BOOK TALK-INCARCERON

Incarceron

By Catherine Fisher

The prison called, Incarceron, is alive, and Finn is in it. They told him he was “hatched” there, but bits of memory are coming back to him. He knows there’s an outside world beyond the vast world of the prison, but who was he there? The prison was created by the intellectual elite to be a paradise, a beautiful mix of organic and mechanical material in an enclosed world, but it’s a horrible and dangerous place. It was meant to rehabilitate criminals, political dissenters, and other social parasites. Now the people in Incarceron live in a fabricated world with strict protocol that forbids the use of washing machines and more advanced techonolgies. Those who created Incarceron want to keep the people from ever creating or developing anything new, but some people on the outside ignore this protocol, developing new technologies in secret. Incarceron is completely cut off from the outside world that created it, except for the Warden, but where is it, and how does the Warden go back and forth? Go with Finn as he tries to escape the awful place, and with Claudia, the Warden’s daughter who discovers the truth about what happened to her childhood friend, Prince Giles, many years ago. He died, right? Incarceron by Catherine Fisher.

BOOK TALK-OUT OF MY MIND

Out of My Mind

By Sharon Draper

Melody is eleven years old and stuck inside her head, and it is driving her out of her mind. She has cerebral palsy. Melody has a photographic memory. She’s the smartest kid in the whole school, and no one knows it. Melody can’t talk, walk, or feed herself. She sees colors when she hears music, and knows thousands of words. She remembers and knows the meaning of everything she’s ever seen or heard, but no one knows. Everyone thinks she’s incapable of learning anything except her parents and a couple of other people. A whole knew world opens up one day when she discovers something that gives her a voice, but not everyone is ready to hear it.

BOOK TALK-MISTY GORDON AND THE GHOST PIRATES

Misty Gordon and the Mystery of the Ghost Pirates

By Kim Kennedy
Flying diaries! Glasses that let you see ghosts! Crystal balls! Radios that talk to you on their own! Misty Gordon is in the middle of all of it all! When she and her friend Yoshi learn that their small New England town was settled long ago by pirates posing as the English colonists, Misty and Yoshi set out to find the treasure they were looking for. The treasure happens to be a dangerous and powerful one. The treasure is three statues of the Greek gods, Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades. Whoever has the Golden Three will be able to control their world as they know it. Now the ghosts of the pirates are coming to get the treasure back, and descendants of the three pirates have just died and are after the treasure and Misty too! Can Misty find them before the ghosts pirates? Read Misty Gordon and the Ghosts Pirates by Kim Kennedy.

BOOK TALK- FORGIVE MY FINS

Forgive My Fins

By Tera Lynn Childs

Lily has a secret. Letting anyone know would endanger her whole kingdom. Lily is a mermaid! Lily’s mom was human, and her dad is king of the merfolk under the sea. Lily wants to know what it’s like to live in the modern day human high school world. She must “bond” with her special guy before her next birthday, or she will lose her right to rule the mer kingdom after her father. Lily has know for three years, that popular, good looking, Brody is the one for her, and she just needs to get up enough courage to tell him. Just one problem: next door neighbor biker boy Quince seems out to do nothing but torment her and ruin all her plans for happily ever after with Brody. Why? Sometimes Lily wants to go after him with her father’s trident, but is she too blind to see the truth? Who is her real “mermate?” Will she choose to give up her merkingdom and live on land? Read this modern day version of The Little Mermaid, Forgive My Fins by Tera Lynn Childs.

BOOK TALK- THIS DARK ENDEAVOR

By Kenneth Oppel

Sixteen year old Victor Frankenstein will do anything to save his sick twin brother, Konrad, but can he save himself from his own dark thoughts and desires? Elizabeth is a distant cousin who was raised with them as a sister, but now they are older. Which twin will Elizabeth love? Elizabeth, the twins, and good friend Henry discover a hidden library of alchemy and other things, and they are determined to find the ingredients for the Elixer of Life, to save Konrad’s life. They endure great danger to acquire the first two. Then, Victor even gives up two of his fingers for bone marrow to save his brother only to find out the evil alchemist, Polidori was only using the three to get the ingredients so that he could take the Elixir of Life for himself. Can they survive and get the Elixir of Life to Konrad before it’s too late? Will it even work if they do? Read, This Dark Endeavor by Kenneth Oppel.

Bootalk-Scat

Scat

By Carl Hiaasen

Help! Mrs. Starch is missing! When their biology teacher disappears on a class field trip to Black Vine Swamp in the Florida Everglades, Nick and Marta have to find out what’s happened. Everyone thinks the class troublemaker, Smoke, had something to do with it, and he does-just not in the way they think.
There is way more going on in the swamp than anyone knows! Nick and Marta have to deal with an eccentric eco-avenger,a stuffed rat named Chelsea, a wannabe Texas oilman, a singing substitute teacher, and why is that Florida panther in the swamp so ticked off? Nick and Marta find out a company is doing some illegal activity in the swamp that will destroy part of the natural environment and home for so many wild creatures there. Can they stop them in time? Does this have anything to do with Mrs. Starch’s disappearance? To find the answers, read Scat by Carl Hiaasen.

Booktalk-Unwind

UNWIND
By
Neal Shusterman

It’s a world gone mad! Unwanted teenagers are being harvested for body parts. The government and other adults are calling it being “unwound,” which sounds much nicer. Conner, Risa, and Lev are all from different backgrounds and are being unwound for different reasons. They are brought together by chance, and must help each other to escape their fate. If they can survive till age 18, they can’t be unwound. They make a harrowing cross country journey to a safe place only to be betrayed and taken to a harvest camp where they will be unwound.
What is it like to be unwound? No one knows the answer to this medical mystery because the harvesters aren’t telling! Will they really still be alive through their body parts helping other people? Will Connor and his friends survive? To find the answers, read the thought provoking story, Unwind by Neal Shusterman.