At age 7, Henry Day runs away from home and hides himself in an old Chestnut tree in the woods. He thinks he's clever when he hides from the rescue workers sent out to seek him. But everything changes when his rescue turns instead to a kidnapping.

Told in alternating chapters by Aniday, Henry as a changeling, and Henry, the changeling who took his place, this is a compelling and complex story of the thin line between fantasy and reality, myth and the real world, the search for self and the meaning of family.

After nearly a century living amongst the faeries in the woods, the new Henry is excited to be back in the world. But as he grows he meets with much discontent. A childhood love of music leads to displeasure and disappointment. A search for his original family leads to unsettling realizations. The birth of his own son leads to constanta paranoia and worry over the past and what it means for his future.

Aniday, at first confused and alone among the changelings, slowly comes to piece the halves of himself together. He struggles to retain his abilities to read and write, not wanting to lose everything of himself. But memories of his other life, and the family he knows he once had, fade with time, and Speck, Chavisory and the others become his family.

As the outside world encroaches more and more upon the wild, life as a changeling becomes more and more difficult. A series of events, unfortunate and accidently, shakes things up even further, until everyone is left with endless questions and no sense of certainty about the way things are and the way they should be.

Will peace be found by our narrators? can such a thing even be?

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I really liked the way this story was told, and found the idea behind it really intriguing. Having read so many teen offerings in the reality-meets-fantasy realm, it was nice to come across the same concept in the adult world of books.

I've never read Cussler, but I really enjoyed the movie version of his book Sahara, and this NUMA Files tale was no less exciting. Nor does it star Dirk Pitt.

To begin, Dr. Francesca Cabral has discovered a process that can cheaply and efficiently desalinate water, and is on her way to the UN to present her findings and give the process to the world for free. But someone else has other things in mind, and her plane never makes it out of South America, crashing deep in the jungle.

Ten years later, Kurt Austin and his partner Joe Zavala are racing their powerboat when the come abruptly upon a pod of dead whales. Curious as to what could have killed them, as research seems to indicate they were boiled, they begin to investigate. This leads them to a Tortilla Factory in Baja California, Mexico, which fronts for an underwater operation. Before they can discover much about the underwater dealings, the facility explodes, nearly taking Austin and Zavala with it.

Meanwhile, in the jungle, NUMA reasearchers Paul and Gamay Trout have gotten wrapped up in twisted dealings between locals, and end up escaping only to stumble into the territory of the most freaed tribe---the Chulo. With no other options for escape, however, they decide to attempt to steal a Chulo canoe, only to end up discovered and escorted to the center of their village, where they come face to face with the White Goddess, Francesca Cabral.

Dr. Cabral and the Trouts make a daring escape from the Chulo, who are staging a coup to overthrow their leader. It seems hopeless, but with some luck and a helping hand from their NUMA friends, they're saved, and return to the states, where everything starts to come together, and therefore falls apart.

The deaths of the whales, the explosion, and Dr. Cabral's attempted kidnapping, are all related to the business dealings of a trans-national corporation who is slowly and silently taking over the world's water supply. Led by a giantess of a woman who is never seen, hidden in a fortress of a house on the shores of Lake Tahoe, it seems there can be no stopping Gogstad or their monopoly on Blue Gold.

This book will keep you turning pages and on the edge of your seat right down to the last sentence.

Pacific Ocean, 1993. A Norwegian vessel heading out to sea comes upon a seemingly abandoned Japanese Cargo ship. Before searching for the crew, they send a party aboard to check for anyone remaining on board, thinking to lay claim to the cargo. Slightly further along, a British vessel floats, the launch-point for an underwater exploration.

Aboard the Japanese ship, the Norwegians find one man on the bridge, who looks as if he was boiled. In the engine room, doors have been propped open in order to sink the ship. In the cargo hold, all the automobiles are intact, one with its hood open. All seems ordinary. Until they begin to feel sick. The head of the group heads to the hold to check on a teammate who contacted him there, and find him dead next to the car with the open hood. Knowing he's soon for death too, he takes out his gun and shoots the vehicle, vaporizing the ship, the Norwegian vessel, and the British one too.

Beneath the surface, the crew in the underwater explorer hear the bang and feel some shockwaves but cannot raise their surface contact to find out what's gone wrong. Eventually their systems begin to fail, and it seems that death is imminent. At the last moment, help arrives in the face of Dirk Pitt, who with his partner Al Giordino, drove along the bottom of the ocean in their secreat DSMV to see what the disturbance was about.

After a harried escape from the ocean, the survivors of the explosion are left only with questions and disbelief.

The Government quickly forms a MAIT team, including members from many intelligence angencies, and the NUMA trio of Sandecker, Pitt and Giordino. The threat: Japanese underworld powers have devised a systematic plan to render most of the Western world helpless. How? Bomb cars. Why? They believe in the superiority of their race, and their economic tactics, and do not agree with the way melting pot countries are run. And yet the Japanese government and people at large have no knowledge of this scheme.

At nearly every turn it seems hopeless. The odds are pretty much insurmountable. And yet Dirk Pitt doesn't seem to believe in impossibility. Even though he and his partner are over their heads and out of their realm of expertise, the duo still manages to save the day at every turn, including managing to rescue two kidnapped senators and the mastermind behind the entire Japanese plot.

