Life and Death – Page 3 – Sneak Peek Books

The Invaders

As champions of the Brotherband competition, Hal and the rest of the Herons were given a simple assignment: safeguard the Skandians’ most sacred artifact, the Andomal. When the Andomal is stolen, the Herons must track down the thief to recover the precious relic. But that means traveling stormy seas, surviving a bitter winter, and battling a group of deadly bandits willing to protect their prize at all cost. If it comes down to a fight, Brotherband training might not be enough to ensure the recovery of the Andomal—or the safety of the Herons.

Even though the Herons have left Skandia, their training continues as they wait for the winter winds to cease. The beginning of The Invaders focuses on Thorn’s training of the boys, which allows Thorn’s character to shift from a broken-down drunk to a respected warrior. The story often shifts focus from the Herons, to the pirate Zavac and back to Skandia. While the three story threads are easy to follow, the large cast of characters do not allow for sufficient character development. Hal and Thorn are well-developed, but the other characters fade into the background.

Despite the lack of character development, one theme runs true: “We all have different levels of ability. What we must do is make the most of what we’ve got.” Each character has a different ability and even Ingvar, who has poor vision, is a valuable member of the crew. The Invaders adds Lydia to the crew. Lydia is not a helpless girl who needs a man to save her. Instead, her skills are essential in helping save lives during the battle against the pirates.

While the plot is somewhat predictable, the interactions between the Herons’ Brotherband, Swengal’s Skandian crew, and the town people add interest. Unfortunately, at 400+ pages, The Invaders does little to advance the plot. The story ends with the pirate Zavac’s escape and the Herons alone in their search to find Zavac and take back the Andomal. The sluggish beginning, the difficult vocabulary, and the descriptive sailing scenes make The Invaders best for strong readers.

Unlike the Ranger’s Apprentice Series, the main characters are not fighting to help their country. Instead, Hal is fighting to restore his Brotherbands’ reputation. Another main difference between the two series is that Hal’s ingenuity is constantly praised, and he does not learn and grow. Readers who fell in love with Will in the ranger’s apprentice, will miss the three main characters—Will, Horace, and Halt. Even though The Invaders is not as captivating as the Ranger’s Apprentice Series, readers ready for an adventure on the high seas will enjoy the story.

Sexual Content

None

Violence

When Jesper questions Thorn’s ability to train the boys, Thorn “moved with blinding speed. . . The old sea wolf’s left hand closed on Jesper’s collar in an iron grip and hoisted the boy off his feet, holding him suspended, his feet dangling clear of the ground. Then he gathered himself and hurled Jesper away like a sack of potatoes.”
While training the boys, Thorn uses a hickory baton to give the boys “a none-too-gentle rap on the behind” to get them moving. Once, Thorn “put a little extra venom into a whack.”

Thorn teaches the boys how to fight in battle. During an exercise, “Stig launched one last, massive blow at Thorn. . . Thorn caught it on the slanting face of his shield and deflected it.” Stig loses his balance, and “Thorn jabbed the baton painfully into his ribs like a snake striking.”
Pirates attack a ship. When a sailor tried to surrender, “a pirate’s spear was already thrusting forward. It took him in the middle of the body and drove him back. He screamed and fell to the deck, the spear still transfixing him as the pirate struggled to free it.” Even the sailors that surrendered were killed. “One died in silence. The other gave a brief cry of pain and despair, then fell to a bloodstained deck.”
The pirate captain, Zavac, questions a sailor to find where the ship’s treasures are hidden. Zavac “slashed the thin blade of the dagger across the Gallican’s face, laying open a long cut. . . Now the pain registered with him, a burning sensation across his face, accompanied by the rush of blood dripping down onto his clothes.” When the sailor stays quiet, Zavac tells his men, “Torture him. . . . On second thought, when he’s ready to talk, keep torturing him for another five minutes. Then call me.” After being tortured, the sailor is “barely recognizable. . . Two of his fingers on his right hand were missing, as was his left ear.” The sailor was eventually killed. The ship attack is described over eight pages.
Zavac and the pirates attack a small town, killing many people. The watch commander and his men try to defend the town. Zavac joins the fight and “he pivoted on his right foot and thrust viciously with the long curved blade in his hand. He felt it strike a momentary resistance, pause, then penetrate. Only now, he looked, and saw his sword deep in the belly of one of the garrisons. . . Zavac’s thrust had gone just below the highly polished breastplate that the man wore. The officer’s eyes were wide-open with shock.” The man dies. The pirate’s attack is described over several chapters.
A group of pirates chase Lydia. Trying to escape, she gets into a skiff. A pirate “grabbed hold of the stern” and Lydia “unshipped one of the oars and jabbed it at him, aiming at the hand that clutched the stern. He yelled in pain, releasing the boat.” Another pirate comes after her and Lydia “took quick aim at the man who had nearly caught her, then cast. His comrades were startled as he screamed and threw his arms up, then fell backwards against the wave. . .” The pirate dies.
Stig asks Barat, a company commander, to allow some of his men to help save Hal. Barat tells Stig no and Stig “hit Barat with every ounce of his strength. . . It was a savage right that connected flush on the side of his jaw, lifted him off his feet, then dropped him to the sand like a sack of potatoes. . . Barat was out like a light.”
The Skandians team up with the town people to defeat the pirates. Hal and his crew hit the balustrade with huge arrows. “A few seconds later, a section of the pine balustrade around the tower exploded in a hail of splinters as the heavy projectiles smashed into it, then through it, cartwheeling among the defenders and knocking men over.” Some pirates are injured, but the injuries are not described.
After Hal and his crew set the watch tower on fire, the pirates flee. However, the Skandians are waiting for them. The Skandians “smashed into the disorganized Magyarans, axes rising and falling in a deadly rhythm. The pirates, stunned and demoralized by the sudden onset of the watchtower fire, eyes streaming from the smoke, had no chance against the charging Skandians.”
Swengal and one of the pirates have one to one combat. “The Magyaran panicked as he tried in vain to withdraw his trapped spear. As a result, he never saw the roadhouse stroke from the massive ax that ended the fight for good.”
The story ends with a multi-chapter battle where the Skandians help free the town from pirates. When one of the invaders was shooting arrows at the Heron, Lydia threw a dart at him. The man “reappeared, arrow nocked, bow half drawn—and stepped straight into the plummeting dart she had just thrown. He threw up his hands, the bow went spinning away, and he reeled, then toppled over the railing, hitting the support frame several times as he fell.”
One of the Heron’s crew, Ingvar, was hit by an arrow. “. . . Ingvar [was] writhing on the deck, clutching at the arrow that was protruding from his left side, close to the hip.”
The Heron uses an oversized crossbow to send projectiles into a platform. The projectiles “wreaked havoc on the platform, smashing and splintering the railing and cutting down five of his [the pirate leader’s] men.”
One man is hit with a dart and then “toppled off the catwalk and thudded to the street below.”
Another pirate tried to flee, but Thorn “slammed the small metal shield into his unprotected midriff and he gasped and doubled over. A rib-cracking jab from the club finished him, sending him sprawling.”
During the battle, many pirates die. One dies when Hal “jabbed quickly forward and saw the shock on the man’s face as the sword penetrated his defense and slid between his ribs.”
When some of the pirates attempt to flee, the towns’ people attack them. “After a few brief violent moments, the townspeople moved on, leaving the broken, battered bodies of the pirates sprawled on the cobbles.”

