This story is told in many different perspectives of the same story. The main characters include Cassie, Ben/Zombie, Evan Walker, and Sammy/Nugget. An alien ship comes to Earth. Instead of invading as people assume, the aliens begin releasing different waves of attack. These waves begin with an EMP that wipes out all technology, cars, airplanes, electricity, and more. The next waves include a tsunami, a plague called the pestilence, and the fourth wave awakens aliens that were placed within human minds. During these waves Cassie looses her mother to the pestilence and her father to the fourth wave. Just before she looses her father her brother is taken by the alien humans of the fourth wave. Ben has lost most of his family to the pestilence and his remaining sister is murdered. After this Ben contracts the pestilence and is then recruited into the same army that took Cassie's brother. Cassie wants to find and rescue her brother and Ben is trying to survive boot camp. Cassie, with the help of her boyfriend/alien, Evan, breaks into the alien/army camp to save her brother. Ben, who in camp is known as Zombie, after surviving boot camp and realizing the alien's plans breaks into the camp as well to save Cassie's brother, who he knows as nugget. Cassie and Ben together break Sammy/Nugget out as Evan blows up the camp. As they are escaping Ben/Zombie's platoon members rescue them in a humvee and they successfully make it away from camp.
This book is part of a series, and if readers like this book they will definitely want to read the sequel since this book ends on a cliffhanger. Also, if readers enjoy this book they will enjoy other apocalyptic books such as H20 and Darkest Minds. This book will also interest readers who enjoy series like the Hunger Games and Cinder.
Young readers sometimes need a push to get them into reading, maybe they are unmotivated, maybe they don't know how to find books that interest them, this is where the librarian would come in. (p. 34-35) Books like 5th Wave that have a movie made after them, will grab the reader's attention long enough to get them hooked and maybe help them become life-long readers.
Citation
Yancey, R. (2013). 5th wave. New York, NY: Penguin Group US.
One summer a Troop of Lumberjanes begins encountering supernatural animals on seemingly normal camp excursions. During some of these encounters the girls are presented with a puzzle and some clues. As they are trying to follow the clues they have to try to keep up appearances of a normal troop of campers. Their troop leader does not believe their assertions that they have been seeing the supernatural creatures, or that they have been being attacked either. In one occasion they are canoeing down the river when a crazy river monster come up and tries to attack. Their troop leader somehow is looking away and does not see the monster. Because of the attack the girls are thrown from the canoe into the trees. As they are trying to get back to their camp they find more clues. The troop of girls follow the clues to a secret lair with the help of a boy's scout troop, who they save from a crazy camp leader. At the end the girls return to their camp with even more questions than when they started, but they have some promising clues to follow. To the girl's and their leader's surprise, the camp leader not only believes the girl's account, she knows exactly what they are talking about and she is willing to let them continue on their quest.
After reading this book I would recommend the other books in the Lumberjanes series and Nimona. Nimona is written in a similar style to this book and if you enjoyed one you would enjoy the other. In Nimona the reader follows a spunky girl as she tries to be the sidekick to the villain of the kingdom. As it turns out she and the villain become best friends and she has some special powers of her own.
Right now graphic novels and comic books are all the rage, as are interesting combinations of supernatural being and creatures. Knowing this I have already recommended Lumberjanes to many of my students and they are loving the eye catching drawings and interesting creatures that are in this graphic novel.
Citation
Stevenson, N., & Ellis, G. (2015). Lumberjanes vol 1: Beware the kitten holy. Los Angeles, CA: BOOM! Box.
Main character Mare Barrow is a Red, which refers to the color of her blood. The upper class has silver blood along with special powers. Her family is struggling to make ends meet and she has not job, soon she will be conscripted into the army. One day while at the palace she accidentally demonstrates a power she should not have, being a Red. After this occurs Mare joins the Silvers and agrees to keep up the lie that she is a long lost descendant of a lost Silver family. While pretending to be a Silver, she joins the Red Rebellion, working as a secret spy. At the end of the story Mare is found out and is, along with the King's heir, sentenced to death. When the King's heir and Mare are put into an arena for a fight to the death, the Red Rebellion breaks them out and now they are all on the run from the new king.
Author Victoria Aveyard, has now released a prequel, Cruel Crown and a sequel, Glass Sword. If a reader enjoyed reading this book I would recommend reading both the prequel and the sequel. I have started on the sequel and it is turning out to be just as good as Red Queen. It starts out exactly where Red Queen left off with the Red Rebellion taking Mare and Cal, the King's heir, out of the city in an underground subway.
I have some students who love reading about super powers and dream of having powers of their own. Red Queen is the perfect book for students to live vicariously through a girl who realizes she has powers, learns how to use them, and what she does after this realization.
Citation
Aveyard, V. (2015). Red queen. New York, NY: HarperTeen.
