Editor’s Choice

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Here readers will find a list of titles that the editor has chosen to highlight. Each month a new title is added to this list
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This Month’s Editor’s Choice

Above World

Above World

Jenn Reese
Fiction  Series
For ages 9 to 12
Candlewick, 2012   ISBN: 978-0763654177

Many years ago, humans finally came to understand that their population was too large and no longer sustainable.  They came up with an extraordinary solution to this problem: they decided that some of their number they would modify their bodies to that they could live in places that had hitherto not been populated by humans. Thus the Kampaii lived in the shallower oceans, the Deepfell lived in the deep oceans, the Aviars had wings and lived in the skies, and the Equian people had hooves and lived in the deserts.

Life has been comfortable for the Coral Kampii, Aluna’s people, until now. Recently several of the Kampii have drowned because their shell necklaces, the tech devices that allow them to breathe underwater, have failed. When Aluna finds the body of her friend Makina floating in a kelp forest she gets furious. How can the Elders pretend that all is well? Someone needs to find out why the breathing necklaces are failing before all the Coral Kampii die.

On the day when Aluna is supposed to get her tail, she decides that she cannot stand by while her people die. Someone has to go to the Above World to find out why the necklaces, which were made by HydroTek, are failing. With her best friend Hoku by her side, Aluna leaves the only world she knows to walk around on her feet, and to face the Upgraders, creatures whose bodies are made of machine parts and “parts” that were taken from other beings.

Aluna and Hoku are not in the Above World long before they are captured by Aviars and taken to Skyfeather’s Landing, one of the Aviar strongholds. At first the Kampii teenagers are prisoners, but when they help defend the city from the Upgraders, Aluna and Hoku and the people of the air become allies. The Aviar have managed to free themselves from the stranglehold of Fathom, the Upgrader leader, and Aluna understands that her people will have to do the same. As long as Fathom is in control of the Hydrotek technology, her people will never be able to control their breathing necklaces and the other tech they depend on.

With the blessing of the Aviars, Hoku and Aluna set off once more to try to find HydroTek and they meet Dash, an Equian teen. Since Dash is on his own, he joins Hoku and Aluna in their quest, standing by their sides when they are pursued by Upgraders. The three young people are then joined by Calli, an Avian that they made friends with when they were in Skyfeather’s Landing. Though they are all very different in temperament and personality, when they are together, the four teens are a force to be reckoned with. Aluna and Dash are excellent fighters, while Calli and Hoku are tech wizards. They do not know if they will be strong enough to defeat Fathom and the creatures he has made, but they have to try.

This fascinating and beautifully written book will delight readers who have a fondness for books that are full of bizarre and otherworldly beings and creatures. Elements of fantasy and science fiction are combined with tense adventure sequences to give readers a memorable futuristic title. Readers will be interested to see how young people can change their world if they have the will and courage to defend what they know is right.

This is the first title in what promises to be an exciting new series.

Previous Editor’s Choice Titles

February 2004



Pagan in Exile

By Catherine Jinks

March 2004



The Various

By Steve Augarde

April 2004



On Sand Island

By Jaqueline Briggs Marti

Illustrated by David A. Johnson

May 2004



Hard Times For Jake Smith

By Aileen Kilgore Henderson

June 2004



The War

By Anais Vaugelade

July 2004



Petals in the Ashes

By Mary Hooper

August 2004



Airborn

By Kenneth Oppel

September 2004



The Friend

By Sarah Stewart

Illustrated by David Small

October 2004



The End of the Beginning

By Avi

November 2004



The Crow-Girl

By Bodil Bredsdorff

December 2004



The City of Ember

By Jeanne DuPrau

January 2005



A Child is A Child

By Brigitte Weninger

Illustrated by Eve Tharlet

February 2005



Zen Shorts

By Jon J. Muth

March 2005



The Truth About Sparrows

By Marian Hale

April 2005



The Quilt Makers Journey

By Jeff Brumbeau

Illustrated by Gail de Marcken

May and June 2005



A Quiet Place

By Douglas Wood

Illustrated by Dan Andreasen

July 2005



Mr. George Baker

By Amy Hest

Illustrated by Jon Muth


August 2005



Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

By J.K. Rowling

September 2005



Willow Run

By Patricia Reilly Giff

October 2005



The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips

By Michael Morpurgo

November 2005



Celandine

By Steve Augarde

December 2005



Wizardology

By Dugald A. Steer

Illustrations by Anne Yvonne Gilbert, John Howe, Tomislav Tomic, and Helen Ward

January and February 2006



Dickens: His work and his world

Michael Rosen

Illustrated by Robert Ingpen

March 2006



Angel on the square

By Gloria Whelan

April 2006



The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane

By Kate DiCamillo

May 2006



The Valley of Secrets

By Charmian Hussey

June 2006



Septimus Heap: Book One – Magyk

By Angie Sage

July 2006



Four in All

By Nina Payne

Illustrated by Adam Payne

August 2006



Endymion Spring

By Matthew Skelton

September 2006



I had seen castles: A Novel

By Cynthia Rylant

October 2006



Life as we knew it

By Susan Beth Pfeffer

November 2006



The Dot

Peter H. Reynolds

December 2006



Shipwreck Detective

Duncan Cameron and Richard Platt

January 2007



The Supernaturalist

Eoin Colfer

February 2007



The Book Thief

Markus Zusak

March 2007



Courage

Bernard Waber

April 2007



Way Down Deep

Ruth White

May 2007



The Miner’s Daughter

Gretchen Moran Laskas

June 2007



Once Upon a Picture

Sally Swain

July 2007



Private Peaceful

Michael Morpurgo

August 2007



Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows

J.K. Rowling

September 2007



Mine!

Mathilde Stein

Illustrated by Mies van Hout

October 2007



Ida B…and her plans to Maximize fun, avoid disaster and (Possibly) save the world

Katherine Hannigan

November 2007



The Loud Silence of Francine Green

Karen Cushman

December 2007



The Arrival

Shaun Tan

January 2008



Tunnels

Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams

February 2008



At Night

By Jonathan Bean

March 2008



Why War is Never a Good Idea

By Alice Walker

April 2008



Alphabet

By Matthew Van Fleet

May 2008



Buzz

By Caroline Bingham, Ben Morgan, and Matthew Robertson

June 2008



The Dead and the Gone

By Susan Beth Pfeffer

July 2008



Sand Dollar Summer

By Kimberly K. Jones

August 2008



The Day the World Exploded

By Simon Winchester

September 2008



The Book Book

By Sophie Benini Pietromarchi

October 2008



A Visitor for Bear

Bonny Becker

Illustrated by Kady MacDonald Denton

November 2008



Masterpiece

Elise Broach

Illustrated by Kelly Murphy

December 2008



Sucks to be me: The All-True Confessions of Mina Hamilton, Teen Vampire (maybe)

Kimberly Pauley

January 2009



How to get rich in the California Gold Rush

Todd Olson

Illustrated by Scott Allred

February 2009



The Magic Thief: Book One

Sarah Prineas

Illustrated by Antonio Javier Caparo

March 2009



The Year the swallows came early

Kathyrn Fitzmaurice

April 2009



Trainstop

Barbara Lehman

May 2009



Hounsley and Catina: Plink and Plunk

James Howe

Illustrated by Marie-Louise Gay

June 2009



Leaf

Stephen Michael King

July and August 2009



The evolution of Calpurnia Tate

Jacqueline Kelly

September and October 2009



The Cabinet of wonders

Marie Rutkoski

November and December 2009



Waiting for winter

Sebastian Meschenmoser

January and February 2010



The Carbon Diaries 2010

Saci Lloyd

March and April 2010



Julie Andrews’ Collection of Poems, Songs, and Lullabies

Julie Andrews and Emma Hamilton

May and June 2010



The Story of Cirrus Flux

Matthew Skelton

July and August 2010



Keeping the Moon

Sarah Dessen

September and October 2010



The Black Book of Secrets

F.E. Higgins

November and December 2010



Flipped

Wendelin Van Draanen

January and February 2011



Toby Alone

Timothee de Fomelle

Illustrated by Francois Place

March and April 2011



William Shakespeare: His Life and Times

Kristin McDermott and Ari Berk

Illustrated by Ian Andrew, Diz Wallis and Eloise Lambert

May and June 2011



Ten Miles Past Normal

Frances O’Roark Dowell

July and August 2011



Enclave

Ann Aguirre

September and October 2011



The Popularity Papers

Amy Ignatow

November and December 2011



In search of mockingbird

Loretta Ellsworth


January and February 2012



The sandwich Swap

Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah and Kelly DiPucchio


March and April 2012



Pie

Sarah Weeks