Shout-Outs+from+Silverhawks

Did you think only the media specialists are reading? NOT!!! Our first shout-out goes to **Alexis Watson**, an extraordinary young woman who wants us to check out her new favorite book:

TITLE OF BOOK: __Naughts & Crosses__ AUTHOR: Malorie Blackman GENRE: Contemporary Fiction GRADE LEVEL: 9-12
 * Reviewer’s Comments:** In this book you get lost in the two completely different worlds of Callum McGregor and Persephone Hadley. Callum is a Naught, and Persephone--known as “Sephy”--is a Cross. The two teenagers fall madly in love, which is completely illegal. Crosses and Naughts are not allowed to see each other, let alone be in love, but the two teenagers risk everything they have just to see each other. Things start happening when people find out they are in love. The two only wish to live in peace with no problems and that’s something they never get. In this thriller you’ll find what people will do for love and how far Callum and Sephy will go just for one last moment together.

SUBJECTS: Romance, Thriller, and Mystery RATING: A++++

Our second reviewer is **Julie Kovanda**, a media center regular and avid reader. Julie read a brand new book in our fiction collection. TITLE OF BOOK: __Alphabet of Dreams__ AUTHOR: Susan Fletcher GENRE: Historical Fiction GRADE LEVEL: 8-12
 * Reviewer's Comments:** The story is about two Persian children, Mitra and her little brother, Babak. They are of royal blood, but their father had tried to dethrone the evil tyrant Persian King a number of years ago, so they are now ‘fugitives’. Mitra and Babak were separated from their family and now ‘live’ in the ‘City of the Dead’. Mitra hides her true gender (code name: Ramin) in order to be able to support her little brother (by thievery). Mitra is obsessed with going to the far away city of Palmyra, where she has heard some of her kin have gone.

One day Babak steals a hat from a man and sleeps with it. That night he has a dream, and the next day he sees the same man, and as children do, blurted out something about the dream without thinking. From there, you find out that Babak has the ability to ‘Dream other’s dreams’ if he has an item from the person to sleep with.

This ability ends up sending both Babak and his sister on a journey, though they don’t know it, to find the ‘new king’, Jesus, with the three wise men. But this ability comes at a price, one that Mitra and Babak never would have guessed.

SUBJECTS: Magi, family relationships, and voyage RATING: B+

Our third reviewer is **Leah Shaffer**! TITLE OF BOOK: __Last Dance at the Frosty Queen__ AUTHOR: Richard Uhlig GENRE: Contemporary Fiction GRADE LEVEL: 9-12
 * Reviewer's Comments:** This book takes place in the 1980s in a small town in Kansas. Arthur M. Flood cannot wait to leave the town he has lived in his whole life. His high school graduation is so close. He is ready to leave behind the teacher he has been having an affair with and his girlfriend that he was forced to take to Prom. He is so close to getting out until he meets a beautiful girl named Vanessa. He is stuck and not sure what to do with his life when he falls head over heels for this girl he knows nothing about.

RATING:

And another from **Leah Shaffer!** TITLE OF BOOK: __Echo__ AUTHOR: Kate Morgenroth GENRE: Contemporary Fiction GRADE LEVEL: 9 - 12
 * Reviewer's Comments:** Echo is about a teenage boy who was popular in high school, until he saw his brother die right in front of his eyes. The death of his brother completely changed his life. Justin used to be a star athlete and is no longer participating in any team sports. He is completely lost and devastated. He no longer hangs out with the popular crowd or dates the prettiest girl in school. Justin is treated as a monster in school.

On the year memorial of his brother;s death, he gets in a fight with his former best friend Billy. Things in Justin’s life are out of control. He is hearing a voice inside his head and continuously relives the same day over and over again. How does he move past this tragic event?

RATING:

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