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Three Books take Young Readers on
Journeys
By Melanie Weaver
When I sat down to write my review
for these three books, my first thought was that they had nothing
in common with each other except that I like them. But when I thought
more about it, I realized that these are each a story of a journey,
with new people to meet and new challenges to face as the characters
go through physical, emotional, and personal trials. Readers of
all ages will enjoy traveling through the pages of these books filled
with adventure, mystery, and, of course, romance.
The Alliance by Gerald N.
Lund
Click to Buy
 This
thrilling tale of adventure is set in the future after the world
has been destroyed by nuclear war. Eric Lloyd and his family live
in what once was Star Valley, Wyoming. Their peaceful lifestyle
is interrupted when members of their village are essentially captured
and relocated to Shalev, one of four cities
in the Alliance that have has joined together to rebuild civilization
— all under the control of the mysterious Major.
It seems like paradise in Shalev.
There are no crimes, fights, and the citizens display no strong
emotions, such as anger or jealousy. Yet Eric feels there is something
strange about this city, and he discovers the truth. Every citizen
brought to Shalev is implanted with a
small computer chip at the base of the brain, which records all
emotions and sends a moderate wave of pain through the citizen’s
body when he or she feels “unacceptable” emotions.
This novel explores moral agency, and
just how far men can go to control people, or force them to be truly
good. Eric leads the officials of Shalev
in a fast-paced game of cat-and-mouse as he attempts to escape this
fake Utopia. If he succeeds, hundreds of people will once again
be free to choose and act for themselves, but if he fails, he and
his family could be killed.
Eric races against time and the government
to prove to everyone, including one particular guard, the beautiful
and mysterious Nicole Lambert, that agency is something that can’t
be forced or taken away.
Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster
Click to Buy
 Judy
Abbott has lived her whole eighteen years of life in the John Grier
home for orphans, and though her life is not unhappy, she longs
for more. And more is just what she gets when a mysterious trustee
offers to send her to college and pay for everything on two conditions:
one, she must write a letter to him every month, updating him on
the progress of her schoolwork and on her happiness, and two, that
she must never know his identity.
At college, Judy makes new friends,
and life is a whirl of parties, classes, and holidays during which
time she befriends Jervis Pendleton, a handsome young man as mysterious
as her unknown benefactor. Readers will be charmed by Judy’s innocent
humor and love of life as she grows into a young woman of education,
charm, and class.
Moonraker’s
Bride by Madeleine Brent
Lucy Waring, born of English parents but raised in China
at the turn of the century, has lived a life of hardship. With fifteen
young orphan girls under her care at the Christian mission in Tsin
Kai-feng, Lucy faces a constant struggle
against hungry mouths, cold nights, and never enough money to make
ends meet.
However, everything changes when she
meets a handsome young Englishman, Robert Falcon, who recites to
her a cryptic riddle: “Above the twisted giant’s knife where the
wind-blown blossom flies stands the temple where fortune lies…”
Later, when she finds herself in jail
after being caught stealing in the market, she encounters the mysterious
Nick Sabine, who saves her life and gets her out of jail, but not
after he repeats to her that same riddle. Little does she know that
the history behind this riddle will change her life.
As a result of Nick’s help, Lucy is
able to journey to Englandand
take up residency with the well-to-do Gresham family. Although she
is in her native land, Lucy finds herself surrounded by a culture
that is totally unknown to her, and finding the strength to fit
in is a great challenge for her. She searches to find herself as
well as the answer to the riddle as her journey takes her to the
home of the Robert Falcon, Moonrakers,
and then back to China.
In the enfolding drama, Lucy must fight for her life, love, and
the answer to the riddle that will allow her to be complete.
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