The Final Chapter: United We Spy

United We Spy by Ally Carter (Gallagher Girls #6)
Scholastic, 2013

It's hard to believe that all these years later, readers' first introduction to the world of The Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Women was with little Cammie Morgan wondering if it was possible to be a spy and have a boyfriend. A lot has changed in Cammie over the course of this series and in its finale United We Spy, these Gallagher Girls are all grown up and the stakes are higher than ever.

With the Circle of Cavan seemingly unstoppable, Cammie and crew are determined to put an end to them once and for all. Unfortunately, the girls are stuck in the awkward in-between: not technically full-fledged spies yet, but in a few short months they will be. Is it time to take charge of their own lives, make their own choices, make their own rules to save the people they love? Or after all this time, after all these years of preparation, is this even really the life they want if they even live to see graduation?

United We Spy is a worthy ending to a series I quickly came to love. All of Carter's markers are here: action, intrigue, missteps and misdirection, romance, moments of weakness and rallying incredible strength, and for the most part, answers (well, as many answers as she can give - they are spies after all). Here we have smart teenagers in an environment where that's something to be celebrated. Do they always make the right choices? Of course not - hijinks and chaos are always around the corner, but I still find these characters to be admirable. Over the course of six novels, they have shown incredible growth that any person who has ever felt powerless but dreamt of more can identify with.

Overall, while there were a few ways in which I would have liked a bit more. More insight into the paths that some of the characters will now follow. More reflection on what those paths and choices mean as far as their futures and friendships. But really, I just wanted more time to say goodbye. If you have been a fan of the Gallagher Girls, I think you will find United We Spy to be a mostly satisfying conclusion to this great series. And while it's hard to say goodbye, remember that we still have the Heist Society and upcoming Embassy Row series from Carter to look forward to!

Comments welcome, and, as always, happy reading!

Ally Carter's Website

Ally Carter on Twitter

Gallagher Academy Website

Steal Your Heart: Perfect Scoundrels

Perfect Scoundrels by Ally Carter (Heist Society #3)
Hyperion, 2013

Too often these days, I feel like it's become ingrained in people's heads that all adventure books must be dystopian, involving a corrupt government or the end of the world. These kinds of books also seem to feature girls in leading roles which is of course awesome, but they tend to be loners carrying the world's weight on their shoulders.

But not all adventure has to be sad with a huge message, and not every heroine has to go it alone. And that's what I love about Ally Carter's books. She does it so well in her Gallagher Girls series, and it shines through again here in Perfect Scoundrels, the third book in her Heist Society series.

Kat Bishop and her crew are up to their usual mischief when everything changes. This time it's not about a priceless painting or exotic jewels that need to be stolen (or as Kat thinks of it, re-stolen and returned to their rightful owners). This time, one of their own needs help. When Hale's grandmother dies, the will is read and it turns out she has left the billion-dollar Hale Industries to the 16 year old. But something doesn't seem quite right, so Kat and the crew are hired to try to find out the truth.

This is the first time I forced myself to read an Ally Carter novel slowly, and it paid off. Usually I complain that so much was going on, I wasn't able to keep up with the twists and turns of the heists and cons, but by slowing down I was able to follow the events and really get inside Kat's head. And while there's a lot happening (this series reminds me a lot of the 2003 version of The Italian Job), there's so much more than just plot here. Carter does a fantastic job of highlighting human aspects that any person can relate to, whether or not they lead a life as exciting as Kat's. Readers get to see smart and clever teenagers, that family isn't just the people who share your blood - sometimes it's the people you choose, and never doubt a girl who has a good head on her shoulders and a loyal crew.

While this book has been greeted with mixed reviews, I absolutely loved it. It was a fun escape into a colorful world with a fantastic group of secondary characters who I have come to care about in this series. If you're looking for a light contemporary with a dash of spice and adventure, then the Heist Society series is for you.

Comments welcome, and, as always, happy reading!

Ally Carter's Website
Ally Carter on Twitter

Caught In Between: The Madness Underneath

The Madness Underneath by Maureen Johnson (Shades of London #2)
Putnam, 2013

Maureen Johnson picks up right where she left off in this second installment of her Shades of London series, giving readers more insights into the world of ghosts in modern London.

So if you haven't read The Name of the Star yet, you probably want to stop reading this review right now because it's impossible to talk about aspects of this book without spoiling a few things in the first.

