Reading Level: Young Adult

Losers Bracket

Annie’s two worlds collide when her biological family and foster family both come to watch her swim meet. A fight breaks out between the two families resulting in Annie’s nephew, Frankie, running away. Annie must rely on her friends, her foster brother, and her social service worker to help her better understand her biological family. In the end, Annie vows to help Frankie find a safe home.

Annie finds refuge from her troubles when attending a book club. In the book club, Annie and other high school students engage in discussions about heroism, family, and stories. These discussions help Annie make sense of her life. Annie also finds support and comfort in her best friend, Leah, and in Walter, a good-hearted biker.

Although Annie partakes in basketball and swimming, there are no play-by-play sports scenes and hardly any sports terminology is used. While sports give Annie an outlet to let off some steam, their main function is to give Annie’s mother an opportunity to see her. Sports fans may be disappointed by the lack of sports scenes.

Crutcher portrays a realistic take on the life of a foster child, and clearly and realistically communicates Annie’s intense feelings. The book is told in the first person, and Annie does not sugarcoat any of her feelings or experiences. Annie constantly disregards her foster parents’ rules, but she is very empathetic. Throughout the book, Annie learns that people can be immeasurably kind and selfless. She also learns to appreciate and love her biological family, even if they behave poorly. Loser Bracket teaches that everyone deserves to tell their own story.

Even though Loser Bracket is written at a fifth-grade reading level, the story hits on tough, mature topics such as abortion, obesity, domestic violence, and suicide. For example, Annie’s sister tries to kill herself and her son by driving her car into a lake. A must-read for mature readers, Losers Bracket is a thought-provoking book about what it means to call someone “family.”

Sexual Content

  • When Annie says she is going to suck at the butterfly stroke, Leah tells her it doesn’t have to be pretty because Annie “gets to dazzle some young horny Michael Phelps never-be studs laying out on a blanket in your skimpy Speedo two-piece between races.”
  • Annie thinks, “There is something powerful about making guys drool, even if they’re doughy little boys three to six years younger, walking around between races with their beach towels high up under their boy boobs to hide their cottage cheese handles. I’m pretty sure this sick little part of me has something to do with what Nancy calls my ‘Boots wiring,’ which is designed to ‘git yourself a man.’”
  • Annie talks about past experiences where she realized she could use her body to her advantage.
  • Annie’s mother encouraged Annie to use her body to her advantage. Annie’s mother “told me every chance she got that ‘them titties’ could get me all of what I needed and most of what I wanted. I’m not going into it, but mostly they got me fingerprints and lies.” Annie goes on to say she is “not going down that road,” and she only dates a guy “if he keeps his hands in his pockets.”
  • Annie thinks her swim coach’s girlfriend “doesn’t like the way I twitch my bikini butt at her boyfriend.”
  • At book club, Annie thinks a boy will remember Maddy because of her “outstanding cleavage.”
  • During book club, Maddy tells a boy to speak up and, “make your voice like your pecs.” Annie explains, “If he does make his voice like his pecs, it will be loud and clear . . . almost any T-shirt fits him like a coat of paint.”
  • Marvin, Annie’s foster brother, tells Annie he can hear his parents talking in their room through the heat grate in his room. He says, “Unfortunately, that’s not all you hear,” hinting that he can hear his parents having sex.
  • Although the word “masturbation” is never used, Marvin hints that he does it. He tells Annie, “Hey, everyone thinks guys my age are stumbling into puberty trying to figure out what to do with our di. . . private parts. I know exactly what to do with my private parts; I just don’t know who to do it with. Except for, you know, myself.” He goes on to tell Annie how his dad got him a kitten to “keep him from practicing” because “when a kitten sees something moving under the covers, he pounces.”
  • Annie describes the show The Leftovers. “On October 14 of whatever year, at the exact same moment, two percent of the population of Earth vanished . . . if you were some guy making love with one of the two percent, you better be on a soft mattress because you’re going to fall about a foot. Farther if it happened to be Nancy. . . these ‘leftover’ people screw like rabbits, because who knows when it will happen again.”
  • Annie jokingly tells Marvin to “memorize the naked scenes” on the show they’re watching because “there will be a test.” Marvin answers, “Which I will pass with flying colors. I may even go on the Internet afterward to pick up some extra credit.”
  • Someone tells Annie, “You’re almost eighteen. In some cultures, you’d be a sex slave by now.”

Violence

  • When Annie’s mom doesn’t show up to her swim practices, Annie feels an emptiness. But when she does show up, Annie is ready for a fight. Annie thinks her brain is “wired backwards,” and compares this phenomenon to “those chicks who cut on themselves; no obvious upside, but every one of them says there’s relief when the blade or the piece of glass slices through.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Walter says Annie’s mom didn’t show up to the basketball game because “Something urgent came up.” Annie asks, “Was it in a pill bottle?”
  • Annie watches her nephew Frankie play with two stuffed animals. He makes them talk, saying they “don’t need no dads ‘cause they do drugs and go to jail. And they hurted our mom.”
  • At Annie’s swim meet, her biological and foster families get into a fight. Annie recounts, “Sheila [Annie’s sister], who must be high, is convinced these people [her foster family] are actually here to taunt me.”
  • Annie and her best friend, Leah, spend hours looking for Frankie. When Leah tries to reassure her, Annie says, “Yeah, well, tell you what’s about to happen with my drug-crazed whore of a sister. She’ll get on TV and cry and say what a wonderful little guy her Frankie was and how desperate and brokenhearted she is, and when it dies down she’ll double her drug use and Frankie will just be another awful Boots memory.”
  • Leah says humans “get a nine-month head start with our mothers, no matter how messed up they are . . . We eat what they eat, share their fluids. . . Biology doesn’t separate vitamins from drugs.”
  • Someone tells Annie that her sister is dropping weight fast. Annie asks, “Like a meth user? Does she still have teeth?”
  • The family goes to Quik Mart every year for Thanksgiving dinner. “Though Quik Mart sells wine, you’re not allowed to drink on the premises, so Walter buys a few bottles and hides them in the toilet tank in each restroom, where you sneak in to fill the Diet Pepsi can you brought inside your backpack.”

Language

  • Profanity is used frequently. Profanity includes: crappy, crap, bitch, bitchy, son-of-a-bitch, ass, asshole, hard-ass, dumb-ass, kick-ass, shitty, shit, shithole, bullshit, damn, damned, hell, bastard, goddamn, fuckin, fuck, bigot, and piss off.
  • Lord, Jesus, God, Oh my God, and For Chrissake are all used several times as exclamations.
  • One of the characters is referred to as a dyke.
  • When Annie is losing a swim race, she was “cursing Janine like she’s the Antichrist.”
  • A woman says she is married with two kids that she would “murder Jesus for.”
  • Annie thanks her coach for “kicking my butt this summer. For keeping me swimming this god-awful butterfly until I got it.”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • Walter tells Wiz, a social worker, “I’m not a religious man, Wiz; don’t know God from no God from Christian God from Muslim God from Star Wars God.”
  • At book club, the members talk about heroes. Mark asks about Jesus, and Annie thinks, “Very little of what we discuss doesn’t go back through Nazareth for Mark.” When someone says Jesus isn’t real, Mark says, “Nobody more real than Jesus.”
  • Annie thinks, “Mark . . . holds tight to his Christian beliefs, though he never pushes them on you like some people. He also acts on them.”
  • Someone tells Mark, “Pinocchio is more real than Jesus.”
  • When students in the book club try to place Jesus in the same category of popular culture heroes, Mark says, “I’ve been in church every Sunday and Wednesday night since, like, before I can remember. . . that’s where all my heroes come from, starting with Jesus…I just couldn’t leave Him in with Yoda and Obi-Wan.”
  • During the book club’s debate on heroism, someone explains the dilemma of The Last Temptation of Christ.
  • When someone searches the river for Frankie but doesn’t find him, Annie thinks, “Thank God.”
  • Walter tells Annie how he struggled with PTSD. “I’d tried everything . . . Every church told me something different – didn’t know whether to let Jesus save me or save myself.” He goes on to say how he almost went “out the easy way,” but realized “if I jump and there’s a god, I’m going to have to account for myself.”
  • Walter tells Annie he wanted to help her biological mother, and Annie asks if he thought God was testing him. Walter answers, “The world tests you, Annie. If there’s a god, he has bigger fish to fry.”
  • Mark tells the book club about his sister who had an abortion and was thus banished from his religious family. Annie tells Mark, “If you do go to [your sister] you lose seven other people, all family.” Mark adds, “And Jesus.”
  • Another book club member says, “I go to church, too, and the Jesus I know would treat your mother like a money changer, no offense to your mother.”
  • Annie thinks, “I remember talking with Mark about God one night after book club last year, walking away thinking I hope he’s right. I hoped some great big entity is watching, some entity who wants things to turn out right . . . and who has the power to make that happen. But at the same time I was afraid to want it, because of how much it hurts to not get it.”

by Jill Johnson

Alabama Moon #1

For as long as ten-year-old Moon can remember, he has lived out in the wilderness in a shelter with his father. They keep to themselves, and their only contact with other human beings is an occasional trip to the nearest general store. When Moon’s father dies, Moon follows his father’s last instructions: to travel to Alaska to find others like themselves. But Moon is soon caught and entangled in a world he doesn’t know or understand. Soon, he’s become the property of the government he has been avoiding all his life. As the spirited and resourceful Moon encounters constables, jails, institutions, lawyers, true friends, and true enemies, he adapts his wilderness survival skills and learns to survive in the world of people, and even, perhaps, make his home there.

While Moon’s life is not something most readers can imagine, they will soon be entangled in his story. When Moon’s Pap dies, Moon doesn’t understand why he can’t continue to live in his dirt hovel. Moon wrestles with his father’s ways as well as the world’s ways. Despite his loneliness, Moon fights everyone who tries to drag him away from his hovel to a boys’ home. Moon’s fight is both fast-paced, engaging, and full of surprises.

Alabama Moon takes the reader into the backwoods of Alabama and shows the beauty of living off the land. While the story is full of action, readers will also form an emotional connection to Moon’s story. In the end, many readers will be left in tears as they wonder why our world is so harsh. While Moon’s story ends on a hopeful note, Alabama Moon doesn’t shy away from the tough topics of death and the effects of war. But the main theme that shines is the importance of friendship.

The author’s love of the outdoors and his knowledge of nature allows him to paint a realistic picture of surviving in the wild. Alabama Moon combines intense senses with moments of tenderness and humor. The story highlights the father-son relationship and shows the deep love a son feels for his father—even when his father isn’t perfect.

Anyone who loves an action-packed survival story will love Alabama Moon. The characters are realistic and imperfect. The story doesn’t portray adults as always having the right answers, and some of the adults admit to having made a wrong choice. In the end, Moon realizes the importance of having friends and supportive adults in his life. Moon’s story will leave a lasting impact on readers and will help them appreciate the people in their lives.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • When a store owner named Mr. Abroscotto says Moon’s father’s plan was crazy, Moon jumped on him. “I started hitting him with my one hand that wasn’t holding on to him. I pounded him on the cheek over and over as fast as I could. . .I kicked him in the knee.”
  • When a social worker shows up to take Moon to a boys’ home, Moon “balled my fist, and socked him in the crotch.” The social worker “pulled his knees in tight as a baby and moaned curses at me.”
  • When a constable tries to detain Moon, Moon tries to run away. Moon “punched him in the face as hard as I could. . . He stood up with me and crushed me against his chest. For a moment I couldn’t breathe, and I felt that my shoulders were about to snap. . . I spun around and bit him on the tit. . .” The constable is able to get Moon into the back of his car.
  • After the constable talks badly about Moon’s father, Moon, “Jumped at him. . . I bit into his shoulder and chewed at it like it was tough gristle. . . He grabbed me around the waist with both hands and squeezed so hard that my body shot with pain and I had to throw my head back and cough at the sky.” Moon pees on the constable. The constable squeezes Moon until Moon is sick.
  • The constable goes to see one of his renters, who is behind on the rent. He “suddenly let go of the steering wheel and backhanded the man across the jaw.”
  • When Moon gets to the boys’ house, he meets Hal, who trash talks him. “I swung my arm from under the blanket and hit him open-handed across the face. . . the big kid recovered and grabbed for my feet. . .” Mr. Carter breaks up the fight. When Hal is disobedient, “Mr. Carter took two steps and grabbed him by the shirt collar. He lifted Hal like a scarecrow and dragged him across the room. He hung there, red-faced and coughing against the shirt that pressed into his throat.” Mr. Carter throws Hal outside and makes him sleep in the cold.
  • Hal approaches Moon. “Hal was walking faster, and he seemed to have something in mind for me. . . While I was crouched down, I hit him as hard as I could in the crouch. Then I covered my face with my hands and started rolling across the ground.”
  • The constable, Sanders, puts Moon on a leash and drags him around. “After we had traveled about a mile, Sanders yanked the leash so hard that I coughed against it. A sharp pain shot up into my head, and I gritted my teeth again. . . I rushed against the leash and felt it jerk me backwards until I lay flat in the leaves. Sanders laughed over me.” When another adult sees Sanders and questions him, Moon is able to run away.

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • Moon is put in jail. “The only other person in a cage, across the hall from me . . . said they locked him up for being too drunk and wrecking his car.”
  • The constable uses Copenhagen chewin’ tabacco.
  • Hal’s father is a drunk. Hal says, “My daddy never did learn to read good. He was so drunk most of the time, he could barely see.” When Hal’s father is driving home, he “pulled a bottle of whiskey from under the truck seat and took a swallow.”
  • When Moon walks up to Hal, Hal “held out a bag of Red Man chewing tobacco” and asked, “you want some?”

Language

  • Profanity is used frequently. Profanity includes ass, crap, damn, hell, and piss.
  • God and Jesus are both used as an exclamation several times. For example, after Moon hit Mr. Abroscotto, he said, “God, that hurt!”
  • Several times someone called Moon a “little bastard” and a “militia bastard.”
  • The constable asks a jailer, “Where’s that little pissant?”
  • The constable tells Moon, “You ain’t nothin’ but white trash. Worse than white trash. . . You’re stinkin’ militia trash, is what you are.” The constable tells Moon that his dad was “some dirty low-life.”
  • Four times, the constable uses the word “sum-bitch.”
  • Someone tells Moon that Sanders “is a bully and a bigot. . . He’s unintelligent, and he’s mean and he’s in a position of power. That’s a bad combination to be facing.”
  • A police officer tells Moon, “You’re a real pain in the ass, you know.”
  • Moon’s aunt says, “My Lord” twice. For example, when Moon tells his aunt that he’d like to eat four times a day, she says, “My Lord!”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • Moon’s father “said you passed and came back as something else. It could be a squirrel or a coon. It could be a fish or an Eskimo. There was no way to tell.”
  • At the boys’ home, a prayer is said before dinner.
  • Moon’s father “told me I could talk to him be writin’ letters and burnin’ ‘em. He said you can talk to dead people that way.” Moon does this several times.

 

 

The Gravity of Us

Cal has his life figured out. He loves living in Brooklyn, where he has friends and a plan. He’s gaining views for his live reporting on the social media app FlashFame, and his journalism career is about to take off with a major internship. But all of this turns upside down when his father—Cal Senior—receives word that his application to NASA has been accepted. Cal’s father is slated to be on the upcoming Mars mission, and their family must relocate to an idyllic small town in Texas where all the astronaut families live.

While he’s upset to lose his internship, Cal soon realizes that he still has the chance to hone his journalism skills. A reality TV network called StarWatch has exclusive control over the narrative around the space program—and therefore the related public interest and government funding. Instead of focusing on the fascinating science of the upcoming Mars mission, StarWatch documents the lives of the astronaut families solely for manufactured drama. When Cal decides to keep live-streaming his own experiences, he becomes an opponent of StarWatch, who are obsessive about their tight control over the astronauts’ public images. Soon, Cal finds himself caught up in the world of high-stakes publicity. He tries to portray his family and the rest of the astronaut families truthfully and honestly, while multiple media forces vie for public interest.

Romance happens when Cal meets and immediately is enamored with another astronaut’s son, Leon. Leon, an ex-star gymnast, suffers from depression and is reluctant to enter into a relationship with someone who thinks he can “fix him.” Cal and Leon immediately have chemistry, but before they finally instigate a real relationship, they try to understand each other and respect each other’s needs.

The Gravity of Us promises a space-centered story but delivers a story that’s more focused on PR and social media journalism than a future Mars mission. While Cal is determined to make the public care about NASA for the science, readers may find that they still don’t get to see as much science as they want. Readers looking for an ultra-realistic view of NASA’s operations, like in The Martian, will be disappointed. Many fascinating logistical aspects of space missions—such as astronauts’ rigorous psychological testing and training—are swept aside or ignored.

The romance is cute but hollow. Cal and Leon have no barriers separating them except for Leon’s depression, which is never really given the attention it needs to be a fully effective aspect of the plot. The main conflict between them is that Cal is concerned that Leon doesn’t know what to do after he graduates from high school. In the end, Leon tells Cal that he’s figured out what he wants to do. It’s anti-climactic and may disappoint readers who want reassurance that they don’t have to have their lives figured out at eighteen.

Overall, The Gravity of Us has little of the gravitational pull promised. While it draws on the images of outer space in its title and cover, the book uses a vague portrayal of NASA to show an ordinary teen romance.

Sexual Content

  • Cal recalls interviewing a Republican Senate candidate and grilling him about “charges of sexual harassment.”
  • Cal says his mom is cautious when entering his room because “she’s always afraid she’ll catch me doing ‘something,’ and we all know what that ‘something’ is, but I’m also not an idiot and can figure out how to do ‘something’ twice a day having never been caught thank you very much.”
  • Cal recalls an old romantic fling with a boy named Jeremy, where he “sunk into his lips, the taste of Coors Light on our tongues.” Jeremy “was new and exciting, and he was there as I took a self-guided tour of my own queerness—something I may never fully find the right label for.”
  • When Cal is with Leon, “I get the urge to kiss him . . . nowhere in my perverse mind do I think he needs this kiss to fix him. I want him, and I want to do it for me. And humanity, even. I want the world to be that much better because of our lips touching and his hand in my hair and…”
  • Cal and Leon kiss. Leon’s “lips are soft and perfect and tug at mine like he’s been waiting for this moment forever. Like he’s been waiting for more than just a week to be with me like this. In seconds, our mouths are on each other and his hand is behind my neck. And my heart’s about to beat out of my chest. It’s too fast and not nearly enough.”
  • Cal and Leon kiss again. “This one isn’t as passionate, it isn’t as hungry, but it makes my insides jump the same way. There’s a caring force in the tug of his lips, and in his bite, I lose control of my body and feel light-headed.”
  • During a makeout session between Cal and Leon, “We’re pressed into each other, and there’s nothing on my mind but his taste. His tongue slips into my mouth, and I press mine against his. I moan softly because it feels so right. So perfect . . . just keep kissing him. We keep celebrating our closeness in muffled moans and gasped breathing.”
  • When Cal and Leon are alone in a hotel room, “We pull off our shirts, and I press his body into mine. His breath hits my neck as our legs hook around each other. We’re a mash of tongue and teeth and warmth.” They stay the night together, but the book doesn’t go into detail about what else they do.
  • Cal brings Leon over to his house because it’s “definitely empty,” with the implication that this is an opportunity for sex. “His face is pressed to mine as I get my key out and unlock the back door . . . and we push through the dark house.” The scene ends soon afterward without revealing any more detail.

Violence

  • When Cal sees how upset his mom is, “I scan her for bruises, for covered arms, for anything—though I know Dad would never hurt her like that.” His suspicions are unfounded—although Cal’s parents argue often, they never get violent with each other.
  • Cal says that the sound of his friend’s parents fighting in a neighboring apartment scares him. “The echoed sound of a fist breaking through a particleboard door settles in my head.”
  • A man looks like “his whole body might be made of stone.” Cal says, “I have a feeling that if I were to punch him in the gut, I’d be the one hurting.”
  • The characters wait anxiously for news about a jet, which was carrying NASA astronauts, that wrecked. One astronaut is killed and several are injured, but the crash isn’t described in detail.
  • An unmanned NASA launch “explodes in the sky.” Cal describes being “barely knocked back by the blast, like a strong but very warm gust of wind.” Then the spacecraft “becomes nothing but some smoking ash.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • When he gets into the astronaut program, Cal’s father pours champagne for the whole family—“Even for you, Cal. It’s a special occasion.”
  • Cal’s friend says that she likes “watching astronauts get drunk off champagne before falling face-first into a bush.”
  • At an astronaut party, Cal sees “bottles of champagne sitting in a copper tub full of ice.” He notes that “no one would notice a bottle—or ten—missing from this supply.”
  • Cal and Leon steal a champagne bottle from the party and go out back to drink it. Cal drinks the champagne. “The tart, fizzy liquid burns my throat as I swallow it down. The taste isn’t great, but I could get used to it.”
  • Someone gives Cal gum “to cover that champagne breath.”
  • Cal’s mother manages her chronic anxiety “with her therapy appointments and an assortment of low-dosage medication.”
  • Cal steals some champagne from his parents and pops the bottle when he’s alone with Leon. They drink from it together. “I pull the bottle to my mouth and take a sip of the bitter foam.”
  • Cal says, “I start to understand why people celebrate with champagne. It lifts me up, it celebrates my own energy.”

Language

  • Profanity is used frequently. Profanity includes: damn, hell, shit, and fuck.
  • “Oh my God” and “Jesus” are frequently used as exclamations.
  • Cal refers to Clear Lake, Texas as “literal hell” because of its hot weather.

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • The Mars mission is named Orpheus, after the story of Orpheus and Eurydice from Greek mythology. A character explains how “Eurydice dies; Orpheus takes his magical lyre and travels to Hades to save her. He plays his lyre for Hades, who promises to return Eurydice under one condition: she would follow, but if he turned to look at her, she’d be gone forever.”

by Caroline Galdi

Path to the Stars: My Journey from Girl Scout to Rocket Scientist

Sylvia is surrounded by family and friends. She lives in a close-knit neighborhood where everyone speaks Spanish. Sylvia loves her life because there are always other children to play with. Then Sylvia’s sister, Laura, gets really sick and everything changes.

Even though Laura recovers, she is never the same cheerful, inquisitive child she once was. Because of Laura’s illness, Sylvia’s mother decides to move the family to a more affluent neighborhood. Soon, Sylvia is forced to go to a new school – one where the majority of students are Anglo. Sylvia is miserable and self-conscious. When a classmate invites Sylvia to join Brownies, Sylvia finds a place to belong and learn. The Girl Scouts teach her the importance of planning for the future and creating opportunities for herself. Because of Girl Scouts, Sylvia knew “that I could teach myself to fulfill a goal and work as a member of a team. . . I had learned that planning ahead and doing things properly could help you get what you wanted.”

Sylvia’s family life is often chaotic, but with the lessons she learns from Girls Scouts, Sylvia gains the confidence to take control of her life. However, Sylvia has to battle cultural and gender expectations. Sylvia felt “pulled between different worlds: home and school, Spanish and English, traditional and modern.” This doesn’t stop her from planning, learning, and striving to better herself. Sylvia becomes the first Latinx to graduate with a master’s degree in engineering from Stanford University and one of the few female rocket scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratories. Now, Sylvia is the CEO of the Girl Scouts of the USA.

This true story is told by Sylvia herself. Even though she has to struggle to overcome many obstacles, she continues to work hard in order to reach her goals. Sylvia refuses to be defined by gender roles. For example, when she began high school, the school enrolled her in home economics. However, she refused to go to the class because she didn’t want to be a homemaker. The principal allowed her to take an additional math class instead. This helped prepare her for her future career at NASA.

The autobiography Path to the Stars will encourage readers to plan and strive for a better tomorrow. Through Sylvia’s story, readers will come to understand the importance of hard work. Even though Sylvia’s journey was difficult, she continued working to meet her goals. Even though Sylvia gained much of her knowledge through books, she also found other ways to learn. For instance, when her parents’ car kept breaking down because they did not maintain it properly, Sylvia took a class that taught women how to maintain a car. After that, she changed the oil in the car herself, even though she wasn’t yet old enough to drive.

