Under the Egg by Laura Marx Fitzgerald

Main character: 13-year old Theo Tenpenny
Location: Manhattan
Time period: Contemporary
Genre: Art History, Mystery, Puzzle, Juvenile Fiction

The publisher's blurb for this book compares it to From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil F. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg and Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett.  Since I enjoyed both of those books, I was well primed to like this one--and I was not disappointed.

Theo Tenpenny lives in an old house in Manhattan that has been in her family for generations.  Her family is not financially well-off so the house has seen better days, but Theo does her best to keep it standing.  Her grandfather, Jack, was a painter, but he was killed in a traffic accident before the start of the book.  Theo was a witness to the accident, and as he lays dying he tells her to find the treasure that is under the egg.

I hesitate to give too many plot details because a great deal of the enjoyment in reading this book was to discover things along with Theo and with Bodhi, a new girl in the neighborhood who has had just as unconventional an upbringing as Theo.  Starting with just Jack's cryptic words, the two girls chase clues, solve the mystery, find the treasure, and make friends with many wonderful characters along the way.

It is that cast of characters that also adds to the enjoyment of the book.  Many have their eccentricities--especially the French tea-seller who lives next door--but, with two notable exceptions, they all give generously to the two girls and open Theo's world up greatly.  They reminded me of the townspeople in Gilmore Girls' Stars Hollow.

I would definitely recommend this to tweens who enjoy mysteries, as well as anyone who enjoyed Mixed Up Files and Chasing Vermeer.

I read this as an e-ARC from NetGalley.

The Runaway King by Jennifer Nieman (The Ascendance Trilogy, bk. 2)

Main character: Jaron, a 14-year-old king
Location: the kingdom of Carthya
Time period:  Medieval-ish
Genre: Fantasy (non-magical)
Sequel to: The False Prince

When we last left our heroes, Jaron had reclaimed his rightful throne and revealed the identity of the traitor who was responsible for the deaths of his parents and brother.  We knew that wasn't the end of the story--there were too many people who were jostling to claim power for themselves to simply accept a teenaged kind that most had assumed was long dead.  (Besides, there were two more books to come in the trilogy.)

At the state memorial service for Jaron's family, he is the victim of an assassination attempt led by Roden, one of the boys he was in competition with in the first book.  Roden is now allied with the pirates and has a message for Jaron--the pirates want Jaron dead.  He can surrender himself to them and they will leave Carthya in peace, or they will invade and destroy Carthya in order to kill Jaron.

Jaron's regents advise him to go into hiding while they elect a steward to rule Carthya.  The most likely choice for steward is Gregor Breslyan, captain of the guard.  Not surprisingly, Gregor is one of the strongest voices urging Jaron to hide.  But also not surprisingly, Jaron has his own ideas.  He pretends to go along with the plan, but instead of going to the planned hiding place, he takes up his old identity as the orphan boy Sage and goes to find the pirate crew.  Along the way, he learns some things that are happening to his kingdom that he was never told, and he meets some new characters--some that will be friends and some that will definitely not be friends.

I really enjoy how Jaron is able to submerge himself in Sage's identity, and how he never lies to anyone.  He tells the truth--not necessarily the whole truth--and if the listener fills in the blanks with wrong assumptions that's not Jaron's fault (though it usually works in his favor.)  He has been alone for so long that he is wary of others and their motives, which on the one hand is a good thing since Conner was not the only traitor in Jaron's court.  On the other hand, it does cause him to keep at arm's length people who want to help him, such as Amarinda, his intended princess.  Fortunately, he begins to learn to trust and by the end of this book has built a loyal cadre of friends and advisors.

The book ends on a cliffhanger that lets us know what the main plot of the last book will be.  Unfortunately, it will be a while before I can get my hands on The Shadow Throne.  For this series, I am reading copies checked out from my library.

The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen (The Ascendance, bk. 1)

Main character: Sage, a 14-year-old orphan
Location: the kingdom of Carthya
Time period:  Medieval-ish
Genre: Fantasy (non-magical)

A friend and co-worker has been urging me to read this book, the first in the Ascendance Trilogy.  Not only was she right that I'd enjoy it, I've already checked out book #2 to read next.

Sage is an orphan, a thief, and a street rat.  One day a nobleman named Conner arrives at Mrs. Turbeldy's orphanage and offers to take Sage off her hands--and pay her a handsome price for the exchange.  She agrees with alacrity, and Sage is thrown into a cart with three other orphan boys, all of similar age and, strangely, of similar physical features and build.

