Graceling – Kristin Cashore

Some people born in Katsa’s world are Graced, which means that they have one extreme skill.  Some are Graced with swimming, running or tabulating.  Katsa is Graced with killing, and this makes her a useful weapon for her king.

The Graced have eyes of two different colors; Katsa’s are blue and green. This marking makes the Graced near impossible to hide, and Katsa’s deeds are well known and far told.

We meet Katsa when she is tired of being the king’s dog, of being ordered about and used as a threat against innocent people.  She, with the help of others, created the Council, a secret organization of spies and sympathizers from across the Seven Kingdoms that worked in secret to thwart the actions of bad rulers against those they should have been protecting.

Why would an elderly prince of a peaceful land be kidnapped and held in a dungeon of another kingdom?  As far as Katsa is concerned, there can be no good reason for it, and so he must be freed.  Welcome to page 1.  Expect hand to hand combat and arrow play.  Knives, swords, whatever.  Katsa can use them all.  But, things are not always as  first they appear to be.

Graceling by Kristin Cashore is fantastic. According to her blog a prequel, called Fire, will be published in October 2009, and she is at work on a third in the series.  I am excited.

Out of His League – Pat Flynn

Ozzie Eaton is leaving Australia to go to America for a semester on an exchange.  He is leaving behind his grandfather, his friends, and his Rugby League team to go to school in Hope, Texas.

Football is huge in Texas.  And while Ozzie doesn’t know it yet, he will be huge for the Shooters.   Because while the words used might be different, the moves will still get the job done.  And when Ozzie, or Austin as he will then be called, starts playing for the team, the team starts winning and the town will start holding its head high again.

Out of His League by Pat Flynn is a fun sports import.

Forever Changes – Brendan Halpin

Math is good.  So is the book Forever Changes.  Here we meet Brianna Pelletier, an eighteen-year old high school senior with cystic fibrosis who has a fantastic mind for math.

Her mind is so good, in fact, that she could get into MIT.  If she lives that long.  And the math on that doesn’t look good.  Especially when one of the variables is her body which produces thick mucus and makes it very difficult to breathe.

I recommend this book to those who liked Before I Die by Jenny Downham.  Both novels are moving stories with characters that will stay with you long after you have put down the book.  And, as with Jenny Downham’s book, I recommend you have tissues ready.

The Hunger Games – Suzanne Collins

Imagine yourself standing in a crowd of twelve to 18 year-olds. In front of you is a stage with three chairs and two large glass balls filled with slips of paper. Each slip has a name written on it. One ball is for the girls, the other for the boys. Two will be chosen to go to the Capital of Panem and compete in The Hunger Games.

Each district of the Panem has a reaping.  Twenty-four contestants will compete.  The winner will be rewarded with a life of ease.  The winner’s district will be given extra grain, oil and sugar until the next reaping day.

Don’t worry about the twenty-three other contestants. They will be killed in the games. And everyone will see it live on TV.

Sixteen year-old Katniss Everdeen’s name is on twenty slips of paper.  Prim, her beloved twelve year-old sister, has her name on one.  What can Katniss do other than volunteer when the name Primrose Everdeen is pulled from the ball?

The Hunger Games is powerful.  And everyone is watching.