While Path to the Stars is motivational, some readers will struggle with the difficult vocabulary and the slow pacing in some parts of the story. However, the story teaches many life lessons that make Path to the Stars worth reading.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • Sylvia’s parents argued, and “a couple of times at night, when they were arguing. I had heard Papá hit Mami. . . In those days, domestic violence was considered a private family business, and outsiders seldom intervened.”
  • One day, Sylvia’s mother told her “that she and Papá had a terrible fight and he had hit her the way he had in the past.” Sylvia’s mother planned to move to California and stay with a relative. Later that day, Sylvia’s mother changed her mind, but said, “If he ever hits me again, I’m leaving.”
  • Papá was angry and annoyed by Sylvia’s four-year-old brother. “We all knew when Papá was about to lose his temper, and sure enough, he lifted his hand, about to strike. Armando cowered, tears starting down his face even before the spanking, and I rushed forward to stand between my father and my little brother. . . Mario joined me. . .. Papá backed down.”
  • Sylvia refuses to reply to her father with, “Yes, sir!” So her father “smacked” her face. “Papá ran after me, and when he caught up, I hit him without thinking, just trying to protect myself.” Sylvia runs to her bedroom. Then, he “stormed into the room his eyes filled with rage, a look on his face I will never forget. He pulled off his belt and struck me once, twice. I curled up on the bed, and he kept hitting me, over and over, as Laura sobbed and begged him to stop.”

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • Sylvia’s mother did not allow alcohol in the house. “This was partly because my family was Baptist and partly because my mother forbade my father to bring alcohol into the house. In the past, he’d sometimes had a problem controlling his drinking. Now he and Uncle Sam might enjoy an occasional beer, but that was all Mami would allow.”
  • In order to save for college, Sylvia and her friend collect recycling. When they had time, they would go to parks because they were “littered with soda and beer cans.”

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • Sylvia and her family attend church.
  • Hermana Diaz taught Sylvia and her brother English. “To build our vocabulary in English, she taught the song ‘Jesus Loves Me.’”
  • After Sylvia’s sister gets meningitis, her father stopped going to church. “Before Laura got sick, Papá had been a lay minister and leader of our church choir. After Laura’s illness, he felt betrayed that so many members of the congregation, instead of rallying around our family, stayed away from our home for fear of catching meningitis. . . Even then, when I was older, I never knew if it was because he’d been bothered by the behavior of other members of our church, or if his faith itself was shaken by Laura’s illness.”
  • Even after Laura recovered, Sylvia’s mother was sad. “She blamed herself for Laura’s illness and in some ways felt it was a form of God’s punishment, even though she knew that others had gotten sick too. . .”
  • For many years after Sylvia’s sister was sick, Sylvia “prayed that in the morning Laura would wake up to her old self and our family would be happy again.”
  • Many of the school children were Catholic. Sylvia “knew that my family’s Baptist religion made us different from most of our neighbors. I liked church, but I wondered why we needed separate churches with different rules. “
  • When Sylvia was in Brownies, she recited a pledge. “I promise to do my best to love God and my country. . .”

The Kings of Clonmel

In the neighboring kingdom of Clonmel, a mysterious cult, the Outsiders, has sprung up, promising the defense against lawless marauders in exchange for the people’s riches. Their sermons attract audiences from miles around, but there’s a dark side to the seemingly charitable group. This prompts Halt, Will, and Horace to investigate…but what the trio uncovers could threaten the safety of not only Clonmel, but their homeland of Araluen as well.

Halt, Will, and Horace band together to fight evil in the action-packed adventure The Kings of Clonmel. Unlike the other books in the series, The Kings of Clonmel takes a hard look at a religious cult that brutally murders innocent people in order to convince them to follow their leader, Tennyson. While much of the story revolves around Tennyson and his followers, the reader will also get a surprising look into Halt’s life before he became a ranger, which gives depth to his personality.

As The Ranger’s Apprentice series progresses, the relationship between Halt, Will, and Horace matures. No longer uncertain apprentices, Will and Horace have grown into men who are fiercely loyal and willing to go into dangerous situations in order to help the common man. Although Will and Horace respect Halt, they are now comfortable teasing him. This new element adds humor to the story, and it shows the great lengths the two men will go to support Halt. While Horace is straightforward and honest, Halt and Will are willing to use deceit in order to defeat the enemy. The contrast between the men allows the reader to see that friends can disagree without destroying their relationship.

The eighth installment of The Ranger’s Apprentice series will not disappoint readers. While the conclusion of The Kings of Clonmel still contains an epic battle, the story never feels like a repeat of previous books. Instead, the adventure still contains surprises. Halt, Will, and Horace have a deep friendship, and each man uses his unique talent in order to help others. The men clearly love their country and their king, and they are willing to sacrifice for the greater good. While the story contains some disturbing scenes where women and children are mercilessly killed, their deaths highlight the importance of following reason instead of mob mentality. Even though today’s men do not need to go into combat, The Ranger’s Apprentice series teaches important lessons that can be applied to today’s world.

Sexual Content

  • After being gone, Will returns to the castle. When he sees Alyss, “She leaned forward, kissed him lightly on the lips and slipped away.”
  • Horace mentions an event from an earlier book. Horace had asked about some skimpily clad girls. Instead of saying they were prostitutes, Halt told him “that they had short dresses because they might have to run with urgent messages.”

Violence

  • A group of men, the Outsiders, attack a family farm. When the men attack, a man “reached for the ax he had just leaned against a water trough. Before he could raise it, an arrow flashed across the clearing and buried itself in his throat. He gave a choking cry and staggered, falling half into the trough. The water began to turn red with blood.” When the men are dead, the killers “shouldered the door of the farmhouse open…” Once inside, a woman threw a pot of boiling water on a man. “He screamed in agony and lurched to one side, dropping the bloody sword and throwing his hands to his face.”
  • A surviving man “had a long pitchfork in his hands and he raised it as he ran forward. He never saw the bandit leader. He only felt the searing agony of the sword thrust into his side… He fell facedown.”
  • During the attack, a woman asks for mercy. “The raiders, oblivious to the splashed blood and sprawled bodies around them, helped themselves hungrily to the platters of hot, sizzling bacon…” Everyone is killed except for two children who were able to run away. The family’s death is described over three pages.
  • Halt stops raiders from setting a fire to villagers’ boats. “The first moment the raider knew he wasn’t alone was when an iron bar of an arm clamped across his throat while a powerful hand forced his head forward to complete the choke hold.” The man passes out. Then, Halt approaches another man and “slapped the burning pile of tinder out of his hand, scattering it onto the sand. Then he followed through with his other hand, his left, in a hooking palm strike that had all the power of his twisting body and shoulder behind it. The heel of his hand slammed into the man’s chin, snapping his head back and sending him crashing into the hull of the boat with a cry of pain.”
  • A man confronts Halt. Halt “flat-kicked sideways at the inside of the man’s left knee. The leg buckled and the man collapsed with a cry of pain, holding his injured knee and yelling.” The scene is described over four and a half pages.
  • The Outsiders try to capture Halt and send dogs after him. “Faced with a head-on target, the Ranger waited until the dog had lifted its head to send the snarling challenge… Then Halt shot for the throat, the impact of the heavy arrow, with the eighty pounds of draw weight from his bow behind it, sending the dog staggering backwards and sideways. The second arrow… dropping it stone dead.”
  • Another dog is sent after Halt. “As he watched, another massive gray-and-black shape detached itself from the group and came arrowing up the slope after them… This as a pitiless killing machine, perverted by its cruel training so that it sought only to kill and kill again.” Halt’s shot kills the dog instantly.
  • When a man tries to approach Will, “he’d barely begun to draw when a black-shafted arrow hissed downhill and sent him tumbling back into the trees. His companions looked at his lifeless body…” The men send another dog, and Halt kills it “and sent it rolling back down the slope, eyes glazed, tongue lolling.” The dog attack is described over four pages.
  • One of the bandits tries to track Halt, but Halt sees him and “Halt swung an overhand blow and brought the striker knob down hard onto the man’s skull, just behind the left ear.” The man “collapsed, limp as a rag, onto the ground.”
  • Halt takes a man, named Colly, prisoner. The man “tried to throw a punch at Halt. Halt ducked under the wild blow. Stepping in and pivoting his upper body, he hit Colley with a palm strike to the jaw, sending him sprawling again.”
  • When he was a teen, Halt’s brother tried to kill him numerous times. At one point, Halt says his brother “tried to poison me.”
  • Will looks at the evidence left behind in a village. “He could see the scene in his mind’s eye. A boy or a girl, terrified by the galloping, screaming men, had tried to run for the shelter of the trees. One of the raiders had swung out of line to pursue the little running figure. Then he’d cut his victim down from behind.”
  • Horace, Will, and Halt warn a village about the Outsiders preparing to attack. When the Outsiders attack, both Halt and Will begin shooting down men. “And within a few seconds, six men in the center of the advancing line went down. Two of them made no sound. The others cried out in pain, dropping their weapons.”
  • When the Outsiders’ defense begins to break up, “they fell back, leaving a number of their companions sprawled lifeless on the ground and on the barricade itself… they had paid the penalty for assaulting a well-defended position on their own.”
  • Horace goes after the enemy. “They began to back away, but they were too late. Kicker smashed into two of them, hurling one to the side and trampling the other… A sixth outlaw was already sinking to his knees, staring with disbelief at the black arrow buried in his chest. His head dropped forward. The lone survivor looked at his companions, scattered and broken, some of them lying still, others trying desperately to crawl away…” The battle takes place over seven and a half pages.
  • When a messenger mentions the Sunshine Warrior to Tennyson, Tennyson “let his rage loose and he beat back and forth at the wretched man with his closed fist. Blood flowered from the crouching man’s nose and he huddled lower, trying to protect himself from the savage fist.” Tennyson has a servant give the man ale and a meal. Then Tennyson has the messengers assassinated.
  • When trying to leave Tennyson’s camp, a sentry tries to stop Will. In order to escape, Will “shot his booted right foot forward, straightening his knee and slamming the sole of the boot hard into the man’s face. The man stumbled and went down…”
  • When Halt’s brother, King Ferris, won’t listen to Halt, Halt has Horace knock him unconscious. “The king was stretched unconscious on the floor an overturned chair beside him.”
  • Tennyson sends an assassin after Will. When Will sees him, “Will brought his right elbow up to face height and pivoted on his right heel, slamming the point of his elbow into the man’s face, breaking his nose and sending him reeling back against the people around them.”
  • Horace faces one of Tennyson’s assassins, Killeen, in a combat to the death. Killeen uses a mace while Horace uses a sword. The man hits Horace’s shield. “To Horace it felt as if a house had fallen on his shield.” When Killeen exposes his neck, Horace “stepped in and swung a lightning side stroke at the exposed two centimeters of neck. There was a roar of surprise from both sides of the arena as Killeen’s helmet went spinning away to land on the turf with a dull thud… the spectators realized that his head had gone with it.” The combat is described over four pages.
  • When Will finds an assassin in Horace’s tent, Will attacks. “…Something hard crashed into his head, behind the ear, and everything went black.”
  • Even though Horace has been poisoned and cannot focus, he still attempts to fight Gerard. Before Horace can be injured, Will intervenes. “Gerard’s snarl of triumph turned abruptly into a screech of agony as the arrow transfixed the muscle of his upper right arm…the sword falling harmlessly from his nerveless hand…” The scene is described over four pages.
  • Will and one of Tennyson’s assassins agree to a combat. Each man has to shoot arrows until one of them is dead. Will shoots his arrow, and then “the purple figure jerked suddenly, stumbled a few paces and then fell faceup on the grass.”
  • At the end of the combat, the King is found dead. “Peering behind the throne, he saw the flights of the crossbow bolt protruding from the thick wood. The missile had gone through the back of the chair and into Ferris’s back, killing him instantly, pinning him to the chair.”

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • Someone poisons Horace, making him unable to focus. After a few days, the effects of the poison wear off.
  • Will finds a village that had been burnt down. The inn still had cheap brandy sitting on a shelf.
  • In order to infiltrate the Outsiders’ camp, Will knocks out one of the sentries and pours brandy on him. “If a sentry was found reeking of brandy and sleeping peacefully under a tree, no amount of protesting on his part would convince his superiors that he had been attacked.” While Will is sneaking into the camp, he sees a group of men who “were drunk and talking loudly, staggering slightly on the uneven ground.”
  • As Will is spying on the enemy, he heard “the clink of glasses from inside and the sound of pouring… There were one or two appreciative sighs—the sound a man makes when he has taken a deep draft of wine.”
  • While trying to recruit members, the Outsiders set up “several casks of ale and wine under a large, open-sided tent and were serving generous mugs of both to all comers.”
  • Several times during the story, people are served wine or ale. For example, when setting up for a combat, wine and ale are set up for the townspeople to purchase.
  • When the Rangers finish their Gathering, someone says, “So now let’s have a glass of wine and call it a night.”
  • Halt, Horace, and Will go to a farmstead and say, “we’ll pay well for a hot meal and a tankard of ale.”

Language

  • Halt calls his brother “a lying sack of manure.”
  • Damn is used three times. For example, Halt says, “Horace, when you get older, try to avoid being saddled with an apprentice. Not only are they a damned nuisance…”
  • Hell is used twice. Halt says that his brother’s castle is “drafty as hell in winter, too.”
  • “Oh for God’s sake” is used as an exclamation several times.

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • A group of raiders, named the Outsiders, are posing as a religious group in order to fleece the town of its money. The people had a “simple message of friendship… they asked for nothing but a place to worship their benevolent and all-loving deity, the Golden God Alseiass. They made no attempt to convert the locals to their religion. Alseiass was a tolerant god…”
  • When trouble began in the village, “then the Outsiders would come forward with a solution. The outlaws surrounding the village were followers of the evil Balsennis—a dark god who hated Alseiass and all he stood for.” The villagers were told that “to expel Balsennis, special prayers and invocations would be required.” However, they had to build a shrine made of gold.
  • When Will realizes that the Outsiders are killing innocent children, he thinks, “You’d better pray that your god will protect you.”
  • Tennyson preaches about Alseiass, saying, “I’m a servant of the Golden God Alseiass. And he says all men are my friends—and I should be a friend to all men… There are evil, lawless men abroad in the world. They are the servants of the black spirit Balsennis. I see his hand everywhere I go, bringing sorrow and despair and death to the people of this wonderful country…”
  • Tennyson says that Alseiass doesn’t mind if a person worships other gods because “that isn’t Alseiass’s way. He doesn’t’ care to force himself upon you. If you have other gods you prefer, or no gods at all, he doesn’t condemn you.” Tennyson preaches for eight pages, trying to get support to overthrow the king.
  • When Halt goes into a town pretending to be looking to buy sheep, he says, “Thank God, I’ve seen little in the way of good animals arrive so far.”
  • When Tennyson’s inner circle go in to raid a town, one of the men says, “My men and I serve Balsennis, the mighty god of destruction and chaos.”
  • Halt meets a woman who doesn’t believe in Alseiass. She says, “Some of us here worship the old gods. We know the gods send us good times and bad to try us. I don’t trust a god that promises only good times… A god that brings you good and bad in equal amounts doesn’t ask for much. Maybe a prayer or two… A god that promises only good times? A god like that will always want something of you.”

Spaceman (Adapted for Young Readers): The True Story of a Young Boy’s Journey to Becoming an Astronaut

From the time he was seven years old and saw Apollo 11 land on the moon, Mike Massiamo dreamed of becoming an astronaut. But Long Island is a long way from space. Kids like him, growing up in working-class families, seldom left the neighborhood. But with the encouragement of teachers and mentors, Mike ventured down a path that took him to Columbia University and MIT.

It wasn’t easy. There were academic setbacks and disappointments aplenty—and NASA turned him down three times. Still, Mike never gave up. He rose to each challenge and forged ahead, inching closer to realizing his boyhood dream. His love of science and space, along with his indomitable spirit and sense of teamwork eventually got him assigned to two missions to fix the Hubble Space Telescope as a spacewalker.

Growing up, Mike didn’t know anyone who could tell him how to become an astronaut. “There was no science club at school where we could build and launch rockets. None of my friends were into space; it was something I did on my own. I had my spaceman costume, my Astronaut Snoopy and my library books, and that was it.” However, Mike learned that “being the smartest isn’t always the most important trait in school or in life; working hard, having a positive attitude, and getting help when you need it can be more important.” Mike chronicles his life’s failures, his successes, and the people who help him along the way.

Mike tells his story as if he were sitting down to coffee with a friend. His conversational tone and plenty of life lessons make his story even more interesting. He doesn’t leave out the difficult decisions he had to make, or the mistakes he made along the way. Mike says, “I don’t know if there are any lessons to take from this except to realize that the things you think are mistakes may turn out not to be mistakes. . . if you make the most of what you’ve got, you can find a way to keep moving forward.” In the end, what makes Mike stand out is his determination to find a way to overcome life’s obstacles.

Throughout Mike’s journey, he shows how people at MIT and NASA work together as a team. People helped Mike not to get something out of it, but “because that’s what you’re supposed to do. That’s how a team works. You help the people around you, and everybody’s better off for it.” Despite receiving help from others, Mike didn’t always know what to do, and he wasn’t always confident in his abilities.

Many of the lessons in Spaceman are told in such a matter-of-fact way, that it sounds like advice from a big brother. Mike reminds readers that, “If you get caught up worrying about things you can’t control, you’ll drive yourself crazy and waste valuable time. It’s better to focus on the things right in front of you that you can control.” Throughout his time at NASA, Mike’s experiences changed his perspective. To Mike, one important aspect of space travel is that “every person who goes to space, every person who gets to peek around the next corner, is someone with the potential to help change our perspective, change our relationship with the planet, change our understanding of our place in the universe.”

While Spaceman is full of encouraging advice, life lessons, and interesting anecdotes, younger readers may have a difficult time understanding the significance of Mike’s experiences. The ending’s pace is slow and uneventful because it explains how the termination of the space program affected Mike. However, anyone who loves space should read Spaceman. In addition, high school readers would greatly benefit from reading Spaceman because Mike shows how hard work and determination can help a person fulfill their dreams.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • None

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • When Mike went to work for NASA, he loaded up his car and “prayed I didn’t break down in the backwoods of Appalachia along the way.”
  • When Mike interviewed for a job as an astronaut, he worried that he couldn’t pass the eye exam. He “was praying for something so far out of my control that I could throw up my hands and say, ‘Well, that’s life. Nothing I can do.’”
  • When Mike reapplied to be an astronaut, he “prayed I’d be ready in time.”

The New Year’s Party

It’s five minutes to 1965. Beth should be at the party having fun with her boyfriend. Instead, she’s looking for her best friend, Karen. Suddenly, a group of men barge into the house with guns—they’re attempting a robbery. One man grabs Jeremy, Beth’s shy brother, puts a gun to his head and pulls the trigger. However, nothing happens because the gun is fake. The robbery was just a prank pulled by Karen and some seniors. Upset, Jeremy runs off. Beth follows him into his car. They’re driving recklessly in the snow when suddenly they hit a boy. They swerve, then crash.

The story jumps in time to the present day. Reenie, Greta, Archie, and Sean are all friends who enjoy playing pranks on each other. For example, Archie hides in Reenie’s closet pretending to be a corpse. Reenie starts to get the idea that their pranks are going too far, though, when she falls off a cliff and nearly drowns in a frozen lake. She has an uneasy feeling when Archie suggests she throw a house party but ultimately agrees.

Archie and his friend Marc come up with the perfect prank to pull at Reenie’s party. They will get Sandi, the most popular girl in school, to ask P.J., the new quiet kid, to the party. At the party, Sandi will kiss P.J., then pretend to die. This prank goes too far when P.J. actually dies from shock. Reenie and her friends are horrified, but the horror turns to confusion when P.J.’s body disappears. In the next couple of weeks, Marc and Sandi are both murdered. Someone is taking revenge on Reenie and her friends, but they can’t figure out who.

 In addition to the supernatural elements, The New Year’s Party has relatable characters, who are not perfect. Like many typical teens, the characters try to justify their wrongdoings. In addition, the story includes fighting couples, friends who party together, and friends that have trouble with trigonometry. The story jumps back and forth in time, but the time differences are separated by chapters.

In the climax of the story, Liz, P.J.’s sister, invites Reenie and her friends to a New Year’s party. At the party, Liz reveals who killed Marc and Sandi, and chaos ensues. This exciting conclusion that connects the past to the present will shock readers.

The New Year’s Party is a gripping story that will keep readers turning the pages. Every chapter ends on a cliffhanger. The vocabulary is simple, and the plot moves quickly. Reenie’s friends play multiple pranks that always seem real, keeping the readers on the edge of their seats. In true R.L. Stine fashion, the book ends with a twist. The New Year’s Party is a good book for readers of all types who are looking for a quick, enjoyable read.

Sexual Content

  • Beth is at a party scanning the room for her friend when she sees a couple who “were making out in the corner.”
  • When the clock strikes midnight, Beth’s boyfriend, Todd, “pulled Beth to him and kissed her.”
  • Todd asks Beth if she wants to move to the stairs, where “four couples sat on the carpeted steps, making out.” Beth “didn’t want to make out in front of the entire party.”
  • At Reenie’s house, Artie sat next to Gret, then “leaned forward and gave her a long kiss.”
  • Sandi, a pretty, popular girl, slow dances with P.J. When the song ends, she “pulled P.J.’s face to hers. Kissed him. A long, slow kiss.” Reenie observes Sandi “kissing the helpless P.J. so intensely. . . her mouth moving over his, her arms wrapped tightly around his slender shoulders.”
  • Before he leaves the party, Sean “pulled [Reenie] close and kissed her. Reenie wished the kiss would never end. She didn’t want to think about anything but the way Sean’s lips felt against hers.”
  • Reenie is hiding under the bleachers in the gym so she can listen to Liz and Ty’s conversation. Reenie watches as “Liz gently pulled Ty’s head to hers and kissed him. A long, serious kiss.”

Violence

  • A group of men with pistols crash a house party. One of the men grabbed Jeremy and “pressed the gun barrel against Jeremy’s head. Then he pulled the trigger.” The gun didn’t fire because it was plastic. The whole thing was a prank played by a group of high school seniors.
  • Jeremy is driving recklessly on icy roads with Beth in the car. They saw a “dim figure” in the road before “something bounced on the hood with a heavy thud. A face appeared through the foggy windshield. A boys’ face, his mouth open in a scream of surprise. The boy dropped to the ground. The car rolled over him with a hard bump.” Because they are scared of facing the fact they just killed a boy, they do not stop to help him and keep driving.
  • Jeremy lost control of the car on the icy roads. “The car smashed hard into the snowbank. . . [Beth’s] scream ended in a grunt as she was thrown forward and her head cracked against the dashboard . . . Beth felt warm blood trickle down her forehead.” Beth watches the car break “through the snowbank” and feels “shock after shock of pain.” Beth is able to crawl out of the car, but she later realizes she is just a spirit, and her body is still in the car, dead.
  • As Reenie puts her sweater in her closet, she sees “bulging, blank eyes.” At first she believes it to be a “corpse” with “gooey blood, dark and caked, oozed over his head.” The corpse is actually Sean, and he was pulling a prank on Reenie.
  • Reenie falls off the edge of a drop-off that overlooks a lake. “She was falling, sliding and tumbling, down the snowy hillside. It knocked the breath out of her. She struggled to gasp in air.” She falls onto the frozen lake, and her “hip smashed against the hard surface. She let out a small moan of pain.” As she is walking to the bank, “the ice beneath her gave way with a groan. She slid into the freezing, black water.” Struggling to get out, “she thrashed her arms, trying to pull herself back up to the surface. . . her head hit the underside of the ice. ‘I can’t breathe,’ she realized. She pounded on the ice with her fists. Clawed at it.” Reenie passes out, but Sean rescues her.
  • As Artie speeds into an intersection with Reenie in the car, another car hits them. Reenie heard “metal slam against metal. Shattering glass. The car spun, slamming her into the door. . . She felt the seat belt biting into her stomach, as she was thrown forward. Then she lurched back against the seat.”
  • After Sandi kisses P.J., she shoves him away and “uttered a long, frightening moan. . . She sank to her knees, her eyes wide, her mouth hanging open. . . Sandi crumpled into a heap on the floor.”
  • Artie and Marc are working in the garage when Reenie and Greta come over. Artie leaves Marc alone in the garage. Marc’s friends hear “a high, ragged scream of terror” come from the garage. When they rush to the garage, they see “a body lay sprawled over the shiny red hood. Marc’s body. Blood dripped from his mouth and nose and his head . . . was twisted around on his neck . . . completely backward.” Marc was murdered.
  • Reenie leaves Sandi alone at the Burger Shack. When Reenie comes back, she finds Sandi dead in a trashcan. “Sandi’s eyes stared blankly at the ceiling. But she lay on her chest . . . Her head had been twisted around backward. And her face held the same terrified expression. Her blue eyes wide with horror.”
  • Liz is holding Sean, Greta, Archie, and Reenie captive. Sean holds a knife as he demands that Liz open the door to let them go. Liz “threw herself at Sean,” who “toppled to the floor with Liz on top of him. . . His body twisted and thrashed as he tried to throw Liz off.” Liz “tried to choke” Sean but Reenie “grabbed Liz by the shoulders and struggled to pull her off Sean.” Liz “tore at Sean’s wrist with her teeth,” causing him to drop the knife.
  • Once she regains the knife, Liz “grabbed Sean and pressed the blade against his throat . . . Reenie saw a drop of red blood roll down Sean’s neck.”
  • While Reenie distracts Liz, Sean “grabbed Liz around the waist. He pinned her against him with one arm—and grabbed the knife away with his other hand.” Liz “stumbled into [Sean]. And the knife plunged deep into her chest.” Everyone is frightened, especially when, “No blood poured from the wound.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Reenie has a house party and runs into Marc. “He stood so close she could smell the beer on his breath.”
  • At the party, Reenie notices Artie’s eyes look watery, and thinks, “Great. They’ve both been drinking.”

