Highland Township Public Library

Looking for your next favorite read?

Find the best-recommended reads, sounds, and flicks, as reviewed by the folks who know best: you and Dawn. Feel free to submit your own favorite reads/reviews.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls

by Steve Hockensmith

The prequel to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

3/22/10

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins - find it here.

2/18/10

The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey - find it here.

1/12/10

Extras by Scott Westerfeld - find Uglies, Pretties, Specials and Extras.

12/19/09

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman - find it here.

12/8/09

Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld - find it here.

11/28/09

Peace, Love and Baby Ducks by Lauren Myracle - find it here.

11/18/09

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

by Jane Austen and Seth Graham-Smith

Reviewed October 5, 2009 by Dawn

As our story opens, a mysterious plague has fallen upon the quiet English village of Meryton and the dead are returning to life! Feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet is determined to wipe out the zombie menace, but she's soon distracted by the arrival of the haughty and arrogant Mr. Darcy. What ensues is a delightful comedy of manners with plenty of civilized sparring between the two young lovers and even more violent sparring on the blood-soaked battlefield as Elizabeth wages war against hordes of flesh-eating undead. Can she vanquish the spawn of Satan? And overcome the social prejudices of the class-conscious landed gentry?

-from the book jacket

Dawn says: Why didn’t I think of this! Take a Jane Austen classic, retain 85 percent of the original text but spice up the story a tad with zombie action. It’s like taking an Oreo cookie, yes, delicious on its own, but then surrounding the cookie with a creamy chocolate coating! Anywho, if you enjoy this fun romp why not try Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters?

Bloodline by Kate Cary

Reviewed October 5, 2009 by Dawn

My dear daughter, I fear an old enemy has returned. An enemy my friends and I had hoped our own children would never know. From what you have told me, I believe Quincey Harker is descended from the same evil, parasitic presence I helped remove from the world thirty-five years ago-one Count Dracula.

-from the book jacket

Dawn says: I found this book to be an interesting twist on the original Dracula by Bram Stoker. The book reads like a journal, with alternating entries from each of the main characters. If you’re looking for a dark and scary vampire read then this is it! And if you enjoy it then you’ll want to get your hands on the sequel, Bloodline Book Two: Reckoning. I’d recommend this title for older teens, say 10^th grade and up.

Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey

Reviewed October 5, 2009 by Dawn

They came from the trees: They poured out of Eliza’s grave, dozens of them, scores, sprinting with arms outstretched and mouths agape, their colorless skin radiant in the starlight, as if every tomb and sepulcher had vomited forth their foul contents. Clearly we were being outpaced. I watched in helpless horror as the swarm of fiends closed the gap.

-from the book jacket

Dawn says: Folks this is a dee-lightful book of Gothic horror! Love, love, loved it. However, you might want to pass if you can’t stomach passages like this ditty; "The head is the most coveted prize. The first to reach her seizes it and wrenches it from her neck... a steaming geyser shoots into the air and paints crimson their teeming alabaster bodies." Let’s recommend this one for older teens too!

Bowery Girl by Kim Taylor

Reviewed August 28, 2008 by Dawn

On the streets of the Bowery, you do whatever it takes to survive.

-from the book jacket

Dawn says: New York City, 1883. Not the best place or time in history to be a destitute young woman. But somehow, pickpocket Mollie Flynn and prostitute Annabelle Lee scrape out an existence. Author Kim Taylor doesn’t sugar coat the brutality and hardships that these fictional characters endure. For this reason Bowery Girl is recommended for high school teens. If you’re female and you need or desire a short (219 pages) historical fiction book, I highly recommend this title. Ah, the beauty of historical fiction: when you read one, you marvel at how things have changed, and yet, how some things stay the same.

Evolution, Me & Other Freaks of Nature

by Robin Brande

Reviewed August 28, 2008 by Dawn

Dawn says: This book was selected as the best young adult book published in 2007, as voted on by Michigan teen librarians (Michigan teens, by the way, selected Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson as the best of 2007). Evolution versus Intelligent Design. A debate that still rages on in some parts of our fair country 83 years after the famous Scopes Monkey Trial of 1925. Author Robin Brande was raised as a fundamental Baptist, loved her religious upbringing, but was eventually banished from her church. But don’t think that she throws God and fundamentalists “under the bus” in this book.

In Evolution…, Mena Reece, a high school freshman, faces the wrath of former friends from within her conservative church. The problem starts when she sticks up for a fellow church member who is harassed because he is gay. Things get worse when Mena sides with her science teacher who refuses to teach Intelligent Design as a counter-point to the lesson on Evolution.

I found some of the incidents in the book to be a bit far-fetched and unrealistic. However, Brande offers in this book that science and religion need not be mutually exclusive. I’d love to hear your thoughts! Recommended for teens 6^th grade and up.

