Reading Level: Junior High

Scumble

Ledger Kale has looked forward to his thirteenth birthday in anxious anticipation. That is the day when his savvy, a special magical talent that all members of his family receive, arrives. His excitement is short-lived, however, as everything falls apart . . . literally. Ledger’s savvy is worse than he could have imagined. Now he must struggle to regain control as things break all around him.

His family riskily decides to travel to Wyoming for a savvy-filled wedding, where his power is revealed in full force to his entire family and an outside witness: ambitious amateur reporter Sarah Jane Cabot. Due to Ledger’s newfound destructive nature, his parents decide that it is safer to leave him and his sister on the family ranch for the summer. They hope that when he and his sister return, Ledger won’t combust everything that surrounds him. Adventures ensue as Ledger must cope with his new capabilities, crazy cousins, and Sarah Jane’s nosy journalism.

Scumble is a delightful read for young audiences as Ingrid Law spins an enthralling tale of family, friendship, and finding yourself. Ledger’s journey to control his power brilliantly displays the struggles of growing up, no matter how extreme the circumstances. His initial disappointment and ultimate triumph are relatable to young readers trying to discover who they are. Fans of Savvy will love this new adventure because of the fresh faces that invigorate the story. Although not quite as entertaining as the first book, it is still a worthwhile, fun read.

Sexual Content

  • One of Ledger’s friends, Josh, is a “ladies man.” He has “even locked lips with Misty Archuleta during a field trip to the planetarium once, after giving her a necklace with a big silver M on it.”
  • The Kale family goes to the wedding of Fisher Beaumont. Ledger describes the ceremony, including the beauty of the bride and their “just-kiss-the-bride-already smooch.”
  • In order to distract Sarah Jane from some savvy magic that is occurring, Ledger kisses her. She promptly punches him in the ribs.
  • Ledger’s mom tells his cousin that “a girl wants a cheerful, clean-cut beau, not a moody caveman.”
  • Uncle Autry thinks that Ledger has a crush on Sarah Jane and brings it up several times throughout the book. Many of their family members join in teasing the young man and at one point, he protests by saying, “She’s not my girlfriend! Not, not, not my girlfriend.”
  • Rocket loses control of his powers and confidence in himself when he “was showing off . . . for a girl.”
  • Ledger receives a letter from Sarah Jane. His twin cousins Marisol and Mesquite see him with the letter and they ask, “Did you get a love letter, Ledge? Ooh! Do you have a girlfriend now too, Sledgehammer?”
  • When Ledger contemplates the thought that he and Sarah Jane might be cousins, he, “stood up fast, riddled with heebie-jeebies. I’d locked lips with her! And I’d considered doing it again!” It is later revealed that they are not cousins.
  • Once Sarah Jane and Ledger are apart for the school year, she writes in a letter that she “planned to kiss me the very next time we met.”

Violence

  • Ledger trips, and his “mouth filled with the taste of panic, sharp and metallic.”
  • Ledger blows up his Dad’s watch using his savvy. “The parts flying like shrapnel… I covered my head to avoid getting razor-thin gears lodged in my brainpan.”
  • The realization of the true nature of Ledger’s savvy is quite shocking. “The understanding that I had a powerful savvy after all hit me like a hammer blow. It wasn’t just watches and windshield wipers that needed to look out. It was the whole, wide world.”
  • Ledger accidentally blows up the barn during his cousin’s wedding. The groom is injured as his, “cheek was bleeding, gouged by something sharp and airborne.”
  • Ledger’s mom references a time when her brother was young. “You broke your leg here, Autry. . . Your collarbone, too. You also fell in the river and nearly drowned before Cam Beacham fished you out. The two of you weren’t even dry before you wrestled him into a cactus patch and got nearly a thousand stickers in your–”
  • When Ledger comes to talk to Sarah Jane, she says, “Did you come for another right hook in the kisser?”
  • When his cousins continually attempt to help Ledger learn to scumble, they intentionally pelt him with shrapnel to see if he can control it.
  • Sarah Jane gets hit by a fence that Ledger is scumbling. “The scratch wasn’t deep. Not even bleeding.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • On many occasions, characters “cuss” but the words they say are not described.
  • When Ledger breaks the handle of a suitcase, he is “cussing as it broke loose.”
  • When Ledger loses his temper, he lets, “a loud barrage of barnyard language rip. After a full minute of noisy cussing, I looked up realizing that the rest of the world had gone much too quiet.”
  • A character yells “shut it” once.
  • A character exclaims, “What in John Brown’s britches is going on here?”
  • When a truck drives away from Rocket, he runs after it and Ledger could, “hear Rocket cuss as he tugged on the sticky door handle.”
  • The word “crud” is used once.

Supernatural

  • The majority of the characters have an inherited magical power called a savvy. The plot of the story revolves around the main character learning to control his power of manipulating metal.
  • Dinah Kale, Ledger’s mom, can control people’s actions through her words and facial expressions.
  • Ledger describes Wyoming as “still and silent as if the ghost of the Wild West outlaw the Sundance Kid had come back to haunt the place.”
  • One of Ledger’s cousins, Samson, is invisible.
  • A magical jar that captures music is played at the wedding.
  • At Grandpa Bomba’s funeral, the Earth drastically shifts in remembrance of his life and savvy, which was the manipulation of Earth.

Spiritual Content

  • Ledger questions his purpose and says, “Surely my Maker had had some plan when He put me together like this?
  • In another instance, he asks, “Dear God, what had I been built to do.”

by Morgan Filgas

Surrounded by Sharks

Early in the morning, Davey wakes up in a small hotel room surrounded by his family. He sneaks out of the room because he doesn’t want to waste any of the vacation sleeping. Davey, with a book in hand, heads to the beach. The beautiful ocean is too much of a temptation for Davey to resist. When he sees the No Swimming sign, he decides to just dip his toes in the water. But the waves tear Davey away from the island and soon he’s miles offshore. He’s surrounded by water—and something else. Sharks are circling below the surface, watching, and waiting. Davey’s terrified he will become the sharks’ next meal. Then no one will find out what happened to him.

Northrop writes with the perfect balance of suspense and action. The short chapters allow the reader to see Davey’s struggle, the sharks’ thoughts, and the action that is taking place back on the island. As the people on the island search for answers about where Davey could have disappeared to, the reader knows that Davey is about to become shark food. Switching between perspectives keeps the reader in suspense to the very end.

Every character in Surrounded by Sharks comes alive and their unique personalities add to the story’s atmosphere. Although the story revolves around Davey’s predicament, there are also several other teens that make the story relatable. While Davey’s two-parent family is not shown to be perfect, they clearly love each other. Surrounded by Sharks is an easy-to-read, suspenseful story that will keep even the most reluctant reader turning the pages until the very end.

Sexual Content

  • Davey is distracted by a girl because “her T-shirt was so light that he could see her bathing suit right through it. Or, wait . . . was that her bra?”

Violence

  • A shark tries to bite Davey. When it attacks, “the black eyes rolled back in its head, and its permanent frown widened for the bite, revealing two rows of sharp, serrated teeth. BONK! It hit the water cooler bottle.” Davey has the air knocked out of his lungs but is otherwise uninjured.
  • A shark attacks Davey. As Davey is being pulled into a boat, “the smaller shark surged forward below the surface and clamped onto Davey’s leg, harder this time. It swung its head to the side with surprising power and pulled Davey out of Drew’s grasp and clean off the side of the boat. Davey’s head dipped under the water, and a mouthful of seawater slipped into his lungs.” Davey is saved.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Davey sits by a bar stand on the beach and worries about getting drunk off the fumes because then he’d get in trouble if he was “stumbling back into the hotel room completely blitzed on alcohol vapors.”
  • One of the characters, Zeke, had “been out at the local bars the night before. It was what they called ‘a late night’ in most places. . .” Later Zeke is described as having a “faint smell of booze.”
  • A man at the bar stand tells someone, “Come back at eleven. Mimosas and Bloody Marys. Full bar at noon.”
  • A character goes into a liquor store, but his wife doesn’t approve.

Language

  • “Frickin’” is used several times.
  • “Oh my god” and “god” are used as exclamations several times. For example, after being pulled into the ocean by a riptide, Davey thinks, “Oh my god, I’m an idiot!”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • While out in the ocean, Davey believes thata he sees land and thinks “Thank God.”

Polaris

During the 1830s, the Polaris sets sail on a scientific mission to the Amazon jungle. The crew is excited to bring back new discoveries, but when the landing party returns, only half are alive. After an argument, the crew loads a chest into the bowels of the ship. After they begin their trip home, a bloody mutiny leaves most of the adult crew dead. Those who live, flee the ship, leaving six children—none of whom are older than twelve. The captain’s 12-year-old nephew Owen, a botanist’s assistant, and other deckhands struggle for survival. Soon they realize that the sea isn’t their only worry. Something else is lurking below deck, and it’s growing.

From the first page, Polaris will capture reader’s attention and they will not want to put the book down. With just the right mix of suspense and action, Polaris makes the fight for survival come to life. Full of realistic detail and nautical facts, readers will be pulled into the frightening atmosphere of Polaris. The story is appropriate for younger readers with tame battle scenes. This fast-paced story has well-developed characters that show the importance of working together despite the fact that they do not like each other. With a diverse cast of characters, an engaging plotline, and an epic battle scene, Polaris will not disappoint those looking for an excellent horror story. But be warned, the creepy creature may make its way into the nightmares of readers.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • A character thinks about a boy, who “had blown up trying to carry two cartridges (of gun powder) at once.”
  • A mutiny begins among the adult crew. The children listen to the fighting through a locked door and hear gunshots as well as someone being thrown into the sea. Then the boys hear, “three shots rang out in quick succession—the officer’s pistols. Shrieks of pain mixed with the shouts of rage, telling Owen that the rest of the work would be done with blades and hands.”
  • Owen shoots the creature. “Owen heard a quick sound behind him—tik-taclik! —like metal on bone.” Then, the boys pour boiling water on him. When the creature flees, someone stabs it with a spear.
  • When the creature snatches one of the boys, someone shoots the creature. “Per-KRACK went the pistol. A flash of flame and a billowing plume of smoke shot forth.”
  • A boy hits Owen over the head with a hatchet. Owen is not seriously injured.
  • When the creature tries to snatch another person, there is a fight that takes place over several pages. When someone shoots it, “the lead ball ricocheted off the thick armor plating of its thorax.” When Owen throws the pistol at it, “the butt of the pistol smacked heavily into what had been Obed’s forehead. The creature staggered backwards. . .” No one is injured.
  • The creature attacks the boys. The battle takes place over several chapters. During the battle, “A dark red rat-like creature emerged from the hatch, then a second, and then they all began to pour out. One dozen, two dozen.” The kids rig a device to blow up the ship after they have jumped off.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Owen thinks about his uncle and father. “His uncle had taken him in after his mother’s death and his father’s descent into sorrow—and the bottle.”

Language

  • When the crewmembers discuss being infected with spores, someone thinks, “Oh God. . . What if it’s me?”

Supernatural

  • The children believe the ghost of Obed Macy is haunting the lower deck of the ship. They discuss if a Bible and cross will ward off the ghost.

Spiritual Content

  • During a storm, a character begins “the Lord’s prayer.”
  • A character prays, “Lord help us all.”

 

Sweep: The Story of a Girl and Her Monster

Orphaned as a child, Nan Sparrow is forced to work for a cruel chimney sweep named Wilkie Crudd. She and several other children toil day after day, sweeping out chimneys for nasty Mr. Crudd.

Cleaning chimneys is a dangerous job, and when Nan gets stuck in a chimney fire she thinks death is near. Instead, she wakes up in the house’s attic—and she’s not alone. A small piece of char has somehow come to life and needs Nan’s help to survive. Since everyone believes Nan died in the chimney fire, she takes advantage of her misfortune and decides to create a new life for herself and her monster, who she names Charlie.

From the very first page, Sweep captivates readers with beautiful writing that vividly displays the horrors of being a Victorian London chimney sweep. The story seamlessly flows back and forth between Nan’s life before she was orphaned, and her life afterward, when the man who took her in mysteriously disappears. Even though life with him was difficult, her life was full of love. The connection between Nan and the man (who is referred to as “the Sweep”) is deep and vibrant, and will leave readers curious to discover why the Sweep disappears.

The characters in this story are so well developed that every character’s unique personality shines through. As Nan begins to create a new life for Charlie and herself, she learns important life lessons. For example, while Nan would like to stay hidden from others, she eventually discovers that “We save ourselves by saving others.” Sweep’s suspenseful, surprising conclusion will leave readers in tears as they realize that cruelty and kindness are locked in a never-ending battle.

This story focuses on difficult topics such as poverty, child labor, and anti-Semitism. As Nan’s story unfolds, the difficult life of a child sweep in described in detail. Children faced harsh masters who fed them little, beat them, and sent them up chimneys where they were injured and sometimes died horrific deaths. One of the characters, Roger, became a sweep when his parents sold him. He turns into an unpleasant boy who dreams of becoming rich enough to buy his parents’ house so he can “raise the rent. Raise it so high, they’re put out on the streets.”

The publisher recommends Sweep for children as young as eight years old. However, this book contains long passages, difficult vocabulary, and shows humanity’s cruelty, which could be quite difficult for younger readers to handle. The book ends with historical information on sweeps, Victorian London, and a list of suggested books for readers curious to learn more. In this section, the author points out that, “today over 160 million children worldwide are forced into child labor. The battle is far from won.”

Sexual Content
• Master Crudd attends weddings. When Crudd said he wouldn’t be home for dinner, one of the kids teased, “Too busy kissing the brides for luck, eh, sir?”
• Nan tries to get other sweeps to march for a cause. One of the boys says, “Hammie’s just hopin’ to get a kiss from the flower girl on Hastings!”

Violence
• When Nan tries to grab her bowl of gruel, “a wooden spoon came down on her hand. She shrieked, clutching her fingers.” The woman caring for her told her she would not eat that day because she was late for breakfast.
• While cleaning a chimney, Nan gets stuck. In an attempt to get her out, Roger sets a fire. Nan shouted, “ ‘Roger, no—’ Her cries were cut off by a hollow whoof as the match hit the coals. Air sucked down through the chimney, like a beast drawing a deep breath. First came the smoke, a thick black tendril that slid up the flue and snaked around her neck. . . Next came the heat. It started as a prickling sensation on her back and heels, then spread up her legs. Within seconds, the warmth had turned to a blistering heat. . . Her entire body felt as if it were burning from the inside out.”
• Nan and the Sweep see “a pack of boys who were beating a smaller boy, calling him a ‘Jew.’” The Sweep chases the boys away.
• When Nan was little, she had a doll. A group of “young ladies” teased Nan and “one of the younger ladies snatched Charlotte (the doll) and waved her in the air . . . the doll circled and spun and then struck the ground with a sickening CRACK!”
• When a small boy drops a bag of soot, Roger “stomped up to Newt and struck him hard with the butt end of his broom.”
• Nan throws a snowball at Roger. “Perhaps it was her form, or perhaps it was her ire, but the snowball hit Roger with such force that the boy was knocked right off his feet and landed—splat—in the slushy gutter.”
• Master Crudd threatens to kill Nan and Charlie protects her. “Crudd gave a feral cry and lunged at Charlie, swinging the poker at his head. It connected with a dull crunch. Bits of sooty rubble feel to the floor.” Charlie grabs Crudd’s head and “Crudd screamed at the scorching touch. The room filled with acrid smell of burning hair, burning flesh. Charlie hoisted the man up and hurled him through the air . . . Crudd’s body smashed clear through the shuttered windows and into the frozen street.”
• When Nan was little, some men tried to put her in an orphanage. “The men grabbed the girl and locked her in a carriage. She had kicked out a loose board from the roof and climbed out to escape.”
• When the sweeps protest their work conditions, the master hits the kids. “The crowd gasped as the man brought the brush down on the boy with a thwap.” When people try to help the kids, “The sweeps—drunk and enraged—attacked anyone who touched them.” A riot breaks out.
• Master Crudd grabs Nan, and her friend tries to help, but “Whap! Crudd struck Toby in the face with his fist. The boy fell backwards and collapsed to the ground, unconscious.” In order to get away Nan, “threw her head forward—striking him straight in the nose.” Crudd chases her up a tower. “He reached out and snatched her ankle. . . She felt her grip break loose from the monument—And then Nan Sparrow fell . . . They struck the ground with tremendous force. The man died instantly.” Nan lays “bleeding on the street, moaning in pitiful agony, her body shattered beyond repair.” Charlie finds Nan and carries her away.

Drugs and Alcohol
• During a parade, the “master sweeps were already deep in their cups, enjoying free drinks in public houses all across the city.”
• A sweep “sounded drunk” when he yelled at his climbers. He said, “What do you ungrateful rats think yer doin?”

Language
• Roger calls a boy a “lazy maggot.”

Supernatural
• Master Crudd attends weddings because “everyone knew that paying a sweep to attend your wedding guaranteed years of happiness.”
• A piece of char comes to life. “Whatever happened inside that chimney must have changed the char—brought it to life.” The char, named Charlie, isn’t sure what it is, but he’s not a monster. Nan thinks Charlie is a golem, which is a “gabled monster in the Jewish tradition, a homunculus crafted from mud or clay and animated through Kabalistic ritual.” A teacher tells Nan that a golem is made when “a sage or rabbi–that is, a Jewish priest—forms a body out of mud or clay and then brings that creature to life with a sort of magic word called shem.” The teacher explains shem “is kind of like a spark. . . Some say the word is a true name of God.”
• Charlie accidentally breaks a bird’s egg. Charlie holds the egg and his hands, “were smoldering. His dark fingers crackled and began to glow red and then white. Smoke billowed from his open hands. . . And then Nan saw something that snatched the breath from her breast—The egg moved.” The bird pecks its way out of the egg, and although the bird’s wing is damaged, it’s alive.
• Charlie holds an acorn and “there was a smell of cracking embers. Charlie’s hands began to smolder, just as they had done with Dent’s eggs.” The acorn grows into a tree. After he makes the tree grow, his fingers, “did not bend. They did not crumble. It was like touching a statue.”
• Charlie holds Nan, injured and bleeding, in his arms. “Nan could feel a flicker of warmth spreading through her broken body, bringing her back. . . She could feel his arms turning rigid around her.” Charlie uses his magic to save Nan.
• When Nan buries an ember from Charlie’s body, “the snow beneath her boots melted to reveal black soil. And there, pushing up from the earth, were little shoots of green grass.”

Spiritual Content
• Nan befriends a Jewish teacher. Nan sees a Jewish prayer book in the teacher’s room. Nan tells the teacher what she has heard about Jewish people. “The way some folks talked about Jews, it seemed as if all the pains of the world were because of what they had done. She knew that wasn’t true though; she’d suffered plenty at the hands of God-fearing Christians.”
• Nan reads a poem about sweeps. In the poem, the sweeps, “rise upon clouds, and sport in the wind. And the Angel told Tom if he’d be a good boy, He’d have God for his father and never want joy.”
• Nan tells Charlie the story of baby Jesus, who was “born in a basket and how a wicked king tried to kidnap him but then a big bearded angel named Father Christmas fought the king. ‘And then he tossed the baby Jesus down the chimney of a girl named Mary, and that was the first Christmas present.’ ”
• The teacher celebrates Passover. She explains that “the Jewish people eat these things to remember when God delivered us from slavery in Egypt. . . Before the Jews escaped from Egypt, God sent an angel of death to the city. The angel visited the homes of the Egyptians and killed every firstborn child as they slept. It was punishment for the wickedness of their parents. The angled passed over the homes of the Jews and spared their children.”
• When the teacher meets Charlie, Nan asks, “Does it make you believe in God?” The teacher replies, “It makes me believe that the world is full of wonders that I can scarcely imagine. Perhaps that is the same thing.”

The Hidden Oracle

There is no way to punish an immortal god, right? That is what almighty Apollo, god of the sun, thought, but he is quickly proven wrong as his father, Zeus, casts him down to the mortal world as a powerless, friendless, and—even worse—ugly sixteen-year-old boy named Lester Papadopoulos. As if it can’t get any worse, Apollo (now Lester) can’t even remember how he incurred Zeus’s mighty wrath.

With nowhere and no one to turn to, Apollo lays his trust in a runty twelve-year-old girl named Meg and the teenage demigods that reside in Camp Half-Blood. There he seeks help from the campers, including some of his own children, and begins to discover disturbing secrets that may endanger those he grows close to.

Fast-paced and witty, The Hidden Oracle is a humorous read for younger and older readers alike. Fans of Percy Jackson and the Olympians and Heroes of Olympus series will rejoice as Riordan once again paints a world of mystery and mythology that enthralls readers. However, the book touches on sensitive topics such as sexuality and battle violence that may be of concern for some parents. Nevertheless, it is an entertaining novel that is well worth the read.

Sexual Content

  • Apollo mentions his hope that Meg does not develop a crush on Percy Jackson.
  • Apollo has two loves of his life that he mentions several times throughout the novel. Both of his relationships ended in tragedy. One of his loves was Hyacinthus, a strong hero who happened to be a man. The other love was Daphne, whom he dreams of and describes as having, “those lips I had never kissed but never stopped dreaming of.” Due to losing these loves, he swears off marriage as others “had never possessed my heart” as his true loves once had.
  • Apollo encounters some of his demigod children at camp Half-Blood. When he meets each of them, he remembers the romantic relationships that he had with their parents. “To my teenage self, our romance felt like something that I’d watched in a movie a long time ago—a movie my parents wouldn’t have allowed me to see.”
  • Apollo is embarrassed by the attention of some female campers, and he says, “My face burned. Me—the manly paragon of romance—reduced to a gawky, inexperienced boy!”
  • Nico di Angelo and Apollo’s son, Will Solace, are dating. Apollo has no problems with their relationship because he has had “thirty-three mortal girlfriends and eleven mortal boyfriends? I’ve lost count.”
  • Apollo once created a child with another man.
  • Apollo “accidentally saw Ares naked in the gymnasium.”
  • One of Apollo’s former girlfriends, Cyrene, got together with Ares to get revenge on Apollo.
  • Apollo argues that gods are almost always “depicted as nude, because we are flawless beings. Why would you ever cover up perfection?”

Violence

  • When Apollo crashes on Earth, a group of hoodlums beat him up. “My ribs throbbed. My stomach clenched . . . I toppled out and landed on my shoulder, which made a cracking sound against the asphalt.” His opponents pull out a knife, but it is not used. One of the boys “kicked me in the back. I fell on my divine face. . . I curled into a ball, trying to protect my ribs and head. The pain was intolerable. I retched and shuddered. I blacked out and came to, my vision swimming with red splotches.”
  • A lightning wielding cyclops kills one of Apollo’s sons. The death is not described.
  • Percy, Meg, and Apollo get into a car crash in which their car is totaled. No one is seriously injured.
  • A mythical grain spirit called a karpoi bites the head of a nosos clean off in one chomp.
  • Meg slaps Apollo’s face to wake him from a dangerous trance. He promptly vomits afterward.
  • Meg “poked Connor Stoll in the eyes and kicked Sherman Yang in the crotch.”
  • There is a famous story about Apollo in which he slays the mighty monster Python. He “killed Python without breaking a sweat. I flew into the mouth of the cave, called him out, unleashed an arrow, and BOOM!”
  • There is a legend about Apollo “skinning the satyr Marsyas alive after he challenged me to a music contest.”
  • After a dangerous camp activity, “Chiara had a mild concussion. Billie Ng had come down with a case of Irish step dancing. Holly and Laurel needed pieces of shrapnel removed from their backs, thanks to a close encounter with an exploding chainsaw Frisbee.”
  • Two satyrs die attempting to retrieve and bring the Oracle of Delphi back to Camp Half-Blood. Their deaths are not described.
  • Apollo wishes that he could have “picked a nice group of heroes and sent them to their deaths.”
  • Apollo and Meg battle killer ants who attack in groups, snap through Celestial bronze, and spit acid. “Meg’s swords whirled in golden arcs of destruction, lopping off leg segments, slicing antennae.”
  • The pair meet a geyser god that suggests that they do not jump in his water unless they “fancy boiling to death in a pit of scalding water.”
  • A man almost stabs himself to obey the orders of his master, Emperor Nero.
  • Apollo attempts to fight Nero and “let out a guttural howl and charged the emperor, intending to wring his hairy excuse for a neck.” Later, he fights one of the emperor’s bodyguards and “spun Vince like a discus, tossing him skyward with such force that he punched a Germanus-shaped hole in the tree canopy and sailed out of sight.”
  • There is a large battle near the conclusion of the novel in which many characters fight a giant mechanical statue. It is described over several chapters and many are hurt in the process, but the ending is victorious for the heroes.
  • Nyssa slaps Leo in the face because he was missing for several months.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Ambrosia is the food of the gods and their immortal bodies allow them to eat it as their normal food. Demigods eat ambrosia if they are sick or injured because it instantly heals them. However, if mortals attempt to eat it, they burn up inside and possibly combust.