Language

  • Artie threatens P.J. after P.J. dropped a weight on him. Artie says, “I’m going to get that little creep, P.J.” Artie goes on to call P.J., “You little jerk!”
  • After he describes their “dumb practical jokes” to a police officer, Sean admits he sounded like a “total jerk.”

Supernatural

  • After they crash the car, Beth and Jeremy realize they are dead. They can see their bodies in the car. Jeremy tries to get back inside his body, but he can’t. He cries, “My arms passed right through my body!” Beth realizes Jeremy is starting to fade. Beth feels herself fading too. “Only the darkness remained. Everywhere. Closing on her. Claiming her.”
  • It is revealed that Liz and P.J. are the same people as Beth and Jeremy; they just changed names. Their spirits somehow reappeared solidly enough for them to act like real people. They died in a car crash thirty years ago, and they were trapped for years in a “cold, gray place.” Liz explains, “As the years passed, we grew stronger. And then suddenly we were back. Back in our old bodies. People could see us and hear us again.”
  • Ty confesses he was the boy Beth and Jeremy ran over, and he was also brought back to life to get revenge.
  • As the clock strikes midnight, Beth, Jeremy, and Ty fight with each other. “Liz and Ty and P.J. whirled around, tugging each other as if in a mad dance. Faster and faster. Waves of icy air swept off their bodies. . . A ghostly whirlwind.”
  • Beth, Jeremy, and Ty disappear once the clock strikes midnight. “A high, shrill whistle pieced Reenie’s ears. Louder. Shriller. Until Reenie covered both ears to shut it out. And the three ghosts began to fade. . . They faded to shadows. Then the shadows faded to smoke. A spinning column of smoke . . . The smoke faded. And floated away.”

Spiritual Content

  • None

by Jill Johnson

Lu

Lu’s birth was a miracle, and he’s used to being the only child and track star in the house. That is until Lu’s parents break the news that he’s going to be a big brother. In the final installment of the Defenders Track Team, Lu grapples with his father’s drug-dealing past, his mother’s unusual fruit masterpieces, and his own fears. All the while he’s trying to pick a name for his new sibling and help his team win the end-of-season track championship. Lu struggles while running hurdles; it’s the one race where he can’t seem to get past the first twelve steps.

Lu builds on the growth of the characters in the previous three books. However, Lu spends more time tackling personal integrity, drug abuse, and forgiveness. Lu’s teammates, family, and coach help him learn how to be a compassionate person who rights his wrongs, and he becomes a big brother that his little sibling can look up to. By now, the Defenders track team is a full-fledged family, and the end of the novel wraps up their journey together.

Reynolds knows how to write young teenagers’ voices. Lu’s voice strikes the balance between self-confident and insecure. He’s a great runner, and he’ll be sure to tell everyone about it, but the thought of running hurdles makes him afraid. Lu worries, would he be a good big brother? Can he face his childhood bully and show him kindness? Lu is a good kid, but his ability to overcome his fears and not let them consume him makes his character compelling. Lu even inspires others around him to be better by demonstrating integrity and eventually apologizing for his actions.

Lu is a good end to the series. Unlike the first book, not a lot of big events occur. Despite this, the story never seems to drag, and the smaller plot points carry more weight as they develop the characters. Reynolds’s straightforward style and vernacular usage are fun, and they help make the story believable and interesting.

Readers will enjoy the end of the Defenders Track Team series because it neatly ties up all the characters’ conflicts and ends on a compassionate note. If the reader has read the previous three books in the series, they should definitely read Lu because these books take themes like family, friendship, and track and give them life. Most importantly, these books ask the reader to always be the best version of themselves.

Sexual Content

  • Patty teases Lu about a girl named Cotton, but Lu says “Patty was only teasing me about Cotton because she thinks I like her and we should go together. But I don’t. I do. But not like that. Not all the way. But she cool. But go together. Grease face? Nah.”
  • Lu’s parents occasionally hug or kiss in greeting. When Goose, Lu’s father, returns from work, Lu’s mom “leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.”

Violence

  • Lu and his family playfully slap each other on the arm. For instance, when Lu hears about being a big brother, Dad “popped me on the arm with the back of his hand” out of excitement about the big secret.
  • Ghost playfully “slapped [Lu] on the arm” while getting a ride home after practice.
  • Lu fantasizes about throwing an orange at Kelvin, his childhood bully. In his daydreams, he “cocked [the orange] back like a pitcher, and fast-balled it at his ugly face.”
  • There are references to previous books when Ghost’s dad tried to kill Ghost and his mom. According to Ghost, Mr. Charles “saved our lives. He hid my mom and me in his storage room.” No other details are given.
  • Lu and his teammate Aaron get into a fight when Aaron trips Lu while running. Lu says Aaron “charged me and shoved me with his whole body, and I flew to the ground.”
  • It is implied that Ghost gives Lu a wedgie. The team was chatting with Lu when “one of them thinking it would be funny to give me a wedgie.” The wedgie is played off as friends goofing around.
  • It is implied that Kelvin was abused at home, probably by a parent since it is also mentioned that he went to live with his grandparents. While at the basketball court, Lu sees that Kelvin has “no blue-and-purple spots on his arm. No marks.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • A former runner referred to as “the Wolf” now has a drug addiction and begs for money. After giving him a dollar, Coach Brody says to Lu, “To me, that’s embarrassment. Not the dope—that’s illness. But to let something get in the way of your full potential…” There are many references to Wolf’s addiction throughout the book.
  • Lu’s dad, Goose, explains how he started selling drugs at 15. His dad says, “I’ve told you that before, and you know I’m not proud of it.” This is the extent of the conversation. Later it is revealed that Goose sold the Wolf “his first hit.”
  • Coach Whit convinces her brother and former track star, the Wolf, to check into a rehab center. Goose brings Lu along because Goose works with people struggling with addiction, and he wants to give Lu a chance to see what he does.
  • While sitting in the rehab center, Lu talks about the pamphlets he reads. Lu says, “I sat in the waiting room for what seemed like forever, reading these papers about detox, and how sometimes before they can even start real treatment they have to let the drug pass through people’s bodies, and how terrible it feels to, like get all the stuff out of you.”
  • At the dinner table, Goose drinks a beer. Lu says, “Juice for Mom. Beer for Dad. Milk for me.”

Language

  • The book is written in the main character’s vernacular, so the grammar is often purposefully incorrect, like when Lu says, “lightning so special it don’t never happen the same way or at the same place twice.”
  • A couple of times, Lu is flippant towards his parents. Early on, when he describes listening to his mother, he says, “I swear, sometimes she just be talking to be talking.”
  • Lu says that Shante Morris “looks like a horsefly” because “her eyes kinda made her look like she was always surprised how nasty those cupcakes were every year. Ha! Sorry.”
  • Words like shut up, dang, fool, stupid, and hater are all used frequently throughout the book.
  • Lu has albinism, so characters will make comments about it. For example, he notes that in his yearbook people write “Have a nice summer, you fine-o albino.”
  • When his dad is late, Lu considers calling him a “booboo-faced clown.”
  • Lu’s family has plenty of playful banter, like when Lu returns from practice and his parents tease him by saying, “You smell like bananas” and “stinky son.”
  • Lu has a laundry list of nicknames for a kid named Kelvin (“Smellvin”), who made fun of him for his albinism.
  • Two pages are dedicated to the things that Kelvin has said to Lu. Some of the more creative insults on the list include: “You look like a cotton ball dipped in white paint,” “Like milk. Like somebody supposed to pour you over cereal,” and “Like grits with no butter.” Of Kelvin’s appearance, Lu says, “It don’t even look like he was born, but instead was built, but together in some kind of blockhead bully factory.”
  • Coach Brody and Goose knew each other as kids, and Coach Brody would make fun of Goose for his stutter. Coach told Goose, “You sound like a choking Chihuahua.”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • Lu refers to his birth as “a miracle,” and at one point he says that his mom having another child was “magic.”

by Allison Kestler

The Boy in the Black Suit

Matt wears the same suit every day. Even to school. He needs the suit for his job at Mr. Ray’s funeral home, which he does because his mom died and his dad’s struggling with the bills and alcohol. Despite his mom’s recent death, Matt doesn’t mind working in a funeral home. In fact, he likes sitting in on the services and finding the most grief-stricken person. It makes him feel less alone.

Then Matt meets Love, who has experienced even more tragedy than Matt. She’s tough and kindhearted despite her circumstances. Matt finds himself drawn to her strength. Love understands Matt’s pain and loneliness, and she might be able to help him be strong too.

Death is the main focus of The Boy in the Black Suit, and the topic is handled gracefully and respectfully. Although the content is dark, Reynolds balances this with lighthearted moments. The funerals that Matt describes often have some element of comedy. Some characters treat the funeral as a celebration of life rather than a loss. Matt likes seeing both the positive and tragic responses because it gives him an outlet for his own pain.

Throughout the novel, Matt quietly deals with his grief. Matt’s grief over his mother’s death is not immediately obvious, but his thoughts slowly let the reader into his carefully locked-away emotions. Many of the other characters struggle with grief as well. For instance, Matt’s father sinks into alcoholism after his wife’s death. The funeral homeowner, Mr. Ray, still struggles with his wife’s tragic passing many years ago. Matt also discovers that when Love was younger, she witnessed her mother’s murder.

The grief-stricken characters deal with their sadness in realistic ways. Reynolds manages to create well-rounded characters while still showing how grief has influenced their personalities. The Boy in the Black Suit offers a variety of responses to terrible events. After her mom’s death, Love continues her mom and grandmother’s work with the homeless and carries their spirits with her. Despite the tragedies in Love’s life, she doesn’t let them get her down. Because of her compassion and quiet strength, Matt is drawn to Love. With her help and the powerful supporting cast, Matt can begin to come to terms with his grief.

The Boy in the Black Suit tells a story about grief and growth in an accessible way for young adult readers. The themes are universal, and many characters learn to grow from their unfortunate circumstances. The Boy in the Black Suit is an important read because it shows that kindness exists even in dark times, and it introduces topics like death in a mature way for readers. Although this book is somewhat darker, fans of Reynolds’s other work will enjoy this thoughtful story.

Sexual Content

  • Matt thinks about his best friend Chris Hayes and how “girls had a thing for his shaved head.”
  • One of Matt and Chris’s classmates, Shante, “got pregnant sophomore year.”
  • Mr. Ray, the funeral homeowner and Matt’s friend, tells Matt that he “was thinking about one thing only—skirts,” meaning girls. Matt misunderstands and says, “You were thinking about wearing skirts?”
  • Mr. Ray tells Matt that once he and his brother “Robbie done wrecked many a car, taking our eyes off the road to check out some lady’s hind-parts.”
  • Matt’s mom wrote on the cover of a cookbook: “The Secret To Getting Girls, For Matty” because “cooking is what girls really like.”
  • While in Mr. Ray’s basement that was dedicated to his dead wife, Matt “watched [Mr. Ray] take a few more moments down memory lane, back when he could make the game-winning three-pointer, then kiss his girl after he came from the locker room.”
  • At her grandmother’s funeral, Matt flirts with Love. Matt tells Chris about it later, and Chris misunderstands. Chris asks, “The girl from the Cluck Bucket [a local restaurant] is your girlfriend?” Matt says no, but he does express that he likes her.
  • Matt explains Chris’s dating history. Chris “used to kick it with Shannon Reeves, a certified winner. Shannon was so fly, all the older dudes would try to get at her until they found out she was only sixteen. And even then, some of them still tried to get at her. [Chris] also used to kick it with Lauren Morris and Danni Stevens at the same time. Danni was kind of geeky, but in a cute way. And Lauren was a cheerleader at our school, so she had that whole thing going on. Long hair, pretty smile, in shape, all cheery, all the time. The two girls knew about each other, because Chris was up front and told them the truth.” This exchange continues for several pages.
  • Matt tells his dad about how Matt and Love are having Thanksgiving together. Matt’s dad says, “And if for some reason you feel like having dessert, think twice, son. One slice of her pie could equal a lifetime of your cake, if you know what I mean.” Matt is mortified at this innuendo.
  • Matt and Love help at a homeless shelter. When handing out chicken, Matt asks, “Leg, wing, or breast?” An older man replies, “Well, I’m known to be a breast man.” The lady standing behind him “slapped him on the back of the head.”
  • At the park, there’s a couple making out on a park bench. Matt says, “The girl across from us moved her mouth to her boyfriend’s neck. Yuck.”
  • Love kisses Matt at the Botanic Gardens. He spends a page hyping up his feelings, and then describes the kiss as “a peck… Yup. Just a peck.”
  • After the Botanic Garden date, Love and Matt kiss again. Matt describes it, saying, “I pressed my lips against hers again, this time kissing her longer and pulling her as close as possible. I wrapped my arms around her, and I could feel her hands gripping my back.” This description lasts for less than a page.

Violence

  • When someone tried to steal a bag of chips from the local bodega, the owner, Jimmy, “pulled the biggest knife I’ve ever seen—I mean, like a machete—from behind the register and started banging the blade on the counter… He then said that if he catches anyone stealing, he’ll leave their fingers on the bodega floor for the cat to nibble on.”
  • Matt’s mom gives Chris’s mom “the green light to pop [Matt] if she needed to.” In a flashback where Matt is suggesting breaking the rules, Matt considers this potential consequence.
  • One night, Chris and Matt hear Chris’s neighbor get into an altercation with her boyfriend that ends with the cops and paramedics at the apartment complex. The boyfriend shot and killed her. The description of the altercation lasts for a couple of pages but is only told through what the boys can hear. Matt describes, “All of [the man’s] words were long, like he was halfway singing, so we knew he was drunk. And the lady was pretty much screaming, ‘It’s over! It’s over!’ and kept telling him to go home… the loudest sound I had ever heard in my entire life came rushing toward us, making both of us shout out and slam the door. Then came the screams of the woman, and the drunk man in the hallway now mumbling something about him being sorry and that he didn’t mean it.”
  • A car hits Matt’s dad. He was drunk. “When he got to the corner of Fulton and Albany, he lost his balance and stumbled out into the street. Gypsy cab got him.”
  • Mr. Ray’s wife “slipped, hit her head, and was gone before anyone could even get to her.”
  • Matt destroys the wilted flowers sitting on his mom’s grave because he’s upset. He “grabbed a fistful of the flowers by their brittle stems and began beating them against the ground… as if [he] were hitting a drum.”
  • When Love was seven, her mom was murdered. The guy was “accusing her of cheating. He called her all types of names… About five minutes later… gunshot.”’
  • The guy that asked Love for her number at the beginning of the book is killed. No explicit details are given, but Matt works the funeral.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • At a funeral for a man named Speed-O, Speed-O’s friend, Mouse, tells a story about a horse that’s dead-tired. Mouse says that Speed-O said, “that somebody slipped a cigarette in the horse’s mouth to smoke because the dang horse looked so stressed out by the heat… ‘I know it was real because I was the one who lit the horse’s cigarette!’” It is made clear that the cigarette was not real but alluded to because of the exhaustion. However, later Speed-O was “lighting a smoke.”
  • Matt thinks about how rumors spread and warp into lies, including when it comes to his mother’s death. Matt thinks, “Knowing this neighborhood, people were probably saying it was a drug overdose because that’s always what people say. ‘Yeah, she used to get high. That’s why she was always so funny.’”
  • Outside of Chris’s apartment building there is often drug dealing. Matt describes, “There’s always a gang of dudes posted up outside all night, talking trash, and pushing packs of whatever to whoever.”
  • The night when Matt’s mom died, his dad was “down in the kitchen, pouring shot after shot of cognac since around midnight.” It is later described that after his wife’s death, he becomes an alcoholic. One night, Matt finds his dad in the kitchen, and Matt notes, “his words were slurring. I ran down the steps to find him on one knee, holding on to the kitchen counter, trying to pull himself up… On the kitchen floor was a soggy paper bag, soaked with what was obviously cognac. The bottle had broken and glass had torn through the bag and cut his hand. Liquor and blood, everywhere.”
  • Matt’s dad was an alcoholic before he met Matt’s mom. Matt thinks about how his mom says, “Baby, the bottom of the bottle was your daddy’s second home… And if I didn’t stop him, he would’ve made that second home his grave.”
  • Mr. Ray’s youngest brother “was a straight-up drunk” and is often seen loitering outside the liquor store.
  • On the way to the hospital to see his dad, Matt says that he would’ve “taken anything [Mr. Ray] offered [him]. Even a cigarette.”
  • Matt says that “Chris used to always tell [him] that drug dealers played [chess] to keep their minds sharp.”
  • Mr. Ray tells Matt about his friend who would “invite me and [Mr. Ray’s wife] to his shows—this was before he was doing Broadway—and we’d all go out afterward and run through a pack of smokes like it was nothing.” Matt notes that Mr. Ray was “probably thinking about his own cigarette habit that he couldn’t kick, even after cancer. Twice.”
  • Mr. Ray and his brother sometimes smoke cigarettes.
  • Outside the homeless shelter, “there were a few guys… all huddled up. One was holding a handful of cigarette butts while the others sifted through, picking out the ones that still had a little tobacco left in them.”
  • Outside one of the funerals, “teenagers stood on the steps and watched [the procession], some lighting cigarettes, others slipping fingers behind their sunglasses to wipe hidden tears.”

Language

  • Profanity is used frequently. Profanity includes asshole, crap, damn, and shit.
  • Fuck is used once. Mr. Ray has a shrine to his wife who passed away, and he shows it to Matt. Mr. Ray tells Matt, “I was a goddamn mess [when she passed], which is when I started this room, this shrine of all the fucked-up things that happened to me.”
  • A kid ran up behind Chris and Matt at school, “slapped [Chris] on the ass, and rambled off some dumb joke, calling us gay or whatever.”

Supernatural

  • None

 Spiritual Content

  • Mr. Willie Ray is the neighborhood mortician. Matt thinks, “after he beat [cancer] the second time, he basically became, like, a Jehovah’s Witness for cancer, knocking on doors and passing out pamphlets. He swears the only reason God spared his life twice is so that he could spread the word about the illness.”
  • Matt says that his mom used “to always joke with [Mr. Ray] and say, ‘Willie, God saved you just so you could torture the hell outta the rest of us?’”
  • Matt thinks about his father’s alcoholism. “All I could do was pray to God that he would get a handle on it.” Other characters also say, “Lord knows…” to explain their thoughts.
  • Matt works at Mr. Ray’s funeral home, and Matt often sits in on the funerals that take place in the church. Prayers lead by the surviving family members usually occur.
  • Matt attends a funeral for a woman named Gwendolyn Brown. The minister giving the opening speech says, “We don’t come in sadness. No, we come in joy, for sister Brown is finally at peace with the mighty King of Kings.” The funeral program stated that Brown “loved God.”
  • Matt goes to his mom’s grave and tells her about Love. He thinks, “I was going to ask my mother to make me and Love work out, like maybe she had some kind of magic power, or could ask God and the angels to fool around with Love’s mind to make sure this whole thing goes smooth.”

by Alli Kestler

King’s Cage

After completing her mission to secure an army of newbloods, Mare Barrow finds herself once again trapped in the royal palace of Norta. She’s become King Maven’s pet, forced to play a dangerous role at his side. Her forced words carry weight with the Reds, and create schisms in the Scarlet Guard and Norta as a whole.

Without Mare, the Guard has trouble accepting both the newbloods and Silvers into their ranks. Cameron Cole, a newblood herself, knows exactly what it’s like to be ostracized for her ability. After seeing Mare struggle to control her ability, Cameron fears becoming like her; yet, she’s not alone in the struggle. Farley, a new commander of the Scarlet Guard, continues to fight after losing her lover, Shade. Kilorn, Mare’s best friend, must decide whether to continue fighting or focus on protecting Mare’s family. Cal must figure out what side he will choose. Will he be able to continue to kill his Silver comrades, or will he betray the Scarlet Guard?

But just as loyalties are tested in the Scarlet Guard, so are they in Maven’s court. Evangeline Samos, now betrothed to Maven as the future queen of Norta, wants nothing more than to rule. When noble houses begin to betray Maven left and right, navigating the palace becomes more complicated. Will Evangeline get to rule Norta? Will Cameron and the Scarlet Guard prove too much for the Silvers to handle? Will Mare be able to change Maven for the better and abolish the monarchy?

As the third installment of the Red Queen Series, King’s Cage is an excellent continuation of the story because Mare is back in the thick of political intrigue. She’s right there to see the complicated and unique relationships between the Silvers, allowing the reader to see both sides of the power struggle.

The plot is a roller-coaster of twists and suspense, leading Mare, Cameron, and Evangeline through many life-changing and life-threatening moments. The three main heroines are fascinating to follow because each one is constantly on the edge of danger. For instance, Mare has gotten over her selfish and arrogant nature, but now struggles to stay at Maven’s side. Mare is forced to pretend that she betrayed the Scarlet Guard, yet she manages to stay sane enough to secretly gather intel. Cameron struggles with the fear of turning into a monster. And Evangeline must find a way to rule over Norta without becoming Maven’s bride.

The theme of betrayal is once again central to the plot, as characters and noble houses backstab each other left and right. The action scenes are the best yet with each heroine battling individually at first, but then all coming together in a big battle at the end. The buildup and suspense work well as Mare’s, Cameron’s, and Evangeline’s stories intertwine. Overall, King’s Cage is a great follow-up to a lackluster sequel. The story will conclude in the final book, War Storm, where readers will find out whether Mare will triumph over King Maven.

Sexual Content

  • During an argument, Maven kisses Mare. Mare thinks, “His kiss burns worse than his brand.”
  • Maven pledges his hand to the Lakeland princess, “From this day until my last day, I pledge myself to you, Iris of House Cygnet, princess of the Lakelands.”
  • One morning, Evangeline wakes up to her lover’s kisses. Elane “laughs against my neck, her touch a brush of lips and cold steel.”
  • Mare is torn up about her love for Maven. “There are still pieces of me, small pieces, still in love with a fiction. A ghost inside a living boy I cannot fathom.”
  • Mare is humiliated by her guards. “Kitten forces me into the scarlet gown, making me strip in front of them all.”

Violence

  • Mare’s former tutor says, “I watched babies die without seeing the sun.”
  • When visiting wounded Silver soldiers, Mare thinks, “Their kind aren’t meant to bleed. Not like this.” The soldiers fought in a battle against the Scarlet Guard.
  • In a military transport, Mare attacks Maven. Mare “jumps forward, lunging, hands stretched out to grab him by the collar. Without thinking, I shove, pushing, smashing him back into his seat.” Later, Mare thinks, “I fantasize about cutting his throat and staining Maven’s freshly painted walls with Silver blood.”
  • Mare is forced to attend a feast put on by Maven. It ends in an assassination attempt, which kills Maven’s foreign guest, Prince Alexandret. Mare sees, “Prince Alexandret, slumped dead in his seat of honor with a bullet hole between his eyes.” At the same time, Mare sees Maven wounded, “Silver blood bubbles from his neck, gushing through the fingers of the nearest Sentinel, who is trying to keep pressure on a bullet wound.”
  • During an attack on the capital, Cal kills Samson. “Fire races down Samson’s throat, charring his insides. His vocal cords shred. The only screaming I hear now is in my head.”
  • During a sparring match between Mare and Cal, Cal overwhelms her. Mare gets hit with Cal’s fire, and her “flesh ripples with fresh blisters, and I bite my lip to keep from screaming. Cal would stop the fight if he knew how much this hurt.”
  • In a final battle between Maven’s army and the Scarlet Guard, the first casualty is a Red soldier. Mare sees the soldier fall, and then “shouts as he goes over the edge, plunging thirty feet—before sailing skyward, born of a graviton’s concentration. He lands hard on the wall, colliding with a sickening crack.” In the thick of the fight, Farley, a Scarlet Guard commander, kills some Silvers. “Farley peppers them with gunfire, dropping a few Silvers where they stand. Their bodies slide off into darkness.” The battle is described over 20 pages.
  • A newblood committed suicide after being outed as a spy. Mare thinks, “I’ve seen suicide pills before. Even though I shut my eyes, I know what happens next.”
  • Three of the noble houses of Norta attack Maven. Mare watches as “Laris wind weavers toss Iral silks from one side of the room to the other with sharp gusts, wielding them like living arrows while the Irals fire pistols and throw knives with deadly precision.” A few of Maven’s guards are hurt in the fight.
  • When Cameron infiltrated a prison, she used her ability to kill Silvers. Her ability is to snuff out other abilities, as well as other lives. Cameron thinks, “The memory still makes me sick. I felt their hearts stop. I felt their deaths like they were happening to me.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Maven explains that his mother controlled his father. Maven says, “He was a drunk, a heartbroken imbecile, blind to so much, content to keep things as they were. Easy to control, easy to use.”
  • While at a party, Mare notices, “Music dances on the air, undercut with the sweet and sickening bite of alcohol as it permeates every inch of the magnificent throne room.”

