By SARAH DRATNOL, Editor
With spring around the corner, the time to find books to read in the warming sun is here again. Many new titles have appeared and some older releases are still waiting to be noticed. All these books are great for a nice read in the spring air or on a car ride to the vacation spot.
Cinder is a new take on the classic Cinderella story. In the harsh, crowded streets of New Beijing, androids and humans live with a deadly plague. Their only hope is the second class citizen Cinder, a gifted mechanic, who lives with her stepmother. According to Before Its News, the author used the basis of the story Cinderella but cleverly gave it a life of it’s own. Cinder is a character that represents everything on might want to see in a character. No teenage angst, no drama and no relying on “the hot guy” to save her and no tantrums.
In order to develop a secure defense against a hostile alien race’s next attack, government agencies breed child geniuses and train them as soldiers. Andrew “Ender” Wiggin is one such child, Ender’s skills make him a leader in school and respected in the battle room. According to Common Sense Media, Ender’s Game is considered by some to be the best sci-fi novel ever written. This is the kind of book the phrase “page-turner” was invented to describe. Most people finish it in one sitting, unable to put it down.
Seventeen-year-old Lochan and 16-year-old Maya, the main characters of Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma, are in love. This is no ordinary romance though as the two characters are siblings who have been taking care of their family. The two have always felt more like friends than brother and sister, and in the end, that brought them to falling in love with each other. Though they know this relationship is wrong they can’t seem to stop it in in tracks. As the novel continues to an explosive end one thing is for sure: A love this devastating can’t possibly have a happy ending.
In All These Things I’ve Done the year is 2083 and here, chocolate and coffee have become illegal, paper is hard to find, water is rationed and New York City is filled to the brim with crime and poverty. But for 16-year-old Anya Balanchine life is fairly routine; being the daughter of a crime boss and having a mafia family to protect her. Her life consists of going to school, taking care of her siblings and her dying grandmother, trying to avoid falling in love with the new assistant D.A.’s son and avoiding her loser ex-boyfriend. That is until her ex is accidently poisoned by the chocolate her family manufactures and the police think she’s to blame.
In The Prisoner of Cell 25, everyone in Meridian High School thinks that 14-year-old Michael Vey is just a kid with Tourette’s syndrome. But in all truth, Michael is extremely special, he has electric powers. Michael thinks he’s unique until he meets cheerleader Taylor and discovers that they have the same power. With the help of Michael’s friend Ostin, the three set out to discover how Michael and Taylor ended up with these powers. This investigation soon brings them to the attention of a powerful group who wants to control the electric teens; and through them, the world.