Drugs and Alcohol

A Skandian in the common room had an ale cup in his hand.
Sometimes Thorn’s past drunken behavior is discussed and Thorn is called a, “Broken-down old drunk.”
A ship that the pirates attack is carrying “a few barrels of wine and ale.”
After the town is liberated, they throw a celebration where ale is served.

Language

One of the boys says, “Don’t be an ass, Stefan.”
Lydia calls someone a “pompous, overbearing prat of a man.”
Thorn calls someone a “preening idiot.”
Gorlog is a Skandian god. Five times, Gorlog’s name is used in creative exclamations such as, “Oh for Gorlog’s sake.” Another time, Thorn says, “Gorlog’s bleached and broken bones you’re a sorry lot.”
Someone says, “Oh Bungall’s braided beard.” Bungall was a minor deity, generally referred to as the god of acting in an embarrassing manner.
One of Hal’s crew says, “Perlins and Gertz,” who are the Skandian demigods of snow and ice.

Supernatural

None

Spiritual Content

Occasional the Skandian gods’ names are used as exclamations.
Thorn thinks, “May the Great Blue Whale fly up to the sun.” The reference is not explained.
There is a brief reference to Tharon, the god of thunder.
When Hal and his crew are found, Swengal says, “Thank the gods you’re all safe.”
After a man knocks out Barat, he tells one of Barat’s men to tell the others “Barat stayed behind to pray to Torink for a great victory.” Torink was their god of battles.

Storm Rescue

Sunita and her friends—Zoe, Brenna, David, and Maggie—all volunteer at Dr. Mac’s veterinary clinic. The kids work with all kinds of pets, but each one has a favorite. For Sunita, cats are the best pets, but she is afraid of dogs, especially big dogs.

Sunita is also afraid of the water, which is why she has never learned to swim. As a hurricane approaches, Sunita realizes that Lucy, a diabetic cat with a broken leg, is in danger, along with her owners. But when the evacuation begins, both vets are out on emergencies. Will Sunita be able to save Lucy or will she be a scaredy-cat? And when a Great Dane needs help, will Sunita be able to get past her fear?

Storm Rescue is told from Sunita’s point of view, which allows the reader to understand her fears. However, Sunita’s actions are often irresponsible and dangerous. For example, when Sunita goes to check on an injured cat, she isn’t completely honest about where she is going because she knows her mother would never allow her to go into a flooded neighborhood during a hurricane. When rescue workers leave Lucy in the house, Sunita convinces her two friends, David and Maggie, to canoe to the house and try to rescue the cat on their own. Even though Sunita cannot swim, she jumps into the freezing water and doggie paddles to the attic window. While her intentions were honorable, Sunita’s actions could have easily lead to her and her friends’ deaths.

While the hurricane adds suspense to the story, some events in the story are not realistic, including how Sunita and her friends rescued Lucy. In addition, when the wet kids come in from the storm, Dr. Mac puts the kids to work caring for the animals before they even have a chance to dry off. In this installment of Vet Volunteers, the adults are off helping animals, but this leaves the unsupervised eleven-year-old kids to make unwise decisions. The story never acknowledges Sunita’s impulsive, dangerous actions. Instead, Sunita’s actions are praised.

Readers will relate to Sunita’s desire to help animals in distress and cheer when she is able to overcome her fear. However, the story’s short length does not allow her or the plot to be well developed. While the story teaches about the dangers animals face during a natural disaster, the characters needlessly put themselves in danger. The book ends by giving information on how to keep animals safe during a natural disaster.

The story is educational and will keep the reader’s interest. The happy ending is slightly unrealistic; however, the conclusion shows that one person can make a difference. The short chapters, interesting plot, and relatable characters make Storm Rescue a book that will appeal to animal lovers of different ages.

Sexual Content

None

Violence

None

Drugs and Alcohol

The vet gives a scared dog a tranquilizer to calm him down.

Language

When a worried pet owner calls the clinic, one of the kids says, “Mrs. Creighton is a nut. Precious is probably on a hunger strike to try to get herself a new owner.”

Supernatural

None

Spiritual Content

None

A Short History of the Girl Next Door

Matt and Tabby have been best friends almost since birth. When Matt and Tabby enter high school, Tabby starts dating a senior basketball player and makes other friends. Because of Tabby’s other friends, Matt struggles to understand his place in his best friend’s life. He also tries to make sense of his feelings for her, all while trying to be the best basketball player on the junior varsity team. Then tragedy strikes. Matt’s world is turned upside-down, and he has to piece himself back together.

A Short History of the Girl Next Door surrounds Matt and Tabby’s friendship, basketball, and the tragedy that strikes their community. Matt loves Tabby, and losing her to senior basketball star and school golden boy, Liam Branson, is unbearable. Much of Matt’s life and his memories include Tabby, so when she and her father suddenly died in a car accident, Matt has to figure out how to deal with all his feelings. Although Matt, who narrates the story, sometimes can come off as petulant, his personal growth at the end of the story is commendable.

With the help of his family and basketball, Matt makes peace with Tabby’s death and apologizes to the people he’s hurt. The book deals with themes of friendship, death, and forgiveness. The most bittersweet and touching moments come when Matt learns to cherish his memories and opens up to those who are also grief-stricken. Family and community rally around their collective sadness, and they help Matt through his personal grief. Matt is only able to get better by relating his experiences and his pain to others.

Although most of the book is about Matt and Tabby’s friendship, basketball is also important to Matt. Basketball is Matt’s outlet, and the only activity he has that is separate from Tabby. However, when Tabby is dating fellow basketball player Liam, Matt’s two worlds become intertwined. And when Tabby dies, Liam becomes a reminder of what Matt has lost. Basketball itself isn’t as important to the story as the relationships between Liam, Matt, and Tabby, and the sport serves as a vessel for their personal issues.

A Short History of the Girl Next Door will appeal to those who enjoy slower-paced, slice-of-life stories. Those looking for a basketball-heavy book won’t find it here, as basketball is not the primary focus. The sexual content and language are geared towards an older audience and may not be appropriate for middle schoolers. Nevertheless, Matt’s growth throughout the novel is commendable, and Matt’s reaction to Tabby’s death will no doubt resonate with readers. A Short History of the Girl Next Door is a quiet book that looks closely at the ending of a friendship, and how someone learns to pick themselves back up.

