House of Robots: Robots Go Wild - By J. Patterson & C. Grabenstein

This latest installment in the Patterson/Grabenstein series is as hilarious and touching as the others. If you aren't familiar with the series, it's all about fifth-grader Sammy Hayes-Rodriguez, whose mom is a famous professor of robotics, and whose dad is a well-known graphic novelist. Sammy's little sister, Maddie, has a life-threatening immunodeficiency disorder, and can't safely leave her bedroom. Thanks to their mom, Sammy is soon bringing a new "brother" to school with him - his Bro-Bot, E!

Follow Sammy and E's adventures through school and the community in this series of action-filled books. Told with a lot of heart, they are perfect for fans of robotics, but are really good stories for every reader to enjoy. There are villains in each book, a goofy sidekick (Sammy's second-best friend forever), and enough drama to hold anyone's interest.

Space Case - by Stuart Gibbs

Stuart Gibbs is an amazing writer, and this may be his best book yet!  

Imagine yourself on the moon, but not as an astronaut:  You are a member of the first group of moon colonists, along with your mom, dad, and six-year-old sister.  This is where we find Dash, the 12-year-old protagonist, and he's not too happy about it.  It turns out that the government's advertisements for the "resort-like" Moon Base Alpha were way overblown, and it's nowhere near as nice or exciting as he'd expected. 

Things get MUCH more exciting, though, when Dash witnesses a murder!  Now it is up to him and a couple of unexpected friends to solve the crime before things get worse.  As the government begins to cover it up, Dash is running out of time, and with a murderer on the loose in    their small community on the surface of the moon, things will definitely get worse before they get better. 

This is a compelling mystery, a realistic sci-fi look at our future in space, and a very interesting story about a brave young man who's trying to do the right thing.  Read it!

Divergent - by Veronica Roth

Don't compare this to The Hunger Games, first of all. This genre is bursting with good futuristic altered-American-reality books, and this one is fantastic.  Yes, it is a movie, but of course the book should be read first!

Divergent focuses on Tris, a girl who must choose, as everyone her age must, which of the four "factions" in their society they would like to join. It is most common to stay in your family's own faction, but switching is not unheard of. When Tris finds out during her screening test that she actually has the skill or inclination for three different factions, she learns that she is actually "divergent," a label which could get her killed!  She decides to leaver her straight-laced Abnegation faction for the thrill-seeking Dauntless, and through many hard times, she learns that she is, though small, a natural fighter.

Though Tris is enjoying her new freedom and faction, she soon learns that there is a plot afoot that could destroy everything, and it is up to her and a few trusted friends to save the day.  As family, friend, and faction are shaken, shocked, and turned against one another, Tris realizes that nothing is as it seems after all.  The adventures of Tris are incredible, exhilarating, and heart-wrenching, and you will not be able to put this book (or its two sequels) down!

This is really a TEEN book, because of the violence, love scenes, and more mature content.  That said, the fifth graders who have read it seem to have no problem with those parts...  Perhaps we parents and teachers worry too much?  Or perhaps children today have been exposed to more than is good for their young minds and are not surprised by things that should shock them.  I can't say, but I would recommend young (elementary-age) kiddos to get their parents' approval before reading this one.

Reboot - by Amy Tintera

Zombies are cool.  Well, not if one is chasing you, which is what Wren's job is, and nobody does it better.  Known as "178" for the number of minutes it took her to reboot back to life when she died, she is the star of the government's reboot program, until she takes on the wrong new recruit to mentor.  When Wren accepts Callum, who is practically still a human, she begins to question the way things are.  In a land where dead teenagers are recruited as slaves to police the bad guys, any internal resistance could bring catastrophe.

This is an exciting, creative dystopian thriller, along the lines of Divergent, The Hunger Games, and Legend.  It is unique in its use of zombies (reboots), but it shares a strong female lead, lots of action, a realization and then fight back against the ruling regime, and characters who learn to care more about their similarities than their differences. There's plenty of violence, but also more tender, thoughtful moments than you would expect.

The pace is fast, the world is interesting, and it's a good book.  In this genre, this book is around the middle of the pack, which is not bad, as there are some amazing science-fiction/fantasty teen  stories being  published these days.  Check this book out, but be prepared to fall in love with a 5-years-dead murderous teen girl.