Language

  • “Crud” and “darned” are each used once.
  • Meg tells Apollo that he has landed in Hell’s kitchen and he thinks, “It seemed wrong for a child to say Hell’s Kitchen.”
  • Apollo is dragged across a river, “scolding and cursing.”
  • Many demigods mutter ancient Greek curses when they are angry.
  • A demigod calls a friend, “Idiota,” when she does something wrong.
  • Many characters use the expressions, “thank the gods!” and “oh, gods.”
  • Percy “yelped a curse that would have made any Phoenician sailor proud.”

Supernatural

  • Most of the characters are demigods and have magical powers that they have inherited from their godly parent. For instance, Meg can control elements of nature (plants, soil, grain spirits, etc.) because her mother is Demeter, the goddess of agriculture.
  • Many Greek mythological creatures and monsters appear in the story.
  • Nico, the son of Hades, uses his powers to sit with his boyfriend by saying that the “zombies stay away” if he is seated near him.
  • It is mentioned that Leo died and then came back to life. The details of this event are found in one of Riordan’s previous books.
  • When a demigod is claimed at Camp Half-Blood, a glowing symbol appears above their head to show their parentage.  This happens to Meg during the campfire ceremony.
  • Some trees in the woods of Camp Half-Blood are the ancient Grove in Dodona, which is a powerful force that whispers prophecies. Finding this grove is the catalyst for the majority of the novel’s plot. The wood from these trees was used for the mast of the Argo, which could “speak to the Argonauts and give them guidance.”
  • Meg tells Apollo about a looming threat to which he responds, “I had been hoping she would say something else: giants, Titans, ancient killing machines, aliens.”
  • Magical creatures emerge from the woods to aid Apollo in his quest to stop the evil Emperor Nero. “The shimmering forms of dryads emerged from their trees—a legion of Daphne’s in green gossamer dresses . . . They raised their arms and the earth erupted at their feet.”

Spiritual Content

  • In this book, the Greek gods are real and have a presence in the world. All of the legends about them are true, and they are immortal. The main character is a god who has been turned mortal.
  • The source of the gods’ powers is their presence in the minds of humankind, and if they are forgotten they will eventually fade. “Gods know about fading. They know about being forgotten over the centuries. The idea of ceasing to exist altogether terrifies us.”
  • It is discussed how in ancient Greece, priests tended and cared for the sacred Grove of Dodona.
  • When the character of evil Emperor Nero is introduced, Christians are mentioned as being scapegoated by him. In response to these accusations, he says, “But the Christians were terrorists, you see. Perhaps they didn’t start the fire, but they were causing all sorts of trouble.” A terrifying event is then mentioned in which Nero had “strung up Christians all over his backyard and burned them to illuminate his garden party.”

by Morgan Filgas

 

The Stolen Crown

When Ellie and the League of Archers save Maid Marian from execution, the group hides in Sherwood Forest. They dream of helping the poor by building a farm in the middle of the forest, where the baron cannot reach them. In order to make their dream come true, Ellie and the League plan on stealing from the rich.

Ellie and her friends keep Robin Hood’s legacy alive, by stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. However, everything changes when Ellie witnesses King John’s murder. As Ellie flees the castle, a boy helps her escape and pleas to be allowed to join the League of Archers. When Ellie leads him to the heart of Sherwood Forest, he causes conflict among the members.

Then rumors reach Sherwood Forest—the baron plans to kidnap the crown prince. Will the League be able to unite in order to stop the baron’s plan?

The second installment of the League of Archers has less action than the first. The majority of the plot focuses on the power struggle between Ellie and the new member of the group, Stephen. The infighting of the group and the group’s thuggish behavior make the story less enjoyable.

Like the first book in the series, The Stolen Crown’s plot is difficult to believe because Ellie has the responsibilities of an adult but does not show the maturity and insight of an adult. Even though Friar Tuck and Maid Marian are both invested in building a farm for the poor, Ellie is left to make decisions better left to the adult. The two main adults in the story are not well developed and have little interaction with Ellie, which makes the story seem shallow.

The ending of the story is predictable and unsatisfying because the baron is not severely punished for his crimes. The one positive aspect of The Stolen Crown is the message that everyone deserves a second chance. Unfortunately, the League of Archers series will be easily forgotten once it is read.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • The king is murdered. When the king was poisoned, “one brawny hand was propped on the table, the other was clutched around his neck. . . He groaned again, fingers clawing at his throat, then slumped over the table, eyes and mouth stretched grotesquely wide.”
  • Ellie is caught trying to steal and a soldier tries to capture her, but she “parried the blade away with her poker, sending it flying toward a knot of shocked nobles.” After a chase, Ellie is able to escape unharmed.
  • Ellie and the League of Archers attempt to stop a coach and steal valuables. A group of men tries to stop the kids. When a man tries to grab one of the League of Archers, he “loosed an arrow into the unprotected spot under his arm. . .” The fighting takes place over four pages, but no one is seriously injured.
  • When a nun tries to lock the League of Archers in the convent and hand them over to the baron, another nun, “pushed Mary Ursula so hard she fell backwards onto a pile of flour sacks.
  • Ellie and the League of Archers break into a man’s house in order to steal from him. When an elderly man sees them, one of the league hits the man on the head. “There was a hard, sickening thump. The old man’s eyes went empty and he slumped to the ground.” One of the league points an arrow at the man and threatens to kill him if he doesn’t hand over the valuables. The man complies.
  • When Ellie and a group of her friends attempt to steal a valuable crown, there is a brief battle with soldiers. Ellie hits one soldier with an arrow.
  • Ellie and Stephen sword fight. In order to win the fight, Ellie fires a shot, and “her arrow shot clean through the flesh part of Stephen’s sword hand, between thumb and index finger. A fine spray of blood fizzed up.” As Ellie begins to walk away, Stephen shoots an arrow, but it hits another girl instead of Ellie. The girl is injured, but not seriously.
  • When the baron sees Ellie, he tells her, “But I won’t show you the mercy I gave to your mother—no quick drop and a broken neck for Elinor Dray. You’ll hang on a short rope, so I can watch you die slow.” The baron then throws a dagger at Ellie. When the dagger misses, the baron uses a sword, and “the sword ran through the cloak this time, pinning Ellie to the wall.” The fight goes on for four pages, and Ellie is able to escape.
  • When Ellie and the League of Archers try to free a prisoner from the baron’s castle, the guards try to stop them. A guard tries to choke a girl, and “Ellie stopped him with an arrow just below his throat, serious enough to scare him, but not deadly.” The group is able to escape the castle without anyone dying.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • When a noblewoman talks badly about the king, her companion warns her to stop. The noblewoman replies, “Oh, he’s too drunk to hear us.”

Language

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • Several of the characters live in a convent and the life of a nun is described including going to prayer.
  • One of the nuns blesses the baron. She says, “May the Lord guide you on the road to Nottingham! May he make our path straight, though it be winding, and may the king be as honored by your illustrious presence as we are.”

League of Archers #1

Elinor Dray and her friends idolize Robin Hood. Calling themselves the League of Archers, they illegally hunt on Lord de Lay’s land. Although the game is scarce, the meat they obtain is used to feed their families and help the poor. One night, Ellie meets a man in the woods who has been shot with a poisoned arrow. When Ellie takes the man to the nunnery, Ellie discovers the man’s identity—Robin Hood. And the abbess of the nunnery is Maid Marian.

When Maid Marian’s secret is revealed, the Lord de Lay arrests Marian and blames Ellie for Robin Hood’s death. The villagers believe Ellie is a traitor to the poor and vow to hunt her down. Living as an outlaw, Ellie and the League of Archers attempt to clear Ellie’s name, free Maid Marian, and keep Robin Hood’s legacy alive.

Action-packed and full of battles, League of Archers has a strong female protagonist, who wants to do what is right. As Ellie fights to stay alive, she struggles with the need to hurt the baron’s guards in order to stay alive. Ellie truly cares about the needs of others and often wonders, What would Robin Hood do? Throughout the story, the hero Robin Hood is not portrayed as a perfect hero, but as a man who makes mistakes. Although many of his great deeds of legend are true, many of his deeds are exaggerated. However, it is clear that Robin Hood, flaws and all, is still a great man.

Despite the high-interest topic of the story, the plot is complicated and not necessarily believable. The character’s dialogue is not true to the time period, and the storyline is not historically accurate. Even though junior high readers may not pick up on all of the inaccuracies, some will question how a twelve-year-old girl was able to successfully use Robin Hood’s bow.

Friar Tuck, Maid Marian, and the League of Archers—all of them could have been interesting characters. However, none of them are developed into individual people. Ellie is the only character whose thoughts and feelings are shown, but her conflict lacks more specific details that would explain how she came to be a master archer who wants to be like Robin Hood. Ellie and the League of Archers go into battle after battle with grown guards and although the violence is not described in gory detail, there is blood, pain, and death. The many battles are what drives the suspense in the story and keep the reader interested in the outcome.

If a reader is wildly interested in the topic of Robin Hood, League of Archers will interest them. The fast-paced plot with many battles will entertain readers. Reluctant readers will want to leave this book on the shelf because the detailed descriptions are cumbersome and slow down the plot’s otherwise fast pace.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • Ellie’s mother was caught poaching because they “needed to eat. But her mother was caught, dragged in ropes to the baron’s castle. The village was invited to watch as an executioner made Ellie an orphan at the baron’s command.”
  • Ellie witnesses Robin Hood being shot with an arrow. When it happens, “Ellie saw the bright red of the arrow’s fletching, and the way it pierced the stranger’s shoulder like a knife through meat. A bloom of dark blood spread across his cloak as he dropped to his knees.” The arrow was poisoned and, “the skin around it bubbled like fat atop a pot of soup.” Robin Hood dies from the wound.
  • The baron’s men enter the covenant in order to arrest the abbess. When the abbess resists, a novice is grabbed, and the baron’s guard, “pressed the flat of a knife to Ellie’s throat . . . The blade was cool against her skin.”
  • The baron parades Ellie around town, accusing her of killing Robin Hood. A riot begins, and Ellie tries to escape. When Ellie’s friend tries to defend her, a guard whips him. Later, when Ellie tries to defend herself, “the guard’s knife pierced the heavy blue dress, drawing a gasp from her as it cut into her skin. She felt a trickle of blood mingling with sweat in the small of her back.”
  • A mob of people throw rocks, mud, and horse dung at Ellie. In order to escape, Ellie grabs a guard’s wrist and “yanked the blade from his hand, then wheeled around and struck him with Robin’s bow, still clutched in her other fist. He fell sideways off the cart. . .” Ellie escapes.
  • While traveling, a friar is attacked by guards. The friar hits one guard on the head with a bottle. When three other guards appear, the friar fights back, but is wounded. In order to help, Ellie “pulled an arrow from her quiver and strung it on her bow. It flew straight and true and hit the guard in the eye before he could bring down his knife. He fell down dead. The fighting takes place over four pages. Another guard is injured when “Alice flung a knife that caught him between two ribs, then he fell.”
  • A group of drunk men tries to capture Ellie. The League of Archers helps Ellie. “Jacob yanked a pitchfork from one of the men and swung it like a scythe, forcing others to run clear. . .” A man grabs Ellie and “had wrapped an arm around her neck, squeezing until stars exploded in front of her eyes.” Ellie and the League are able to escape.
  • The gamekeeper shoots arrows at Ellie and the League of Archers. In order to save her friends, Ellie shoots the gamekeeper. “She swung the bow to the right and released the string. Her arrow slid neatly into the gamekeeper’s hand.”
  • A man grabs Ellie in order to take her into the village and hang her. “He grabbed her roughly by the shoulders and stood her up, facing the door.” The man also tied up Ellie’s friends. In order to escape, Ellie “took a breath and drove her head straight into his nose. He screamed and reeled backward, clutching his face. Blood spurted through his fingers.”
  • When trying to free one of the baron’s prisoners, the guards try to stop Ellie and the League of Archers. Someone hits a guard over the head with a club. Ellie shoots at a guard, and “one of her arrows found the meat of a man’s leg as he swung his sword at Marian’s exposed side. A second shaved a slice off a guard’s ear as he tried to hoist Alice over the side of the drawbridge. Then he dropped her, one hand lifting to feel the blood running down her face. She turned on him savagely with her knife.” In order to save her friends, Ellie lets “the arrow fly and watched as it slid into the heart of the guard lowering the gate.” The battle lasts over a chapter.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Several characters are given ale or wine to drink.
  • One of the characters makes “home-brewed liquor,” selling it to the villagers. He is often drunk.
  • Ellie and her friends go into a tavern. While there, “she watched a man slap a woman’s hip as she delivered his tankard, and another one crash down drunkenly from his chair.”
  • Ellie and the League of Archers come across a group of drunk men who are patrolling the forest.