Language

  • During a televised speech, Mare is forced to say the former King and Queen “rightfully knew that a Red with an ability would be considered a freak at best, an abomination at worst, and they hid my identity to keep me safe from prejudices of both Red and Silver.”
  • Bastard is used several times. For example, Cameron calls Cal a “Silver Bastard.”
  • When thinking of her twin brother, Cameron wonders, “Send him home? To another hellhole?”
  • Cameron thinks Mare is a “condescending twit.”
  • Ass is used several times. For example, Cameron calls Cal a “veritable pain in the ass.”
  • Someone calls Evangeline’s lover a “whore.”

Supernatural

  • Samson Merandus, one of Maven’s allies, describes his ability. “As a whisper, my ability allows me to bypass the usual lies and twists of speech that most prisoners rely on.”
  • During an infiltration mission into a Silver compound, Cameron takes the newblood, Harrick, along. She sees a pair of guards as Harrick uses his ability to make their “figures ripple slightly, like the surface of disturbed water.” Harrick can create illusions to manipulate people’s senses.
  • Cameron’s ability allows her to stop other’s abilities. When Cal confronts her, she notices his flames still “waver before my ability, fighting to breathe, fighting to burn. I could snuff them out if I wanted to.”
  • When he gets angry, Cal will let loose his fire. “The gleaming bracelet at Cal’s wrist flickers, birthing sparks that travel along his arm in a quick burst of red flame.”
  • Evangeline can manipulate metal. When Mare is about to be shot, Evangeline catches the bullet mid-air. “Her fist clenches and the bullet rockets backward to where it came from, chased on by splinters of cold steel as they explode from her dress.”
  • The leader of Montfort, a country far from Norta, can create blue walls out of thin air. He stops Cal and Mare’s sparring match with “another blue wall of something divides the spectators from our spar. With a wave of Davidson’s hand, it blinks out of existence.”
  • During the final battle, nymphs on Maven’s side flood a city. Mare watches as “the rain shimmers, dancing on the air, joining together into larger and larger droplets. And the puddles, the inches of water in the streets and alleys—they become rivers.” No one is injured.

Spiritual Content

  • None

by Jonathan Planman

All of Us with Wings

After running away to San Francisco, 17-year-old Xochi stumbles into a new job working for an eclectic group of people that live in Eris Gardens. Eris Gardens is a mansion inhabited by the rock band Lady Frieda and their various friends and lovers. The band members live like a big family. They operate under a creed of free love and polyamory while trying to keep their party lives under control enough to protect twelve-year-old Pallas. Xochi befriends Pallas and moves into Eris Gardens to become her governess.

The story is told mostly through Xochi’s third-person perspective, but many chapters are told through the perspectives of other characters. Some chapters show the perspectives of the precocious Pallas, other eccentric characters in Eris Gardens, figures from Xochi’s past, and even the intelligent neighborhood cat, Peasblossom. The rotating perspectives help round out the story and supply viewpoints that Xochi’s perspective alone couldn’t provide. However, readers may be confused, as the narrative gives little warning before introducing the viewpoints of brand-new characters.

Xochi and Pallas make a pretend potion in the bathtub, which has unintended magical consequences. Two small supernatural beings—dubbed “Waterbabies”—appear.  The mystical “Waterbabies” begin to meddle in Xochi’s life, attacking those who wish her harm and seeking revenge on those who have harmed her in the past. In order to stop them from going out of control, Xochi must face her past and make peace with the life and trauma she left behind.  Meanwhile, she begins a perilous and forbidden romance with Pallas’ 28-year-old father Leviticus. Through its rotating perspectives, All of Us with Wings tells the story of the difficult transition to adulthood for young people who have been abused and forced to grow up too quickly.

Like many seventeen-year-olds, Xochi is not quite sure what she wants, and spends much of the book aimlessly stumbling across San Francisco as she tries to grope with her past. Readers will enjoy the story’s unique magical realism. Characters receive prophetic visions and dreams, read tarot cards, and talk about their inner eyes and auras. In this book, San Francisco oozes magic from every alley, mysterious bookshop, public mural, and street corner.  The book portrays the excitement and mystique of San Francisco’s nightlife and counter-culture, but it also delves into the city’s dark side. Some scenes take place in bars, burlesque clubs, and even a heroin den.

Xochi’s difficult past centers around her mother, Gina, who abandoned her, and her mother’s boyfriend, Evan, who sexually abused her. The Waterbabies exact their revenge on these people psychologically—by replaying the memories of the harm they have done—and physically. Despite the fact that the Waterbabies have taken Xochi’s past into their own hands, it’s still up to her to come to terms with all that has happened to her.

One of the most puzzling pieces of this book is Xochi’s relationship with Leviticus, her 28-year-old employer. Both she and Leviticus know that their relationship is taboo. Leviticus has “a strict policy” about young women, “because the older person has more experience and more power.” Older men have taken advantage of Xochi in the past, and characters frequently make reference to her age, calling her “jailbait” even though they all seem to agree that she is “mature for her age.” However, the book ends with Leviticus and Xochi on amicable terms, and open to future romance, while skirting around the questions that readers may have about whether or not the relationship is appropriate.

All of Us with Wings is for mature readers. It includes a lot of graphic content and situations that are difficult to talk about. Readers will appreciate the portrayal of a young person growing up and entering the world, but the ending may leave them confused.

Sexual Content

  • Pallas spies on her mother, Io, and sees that “embedded in the small of Io’s back was a set of small silver hooks, much like the fasteners on Pallas’s own Victorian boots. A black ribbon crisscrossed her mother’s bird-boned spine, connecting the hooks like laces on an invisible corset.” She realizes that the piercings must be sexual and remembers seeing “a book of photographs of outlandish piercings and tattoos she wasn’t supposed to look at. Io’s disturbing new hooks and ribbons weren’t attached to some unimaginably painful private place, but like the piercings in the book, they were definitely sexual—frightening, powerful and secret.” Seeing this leaves Pallas shaken and upset.
  • Later at a party, Xochi sees “a man, naked and heavily tattooed, hung above a platform by thick metal hooks threaded through the skin of his chest. She expected to see blood dripping from the wounds in the skin above his pierced nipples, but there was nothing. This was less a crucifixion than a display of an unusual piercing done some other strange night and long since healed.”
  • Leviticus says he has a personal rule that he won’t have sex with “anyone who’s too high to operate heavy machinery.”
  • While kissing a strange man, Xochi “felt herself respond to his hands on her hips, the hardness under his jeans, unwanted but also hot.” After Xochi’s encounter with this man, a band member tells her that the man is “a good kisser, and his dick is huge. You must have noticed—he’s like zero to boner in three seconds.”
  • Xochi wonders if she has “some sort of fetish for older men.”
  • Xochi kisses Bubbles, a 24-year-old woman. “It was a long kiss, a little world. Bubbles’ tongue produced a ticklish little sting. In accord, they stopped and laughed.”
  • Pallas’ mother, Io, explains polyamory to Pallas. “Some people want to be part of a pair. They feel best when they give their love to one other person, like a husband or wife. Some people want to be singular, but love many people in lots of different ways. Some people don’t want a lover at all and like being alone. There’s no one right way to do love.”
  • The Waterbabies replay the memory of Evan’s abuse of Xochi until Evan realizes that she never consented to sex. Evan had “pulled her up. Brushed leaves from her hair. Held her, tried to comfort her. Then he kissed her. Her eyes flew open, all pupil. She was out of her mind, but her body knew what to do. When she kissed him back, she was all fire. His hands were in her hair, under her skirt, she was pulling him into her, nails digging through his T-shirt, her leg wrapped around his hip. It was fast and fierce. At the time, he thought she came. But now, watching, he wasn’t so sure . . . Afterward, alone in his bed, he’d told himself it was mutual. A freak moment born of grief. But the truth was, he’d been after this for a year, at least. After her. There’d been an opening, and he’d taken it . . . And she hadn’t wanted it. He could see that, too. After that, he only came to her when he was wasted, but he found a way to do it sober soon enough, never thinking of it when she wasn’t there, never planning in advance, living in the moments of sweet relief and forgetting them when they were done. Now he could see his mistake, taking silence for acceptance, despair for consent.”
  • In another supernaturally-induced flashback, Evan remembers a scene with Xochi’s mother, Gina. “Gina herself was on the floor. He stood over her, a monster. He was twice her size, but she met his eyes, defiant, blood smeared on her thighs because he’d been too rough. Too rough after her female troubles, too rough too many times. There were bruises on her arms, a black handprint spanning her bicep.”
  • Xochi remembers a summer when she “touched herself at night in bed, in the morning in the shower, in the deepest part of the swimming hole with the sun on her back and her face in the water, the pleasure proof she was perfect, needed no one.”
  • In a chapter narrated by Leviticus, he looks at Xochi and notices, “her legs were long, her movements coltish—just the sort of innocent-sexy detail that made him feel like a pervert straight out of ” (Lolita is a famous book about a man who abuses a young girl.)
  • Evan remembers how Xochi’s mother, Gina, had an IUD that she kept secret until it got infected. “If it hadn’t been for the trouble with Gina’s IUD, the awful infection, he would have always believed he was damaged goods when she never got pregnant.”
  • Leviticus thinks, “You could tell everything about a woman from kissing her – how she’d have sex, how she’d love. How it would end. Men weren’t like this. All you could tell from kissing a guy was how he gave head.”
  • Peasblossom, the cat, recalls living with a gay couple. One of them say that he thinks the cat “likes it when we fuck.”
  • Xochi walks through a neighborhood where, “Neon signs advertised Big Al’s Playboy Club, The Garden of Eden, and The Lusty Lady, where a topless cartoon redhead danced, the words ‘Live Nude Girls’ blinking on and off below her high heeled shoes.”
  • Xochi stops outside a strip club and talks to a dancer who works there. The dancer says, “They’ll hire you. You’re gonna rake it in.” Xochi clarifies that she’s not looking for a job, but the redhead continues to talk strategy, saying, “Focus on the old guys, play the nice girl and you’ll hardly have to do a thing.”
  • Xochi goes into the strip club, and watches dancers on the stage. By the end of a song, a dancer is “naked except for her thigh-high boots.” Xochi also sees lap dances happening all around her. She wonders, “What happened if the men ejaculated?” She also wonders if the dancers have to perform lap dances for creepy customers. “She felt—what? Scared, maybe. Definitely embarrassed. It was just so weird seeing this private thing done in public. So weird it was actually someone’s job. But the dancers were gorgeous. Watching them was like an endless Christmas morning, unwrapping gift after shiny gift.”
  • Xochi makes out with Leviticus. “They kissed and kissed, her lips raw from the stubble on his face, her hands tracing the shape of his arms, his back, his chest, pulling his shirt over his head. Her body was alive with purpose. His hands were on her back, her breasts.”
  • Xochi remembers her grandmother saying that a good rule for sex was, “If you can’t talk about it, don’t do it.” She thinks, “Maybe it was a good rule for drugs, too.”
  • Xochi is alone with an exotic dancer named Justine who takes her dress off to show Xochi a full-body tattoo of a tree. “Xochi leaned closer, her mouth an inch above Justine’s pale shoulder. Her lips rested there, and then her tongue took up the tracing, her piercing sparking along the tattooed branches. When she reached the apple, she didn’t think; her teeth just sank into the bright-red center of the forbidden fruit.” The next thing the reader sees is that “Xochi and Justine returned to the party, lips swollen, makeup smudged, hands entwined.”
  • When asked how far she went with Justine, Xochi says, “We fooled around. . . I don’t know what it’s called. When you do it to a guy, it’s a hand job.”
  • While Xochi is strung out on heroin with two near-strangers, Justine and Duncan, they “made a game of it. Justine undid a button on Xochi’s jacket. Duncan unbuttoned Xochi’s shorts. Justine undid another button. Duncan fumbled with her bra.” They are interrupted before they can go any further.
  • In a dream, Gina sees “an entire classroom of kindergarten Ginas, one girl for every day that year’s foster father drove her to school the long way.” The insinuation is that her foster father abused her.
  • A character recalls school bullies telling her, “Eww, gross, your dad is gay—he’s going to give you AIDS in your Cheerios.”
  • A character jokes that Peasblossom, the cat, “may be fixed, but he still tomcats around.”
  • At the climax of the story, Xochi says the word “rape” out loud, allowing herself to acknowledge what happened to her.

Violence

  • While walking alone at night, a strange man follows Xochi. The man says, “Bitch, I’m talking to you. Don’t make me chase you.” Xochi escapes without the incident escalating further, but it leaves her shaken.
  • When Evan is accosted by the Waterbabies, they drag him into a lake. “Something was touching his feet, pulling him down. He clutched at his ankles and found two pairs of miniature hands. He clawed and thrashed his limbs, but every movement seemed to add weight to his body, quickening his descent to the bottom of the impossible lake.” Once he reaches the bottom, he finds himself supernaturally able to breathe as the Waterbabies confront him and replay his memories for him. Later, Xochi hears that he was found dead in the lake.
  • The residents of Eris Gardens teach Pallas aikido for self-defense. Pallas says it’s “because I’m turning thirteen soon and becoming a woman.”
  • During self-defense training, Xochi goes into a trance while she spars with an Eris Gardens resident. When she awakes, the resident “was on his knees at her feet, doubled over in pain.” He says, “Just a flesh wound. Where’d you learn to fight like that?” Xochi is never told exactly what she did, but is confused at why she lost control. “She’d never hit anyone in her life . . . not when a girl pushed her down in middle school, or when a gang of boys chased her with a Screw magazine and forced her to look at the centerfold.”
  • The Waterbabies and Leviticus break into a drug den to rescue Xochi. The Waterbabies blow up the fish tanks, which explode. The shrapnel hits one man who “swore, clutching his crotch. His hands turned red. He ran to the bathroom, blood spilling down the front of his designer jeans.” The Waterbabies then attack Leviticus, thinking he means harm. One “decked and straddled Leviticus, hands wrapped around his pretty neck.” Leviticus is uninjured.
  • In a dream, the Waterbabies visit Gina, but another figure in the dream points a gun at them and says, “Get out or I’ll blow your heads off.”
  • Gina recalls how she “fought with most of her boyfriends. Sometimes the conflicts got physical, but they seemed more like battles than abuse.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Drugs and alcohol feature heavily in the plot. Xochi drinks and smokes cigarettes frequently, both out of pressure from the people around her and out of her own volition.
  • The residents of Eris Gardens “had a rule about never smoking in front of” Pallas, “but most of them smoked marijuana or cigarettes behind her back.” This quote is from a chapter narrated by Pallas, implying that the adults’ habits aren’t as well-hidden as they think.
  • Xochi spent much of her childhood on a pot farm and “had inhaled enough secondhand marijuana to last a lifetime. The few times she’d consciously imbibed, the plant had not been her friend.”
  • At a party, Xochi smokes a hookah with “hash and a little tobacco.” Someone shows her how to inhale the smoke without coughing. “She was halfway through her inhale when the smoke changed direction, exploding out of Xochi’s lungs in a fit of rasping coughs.” She describes the buzz she gets as “different from weed, but related. With the familiar dissolving of limbs came an added electricity, a psychedelic edge. The first wave of high hit gently enough, but it kept on coming.” Later, the hash makes her anxious, and she goes on a walk to calm down.
  • Pallas’ parents host parties at the house where Pallas wanders around unsupervised. Pallas sees someone with “a silver vial and a tiny spoon. She’d be kicked out if anyone from the house saw. Hard drugs weren’t allowed, but people did them anyway.”
  • When Pallas is upset, Xochi finds her with a lit clove cigarette, “barely smoked.” Pallas later says, “I’m sorry. I didn’t enjoy it.”
  • A character takes painkillers for a “monster hangover.” The type of painkillers aren’t specified.
  • Leviticus takes Xochi to a bar where the bartender gives Xochi a whiskey “compliments of the house.” Leviticus tells Xochi, “You don’t have to drink it. The bartender says you look like a whiskey girl. He thought about carding you, but he changed his mind. Pretty girls are good for business.” Xochi drinks the whiskey.
  • Leviticus tells Xochi, “I see you’re no stranger to the bottle.” She tells him, “I grew up with a bunch of guys. I learned to keep up.”
  • Xochi sees a band member “leaning over a mirror, chopping up some white powder with a razor blade. He snorted it and stood up.” He offers her a line, but she doesn’t accept. After the band member leaves, Xochi approaches the mirror and sees that the band member was snorting “white powder, speed or cocaine.” She “aimed the straw and sniffed, gagging at the chemical reek. The effect was instant, a bitter blast of awareness. Xochi’s sinuses burned and her eyes felt huge in her head.” She isn’t shown doing cocaine again.
  • Xochi remembers her mother doing cocaine with an old friend. “They’d lock themselves in the bathroom and come out pin eyed and sniffing.”
  • A character wakes up and does “two bong hits—breakfast of champions.” He eats no actual food for breakfast.
  • Evan describes his supernatural experience with the Waterbabies as being akin to an “acid-trip.”
  • Xochi goes to a party where “a keg was the only option for something to drink.” She drinks beer the whole night.
  • Later, when she is very drunk, she goes to a back room with Justine and Duncan, two people she barely knows. “Justine’s arm was clamped above the elbow by a rubber tube. She gave Xochi a long look and pierced the tender crease of her arm with the needle.” Later Xochi reflects on the experience and remembers that, “Justine hadn’t called it by name. Xochi hadn’t asked. She’d known, of course, but it was easier to pretend she didn’t.”
  • In the heroin den, a few young girls are strung out on drugs, half-conscious on the bed. They are “not much older than Pallas.” They exist in the background, and nobody describes them in detail.
  • Gina remembers that when she gave birth to Xochi, she was “hazy from the drugs Gina told them she didn’t want.”
  • A character remembers “the way heroin tasted, coming up from the blood instead of in from the tongue. The tracks on his arm whispered the things they remembered about rest and quiet and peace. That was the real siren song, his own blood’s memory.” It’s implied that he’s craving heroin, but he resists relapse.
  • In a memory, a character dying of AIDS is on morphine. He says he never did morphine “back in the day. I just like speed. It kept me skinny.”

Language

  • Profanity is used frequently. Profanity includes: fuck, shit, bitch, hell, ass, and damn.
  • A man on the street calls Xochi a “psych ward cunt.”
  • A clerk calls Xochi an “underage hoe.”
  • Gina remembers how everyone in her hometown thought she was a “trailer-trash whore.”
  • Leviticus mentally calls himself, “Faggot. Fuckup. Junkie. Whore. Failure. Pussy. Sellout. Fraud.”

Supernatural

  • The “Waterbabies” appear both in real life and in people’s dreams. According to an expert on the supernatural, they are “fey as fuck, but corporeal. Not a dream.”
  • A band called “Dead Girls” is known for singing “in a made-up language,” and they “never eat. They want people to think they’re, like, vampires or Parisian or something.”
  • When Pallas is upset, Xochi cheers her up by making a pretend potion, “with flower petals and crushed-up leaves and perfume and stuff.” She says, “Your family thinks they’re witches, right? But it’s us. We’re the witches.” Xochi puts aloe into the potion and calls it “Goblin blood.” Pallas puts in candies and calls them “Teeth of murdered toddler.” They think it’s just for fun, but they end up summoning real supernatural beings into the world.
  • At the end of their play-ritual, Xochi chants, “Fates! Fates and Furies! Open, open, open up the door!” The narration tells how, “Their feet pounded in a primal rhythm. They were spirit girls, priestesses, fiends.”
  • Occasionally, the book references tarot cards. In one scene, Xochi bumps into a stack of tarot cards and scatters them. They all fall face down except for a few. A resident of Eris Gardens tells Xochi that she’ll “know soon enough” what they mean.
  • A character says the Waterbabies are similar to “Tlaloques,” or “Chaneques,” which are names of Aztec and Mexican gods.
  • One of the band members, Kylen, has psychic abilities which are never fully explained. In a chapter from his perspective, Kylen looks into Xochi’s mind. He “focused his inner eye and focused himself to relax. It was always like this, a psychedelic trip down some stranger’s yellow brick road. There was usually light and color, and sometimes a scent.”
  • Kylen recalls how when Pallas started to venture out on her own, he drew a boundary line on a map of the neighborhood. He “traced the line slowly with a finger, charging the boundary with protection. On the dark moon, he walked the boundary at midnight, spitting on every street corner and dropping a few crumbs of snake root and angelica.”
  • Someone throws I Ching coins and tells Peasblossom’s fortune from “her dog-eared Book of Changes.” Peasblossom notes that the fortune was “remarkably apt.” (I Ching is the name of a popular divination text used by occultists.)
  • Someone tells Leviticus that recent events in his life were caused by “your Saturn return, right on schedule. Unfinished business coming back to haunt you.”
  • When Pallas gets her period, her mother asks, “You wouldn’t want . . . a moon ritual, would you? Some girls do them.” Pallas declines and says, “I’ve never been a very good witch.” Nobody ever revisits the idea of a “moon ritual,” or explains what it is.
  • A character recalls how she always laughs at “that part in The Exorcist when the priests did their ‘power of Christ compels you’ routine.”
  • Someone who can see auras watches Xochi and sees that “the light shooting from her left hand flickered, glowing pomegranate red.”

Spiritual Content

  • At a party, Xochi imagines that, “Whatever heaven” a dead family member was in, “it must be a lot like the swaying chaos in the ballroom below.”
  • Xochi gets her tongue pierced at a shop called “Pagan Piercing.”
  • The owner of “Pagan Piercing” tells Xochi about the process of trepanation, where ancient people drilled holes in their skulls. He says, “If you’re a shaman, it’s your job to communicate with the divine. Why not open the door and invite her in?”
  • Xochi says, “My grandma used to tell me that a lot of cultures see the salmon as sacred. When you eat them, you’re absorbing parts of the collective soul.” She also says that owls are “known to carry the souls of the dead.”
  • A character says, “One time, we found my mom down in the laundry room chanting ‘God hates me’ while she sorted a massive pile of tube socks.”
  • A musician says, “When I drum, I need my chakras connected to the earth, not the freaking ether.”
  • A restaurant has paintings of the Virgin Mary on the walls.
  • Leviticus says, “They say the veil thins on Solstice and Equinox,” referring to the veil between the living and the dead.
  • Xochi reads a book of poetry and notices the lines, “Everything was soulful/and all souls were one.”
  • In conversation with Leviticus, Xochi says, “I’ve been curious about paganism, for one thing. I was surprised to find out most of you are atheists. Io said something about your beliefs not being literal, like you don’t believe in actual gods and goddesses. That it’s more about celebrating cycles in nature, something like that. So maybe ‘atheist’ isn’t the right word?” Leviticus replies, “I think of myself as more agnostic. Like, there could be some sort of deity, but probably not. Like, the goddess is in everything. Everything is inherently divine.”
  • Xochi asks Leviticus about a tattoo on his arm that says “24:20.” He tells her it’s a Bible verse from the book of Leviticus.
  • Someone tells Xochi that, “In the Bible, snakes are about temptation and evil. But way before the Bible, they were symbols of wisdom and healing.”

by Caroline Galdi

Top Prospect

Travis is starstruck when Elvis Goddard, head coach for the Gainesville Fighting Gators, comes to his house to offer his older brother, Carter, a football scholarship. Carter isn’t the only one who gets an offer.  When Coach G sees Travis’s talent as a quarterback, the coach offers him a scholarship even though he’s just an eighth-grader. This once-in-a-lifetime offer turns Travis into an overnight sensation, landing him VIP access to the Gainesville University gym and football field, an interview with ESPN, and instant popularity at school.

