There’s no shortage of dystopias on the shelves-and no shortage of books where our current society has collapsed, leaving something sad and twisted to struggle in the remains. But in all these books, humanity survives.

At the beginning of The Boy at the End of the World, humanity is dead. There is no society to struggle against, and no rivalries to explore. Our protagonist is Fisher, a vat-grown clone implanted with limited survival skills. Accompanied by a broken robot and a pet mammoth, he must not only survive in this broken world (Greg van Eekhout’s creativity shines as Fisher struggles against giant flesh-eating parrots, baseball-sized robotic bees, and swarming mini-crocs) but find a reason to ‘continue existing’. After finding evidence of a second “Arc”, Fisher sets out on a dangerous journey to find the last remnants of human society-but there’s no guarantee they’ve survived.

The writing style is clear and works for both drama and humour, and though the book certainly has a lot to say, smoothly works it into an intriguing adventure. A genuinely unnerving villain and creative setting make this book shine. At times, the fast pace becomes a little rushed. I wish that Van Ekhout had spent more time on the ending, instead of simply setting up the sequel-but readers will be eagerly anticipating more post-apocalyptic adventures with Fisher.

Reading Level: Intermediate

Highly Recommended
b>Rating: ✰✰✰✰

I recently finished reading A Framework for Understanding Poverty by Ruby K. Payne, and I was disappointed. The book is overly simplistic, the bullet-heavy format makes the book feel like an oversized set of workshop notes, and there just isn’t enough research to back up her assertions. In this book, poor students are defined solely by how they differ from middle-class students. The few good points are very general, relating to resilience and explicitly teaching thinking skills, but a couple of good (and obvious) points don’t make up for the shallow approach and lack of documentation.

If you’re interested in a book that describes the survival strategies used by people in poverty use, pick up Off the Booksinstead-not an “education” book, not about children, but better written, better researched, and an actually enjoyable read to boot.

Rating: ✰ 1/2

There’s little original about The Elsewhere Chronicles’ story-four friends are trapped in another world and must find a way home, while fighting monsters and a mysterious, shadowy warlord. Originally published in French, the fourth volume has recently been translated into English-so consider this a review of the series so far.

The art is bright, colourful, and expressive, a blending of Japanese and European styles. Although the characters are archetypical, their emotions and expressions are genuine and are clearly conveyed to the audience. The artist has a particular talent for exciting, dramatic action scenes.

There are a few minor problems with the translation-it occasionally feels like something has been left out or skipped over. On the whole, the Elsewhere Chronicles are a fun, exciting, but somewhat derivative and shallow read. I plan on buying the rest of the series as it comes out, but it is by no means a must-have.

Rating: ✰✰✰ 1/2

Stephen Hunt has written four novels in the Steampunk universe first described in The Court of the the Air. All of his novels are loud, exuberant affairs, with a self-conscious complexity that echoes Victorian literature and an unselfconscious love of stuff and spectacle that echoes-absolutely nothing else I’ve ever read. In The Court of the Air, you’ll find giant, punch-card driven computing machines capable of DNA analysis, a race of steam-powered robots that practice a mixture of Buddhism and Vodoo, a sentient war machine from an ancient age, airships, an insectoid race of Lovecrafian horrors, and no, that’s not all. This is all great fun-but the plots sometimes ramble and it’s difficult to keep track of the many, many characters.

The latest book in the series Secrets of the Fire Sea just isn’t as good as the ones that came before. The lead is too similar to past characters and never really develops her own voice, the moral dilemas raised by the society of Jargo are never really acknowledged, and it’s just a bit too noisy and scattered for its own good. That said, it’s still chock full of Hunt’s trademark creativity-sentient bear people! An volcanic civilization surrounded by lava flows! And a female heroine devoted to the intellectual life (this last one shouldn’t be noteworthy, but is).

If you’re a fan of the series, Secrets of the Fire Sea is probably worth picking up-but it’s not the high point. If you dig epic fantasies with unique conceits, check out The Court of the Air.

Reading Level: Young Adult/Adult.

Rating: ✰✰✰

Skim has received a slew of rewards, including being named ”Best Illustrated Children’s Book” by the New York Times.  The story follows 16-year old Skim in the months after she breaks her arm “falling off her bike”  (actually, tripping over her altar and landing on her mother’s candelabra).  Along the way, a classmate commits suicide, Skim engages in an intense, but quickly aborted relationship with her English teacher, Miss Archer, and Skim grows away from one friend and makes another.  

