Good for Reluctant Readers – Page 8

Shark Bait

Sam expected to view sea life while on vacation at the Great Barrier Reef. What he didn’t expect was to become shark prey. But when a huge wave hits Sam and another boy, they are swept into the open ocean. Sam must keep himself and his new friend, Michi, from drowning. He also has to worry about the predators that lurk underwater.

When Sam and Michi finally see land, their troubles are far from over. Michi’s foot gets stuck in a giant clam and when Sam goes for help, smugglers throw him in a cage with an angry bird. Sam must figure out a way to escape in time to help Michi get to shore before the tide comes in.

Action-packed suspense will keep readers turning the pages of Shark Bait. Because Sam tells his own story, the reader will be able to relate to his fear and determination. Although Sam seems to have the worst luck in the world, his story is believable. Shark Bait is an easy-to-read story that is sure to entertain.

Sexual Content

None

Violence

A shark attacks Sam. “I felt myself knocked head over heels. The next moment I was upside down, looking back through the inverted V of my splayed white legs . . . I couldn’t believe a real live shark had just head-butted me and then swum away.” When a shark bites the cast on Sam’s foot, Sam “hit my attacker in the eye” and the shark lets go.
During the night, a boat hits Sam. “It spun me around, rolling me helplessly along the hull beneath the water line . . . The hull wacked me again, on the shoulder this time.”
Sam wrestles with a sea snake. “Grabbing its neck with my other hand, I yanked it off my watch . . . It coiled itself into a writhing green football around my wrist and arm, its mouth biting and snapping in my tightly clenched fingers.”
Michi attacks a smuggler, who is holding Sam captive. “Michi darted forward and tripped the smuggler with his stick . . .” Then Michi uses a karate kick. “The toe of Michi’s heavy leather shoe struck him squarely in the temple. Whomp! Baldy went down like a sack of wet cement.”
A smuggler throws a spear at Michi, but no one is injured. Later Michi kicks the smuggler and the man “fell in a heap.”
A smuggler shoots a gun at the boys.
A smuggler tries to stab Sam with a bowie knife. Sam “formed a karate ridge-hand and struck him with all my strength right on the point of his elbow . . . he screamed, dropped the knife, and slid from view.”

Drugs and Alcohol

None

Language

None

Supernatural

None

Spiritual Content

None

The Last Kids on Earth

When the monster apocalypse hit Jack’s town, the thirteen-year-old retreated to his tree house. Everyone Jack knows has either run away or been zombified. Jack has been living in his tree house, which he’s armed to the teeth with catapults and a mote. Living on Oreos and Mountain Dew, Jack spends his time playing video games and scavenging stores.

Jack realizes that he can’t handle zombies, Winged Wretches, and Vine Thingies alone. He goes out to search for his best friend, Quint. Along the way he finds a team comprised of a reformed bully named Dirk, a pet monster, and a girl named June (who becomes Jack’s love interest).

Surviving a monster apocalypse will be difficult; however, life gets more dangerous when the intelligent gargantuan menace known as the Blarg sets his sights on Jack. He will need his entire team to defeat the monster.

Told from Jack’s point of view, the monster apocalypse comes to life with humor. Jack’s desire to care for his friends is clear. When Jack searches for June in the hopes of rescuing her, he discovers that she is a strong character that doesn’t need a knight in shining armor. Black and white illustrations add to the story. For a book filled with monsters, the story is more fun than frightening. Packed with action, The Last Kids on Earth will engage readers from the first page to the last.

Sexual Content

June Del Toro is Jack’s “love interest”. When introducing her, Jack says, she has “legs that just won’t quit (no idea what that means, I’ve heard it in a movie. I guess her legs are resilient?)”
Jack finds June in the school building. “In the dim light, I can make out that it’s June. Hey, I just used ‘make out’ and ‘June’ in the same sentence. Go me!”
Jack and his friend discuss if it is possible to “call dibs” on a girl.

