All titles are in print and available at your local independent bookstore (Little Shop of Stories is ours) or online.
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Seeds of America, by Laurie Halse Anderson
The Seeds of America trilogy is complete! Exploring the lesser know history of African Americans in Colonial, then Revolutionary America, the trilogy begins with Chains, the story of young teen Isabel and her little sister Ruth, freed by one owner only to be re-enslaved by another. Forge focuses on Curzon, a runaway slave fighting for his own freedom alongside Patriot soldiers in the rebellion against King George. The 2016 final installment, Ashes, follows Curzon, Isabel and Ruth as they decide whether to cast their efforts with the British or the Americans. Which side will bring them freedom from slavery?
Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children, by Ransom Riggs
Riggs first novel was released in September 2016 as a Tim Burton movie. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, inspired by a strange collection of vintage photographs, concludes with Library of Souls. Teenage Jacob, tracing his grandfather's stories back to a childhood on a Welsh island, discovers a special refuge for decidedly peculiar children (including a girl with bees in her stomach, an invisible boy, and a girl who can make fire with her hands). This orphanage is hidden out of time, protected by an endlessly repeating loop of the same day. Why hidden? The children have been hunted for years, by monsters who would use their abilities for evil. In Hollow City (#2), Jacob, Emma (the fire girl) and the other children flee the island for London, the peculiar capitol of the world, in search of a cure for Miss Peregrine, who has been transformed by the monsters into her namesake bird. In Library of Souls, Jacob discovers abilities of his own, and the children evade the evil wights and hollowgasts to save all of Peculiardom from destruction.
The Rule of Thre3, by Eric Walters
This is a Canadian post-apocalyptic survival trilogy, set in the mundane suburbs of Toronto. The first book, The Rule of Three, starts with an ordinary day gone extraordinary, when all computers around the world just stop working. For good. Soon, Adam's subdivision is in competition with other neighboring subdivisions for food, drinking water, building materials. To survive, the community must develop, and quickly, military-style intelligence, planning and defenses from armed attackers who want what Eden Mills has. In Fight for Power, society continues spiraling into chaos, and Adam and the others begin to second-guess their complete trust in Herb, the neighbor whose secret government past has prepared him for leadership in catastrophic times. Survial remains the theme in the concluding Will to Survive, as Adam struggles with the knowledge he has killed, and will do so again, in the name of protecting his family and his home. The most sobering idea about this series is that it could happen tomorrow, and while it isn't a hard or super-sophisticated read, the questions asked, like "What would I choose to do in this situation," and "How do people stay moral in difficult and immoral times?" resonate with readers of all ages. Plus, things blow up!!
Divided We Fall, by Trent Reedy
Lots and lots of things blow up in this version of a second American Civil War. The trilogy begins with Divided We Fall and Private Daniel Wright, a young National Guardsman and high school senior on the verge of graduation, whose gun misfires at a tense 2nd Amendment protest in Boise, and triggers the secession of Idaho. He's a good man, but the more Danny tries to do the right thing, the worse things become. In Burning Nation, Federal troops have occupied Idaho, the state declares itself a Republic, and Danny is torn between wanting a normal life with girlfriend Jobell, and his sense of duty in supporting the guerillas fighting for Idaho's independence. In The Last Full Measure, the war rages on but Danny (experiencing low-level PTSD) and his friends have left Idaho for a safe, normal life. They quickly realize that the leadership of The Brotherhood of the White Eagle is as frightening as the tyrannies they've left behind, and separate from the group again. Author Reedy was deployed to Afghanistan with the Iowa Army National Guard, and knows what he's writing about. This super-realistic depiction of domestic warfare has plenty of action and firepower to keep teens reading, and asks questions not often raised in YA fiction -- "What kind of life do I want to live, and what's worth dying for?"
The Fifth Wave trilogy, by Rick Yancey
Alien invasion like you've never seen it! In the beginning, the aliens who've targeted Earth as their new home (after they get rid of its human inhabitants) began the elimination with four distinct waves of attack. The Fifth Wave, human-looking Others whose goal is the extinction of mankind, is terrifying, and relentless, and deadly. Cassie, who thought she was the last human alive, discovers other survivors, and fights in a resistance effort while trying to find her little brother. Ben, another human teen, has transformed from a high school heartthrob to a hardened paramilitary soldier. In the end, the teens have to decide which is more important for the world -- saving the humans, or saving their humanity.
