might want to buy the book on your own. I will have multiple copies, but I can tell you that there will be a wait list. If you are new to the series, I recommend starting with Love You, Kill You. You’ll appreciate the growth of the characters and the depth of what being a Gallagher Girl means.

Ally, keep ‘em coming. I’m excited for senior year.

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.

Life As We Knew It involves the moon getting hit by an asteroid. At first everyone goes out to celebrate the event but then people start to realize that life is going to change.

The moon gets knocked out of its current orbit. It’s still going around the Earth but is now a little closer. That shift in gravity affects the weather, tides, and even volcanoes. The first part of the book has the feel of a disaster movie.

The second half, though, surprised me. Shops start shutting down, food starts running out, and protagonist Miranda must work hard at collecting enough supplies to last an indefinite winter.

It shares some similarities to the Laura Ingalls Wilder Little House books, gathering firewood and tending to the stove, all apart from the rest of the world.

During the scenes where characters are limited to one small section of the house, the story resembles the Diary of Anne Frank. Sickness, starvation, and an insane frustration with others threatens Miranda’s family at each turn.

It’s a good story that stands on its own, but it especially works as a bridge to other novels for the Language Arts/English classroom.

I wonder if that’s a problem for Suzanne Collins. As I talked with students and staff about what to expect with Catching Fire, we had no clue how the author would follow up such a great story.

Now I can’t figure which one’s my favorite.

We knew that there would be rebellion. There’s no way that Capitol officials would let Katniss’ act of defiance go unnoticed. In the first book it is made very clear that Panem resembles Ancient Rome, hosting the games to crush the spirits of the rebels by crushing their kids.

Book two starts out with Katniss on a victory tour. The haunting President Snow warns her that her actions affect more than herself, a poorly veiled threat that her family is in danger unless districts are calmed down into obedience.

While people hold on to a strand of hope, they can still fight.

Katniss has been swept up in events larger than herself and has become the face of the resistance. In this way it keeps with characteristics of a successful YA book: a protagonist that ends up on her own and must figure out who she is, what she truly stands for, as forces push her from all sides.

I’ll be honest: in the first book, I cheered when the games started. I couldn’t put the book down once we had seen the tributes standing on the platforms in the minefield. I stayed up until the early morning, finishing the book and many caffeinated beverages.

In Catching Fire, seeing people thrown into the Games sickened me. I was literally distressed for the characters and angry at Panem’s injustice. I couldn’t stand the Capitol citizens’ compliance with how things were being run.

I have a renewed sense of social activism after reading the book. Seeing food so readily available, with Capitol socialites purposely vomiting so that they could gorge on more, reminded me that there are so many hungry people out there, in our country and others. We need to take action to help our fellow humans – and we’re running out of time.

If there’s one theme repeated throughout the book, it’s that your own mortality is a countdown. We have limited time. Katniss realizes what her goal is and is in a race to meet that goal before her life is snuffed out. She sees the other victors for who they are, as people scarred from the previous Games, people who need compassion but have been dehumanized for society’s entertainment. (One of the victors paints his nightmares from the Games. He has not slept a solid night since being thrown into the arena.)

Pretty challenging stuff for a teen book. But what Suzanne Collins does extremely well is take issues like social concern and mortality and blend it with an engaging, action-packed story. It’s a story that junior high and high school students can connect with, as evidenced by my students constantly having this book on a wait list.

When September 1 comes around, make sure you grab a copy (or four) to continue one of my favorite series. With book two, we knew that there would be rebellion. Book three is scheduled to wrap up the trilogy – I think I have a clue as to what will happen next, but I know that Suzanne Collins will blow away my expectations.

Gone by Michael Grant surprised me. It was definitely a quicker read and students are also liking it.

On top of the adults disappearing, everyone is on a countdown until their 15th birthday. One of the creepiest moments is when one twin blinks out and then we know that the other twin only has minutes to live. I was shocked and I loved it.

The other moment that still sticks with me is a teleporting stray cat. And it getting stuck in a reference book.

If you love action, if you love survival, you’ll love Gone. Teachers, it’s like Lord of the Flies, but now with superpowers.

A Great Escape

1. This book screams of Shawshank Redemption and 1984. Garrett may have been wrongly thrown into the camp, but since the police are not involved there is no trial. Once Garrett is inside the camp, all rights are forfeit.
2. Garrett struggles with maintaining his integrity and compassion in such a harsh environment. Many times he chooses not to retaliate but instead to try to understand what is going on.
3. The camp members will beat him until he recants. The adults may be under contract, but what is to stop other detainees from getting in a couple of cheap shots to move up. Detainees are ranked by levels of merits, earning more by selling out other camp members. More than once Garrett points out that the guards (much like Hitler’s soldiers) are still responsible for their actions, even if they were “only following orders”.
4. There is a chase scene where Garrett and his transporter are face to face and it distinctly reminded me of the face-off between Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones in The Fugitive. Throughout that chase the level of suspense is expertly maintained. I honestly didn’t think that the book would have that type of action in it, but it still added to the plotline.
5. The book will challenge students to compare to their own lives and then to expand their worldview, much like Dave Pelzer’s A Child Called It got students talking.

A Shiv in the Back

1. The book is rough. Namely, someone gets stabbed in the back by a homemade toothbrush shiv.
2. The topic of boot camps is controversial, especially when the parents in the book could be very wrong.

I personally love the book. The students that have read it so far have been very gripped by what’s inside.