Language

  • Someone uses “Oh, God” as an exclamation.

Supernatural

  • When talking about Robin’s silver arrow, which never missed its mark, the friar said, “I’m a religious man, so talk of magic doesn’t sit right with me. But there’s something about that arrow. There was never any questions it would find its way to where Robin intended.”
  • A woman tells Ellie her fortune by casting “a handful of dry brown bones.”

Spiritual Content

  • Several of the characters live in a convent and the life of a nun is described including going to prayer. Ellie also says the “compline prayer.”
  • The baron chastises Ellie. “‘God made us men in his image girl,’ he said. ‘You should show your betters a mite more respect.’”
  • A friar tells Ellie, “Whether he’s a saint or a sinner is not for us to say. . . We must trust in God to sort it out.”
  • One of the characters tells Ellie, “But there are some who, like you, would go to any lengths to save the abbess’s life—and I believe God is on their side. And justice, too.”
  • When a woman wants to tell Ellie her fortune, Ellie asks, “Is fortune-telling not a tool of the devil, Mother Barkbone?” The woman answers, “The devil and I walk different byways. . . I respect his power just as I respect that of God’s. But I worship the things I can see, the spirits who speak back to me. Those of the land, those of my ancestors. They guide me true and would never lead me into the devil’s mouth.”
  • Ellie tells someone who committed murder, “I forgive you. May God, too, have mercy on you.”

Change Up

When Derek’s dad promises to coach his team, Derek thinks it will be the best season ever. He’s sure he’ll play shortstop and the team will head to the championships. On the first day of practice, Derek realizes his team needs a lot of work. To make matters worse, Gary—who hates sports and has never played baseball before—is on the team.

Soon Derek is at odds with his dad, and he isn’t getting playing time as a shortstop. Worst of all, Gary seems to be bringing the team down. Is there a way that Derek can help the players turn into a winning team? Derek realizes he has a lot to learn from his coaches, his family, and his teammates.

Sports lovers will enjoy the little league action and play-by-play descriptions of the games. Combined with realistic peer and coach conflicts, readers will understand Derek’s frustration when things do not go as he imagined. The conflict between Derek and Gary helps drive the story and will resonate with readers. The positive interaction between Derek and his parents reinforce the idea of talking through problems with your parents—even if you know they won’t necessarily agree with you.

An easy-to-read story, Change Up is a good sports story for reluctant readers. Derek knows that “life didn’t usually hand out globs of ice cream without at least a small helping of spinach on the side.” As Derek figures out how to resolve his conflicts, he learns important life lessons including focusing on the positive, helping others, and trying to see things from other people’s points of view.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • None

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • One of the players calls someone a “jerk.”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

Not So Normal Norbert: L4LUZR—1

Everything is the same. Being different is illegal. His All-Knowing Eternal Excellency, Loving Leader, has decided that “Conformity makes us Free.” Individuality is evil. All Earth must conform. When Norbert makes a funny impersonation of Loving Leader at school, the truth police arrest him. Being funny is illegal.

Norbert and two others are banished to the Astro-Nuts Camp on planet Zorquat 3. Now that Norbert is on a planet where rule-breakers are sent, the only things he wants is to be sent back to Earth. Norbert is on a quest to prove that he’s not creative. Will Norbert be stuck on a planet where everyone seems crazy creative or will he find a way to return to Earth?

The cover of Not So Normal Norbert will catch readers’ attention, and the first chapter will instantly captivate. Short chapters and funny black-and-white illustrations make the story easy to read. The descriptions include a healthy dose of onomatopoeias, which helps create the fun atmosphere of Zorquat 3. Told from Norbert’s point of view, the lives of those on Zorquat 3 jump off the page.

The main theme throughout the book is the importance of being an individual and being different. Everyone on Zorquat 3 embraces the message (except Norbert), which leads to some ridiculous and outlandish behavior by both the children and the adults. The crazy behavior adds interest to the story; however, part of the story drags because too many events do not connect to the main plot.

Anyone who feels different and odd will be able to relate to Norbert’s fears. The message of embracing being different is clear, but repeated a little too often. Norbert learns the hazards of obsessing over what if’s. One of the adults tells him, “don’t focus on what if’s or you will completely freak yourself out . . . Stick with what is.” The story also teaches that just because someone acts like a “jerk,” you don’t need to act the same way. For readers who are looking for a silly, humorous book, Norbert will make a good addition to their reading library.

Sexual Content

  • Norbert’s crush kisses him on the cheek. Later, the same girl “throws both of her arms around me and gives me a huge hug . . . then she leans in and kisses me. On the lips. Fireworks go off in my brain. It’s my first kiss. Ever.”

Violence

  • None

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • Norbert’s teacher’s name was “Mrs. Hurlbutt.”
  • When seeing a brontosaurus Norbert makes a comment that “its breath smells worse than Mrs. Hurlbutt’s perfume, Butt Thunder.”
  • Norbert thinks one of the other kids is a “jerk.”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • Loving Leader says he “sees all, knows all, and loves all.”
  • During a meal, Warden Buckner says, “Since today is Backward Day, it’s now time for grace before the meal.” Norbert is confused why everyone “mumbles something different. One of the adults tells him, “You can say whatever grace you feel like saying.” When Norbert asks if they are praying to Loving Leader, the adult replies, “No, silly, to a higher power.”
  • Norbert is scared of a mysterious Black Box. At one point he thinks, “I don’t know much about the higher power Crazy Swayzee talks to when he says grace, but I beg that higher power to protect me from whatever awaits me in the Black Box.”
  • When Norbert and some of his friends sneak into an adult’s office, they are almost caught.  When Norbert hears steps, he starts “praying to a higher power that my stomach doesn’t suddenly growl.”

 

Not If I Save You First

When they were ten, Maddie and Logan were best friends. Maddie thought they’d be friends forever. Maddie never cared that Logan was the president’s son. But fate dealt their friendship a deadly blow. When her Secret Service Agent father almost dies trying to save the president’s son, everything changes.

After he almost dies, Maddie’s father exchanges the White House for a cabin in the middle of the Alaskan wilderness. Maddie had no phone. No internet. No friends. And no Logan. When she first moved to Alaska, Maddie wrote letter after letter to Logan, but he never replied.

Six years later, Logan appears outside of her cabin and Maddie wants to kill him. Before she can take action, an assailant appears, almost killing Maddie and dragging Logan off into the wilderness. Maddie could go back for help, but the weather is treacherous and getting worse. Maddie goes after Logan, but she’s not sure if she’s going to save him or kill him.

In typical Ally Carter style, Not If I Save You First begins with suspense and leaves the reader turning pages until the very end. Maddie is a strong heroine who doesn’t need to rely on a guy—not even the Secret Service men—to save the day. She hides her strength and smarts behind a girly persona, which makes her incredibly likable. Her conflicting emotions regarding Logan add interest and suspense to an action-packed story.

Unlike her other books, Not If I Save You First contains violence that is often described in bloody, but not gory, detail. The storyline revolves around a kidnapping, which is a more realistic storyline than Carter’s previous books. Because of this, readers can put themselves in the character’s situation. The story has several plot twists that will surprise readers and the ends with an epic fight between good and evil. When readers finish Not If I Save You First, they will feel as though Maddie is a new friend.

Sexual Content

  • When Maddie kisses Logan, he wishes he wasn’t in handcuffs because he “couldn’t hold her, touch her, pull her close and keep her near and never, ever let her go.” He’s disappointed when he discovers that she kissed him, so she could give him the keys to the cuffs.
  • Logan and Maddie kiss several times. One time, “he was growing closer and closer and then her lips were on his again, warmer now. She tasted like snow and berries and it was the sweetest thing that Logan and ever known.”
  • When Maddie and Logan are at school, Logan kisses her, “right there in front of their school and his Secret Service detail—right in front of the world. So she kissed him back again. And again. And again.”

Violence

  • Russian terrorists attempt to kidnap the president’s wife. In the process, one of the terrorists shoots at the president’s son. Maddie’s father jumps between the man and the president’s son and shoots at the terrorist. The terrorist, “looked down at his chest, at the place where blood was starting to ooze from beneath his ugly tie, and he dropped to his knees. Then the floor. He didn’t move again.”
  • While trying to protect the president’s wife and son, Maddie’s father is shot. Even though he is hurt, he tries to go help the first lady, and “he was still dragging himself toward the box. Blood trailed behind him. . .” During the altercation, the president’s son was shot too.
  • A man kidnaps Logan and in the process, hurts Maddie. “And Maddie spun just in time to see the butt of a gun slicing towards her. She actually felt the rush of air just before the sharp pain echoed through her face, reverberating down to her spine.” When she tries to get up, the man kicks her, “a sharp pain slammed into her stomach.” The man then pushes her off a cliff and leaves her to die.
  • Logan attempts to escape, knocking the man to the ground. “The two of them rolled, kicked and tangled together. Logan managed to strike the man in the stomach, but it was like he didn’t even feel it.” Logan stops fighting when the man has him pinned down.
  • Logan attempts to escape again. Even though his hands were cuffed, “he slammed them into the man’s gut, pounding like a hammer with both fists. . .” The man pulls a knife and begins “cutting into the soft flesh between his pinkie finger and its neighbor. . . then he saw the bright red drop of blood that bubbled up from his too-white skin.”
  • Logan tries to take a satellite phone from the man. “Logan elbowed him in the ribs, but a moment later he was pinned against the ground. . . Facedown in the mud, the cold seeped up from the ground and into Logan’s bones. . .” When Logan’s face is pushed into the mud, Maddie appears and the fight stops.
  • To prove that he doesn’t value Maddie’s life, the man, “pulled back his hand, and hit her hard across the face. Her head snapped and Logan actually heard the blow. . . His hand was around her throat, fingers not quite squeezing, but close.”
  • The man shoots a ranger. “He fired. Once. Twice. And the ranger fell.”
  • In a plot to escape, Maddie blows up a bridge. “. . . the old ropes and wood exploded in a wave of color and fire and heat. . .”
  • The man recaptures Maddie and, he “jerked Maddie against him, sliding the barrel of the gun along the smooth skin of her cheek like she needed a shave.” Logan tries to help her and the two men fight, so Maddie “kicked Stefan’s shin, right where the bear trap must have caught him, because he howled in pain, dropping the gun and bringing both hands to his legs.”
  • Another bad guy surprises Maddie by grabbing her and “the man pulled her back against him and squeezed her tight, his own gun suddenly pressed to her temple.” Later Maddie, “dropped to the icy ground and kicked at his legs, knocking him off balance. . .” She shoots at the trees causing limbs to break and fall on the man. “. . .When the ice-covered limb landed atop him, he didn’t move again.”
  • The climax takes place over several chapters in which punches are thrown, people are shot, and Maddie’s father has a knife held against his throat. In order to save a life, Maddie throws a knife at a man, and, “he looked from the knife in his own hand to the blade that was stuck hilt-deep in his chest, right where his heart would have been if he had one.” The man dies.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • Freaking is used twice.

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

 

The Unexpected Everything

Andie has her life carefully planned out, beginning with this summer. She is going to attend John Hopkins University’s prestigious young scholars program, giving her a one-way ticket to one of the best colleges in the country for pre-med. This all changes when a scandal rocks her world and she must deal with her father, ranking Congressman Alexander Walker, being home for the first time in five years.

Her summer plans quickly change as she finds out that her crucial benefactor removed his letter of recommendation from her young scholars application due to her father’s circumstance. Now she’s stuck walking dogs all summer, leaving a tragic gap in her transcript.

Much to her surprise, her summer takes a turn for the better and her life is irrevocably changed by the adventures that ensue. She finds herself having the best three months of her life as she spends time with her friends, grows closer to her formerly distant father, and meets Clark, a cute teenage author. Her unexpected summer leads her to discover her true self and what’s important in life.

