Rachel Ward. NUMBERS

The day her mother died, Jem saw numbers in her eyes. She didn't realize until later that those numbers corresponded with the date of her death. She was young and unsure of what she was seeing. But ever since then, when she sees the numbers, she knows what they are. She's even tried to change them by preventing a death. She has never succeeded.

She has trouble forming relationships, because she doesn't like to look in peoples eyes and see how long they have. But then she begins to get closer to someone who really gets her. His name is Spider. They begin spending a lot of time together. One day while at a public event, Jem begins noticing that all the people around them have the same date in their eyes. Today's date. She notices a few creepy things and decides that something big will be happening there in moments. They have to get out of there. She grabs Spider and they run. Moments later, an explosion erupts and kills a lot of people. Unfortunately, video captured them running moments before the explosion, so the cops put their pictures on TV and begin a manhunt. Turns out that the explosion was an act of terrorism, and Jem & Spider are the chief suspects/witnesses. 

Since they've both had their share of trouble with the law, they figure they cops will find something to pin on them, so they go on the run. To make her life even more complicated, Jen knows Spider's numbers and she really wishes she could do something to change them.

I was intrigued by the premise of this book right away. I thought it would be more about Jem's ability, but it wasn't. there is a lot more to the story. It's in England, so it has quite a different feel to it. The surroundings and the dialogue is different and interesting. The mood feels kind of dystopian, although that really isn't the genre at all. It's hard to describe. It's gritty and very unique. It's not an easy read - it's an up close look at teens on the fringe. Teens who definitely aren't on the fast track to college, but rather those who would need a lot of encouragement to finish high school in the first place. The ending is truly shocking!

You won't read anything like it, for sure.  For a debut novel, this is pretty amazing. Plus, I just found out that the sequel just came out. (in England - not sure if it's in the US yet) For more on the author go here 

Here's the cover for the sequel:

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Kate Klise & M. Sarah Klise. DYING TO MEET YOU: 43 OLD CEMETERY ROAD BOOK 1

A famous author of ghost stories named Ignatius Grumply moves into a house for the summer to help him focus on writing. He hasn't published anything in 20 years. He moves in to find that there is an 11-year-old boy living there. In his haste to get the lease signed, he didn't read the fine print. Apparently, he's been roped into taking care of the boy and his cat.

To make matters worse, the boy, Seymour, claims there is another occupant living with them, Olive C. Spense, the ghost of the original owner of 43 Old Cemetery Road.

You might assume that an author of GHOST stories would understand and believe Seymour, but you would be wrong. Ignatius thinks the boy is crazy. Plus, he cannot focus on his writing with all the door slamming and piano playing that goes on.

Will Ignatius Grumply be able to make nice and finish his book or will he be forced out - like all the previous occupants before him?

This is a witty, adorable book. The constant word play had me giggling from page one. The quirky characters kept me intrigued to the very last page. I also enjoyed how the whole story is told in letters. It would be a great way to teach children how to properly format letters. Each character has his or her style and signature to tell them all apart.

The second book in the series has already been published. It's going on my "to read" list!

For more on these authors go here.

Sarah Mlynowski. GIMME A CALL

I loved this one! Wow, it's so much fun! It's one of those adventures that you wish you could live out in real life. Check it out:

Devi is sulking about how her life as turned out. It's a few days before prom, but she's recently broken up with her long time boyfriend Bryan. They were together for almost 4 years. Because of the intensity of that relationship, Devi's best friends drifted away. She no longer had time with them. Now that she's broken up with Bryan, she has no one left. While thinking about how she wishes she could go back in time & re-do some of her decisions, she drops her phone in the "make a wish" fountain at the mall. After clumsily traipsing  through the fountain to retrieve the phone, she turns it on. Of course it doesn't work after being dunked. But then, she pushes a few more buttons and it comes on and calls some girl who identifies herself as Devi. Devi and the other girl go round and round and finally come to the conclusion that they are talking to themselves - four years apart. In other words, Senior Devi has called Freshman Devi.

Oooh, Senior Devi likes this! She figures she can make some changes to really set herself up in the future. But what she doesn't realize is that every decision has a consequence, some good, some not so good. And what if Freshman Devi doesn't want to go along with this plan to re-do her life?

This was a hysterical adventure with lots of plot twists. I love the idea of how one decision can change the whole course of your life. It's really a neat concept executed flawlessly.

I enjoyed a few other books by the lovely Sarah Mlynowksi. Check out the reviews here.

She's written a ton of great books, go here for her website.

Robin Brande. FAT CAT

Imagine cutting out all modern technology (cell phone, TV, computer, cars) AND all junk food (including all pre-made food) at the same time! I'm sure I could handle this for maybe a few days. But imagine doing this for an entire school year!

This is what teenager Cat Locke intends to do. She's determined to win the science fair this year and beat Matt, her nemesis and former best friend. To make a huge impression on the science fair judges, she decides to make herself the experiment. She wants to know if people would be healthier today if we lived as the early hominins (Homo erectus to be exact) from 1.8 million years ago did. If she eats what they did and engages in more physical activity like they did, will she be a healthier person. Would we be a healthier society?

It certainly won't be easy for her. But, since Cat can cook, she plans to cook all her food from scratch using only ingredients available to the ancient hominins. She begins walking to school and work. The withdrawals from sugar, artificial sweeteners and caffeine are rough at first, but she hangs in there. Her revenge against Matt fuels her in the beginning. She's been mad at him since the 7th grade for betraying her. Luckily she has an amazing best friend named Amanda who supports her 100%.

Cat has always been a little overweight. When the healthy eating and exercise cause her to slim down, the boys begin to notice her. Cat decides to take on an additional angle in her research. Are the guys noticing her because of the weight loss or is it her new found confidence?

There are so many wonderful things going on in this book, it's really difficult to articulate it all in this review. Cat is an intelligent, likable character, Her friend Amanda is an incredible best friend and seems like she'd be a lot of fun to hang with. Matt is a neat guy too. Even Amanda's boyfriend is written well. Cat really inspired me, and I hope that she inspires teen girls to think about their health and their bodies. I love the way science, health, confidence, friendship and love are all intertwined in such a smart and wonderful book!

I've heard a lot about the author's other book:

I think I'll have to read it now!



Click here to see more about the book and the author.

Author Interview: ADAM SELZER

Yay! I scored an interview with one of my favorite authors - Adam Selzer. You know him from HOW TO GET SUSPENDED AND INFLUENCE PEOPLE, ANDREW NORTH BLOWS UP THE WORLD, I PUT A SPELL ON YOU, as well as his newest I KISSED A ZOMBIE AND I LIKED IT.
So without further delay...

My readers & I thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to answer a few burning questions. I’ll begin with a few of the typical author-type questions.

Did you read a lot as a child/teen? Who were your favorite authors then?

Of course I did! In grade school I was into Daniel Pinkwater, Gordon Korman, Judy Blume and Barbara Park. In middle school I went through a brief Christopher Pike phase before moving onto Dean Koontz, Harlan Ellison, and the Beat Generation guys.

Who are your favorite authors now?

I tend to breathe better when I’m reading Dickens – I’ve read just about all of his stuff now. But I went back to some old Barbara Park lately and couldn’t believe how hilarious it was. Writing funny stuff in middle grade is extraordinarily hard, and she just makes it look effortless. I’ve also been reading the Captain Underpants series with my stepson – I love how many “big” words are in there.  I’ll take my hat off to anyone who can use the word “gastrointestinal” in a chapter book.

I agree that it takes a lot to make middle schoolers laugh. When did you start writing? Tell us about the first story you remember writing.

The first real story I remember was one called Vampires in the Woods that I wrote in second grade – it was about a friend of mine and I going camping and being harassed by a vampire. Everyone in class had to write a story, and we all sort of tried to outdo each other in terms of creativity (a pretty wonderful sort of competition to have).  Every kid in the school had to write a story that would be in a big book that everyone got at the end of the year – I still have my copy!

Wow, so really it was YOU who started the big vampire trend, huh? 
Was HOW TO GET SUSPENDED the first book you tried to get published?

Nope – the first one I tried to publish was called INSTANT KARMA, back when I was a teenager. It was a Dean Koontz-type metaphysical thriller.  I still have it around here, but I’m tempted to destroy it. I don’t think I’m famous enough that people will want to publish every extra scrap after my demise, but better safe than sorry!

How did you realize that you wanted to write for young adults? (It’s way cooler, of course, but are there other reasons?)

