The Roar by Emma Clayton

The Roar by Emma Clayton

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I listened to most of this book and read some so that I could get it finished. I really enjoyed listening to it. The reader was great and hearing the words really helped build the suspense and made me feel so much more involved in the story. Playaways are so great. I wish our library had them.


This was a very exciting and suspenseful book. The characters were likeable and believable and even the parents came across as rational and normal people. I had a slight problem at the end where the book became pretty transparently didactic and preachy but it was very minor compared to my overall enjoyment of the book.


This book would be really popular with kids who like video games and anyone who liked "Hugner Games" and other dystopian novels. I have heard that a sequel is coming out and I'm really looking forward to that.



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Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi

I just finished this book and really liked it. Long before my librarian days I was a welder at a shipyard in Texas. That helped me connect to this book but I think that most people will be caught up in this intense story.

In the United States of the future some states have ceased to exist. Residing where Louisiana used to be is a watery grave filled with the rusting carcasses of wrecked and useless oil tankers. This is where 17 year old Nailer exists. I can’t say “lives” because no one here actually has much of a life. Nailer and his friends survive by scavenging copper wire from the old ships. Nailer is useful because he is still small enough to fit into tiny crawlspaces and ducts. Once he becomes too big for this job, he’ll be out of luck. All of the people working these jobs are looking for their “Lucky Strike”—their one chance to find something really valuable and sell it before someone bigger or stronger steals it.

One day when Nailer and his friend, Pima, are out exploring they discover a clipper ship that has been wrecked in a storm. They decide to board the ship and see what goodies they can find before others beat them to it. Just as they expected, they find jewelry, silver and all sorts of other valuables that they can carry away and sell. What they don’t expect to find is a young girl, barely breathing, but still alive. Their first instinct is to kill her and take her jewelry—just one of her rings would support them for a lifetime.

But Nita, the survivor, has other plans. She convinces them to help her and when she gets back to her wealthy father, he’ll reward them handsomely. Unfortunately for Nailer and Pima, there are a few essential details that Nita leaves out.

This is a rapid fire novel filled with adventure, human/animal hybrids and even a little romance. A great book for teen boys.