{ Spotted & Sampled }: A new YA take on Lost & Lord of the Flies, a blast from the 90s past, and a sneak peek at a royal murder

Hello, fellow bookworms! Hope you all had a great summer! I spent mine with my hubby (who is a teacher and therefore can party all summer, woohoo!) and my son, who is now a toddler and has way too much energy. We spent a lot of time outside and we went on a big road trip at the end, so it was a nice break for all of us!

But now I'm back - yay! - and I bring you new blog things!!

So I keep discovering all kinds of books that I'm so excited about, and that I really want to share with people. Also, I have recently become aware of SO MANY ways to read samples of books, which is so great because I love getting a taste of the plot and an author's writing style ahead of time. And so I thought to myself, why not just make a weekly post about what I've spotted and added to my TBR list, and also what I've come across in the way of samples over the past week?

So here we are! Spotted & Sampled! LET'S DO THIS.

{ Spotted }

When We Were Lost
by Kevin Wignall

Available as: unknown
Pages: unknown
Publisher: Little, Brown & Company
Expected publication date: 2019
Suggested tags: young adult (ages 12-18), survival, thriller



From Goodreads:

"When a plane bound for Costa Rica crashes in deep jungle, the tail section breaks free and nineteen teenagers miraculously survive. Joel Aspinall, son of a local politician and student rep on the school’s council, is quick to take on the mantle of leadership, to organize everyone until a rescue party arrives. But the plane was crashed on purpose, no one knows where they are and no rescuers are coming. To make things worse, Joel’s decisions lead to more people dying, and he’s determined to wait it out.

Tom Calloway didn’t want to be on this trip. Tom doesn’t want to bond with his classmates – he isn’t the bonding type. He’d rather they just left him alone, and he’s always been unfriendly enough that they’ve been happy to oblige. But that was before the crash. Now he finds himself building the friendships he’s always tried to avoid. And despite his determined efforts to be left alone, he begins to see that he might be the one to challenge Joel and pull off another miracle, by getting all the survivors to safety.

When We Were Lost, featuring elements of Lost and Lord of the Flies, is a novel of survival, of teenagers thrust into a hostile environment. It’s a novel of life and death and the razor-thin dividing line between them. And it’s a novel about finding a place for yourself in a world that’s infinitely complex."

Lost + Lord of the Flies + YA = YES. Survival stories are so my thing. I'm already lining up for this one.


The Race to Chimney Rock
by Jesse Wiley

Available as: hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition
Pages: 160
Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers
Publication date: September 4, 2018
Suggested tags: chapter book (ages 7-10), historical fiction, choose your own adventure



From Goodreads:

"Go west, young pioneer—your journey begins here! In this first leg of your trek on the Oregon Trail, you need to find your way to Chimney Rock—but not without unpredictable challenges ahead. This is the first installment of four books that will take you all the way to Oregon Territory—if you make the right choices.

In book one of this exciting choose-your-own-adventure series, it's 1850 and your first goal is to get your family, covered wagon full of supplies, and oxen to Chimney Rock on time. But hurry—you'll need to make it through the rugged mountains before winter snow hits. Plus, there are wild animals, natural disasters, unpredictable weather, fast-flowing rivers, strangers, and sickness that will be sure to stand between you and your destination!

Which path will get you safely across the prairie? With twenty-two possible endings, choose wrong and you'll never make it to Chimney Rock on time. Choose right and blaze a trail that gets you closer to Oregon City!"

IT'S AN OREGON TRAIL CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE BOOK OMG THIS IS MY '90s CHILDHOOD IN BOOK FORM

Ahem. ... I'm fine. Everything's fine. ... But yeah, as soon as I saw this it was IMMEEEEEDIATELY on my to-read list. And you better believe I'm gonna read until I find all 22 possible endings.

{ Sampled }

Four Dead Queens
by Astrid Scholte

Available as: hardcover, Kindle edition, audiobook
Pages: 432
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers
Expected publication date: February 26, 2019
Suggested tags: young adult (ages 13-17), fantasy



From Goodreads:

"Seventeen-year-old Keralie Corrington may seem harmless, but she's, in fact, one of Quadara's most skilled thieves and a liar. Varin, on the other hand, is an honest, upstanding citizen of Quadara's most enlightened region, Eonia. He runs afoul of Keralie when she steals a package from him, putting his life in danger. When Varin attempts to retrieve the package, he and Keralie both find themselves entangled in a conspiracy that leaves all four of Quadara's queens dead.

With no other choices and on the run from Keralie's former employer, the two decide to join forces, endeavoring to discover who has killed the queens and save their own lives in the process. When their reluctant partnership blooms into a tenuous romance, they must overcome their own dark secrets in hopes of a future together that seemed impossible just days before. But first they have to stay alive and untangle the secrets behind the nation's four dead queens.

An enthralling fast-paced murder mystery where competing agendas collide with deadly consequences, Four Dead Queens heralds the arrival of an exciting new YA talent."

Sampled from: Bookish First (If you haven't heard of Bookish First, go check them out! You can read samples of upcoming books every week, and reviewing books earns you entries into weekly drawings and points towards FREE BOOKS. Yes please!! ... P.s. I'm not affiliated, just a big fan.)

Ok, so... YA fantasies are like THE THING right now. There are soooo many of them. And I'm starting to feel like they're all kind of... the same? I feel like I haven't read a new YA fantasy in a while that's really unique. So I'm a little hard to please when it comes to this type of book.

And after reading this sample, I'm kind of torn on this one. Parts of it I liked, and parts of it I didn't. I wasn't wowed by Keralie's story at the beginning - she's basically a pickpocket, working for an Oliver Twist-esque Fagin character, and the hints of her backstory (she left home apparently, after some kind of situation with her father) didn't really make me all that interested to know more, I hate to say.

Then we move over to a scene at the palace, where there are four queens of four different areas of this world called Quadara. I mean... again, I'm torn. Quad, four - clever, I get it. There are four distinct areas, but I wasn't really all that interested in any one of them. And I didn't really get into the queens' story line until (SPOILER! ... Well, not really, since it's in the title...) one of them is murdered.

Both Keralie's and the queens' story lines end in cliffhangers, and I *did* find myself wanting to read more to find out what happens from there. So I give this a solid "meh". I do want to keep reading, but I'm not going to be first in line when it comes out.



That's all for this week! Did you like it? I hope so. I liked doing it! So I'll hope to see you next week for more spottings & samples!

Pea-Sized Reviews: A Map for Wrecked Girls, Spirit's Key, & Starstruck

Trying a new review style... Smaller bite-sized reviews. On a pea-themed blog. So, Pea-Sized Reviews, obviously! Eh? Eh??

Well, it's a work in progress. Let's move on...




A Map for Wrecked Girls
by Jessica Taylor

Available as: hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition, ebook, audiobook
Pages: 368
Publisher: Dial Books
Publication date: August 15, 2017
Suggested tags: young adult, contemporary, survival



From Goodreads:

"We sat at the edge of the ocean—my sister Henri and I—inches apart but not touching at all. We'd been so sure someone would find us by now.

Emma had always orbited Henri, her fierce, magnetic queen bee of an older sister, and the two had always been best friends. Until something happened that wrecked them.

I'd trusted Henri more than I'd trusted myself. Wherever she told me to go, I'd follow.

Then the unthinkable occurs—a watery nightmare off the dazzling coast. The girls wash up on shore, stranded. Their only companion is Alex, a troubled boy agonizing over his own secrets. Trapped in this gorgeous hell, Emma and Alex fall together as Emma and Henri fall catastrophically apart.

For the first time, I was afraid we'd die on this shore.

To find their way home, the sisters must find their way back to each other. But there’s no map for this—or anything. Can they survive the unearthing of the past and the upheaval of the present?"

Pretty much anything that's a "lost on a deserted island" story will end up on my TBR. I love survival stories. And I was really intrigued by the sisters storyline in the synopsis for this one. But... I don't know. It wasn't for me. It wasn't bad, it was just not really my style of writing (the synopsis gives you a good idea of what it's like - kind of choppy and sparse, which some readers may really like), and the flashbacks interspersed in the story didn't really work for me. I kind of felt like I was reading two separate books instead of a story with flashbacks. Also, I feel like this story would have been
better?just as good without the Alex and Emma romance - I would have been just fine if it was only Henri and Emma on the island together. So yeah, not bad, just not what I thought it would be, I guess? More of a romance and less of the sister story I was expecting, and the writing style and format didn't work for me, but it would probably be a winner with other readers.

Overall rating: I liked it! I may not buy it for myself but I'm glad I read it. I would probably recommend it to others.

