Jax's Lightspeed Review of 'Book Scavenger' by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman

Welcome to Jax's Lightspeed Reviews. These are just like any other of my regular reviews, though they're much quicker to read through and write - hence the title. The review is split up into 5 pieces: The story overview, the positive elements of the book, the negative elements of the book, a final verdict, and a recommendation level.

Today's book: 'Book Scavenger' by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman

"Life is a game, and books are the tokens."

The Story:

Book Scavenger is split into 3 main plot pieces that work around each other. In this story, a fictional game exists called 'Book Scavenger', where patrons can hide books for others to find in the real world, then pinpoint their book's location using a clue system built into the 'Book Scavenger' website. The admin and leader of the Book Scavenger games, Mr Garrison Griswold, is often considered the self-proclaimed 'Willy Wonka' of the book industry. Griswold starts plans on a new sub-competition of the game, where players will have to track down one of many copies of 'The Gold-Bug' (which is a REAL book by Edgar Allen Poe), which contains clues to where a special prize is located in San Fransisco. However, Griswold is mugged by a group of thugs prior to the start of the competition, causing the new game to be postponed.
      ...then we get to the other main character of the story: Emily Crane, a passionate player of the Book Scavenger game. Emily's family has a dream to live in each state in the U.S. at least once for a full year, and their next stop is - coincidentally, - San Fransisco. Once Emily and her family arrives, she meets up with James, a puzzles enthusiast, and they find a mysterious Gold-covered version of 'The Gold-Bug'. Emily doesn't make much of it at first because nobody actually knows of Griswold's cancelled game, but once she finds out a secret lying within the book, she starts a quest to complete the game - with the help of James, of course.

The Good:

Book Scavenger is the best kind of Fiction because it's a completely plausible story. The whole tale is obviously made up, but because of how clever the Book Scavenger game within the story actually is, it could easily be played in real life. In fact, the official website for this story has a mini-'Book Scavenger' built into it that you can play right now! Check this link: http://bookscavenger.com/hide-find-books/   Sure, there aren't many books hidden around our Lake County area as of right now, but we could change that, couldn't we? I challenge all of you readers to hide at least 1 book within the next few weeks and record it on the website. Think you're up to the challenge?
      The primary genre of Book Scavenger, 'mystery', is implemented to perfection here. It's fun to keep up with all of the puzzles that Emily and James encounter on their quest to finish The Gold-Bug's hidden adventure, and it's not very hard, either. There were at least 2 or 3 times within the book where the main characters stumbled upon a new step they couldn't solve, even though I already had a hunch on how to solve it. I like this style of the 'mystery' genre better than the stereotypical 'Sherlock' kind of mystery because they feel interactive.

The Bad:

I didn't have any immediate distaste with Book Scavenger, but on the other hand, not too much about the story really struck me. In easier terms, I couldn't find any flaws in the book that detracted from the experience, but aside from the fun setting of the book and the mystery aspects, the writing itself is rather run-of-the-mill. Not much about the story stands out from other tales of this caliber.
      As a side note, there's a very weird mis-match of plot twists near the end of the book. I don't mind plot twists, but in this case, at least 3 twists occur within the same chapter. This kind of writing can throw you off, and it should especially be avoided during the climax of the story.

Conclusion:

Book Scavenger is a simple story at face value, but the simplicity of the story helps contribute to how fun it is to read. Pick this one up if you can, and if you get a spare book and some time, try out the Book Scavenger game online! Or, perhaps you should wait for another month to do that, since it is still winter right now...

Recommendation Rating: Moderate (Read it if you can!)

Lorali found the book of her dreams!

At least Lorali found a book she liked! 
"Fat & Bones" by Larissa Theule.
Check us out on Vine!

Speed Dating with a Book: Nope

We did a Speed Dating with a Book program and Jack had strong feelings about this non fiction title:

 
Check us out on Vine!

GadgetJax Reviews: The Lord Of The Flies by William William Golding

   I love old things. A lot. Okay, maybe not the stuff that's really old, like dinosaur bones and 8-tracks, but I still love to look back at all the media of last century. Some of my favorite video games of all time were released during the 1980's, and many of Disney's best animated features debuted during the 1950's as well. But what about books? 

    Truth be told, I rarely read old books, which is odd, isn't it? I like reading, and I like old media, so you would think that stuff would make me explode with happiness, but it doesn't. Even titles like 'The Hobbit' have failed to spark my interest. Still, there are many times where I'll have to read an old title for one reason or another, such as a book discussion.
    This leads me to the book for today: Lord Of The Flies. It's obviously not the oldest book in on Earth, but when you consider how it debuted in 1957, you really start to realize how old that is. Anyway, going off the title of the book, you would expect some kind of epic tale about a king among insects, but considering how misleading old book titles were, you can ignore that notion.

    Our tale begins with 2 young boys named 'Ralph' and 'Piggy'(No, that's not his real name) waking up on an island in the middle of nowhere. They believe they are alone at first, but discover that they were on an airplane with several other boys, but it crashed, with only the children surviving. They eventually meet other boys on that island; some who are their age, and some who are smaller. They then come to terms and try to start a makeshift society where different boys are assigned to different roles, such as hunting and the like. It's nothing too out of the ordinary for a survival story, except for the MacGuffin of the island; The Conch.
    The Conch is a crucial part of the story and should be recognized as such. Prior to meeting the other boys on the island, Ralph and Piggy discover a conch on the island. As the story progresses, the significance of the conch rises to a point of royal power among the surviving boys; whoever is holding the conch has the right to speech among the group of boys. It may seem like a little touch at first to the story, but if you look deeper into it, it represents much more than meets the eye. The rest of the story contains very few objects that would hold any significance or lasting impression, so the conch feels like almost like a holy relic in a desolate wasteland.
    Speaking of things that stand out, I guess you could apply this definition to many of the other aspects of the book; insignificant at first, but surreal and astonishing upon inspection. I was bored the entire time during my first read of this book, but after re-reading it and searching up more about it online, I discovered just how narrow my opinions on this title were. Every boy in this book is given an underlying trait that represents some kind of struggle that the group faces on the island, and it almost makes you feel bad for the characters and their struggles.

    Of course, with any book that takes the path of using underlying meanings, you will notice many flaws riddled in the tale. I found many parts where characters would almost seem to repeat the same sentences over and over again, and it makes the plot feel like it's not going anywhere at certain points. Also, while we're on the subject of 'not going anywhere', I should remind you that I didn't get much of a good impression from this book the first time through. Because of this, I can only recommend this book to someone who wants to decipher the deep meaning behind the story. If you're looking for raw entertainment, Lord Of The Flies won't fit your taste, but if you want to read about a truly serious struggle between several children and their wits, then Lord Of The Flies will spark your interest for sure.

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...wait a second! A GadgetJax review with little-to-no comedy? What is this garglemesh?!? Don't worry, valiant readers! I'll be back next time with something that's sure to knock your socks off! Can you guess what it is? I'll give you guys a hint: it'll push everybody to the limit.

Highland must WIN

Are you participating in the 2015 Teen Read Week Challenge?

Here is a video of the Highland teens throwing down the gauntlet to the other branches with their own take on the quintessential inspiration song during a reading marathon.

Come in and fill out raffle tickets so our branch can WIN!

Did you know that Jim Peterik (founding member of Survivor and co-writer of "Eye of the Tiger") will be visiting the Merrillville Branch Nov 6th, 2015!?

Lily's Top 10 Books

My Top Ten Favorite Books

I can be a very picky reader (okay and a very opinionated person in real life too) but these are some of my favorites. It was very hard for me to write down just ten but these are sure to make you love reading! (And these are all at the library.. I’m pretty sure)

1.Percy Jackson and the Olympians/ The Heroes of Olympus by Rick Riordan I’m sure many of you have heard of these series I'll just say that it is beautiful and should be read as fast as possible (It was agony waiting for the last few books over the course of three years.)

2.Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer. For once we get to read a novel with the villain as our hero! With fairies, centaurs, and LEPRECON these books are amazing!

3.Between the Lines by Jodi Picoult and Samantha VanLeer. This Mother daughter duo did an amazing job, you’ll get sucked right into this fantastic adventure! (If you have read the book that joke makes a lot of sense!)

4.Dealing With Dragons by Patricia Wrede. I just did a review on this so read that so I don’t have to retype this! Its awesome so read it!

5.The 39 Clues/ The 39 Clues Cahills vs. Vespers/ The 39 Clues Unstoppable/ The 39 Clues Double Cross by like a million different authors but it is a popular series so you will have no trouble finding a copy at the library. It really is unstoppable it’s on its fourth series and I am behind two books, granted they are very short books, they are amazing but don’t waste your money trying to buy all of these unless you have an infinite amount of money, they are expensive since they somehow made a card game with it!

6.The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis is a classic story that is set in such an amazing world! I have to say it is so fun to read these books!

7.Cinder by Marissa Meyer.If you know anything about me it is that I absolutely HATE the fairytale of Cinderella, damsel in distress who never stood up for herself doesn’t float my boat sorry. This novel completely flipped the fairy tale on it’s head and I suggest you read this futuristic cyborg based series because it is pretty amazing.

8.Its Kind of A Funny Story by Ned Vizzini is a lighter take on teenage depression, though the plot is rather sad the story is full of hilarious plot twists, sadly though the author Ned Vissini died from his depression, I suggest you read this wonderfully funny novel, even if it isn’t a fantasy!

9.Beautiful Creatures  by Kami Garci and Margaret Stohl is a BEWITCHING (pun intended) novel about magic and even some voodoo! Check it out because it is super funny! The last book in the series is actually my favorite!

10.The Sisters Grimm by Michael Buckley is a children based series but it is so amazing it cannot be looked over. No matter what your age you will love this new take on the Brothers Grimm fairy tales!

Gosh that was so hard to narrow it down to just ten favorites! I barely came out of this alive! Well I’m onto my next quest, I hope you all can enjoy these books as much as I have!

Happy Reading!

-Lily