Various Books

Cabot, Meg. Runaway.
Just when I thought I was tired of Em/Nikki enjoying her model's body and Nikki/Em complaining that she wasn't beautiful, Cabot threw in a curve and made me glad I had read all three of these. (Airhead, Being Nikki). At the same time, I was a little relieved that this was the last book in the series; three is good, more than five and I have trouble paying attention. Em (whose brain has been transplanted into the body of supermodel Nikki) spends some time in this book fighting with Brandon Stark, fighting with Christopher, making her parents angry, worrying about her sister, and going to parties, but it's when she uncovers Stark Corporation's evil plans for the kind of surgery they did on her that it gets interesting. Cabot is a solid writer always.


Devillers, Julia and Roy, Jennifer. Trading Faces.
Reading this would have helped with Take Two. Emma and Payton start middle school, which is a big change from their small elementary school. Emma is wary, because she's always been the brightest in the class, and she has a rough start when she runs into Jazmine, who is not only bright but is mean as well. Payton has difficulties, too; even though she's gotten in with the popular crowd, it's hard to keep up with dressing the part. When she accidentally gets burrito all over a popular boy, she convinces Emma to trade places with her, and the two discover that they have other talents and personality traits that they didn't previous realize. The only thing irritating about this was that the first couple of chapters were the same scenes from two view points, which got repetitive, but that soon ended.

Malley, Gemma. The Returners.
It seemed reasonable that this book was the sequel to The Declaration and The Resistance, but it's a completely different story. Set in 2016 (too close in the future; should always allow at least 50 years!), it concerns Will, whose mother has committed suicide and whose immigrant-hating father has become remote. After a neighbor boy is accused of a murder, Will starts to have blinding headaches and is followed by "freaks"; it turns out that Will is a "returner", who remembers past acts of horror and contributes new ones-- or will he. This was a rather British book, and I think I was so disappointed that it wasn't the third book in the other series that I had trouble concentrating on it.

Of note: Picky Reader's Girls Life magazine had ads for summer reading books, and mentions Scholastic's Poison Apple Books. First, I laughed hysterically, since the Candy Apple Books are so popular in my library, and then I realized that I needed to order every single one. Basically, they are vampire books for fourth graders who desperately want to read Breaking Dawn but are not allowed. As Picky Reader pointed out, one of the authors, Mimi McCoy, wrote The Accidental Cheerleader, which is our favorite Candy Apple Book.