Little Brother- Corey Doctorow

OK, Before I go any further into this review, I need to make a few things clear. 1. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, but 2. it skews a bit older than my normal reading audience. It's appropriate for late middle schoolers/high schoolers. I firmly believe that it has important things to say (for every American, regardless of age), but there are some very high school aged shenanigans going on throughout the story.

And what a story it is. Set in San Francisco, it tells the story of Marcus Yallow and his tech-savvy, hackery friends. Marcus is your fairly typical high school student: bright, but bored in school, obsessed with girls, and more concerned with the net and computer games than his classwork or grades.

Little Brother takes place in a world recognizably our own, but different as well. Students at Marcus's school all have school issued laptops that have tight security restrictions and monitor key strokes and web histories. Cameras in classrooms were declared an unconstitutional invasion of privacy, but all students are monitored by gait recognition software that can recognize any individual by their specific style of walking. (Marcus and his friends have a rather ingenious way of spoiling these cameras which I won't reveal here.)

One day, Marcus and his friends are ditching school to participate in an online game called Harajuku Fun Madness. The game combines online scavenger hunts with realworld locations. While trying to find a clue, San Francisco is struck by a devastating terrorist attack. While trying to tack cover form the explosions, Marcus and his friends, in a classic case of wrong place at the wrong time, are arrested by homeland security troops in the immediate aftermath.

Without trial or official arrests, they are taken to a secret location and interrogated repeatedly and mercilessly. Marcus initially tries to be defiant, but eventually breaks and answers all their questions.

In the wake of the attacks, Homeland Security effectively takes over San Francisco. Citizens are monitored constantly and subjected to random and not so random stops and searches. Marcus begins to foment a resistance to these tactics by organizing people through the internet. He is immediately branded a terrorist and the rest of the book plays out as a game of cat and mouse with Homeland Security searching for Marcus, and Marcus coming to terms with the newfound responsibilities of leadership and resistance.

I loved Little Brother because of the questions it implicitly forces the reader to ask himself. Is dissent patriotic? Is safety more important than freedom? Is it our right or obligation to protest an unjust law of government action? Are the words of our founders as applicable today as they were in 1776?

Little Brother is an important book, and in the wake of NSA wire tapping scandals and prisoner abuses at Abu Gharib and Guantanamo Bay, it should be required reading for every free-thinking American.

I'll leave you with the following quote of The Declaration of Independence which appears throughout the book. Interpret it how you see fit...

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

But Did You Read it First?- Help!

Today, I have occasion to see the the movie version of Jeff Kinney's best-selling Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. I'm doing so because I'll be seeing it with some individuals whose company I value highly.

Unfortunately, in doing so, I am violating on of my cardinal rules involving literary adaptations: I have yet to read the source material. I know, I know, I've heard nothing but great things about the series, but there are only so many hours in a day, and my stack of to be read books hovers around three feet tall.

So, gentle reader(s), I put forth the following plea: who can review either the Diary of a Wimpy Kid book or movie (or both) for the site? If it falls to me, it will be weeks, if not months before a review is ready. In the meantime, audience interests might have moved on to the next big thing.

Odd and the Frost Giants- Neil Gaiman

Fresh of his Newbery Award winning performance in The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman returns with the delightful and slightly more suitable for my current reading audience Odd and the Frost Giants.

Playing to one of his many and considerable strengths, Gaiman sets this story within the world of Norse mythology. Odd is a young boy living in a Viking village in Norway. His father perished on a raiding expedition, and his mother (a captive from Scotland) has remarried Fat Elfred, the village oaf. To make matters worse, a tree fell on his leg when he was younger, crushing his bones, and leaving him with a debilitating limp. To Vikings, a boy who can not handle himself physically, does not have much worth at all.

One day, Odd decides to run away from home. (Given his home life, we can imagine how he might long for something different.) While walking in the woods, Odd encounters three very special animals: an eagle, a bear, and a fox. He comes to recognize that they are in fact Odin, Thor, and Loki, three of the mightiest gods from the Norse Pantheon.

They have been banished from Asgard, the city of the gods, by a particularly surly Frost Giant thanks to the arrogance of Loki. In being banished, they have lost their human forms and been trapped as considerably less powerful (although not powerless) animals. Their banishment has lead to an extra long and brutal winter in Midgard, the realm of humans.

It seems that only Odd can help the gods regain their rightful place, and end the horrible winter. Although physically impaired, Odd is cheerful, clever, and, perhaps most importantly of all, infuriating. Will he have what it takes to defeat the mightiest of all the Frost Giants? Will he succeed where the the steely will of Odin, the unfathomable might of Thor, and the devious machinations of Loki have all failed? What does he possibly have to offer that these gods do not?

