THE HANGMAN'S REVOLUTION (W.A.R.P. Book 2), by Eoin Colfer

The story: Riley and Chevie are back, but there are complications: on her return from Victorian London, Chevie finds herself in the wrong world--a world where an evil plan hatched by WARP agents in 1890s London brought a brutal regime to power, a government that controls everything a hundred years later. Can two kids figure out what happened and prevent it? Possibly--but it'll take some help from the Battering Rams and their king, Otto Malarkey...which could easily end up making everything worse!

June Cleaver's ratings: Language PG; Violence R; Sexual content G; Nudity G; Substance abuse PG; magic and the occult G; GLBT content G; adult themes (brutal dictatorships) PG; overall rating PG-13.

Liz's comments: Here's another in a long line of sequels that didn't turn out quite as well as the original. Riley and Chevie are operating in their separate worlds for a long time before being reunited, and the story finally gets around to being good once that happens. Once again, there's a lot of violent action here, so those who are opposed to the idea of a gang-style massacre with weapons imported from the future will need to look elsewhere!

THE WHISPERING SKULL, by Jonathan Stroud

The story: When a haunted relic is unearthed in a local cemetery, it's business as usual for Lockwood & Company...at first. But when the thieves who steal it from the coffin end up quite literally scared to death, it's up to agents Lockwood, George and Lucy to track it down before anyone else looks into the mirror, goes insane, and ends up dead. Can they trust the clues only Lucy can hear coming from the whispering skull?

June Cleaver's ratings: Language: PG-13; Violence PG-13; Sexual content G; Nudity G; Substance Abuse PG; magic and the occult PG-13; GLBT content G; adult themes (murder, possession by demons) PG-13; overall rating PG-13.

Liz's comments: I really liked the first volume in this series (The Screaming Staircase) and also enjoyed this one, although maybe not as much. On the plus side, the author didn't have to spend as much time on world-building as he did in volume 1, so this one is perhaps a little more accessible to the casual reader. Conveniently, there's a glossary in the back in case anyone gets too confused by the arcane ghostly terminology. Ghostly and creepy, and not for the faint of heart! (But also not enough to give you too many bad dreams, either.)

FLORA AND ULYSSES, by Kate DiCamillo

The story: Flora is horrified when her neighbor, Tootie Tickham, accidentally sucks a squirrel into her vacuum cleaner. But things get even weirder when it turns out that the squirrel's near-death experience has changed him--no longer is he just a food-seeking rodent. Now, he's a thinking, feeling, poetry-writing, food-seeking rodent. This is the story of Flora's attempt to keep Ulysses safe from his arch-nemesis (also known as Flora's mother). Good thing Flora's read all those comic books so she knows exactly what to do...most of the time!

June Cleaver's ratings: Language G; Violence G; Sexual content G; Nudity G; Substance abuse PG; magic and the occult PG (a squirrel develops super powers...not sure WHAT category that belongs in!); GLBT content G; adult themes (divorce; doing away with unwanted animals) PG; overall rating G.

Liz's comments: Yes, I know everyone else thought this was charming, and I KNOW it won the Newbery Award...but I am so opposed to varmints in general, and squirrels in particular, that I found myself identifying more with the arch-nemesis in this story than with the heroine. It's interesting how the Newbery Award has changed since the advent of the Printz award--it used to be that Newberys would frequently have wide appeal to MS audiences; now they seem to skew to upper ES grades instead. This one would make a good read-aloud, even for first & second graders. Anyone who remembers being a fan of comic books as a kid (or currently!) or who likes cute little furry animals in general, would probably like this one better than I did!

WE WERE LIARS, by E. Lockhart

The story: Cady and her cousins are rich, pampered, maybe even spoiled. But in their 15th summer of living on a private island off the coast of Massachusetts, they come to find out with disturbing finality that bad things...terrible things...can happen even to people who thought they were safe from the stuff that happen to regular people. And now, struggling with a head wound and amnesia, Cady comes back to the island to try to find the answers to how everything went so tragically wrong.

June Cleaver's ratings: Language R; sexual content PG; violence PG; nudity PG; substance abuse PG-13; magic and the occult PG; GLBT content G; adult themes PG-13 (divorce, infidelity, manslaughter, entitlement-related bad behavior) PG-13; overall rating PG-13, although the "F" word is used at least 20 times in the book, so if that makes it an automatic "R" in your mind, adjust accordingly!

Liz's comments: I thought this was an interesting look at how the entitled few live (some of them not very successfully!), and Cady's misery throughout makes you really feel for her. However, I am one of those people who are bugged by excessive use of the "F" word, and I felt it really didn't add to the story--losing its shock value each successive time it was used, and bringing to mind the adage about the bankrupt intellect. Additionally, I felt rather betrayed to find out, in the final few pages, that this was actually a GHOST story! Cheap! Hence my 3-star rating when it appears that the book is getting a solid 4-1/2 stars from most.

A CORNER OF WHITE, by Jaclyn Moriarty

The story: Madeleine and Elliot live in different worlds--literally. She lives in England; he lives in an alternative dimension in a place called the Kingdom of Cello. The two worlds are connected by a crack...in a parking meter. Madeleine starts out disbelieving that anything Elliot says about his world is true--but ends up believing he can save her mother's life. The only problem--will he be able to do it in time?

June Cleaver's ratings: Language PG-13; Violence PG; Sexual Content PG; Nudity, G; substance abuse PG; magic and the occult PG-13; GLBT content G; adult themes (parents with terminal illness and substance abuse issues; kidnapping) PG; overall rating PG-13. Note: this rating is based on the overall difficulty of getting drawn into the story, and not on any of the usual categories.

Liz's comments: I ended up really liking this story, but I think there are very few middle school girls who will have the patience to stick with it to the place where it gets interesting. There's also the added disadvantage of "English speak"--the British way of putting things that can be confusing for the less-savvy American reader. This one is for girls only, and even then, it's for patient readers who don't mind waiting a while to figure out what's going on.

SO CLOSE TO YOU, by Rachel Carter

The story: All her life, Lydia has heard stories about the mysterious "Montauk Project", headquartered on their island during World War II. Her grandfather is not only convinced that the stories are true, but he's sure the Project had something to do with his father's disappearance during the War. Lydia is NOT a believer when Grandpa starts talking about the Project...until she herself becomes an experiment in it. Now, stuck nearly 70 years in past, Lydia has to figure out how to save her great-grandfather--and how to get home. If she gets it wrong, he'll be dead...and she'll be stranded for good.

June Cleaver's rating: Language: PG; Violence PG-13; Sexual Content PG; Nudity G; magic and the occult G; substance abuse PG; GLBT content G; adult themes PG; Overall rating PG.

Liz' comments: This is really a historical romance disguised as a time-travel novel. I thought it dragged in places, but it did have an interesting twist at the end that would make someone who'd hung in until then be interested in moving on to the second novel. Hand this to girls who like science fiction--small though that group may be!

ESCAPE FROM MR. LEMONCELLO'S LIBRARY, by Chris Grabenstein

The story: Would being stuck in a library, unable to leave unless you found a secret escape route, be your fondest dream or your worst nightmare? Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if you were trapped in Mr. Lemoncello's library: he's the most famous game maker in the world, and the pathway to escape is like a huge video game being played in real time. Levels! Challenges! Pitfalls! The winner will find fame and fortune, while the loser...goes home a loser. Will snotty Charles Chiltington be that winner, or regular guy Kyle Keeley? Find out when you read this really fun puzzle of a book.

June Cleaver's ratings: Language G, Violence G; Sexual content, G; Nudity G; magic and the occult G; substance abuse G; GLBT content G; adult themes G; overall rating G.

Liz's comments: Don't think that a book with an overall rating of G will be flat and boring. Not true! This is a clever, fun-filled run through the library with lots of book-related humor that adults will get (kind of like those wink-wink jokes in Disney films that kids don't get until years later). Okay, so maybe I'm prejudiced because it takes place in a LIBRARY, but this library is kind of like Willy Wonka's chocolate factory: unlike the regular version in just about every way...except it still uses the Dewey decimal system!

SYLO, by D.J. MacHale

The story: Everything is peaceful on sleepy Pemberwick Island until the day the tailback drops dead on the field and the sky blows up. Tucker and his best friend Quinn have a talent for being in the right places (or arguably, the wrong places!) to see mysterious events unfolding around the arrival of SYLO--an unknown branch of the US Navy that invades their peaceful island off the coast of Maine and changes their lives forever. Nothing is as it seems, and it's only going to get worse from here.

June Cleaver's ratings: Language PG-13; Violence PG-13; Sexual content PG; nudity G; magic and the occult G; substance abuse PG-13; GLBT content G; adult themes (murder, parental betrayal) PG; overall rating PG-13.

Liz's comments: This is a fast-moving sci-fi thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat. The only drawback is that there isn't even a hint of a conclusion at the end--maybe the kind of book you want to wait to read until the series is complete so you can start with book 1 and move through to the end without waiting for the next installment!