Winter of the Robots - by Kurtis Scaletta

Robots are cool, right?  You know, R2D2 and C-3PO from Star Wars were pretty awesome.  But what happens when robots begin to think on their own?

Set in North Minneapolis, this is the story of  Jim, a middle-school kid who joins his best friend in their science project to make a small robot that can battle other robots in a competition.  As Jim learns how to write code to program a robot's actions, he has no idea how useful those skills are going to become.  While Jim and his friends encounter and work through normal teen issues like strained friendships, dating, problematic siblings, and dealing with concerned parents, something sinister is taking place at the junk yard down the road.  As you may have guessed it is up to Jim and his friends to save the day.

Full of robotics talk, this is a must-read for any future programmers or battle-bot competitors.  It's also a plain old good story with some good twists and turns.

Codename Zero - by Chris Rylander (Guest Review by Nicholas)

Not much happens in North Dakota. At least that's what they want you to think...

Codename Zero is an awesome book about an average prankster who is pulling a prank involving fainting goats. Curious? Read more to find out.  When suddenly, a sweaty man shows up carrying a package and says, "Don't open it," what do you think our hero, seventh-grader Carson Fender does? He opens it (of course), and he is life changes forever.

Read this book if you like average people becoming powerful.  I give it five stars for its cool hideouts, weird friends, and unlikely heroes.

(Thank you to fifth-grader Nicholas H., who read this in one night and is never far from a stack of books, for this guest review!)

Pi in the Sky - by Wendy Mass

When you're reading a story about characters in another dimension, one in which the folks who create and maintain the Universe look like normal people, but can turn their legs into wheels, and in which pie delivery is essential to planet building, you know things are going to get weird.  That's exactly what happens in this surprising, creative, but somewhat strange and disappointing book by Wendy Mass, author of so many good realistic fiction works.  I found myself wishing she had just stuck with excellent stories like The Candymakers, as this one just lost my interest.  It's totally sci-fi, which is not my genre of choice, so please don't be scared off by my so-so review if you like that kind of thing.

The story follows one boy, Joss, seventh son of the Supreme Overlord of the Universe (who likes to hit golf balls out of his office window).  Joss delivers pies, while his brothers and father are responsible for running all aspects of the Universe.  This leaves him somewhat disappointed with his life, but at least he has his best friend Kal.  Until Kal disappears into a previously unknown dimension, that is, and Joss needs to pull out all the stops, with the help of a pushy earthling named Annika (can't tell you how she comes into the story, but she's the best character in the book), to save his friend Kal and a little planet called Earth.

The book really has nothing to do with Pi, just pie.  You could read into the whole planet-making thing with the idea of Pi, but it's a stretch, really just a cute title that the author's publisher came up with.  If you like sci-fi, give it a try.  If you're more of a realistic fiction fan, pick up The Candymakers.

Geeks, Girls, and Secret Identities - by Mike Jung

It's kind of a weird title, but I figured that a geeky book should probably have a geeky name, so let's go with it.  It really is a geeky book, but in a thrilling and action-packed way.

This is the story of middle school student Vincent Wu and his two best friends, who together form the fourth (and smallest) Captain Stupendous fan club in their city.  In case you didn't know, Captain Stupendous is simply the coolest, most amazing super hero there is, and he happens to save their city from villains on a pretty regular basis.  As the story gets rolling, Vincent's girlfriend (or maybe she would be if he ever got the courage to actually TALK to her!) is kidnapped by a new super-villain, and Captain Stupendous is nowhere to be found.  That's just the beginning, because soon Vincent and his buddies are wrapped up in a stupendous adventure to bring Captain Stupendous back, defeat a giant indestructible robot, and rescue the girl of Vincent's dreams.  How will they do it?  With geeky style, of course.

This is a great super hero book, but it's even better as a book about friendship that deepens through shared adventure.  It has a surprising amount of "girl power," so ladies do not be scared off from this excellent book!  This book is sure to give lots of kids, including brave girls, some great ideas.

