Read it before you see it - Mortal Engines

Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve

"It was a dark, blustery afternoon in spring, and the city of London was chasing a small mining town across the dried-out bed of the old North Sea."

The great traction city London has been skulking in the hills to avoid the bigger, faster, hungrier cities loose in the Great Hunting Ground. But now, the sinister plans of Lord Mayor Mangus Crome can finally unfold.

Thaddeus Valentine, London's Head Historian and adored famous archaeologist, and his lovely daughter, Katherine, are down in The Gut when the young assassin with the black scarf strikes toward his heart, saved by the quick intervention of Tom, a lowly third-class apprentice. Racing after the fleeing girl, Tom suddenly glimpses her hideous face: scarred from forehead to jaw, nose a smashed stump, a single eye glaring back at him. "Look at what your Valentine did to me!" she screams. "Ask him! Ask him what he did to Hester Shaw!" And with that she jumps down the waste chute to her death. Minutes later Tom finds himself tumbling down the same chute and stranded in the Out-Country, a sea of mud scored by the huge caterpillar tracks of cities like the one now steaming off over the horizon.

Ceepy reads for Halloween

There's Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins

Classic slasher horror (someone is killing teens off in gruesome ways around Halloween) but with a bonus love story.

Read it if you want a lighter horror story but don't mind it getting gory.







What the Woods Keep by Katya de Becerra

A supernatural horror story. A mysterious past, a mother that disappeared a decade ago, and a creepy house. A crossover Science Fiction-Fantasy-Mystery.

Read it if you want an atmospheric read with cryptic clues that will keep you wanting to know more.

Now in the Cinema: First Man

First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong 

On July 20, 1969, the world stood still to watch thirty-eight-year-old American astronaut Neil A. Armstrong become the first person to step on the surface of another heavenly body. Perhaps no words in human history became better known than those few he uttered at that historic moment. In a penetrating exploration of American hero worship, Hansen addresses the complex legacy of the First Man, as an astronaut and an individual.

On Netflix - To All the Boys I've Loved Before

What if all the crushes you ever had found out how you felt about them… all at
once?

Sixteen-year-old Lara Jean Song keeps her love letters in a hatbox her mother gave her. They aren’t love letters that anyone else wrote for her; these are ones she’s written. One for every boy she’s ever loved—five in all. When she writes, she pours out her heart and soul and says all the things she would never say in real life, because her letters are for her eyes only. Until the day her secret letters are mailed, and suddenly, Lara Jean’s love life goes from imaginary to out of control.

Now in the Cinema: The Darkest Minds

When Ruby woke up on her tenth birthday, something about her had changed. Something frightening enough to make her parents lock her in the garage and call the police. Something that got her sent to Thurmond, a brutal government “rehabilitation camp.” She might have survived the mysterious disease that had killed most of America’s children, but she and the others emerged with something far worse: frightening abilities they could not control.

Now sixteen, Ruby is one of the dangerous ones. When the truth comes out, Ruby barely escapes Thurmond with her life. She is on the run, desperate to find the only safe haven left for kids like her—East River. She joins a group of kids who have escaped their own camp. Liam, their brave leader, is falling hard for Ruby. But no matter how much she aches for him, Ruby can’t risk getting close. Not after what happened to her parents. When they arrive at East River, nothing is as it seems, least of all its mysterious leader. But there are other forces at work, people who will stop at nothing to use Ruby in their fight against the government. Ruby will be faced with a terrible choice, one that may mean giving up her only chance at having a life worth living.

Carve the Mark by Veronica Roth

by the author of Divergent...

In a galaxy powered by the current, everyone has a gift.

Cyra is the sister of the brutal tyrant who rules the Shotet people. Cyra’s currentgift gives her pain and power—something her brother exploits, using her to torture his enemies. But Cyra is much more than just a blade in her brother’s hand: she is resilient, quick on her feet, and smarter than he knows.

Akos is the son of a farmer and an oracle from the frozen nation-planet of Thuvhe. Protected by his unusual currentgift, Akos is generous in spirit, and his loyalty to his family is limitless. Once Akos and his brother are captured by enemy Shotet soldiers, Akos is desperate to get his brother out alive—no matter what the cost.

Then Akos is thrust into Cyra's world, and the enmity between their countries and families seems insurmountable. Will they help each other to survive, or will they destroy one another?

Allegedly by Tiffany Jackson

Mary B. Addison killed a baby.

Allegedly. She didn’t say much in that first interview with detectives, and the media filled in the only blanks that mattered: A white baby had died while under the care of a churchgoing black woman and her nine-year-old daughter. The public convicted Mary and the jury made it official. But did she do it? She wouldn’t say.

Need some downtime around exam study?

Try one of these senior fiction reads:

Spontaneous by Aaron Starmer

Mara Carlyle’s senior year is going as normally as could be expected, until—wa-bam!—fellow senior Katelyn Ogden explodes during third period pre-calc.

Katelyn is the first, but she won’t be the last teenager to blow up without warning or explanation. As the seniors continue to pop like balloons and the national eye turns to Mara’s suburban New Jersey hometown, the FBI rolls in and the search for a reason is on.

