Professor Atlas and the Summoning Dagger

Professor Atlas And The Summoning Dagger by Paul Maguire
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Tyler and Brandon win a contest to participate in an archeological dig with their hero, the adventurer Professor Atlas. The dig takes place in the remote English countryside in hopes of discovering the legendary and magical Summoning Dagger. While on the dig site, henchmen of Professor Atlas' nemesis attempt to abduct the boys and Professor Atlas. The Summoning Dagger appears and transports Professor, Tyler and Brandon back to Midieval England. The three now have to track down the magician who owned the Dagger in hopes of finding their way back to their own time.
There were a few aspects of this book that I had a hard time getting over. First, the two boys were the only two members of the dig team other than Professor Atlas. I would think that Professor Atlas would have a larger team of experienced archeologists looking for such a legendary artifact. And closely related to this issue is the fact that the boys' parents allowed them to travel interationally with basically a stranger and no other type of adult supervision.
When the three are transported back in time, there were instances when there was a pointed effort in the language and turns of phrases that we use today are questioned or corrected so that the medieval audience would understand what is being said, but a few things slip through. Like when one of the boys state that he would like to "Check out the bonfire". I'm not sure that the people of midieval Englad would understand what "check out" would mean, but there were no questions or strange looks.
But, for the most part, this was a fun and light read that would be suitable for a reluctant reader.

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Son

Son by Lois Lowry
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Publisher: Houghton Mufflin
Publish Date: October 2, 2012
Source: Baker and Taylor ARC
Interest: Middle-Grade, Series, Dystopia

The characters from The Giver, The Messenger, and Gathering Blue are revisited in this conclusion to The Giver Quartet. In Son, we are introduced to Claire. Claire was from the same community as Jonas from The Giver. She was the birth mother to the baby that Jonas' family was fostering and that he rescued at the end of The Giver. We know learn Claire's story and her desperate search for the child that she was forced to live without.
I was so excited to see this available as an ARC. I had not heard that Lowry had written another novel in this series. Although it had been many years since I had read the other novels, the tone and feel of Son immediately brought me back to this world. I read this in a matter a days and now want to re-read the rest of the series to better see the connections between the novels.
Claire's story is heartbreaking and empowering at the same time. Unusual circumstances allow her to see flaws in the controlled community she lived in. She doesn't know any other way to live, but she knows that there is more to life that what her community has to offer. No matter how long it takes her, she is determined to reunite with her son.
Her quest takes her to two different communities over many years. Over that time, she learns more about herself. And from her journey, we learn about humanity.

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The Infinity Ring: A Mutiny in Time

A Mutiny in Time by James Dashner
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Publisher: Scholastic
Publish Date: August 28, 2012
Source: Baker and Taylor ARC program
Interest: Middle Grade, Series

The world Dak and Sarah live in is very similar to our world, but there are events in history that are not quite how we remember them to be. Because the historical events in Dak and Sarah's world didn't happen as they should have, people in their work experience "Remnants" or shadows of what should have been.
There is a group of people, the Hystorians, that are keeping track of all the instances in history that didn't occur they way they should have. There is another group of people, the SQ, that want to keep history as is is. But, because events have not occurred the way they should have, natural disasters are becoming more frequent and more dangerous.
Dak's parents have developed a time travel device that can help the Hystorians fix what is wrong with historical events. This is how Dak and Sarah find themselves in 1492 trying to stop the mutiny that kept Christopher Columbus from leading the discovery of the Americas that occurred in their history.
This is a fun adventure story that middle grade readers will enjoy. It's fun to pick out the mistakes in this alternate universe. And the books in this new series link to a digital experience that readers can further explore.

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Seraphina by Racehl Hartman

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Publication date: July 2012
Source: Netgalley
Interest: Debut

Living in a world that has an uneasy truce with a race of dragons, Seraphina is keeping a huge secret: she's half human and half dragon. The dragons are able to take human form and her father didn't know until her mother died that her mother was a dragon. Seraphina inherited her mother's musical abilites and is now a music intructor at the royal court which puts her secret in constant danger of being discovered by the wrong people. But, her unique connection to both worlds may prove to be invaluable when an assassination plot of a dragon leader is discovered.

If you can get past the fantasy aspect of this novel, it is well worth the read. At its heart, it's a story about the differences of people and whether or not those differences can be tolerated and even accepted. I could have seen this story published during the civil rights era as a thinly veiled story about race relations.



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A Boy and a Bear in a Boat

A Boy and A Bear in a Boat by Dave Shelton
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Publisher: David Fickling Books
Release Date: June 12, 2012
Source: Baker and Taylor ARC program
Interest: Middle-Grade

A boy on his own seeks to cross a body of water from a bear in a small boat. The bear is very proud of his boat and assures the boy that the crossing will take no time at all. Unfortunately, "unforeseeable anomalies" occur and the crossing takes much longer than expected.
I was looking forward to reading this book when I read the description. I thought it would be a quick, fun, and light read that I would be able to recommend to reluctant middle-grade readers. It was a quick and light read, but it was not fun. All the "unforeseeable anomalies" became stressful to read. The boy and the bear ran out of food and water (and by the end of the book, that was the least of their worries).
I don't expect a happy ending for all the books I read, often the best stories don't have a happy ending, but I thought that this book deserved a happy ending because of all the trials and tribulations that the two characters went through. But, I was disappointed. I don't consider the ending to be happy, in fact, I didn't think it was much of an ending at all. I hope that the author didn't leave it as a cliffhanger in hopes of writing a sequel.

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Unbreak my Heart by Melissa C. Walker

Unbreak My Heart by Melissa C. Walker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
Release Date: May 22, 2012
Source: Netgalley
Normally Clementine would not be thrilled about spending her entire summer on a boat with her family, but this summer she's trying to escape from her humiliating sophmore year. She made the mistake of falling for her best friend's boyfriend and while he is apparently forgiven, she now wears a scarlett A on her chest.
We don't learn the full story of why Clem is so upset on her summer vacation. She only reveals bits and pieces to her family and the reader. When she does finally tell the whole story, it's not really that bad. But, it just goes to show how we can make bigger deals of things that aren't really that bad and how nasty high school girls can be to each other.
I would be comfortable recommending this to a younger teen that wants a roamnce story but is not ready for the intense storylines of many teen romances.

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