Odd and the Frost Giants is a slim volume, coming in at just over 100 pages including wonderful illustrations by award-winning artist Brett Helquist, and it's over almost before it's begun. I guess Gaiman is abiding by the old show business maxim: always leave your audience wanting more. In his author biography, Gaiman says that there are more Odd stories he'd like to tell, and I for one would be happy to read them.

Neil Gaiman's most excellent website for young people:

Mr. Bobo's Remarkable Mouse Circus

When You Reach Me- Rebecca Stead

Sorry gentle reader(s). Once again, an unforgivably long period of time has passed between my reviews. Life, as they say, happens, but I now find myself with a bit of free time, and a stack of books three feet high that I'm going to try and get through. In addition to this post, look for a review of Neil Gaiman's latest coming soon as well.

I didn't get a chance to do a post on this year's American Library Association (most notably the Caldecott and Newbery Awards- for a complete list of this years winners and honorees go here.) but I wanted to make sure that this year's Newbery winner, When You Reach Me, by Rebecca Stead got its proper due in these hallowed yet electronic pages.

When You Reach Me is nothing short of an amazing and mesmerizing second novel from Rebecca Stead. She effortlessly blends at least three genres (realistic fiction, mystery, and science fiction, and throw in historical fiction to boot as the book is set in 1979.) and her characters and depiction of New York City never once seem forced or contrived.

In the story, Miranda is a regular, everyday sixth grader living in 1978-1979 New York City. Her mother is a paralegal who is training to appear on the game show The 20,000 Dollar Pyramid. Like many sixth graders, Miranda struggles with friendships, boys, money, her mother, school, bullies, and, oh yes, mysterious anonymous letters that know too much about her, and appear to be sent from the future.

It's thee letters that make When You Reach Me so great. The first reads:

I'm coming to save your friends life and my own.

I ask two favors.

First, you must write me a letter.

Miranda has no idea where the letter came from or who sent it. As more letters appear, it is clear that the author knows things about the future that no one should, and Mira becomes increasingly enmeshed in what appears to be prophecy. The juxtaposition of Mira's everyday sixth grade life and the mysteries of time travel shouldn't work at all, yet all aspects of the plot come together seamlessly and the resolution (like all truly great resolutions should) leaves the reader thinking, pondering, and mulling for days afterwards. Couple this with an extended running homage to Madeline L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time, and you have a book truly worthy of the Newbery's lofty pedigree. Highly recommended.

Rebecca Stead's Site

Wait, A Link Post?

Yes, I know I'm not big on posting links to other sites (at least separate from larger posts), but I'm bogged down in at least three different reviews right now, and wanted to put this info out there before I forgot. It's incredibly exciting news, but readers of my "But Did You Read It First?" posts will know that I remain cautiously optimistic at best.

Squeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OK, Squeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! implies a bit more excitement than just cautious optimism, but it's just so fun to type.

Cryptid Hunters- Roland Smith

Hola, intrepid reader(s), it's been waaay to long since I've dropped some literary knowledge on your tender brains, and for that, please accept my most humble and sincere apologies.

Sir Readalot's life has been a bit hectic over the last couple of months, but I feel like I'm getting back into the swing of things. I also have a sneaking suspicion that we will soon be visited by a whole new batch of special guest bloggers, so stay tuned for that...

For my triumphant return, I chose Cryptid Hunters, by Roland Smith. Those of you who know me in real life know my love of cryptozoology knows no bounds,

from the back cover:

"cryptozoology- noun. The study of animals such as the Sasquatch, the Yeti, the Loch Ness Monster, the Chupacabra and others, whose existence has not yet been proved scientifically. There are thought to be more than 200 cryptids in existence today.

so I would have read this book based on the title alone- but as it happens, I read Smith's Sasquatch several years ago, and found it to be well written and engaging.

Anyway, The Cryptid Hunters tells the story of Grace and Marty, two twin siblings who attend an exclusive boarding school in Switzerland while their parents travel around the world as documentary wildlife photographers. Marty is brave, athletic, nearly fearless, and a budding comic book artist. Grace is the smart one, but she's is hesitant, shy, and scared of nearly everything. She is also plagued by a recurring nightmare whose details she can never remember upon waking.

Early on in the book, news of a horrible helicopter crash reaches the twins, and they are sent to live with their Uncle Wolfe, a relative they have never met, or even known existed. He lives on a private island off the coast of Washington state. As it turns out, Wolfe is a Cryptozoologist, a scientist specializing in the study of previously undiscovered animals such as the Loch Ness Monster and Sasquatch. The twins arrive just as Wolfe recieves word (from the beautiful and only slightly cliched Anthropologist Dr. Laurel Lee) about a siting of Mokele-Mbembe [Mo-Kee-Lee-Em-Bem-Bee], a dinosaur-like cryptid that lives in the Congolese rain forest.