Another interesting and somewhat frightening look at what the world would be like if extremism ruled the day. Definitely recommended for anyone who loves action.

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This is one of the books I wound up reading while at my boyfriend's because I had finished whatever I had brought with me. There's something to be said for random reading, I've learned. I wouldn't normally gravitate to Cussler on my own, but I really enjoyed the book. Dirk Pitt is definitely a likeable character, as anyone who saw the movie Sahara has likely learned.

If you appreciate a darker sense of humor, this is a book for you. If not, you might only end up wanting to throttle the cast.

Sarina Summers is perfect in every way. Except for her pinky fingers. Their slight crookedness mars her style, and so when she is 16, she gets drunk and has her mother break them.

Nicole Hicks lives across the street, and has idolized Sarina her whole life. Her mother is nicer, her life is better. As long as you keep her happy, she'll return the favor. And all Nicole wants is to keep this balance. So much so that she intentionally fails 10th grade, thinking it will better her chances for a friendship, when in fact it proves to be her undoing.

Bitty Jack Carlson grew up in a small town, on a Summer Camp. Summers, she attends. The rest of the year, she's home-schooled. The year Sarina attends, life changes forever.

Caught using a hairdryer in an unusual fashion by Bitty Jack's father while he's changing a light bulb, Sarina cries abuse. Camp maintenance workers are no longer allowed into cabins without staff invitation, and her father is not allowed to work in them at all during summer, but otherwise, things mostly blow over. Until years down the line when Bitty Jack is dating Sarina's first boyfriend, and Sarina's life is coming apart at the seems.

Sarina hatches a plan to get Stewart back. The plan? Out herself as an abuse survivor at a Take Back the Night rally, where both Stewart and Bitty Jack will be there to hear. The back-lash causes the Camp to come under siege by the Press and thus ends the Carlson's have always known. So when Nicole Hicks climbs through Bitty Jack's window late one night with her own plan, rather than being afraid, Bitty Jack is mesmerized.

She has few details. They need to hijack the mascot uniform from Stewart. That's all she knows. From the President's Box she looks on, and as we wait for Nicole's plan to hash out, we come to find Bitty Jack had one of her own.

____

This is definitely the oddest book I think I've ever read. I picked it up mainly because of the title. The story was interesting, and definitely darkly humorous, but also kind of disturbing. If dark humor is your thing, I imagine you'd get a kick out of it. If it's not, I'd probably stear clear.

Take life in any small town as you know it, mix it up with a few other small towns, throw in a little imagination for the things you might not know, and you've got life in Hadleyville Falls High School. Sometimes it seems like a world far away and others it's eerily familiar. Students will likely enjoy reading about the Administration, and Administration may enjoy reading about the students. Although for the most part they are far from funny, or charming, and in some cases likeable. Yes indeed, High School might be the last place in the world anyone wants to be nowadays. It's quite the mixed up bag of pros and cons, and in this novel, we take a pretty close look at some of those cons.

This book was written by a Guidance Counselor from my hometown, and was recommended to me by my mother. I'd have to say the picture painted of the messed-up world that was my school is accurate. And probably even kind, although it's probably shocking to some. Life as a teen is definitely changing, and not for the better. It's good to see people trying to bring that to light. Ignoring it clearly hasn't helped.

There's nothing particularly outstanding about this story. I mainly read it due to its ties. But anyone who grew up in a small town will likely commiserate.

Boarding school isn't something on which I've ever spent much thought. Much like our main character, Lee, I really only ever saw it in movies. But unlike Lee, I never decided it looked like a prestigious life I wanted to get myself into. But such is the idea as it strikes Lee Fiora, a teen from South Bend, Indiana, who decides she wants a better life. What she finds is a bit of a surprise that never ends.

The story takes us mostly through the past, covering her years at the prestigious Ault School, but now and again her older self will kick in with a tidbit from the present, to give us a fuller picture, or maybe just to let us know she's there.

I suppose the most striking thing about this book is the aspect of watching this girl's life go by as she does the same. Because never in her time at Ault does Lee Fiora truly engage. Not even when she thinks she has.

_________

I really enjoyed this book. It was a peak into a world I've never really known or seen. And also a proof that even the world of the prestigious isn't all that different underneath than it is for the rest of us.

An intertwining tale of two magical and troubled lives, Ruby is a gripping mix of fantasy and reality.

Ruby has always been different. Not just because she hides things.

She sees things. She hears things. She knows things. Her father has always ignored it. But she knows it's real.

She moves across the country, to LA, to take a job as a nanny. She wants to be able to leave herself behind. An ex-boyfriend shows up at her employer's door. Some things are easier said than done.

She leave LA and travels to England. Here the magic is stronger than ever. In the midst of what feels like only lies, she finds a family, her dream, and even herself. What started as a good cover story turns into a reality, freeing her from life-long demons.

_____

Francesca Lia Block is my all-time favorite author. After discovering her when a friend recommended I read Violet & Claire, I went out and bought all the rest of her books. I'm always excited when I see she's written a new one. Ruby almost passed me by, but our Teen Librarian brought it to my attention.

I really enjoyed Ruby's story. It's slightly more reality than fantasy, as compared with Block's other works, but it still had that same mystical feel. Any book-lover should love Block. Her style is compelling and one-of-a-kind. Aside from her erotic works, which I haven't read, I highly recommend everything she's written.