Sexual Content

Matt admits that he started making “a mental list of the top-five hottest girls by grade level. Lily Branson landed the #1 ranking on [his] list.”
Tabby says about Lily, “People say she’s all stuck-up, but she’s actually really nice. I think people just say stuff because she’s pretty, you know?” To this comment, Matt says that he feels “like a complete ass. [He’d] made that comment—and worse—more than once, about Lily Branson, and any number of other attractive girls. Probably every girl on [his] top-five list. Because, you know, if a hot girl doesn’t want to mate with you, she’s obviously stuck-up.”
Matt is attracted to Tabby, his longtime best friend. He thinks, “Seriously, how can you see a person nearly every day of your life and never think a thing of it, then all of a sudden, one day, it’s different? You see that goofy grin a thousand times and just laugh, but goofy grin number 1,001 nearly stops your heart?”
Matt says upon describing the height difference between his grandparents, “The Wainwright men’s infatuation with pocket-size women is apparently genetic,” a nod towards Tabby’s small stature.
Matt describes the book An Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie as “an amazing book about basketball, and masturbation, and feeling shitty and alone, and how Indians are perpetually screwed.”
One of Matt’s neighbors, Corey, is very straightforward with girls at school and “openly tries to get [girls who like Corey] to touch his dick at his locker.”
Tabby tells Corey to go away, and Corey responds with, “You know, if you grow some tits, I’ll let you suck my dick.” Matt tries standing up for Tabby by saying, “Hey, that’s what I said to your mom last night, bro.”
One of the basketball players says to Liam, “What’s the deal with the freshman, B? She sucking your dick yet?” It is clear that he is talking about Tabby. He then says, “She’s a cockmonster, isn’t she?”
Matt jokes that his mom’s Thanksgiving stuffing is so good that he and his dad get “stuffing boners.”
Matt has a physical copy of his “Do List: Girls [he] would do if there were no consequences—social, emotional, or physical: freshman class.” Tabby finds the list and is very upset. She tells him, “Let me know when you’ve done the first hundred on the list, Matt. So I can spread my legs and wait my turn.”
Matt and his friend Trip have to write gift poems for poetry class. Matt jokes that he’s writing his for Trip, and that Matt “couldn’t think of a word that rhymes with bulge.” Trip responds, “Indulge,” with a wink, messing with him.
Matt writes a persona poem for his poetry class from the point of view of Mr. Mint, who has “wildly inappropriate opinions on King Kandy, the princess, and most of all, Plumpy, whom Mr. Mint tells to choke on it.”
Matt’s mom wants him to wear a bald eagle costume for Halloween. He would have to wear skinny yellow pants with the costume, and he says, “Where am I supposed to keep my nuts in these things?”

Violence

Tabby playfully “punches [Matt] in the shoulder, hard” when Matt asks if she likes Liam Branson.
Corey grabs the front of Matt’s shirt, looking to start a fight. Tabby, holding a corked baseball bat, “swung. Hard. The bat slammed into Corey’s right arm, the dented plastic barrel and duct-taped head finally giving way.”
After Tabby hits Corey with the bat, “he shoved Tabby to the ground. Tabby flew backward, landing hard on her elbows to keep her head from smacking the pavement.”
After hearing other basketball players make sexual comments about Tabby, Matt envisions different scenarios in his head, usually violent. He imagines “Branson going stone-faced in the locker room, grabbing Lighty by the neck and slamming him back into a locker . . . Or me, walking up behind Lighty as he’s singing his song, palming the back of his stubby, lumpy head and slamming his face into his locker, smashing his nose and knocking him unconscious.”
Matt tells Trip that he looks like a “squirrely-ass twelve-year-old.” Trip responds by picking up “a spent pizza crust from the box and backhands [him] with it on [his] arm.”
Trip and Matt play a video game where their characters spar against each other. Trip beats him one round, saying “I just made you my bitch.” Matt describes, “On the screen, his demon-girl flips into the air over another empty swing from my dude’s battle-ax and lands on his shoulders. In one quick motion, she scissor-cuts my poor bastard’s head off, reaches down into his gaping neck-stump, pulls out his still-beating heart, and eats it.”
Tabby “passed away in an automobile accident” while visiting her grandparents. Matt and the other students hear about it at school. It is later stated that, “an SUV lost control on a patch of ice coming off a turn, hit Tabby’s dad’s pickup head-on. Died instantly. Felt no pain. Probably never saw it coming.”
The team rallies around Liam because he dated Tabby and took her death hard. Matt is frustrated that no one has acknowledged that Tabby was Matt’s best friend, so when another player brings out armbands for the team to wear in solidarity with Liam, “a laugh escapes [Matt’s] mouth before [he] can stop it.” Liam “stands and drills [Matt] in the face.”
Grampa talks about when they used to paddle kids in school, as a teacher. After his first wife and daughter died in an accident, “by Christmas, a kid was getting it about every day. Usually the same ones.” On one kid who was being particularly nasty, he “broke the paddle.” Grampa never hit a kid after that.

Drugs and Alcohol

Of Liam Branson, Matt thinks, “This time next year, Branson will be gone—hopefully putting on forty pounds of beer fat in a dorm at some state college.”
Trip’s dad explained how to cork a bat to Trip while “a beer [rested] on [Trip’s dad’s] stomach.”
One of Matt and Tabby’s neighbors, Corey, takes “weed from his parents’ stash.”
Tabby’s mom was a “drug-addict” who left when Tabby was a few months old.

Language

Profanity is used frequently. Profanity includes: ass, bullshit, fuck, douche, badass, damn, shit, bastard, dick, slut, and cock.
Tabby calls her friend’s boyfriend a “complete perv-ball.”
Matt sketches a carny ride operator that wears a “a trucker hat that reads ‘I <3 Little Boys.’”
Matt writes a poem that’s an “ode to Internet pornography.” The reader never sees the poem.

Supernatural

None

Spiritual Content

Matt’s grandpa takes one look at Matt in the bald eagle costume and says, “Sweet Jesus.”
At Tabby and her father’s funeral, Matt listens to “a few more numbing hymns” and the priest “speaks in infuriatingly generic terms about ‘the mystery of God’s love’ and [Matt] thinks, Yeah, this is a pretty big fucking mystery.”
Grampa has a heart-to-heart with Matt after Tabby’s death. Matt’s struggling to reason out what happened to Tabby and if life has meaning. Grampa says, “If there’s a God—and I’m pretty skeptical, myself—I figure he can fill me in when my time comes.”

by Alli Kestler

I Survived the Great Chicago Fire, 1891

Oscar Starling never wanted to come to Chicago. But then Oscar finds himself not just in the heart of the big city, but in the middle of a terrible fire! No one knows how it began, but one thing is clear: Chicago is a giant powder keg about to explode.

An army of firemen is trying to help, but this fire is a ferocious beast that wants to devour everything in its path – including Oscar! Will Oscar survive one of the most famous and devastating fires in history?

While the story’s focus is the Great Chicago Fire, Oscar is also dealing with his father’s death and his mother’s new marriage. Even though Oscar’s father has died, Oscar thinks about his father often, which helps him be brave during the fire. Oscar’s father gives the story added depth and interest. Because of his father’s stories, Oscar is able to help two parentless kids and stand up to a street gang leader.

The Great Chicago Fire, 1891 jumps straight into the action, which continues throughout the story. The compelling story focuses on the fire, but also includes information about homeless street children. The two subplots are expertly woven together to create an interesting, suspenseful story that readers will devour. Full of surprising twists and unexpected danger, The Great Chicago Fire, 1891 brings history to life.

The story is told from Oscar’s point of view, which allows the reader to understand the danger and confusion associated with being surrounded by the fire. One of the best aspects of the story is Oscar’s changing opinion of a street kid named Jennie. When Jennie helps a gang of boys steal from Oscar, he thinks she is a terrible criminal. But his opinion of Jennie changes when he learns about her circumstances. In the end, the two kids work together to survive the fire.

The story is accessible to all readers because Tarshis uses short paragraphs and simple sentences. Realistic black and white illustrations are scattered throughout the story and will help readers visualize the events. While the story weaves interesting facts throughout, the book ends with more facts about the Chicago fire. The historical information about the cause of the fire would be an excellent opportunity for parents to discuss journalists reporting “fake news” and how gossip can “harden into established fact.”