Meanwhile, Carter is learning the ropes of being a college football player. He and his roommate, Alex, start part-time jobs at a car dealership under the guidance of Walter Henry. Walter secretly gives Carter hundreds of dollars, something for which the Gainesville team has already been investigated. Carter feels guilty but accepts the money. When Alex tears his ACL in a football game, he miraculously recovers.  Alex confesses that he is taking steroids to help his healing process. Although Carter doesn’t agree with Alex’s decision, Carter promises to keep it a secret.

Back home, as Travis graduates eighth grade and enters high school, the pressure of keeping a scholarship gets more intense. He is chosen as the high school quarterback, but he feels used because the coach just wants a job at Gainesville University. For the three players, everything is going according to plan until Alex collapses from an apparent heart failure at a football practice and dies. Carter knows the real reason for Alex’s death—the steroids—but chooses not to tarnish Alex’s name by sharing his secret.

Shaken by Alex’s death, Travis’s skills deteriorate. During a game, Travis injures his elbow and must begin a slow, painful recovery. After a devastating loss of a game that costs Travis’s team the championship, Walter Henry offers Travis steroids. Travis hesitantly accepts the steroids, but he decides to ask for Carter’s advice on whether or not he should take them. Carter, knowing the steroids killed Alex, blows up and attacks Walter. Although Walter is investigated, nothing happens to him; however, Coach Goddard resigns, and Travis’ scholarship is withdrawn. Even though Travis is heartbroken, he is happy to be relieved of the pressure of keeping a scholarship.

Football players and fans will enjoy Top Prospect because it explores different aspects of football. The story explores multiple football issues including steroid use, the never-ending pressure to perform well, and under-the-radar payment from sponsors. Readers will relate to Travis’s, Carter’s, and Alex’s passions for football. However, the games and practices are tediously described, which might bore readers. In an afterword, Paul Volponi recounts a few real-life stories of eighth graders being offered college scholarships that inspired this book.

In addition to football issues, Travis also goes through personal issues. Travis’s parents are divorced, and he has to deal with his dad’s emotional and physical distance. The story is told mostly from Travis’s point of view, but there are also several short chapters from Carter’s perspective. Carter is initially frustrated to always have Travis tailing behind him, but the time they spend together ends up strengthening their relationship. Besides his brotherly bond and love of football, Travis is not a relatable character. He overcomes many conflicts, and he learns not to push himself too hard and to always be honest with Carter. However, Travis does not change as a person. He is self-centered and is never humbled. There is no real plot to the story, and the book ends abruptly. However, Top Prospect will suit older readers looking for a football-intense story.

Sexual Content

  • Travis recounts a date with Lyn, a girl he has a crush on. Travis “had even worked up the nerve to kiss her by the end of it. My first real”
  • Travis goes to a party where “five or six cheerleaders kissed [him] hello on the cheek.”
  • Travis, a freshman, is going on a date with a sophomore. His mom has “the talk” with him and tells him, “This is an older girl. I just want to make sure that you’re ready for these relationships.”
  • At the movies, Travis runs into Lyn, who is on a date with a junior boy named PJ. Before the movie starts, PJ “gave [Lyn] a quick kiss,” which makes Travis jealous.

Violence

  • During a Gator’s football game, Carter blocked a defender. “You could hear the huhh of air leaving that defender’s lungs as Carter flattened him like a pancake.”
  • During a Gator’s football game, Alex tears his ACL. “Alex caught a cleat in the turf while he was making a sharp cut. His left knee twisted with a ton of torque, buckling beneath him. He fell to the field screaming in pain, with both hands clamped around his knee.” As he is brought to the locker room on a cart, he “slammed the cart’s metal railing so hard [Travis] thought he might have broken his hand.”
  • During a game, Carter gets tackled in mid-air. “At the height of [Carter’s] leap, a defender hit him in the thigh, sending Carter into a mid-air backflip. He crashed into the ground.”
  • During a game, Travis takes his first sack of the season. “A heavyweight lineman…pounded me pretty hard. But I went with his momentum and didn’t try to fight his force. I bounded up off the ground right away.”
  • During a game, one of Travis’s D-backs “absolutely drilled” the opposing team’s receiver, “burying his shoulder pads into the receiver’s chest and causing the loudest pop [Travis had] heard in a long time.”
  • During a game, Travis decides to ram into a senior linebacker. Travis “lowered [his] right shoulder and stuck it square into his midsection. The crowd let out a roar as my body shook from the collision. But that all-state linebacker flew back almost as far as I did.”
  • During a game, Travis dives for a football that lands close to his feet. Travis “got to the football first and tucked it beneath [him] when the Bruiser slammed into [his] left elbow. A bolt of pain shot through [his] entire body. Then it happened again and again as other players piled on top.”
  • Believing Coach Harkey, the Gainesville fitness coach, gave Travis the steroids, Carter “grabbed [Coach Harkey], running Harkey back against a wall… [Carter] tried to shove that vial down Harkey’s throat.”
  • When Carter realizes Walter gave Travis the steroids, Carter drives to Walter’s dealership. Carter “aimed the car straight for [Walter], jumping the curb… By the time Walter looked up, [Carter] was almost on top of him… [Carter] slammed on the breaks, stopping just a few feet away, nearly pinning him against the glass of the showroom.” After Carter gets out of his car, he “grabbed Walter by the collar and rammed him against the hood of the car.” Then, Carter “punched [Walter] in the solar plexus.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Alex tells Carter he is taking PEDs to help his knee recover quickly.
  • Alex explodes on Carter and Travis for talking too loudly while he is trying to sleep. Carter knows this is a side effect of Alex taking PEDs. In his inner thoughts, Carter thinks, “PEDs—that was the only way I could explain what I’d witnessed.”
  • Walter Henry tries to give Travis steroids to help his elbow heal. Walter justifies using steroids by saying, “Travis, steroids are everywhere in society. They’re in the feed we give chickens and cows to make them healthier. These are for humans… The mildest you can take. Just a few steps above aspirin or Tylenol. But instead of making pain, they heal the problem at the source and promote growth… It’s what plenty of scholarship athletes do to compete when they’re injured.” Walter gives Travis “two vials of pills.”
  • When Walter initially offers Travis steroids, Travis tells him, “I can’t. They’re drugs. Anyway, it’d be cheating.” Later that day, though, Travis “talked [himself] into believing [he] really wouldn’t be cheating… taking steroids would be about getting healthy, not about becoming a better player. [He] already had the talent in the first place.”
  • Walter hands Travis the steroids and gives directions for taking them. Walter “produced two vials of pills. ‘It’s a seven-week cycle,’ [Walter] explained. ‘The first four weeks, you take the ones in the container with the blue stripe. The next three weeks, take the ones from the red. They’re stronger.’”

Language

  • When Travis is offered a scholarship, Carter wonders, “Why was I busting my butt in the weight room and staying up nights studying the playbook?”
  • When Travis does an ESPN SportsCenter, his mom asks if it’s live. When he nods, she mouths, “My God!”
  • Damon, a member of Travis’ football team, fumbles a ball and calls himself “a moron” and “a fat idiot.”
  • Alex tells Carter they need to talk, and Carter wonders if it’s about Alex’s mom or “God forbid, somebody from the NCAA heard about Walter’s money.”
  • After a bad first half of Travis’s football game, his coach furiously yells at the players, “If you’re going to get your butts whipped, at least keep your heads up!”
  • When Travis shows Carter the vial of steroid pills, Carter asks him, “Who gave you this crap?”
  • When Carter realizes Walter Henry gave Travis the steroids, he says, “God, I should have seen it.”
  • When Carter tells Coach Harkey he knew Alex was taking steroids, Harkey says, “Relationships aren’t easy. Lord, I only wish I’d had a better one with Alex Moore.”
  • Travis “wished to God [he] could have been there when Carter beat [Walter’s] behind.”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • In testimony to Alex, Coach Goddard says, “[Alex] was totally committed to fight back from his injury and to play to the very best of his God-given abilities… I’m sure that his spirit and memory will remain a vital part of this team.”
  • Carter says, “After the EMTs put Alex in the ambulance, we all held hands in a circle and got down on one knee to pray.”
  • After swearing he will never tell anyone about Alex taking PEDs, Carter says, “God bless you, fam.”
  • After he dies, Alex’s jersey hangs inside his open locker. “Players passed by it and crossed themselves or bowed their heads, like it was a sort of shrine.” Travis “ran [his] fingers over the fabric, trying to feel Alex’s spirit.”
  • Carter tells Alex’s mom he took steroids. She responds, “I’ll let God judge my son’s mistakes.”

by Jill Johnson

Shadowcaster

Alyssa ana’Raisa, the reluctant heir to the Gray Wolf Throne, must overcome the impossible. After suffering the loss of her sister, brother and father, as well as an attempt on her own life, she wants nothing more than to end the war that’s consumed her world for decades. To protect her mother and her friends, Lyss will do whatever it takes to strike a blow against Arden.

Halston Matelon is simply trying to survive the king of Arden’s wrath. Once Hal’s father betrays the king, a target is put on Hal’s back, forcing him into dire situations that could end his life. But when Hal’s captured by an enemy commander, he must confront his own prejudices, as well as a budding, forbidden love for the woman who bested him.

Breon d’Tarvos has stayed far away from the front lines of the war. Performing as a street musician for a little bit of coin, Breon has managed to survive on the streets. Yet that all comes to an end when he’s pulled into an assassination attempt on Princess Alyssa. Now Breon is on the run, hoping to escape to a safe haven on the coast. But nothing is ever that easy.

Shadowcaster is a great follow-up to Chima’s first entry in the Shattered Realms series, Flamecaster. Following three main characters, Lyss, Hal, and Breon, the story unfolds in the northern Queendom of the Fells. Whereas the first book focused on the fanatical religious state of Arden, its prejudices against wizards, and the political intrigue of King Gerard’s court, the sequel explores the different cultures of the north, where wizards are both respected and free, and where many cultures co-exist.

Each of the main characters is linked to the various themes present within the story. For instance, Lyss’ storyline explores dealing with grief. Throughout the novel, Lyss’s motivation stems from the deaths of her family, and she’s forced to confront the pain of finding out her brother may still be alive.

The theme of confronting prejudice is squarely placed in Hal’s storyline. When Hal is captured by Lyss, he is forced to see the northerners as people, and he even falls in love with her. This opens Hal’s eyes to the idea that his prejudices are wrong.

Breon’s story focuses on struggling to survive. As a poor street musician, Breon fights to get food on a daily basis. He also struggles with addiction to a drug known as “leaf.” With little money, no home, and few friends, Breon represents the civilians who are trying to survive amidst a war. Each of these themes is well written, and each is powerful in its own right.

Lyss, Hal, and Breon are all likable, relatable characters. Lyss is relatable because she struggles to fit into people’s expectations of a princess. Rather than lead, Lyss wants to continue as a soldier, fighting for what she believes in. Both Hal and Lyss want to protect their family. Plus, Hal is fiercely loyal to his men, wanting to protect them in dire situations. Breon, while suffering from drug addiction, is likable for his desire to make honest coin and to live with his sweetheart, Aubrey. These three, combined with some thrilling battle scenes, will keep readers on the edge of their seats. In addition, the romance between Hal and Lyss will leave readers wanting more. Their romance sets a fun, exciting pace that ends in a cliffhanger. Readers will look forward to continuing this epic story continues in the third book, Stormcaster.

Sexual Content

  • Lyss has a crush on her friend, Finn. Later on, she admits to herself, “She’d had a crush on Finn sul’Mander since she was eleven years old.”
  • When Finn gets engaged to Julianna, they were “blushing and Finn was smiling. Julianna held up their joined hands to display her engagement ring.” Later on, Lyss watches as “He kissed Julianna again. And again.”
  • The diplomat tells Lyss, “You’re not the beauty that your mother is, or your sister, Hana, may she rest in peace, or your cousin Julianna—such a lovely girl—but there’s a lot can be done with the proper staging.”
  • Hal overhears Bosley, a member of Lyss’ squad, talking about his conquest of Lyss. Hal thinks, “Bosley had described a series of recent trysts with her in embarrassingly graphic detail. Maybe customs were different here in the north, but it seemed crude and dishonorable to share that.”
  • Hal thinks, “If Bosley was sleeping with his commanding officer, the last thing Hal wanted was to get caught in that crossfire.”
  • Hal and Lyss begin a short romance. After falling on top of her by accident, Hal thinks, “it took everything that was in him not to finish their match with a kiss.” Later, Hal thinks, “The truth was, he wanted to kiss this northern girl, and go on from there. He wanted her more than any woman he’d ever known.”

Violence

  • In a battle between squadrons, Lyss sees Hal “lean down from his horse and scoop up a soldier who was staggering around aimlessly, blood pouring from a head wound.”
  • In the Clans, a group residing in the Fells, the amount of braids one has indicates how many people they’ve killed. Less notices “The many braids in Shadow’s hair were evident that he rarely said no to a fight, and that he usually came away with a kill.”
  • Hal thinks back on the people he’s killed. “Several times in the past, Hal had discovered that the man he’d just killed was actually a woman.”
  • When thinking of his friends, Breon thinks, “And Goose? He’d cut your throat for a wad of leaf, but other than that he’d always been a harmless sort.”
  • In an assassination attempt on Lyss, one of her squad is hit with an arrow. Lyss “ran her hand over his uniform tunic until she found the arrow shaft embedded in his right lower back.” Just after that, she’s attacked again. An assassin strangles her, and “his fingers didn’t loosen until Lyss’s shiv transfixed his throat and blood spilled over her leathers.”
  • In the city of Delphi, the residents have been fighting back against Arden’s occupation. The former mayor “was found dead in an alley, his throat cut, his body wrapped in an Ardenine flag.”
  • When arguing with Hal, Lyss tells him, “When Princess Hanalea was murdered, your king sent her head to her mother in a golden casket with a note, in case she didn’t give credit where credit is due.”
  • Sasha tells Breon that he’ll be executed for the attack on Lyss. She says, “But two of her escorts were killed in the attack. That ought to be enough to hang you.”
  • Someone says, “Whenever Montaigne got a little down, he just murdered a few people, and that set him to rights.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Breon and his friends often use leaf, which is a street drug. Breon thinks, “People said that leaf fried the brain, and maybe that was true. He could quit anytime, and maybe he should.”
  • On a trip to the coast, Breon thinks, “Or maybe it just seemed longer because Breon has passed much of the trip in a pleasant haze of leaf.”

Language

  • Ass is used several times. For example, when trying on a pair of pants, Breon thinks, “he had to cinch in the breeches to keep them from sliding down his bony ass.”
  • Asshole is used several times. Lyss tells off someone, saying “At least that’s fixable. Being an asshole isn’t.” Asshole is used a few times in the novel.
  • Hell and damn are used a few times. For example, when asked if he’s a wizard, Breon retorts, “Damn right I am.”
  • Sasha tells Breon, “Poke me, and I’ll poke you back, you scaly, scum-sucking sneaksby.”

Supernatural

  • Flashcraft refers to magical items that are created by the Clans in the Fells. Lyss receives a flash craft locket. “When she touched it, the portraits would shift, displaying first one person and then another.
  • In Arden, wizards are called mages and are typically slaves.
  • Hal, who is from Arden, believes witches like Lyss can turn humans into animals. However, this isn’t true.
  • Mystwerk is a school where wizards learn magic.
  • In the Fells, the ruling line of Queens can see wolves that bring prophetic dreams and visions. Less tells Ash, “I just keep having these dreams, where everyone’s dead and I’m all alone on Hanalea Peak, just me and the wolves.” Just after that, Ash tries to soothe her with his magic. Lyss snaps at him, “Stop soothing me!”
  • While Breon is imprisoned someone threatens to use magic on him to get him talking. Breon thinks, “What did he mean by persuasion? Magic? Torture? Hypnosis? Could this mage really make him tell the truth?”

Spiritual Content

  • A dedicate at a temple hands out food to those who need it. Breon notices “The dedicate offered a blessing along with the bread and fruit.
  • The Church of Malthus is the state religion of Arden. Lyss asks Hal, “Is there any way your war-weary people and your bloodthirsty church would allow them to live?”

by Jonathan Planman

 

 

 

The Lions of Little Rock

Twelve-year-old Marlee, who is shy and quiet, feels like her whole world is falling apart. And she’s sure that starting middle school is only going to make things worse until she meets Liz, the new girl. It may look as if they have nothing in common—Liz always knows the right thing to say, and Marlee can barely stand to speak up in class—but they become fast friends. Then, Liz is caught “passing” for white and leaves school without even a goodbye. Marlee decides she wants her friend back. But to stay friends, Marlee and Liz must be willing to take on segregation—and the dangers their friendship could bring to both families.

The Lions of Little Rock is historical fiction at its best. Not only is the story engaging, but it also sheds light on the struggle to desegregate schools in Little Rock Arkansas during the 1950s. The story focuses on Marlee and Liz, who refuse to give up their friendship just because they are of different races. Both girls help each other face their fears, and they encourage each other during difficult times. Through their interaction, Marlee comes to realize that, “A friend is someone who helps you change for the better. And whether you see them once a day or once a year, if it’s a true friend, it doesn’t matter.”

When someone finds out that Liz is passing as white, Marlee tries to understand her friend’s actions. Marlee’s family maid explains why passing as white is so dangerous. “If you’re really lucky, you lose your job or you’re kicked out of school. If you’re a little less lucky, you get beat up, but after a few weeks your injuries heal and you’re left alone. If you’re not lucky, a lynch mob comes and firebombs your house killing you and everyone you love.” Through Marlee and Liz as well as historical examples, the reader will come to understand racism.

Marlee changes from a timid girl who barely talks into a confident person who is willing to fight for what is right. Much of Marlee’s inspiration comes from the Little Rock Nine because they “believed they had a responsibility to make things better. Believed they could make things better, even though they were still just kids.” Marlee isn’t content to just watch the adults try to make a difference. Instead, despite her mother’s objections, Marlee joins the Woman’s Emergency Committee to Open Our Schools. As part of the organization, she helps fold pamphlets, talks to voters, and performs other small jobs that make a huge impact. In the end, Marlee learns the importance of standing up for herself and others.

The Lions of Little Rock won the New York Historical Society Children’s Book Prize. The entertaining story teaches important life lessons about friendship, facing fears, and finding your voice. The story is historically accurate; the author’s note at the end of the book explains which parts of the story were fictional and which events were factual. The book also includes three pages of discussion questions. Everyone should read The Lions of Little Rock because it will help readers understand racial tensions in the late 1950s as well as show the importance of making a difference in your world.

Sexual Content

  • Marlee has a crush on JT. When Marlee drops her pencils and begins gathering them, “JT handed me one of the pencils and our fingers touched and I could almost hear the wedding bells. . . By lunchtime I’d planned our honeymoon in Italy and was trying to decide if we should name our first son Orbit or Cosine. . .”

Violence

  • Marlee’s father invited a “colored minister” to speak at church. “The next day there was a note tucked in with our paper. It said, ‘You let your youngest walk to school tomorrow, she won’t make it.’ And it was signed, KKK.”
  • On Halloween, JT and his brother egg a house. JT’s brother tries to force Marlee to throw an egg at the house. Later a “colored boy” is arrested for the crime.
  • Marlee’s father tells her about Emmett Till. “He was a young Negro boy who went down to visit some relatives in Mississippi. One day someone saw him talking, some say flirting, with a white woman. . .He was murdered. . . He was only fourteen years old.”
  • The story implies that JT’s mother, Mrs. Dalton, is abused by her husband. Marlee “remembered her because she had a scar over her left eyebrow. . . JT had said once she’d got the scar when she tripped on the stairs.”
  • The story implies that JT’s father hits him. JT shows up at school with a black eye.
  • Someone tells Marlee about John Carter, “a colored man.” He was “taken by a mob of people. No one did anything. . . They hung him and shot him and dragged his body down the street and then burned him.”
  • Marlee was at the “colored pastor’s” house when she saw JT’s brother drive by several times. Everyone goes outside and then, “we suddenly heard a car pull up in front of the house. . . There was a crash and the sound of breaking glass. A screech of wheels, driving off. And then, an explosion.” No one is injured.
  • When the schools are integrated, protestors show up. In order to break up the protestors, “the firemen turned the hoses on. In an instant, the segregationists were soaked.” Several people are arrested, but no one is injured.

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • Marlee compares people to drinks. When she meets Liz, she wonders if Liz is “like a shot of whiskey given to you by your older cousin.”
  • At a football game, Marlee sits by JT and one of his friends. The friend, “smelled funny, like a warm beer.”
  • Marlee and her sister used to go to a pond to have picnic lunches. “At night, sometimes teenagers would park there on dates or sneak off to drink beer.”
  • Marlee sees JT’s brother and his friend at the zoo. On the bench they are sitting at are “some beers.”

Language

  • Marlee thinks that someone is a jerk. Later, she tells her friend that, “JT is a jerk.”
  • Nigger(s) is used 4 times. Someone discovers that Liz was passing as white. JT’s brother tells Marlee, “We’ll find your little friend and show her whole family what we think of niggers who try to pass.”
  • Someone calls Marlee an idiot.
  • Several people call Marlee a “square” because she likes math.
  • Someone calls Marlee a coward.
  • Darn is used several times.
  • “Oh Lord” is used as an exclamation once.
  • After someone throws an explosive into a house, the person’s father asks, “What the hell were you thinking?”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • Marlee has a hard time talking to her family’s maid, Betty Jean. Marlee “just stood there, helpless, praying Betty Jean would understand.”
  • At church, Marlee hears the Bible verse, “But even if you do suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed.” Often, when Marlee has to make a decision, she reminds herself of this verse.
  • Marlee goes to meet Liz at the colored movie theatre. When a woman questions Liz, Marlee “prayed for the lights to go down and the newsreel to start.”
  • When a “colored boy” is arrested for throwing eggs at a house, Marlee’s father bails the boy out of jail. When the boy’s mother sees him, she says, “Oh, thank God.”
  • Marlee’s church makes a float for the Christmas parade. The theme was from Matthew 19:14. “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.”
  • Marlee’s family goes on a plane. Her mother and sister are nervous. Marlee “thanked God that neither one of them had actually thrown up.”
  • Marlee’s mom is a substitute at Marlee’s school. Marlee “prayed no one would see us together.”
  • JT and his brother see Marlee in the woods. Marlee tries to distract them so they do not see Liz. She “started walking, praying they would follow me.”

The Crossover

Twelve-year-old Josh and his twin JB Bell are the kings of the basketball court. Untouchable and unstoppable—the sons of former professional basketball player Chuck “Da Man” Bell couldn’t be anything less than excellent. But when Alexis walks right into the twins’ lives and steals JB’s heart, Josh is left without his best friend by his side. Meanwhile, the boys’ father’s health is on the decline, despite Chuck’s utter denial. Josh and JB must deal with the consequences of everyone’s actions—including their own.

Kwame Alexander’s The Crossover is told in free-verse poetry. As with the prequel novel Rebound, his free-verse poetry works really well with the beat of the basketball games and Josh’s narration. Oftentimes, the basketball lingo and Josh’s internal monologue intermix, and readers will find that the verses enhance the experience.

The Crossover does an excellent job of mixing different storylines. The tensions between the twins’ father’s health, the upcoming basketball championships, and the brothers all get a good amount of page time and work together to raise the stakes. Josh and JB have more arguments as the pressure increases in basketball, and their father has more and more complications with his health as the book continues. The climax of the book is foreshadowed well early on, and each plot point finds an end.

These plot threads help create the themes of family, atonement, and inheritance. The dynamic between the twins, their mother (Crystal), and their father (Chuck) is healthy, though they do occasionally argue. JB and Josh argue with each other often. But when JB refuses to speak to Josh after Josh nearly breaks JB’s nose with a basketball, Josh reveals just how much he loves his family. He also does everything in his power to atone for his actions, and he and JB soon forgive each other. The boys also deal with their father’s legacy and how the legacy impacts their futures. Chuck was a basketball star, and the boys have inherited his prowess on the court. However, high blood pressure and stubbornness also run in the family, and the boys struggle with the fact that they may also inherit these negative characteristics.

While this Newbery Medal Winner is short, Alexander handles all these topics well. Basketball fans will enjoy The Crossover for the sport aspects, but the appeal of the book reaches further than the court. Josh and his family are realistic characters who experience universal emotions like love, anger, and loss. The Crossover is an excellent story that even non-readers and non-sport fans will find enjoyable. The story shows that despite differences in time, space, and opinion, we carry our loved ones in our hearts, always.

