Standish Treadwell stands on the brink of bringing down an elaborate hoax perpetrated by the insidious rulers of the Motherland, an alternate-universe mashup of Stalinist Russia and the Nazi-era Germany. Messing with the Greenflies, as they’re known, means certain death. After all, they imprisoned and tortured his best friend Hector, killed his teacher, and threatened his family. They would certainly do worse to Standish, whose bravery does not go unnoticed by the evil rulers. However, success means striking the Greenflies where they’re most vulnerable.
Friday crisscrosses Australia with her mother, hearing tales of how her female ancestors have all died of drowning on auspicious Saturdays. Her mother has a knack with weaving tales, and Friday Brown is caught in her web...until her mother is diagnosed with cancer. Friday watches her mother waste away to nothing, until she dies quietly in the night, her lungs filled with fluid.
The Icarus is the largest and most technologically advanced ship in the universe. Traveling across space in hyper-drive, the ship is transporting valuable cargo, Lilac LaRoux, daughter of the richest man in the universe...in fact her father built the ship. Tarver Merendsen is a young war hero, recently elevated to the rank of Major. An unlikely pair, the two are thrown together when the Icarus is violently pulled out of hyper-drive ripping the ship to pieces.
When Haley calls home and no one answers the phone by the 2nd ring, she is figures her dad is sleeping. When no one picks up by the 10th ring, she hopes he is mowing the lawn. When no one picks up by the 20th, she knows something is wrong. Something is horribly wrong. She begs a ride from Finn, the editor of the school newspaper who has been nagging her to write for him. But the car is too small, Finn drives to slow, and something is wrong at home. Haley can't breathe, she can't think, she needs out!
John Green writes novels for young adults, but you don't have to be young to enjoy them. I'm forty-three, and he's one of my favorite contemporary authors. I became a fan of Green not by reading his books but by watching videos on his amazing YouTube channels CrashCourse, Mental Floss, and Vlogbrothers. I thought I was too sophisticated and mature to read a young-adult novel, but I love Green so much I gave him a shot.
The morning after Seth walks into the Pacific Ocean and is crushed on the rocks by the brutal waves, he wakes up. It is impossible, his shoulder was broken, his skull pulverized on the sharp reef near his Oregon home. He has been transported to the small English town where he grew up (and left when he was only 8 for a better life in America). Everything is exactly the same as he left it...exactly. Nothing has moved, no one has trespassed, no one has cleaned. The house is filled with dust, the lawn has grown unruly and the cabinets are full of moldy food.
Rudy's life changes drastically when the family moves to a remote island for his ailing little brother's health. A fairly popular guy at school (especially with the ladies) Rudy is one of the few people below 30 living on the island. Everyone on the island is there for one reason...the magic fish that appear to have the ability to heal any illness. When the doctors and medicine fail his little brother, Rudy's family risks everything to come to the island.
Ryan Dean West, Winger to his friends, is determined to take control of his junior year. In the Venn diagram of life, most people overlap, or at least most junior guys at Winger's school, it is that little crescent outside that makes us stand out. For Ryan Dean, it is that he is a 14 year old junior, two years younger than his other classmates. That means he doesn't need to shave, hasn't hit his growth spurt, and has no skill with the ladies.
The smell of baking cookies brings back memories of mother's kitchen...Biting into a fresh tomato recalls the garden behind your childhood home...Watching the yellow powder and milk combine to create delicious macaroni and cheese reminds you of your first apartment. For author Lucy Knisley, as for many of us, food is a trip down memory lane. With a caterer mother and foodie father, her life has been defined and marked by some of the best (and worst food).