Readers who enjoy history and fast action stories will enjoy The Great Chicago Fire, 1891. If you’re looking for more historical fiction, Survival Tails by Katrina Charman takes a look at historical events from an animal’s point of view. Both series use engaging stories to teach about history.

Sexual Content

None

Violence

Oscar thinks back to when his papa was a sheriff. “Papa heard that Earless Kildair was a killer. And sure enough, by morning the town’s bank had been robbed, and one of Papa’s friends was sprawled out dead in the street.”
Oscar’s father followed Earless to Chicago. “He finally found him in a stinking tavern near the river. Papa pulled out his gun, ready to arrest him. But Earless was too quick. He jumped behind the bar and started shooting. . . A bullet whizzed just past Papa’s head. . . The bullet hit Papa in the chest.” His father survives, but later dies.
Oscar gets trapped in Chicago during the fire. Burning embers “were all around him, attacking like a swarm of fiery bees. They seared his scalp, burned through the wool of his clothes, scorched his lips. Pain lashed him, and the sickening smell of his burning hair made him gag.” Oscar is injured, but otherwise okay.
Oscar goes into a burning house to help two kids escape. “Oscar felt as though he were being attacked by a wild animal. It grabbed him, clawed at him, and spun him around.” Oscar thinks he will not be able to escape, but “then he felt a hand on his arm, pulling him up.”
Otis, a gang member, tells Oscar’s friend that she can’t quit the gang. “And before he realized what he was doing, he sprang forward and gave Otis a hard push in the chest.” Otis smacks Oscar and “Oscar fell to the ground, the flash of pain in his head burning brighter than the blazing sky.”
As people are fleeing, they cross a bridge. The bridge catches fire and “next came splashes, and Oscar refused to think about what—or who—was falling off the bridge and into the river.”

Drugs and Alcohol

None

Language

None

Supernatural

None

Spiritual Content

A child tells Oscar, “My mama got sick. She is in heaven.” Oscar tells the boy, “my papa’s in heaven too.”

Deathcaster

In the Fells, the war with Arden couldn’t get any worse. The Queen is sick and out of the picture. The young Ardenine King, Jarat, is marching his army to the capital of Fells. And the heir to the gray wolf throne, Alyssa ana’Raisa, has been captured by the ruthless Empress Celestine.

For Ash, prince of the Fells, the only way forward is to rescue his sister, Lyss, from the Empress. But now that Celestine is on the war path, her armies ravaging the coast, that isn’t going to be an easy task. To cross the ocean and take on Celestine’s bloodsworn army, he’ll need help from unlikely allies and former enemies.

The rebel Ardenine general Hal wants nothing more than to see Lyss safe and in his arms. Yet to do that, he has to find a way to crush Celestine’s invading army. Between the arrogant King Jarat and his stubborn father, fielding an army to help the Fells drive off Celestine won’t be a walk in the park. Will Hal succeed in freeing Arden and the Fells from Jarat and Celestine’s grasp? Will Ash succeed in bringing his sister home to take her rightful place on the throne? Only time will tell.

Chima’s final entry in the Shattered Realms series is a wonderful conclusion to the saga. Focusing on the epic battles between the three nations and royal families, Deathcaster doesn’t disappoint in its suspense and action. Since this is the final book, the main theme of war is much more prevalent as multiple armies battle each other. These battles are each unique and well thought out, creating exciting and heart-pounding scenes.

The book splits its chapters into many points of view, including all of the main characters such as Ash, Lila, Jenna, Lyss, Hal, Destin, and Evan. While the sheer amount of main characters might appear to be overwhelming, the ease with which each chapter transitions to different points of view will pull readers in and never make them feel overwhelmed. Plus, each character is unique and interesting, with their own problems and personality that will hook readers.

The events of the story are believable, from the civil war in Arden to Ash’s journey across the ocean to save his sister. The ending feels a bit rushed, while some parts of the novel drag on, but overall the story is very well paced. The writing is easy to read and flows well, with each character getting a distinct voice. Overall, Deathcaster is a satisfying final entry to Chima’s Shattered Realms series.

Sexual Content

After a year apart, Ash meets Jenna. “There were many kisses but few words. His questions drew brief, vague answers, punctuated with the vivid images she delivered through touch.” Ash and Jenna have sex. “Making love with Jenna Bandelow was a twining of minds as well as bodies, a mingling of imagery and sensation so complete that sometimes it was hard to tell who owned what—who was giving, who receiving.”
Jenna tells Ash about dragon mating, “Dragons often mate in flight, so they twine their tails in order to, you know, maintain their—.”
Empress Celestine believes Lyss and Breon are lovers, and often tries to break them up. During dinner, Lyss thinks, “Celestine often included some handsome young men for Lyss, and a lovely young woman for Breon, or vice versa. She seemed determined to distract the erstwhile lovers with new options.” Later on, Lyss nearly shouts, “If I go to bed with someone, I want it to mean something.”
Samara, Celestine’s attendant, says, “I find that a bout between the sheets stirs my blood and prepares me to shed the blood of others.”
Ash gives Evan a massage to help ease the pain in Evan’s body after a fight. Evan then teases Ash, saying, “According to customs here in the drylands we are married now, and you are bound to perform this service every day.”
A soldier tells Hal, “There’s a rumor going around that you died at Delphi but the witch queen brought you back to life because she fell in love with your dead body.”

Violence

Lyss thinks about the fighting tournaments Celestine holds. “Sometimes the empress would choose two women to fight, or a mixed pair, or three against three. In one case, she blinded two soldiers, and then set them against each other.”
Evan and his subordinates are ambushed in his home. “Blood spattered Evan’s face and the floor around him. He lay on his back, helpless, though fully conscious, while the fighting went on around him. He was stepped on at least once.”
Hal is told that, “Karn’s disgraced, dead, and hanging from the city walls.”
Jenna’s dragon, Cas, attacks a member of the empress’ army. “He struck the bloodsworn, hard, just as he took his shot. The shot went wild and the soldier ended up pinned to the ground, screaming, bleeding from a dozen wounds.”
A group of dragons attacks the empress’ fortress city, “They burned everything that was burnable, from the quays to the houses that were tucked into the terraces on the hillside, to the small fishing boats that were all that remained in the harbor.”
Lila discovers a dead body in the woods. “It was what was left of one of the Darian Brothers, blood spattered all around. A knife lay in the mud nearby. He looked like he’d been torn apart by wolves.”
A servant is killed during a coup. “Before he could get there, the maiden lay dead in a pool of blood, run through by one of the blackbirds.”

Drugs and Alcohol

Hal’s younger brother says, “This drunk stumbled up to me, and I thought she was going to ask me for money or something.”
Ash and Sasha get drunk on a beach after being stranded at sea. Evan, the only one sober, “got the impression that they’d been at the cider for a while.”

Language

Bastard is used several times. A soldier tells Hal about a general’s death. “The scum-sucking bastard’s dead, thank the Maker.”
Ass is used frequently. When King Jarat orders Destin to lead a company of mages, Destin thinks, “And I will pull mages out of my ass.”