The Unexpected Everything is a delightful read that makes audiences yearn for those warm summer days spent with friends. This book is satisfying like drinking lemonade on a porch on a hot July day. The characters are endearing and their little charms will draw readers into this cute, though slightly predictable tale. The Unexpected Everything is a romance novel in which the main characters discuss sex. The abundance of sexual content may not be appropriate for some readers. For readers ready for a steamy romance, this enjoyable book is well worth the read.

Sexual Content

  • Andie is perpetually in cycles of dating boys for three weeks. She develops a crush, dates them, and then sets them free. Her friends nickname her a “serial heartbreaker.” Her dates are “a formality before we got to the making out part at the end.”
  • Toby believes that she is cursed to never have a boyfriend and constantly begs her friends to be her “wingwomen.”
  • At a party, Andie sees two people, “standing in the shadows of the living room, talking close, only minutes away from starting to hook up.”
  • Andie makes out with the same guy, Topher, at parties when they are both available. They never go beyond making out because Andie continually says that she is not comfortable with that. “Sometimes making out with Topher was like quenching a thirst, and sometimes it made me thirstier.”
  • Andie describes the diner as a place where she’d “made out with guys in the darkness of the parking lot, guys who tasted like milkshakes and French fries. And it was where we’d all gathered the morning after Palmer slept with Tom for the first time.”
  • Palmer is upset that being a stage manager, “means watching your boyfriend macking on some random college freshman.”
  • Bri thinks Andie saying, “I’ve got dogs to walk” sounds “vaguely dirty.”
  • After getting asked out by Clark, Andie “found my eyes drifting down to his mouth. By the end of tonight, we might have kissed.”
  • When Clark and Andie hold hands for the first time, Clark’s hand, “sent a spark through me that I felt all the way in my toes.”
  • On her kissing philosophy, Andie says, “Normally, I kissed first. I liked to take matters into my own hands, squash that moment, and get right into the make-out session.”
  • Make-out scenes between Andie and Clark are described in vivid detail. “We lingered there, our lips brushing gently. And then he raised his hand and cupped it under my chin, drawing me closer toward him, and we started kissing for real.”
  • In the world of Clark’s novels, an elder says, “Believing that such a thing—just a kiss—has ever, for even a second, existed in this world.”
  • During a pool party, Palmer and Tom make out on the diving board.
  • Over the course of her relationship with Clark, Andie’s “formerly rigid boundaries—just kissing and nothing more—had gotten a little fuzzier… everything was just feeling so good and so right that I was having more and more trouble remembering why I’d decided that was all I could do… And as I started to care very little for anything that wasn’t the two of us, alone in the darkness, it fell to Clark to pick up the slack.”
  • Before a scavenger hunt, Clark, “pulled me [Andie] in close to him, dipping me into a Hollywood-style kiss.” He then takes her keys to try to have an advantage in the competition.
  • Clark and Andie’s relationship becomes very serious. When they decide to watch a movie, they wouldn’t actually watch it. “Even if there were a movie playing, it would simply be in the background, a pretense for fooling around.”
  • In one instance, Andie and Clark are passionately making out and it escalates. “He leaned down to kiss me, and I kissed him back, and then we were kiss-walking across the room, until we fell down onto the bed together, and then there was only his lips and his hands and our breath, falling into a rhythm until I couldn’t think about anything except him, and us, and now.” They don’t actually have sex in this scene or any scene in the book.
  • Clark and Andie block off a certain date on which they decide to have sex. There is much anticipation as each prepares in their own separate ways, but the night is called off when they get into a fight.
  • Andie walks in on her two friends, Wyatt and Bri, making out with each other. This was a dramatic revelation as Bri’s best friend, Toby, had a huge crush on Wyatt. This event is the stimulus for the destruction of their friend group as they know it. It is later revealed that Wyatt and Bri were “hooking up.”
  • When Andie reconnects with Topher after breaking up with Clark, she forgets her former policy and slips her hand under his shirt. Topher goes along with it, which makes her realize that she is in love with Clark.
  • In the final scene, Andie and Clark reunite in a bookshop. “Clark was picking me up, and I wrapped my legs around his waist and we kissed, and it was like I was blocking out the commotion all around us.”

Violence

  • When Wyatt greets Tom, he always hits him in the back. Tom always says that “it hurts.”
  • Andie’s parents met when her dad was a public defender and her mom was a police sketch artist. They bonded over the sketch of a murderer they nicknamed “Stabby Bob.”
  • In Clark’s books, the main character, Tamsin, dies “a terrible death in the highest tower.”
  • When on top of a roof, Bri kicks Toby’s legs in a petty argument. Palmer throws a Sprite bottle at them to stop their bickering and to keep them from falling off.
  • In a fictional story that Andie and Clark make up in a silly game, the main characters kill each other.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • At a party as a freshman, Andie was, “drinking a beer from a red Solo cup, like an idiot.”
  • Following the prom, Toby and Wyatt “tipsily made out.”
  • At parties, Andie brings a soda bottle and fills it with “anything but brandy.” “It was the only way I let myself drink at parties.”
  • At a party, “the kitchen counter was covered with bottles and mixers and a half-filled blender, and through the open doors to the patio, I could see a keg. The people who always headed to the edges of people’s yards to smoke were smoking.”
  • Palmer is described as being amazing at “manly stuff” and had been “the one who taught us how to tap a keg, pack a bowl, and play quarters, beirut, and beer pong.”
  • At a place called the Orchard, teenagers congregate to party and drink alcohol because it is on the border of two towns and neither side’s police force wants to interfere. The characters go here often and drink. It is described as having “someone selling overpriced keg beer or cans from a cooler that never seemed to get very cold.”
  • After Wyatt has had beer, he annoyingly plays acoustic guitar.
  • During an argument with her father, Andie “could feel the anger coursing through me like a drug.”

Language

  • At a party, the host was, “telling people that the party was over and to either help him clean up or get the hell out.”
  • Toby says, “This Dr. Rizzoli guy sounds like a dick.”
  • Andie thinks a dog is saying, “get the hell away from me and the girl with the leash.”
  • Profanity is used a few times throughout the book. This includes “goddamn,” “shit,” “damn,” and “heck.”
  • While watching play rehearsal, Andie asks Palmer, “What the hell was going on.”
  • “Oh God,” “Oh my god,” “god,” “thank god,” and “swear to god” are said frequently as curses.
  • Andie’s father asks her, “Where the hell have you been?”
  • In an excerpt from Clark’s book, “Tamsin cursed under her breath.”
  • When Andie talks about the seriousness of her relationship, Toby says, “I didn’t read anything about hell freezing over today.”
  • Andie calls Bri’s cat a “jerk” and Clark’s dog “stupid.”

Supernatural

  • A vocal warm-up that the actors in the play practice makes a reference to ghosts.
  • Clark writes fantasy novels that have magic spells, dragons, and curses.

Spiritual Content

  • None

by Morgan Filgas

 

Heat

Twelve-year-old Michael Arroya dreams of playing in the Little League World Series. His pitching arm has some serious heat, but so does his day-to-day life. Michael must pretend that everything is all right, even though his father has died, and his seventeen-year-old brother is trying to take care of their needs. Michael and his brother keep their father’s death a secret from almost everyone. But then a man from social services gets curious and begins asking questions. Fear fills Michael because he’s afraid if anyone finds out the truth he’ll be separated from his brother or sent back to Cuba.

To make matters worse, some of the coaches wonder how a twelve-year-old boy can throw with so much power. When the league demands a birth certificate, Michael becomes ineligible. With no birth certificate, no parent, and no way to prove his age, how will Michael be able to make his baseball dreams come true?

Heat is not just a book about baseball; it is a book about family, friendship, and never giving up on your dreams. The story integrates play-by-play baseball action, with the suspense of Michael’s home life and the secrets he is trying to keep. The relationships between Michael’s friend, Manny, and his brother, Carlos, add interest and heart to the story. Even though Michael’s father has died, his voice still rings through his sons’ memories. This allows the father to voice important life lessons to his sons even after his death.

The story deals with the difficult theme of losing a parent, maintaining secrets, and the struggles immigrant families face. Carlos struggles to become the man of the house and keep Michael focused on his dream. The characters’ conflict has just enough detail to add suspense to the story while staying kid-friendly. By watching the characters struggle, the reader will learn the importance of staying positive and never giving up. Heat is an easy-to-read story that will appeal to sports lovers. Because the story has a lot of play-by-play baseball action, this book will not appeal to those who do not enjoy sports.

Sexual Content
• None

Violence
• When a boy steals a purse from Mrs. Cora, she “hit the ground hard, rolled on her side, feeling dizzy. . .”
• Papi watched an argument and then, “he saw the man raise a hand to the woman, knock her down to the ground.” When Papi told the man to stop, the man, “took one swing before Papi put him down . . . The man got up, tried to charge Papi like a bull. But Papi put him down again.”
• A pitcher “went into his full wind-up and threw a fastball that hit Michael in the head.” The story implies the pitcher hit Michael on purpose.

Drugs and Alcohol
• None

Language
• One of the characters is referred to as “Justin the Jerk” throughout the story.
• When a pitcher throws a ball and hits Michael, someone says, “I can’t believe they didn’t throw that puss out of the game.”
• Michael’s friend calls him “jerkwad” and later a “jerkball.”

Supernatural
• None

Spiritual Content
• Michael’s Papi told him that, “You cannot teach somebody to have an arm like yours . . . It’s something you are born with, a gift from the gods, like a singer’s voice.”
• When Michael has a baseball in his hand, he doesn’t “have a list of questions he wants to ask God.”
• Michael’s Papi would say, “If you only ask God ‘why’? when bad things happen, how come you don’t ask him the same questions about all the good?”
• Michael’s brother reminds him that, “Papi said if we had all the answers we wouldn’t have anything to ask God later.”
• Michael tells his friend to stop talking because “the baseball gods you’re always telling me about? They’re hanging on every word right now.”
• On the wall of the Yankee Stadium clubhouse a sign read, “I want to thank the Good Lord for making me a Yankee. Joe DiMaggio.”

Perfect Scoundrels

Katarina Bishop grew up in a family of criminal masterminds. Her family knows how to stay under the radar. They know how to steal. And Katarina knows that her family has her back. Although Kat’s family welcomes Hale into their lives, Kat was never meant to enter Hale’s ultra-rich world. When Hale’s grandmother dies leaving her billion-dollar corporation to Hale, everything begins to change.

With the death of Hale’s grandmother, Hale’s family gathers around to fight for the family fortune. In Hale’s family, when money is on the line, all bets are off. Everyone wants a piece of the family dynasty. As Hale becomes more entangled in the family drama, Kat realizes that there is no place for her in Hale’s world. When Kat learns that someone might have tampered with his grandmother’s will, she comes up with an elaborate plan to learn the truth. But first, she has to decide if learning the truth is more important than keeping her boyfriend.

Through Katarina’s eyes, Perfect Scoundrels brings Hale’s extremely wealthy world to life. From the outside, Hale’s life seems to be full of freedom that only money can buy, but in reality glamourous, greedy people surround him. Right from the start, the reader will be pulled into Kat’s struggle, as she keeps secrets from Hale in order to help him. As Kat and her family rally around each other to find the truth, their ambitious plot brings intrigue, suspense, and surprises around every corner.

The third installment in the Heist Society series will not disappoint readers. However, this is not a stand-alone novel. Those who have read the first two books in the series will be invested in the lives of the characters, which makes the conclusion even more surprising and satisfying. In typical Ally Carter style, Perfect Scoundrels is appropriate and will be enjoyed by both junior high and high school readers.

Sexual Content

  • After an argument, Kat and Hale are alone, and “Hale’s breath was warm on Kat’s skin. She could feel the rise and fall of his chest, and she wanted to kiss him, hold him, breathe him in . . . For a split second, he looked down at her, and she knew he was feeling that way too.” The moment is lost when Kat apologizes.
  • In order to hide, Kat and Hale go into a closet. While there, “Kat felt Hale’s mouth press against hers. His fingers wove into her hair, holding her close, gripping her tightly. It was the hungriest kiss she’d ever known, and Kat let herself get lost in it.” Hale then apologizes for kissing her.
  • Kat and Hale kiss several times, but the kisses are not described.

Violence

  • Hale’s family lawyer confronts Katarina, and he traps her against a wall. When he grabs her, Kat notices that “his breath was acrid and hot on her cheek. He brushed a finger down the side of her face until his hand rested on her throat. He squeezed gently at first. Then harder.” He then lets her go.
  • Kat and her Uncle Eddie meet up with the family lawyer to make a deal. When the deal goes wrong, Eddie ran at the lawyer and, “in a flash, Eddie was on the lawyer, the lawyer was spinning, striking the old man across the head with the metal briefcase. Blood rushed from Eddie’s mouth and he stumbled, disorient, too close to the edge. . .” Eddie falls over the barrier and a bystander says, “The man’s dead.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • While at a corporate event, Hale and another character “got into the liquor cabinet” and got drunk.