Dark Life - by Kat Falls

It is the future, and the world has had some problems, and things aren't what they used to be.  Oceans rose, earthquakes toppled cities, and humans live crowded into tall buildings in big cities on the coasts.  The surface of the earth is no longer safe for farming, and humans need to eat, so the government (The Commonwealth) has started a colony of experimental farms on the bottom of the ocean.  This is the story of those colonists and their fight to survive their challenges, including attacks by the notorious Sea Blight Gang.

Our protagonist is 15-year-old Ty, the first boy born undersea, who dreams of having his own sea-bottom farm one day.  Problems occur and Ty realizes that he is going to have to fight if his dream will ever become reality, and his unlikely partner is a Topsider (their term for folks who live on land) named Gemma, a spunky girl with a mission of her own.  These two have a number of adventures, battle their fair share of nasty folks and creatures, and... well, I can't tell you how it ends up, can I?  Trust me that it is worth your time to read their story on your own.

This is a wonderful new series that takes on a new landscape and introduces some fascinating characters, both good and bad, and somewhere in between.  You will love reading about the technology these pioneers use to survive and farm the sea floor, but you'll also find the descriptions of the post-climate-change Earth fascinating.  I liked this book so much that as soon as I finished it, I went out and bought six copies because I know my fourth graders will want to read and discuss it as much as I do.  Do yourself a favor, and get yourself a copy, too.

Boom - by Mark Haddon

This was either a British science fiction story with a very descriptive scene about a flying sandwich, or an English work of realistic fiction, with some funky aliens who look like humans, but with little tails.  Maybe it's the story of a boy and his sister who hate one another's guts until a major event throws them together in a desperate race to save the Earth.  Actually, it is the story of two oddball friends who would do anything to save one another.  This story is so many things, but one thing it is NOT is boring.

The book begins as a realistic mystery when Jimbo and Charlie, two English schoolboys, begin to suspect that their teachers are up to something.  When they bug the staff lounge and overhear two of their teachers speaking in a foreign language, they get even more suspicious.  Before long they are in way over their heads, and not even Jimbo's sister's smelly biker kung-fu boyfriend can keep them safe.  At this point, things take a turn for the sci-fi-tastic, and the story really heats up.

Read this if you want a wild ride on a fun, intelligent, emotional, and strangely alien roller coaster of a story!

NERDS 2: M is for Mama's Boy - by Michael Buckley

What I love about this series is that while the main characters are total nerds in school, getting picked on mercilessly, they have secret identities with which they do things like... oh... save the world!  Imagine getting shoved in a locker one moment, and fighting evil villains with your super powers the next.  It's all very creative, with interesting characters, all sorts of cool spy tools and tricks, and nasty bad guys who use squirrels to do their dirty work.

If you enjoy spy series like Alex Rider or STORM (two excellent series!), the NERDS books are in the same genre, but more ideal for a 3rd-5th grade reader, with more humor but just as much fancy gadgetry.  This is a great series for underdogs, science and technology geeks, people with buck teeth or bad allergies, or anyone who enjoys solving puzzles or playing spy.

The author also wrote The Sisters Grimm series, and he really knows how to spin a nice tale with equal doses of serious and funny.  If you're not a NERD yet, it's time to sign up.

Star Jumper: Journal of a Cardboard Genius - by Frank Asch

This is a book that will leave you wondering what is real and what is imagined.  Young Alex loves to create things with cardboard boxes and other bits of junk he's collected, but his biggest challenge comes when his pesky little brother threatens to foil his latest invention.  When Alex is forced to reveal his plans for escape into outer space in his cardboard spacecraft, he must find a way to prevent his brother Jonathan from ruining everything.

There is plenty of sibling rivalry, fancy space and inventor's talk, and creativity in this short but fun book.  The reader won't know where the truth ends and Alex's fantastic imagination begins as this book moves from the bedroom to far above the Earth.  It will appeal to young inventors, older siblings who have to deal with little pests, space fans, and anyone wanting a curious but rewarding short book.