Rory has been with her parents in Bristol for a few weeks following being attacked by the ghost who was recreating the Jack the Ripper murders, and she doesn't want to talk about what happened. If she told her therapist or parents the truth, they'd think she's crazy. She hasn't been able to get in touch with Boo, Callum, or Stephen, the members of the Shades and the only other people who know what really happened and what it's like to be able to see ghosts. And then there's the fact that she's become a human terminus - that if she touches a ghost, she kills them. Again. It's complicated.  But now allowed back to Wexford, she's behind in school and there are more mysterious murders taking place.

This book very much has the feel of being the second book in a series. The plot does move along, but not in the more exciting ways of a first book where you're getting introduced to the world, the situation, the characters, and the rules. This story is much more focused on Rory and developing her, and in that light it is very successful. We also learn a bit more about Stephen (who has been one of my favorite characters from the start), and this new round of murders is as gruesome as ever.

Johnson has a particular gift for pacing in her story telling. When I started this book, I only meant to read a chapter or two and get a feel for it. Next thing I knew, it was 2 hours later and I was halfway done. I had become so wrapped up in Rory's thoughts and getting to know her again, which is a fun 'problem' to have with a book.

While we get a lot of Rory, what readers don't get is time with some of the really colorful and interesting secondary characters from Wexford that we got to know before. I think this largely has to do with the time span of this installment - while the first book took place over a few months, I think this takes place just over the course of a week.

And then there was the matter of the ending. It was an interesting twist to be sure - I certainly wasn't expecting it - but it will be interesting to see how Johnson can write a satisfactory conclusion to this new situation in book 3 (or maybe she doesn't intend to. Only time will tell).

If you read the first book in this series, I say absolutely pick this one up, too. I didn't love it as much as the first, but personally I'm so attached to some of these characters that I needed to see what happened next.

Comments welcome, and, as always, happy reading!


Maureen Johnson's Website
Maureen Johnson on Twitter
Maureen Johnson on Tumblr

Always Open: Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan
FSG, 2012

Clay's luck hasn't exactly been great lately. In fact, things were looking pretty bleak until he was roaming the streets of San Francisco and comes across the hole in the wall that is Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore. Suddenly Clay is employed as the night shift clerk and is catering to an eclectic group of people - you can't quite call them customers because at this store, books are rarely bought. Instead, people become members and borrow huge volumes from hundreds of shelves in the back of the store. Though he's given explicit rules about what he is supposed to do, curiosity is practically a job requirement for any person who works with books. Clay soon finds himself immersed in model-building, code-breaking, data curation, possible love, and the key to eternal life.

This novel was a charming slice of adult contemporary fiction, and I'm not even sure how to best describe it. It's one part mystery, one part mystical. And I'm not meaning mystical as in magical with spells and wizards (though, in one sense, perhaps...). I mean Mr. Penumbra's store and cast are all the things bibliophiles secretly love about bookstores, especially old ones. Quirky and not quite perfectly organized (at least to the naked eye), full of nooks and crannies that make you curiouser and curiouser. In that way, I found the story to be enchanting. Honestly, there was a book I read a few years back that I was expecting and hoping would be these things, but it fell so very short and Sloan's debut novel here more than made up for it.

But even with its sense of old-time charm, the novel is also taking on questions of present day and the future. One of the main characters works at Google. There are discussions about e-readers and what they're doing to the nature of bookstores. Since I'm admittedly not the most technically inclined (though I try very hard and am getting much better), these parts didn't grab me as deeply but were interesting just the same.

The writing sounds like a conversation. There's a great eclectic cast (though other than Mr. Penumbra himself, I wouldn't say they were as developed as they maybe could have been), and setting is used spectacularly. If you're a book lover, at least see if you can check this novel out from a local library. It's worth a read at least once, and I have a feeling that if I'm ever feeling disillusioned about my jobs with books, roles I love very much, I'll be revisiting Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore in the future.

Plus, the book glows in the dark. How cool is that??

Comments welcome, and, as always, happy reading!

Robin Sloan's Website
Robin Sloan on Twitter
Penumbra on Twitter

Grissly Ghosts: Anna Dressed in Blood

Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake
Tor Teen, 2011

I'm not usually one for horror books and ghost stories, but I can't say the same for the teens that frequent my library. They can't seem to get enough of them, and for the better part of a year, I've been able to scrape by based on the book jackets and blurbs I've read when helping them make book selections. But when this book finally made its way to our collection, I decided to give ghosts another try and was not disappointed.

