Science – Page 3 – Sneak Peek Books

Ruins

Rigg and Umbo have started to hone their time traveling skills—and just in time. They discover that in the not-so-far future Earth visits Garden with the intent to completely destroy Garden. Now the two boys race to figure out why their parent planet would destroy a colony they created. Something the Earthlings found on Garden horrified them, but what?

Garden cannot fend off these attackers, so Rigg will have to find the motive behind the attack and change the past to stop it from ever happening. As Rigg searches for answers, he travels through different wallfolds. One is extinct of all human life, another seemingly populated by poop-throwing yahoos and sentient mice, and in a third, the people have evolved to live in the sea. But wherever he goes, Rigg finds people who want to manipulate him. With no one willing to tell him the whole truth, how can Rigg decide which path to take?

The second installation in the Pathfinder series takes the story up a notch. By expanding Rigg’s world from one wallfold to four, the reader is shown several different paths the human race could have taken. The what if’s are tantalizing. The world Rigg explores is as interesting and exciting as the actions he takes. Ruins is in no way linear. Now that Rigg and Umbo are skilled time travelers, their paths jump forward, go backwards, and sometimes cease to exist entirely. While these time jumps may cause one to stop and ponder for a while, they are written in a way that is relatively easy to follow.

Sexual Content

When discussing a parasite, it is said that “the only part of the earthborn brain it could control was the wild, competitive beast, bent on reproduction at any cost . . . That sounds like soldiers on leave.”
Rigg notes that some mice are mating. Later, when starting a colony, Loaf says the mice are “mating their little brains out.”
The humans that live under the ocean are naked. Larex comments on how Rigg is staring, to which Rigg replies, “I’m fifteen years old, I think . . . my eye goes to naked women.”
Umbo explains that when they change something in time, children will be born, but the “mix of genes . . . will be different. Perhaps conception will happen on a different day. Or a different sperm will win through.”

Violence

Yahoos, creatures that appear to be similar to humans with little intelligence, throw poop at Umbo and Loaf. “The watcher flung something out of his lofty perch. It splatted against Umbo’s cheek and shoulder. It stank. It clung . . . it was nightsoil. Presumably the watcher’s own.”
Param is murdered. When she is skipping time, the mice move a metal rod into the space she is about to occupy. When she and the rod collide, “Param felt a searing agony in her throat, the heat of billions of molecules being torn about . . . she lived just long enough to feel the heat pulse through her entire body, every nerve screaming with the pain of burning to death in a searing moment.”
To keep the mice in line, Olivenko points out that the humans “can break their little skulls under our feet.”
Rigg and Loaf discuss the morality of preemptive killing.
When Ram Odin tries to stab Rigg, Rigg jumps into the past and kills Ram with a knife. “He was also completely aware of the knife in Ram Odin’s hand, the hand that was darting forward to plunge it into Rigg’s kidney . . . In the very moment he caught Ram Odin’s knife, Rigg shifted half an hour back in time . . . the knife easily passed between the ribs of Ram Odin’s back and pierced his heart. A little flicking motion and both ventricles of Ram Odin’s heart were split open. The blood of his arteries ceased to pulse. He slumped over and, without time even to utter a sound, he died.”

Drugs and Alcohol

None

Language

The words “pissed” and “butt-ugly” are used once.

Supernatural

Symbiotic creatures evolve so they can live in conjunction with humans. They attach to the human body and, depending on the breed, can provide benefits such as breathing underwater and increasing a person’s speed, eyesight, etc.

Spiritual Content

Rigg discovers the Odinfolders have meddled in genetic alteration, and selectively bred themselves for traits they considered desirable.
Humans are defined as any creature, no matter how diverse, that is descended from what we consider a homo sapien.
Mice were bred for intelligence, to the point that Rigg says their souls look very similar to human souls.
Param briefly wonders if death is better than life.
Rigg accidentally copies himself by time traveling. Vadesh warns him to be careful or he will “run out of souls to populate these bodies that you accidentally make.”

by Morgan Lynn

Visitors

Two Riggs means twice the adventures—and twice the trouble. Now that Rigg has a copy, they have decided to diverge. One will attempt to get to Earth and stop the invasion. The other will explore the wallfolds of Garden and decide if the walls should stay up or come down.

The Rigg that goes to Earth is willing to destroy his parent planet if that is the only option for protecting Garden. He quickly discovers that the situation is not that simple. Earth may be in as much danger as Garden from an enemy that cannot be fought or reasoned with.

