"They hungered for us" - IN THE AFTER by Demitria Lunetta

In the After

by Demitria Lunetta

“After They came, I did not leave my house for three weeks.  The broadcasts stopped after the first few days, but they were not helpful anyway.  They kept repeating the same things.  Aliens had landed, they were not friendly, half of the planet was dead.They were horrifyingly fast, traveling across the globe at an alarming pace.  They didn’t destroy buildings or attack our resources, like in so many crappy Hollywood movies.  They wanted us.  They hungered for us” (9).

 A large, unexplained object lands, hosting thousands of hungry, predatory “Them” that rapidly kill, eat, and take over every continent and city.  Amy is alone at home when it happens, and barricades herself inside, thanks to her father’s foresight.  When all becomes quiet, too quiet, Amy ventures outside the safe boundaries of her house to scavenge and find survivors.  She ends up rescuing a toddler, whom she calls “Baby,” and they live three years in silence, as “Them” are attracted to noise.

Eventually, Amy and Baby are rescued by an elite, organized force that resides in New Hope, a highly-regulated society of survivors.  Amy’s mother is the director and assures her daughter that the confining rules of New Hope are for the betterment of future mankind.  When Amy stumbles upon experiments involving the fearsome Them, she begins to realize her mother is not telling her everything.

In The After is a 2015 Lone Star-awarded book, and for good reason – the writing is smoothly-paced, the action has peaks and valleys, and the subject matter of the book is fascinating, albeit in a morbid way.  Those in the lower grades, like sixth and seventh, might not be the best audience for this gruesome subject matter and grotesque descriptions of Them eating people: “The creatures pounced, not bothering to kill their prey before feeding.  They ripped skin and flash from their victims, who screeched in agony” (14) and “They feed for a long time, eating every bit of their dead, their sharp teeth chewing through skin, muscle, and bone.  Their feeding noises sicken me, slurps with the occasional crunch” (68).  So, gird your iron stomach and go ahead and read this, but don't say I didn't warn you.

10 Excellent Children's Books for Kids With ASD/SPD

As they say, if you have met one child with autism, then you’ve met one child with autism.  Ethan, my son, is three years old and certainly doesn’t fit in any type of ASD box, but a few things are for sure: he loves different textures and is very picky about them; he loves numbers; and he loves repetition/routine.  

Building a library appropriate and engaging for my child with autism has been a recent mission of mine.  Up until the age of three, Ethan wanted nothing to do with books -- he would grab them, flip through the pages in a nanosecond, and be done with it.  (It broke my librarian heart, but I kept up the routine of reading before bed.)   I wanted to include books that appealed to him texture-wise and visually, hoping that the interest in the words would follow.  After researching a bit, we have created an overflowing library of unique, thoughtful books.  (Just a note: interest in these books is certainly not limited to those children with spectrum disorders. Most kids will love these books; it can be more of a challenge to get children with spectrum disorders interested in books.)

Here are our favorite ten:

Beautiful Oops

by Barney Saltzberg

Barney Saltzerg is a master of paper engineering, and Beautiful Oops combines unique tactile elements with a simple reminder: mistakes can often be turned into something beautiful.  Interact with spilled coffee, torn pages, splotches of paint, crumpled paper, and more in Beautiful Oops.  For those children who are attracted to the tactile elements and textures in books, this one is a must-have.

Chicka Chicka 123

by Bill Martin Jr., Michael Sampson, Lois Ehlert

The Chicka books (Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, Chicka Chicka 123, Chicka Chicka ABC) are classic, and for good reason.  In this large boardbook, glossy pages follow the journey of numbers up and down a tree, a delight for young’uns drawn to identifying numbers.  

Good Night, Good Night, Construction Site

by Sherri Rinker, Tom Lichtenheld 

What happens when all the people go home and the crane truck, the cement mixer, the dump truck, the bulldozer, and the excavator are left to themselves?  They follow a nighttime routine, too, just like us -- the five button-activated sounds include rumbling trucks, a horn, a roaring engine, yawning, and snoring.
Good Night, Good Night, Construction Site boasts more than just cute sounds and lovely artwork -- the text itself is one of the better text-with-audio books I have read.  For instance: “Pushing with his mighty blade, Bulldozer works to smooth the grade.  No one’s as tough and strong as he, [b]ut now he’s sleepy as can be.  He curls into his soft dirt bed, [a]nd dreams of busy days ahead.”

Feely Bugs

by David A. Carter

Let’s just make this clear -- I am not a fan of bugs of any type, but I love this book.  Various textures incorporate child engagement; for instance, sticky bugs literally stick to your fingers on the page, and velvety bugs are swathed in the plush texture.

Pete the Cat (any and all versions)

by Eric Litwin, James Dean

Pete the Cat is a recent obsession for my son; the singsong aspects and repetition feed right into his desire for routine.  He quickly memorized the original Pete the Cat book and loves to reenact the Pete the Cat plush stepping into strawberries and blueberries.  It’s fun for adults, too, with a “groovy” storyline and moral.  We have the Easter book, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Cavecat Pet, and the original Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes.  

