Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins (2010)

The last of the Hunger Games trilogy was great. I really like the main character Katniss Everdeen, a reluctant heroine, who seems to never do what people expect of her and spends a lot of time in this book recovering from various injuries and traumas. I am not going to try to retell the plot or even explain the alternative future world that Collins has created, just that it is a nice commentary on our world today and I understand why Hunger Games gets chosen as a common read or discussion book. In the audio version there was an interview with the author at the end where she explained where she got her ideas. I had not picked up on all the green mythology this series is based on, but definitely her criticism of reality TV. Turns out that some of her ideas came when watching news scenes from the Iraq war juxtaposed with reality TV programs. Powerful.

Diamond of Darkhold by Jeanne DuPrau (2008)

Somehow I had missed this fourth book of the City of Ember series that my son and I enjoyed so much. Actually, we were very disappointed in the third book, which went back and explained how the underground city of Ember had been created, but this book didn't have half the energy and interesting twists we found in the first two books, so I think we gave up. Then the other day I saw this in the audio book shop and it looked like it picked up where the second book left off - and again it was wonderful.

Lina and Doon are two twelve year olds who discovered the secret of the City of Ember and brought the people out of the city into the devastated, but now recovering world. The people of Ember have settled in the town of Sparks, a long day's walk from the cave where they had lived for quite a few generations. They now have to face the elements of changing seasons, without the luxuries of electricity or running water, and they have to grow their own food - wheras in Ember they mostly survived on canned goods and some greenhouse grown foods.

Life is hard in Sparks and when Doon's father gets injured, and he buys a partial book from a traveling vendor, he starts thinking that it may be useful to return to Ember to see if anything of value could be salvaged, especially food and medicine. This leads to an extended adventure that I think would thrill most middle school readers. They end up finding something else that the elders left for the people of Ember to find and help rebuild their civilization. I love the importance of books and the struggle to prove to others that all those squiggly lines could be of some use in a fairly harsh world. That the knowledge of others can be recorded and used by future generations. I have a few quibbles with the logic of the book - why can't they continue to go back to Ember to salvage various goods and even appliances and technology that have been lost in the outside world, but mostly it works.

The Lightening Thief by Rick Riordan (2005)

First in a series about Percy Jackson & the Olympians. A little young, but entertaining fantasy where this kid Percy (full name Perseus) is a half-blood - half human, half god. There's a camp for these half-bloods, because those old Greek and Roman gods are still at it, creating kids with mortals. I remember loving Greek mythology back in middle school, but I have to admit I have forgotten a lot of the gods and their traits, especially the smaller gods. So this is an entertaining lesson in mythology, but with a modern day twist. Percy just has weird things happening around him, not realizing that there are gods and their minions out to get him. I love that Mt. Olympus is on the 600th floor of the Empire State building. Don't know if I'll read more of this series, but it was fun.

Library Card by Jerry Spinelli (1997)

Someone asked me go get a Spinelli book from our shelves and I just saw this and had to read it. I read a couple of Spinelli books before I started this blog, the one I remember is Maniac Magee, that got a Newberry medal. He definitely looks at the world from the not so rosy side of the tracks. The Library Card is actually four different stories, on how this magical library card made a difference in each of the kids lives. Mongoose was ready to get into a life of crime and dropping out of school, Brenda was addicted to TV, Sonseray lives in a car with his uncle, April works on a mushroom farm. Thoroughly enjoyable.