With literal spontaneous explosion (and resulting mess). This absurd humour is the perfect stress breaker between exams.

The Painted Many by Peter Brett

As darkness falls after sunset, the corelings rise—demons who possess supernatural powers and burn with a consuming hatred of humanity. For hundreds of years the demons have terrorized the night, slowly culling the human herd that shelters behind magical wards—symbols of power whose origins are lost in myth and whose protection is terrifyingly fragile.

Like A Game of Thrones - only better! [I have been a fan of GoT since it was first published and I thought that series would never be beaten! - Mrs Kelleher]

Between a Rock and a Hard Place by Aron Ralston

Aron Ralston's account of his six days trapped in one of the most remote spots in America, and how one inspired act of bravery brought him home.

With scant water and little food, no jacket for the painfully cold nights, and the terrible knowledge that he'd told no one where he was headed, he found himself facing a lingering death -- trapped by an 800-pound boulder 100 feet down in the bottom of a canyon.

This is not for the feint hearted!

Saving Jazz by Kate McCaffrey

Jasmine Lovely has it all – the looks, the grades, the friends. But when a house party spins out of control, Jazz discovers what can happen when your mistakes go viral ...

Instead of being told by the victims point of view, this is about the offender. Who is she? What was she thinking? and what happened to her after the fallout?

Confronting. Hard to put down.

Nemesis by Brendan Reichs

I swore to myself I wouldn’t die that day.

Up and down.

Come at me, you bastard. Sweaty-palmed as I gripped a battered Louisville Slugger, eyes glued to my bedroom door.

He was already inside the trailer—early this time, as the first slanting rays of sunshine began peeking over the mountains. While Mom was still away at work. I’d heard the front stoop creak, and instantly knew who had come.

That I was trapped.

Right here. In my own home.

Another unpleasant first.

I wasn’t scared. Not of him. Of this. That’s just not how it worked anymore.

But my anger simmered near the edge of control. A floorboard groaned.

I took a calming breath. Narrowed my focus to audible noises beyond the door, a flimsy piece of sliding metal that couldn’t stop a toddler. All that separated me from a monster who’d come to snatch my life away.

Silence stretched, then another muffled step. I tensed, prepping for battle.

There’s no sneaking quietly across my crappy, not-so-mobile home, a fact I’d established many times during my sixteen years of life. I knew exactly where he was standing. How his weight was aligned. What the man was seeing as he peered across our shabby single-wide, eyes glued to the only other place I could be.

So why the delay?

I thought furiously, cycling through possibilities. Was he waiting me out? Could he possibly believe I didn’t know he was there? The first shot exploded through the door. High and left, but I panicked just the same.

A gun this time.

I dropped into a crouch, options rapidly dwindling.

The window.

I darted toward a grimy, dirt-streaked square of glass overlooking my single bed.

Too quick. I never sensed the trap.

The second bullet punched through the closet, slicing into my right shoulder and spinning me like a top. I gasped in pain. Fell against the bedside table.

The third shot tore into my chest.

My legs faltered. I tumbled to the floor, struggling to breathe, blood bubbling on my lips as I stared up at the drab fluorescent lights on the ceiling. Pain tinged everything red.

He’d been waiting for me to flee. I’d accommodated him.

Want to read more? Check out the book in the ILC...
Nemesis by Brendan Reichs

The Interrogation of Ashala Wolf by Ambelin Kwaymullina

This book is set in a future after an ecological collapse. The world has been reshaped, and people have made a commitment to live within the Balance. There are many laws to help uphold the balance to limit things like technology (which can psychologically distance us from the environment), weapons, and use of natural resources. There are also laws to prevent people with Abilities from disrupting the Balance - mostly by locking them up and inhibiting them from using those abilities.

Ashala and other illegal runaways make up the Tribe. They believe that there is a place for them within the Balance, and that their existence is not a threat. Ashala has been captured - can she protect the Tribe from her own interrogation?

Mrs Kelleher rates this read:

Book trailer - Genius: the game by Leopoldo Gout

Trust no one. Every camera is an eye. Every microphone an ear. Find me and we can stop him together.

The Game: Get ready for Zero Hour as 200 geniuses from around the world go head to head in a competition hand-devised by India's youngest CEO and visionary.

The Players:
Rex- One of the best programmers/hackers in the world, this 16-year-old Mexican-American is determined to find his missing brother.
Tunde- This 14-year-old self-taught engineering genius has drawn the attention of a ruthless military warlord by single-handedly bringing electricity and internet to his small Nigerian village.
Painted Wolf- One of China's most respected activist bloggers, this mysterious 16-year-old is being pulled into the spotlight by her father's new deal with a corrupt Chinese official.

The Stakes: Are higher than you can imagine. Like life and death. Welcome to the revolution. And get ready to run.

Happy Star Wars Day

May the Fourth be with you

Feeling like a Star Wars read to get you in the mood? Try one of these:

 

The Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

One of the most talked about new books in Fantasy:

Are you looking for something a bit different in a fantasy setting? How about The Children of Blood and Bone? A novel that is set in an African based world. A world where each of the 12 tribes used to have their own style of magic - that is until the King, Saran, cut off access to magic and killed all the adult Maji. Now Zelie is on a mission to restore the magic, while Prince Inan wants to destroy it.