Supernatural

Jenna can see images of a person’s true self. “When Jenna gripped the Commander’s hands, images slid through her mind—a much younger Adam and Alyssa, dressed in elaborately stitched clothing, holding hands, watching a funeral procession, both weeping.”
Evan binds his followers to him with a blood ritual. “One dose was enough to bind a person; after that, they had an unquenchable thirst for more.”
Ash travels to the dream world, Aediion. “He was swept into a swirling black vortex. Gradually, he rebuilt the scene at Drovers’ Inn from memory.” In Aediion, spirits can meet with the living. Ash meets his father there, and his deceased father says, “Thank the Maker. I was close to giving up.” In Aediion, Ash also meets a demon. “It resembled a demon’s face—thin-lipped, hollow-cheeked in a cowl and prelate’s robes.”
When Ash enters Aediion, a demon attacks him with shadows. “It took everything Ash had to stand fast with shades flying into his face, swiping around his body, sliding under his clothes.”
Hadley DeVilliers uses her magic to sound proof a room, “Back at Kendall House, Shadow pulled glasses down from the shelf while DeVilliers circled the room, her hand on her amulet, putting up barriers to eavesdroppers.”
In Arden, mages are collared to keep them in check. Hal tells a mage about a key that can unlock every collar. “One key opens all of the collars. One key controls all of the collars. Nearly all the mages fighting for the Ardenine king are wearing them now.”

Spiritual Content

Magic is viewed as a heresy in Arden. Father Fosnaught condemns a group of mages. “You will burn for this, I promise you. We will wipe the scourge of magic from every corner of the Seven Realms.”
The Church of Malthus is the primary religion in Arden. Destin Karn, a spymaster, thinks about a saint, “There was plenty of information about Saint Darian, one of the patriarchs of the Church of Malthus a thousand years ago, and his followers, known as Darian Brothers, who were bent on eliminating the gifted from the Realms.”

by Jonathan Planman

The Girl with the Broken Heart

For the past few months, family has meant nothing but heartache for Kenzie Caine. When her second year at college comes to a close, the last thing she wants to do is return home. Luckily, she’s just landed her dream summer job working at the well-known Bellmeade horse farm in the nearby town of Windemere. Rehabilitating abused horses is hard work, but it’s the perfect distraction from her mother’s deep depression and her turbulent relationship with her father. With the beautiful horses, Kenzie is in her element.

Still, she has her own health limitations—a weakened heart. Her employers, the affable Jon and Ciana Mercer, are well aware of her condition and have tasked the charming stable hand, Austin Boyd, with helping Kenzie with some of the heavy lifting. But Austin has his own secrets. As Kenzie and Austin become closer, those secrets lead to shocking revelations that test the walls Kenzie has built around her heart.

The Girl with the Broken Heart follows a familiar romance format and holds few surprises. Kenzie is an admirable character who doesn’t allow her heart condition to get in the way of her dreams. However, the complicated backstory, which lacks development, makes it difficult to connect with Kenzie. Much of her conflict is internal and revolves around her family life, but the reason for her conflict lacks detail, which causes confusion.

Even though The Girl with the Broken Heart is a clean romance appropriate for younger readers, the age of the character may make it difficult for readers to connect with her. Kenzie is in college, but her love interest’s age is unclear, though he has been working as a police officer for many years. The story hits on the topic of sexting, internet bullying, and suicide. However, these topics are also underdeveloped and unfortunately don’t evoke an emotional reaction.

Kenzie’s summer job is rehabilitating abused horses and the story explains the dangers of the painful method of soring Tennessee Walking Horses. While the abuse may resonate with those familiar with horse competitions, others may be confused because soring isn’t described until later in the book. In addition, the story focuses more on Kenzie’s relationship with Austin instead of her interaction with the horses.

The Girl with the Broken Heart is a sweet romance, but the older characters and lack of plot development make the book more appropriate for older readers. While Kenzie’s heart condition adds interest to the story, in the end, her character will quickly be forgotten. Teens looking for romance with a unique plot should try I Believe in A Thing Called Love by Maurene Goo.

Sexual Content

Dawson and his fiancée kiss several times. For example, “Dawson bent down and kissed Lani on the mouth.”
After Kenzie acts frosty towards Austin, he says, “Why, I could have sworn yesterday when we held hands that you liked having me close to you. So much so that if I’d walked you to your door last night like I wanted, I might have gotten a kiss.” Kenzie denies her attraction towards Austin.
Austin tells Kenzie about his first kiss. “We kissed once just to try it out and broke out laughing. No chemistry. No magic.”
Kenzie doesn’t know how to feel about Austin. “When he’d leaned over her, listening to her every word and looking into her eyes, she’d felt a fluttering sensation in her heart. . . desire.” She thinks Austin is going to kiss her and is disappointed when he doesn’t.
Austin doesn’t like it when a coworker “let his gaze roam over Kenzie’s body.”
Kenzie falls asleep while caring for a sick horse. When Austin sees her, he “wanted to touch her, smooth her hair . . . He wanted to bend down and kiss her awake.”
Kenzie recalls when she was thirteen and one of the ranch hands cornered her in the stable. The man “came up behind me, started rubbing my shoulders, telling me he thought I was pretty. I froze. He said other stuff, too, sexy things I didn’t understand at the time. . . Then he turned me around and planted a big wet sloppy kiss on my mouth.”
After walking Kenzie home, Austin “longed to take her in his arms, hungered for the feel of her warm mouth on his.” He forces himself to leave.
After an outing with Austin, Kenzie “placed both hands against his chest, rose up on her toes, and brushed her lips over his. Pulling away with a saucy smile, she whispered ‘Tag, you’re it,’ and ran back to the house.”

Violence

An upperclassman convinced Kenzie’s sister to “send pictures of her naked body to him, she did . . . because he said he loved her.” The boy then sent the pictures to others, who “shamed her! Made f-fun of her.” Afterward, Kenzie’s sister hangs herself on Valentine’s Day.
Someone vandalizes Kenzie’s car. “Both seats had been slashed with long vicious wounds that left the innards oozing out of the pale creamy leather like pieces of roadkill.”
When Austin is in the barn alone, a masked man stabs him with a knife. “Austin, gagged, heard a whoosh—his lung blown, deflating. He staggered, twisted away from the stall, fell backwards, his head slamming against the hard floor. . . searing, burning pain.” The farm dog attacks the man. “The assailant was hurled to one side, then hauled backwards amid growls and snarls. The man screamed. Human bone crunched.” Both men end up in the hospital.

Drugs and Alcohol

Kenzie goes to a party where people “gathered around patio tables, drinking sodas and beer.”
Kenzie’s mom takes pills for depression.
While at a Fourth of July party Austin is “nursing a beer.”
While in the hospital Austin is given a “morphine infusion pump.”
Austin tells Kenzie about a case he was working on. “Kids were dying. Opioids. Five area high schools had lost seven teens in four months.”
After taking drugs, a teen tells Austin, “The first time I used, I felt like I’d been kissed by an angel. Every time after, I was chasing that feeling. Never got it again.”

Language

Kenzie calls Austin a conceited jerk. Later, Austin tells Kenzie that someone is “pretty much a jerk.”
Crappy is used twice. Once Kenzie says, “Having a crappy heart condition wasn’t going to slow me down. So far, it hasn’t.”
At a horse competition, a man sees Kenzie looking at a horse. The man says, “If it isn’t the bitch who helped destroy my grandfather.” After the altercation, Austin asked, “And what should I have done? Beat the crap out of him?”
Damn is used once. Hell is used twice.

Supernatural

None

Spiritual Content

None

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.

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.”

I Survived the Attacks of September 11, 2001

The only thing Lucas loves more than football is his dad’s friend Benny, a firefighter and former football star. He taught Lucas the game and helped him practice. So, when Lucas’s parents decide football is too dangerous and he needs to quit, Lucas has to talk to his biggest fan.