Once they arrive at Conner's castle, his sinister plan is revealed--the royal family has been killed and Conner wants to gain control of the kingdom by installing Prince Jaron on the throne.  Prince Jaron was lost at sea four years earlier when pirates attacked his ship but his body was never found, so Conner is seeking a boy of the right age and physical type who could impersonate the prince well enough to convince the regents.  Thus begins a dangerous competition where the winner gains a throne and the losers lose their lives to ensure their silence.

The False Prince is a suspenseful cat-and-mouse game with layers of secrecy, lies, and betrayals.  We are fairly sure that Sage will win out--he is the main character after all--but how will he save the others?  And why he is fighting Conner at every turn?  And just where is the story going after this?

The False Prince was on the 2013 Texas Lone Star Reading List.  I read a copy checked out from my library.

Don't Even Think About It by Sarah Mlynowski

Main character: The students of homeroom 10B, all high school sophomores
Location: Bloomberg High School, Tribeca, Manhattan
Time period: Contemporary
Genre: Contemporary life, slight element of science fiction/fantasy

After getting their annual flu shots, the students in homeroom 10B develop the ability to hear everyone's thoughts.  Hijinks ensue, as do confusion, opportunism, emotional upheaval and moral dilemmas.

The book is written in a communal voice, which I found very appealing--it's rather like a first-person omniscient narrator.  We have seen stories told by alternating narrators before, or even a small collective of two or three characters, but this is the first time I have seen a collective of 20-odd characters speaking with one voice--and some of their snarky asides are delightful to read.

Of course it is impossible to give equal focus to all the students, and the story winds up being largely about seven kids.  The ones that touched me the most were shy Olivia, whose new power allows her to gain confidence and learn that she doesn't need to change herself just to please a boy; Tess, who discovers that she is not willing to be some boy's second choice; and Cooper, who discovers lies and betrayals on so many levels but emerges at the end as a strong and perceptive young man.

Then there are those who purposely use their powers for self-advancement.  I was not fond of Pi, but I appreciated her storyline; she is so focused on advancement and exceptionalism that she is willing to cheat on a test by reading the thoughts of her academic rival--but is thoroughly disgruntled when others position themselves to cheat off of her.  And that's nothing to what she attempts to do to the whole group later on.

The writing style is very light and easy.  It's a quick read.  It also reads young which could attract reluctant readers.  It could also attract younger readers which is problematic since, like a lot of contemporary books set in high schools (especially affluent high schools), there is a casual attitude towards sex--nothing graphic, but still something that is not necessarily appropriate for Mlynowski's youngest fans.

I read this as an e-ARC from NetGalley.  Don't Even Think About It is scheduled for release on March 11, 2014.

The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire That Saved America by Timothy Egan

Main character: Teddy Roosevelt, Gifford Pinchot, and the first forest rangers of the Bitterroot Mountains
Location: Montana and other western states
Time period: 1910
Genre: Nonfiction, History

I am a disaster junkie. I know it's a morbid fascination, but I really like reading about disasters, natural and otherwise. The very best disaster books not only examine the disaster itself and how individuals rose (or not) to the occasion, but put the disaster in context and showed how things were changed as a result.

Teddy Roosevelt was an energetic and forceful president. He was also a progressive Republican whose policies made a lot of enemies--especially the wealthy robber barons of the time. One of his lasting legacies was the conservation movement, which included the foundation of our national parks and the creation of national forests to be preserved for the people and not the logging interests. He also created the U.S. Forest Service to maintain and protect those forests.

Roosevelt's successor, Taft, was, in comparison, slow, sluggish, and slothful. He tried to avoid confrontation at all costs, which allowed those opposed to the forest service to gut the program. Their budget cuts made a forest ranger one of the worst paying jobs possible and stretched staff so thin that one ranger had to cover thousands of acres.

Then came the summer of 1910, a unusually hot and dry summer. Lightning storms ignited dozens of small fires. Then a strong wind, known as a Palouser, rose up, causing the fires to grow and merge into what became known as the Big Burn, the largest forest fire ever known.  At its height, the fire affected three states and the smoke could be seen from Chicago.

Before the Big Burn, the forest service was on the brink of wasting away, struck by political attacks and budget cuts from government officials who did not see it as a necessary service.  After the fire, public sentiment was stirred by the stories of heroic rangers who fought the fire despite terrible losses and that sentiment was enough to save the forest service.  Unfortunately, the experience of the Big Burn also led to the forest service's policy of strict fire suppression which has led to accumulation of fuel over the years and thus bigger and fiercer forest fires in recent years.

The copy I read was an ebook version checked out from my library's OverDrive collection.