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I'm super excited that Zest asked me to be part of their Rockin' Blog Tour and let me have 2 dates and 2 books to talk about! As frequent readers, and anyone who's heard me present about nonfiction knows, I love Zest's work.

Members Only: Secret Societies, Sects, and Cults Exposed! Julie Tibbott

So, I was expecting this to be along the lines of previous Zest titles such as Scandalous!: 50 Shocking Events You Should Know About (So You Can Impress Your Friends), Historical Heartthrobs: 50 Timeless Crushes-From Cleopatra to Camus, and The End: 50 Apocalyptic Visions From Pop Culture That You Should Know About...Before It's Too Late, but about secret societies and shady groups.

In essence, it is, but it's a little more text-y and has a different trim size-- 9 by 6 inches instead of 6 inches square. I'm a big fan of YA nonfiction having a more standard trim size, so YAY for trim size.

Tibbott introduces us to 22 different secret or exclusive groups, giving their history, what they do, and what's secret about them (if anything). (And here's where I mean it's a bit more texty--it's slightly longer, but covers fewer things than the previous books, with bigger pages. Also, the design has fewer pull-out boxes.) It's a great introduction to groups--some of which teens will have heard of, some of which they'll probably hear of at some point, and some of which they may never come across again.

The format is a great one for browsing, or just dipping in and out of. They're arranged in alphabetical order, which makes for a few jarring transitions-- Branch Davidians go to Club 33 (a super exclusive dining room club at Disneyland) or the Society for Creative Anachronism leading into the Symbionese Liberation Army (which also just gives a good sense of the wide range of groups covered.) After each group, there's also a few pages of further information--usually a brief introduction to several other similar groups, or an interview with someone involved in the group (including a young Freemason.) I also appreciate that, when appropriate, she offers hotlines and other places for help if you or someone you know is effected by a similar group or related issues (such as hazing or cult membership.)

Now, I'm an educated adult, so I knew about several of the groups (Skull and Bones, Freemasons, Know-Nothings, SCA, SLA) and there were more that I had heard of, but didn't know a lot about (La Santa Muerte--Shapeshifted now makes more sense--Thuggees, The Hellfire Club) and some I had never heard of before (The Bilderberg Group, Club 33, The Machine). So, something for everyone.

Like Zest's other titles, it's a great introduction to some really big movements or ideas, done in a way that will appeal to a wide range of readers. It's a perfect book for extremely reluctant readers, and your more hardcore readers will also love it--and then come back wanting to know more about certain groups.

Also, bonus for Arrested Development fans-- The Magic Castle is covered, which gives some great background to Gob and the Gothic Castle and Magician's Alliance. So we all have "Final Countdown" in our heads now, right? Good.

Come back on Friday for my review of Rockin' the Boat: 50 Iconic Revolutionaries - From Joan of Arc to Malcom X and in the meantime, check out the rest of the tour.


Book Provided by... the publisher, for Blog Tour inclusion.

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Just released this month in paperback is Mark Booth's provocative bestseller The Secret History of the World. From mystic revelations to esoteric codes, here is an alternative history of the world, based upon the beliefs of the secret societies. Based on over twenty years of research, Booth offers a radical reinterpretation of human existence and a view of the world previously hidden from us.

The release of Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol will once again raise interest in secret societies, and in particular the Freemasons. Mark Booth, in his provocative bestseller The Secret History of the World, offers an entire chapter on "The Age of Freemasonry." Booth's alternative take on history is relentless, charging through time and space and thought in interdisciplinary fashion; embracing cognitive science, religion, psychology, historiography, and philosophy, a new timeline is drawn, and a huge swath of our cultural heritage that has for long been hidden is restored. From Greek and Egyptian mythology to Freemasons, from Charlemagne to Don Quixote, from George Washington to Hitler-The Secret History of the World shows without a doubt that history as we know it needs a revolutionary rethink, and he has 3,000 years of hidden wisdom to back it up.

Author Mark Booth will discuss his controversial book The Secret History of the World at the New York Open Center on Sunday, June 22. Booth will look at how Hebrew prophets, medieval and Renaissance astrologers, and the Freemasons understood the origins of consciousness, the structure of reality, and the purpose of life, and also explore whether we can experience the same supernatural patterns of meaning in our own individual lives that they and other writers steeped in the esoteric tradition, from Sophocles to Cervantes to Dickens to George Eliot to Tolstoy. For more information, call 212.219.2527.

Frankie has always been underestimated by people. From her family calling her "Bunny Rabbit", to her virtual invisibility on campus her first year at Alabaster, Frankie is seen as less than. Less than her big sister Zada. Less than the boys on campus who take up too much space. Not even capable of wandering into town on her own at the Jersey shore.

And then she falls off her bike.

Suddenly, gorgeous senior Matthew Livingstone is Frankie's boyfriend. His friends are her friends and she loves all of the attention that she gets. But she doesn't like the fact that Matthew seems to be at Alessandro's (Alpha) beck and call. So one day when Matthew dumps her for the boys, Frankie engages in some espionage. Turns out that the old boy network that her dad is always going on about is still alive and well at Alabaster. Frankie is certain that she could do it better.

Since this is still in arc format, I am not going to give too much away, other than to say that I love this book. Boarding school, feminist sensibilities, and smart characters. From wordplay to the introduction of other authors and social theory, from discussions of class to that of following the crowd and the rules, there is so much going on in this book. Frankie is an amazing girl, and I think that E. Lockhart has outdone herself. Every student at our school who has read this is raving about it. The readers who love Waiting for Alaska will fall for this title as well.