Author: Brandon Sanderson
Ages: 9 and up
Rating: 3.5/5
About: Can you imagine a hero who will save civilization with a special talent... a talent for breaking things? Alcatraz is a boy that nobody seems to want. He is transferred from foster home to foster home because he has a habit of breaking things. He doesn't break things on purpose, he just has a talent for it. At least that's what he is told by the mysterious old man who claims to be Alcatraz's grandfather, and who tells Alcatraz that it's up to them to save civilization!
Thoughts:
During a staff special (staff choice) for the summer reading game, a 10-ish year old boy enthusiastically told me that this was one of his favorite books. I recommended him a book, and he asked if he could recommend me one too, I accepted.
This book was pretty funny. Especially as a librarian, I thought it was great that the bad guys were EVIL librarians (librarians who withhold information!) The story was a fast paced adventure, mostly.
The author (or Alcatraz) introduces each chapter with a witty commentary about the events that just happened, or to tell us something he feels we must know, or just to comment in general about his life or the book. I thought they were interesting and funny at first, but was definitely annoyed by the mid-point in the story. These breaks in the story made action less exciting, and really disjointed the pacing. I ended up skipping over these parts for the last 3/4 of the book, and really didn't feel like I missed anything and actually enjoyed the story a little better after I made that decision.
The ending was so clever I giggled to myself, and made me think quite well of this book. I'll probably check out the rest of this series over the fall/winter.
