"Scar Island" by Dan Gemeinhart

Scar Island by Dan Gemeinhart, my favorite children’s author, is about boys at Slabhenge Reformatory School for troubled boys located on an island and run with torture techniques. Jonathan is the new boy sentenced to 10 weeks which is longer than usual because of the bad thing he did. Jonathan is overwhelmed with feelings of guilt and believes he deserves to be there, unlike the others. A couple boys befriend him and eventually he even wins over the bully who bosses everyone around when all the grownups running the place meet an unfortunate death.

This book is dark but not as dark as Lord of the Flies although there are some similarities. I liked this book because of the exploration of group dynamics, the interaction and growth among the boys, and also because of the suspense. I even got to like that huge rat that Jonathan mistook for a cat. Jonathan is a great character who I admired because he was so kind and compassionate throughout the book. I would recommend this book to boys, but don’t think too many girls would enjoy it since there are no girls in it. I liked both this author’s other books better: The Honest Truth and Some Kind of Courage, because they seemed more believable and not as dark as this one.

SPOILER ALERT – STOP NOW IF YOU INTEND TO READ THIS BOOK. I really liked the librarian and his pet rat. I thought that was a cool surprise and liked how the librarian encouraged Jonathan to take a book every time he came. I was surprised Colin didn’t stay with him when he left the others. There were a few things I felt were farfetched: (1) How all the grownups got electrocuted and died at once; (2) that the boys would put the dead bodies in the freezer where the food would be, yuck!; (3) that the first thing they did wasn’t to all join in to destroy the sinner’s sorrow torture device that they all hated; (4) I didn’t understand why Sebastian got so mad at Colin when he left since at the beginning he announce the boys to go wherever they wanted and do whatever they wanted. When Colin took some chocolates saying they were just Sebastian’s, I was surprised the other boys didn’t back him up and (5) how the majority just followed whatever Sebastian said, letting him take the lead instead of following Colin or Jonathan, who were smarter and nicer, especially at the end.
(Karen’s review, 4 stars)


Gerard read this first 1-9-17, here's his review, 4.5 stars:
In Scar Island by Dan Gemeinhart, Jonathan is the new boy at Slabhenge.  It is a reform school for boys who are troubled to say the least.  Now Jonathan is there and he is happy to be there.  But soon he will have to make decisions that will affect him and his fellow boys.

I really enjoyed the characters in this book.  It has good action and the end has a good twist.  I liked this author's first two books better, The Honest Truth and Some Kind of Courage, but this one is not bad at all!

Have you read this one? What did you think of it? If you reviewed this too, feel free to share your link to your review in the comments. To find books on a specific topic, scroll to the bottom and click on the topic you want. Happy Reading!

"The Unseen World" by Liz Moore

In The Unseen World by Liz Moore,  Ada is 12 years old and works with her dad and his associate in a lab.  Ada is very smart.  When her dad becomes forgetful and wanders off, Ada tries her best to take care of him.  Soon though, he needs more help than Ada alone can give.  Now she must go out in the world and deal with school and everyday things in life that she never had to deal with before.  She learns things that will question just about everything that Ada thought to be true!

I thought Ada was a great character and loved watching her grow up.  I got into this book early.  The story moved along okay and I always wanted to get back into it!  I also enjoyed this author's first book, Heft.
(Gerard's review, 5++ stars)

Have you read this one? What did you think of it? If you reviewed this too, feel free to share your link to your review in the comments. To find books on a specific topic, scroll to the bottom and click on the topic you want. Happy Reading!

"The School for Good and Evil" by Soman Chainani

The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani is a juvenile fantasy book. I really liked the cover and was looking forward to a quick fun read which it is. Sophie and her friend, Agatha, both get mysteriously kidnapped from their small village to The School for Good and Evil in some distant place. They both think they got put in the wrong school side of the school though and encounter the fight of the life to remain friends. Both girls find themselves living a fairy tale!

