MLMS Hot Reads

Wolf Brother is the first in the series entitled The Chronicles of Ancient Darkness. The story is set in the late stone age and contains some magic and mysticism. Torak discovers he is actually The Listener, who according to legend, will save the people of the valley from an evil spirit. The spirit takes the form of a huge, viscious bear. Torak must rise to the challenge and use his wits to collect three mystical items needed to break the evil spell. The narrative is exciting and keeps you cheering for Torak’s success. The author did a lot of research into the arctic regions of Finland. You learn interesting things such as how people were able to carry fire with them in their packs on a long journey. There are six books so far in this series.

   If you like mysteries, you will LOVE this book!  It is so exciting I could not put it down and finished it in one weekend.  Alice is the 15 year old main character.  Someone comes into her house and murders her father.  After hearing the struggle, Alice runs and hides in the garage, then escapes driving her father’s Corvette.  Alice is framed for the murder and must find the real killer, whose identity will surprise you.  This book is a “must read” for mystery fans.  It will keep your heart thumping! 

Go Ask Alice is the fictional diary of a girl who died from using drugs.  It takes place in the late 1960′s-early 1970′s.   Alice was a very smart girl.  Her father was a university professor and she came from a good, caring family.  She tried drugs once just out of curiosity and quickly became hooked.  She tried many times to stay clean, but it was a struggle and she was seriously harrassed by her former druggie “friends” to come back to the drug lifestyle.  Once, when she had been clean for several months, someone slipped her a dose of acid without Alice’s knowledge-they planted it in a piece of candy.  This resulted in her having a bad trip and she ended up in a mental hospital for many months.  This diary spans 2 years-it begins with a non-drug using teen and ends with her death.  It’s very shocking to see what can happen to a person in 2 short years.  It makes you  realize that even “trying it just once” can have deadly consequences.  Many library and educational organizations consider this a “Must Read” for teens AND their parents.  It is very realistic and contains some mature topics in addition to the drug use. 

What would you do if you were stranded in the wilderness of Canada with a hatchet as your only possession? Main character Brian Robeson finds himself in just such a predicament in Hatchet by Gary Paulsen. Read how “discovers” fire, learns to make a shelter, and hunt for food. Do wild animals cause problems for Brian? You bet! If you like this book (and you will!) you can continue to read about Brian in Brian’s Winter, Brian’s Hunt and The River.

The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton is an excellent book about a group of teens in the 1950′s. Pony Boy is the main character. His family and friends are from the lower middle class-not much money. They are called The Greasers by the other kids at school. They have trouble getting along with the rich kids at school called the Socs (pronounced Soshes with a long o-short for society crowd). Pony Boy befriends a Soc girl and they find that despite their different backgrounds, they are basically the same-they have similar hopes and dreams. There are many conflicts between the two groups throughout the story, which I don’t want to give away. Trust me, you will REALLY like this book and after reading it, you will realize that things kids had to deal with back then are not much different from what we deal with today. It is also interesting to note that Hinton wrote this book when she was only 17 years old.

This blog was created by the media specialist at Mace’s Lane Middle School for students who want to find out which books are HOT and which are NOT!