Book review - Come Find Me

Title: Come Find Me
Author: Megan Miranda
Genre: mystery
Similar books: The Telling by Alexandra Sirowy
                      Evidence of Things Not Seen by Lindsey Lane
Rating:

the thinking person's mystery

Summary (provided by publisher): After surviving an infamous family tragedy, sixteen-year-old Kennedy Jones has made it her mission to keep her brother's search through the cosmos alive. But then something disturbs the frequency on his radio telescope--a pattern registering where no signal should transmit.
In a neighboring county, seve.nteen-year-old Nolan Chandler is determined to find out what really happened to his brother, who disappeared the day after Nolan had an eerie premonition. There hasn't been a single lead for two years, until Nolan picks up an odd signal--a pattern coming from his brother's bedroom.
Drawn together by these strange signals--and their family tragedies--Kennedy and Nolan search for the origin of the mysterious frequency. But the more they uncover, the more they believe that everything's connected--even their pasts--as it appears the signal is meant for them alone, sharing a message that only they can understand. Is something coming for them? Or is the frequency warning them about something that's already here? 

My opinion: Miranda jumps right in with both feet: sensational murder, a missing teen, and the suggestion of ghosts and/or aliens. She takes us on a long, meandering journey of discovery with very few conclusions. Just a few facts, really. And that's not a censure. For another author this would be, at most, a short story. In Miranda's masterful hands we get a compelling journey of self discovery. The self destruction and invisibility that come along with being the sibling of a missing person or a murder suspect. These are teens looking to fill holes in their personal lives and get answers for their families. One searches in science, the other in the supernatural. And these explorations are not surface. They throw themselves in whole-heartedly and their explorations are given complex explanation. The resolution of the two mysteries is a little thin, more explanation given to the science of the signal than the mysteries, but that results in a denouement that feels real to life.
More information: Come Find Me releases January 29.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley.

The best kind of upcycling

I spotted this little project on Pinterest a while back and have been looking for a chance to make one. I finally emptied out a bottle that was not only the right size but has a great image on it.

I can't wait to carry things in my Spider-Man pouch. 

Book review - Freya and Zoose

Title: Freya & Zoose
Author: Emily Butler
Genre: adventure
Similar books: Edison: The Mystery of the Missing Mouse Treasure by Torben Kuhlmann
                      Chickenhare by Chris Grine
Rating:

not as light hearted and innocent as it appears

Summary (provided by publisher): Freya has always craved--and feared--adventure. Traipsing all over the world is simply not what dignified rockhopper penguins do. But when she hears about Captain Salomon August Andrée's hot-air balloon expedition to the North Pole, Freya packs her copy of Hints to Lady Travellers and hops on board.
Only moments after leaving land, Freya discovers a fellow stowaway! Meet Zoose, the scrappy, uncouth mouse whose endless wisecracks and despicable manners make him a less-than-ideal travel companion.
When the hot-air balloon is forced to land in the Arctic, these polar opposites must learn how to get along. Their very survival depends on it.

My opinion: At the start, this seems like a fairly standard, innocent adventure story. Freya and Zoose are complete opposites who, through random mischance, must find a way to get along. At first, it's just a matter of more pleasant travel. Then, through misadventure and near death experience, they learn to work together and even appreciate one another's company. This is all cute, a touch quirky, but entirely expected of a book for young readers. It takes increasingly dark turns as they travel deeper into the arctic and their human counterparts begin to fail. While the ending has a hopeful tone, it's not the tidy, positive conclusion you'd expect from a book for small children.

More information: Freya & Zoose releases January 29.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley.

Pick 6: multiple perspectives

One of the best things about fiction is the way that it opens up your world to perspectives you wouldn't otherwise understand. It's even better when a single book gives you multiple perspectives at once. Here are six book published in the past six months that are presented from more than one perspective.

6 new multiple perspective narratives

1. Paper Girl by Cindy R. Wilson
2. Any Second by Kevin Emerson
3. The Color of Lies by C.J. Lyons
4. In Your Shoes by Donna Gephart
5. Phantom Wheel by Tracy Deebs
6. The Assassination of Brangwain Spurge by M.T. Anderson

Non-fiction book review - Draw Alphabeasts

Draw Alphabeasts by Steve Harpster

The central concept of this book is pretty simple: starting with a letter or number draw a monster, alien, or robot. Each drawing takes just a few steps with varying degrees of detail. For the most part, this means that once you have the basic designs down it wouldn't be difficult to alter the drawing to truly make it your own. Even more importantly, this book can train a young artist to look for simple shapes in things that they want to draw, thew ways to use simple lines as a starting point for a more complex image.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley.

Mostly, I couldn't think how to illustrate quarks

In the wake of putting away the Christmas decorations, the house can seem kind of empty and cold. The only solution, to my mind, is to make new decorations to brighten things up for the rest of the winter. To start that process, I made a little embroidered image for my bedroom door. I've been fascinated by science images lately, so decided to make an atom with a scrap of knit fabric and multi-colored thread.

Book review - Stronger, Faster, and More Beautiful

Title: Stronger, Faster, and More Beautiful
Author: Arwen Elys Dayton
Genre: Sci-fi
Similar books: The Ghosts of Heaven by Marcus Sedgewick
                      Beta by Rachel Cohn
Rating:

the thinking person's sci-fi

Summary (provided by publisher): The future is curious.
STRONGER
Today our bodies define us. We color our hair; tattoo our skin; pierce our ears, brows, noses. We lift weights, run miles, break records. We are flesh and blood and bone.
FASTER
Tomorrow has different rules. The future is no longer about who we are--it's about who we want to be. If you can dream it, you can be it. Science will make us smarter, healthier, flawless in every way. Our future is boundless.
MORE BEAUTIFUL
This is a story that begins tomorrow. It's a story about us. It's a story about who comes after us. And it's a story about perfection. Because perfection has a way of getting ugly.

My opinion: This book is best described as thematically linked short stories. There are some ties in location and character. Personally, I wish the links had been stronger. For instance, a few of the stories directly referenced the character of Tad Tadd. I loved the idea of seeing his perspective and perception of him changing as time passed. We get a few snap shots but it might have been cool to see that constant change, paralleling the societal perception of genetic modification. 
The book takes the form of relatively short stories, all with open endings. We never hear how life turns out for individuals but are allowed to imagine their end for ourselves. The implication is that the individual actually doesn't matter but that their experiences are representative of the human species on the whole. The last few stories take us pretty far afield and thus begin to suffer some believability issues. But the writing is tight and clean. By starting in what is essentially our reality and extrapolating from there, Dylan has provided a collection that most every reader will appreciate at some stage.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley.