Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis

Ransom makes one simple choice on his solo walking voyage to seek stay in a certain home. What he finds there is a distressed mother who's mentally ill son hasn't returned from work. After promising to bring her son home, he heads off the where the young man works for a professor at his home hoping to also find a place to lodge for the night. He finds a struggle at the professor's home and stops a fight with unknown cause between the women's son, the professor Weston, and one of his old school mates that he never liked Devine. After letting the boy go home, Weston and Devine allow Ransom to lodge at their mansion. But when Devine and Ransom sit down for a drink, Ransom loses consciousness after taking a poisoned drink. He wakes up inside of a space ship on his way to a planet called Malacandra where he is to be sacrificed to the natives of the planets. What happens on the planet of Malacandra was the last thing Ransom expected to. After an escape from his captors he sets off on an adventure that leads him to inhabitants of the planets that are rational beings, learns their language, and becomes the only person to know of and understand the hnau (rational species) on Malacandra.

-Pages: 264
-Age: 13 and up (no inappropriate content, some topics better understood by more mature people)
-Reader Type: Science Fiction, Action
-Our Rating: This was an amazing book! It really gave you a different view on how society works and opens your mind to different ideas. It was a very enlightening book. It's one of those books that when you're done it has changed the way you think and leaves you satisfied.

Firestorm by David Klass

Jack is your average teenager, nothing more, nothing less. A football player, has a girlfriend named P.J., and has an average number of friends. His whole life his parents have encouraged him to be normal, be like everyone else, and just fit in. His whole life changes when he breaks the mold and breaks the school record in a football game. He becomes noticed and not just by his town but of a group of people unknown to him whose sole job is to kill him. He learns that his parents aren't his parents, his life has been fabricated to keep him unnoticed, and that even the time he is living in isn't the one he's from. Jack is sent running for his life with only a telepathic, proper canine named Grisco. His job is to save Earth from it's environmental destruction by the mysterious "Firestorm" which no one knows where it is or really what it is. Jack is thrown into a battle between those trying to save the planet and those trying to destroy it with the help of only the shaggy Grisco, a "Ninja Babe", and a father that can only reach him through his dreams.  With only the future's fate on his shoulders, he sets off to save the world's dying oceans.

Pages: 304
Age: 15 and up (suggestive parts, some vulgar language)
Reader Type: action, conservation, romance
Our Rating: We loved this book! Especially the ocean lover Zig. It opens your eyes to how we're hurting the planet and need to protect it for our own survival. It gets on a personal level with what's going on and really gives you a look at what is really happening to our oceans. Plus it's filled with suspense and action to keep the pages turning.

13 Little Blue Envelopes by Mareen Johnson

17 year old Ginny gets a letter from her Aunt Peg telling her to go to the Chinese restaurant under her old apartment. The problem: Aunt Peg is dead. She gets a package full of letters from her wild, artistic aunt telling her to go to the locations which she has written down in the letters and that she'll cover all the costs. Aunt Peg writes saying that Ginny can only bring one backpack of things, no electronics, no communication with the U.S., and only open the next envelope when the task in the one before it is completed. Ginny then sets off on her trip that takes her all through Europe bringing adventure to her usually dull life. Her aunt's letters take her places she would've never gone and do things she would've never done.With only a very over packed backpack and her crazy aunt's letters, Ginny is led by the directions in the letters and her aunt's equally unique friends she made while in Europe.

Pages: 336
Reader Type: Romance, Travel
Age: 14 and up (some mature subjects mentioned, mild language)
Our Rating: This is another perfect summer read! We loved the adventure and the romance of it and couldn't put it down!

Hey everyone, Zig and Zag again. Our blog has gotten an updated summer look but never fear, it's still the same old us giving you book reviews so you know what you would like and what you wouldn't no matter what your taste in books are. Enjoy summer!

Keep on Reading,


Zig and Zag

Summer Reads

Hey everyone, this is Zig and Zag. The wonderful time of summer is rolling around the corner which means you have plenty of time to read! We went through our mental list of the books we've read and put together a list of books perfect for reading laying on the beach or for a long car ride to a vacation spot.

Keep on Reading, 
Zig and Zag

• Amy and Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson

• Afrika by Colleen Craig

• Alex Rider Series by Anthony Horowitz

• The White Giraffe by Lauren St. John

• Dairy Queen by Catherine Murdock

 

Forgiven by Janet Fox

In this companion novel to Faithful also set in 1906 (location of this review: http://zigtozags.blogspot.com/2012/03/faithful-by-janet-fox.html ), Kula is sent to Montana by her father so she can start her life until he can come after he takes care of some "unfinished business" and join her. Reluctantly, Kula sets out on her own trying to make a name of herself despite being the daughter of an outlaw. Her focus is to marry into a social standing but things change when her father is arrested for a murder he didn't commit for which he will hang for. He tells her to so to San Fransisco and find Ty Wong to get a box before he is taken away. She sets off alone yet again to try to find the box she thinks will save her father's life. There she has to get through this large city with all its barbarians, criminals and keep her focus even when the kind and helpful come around. David, one of these few kind ones and a young Chinese, befriends her and she's finds herself experiencing something Kula Baker had never felt...love.

-Pages: 288
-Age: 13 and up (no inappropriate content but some slavery and abuse that took place in history)
-Reader Type: realistic, romantic, historic
-Our Rating: We loved this book just as much as its companion! Though it was a bit slow for our taste, the end was definitely a page turner with an ending you will never forget and will be on your mind for the next week.

Bruiser by Neal Shusterman

Brewster is one who keeps to the shadows and always keeps people away from him in any way possible. He's a mystery, known to his classmates as Bruiser. Then, someone is finally able to get through his guard. That someone is Bronte. She is drawn to his mystery and his seeming need for someone to just care for him. When they start to date, strange things start to happen. Cuts heal too fast, wounds that you remember being there, they're gone. Bronte and her twin brother Tennyson, Brewster's only two friends, set out trying to figure out the great mystery that surrounds Brew. What they find, will change their lives forever.

-Pages: 328
-Age: 13 and up (no inappropriate content, some child abuse, older characters)
-Reader Type: realistic, romance
-Our Rating: This book is amazing! Brewster is an amazing character and his love for people goes beyond any thing we can do to show our love for someone. Brew is truly an inspiring character that you cheer for the whole way! You can't put this down, even once you're done you have to go back and read the amazing ending for it over and over again!