A Little Bit of Oomph

by Barney Saltzberg

Another stellar tactile-focused book by Barney Saltzberg, A Little Bit of Oomph encourages children to put in that little bit of extra effort to make ordinary things extraordinary.  As with Beautiful Oops, the pages are filled with fun textural elements.  I really hope Saltzberg keeps creating books like these; they’re fun for me, too!

The Very Hungry Caterpillar 

by Eric Carle

I will always love this book, and so will Ethan.  A growing caterpillar eats his way through leaves, sausages, and pies, leaving holes in the pages.  It’s a delight for young ones to follow the caterpillar’s trek through the pages, and the incorporation of his transformation into a butterfly is a beautiful ending.

Good Boy, Bubble Puppy!

by "Editors of Publication International"

Another text-with-audio book, Good Boy, Bubble Puppy! is a sturdy boardbook appropriate for those kids obsessed with Bubble Guppies.  The story follows very closely to an episode on the show, in which the gang travels to the supermarket for more Bubble Bites.  Gil races Mrs. Peekytoe for the last box, and the ending is a sweet sharing moment.
My son loves to match the graphic icons in the text to the sounds it makes, and he’s quite adept at imitating them, as well.  I found this particular book to have more integrated sounds (with the text) than other text-with-audio boardbooks.

Nugget & Fang

by Tammi Sauer, Michael Slack

I cannot tell you how much I love this book!  We picked it up at the book fair and it’s such an adorable story, I want to share it with everyone.  Two best friends, Nugget (a minnow--and I am so stealing that name for my next pet) and Fang (a shark), hang out in the ocean, having a grand time.  Until, that is, Nugget goes to school, where he learns sharks eat minnows (the reading, math, and science lessons offer enough humor to keep kids engaged until they are older, as well).  Nugget can’t be friends with someone who will eat him!  Fang is saddened, and does all kinds of tricks to make Nugget his friend again -- inviting him to dinner, having an octopus ink-write a greeting, and so on. Nugget is not swayed, until Fang swoops in to save the entire school from disaster.

The illustrations are vibrant without being overwhelming, although Fang’s over-exaggerated teeth may be too much hyperbole.  Ethan enjoys following Nugget, who is an orangey-pink color, through the pages.

Llama Llama Nighty Night

by Anna Dewdney

My son doesn’t have the patience for a regular-length Llama Llama book, but this boardbook is just enough and reinforces the bedtime routine (which is quite similar to our own routine).  Anna Dewdney’s lovable llama takes a bath, brushes his teeth, goes potty, put on pajamas, and then snuggles in to read some books before bed.

 BONUS: Alpha Block

by Christopher Franceshelli

Sturdy S and unique U make their debut in this simple yet fun cardboard-cutout book.  Each page boasts a letter cutout, with “A is for…” as the text and an example of the letter on the next page (in this instance, “apple,” paired with a picture of apples in a picnic scene.  The cutouts present opportunities for children to interact more effectively with the letter, either by tracing it or putting little fingers through the cardboard holes.  

Hungry For Some New Dystopian Lit? -- HUNGRY by Swain

Hungry

by H.A. Swain

Swain’s near-futuristic dystopia Hungry explodes onto this well-trod genre with a fresh idea, tense plotting, and relatable characterization.  Fans of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale and Lois Lowry’s The Giver will flock to Swain’s story about a future in which Earth’s resources, ostensibly decimated by wars and superstorms, have vanished, along with any flora and fauna.  Mega-corporation One World swoops in to salvage the remaining humans from starvation by altering their DNA so that they no longer experience any pesky hunger pangs; One World also supplies all nutrition through a formula-like substance called Synthamil.  

In a world in which any type of food is illegal, young Thalia, daughter to One World scientists, begins to suffer inexplicable spasms in her abdomen.  Instead of being shipped off to a “specialist” to eradicate her natural hunger pangs, as was wont to happen, Thalia is determined to seek the truth behind the hunger and One World’s monopoly on food.  She teams up with a non-“privy,” Basil, who leads her further into the resistance movement than she would have thought possible.  Thalia is faced with a decision – do the easy thing or do the right thing, all while battling her genetic “mutation” that makes her mouth water and her stomach growl. 

From the Inner Loops to the Outer, to the Hinterlands and beyond, Thalia’s journey is fast-paced, scientifically-plausible, and scarily possible.  Swain completes a unique tour de force with Hungry, one that requires us to examine our current society, our place within invisible and sometimes all-too-visible hierarchies, and the moralities of genetic engineering.  

* Read this review and more in the May 7, 2014 edition of School Library Journal!