Sexual Content

  • Josh and JB’s dad, Chuck “Da Man” Bell tells his sons about how back in the day, he “kissed/ so many pretty ladies.”
  • Josh says that the only reason why JB has been “acting all religious” is because his classmate “Kim Bazemore kissed him in Sunday/ school.”
  • Josh does his homework while his teammate “Vondie and JB/ debate whether the new girl/ is a knockout or just beautiful,/ a hottie or a cutie,/ a lay-up or a dunk.”
  • Josh teases JB and asks if “Miss Sweet Tea” (Alexis) is his girlfriend. JB dodges the question. However, it is clear that he likes her a lot because “his eyes get all spacey/ whenever she’s around,/ and sometimes when she’s not.”
  • Chuck faints, and his wife Crystal demands that he see a doctor. Chuck refuses, and they argue. In an attempt to diffuse the tension between them, he says, “Come kiss me.”
  • After Crystal and Chuck stop arguing about Chuck’s health, Josh narrates, “And then there is silence, so I put the/ pillow over my head/ because when they stop talking,/ I know what that means./ Uggghh!” This happens a couple of times throughout the book.
  • JB and Alexis walk into the cafeteria, and she’s “holding his/ precious hand.”
  • JB and Alexis kiss in the library, and Josh sees them.
  • JB tells Alexis “how much she’s/ the apple of/ his eye/ and that he wants/ to peel her/ and get under her skin.”
  • Josh says, “Even Vondie/ has a girlfriend now…She’s a candy striper/ and a cheerleader/ and a talker/ with skinny legs/ and a big butt/ as big/ as Vermont.”

Violence

  • Josh has long dreadlocks while JB has a shaved head, so JB plays with Josh’s locks. Josh “slap[s] him/ across his bald head/ with [Josh’s] jockstrap.”
  • JB accidentally cuts off five of Josh’s locks of hair. Josh gives JB several noogies over the course of a few interactions.
  • Josh nearly breaks JB’s nose with a hard pass during a basketball game. He does it on purpose because he’s upset with JB, and Josh is suspended from the team. The description is only a couple of words.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Crystal’s younger brother “smokes cigars.”

Language

  • The younger characters occasionally use rude terms such as crunking, stupid, and jerk.
  • When Josh narrates his plays, he talks big about his game. This leads to him occasionally threatening physical contact during the game. For instance, Josh says, “Man, take this THUMPING.”
  • Josh’s nickname is “Filthy McNasty.”
  • JB suggests a bet against Josh. Josh responds with, “You can cut my locks off,/ but if I win the bet,/ you have to walk around/ with no pants on/ and no underwear/ at school tomorrow.”
  • JB responds with, “if you win,/ I will moon/ that nerdy group/ of sixth-graders/ that sit/ near our table/ at lunch?”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • JB only went to one basketball summer camp because “he didn’t want to miss Bible/ school.”
  • The Bells go to church on Sundays before basketball. Josh says, “When the prayers end/ and the doors open/ the Bells hit center stage,” meaning the basketball court.

by Alli Kestler

Ice Dogs

Her father’s death could have been avoided. That’s what fourteen-year-old Victoria Secord believes. If she had been with him, he would still be alive. Now that her father is dead, Victoria wonders if her mother is going to force her to leave Alaska. After all, her mother never understood her or her father’s love of dogsledding.

Thanks to her father, Victoria is an expert dogsledder. He taught her how to be independent and self-reliant, even in Alaska’s wintery bush. When Victoria finds an injured city boy, Chris, she doesn’t think twice about helping him. The two are soon lost in a fierce snowstorm. It’s up to Victoria and her dog team to keep everyone alive. Stuck in a frozen wilderness, Victoria doesn’t have enough food for her or her dogs. With temperatures dropping, how can Victoria keep everyone alive?

Ice Dogs takes the reader on a winter journey through the icy Alaskan wilderness. Although the plot is somewhat predictable, Victoria’s personal struggles add an interesting twist. Victoria is struggling with the death of her father, which has caused friction between her and her mother. However, her father’s death isn’t the only conflict that moves the plot along.

Victoria is unexpectedly responsible for Chris’s life. The injured city boy doesn’t know anything about surviving in the Alaskan wilderness. Freezing temperatures, lack of food, and wild animals are only some of the obstacles they will have to overcome. The two must also find a way to get along if they are going to survive. As the two fight to stay alive, they build a friendship as well as grow as individuals. Victoria and Chris are both unique, interesting characters that readers will relate to.

Ice Dogs is a fast-paced survival story that shows Victoria’s determination to keep her dogs and an injured boy alive. Faced with difficult situations, Victoria reflects on her father’s teachings; this allows her to endure each obstacle. Through the story, Victoria comes to realize that no one is to blame for her father’s death. Even though Ice Dogs has some predictable plot points, readers will enjoy Victoria’s relationship with her dogs as well as the interplay between Victoria and Chris. Full of adventure and danger, Ice Dogs highlights the importance of communication and relying on others. Middle school readers who enjoy Ice Dogs may also want to read Johnson’s other book, Dog Driven, as well as Survival Tails: Endurance in Antarctica by Katrina Charman.

 Sexual Content

  • Victoria finds an injured snowmobiler. When she tells him to get into a sleeping bag, he says, “We’ve just met and you’re already t-trying to get me in the s-sack.”
  • Victoria’s dog gets into a fight with another dog. Victoria “pretended not to notice the two dogs caught in a canine version of wanton lust, which was pretty hard since Beetle was squealing like a vixen.”

Violence

  • A moose stands in the trail, blocking Victoria’s sled. Victoria stops the sled and “I don’t think—just bend down and yank off my snowshoe. When I stand, she is less than ten paces from us. Bearing down…I fling the snowshoe as hard as I can. It flies through the air like a Frisbee. It hits her square in the face. The thwack sound is surprisingly loud in the cold air.” When the moose charges, “the dogs explode forward, with me hanging on to the gangline.” Victoria is dragged under the dogs and is slightly injured.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • Freaking is used twice. When starting a race, Victoria thinks, “I freaking hate starts.”
  • Crap is used once and heck is used three times.
  • Victoria tells her dogs, “Get back, you little turds.”
  • Someone tells Victoria that “some jerk sideswiped us, though. Took the mirror off my mom’s Chevette.”
  • When Chris accidently burns a map, Victoria calls him a “jerk.” Later, she calls him “the biggest milquetoast loser I’ve ever met.”
  • When the dogs take off after a moose, Chris says, “Holy crap, holy crap.”
  • Victoria calls Chris an idiot one time.
  • Victoria’s youth group leader says, Oh Lord three times and Lord twice. For example, she says, “Oh Lord, can you imagine, our own Victoria Secord, a national hero!”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • When Victoria’s dog is injured, she sends “a silent prayer to Dad to heal Bean overnight.”

Ghosted

When Ellie entered junior high, she promised herself that she would never look weak. She became the smartest, prettiest, best-dressed, and most popular kid at Lincoln Heights Middle School. She is also the most feared. Ellie has figured out that the more horrible she is, the more people fear her, and the more they respect her. Ellie has perfected the ability to manipulate people through fear.

The night of her junior high winter dance, Ellie has a terrible accident. As she lays unconscious, a ghost takes Ellie on a trip to her own past, present, and future. Ellie is forced to relive her parents’ divorce, her struggles with school, and the loss of her best friend, Marley. Can what Ellie sees, inspire her to change her ways?

From the first chapter, the story focuses on Ellie’s mean, manipulating ways. While the reader comes to understand the events that lead Ellie to become such a horrible person, it is hard to relate to her. When Ellie’s parents first divorced, Ellie was surrounded by her best friend Marley and Marley’s two dads. Instead of being comforted by their supportive presence, Ellie focused on what she didn’t have and “let those feelings of hurt and sadness fester into something ugly.” For the reader, Ellie’s ugliness overshadows every other aspect of the story.

Margolis clearly shows the dangers of Ellie’s meanness – both for Ellie and the people she encounters. However, some of the events are unrealistic and portray preteens as sheep who follow the most popular person out of fear. None of Ellie’s peers have the strength of character to stand up to Ellie, even when Ellie makes them do outrageous things. In reality, parents and teachers would have stepped in and protected Ellie’s classmates from her cruelty.

Ghosted follows the same format as The Christmas Carol, and like Scrooge, Ellie changes her ways. Ellie learns and finally admits that “making other people feel bad and weak distracts me from my own pain. And it props me up.” Ellie chooses to own up to her mistakes and apologize; however, the conclusion has several plot holes that readers will notice. For example, while at school Ellie falls and is unconscious for 15 minutes; however, the students do not get a teacher, and they call off the ambulance because when Ellie comes to, she feels fine. In addition, the story glosses over the hurt and pain that Ellie caused others and hints that all will be forgiven.

The story moves at a fast pace. The ghost, who is sarcastic and mean herself, adds interest. Although the message is pertinent to middle school readers, Ellie’s cruelty makes it hard to root for her. Readers looking for another story inspired by the Christmas Carol should pick up Young Scrooge: A Very Scary Christmas Story by R. L. Stine. On the other hand, if you’re in the mood for a Christmas story that will leave you with a warm glow and a positive message, add the Celebrate the Season series by Taylor Garland to your must-read list.

 Sexual Content

  • Ellie takes a video of Marley, who is joking around. Marley pretends that she is boy crazy and says, “I have never kissed a boy, but sometimes at night I practice by kissing my old American Girl doll. I cut the hair off so she looks like a boy.”

Violence

  • None

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • On Christmas Eve, Ellie and her mom have dinner with friends. Ellie’s mom drinks a glass of wine.

Language

  • Ellie thinks that her classmates have “marshmallows-for-brains” and are morons.
  • The ghost calls Ellie stupid and a dummy.
  • Ellie thinks the ghost and her dad are both jerks.
  • OMG is used as an exclamation three times.
  • My God is used as an exclamation once.

Supernatural

  • After a fall, a ghost shows Ellie her past, present, and future self. The ghost can also read Ellie’s mind.
  • The ghost drags Ellie “from place to place, year to year, shrinking you down to fit into the snow globe, changing your regular outfit into a bikini for the fish tank, only to go and transform you back into your regular size.”
  • The ghost takes Ellie to different places. One of the places is a mural that some classmates made. Another place Ellie is transported to is a tunnel in a loaf of bread.

Spiritual Content

  • None

On Thin Ice

Over the last couple of years, Ked’s life has slowly fallen apart. He’s been diagnosed with kyphosis, which has deformed his back. His friends have deserted him. Ked’s mother walked out on him and his dad. Ked doesn’t think things can get worse. Then he discovers that his dad has gambled away their rent money.

The thought of becoming homeless motivates Ked to fight back. He sneaks into his dad’s room and steals enough money to buy a broken down, vintage minibike. Ked is sure that he can repair the minibike and make a profit. The only problem is that Ked needs tools, which can only be found at the school’s maker space. Going to the maker space forces Ked into the path of a school bully who torments him about his condition. Can Ked and a few unlikely new friends find a way to build the bike and save his family from going under before it’s too late?

On Thin Ice begins with Ked’s very slow, detailed account of how his disease changed his life. Even though Ked tells his own story, some readers will have a difficult time relating to Ked, who has a messy life full of conflict. Ked blames most of his problems on his disease and never takes steps to stop the school bully, Landrover, from tormenting him. Ked doesn’t ask others for help but seems resigned to his lonely life.

Ked’s story mostly focuses on his need to fix the minibike. As he works on the mechanics, the story gives many long descriptions of his work. Readers who are interested in engines will find the descriptions interesting; however, readers with no knowledge of mechanics may quickly become bored. The pacing picks up as the story progresses, and the conclusion allows the reader to understand how many of Ked’s problems were actually a result of his own behavior. After a near-death experience, Ked finally relies on others and realizes that he must take steps to improve his life. He says, “I used to think my whole life had been stolen, piece by piece, but I figured something out. That’s how you put a life back together too. Just little pieces, but they add up.”

Despite the slow start, middle grade readers interested in mechanics should read On Thin Ice because it has many positive life lessons including the importance of honesty and communication. Ked also learns that he cannot be defined by his disease. Readers who want a more engaging story that tackles family problems should add Almost Home by Joan Bauer to their reading list.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • While at school, Ked sits in the only available seat. The boy next to him “delivers a sharp punch to my thigh, grinding his knuckles in at the end.” Ked yells out in pain, but when the teacher asks what happened, he lies and says it was a “cramp or something.” Another boy “drills me in the other thigh. All I can do is bite my lip and take it. The punches stop after that.”
  • When Ked takes the motorized bike on a test drive, a classmate named Landrover chases him on a four-wheeler. Ked crashes the bike. “I am flying off the trail and into the woods, already falling as I go. Falling and flying, flying and falling…Then impact… My left knee hits the ground first, and the pain shoots through me in a hot, electric burst. My body hits next, and the pain fills my upper back like water flowing into a hollow place.” Ked is banged up, but not seriously injured.
  • Landrover walks on a frozen pond and falls through the ice. “Landrover’s face is slick with water and contorted with fear. His numb hands are pawing uselessly at the edge of the ice, breaking it into chunks.” After Ked saves Landrover’s life, he is upset that Landrover “didn’t even say thank you.”
  • After Landrover falls in the ice, he tells Ked, “Dad’s gonna kill me!” Later, Ked sees Landrover with a bruised face and thinks, “it looks like his dad gave it a good try.” Ked makes an “anonymous tip” that leads to Landrover and his father getting family therapy.

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • Some of the kids at school call Ked “freakins” and “freak.” For example, a boy tells Ked, “You’re dead meat, freak.”
  • Someone calls Ked a loser several times.
  • While in the library, a boy gives Ked the book The Hunchback of Norte-Dame. Ked thinks, “Frickin’ Quasimodo.”
  • Heck is used twice.
  • The characters refer to others as jerks.
  • Ked frequently refers to himself and others as idiots. For example, when Ked gets upset at his father, he thinks, “I want to shout at him and tell him I know and he’s an idiot…”
  • Several times Ked refers to himself as an idiot.
  • A girl calls Ked “garbage boy.”
  • A girl calls the class bully a scumbag.
  • “Oh my God” is used as an exclamation three times.
  • The school bully calls Ked a “dipstick” and a “dummy.”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • Ked said a quick prayer, and then later he thinks, “I consider another quick prayer, but it’s not like the first one worked out so great.”

Dog Driven

Fourteen-year-old McKenna Barney is determined to keep her failing eyesight a secret, even if that means distancing herself from everyone—her friends, her parents, and even her sister. The only place McKenna feels any peace is when she’s on the trail with her dogs.

McKenna’s sister, Emma, is fighting a losing battle against eye disease. When Emma asks McKenna to enter a dog sled race, McKenna can’t say no. McKenna plans on leading a team of eight sled dogs in a race, even though she’s not sure she can see the dangers on the trail. To finish the race, McKenna will have to face three days of shifting lake ice, sudden owl attacks, and bitterly cold nights. As McKenna deals with snow squalls in the Canadian Wilderness, she must also come to terms with her terrifying vision loss.

McKenna hides the truth from everyone, including her toughest rival, Guy. As McKenna and Guy become friends, she wonders if she will be able to keep her secret from him. Is McKenna willing to risk everything, including her life, to keep her secret safe?

Throughout the story, McKenna’s fear of losing her sight and her independence becomes clear. McKenna’s parents cannot deal with her sister’s loss of vision. Between her overprotective mother and her angry father, Emma’s life is far from normal. McKenna is determined not to be a burden to her parents. As she drives her team of dogs through the wilderness, McKenna learns that with help, her loss of vision does not have to stop her from achieving great things.

Dog Driven is an easy-to-read story that shows the harsh conditions of the Canadian Wilderness. Throughout the story, McKenna faces every obstacle with the help of her dogs and her new friends. With family drama, teen pranks, and terrifying winter conditions, Dog Driven will entertain readers until the very end. Even though the story discusses the eye disease, Stargardt, the information never slows down the pace of the story. Instead, seeing the disease through McKenna’s point of view will allow readers to understand the effects of the disease as well as how one family deals with it.

Readers will sympathize with McKenna and cheer for her as she continues the race. Her friend, Guy, adds interest to the story when he discusses how his relative used a dog sled to deliver mail in the 1800s. Each short chapter ends with a letter—sometimes the letter is from the current time, and other times the letter is from the past. The letters incorporate other people’s thoughts and experiences, which gives the story more perspective. Dog Driven will not disappoint readers; the story will take readers on an epic race across the ice. Snuggle up with a warm blanket and sled your way into the Canadian wilderness with McKenna and her dogs.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • An owl attacks McKenna’s head. “I can’t help laughing as I probe the back of my head. There’s a tender spot and a bit of blood.”
  • A group of dogs get in a fight. “Horrifying sounds of their fight seep into me and root me where I stand. Mad chaos. Dogs everywhere snapping and scrabbling, some trying to get away, some tearing into whoever appears to be losing. It’s the biggest dog brawl I’ve ever seen.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • “Oh my God” is used as an exclamation twice.
  • Crap and heck are both used once.
  • Freaking is used three times. For example, when McKenna gets attacked by an owl, she says, “I’m going total ninja on this freaking owl if he comes back, I swear.”
  • When a dog fight breaks out, someone says, “Oh-God-Oh-God-Oh-God.”

Supernatural

  • Guy makes a comment about a wendigo. “I grew up hearing how ice caves are doorways to the Otherworld. The malevolent spirit of the early people, the wendigo, was the bringer of winter starvation and disease.”

 

Spiritual Content

  • McKenna’s mom says, “Thank God you’re whole, McKenna, and we don’t have to worry about you.”
  • When someone gives McKenna a pair of sunglasses, she thinks, “Thank God for Harper giving me her spare.”

Long Way Down

Somebody shot and killed Will’s brother Shawn, and Will thinks he knows who did it. The morning after Shawn’s death, Will picks up his brother’s gun and gets in the elevator of the apartment building with his heart set on revenge. That’s when things get weird.

Sixty seconds. That’s how long it takes Will to reach the bottom and exit the elevator, but in those sixty seconds Jason Reynolds crafts a story where Will confronts nasty truths about the events that killed not only his brother but his other relatives and friends over the years. Will faces literal ghosts in the elevator that he never thought he’d have to confront. In those sixty seconds, Will must shape the course of his life.

Although Long Way Down takes place over a course of a minute, the story is packed with twists and turns. Early on, Will learns that the other people who entered the elevator are ghosts come to warn him. Each ghost is someone from Will’s past, and through discussion and memories, Will forms new understandings about the violent, revenge-hungry world that has shaped him and his ideas of justice.

The ending is ambiguous and the reader does not find out if Will follows through on his revenge plot. It is clear from the ghosts’ stories and Will’s code of justice that if he takes vengeance, he’ll end up dead like the ghosts. It could be insinuated that they are asking Will if he’s ready to join their ranks by making the same mistakes. Will learns that violence is cyclical and feeds itself. Long Way Down has a heavy message but shows that Will has the power to choose a different path. Even though he and his family have been wronged, the themes within the story make it clear that revenge is never the way out. And, most importantly, Will is the only person in charge of his own destiny. The ghosts give him the tools to determine his fate, but only he makes his own destiny.

Will’s story is told free-verse which highlights the speed at which Will learns from the ghosts and the speed of the descending elevator. Long Way Down packs a punch because it’s short and moves quickly. In this way, the message never leaves center stage, but it’s also never beaten like a dead horse.

Long Way Down is one of Reynolds’ more serious stories, and the plot works well with the somber tone. It’s a hard-hitting tale that demands that each person evaluates the meaning of justice and the consequences of their actions. Some of the events described are dark and may upset younger readers, but these scenes all highlight the main themes. Long Way Down is an excellent story that presents the power of choice and compassion in the lives of everyone, including the people we never get the chance to meet. Fans of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol will appreciate the similarities that appear in Long Way Down. While Reynolds doesn’t mold his story around the Christmas season, both stories show how one event can drastically change a person’s life.  Readers can also find Long Way Down in graphic novel format.

Sexual Content

  • Will and Shawn’s mom prayed that Shawn “wouldn’t get Leticia pregnant.”
  • Shawn gives Will some of his cologne and said that “[Will’s] first girlfriend—/ would like it.”
  • A girl enters the elevator, and Will describes her as “Fine as heaven… [Will] was/ walking [his] eyes/ up her legs,/ the ruffle and fold/ of her flower/ dress, her/ arms, her/ neck, her/ cheek, her/ hair.”
  • Will doesn’t want to flirt with the girl in the elevator because “it’s hard to think about/ kissing and killing/ at the same time.”
  • The girl knows Will’s name. Will thinks, “if a girl says she knows you/ but ain’t never met her/ then she’s been/ watching you./ Clockin’ you./ Checkin/ you.” He continues to “load up [his] flirts.”
  • The mystery girl’s name is Dani; she and Will were childhood friends. Dani says to Will, “You remember, on this day,/ I kissed you?”

Violence

  • Will’s brother Shawn “was shot/ and killed.” Will has flashes where he describes Shawn’s death. Once, Will narrates, “And then there were shots./ Everybody /ran, /ducked, /hid, / tucked/ themselves tight . . . the buzz of a bullet,/ ain’t meet us.”
  • Will lists off “The Rules” for when someone is killed in their neighborhood. The third rule is “If someone you love/ gets killed,/ find the person/ who killed/ them and/ kill them.”
  • Shawn’s side of the bedroom is all neat and clean except for one drawer that “was jacked up on purpose to keep [Will] and Mom out/ and Shawn’s gun in.”
  • Will thinks that Shawn’s so-called friend, Carlson Riggs, shot Shawn. Will has a few theories for why, including that Carlson moved and joined a gang called Dark Suns. Will thinks Carlson shot Shawn because Shawn crossed into their turf “as the corner store/ that sells that special soap/ my mother sent Shawn/ out to get for her the/ day before yesterday.”
  • Will plans to kill Carlson with Shawn’s gun. Will would “pull my/ shirt over my mouth and nose/ and do it.”
  • While playing in the park, Dani was shot and killed by unnamed gunmen. “Gunshots,/ she said . . . Dani said her body burned/ and all she wanted to do was/ jump outside of herself,/ swing to somewhere else.”
  • Will saw Dani die. “Her eyes wide, the brightness/ dimming. Her mouth, open./ Bubble gum/ and blood.”
  • Another ghost enters the elevator and accosts Will. “Two large hands . . . snatched fistfuls of my shirt,/ yoking me by the neck,/ holding me there until/ the elevator door closed.”
  • Uncle Mark videotaped everything he could, including, “gang fights,/ block parties.”
  • In order to take Uncle Mark’s drug-dealing corner, a guy killed him. Will says, “Unfortunately,/ [Uncle Mark] never shot nothing/ ever again./ But my father did.”
  • Will narrates, “Shawn always said/ our dad was killed/ for killing the man/ who killed our uncle./ Said he was at a pay/ phone, probably talking/ to Mom, when a guy/ walked up on him,/ put pistol to head . . . But that was the end/ of that story.”
  • Will’s dad tells Will about how he killed Uncle Mark’s killer. Will’s dad says, “Hood over my head./ Gun from my waist/ and by the time he saw me/ I was already squeezing.” Later Will’s dad discovered that he killed the wrong guy.
  • Will’s dad takes Will’s gun and puts it up to Will’s head. “Pop stood over me,/ the gun pressed against/ the side of my face.” Will freaks out and Pop backs up, giving the gun back to Will.
  • A ghost named Frick enters the elevator. Buck says, “This is the man/ who murdered me.”
  • Frick “shot [Buck]/ twice/ in the stomach,/ in the street.”  Frick was only supposed to rob Buck, but Buck “swings at [Frick]… I got scared./ So I pulled/ the trigger.”
  • To be a Dark Sun, one must have “a cigarette burn under the right eye” and rob, beat, or kill someone.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Buck smokes a cigarette in the elevator. Buck offers one to Dani, who takes “one/ from the box.”
  • Uncle Mark is seen in family photos with a “cigarette tucked/ behind ear.” He also smokes in the elevator.
  • Will says of smoking, “I don’t smoke./ Shit is gross.”
  • Uncle Mark lost his camera. To get another, he decided “to sell [drugs] for one day. . . Uncle Mark/ took a corner,/ pockets full/ of rocks to/ become rolls.” One day turned into months.
  • Will’s Mom “cried and drank” herself to sleep.
  • Will talks about Buck. Will remembers that Buck was “a small-time hustler,/ dime bags on the corner” until Will’s dad was killed.

Language

  • Profanity is used often. Profanity includes damn, asshole, and hell.
  • The word “fuck” is used once. Shawn has his gold chain on him when he’s shot. Will says about the chain, “Them fuckers ain’t even/ snatch it.”
  • After Shawn’s death, Will sees himself in the mirror and says “I looked and/ felt like/ shit.”

Supernatural

  • A childhood friend of Shawn’s, Buck, appears in the elevator. Buck is a ghost because he was shot and killed years previous. When Buck smokes, there’s “Fire./ Smoke./ But no ash.” As new people enter the elevator, it becomes clear that several ghosts are visiting Will to give him guidance and warnings.

