Action-packed holiday reading

Make sure you hit the book stores this Christmas for some action-packed holiday reading. Here are some new releases. Note the Caribbean books at the top of the list! You’ll find most of these books in all major book stores. These books are suited for students from Form one through Form five. They have a high literary value, but they are an easy read.

Caribbean Books

1. Adventure Stories from the Caribbean by Andy Campbell - This is Campbell’s third collection of stories. Each book features three short stories. In this collection, Campbell’s stories are about a family shipwrecked on an island, a mysterious, old man who is a strange collector of objects and a boy who tries to save a kite and finds himself flying through Port-of-Spain.

2. The Amazing Absorbing Boy by Rabindranath Maharaj - A Trinidadian teenager ends up living in Canada with his father after his mother dies. There he has to learn to survive in a whole new culture.

3. Artemis Fowl The Time Paradox by Eoin Colfer and AF The Atlantis Complex by Eoin Colfer - the latest books in the popular Artemis Fowl series are now available in leading book stores.

Other Great Reads

1. Jake Ransom and the Skull King’s Shadow by James Rollins - This is one of those ancient civilisation thrillers custom-made for readers who love adventure.

2. I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore - Nine boys around the world come up missing one at a time. This action-packed mystery is fun to read and it will help to build your analytical skills.

3. Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life by Wendy Mass - Jeremy collects mutant candy and he doesn’t go more than four blocks from his apartment, so one would think that his life is very safe. Then, on his 13th birthday Jeremy gets a mysterious box in the mail. The problem is the keys are missing.

4. Bread and Roses, Too by Katherine Paterson - This popular author who wrote The Bridge to Terabithia, now tells the story of an Italian-American family living through the union’s strike against corrupt mill owners. It’s a great survival story.

5. Every Soul a Star - Three children at an isolated campground catch a glimpse of a total eclipse of the sun, and their lives are changed forever. The story is told from three different children’s perspectives. This is a good story to understand point of view.

6. A Mango-Shaped Space by Wendy Mass - Students think that Mia is a freak and they don’t even know the secret she is hiding: sounds, numbers and letters all have colour for her. When she is forced to divulge her secret, students’ harassment of Mia reach a new level.

7. It’s Raining Cupcakes by Lisa Schroeder - Twelve-year-old Isabel dreams about visiting faraway places, and her ticket to leave just might be cupcakes. When her mom decides to open a cupcake shop in their small town, Isabel discovers a cupcake competition in New York City. Isabel decides to enter and so does her friend Sophie. The problem is Sophie always seems to win everything. This is a great book about friendship and competition.