{ Thank you to Goodreads Giveaways and the publisher for providing me with a review copy. }




Spirit's Key
by Edith Cohn

Available as: hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition, ebook
Pages: 320
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
Publication date: September 4, 2014
Suggested tags: middle grade, mystery, paranormal



From Goodreads:

"Spirit's Key is a mystery with a bit of magic for fans of Savvy and Because of Winn Dixie.

By now, twelve-year-old Spirit Holden should have inherited the family gift: the ability to see the future. But when she holds a house key in her hand like her dad does to read its owner's destiny, she can’t see anything. Maybe it’s because she can't get over the loss of her beloved dog, Sky, who died mysteriously. Sky was Spirit’s loyal companion, one of the wild dogs that the local islanders believe possess dangerous spirits. As more dogs start dying and people become sick, too, almost everyone is convinced that these dogs and their spirits are to blame—except for Spirit. Then Sky's ghost appears, and Spirit is shaken. But his help may be the key to unlocking her new power and finding the cause of the mysterious illness before it's too late."

I wasn't sure what to expect with this one, but it turned out to be good! I loved the island setting, the talent that Spirit and her dad have for telling the future, and the idea of ghost dogs?? I want one!! It was a little heavy, with the dogs on the island dying, but it was a decent mystery story (although the reveal of whodunnit was a little meh for me). Nice themes of friendship, belonging, and doing what's right. I'd recommend this to middle grade readers who need a little something supernatural in their books (like my younger self... I would have loved this kind of book as a tween!), but who won't be too heartbroken over dying animals.

Overall rating: I liked it! I may not buy it for myself but I'm glad I read it. I would probably recommend it to others.

{ Thank you to Goodreads Giveaways and the publisher for providing me with a review copy. }




Starstruck
by Rachel Shukert

Available as: hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition, ebook
Pages: 339
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Publication date: March 12, 2013
Suggested tags: young adult, historical fiction, 1930s, California



First in the Starstruck series. From Goodreads:

"Every week they arrive in Los Angeles--beautiful and talented young hopefuls who dream of becoming stars. It's all Margaret Frobisher has ever wanted—and when she's discovered by a powerful agent, she can barely believe her luck. She's more than ready to escape her snobby private school and conservative Pasadena family for a chance to light up the silver screen.

The competition is fierce at Olympus Studios and Margaret—now Margo—is chasing her Hollywood dreams alongside girls like Gabby Preston, who at 16 is already a grizzled show-biz veteran caught between the studio and the ravenous ambition of her ruthless mother, and sultry Amanda Farraday, who seems to have it all--ambition, glamour . . . and dirty secrets. Missing from the pack is Diana Chesterfield, the beautiful actress who mysteriously disappeared, and there are whispers that Diana's boyfriend—Margo's new co-star—may have had something to do with it. Margo quickly learns that fame comes with a price, and that nothing is what it seems.

Set in Old Hollywood, Starstruck follows the lives of three teen girls as they live, love, and claw their way to the top in a world where being a star is all that matters."

I'm so into historical fiction, and also books that follow the storylines of multiple characters, so this one made my TBR with no second thoughts. It reminded me a lot of the Luxe series by Anna Godberson, where you get a peek at the lives of different girls, which includes much secrecy and gossip and romance and etc that keeps me flipping the pages long past my bedtime. The setting in 1930s Hollywood was really interesting to me and seemed accurate enough, from the limited knowledge I have of it. It's probably not something I would reread, but I liked it well enough and I think anyone interested in this time period or this type of dirty-little-secrets book should give it a read.

Overall rating: I liked it! I may not buy it for myself but I'm glad I read it. I would probably recommend it to others.

{ Thank you to Goodreads Giveaways and the publisher for providing me with a review copy. }

{ My reviews are honest and my opinions are my own; 

your reading experience may vary, so give it a read and see what you think. :) }

Review: Quarantine: The Loners by Lex Thomas

Quarantine: The Loners
by Lex Thomas

Available as: hardcover, Kindle edition, ebook
Pages: 416
Publisher: EgmontUSA
Publication date: July 10, 2012
Suggested tags: young adult, thriller, survival



First in the Quarantine series. From Goodreads:

"It was just another ordinary day at McKinley High—until a massive explosion devastated the school. When loner David Thorpe tried to help his English teacher to safety, the teacher convulsed and died right in front of him. And that was just the beginning.

A year later, McKinley has descended into chaos. All the students are infected with a virus that makes them deadly to adults. The school is under military quarantine. The teachers are gone. Violent gangs have formed based on high school social cliques. Without a gang, you’re as good as dead. And David has no gang. It’s just him and his little brother, Will, against the whole school.

In this frighteningly dark and captivating novel, Lex Thomas locks readers inside a school where kids don’t fight to be popular, they fight to stay alive."

{ I received this as an ebook ARC from NetGalley. }


I love survival stories. Exploring how characters react when their survival instincts kick in is fascinating to me. Quarantine: The Loners follows brothers David and Will as they struggle to survive in the aftermath of an explosion that traps all the students in their school and the spread of the virus that's slowly making them deadly to not only adults on the outside, but to each other on the inside as they grow older. It is indeed "frighteningly dark" - there is some pretty graphic detail of dangerous and deadly situations, but it makes for a fantastic feeling of fear and heaviness that swallows you up and lets you get totally lost in this gripping read.

The story is told in 3rd person, with the focus bouncing back and forth between the main characters. I liked this approach because you got to see what was happening all around the school, how one character's actions affect another and what sorts of plans are being made behind other characters' backs. The action was nearly non-stop; with all the students fighting for resources, territory, and respect, there was always something dramatic happening. I flipped pages like crazy, staying up way into the night because I just couldn't tear myself away in the middle of the action.

The only small complaint that I have is that I would have liked a little more detail about the first weeks after the explosion, when they're all trying to adjust to life trapped inside their school and the dawning realization that help may not be coming anytime soon. The book skips forward pretty quickly to months after the explosion, when they've already formed their own sort of society with gangs and leaders and jobs and trade. I'm pretty sure I'm in the minority here, but I wish I could have read more about how they got to that point. I can appreciate why that was all cut out, though - it keeps the action moving by cutting right to the heart of the plot.

The dynamic between David and Will is great. Will has epilepsy, so his older brother David has always played the role of protector for him. Now that Will is older, he's getting sick of it and is ready to play the hero on his own. But no matter what he does, he always ends up in David's shadow. And no matter how hard David tries to make the right choices, he seems to always anger Will. Will is so desperate to strike out on his own that he makes reckless, dangerous decisions that he knows are foolish, but he can't seem to help himself. (SPOILER - highlight to read: Like when he's raiding Varsity's stuff in the gym, and he decides to stop and throw a basketball... I was like, "ARE YOU SERIOUS?!? You just got away with stealing from Varisty - forget the ball and GET THE HECK OUT OF THERE!!" And I honestly almost shouted all this out loud at my Kindle.)

In the midst of all the chaos happening in the rest of the school, I was surprised to find a nice little love triangle between David, Will, and Lucy, a girl that Will met the summer before. It's alternately touching and frustrating. Frustrating for Will because he knew her first and then David moved in, but also frustrating as a reader because the two guys do ridiculous things when she's around. Will puts his desire to impress her over his need to provide for himself and his brother, and David becomes uncharacteristically, devastatingly careless about all other things when the chemistry between he and Lucy heats up. You know they're both putting themselves in terrible situations, and you just want to scream at the book to make them snap out of it and act right.

The action all leads towards a seemingly inevitable conclusion: you know the gangs are going to fight until only one is left standing. But at the last minute, the plot gets flipped into an unexpected cliffhanger of an ending. Right when you're sure there's about to be an epic final encounter between two rival characters, things you didn't expect (at least not yet) suddenly happen, and you're left in suspense with the last line. I desperately wished the next book was already out - I would have snagged it and kept right on reading.

Anyone interested in survival stories (or curious about what would happen if you were trapped for years in a life-or-death situation in your own high school with your fellow students) should definitely give Quarantine: The Loners a read. I can just about promise you'll be scoping out your own long-term hiding places the next time you walk down the halls of your school.

Overall rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Teaser Tuesdays: August 28, 2012

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Each Tuesday, you grab the book you're reading, open to a random page, and share 2 teaser sentences from anywhere on the page.
NO SPOILERS - make sure the sentences you pick don't give too much away!