Kendare Blake paints a dark, twisted picture in her novel Anna Dressed in Blood. Readers step inside the mind of 17 year old Cas Lowood - he hunts ghosts, just as his father before him did (until Mr. Lowood was murdered by a ghost). His jobs have taken him across America and now he's made his way to Thunder Bay, Ontario to kill off the evil Anna Dressed in Blood, the ghost of a 16 year old girl who was brutally murdered and has made a habit of killing anyone who enters the house she haunts. Everyone, that is, except Cas.

Overall, this story did a lot of things that I didn't expect it could do, and I really liked that. There's much more to Anna and Cas's situations than is originally let on, and I'm glad that this horror story really made me think about those predicaments and choices. This was a book I was not able to read quickly. Blake forces readers to slow down, take their time, and tread cautiously into this world of trying to kill the dead. She is descriptive and her choices seem to be meticulous. I liked that Cas was insulted by comparisons people made of him to Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Cas doesn't even try for a normal life because he knows it's not an option. It's what makes the minute pauses that resemble a normal existence so powerful to me as a reader. Cas is methodical, dancing on the line between caution when it's necessary and wanting to throw caution to the wind and destroy these things that cost his father his life.

I really enjoyed the secondary characters of the story, but I wish they would have been just a bit more fleshed out (however, the sequel Girl of Nightmares is due out later this year, so maybe readers will get more information then). I'm willing to concede to the idea that Cas doesn't say much about other people because he purposely tries to distance himself from them (he doesn't want anyone else to get hurt), but I hope to see a bit more dimension with them in the next installment.

Overall, I'm glad to have given this book a try and I'll absolutely be recommending to patrons who are looking for a story that will make their stomach churn. And while I'm still not really one for scary stories, you can bet Girl of Nightmares will be on my to-read list anyway.

Comments welcome and as always, happy reading.

Kendare Blake's Website 
Kendare Blake on Twitter

Something from Nothing: Paper Towns

Paper Towns by John Green
Dutton Juvenille, 2008

I have a long list of authors and titles that I'm embarrassed to admit I haven't read yet. John Green was absolutely on it - when I first read Looking for Alaska a little over a year ago, I was also upset that I hadn't heard much about him before then and that I was so late to the party. I went on to read An Abundance of Katherines and Will Grayson, Will Grayson and I was one of the many thousands who pre-ordered and then went on to be emotionally rocked by The Fault in Our Stars (which I successfully convinced the school I work for to put on our summer reading list this year!) Only one solo-Green novel remained, which was a challenge because it is always checked out from our library - Paper Towns.

Quentin (aka Q) is a few short weeks away from his high school graduation, and he's had a pretty average life so far. The only part that he considers to be particularly extraordinary is that he lives next door to Margo Roth Spiegelman, the adventurous girl who was his best friend when they were little who doesn't even speak to him now but he's in love with her anyway. But then one night, she shows up at his window dressed as a ninja and takes him out for a night of bending the law and doing the unthinkable. And then she disappears without a trace, no one knowing where she's gone or why. So Q becomes a man possessed, piecing together where she could be and if he ever really knew her at all.

This was a case of me reading a book at the perfect time of year - I recently graduated (though with my M.S.) and the end of the school year for the district where I work is just around the corner. All of Q's feelings about this particular crossroads of his life were incredibly realistic and relatable. I also enjoyed the secondary characters of this story - they each had a distinct purpose and reminded me of someone I know or used to know. (Though, to my knowledge, none of my friends' parents collected Black Santas, though it's entirely possible they just kept that fact hidden.) Another aspect of characterization that Green is masterful with is having a character who's not present still make a huge impact - though Margo isn't actually with Q for most of the story, you still feel like you know her, or rather, realize that like Q, you can never really know her. I also think the inclusion of Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass, specifically "Song of Myself," was completely brilliant - I struggled with that particular work when I read it in college, but I'm now completely excited to give it another try.

To those critics who feel that Green has a particular style to his characters and storytelling, I agree and disagree. Were there parts of this story that reminded me a lot of Looking for Alaska? Yes. Margo and Alaska have their similarities, as do Q and Pudge. And like An Abundance of Katherines, this trip also featured the independence and discoveries that come with a road trip. Green's characters are teens who are unashamed of being smart or different and I applaud that move - it makes me wish these books existed when I was 16 because I really could have used them.