Also closing with final installments this year: Maggie Steifvater's The Raven Cycle with the eagerly awaited The Raven King and Pierce Brown's Imperial-Rome-on-Mars Red Rising trilogy finishing with Morning Star.
Open Series (there are more to come)
Flavia de Luce mysteries, by Alan Bradley
This is a lovely, funny, clever series published for adults, set in Bishop's Lacey, a sleepy 1950s village hamlet. It stars precocious 11-year-old chemist, Flavia de Luce, the youngest of three sisters, with a missing daredevil mother, a grieving titled (and impoverished) father, and a best friend (a bicycle named Gladys). The series opener, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, was a big hit with a 7th grade "Tea and a Mystery" event hosted by Joanna Gibson and Joseph Cullen earlier this year. In it, Flavia can't help but investigate the demise of a stranger in the estate's cucumber patch ("by far the most interesting thing that had ever happened to me in my entire life.") By this year's Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew'd (#8; the title is straight from Hamlet's witches), Flavia (still just 12 by this point) has protected gypsies, exhumed a saint, dabbled in resurrection, discovered what truly happened to her mother, been exiled to girls' boarding school in Canada, become an heiress, and grown up far more and learned more about the adult world than many. A recent turn in the series looks like Flavia may become a junior secret agent!
Pagan Jones spy thrillers, by Nina Berry
Cormoran Strike mysteries, by Robert Galbraith (aka J.K. Rowling)
The beloved author of the Harry Potter magical fantasy series has found another character to develop, this time for mature teens and grownups. In this case, the main character is Cormoran Strike, a British military investigator home from the war in Afghanistan and building a London detective agency. In The Cuckoo's Calling, Strike's failing agency is down to one client when a man hires him to investigate the apparent suicide of his supermodel sister. An exploration of family dynamics, fame and envy, Strike's success in this case brings notoriety, and thankfully, more clients. The Silkworm is about the world of publishing, poisonous competition among writers and academics, and the nasty death of an unlikeable person. The author does a masterful job in developing her two main characters, Strike and his determined, capable assistant Robin Ellacot, over the course of the three entries in the series so far. Career of Evil explores mysogeny, narcissism and revenge, as a string of gruesome murders seem to be a message directly aimed at Strike, from someone in his past. And it turns out that Robin is one heck of an accomplished driver! This series has been a big hit with faculty readers this year.
Big Ideas Simply Explained non-fiction series, from DK Publishing
The Big Ideas Simply Explained books are big hits with the inquisitive high school crowd. Heavy on the visuals, each title is heavy in text and visuals, and is just plain heavy, due to the dense high gloss paper used. This year's series entry, The Movie Book, profiles 100 of the best movies ever made. Each movie gets a double page spread with a synopis, context, innovation and importance of the film, stills, and side boxes featuring the director, production people, and related films. Anybody who wanted an affordable film history survey class could use this book as an outstanding guide. The others in the series are equally good and accessible.
Marissa Meyer's new Heartless
is the imaginative backstory of Wonderland's temperamental Queen of
Hearts, back when she was young Lady Catherine, who just wanted to open a
bakery with her best friend. Meyer's incredibly popular Lunar Chronicles series (starting with Cinder)
is a different kind of fractured fairytale, retelling Cinderella,
Rapunzel, Red Riding Hood and other tales in a cyborg space opera
setting.Standalones Too Good to Miss!
Salt to the Sea is the latest YA novel from Ruta Sepetys, author of the acclaimed Between Shades of Gray
from a couple of years ago. Both explore periods not well known to
American readers. Salt to the Sea follows four German teenagers in the
final days of WWII, fleeing from Russian army advances in East Prussia,
and headed to the north coast, where Hitler's government is evacuating
civilians and soldiers by sea. Inspired by the 1945 sinking of the Wilhelm Gustlof in the Baltic Sea, the greatest, yet virtually unknown, disaster in maritime history. Between Shades of Gray is about a Lithuanian family's exile in a Siberian gulag during WWII.
Happy Holidays! (but really, you never need a holiday to give, receive or read a good book!)
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