City of Ember

Duprau, J. (2003). The City of Ember. New York: Yearling.

Image credit: Wikipedia

Annotation:

Residents of the City of Ember begin to panic when the electricity and generator begin to fail. They must figure out something quickly before the lights go out for good and the Emberites are left in dark, dark world.

Booktalk:

What is life like for a person in the City of Ember? For starters its pitch-black, all the time, except for the old lights strung across the city. You choose your job out of a bag filled with little papers with different jobs written on them. You stand in line for hours at the warehouse for supplies just to be told that the city has recently run out of the requested item. You are constantly worried that the lights will go out for good as rumors of the generator failing permeate the city.

Lina and Doon, citizens of Ember, are intelligent, curious, and hopeful. Brought together by their shared concern about the eminent blackout, Lina and Doon work together to find out more about the inner-workings of the city. Doon's father gives them cryptic adivce to live by:

"The main thing is to pay attention. Pay close attention to everything, notice what no one else notices. Then you’ll know what no one else knows, and that’s always useful.”

Join them in their search for truth and a brighter future in a world consumed by darkness. Will Lina and Doon succeed in saving the people of The City of Ember?
 

Awards:

• ALA Notable Book
• Black-Eyed Susan Award, 2005-2006
• Borders Original Voices
• California Book Awards, Commonwealth Club of California
• Chapman Award for Shared Reading (Esmé Raji Codell)
• Child Magazine’s Best Children's Books, 2003
• Children's Literature Association of Utah Book Award
• Kirkus Editor's Choice, 2003
• Land of Enchantment Book Award, New Mexico
• Mark Twain Award, 2006
• Nevada Young Reader’s Award
• New York Public Library's 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing
• New York Times Bestseller List (Children's Paperback Fiction)
• Nutmeg Children’s Book Award, Connecticut
• Publisher's Weekly Flying Start
• William Allen White Children’s Book Award, 2006
• Young Hoosier Book Award, Indiana

The Last Book in the Universe

Philbreck, Rodman. (2000). The Last Book in the Universe. New York: Blue Sky Press.

Image credit: Goodreads.com

Annotation:

A young fourteen year-old boy sets off on a dangerous journey through a post-apocalyptic world to save his younger sister who is sick.

Booktalk:

What would you say if you had to write down the story of your life? Would you be happy with what you've done so far? 

After a major earthquake, people are now using probes, needles that inject memories into the brain, to face the reality of their world. Society is divided into two classes: the scientifically improved humans, Proovs, who live in Eden and the poor, imperfect people who live in run-down crypts in the Urb. Spaz, an epileptic young boy, is on his own in the Urb until he meets an strange old man named Ryter.

Spaz convinces Ryter to set out with him to find and save his sick younger sister. Along the way Spaz discovers that Ryter has a knowledge that few in their world possess. Will they save Spaz's sister? Will the story of Spaz's life become the Last Book in the Universe?

Awards:

• ALA Best Book for Young Adults, 2001
• Isinglass Teen Read Award, 2001-2002
• Maine Lupine Award Honor Book, 2000
• Maryland Readers Medal
• YALSA 100 Best of the Best Books for the 21st Century

The Hunger Games

Collins, Suzanne. (2008). The Hunger Games. New York: Scholastic.

Image credit: Wikipedia

Annotation: 

In order to prevent her sister from certain death, seventeen year-old Katniss must battle to the death at The Hunger Games, a life or death battle where winning means being the only one left alive.

Booktalk:

How far would you go for the ones you loved? Katniss Evergreen has just volunteered to take her little sister's place as one of District 12's tributes for the annual Hunger Games. In doing so she will spare her sister's life, but she will be putting hers on the line.

Accompany Katniss as she battles twenty-three other children in an arena that is an unpredictable killing field controlled by the Gamemakers. The only way to make it out alive is to be the last man standing. Who will survive and win this year's Hunger Games?

"Winning means fame and fortune. Losing means certain death. The Hunger Games have begun..."

Check out the new film adaptation of the book out March 23, 2012

Awards:

• ALA Amelia Bloomer Project List, 2009
• ALA Notable Children’s Book
• ALA Top Ten Best Books for Young Adults
• Black-eyed Susan Award, 2010-2011
• Booklist Editors’ Choice, 2008
• CCBC Choices, 2009
• Children’s Choice Book Award, 2009
• Cybil Award for Fantasy & Science Fiction, 2008
• Horn Book Fanfare
• Indies Choice Best Indie Yung Adult Buzz Book Honor
• Isinglass Teen Read Award, 2009-2010
• Kirkus Best Book, 2008
• New York Times Bestseller
• New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice
• New York Times Notable Children’s Book, 2008
• NYPL “Stuff for the Teen Age” List, 2009
• Publishers Weekly Bestseller
• Publishers Weekly’s Best Children’s Fiction Books, 2008
• School Library Journal Best Books, 2008
• Teen Choice Book of the Year Finalist
• USA Today Bestseller
• Wall Street Journal Bestseller
• YALSA'S Teens' Top Ten, 2009
• LA Times Favorite Children’s Book, 2008