Spiritual Content

  • Will thinks about God and says, “I swear sometimes/ it feels like God/ be flashing photos/ of his children,/ awkward,/ amazing,/ tucked in his wallet/ for the world to see… God ain’t/ no pushy parent/ so he just folds/ and snaps/ us shut.”
  • Buck’s stepfather was a preacher, “praying for anyone,/ helping everyone.”

by Alli Kestler

 

My Plain Jane

There has been a murder at Lowood school, and aspiring writer Charlotte Brontë is on a mission to uncover the culprit. When an agent from the Society for the Relocation of Wayward Spirits shows up to interrogate the ghost of Mr. Brocklehurst, Charlotte is convinced that she can be of assistance. However, the mysterious Mr. Blackwood seems more interested in talking to her friend Jane Eyre than solving the case. Rumors of romance quickly spread through the school, but Charlotte can’t help but hope this problem might be supernatural in nature. After all, that would make a much better story.

As the star agent at the Society, Alexander Blackwood uses his rare ability to see ghosts to help him capture and relocate particularly pesky spirits. However, his real goal is to find whoever is responsible for his father’s murder and enact his revenge. With royal funding being cut and seers dying in the line of duty, it’s up to Alexander and his woefully incompetent assistant Branwell to keep the Society afloat. The last thing he expected was to discover an unusually powerful seer while out on a routine relocation. Now in order to save the Society, Alexander needs to convince Jane Eyre to join as an agent…a task that is much easier said than done.

Jane Eyre might have the ability to see ghosts, but she has absolutely no interest in becoming a Society seer. Some of her best friends are ghosts, and she would never dream of forcefully relocating them. Instead, she’s taken a job as a governess at Thornfield Hall under the employment of the enigmatic Mr. Rochester. While Jane finds herself falling for the brooding master of the house, Charlotte and Alexander accidentally uncover some disturbing supernatural secrets that have the potential to put both Jane and the entirety of England in danger.

In this twist on Charlotte Brontë’s novel Jane Eyre, co-authors Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows take readers on a wild, slightly spooky, romp through pre-Victorian England. You don’t have to have read Jane Eyre to thoroughly enjoy all the haunted hijinks, but good-humored fans of the classic will likely take pleasure in the ways that My Plain Jane pokes fun at its source material.

The always-curious Charlotte and charmingly grumpy Alexander make a compelling pair as they attempt to get to the bottom of an increasingly complex mystery, but it’s Jane herself that I believe readers will find themselves rooting for as she discovers that even very small and plain people can be very powerful when they let themselves be.

Sexual Content

  • Charlotte and Jane are both fascinated by the idea of boys and, despite not having the best of prospects, “they could still imagine themselves being swept off their feet by handsome strangers who would look past their poverty and plainness and see something worthy of love.”
  • Jane thinks that she wouldn’t call Alexander handsome because his jaw is too square and his hair too long. The narrators explain that “In the pre-Victorian age, [a] truly handsome man should be pale—because being out in the sun was for peasants—with a long, oval-shaped face, a narrow jaw, a small mouth, and a pointy chin.”
  • Jane considers herself to be quite plain-looking, but “to ghosts, however she was the epitome of beauty. This left Jane to believe that something was seriously askew in the afterlife.”
  • Just like all the other ghosts, Helen thinks that Jane is beautiful, but Jane thinks, “it was Helen, with her porcelain complex, blue eyes, and long golden hair, who would have turned heads if she were still alive.”
  • Helen tells Jane that she’s too beautiful to be a governess because “you’re so lovely that the master of the house wouldn’t be able to help falling in love with you.”
  • When Alexander arrives at Lowood, the girls are excited because they don’t usually see boys. They immediately decide that he is there to court one of the teachers. “This is like a real live romance novel,” one girl said. “I can’t stand the tension. Who will he choose?”
  • Charlotte doesn’t believe the rumor that Alexander proposed to Jane. “Charlotte believed in love at first sight, of course—she dreamed that one day, at some unexpected moment, such a thing might even happen to her—but she firmly disapproved of marriage at first sight.”
  • An argument between Jane and Charlotte starts a new rumor at Lowood “that Charlotte Brontë was also madly in love with Mr. Blackwood, and she and Jane Eyre would now be forced to compete for the man’s affections.”
  • Jane describes Mr. Rochester as having “the most handsome face she’d ever seen. Pale and oval in shape, sideburns all the way down to his pointed chin (which would technically make it a beard) and framing the most perfectly tiny lips she’d ever beheld.”
  • The narrators defend Jane falling for Rochester by explaining that her perception of men was “gleaned mostly from books and art that tended to glorify tall, dark, and brooding ones. The broodier the better. And Mr. Rochester was among the broodiest.”
  • Jane admits her feelings for Mr. Rochester to Charlotte and tells her, “he made me love him without even looking at me.”
  • Charlotte is a little disappointed that Mr. Rochester might be a murderer because it would “make him entirely inappropriate as a knight in shining armor for Jane.”
  • During an argument, Alexander tells Charlotte, “You should stop poking your cute button nose where it does not belong.”
  • Charlotte bursts into Alexander’s apartment unannounced and catches him in a compromising situation. “He was wearing trousers, thank the heavens. But she’d obviously interrupted him in the middle of shaving—there were still traces of shaving cream on his face. His hair was wet and gleaming, dripping onto his bare shoulders. His bare shoulders. Because he was not wearing a shirt. Which meant, by pre-Victorian standards, anyway, he was more or less completely naked.”
  • Charlotte gets bored while reading the weddings and obituaries page of the newspaper and imagines more dramatic stories behind them, referencing several classic novels. She muses for example, “Mr. Edgar Linton of Thrushcross Grange, would like to announce his engagement to the lovely Miss Catherine Earnshaw, the wedding to take place on the twenty-first of September, even though the lady would much rather marry a ruffian named Heathcliffe. But she shall forego her passion in order to secure social ambition.”
  • Alexander and Charlotte disrupt the wedding of Mr. Rochester and a possessed Jane, claiming that Rochester is already married. They read a letter from Mr. Mason that says, “Edward Fairfax Rochester was married to my sister Bertha Antoinetta Mason, daughter of Jonas Mason, merchant, and Antoinetta, his wife, at St. Mary’s Church, Spanish Town, Jamaica.” Mr. Mason claims that his sister is still alive and that he saw her himself three weeks prior.
  • Rochester tells Jane that she is the love of his life, but that they don’t need to be married. He suggests they move to the south of France to live as brother and sister. “Jane, we would have separate living compartments, and we would only spare a kiss on the cheek for birthdays.”
  • Branwell offers to marry Jane despite not loving her, telling her it could be an arrangement between friends. She declines his offer, telling him, “Well, that’s just the most romantic thing anyone has ever said to me! At least since the last idiot who followed it up with trying to kill me.”
  • Charlotte is overwhelmed by her emotions after being told that Alexander is dead, but she doesn’t understand why because “What she’d felt for Mr. Blackwood hadn’t been romance, as Charlotte had previously defined romance. There had been no stolen glances—not that she would have been able to see them. No flirtations. No tortured yearning of her soul, the way Jane felt for Mr. Rochester.”
  • Charlotte and Branwell decide to go search for Alexander’s ghost. On the way, Charlotte practices the following speech in her mind: “Mr. Blackwood. Alexander. I would like to inform you that you are (you were, I suppose, so sorry) the keenest, most attractive, most intelligent and thoroughly engaging boy that I have ever met, and I am filled with sorrow on account of your untimely demise.”
  • Wellington incorrectly assumes that Jane and Alexander are in love. Jane corrects him, saying, “I have a thing for Rochester. It’s not healthy.”
  • When Charlotte dies briefly after having been shot, Alexander finally admits his feelings for her. “‘I care about you Miss Brontë,’ he rasped. ‘And now I’m too late in saying it.’”
  • Charlotte realizes that after her brush with death, she has gained the ability to see ghosts. Alexander gives her his Society mask, and she is so excited that she kisses him. “Before he could finish speaking her name, she pushed herself up a little and pressed her lips against his. His eyes widened in surprise, and immediately she backed away from him, giving an embarrassed cry.”
  • Charlotte tries to apologize for being too forward, and Alexander cuts her off with a second kiss. “It was the same as her kiss to him—just a touch of his lips to hers. A question. A hope. A promise.”
  • Charlotte reads Jane an excerpt from her book, the “reader, I married him” passage from Jane Eyre, and Jane tells her, “I don’t think I’ve ever heard a story that’s so perfectly romantic.”
  • Charlotte is a little embarrassed at the thought of Alexander reading her story because “so much of what she’d written about Jane Eyre’s feelings for Mr. Rochester had been inspired by what she herself felt for a certain Mr. Blackwood.”
  • Jane and Charlotte meet Mr. Edward Rochester the Second, the Rochesters’ age-appropriate son, who Jane is immediately attracted to. “There was something so entirely familiar about his dark, intelligent eyes. A certain brooding intensity. She was overcome by the sudden notion that this boy possessed the ability not only to see her, standing there awkwardly in the blue dress and her paint-smeared smock gazing up at him, but into her as well. Like he could see into her very soul.”

Violence

  • Brocklehurst, the very cruel man who runs Lowood school, has been murdered during his most recent inspection. “He’d settled down by the fire in the parlor, devoured the heaping plate of cookies that Miss Temple had so kindly offered him, and promptly keeled over in the middle of afternoon tea. Poisoned. The tea, evidently, not the cookies. Although if he’d been poisoned by the cookies the girls at Lowood school felt it would’ve served him right.”
  • While Mr. Brocklehurst was in charge of the school, many girls died from the Graveyard Disease. “There are many terms for this popular illness over the course of history: the Affliction, consumption, tuberculosis, etc., but during this period the malady was most often referred to as ‘the Graveyard Disease,’ because if you were unlucky enough to catch it, that’s where you were headed.”
  • Charlotte suspects that Jane might have been the one who murdered Mr. Brocklehurst. Jane is known for disliking the man, and when she comments on how much better life at Lowood is without him, Charlotte observes, “There was something so satisfied about the tone in Jane’s voice when she said it. It seemed practically a confession.”
  • Jane watches two agents from the Society for the Relocation of Wayward Spirits confront a ghost known as The Shrieking Lady, who is causing significant destruction in a pub. “The agent in charge leapt nimbly through the air and landed beside the ghost. ‘Get the watch! It’s—’ But he couldn’t finish the order because the redhead clumsily lunged forward and dove right through her and landed in a pile next to Jane’s hiding place behind the bar.” The full altercation is described over about seven pages.
  • Jane recalls the night that her friend Helen Burns died. “Jane clasped her friend’s hand tightly, trying to ignore how cold Helen’s fingers were. They fell asleep like that, and when she woke in the morning, Helen’s body was pale and still. And standing above it was Helen’s ghost.”
  • Alexander has been trying to solve his father’s murder for the past fourteen years, “but he didn’t have much to go on at the moment, only the fuzzy memories of a frightened young boy. Which made revenge quite difficult.”
  • Helen says that on the day she met Jane, she got in trouble with a teacher who “struck [Helen’s] neck with a bundle of sticks.”
  • Jane says that before she befriended Helen, she had formulated a plan to “escape Lowood and beat [her] Aunt Reed with a very large stick.”
  • The Duke of Wellington instructs Alexander to recruit Jane into the Society because two of their four seers have been “killed in the line of duty.”
  • Jane discovers in the middle of the night that Mr. Rochester’s bed is set on fire. “…the flames had grown onto the canopy, and one burning piece of fabric had dropped on the bed, igniting the blanket.”
  • Helen gets so angry that people are calling Jane plain that it causes a destructive physical reaction. “A vase flew across the room, whizzing past Rochester’s head before it shattered against a wall.”
  • Alexander remembers the day his father died. “He’d heard the argument between the killer and his father. He’d felt his father’s anger as the killer left the house in a fury. And he remembered the impacts of his footfalls as he, a young boy, went racing after the killer. Then. The explosion.”
  • Alexander is convinced that Mr. Rochester is his father’s murderer and tells Charlotte, “I should simply kill him. It’s what he deserves. Everything in my life has been leading up to this point.”
  • Mason, one of Mr. Rochester’s guests, gets stabbed during the night and Jane is left to take care of him. “Mr. Mason lay on the sofa there, looking pale and drenched in sweat. A ball of bloody rags lay beside him, the freshest still bright red.”
  • Branwell accidentally touches the teacup holding the spirit of Mr. Brocklehurst and becomes possessed. Mr. Brocklehurst attacks Alexander with the teacup. “Alexander tackled Brocklehurst and grabbed for the teacup, but the china bashed against his temple and made him blink back stars. It was a shockingly sturdy teacup.”
  • Rochester attempts to propose to Jane, telling her, “I believe there is a string below your rib, and it stretches across class and age to me, and it is attached beneath my rib. And if you find another suitable position, and leave me, you will pull it out and I will bleed.”
  • Mason claims that his sister Bertha, Mr. Rochester’s wife, is still alive. “She’s mad perhaps, but who wouldn’t be mad after what he’s done to her. He’s had her locked in the attic for fifteen years.”
  • A possessed Jane attempts to strangle Charlotte after she tries to convince her not to marry Mr. Rochester. “Jane squeezed harder. Dark spots swam before Charlotte’s eyes. The world was fading. She gave one last desperate push at her attacker…and her fingers caught the pearl necklace around Jane’s slender neck. She pulled and the necklace broke free.”
  • Jane observes Bertha Rochester, who has been locked in an attic for fifteen years. “She was thin to the point of being malnourished. There were scratches and cuts up and down her arms, and her head hung low as if she were asleep.”
  • When Jane rejects Mr. Rochester, he tries to attack her and Charlotte. Alexander fights Mr. Rochester so that the girls have time to escape. “[Alexander] attacked using a new move called the Three Ladies’ Luck, thinking his opponent might not know how to counter it, but Rochester was clearly a man who’d continued his sword studies throughout his life, because two sharp clacks of the blades and Alexander was blocked.” The fight is described over six pages.
  • Wellington comes to the Brontë residence and tells Charlotte, Branwell, and Jane that Alexander is dead. Despite Wellington being the one who attempted to kill Alexander, he answers yes when Jane asks, “So Mr. Rochester killed him?”
  • Charlotte and Branwell hear a variety or rumors about what happened to Mr. Rochester when his house burned down, including, “Mr. Rochester was most certainly alive. He’d nobly tried to save his wife from the fire, but she’d leapt to her death from the roof of the house.”
  • During the confrontation with Wellington in the throne room, Alexander threatens him with a gun. Wellington points his own gun at the King and says he’ll murder him. “I’ve done it before. George III was such a bother, and David here won’t mind—he’ll just inhabit the next in line for the throne. I already have that arranged.”
  • Charlotte and Branwell struggle to get the ring talisman off of the king’s finger. Charlotte becomes impatient and grabs a pair of shears. “Without another moment’s hesitation she knelt beside the king, positioned the shears, and snipped the finger off. The ring (and the accompanying finger) skittered across the carpet. The king’s eyes rolled up, and he went limp. Charlotte used his coat and string from a nearby velvet curtain to bind his hand. She’d read something about amputation in a book once. She felt a bit woozy on account of all the blood, but she soldiered on.”
  • Wellington needs Jane to cooperate with him because of her Beacon powers, so he can’t kill her; however, he can threaten her friends. “I will start with Mr. Blackwood, who was like a son to me. And then I will kill Mr. Rochester, who was like a brother to me. And I will not stop there. You see, Miss Eyre, I have come to discover you have quite a few people in your life who mean something to you.”
  • A fight breaks out at the Society headquarters. Grace Poole attempts to strangle Mrs. Rochester. Shots are fired, and Charlotte is caught in the crossfire. “The group turned toward the sound just in time to see Charlotte there, clutching her chest. Then she collapsed.” Wellington tries to grab a gun, but Mr. Rochester shoots him. The description of the fight lasts five pages.
  • Jane admits to Charlotte that the murder of Mr. Brocklehurst was a group effort. “Miss Temple gave him the tea. Miss Smith made the tea. Miss Scatcherd procured the poison.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • When Jane enters a pub looking for a ghost, the bartender gives her a glass of brandy on the house. “For a moment Jane looked utterly scandalized that he should offer her such a thing. Then she snatched up the glass and took a sip. The liquid fire seared down her esophagus.”
  • When the Society agents discover Jane hiding behind the bar, she lies and tells them, “I was drunk. From the drinking of…the brandy.”

Language

  • Jane says, “Where was the blooming—pardon her French—Society?”
  • The Shrieking Lady calls her husband Frank a “hornswoggler.”
  • Jane tells Mr. Rochester that he is a manipulative liar, “so no, I don’t think I will live with you in the South of France as sodding brother and sister!”
  • Rochester calls Wellington a traitor and a “two-faced, serpent-tongued blaggart.”
  • Wellington tries to get Jane and Charlotte on his side, and they both tell him to “go to hell.”

Supernatural

  • After an embarrassing incident with a ghost in 1778, King George III founded the Royal Society for the Relocation of Wayward Spirits, “a team made up of every kind of person he thought could help him be rid of these irksome ghosts: priests who specialized in exorcisms, doctors with some knowledge of the occult, philosophers, scientists, fortune-tellers, and anybody, in general, who dabbled in the supernatural.”
  • Charlotte asks Jane if she believes in ghosts and then tells her, “I believe in ghosts. I think I may have seen one myself once, back in the cemetery at Haworth a few years ago. At least I thought I did.”
  • Charlotte thinks that the Society ought to visit Lowood school because so many girls have died there over the years (including her two older sisters) that “The school must be bustling with ghosts.”
  • Jane has been able to see ghosts ever since she was a child. Her aunt locked her in the Red Room, and Jane was so afraid that her heart stopped. “She literally died of fright, if only for a moment. And when she opened her eyes again her late uncle was kneeling next to her.”
  • Jane goes to the pub where the Society is supposed to be relocating a spirit, and she runs into a ghost known as The Shrieking Lady. “The woman’s hair was raven black, floating all around her head like she was caught in an underwater current. Her skin was almost entirely translucent, but her eyes glowed like coals.”
  • Alexander “bops” The Shrieking Lady on the head with a pocket watch and “A frigid blast of air blew Jane’s hair from her face. The silver pocket watch glowed, and then, to Jane’s horror, sucked the ghost in.”
  • Jane spends most of her time with Helen Burns, who she describes as “Her best friend and favorite ghost in all the world.”
  • When Alexander arrives at Lowood, he finds himself surrounded by an unusual number of ghosts, “twenty-six of whom were young girls, and one of whom wanted his murder solved.”
  • One of the ghosts tells Alexander that Mr. Brocklehurst killed her. “He locked me in a closet for five hours. By the time anyone came to find me I was dead.”
  • A ghost can be contained inside a talisman, an object of significance to them, in order to be relocated. Society agents always wear gloves because “touching a talisman could lead to a possession by the ghost trapped within.”
  • Helen is afraid of running into a Gyrtrash, “a northern ghost that appeared as a horse or a very large dog.”
  • Helen is startled by Mr. Rochester’s horse and momentarily becomes visible, startling the horse and prompting Rochester to ask Jane, “what are you, witches?”
  • Alexander’s assistant, Bromwell, accidentally invites a ghost into their carriage. It causes some ruckus. “The ghost opened his mouth and a stream of flies buzzed out. Alexander had to confess he’d never seen that before. Then the ghost sprang through the roof of the carriage and into the driver’s seat. He let out a bone chilling cackle. The horses reared and bolted, taking the carriage with them.”
  • Alexander’s boss, the Duke of Wellington, tells him that he believes Jane is a special kind of seer called a Beacon. “A Beacon, my boy, is a seer with, shall we say, extra abilities. Our previous Beacon could command ghosts with a word. From what I understand, ghosts often comment on the Beacon’s attractiveness, as though there’s some sort of supernatural glow about them visible only to ghosts.”
  • Bromwell explains to Charlotte that Seers gain their abilities after they die temporarily. “Seers are rare—not everyone who dies comes back with such an ability. Which is why the Society seeks us out.”
  • After his father’s death, Alexander spent much time looking for his father’s ghost. He was unsuccessful because “Not everyone became a ghost, of course. And it was better wasn’t it, that a spirit moved on to find peace?”
  • When Jane does not immediately accept Mr. Rochester’s proposal, he forces a pearl necklace talisman around her neck. “The pearls were a talisman that held a spirit. And that spirit now inhabited Jane’s body. Which meant Jane’s spirit was squeezed to the side in the most uncomfortable and frustrating (for Jane) manner.”
  • Alexander is sent to collect the ghost of Mr. Mitten, a man who worked for the Society before he died. The ghost is strangely cooperative. “Cautiously [Alexander] approached the ghost, half expecting some sort of fight. But Mr. Mitten held perfectly still while Alexander tapped the signet ring on his head. Immediately, the ghost was sucked in. The gold trembled and glowed, and that was that. David Mitten was trapped in the ring, ready to deliver to Wellington.”
  • While Mr. Rochester attempts to explain why he had Jane possessed, Helen gets so angry that her head “burst into flames.”
  • During their swordfight, Alexander spots a mysterious key hanging around Rochester’s neck. “Alexander sashed the sword to the left, cutting through the chain. The key went skittering across the floor, and abruptly, the ghost of a younger man ripped from Rochester’s body.” This is the ghost of Rochester’s older brother, who had been possessing him for the past fifteen years.
  • Alexander confronts Wellington after discovering he was behind his father’s murder and the possession of Mr. Rochester. The two come to blows, resulting in Alexander being tossed into the river Thames. “Wellington bashed Alexander over the head with the lockbox. Stars popped in his vision, and blood poured from a gash. And though Alexander scrambled to fight, he went down quickly.” The description of the fight is about a page long.
  • Alexander nearly drowns in the Thames, but is rescued by Bertha Rochester and some ghosts. “A tall, radiant woman had approached the water, her hair gleaming, her skin glowing. She’d drawn the attention of every single ghost in the Thames, which meant when she asked about a young man, they were able to lead the way.”
  • The Rochesters explain how Wellington had the former king possessed before he died. Alexander recalls how he put the ghost of David Mitten in the current king’s signet ring and realizes, “He’s going to have Mr. Mitten possess the King of England.”
  • Branwell learns the truth about what happened to Mr. Rochester and Alexander from the ghost of Mr. Rochester’s father. “He’s been haunting this pub for years, apparently, ever since Mr. Rochester, the brother, died and took possession of Mr. Rochester—the one we know.”
  • Jane is able to give the king the ability to see ghosts by reading out of The Book of the Dead. “When she had finished, the king glanced around the room, noticing nothing out of the ordinary until he looked behind him. There was the tree ghost, glancing around the room as well.”
  • Rochester claims that Wellington keeps The Book of the Dead “locked in a room guarded by a three-headed dog, which drops into a pit of strangling vines, followed by a life-or-death life-size game of chess, which opens into a room with a locked door and a hundred keys on wings.” This is a reference to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.
  • Jane and Mrs. Rochester read an incantation from The Book of the Dead to allow everyone at court to see ghosts as a distraction so they can save the king from his possession. Charlotte observes several interesting ghosts, including a red-haired girl. “She was dressed in a gorgeous embroidered, jewel-encrusted gown and an Elizabethan headdress. In her hand she held a book. She smiled sweetly at Jane, and reached for the man beside her, who, to Charlotte’s total astonishment, suddenly turned into a horse.” These are Jane and Gifford from My Lady Jane, the companion novel to this book.
  • Jane and Mrs. Rochester use their combined Beacon powers to control the talismans Wellington has collected and use them as weapons. “They scrambled toward each other, and [they] clasped hands. And that was when the entire room began to convulse with rattling talismans.”
  • While she is briefly dead, Charlotte’s ghost watches as Alexander cries over her body. Jane scolds her and tells her to get back into her body. “Alexander sat up just in time to see Miss Brontë’s ghost sniffle. ‘Shh, Jane, I’m trying to listen.’ But she disappeared back into her body.”
  • After a heartfelt conversation with Jane, Helen decides to move on. “‘I better not see you for eighty years.’ Tears sparkled on Miss Burn’s cheeks as she looked up and up, and suddenly a wide smile formed—and she was gone.”

