Feed by M.T. Anderson

Feed is cautionary tale about the excesses of consumerism. It is set in a world where Americans live in idle luxury, w/ their every want easily satisfied by their "feed," an internet connection in their head that suggests to them what they want before they even know it themselves. As a result of American's lavish lifestyles the world, particularly the environment, suffers.

Feed's protagonist is Titus, an American teenager who, while on a trip to go partying on the moon, meets a girl name Violet, who helps him change the way he thinks about his world.

I really liked this book. The message was great, the story well told and the character's were realistic. Titus, Violet, their friends, they are all wonderfully flawed characters. Each one has his or her own short comings, which makes them so real, so easy to relate too. I was always pulling for Titus to make the right choices, but he's limited by his world-view, his upbringing, the culture he was raised in and his decisions through out the book reflect that. You can't expect a person to change over night and you can't expect a society change over night either. Overall an excellent book. Give this one to fans of dystopian science fiction at its finest.

Lay Ups and Long Shots

Lay Ups and Long Shots is a collection of eight sports short stories by a variety of children's and young adult authors. The stories are generally enjoyable and usually funny.

My one gripe with this book was that it seemed like these sports stories were written for people who don't necessarily like sports. This probably isn't the best bet for the star athlete reluctant reader, but it would be great for an avid reader who loves humorous realistic fiction grades 4 to 7.

Tim, Defender of the Earth by Sam Enthoven

The concept behind this book is freaking rad! A gigantic genetically engineered dinosaur battles an army of nanobots on the streets of London! Awesome right? Unfortunately not. While I understand that a certain willful suspension of disbelief is necessary for a book of this nature, this book is just ridiculous. A scientist in a secret government funded laboratory deep below the streets of London raises a genetically engineered hundred foot tall dinosaur named T.I.M.. When the new Prime Minister finds out about Tim he orders the project shut down and Tim exterminated. Of course, TIM escapes. causes havoc on the streets of London and then swims out to sea.

In the meantime the government decides to start funding another scientist, Professor Mallahide, who is working on nanotechnology. Apparently all he needed was for the government to say they were willing to fund him, because that night he turns himself into a nanobot swarm.

But wait, there is yet another plotline to follow. Chris, a middle school student from London, goes on a field trip with his class and while searching for a place to avoid doing any school work, finds himself in an unused corner of the musuem. While there, he is discovered by a security guard who forces an ancient bracelet on him from the museum's collection. Chris discovers that the bracelet cannot be removed. Later in the book Chris discovers that the bracelet also allows him to talk to Tim. Finally as a lucky coincidence Chris's classmate Anna is professor Mallahide's daughter.

Anyway long story short, Professor Mallahide turns out to be a bit crazy and starts turning everyone into nanobots. So Tim the giant T-Rex comes back to fight him, but to do that he needs Chris to use his bracelet to focus the willpower of humanity into strength for Tim. In response the Nanobots form into a gigantic cockroach / centaur creature and fight Tim.

I don't know what happens after that, because I stopped reading. Honestly the only reason I made it that far was because I was on an exercise bike and dedicated to riding it for two hours. I was a captive audience.

I have to admit this book did have some really rad parts, especially when Tim and the cockroach / centaur / nanobots were battling. But the nanobots, as they were portrayed, were really overpowered and have no excuse for not rapidly assimilating the whole world and everything on it into the nanobot swarm. A+ for the idea, D+ for the implementation.

Give this book to children whose concepts of reality and reasonability have been completely destroyed by hours and hours of video game play, grades 5 to 8.