Violence

A monster tries to smash Jack. The battle is described over several pages. “The monster’s massive fist pounds the roof until it cracks like thin ice. I trip, tumble back, and land hard on my bony butt .” When the monster smiles, he reveals “an army of dirty fangs, with chunks of flesh between each tooth.” When Jack hits the monster over the head, the monster drops him and Jack gets free.
A monster grabs the school bus. “The monster tilted the bus so the back pointed toward the sky. We all pinballed, plummeting down the aisle, smashing against the seats, backpacks flying through the air.” Jack and his best friend escape. The fate of the other occupants on the bus is not mentioned.
Zombies come after Jack. The zombie’s “throat is missing—just a bunch of gnarly old flesh there. He comes at me, practically jumping.” Jack whacks the zombie in the face with a hockey stick.
A monster eats a zombie. “He roars and shoves the undead thing into his mouth. As he chews, the sound of the poor zombie’s snapping ones echoes across the empty suburban street.”
A flying monster almost gest Jack. Dirk saves him. “Dirk hurls the Winged Wretch into the closest building . . . The monster lets off a pained howl, then flies off into the distance. . . “
A Blarg attacks. “Blarg’s like a tank, crushing cars and stomping shopping carts beneath his feet.” Jack and Dir use butter to make the monster crash.
June throws tennis balls at the zombies, who used to be her teachers. Later, the zombies attack the kids and there is a fight that is complete with illustrations. The fight goes on for several pages.
The Blarg attacks the kids. Jack uses a sling shot to fling an acid capsule into the Blarg’s eye. “A demonic howl erupts from Blarg’s lungs. He paws at his face, trying to wipe away the sizzling chemical mixture.” When the Blarg chases the kids, they throw a big-screen TV at him. The battle against the Blarg last for three chapters. Jack kills the Blarg with a “Louisville Slicer.” The monster “howls. I’m dangling from the blade, gripping tight, as the monster’s legs give out and he comes crashing down.”

Drugs and Alcohol

None

Language

Jack calls a monster a jerk. Later he thinks, “I hate jerks—whether they’re monster jerks or zombie jerks or just regular human jerks.”
Jack says “crud” several times. When a monster tries to hit Jack, he thinks, “oh crud.” When the monster is looking for Jack, he says, “holy crud.”
Dirk calls Jack a dork.

Supernatural

None

Spiritual Content

None

The Last Kids on Earth and the Nightmare King

Life couldn’t get much better for 13-year-old Jack Sullivan. He eats Twinkie sandwiches for breakfast, lives in a cool treehouse, has a hoard of monster friends, and battles zombies. Jack loves his life with his friends and wouldn’t change a thing about it.

Then Jack and his friends discover they may not be the last kids on earth. When a human voice comes from a radio, everyone except for Jack is excited to discover that others have survived the zombie apocalypse. June and the others hope to be reunited with their parents, but Jack is afraid that finding others will lead to his friends forgetting about him. Jack goes on a quest to prove that their life is crazy, fun, and perfect.

As jack creates crazy fun activities for his friends, a monstrous Nightmare King hunts Jack and his friends. Jack soon learns that an ancient evil will use any method necessary to gain Jack’s loyalty and help him come into Jack’s world.

The Last Kids on Earth and The Nightmare King is another action-packed book that will keep readers entertained. New complications and new monsters are introduced to keep the plot interesting. The story shows a diverse group of friends who work together to defeat monsters. Although each character may seem stereotypical at first—the brainiac, the bully, the damsel—each character is fully developed and reveal that a person cannot be put into a category. For example, June is not a damsel in distress, but a strong girl who is capable of contributing to the group.

Although there is violence, the kids spend most of their time running from the monsters. The battle scenes contain humor and are not frightening. In the end, the story reminds readers that it often takes both kids and monsters to defeat evil.

Sexual Content

June and Jack are playing a game. June asks Jack, “Which prize would you like honey?” Jack knows she is teasing him, “but I don’t care; I like hearing her call me honey—it makes my belly region warm.”

Violence

Zombies attack the group. Dirk uses his strength to grab the zombies and “corpses catapulted.”
A King Wretch swoops and tries to grab Jack. “I smack into the street, flipping and flopping like a fish. My nose cracks against my knee, and I immediately feel blood bubbling inside my nostrils.” The monster grabs Rover, “dragging Rover across the pavement. The sound of pained scraping fills my ears while dread floods my stomach.”
A Scrapken (an octopus-like creature who lives in the junk yard) uses his tentacles to try to smash the kids. Instead, the Scrapken hits a wall and Zombies rush into the junk yard. “Thankfully, the next tentacle swing slams into a tire pile, and about nine hundred ninety-nine pounds of rubber plow into the zombies. Some are knocked aside, and others are sent pinwheeling through the air.”
In order to get away from zombies, Jack hides in a car. Before the zombies can get to Jack, the Scrapken picks up the car. “It’s chocking the metal frame like an anaconda—tightening and squeezing and crushing!” Then the Scrapken throws the car. Jack has “aches and pains and bruises, but nothing major.”
The King Wretch saves Jack from Zombies. “With one massive, snapping chomp, the King Wretch devours a dozen zombies. A simple swallow, sucking them down.” The King Wretch then grabs Jack. “His talons punch me square in the chest. I hit the cold floor and the claws tighten, digging into my shoulders. Hot saliva drips from the King Wretch’s fangs and splashes against my cheek.” The King Wretch then hypnotizes Jack.
While riding a rollercoaster, The King Wretch grabs Jack. “The flying beast snaps out with his talons, tearing into my hoodie and knocking me back.” Jack’s hoodie tears and, “I plummet downward for a short moment, and then all I feel is PAINFUL AWFUL TREE-LIM-BREAKING-SMASHING ON MY BONES!” Jacks friends come to save him and there is a battle that last over several chapters. In the end the King Wretch is eaten by the Scrapken. “Slithery serpent sounds and then, at last, the King Wretch goes silent. The Scrapken hugs him anaconda tight, squeezing, crushing, and then they disappear beneath the scrap, into the ground . . .”

