OUR TOP TEN READS OF THE YEAR

It is our tradition to name the top 10 books we have read this year. May you find something on our lists that catches your fancy for the new year. Happy Holidays!

Mrs. Wilson’s List

1.    One for the Murphys by Linda Mullaly Hunt

2.    Unstoppable by Tim Green

3.    The One and Only Ivan by K. A. Applegate

4.    Almost Home by Joan Bauer

5.    Because of Mr. Terupt by Rob Buyea

6.    Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library by Chris Grabenstein

7.    The Doll Bones by Holly Black

8.    The Maze Runner by James Dashner

9.    Divergent by Veronica Roth

10. Rump; The True Srory of Rumpelstiltskin by Liesl Shurtliff

Miss Hagensee’s List

1.    Unstoppable by Tim Green

2.    The Compound by S. A. Bodeen

3.    The Awakening by Kelley Armstrong

4.    The Royal Ranger by John Flanagan

5.    Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan

6.    The Testing by Joelle Charbonneau

7.    Bomb; The Race to Build – and Steal – the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinkin

8.    Ghost Hawk by Susan Cooper

9.    The Candymakers by Wendy Mass

10. Mr. Lincoln’s High-Tech War by Thomas B. Allen

A CONSPIRACY OF KINGS

I am currently reading A Conspiracy of Kings by Megan Whalen Turner which is the fourth book in her series Queen’s Thief. The first book, The Thief, fits a modification of the old saying “it takes a thief to catch a thief.” In this case the saying would be “it takes a master thief to steal a treasure guarded by many traps.” Gen is in prison because of his thievery, but is offered a pardon if he can steal a precious stone from a remote temple of the gods. Gen survives several deadly traps on his way to the prize. I greatly enjoyed this adventure and its sequels, The Queen of Attolia and The King of Attolia, so when I got a copy of the fourth book I wanted read it before I decided to purchase a copy for Lakeview. I have only just started the book but I can see that you do need to read the previous books to really understand what’s going on. Lakeview has all of the first three books in the series. Maybe by the time you have read those, I will have gotten a copy of book four for Lakeview.

GHOSTLY PRESENCE????

A new book coming to the IMC very soon is Madeleine Roux’s book Asylum. Dan is spending the summer before his senior year on a college campus in a special prep program. The first night his roommate tells him that his dorm was once an insane asylum. While this news is shocking, it doesn’t bother Dan as he picks the classes he want to take. Dan meets Abby and Jordan and together they decide to explore a blocked-off area of the old asylum. Among the dusty relics of the past, the three students find things that link Dan and Abby to the asylum. Then when the murders start, Dan realizes he must somehow get to the bottom of this mystery and find out who the killer is and why he/she haunts the asylum.

NOW THAT IT IS OCTOBER...

I want to talk about some of the books I've read that have Halloween themes. One of most famous monsters of all time is, of course, the Frankenstein monster created by Victor Frankenstein in the classic book by Mary Shelley. But have you ever wondered what Victor was like as a teenager? Kenneth Oppel in his novel This Dark Endeavor takes us into the world of the wealthy Frankenstein family in the 1700s. Victor, his twin brother Konrad, and their cousin Elizabeth find a hidden passage in the mansion that leads to a secret alchemy laboratory and library. When Konrad becomes deathly ill, Victor and Elizabeth try to save Konrad by using information from the alchemy library even though their parents object. Find out what fascinated Victor as a teen and lead him to attempt to recreate life as an adult. Exciting, scary, adventurous, daring describe this new book by the author of the Silverwing books.

This is the first book in a series called The Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein. Let me know if you want the IMC to get additional titles in the series. Also I have learned that a movie version is in development. No word yet about when production might start.