Quarantine: The Loners by Lex Thomas Scraps converged on him from all over the quad. Some he didn't think he'd ever seen before. They were loner kids who lived in the shadows, who haunted the edges of the school, who had long ago been forgotten. {ARC ebook, 41%}

Quarantine: The Loners
by Lex Thomas

Available as: hardcover, Kindle edition, ebook
Pages: 416
Publisher: EgmontUSA
Publication date: July 10, 2012
Suggested tags: young adult, thriller, survival


First in the Quarantine series. From Goodreads:

"It was just another ordinary day at McKinley High—until a massive explosion devastated the school. When loner David Thorpe tried to help his English teacher to safety, the teacher convulsed and died right in front of him. And that was just the beginning.

A year later, McKinley has descended into chaos. All the students are infected with a virus that makes them deadly to adults. The school is under military quarantine. The teachers are gone. Violent gangs have formed based on high school social cliques. Without a gang, you’re as good as dead. And David has no gang. It’s just him and his little brother, Will, against the whole school.

In this frighteningly dark and captivating novel, Lex Thomas locks readers inside a school where kids don’t fight to be popular, they fight to stay alive."

New Release Round-Up: August 20-26, 2012

Young Adult


Pizza, Love, and Other Stuff That Made Me Famous
by Kathryn Williams

Release date: August 21, 2012
Available as: hardcover, Kindle edition, ebook
Pages: 240
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
Suggested tags: young adult, contemporary, romance



From Goodreads:

"Can a spot on a teen reality show really lead to a scholarship at an elite cooking school AND a summer romance?

Sixteen-year-old Sophie Nicolaides was practically raised in the kitchen of her family’s Italian-Greek restaurant, Taverna Ristorante. When her best friend, Alex, tries to convince her to audition for a new reality show, Teen Test Kitchen, Sophie is reluctant. But the prize includes a full scholarship to one of America's finest culinary schools and a summer in Napa, California, not to mention fame.

Once on-set, Sophie immediately finds herself in the thick of the drama—including a secret burn book, cutthroat celebrity judges, and a very cute French chef. Sophie must figure out a way to survive all the heat and still stay true to herself. A terrific YA offering--fresh, fun, and sprinkled with romance."

The Raft
by S.A. Bodeen

Release date: August 21, 2012
Available as: hardcover, Kindle edition, ebook
Pages: 231
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Suggested tags: young adult, realistic fiction, survival



From Goodreads:

"Robie is an experienced traveller. She’s taken the flight from Honolulu to the Midway Atoll, a group of Pacific islands where her parents live, many times. When she has to get to Midway in a hurry after a visit with her aunt in Hawaii, she gets on the next cargo flight at the last minute. She knows the pilot, but on this flight, there’s a new co-pilot named Max. All systems are go until a storm hits during the flight. The only passenger, Robie doesn’t panic until the engine suddenly cuts out and Max shouts at her to put on a life jacket. They are over miles of Pacific Ocean. She sees Max struggle with a raft.

And then . . . she’s in the water. Fighting for her life. Max pulls her onto the raft, and that’s when the real terror begins. They have no water. Their only food is a bag of Skittles. There are sharks. There is an island. But there’s no sign of help on the way."

Other YA new releases for this week:

Middle Grade


The Sinister Sweetness of Splendid Academy
by Nikki Loftin

Release date: August 21, 2012
Available as: hardcover, Kindle edition, ebook
Pages: 304
Publisher: Razorbill
Suggested tags: middle grade, fantasy, mystery



From Goodreads:

"Lorelei is bowled over by Splendid Academy--Principal Trapp encourages the students to run in the hallways, the classrooms are stocked with candy dishes, and the cafeteria serves lavish meals featuring all Lorelei's favorite foods. But the more time she spends at school, the more suspicious she becomes. Why are her classmates growing so chubby? And why do the teachers seem so sinister?

It's up to Lorelei and her new friend Andrew to figure out what secret this supposedly splendid school is hiding. What they discover chills their bones--and might even pick them clean!

Mix one part magic, one part mystery, and just a dash of Grimm, and you've got the recipe for a cozy-creepy read that kids will gobble up like candy."

Ungifted
by Gordon Korman

Release date: August 21, 2012
Available as: hardcover, Kindle edition, ebook
Pages: 288
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Suggested tags: middle grade, realistic fiction



From Goodreads:

"The word gifted has never been applied to a kid like Donovan Curtis. It's usually more like Don't try this at home. So when the troublemaker pulls a major prank at his middle school, he thinks he's finally gone too far. But thanks to a mix-up by one of the administrators, instead of getting in trouble, Donovan is sent to the Academy of Scholastic Distinction (ASD), a special program for gifted and talented students.