Both Dr. Wolfe and the twins have an unrevealed history with Mokele-Mbembe, and as the story unfolds, the reader is presented with more and more of the back story. Along the way, we also meet Dr. Noah Blackwood, Wolfe's nemesis, and the kind of evil, vastly powerful and wealthy villain that stories like this need. Blackwood runs a series of "Arks" around the world where he displays rare and endangered animal specimens. He is less than scrupulous when it comes to the laws protecting these animals, and has a series of poachers, mercenaries, and henchmen to procure them for him by any means necessary. He has less than pure intentions for the Mokele-Mbembe, and also has a hidden history with both Wolfe and the twins.

Soon enough, the twins are lost in the middle of the Congo while Wolfe and Lee rush to rescue them. Along the way, Grace and Marty must outwit poachers and hunters, survive the hazards of the rainforest, and find the nest of the Mokele-Mbembe before Blackwood and his minions can. Wolfe and Lee are rushing to rescue them, but until then, Grace and Marty must rely only on their instincts, and the help of a Bonobo named Bo, a raven named Vid, and a pocket poodle named P.D.

Will they reach the Mokele-Mbembe in time? What is the mysterious tie between the family and the Mokele-Mbembe? For the answer to these and other questions, you'll have to read The Cryptid Hunters to find out.

In Grace and Marty, Smith has created two likable, if not entirely original (just once, I'd like the girl to be the athletic one, and the boy to be the smart one. I'm sure there are plenty of sibling tandems like that in the world of children's literature, so please remind me of those pairings in the comments.) protagonists. I loved the subject matter and the pro-conservation message of the story's heroes, but I wanted a bit more from it overall. The sequel, Tentacles, is about the search for the giant squid, so of course I'll read it, but based on The Cryptid Hunters alone, I doubt I'd be seeking out additional entries to the series.

Catching Fire- Suzanne Collins

Suzanne Collins returns to the (electronic) pages of Anbaric Lights with Catching Fire, the sequel to her best seller The Hunger Games, and book two of an eventual trilogy. As I said in my previous review (see link above, I do so love tooting my own horn!), the subject matter and themes brought forth in this series are a little mature for my usual target audience. I recommend this series highly, but due to some of the content, I think it's mainly appropriate for middle schoolers and beyond.

In order to effectively review Catching Fire, I'll have to release some mild spoilers concerning The Hunger Games, so if you have not read book one of the series, then read on at your own peril...

Catching Fire returns the reader to the distopian future created by Collins in The Hunger Games. The United States is no more. Instead, the brutal government of the Capital (Pelem) rules oppressively and totally over 12 separate and distinct districts. Each district is responsible for one product: coal, fish, lumber, electronics, etc..., and each district is kept in total isolation from the other. "Peacekeepers," soldiers from the capital, make sure that the residents of each district stay in line.

75 years ago, an uprising by the districts was brutally crushed by the capital (including the total annihilation of District 13), and as a consequence the Hunger Games were created. In these games, once a year each district sends both a male and a female tribute to the games. The tributes are then forced to kill each other off until only one is left. These games are designed to subjugate and humiliate the Districts, and to remind them of their subservience to the capital.

For the first time ever, there were two champions in the events of The Hunger Games. Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark, both from District 12, were declared co-winners after manufacturing a tragic love story for themselves. Of course, this romance is only a fabrication for Katniss, Peeta is truly, deeply, and hopelessly in love with her. Since this lie spared their lives, they are forced to continue living it as they attempt to return to their former lives.

They find themselves celebrities on a whirlwind tour of the districts, but Katniss has intentionally become a symbol of revolution throughout the districts. As the games have always had only a single winner, any deviation is a slight to the power and influence of the capital.

Her Mockingjay (a kind of bird) pin has become the symbol for all of those who hope to end the oppression of the capital once and for all. Of course those in control, lead by the deliciously evil and malevolent President Snow will not go down easily. Uprisings are suppressed with violence, and the capital has sinister plans in store for not only Katniss and Peeta, but also for all former Hunger Games champions as the 75th anniversary of the games draws nearer.

Katniss and Peeta must work desperately to maintain the illusion of their love (Katniss is torn between Peeta and Gale, her friend from back in District 12) in order to protect their friends and family from the wrath of the government, but as the ministrations of the capital grow ever more ruthless, the sparks of revolution glow ever brighter and the reader finally gets the sense of where the title of the book comes from.

Will Katniss and Peeta be able to protect there loved ones? Will unrest blossom into full on revolution? What cruel tricks await the participants of the 75th annual Hunger Games? Gentle reader, you'll just have to read Catching Fire to find out.

Suzanne Collins Official Site