All in all, it's easy for me to see why this book is never on my library's shelves. It's smart. It's funny. It keeps you on your toes. It's honest. It's at the high level that we've come to expect from John Green.

Comments welcome and, as always, happy reading.

John Green's Website
John Green on Twitter
John Green on Tumblr
John Green on YouTube

Searching for Answers: Out of Sight, Out of Time

Out of Sight, Out of Time by Ally Carter
Hyperion, 2012

I love getting good, old-fashioned mail. I especially love waiting for the mail at work and when the big boxes come in, because it means a book order is finally here. This week we got an exceptionally awesome load of YA books I'd ordered a few months ago, and the one that I selfishly just had to take before letting my students check it out (usually I let them go first because I'm a nice librarian) was Out of Sight, Out of Time, the latest installment in Ally Carter's incredible Gallagher Girls series.

When we last saw Cammie, it felt like everything and everyone was against her. The Circle of Cavan was going after her and she had no idea why. She wanted to search for answers, but the people she loves were put in danger just by being around her. Secrets came to light that even this young spy who has been trained to deal with a world of shadows had a hard time handling. And so she made the decision to search for answers on her own, by herself so no one else could get hurt, so this could all finally come to rest.

And then you read chapter one, in which Cammie wakes up four months later in the Alps with absolutely no memories of anything since she left the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women. She wanted answers, but instead is only left with more questions once she returns home. Questions about where she went, what happened to her, who was she with, and what was everyone else doing when she was gone. With only one semester left before graduation and being considered a full-fledged, field-ready spy, Cammie is both incredibly knowledgeable and unbelievably young to have to handle everything happening to her.

I literally read this book in a matter of hours because I could not put it down. The growth that Cammie and her friends have had over the years in so well done and incredibly realistic given their situations - it's almost hard to believe that this series started with the girls in the beginning of their sophomore year and digging through the trash to figure out how to talk to boys. Liz, Macey, and Bex each show different sides of themselves this time around and I loved how Carter emphasized the fact that while they are the best in the world at what they do, they're also in many ways just girls with 17 year old thoughts and feelings. And to those of you who are curious, yes Zach is back as well in a fantastic way that I wasn't expecting and completely loved.

This series is a fantastic example of contemporary YA with an innovative twist. They feature strong girls in an extraordinary situations, and while it can feel like teen books bash adults and parents sometimes, this is not the case here. Cammie and her friends have an incredible support system in the adults they know and trust, and while there are bad guys and gals too, there is an underlying love among the good that is something even us non-spies can understand. In my opinion, this is the strongest book in the series yet and Gallagher Girls #6 can't possibly come soon enough.

Ally Carter's Website

Ally Carter on Twitter

Gallagher Academy Website

Going Gothic: Northanger Abbey

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
John Murray, 1817

Once upon a time when I was a high school student, I took AP Literature and as a result, YA wasn't exactly on the agenda. (I didn't actually really start reading YA regularly until I took a class on it in graduate school last spring and completely fell in love.) In that class, we read a lot of Literature of the Canonical variety which I enjoyed, but honestly, would have trouble connecting with at times. An author whose work I continually enjoyed, however, was that of the one and only Jane Austen.

Over the years I've come to love her work and really appreciate just how it was to be a woman writer and taken seriously - novelists today often still face that scrutiny that pretending isn't all that hard. These six books get a place of honor on my bookshelf and I've enjoyed them all.

Well, until recently, I only enjoyed five of them. I'm a little embarrassed that I've been saying I'm an Austen fan for so long without having read Northanger Abbey, the first book Austen completed but the last to be published. But with my resolution to reconnect with the classics and grown up books I've been neglecting, I decided it was time for that to change.

What I think I actually found, instead, was an early example of the young adult novel.

Catherine Morland is 17 years old and has led a pretty sheltered, country life. Her ideas of romance and adventure come from the novels she reads, especially The Mysteries of Udolpho. Life gets more interesting, though, when she goes to the city of Bath with some family friends. She becomes friendly with Isabella Thorpe and tolerates her older brother, John. She dances and attends events of society. And she also makes the acquaintance of Henry Tilney, who she quickly begins to fall in love with. Eventually she is invited to Northanger Abbey, the Tilney family home, and she expects to finally encounter the kinds of magic, mystery, and horrors that fill the pages of the gothic novels she loves. (Think of it being similar to how so many people started saying they wished vampires were real after reading Twilight and wanting an Edward of their very own.)

