If You Liked The Hunger Games...

...you'll love this book. Yes, we've all been using that line a lot lately, and there are (fortunately) quite a few YA books that deserve the comparison. I've been compiling a list, but I just threw it away because I finished a book that REALLY, TRULY will appeal to the same students.

Article 5, by Kristen Simmons, is a mashup of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale (the U.S. is a totalitarian Fundamentalist theocracy), Neal Shusterman's Unwind (teens who don't comply are disposed of) and Cormac McCarthy's The Road (post-apocalyptic quest, where no one can be trusted), all wrapped up in a teen love/survival triangle à la The Hunger Games.

Ember Miller's mother does not accept the Moral Statutes that are enforced by a Taliban-style force known as the Moral Militia. As a single mother, she and Ember are in violation of Article 5 of those statutes, which means they can be targeted for "rehabilitation". Ember has absorbed enough of her mother's revolt to realize that she does not want to become a compliant, subservient "sister", so she looks for a way to escape. When all seems lost, an unlikely savior rescues her, and teaches her how to survive as they strike out to join a rumored Resistance.

Along the way, Ember must struggle with her panic over how her mother must be coping with the same kind of rehabilitation, her buried feelings for the boy-next-door that she misses, her conflicted feelings for the brutal, survival-savvy soldier who helps her, and whether she has the ability to take another's life if necessary to survive.

Like the first Hunger Games, this book ends with enough resolution to satisfy teen fans, yet enough loose ends to fuel sequels - and I sincerely hope they are in the works.

Mockingjay Fever

Yes, the buzz has been building, as two lucky students checked out our first copies of Suzanne Collins' Mockingjay, the third in the Hunger Games series. Other students have purchased their own copies, and all (including me) are racing to be the first to finish, and find out what happens to Katniss and Peeta!

Catching Fire at the Hunger Games

I finished the advance copy of Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins, and it is definitely another winner. Students ask me every day "When will it be released, and how soon can I check it out?"

Catching Fire picks up after Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark have returned to their village, but not to their homes. They each have a spacious house in the Victor's Village now, near Haymitch. The three of them haven't been seeing much of each other. Gale Hawthorne is working in the Section 12 mines now, so Katniss can only meet him in the woods on Sundays, to hunt more than talk.

It's time for the mid-year Victory Tour, to parade last year's winners through all the Districts, and get everyone anticipating this year's Hunger Games. But, something has changed. Once again, Katniss and Peeta must pretend to be star-crossed lovers, while they notice strange happenings in other Districts, and worry what is happening to their families back home.

Naturally, Collins keeps the action speeding up, the dangers for Katniss and her loved ones increasing, and you won't believe the surprises she saves for the newest Hunger Games. Can Katniss manage competing threats, stay true to her ideals, and still protect her family and Gale?

It's such a teaser to have to wait for the third book now. We'll plan a big party for the eventual movie release.

ALA Chicago today

Lunch with an old friend, connecting with library school classmates, cheering at the AASL L4L mini-session, and touching all those new books - what could be better for a school librarian?

But it did get better: waiting in line for an advance copy of Catching Fire, the sequel to Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games, we strangers had a fun book talk about the first one. Our patrons ate it up (sorry, I couldn't resist), so I know I'd never get to read the sequel when it comes in. The chance to read this advance copy before my Book Club meets again in the fall made my day!

One more moment of Nirvana: I watched Neil Gaiman signing hundreds of copies of his new The Graveyard Book, and Laurie Halse Anderson signing Speak and her new Wintergirls, while I chatted with Franny Billingsley and her daughter. Franny's Well Wished and The Folk Keeper were beloved when I worked in a middle school; her newest, Big Bad Bunny, is too young for my high school patrons, but it's adorable, so I've bought it for my favorite very little readers.

Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings...