Back-To-School Reads

A brand new movie can be relied on to pop up every Friday, but new books are a little harder to watch out for. In the back-to-school spirit, however, authors can be relied upon to spew books onto the shelves August through November- which is good, because it means I'll be heading to school every day, right across the street from Barnes & Noble. Check out these new reads from old favorites this fall . . . also known as my to-do list.

Reached, by Ally Condie
Coming November 13

Ally Condie's dystopia romance, Matched, premiered less than two years ago. The book stole its ideas only from the best- riding on the heels of The Hunger Games, and bringing back those really weird memories of having to read Fahrenheit 451 for English. It was an action-romance-adventure-dystopia that centered around heavy government censorship and control. I can think of about ten different books that meet the same requirements off the top of my head. At the same time though, Ally brought something calming and unique to the fast-paced dystopian table by writing in a beautiful, poetic tone. She's inspired almost too many quote boards on Goodreads and Pintrest. As the series went on with Crossed last year, her ideas grew up- out of Suzanne Collins and into themselves. Now, she's ready to release a third, and the way this series has climbed the Good-Better-Best staircase, I can't pretend I'm not excited. Aren't trilogies fun?



The Kill Order by James Dashner
Coming August 14

Speaking of trilogies, James Dashner just had to spoil the magic number and write a prequel to his Maze Runner series, bringing his count up to four. I have mixed feelings about prequels (mostly several bad feelings mixed together). My theory is this: you start your book at the point a character's life is worth writing a book about. Before that, their lives were composed of tragic backstory, mean aunts and uncles, and no dates. However, reading more into this specific prequel has got me intrigued. Maze Runner focused on a group of adolescents in post-apocalyptica, going through a group of mysterious tests designed to find the leader among them worthy of saving the world. This new book explains how the world was driven into the unique apocalypse written about through the rest of the series. While I've told you my opinion of The Maze Runner series before (a trio of Orson Scott Card rip-offs that don't live up to the original . . . that I couldn't stop reading for some reason) I'm willing to give this a shot out of curiosity. I guess his theory is this: if you go enough generations back, it could be possible to run into something interesting to write about.


Palace of Stone by Shannon Hale
Coming August 21

While I'm not entirely sure if it's true, I like to believe I was present at Shannon Hale's first ever book signing. I was seven, and Goose Girl was in its first printing and original cover (I swear they've gone through about seventy now). Since then, Shannon Hale's new reads have slowly become less and less appealing. It seemed almost as if she'd thrown in the towel on fairy tales for good- writing things like Austenland and Midnight in Austenland and who knew what other times of the day. It's exciting and refreshing to see her turning back instead to some roots I'd almost forgotten she had. Palace of Stone is the fairy-tale-esque story of Mira, a girl from a small mountain village thrown into the society of royal court when her friend is selected to be the next princess, and Mira accompanies her on the journey. This book is the sequel to Princess Academy, a novel Shannon wrote in 2005 and the reason I wanted my name to be Laurel for so many years as a kid.


Erasing Time by C.J. Hill
Coming August 28

Have you ever read an author who writes the fun, fluffy, pink pleasures in life, and noticed those moments between the lines where they hint at being secretly a much cooler, more dramatic person capable of writing something a whole lot more action-packed and lip-gloss free? No? I have every time I've read a Janette Rallison novel. They're fun, romantic, and witty, but I've always wished she would give Suzanne Collins a run for her money instead of Sarah Dessen. Now she is- publishing her own dystopia drama, Erasing Time, under her pen name, C.J. Hill. Erasing Time is the story of two twins transported to the year 2447. While I would probably be guilty of picking something a whole lot more crazy as my pseudonym, I'm still excited to see her write a more serious book. It might not debut at the top of New York Times bestsellers lists, like most of the other books here, but it's one that I already have confidence would earn the spot in a more fair and much cooler world.

The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan
Coming October 2

I'd be lying if I said this wasn't on the list. Even though I've now begun to finally notice the FOR TWELVE AND UNDER sticker on the backs of these books, for some reason I can't get rid of them. For so many people, the Percy Jackson books were such a fun and memorable part of our childhood that we can't seem to stop, even as we grow up. However . . . unlike other long-term series with similar fan bases (my fancy way of saying Harry Potter) the Rick Riordan books' biggest flaw is perhaps how little growing-up his series has done along side his audience. Granted, I might just be saying this because of that dang sticker and the fact I check these books out with a high school ID now- and yeah, it's true, the books are still a huge draw for kids. But this new novel will be featuring a hero and heroine going on 17. I have hopes for a more mature story this go-round, while sticking to the witty, goofy and clean roots that I fell in love with in the fifth grade (also I'd like Percy and Annabeth to be romantically reunited and save the world with some cool sword fighting, than you Mr. Twelve-and-Under).


Check back next Friday for a special post on altered books- ideas in using well-worn paperbacks for everything from lampshades to works of art (which, lately, I've been so obsessed with my room looks like a publishing press exploded inside).