Weekend Reads

Flash Point by Nancy Kress

Fame, fortune and glamour - it's nothing Amy Kent ever wanted, but she's willing to take all of this on and more in order to provide for her family. After the Collapse (an event that destroyed the world's economic structure), people were desperate for jobs, and the divide between the haves and the have-nots was immeasurable. On top of these dire circumstances, Amy's Gran was very ill and unable to afford medication and Amy's sister, Kaylie, was getting into trouble with the law. So when TLN, a television network, offered Amy a chance to be on a game show that offered the income and stability her family so desperately needed, Amy took it. Where it took her, though, was nowhere she expected to go. 

Find it in Fiction under F KRE

City of Savages by Lee Kelly

This book tries to do a lot of things. Set in post-World War ThreeManhattan, Skyler (Sky) and Pheonix (Phee) Miller are essentially prisoners of war. When World War III broke out, the island of Manhattan was one of the first targets hit by the Chinese government. The people of Manhattan are corralled and one of their own leaders, Rolladin, is made their warden. Rolladin rules violently and with an iron fist. Sky and Phee, along with their mother Sarah, live  in Rolladin's camp (known as "the Park") in the winter and migrate to live independently in the summer on Wall Street. Sky and Phee are very different - Sky is intuitive and emotional, while Phee is strategic and pragmatic. The story is told from the perspective of both girls - the characters trade off chapters. The beginning of the story sees the family face a lot of very swift changes - they migrate back to the park, Phee ends up fighting in a street fight to celebrate the survival of the camp, the girls find a journal that promises to reveal the history of the war and the camp, and there are mysterious strangers on the outskirts of camp. Add this to the shifting narrators, and it can feel like a lot to keep track of, but Kelly does a good job of juggling all of these elements into a compelling story. 

You can find it in Fiction under F KEL

Chocolate by Kay Frydenborg

When we think of chocolate, we tend to think of cookies, cakes and candy bars. Chocolate is a food with a long history and some surprising science, and Frydenborg fills her readers in about both. She also includes pictures of chocolate in its various states, which goes beyond the dark brown sweets we are used to. She even includes a few recipes to try out if reading about all of this chocolate makes you hungry! This book has everything you could want to know about one of the world's most popular treats, so be sure to check it out!

You can find it in Nonfiction under 338.76 FRY