On a whim, Lucas takes the train to the city instead of the bus to school. It’s a bright, beautiful day in New York. Just as Lucas arrives at the fire house, everything changes…and nothing will ever be the same again.

Lucas’s story will capture readers’ attention because it begins by focusing on Lucas’s love of football. At first, Lucas is devastated that his parents want him to quit football, as he has had three concussions in two years. Like many preteens, Lucas is impulsive and doesn’t think through his plan to skip school and go into New York to talk to Benny. However, as Lucas witnesses the attacks of September 11, he realizes that football is not the most important thing in life. At first, Lucas was worried that he would lose the friendship of his football friends. However, he realizes that his football friends still have his back, even if he isn’t on the field.

The blending of football and the attacks on the Twin Towers is a little awkward at first. However, the mix of the two topics allows Tarshis to highlight the importance of family, friends, and supporting each other through many situations. Even though the story gives details about the attacks of September 11, the events are described in a kid-friendly manner. The story does not go into vivid details, but it allows younger readers to get a glimpse into the tragedy of September 11. The end of the book has a timeline of the events of September 11 as well as questions and answers about the tragic day.

I Survived the Attacks of September 11, 2001 answers the broad questions about the day’s events without giving readers a graphic image of the death and destruction. Readers who are curious about the attacks will see the events through Lucas’s eyes and understand his fear and worry. Not only will readers learn facts about the attack, but they will also learn the dangers of concussions and the importance of friendships.

The story is accessible to all readers because Tarshis uses short paragraphs and simple sentences. Realistic black and white illustrations are scattered throughout the story and help bring the story alive. I Survived the Attacks of September 11, 2001 uses suspense and a simple plot that will answer readers’ questions about the attacks on the Twin Towers. Although the story doesn’t go into detail, the story is a good starting point for curious readers.

Sexual Content

None

Violence

Lucas is near the Twin Towers when the first plane hits the Twin Towers. “There was a thundering explosion. People all around Lucas screamed. And then the bright blue sky filled with black smoke and fire.”
When the plane hit the tower, “black, fiery smoke gushed out of a huge gash in the building’s side, billowing into the sky. Lucas turned away. He couldn’t look anymore.”
A news reporter says, “We have just witnessed the horrific sight of a second plane hitting the other tower—the South Tower… There was a massive explosion.”
Lucas and his father were fleeing to safety when one of the towers collapsed. “There was the sound of shattering glass and a powerful blast of hot wind. Minutes passed. Lucas squeezed his eyes shut and covered his ears. His mouth and nose filled with gritty dust. It was hard to breathe.”

Drugs and Alcohol

None

Language

Lucas watches the news on TV. The man on TV says, “Oh, my God! What was that? Another explosion!”

Supernatural

None

Spiritual Content

When the firefighters began returning to the station, Lucas kept praying that Uncle Benny would be alright.

Flamecaster

Set in the world of Chima’s critically acclaimed Seven Realms series, Flamecaster is the beginning of an exciting new series full of suspense, magic, love, and danger. War has overtaken the realm, leaving two young, yet determined characters on their own in their fight against the cruel king of Arden.

Ash wants nothing more than to get back at the king that murdered his father. But after he’s forced into hiding, that goal only gets farther out of reach. Once he gets close to his father’s murderer, will he succeed in getting revenge? Or will he sacrifice his life for nothing?

Ash isn’t alone in his hunt for revenge. For as long as she’s known, Jenna Bandelow has had a strange magemark on the back of her neck. When the King’s Guard begins hunting for a girl with a mark like hers, Jenna must figure out why she’s being hunted. Does it simply have to do with the fact she’s been fighting against the king of Arden? Or is it something more? Danger lurks around every corner, and Ash and Jenna will need each other if they are to survive.

Flamecaster, a fantastic first book in the Shattered Realms Series, follows Ash’s and Jenna’s quest to take down the ruthless King Gerard. The engaging story is full of wizards, intrigue, revenge, and multifaceted characters. Both Ash and Jenna are interesting, complex characters who become King Gerard’s victims and lose those they love. Told from both Ash’s and Jenna’s point of view, it’s easy to understand each of their motivations as they grow and become obsessed with killing King Gerard. Both are angry and hateful after King Gerard kills people they love, which fuels their desire for revenge. While working towards their ultimate goal, each finds themselves alone, yet determined. Flamecaster weaves a compelling mystery, but doesn’t conclude with a typical resolution. Instead, some of the story arc is left with unanswered questions which will leave the reader eager to read the next book in the series, Shadowcaster.

Chima’s expert storytelling allows the story to unfold gradually and with humor. Even though the story pairs Ash and Jenna as lovers, the focus remains on survival and intrigue. Another positive aspect of Flamecaster is the world-building, which builds on the previous series, the Seven Realms series. This is constantly in the background, as the war personally impacts both Ash and Jenna. Through the war, religious and cultural differences between the two nations emerge. This highlights how in the Fells wizards are free and help rule over the Queendom, yet in Arden wizards are enslaved and distrusted. Overall, the backdrop serves well to push the story forward.

The theme of revenge is prevalent, as both Ash and Jenna are fueled by their desire to get revenge against King Gerard. Luckily this theme isn’t overbearing, and is paired well with the theme of hope. The universal theme of hope wins out in the end, as Ash and Jenna learn to overcome their doubts and survive their time in Arden. Flamecaster is both fast paced and engaging, a story that will entertain both Chimas’s loyal fans as well as readers new to the fantasy series.

Sexual Content

Ash was in a relationship while attending an academy. He thinks, “Suze was a plebe at Isenwerk. She and Ash had walked out together for a few months, but had recently called it quits. At least he had.”
In the past, King Gerard attempted to marry the Queen of the Fells. Ash’s father says, “Your mother rejected him in a very public way.”
Ash comes to buy poisons from Taliesin, his mentor. She tells him, “Other young men your age come to me seeking love potions. I suppose you’re not in need of those.”
During a staged fortune-telling, a seer tells a young man the fortune, “says, ‘I’m not going to sleep with you anymore, you faithless bastard.’”
Someone says “The northerners spend their days picking wildflowers and dreaming and their nights fornicating under the stars.”
Ash and Jenna share a romance. After making love, Jenna tells Ash, “It’s just—in Bruinswallow, I think we’d be considered married.” The love making isn’t described, only implied. Later, Ash thinks about his feelings for Jenna, “I am in love with this girl.”

Violence

In a confrontation with King Gerard, Ash sees him die. Ash, “flattened himself against the tower wall to avoid being struck as the king screamed past him like a falling star. The screaming ended abruptly when he hit bottom.”
While battling priests, Ash kills some of them. Ash attacks one priest and “immolated him before he hit the floor.”
Ash is a trained killer. Ash thinks that he is “good with poisons, garrotes, and the small daggers known as shivs. Poisons were his weapons of choice.” Later, Ash tells someone, “Consider how many premature deaths I’m preventing. The lives I take are balanced by those I save.”
A young boy throws some sort of powder in Ash’s eyes. “When the trailing edge of it caught him [Ash] in the face and in the eyes, it was as if someone had taken a torch to him.”
Ash is forced to put down a horse. Ash, “insisted on doing it himself, by using magic to stop the blood as it rushed through the great artery in his neck. It was a painless death, as far as he could tell, but that didn’t make it any easier.”
In a conversation about Delphi, Clermont, a Guard Captain, says, “When things get really bad, I just kill a few Delphian rats. That never fails to raise my spirits.”
During a royal party, one of the king’s thanes kills some of the king’s guard. The thane “turned, a blade in each hand, and cut the throats of the blackbirds nearest to him.”
King Gerard has his mistress killed. Ash remembers, “But Estelle was dead—killed for the crime of hosting an assassination attempt on the king.”