When I got started with writing, I thought the YA scene was much more exciting than the adult books that were coming out – and it seemed like they needed more funny books to go along with all of the books about issues. It’s also more of a subversive thrill to be a smartass in a book for younger readers, really.

I bet you have a lot of characters floating around in your head that you haven’t been able to use yet. Describe one for us.

I’ve got this one idea for a kid called Brendan Butte The Poop Salesman. He takes some snake poop to school for show and tell, and some kid offers him a buck for it, giving him the get rich quick scheme of the century…

Now that I'm in an elementary school, I can say with certainty, Brendan would be a huge hit! Do you base your characters on people you know? (we promise not to tell)

I have a t-shirt that says “careful, or you’ll end up in my novel,” but in reality I try to bury anything autobiographical.

Are you as funny in person as your characters?

I have my moments, but most of the time I’m pretty quiet.

You seem to really like history. Was that your favorite class in school?

A couple of semesters it was – it really depended on the teacher and what the assignments were like. It’s very easy to make history boring.

I’ve heard you say that high school really isn’t the best years of your life. Well, if my high school experience was more like HOW TO GET SUSPENDED AND INFLUENCE PEOPLE, it might have ranked higher. What was high school like for you? What “group” did you hang out with?

I went to high school in Snellville, GA, when it was in sort of a transition period between being a total hick town and a middle class suburb. I’d just moved to Georgia from Iowa and going through some culture shock – I didn’t realize that ‘y’all’ was singular (the plural form is “all y’all”).  I got picked on by hillbillies a lot, and no one else seemed that bothered by the fact that the health teacher used his whole class to preach at us. I had plenty of friends (mostly smart, left-of-center sort of kids), but I never seemed to have any classes with them.  In my senior year I switched over to the local “alternative” school twenty miles away – they ran it like a college there. They treated the students like adults and expected us to act like it – and we did. The school had a reputation for being the place where the bad kids, stoners, and pregnant girls went, but in those days it was actually wall-to-wall smart kids.

You grew up in Idaho, right? But you’re in Chicago now? Why did you move?

Iowa, actually - then I did high school and college in Georgia. Georgia never did grow on me, so I left for Chicago right after college. I loved the idea of living in a city where I wouldn’t need a car. I think of moving back to Iowa now and then, but I love that I get paid for talking about Chicago history. No one’s going to pay me to talk about Iowa history. They might pay me to shut up about it, though.

Oops, my bad on the geography, sorry! About the ghost hunting… are you still doing that? Or is writing keeping you busy full time?

For those who don’t know, I worked professionally in the ghost busting industry for a several years – primarily doing historical research and running ghost tours, but with plenty of actual investigating thrown in. I still do it occasionally. I’ve never found anything that really made me believe in ghosts, but poking around old buildings looking for cool stuff is great fun. You’re apt to find plenty of cool stuff besides just dead people – at one old theatre, back in a little alcove we found several lip prints on the wall, which were signed and dated in the 1930s by a vaudeville dance troop.

That does sound fascinating. One more occupational question: If you weren’t a writer, how would you spend your days?

I’d probably still be in retail or restaurant gigs – that’s about all most college degrees qualify you for nowadays.

According to your website, you have a book coming out next year tentatively called Fairy Godmother. Is this a sequel or simply a book with characters we know from Cornersville Trace? Can you tell us about it?

It’s a sequel to both I KISSED A ZOMBIE AND I LIKED IT and I PUT A SPELL ON YOU. It’s a comic noir mystery set in the same world as ZOMBIE, featuring musical theatre, vampires, magic spells, con artists, and a whole lot of unicorn poop.  I’m working full time on it lately.

Will you give us a peek into any other books you’re working on?

I’m a bit superstitious about talking about books that haven’t sold yet, but I can tell you about one called TANGLED UP IN BLUE that I think will be out in 2012 – it’s John Hughes-esque story about a girl who gets over an unrequited crush by embarking on a “holy quest” with a couple of misfits who have invented their own religion.

Wow, there's not a topic you won't tackle!

To take a look at all of Adam Selzer's books, check out his website.


For more kicks and giggles, go to the website dedicated to I KISSED A ZOMBIE AND I LIKED IT. You will find interviews, reviews, pictures and other goodies. Like this:
<--The pamphlet that Alley reads about converting - it's really too much. LOL!