Repossessed by A.M. Jenkins

Reviewed August 28, 2008 by Dawn

Don’t call me a demon. I prefer the term Fallen Angel. Everybody deserves a vacation, right? Especially if you have a pointless job like tormenting the damned. So who could blame me for blowing off my duties and taking a small, unauthorized break?

-from the book jacket

Dawn says: Fallen angel is getting a mite tired of his job. Doesn’t understand why humans would sin and subject themselves to eternal damnation. Said angel decides he’s just got to take a clandestine vacation down to earth to sample a couple of those seven deadly sins to see what the fuss is all about. Now, being a guy fallen angel, of course he’s VERY interested in one sin in particular: Lust. This is a funny and fast read. Recommended for teens 9^th grade and up.

Endymion Spring by Matthew Skelton

Reviewed August 28, 2008 by Dawn

In the dead of night, a cloaked figure drags a heavy box through snow-covered streets. The chest, covered in images of mythical beasts, can be opened only when the fangs of its serpent’s-head clasp taste blood. Centuries later, in an Oxford library, a boy touches a strange book and feels something pierce his finger. The volume is blank, wordless, but fine veins run through its pages, and they seem to quiver, as if alive. Words begin to appear in the book-words only the boy can see. So unfolds a timeless secret…

-from the book jacket

Dawn says: This story is told in alternating chapters by the two main characters from two very different periods in time; Endymion Spring, apprentice to Herr Gutenberg (yes THE Gutenberg, inventor of moveable type) in the mid 15^th century, and Blake, the son of a visiting scholar researching Faust in modern day Oxford, England. The two boy’s destinies collide when Blake discovers a book that was hidden away by Endymion Spring more than 500 years ago. This book has been described as a Da Vinci Code for teens, with a little Harry Potter mixed in for good measure. Warner Bros. pictures bought the movie rights to Endymion Spring before it was even published in print in 2006 so look for the story in theatres in the future! This is a great read for teens of all ages, especially those who are bibliophiles and who dream of one day wandering the hallowed halls of one of the venerable universities in merry old England!

Surrender by Sonya Hartnett

posted February 27, 2008 by Dawn

As life slips away, Gabriel looks back over his brief twenty years, which have been clouded by frustration and humiliation. A small town [in Australia] and distant parents ensure that he is never allowed to forget the horrific mistake he made as a child. He has only two friends-his dog, Surrender, and the unruly wild boy, Finnigan, with whom he made a boyhood pact.

When a series of arson attacks grips the town, Gabriel realizes how unpredictable and dangerous Finnigan is. Events begin to spiral out of control, and it becomes clear that only the most extreme measures will rid Gabriel of Finnigan for good.

-from the book jacket

Dawn says: A psychological thriller that was identified in 2007 as a Printz honor book (literary excellence in young adult literature) this one is not for the squeamish. Your brain will get a workout as you try to sort out fantasy from reality in the tortured mind of Gabriel. Recommended for teens 9^th grade and up.

Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin

posted February 27, 2008 by Dawn

Welcome to Elsewhere. It is usually warm with a breeze, the sun and the stars shine brightly, and the beaches are marvelous. It’s quiet and peaceful here. And you can’t get sick or any older. It’s where fifteen-year-old Liz Hall ends up, after she has died. It is a place so like earth, yet completely different from it. Here Liz will age backward from the day of her death until she becomes a baby again and returns to Earth.

But Liz wants to turn sixteen, not fourteen (again). She wants to get her driver’s license. She wants to graduate from high school and go to college. She wants to fall in love. And now that she’s dead, Liz is forced to live a life she doesn’t want with a grandmother she has only just met. And it isn’t going well.

-from the book jacket

Dawn says: I know what you’re thinking; this book “sounds like a downer”. But think again! This was a terrific read and it had me laughing and, yeah, maybe shedding a tear or two on occasion. But all in all this is a very life affirming book and its message and images have stayed with me. Definitely one the best teen books I’ve read in the last 3 years. Give it a try. You won’t be disappointed. By the way, we also have this title on CD! Recommended for teens 6^th grade and up.

The Trap by John Smelcer

posted January 4, 2008 by Dawn

Seventeen-year-old Johnny Least-Weasel knows that his grandfather Albert is a stubborn old man and won’t stop checking his own trap lines even though other men his age stopped doing so years ago. But Albert Least-Weasel has been running trap lines in the Alaskan wilderness alone for the past sixty years. Nothing has ever gone wrong on the trail he knows so well.

When Albert doesn’t come back from checking his traps, with the temperature steadily plummeting, Johnny must decide quickly whether to trust his grandfather or his own instincts.

