Lock and Key

Lock and Key is a novel by Sarah Dessen, the New York Times bestselling author.

421 pages, Published in 2008 by Viking (a division of Penguin Young Readers Group), republished in 2009 by Speak (an imprint of Penguin Group)

Summary

Ruby can take care of herself.

She's used to counting on no one and answers to nobody. But all of that changes when her mother abandons her and Ruby is sent to live with her older sister, where Ruby's got her own room in a fabulous new house, goes to private school and - for the first time - feeling as if she has a future. Plus, there's the adorable and sweet boy next door. Everything should be perfect. So why is Ruby so wary and why is Nate keeping her at a distance? Ruby soon comes to realize that sometimes, in order to save others, you first have to save yourself.

First Sentence(s): "And finally," Jamie said as he pushed the door open, "we come to the main event. Your room."


Pros

• "The dialogue...is crisp, layered, and natural." -Johanna Lewis, New York Public Library
• "Extremely readable and enjoyable." -Little Willow on amazon.com
• "Lock and Key is a wonderful heartfelt story." -Teens Read Too on amazon.com

Cons

• "The story moved too quickly and predictably." -Jenny on amazon.com
• "The plot is a bit weak and strange." -moviemadness on commonsensemedia.org
• "It felt like there was something missing." -3268061 on barnesandnoble.com

Personal Verdict
2.5 out of 5

Although Lock and Key is an interesting and complex story, it is somewhat slow, plodding, and lacking in imagination.

Related Books

1. Icing on the Lake by Catherine Clark

2. So Inn Love by Catherine Clark

3. Lucky by Rachel Vail

4. What My Mother Doesn't Know by Sonya Sones

5. Story of a Girl by Sara Zarr

6. The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen

About the Author

Sarah Dessen was born in Evanston, Illinois on June 6, 1970. She moved with her family to Virginia then North Carolina where she now resides with her husband, Jay, daughter Sasha Clementine, and dogs. After dropping out of Greensboro College she began taking classes at the University of North Carolina where she graduated with honors. She was a waitress for some time before leaving her job to accept a position as a teacher at UNC. She then left that job to become a full time author.

-Wikipedia

Mockingbird

Mockingbird is a National Book Award Winner by Kathryn Erskine.

235 pages, Published in 2010 by Puffin Books in New York, New York, Paperback price: USA $6.99 / CAN $8.50, Hardcover price: $15.99, Ages 10 and up.

Summary

Good and strong and beautiful...

Ten-year-old Caitlin's world had always been black and white. Anything else was confusing; but her brother, Devon, helped her understand. Then tragedy struck, and now nothing makes sense. As a girl with Asperger's syndrome, Caitlin turns to what she does know - textbooks and dictionaries. And after reading the definition of closure, she realizes that this is what everyone needs. In her search for closure, she discovers that black and white are surrounded by shades of gray, ant that those are beautiful and necessary for healing.

First Sentence: "It looks like a one-winged bird crouching in the corner of our living room."

Pros

• "A strong and complex character study." -The Horn Book
• "A lovely, important book." -Children's Literature
• "Extraordinary...[A] moving and insightful materpiece." -Publishers Weekly

Cons

• "This is not an authentic view of Asperger’s." -Elizabeth Bird on blog.schoollibraryjournal.com
• "When I first picked this book up, I found it a tad hard to follow." -TiBookChatter on barnesandnoble.com
• "The book is attempting too much at one time." -Elizabeth Bird on blog.schoollibraryjournal.com

Personal Verdict

4 out of 5

 

Mockingbird is a deep and touching story, that, despite some minor flaws, is complex, insightful, and moving.

Related Books

1. Waiting for Normal by Leslie Connor
2. Out of My Mind by Sharon M. Draper
3. One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia
4. Anything but Typical by Nora Raleigh Baskin
5. Return to Sender by Julia Alvarez
6. Bystander by James Preller
7. Countdown by Deborah Wiles
8. The Orphan of Ellis Island by Elvira Woodruff
9. Chasing Lincoln's Killer by James L. Swanson
10. Moon over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool

About the Author

Kathryn Erskine was born in the Netherlands and has lived in Israel, South Africa, Scotland, and Canada. She was a lawyer for fifteen years before turning to her first love - writing. Ms. Erskine now lives in Virginia with her husband, two children, and dog, Maxine.

The Time Travelers

The Time Travelers is the first book in the Gideon Trilogy by Linda Buckley-Archer. It was previously published under the title Gideon the Cutpurse.

400 pages, Published in 2006 by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers in New York, New York.

1763: Gideon Seymour, thief and gentleman, hides from the villainous Tar Man. Suddenly the sky peels away like fabric and from the gaping hole fall two curious-looking children. Peter Schock and Kate Dyer have fallen straight from the twenty-first century, thanks to an experiment with an antigravity machine. Before Gideon and the children have a chance to gather their wits, the Tar Man takes off with the maching - and Peter and Kate's only chance of getting home. Soon Gideon, Peter, and Kate are swept into a journey through eighteenth-century London and form a bond that, they hope, will stand strong in the face of unfathomable treachery.

First Sentence: "It was early morning on Saturday, the sixteenth of December, the first day of the Christmas holidays."

Pros

• "The story of Peter and Kate is phenomenal." -Anonymous poster on inkweaver-review.blogspot.com
• "I highly recommend this book to anybody willing to try this series. It is exciting, captivating, and very thrilling!" -Anonymous poster on inkweaver-review.blogspot.com
• "It’s fun, exciting, and somewhat depressing, and it ends on a cliffhanger that’ll make you want to scream." -http://birdbrainbb.net/2011/11/28/review-the-time-travelers-by-linda-buckley-archer/

Cons

• "I can only remember the abysmal beginning, which is slow and boring." -http://birdbrainbb.net/2011/11/28/review-the-time-travelers-by-linda-buckley-archer/
• "The book had long wordy paragraphs." -Anonymous poster on inkweaver-review.blogspot.com
• "Though [Peter's] character does develop somewhat over time, he remains somewhat petulant, which gets old, after a while." -Jane Air on amazon.com

Personal Verdict

3.5 out of 5

The Time Travelers is an exciting and captivating novel. Once you get past the slow beginning you are in for an amazing adventure that will leave you screaming for more.

Related Books

1. The Keys to the Kingdom by Garth Nix
2. Tuesdays at the Castle by Jessica Day George
3. Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld
4. The Kane Chronicles by Rick Riordan
5. The Ranger's Apprentice by John Flanagan
6. The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel  by Michael Scott

About the Author 

Linda Buckley-Archer was born in Sussex, but spent most of her childhood on a blackcurrant farm in Staffordshire and now lives in London. Originally trained as a linguist, she lectured in French for some years before becoming a full-time author and scriptwriter. She has written original drama for both BBC Radio (most recently, Pearls in the Tate) and television (One Night in White Satin), but is best known for The Gideon Trilogy of novels which she started out as writing as a radio drama, but realized, once she read it aloud to her children and they refused to let her stop for dinner, what potential the script had as a novel.