A Wrinkle in Time - by Madeline L'Engle

This is one of those books that, while it feels a bit outdated, has really stood the test of time.  For 49 years Meg, Charles Wallace, and Calvin have captivated readers with their fabulous journey into the great and somewhat creepy depths of space to rescue a lost father, and the writing still sparkles.  Are there more engaging and easy to follow works of fantasy for young people these days?  Absolutely.  I'm willing to bet, though, that all of their authors were fans of Madeline L'Engle.  Reading this book, I can't help picturing J.K. Rowling wandering around with a beat-up copy of this book in her hand.

I've been reading this aloud to my fourth graders, and while the beginning was tedious for them, now that we've passed the halfway point they are hooked.  The characters, though they are oddballs, become so real to the reader that we feel as if we were bravely walking into CENTRAL Central Intelligence on Camazotz at their side.  A book doesn't stay so popular for so long if the writing isn't exemplary, and Ms. L'Engle is hard to top in that regard.

There are many important lessons to be learned from this book, including:  1) What you see is not necessarily what you get.  2) Everyone has their strengths, though they may not be obvious, and even negative traits can be useful in the right situations.  3)  It's okay to be different, no matter what others think of you.  Be proud of who you are.  4) Stay together.  Love and courage can conquer all. 5) Watch out for red-eyed dudes who can read your thoughts.  Seriously.

If you love this book, you MUST read Rebecca Stead's When You Reach Me.

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate - by Jacqueline Kelly

I thought this book had a cool cover, so I read it. I thought it would be a book that would mainly interest girls, and it probably is.  I thought it would be a little boring, and it... WAS NOT!  Imagine that you're a 12-year-old girl in Texas in 1899, with all the limitations and expectations that come with that.  What are those?  Let's see: You must wear a bonnet and skirts, learn to keep house and knit, cook and clean, play the piano and have social graces, and of course give up any chance of ever having a career of your own unless you want to be a lonely spinster school teacher.  Equal rights?  Yeah, right.

Now imagine that you're Calpurnia Tate, the only girl in her large family, and granddaughter to the mysterious and grumpy Mr. Tate, who also happens to be a famous naturalist and scientist.  When her grandpa takes her under her wing and begins to give her the education he thinks she deserves, but which stands in direct opposition to her mother's plans for her.  Calpurnia is stuck in the middle, begin to see herself as a scientist and a strong, independent woman, but facing the bleak housewifey future of her parents' expectations.  Does she have the will to break from her family and plot her own course into the new century, heading off to University to become a scientist, or will her destiny be that which her parents have forecast?  The answer isn't as clear as you might expect, but in showing Calpurnia's growth (or evolution) through the book, the author gives us hope and  lets us, the readers, put the final touches on young Miss Tate's fate.

This really is a fabulous book, realistic and full of interesting people, places, and ideas. The ideas of Charles Darwin play heavily and help shape Calpurnia's thinking and her relationship with her grandpa.  The writing is smart, careful, and nuanced, and will delight readers who appreciate well-crafted prose and straightforward but captivating plots.  There's not much adventure, no violence, nothing disgusting, and not much humor, so it's not a book for everyone. Young ladies who have an interest in science and nature are obviously the ideal readers, but I can't think of anyone who couldn't benefit from reading this delightful story.

Science Fair - by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson

Foreign terrorists with cheese in their pants?  A death-defying race through town in a stolen Oscar Meyer Weinermobile?  A dancing animatronic gorilla with classified technology hidden under its hat?  Darth Vader and a wookie breaking into a house in the dead of night?  Killer electronic robot owl defending a store in the mall?  A levitating frog?  Parents who make all of their food out of tofu?  FBI agents covered in orange Cheetos dust?  Nuclear Mentos?  This book is full of one wild, goofy idea after another, and it all comes together nicely in the end.

It's really the story of Toby, a dorky eighth-grader who wants to win the $5,000 prize at his school's science fair, but knows that the rich bratty kids whose parents pay for fancy projects always win.  When Toby uncovers an unfair and sinister plot, it's up to him and his friends to uncover the truth, save the science fair from cheating (and the United States from being destroyed by terrorists), and avoid capture by the many people who are hunting them down.  This book is a roller coaster of silliness, but also a pretty good scientific adventure.  I'd recommend it to readers who like funny books, bad accents, science, Star Wars, and inventing things. Also, anyone who's ever dreamed of uncovering secret plots and saving the world, or boring things like that.

