bibliopenguin

Title: Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat
Author: Lynne Jonell
Series: Yes. No official series title (I just call it "Emmy"). Three out so far.
Categories: intermediate, female pov, anthropomorphic animals, family, being normal, making friends, growing up, humor
Other works by Lynne Jonell: Emmy and the Home For Troubled Girls (#2), Emmy and the Rats in the Belfry (#3), Secret of Zoom, Hamster Magic, Lawn Mower Magic
Notes: The edges of the pages are a flip book!

Emmy is a good girl, but all her efforts at being good and her burning desire to be normal are to no avail. Her parents ignore her, her classmates seem to forget she exists, her nanny (Miss Barmy) is unpleasant, and the pet rat in her classroom makes snarky comments only she can understand. One day, Emmy decides to free the rat from his cage, and that is where it all starts...

Humorous and fun, Emmy’s adventures are great of middle-level readers or more advanced readers who are looking for a break from the dystopian adventures and paranormal romances that currently dominate YA fiction. The story whizzes by, and the second book (Emmy and the Home For Troubled Girls) continues in the same vein, living up to the all the good qualities of the first book.

Although the third is available, I haven't read it yet. I am looking forward to doing so.

P.S. Every person I have recommended this to who has commented on it has told me it was a huge success with their reader.

Title: Matched
Author: Ally Condie
Series: Book 1 of trilogy. Second book (Crossed) is out in hardcover.
Categories: YA, dystopia, romance, self-discovery, poetry, series
Other works by Ally Condie: Freshman For President, Being Sixteen, The Yearbook Trilogy (Yearbook, First Day, Reunion)

If you are looking for an action-packed dystopian adventure a la The Hunger Games series, this is definitely not the book for you. Matched is a completely different kind of dystopian story--one in which the masses sacrifice choice for security and comfort. Unlike Katniss' world, in which violence and poverty keep the populous in check, Cassia's world is one of carefully parceled-out privileges and comfortable, predictable futures. The Officials and the government choose everything--your job, your meals, your spouse. Cassia has been waiting to be Matched all her life, and the book opens on the evening of her Match banquet, which she is attending with her family and her best friend Xander.

But Cassia, under the influence of her grandfather and the words of Dylan Thomas, begins to question the way the Society does things as she falls in love with Ky Markham. Ky is an Abberation: he cannot be matched, and he is denied many of the privileges that Cassia enjoys. Yet Ky has many things that Cassia had not expected, and as they share poetry and the limited exploration of their hiking activity, Cassia starts to finally think for herself and discovers both the boons and perils of making your own choices.

Condie's writing is well-suited to the world she has created and to Cassia. Still, I think that for many readers, Matched would drag if they jumped into it unprepared, especially expecting a more active novel. That said, I think Matched explores some very interesting themes about choice, growing up, love, and ethics. I enjoyed it more than I had expected, and I think people who give it a chance will come away glad they have read it. It gives you a new appreciation for the luxury of choice and how we can fall or fly, but only by our own power.

Title: Fever Crumb
Author: Philip Reeve
Series: 1st book, Fever Crumb quartet
Categories: YA, dystopia, future, technology, coming of age
Notes: appropriate for younger readers of advanced reading skills
Other works by Philip Reeve: The Mortal Engines Quartet (Hungry City Chronicles)

Philip Reeve packs so much into what seems like too few pages to hold all of the characters and events that unfold in the first volume of his new series. Set in the same world as his Mortal Engines quartet, in a distant future London.

Fever Crumb is a foundling girl raised by the super-rational Order of Engineers. She ventures into the wider world in the employment of archaeologist Kit Solent. As she is confronted with the irrational world outside of the Order, her confusion is compounded by strange memories that could not possibly be her own. Where did these memories come from? Who is she really, and why did her parents abandon her?

Fever is a different sort of female hero, but she doesn’t disappoint, and neither does Philip Reeve. Reeve's writing is perfectly suited to the world he has created, but (like a good storyteller) the skill and artistry of his writing does not distract from the story he is telling. I love the way he envisions how culture will evolve in a post-Apocalyptic world where so much technology and history has been lost. Staples of our own culture have been twisted and confused as they filtered through time to Fever's world. I also felt for Fever as she navigates her own turbulent emotions and problems with her rational mindset and engineer training. She finds herself assaulted with irrational emotions and situations--both her own and those of the people around her--and her upbringing among the Order of the Engineers has hardly prepared her to deal with them. At first I was worried that I wouldn't like Fever or be invested in her, but she is actually quite endearing.

As soon as I finished Fever Crumb, I immediately snatched up the second book (A Web of Air). I cannot wait for the last two books to be available. A Web of Air was not in any way a letdown or disappointment, it pulled me even further into Fever's world.

I cannot say enough good things about this series. Why are you still here reading this? GO GET IT!

Note: The audio for this book (though not A Web of Air) is read by the author himself.