Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Blood Red Road by Moira Young

Blood Red Road

Author: Moira Young

Publisher: McElderry Books

5 out of 5 stars


The sun beats down on you, a relentless torrent of heat that feel like it’s melting your skin away.  You reach for your canteen for a drink, only to realize that there’s nothing left.  Your heavy tongue begs for water, but the only thing you have to swallow is your own spit.  You just have to go through the motions, slowly putting one foot in front of the other, trying not to think of how much longer you have to go.  Around you is open desert, with rolling sand dunes that never seem to end.  In the distance you think you see a lake of water, but it’s probably just your eyes playing tricks on you.  You keep going, hoping that there really is something there.  All you’ve got left is the hope that you’ll find him.  He goes first, and then you follow.  That’s how it always is.  At least, you hope so this time.

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Bad Girls Don't Die by Katie Alender


Bad Girls Don't Die

Author: Katie Alender

Publisher: Hyperion

4 out of 5 stars

You open the door to the basement, and you can feel the cold seeping out of it.  The glow of the kitchen behind you ends after the first couple of steps down, and everything beyond it is shrouded in darkness.  You slowly feel your way, down step by step, illuminating what’s in front of you with your flashlight.  The gleam from your flashlight starts to fade, and soon you can barely see the breath in front of your face.  You finally reach the bottom of the stairs after what feels like an eternity.  That’s when it all goes wrong.  The door above you slams shut, your flashlight sputters out, and the temperature drops suddenly.  The panic rises inside of you, and just as you’re about to scream you feel a breath on the back of your neck.  You are not alone.

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

The Last Universe by William Sleator

The Last Universe

Author: William Sleator

Publisher: Amulet Books

3½ out of 5 stars

You’ve seen the science experiments.  The ones that kids always do for science fairs, where they train the mouse to navigate a complicated maze to make it to a reward, like a piece of cheese.  They scurry through the cardboard corridors turning left, then right, then left again.  At times they pause to sniff the air, wrinkling their whiskers, and then they drop back down to all fours and pad through the maze, triumphantly claiming their prize once they reach the cheese.  But here’s a new twist.  In this perilous maze, you’re the mouse, and there’s no cheese at the end, just a mouse trap.