Herbert's Wormhole - by Peter Nelson and Rao Rohitash

You're ten years old, you're awesome, and your name is Alex.  What happens when your parents build you a fancy jungle gym in the backyard, kick you off your video game system for the rest of the summer, and arrange a playdate with your nerdy inventor neighbor kid, Herbert?  Your summer gets a lot more interesting, is what!

Imagine zooming through a wormhole, a gap in the space/time continuum that allows you to travel through time (think 100 years in the future) to the exact same place.  Suddenly your boring town is not so boring after all, as it's been taken over by friendly tentacled aliens with Australian accents and ridiculous wigs.  Now imagine yourself playing a gravity-free T-ball game in front of record crowds, and finding a way to outsmart a nasty alien janitor and save your future town from his diabolical plans.  You're a hero, but you're just visiting.

This is an inventive, interesting, graphic novel (more novel than comic, though the comics are great and help tell the story), perfect for 8-10 year olds especially those who love science, video games, and ugly aliens with accents.  Oh, it's also a good book for people who like seeing girls save the day when the boys are wandering around in their underwear eating popcorn!  Don't ask, just read.

When You Reach Me - by Rebecca Stead

I want you to read this book, but first I want you to read this one:  A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle.  It's a book that several of the characters carry around with them, so it would be helpful if you were familiar with it.  Also, it's a wonderful story.

When You Reach Me surprised me.  It was not at all what I expected before, or even after I had started reading it.  If you pick up this book, you must finish it, or you'll never understand what I'm saying.  On the face, it's a story of 6th-grader Miranda, going to school in New York City and trying to figure out why her best friend Sal has started to ignore her.  Then it becomes a story about why some random kid punched Sal in the stomach. Then it's a story about why there's a homeless guy sleeping under the mailbox in front of Miranda's apartment building, and why he keeps kicking the air and saying weird things.  I promise, it will all come together, but you have to read the whole book.  It's not a long book, but it is powerful.  Every word counts.  There are clues, but I couldn't solve the mystery on my own.  That's okay, because the author, as they always seem to do, solved it for me at the end.

This is a mystery, but it's also a school story, a friendship book, and so much more.  It defies easy explanation, so just (You know what I'm going to say, right?)  read it.  

Go Big or Go Home - by Will Hobbs

A meteorite rips through your roof and burns a hole through your bed.  Luckily you were on the roof at the time, and didn't have your head disintegrated by this rocky visitor from Mars.  What do you do next?  Why not have some wild mountain bike adventures with your cousin, explore some huge caves in the wilderness, wrestle with your evil neighbor's killer dog, visit the cute girl at the local coffee shop, and watch toilets get launched hundreds of yards on a giant trebuchet?  (A trebuchet is a type of catapult, dude.)

This is my first Will Hobbs book, though I own a few and have tried to get students to read them over the years.  It is so hard to convince a student to read a book you haven't read yourself!  I was impressed by the amount of action in the book, and there was a lot of good dialogue that sounded the way teens would really talk.  You get a feeling for what the characters are thinking, but don't really get to know any of them that well.  It was good writing, but is not destined to become a classic.  I'll have to read more of this guy's books, but I can tell he's no Gary Paulsen.  More of a Dan Gutman, if you know what I mean.  That's not a bad thing, but it's not the highest compliment either.

Sent - by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Time travel?  A high-tech rock that turns invisible and allows you to talk to people centuries in the future?  Ghosts wearing sneakers and old school sweatshirts?   A younger sisters falling in love with your best friend? This is not what Jonah had expected when he entered the cave in the first book of the series, Found, but in this better-than-the-original sequel, it's exactly what he gets.  Without giving away too much from the first book, I can say that if you're interested in 15th century England, time travel, weeping maidens who are actually plotting revenge on the ruling king, or dead princes from history who are actually being temporarily inhabited by their 21st century selves (yes, it's a bit complicated), you'd love this book.  Moreover, if you enjoy historical fiction, science fiction, or writing with unexpected twists and turns, you're bound to enjoy this series by a gifted writer.  Yes, the book is as good as its cover suggests!

(After reading this second book, I realized how dull the first book was compared to this, but you really have to read them in order.  It's worth it!)