WWRW: Five for Summer Reading

I've been tearing through the 2015 Caudill nominees and here are soundbites about five that I've read recently.

1.

Saving Zasha by Randi Barrow is set in post WWII Russia, all the German shepherds and pretty much all the dogs in Russia have been destroyed.  Anti-German sentiment still runs high, but a fatherless family with three kids risks everything to save a German shepherd found in the forest.

This story starts out grim but turned out much less dark than I anticipated.  In fact, the ending was downright pleasant.  Plus, it's always interesting to read yet another perspective on World War II.

2.

The Clockwork Three by Matthew J. Kirby is The Invention of Hugo Cabret meets Oliver Twist and A Little Princess.  The Clockwork Three includes Frederick the orphan apprenticed to a clockmaker who is secretly making an automaton, a mechanical man, in the basement of his master's shop, Hannah, a servant in the grand hotel who by a lucky turn of events becomes the personal assistant to the wealthy Madame Pomeroy, and Giuseppe, a talented violinist who owes everything to the evil "Fagin" in charge of all the buskers.

Part steampunk, part fairy tale, part depressing Dickensian novel, The Clockwork Three is a mesmerizing tale or three whose plotlines all cross and become united at the end. Madame Pomeroy is a medium at a seance invoking the dead and she does a reading with tarot cards, and there is quite a bit of violence, lots of beatings, locking young boys in a cellar full of rats, and a murder threat hanging over the local man of the cloth.  Definitely for the mature student.

3.

Ungifted by Gordon Korman.  What would happen if a hyper possibly ADD kid accidentally caused a disatrous accident at his middle school and when he got caught by the superintendent his name was inadvertently added to the list of kids to be transferred to the local school for the gifted and talented?

Donovan Curtis may not be a genius on paper, but his impact on the Academy for Scholastic Distinction and its students is undeniable.  Not only does he change the students and the way they approach problems and take risks, but Donovan grows in sensitivity, protecting these nerds from ridicule from his homeboys back at Hardcastle Middle School.

4.

Tuesdays at the Castle by one of my favorite authors, Jessica Day George, is an adventure in a land of royalty and wizards, but in this story the Castle Glower itself is an important character.  Also of note is the loving pair of parents (the king and queen), and the three royal offspring who love and respect each other (even if they don't always agree).  A fun read for any competent reader.

5.

Never Say Die by Will Hobbs is about a GROLAR bear!  Yes, you read that right.  Part grizzly, part polar bear, this hybrid creature is the result of disappearing ice in the Arctic circle due to global warming.  I thought everyone knew that global warming isn't really a thing, but I digress.

Nick Thrasher is the half-white half-Inuit teen who discovered the grolar when packs of fresh caribou meat were ripped from his back while hunting.  Nick's half brother Ryan contacts him for the first time ever about going on an expedition on the Firth River for a month.

Ryan is thirteen years older than Nick, an expert outdoorsman, and a professional wildlife photographer for National Geographic. Ryan would surely love to snap a cover photo of a grolar.  Ryan and Nick meet disaster pretty early.  The fact that Ryan insisted Nick leave his gun behind is likely to come back to bite them.  But I can't say for certain, since I'm not finished.

Yes, there is a lot of politics mixed into this tale of wilderness survival.  Nick's mother and father were never married.  His father was also an adventurer, and died somewhere in the Himalayas one month after Nick was born, which is just one more reason why I will never mess around in the Himalayas.  If you can stomach the environmental and anti-gun sentiments, this book is appropriate for middle-school and up.

Since I review five books here, I just might link-up my link-up to Heather's Five Favorites, not that these are my favorite books...whatever.

An InLinkz Link-up