Meanwhile, the original Rigg explores his own world. He encounters slavery and murder, and is faced with the dilemma of how to use his powers. As a time traveler, he can change anything he wants, but should he? If he allows people to die, is he complicit in their murders? He cannot save everyone…or can he?

The final installment of the Pathfinder series has everything from Neanderthals to alien races. The brain-tickling problems that come with time travel continue, this time compounded with moral questions. Just because Rigg can save a life doesn’t mean he should, but how can he let people die horrific deaths when he has the power to change the outcome? At what point does free will become an illusion? Visitors again expands Rigg’s world from a few wallfolds to several populated worlds, and provides readers with an extremely satisfying ending.

Sexual Content

Umbo and Param kiss several times. Years later, when they are married, Param is irritated that her husband never asks for intimacy or “even wait[s] around as if hoping.”
Leaky wonders if she is infertile or if her husband is.
Leaky admits she had a botched C-section and was so, “torn up inside the midwife said [she’d] never be able to bear.”
Ram plays matchmaker with Noxon and Deborah, to which Deborah says, “We didn’t agree to mate and make babies.”
When speaking of Neanderthals and Erectids (extinct species), a man describes their mating as “being kidnapped and sequestered” while his daughter insists it is “rape.”
Square, one of the first people to grow up with a facemask, discusses the need for him to mate with Umbo. “And when you take a mate and we find the best way to get facemasks on your babies.”
Noxon is copied, and both copies are in love with Deborah. The Noxon who was not exposed to radiation decides he will be Deborah’s husband because his gametes are likely superior to the Noxon who was exposed to radiation.
Noxon kisses Deborah. “Whereupon Noxon sprang from his chair, took her into his arms, and kissed her . . . She responded with as much enthusiasm as was appropriate with her father present. Which was to say that, upon repetition, in private, the whole business seemed to work much better.”

Violence

Umbo realizes Param will have to marry him or kill him because he could become a political threat to her. “It should be clear that in order to keep you from being a divisive force in the kingdom, she either has to marry [me]…Or kill me.” Param decides to marry him.
To explain Rigg’s face, Ram Odin lies and says Rigg’s face melted in a fire.
Umbo’s father hits Umbo and breaks his son’s skull. “Father began striking him with the flat of the blade, hitting him on the shoulders and the side of his head, until young Umbo hung limp and unconscious . . .‘”I think the skull is broken here. Look how it’s swelling, but it looks dented anyways.’”
Rigg visits a tiny town where a young girl was raped and murdered. “He tried to kiss her and she was still too young and small to put up much of a fight. When he was done with the rape, she was crying and her clothing was torn . . . he dragged her to her feet and strangled her. It was brutal. He held her up and she flailed and kicked, but her arms weren’t long enough to reach his eyes and her kicking him did no good.”
When exposed, a murderer commits suicide.
In one version of the future, Loaf’s throat is slit, his wife is run through with a sword, and their baby is thrown out of a second-story window. Umbo is told that this is what happened as he does not witness any of it.
A man kills Deborah. “He had a fist-sized stone in his hand and he was bringing back his arm and before Noxon could come out of sliced time to shout at Deborah the stone was already in the air . . . It struck Deborah on the side of the head . . . and dropped her instantly.”

Drugs and Alcohol

None

Language

Shut up is said several times.
Son-of-a-bitch is said once.
Ram asks the expendable if he has an anus and if it works.

Supernatural

None

Spiritual Content

Rigg and Ram discuss the morality of going back in time and preventing a young girl from being raped and murdered. Ram says, “You can’t just go killing people because you know they’re going to do something terrible…because until he does the murder, he doesn’t deserve to die.”
Rigg comes to the conclusion that while he has, “this godlike power to force other people not to do evil…choos[ing] not to use it doesn’t make [Rigg] evil.” He decides on a course of minimal change.
Umbo wonders if the replication of genes is all there is to life, since “we evolved so that our greatest pleasure comes from sex.”

by Morgan Lynn

Ellie, Engineer

Ellie is an engineer who makes things in her backyard workshop. Every year, Ellie makes her best friend, Kit, a birthday present. This year, Ellie isn’t sure what to make Kit for her birthday. When the girls overhear Kit’s mom talking about getting Kit a dog for her birthday, Ellie knows just what to do.

Ellie decides to build the best doghouse ever. When one of the “jerk boys” from the neighborhood offers to help Ellie build the doghouse, Ellie is excited to show him about engineering. But their plans for the doghouse get so elaborate that Ellie must ask for help from a group of girls. Because Ellie knows the two groups don’t get along, Ellie hides the fact that both groups are working on the doghouse. But her secret backfires and soon everyone is mad at Ellie, including Kit. Will Ellie be able to figure out a way to get herself out of the doghouse?