Skim herself narrates the story, scribbling out words and making corrections as she tries to make sense of her own experiences.  The art is beautiful, with detailed backgrounds that don’t overpower the characters. Each character is unique and easily recognizable, facial expressions are subtle and powerful-in short, the art is just great.  

The heavy issues addressed in Skim could easily turn a lesser book into an after-school special-but Skim is rich in empathy and understanding.  Highly recommended.

Rating:  ✰✰✰✰ 1/2

Benny loves Burgers.  In fact, he loves them so much that he eats nothing BUT burgers.  One day, his mother warns him that if he keeps eating so many burgers, he’ll turn into one-and one day, he does!

Witty rhymes and colorful illustrations are the main appeal of this simple story.  The illustrations are childish, but not simple or ineffective.  The sequence where Benny turns into a Burger is particularly clever.   Beginning readers will get a boost from the repetition as more and more people and animals chase poor Benny.  There are some minor problems with meter-some of the lines don’t quite scan when read aloud.  However, these are minor quibbles-this is a fun, if light, book that will make a great read aloud-and a really good introduction for a healthy eating unit.  

Grade Level:  ~Grade 2-3

Rating:  ✰✰✰ 1/2

16-year old Jamie has developed an unusual-and unpredictable-power.  She is drawn into the dreams of anyone around her-riding along with the student dozing in study hall, the man sleeping on the subway.  When she’s drawn into the startlingly violent dreams of a classmate, it becomes clear that she’ll have to take control of her powers in order to solve the mystery.  

The Wake Trilogy is a creative modern fantasy, with simple plots that show off the excellent characters.   Jamie is smart, determined, self-sufficient, occasionally harsh and wonderfully complicated, with dreams of attending university and leaving her alcoholic mother behind.  

The books are short, and the informal, fragment-heavy writing style is very much a matter of taste.  I enjoyed it-I felt that combined with McMann’s keen eye for description and detail, it really captured the strange, hyper-realism of dreams.   

There is a lot of “mature” content in the Wake Trilogy-abuse, sexual assault, exploitation-and underage drinking, drug use, and sex.  However, it’s all dealt with in a surprisingly mature manner-characters struggle with what they’ve gone through, but aren’t defined by it, actually talk through their problems.  And, I really shouldn’t be so pleased by this, but this is the only young adult book I’ve read where it’s clearly stated that a. the couple is having sex and b.  they’re using condoms every time.   

Grade Level: Young Adult

Rating:  ★★★★

This is one of those books I feel guilty about reviewing-I fished it out of the remainder bin at Book Warehouse and it doesn’t seem to be on sale through Amazon.com .  It’s not a particularly unique book-there are probably hundreds of Monster Bestiaries and Field Guides, any of which could be used as the basis for a great language art lesson.

However, Raising Your Own Pet Monster is a charming book.  The faux craft paper pages and hand-pained Monsters give the entire book a warm, approachable feel.  The text deftly combines the ridiculous, gross-humor aspects of pet monsters with a charming, straightforward lesson about how we need to be responsible and loving towards our pets.

There are other books like this-but I like this one.  My copy got nice and dog-eared over my practicum.

Grade Level: ~3

Rating:  ★★★1/2

**Posts will be infrequent and short for the foreseeable future-I’m on practicum!**

Naomi and her friend Will flipped a coin, and Naomi lost.  That meant that Naomi had to get back inside to fetch the yearbook camera.  On her way down the steps, she falls and hits her head-erasing two years of her life (the camera, ironically, survived).

I wasn’t a huge fan of Zevins first book, Elsewhere, I found it derivative and overly in love with it’s own conceit.  Though the Naomi’s amnesia is unrealistic, it really works as a device-it works perfectly in capturing those points in our life when we stop and wonder “is this really where I wanted to end up?”

The real strength of this book is it’s honesty-Naomi’s relationships don’t always last, and the big reveal doesn’t resolve all the issues.  Handling the message that Young Love doesn’t last, and the memories fade with time-but it still matters takes real skill, and Zevin pulls it off.  Highly recommended.

Grade Level Equivalent: ~7 

Rating: ★★★★