“Waiting On” Wednesday: The Gateway Through Which They Came by Heather Marie

“Waiting On” Wednesday is hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine.

The Gateway Through Which They Came
by Heather Marie
Publication date: August 25, 2014 from Curiosity Quills Press

To seventeen-year-old Aiden Ortiz, letting the dead walk through his body to reach the other side comes with the territory. Being a Gateway isn’t an easy job, but someone’s gotta send Bleeders where they belong. Heaven. Salvation. Call it whatever you want. Dead is dead. But when his search for Koren Banks – the girl who went mysteriously missing seven months ago – leaves him with more questions than answers, he finds himself involved in something far more sinister and beyond his control.

With the threat of the Dark Priest’s resurrection, and his plan to summon his demon brothers from hell, Aiden is left to discover his identity before the Dark Priest’s curse infecting his blood consumes him, and before the world as he knows it succumbs to the darkness of hell on earth.

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“Waiting On” Wednesday: Wordless by AdriAnne Strickland

“Waiting On” Wednesday is hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine.

Wordless
by AdriAnne Strickland
Publication date: August 8, 2014 from Flux

“The Gods made their Words into flesh, giving privileged individuals the powers of creation…”

In Eden City, a member of the illiterate wordless class would never dream of meeting the all-powerful Words … much less of running away with one. So when a gorgeous girl literally falls into his lap during a routine trash run, seventeen-year-old Tavin Barnes isn’t sure if it’s the luckiest or worst day of his life. That girl is Khaya, the Word of Life, who can heal a wound or command an ivy bush to devour a city block with ease. And yet she needs Tavin’s help.

By aiding Khaya’s escape from the seemingly idyllic confines of Eden City, Tavin unwittingly throws himself into the heart of a conflict that is threatening to tear the world apart. Eden City’s elite will stop at nothing to protect the shocking secret Khaya hides, and they enlist the other Words, each with their own frightening powers, to bring her back.

Review: Blood Diaries – Tales of a 6th Grade Vampire by Marissa Moss

Blood Diaries: Tales of a 6th-Grade Vampire
by Marissa Moss

ISBN-13: 9-781939-547057
Publication: May 2014 from Creston Books
Source: JKSCommunications
Rating: 3.5 ♥ / 5 ♥ – I liked it

Middle school is tough enough for normal humans, but when you’re a vampire, it’s even more challenging.

Edgar Stoker uses wit and humor to navigate the social complexities of middle-school and vampire culture. From surviving Saturday Vampire Jamborees to school lunches, Edgar tries to win friends in both worlds, but when he’s faced with angry vegetable-eaters, his troubles have just begun.

Blood Diaries: Tales of a 6th Grade Vampire by Marissa Moss is an entertaining look at the life of one Edgar Stoker – 6th grade vampire. Despite Edgar being a vampire, he has many of the same experiences in school that a regular 6th grader would have, making the book fairly easy to relate to.

Edgar writes in his diary about the history of vampires, some of the “rules” of being a vampire (like garlic, stakes, sunlight and telling others), what it’s like at his elementary school (friends and bullies) and the Saturday Vampire Jamboree where he has to deal with all his relatives. Marissa Moss does a very good job of making Edgar and his life believable. The problems in gets himself into and Edgar’s solutions for getting out of those problems are engaging and even a bit funny at times.

I think my only issue with Blood Diaries: Tales of a 6th Grade Vampire would be the amount of time spent describing each cousin, each friend at school, and all the little nuances of being a vampire. Since in this case Edgar’s diary is being written for an audience and not just himself it’s a bit understandable. Over all, though, I think this book series (I hope it will be a series) will find good homes on shelves of younger kids who enjoy the supernatural.

Hardcover provided by JKSCommunications in exchange for my honest review. Thank you!

Review: Roy and Roo Take a Trip to the Zoo by Diane Page

Roy and Roo Take a Trip to the Zoo
by Diane Page

ISBN-13: 9-780615-657592
Publication: 2012 from Bobbs and Company
Source: JKSCommunications
Rating: 4 ♥ / 5 ♥ – I really liked it

Rhyming words bounce off the pages of Diane Page’s new book, Roy and Roo Take a Trip to the Zoo. She watched her grandson, Zach, and his toy kangaroo, Roo, as they darted to and fro, never walking, but scurrying wherever they went. Zach, with Roo by his side, were always exploring the world around them and questioning, constantly questioning. What would be more fitting than to explain the primary and secondary colors in a fun way to children everywhere!

With the talent of illustrator, Bruce Bigelow, strange zoo creatures emerge to tell that story in a most delightful way. Little ones are fascinated with the critters that live in the zoo, but are not in cages.

Roy and Roo Take a Trip to the Zoo by Diane Page is an adorable picture book that focuses on teaching colours to young children.

Roy and Roo are exploring a zoo where the creatures are not caged in, are quite different than any animal we’d see in a zoo (I don’t think I’ve ever seen an orange Blanozan, for instance), and talk to you! Each animal that Roy and Roo encounter in the zoo is a different colour, corresponding with the three primary colours (red, yellow, blue) and the three secondary colours (orange, green, purple). The beginning of the book has a nice little introduction to the concept of primary and secondary colours, and reiterates the information again at the end.

Roy and Roo Take a Trip to the Zoo is full of interesting imagery, rhyme and rhythm. Children will enjoy exploring the zoo with Roy and Roo and discovering the strange new creatures inside. The fact they are learning about their colours as the read is a bonus! This book would also lend itself really well to creative writing assignments and art assignments in the classroom. I can just picture primary aged students creating their own colourful creature for their classmates to learn about.

Paperback copy provided by JKSCommunications in exchange for my honest review. Thank you!

“Waiting On” Wednesday: Expiration Day by William Campbell Powell

“Waiting On” Wednesday is hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine.

Expiration Day
by William Campbell Powell
Publication date: April 22, 2014 from Tor Teen

What happens when you turn eighteen and there are no more tomorrows?
It is the year 2049, and humanity is on the brink of extinction…

Tania Deeley has always been told that she’s a rarity: a human child in a world where most children are sophisticated androids manufactured by Oxted Corporation. When a decline in global fertility ensued, it was the creation of these near-perfect human copies called teknoids that helped to prevent the utter collapse of society.

Though she has always been aware of the existence of teknoids, it is not until her first day at The Lady Maud High School for Girls that Tania realizes that her best friend, Siân, may be one. Returning home from the summer holiday, she is shocked by how much Siân has changed. Is it possible that these changes were engineered by Oxted? And if Siân could be a teknoid, how many others in Tania’s life are not real?

Driven by the need to understand what sets teknoids apart from their human counterparts, Tania begins to seek answers. But time is running out. For everyone knows that on their eighteenth “birthdays,” teknoids must be returned to Oxted — never to be heard from again.