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A story that crosses time and generations, for adventure-loving readers young and old. “My dad died twice. Once when he was thirty nine and again four years later when he was twelve.” On Al Chaudhury’s twelfth birthday his beloved Grandpa Byron gives him a letter from Al’s late father. In it Al receives a mission: travel back to 1984 in a secret time machine and save his father’s life. Al soon discovers that time travel requires daring and imagination. It also requires lies, theft, setting his school on fire and ignoring philosophical advice from Grandpa Byron. All without losing his pet hamster, Alan Shearer… If this title alone doesn't intrigue you, surely the synopsis with pique your curiosity. A young boy, a hamster, time travel, grief over a father's death, and exposure to a whole new way of understanding the world and the universe. After Al receives a letter from his father (on his twelfth birthday), he is suddenly involved in time travel, attempting to change the past ...

A world with no hunger, no disease, no war, no misery: humanity has conquered all those things, and has even conquered death. Now Scythes are the only ones who can end life—and they are commanded to do so, in order to keep the size of the population under control. Citra and Rowan are chosen to apprentice to a scythe—a role that neither wants. These teens must master the “art” of taking life, knowing that the consequence of failure could mean losing their own. Scythe  is the first novel of a thrilling new series by National Book Award–winning author Neal Shusterman in which Citra and Rowan learn that a perfect world comes only with a heavy price. First of all, let me say that I just adore this cover. The tans and reds are beautiful and just the right combo to show the mood in the pages to follow (i.e. brilliant, violent, and captivating.) I never know where Shusterman is going to go with a book, and this was no exception. Would this book focus on the deaths and the gore? W...