Drugs and Alcohol

At a tavern at an academy, Lila sees a fellow student drunkenly fall into a chair. She watches as, “He all but fell into it, clunking his mug down on the table. It was nearly empty.”
Ash thinks about Lila, his classmate. “Drunk or sober, Lila didn’t miss much.” Just after that, Lila says, “A girl can learn a lot from a drunken southerner.”
After a fire breaks out in the palace kitchens, Ash, “realized that Hamon was blaming himself and his drinking for the fire.”
Destin notices that “The more Clermont drank, the louder he talked.”

Language

Lila calls a fellow student, “Ardenine swine.”
Ass is used frequently. For example, someone tells Ash, “You have to keep moving or grow a crop of moss on your ass.”
King Gerard calls his queen, “You stupid slut of Tamron.”
Clermont, a guard captain in the city of Delphi, cusses out a waitress. He says, “You tell that insolent whey-faced tavern rat. . .”
Marin Karn, Destin’s father, talks about Lila. He says, “The bitch has a mouth on her that’s going to cost her if she isn’t careful.”

Supernatural

Wizards, also known as mages, are commonplace. They are not welcomed in every country. Ash Hanson and Destin Karn are wizards. Ash thinks, “Wizards were arrogant by nature.”
Wizards often see a glow around other wizards. Ash notes, “Western wizards glowed a cool bluish-white. Strangward’s aura came closest to that. He lit up the entire room with a brilliant white glow. The other delegates glowed a faint red, like dying coal.”
Talismans often are used as protection against magic. When Lilia is interrogated by a mage, “The Talisman at her neck sizzled against her skin. Protection against magic.”
Talismans are usually created by the Clans in the Fells. Lila thinks, “Crafted of rowan, ebony, and ivory, it had been given to her by her clan friend and sometime partner, Shadow Dancer.”
Dealing with a wounded ankle, Ash thinks, “A wizard can’t use his gift to heal himself.”
In Arden, Wizards are shunned and are generally considered to be demons. When King Gerard confronts Ash about being a “demon,” Ash says, “Hang on—you think I’m an actual demon?”
Destin often uses magic to interrogate people. Destin thinks, “That made torture unnecessary for the most part, unless he was dealing with other mages, who could resist his mind magic.”
When trying to interrogate a boy, Destin “released magic into him, let if flow as if to fill him up, then reached through it to find the boy’s mind. And couldn’t. He tried again, and it was like searching an empty room.”
Jenna has a unique ability to speak to dragons. When Flamecaster, a dragon, speaks to her, she thinks, “At first, she thought he [the dragon] was asking for help, but then she realized that it was offering help.”

Spiritual Content

Arden is heavily influenced by the Church of Malthus, the dominant religion. God is the main deity of the Church of Malthus.
The Maker is the main god of the Fells, a nation to the north. Jenna Bandelow tells her father, “The Maker helps those who help themselves, isn’t that what you said?”
King Gerard asks of one of his subjects, “Are you saying that you will not submit to the command of your sovereign, anointed by God?”
Ash saves the palace cook, Hamon, from a fire. Hamon says, “They say it was a miracle. Come here, my boy, so I can feel of you, for surely you were the instrument of Holy Malthus in this.”
The Church of Malthus paints mages as demonic. Someone says, “Magic, my lord? I want nothing to do with that. The Fathers say that mages are idolators and devils.”
Priests of the Church of Malthus are often referred to as crows. Someone says, “Those black-robed crows of Malthus can prattle on about martyrdom and Paradise all they want. I’m not signing on.”

by Jonathan Planman

Terror at Bottle Creek

Cort’s father is a local expert on hunting and swamp lore in lower Alabama and has been teaching his son everything he knows. But when a deadly Category 3 storm makes landfall and his father disappears, thirteen-year-old Cort must unexpectedly put all his skills—and bravery—to the test.

One catastrophe leads to another, leaving Cort and two neighbor girls to face the Gulf Coast hurricane the best they can. Lost in the middle of storm-thrashed wetlands, the three face dangerous, desperate wild animals, it’s up to Cort to win—or lose—the fight of their lives.

Terror at Bottle Creek sweeps readers into the Alabama swamps and shows the dangers that lurk beneath the water and on land. With the Bottle Creek Indian Mounds as a backdrop, the story creates an eerie and terrifying tone that will have readers biting their nails. Vicious hogs, deadly alligators, and other swamp creatures all head to higher ground during the storm. In order to survive, Cort and his two neighbors must face a hurricane, wild animals, hypothermia, a venomous snake bite, and their own fears.

Readers will relate to Cort, who is embarrassed to live in a houseboat and wishes his life was different. Cort also struggles to understand his changing feelings for his childhood friend, Liza. As Cort tries to save Liza and her sister, he faces difficult choices, but he tackles them with bravery and compassion. As he fights to survive in the swamp, he thinks of the lesson his father taught him. However, his memories also reveal angry feelings towards his father. Cort’s emotional struggles are interwoven with intense survival scenes, allowing the reader to empathize with Cort. By the end of the story, Cort realizes his value does not come from where he lives, but from his character.

While Terror at Battle Creek has some typical elements, the story’s suspense and unexpected events will have readers jumping with fright. Terror at Battle Creek is an excellent survival story that will leave readers with an appreciation of the beauty and dangers of the Alabama swamps. Readers who enjoyed Terror at Battle Creek will also like

Sexual Content

None

Violence

Cort thinks about hunting swamp animals. Some people use dogs to track and corner hogs. “The dogs are often gored or killed in the fight. I’ve seen them back away with their cheeks hanging open or their intestines hanging from their belly, blue and bloody and leaf-pasted.”
When Cort was ten, he got out of the boat to pick grapes and a hog charged at him. The hog “bowled me over, bit onto my thigh, and shook me like a doll. It happened so fast I didn’t have time to react. Dad was quick to fire a shot into the air with his rifle. That startled the sow. . . I learned that wild pigs won’t hesitate to attack. And kill you. And eat you.”
Cort helps get Francis and Liza into a tree. “A sharp pain sliced across my leg and something bulky and hairy knocked me against the tree. . . The hogs closed in beneath us, blocking our escape. . . I came up the opposite side from them, my leg throbbing with pain. I put the light on it and saw a three-inch tear in my thigh. Blood ran down my leg, thick and pink and watered down like cherry Kool-Aid.”
A wild hog named Rusty attacks the tree that Cort, Liza, and Francis are hiding in. “The other pigs were picking through the leaves, finding dead and live snakes and eating them. Rusty suddenly charged one of them and toppled it into the underbrush. What followed was a deafening blend of squeals over a blur of brown and black hair. . .” Rusty reappears with bloody tusks.
Rusty attacks the boat that Cort and his dad are in. Cort’s dad is able to get a rope loop around Rusty’s head, and Cort “slammed the boat into reverse as Rusty squealed and swung his head and battered the side of the boat like someone beating a metal barrel with butcher knives.” Cort’s dad is able to tie the hog to a tree.
Rusty and a bear get into a fight. “Bear and hog rolled in a tangled blur of snarling and squealing frenzy. Teeth and claws and tusks and hooves gleamed and slashed beside us like a whirlwind of knives. . . The hog managed to get on top again and I thought I detected the bear weakening. The wounds in his chest were deep, and his fur was wet and matted and gleaming a purplish color from all the blood. While the hog had gaping wounds about his body from the tearing claws, he didn’t seem slowed. . .The bear kept his lock on the hog, his snarls sounding more like weak sighs. Rusty gurgled and kicked occasionally, the life slowly leaving him.” The fight is described over three pages. The bear kills Rusty and the story implies that the bear will die as well from his wounds.