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

Uncommon Criminals

Katarina Bishop and her crew robbed the greatest museum in the world, which is why someone has asked her to steal the Cleopatra Emerald. Despite the curse of the Emerald, Katarina decides to take the job and return the jewel to its rightful owner. But when Kat and her crew go after the Cleopatra Emerald, they soon learn that the emerald is connected to their family in unexpected ways. Is there any con that can help Kat steal a treasure that has cursed all those who have tried before her?

The second installment of the Heist Society series has the same suspense and thrill as the first book. The characters’ personalities are described in more depth, which makes the book more enjoyable. Kat’s family secrets keep readers is suspense. The story’s intriguing, fast-paced plot ends with a satisfying conclusion. With plenty of plot twists, surprises, and a little bit of romance, Ally Carter’s Uncommon Criminals will delight readers of all ages.

Sexual Content

  • After a heist, Kat falls into Hale’s lap. “She didn’t think twice about the way her arms feel around his neck. When her lips found his, she didn’t pull back, she just pressed against him, sinking into the kiss and the moment until . . .” She then realizes that “Hale didn’t kiss me back.”
  • Kat kisses Hale. “She kissed him, quick and feather soft.” She tells him she kissed him “for luck.”

Violence

  • As a distraction, Nick and Hale argue over a girl. Hale hits Nick. Hale’s “fist was suddenly flying through the air. It struck Nick on the jaw, and sent the smaller boy spinning, the sound echoing in the empty hallway.” Security guards break up the fight.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Someone offers Kat a drink, and then changes her mind because Kat is a “child.”

Language

  • None

 Spiritual Content

  • None

 

Heist Society

Katarina Bishop knows how to steal. She knows how to lie. After all, at the age of three, her parents took her to the Louvre to case it. Katarina’s family—all of her family—is made up of masters at thievery. She had hoped to leave the family business. She had hoped to live a normal life. But when Kat’s friend, Hale, appears, Kat realizes that walking away from her old life and her family may not be possible.

Hale wants Kat to return to her life of crime, and he has a good reason. A powerful mobster’s priceless art collection has been stolen. The mobster is convinced that only one thief could have taken his priceless paintings—Katarina’s father. In order to help her father, Kat goes on a hunt to find the missing paintings. The job would be risky for even the most seasoned thief. Kat is determined to find the paintings. She has two weeks, a teenage crew, and hopefully enough talent to pull off the biggest heist in her family’s history. And in the end, she hopes she can steal back the normal life she left behind.

Is there any way a fifteen-year-old girl can pull off this con?

For a story that revolves around a mobster and the threat of death, Heist Society tells a suspenseful story that will have readers engrossed in Kat’s story. The plot contains twists and turns that will have readers guessing what characters can be trusted. The interplay between the diverse characters makes the story interesting and enjoyable. By the end of the story, readers will wish they could join Kat’s family at the kitchen table and plan a heist of their own.

Similar to Carter’s Gallagher Girls series, Heist Society is appropriate for younger readers but will engage readers of all ages. Heist Society delves into the themes of family, loyalty, and good versus evil.  Fast-paced, easy to read, and just plain fun, Heist Society will allow readers to fall into the world of the super-rich and leave with lessons on artwork stolen during the Holocaust.

Sexual Content

  • Gabrielle’s beauty and short skirts are mentioned several times. When she goes into a museum, “there was something about her that simply demanded the guards’ attention. Some said later it was her short skirt. Others wisely observed that it was more likely the legs that protruded beneath it.”
  • As a distraction, Nick kisses Kat. “. . . She was in Nick’s arms and he was kissing her right there in the middle of the Henley’s hallway.”
  • When Kat dresses for an event, her cousins notice her boobs. Her cousin asks, “Seriously, Kat . . . when did you get boobs?” The conversation about her boobs takes place over two pages.

Violence

  • None

Drugs and Alcohol

  • One of the characters pretends to be drunk to distract the museum guards.

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

On Point

Zayd worked hard to get on the gold basketball team. He was looking forward to a winning season and playing on the team with his best friend Adam. Zayd’s dream season is not close to reality. The team struggles to work as a team and keeps losing. To make matters worse, Adam decides he does not want to be on the team, even though he’s team captain. When the coach tells Zayd to take point, Zayd is not sure he has the skills to play the position. Zayd wants to lead his team to victory, but he wonders is he will be able to step up.

Readers will be drawn into Zayd’s daily life and his struggles on the basketball court. On Point has less basketball action than the first book of the series. Instead, the story focuses more on Zayd’s family life and the changing relationship between he and his best friend. Even though book one develops the characters, On Point can be read as a stand-alone.

Zayd faces typical dilemmas including how to deal with pressure, changing friendships, and insecurities. One dilemma Zayd faces is when a friend tells him to sign a behavioral slip for his parents, but Zayd knows that he needs to be honest. However, he does think “I suddenly realize that when I got into trouble for skipping violin practice to play basketball it was also Adam’s idea.” Through Zayd’s story readers will learn the importance of speaking up for yourself.

Zayd has a big extended family that love and support each other. The relationship between Zayd’s family members bring humor as well as show the complicated, but positive aspects of family life. Through the family’s daily life, the reader gets a glimpse into the Pakistani culture. Urdu words are scattered throughout the story; however, more context into their meaning would be helpful. The chapters are short, dialogue breaks up the paragraphs, and the word choice makes the text easy to read. On Point would be a good book for sports lovers and the relatable plot would be accessible to reluctant readers.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • None

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • “Oh my god” is used once as an exclamation.
  • Zayd’s sister calls him and his friends “dorks.”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

 

Power Forward

Zayd wants to take the basketball world by storm. In order to make his dreams come true, he’s going to have to overcome many obstacles. He knows he’s just a scrawny fourth-grader who weighs fifty-six pounds, but he’s convinced that size won’t get in his way. Zayd needs to step up his game to advance to the gold team. He’s prepared to practice, but his parents want him to focus on practicing the violin. Can Zayd convince his parents to let him pursue his passion?

Power Forward has a straightforward, easy-to-follow plot that is perfect for younger readers who are looking to transition into chapter books. The story focuses on Zayd’s desire to play basketball, but also includes glimpses into Zayd’s family life and integrates the Pakistani culture into the story. Zayd’s family adds humor and depth to the story.

Through Zayd’s experience, readers will be exposed to lessons about family, truthfulness, and the importance of perseverance. Many readers will relate to Zayd because he deals with the difficulty of being small for his age. He shows that one does not need to be at the top of the growth chart in order to be successful in sports. For those looking for a simple sports story, Power Forward is a slam dunk.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • None

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • “Oh my God!” is used as an exclamation three times in the book.
  • A character tells Zayd to explain why he skipped violin practice. “Maybe they’ll understand why you did such a boneheaded thing.”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • A character tells someone that she is going to “the mosque to plan the fund-raiser.”

 

Roller Girl

Ever since second grade, twelve-year-old Astrid has done everything with her best friend Nicole. When Astrid’s mother takes her and Nicole to a roller derby event, Astrid decides she wants to be just like roller derby girls and signs up for a roller derby summer camp. Astrid assumes Nicole will sign up with her, but Nicole signs up for ballet instead. This starts a conflict between the two friends and is the start of a difficult summer for Astrid.

At first, Astrid seems like an angry, bratty character who chases her best friend away. However, as the story progresses, the reader begins to see deeper into Astrid’s mixed emotions. Astrid struggles with the idea that Nicole wants to spend time with other people, including boys. When Astrid eavesdrops on one of Nicole’s conversations, she is upset that Nicole doesn’t stand up for her and reacts in anger. Like many preteens, Astrid must learn the difficult task of navigating friendships, but, in the end, she learns some valuable lessons including how to control her anger, how to forgive, and how to put other’s needs first. Another positive aspect of Roller Girl is that Astrid shows that through hard work and perseverance, a person can improve their skills and contribute to their team.

Readers will be drawn to Roller Girl because of the colorful cartooning that excels at showing the characters’ emotions. They will continue reading because of the fast-paced plot that covers many issues that preteens deal with: friendship, boys, parents, honesty, and feeling like a failure. The conclusion is heartwarming because Astrid changes from an angry girl into a supportive friend.

Sexual Content
• When Astrid sees her friend with a boy she thinks, “Was she on a DATE with Adam? I don’t know why this made me feel so weird . . . but it did.” As her friend walks away she wonders, “Was she going to hold hands with Adam? Was she going to KISS him?”

Violence
• In one of the pictures, siblings are shown hitting each other.
• When Astrid overhears her best friend talking to someone else about how to stop being friends with Astrid, she feels angry and throws soda at them. “I don’t know why I did it. I didn’t mean to hit them—I just meant to throw my soda at their feet.”
• Astrid is learning roller derby, which has pushing, shoving, and blocking. At practice, Astrid is thinking about hitting Nicole and hits someone else instead.

Drugs and Alcohol
• A girl tells Astrid’s friend that Astrid is “probably on drugs or something.” Astrid does not do drugs.
• When Astrid’s mother finds out Astrid has been lying to her, she says, “. . . and you’re going to be a teenager soon. How do I know you won’t lie to me about smoking, or skipping school, or doing drugs?” Astrid wonders, “Why does everyone think I’m doing drugs?”

Language
• Several characters call others names including “jerk”, “moron”, “rat-faced jerk”, “weirdo”, and “losers.”
• “OMG” and “OHMYGOD” are used as exclamations.
• “Crud” is used once.
• A character calls her siblings “turd buckets.”
• Astrid talks about how other kids call her “Ass-turd.”

Spiritual Content
• None

Escape to the Above

Wily has spent the twelve years of his life underground learning how to be a trapsmith. Wily makes traps to keep invaders from the cavern mage’s treasure. Even though Wily wonders what life in the Above would be like, he knows he can never leave.

Then a group of treasure hunters appears—an elf, a moss giant, a warrior with a magic arm. They want the caver mage’s treasure, including Wily himself. With the help of Wily, the group can invade every other dungeon and flee the Infernal King’s realm. Wily is about to go on an adventure, which will lead to a battle against the Infernal King, who uses gearfolk to terrorize and imprison the innocent. But is there any way this diverse group can work together and escape the Infernal King’s gearfolk?

A fun fantasy, Snared: Escape to the Above starts strong from the start. Wily’s underground world comes alive. When Wily leaves the cave he has lived in, seeing Wily’s perception of everyday things, such as a butterfly, is interesting and brings humor. Although Wily and his group must flee from horrors, the violence is not graphically described. Through Wily’s experience, he learns that “a prison doesn’t need cages to make you feel trapped. If you take away a person’s choices, they could be in the most beautiful place in the world and still be caged.”

Advanced elementary and junior high readers will enjoy the quirky characters and the interesting traps that Wily encounters. Although the plot is a bit predictable and the Infernal King is defeated too easily, readers will enjoy the adventure along the way. Full of humor and lessons about friendship and doing what is right, Snared: Escape to the Above will please adventure-seeking readers.

Sexual Content

  • None.