To Salvage The Savaged -- SALVAGE by Duncan

Salvage

by Alexandra Duncan

Ava is a seventeen-year-old girl born aboard a spaceship, the Parastrata; when she makes an understandable, yet regrettable, mistake, she is cast out by her patriarchal family to the unfamiliar and unforgiving Earth below.  With just her aptitude for “Fixes” and her spirit for survival, Ava must navigate through the Gyre, a floating wasteland of trash in the Pacific, to ultimately end up in Mumbai, where she searches for her modrie, her blood-aunt.  

Duncan delivers a finely-paced dystopian science fiction novel that relentlessly charges through the finer plot points, which may leave readers confused as to how exactly Earth resulted in a technologically-advanced wasteland.  Another small hiccup is the strange dialogue given to Parastrata’s inhabitants, and Ava, without explanation, which may be off-putting to slow and reluctant readers.  However, the strength of Ava’s character bears the story well through its 528 pages.    Fans of Beth Revis’s Across the Universe and Matched by Ally Condie will appreciate Duncan’s first dive into the genre.

"I Have Magic Hair That Glows When I Sing" - CRESS by Marissa Meyer

Cress (The Lunar Chronicles, Book Three)

by Marissa Meyer

So, I read Cress when it was published and wasn't impressed – I quickly gave up, probably due to book series exhaustion.  Given the opportunity to review Fairest, a kind of interlude between books three and four of The Lunar Chronicles, I came back and re-read Cress, and I’m so glad I did.  My second reading entranced me, and I began to realize what a master Meyer is at entwining all of the characters without losing plot-lines or world-building.

Cress is ensconced, against her will, in a satellite around Earth doing the bidding of Sybil, a power player in Queen Levana’s entourage.  She spends seven lonely years essentially spying on Earth and all its wonders, including the royal family and Kai.  Like the fairy tale, Cress has floor-length tresses and a sonorous singing voice.  As she sits at her screens and watches videos of the goings-on down below her, Cress begins to sympathize with the plight of Earthens; when presented with the opportunity to defect to their side, she takes it without hesitation.  

What follows is a fast-paced, well-written, and sometimes romantic journey through the Earth’s atmosphere, the Sahara, Europe, and back to the Moon.  Meyer is a master at committing to her details without losing the effect of the storytelling.  Scarlet is my least favorite character, probably because she is the only one of whom I cannot form a clear picture, and thankfully she was not featured that much in this particular book.  The ending of this novel leaves me wanting more, more, more Meyer.  And, if you haven’t read Fairest yet, you must!

This One Time at Prom, We Were Abducted By Aliens, You See... -- The Prom Goer's Interstellar Excursion

The Prom Goer's Interstellar Excursion

by Chris McCoy

Bennett thinks he has struck the jackpot when his long-time crush, Sophie, agrees to go to prom with him.  A few moments after she accepts, Sophie is abducted by horned, red-furred aliens traveling in a wagon-like UFO.  Bennett naturally wants his prom date back, and so he enlists the help of an extraterrestrial band visiting a local In-N-Out to follow Sophie around outer space.  As Bennett focuses on ensuring Sophie is not hunted down by fellow marooned humans in a Hungers Games-like park, he learns the truths behind the band members and their drive to become successful again.

If it sounds implausible, it unabashedly is, but McCoy creates a fun, amusing, and heart-warming story out of the impossibilities.  Witty and action-packed, the plot is boldly glazes over science-fiction details in favor of well-wrought characters.  You’ll root for Bennett to get the girl and even for crusty band member Skark to accomplish his dream of becoming better than the one billionth and sixteenth band in the universe.  The book’s ending, however, is a nicely-placed realistic surprise.

* Catch this review and more in the January 7, 2015 edition of School Library Journal!

Somehow Marigolds Come Into Play -- A Fall of Marigolds

A Fall of Marigolds

by Susan Meissner

I wanted to like this book; Meissner attempted to deftly weave similarities between a woman living and working in 1911's NYC and a woman living/working in present-day NYC (having suffered a tragedy in the 9/11 terrorist attacks).

I felt the parts dealing with the present-day (and the near-past flashbacks to 9/11) were handled fairly well; they felt raw, real, and organic.  My issue with the novel stemmed from the 1911 flashbacks, which focused on a woman who lost a potential love in the Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire.

Clara met and fell in love with Edward in the elevator to the building; they had not even gone on a date when the fire broke out and Edward tragically died.  Trying to escape the painful memories, Clara volunteered for a stint on Ellis Island as a nurse.  A brief stint turned into months of near-isolation as Clara attempted to move past the tragedy that has now overtaken her life.

Clara, to me, is a weak and unrealistic character.  Every person around her handles her with kid gloves.  She is repetitive and quite honestly too overwrought; it is obvious she has some severe mental issues going on, but instead of forcing her to confront them and get treatment, her friends and family pander to them.  It's infuriating.  Somehow she gets two men to fall in love with her, too.  Whatever!