This book has much of what appears in good YA today. Young love. A bit of mystery. A dash of humor. Gossip and the rumor mill. Jumping to conclusions. Taking sides. Making mistakes and then trying to right them. Austen has put together a very smart parody of gothic fiction

The biggest difference between this and historical fiction is that since this book really was written two centuries ago, details and dialogue are accurate. You get a tale about what it could have been like to be a teenager in the 19th century from someone who actually was.

The moral of this blog post, therefore, is a simple one: just because a book is old doesn't mean it's no longer relavant or doesn't still have an audience. Many of Austen's work continue to resonante with people today for a reason - they connect to aspects of the human condition that are unrelated to time. I love when I find a book that's been around for a long time but still has something to say. The best ones do.

Comments welcome and, as always, happy reading!

Careful Cons: Uncommon Criminals

Uncommon Criminals by Ally Carter (Heist Society #2)

Hyperion, 2011

Have I been on a bit of an Ally Carter kick lately? Yes. Am I at all embarassed about it? Absolutely not. I cannot wait for Gallagher Girls #5 Out of Sight, Out of Time, to come out in a few short days and I consider my reading as many of Carter's novels as I can get my hands on in the last few months making up for lost time. When the library I work at finally got in our copy of Uncommon Criminals, the second installment in the Heist Society series, on a Friday afternoon, I was delighted that the students had already gone home for the weekend because it meant I could take this home and read it guilt-free. I couldn't get enough of this story and promptly returned it and put it on display for check out Monday morning.

Uncommon Criminals picks up a few months after where Heist Society left off. Katarina Bishop, now fairly well known in the art theft world as "the girl who robbed the Henley," has had plenty of jobs keeping her busy around the world. Only rather than pulling them with her team of fellow teenage criminal masterminds, she's been doing it alone in her quest to be a bit like a modern day Robin Hood, tracking down pieces that were stolen by the Nazis during WWII and returning them to their rightful owners. So when an old woman approaches her about wanting Kat to steal the Cleopatra Emerald, which she says was stolen from her parents who had originally discovered it, Kat isn't surprised. Just a few things to keep in mind: Kat's crew (especially the boy she can't quite admit to herself she has a crush on, the amazing Hale) isn't too pleased at her dissappearing acts, the emerald hasn't been seen in public in 30 years, and the Cleopatra is severely cursed. And Kat does not want history to repeat itself this time.

The series is building momentum nicely in this reader's opinion. Most of the characters we got to know in the first book are back, and these globe-trotting teenagers lead interesting lives that kept me entertained. While what I said previously about the first book that sometimes I felt like I couldn't keep up with what was going on remains true this time around, unlike before I didn't really mind so much. The not knowing is the point. This whole world that these books explore is all about having secrets and keeping them. There are a lot of things that Kat doesn't know, and I believe the reasons readers don't get to know more is because neither do the characters. The more I think about it, the more I like that fact about this series. Is it a little frustrating at times? A little, but in an exciting way that makes the ending when all the pieces do come together more satisfying than if you had seen it coming.

Carter has a knack for creating stories and worlds where things are hardly what they seem and having characters that are both tough and vulnerable at the same time. Uncommon Criminals is a fun read for an afternoon when you want to get away.

Comments welcome and as always, happy reading!

Ally Carter's Website
Ally Carter on Twitter

Sassy Spies: Gallagher Girls

I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You by Ally Carter
Hyperion, 2006
Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy
Hyperion, 2007
Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover
Hyperion, 2009
Only the Good Spy Young
Hyperion, 2010

Since I read and enjoyed Ally Cater's novel Heist Society a few months ago and I've been on a "girls who kick ass" run lately as far as my reading choices are concerned, I decided to give Carter's Gallagher Girls series a try. Now, this post was originally supposed to just be a review of the first book, but then I really liked the second, immediately read the third, and HAD to get my hands on the fourth. Since this post therefore discusses four books instead of my usual one, this will be a long one with minimal spoilers. You have been warned.

Welcome to the exclusive Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women, or as the students and staff know it, spy school. Cammie is a student, her mom is the headmistress, and she and the rest of the Gallagher Girls are "exceptional" indeed. The school's cover is that it's just another boarding school for rich girls, but the truth is that these girls are certifiable geniuses, each are fluent in 14 languages, and they all know at least seven ways to kill a man with her bare hands.