Violence

  • When invaders go into an underground cavern looking for treasure, they must go through various traps. Hobgoblets attack a knight from behind, but “the furious hobgoblets were both knocked unconscious by the flat side of a sword . . . The third hobgoblet was struck in the back of the head by the blunt end of the weapon.”
  • When a group of treasure hunters meets the cavern mage, he tries to stop them from taking his trapsmith. The mage throws magical bolts, but they do not hit anyone. Then he “snatched a quill . . . and used it to scribble ancient hieroglyphs in the air. A small tornado formed around the symbols, sweeping them up and churning them like dirty undershirts in the laundry cauldron. The blast of air struck the moss giant—and did nothing at all.” There is a fight that takes place over three pages.
  • When guards try to stop the group from leaving the underground cavern, the moss giant, “swiftly grabbed the guards in his large earthen hands and smashed their heads together. They both slid to the ground, unconscious.”
  • The king sends snagglecarts to round up citizens and put them in prison, even though they have done nothing wrong. Wiley watches a “dragon-size snagglecarts was rolling toward the mother and children with its mechanical mouth open, hungry for more prisoners. . . the gearfolk prodded the mother and two daughters, forcing them to walk up the ramp and into the jaws of the snagglecart.” A person wrapped in a cloak attacks the snagglecarts and gearfolk and “the front of the snagglecart exploded into a twisted mess of metal.” The humans are able to escape.
  • When the gearfolk try to capture Wiley and his friends, they fight back. A bounty hunter “Grabbed a wooden billy club from his rob and charged the gearfolk. The gearfolk was about to scream again when his head was knocked off by a trident. Someone is hit in the chest with a “crackling black energy,” but was uninjured. The battle takes place over a chapter, but Wiley and his friends escape unharmed. A baby crab dragon grabs the knight, “a giant claw clamped down on his leg, squeezing so tightly it was bending the metal armor around the knight’s thigh . . . The baby crab dragon made a playful click before lifting Pryvyd up and smacking him against the ground again.” Wiley is able to talk to the crab dragon, who then lets the knight go.
  • Wiley and his friends try to sneak into the king’s dungeon, but they were captured in a never-scape that was “submerged into ankle-high water.” The never-scape was slowly being submerged in water, but one of Wiley’s friends is able to help them escape.
  • At the end of the story, there is a battle between Wiley’s friends and the gearfolk, mechanical soldiers, and the cavern mage. The battle is not described in gory detail, and no one is injured.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • When invaders go into the underground cavern looking for treasure, the “ale cellar reeked of stale mushrooms and alcohol. Gigantic wooden barrels lined the walls, each big enough to store ten thousand swigs of ale.”

Language

  • When a fairy is caught spying, someone said, “Damn rust fairies are all over the city.”

 Supernatural

  • A knight has an enchanted floating arm that helps him in battle.
  • When going into a destroyed forest, ghosts appear. “Out of the mist, a stampede of spectral elk burst forth, beating their hooves against the ground. Their twisted antlers and hooves glowing a pale green like a bat’s eye while their chests were a deep emerald like the moss on Moshul’s knuckles.” When the Elk struck Wiley, he feels pain but is physically uninjured.

Spiritual Content

  • None

The House on Stone’s Throw Island

Eli isn’t happy when he boards the ferry to go to Stone Throw’s Island. He’s not looking forward to his sister’s wedding. Even though groom’s sister, Josie, is his age, he doesn’t want to meet her.  In fact, Eli can think of a million things he’d rather do than spend the weekend on a remote island.

Josie feels the same; she doesn’t want to spend time with her soon-to-be brother-in-law. But when a ghost girl enters her room, Josie decides that Eli might be the best person to help figure out who the ghost is and what she wants. As the two try to figure out the secrets of the island, they soon discover that when the dead want revenge, there is little anyone can do to stop them from getting their ghostly desire.

The House on Stone’s Throw Island grabs its readers’ attention in the very beginning and captivate them until the end. Poblocki weaves a wonderful mystery using suspense and vivid descriptions to keep readers wanting more.

Though the story deals with the ghost of a World War II German spy, most of the violence is hinted at rather than described in detail. This allows readers to use their imagination to create their own images of what happened. The story is well crafted and the two main characters, Josie and Eli, are compelling. The House on Stone’s Throw Island is a perfect book for both older and younger readers who want a good scare.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • Someone tries to kill Margo while she is asleep. “A hand came down over her face. It covered her nose and her mouth with a sweat-slick grip and squeezed . . . She pushed at the figures’ chest, but the attacker managed to slap her hands away before pressing against her face even harder.” She hits the person with a lamp and he runs off.
  • Josie reads a diary entry that describes how a German spy was, “standing over my brother with a rifle.  He used it to strike Frankie in the face.”
  • A possessed wedding guest hits someone across the face.
  • A ghost explains how he and his friends died. They were locked in a cavern and, “a storm rose up and flooded the cavern. Despite our cries for mercy, the savage siblings allowed the seawater to fill our lungs.”
  • A possessed wedding guest captures Josie. “But Bruno squeezed her tight.  Tighter. So tight, she could no longer move. So tight, she could barely breathe.”  Josie, “snapped her head forward as hard as she could, making contact with his sternum . . . She wasn’t sure if she had broken something in him or herself.” As she tries to escape his grasp, they fall down the stairs and he is knocked unconscious.
  • The skeletal remains of a German spy try to get Josie and Eli to help him.  “Here was the sallow skin, the collapsed nose, the empty eye sockets.” The ghost wants them to give them a wedding guest in exchange for Eli’s father.
  • A U-boat rams the Sea Witch. The Sea Witch crashes, but everyone survives.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • When discussing WWII, one of the wedding guests says, “Screw Hitler.”
  • Before one of the guest reveals a secret, she says, “I think now is the time to tell it. And I don’t give a good-gosh-darn about the repercussions.”
  • When being accused of being negative, one of the guests says, “Negative? Are you freaking kidding me?

Supernatural

  • Three dead German soldiers from World War II take over the bodies of the wedding guest.  The ghosts want revenge for their deaths.
  • The ghost explains what happened to him. “Our souls have been trapped here. Trapped until you arrived on this island, Madame Lintel. Your presence woke us up, and we slipped inside the skins of these men.”
  • An old U-boat and a ghost crew come up and claim three of the wedding guest.  “The three reached up, claiming the help that was being offered to them. . .the men climbed aboard the sub and stood with their compatriots, reunited in spirit at long last.”
  • Eli thinks that, “each of their souls must have been cracked just enough to let in the bad spirits. Or maybe it hadn’t been anything like that. Maybe Eli had merely been lucky they hadn’t crept inside his own head too.”

Spiritual Content

  • None

I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have To Kill You

Cammie doesn’t just feel invisible, she is trained to be invisible. After all, when a girl goes to spy school, blending into a crowd is an art as well as a talent. However, when Cammie catches the eye of a gorgeous boy—a normal, not-spy boy—being invisible isn’t an option anymore. Cammie quickly discovers that navigating the world of romance and relationships is much harder than mastering fourteen different languages and advanced encryption at school.

Cammie puts all her spy skills to the test as she tries to keep her true identity hidden from her boyfriend and her boyfriend a secret from her spy school. She knows that she will never be able to reveal that the Gallagher Academy, which most people think is a school for rich snobs, is really a school for spies. Yet for the first time in her life, Cammie is getting a glimpse of what it means to be normal.

Although Cammie and her friends are geniuses when it comes to chemical warfare and breaking CIA codes in computer class, they are completely clueless when it comes to boys.  A new roommate, a new teacher, and a covert operation class lead to laugh-out-loud situations that are simultaneously filled with suspense. Through first-person narration, Carter creates a fun, sweet story and a unique setting in which to explore the well-known troubles teens have in understanding the opposite sex.

Carter successfully creates a believable world where girls can accomplish just about anything. The characters are lovable while still being grounded in reality. Additionally, the story is full of action and explores teen romance in a wholesome way that is perfect for younger readers.

 Sexual Content

  • When talking about an attractive teacher’s tone of voice, the narrator said, “We all heard, I think you’re the most beautiful woman in the world, and I’d be honored if you’d bear my children.”
  • A CIA member, “once sweet-talked a Russian dignitary into dressing in drag and carrying a beach ball full of liquid nitrogen under his shirt like a pregnant lady.”
  • The girls wonder if the gorgeous guy is a “honey pot” and then struggle to explain what a honey pot is.
  • A friend asks the narrator if she has, “been to second base yet?”
  • The narrator receives her first kiss, and then later kisses her boyfriend so he will stop talking.
  • A boy talks about mooning the girls at the Gallagher Academy.

Violence

  • A teacher throws a letter opener at another teacher’s head, which they stop with a book.
  • In a fit of anger, a student grabs a classmate’s arm, puts it behind her back, and rips out her diamond nose ring.
  • During a mission debriefing, a student is shown a picture of her friend’s bloody and swollen face. The teacher explains that during torture, what hurts most is, “listening to her friend scream…she will be screaming for about six hours, until she becomes so dehydrated she can’t form sounds.” After the lesson, her friend walks in unharmed.
  • As part of a final test in the covert class, Cammie is “kidnapped” and a fight ensues. She is locked in a room, blindfolded, and tied to a chair.
  • When the narrator meets a girl who she thinks might be her competition, the narrator thinks about her ability, “to kill you in your sleep and make it look like an accident, you silly vapid, two bit. . .”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • It is mentioned that as part of an interrogation tactics class, the students are, “under the influence of sodium pentothal,” and Cammie mentions being a wiz at poison-concocting.
  • A student smokes a cigarette.
  • When her friend announces she has bad news about Cammie’s crush, the narrator wonders if the bad news is that, “he’s taking drugs that will prepare him for a sex change operation.”
  • A student wonders if her first covert mission is going to be, “busting up a drug cartel that’s operating out of a night club.”

Language

  • A class is described as, “damn hard.”
  • When getting assigned a mission, the narrator said it’s like getting, “a gold-freaking-star.”
  • A student uses the phrase, “bloody hell.”
  • A student calls another student a “b—” and mentions the “B word.”  The B word is implied but never spoken.

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • Although religion isn’t discussed directly, Cammie pretends to be homeschooled for religious reasons. Cammie also wears a cross and carries a What Would Jesus Do? ink pen in her bag because it helps her cover story.
  • There is a conversation about how the Bible says people have free will, but a character doesn’t feel like that applies to his life because of his parents’ expectations.

The Stepsister’s Tale

Jane and her sister should live like nobles; they are after all ladies of a once-rich family. Despite their struggle to survive, Jane’s mother refuses to acknowledge the desperate state of the family. Jane and her sister are forced to take care of all the household chores, as well as care for the livestock and garden.

Jane doesn’t think life can get much worse until her mother suddenly appears with a new husband who has a spoiled daughter. Then the unthinkable happens, Jane’s step-father suddenly dies, leaving behind more debt and his demanding daughter. In order to provide enough food for her family, Jane must reach out to a mysterious group of wood people.

With a mother who doesn’t accept reality, two sisters to feed, and winter coming, Jane wonders if hunger will claim her family. When a surprise invitation to a royal ball is delivered, she begins a plan to get rid of her step-sister once and for all. However, this Cinderella story doesn’t end with the typical happy-ever-after.

The Stepsister’s Tale will pull readers into Cinderella’s time period. Although the tale has some similarities to Cinderella’s story, The Stepsister’s Tale is fresh and interesting. Told through the eyes of Jane, the reader can easily empathize with Jane’s struggle and her desire to provide for her family even if it means going against her mother’s idea of how a lady should act.

The ending of the tale is surprising but will leave the reader with a smile. The Stepsister’s Tale would be suitable for junior high readers as well as entertaining for more advanced readers. Because the story is a retelling of Cinderella and is also a unique, tame love story, the Stepsister’s Tale will appeal to a large range of readers.

Sexual Content

  • Jane shakes the hand of a boy, and she wishes the contact would continue. Then the boy “brought her hand to his lips . . . and kissed it gently. It was over so quickly that she thought she must have imagined it.” After he leaves Jane, “lingered in the hall, looking at the back of her hand, which his lips had touched. It didn’t look any different, although it tingled; and when she pressed her own lips to the spot, she tried to imagine what it would have been like if instead of that swift kiss, he had pulled her to him and bent his head to her face and—”
  • While at a fair, a boy kisses Jane. “His lips were on hers, and he was clasping her waist and gently pulling her closer to him . . . He turned his head and kissed her palm and then her forehead, and then each eyelid and then her mouth again.” The kiss ends when some girls see Jane and cruelly make fun of her.
  • When Jane is kissed she thinks, “it felt as though that kiss was something she had been waiting for, and the warm thrill of it made her forget, for a moment at least, the pain in her feet . . . ”

Violence

  • During this time period, poachers are taken by the king’s men. A boy tells how the king’s men try to trick people into poaching. “They slit the back of a deer’s hind leg so that it can do no more than hobble, and leave it near a path.” The king’s men then watch for someone to catch the dear and the poacher is taken away.
  • Isabella has to run away from the king’s men who are chasing her.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • The king throws a party where alcohol is served.

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • There is a short conversation about fairy-people. A character tries to explain why the fairy people harm people. “If we do something they don’t like, they’ll do something to pay us back, or if they’re bored, they’ll play a trick just to be irritating. Any harm isn’t done on purpose.”
  • There is a brief mention of the fairy people exchanging a human child for a changeling.

Spiritual Content

  • None

We Are All Made Of Molecules

Stewart always wanted a sister. However, he never imagined that it would take his mother’s death, and his father moving in with his girlfriend before he got his wish. Plus Ashley isn’t anything close to being the sister of his dreams. She’s one year older than Stewart, and they have nothing in common.