I think children would like this book but I was a bit disappointed in it because it really made no sense to me. There is a lot of action and magic going on; however, I found it a bit hard to follow. I liked it enough to care about the main characters, although I really liked Agatha the most and didn’t care much for Sophie, even from the start. I did want to see how it would end and liked the ending.
(Karen’s review, 3 stars)

Have you read this one? What did you think of it? If you reviewed this too, feel free to share your link to your review in the comments. To find books on a specific topic, scroll to the bottom and click on the topic you want. Happy Reading!

Teaser Tuesday

Karen's:

"Well, in the School for Good, they teach boys and girls like me how to become heroes and princesses, how to rule kingdoms justly, how to find Happily Ever After," Sophie said.  "In the School for Evil, they teach you how to become wicked witches and humpbacked trolls, how to lay curses and cast evil spells."

From page 11 of The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani.

Gerard's:

She knew then that she could not pretend any longer.  She walked resolutely down the hall to Liston's office, and knocked on her door, and felt her face crumple.

From page 118 of The Unseen World by Liz Moore.

Jonathan gripped the knife in his hand and fought back the tears that burned in his eyes.
"My God," he whispered to the boy next to him.  "How long do we have to do this?"

From page 27 of Scar Island by Dan Gemeinhart.

It wasn't the same spot as the first one.  This time it was in the exact center of the four bare trees.

From page 8 of Every You, Every Me by David Levithan

He's staring at me and I realize that I do know him.

I know him because I killed his daughter.

  From page 22 of The Perfect Girl by Gilly Macmillan.


Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by The Purple Booker.   Anyone can play along, so I thought  I  would play for fun! Just pick two sentences from the book you are reading.  Happy Reading!

"The Queen of Blood" is Really Good

Wow!  After coming off A Court of Mist and Fury, I was doubtful if anything would come close to keeping my interest as much, but The Queen of Blood by Sarah Beth Durst did!

In this fantasy novel, humans are attacked by six different spirits:  air, water, earth, ice, fire and wood who feel the land belongs to them.  These spirits have two instincts:  destroy and create.  Certain humans have an affinity to control them in different degrees and The Queen is the most powerful and keeps everything in balance and protects the people.  Over time though, the Queen can lose some of her power and so they have heirs trained and prepared to become Queen if the Queen dies.  The kicker here is that the spirits are the ones to choose the next Queen and they give her more power.  The main character is Daleina who as a child demonstrates she has the affinity to control spirits when her home is attacked.  She is smart, nice, and determined to learn more so that she can become Queen and protect people from these spirits but do no harm.  The Queen must be able to control the spirits, not just wipe them all out because that would wipe out their land as well.

I loved this book so much, I even read it at night to finish it!  (I hardly ever read at night.)  I got so engrossed in it that was almost late getting back from lunch and had to stop earlier than usual on the bus so I wouldn't miss my stop.  It is a fun and interesting read that shows how important good leadership and teamwork are.  There is a lot of killing in this book and I felt so bad for Daleina when her friends died.  There is lots of action and humor which kept this from being depressing because of the killing.  Daleina is such a great character who truly wanted to protect others.  She befriends a wolf who proves to be a loyal asset to her and also is chosen to be trained by Ven who brings along a healer, Haman.  The three of them work together to do what is best for the land.  I really look forward to the next book in this series, Queens of Renthia.
(Karen's review, 5 stars)

In The Queen of Blood by Sarah Beth Durst, Daleina is a young girl whose community is torn apart and its people are killed by the spirits.  This is not supposed to happen!  The Queen is supposed  to protect the people.  Daleina decides to try out to be a champion.  A champion is a person who protects the people and is an heir to be a queen.  But the odds are long that she can become one.  Is the queen losing her power?

I thought this book was very good.  I was into it from page 1 because Daleina is a great character.  This has plenty of action and a few twists that I did not see at all.  I am looking forward to reading the next two books in this series.
(Gerard's review 12/23/16, 5++ stars)


Have you read this one? What did you think of it? If you reviewed this too, feel free to share your link to your review in the comments. To find books on a specific topic, scroll to the bottom and click on the topic you want. Happy Reading!