Ellie, Engineer shows that girls can be smart and creative. The story contains fun illustrations of Ellie’s sketches and has a how-to guide to tools. As Ellie works with one of the boys from the neighborhood, she realizes that her perception of him was not correct. In the end, the message is clear, “There’s no such thing as Girl Stuff or Boy Stuff. There’s only Ellie Stuff and Not-Ellie Stuff.” Ellie, Engineer is a fun story about friendship and has the added benefit of teaching new vocabulary.

The story’s plot is easy to understand and would be engaging for early elementary readers. Although Ellie, Engineer’s vocabulary isn’t difficult, the sentence structure is complex, which may make reading difficult for newly independent readers. However, the book would be an excellent choice for more advanced readers or to read aloud with a parent.

Sexual Content

None

Violence

Ellie and her friends are upset that the neighborhood boys wouldn’t let them play soccer with them, so they build a balloon launcher and soak them. ”They laughed and screamed and dropped a few balloons, which exploded on the ground, and they could hear the boys yelling and shouting.”

Drugs and Alcohol

None

Language

The neighborhood boys are referred to as “jerks boys.”

Supernatural

None

Spiritual Content

None

The Dragonfly Effect

Jax is unsure if the military is protecting him or keeping him prisoner. The military promised to protect Jax and his family from Mako, a hypnotic mastermind who wants Jax dead.

Soon Jax learns that the military’s protection comes at a price. They want to use Jax’s hypnotic powers as a military weapon. The military wants to figure out how to use Jax’s ability to control people through video broadcast, but Jax only wants to use his powers for good. Soon Jax is using his hypnotic power in military experiments that could cost people their lives.

Then Mako escapes from prison. With the help of a young boy with hypnotic powers, Mako plans to put the entire world into a hypnotic state, which will not allow people to move as the world falls apart without them. Jax, with the help of two friends, must avoid being captured by the military or Mako in order to save the world.

The Dragonfly Effect is filled with suspense and adventure. Jax is stuck between following the orders of the adults around him and doing what he knows is right. Although there is violence in the book, it is not described in detail and is age-appropriate for children.

One likable aspect of the story is Jax’s parents. They know about Jax’s hypnotic powers, and even when Jax uses his skills to hypnotize them, they are smart enough to know that Jax is trying to manipulate them. Even though Jax is the main focus of the story, his parents come across as a smart, loving couple, which is rare in today’s books.

Sexual Content

None

Violence

Jax puts a pilot into a hypnotic state. While in the hypnotic state, the pilot crashes his plane. “The fireball lasted only a split second before the video went blank.” Jax becomes upset that “You made me kill him!” It is only then that Jax finds out the pilot was in a simulator and is fine.
When Jax breaks into a military facility, he is caught. “MPs stormed the room. Rough hands grabbed him, threw him to the floor, and flipped him over on his face. He felt his arms pinned behind him as cuffs were slapped on his wrist.”
In an experiment, Jax puts an entire town under a hypnotic state. The people are given an order to stop moving. As the people are frozen in place, disaster happens around them. Cars crash, houses burn, and other disasters begin, but the people never move.
Jax’s friend drives a Bobcat into a police station to free his friends.
Jax is kidnapped and put into a “chokehold. A knee in the small of his back lifted his heels slightly off the floor . . . He hung there paralyzed with pain.”
There is a fight between boys, which is described over a page. “Jax charged his enemy, grabbed him around the midsection, and drove forward like a wrestler.” In the end, no one is injured.
Under a hypnotic state, Jax is told, “The only thing that will make you feel more wonderful . . . is to take the pistol from that security man, hold it to your temple, and squeeze the trigger.”
A plane carrying Jax’s parents almost crashes when the pilot is put into a hypnotic state and freezes, unable to move.

Drugs and Alcohol

None

Language

None

Supernatural

None

Spiritual Content

None

The Hypnotists

Jax’s eyes have always changed colors. And when people begin doing exactly what Jax tells them, he wonders if there is more to his color-changing eyes than he knows. Soon, Jax finds himself invited to meet Dr. Mako. Dr. Mako promises to teach Jax to harness the power to hypnotize people.

Excited by the prospect of learning more about his powers, Jax falls under Dr. Mako’s spell. However, Jax begins to wonder why Dr. Mako is so interested in his powers. Jax isn’t sure if Dr. Mako can be trusted. Soon Jax is tangled in a web of deception. Jax must figure out how to save his best friend, his parents, and the United States from Dr. Mako’s evil plan.