Ashley is a typical mean girl whose only concern is staying at the top of the social ladder. So when her father announces that he is moving out because he is gay, Ashley fears that if any of her friends find out about her father’s gayness, it will ruin her social standing. Then when her mother’s boyfriend and son move in, Ashley’s anger ramps up even more. After all, Stewart is a total nerd.

We are all made of molecules is told from the points of view of Stewart and Ashley, who are both loveable in their own way. Stewart is a logical nerd who just wants to fit in. Ashley is a self-centered, angry teen who is trying to deal with the upheaval in her life. Having the story told by both Stewart and Ashley gives the book an interesting twist, because not only can the reader see each character’s thoughts and feelings, but the reader also sees how the two view each other.

Through Ashely’s experiences, the reader learns about the danger of drinking as well as the sexual dangers girls may face. In the end, Ashley realizes that outward appearances are not as important as she thought, and that nerdy Stewart may just know a thing or two about friendship.

We are all made of molecules is an easy-to-read, fun story that explores the messy relationships of parents. Ashley’s father reveals that he is gay, and his gay boyfriend appears. Ashley’s mother has her boyfriend and son move in. In the story, the group of five is shown becoming a unique family unit.

Sexual Content

  • A subplot of the story is about Ashley’s divorced father, Phil, who has revealed that he is gay. In one scene, Phil tells Stewart, “I didn’t decide to be gay. It’s not something you choose.” They then discuss why Phil married Ashley’s mother and didn’t tell people he was gay until two years ago. Phil says, “I didn’t want to be gay. I grew up in a very conservative and strict religious family . . . I made myself believe I was straight.”
  • Ashley sees her father kiss another man.
  • In the locker room, Stewart, “sat quietly on one of the benches and tried not to stare, but it was impossible not to notice that almost every single guy in my class was well into puberty. They had hair in all the right places, and their you-know-whats actually dangled. . . Mine does not dangle. Mine is more like a protruding belly button.”
  • Ashley watches an episode on TV about a guy that found out that, “he wasn’t the father of his girlfriend’s baby, and that the real father was the guy’s own brother.”
  • Jared says to Stewart, “You have the hots for your stepsister, don’t you? Gross, Stewie, that’s verging on incest.”
  • Ashley goes to Jared’s house and while there he pushed her onto the bed and tried to take her shirt off. “I grabbed his hands, but he kept yanking . . . I tried to move, but he pinned my arms down. When I looked at his face, it was as if he’d gone somewhere else. It was like I wasn’t even there . . .He was pulling at my shirt and my skirt at the same time.” Then the housekeeper comes in and Ashley leaves.
  • At a party, Ashley is passed out on her bed. After Jared and his friend make sure Ashely was completely out of it, Jared pulls up her shirt and takes a picture of her in her bra. Jared then pulls up her skirt and takes a picture of her underwear.” Then Stewart shows up and runs off with Jared’s phone and calls the police.
  • When some of the students at school find out that Ashely’s father is gay, one of the characters says, “I think it’s so cool that your dad is gay. It’s so . . . twenty-first century. Very cutting-edge. Ashley is then invited to the LGBT club. Ashley says, “But I’m not gay. Or lesbian, or bi, or transatlantic.”

Violence

  • Stewart tries to hide in the locker room because he doesn’t want to take a shower with the other boys. When Jared notices him, he “grabbed my gym shorts and yanked them down around my ankles . . .Then suddenly he grabbed hold of my boxers and I realized with sphincter-tightening horror that he was about to pull them down.” Then the teacher walks in and Jared leaves.
  • When Jared sees Stewart in the locker room, he again tries to pull his pants down. Stewart was prepared and wearing a wrestling uniform. Then Jared, “Yanked my T-shirt up and over my head. I couldn’t see a thing. I felt his hand grab one of the straps of my wrestling uniform and pull it down . . .” Before Jared can get the uniform off Stewart, Steward reveals that he is Ashley’s brother and Jared stops.
  • Stewart is wearing the school bulldog mascot costume and scares Ashley. “She started pummeling me . . . She started kicking me. I tried to shout, but my voice was muffled, and her screams drowned me out.”
  • Jared was kicked out of a private school. He said he, “dealt with someone who needed dealing with. Guy was a colossal turd, and everyone knew it.” Later in the story, it is revealed that in the locker room, Jared beat up the guy because he was gay. “Then I saw him looking at my junk after our final game, so I punched him . . . stupid faggot.”
  • Jared said that Ashley was a, “total tease. All she’s let me do is squeeze her tits a few times. Outside her clothes . . . I’ll break that bitch down.”
  • Stewart remembers a time when a little boy was throwing rocks at him. The little boy’s mom and Stewart’s mom got into an argument. “That’s when my mom picked up a stone and threw it at [the kid]. Not hard, but still; I couldn’t believe my eyes . . . Then she threw a second stone.”
  • Stewart is dressed up as the school mascot when Jared comes up to him and talks badly about Ashley. When Jared walks onto the basketball court, Steward, “was working on pure fury when I ran onto the court and plowed my dog-head into Jared’s stomach . . . I ran behind him and pulled his gym shorts, along with his underwear, down to his ankles.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Jared invites Ashely over to his house. Jared drinks a beer and Ashley has a wine spritzer.
  • Ashley has a party. Some of Jared’s friends show up. “They were carrying bottles of vodka and rum and stuff, probably stolen from their parents’ liquor cabinets.”

Language

  • One of the characters describes her family as FUBER. Then she explains the term is a military term that means, “’Effed Up Beyond All Recognition,’ but in the military, they don’t say ‘effed.’”
  • Ashley called a girl’s mother a “skank.”
  • When her mother’s boyfriend compliments the pasta, Ashley thinks, “which was a total butt-kiss because the pasta was just so-so.”
  • Ashley describes her mom’s boyfriend as having, “MPAL (Male Pattern Ass Loss, a tragic and devastating syndrome in aging men.”
  • When Ashley finds out Stewart is in the same English class as her, she thinks, “OH MY GOD . . . This cannot be happening.”
  • Ashley said she had a “crappy day.” She also tells her friend that a pair of jeans makes her “ass look fat.”
  • Profanity is not used frequently, but it is scattered throughout the book. The profanity includes: hell, ass, bitch, pissed, slut, faggot, shit.

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • Stewart thinks about his dead mother. “Even though the scientific part of my brain tells me she probably isn’t looking down on me from heaven, and that all that is left of her is random molecules, I feel a deep need to do this for her.”

Expelled

Theo Foster’s secret Twitter account just went viral. Now he and three other teens are expelled and Theo is determined to find out who is guilty and who is innocent.

Theo forms an unlikely allegiance with the three others who have been expelled. There is Sasha, the girl he’s been secretly crushing on, Jude, the school mascot and Theo’s best friend, and lastly Parker, the quarterback. Everyone seems to have a secret that they want to hide. Can Theo discover the truth? And will the truth bring these unlikely teens together?

James Paterson creates a first-person narrative that makes the reader fall in love with Theo and his unlikely friends. Although Theo is all about saving himself, he is completely relatable and loveable. The characters in Expelled jump off the page with humor, anger, and an array of teen emotions.

Expelled explores several deep issues include steroid use and incest without going into graphic detail. In the end, the reader will learn that other people’s lives are not as perfect as we imagine them to be.  Despite the engaging story, there are several drawbacks to Expelled. There is frequent and creative use of profanity as well as sexually crude remarks. Because of this, Expelled should be enjoyed by older readers.

Sexual Content

  • Someone posted a picture on social media. The picture was of the quarterback, “drunk and shirtless . . . He’s got a bottle of Jack Daniels in his right hand and the bare breasts of an unidentified female in very close proximity to his left.”
  • Jude is a “sixteen-year-old-bisexual virgin in a Hello Kitty T-shirt.” He is bullied even though his school has a Gay-Straight Alliance club and “the rainbow flag over the counselor’s office.”
  • Parker’s friend has a dog that humps a pink pig stuffed animal. “He’s always horny in the morning,” Jude says. “Also, he and Sex Pig are in love.”
  • Jude wants to go to art school. When talking about it, he tells Parker, “RISD’s school mascot is a giant penis named Scrotie.”
  • Parker asks a computer nerd if his porn isn’t downloading fast enough.
  • When Parker is looking at Sasha’s ears, he has, “an almost overwhelming desire to kiss them.”
  • Sasha said that she has a “dick pic” that the quarterback sent her.
  • Parker kisses Sasha. “Sasha’s mouth is soft and warm, and it opens to mine. I’m going to die of how good this feels. I let go of her with one hand, and twist my fingers into her dark hair, hot and silky in the sun.”
  • Sasha tells Parker that her dad molests her. “. . .he pressed me up against the refrigerator and he kissed me. . .” When her father tries to convince Sasha that incest is okay, he said, “Greek nobles used to kidnap young boys, take them into the forest, and rape them, and no one had any problem with that.”

Violence

  • Parker thinks about someone who killed themselves from jumping off a water tower. “. . . I can’t help wondering how he did it. How he coaxed himself to the edge and then leapt into the air.”
  • Parker’s father committed suicide because he had ALS. Parker thinks of finding the body. “There was still the blood. The gun. The shattered back window of the car.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Someone dressed as the school mascot. When trying to find out who it was, the quarterback said, “I was so drunk it could have been Tinkerbell under that head.” Later the quarterback tells Parker, “I was torn up that night, bro. I did six Jager shots and woke up under the bleachers.”
  • The Shell station is where “you can shoulder-tap for beer if your fake ID sucks.” However, Parker has never tried to use his fake ID.
  • Sasha’s dad is seen drinking whiskey and often seems drunk.
  • Parker has a secret social media account where he likes to post “harmless gossip.” In one post he said someone was, “drunk enough last weekend to introduce self to own dad.”
  • When talking about the picture, Parker asks his friend if he knows who was wearing the mascot head, “and then whoever that was go so wasted he whipped his dick out in front of an iPhone.”
  • Feeling sorry for himself, Parker drinks half a bottle of Knob Creek whiskey.
  • Parker talks about how fishing usually involves beer because all you do is sit and wait for a fish to bite the bait.
  • A computer smart boy tells Parker, that if he wanted to he could, “have six pounds of heroin sent to his mother at her office.” The boy then admits it would be “tricky.”
  • Parker goes to a baseball game and one of his friends is drinking a Michelob Ultra “she bummed off a guy coming out of the 7-Eleven.” Her water bottle is also filled with vodka.
  • Sasha said her mom was into the art scene and would go to, “really fancy restaurants and snort lines off the porcelain in the ladies’ room.”
  • Parker throws a prom for those who are expelled from school. The kids that attend drink. Someone brings a keg to the party. One boy brings a case of Tecate.
  • The quarterback reveals that the coach has been giving steroids to the players. “They shot me full of chemicals like I was a prize-winning steer!” He takes his jeans down, “so I can see half of his left ass cheek, where the skin is puckered and red—a big, angry scar.”

Language

  • Profanity is used often throughout the book. The profanity includes ass, bitch, dick, fuck, goddamn, hell, piss, pussies, shit, and wiseass.
  • Parker thinks waking his friend up early was a “dick move.” He often thinks of other people as a “dick.”
  • Sasha said, “Oh, my God I don’t know why I called you a nerd.”
  • Several times Parker uses Jesus as an exclamation. For example, he said, “Jesus, you scared me!”
  • While at an expulsion hearing, the narrator thinks, “I’ve heard that some kids show up to expulsion hearings with lawyers. Probably, at the very least, they bring a pissed-off parent or two.”
  • Parker is upset that people think he posted the picture, and he would like to “kick the ass of whoever’s trying to make me take the fall for it.” Later he yells that he will “tell my side of the story. And I will make my own goddamn ending!”
  • When Parker starts asking questions about the picture, someone jokes that “Those are my tits in the picture.”
  • Parker’s mom leaves him a note not to eat all the ice cream “or there’ll be hell to pay.”
  • Parker sees graffiti that reads, “fuck school.”
  • When leaving, someone says, “later bitches.”
  • Parker thinks to himself that he is an “asshat.”
  • Parker yells at the quarterback, “You were too much of a pussy to admit you hated it (football).”
  • When Parker tells Mr. Palmieri, the school administrator, about the steroid, Mr. Palmieri says, “God fucking damn it.”

Spiritual Content

  • When talking to his mom, Parker asks her “if she felt hypocritical, seeing as how she’d been a socialist atheist at UCLA.”
  • Sasha, an atheist, tells Parker that, “my grandma used to make prayer shawls . . . with each stitch, she’d say a little prayer for the person she was making it for.”
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