ReadingGrrls Paper Safari

Title: Sabotage by Margaret Peterson Haddix Publisher:  Simon & Schuster 360 pages Genre: YA (historical fiction/adoption/time travel) Synopsis: After helping Chip and Alex survive fifteenth-century London, Jonah and Katherine are summoned to help another missing child, Andrea, face her fate in history. Andrea is really Virginia Dare, from the Lost Colony of Roanoke. Jonah and Katherine are confident in their ability to help Andrea fix history, but when their journey goes dangerously awry, they realize they may be in over their heads: They seem to have landed in the wrong time period. They can’t reach JB for help. Andrea is behaving oddly. And even worse, it appears that someone has deliberately sabotaged their mission…. Review: Another fabulous history lesson.This time Jonah and Katherine are sent back in time with another missing child from history, Andrea (AKA Virginia Dare).  They are sent back to Roanoke Island  where an entire colony of settlers disap...

Title: Sent by Margaret Peterson Haddix Publisher: Simon & Schuster 308 pages Genre: Young Adult (Sci Fi / Adoption) Synopsis: Jonah and Chip have just discovered the shocking truth of their pasts: They're famous missing children from history.  Before they can fully comprehend what that means, Jonah and Katherine are zapped back in time along with Chip and another boy, Alex. When they land in the fifteenth century, they learn that Chip is really Edward V, king of England, and Alex is his younger brother Richard, Duke of York. But the thrill of being the king wears off quickly - its no fun being royalty when someone is trying to kill you...especially when that someone is your uncle, the infamous Richard of Gloucester! JB promises that if the kids can set history straight and fix time, he will bring them back to the present day. But how can they possibly return home safely when history claims that Chip and Alex were murdered? Review: The second Book in the Missing Ser...

Title: In on it: What adoptive parents would like you to know about adoption by Elizabeth O'Toole Publisher: Fig Press 155 Pages Genre: Adoption Synopsis: This is the adoption book for grandparents and friends, neighbors and colleagues, and aunts and uncles of adoptive families.  Whether you're excited or worried, committed or a bit reluctant, experienced or unfamiliar with adoption, In On It is an informative, friendly and very useful adoption guide for anyone touched by adoption. Review: I tend to just keep all my reviews of adoption books on my work blog, (I work for an adoption agency) particularly if they are non-fiction, but this year I joined an adoption reading challenge so I'm going to be posting some of my reviews here as well. In On It is a great book for families of adoption. This book is smart, thoughtful, and full of humor. Elisabeth O'Toole guides readers through adoption--and all the unique stuff that accompanies parenting in a family with a...

Title: Found by Margaret Peterson Haddix Publisher: Simon & Schuster 314 pages Genre: Young Adult ( science fiction/adoption) Synopsis: When Jonah and his best friend, Chip start receiving threatening notes in the mail, they are plunged headfirst into a mystery.  With the help of Jonah's sister, Katherine, they discover that the notes may be connected to the shady circumstances surrounding Jonah and Chip's adoptions.  When they begin to investigate, they find a vast conspiracy that reaches from the far past to the distant future - one that will take them hurtling through time. They don't know who to trust, or which shadowy faction to believe. Can Jonah and Chip discover the secrets of their pasts before the conspiracy catches up to them? Review:  I was really impressed with the way Haddix handled adoption and her use of proper adoption language. Jonah has known he was adopted his whole life, but Chip doesn't discover his adoption until he receives the sim...

  Title: Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton Publisher: Harper Collins 464 Pages Genre: Young Adult/ supernatural I received an advanced electronic copy of this book through netgalley.com.  It is due to be published February 15, 2011. Synopsis : First there are nightmares. Every night Ellie is haunted by terrifying dreams of monstrous creatures that are hunting her, killing her. Then come the memories. When Ellie meets Will, she feels on the verge of remembering something just beyond her grasp. His attention is intense and romantic, and Ellie feels like her soul has known him for centuries. On her seventeenth birthday, on a dark street at midnight, Will awakens Ellie's power, and she knows that she can fight the creatures that stalk her in the grim darkness. Only Will holds the key to Ellie's memories, whole lifetimes of them, and when she looks at him, she can no longer pretend anything was just a dream. Now she must hunt. Ellie has power that no one can...

Apparently the Conan Doyle Estate has hired Anthony Horowitz of the Alex Rider Series to write a new Sherlock Holmes novel.  I'm a little torn on how I feel about this.  On the one hand it will be interesting if he can keep to the spirit of the series and it would be nice to revive Holmes again.  On the other hand why can't we just be satisfied with what was written?  There are so many authors these days who have passed away and yet they still have books being published by ghost writers or their names are now being used as a title...sort of like Robert Ludlum whose latest Bourne books were written by another author (and honestly aren't that good). I completely understand wishing that our favorite authors hadn't gone to the big writers workshop in the sky and I will miss their writing but to give the series to someone else just doesn't seem right to me somehow.  No offense to Anthony Horowitz I'm sure his Holmes novel will be interesting but it can't be t...

Title: Sworn to Silence by Linda Castillo Publisher: St. Martins Press 336 pages Genre: mystery/thriller Synopsis: Sixteen years ago, a series of brutal murders shattered a peaceful farming community.  A young Amish girl named Kate Burkholder survived the terror of the Slaughterhouse killer....but fled to the safety of the big city. Years later, Kate returns to Painters Mill, Ohio as Chief of Police. She's come to terms with her past - until the first body is discovered in a snowy field. Kate vows to stop the killer before he strikes again. But will she betray both her family and her Amish past - and expose the dark secret that could destroy her? Review:  Kate Burkholder is the Chief of Police of Painters Mill, but she also grew up there on one of the Amish farms.  After surviving a brutal rape at 14 Kate turns her back on her church and decides to go live with the "English" (non-Amish).  After becoming a cop in Columbus Kate finds herself back in Pain...