Somers Library Blog

Nick and Allie, who have just awoken in a ghostly parallel to the real world, are saved by a boy named Lief, who tells them that they are called "Afterlights" who cannot be seen by the living. They are somewhat like ghosts and retain the exact appearance they had when they died. He warns them of a dreaded and evil monster, the McGill, and Johnnie-O, and the altar boys before they make their way to New York City. There, they meet Mary Hightower, the "mother" of Afterlights who keeps many Afterlights safe and is the author of hundreds of books about living in Everlost. She lives with the children under her care in the destroyed World Trade Center, which exists because things which are much beloved in the world can cross into Everlost when they are destroyed. They settle down, but Allie is not content. Allie notices other Afterlights at the Twin Towers keep repeating and doing the same thing every day, becoming stuck in ruts. Allie sets out with Nick and Lief to see wh...

The story Game Changer by Tommy Greenwald is a novel in verse about a kid named Teddy who is in high school and gets into a tragic accident playing football. The story is from the perspective of everyone visiting him while he is in a coma. Another character, Ethan, is seeing a therapist cause for some reason he might be connected to what happened to teddy. Throughout the book different characters come in to visit Teddy like Will a senior and Alec, Teddy's friend, they both play a huge role toward the end of the book. Also, on texts people are making up rumors about what happened and this makes a lot of people mad because they just want Teddy to get better and they don't want people thinking about anything else. Even the coach canceled the first few games because of what happened. Teddy’s mom and dad don't have a good relationship. The mom left them because she was overwhelmed and needed space but when this all happened she was scared to lose Teddy. Over the course of the st...

Olive and her best friend Willow are so excited for sleep away camp.  They are both excited and sure they will make many fun memories together. But, when they arrive at camp, Olive quickly makes many new friends, while Willow is shy and has a hard time making new friends. Willow starts to feel threatened by the other girls’ friendships with Olive.  In desperation, Willow latches on to her one friend, Olive.  Whether it is picking daily activities or sitting at the lunch table, Olive constantly feels pressured to choose between Willow and her new camp friends. Olive feels burdened by Willow always wanting to do stuff alone without their other cabin mates. Soon, Willow and Olive find themselves in a fight.  Willow feels that she should matter more to Oliver than a bunch of girls that Olive will only see for two weeks and most likely never see again. On the other hand, Olive feels that Willow is just jealous and there is nothing wrong with making new friends even if the...

“Out of My Mind” is a realistic fiction novel written by Sharon M. Draper. The main character of this book, Melody, is a girl who is diagnosed with a disease called cerebral palsy. This disease prevents Melody from speaking and limits her ability to control her body the way she wants it to. Over time, Melody has learned thousands of words by watching and listening to the people around her. However, Melody grows frustrated as she cannot speak the words bouncing around her head. One day, Melody's mother applies Melody to school. Melody starts school but comes to realize that people think she is different and not as intelligent as other people because of her physical disability. She is put into a class with other disabled students. Her school begins a program for the class which allows them to try classes that other students take. She is assigned to a caretaker named Catherine to help her in her classes. After a few classes, Melody imagines a computer that allows her to communicate ea...

Every year the cruel yet wealthy Capitol, who rules over the 12 districts, forces one male and one female tribute to fight to the death; all while being recorded on live TV. Last year in The Hunger Games (book one of the trilogy), the 74th Hunger Games were fairly unusual; seeing as the victor from District 12, the poorest district, was the winner. On top of that, there were two winners, Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark. Now in Catching Fire (book 2 of the trilogy), Katniss returns to her family and her longtime friend, Gale. She returned safe, yet everything seems different. Gale is being less than supportive and kind after everything she’s been through and Peeta has turned his back on her. Now there are whispers of rebellion against the Capitol, that is starting to sound like Katniss and Peeta may have helped start. Every year the victor from the Hunger Games must visit the districts on the Capitol’s cruel Victory Tour. As the time for Katniss and Peeta to visit the Capitol nears, ...

Nightbooks is about a boy named Alex. Alex has always been different; he likes scary and mysterious stories, and he finds that other kids are not like him. One night Alex goes to the bottom floor of his apartment complex to burn the books he wrote. He calls them his night books. He takes the elevator to go down to the basement, but he ends up on the wrong floor. As he is about to step back into the elevator, he hears voices, and he gets invited into an apartment to watch a movie. Soon he realizes that he is trapped. He starts to get dizzy and collapses to the floor. When he wakes up, he finds himself in a strange room and realizes that he was lured into the apartment by a witch. There is also a girl living in the apartment, her name is Yasmin. The witch has no intention to ever let them leave the apartment. Yasmin and Alex befriend each other and together devise a plan to escape the apartment and the witch. His night books are the key to keeping him alive. If only he does not run...

A Mango shaped space is a fiction novel that focuses on a girl who is hiding something which makes her life completely different from other people. It takes you through several years of her life and you learn about her, her family, and how they live. The book starts with the main character Mia telling you a story from five years ago. She discusses how in third grade she was yelled at for rewriting something on the board, in what she called the “correct colors.” Mia was sent to the principle by her teacher because she thought she was fooling around. She didn’t want to get in trouble, so she played it off like it was a joke. At that point no one ended up finding out. She keeps this from her family and friends until many years later when both she and her parents realize that something is wrong. They all realize it’s time to find out what it is. They go from doctor to doctor until they find one who knows what is wrong with Mia. That’s when everything changes. As you go along with her in th...