In I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You, Cammie's sophomore year is off to a bumpy start. She and her best friends, Bex and Liz, are given a new roommate, Macey; their covert operations teacher, Mr. Solomon, is tough as nails; and Cammie meets Josh in town, a very normal boy who thinks she's a very normal girl. The girls decide to try the ultimate covert op so this Gallagher Girl can do the unthinkable - have a boyfriend.

The book is Cammie's mission report, and Carter captures that age and voice perfectly. The dichotomy of the girls' lives makes for an interesting plot and premise - according to testing, these girls are some of the smartest people in the world, but they're completely clueless when it comes to trying to figure out if a boy likes you.

A few times I cringed on Cammie's behalf. Did she really believe that lying to the boy she likes and sneaking out of her top secret school could end well? Without giving too much away, in the end she was able to redeem herself in my eyes. After all, people don't always make the best choices when they're 15 and relationships, no matter who you are, are complicated.

The girls are intelligent and strong, all the characters have distinct personalities and voices, and the book was a fun, quick read that kept me interested. The ending especially gave me reason to believe this series was headed somewhere, so I immediately picked up the sequel, Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy.

The second novel felt so much stronger to me. I know this series is all about teenage spies, but the plot involving some mysterious visitors coming to the school felt much more plausible to me. The characters all felt a bit more solid and the story kept me guessing. Zach was a welcome addition to the cast as a fellow teenage spy who sets his eye on Cammie. Whereas scenes with Josh would make me wince because I felt no good could come of it, I couldn't wait for Zach to show up. He's smart, just a bit too confident sometimes, sweet when he wants to be, and you never know what's going to come out of his mouth. He brings out the best in Cammie, personally and professionally.

Carter takes it up another notch with the third book, Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover. Junior year brings new and exciting elements like Cammie's kick-ass aunt Abby, attempts on someone's life on the campaign trail (Macey's dad is running for Vice President), and a mysterious organization known as the Circle of Cavan. Zach is back too as the only boy who really understands what Cammie's life is like and he's still full of his own secrets. The book is packed with action and the stakes are much higher. Forget getting a boyfriend - now it's about trying to stay alive and keep people safe. It was one of those situations when I was glad to be behind on a series because I got to read the next book right away.

In Only the Good Spy Young, nothing is as it seems. Mr. Solomon, the teacher Cammie has come to known and trust over the years, is revealed to be part of the Circle (or is he?) and Zach isn't completely the good guy she's wanted to believe he was, either. For some reason, the Circle is after Cammie and if anyone knows why, they certainly aren't telling her. For the first time in the series, I was actually afraid that these Gallagher Girls and the adults around them were in trouble, and with good reason.

The series has humor, spunk, tenacity, and interesting characters, but this turn for the serious kept me interested. In the third and fourth books, it's hard to believe this is the same Cammie from book one - her character has had incredible growth and I continue to root for her. It's killing me now that I have to wait along with everyone else!

All in all, I'm really, really glad to have found the Gallagher Girls. These books are fun, fast reads showcasing intelligent girls living extraordinary lives and I truly enjoy spending time in this world of action and espionage. The fifth installment, Out of Sight, Out of Time, is due out in March, 2012.

Comments welcome, and, as always, happy reading!

Ally Carter's Website

Ally Carter on Twitter

Gallagher Academy Website

Catch Her If You Can: Heist Society

Heist Society by Ally Carter
Hyperion, 2010

Ally Carter has created a 21st century pseudo-Robin Hood that kept me turning the pages in Heist Society. Kat Bishop has had anything but a normal life, and she's only 15 years old. But that's usually the case when you're born into a family of art thieves like the Bishops. She's been to the most impressive (and expensive) museums and art collections in the world, and her souvenirs don't come from the gift shop.

But three months ago, Kat walked away from the life, just wanting to be a normal kid for a change. Unfortunately, her friends, family, and fate all have other plans. Her father has been accused of stealing valuable paintings from a mobster, only he didn't do it. The only way Kat can prove her father's innocence (in this case, anyway) is to steal them back from the real thief. Sounds hard enough, but she's also been given a 2 week deadline. Luckily, Kat's not the only teenage thief around, so she assembles a heist society of her own, jumps back in the game, and they race the clock and security cameras as they attempt to pull off one of the riskiest jobs in history.