Every Day - Now in the Cinema

Every Day by David Leviathan

Every day a different body. Every day a different life. Every day in love with the same girl.
There’s never any warning about where it will be or who it will be. A has made peace with that, even established guidelines by which to live: Never get too attached. Avoid being noticed. Do not interfere.

It’s all fine until the morning that A wakes up in the body of Justin and meets Justin’s girlfriend, Rhiannon. From that moment, the rules by which A has been living no longer apply. Because finally A has found someone he wants to be with—day in, day out, day after day. [Goodreads.com]

Ready Player One - Now in the Cinema

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

In the year 2044, reality is an ugly place. The only time teenage Wade Watts really feels alive is when he's jacked into the virtual utopia known as the OASIS. 

Wade's devoted his life to studying the puzzles hidden within this world's digital confines, puzzles that are based on their creator's obsession with the pop culture of decades past and that promise massive power and fortune to whoever can unlock them.

When Wade stumbles upon the first clue, he finds himself beset by players willing to kill to take this ultimate prize. The race is on, and if Wade's going to survive, he'll have to win—and confront the real world he's always been so desperate to escape. [Goodreads.com]

Mrs Kelleher rates this read 

A Wrinkle in Time - Now in cinemas

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

It was a dark and stormy night; Meg Murry, her small brother Charles Wallace, and her mother had come down to the kitchen for a midnight snack when they were upset by the arrival of a most disturbing stranger. 

"Wild nights are my glory," the unearthly stranger told them. "I just got caught in a downdraft and blown off course. Let me be on my way. Speaking of way, by the way, there is such a thing as a tesseract".
Meg's father had been experimenting with this fifth dimension of time travel when he mysteriously disappeared. Now the time has come for Meg, her friend Calvin, and Charles Wallace to rescue him. But can they outwit the forces of evil they will encounter on their heart-stopping journey through space? [Goodreads.com]

An Irish read for St Patrick's Day

The Call by Peadar O'Guilin

We know that Ireland is full of fairies. But what if the fairies aren't the kind magical creatures we want them to be? What if they are cruel and evil?

3 minutes and 4 seconds. The length of time every teenager is 'Called', from the moment they vanish to the moment they reappear. 9 out of 10 children return dead. Even the survivors are changed. The nation must survive. Nessa, Megan and Anto are at a training school - to give them some chance to fight back. Their enemy is brutal and unforgiving. But Nessa is determined to come back alive. Determined to prove that her polio-twisted legs won't get her killed. But her enemies don't just live in the Grey Land. There are people closer to home who will go to any length to see her, and the nation, fail...

Now in the Cinema - Love, Simon

Simon vs. the Homo sapien Agenda by Becky Albertalli

Sixteen-year-old and not-so-openly gay Simon Spier prefers to save his drama for the school musical. But when an email falls into the wrong hands, his secret is at risk of being thrust into the spotlight. Now Simon is actually being blackmailed: if he doesn’t play wingman for class clown Martin, his sexual identity will become everyone’s business. Worse, the privacy of Blue, the pen name of the boy he’s been emailing, will be compromised.
With some messy dynamics emerging in his once tight-knit group of friends, and his email correspondence with Blue growing more flirtatious every day, Simon’s junior year has suddenly gotten all kinds of complicated. Now, change-averse Simon has to find a way to step out of his comfort zone before he’s pushed out—without alienating his friends, compromising himself, or fumbling a shot at happiness with the most confusing, adorable guy he’s never met.

Short-listed for the Silver Inky Awards 2016

Inky Awards Longlists announced

Every year readers between 12 and 20 years of age vote on the best books published last year. If you are looking for something to read, and you don't trust what the adults think you will like, try something recommended by a teen!

On Wednesday the longlists were announced:

Gold Inky award (books by Australian authors)

• Begin, end, begin: a #LoveOzYA anthology, edited by Danielle Binks
• In the dark spaces by Cally Black
• Take three girls by Cath Crowley, Simmone Howell & Fiona Wood
• Beautiful mess by Claire Christian
• Ida by Alison Evans
• Wreck by Fleur Ferris
• A shadow’s breath by Nicole Hayes
• Remind me how this ends by Gabrielle Tozer
• Paper cranes don’t fly by Peter Vu
• Ballad for a mad girl by Vikki Wakefield

Silver Inky award (books by international authors)

• The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli
• Turtles All The Way Down by John Green
• The Loneliest Girl in the Universe by Lauren James
• Still Life with Tornado by A.S. King
• The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee
• Genuine Fraud by E. Lockhart
• Warcross by Marie Lu
• One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus
• Release by Patrick Ness
• The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

Unhappy Birthday Lemony Snicket

Are you sick of books that end happily ever after? Where no matter what life throws at them the heroes and heroines of stories always triumph over everything?

Why not celebrate Lemony Snicket's birthday by reading (or re-reading) his Series of Unfortuante Events?