Category: Reviewed by Chrissie

This story is not for the weak-stomached!  There were quite a few descriptions of the horrifying, headless monsters known as the Anthropophagi and their eviscerated human prey.  Despite the fact that some of those descriptions left me feeling queasy, I felt like I just HAD to keep going and find out how it ended. Told via the journal of Will Henry, who was the 12-year-old assistant of monstrumologist Pellinore Warthrop, the book begins with the death of Will Henry, as an old man.  The actual story behind things, though, begins in the late 1880s when a grave robber brought his gruesome discovery to Warthrop’s home in the middle of the night.  Will Henry, before his death, had insisted that he was over 100 years old and that he had worked for the monstrumologist, but the people who find his journal are sure that it is a work of fiction.  After all, nothing so scary as an Anthropophagi can truly exist.  Can it?

Austin Gray wants to be a “hood ornament” in the No-Jesus Christmas Parade more than anything.  She’s sick and tired of being the butt of Dean Ottmer’s jokes, and she’s sure this plan will turn things around.  She just needs to join the FFA [Future Farmers of America], make some friends, raise an animal to show at the fair, and win a blue ribbon.  THEN, she can be elected the FFA hood ornament.  Simple, right?

This story is about so much more than a girl who is trying to win a popularity contest to defeat a bully, though.  It’s about a mother and daughter who are still trying to work past the loss of a husband and father.  It’s about the dynamics of a small town where everyone knows “everything” about everyone.  And, it’s about how Austin finally gets to the realization that Dean Ottmer’s opinion is “as significant to [her] life as a fart in a tornado.”

If the letters “MMORPG” [Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game] don’t mean anything to you, you might not think you could get a lot out of this story.  I honestly only picked up this book because I am a “gaming widow” and wanted to better understand the MMORPG scene that my husband frequents! This story is about so much more than just gaming, though.  Set in the future, this story explores the world of “gold farmers” who become the next generation of sweatshop workers.  The narration rotates between characters who run the gamut from factory-dwelling gold farmers in China to an über-rich game developer at Coca-Cola Games Headquarters in the US.  Although some reviews complain that Doctorow is heavy-handed in his message, I was simply enthralled by the way that he wove economics and unionization into a story about video games.  I think this book would be an excellent tie-in for English and economics/social studies teachers — because the kids will probably enjoy the story while learning an awful lot.  But maybe I’m just too big of a nerd and I enjoy learning while I read!

This book begins on Earth, with Amy and her parents preparing to be cryogenically frozen.  They are about to be packed onto a spaceship [Godspeed], hoping to travel for 300 years, become reanimated (thawed out), and then terraform a faraway planet (make it livable/like Earth).  Amy overhears the workers saying that the launch has been delayed a year.  One whole year she could have spent with her family and friends on Earth!  As these thoughts send her into despair, she is glad that they won’t last long; she will be unable to think once she’s frozen.  But, then, she is frozen… and she is still capable of thought.  Still conscious of the passing time.  Talk about a torturous existence!  Then someone unplugs her a full 50 years before the estimated landing time, and she will be older than her parents by the time they are reanimated.  Chapters alternate between Amy and a guy named Elder, who will soon be the leader of the people aboard Godspeed.  If you like dystopias and science fiction, you HAVE to read this book!

The world has run out of oil, and global warming has melted the polar ice caps; this is certainly not the world as we know it.  Most people live in poverty and take whatever work they can find, no matter how dangerous, just so they can survive.  Nailer has found work with a “light crew,” which means wriggling through the ductwork of beached tanker ships along the Gulf Coast to scavenge for scrap metals.  As long as he makes quota, and doesn’t get too big to fit through the ducts, he can stay on the light crew. Nailer does his best to avoid his alcoholic/druggie father, but still begs Sadna (his best friend Pima’s mother) to save his dad as a violent hurricane blows through town. After the storm, Nailer and Pima cannot find their parents, but manage to stumble upon a shipwrecked clipper ship. The ship has enough scavenge to make them both filthy rich, but there’s one problem — the “swank” girl trapped inside. Do they kill her to keep their claim on the ship, or do they rescue her and add to their burden?

This was one crazy anthology!  It wasn’t really what I was expecting —  one unicorn story made mention of farting rainbows, while a few of the zombie stories seemed more like love stories and inspirational stories than horror and gore.  The story introductions, written by editors Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier, were rather humorous arguments as to which of the “teams” was winning [based on the stories so far] and always added something extra to the stories themselves.  The scary thing is, I think I may have been converted from “Team Unicorn” to “Team Zombie” in the end!  If you’re looking for some awesome stories that get away from the typical unicorn and zombie stereotypes, you’ll want to check out this book.

Rachel and her mother, Vivian, have lived on The Property as long as she can recall.  Vivian works for Ms. Moore, who owns The Property and runs a greenhouse in which she grows orchids.  The Property is very quiet and secluded, but it is located adjacent to the infamous Line — a border protection system which separates the U.S. from Away.  To stop an approaching foreign enemy, the U.S. had activated the Line without warning, trapping many U.S. citizens in Away.  Then, Away was blasted with atomic bombs.  The Line is always on to keep Others from crossing the border.  Anyone who speaks out against the government and/or the Line is considered a traitor, and almost everyone lives in fear of the oppressive government.

Letty Larkspur and Cordelia Grey have run away from their small Ohio town and are determined to make it big in New York City.  Letty is sure that she will be a star, if only she can get the chance to audition for a role, and Cordelia plans on tracking down the man she believes to be her father — infamous bootlegger Darius Grey.  Full of larger-than-life characters and jam-packed with action, this story begs to be read in one sitting.  Now, if only I knew when the next book was supposed to come out… (I’ll be keeping an eye out on http://www.bytseries.com)

Aisling’s father did his best to care for her after her mother died, but his protection ended when he died, and her jealous stepmother did her best to make up for lost time.  Horrible living conditions?  Check.  Too much hard labor for one person to complete?  Check.  A dream that she will some day escape this hellish existence?  Check.  Sure, this is a Cinderella story . . .  but it’s not your mama’s Cinderella story!  More than just a coming of age story and a fairy tale with a twist, this is a beautifully written tale about what it truly means to live and love.