Maximum Ride Volume 1, Manga by James Patterson, NaRae Lee (Artist)

Maximum Ride, Volume 1, Manga by James Patterson, NaRae Lee (Artist)

Publisher: Orbit/Yen
Publish Date: January 2009
ISBN: 0759529515
Page #: 256pp
Reading Level: Young Adult
Classification: Manga
Genre: Fantasy/Adventure

Series: The Maximum Ride Series
The Angel Experiment (2007)
Schools Out-Forever (2007)
Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports (2008)
Max: A Maximum Ride Novel (2009)

Manga Series:
Maximum Ride, Volume 1, Manga (2009)
Maximum Ride, Volume 2, Manga (October 2009)


Subjects: Adventure, Kidnapping, Mutant, Mystery, New York City.

Annotation:

At first glance Max might look like an average fourteen-year-old girl, but you'll quickly realize that she's anything but ordinary, she has wings and so do her friends.

Summary:

This is a faithful retelling of the bestselling series, Maximum Ride. The dramatic art make the adaptations of the characters and the places appealing and dynamic. Maximum Ride (Max for short) is fourteen years old and has bigger problems then most teenage girls, she has wings. Luckily she is not alone as her flock: Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gasman and Angel all have wings too. For the most part they are all pretty ordinary, that is if you count staying away from "The School," a secret government lab that has erased their memories and turned them into human/bird creations, ordinary. When the youngest member of the flock, Angel is captured by one of the mad scientist and is being held captive, the rest of the flock sets out to rescue her. Along the ride, Max learns of her sole purpose for her creation, to save the world.

Megan says:

Fans of the Patterson series featuring Maximum Ride, the genetically manipulated bird girl and her family, are in for a treat with this manga edition. The artwork is stunning and close to what I pictured after reading the novel. Recently, due to a school project, I just became a manga fan so when I heard Maximum Ride was going manga I was thrilled! If you haven't read the previous novels that the manga is based upon, have no fear, the story is easy to follow, and before you know it, you'll be hooked and eager for Vol. 2!

Stars: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

James Patterson Website
The Official Maximum Ride Website
Maximum Ride Website

The Devouring by Simon Holt

The Devouring by Simon Holt

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Publish Date: September 2008

ISBN: 0316035734

Page #: 240pp

Reading Level: Young Adult

Classification: Fiction

Genre: Supernatural/Paranormal

Series Title: The Devouring
The Devouring (2008)
The Devouring #2: Soulstice ( Septemper 1, 2009)

Subjects: Brothers and Sisters, Courage, Demons, Fear, Mystery, Possessed, Voigts

Annotation:

When the lights go out on Sorry night, bury your fears or the Vours will creep in and take your soul while occupying your body. This is what happened to Reggie’s little brother Henry and now Reggie must save him but the only way to do that is to live in a nightmare world.

Summary:

Reggie Halloway is a horror fanatic. Upon working in a occult bookstore she finds a creepy journal about the Vours, in which are horrific demons who feed on fear and take over the body, morphing its host into a cold, cruel creature. Thinking the journal is fiction, Reggie and her friend Aaron attempt to summon a Vour. Things go horribly awry when a Vour takes over the body of her little brother, Henry. The only way to get Henry’s souls back into his body is if Reggie battles the Vours, but this task is not easy and requires Reggie to face all of her fears.

Megan says:

This book was truly horrifying (and I mean that in the good way)! Teens that like suspenseful horror stories will LOVE The Devouring. The premise of the story is about Reggie and her friend Aaron who love anything dark and scary, that is until they mess with the worn heap of darkness in which inhabits Reggie's little brother on Sorry Night. This sets the tone of utter horror as Reggie is forced to live through her worst nightmares in order to save her loved ones. The graphic content contains blood and gore, which add to the chills of the story. I would recommend this to any teen who loves horror fiction.

Stars: ★ ★ ★ ★

The Devouring Website

The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides

The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides

By: Jeffrey Eugendes
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Publish Date: February 2000
ISBN: 0446670251
Page #: 256pp
Reading Level: Adult
Classification: Fiction
Genre: Real Life/Drama

Subjects: Adolescence, Mystery, Religion, Sexuality, Sisters, Suburbia, Suicide

Annotation:

There is something different and intriguing about the Lisbon sisters; sequin journals, daisies and long flowing hair, crushes on boys, homecoming dances, and suicide. Ah, the beauty of being a teenager.

Summary:

Set in the cookie cutter, yet haunting suburbs of Michigan in the 1970’s, Jeffrey Eugenides The Virgin Suicides follows the Lisbon sisters as they lose one of their sisters to a suicide. The Lisbon family is headed by an out to lunch father and a religious and over-protective mother. The sisters turn to one another and begin living a bit of a fantasy world. They are prisoners in their own home. They have been taken out of school and begin viewing the world and the boys in the neighborhood as outsiders. Evocative and beautifully disturbing, The Virgin Suicides touches on issues of teen angst, isolation, blossoming sexuality and captures both an era and a time in adolescence.

Megan says:

This is Jeffrey Eugende's first novel and personally one of my FAVORITES! Though, not written for young adults, I believe they will enjoy this beautifully gruesome coming of age story dealing with adolescence curiosity into the lives of these five Lisbons sisters as it is brimming with the awkwardness and uncertainty of adolescence that rings very true.

Stars: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

The Virgin Suicides Trailer
IMDB: Virgin Suicides

Wake by Lisa McMann

Wake by Lisa McMann

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
Publish Date: December 2008
ISBN: 1416974474
Page #: 216pp
Reading Level: Young Adult
Classification: Fiction
Genre: Supernatural/Real-life

Series: The Wake Series

Wake (2008)

Fade (2009)

Subjects: Abuse, Drugs, Dysfunctional Family, High School, Murder, Mystery, Nightmares, Relationships, Romance

Annotation:

For seventeen-year-old Janie Hannagan, getting sucked into other people's dreams is getting old. But when one of those dreams turns into a frightening nightmare and Janie finds herself participating in the dream, things change.

Summary:

Lisa McMann takes the reader on a trip between the conscious and the unconscious of protagonist Janie Hannagan who cannot stop her lucid dreams, only they aren’t her dreams, they are other people’s dreams. All Janie wants is a better life, so she works hard, studying and working at the nursing home to hopefully get into college and get out of the "white trash" persona her peers label her as. Her plans get complicated when she meets Cable Strumheller and enters a nightmare where she participates. Janie doesn't know what is happening but she has many issues presented to her, involving an alcoholic mother, a turbulent relationship with her boyfriend, Cabel and her role in other people's dream.

Megan says:

I found Wake to be a haunting and complex tale. I thoroughly enjoyed the journal style format Lisa McMann uses. The story is very realistic as it deals with issues of abusive and negligent parents yet tips over to the fantasy/supernautral genre as we enter the dreamworld of Janie Hannagan, or rather the dreamworlds of the people near Janie. I highly recommend this to older teens.

Stars: ★ ★ ★ ★

Wake Book Trailer