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Trackers Book Cover

Trackers #1
Patrick Carman
Scholastic
May 2010
224 pp

The Short of It:

A fun, new series by the author of Skeleton Creek.

The Rest of It:

Patrick Carman has managed to do it again. In Trackers, we meet four tech-savvy teens, Adam, Emily, Finn and Lewis. They track the digital trails left behind by others and in doing so, become involved in the search for dangerous hacker. Or so it seems.

As with his previous books, Trackers combines reading with an online video component. As readers go through the story, they are provided with a password and directed to a website for more information. Watch the video, get the clues. Sounds fun? It is.

Young adults are hard to impress. You have to keep them guessing and I feel that Carman is very successful at doing this. The videos are engaging and the acting is pretty good too. Kids are a lot more savvy these days when it comes to technology so including the online component is a smart way to engage them.

This particular story deals with high-tech gadgets which is also a huge interest to kids today. This series is geared towards the 9-12 group and I have to say that I agree. Kids in this age range will enjoy this series.

My only complaint, is the abrupt ending. I actually flipped through pages to see if I missed something since I was reading an ARC. Yes, there’s a little bit of a postscript but I really felt the need to run out and get the next book and of course, the next book isn’t out yet.

Story of my life.

Overall, I’d say that this will be another hit series for Carman.

If you’d like to check out website for more info, click here.

Source: This ARC was sent to me by Scholastic.

Welcome to Wuthering Heights Wednesday! Softdrink is hosting a read-along of this classic novel, and we’re reading (and posting about) 3 chapters a week

Note: My book has volumes so the chapter numbers will reflect my copy as well as consecutive chapter numbers.

Volume I – Chapters 13-14
Volume II – Chapter 1 (or 15)

My Synopsis:

In last week’s re-cap, we ended with Heathcliff running off with Isabella. As you may recall, she did so against Edgar’s wishes and Catherine pretty much lost her mind over it. Well, it’s been a couple of months and things have not improved much for Edgar. He tends to Catherine, yet she has not recovered and is looking a bit worse for wear. Her hair is falling out, she is weak and seems to be highly medicated at all times (must be that Dr. Thomas). Although she is stable, things are not going well.

Enter Heathcliff and Isabella. Yes! They return. Heathcliff drops Isabella off at Wuthering Heights and doesn’t even usher her into the house himself. Instead, he sends her on her way and she has to fend for herself. Who does she run into? Joseph! He makes no sense at all with all his gibberish so she ends up ordering him around, but in an efficient way, not a spiteful way, but it’s obvious to her that the house is not well. Plus, she admits to Mrs. Dean that she is unhappy and had no idea how horrible Heathcliff was. Really? Come on.

In the mean time, Heathcliff convinces Mrs. Dean to leave the doors unlocked so that he can visit Catherine when Edgar heads into town. He doesn’t waste anytime either. The reunion of Heathcliff and Catherine is so over-the-top it’s almost too much to take. There’s lots of heaving chests and long embraces, all taking place with Mrs. Dean standing right there.

In walks Edgar. Catherine faints (of course) so to distract Edgar from basically killing him, Heathcliff hands Catherine over to him and then goes out to wait in the garden.

My Thoughts:

Isabella walked right into this one. I have no sympathy for her. BUT, what do you think of Heathcliff running off to Catherine as soon as he gets back into town? I mean…is she really that beautiful? The description of her is telling me no, what with the balding head and all. I don’t get it. When she fainted at the end of the chapter I was hoping that was the end of her but nope…not so lucky.

And is Joseph a joke? Was Brontë trying to be funny by tossing him in there? I have tried over and over again to make sense of what he says but it’s all gibberish. He could be saying something really important for all I know but it goes right over my head because I am unable to make sense of any of it.

I loved this week’s reading because I’m beginning to see how wretched they all are. I will admit that I had a soft spot for Heathcliff but the soft spot is gone. Dumping Isabella and running to Catherine pretty much wiped that out. As much as I hate Cathy’s antics, I love her too! She makes for good reading.

Reading along: