Weekend Reads

Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Fairytales meet dystopian societies - Marissa Meyer manages to integrate both elements into her Lunar Chronicles series and makes both elements work to their best advantage. I first read Cinder (the first book in the series) on a student recommendation (thanks Caitie B!) and I was engrossed. I loved the characters, the setting and the action of the plot. Each book in the series integrates a new fairy tale character into the overarching story: Cinder featuers a character based on Cinderella, Scarlet has a version of Little Red Riding Hood and Cress tells the story of a Rapunzel-based character. Although each book alludes to the fairy tale from which these characters are drawn, it is very much its own story, but with some elements of the original tale from which it comes. The final book in the series, Winter, is going to be released in November 2015. There is also a companion book to the series, Fairest, that acts as a bridge between the 3rd and 4th books, as well as several related short stories on Meyer's webpage (http://www.marissameyer.com/books/short-stories/)

Find it in Fiction under F MEY

Space Case by Stuart Gibbs

A lunar murder mystery! Dashiell Gibson and his family are among the first inhabitants of the moon. This book starts out with a death. Everyone seems to think that it was an accident - except for Dashiell. He is convinced that the victim, Dr. Holtz, was actually murdered. Dashiell has to navigate some difficult situations, all while dealing with living in Moon Base Alpha, which seems like a dream come true but really has all of its own challenges. Follow Dashiell, his friend Kira and the mysterious Zan as they piece together the clues that lead them to their final and surprising conclusion.

Find it in Fiction under F GIB

Confessions of the Sullivan Sisters by Natalie Standiford

This story is told from the perspective of the three Sullivan sisters - Norrie, Jane and Sassy. The girls were brought up in Baltimore society, and their family is entirely supported by their grandmother, who is called the Almighty. Each girl gets her own section, and each section is a confession of the girl's misdeed that could have offended their grandmother (who is threatening to cut off the family's inheritance due to the girls' insubordination). I liked how the story was built upon by each of the three girls - although each girl's confession occurred within a similar time frame, the fractured nature of the family and the isolating nature of keeping secrets gives the reader a new perspective with each confession. 

Find it in Fiction under F STA