Jax’s newly emerging power adds humor and suspense to The Hypnotist. Younger readers will enjoy watching Jax learn to use his power and struggle with the responsibility of being able to hypnotize others. Jax works through many of his problems by talking to his best friend Tommy. This allows the reader to understand Jax’s emotions. The relationship between Jax and Tommy adds to the story’s plot and helps keep the story’s tone kid friendly. Even though much of the conflict revolves around Dr. Mako, who turns out to be an evil villain, the violence is age appropriate for children because it is not described in detail or in a scary manner.

Sexual Content

None

Violence

A man is hypnotized and ordered to jump off a bridge. Jax, “could hear the sound of someone in terrible distress, sobbing as if the end of the world were at hand . . . they watched in horror as the young man hoisted himself over the barrier and stood poised, trembling, on the narrow ledge.” Jax re-hypnotizes the man and saves his life.
Dr. Mako puts a post-hypnotic suggestion on Jax’s parents. If Jax doesn’t do what Dr. Mako wants, he will tell Jax’s parents to kill themselves. Dr. Mako tells Jax, “I won’t mention the trigger word yet. It’s too dangerous. When they hear it, both your parents will proceed to the nearest subway station and throw themselves in front of an uptown train.”
Jax parents throw themselves in front of a train. No one is injured.
Dr. Mako hypnotizes Jax and has him jump off a building. A mob of people hold up curtains and catch Jax, which prevents him from being killed.

Drugs and Alcohol

None

Language

None

Supernatural

Many of the characters in the book can hypnotize others. One of the character’s specialties is, “A series of post-hypnotic suggestions that could be activated later.”
Throughout the story, many characters are hypnotized without their knowledge.
When Jax is learning to hypnotize others, he learns that, “the mesmeric connection is a powerful coupling of two minds. . . When you ‘see’ through your subject’s eyes, you’ve admitted a stranger’s consciousness into your head.”

Spiritual Content

None

The Trap

You would think Henry and Helen would be two peas in a pod. After all, they are twins. But Helen is brave and fearless, while Henry must think everything through. Despite their clear differences, they, along with their best friends Carl and Nicki, are inseparable.

When Carl’s brother mysteriously disappears, the four friends go on a mission to figure out what happened. Their search leads them to a book called Subtle Travel and the Subtle Self, which explains how a person can leave their body in their sleep. As the four friends learn to travel, they quickly discover that their subtle self isn’t invulnerable when Henry’s subtle self gets trapped. His friends want to jump in and save him, but will that lead to more disaster?

Teens and preteens alike will enjoy The Trap because it is fast-paced and easy to read. This story contains a good mystery, a bit of the supernatural, as well as a bit of humor.

The Trap touches on racial issues of the 1960’s but doesn’t go into detail. The only negative part of this book is that Henry and Helen have no qualms about lying to their parents in order to solve the mystery. There is also a section in the book where Helen reveals that she likes to break into people’s houses because it’s interesting to look around.

The Trap shows the importance of understanding people of different cultures. It has a sweet ending that will leave readers satisfied.

Sexual Content

Henry and Nicki go to a school dance in their subtle forms. As they dance, Henry “leaned forward and kissed her. A subtle kiss is a strange thing. It’s slippery, and a little electric, and it buzzes on your lips.”

Violence

Carl punches Henry. “Carl’s big knuckles had come at me, his pimply face looming behind them . . . My nose and cheek backed up—right into my brain, and my brain retreated down my throat into my stomach. My stomach hadn’t expected that, and become upset.” Henry pukes, and Henry’s sister jumps on Carl.
A character talks about the Jews being killed during World War II. “They were murdered . . . I returned once, years after the war, to see the graveyard where my parents and grandparents were buried. It is all weeds now. There are no Jews left to care for their own dead.”
One of the children talks about her great-grandfather who worked on the Transcontinental Railroad. “And in Iowa, he got attached by an Irish railroad gang. They mobbed him and some other Chinese workers, saying that Chinese people were stealing Irish jobs. They almost killed him, and he ended up in the hospital in Cedar Rapids.”
In a TV show, the Devil tells a rich man he can live forever if he murdered two other people. The rich man finds two “bums drunk.” The rich man did not think those men deserved to live as much as he did. So the rich man puts rat poison in a bottle of whiskey, “intending to give it to the hoboes. Then the show took a commercial break.”
Henry’s dad talks about when he was in the war. When they heard shots, everyone ran, but one man got shot. “Lying out there on his back, in the street. And making a sound, like gargling . . . because they shot him . . . in the throat . . . The North Koreans . . . they went up to Davis. And I watched . . . as they. ..They stripped him. They took his gun, his belt. Jacket. Helmet. Boots. Right off him, while he was still trying to breathe. They took everything. And they left him there, naked in the street. He died there.”