It wasn't exactly what Donovan had intended, but there couldn't be a more perfect hideout for someone like him. That is, if he can manage to fool people whose IQs are above genius level. And that becomes harder and harder as the students and teachers of ASD grow to realize that Donovan may not be good at math or science (or just about anything). But after an ongoing experiment with a live human (sister), an unforgettably dramatic middle-school dance, and the most astonishing come-from-behind robot victory ever, Donovan shows that his gifts might be exactly what the ASD students never knew they needed."

Other Middle Grade new releases for this week:

New Release Round-Up: July 30-August 5, 2012

Young Adult


Survive
by Alex Morel

Release date: August 2, 2012
Available as: hardcover, Kindle edition, ebook
Pages: 272
Publisher: Razorbill
Suggested tags: young adult, realistic fiction, survival



From Goodreads:

"Hatchet meets Lost in this modern-day adventure tale of one girl's reawakening

Jane is on a plane on her way home to Montclair, New Jersey, from a mental hospital. She is about to kill herself. Just before she can swallow a lethal dose of pills, the plane hits turbulence and everything goes black. Jane wakes up amidst piles of wreckage and charred bodies on a snowy mountaintop. There is only one other survivor: a boy named Paul, who inspires Jane to want to fight for her life for the first time.

Jane and Paul scale icy slopes and huddle together for warmth at night, forging an intense emotional bond. But the wilderness is a vast and lethal force, and only one of them will survive."

The Waiting Sky
by Lara Zielin

Release date: August 2, 2012
Available as: hardcover, Kindle edition, ebook
Pages: 224
Publisher: Putnam Juvenile
Suggested tags: young adult, realistic fiction, contemporary



From Goodreads:

"One summer chasing tornadoes could finally change Jane's life for the better.

Seventeen-year-old Jane McAllister can't quite admit her mother's alcoholism is spiraling dangerously out of control until she drives drunk, nearly killing them and Jane's best friend.

Jane has only one place to turn: her older brother Ethan, who left the problems at home years ago for college. A summer with him and his tornado-chasing buddies may just provide the time and space Jane needs to figure out her life and whether it still includes her mother. But she struggles with her anger at Ethan for leaving home and feels guilty--is she also abandoning her mom just when she needs Jane most? The carefree trip turned journey of self-discovery quickly becomes more than Jane bargained for, especially when the devilishly handsome Max steps into the picture."

Other YA new releases for this week:

Middle Grade


The Ghost of Graylock
by Dan Poblocki

Release date: August 1, 2012
Available as: hardcover, Kindle edition, ebook
Pages: 258
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Suggested tags: middle grade, horror, ghosts



From Goodreads:

"What dark secrets haunt this abandoned asylum?

A spooky, standalone ghost story a la John Bellairs and Mary Downing Hahn.

Everyone’s heard the stories about Graylock Hall.

It was meant to be a place of healing—a hospital where children and teenagers with mental disorders would be cared for and perhaps even cured. But something went wrong. Several young patients died under mysterious circumstances. Eventually, the hospital was shut down, the building abandoned and left to rot deep in the woods.

As the new kid in town, Neil Cady wants to see Graylock for himself. Especially since rumor has it that the building is haunted. He’s got fresh batteries in his flashlight, a camera to document the adventure, and a new best friend watching his back.

Neil might think he’s prepared for what he’ll find in the dark and decrepit asylum. But he’s certainly not prepared for what follows him home . . ."

Dear Blue Sky
by Mary Sullivan

Release date: August 2, 2012
Available as: hardcover, Kindle edition, ebook
Pages: 256
Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books
Suggested tags: middle grade, realistic fiction, contemporary



From Goodreads:

"A timely, eye-opening novel showing how war affects families on both sides

Ever since her brother Sef left for Iraq, Cassie has felt like her life is falling apart. Her parents are fighting over her brother having gone to war. Her smart, beautiful sister is messing up. Her little brother, who has Down syndrome, is pretending he's a Marine. And her best friend no longer has time for her. In her loneliness Cassie turns to a surprising source of comfort: Blue Sky, an Iraqi girl she meets through her blog. The girls begin a correspondence and Cassie learns that when Blue Sky says "I want my life back," she means something profound, as she can no longer venture out in her destroyed city. Cassie takes strength from Blue Sky's courage and is inspired to stop running away from the pain, and to reclaim her life."

Other Middle Grade new releases for this week: