27:13: To the Power Against, by Carrie Smith and Stephanie Lantry (2012 trade paperback)

Catalina Jones--a probabilistic risk assessor--finds herself in improbable situations after an unlikely accident involving a microwavable burrito and a graviton missile. To combat the chaos she creates everywhere she goes, she develops an intervention system using complex mathematic equations. It's a great indie comic, where the female protagonist depends on brains rather than beauty, with amusing plot twists, fun science, and threatening men in black suits thrown in.

23-24.12: The Final Warning and Max (Book 4 and 5 of the Maximum Ride series), by James Patterson (iBook, originally published 2008 and 2009)

I really enjoyed hearing James Patterson speak about kids and reading during a luncheon at the 2011 NCTE Convention, and I think his Read Kiddo Read website offers amazing resources for young readers and parents. These things have made me check out a couple of his book series for Tween and Teen youth, and the Maximum Ride series--about a flock of mutant bird kids who were experimented on in labs--is one of the more interesting. They have good story lines for both boys and girls, with both romance and fart jokes mixed in, as well as strong good-versus-evil plots and exposure to contemporary issues. In these two books in the series, for instance, global warming becomes the focus.

Considering the huge number of books Patterson is publishing annually, in both the adult and youth categories, he either gets no sleep or has a full cadre of ghost writers assisting him. In either case, his work is engaging if not brilliant, and these books are sure to be a hit with young readers.

87-89: The Angel Experiment, School's Out Forever, and Saving the World (Maximum Ride books 1-3), by James Patterson (iBooks, originally published 2007/8)

 One of the things I most enjoy about national conferences is the authors and keynote speakers that populate them.  During the National Council of Teachers of English Convention in Chicago this November, my colleague Marsha and I treated ourselves to two lunches--the first with the wonderful poet Billy Collins and the second a combined gig featuring James Patterson and Anthony Horowitz--two TeenLit authors. While I had read a couple of Patterson's adult thrillers in airports over the years, I hadn't checked out his teen offerings. Since Marsha started with the Maximum Ride series (he has many), I decided to start there.

 The books require readers to accept the premise that there has been successful hybridization across species--genetic manipulation that has resulted in Max and her "flock." By initial appearances human, avian genes have been added that resulted in the kids--six of them ranging from 17-year-old max to 8-year-old Angel--growing winds, light bones, super strength, and any number of amazing abilities that unfurl daily (mind control, super speed, talking to fish, etc.).

The science may be iffy, but the mad scientists, who kept the children in cages for years to experiment on them and are, of course, planning to take over the world, add just the details needed to accept the idea.  These three books follow Max and her flock as they learn to live on their own, look for their birth parents, and--yes--save the world.

All joking aside, the plots are fast-paced and adventurous and the kids are appealing, and Patterson's bare-bones writing style suits the teen genre well. The fact that he was a brilliant conversationalist at the conference adds to my review, no doubt, but these are worth checking out and sharing with young adult readers--both boys and girls.

14: Virals, by Kathy Reichs (2010 hardcover, borrowed)

I've been a fan of the Bones TV show for some time, and I know that it's based on a series of books written by a real-life forensic scientist.  I've been meaning to check out Reichs's books--they're the type of thing I'd likely read on my Kindle when traveling--so when a friend passed Virals on to me, I decided it was a good opportunity to preview the author before purchasing any of her work myself. 

At the start of the book, readers learn that fourteen-year-old Tory Brennan, the protagonist of Reichs's first teen book, has recently moved to live with her father upon the death of her mother.  In a typical teen-directed storyline, the father and daughter don't know how to communicate, since Kit first learned he was, indeed, a father only upon the death of Tory's mother--the girl he had sex with during a summer camp in high school.  Add an exotic location--an island off the South Carolina Coast, inhabited only by the families of scientists doing research in the even more isolated island further out to sea-- to the disconnected parent mix, and Reich has the perfect premise for Tory and three male friends (also children of workers on the island) to form a close bond in a short time. Their common isolation and high intelligence allow them to cross social boundaries that would usually keep them apart, thus allowing for their diverse interests and knowledge (lock picking, real estate databases, bones, computers, primate behavior...) to be drawn on when things get tense.

And things do get tense, as this is a murder mystery involving monkeys, wolfdogs, prep school snobs, and a 30+ year-old kidnapping.  I don't think it's giving away too much of the plot to reveal that the four teens end up catching a designer virus, created in secret by the head of the island laboratory, since the book's title steers you that way.  To find out how the virus affects the quartet, you'll have to tune in yourself, however.  I'm guessing that readers will have the opportunity to see these Virals develop further as well, for the conclusion leaves things wide open for a sequel, one in which I wouldn't be surprised to see the appearance of iconic "Aunt Tempe"--Tory's recently discovered great-aunt on her father's side.

Overall I'd say that this is a pretty good first effort at a teen book.  Reichs tells a pretty good story, and she manages to get some good science education in in the process.  While she seems a bit off in language and the like at times, it's easy to overlook these adult lapses because she's chosen exceptionally intelligent teens to tell the story.  I'm guessing that I'll enjoy her style more in the adult forensics series, which I will be adding to my Kindle for my trip later this month, but I liked this well enough that I'll keep my eyes out for the sequel as well.