Spiritual Content

  • The King of England says that ghosts should move on because “We must believe that the god who put us here, with families and companions and food and beauty… he has a place for us when we are no longer living. We must have this faith. The faith that will again be with those we’ve lost.”
  • Alexander reads passages out of Charlotte’s story that are actual quotes from the original Jane Eyre novel, including, “Do you think I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless? You think wrong! I have as much soul as you and full of as much heart. And if God gifted me with some beauty and much wealth, I should have made it as hard for you to leave me as it is now for me to leave you. I am not talking to you now through the medium of custom, spirit; just as if both had passed through the grave, and we stood at God’s feet, equal—as we are.”

by Evalyn Harper

Piper

Maggie lives in a small village in the middle of a dark forest. Because she is deaf, the people in her small village have shunned her. An elderly woman, Agathe, is the only person who has shown Maggie kindness. In the evening, Maggie uses her imagination to weave stories that Agathe writes down. Despite Agathe’s company, Maggie dreams of finding her fairytale love.

The village is plagued by rats, who are devouring the food and biting the people. A mysterious Piper comes to town, promising to rid the village of rats. Maggie is captivated by the Piper and thinks she has finally met her true love. However, Maggie soon discovers that the Piper has a dark side. The boy of Maggie’s dreams might just turn out to be her worst nightmare…

The graphic novel’s artwork is amazing and beautiful. Jeff Stokely uses a variety of colors that help enhance the scene’s mood. Each illustration highlights the character’s emotions, and the village is painted in vivid detail. Piper’s artwork is by far the best part of the graphic novel; each picture tells so much of the story in detail.

While the artwork is fantastic, both the characters and the plot are underdeveloped. Maggie’s backstory is confusing, and the reason the village shunned her is unclear. Maggie is deaf but has taught herself how to read lips. However, in most of the panels she isn’t looking at the person who is talking, yet can somehow understand their words. Even though the readers should empathize with Maggie, she is so underdeveloped and predictable that her story doesn’t evoke an emotional reaction.

The plot jumps around from Maggie, to the village, and then flashbacks of the past. In addition, Maggie makes up stories about the town folk. The story’s transitions are often awkward and confusing. So little information is given about the Piper that he is difficult to understand. The conclusion is quick and leaves the reader with too many questions.

As a retelling of the Pied Piper, Piper is a dark story that lacks depth. While readers will enjoy the artwork, the actual story and characters are not memorable. However, the story does touch on the theme of greed. When the villagers refuse to pay the Piper for his services, one person says, “So much evil is traced back to greed. And greed makes us choose what we believe.”

Readers who want to add a little fright to their life may want to leave Piper on the shelf. If you’re looking for a spectacularly spooky story, Nightbooks by J.A. White and City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwa would make an excellent addition to your reading list.

Sexual Content

  • Someone asks the rat catcher, “Do you think the rats stop fornicating when you get distracted?”
  • Maggie kisses the Piper.

Violence

  • Rats infest a village. They destroy food and crops. They also bite a baby; the illustration shows the crying child with a bloody bite on the arm.
  • Maggie tells a story about boys that lost a coin. They couldn’t find the coin “so they put their heads in the holes! Their heads become stuck in the holes. The rabbit mistook their ugly faces for cabbage. And it was very hungry.” The last illustration shows the rabbit’s huge teeth.
  • Any angry woman flicks a seed and hits Maggie in the head. Maggie runs away crying.
  • When Maggie and her brother were children, a group of boys shoved them into a barrel, shut the lid, and threw it into a river. A man jumped in to save the children, but Maggie’s brother died.
  • A drunk man yells at Maggie. The man grabs her, pinches her face, and puts his finger in her ear. Maggie falls to the ground and begins crying.
  • After the man yells at Maggie, the Piper uses a dart to put the drunk man to sleep. The Piper throws the man into the river by the water wheel. The next day, someone says, “I warned him, if he was going to stumble about drunk at night, stay away from the river. I was not even thinking of the water wheel.” Another man says, “I never imagined it could take a man’s head off his shoulders.” The illustration shows the man being thrown into the water.
  • A boy gets his shirt caught in a grinding stone. The Piper hears the boy’s yells. The Piper holds a knife against the boy’s throat and says, “It’s not what you did to me that makes me want to kill you.” Even though the Piper is upset that the boy was mean to Maggie, he cuts the boy free.
  • Angry that the village leaders refuse to pay him, the Piper uses his flute to lead the children out of the village. Maggie finds the children and takes them home.
  • The villagers burn the church with the Piper and “many many others” inside of it.

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • A man tries to poison the rats, but “it killed all the cats!”
  • When a strange man comes into the village, he says he can get rid of the rats for a price. When he tells his price, a man says, “You must have chugged your drink too quickly.”
  • Maggie tells a story about a blacksmith. His wife “shut him out of their home one winter evening after he’d been out drinking too many nights. In the morning she found him passed out on a stump.” The blacksmith was frozen.

Language

  • Maggie tells the story about a blacksmith. “The drunken fool pissed himself frozen to the stump.”
  • When the village children disappear, one of the women says, “Oh God!”

Supernatural

  • The Piper plays a “cursed flute. Its magic will make anything obey.”
  • The Piper plays his flute and leads the village rats into the river where they die. Four panels show the rats’ death.

Spiritual Content

  • After a wedding, the guests dance near the church’s graveyard. The priest says, “I would think those who have passed would be pleased by the joy of the living… The Lord knows they deserve one evening of merriment.”
  • Maggie’s caretaker says, “We should pray for the well-being of everyone, but it is great fun to imagine how they may seal their own fate.”
  • A man who is cleaning the church window says, “I pray my soul is always like this window, pure and clean.”
  • When a man expresses his fear of the Piper, the priest says, “Ephesians calls us to be strong in the Lord and the strength of His might…not our own strength, or that of a magical flute.”
  • Maggie tells the Piper, “I will pray that they give you what was promised.”

Erak’s Ransom

What does it mean to earn the Silver Oakleaf? So few men have done so. For Will, a mere boy and apprentice to the most difficult Ranger to please, that symbol of honor has long seemed out of reach. If he is to ever earn it, he must prove himself in ways he never imagined.

Now, in the wake of Araluens’ uneasy truce with the raiding Skandians, there comes word that the Skandian leader, Erak, has been captured by a desert tribe. The Rangers, along with a small party of warriors, are sent to free him, but the desert is like nothing these warriors have seen before. Strangers in a strange land, they are brutalized by sandstorms, tricked by one tribe that plays by its own rules, and surprisingly befriended by another. Like a mirage, nothing is as it seems. Yet one thing is constant: the bravery of the Rangers.

Erak’s Ransom goes back in time, before the fifth and sixth installments of the series. When Erak is taken captive, the Skandians ask for the Araluens’ help. For the first time ever, Halt, Horace, Will, and Evelyn travel together. The interplay between the characters is interesting. Readers will appreciate seeing how people from different cultures can respectfully work together without having to hide their beliefs.

Like the previous books in the series, the story ends with an epic battle. However, one of the best aspects of Erak’s Ransom is the political negotiating, the clashing of beliefs, and the honor of desert tribes. Even though the story’s plot is complicated and there is a huge cast of characters, readers familiar with the characters will not have difficulty understanding the plot. The Araluens, Skandians, and two desert tribes come together to defeat an evil raiding party. Each group has a different strength, and all contribute to freeing Erak and defeating evil.

Erak’s Ransom is another fast-paced story that readers will not want to put down. Although male friendship is highlighted, Evelyn’s strong personality also comes to the forefront and shows how women can be capable leaders. Erak’s Ransom will leave readers wishing they could sit around the campfire and have a conversation with the Araluens and the Skandians because at this point in the series, they seem like trusted friends.

Sexual Content

  • At Halt’s wedding, “there had been the inevitable tearful flouncing and shrill recriminations when the girlfriend of one of the younger warriors from Sir Rodney’s Battleschool had caught her boyfriend kissing another girl in a dark corridor.”

Violence

  • A group of men finds a caravan that was slaughtered. “Horses, mules, camels and men were scattered about the desert, lifeless shapes surrounded by darkening patches of dried blood that had soaked into the sand… The men and animals had been killed, and then hacked in a senseless frenzy. There was barely a body with just a single killing wound.”
  • Will shoots an arrow near Umar’s grandson. Angry, Umar’s “fist struck Will backhanded across the jaw. He staggered and fell, the bow dropping from his hands… Will, stunned by the blow, tried to regain his feet but a savage kick from Umar winded him and sent him sprawling again.” Umar stops when his wife yells at him.
  • While the Araluens, Skandians, and Arridis are traveling together, they are attacked. The group makes a shield wall. Gilan and Halt use their bows. “Already, half a dozen riderless horses were running wildly with the group charging from the front, their riders lying in crumpled heaps in the sand behind them… The battle became a heaving, shoving, hand-to-hand melee, with curved swords rising and falling, hacking and stabbing along the line. Men cried out in pain on both sides as they went down, then cried out again as comrades and foes trod them down in their efforts to reach the enemy.” Both sides lose men. The attack is described over four pages.
  • The Araluens, Skandians, and Arridis surrender. The leader of the other army imprisons those who will be valuable to sell as slaves. Everyone else is left without shoes and water. The leader says, “You’re brave enough now, boy, but wait ‘til your tongue is dry and swollen so large that it fills our throat so that you can hardly breathe. Wait ‘til your feet are torn and blistered by the heat and the rocks. Your eyes will be blinded by the glare of the sun and you’ll wish your leader had allowed me to kill you here, and now.”
  • The captives are bound, and “The guards mounted and herded their captives on foot toward the camp… Urged on by spear butts and curses, they stumbled on the uneven ground.” When the captives arrive at the camp, they see Erak. “…He was seated on the ground, chained between two noisy, complaining camels. His face was bruised and his hair matted with dried blood. One eye was almost closed and there were whip scores on his arms and back.”
  • Tualaghi forces the captives to walk for three days. “If anyone falls—and inevitably they did, since they were kept off balance by having their hands tied together in front of them—he was immediately surrounded by riders jabbing with lance points or striking down at them with the butts of their spears.” The men are bruised and sore by the time they arrive at their destination.
  • Halt upsets the Tualaghi leader. Two men grab Halt, “forcing him forward and down until he was on his knees in front of Yusal. The Tualaghi Aseish then rained closed-fist blows on Halt’s face, left and right, striking again and again until the Ranger’s face was cut and bleeding and his head lolled to one side… he crumbled to the sand, facedown, and semiconscious.”
  • When a woman looks at Yusal, he “had her savagely whipped.”
  • When the prisoners are taken to be executed, “there were those who chose to jeer at the prisoners and throw stones, clumps of earth or garbage at them.”
  • Will and Aloom try to find a vantage point so they can see the captives. Three of the enemies appear and “crowded upon him (Aloom), swords flashing, rising and falling as they attacked.” In order to help, Will jumps and “landed feet first on the shoulders of the Tualaghi leader. The man gave a cry of shock and pain and crumpled beneath the force of Will’s body. Will heard the snap of bones breaking somewhere, then a sickening thud as the bandit’s head slammed into the hard, rocky ground.”
  • During the fight with Will and Aloom, Will uses his saxe knife, and “the Tualaghi gave a short cry, half surprise, half pain, and sank back against the wall, his sword dropping from his hand…” The three Tualaghi are killed, and Aloom is severely injured and eventually dies from his wounds.
  • Will watches as Aloom “coughed and scarlet blood stained the front of his robe.” Will must leave Aloom in order to help the captives.
  • Will shoots the executioner. “Only then did those on the platform see what had been visible to the crowd in the square: the gray shafted arrow buried deep in the executioner’s chest.”
  • Will shoots an arrow at Yusal. The arrow “took him in the muscle of his upper left arm… He screamed in pain and fury…” Yusal flees, but “there were still armed Tualaghi all over the platform, threatening his friends.” Will shot arrows until “the guards began dropping with shrieks of agony and terror.”
  • A Tualaghi strikes his sword at Horace, and “a thin red line formed immediately, then blurred as blood began to well out of the cut… Horace simply brought the massive brass-pommeled hilt back in a short, savage stroke, thudding it into the man’s head.”
  • Evelyn uses her sling to fling a stone at Yusal. “A solid smacking sound could be heard clearly around the square. Then Yusal’s hands dropped and revealed a mask of blood covering his eyes and upper face, flowing down to soak into his blue veil… He fell full length to the hard ground below.” Evelyn uses her sling to drop another man. The man “doubled over, clutching his face and moaning in pain.”
  • Toshak, a Skandian traitor, tries to run from the fight. Erak “launched himself at Toshak, the sword swinging down in a blow that would have split the traitor down to the waist. There was a massive ringing clang as Toshak caught the blow on top of his double-bladed ax head… With a mighty roar, Erak used his left arm to thrust himself up from the cobbles while he drove the sword deep into Toshak’s unprotected body.” Toshak dies. The battle is described over three chapters.

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • Wine and barrels of ale are served at Halt’s wedding.
  • When a couple of Skandians meet a desert people, one of them replies, “Don’t know how you all keep going without a good drink of ale… Settles the mind in the evenings, ale does.”
  • A dying man is given “a few drops of clear liquid” to relieve his pain.
  • At a celebration, the Skandians are given “brandy made from fermented dates and peaches.”

Language

  • The exclamation “Gorlog’s beard” is used occasionally. “Gorlog was a lesser Scandian deity who had a long beard, curved horns and fanglike teeth.”
  • “God’s above,” “good God,” and “my God” are used as exclamations a few times.
  • Several times someone is called an idiot. For example, Halt wonders why he needs to invite “the Iberian ambassador and his two idiot daughters to my wedding.”
  • Evelyn “frightened the devil out of” a guard.

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • A diplomat thanks the lord for Evelyn’s character and courage.
  • A group of raiders are referred to as “the Forgotten of God.”
  • When Will begins a journey, he says, “I’ll see you in a few days.” The person replies, “I hope the god of journeys wills it so.”
  • When Will appeared, Halt “whispered a prayer of thanks.” Later, Halt puts his bound arm on the execution block and “prayed that his friend had got the message.”
  • The desert people “believed that djinns and devils and spirits all lived in these ancient mountains.”
  • The Skandians believe “that if they were to die in battle without a weapon in their hand, their soul would wander for all eternity.”
  • After Evelyn negotiates successfully, Halt says, “Lord forgive me, I’ve created a monster.”

As Brave as You

Genie has a lot of questions. So many questions, in fact, he keeps them all written in his notebook so he can look them up later. When their parents take Genie and his big brother, Ernie, to their grandparents’ house in rural Virginia, Genie has questions that even Google can’t answer. Like how did Grandpop lose his eyesight? Will Ma and Dad stay together? Why doesn’t Ernie want to learn how to shoot a gun?

As Brave as You tackles topics like masculinity, fear, and courage through the eyes of ten-year-old Genie. Although he is younger than Reynolds’s characters from other novels, Genie’s curiosity and kindness make him endearing rather than annoying. Genie’s narration style is filled with his quirks, including his endless questions and his often-humorous thoughts.

Readers will find that Genie is a good role model because he tries to do the right thing. When he makes mistakes, he feels guilty and eventually realizes that he must have the courage to try to make it right. For instance, Genie accidentally breaks an old toy firetruck that belonged to his late uncle. Genie recognizes that his Grandma is upset, and throughout the novel, he searches for parts to fix the firetruck. Through this and other trials, Genie learns that mistakes happen and that becoming a man means that he has to own up to those mistakes.

Genie’s grandparents, parents, and Ernie aid Genie on this journey, as many of them are also learning lessons about what it means to have courage. Grandpop and Genie’s father do not get along most of the novel, and they both are often too stubborn to talk about their past grievances with each other. At the end, they begin to fix their personal issues together. Readers can see that they must be courageous to look past their pride and hurt feelings.

As Brave as You shows that being a man is about having honesty, integrity, and courage rather than about being tough. As part of Ernie’s growth into manhood, Grandpop shows Ernie how to shoot a gun. Ernie shows disinterest, and Genie is unable to comprehend why. However, after an accident with the gun, Genie understands that sharing his fears and emotions is often more courageous than pretending to be tough or prideful. Although these lessons are featured throughout the book, they never come off as preachy.

Reynolds’s characters are relatable for people of all ages. Genie and the older characters learn many of the same lessons despite being at vastly different points in their lives. The story is not particularly fast-paced, but the relationships between the characters make up for the slower moments. As Brave as You is a great story about what it really means to grow up, face our worst fears, and learn from mistakes.

Sexual Content

  • Genie makes a distinction between him and his brother, Ernie. Genie “loved to watch Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune. Ernie, on the other hand, liked to watch girls.”
  • Genie has a girlfriend named Shelley and a friend named Aaron. He wonders if in his absence, “[Shelley would] fold to [Aaron’s] flippin’ charm and kiss him. Of course, if she did, it would be a loaner kiss, Genie decided. A kiss to make up for the fact that he wasn’t there.”
  • After Grandma sets breakfast down in front of Grandpop, she “dodged him as he swatted at her butt on her way back to the counter for another plate.”
  • Genie observes his parents’ awkward interactions early in the book, and he knows that their marriage won’t last. In one of these interactions, his dad “leaned in and just grazed Ma’s cheek with his lips, awkwardly. It was friendly, but not…loving.”
  • Ernie “had broken up with his girlfriend, Keisha, a few weeks before” going to his grandparents’ house. Genie explains, “Well, really, she broke up with him. Dumped him for a dude from Flatbush named Dante, but everybody called him Two Train. That was his rap name. And when Keisha told Ernie that Two Train wrote raps about her, Ernie started sending her a text message every day, crappy love poems, ridiculous attempts at rhyming that would put his whole ‘cool’ thing at risk if anybody besides her, Genie, or his parents ever found out about them.”
  • Genie is disinterested in his brother’s attraction to various girls. Later, Ernie chatters on endlessly about how he hung out with Tess and how much he likes her. Ernie thinks, “And each time Ernie fell for a new girl, Genie’s cool, confident brother would become a goofy, googly-eyed fool.”
  • Ernie made a joke, and “Tess stared him down and sized him up in that way that meant she either wanted to punch him or kiss him.”

Violence

  • The day that Ernie and Genie’s parents had a huge fight, their neighbor Down the Street Donnie “had covered a quarter in snow and zinged it at Genie. Zapped him straight in the eye.” Ernie, seeing what happened, “commenced to karatisizing Down the Street Donnie, all the way… down the street.”
  • The first morning they are at their grandparents’ house, Ernie tries “to shove [Genie] off the bed with his knee.” Ma verbally reprimands Ernie, saying, “Ernie, cut it out.”
  • During a conversation, Dad playfully “threw a balled-up pair of socks at [Ernie]. Ernie chopped them away.”
  • Grandpop carries a pistol around in the back of his pants.
  • When Ernie and Genie’s father was young, the neighborhood bully was about to take whatever money he had. Their father’s older brother, Wood, then “came out of nowhere and whopped Cake [the neighborhood bully] in the back of the head with a book as hard as he could.” Cake was huge, and all this did was make him mad. Wood “came home with the blackest eye [Grandpop had] ever seen. And a busted lip. And he was limpin’.”
  • As an adult, Wood “beat [Cake] down” when he came home from basic training because “Wood could never let things go.”
  • Crab, Tess’s dad, goes hunting with his rifle on Genie’s grandparents’ land. Genie often hears gunshots when Crab is around.
  • Genie insinuates that if he ruined Ernie’s chances with Tess, Ernie would use Genie for karate practice. “Lots and lots of karate chops.”
  • Grandpop’s father committed suicide years back. He “had jumped in the James River.”
  • Grandpop teaches boys turning 14 years old how to shoot a gun ever since “a fourteen-year-old black boy named Emmett Till was killed for whistling at a white woman when Grandpop was younger. It scared him so badly.”
  • Genie talks about mousetraps, including “the part that breaks the mouse’s neck. Yikes.”
  • Crab holds up the squirrels he shot. Genie describes, “Dead squirrels, part gray, part bloody, part…missing.”
  • Crab and Grandpop teach Ernie how to shoot a gun. The scene lasts the duration of a chapter. The force of the shot causes the gun to kickback and hit Ernie in the face. Genie says, “Ernie’s knees buckled as if someone had sucker punched him.” Ernie ends up losing three front teeth. Crab “grabbed a beer bottle from the bag he brought and put the teeth in it.”
  • Great Grandpop and his friend stole a puppy from their abusive employer. The employer found out and told Great Grandpop “that either he tell him the truth, or he would have [the] whole family killed.”
  • Genie’s dad “slammed the wall” in anger.
  • In the story, Grandpop says that an employer “set [Great Grandpop’s friend’s] house on fire… [the friend] burned to death.” No other details are given.

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • Genie asks Tess where she got all the bottle caps for her project. Tess jokingly tells him and Ernie that she “drank all those beers.” She then takes the brothers to Marlon’s, the small town’s bar, for some ginger beers. Ernie and Genie don’t know that she and Jimmy, the bartender, mean ginger beer. Genie hoped that “he wouldn’t get drunk on his first sip,” thinking that Tess and Jimmy meant to give Genie and Ernie alcohol.
  • Other adult patrons at the bar drink alcoholic beer while the kids are present.
  • Grandpop gets a mysterious liquid out of a closet and promptly locks the door. Genie recognizes the smell, thinking, “the same smell Genie had just gotten more than a whiff of in Marlon’s—reminded him of Ms. Swanson, the drunk lady who hung out at the Laundromat back home.” Grandpop drinks liquor throughout the book.
  • Grandpop can’t sleep when it rains because it reminds him of the day that Wood died during Operation Desert Storm. When it rains, Grandpop sits in the kitchen and drinks while he disassembles his revolver, lost in thought.
  • Crab smokes a cigar.
  • Genie and Ernie find “a couple dozen beer cans and stubby, burned-down cigars” laying in a pile.
  • Ernie has “a double-dose of pain reliever” after the doctor fixes two of his teeth.
  • Genie calls Tess’s mom a hypochondriac. Tess misunderstands and calls her a “hyper-cognac” instead.
  • Grandpop drinks more heavily as the book progresses, and Genie finds his drunk rambling disturbing. For instance, Grandpop slurs, “life ain’t nice to nobody. Nobody. Not me, not Mary, not Ernie, not your daddy, not Uncle Wood. Nobody.”

Language

  • Genie’s mother tells Genie, “Boy, if you don’t go to sleep, I’m a honey your badger,” making it clear to Genie that she really wants him to be quiet.
  • Various insults are used frequently. Insults include: Stupid, jerk, crazy, wild, heckuva, crappy, insane, fool, chump, psycho, shut up, knuckleheads, friggin’, and daggone.
  • Grandma and Grandpop use the phrase “what in Sam Hill” frequently.
  • Genie’s curiosity causes humorous situations because sometimes his questions and thoughts would be insensitive coming from anyone else. For instance, he thinks, “Old people got to pretty much call you whatever they wanted. It was the only awesome part about being old.”
  • Genie asks Grandpop a series of questions about being blind. At one point, Genie asks, “How do you know where your room is, though? Or what if you gotta go to the bathroom?” To which Grandpop replies, “I’m only blind, son. My junk still works.”
  • Kids at school sometimes mock Genie for his name, saying, “Genie, the girl with a weenie.”
  • Crab tells Ernie, “I think [Tess] likes you…But don’t try nothin’ mannish or I’ll flatten your cap, just like she do them beer tops.”
  • Grandma asks Genie and Ernie, “Which one of you peanut-heads tried to flush all that damn toilet paper?”
  • Ernie overacts around his grandparents at one point. Genie says that Ernie is “butt-kissing.”
  • Grandpop holds rolls of money. Genie thinks, “[Grandpop] tapped a roll like a mob boss assigning a hit.”
  • Mr. Binks is a dentist who sells teeth at the flea market. Ernie calls Mr. Binks “a tooth jacker.”
  • Grandma yells, “Damnit!” when Ernie scares her.
  • Grandpa says “guaran-damn-tee” instead of guarantee.
  • Crab says that he feels “so dern bad” about Ernie’s injury.
  • Grandpop calls an old neighbor “a mean son of a gun. I mean, just a real nasty you-know-what.”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • “Jesus” and “Lord” are sometimes used as exclamations.
  • Grandma has a few rules, one of them being, “We go to church on Sunday.” Genie doesn’t mind this, thinking that he could “use a miracle” anyway. His family normally goes to church “on Christmas and Easter for the long services with their grandparents in the Bronx. But that was about it.”
  • Genie’s mom “used to call [the moon] God’s night-light when he was little.”
  • Grandma often turns on the church music station in the car, especially when going to the flea market. She says, “Gotta play it loud enough for God to hear it, so he can send people to come buy up these peas.”
  • Genie thinks, “Maybe the real reason Adam and Eve weren’t supposed to bite the apple is because then all the birds would’ve had access to the seeds, and the Garden of Eden would’ve become the Garden of dead…doves? Doves were the only birds back then I think.”
  • On a hot day, Genie thinks, “God had put the heat on high, as Ma always said.”
  • Tess tells Genie that she’s “prayin’ to Big Bird for a miracle.”

 by Alli Kestler

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