Drugs and Alcohol

None

Language

Jack occasionally says “crud.”

Supernatural

The King Wretch hypnotizes Jack and gives him visions of what the future may be like. When the King Wretch looks into Jack’s eyes, “Soda bubbles in my brain. . . I feel like a tornado of terrible energy whirls past me. Through me... and then everything is altered”

Spiritual Content

None

The Trap

You would think Henry and Helen would be two peas in a pod. After all, they are twins. But Helen is brave and fearless, while Henry must think everything through. Despite their clear differences, they, along with their best friends Carl and Nicki, are inseparable.

When Carl’s brother mysteriously disappears, the four friends go on a mission to figure out what happened. Their search leads them to a book called Subtle Travel and the Subtle Self, which explains how a person can leave their body in their sleep. As the four friends learn to travel, they quickly discover that their subtle self isn’t invulnerable when Henry’s subtle self gets trapped. His friends want to jump in and save him, but will that lead to more disaster?

Teens and preteens alike will enjoy The Trap because it is fast-paced and easy to read. This story contains a good mystery, a bit of the supernatural, as well as a bit of humor.

The Trap touches on racial issues of the 1960’s but doesn’t go into detail. The only negative part of this book is that Henry and Helen have no qualms about lying to their parents in order to solve the mystery. There is also a section in the book where Helen reveals that she likes to break into people’s houses because it’s interesting to look around.

The Trap shows the importance of understanding people of different cultures. It has a sweet ending that will leave readers satisfied.

Sexual Content

Henry and Nicki go to a school dance in their subtle forms. As they dance, Henry “leaned forward and kissed her. A subtle kiss is a strange thing. It’s slippery, and a little electric, and it buzzes on your lips.”

Violence

Carl punches Henry. “Carl’s big knuckles had come at me, his pimply face looming behind them . . . My nose and cheek backed up—right into my brain, and my brain retreated down my throat into my stomach. My stomach hadn’t expected that, and become upset.” Henry pukes, and Henry’s sister jumps on Carl.
A character talks about the Jews being killed during World War II. “They were murdered . . . I returned once, years after the war, to see the graveyard where my parents and grandparents were buried. It is all weeds now. There are no Jews left to care for their own dead.”
One of the children talks about her great-grandfather who worked on the Transcontinental Railroad. “And in Iowa, he got attached by an Irish railroad gang. They mobbed him and some other Chinese workers, saying that Chinese people were stealing Irish jobs. They almost killed him, and he ended up in the hospital in Cedar Rapids.”
In a TV show, the Devil tells a rich man he can live forever if he murdered two other people. The rich man finds two “bums drunk.” The rich man did not think those men deserved to live as much as he did. So the rich man puts rat poison in a bottle of whiskey, “intending to give it to the hoboes. Then the show took a commercial break.”
Henry’s dad talks about when he was in the war. When they heard shots, everyone ran, but one man got shot. “Lying out there on his back, in the street. And making a sound, like gargling . . . because they shot him . . . in the throat . . . The North Koreans . . . they went up to Davis. And I watched . . . as they. ..They stripped him. They took his gun, his belt. Jacket. Helmet. Boots. Right off him, while he was still trying to breathe. They took everything. And they left him there, naked in the street. He died there.”

Drugs and Alcohol

Carl’s father is disliked because he is a drunk. The father appears several times in the story and is seen drinking beer on multiple occasions.

Language

One of the adults complains about, “this damn back of mine.”

Supernatural

Henry finds a book that teaches him how a person, “could step right out of their body while their body was sleeping. You’d be yourself, but invisible. This was called ‘subtle travel.’ The part of you that did the walking, your second body, was called ‘the subtle form.’”
A ghost appears and helps Henry solve the mystery of what happened to Carl.
When Carl was in his subtle form, someone did something to his physical body. Carl isn’t sure if his body is alive or dead, and he is afraid if he goes back into his body he will die.

Spiritual Content