"Grown-upness is truly wasted on grown-ups"

If you can go with the far-fetched premise of Cosmic by Frank Cottrell Boyce, you'll probably appreciate the book. Liam is twelve, but because of his height and a bit of early facial hair, he's often mistaken for an adult.  When he wins a vacation package to what he thinks is an amusement part, he pretends to be a dad and takes his friend Florida along as his daughter.  They end up in China, where the other prize-winning kids and one adult will train for a ride on an actual rocket ship!  Liam ends up going aboard, and all is well until there's an "oops" and the rocket is seemingly stuck in outer space.  Fortunately, Liam's skills obtained from hours of playing World of Warcraft save the day.  The story was originally published in Great Britain, and the British words and references may be confusing to some readers in the U.S., but the kids' humor, the general idiocy of the other fathers, and Liam's likable character make this a fun read.

Is this what our future will be like?

Lots to think about both during and after the reading of Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry.  Kira is a young girl with a deformed leg.  As the book opens, she has become an orphan and fears she will be cast out of her village.  However, the Council of Guardians sees that she has a very special talent for embroidery, and they decide that Kira's new job will be to care for the robe of the Singer, who wears it once a year during the village's Gathering.  While living at the Council's Edifice, Kira becomes friends with Thomas, an orphan with an amazing woodcarving talent who works on the Singer's staff.  Kira's new life at first seems ideal - a wonderful place to stay, plentiful food, and meaningful work.  But bit by bit (and I loved this about the book), I got an uneasy feeling that all was not well.  Whose voice does Thomas hear crying at night?  Do the "beasts" that supposedly killed Kira's father really exist?  What is in store for Kira's future?  I usually like stories that have everything wrapped up neat and tidy by the end, but I make an exception for this book, which would be fantastic for a book club to discuss.

Football isn't just for boys

I absolutely love the voice of the narrator, D. J. Schwenk, in Dairy Queen by Catherine Gilbert Murdock. D. J. is 15, and she does all the work on her family's dairy farm ever since her older brothers (former Red Bend high school football stars) left for college and her dad broke his hip. D. J. herself knows quite a bit about football, and she gets the chance over the summer to coach Brian Nelson. But things get complicated because 1) Brian is quarterback for Hawley, which is Red Bend's arch rival, 2) D. J. starts to like Brian, and 3) D. J. decides to go out for - and makes - the Red Bend football team, and now she'll be playing against Brian. D. J.'s voice is funny and authentic, covering the wide range of emotions and feelings that teens really have, as she learns about herself, her family, and her capabilities. If you like this book, the story continues in Off Season.

What a road trip!

The Chicago Auto Show is underway, and I wonder what the characters in Around the World in 100 Days by Gary Blackwood would think of it?  The year is 1891, and most people don't think this new idea of a car is ever going to catch on.  Harry Fogg is a young man with a steam-powered automobile.  For a variety of reasons, he bets that he can travel around the world - about 25,000 miles! - in 100 days.  He's allowed to take boats over water, but other than that, all traveling has to be done in his car. Most of the trip is taken with Johnny, a friend and incredible mechanic; Charles, the son of one of the men he bet against; and Elizabeth, a reporter who dreams of becoming famous.  If the "travel around the world" idea sounds familiar, it's because Harry is the son of fictional character Phileas Fogg, who attempted the voyage (in 80 days) in a book by Jules Verne.  Blackwood's story has adventure, humor, setbacks, danger, and suspicion of sabotage, and the bottom of each page shows which day they're on, which adds to the sense of urgency.  Will they make it in time?

What's behind that door?

Falling In by Frances O'Roark Dowell is quite different from Dowell's other books (like Dovey Coe), but enjoyable never-the-less.  Middle-schooler Isabelle Bean opens a closet door at school to follow the squeak of a mouse, and she falls into another whole world!  This world feels fairy tale-ish, with a forest, villages, and fear of a local witch.  Isabelle meets another young girl named Hen, and together they come upon Grete, an elderly woman who takes them in and teaches them about herbs and healing. Isabelle learns she's related to Grete (no, I won't tell you how), and that Grete's the suspected witch; Isabelle becomes determined to clear her name.  The first half of the book seemed slow, but there's a neat and unexpected twist half-way through.  Then the pace picks up, and the story becomes more complicated and interesting.  The ending is especially satisfying.  A great book for readers with active imaginations.