Three Keys is the second book of the Front Desk series. This book is about Mia and her parents after they bought the Calivista Motel from Mr. Yao. Mia is in 6th grade and her teacher is not very kind to Mia and her friend Lupe. Mia's dream is to become a writer, but she loses every writing contest that happens during the class. Afterwards, Mia starts to lose hope, but one of the workers at the Calivista Motel encourages her to never give up. After the contest Mia doesn't give up, and continues to work harder on writing. The class had to write an essay, it was also graded. When Mia got her results she was not happy. She started to lose hope again. Mia had another essay to write. Mia works hard this time determined to get a better grade than last time. She gets the same grade and decides to confront her teacher. She asked the teacher, why is she giving Mia bad grades? Her teacher replies , “because you aren't using the right grammar.” Her teacher decides to give Mia lessons a...

The Girl in the Garden, is a psychological fiction book written by Kamala Nair which depicts the redeeming story of a ten year old girl (Rakhee Singh) as she is disrupted by problems in her personal life. Tension builds between Rakhee's parents to the point where Rakhee and her mother take a trip to India. They head to Kerala (a state in the south of India) and stay at her family's ancestral estate. From here Rakhee begins her adventure with her three cousins and learns all about her family's secrets after sensing some trouble. While venturing alone, Rakhee finds a hidden and blocked garden where she finds a young girl all alone. When Rakhee unveils the secret after spending time with the girl she finds how she is related to this girl. She questions her mother as to all the big secrets that expose a dark tale to everything. She learns about her mother’s problems, how the girl came to be, and her family's twisted history. This book is a very engaging story where the au...

The Toll is the third book of The Arc of a Scythe series. It is set in the far future where death by natural causes has been virtually eliminated thanks to advances in technology, and an advanced computer system known as the "Thunderhead" controls society. The Thunderhead is a form of artificial intelligence that does not make mistakes or have regrets. However, the Thunderhead can communicate with others. The Scythedom is an organization separate from the Thunderhead tasked with deciding who must die, as overpopulation has remained a problem. Scythes, who are those who "glean"—or permanently kill—people, must glean a certain number of people each month. Citra and Rowan have disappeared. Endura is gone. It seems like nothing stands between Scythe Goddard and absolute dominion over the world Scythedom. With the silence of the Thunderhead and the reverberations of the Great Resonance still shaking the earth to its core, the question remains: Is there anyone left who ca...

This book is the first of three books in the series, Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard. As opposed to the Percy Jackson series, another one of Rick Riordan’s works, this story takes place in Boston, and intertwines the modern world with a magical world: Norse Mythology. Some other differences can be seen with the Percy Jackson and the Magnus Chase series as well. While the Percy Jackson series focuses on a relatively normal teenager, albeit with some differences resulting from his godly parentage, the Magnus Chase series puts its spotlight on a teenager with a different background. Magnus Chase, a teenager in Boston who lost his house and mother burning down due to a fire, is currently homeless on Boston with Blitz and Hearth, his friends he met on the streets. Magnus, although not satisfied with his life, is living a somewhat happy life due to his two friends. One day, however, his uncle show up and surprises him with a fact that will completely change his life: his father is a Nors...

Old Yeller is about a boy named Travis, his mom, and his little brother, Arliss. Travis’s dad and the other men leave the settlement to go on a cow run which is when they take their cows to the market and sell them to make money, which has been tight for the settlers. While Travis’s dad is gone Travis is the head of the family. This means he is responsible for a lot of things including the corn harvest, marking the pigs, and much more. Luckily, he finds Old Yeller when he goes outside to get some meat for dinner, at first, he does not want him because he is angry because Old Yeller stole their meat. However, little Arliss will not let Old Yeller go and so Travis is forced to keep him. Soon however, Old Yeller proves to be quite useful and helps get Travis and his family out of some sticky situations. Sometimes even at his own cost. For example, Old Yeller once saved Arliss from being eaten by a mama bear. This is how he quickly became a part of the family. So, you can imagine Travis...

Everless is a thrilling fantasy novel that takes place in the land once known as America. In the kingdom of Sempra, time is currency- extracted from blood, bound to iron, and consumed to add time to one’s own lifespan. The Gerling family, who might as well be royalty, tax the poor to the hilt, making it as if they were immortal. No one hates the Gerling more than Jules Ember. Almost a decade ago, Jules and her father were servants at Everless, the Gerling estate. They were forced to flee after a fateful accident and have been hiding from the Gerling’s ever since. Jules discovers her father is running out of time and is willing to do whatever she can to save him. Even if it means going back to Everless, knowing that she needs to go, before she loses him forever. The Gerling’s are looking for new servants, specifically female. Jules sees this as an opportunity to buy her father more time. As Jules races against time, odd things start to happen and the more she knows the more dangerous it...