Books Brothers

  Ben and Max-     Our August 2020 Book of the Month was the Jurassic Park duology by Michael Crichton. There are animal attacks in Costa Rica, and it's up to a pair of scientists, Alan and Ellie, to -- Ooh! An invitation to a nature preserve! Let's go! The nature preserve turns out to be a dinosaur preserve, but don't worry! We genetically altered them to rely on our food so they can't escape, and they can't reproduce, either -- they're all females! While we couldn't get all the dino DNA, we filled in the gaps with frog DNA! What's the worst that can happen? As it turns out, painful death. An attempt at corporate espionage gone wrong frees all the dinosaurs from their enclosures, and the dinosaurs are breeding somehow. It will take a lot to escape... We liked this book because it is suspenseful, sciencey, and actionful. Being hunted by murderous (but they can't help it) dinosaurs is actually pretty fun. There's also a sequel, The Lost World, and...

Max -      My April 2021 Book of the Month is The Testing series by Joelle Charbonneau. Malencia Vale has graduated from school. So she's an adult. She was not chosen for the Testing, (people test people because they need great people to fix what the Seven Stages of War did) maybe because she lives in teeny tiny Five Lakes Colony. But wait, she HAS been chosen for the Testing. So she leaves, but not after a little talk with her father (who took and passed the Testing and the University). He says to trust no one. Of course, Malencia. or Cia, can't not trust anyone, so she starts off with Tomas, another candidate for the Testing. But, the testing is more than she thinks. And she does think.      I liked this book because it is many many things, and it is a dystopia, which is fun, because it makes everyone feel good about this world. Also, if you like The Hunger Games, you will like this. The Testing is like The Hunger Games, but with different systems, r...