Escape from Eden

Escape from Eden by Elisa Nader follows Mia, a girl who has spent most of her life living in a cult run by a controlling leader who makes all the decisions for them.  She has always been a bit questioning and disobedient and when a new boy is brought into their community she starts to see beyond the surface to what the reverend really is doing.

I found this book totally engrossing.  I've always been fascinated by cults and this book gave me everything I wanted in that plot line.  I did think that things went a bit off the deep end with how evil the reverend was but it was a good adventure ride to the end. 

Appropriateness:  There's a lot of talk of mind controlling drugs and quite a bit of talk about sex and prostitution.  I would recommend this book for readers 13+

Eleanor & Park

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell is a fantastic book that follows the unlikely romance between Eleanor and Park.  Eleanor lives a horrible life.  She's just recently moved back in with her mother and her abusive boyfriend after being kicked out a year earlier.  Eleanor's life is terrible at school as she is the punching bag for every bully, then when she's at home she has to hide from her mother's boyfriend in the room she shares with all of her siblings.  Her only happiness comes when she sits next to Park on the bus. 

I adored this book and couldn't put it down.  Eleanor's life was tragic and Park was a fantastic unlikely hero.  This is the type of book that makes the reader think about the way they treat people and the home lives that their classmates may have.  The romance is sweet and realistic, far from the typical instalove or super physical relationships that typically happen in romances.

Appropriateness:  There's quite a bit of discussion of abuse and it's quite traumatic to read at points, it would be a good one to talk to your child about.  There's some alcohol use.  I recommend this book to readers 14+

Mary Had a Little Lamb

Mary Had a Little Lamb by Sarah Josephina Hale and Illustrated by Laura Hulliska-Beith is a fantastic extended version of Mary Had a Little Lamb.  My students adored listening to the new verses that I sang after the first traditional version.  While they liked the book I don't think it's one that they're going to be asking for again and again like some of my other folk song books.

I recommend this book for kids 4-8

Old Macdonald Had a Woodshop

Old MacDonald Had a Woodshop is a fun version of the Old Macdonald had a Farm book, except instead of animal sounds the reader gets to make all the sounds of the different tools.  My students adored this book and loved making all the different sounds, singing along from the first page.

I recommend this book for kids 3-8

Pawn (The Blackcoat Rebellion)

Pawn by Aimee Carter follows Kitty who finds herself wrapped up in a game where she doesn't even know who is playing.  After taking her placement test Kitty is devastated to have been assigned a III which puts her on the lower levels of society.  After grabbing the attention of a lawmaker she finds herself bought and then masked, turned into a copy of the prime ministers daughter at a level she could never have dreamed of attaining herself.  She soon finds herself examining the society that she grew up in and unsure about the members of her fake family, who is good and who is bad and whose side is the right one.

I enjoyed this book and it truly kept me guessing throughout.  Kitty has a major learning disability which makes her unable to read which made for a nice twist from the seemingly perfect heroines that I usually read about.  The dystopia was interesting, unbelievable but it worked.  The chess game between the different characters is what I liked the most.  Trying to figure out who was using who and what for kept me interested.

Appropriateness:  There is a scene where an older man tries to take advantage of Kitty which is shut down and early in the book Kitty goes to work at a brothel.  I would recommend this book for readers 13+

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Friends and Traitors

Friends and Traitors is the second book in the Slayers series.  This book follows a group of teens who are training to be Dragon Slayers to protect the world from the evil Overdrake that plans on using his dragons to take over the country and become a dictator.  Tori and her friends have left camp and are all living at home.  She's heartbroken because her boyfriend won't contact her during the year and ends up confiding in Dirk (whose father is EVIL).  When Tori starts to hear the dragons she worries that they have hatched and thus begins our adventure.

While the first chapter or two of this book was a bit slow (I had a false start) it warmed up rather quickly and became a book that I couldn't put down.  It was fun and full of adventure, romance and friendship and even had a bit of humor.  I can't wait to find out what happens next.

Appropriateness:  There's no adult content in this book.  I recommend it to readers 12+  It's a great book for girls who love fantasy and adventure.

A Girl Named Fearless

A Girl Called Fearless by Catherine Linka follows Avie, a girl living in a world where women are scarse after a hormone caused women of childbaring age to get cancer and die. The paternalist movement has slowly taken over and girls are kept under lock and key with their every move controlled by the men in their lives and they then are put on contracts and sold into marriages they have no choice about. When Avie's father signs her contract into marriage with a controling paternalist politician Avie has to decide if she's going to run.

I really enjoyed this book and I didn't expect to. The dystopian premise is believeable and well crafted (and for once we've got a heroine who remembers what it was like when things were normal). The reader could believe that under similar circumstances powerful men would do everything they could to control women and keep them in the home under the guise of protection. The romance worked well (with no insta love and no triangle) and I really felt the love between Avie and Yates. There were also several fantastic side characters who I cared about and all had believable intentions in the way they reacted to the world. I sped through the book, finishing it quickly and remained interested throughout.



Appropriateness: Sex and purity is a big theme in the book, there is no sex but the characters virginity is talked about a lot along with the character being checked to confirm that she's still a virgin. I would reccomend this book to readers 14+ and it would be a great one to talk about with girls (and boys) with why equality for all is so important.

A Tale of Two Centuries

A Tale of Two Centuries by Rachel Harris is a companion book to My Super Sweet Sixteenth Century.  This book follows Alessandra, Cat's sixteenth century cousin who is tired of her life.  She finds a gypsy's tent and finds herself transported to the twenty first century where everything is new and terrifying.  Alessandra soon finds herself satisfied with the freedoms of modern life and falls for a handsome boy. 

While I didn't like this book as much as the original I did really enjoy the fish out of water aspect of the novel.  I also liked that even though this is a solid romance novel that the romance is secondary to Alessandra's desire to be more than just a wife and mother.

Appropriateness:  There is no adult content in this book.  It is heavily romance focused.  I would recommend this book for teens 13+