Fever Crumb by Philip Reeve

A book about a memory, a secret, an apprentice, and a spot.

Some might call it De Ja Vu. One moment you're exploring a strange underground tunnel leading to a mysterious vault and in the next your fingers inexplicably twitch as if they know the code that will unlock the impenetrable door. 2519364085, 2519364085-a number flashes like a strobe light in your mind, but you don't know why. This scares you. You start to shake. Your every fiber wants to run away from what your mind can see--memories from a time before you were born.

Like a baby Moses, you were found in a basket floating in a marsh. The tag said Fever, a peculiar name chosen by the mother who abandoned you. A thoughtful man by the name of Dr. Crumb took you into his home, but does the truth about your real identity frighten you from asking him the questions you've buried inside?

For Dr. Crumb your abilities make you quite valuable, yet he is forced to give you up for reasons you cannot even guess. As you walk to the home of your new employer you wonder why the eyes of everyone stare at you. Fever Crumb, don't you realize your mark isn't hidden any longer since you decided your hair was silly and shaved it off!

A spot like a leopard's is the reason for your trouble. Scriven were their name and their spots gave them away. Genetically engineered, they were a new breed of human. A madman by the name of Creech, hunted them down like an exterminator. He never described it as genocide. He always called it rock n' roll!

Did his trigger finger twitch as you walked by with your covered head?

"Who are you?" he asked.

Did he see your spot?

Then, like a fatal blow he asked:

"What... are you?"

There's no time for answers for an apprentice named Fever Crumb. Because of a memory, a secret, and a spot, she'd better run.


If you like dystopian page turners, then I would definitely recommend a thrilling ride called, Fever Crumb, by Philip Reeve.


If this sounds interesting, you may also like the Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and The Roar by Emma Clayton

Summer Reading List

Even though I had snow in the backyard over the weekend, I would still like to announce my summer reading list. Some of these will appear on BC Book Talk in the fall,

Heart of a Shepherd by Rosanne Parks
Thirteen Days to Midnight by Patrick Carmen
Incarceron by Catherine Fisher
The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan
Mammoths and Mastodons by Cheryl Bardoe
If Stones Could Speak by Marc Aronson
The Brain Full of Holes by Martin Chatterton
Nature Girl by Jane Kelley
13 Treasures by Michelle Harrison
Dead Guy Spy by David Lubar
Jay McGraw's Life Strategies for Dealing with Bullies
Rivals by Tim Green
The Lab by Jack Heath
Morpheus Road by D.J. MacHale
Spies of Mississippi by Rick Bowers
The Owl Keeper by Christine Brodien-Jones
Roy Morelli by Thatcher Heldring
Remote Control by Jack Heath
Is it Night or Day by Fern Schumer Chapman
How to Survive Middle School by Donna Gephart
Dog Lost by Ingrid Lee
The Dreamer by Pam Munoz Ryan & Peter Sis
Fever Crumb by Philip Reeve
Trackers by Patrick Carman
The Red Umbrella by Christna Diaz Gonzalez
The Boneshaker by Kate Milford
Super Human by Michael Carroll

-more to come-

Mysterious Messages by Gary Blackwood

Sir John Trevanion fought for the King in the English Civil War in the 1600's. The roundheads, the forces that fought for Parliament, caught Sir John, threw him in prison, and set his day of execution. As Sir John waited for his death sentence, his guards let him receive an innocent looking message from a friend written on a piece of parchment. The note said:

Worthie Sir John: Hope, that is the best comfort of the afflicted, cannot much, I fear me, help you now. That I would saye to you, is this only: if ever I may be able to requite that I do owe you, stand not upon asking me. Tis not much I can do: but what I can do, bee you verie sure I wille. I knowe that, if deathe comes, if ordinary men fear it, it frights not you, accounting it for a high honour, to have such a rewarde of your loyalty. Pray yet that you may be spared this soe bitter, cup. I fear not that you will grudge any sufferings; onlie if bie submission you can turn them away, tis the part of a wise man. Tell me, an if you can, to do for you anthinge that you wolde have done. The general goes back on Wednesday. Restine your servant to command. R.T.

After receiving the note from his mysterious friend R.T., Sir John Trevanion asked if he could go to the chapel to pray. Maybe he could convince his guards to honor his last wish. They listened and brought him into the chapel to pray. After much time had passed, the guards finally forced open the doors only to discover that Sir John had disappeared. If his captors had been more clever they would have realized that the note sent to Sir John by R.T. actually contained instructions on how to escape. The note Sir John received was a cryptogram: a secret message written using a code or cipher.

Can you solve the secret message? Hint: Every third letter after a punctuation mark will reveal the secret message.

In this book the author reveals the history of codes and ciphers used to communicate secret messages for reasons involving both love and war. Check out, Mysterious Messages, by Gary Blackwood, before it disappears.....