The primary and secondary characters are all colorful and it's fun seeing how they all fit together into the various aspects of the job. Kat is a perfect and impressive blend a girl who can figure out how to steal a painting from the Louvre, but can't tell when a guy is flirting with her (like her friend, the mysterious and fantastic Hale). I also liked the family dynamics at play - even though Kat's father is alive and well, it's Uncle Eddie who seems to be her primary father-figure. The crew is also extremely smart, which I enjoy. In this game, age doesn't matter if you have the skills.

If it were possible, I would be giving this book a 3.5 instead of a 3 on Goodreads, but I can't bring myself to justify a 4.  I really enjoyed Carter's exciting and action-packed story of teenage art thieves and con artists, but there were a few areas that still left me wanting more. The book is face paced, but in this case it made me feel like I was always missing something. In spite of all the good (and there are a lot of good things happening in this novel), I still had more questions than I'm comfortable with. What was it about the life that made Kat want to leave it so bad? What exactly happened to her mother? And for God's sake, what is Hale's first name?!

Perhaps these questions will be answered and these issues are resolved in the sequel, Uncommon Criminals, in bookstores and libraries now. I've liked what I've read so far, and I can't wait to see where the crew ends up next.

Comments welcome, and happy reading!

Ally Carter's Website
Ally Carter on Twitter

Not Your Parents' Ghost Stories: The Name of the Star

The Name of the Star (Shades of London #1) by Maureen Johnson
Putnam Juvenile, 2011

I'm not usually one for ghost stories. I don't like horror movies or being scared. I like the magical, but usually am quick to avoid dealing with the supernatural, vampires, or werewolves. (If I'm honest, it was Twilight that gave me a bad first-impression of this genre and I've been reluctant to give it another chance.)

And then I read The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson.

It's modern day England and Rory, an American girl, is trying to acclimate to the many differences she's encountering at her very British boarding school in the east end of London, Wexford. Her focus is on trying to get used to all these changes, but the rest of the city is wrapped up in Ripper-mania - that's right, someone is recreating the infamous Jack the Ripper murders of 1888 starting the night before Rory's arrival to town.

Johnson does a brilliant job easing readers into the more supernatural aspects of this story. It starts out feeling like a contemporary story (which it is in many respects), but eventually secrets come out and all is not as it appears to be. We're trying to stomach it all and wrap our heads around it the same way Rory is, which I found refreshing unlike other novels where characters easily accept these "truths" with no questions asked. Primary and secondary characters are all colorful and complex, and they feel very real. And with an ending like this one, readers are clearly forewarned that Rory still has much more to learn in the second and third installments of this Shades of London trilogy.

I'm still not saying that I'm going to be diving head first into the world of supernatural literature any time soon. However, I am much more willing to give it a second chance than I was before. And I can tell you this - I can't wait for books two and three of this series in the coming years. Johnson has me hooked.

Comments welcome and happy reading!

Maureen Johnson's Website
Maureen Johnson on Twitter
Maureen Johnson on Tumblr

The Great Perhaps: Looking for Alaska

Looking for Alaska by John Green
Puffin, 2005

With NaNoWriMo and my writing goals taking up much of my free time, my pleasure reading has been bumped down the to-do list for the time being. However, since one of the most common pieces of advice among writers is to read read read. I was able to heed this advice yesterday as I took the train to Chicago, and in honor of my destination I decided to re-read Looking for Alaska by John Green who wrote the novel when he lived in the city of big shoulders while also working at Booklist Magazine.

A new student at a boarding school, Miles has come to Culver Creek from Florida seeking "a great perhaps." A junior in high school, he has a knack for learning the last words of people and though he isn't exactly sure of what he's looking for, he knows he won't find it unless he makes a change. And so it's goodbye Florida, hello Alabama. From the very first day, his life is full of mischief and adventures thanks to his new friends: The Colonel, Takumi, and the ever mysterious Alaska Young, the girl who manages to both irritate Miles and steal his heart.

Alaska is a force to be reckoned with and for the first time in his life, Miles is thinking outside of his usual box and willing to live outside the standard set of rules. The novel is cryptically divided into two sections. Rather than chapters, the "Before" section is counting down to an event ("One hundred days before"). Eventually readers find out what the event is and from then on, segments in the "After" portion count the days since.

I first heard about John Green while an undergraduate working on my minor in secondary education. One of the Vlogbrothers, John and his brother Hank make regular YouTube videos talking about a wide variety of issues. I saw my first one in an education class in which we were discussing book challenges, and Looking for Alaska was a current example. Accused of being a pornographer by citizens who were uncomfortable with the book being part of the curriculum, in his four minute video, Green eloquently states his case in a fashion that is reminiscent of the novel being discussed. I was hooked, and I had to read the book that had started this all.

One of the major strengths of Green's debut novel is that Green raises the bar for his readers and expects them to reach it. He respects them. He crafts a story that is serious, funny, realistic, and with a strong and relatable voice. He knows that young adults are capable of thinking about more than just gossip and sex and while both of those feature into the novel (it is YA, after all), they do not dominate the story. Through Miles' eyes, readers are challenged to look at the parts of life that aren't so easy on the eyes. Questions are posed that are not capable of simple answers, no matter how old or smart you are. It's no wonder to me that this book was the 2006 Michael L. Printz Award winner for excellence in young adult literature.

I was actually sad when my train pulled into Union Station in the morning, and then back into my home station in the evening when my city business was over because I so enjoyed becoming reacquainted with this story. To anyone who says that young adult literature doesn't count as "real literature," this should be the book you hand over to change that person's mind.

Comments are welcomed and as always, happy reading.

Link to John Green's video addressing complaints about Looking for Alaska.

John Green's Website
John Green on Twitter
John Green on Tumblr
John Green on YouTube

Turning Tradition on its Head: Nikki Heat and Read it 1st

Heat Rises by Richard Castle
Hyperion, 2011

Sometimes it scares me that Hollywood seems to be out of original ideas. I mean, how many TV shows and movies each year are based on books or short stories? It seems to me like that number is rapidly growing. As a librarian-in-training, someone who works in the education field, certified English teacher, and, in general, a person who just loves books, I am a staunch believer that whenever possible, you should read the book first. Time and again, we’ve seen that while some film adaptations can be extraordinary (Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, To Kill a Mockingbird, etc.), they still often don’t quite measure up to everything that the book was able to be.

This is why I’m a huge fan of a relatively new website simply called Read it 1st. While it’s not by any means a new idea, this brain-child of Hank Green and Nerdfighteria is very straight forward – here people can make the pledge to read the book before they watch the movie and can sign up to get newsletters letting them know what stories coming soon to a theater near you may actually already be available at your local bookstore. The pledge, sign-up, and a copy of the first (and so far, only) newsletter are all that make up the website now, but I sincerely hope to see this grow in the future.

However, there are always exceptions to the rules. Anyone who has ever had to try to spell correctly in the English language knows this (oh, that pesky “I before e except after c!”). Nikki Heat can fall into this category, though it doesn’t necessarily have to. But first, some explanation is necessary.

Now in its fourth season, ABC’s hit show Castle follows mystery writer Richard Castle, a “consultant” with the NYPD who hangs around so he can follow the brilliant Detective Kate Beckett as research for his latest series of novels. And so Nikki Heat was born, a character who bares many similarities to her “real life” counterpart. In a completely brilliant marketing move, ABC decided to make the series a reality. So what we have is a real book series being written by a fictional author based on “real life” fictional people. It’s all very Meta, but trust me when I say that it works.

Here in lies the dilemma, however. The books often contain Easter eggs that relate back to the series. Non-viewers may miss out on some of the jokes or those “hey, the characters had that same conversation last season!” moments. Also, I find myself hearing and seeing the TV characters I’ve come to know and love in my head as I’m reading (it’s obvious who from the show is who in the books). So to read or to watch first? That is the question.

My answer? Either way works. I’m not usually one for mystery novels, but the show and these books have opened me up to a genre I probably would have continued to overlook. On their own, Heat Wave, Naked Heat, and Heat Rises (which came out just last month) are great mysteries. I love the style of the writer and there are plenty of plot twists to keep me interested without feeling blindsided. These books aren’t the hardboiled detective stories of old, and that’s why I like them. They’re contemporary, fresh, and like playful brain candy. And, since I watch the show (it did come first), I get those occasional Ah-Ha moments that people will get to have if they read first, then see the show.

The long and the short of it to me as that books and media don’t have to always be butting heads. So often they actually complement each other. Read it 1st shows us that books can inspire great film and that it can be thrilling to see some of our favorite characters brought to life. Likewise, Castle/Nikki Heat has been able to get huge numbers of TV viewers to turn off the tube and pick up a book or two or three. The moral is clear to me: Never underestimate the power of a good story.

Richard Castle's Website
Richard Castle on Twitter