Drugs and Alcohol

Carl’s father is disliked because he is a drunk. The father appears several times in the story and is seen drinking beer on multiple occasions.

Language

One of the adults complains about, “this damn back of mine.”

Supernatural

Henry finds a book that teaches him how a person, “could step right out of their body while their body was sleeping. You’d be yourself, but invisible. This was called ‘subtle travel.’ The part of you that did the walking, your second body, was called ‘the subtle form.’”
A ghost appears and helps Henry solve the mystery of what happened to Carl.
When Carl was in his subtle form, someone did something to his physical body. Carl isn’t sure if his body is alive or dead, and he is afraid if he goes back into his body he will die.

Spiritual Content

None

My Diary from the Edge of the World

Maddie’s world isn’t ordinary. She lives in a world where dragons, mermaids, and giants exist. In her world, Dark Clouds come for people when they die, and one is after Maddie’s little brother, Sam. In an effort to save Sam, Maddie’s family sets off to find the only place where Sam will be safe—the Extraordinary World. The only problem is that most people do not think it exists.

As Maddie and her family travel, they must learn to work together to avoid the dangers of the world. And after traveling through many amazing places and facing many obstacles, Maddie learns that sometimes the biggest obstacle of all is to stop running from the inevitable.

My Diary from the Edge of the World is engaging because it is written in diary form from Maddie’s point of view. The world created is familiar because it contains many of the same places as the United States; however interest is added because witches are real (and Maddie’s grandmother is one), ghosts exist, and genies can grant wishes.

Even though the book has magic and mystery, the story has little action or suspense to keep the reader completely engaged. Maddie is a typical girl that has some interesting adventures, but her story lacks excitement. However, the ending does contain several scenes that will surprise the reader and give them hope.

Sexual Content

When Maddie’s parents stop talking to each other, Maddie wonders if her mother is going to run off with the ship’s captain. Maddie’s sister says, “They laugh together a lot . . . Mom and Dad never talk anymore, much less laugh together.”
When the ship’s captain asks Maddie’s mother to stay with him, he “reached up to touch her face, trying to raise his lips to hers.” She reminds him that she is a married woman and refuses to leave her family.
Virgil, an angel, has a crush on Maddie’s sister. In one scene, Maddie’s sister, “leaned up toward him and gave him a small kiss on the lips. A kiss that must have felt like a brush of air, but a kiss all the same.”

Violence

The ship’s captain tells Maddie about sea ghosts. “. . . Poor drowned sailors who never had a chance. They’re the most vicious ghosts on earth, I’d wager, intent on dragging sailors into the Underworld with them.”
Their ship is surrounded by a fleet of ghost ships. Virgil, an angel, uses his ability to create wind to outrace the ships and save everyone from certain death.

Drugs and Alcohol

While searching for a captain of a boat, Maddie’s mother goes into a tavern where men are drinking.

Language

None

Supernatural

In Maddie’s world, Dark Clouds come for people when they die. “They wait outside people’s houses until it’s time, then they scoop up their soul and carry them away.” If a cloud does not come for a person, it will “drift around in Limbo.”
Ghosts use caves to come and go from the Underworld. “They have a tendency to try to snatch people into the Underworld.”
They find the Extraordinary World does exist. “I could see it was our planet, but a different version of it.”

Spiritual Content

Angels live on Earth and are, “hiding out from the gods.”
Maddie wonders about the angels that live on the Earth. “Animals are made to eat each other, and sometimes I wonder why. I wonder if that’s part of why the angels rebelled—because they thought the gods were mean in the way they made the world, and that they were making mistakes, and I have to admit that if I were an angel I think I might rebel too.”

A Case of the Clones

When Dr. Bunsen overhears the kids complaining about all of their chores and homework, he decides to help. He creates a set of clones to help the kids with their work. The only trouble is, he didn’t tell the kids what he had done. When the clones start causing problems, the kids aren’t sure they can keep the clones from creating more trouble.

A seriously entertaining book with a diverse cast of characters, A Case of the Clones is a perfect book for beginning readers. The story features a crazy scientist and a group of girls and boys who are not afraid to be smart. Although the parents are only shown briefly, they are portrayed in a positive light. Gabe’s mother speaks a couple sentences of Spanish. With easy to read vocabulary, short sentences, and illustrations on almost every page, the story will build a reader’s confidence.

Sexual Content