Written in alternating chapters that relate the parallel stories of Johnny and his grandfather, this novel poignantly addresses the hardships of life in the far north, suggesting that the most dangerous traps need not be made of steel.

-from the book jacket

Dawn says: Read this beauty if you’re hankering for a survival adventure story! It is a quick read (170 pages) and will keep you riveted till the very end. But be sure to have a warm blanket and a hot cup of cocoa at the ready. This author will put you in the Alaskan wilderness! Recommended for teens 6^th grade and up.

The Black Book of Secrets by F. E. Higgins

posted January 4, 2008 by Dawn

A boy arrives at a remote village in the dead of night. His name is Ludlow Fitch-and he is running from a most terrible past. What he is about to learn is that in this village is the life he has dreamed of-a safe place to live, and a job, as the assistant to the mysterious pawnbroker who trades people’s deepest, darkest secrets for cash. Ludlow’s job is to neatly transcribe the confessions in an ancient leather-bound tome: The Black Book of Secrets.

-from the book jacket

Dawn says: Ok, confession time. I’m a big fan of Charles Dickens’s books so the setting of this book, very dark late 19^th century London-esque, grabbed me from the get go! I really enjoyed this mystery and waited with anticipation as the characters revealed their sins! Need I write more to entice you to read this book? How about the first line of the book?

“When I opened my eyes I knew that nothing in my miserable life prior to that moment could possibly be as bad as what was about to happen.”

Recommended for teens 6^th grade and up.

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

reviewed 3/19/07 by hannah

I am a great fan of vampire stories, especially those that are romanticized, so it is no great wonder that I really enjoyed this book. I mean, this is a really good book. I hate to admit that I am obsessed and read it within three days. The title really says it all. I found out about this book through my friends (Tami), and fell in love with it.

Right after having read Twilight, I was able to read New Moon. (lucky that my friend had BOTH the books) I wouldn't have been able to wait forever to read the second one...I'm dying already to know what happens in the third! This book, I think, is just absolutely wonderful. I've never found a book I can read over and over and never be bored with. Twilight is endlessly entertaining. It looks like one of those teenage girl romance books, but it is so much more.

Twilight is about an intense attraction between a teenage human girl, Bella, who falls in love with unintentionally seductive teenage vampire boy, whose name is Edward. Both are drawn to each other in more ways than one. The relationship is indescribably dangerous for the both of them but the two can't help but fall in love. Their love for each other goes beyond undying. It is something that makes anyone entirely wistful. They are faced with many conflicts and amazingly overcome each one. This author's idea of vampires and what makes them vulnerable and what they are capable of is very interesting and rather believable. The character development is out of this world. Bella is someone anyone can easily relate to, and you can understand why it is that she falls hopelessly in love with this vampire. And the first thing that draws me to Edward is that he must constantly exercise self control. He must not feed his hunger and he must deny himself pleasures. Really, it's an amazing book. Read it.

This is the first of 5 books. Book 2 is "New Moon" available now. Book 3 "Eclipse" should be published Aug/Sep 2007. Book 4 "Breaking Dawn" should be published late 2008. Book 5 "Midnight Sun" has no estimated date. It is a retelling of book 1 from Edward's point of view. Book 1 is done from Bella's point of view. The author has the 1st chapter of book 5 on her website. It's fascinating and makes me desperate to get the book when it finally comes out. For those of you who can't get enough of this story, there are two stories written by a fan on the fanfiction website. On that site, search under Pen Name: twieveluv and you should see two stories titled "the moonlight" and "like us". I enjoyed these as a temporary fix while waiting for Stephenie Meyer's future books.

Just Listen by Sarah Dessen

reviewed 3/10/07 by Taylor
This book is written very well. I love how the author gives each character a completely different personality and explains them so well. This book is humorous at times, but has a very serious moral. You will not be disappointed!

Raven's Point by Melinda Metz

reviewed by waifthecat 10/25/06
This book was terrible. It was poorly written and seemed to have no plot for 200 pages. After there seems to be a plot the book ends in 40 pages. It jumps back and forth between different people's views and was a waste of time. I wish I had never wasted my time with this book.

The Fetch by Chris Humphreys

reviewed by waifthecat 10/25/06
I thought this book was very well written. It was exciting and always made you ask what would happen next. The adventures are thrilling. An excellent book!

New Moon by Stephenie Meyer

reviewed 9/14/06 by waifthecat

New Moon was an excellent book. Stephenie Meyer keeps you interested in what's going on at all times. It catches and keeps your attention with all the thrills and dangers. As I read the book I never wanted to put it down. It held my interest all the way through and I can't wait until the next comes out. If you like an adventure/danger/love/friendship/fantasy/well just about anything and everything, this is the book.