Vanished into thin air

A snow day from school?  What a great time to curl up with a blanket and a good book like The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd.  The story is told by Ted, a 12-year-old who is very bright and probably autistic, or as he describes it, "having a...brain that runs on a different operating system."  Ted and his sister Kate take their cousin Salim to ride the London Eye, an enormous Ferris wheel.  They watch Salim get into one of the pods, but he doesn't get off.  He's vanished!  Ted has a special way of looking at things, and it takes his special brain and hard work to figure out what happened.  Not only is this a good mystery (looking back, I noticed some of the clues), but the realistic insight into how Ted thinks - very literally and logically - was equally fascinating.

You can be SPHDZ, too

If you're looking for something that's just plain goofy, Spaceheadz by Jon Scieszka is the book for you.  Michael K. is starting fifth grade at a new school, and he's stuck with two other new kids who are extremely weird.  Bob always sounds like a commercial ("Think outside the bun!"), Jennifer sounds like a wrestling announcer ("Get rrrrready to rrrrrumble!"), and they insist that the hamster in their class is Major Fluffy, their mission leader.  Their mission?  To recruit 3,140,001 kids to become SPHDZ, so that Earth doesn't get turned off.  Meanwhile, super-klutz Agent Umber from the Anti-Alien Agency is on their trail, in hilarious disguises.  Tons of pictures will remind you of the Wimpy Kid series, and the web sites that are mentioned in the book are real!  Lots of laughs, and if you like it, you're in luck - it's the first in a series.

Remind me not to go to Mars...

Well.  I'm not sure if I'm exhausted or glad or what after finishing Black Hole Sun by David Macinnis Gill.  I had a hard time getting into this book, but true sci-fi fans may enjoy it. Living on Mars, Durango is a teenage mercenary - a gunman or soldier who will do anything for money.  He and his crew have been hired to protect a group of poor miners from the nasty, cannibalistic Draeu and their equally evil queen.  Some parts of the book are clever and funny, like the conversations between Durango and the snarky Mimi - an Artificial Intelligence that has been flash-cloned to Durango's brain (got that?).  But I had problems with all the action - there was so much happening so fast, that I couldn't picture it, which was frustrating.  And I could never figure out what the title was supposed to mean!  The book is getting good reviews, though, so if you're comfortable with sci-fi and a higher reading level, give it a shot.

Can Armpit make the right choices?

I listened to this book, and it was great: Small Steps, written by Louis Sachar and narrated by Curtis McClarin.  In a follow-up to Sachar's well-known Holes, Armpit is home from Camp Green Lake and taking small steps to get his act together.  He's going to summer school classes, working hard at a landscaping company, and maintaining a really cool relationship with Jenny, the little girl next door who has cerebral palsy.  But then his buddy X-Ray tempts him with a money-making scheme - scalping tickets for a concert by teen rock star Kaira DeLeon - and Armpit's life takes a few steps back.  Sachar smoothly blends such unrelated topics as race issues (Armpit is black, Jenny is white), a behind-the-scenes look at the rock world, and making choices; McClarin's narration adds a beautiful depth to the story.

If you like Lemony Snicket...

...I bet you would like The Kneebone Boy by Ellen Potter.  Otto (who never speaks and refuses to take off his scarf), Lucia, and Max are the Hardscrabble siblings.  Their mom mysteriously disappeared five years ago, and their father goes on faraway trips to paint portraits of royalty who...aren't quite so royal any more.  The kids are on a quest to find their mother, and they end up at Snoring-by-the-Sea, with a pretty cool great-aunt who's staying at a "castle folly" - a life-size children's castle full of mystery and secret passages.  A few British terms may be unfamiliar ("torch" = flashlight; "trainers" = gym shoes), but the reader will still enjoy plenty of cleverness, humor, and adventure.  The ending is definitely not Lemony Snicket-y; instead, it was unexpected and bittersweet, but still quite satisfying.