Drugs and Alcohol

When Cort’s father takes two men on a hunting trip, the clients “both cracked a beer and toasted each other.” After the men get a gator, they “popped more beer and celebrated.”

Language

Hell is used three times. When an alligator almost bites Cort, his dad says, “What the hell you doing? . . . Lord, you know better than to dive in there like that.”
Lord is used as an exclamation twice.
Crap is used four times. When Cort’s dad calls for an ambulance, he is told it can’t get to them. Cort’s dad yells, “Don’t give me that crap, Curly! Make it happen.”
When a snake bites Liza, Cort says, “Dammit. Dammit. Hold on.”
Damn is used twice. When Cort’s dad sees snakes all over, he says, “Damn snakes.”
When Cort asks Liza about the shape of the snake’s head, she says, “I didn’t study its head, you idiot!”
When Cort falls into the swamp, his father says, “God almighty!”

Supernatural

None

Spiritual Content

Cort’s dad says, “Snakes are just cold and evil. You can’t breed it out of them. It’s like reptiles got a different God.”

The Four Guardians

When Prince Leo’s devious cousin seizes control of Singara, Leo is forced to escape into enemy territory until he can return and claim the throne. Trapped among his enemies, Leo discovers they know a lot more about him than he knows about himself. With some guidance from unlikely allies, Leo is poised to fulfill a destiny greater than he ever imagined.

Can Leo harness his power, stop a war, and prevent a monstrous demon from escaping and destroying the world? In the second book of the Pride Wars series, Leo’s identity as a Spinner—once thought to be his greatest curse—may just become his greatest weapon.

When Leo flees Singara, he goes into enemy territory and learns about the neighboring Maguar tribe. The Four Guardians mixes fierce battles with scenes where Leo learns more about being a Spinner. With the help of a Maguar ally, Leo learns that he is a Shakyahs—a Spinner who is able to bring Jins to this world. While Leo hopes that the Maguar’s Shakyah, the Twelver, will help him stop the war, it soon becomes apparent that the Twelver’s one true desire is revenge.

Leo’s quadron joins him on his quest and are dedicated to keeping Leo safe, even if that means death. Once they make it to enemy territory, two spiritual guides help Leo understand what it means to be a Spinner. Unlike The Spinner Prince, the second book digs deeper into understanding the Maguar god, Alayah. The story highlights the importance of faith, and readers will recognize areas that are similar to the Bible. As one character says, “Yet faith is the most basic thing there is. Faith is the crying of a cub for its mother. Faith is one candle in overwhelming darkness. Faith is the light of Alayah in every living thing. Every breath, and every step we take, is an act of faith.”

The Four Guardians battles are fierce and may frighten some readers. The Maguar Shakyah, the Twelver, only has one true desire, which is to kill the demon Hasatamara. However, this desire has made the Twelver a truly evil enemy who is willing to bring death to anyone who opposes her. Unlike the Twelver, Leo’s journey is based on the desire to save lives and bring both tribes together. That is why Alayah praises Leo for showing “humility, bravery, and compassion, even toward your enemies.”

The action-packed sequel, The Four Guardians, allows the reader to step into an imaginative world that has clear villains. While the story has some surprises, the long explanations of Spinners and Alayah slow down the plot. In the fight against good and evil, Leo is an imperfect character who relies on his friends to guide him. Readers will enjoy the relationship between Leo and his friends and celebrate their wins. The complicated plot, large cast of characters, and spiritual content make The Four Guardians better suited for strong readers. The Four Guardians doesn’t resolve any conflicts, but leaves room for another sequel.

Sexual Content

None

Violence

Leo and a group of his friends travel into enemy territory. When they arrive, “The Maguar rushes Anjali with astonishing speed. He guides his spear to the edge of Anjali’s throat. The tip is made of sharpened flint… The Maguar spits at her feet.” The Maguar takes them captive.
Anjali makes a deal with the Maguar leader, who wants to kill all of them. She says, “I have a deal for you. If one of you can defeat me in combat—no weapons, no claws—you can feed three of us to your slaycons, except him [Leo]. You will take him to your high command.”
Anjali fights a Maguar. They get into combat position and “with blinding swiftness, she [Anjali] fires a double strike: a blow beneath his ribs with her fist and a simultaneous uppercut to his chin with her left. Then she sweeps one of his legs, sending the stunned Maguar sprawling to the ground… In less than three seconds, the Maguar is a heap of striped fur on the ground.” The two continue the fight for two pages. The Maguar wins the fight when “the Maguar catches her on the shoulder with a double kick, knocking her off balance… She crashes to the ground with a yowl. Knowing the danger she’s in, Anjali rolls away, but not before the enemy drives a devastating kick to the side of her head. Anjali flops to the ground and doesn’t move.”
After the fight, Anjali jumps up and “tackles the leader [Kaw]… Anjali thrust a fist at his head, pounding his muzzle into the earth. She follows up relentlessly, thumping Kaw again and again and again until he goes limp.”
When Leo and his friends are taken to a village, an archer fires. “The arrow punctures Zoya’s ear, pinning it to the tree. She winces but makes no complaint.”
When a Singa looks Mandar in the eye, “the elder strikes Mandar in the face, raking his muzzle with extended claws. Mandar yowls and crumples to the ground.”
Leo and his friends are offered a squirrel for a meal. “Zoya bites the head and half the body from the squirrel…” Singas don’t usually eat rodents.
The village leader wants Leo to trust a Maguar named Wajid. The leader “removes the bone dagger strapped to his chest. Before I know what has happened, Abba swipes my hand and then Wajid’s hand… pressing my stinging palm into Wajid’s.” Mixing blood will bond the two.
As Leo and his group are traveling, they are attacked by slaycons. Anjali’s “first and second arrows find two slaycons behind their foreleg, penetrating their hearts and killing them instantly… One beast, punctured with three arrows, floats away in water tinted with its own blood.” During the fight, “Stick’s face is sprayed with slaycon blood. His cry of complaint is drowned out by the wail of the wounded beast. It spins for a bite at Wajid as we roll by, but Wajid swings his weapon and chops off the slaycon’s lower jaw.” Stick is bitten in the leg, but the others are uninjured. The slaycon attack is described over seven pages.
When Mandar reports to Tamir, Tamir wants to keep Mandar’s secret from being told. Tamir’s daughter “draws a blade and strikes the unarmed Mandar… Dead. Tamir steps over Mandar’s fallen body. Amara sheaths her blade and follows.”
When Abdu finds Leo and his group in a temple, he goes to hit Wajid, but a Jin stops him. The Jin’s “moves are unnaturally quick, flashes of silver and white in the dim firelight. She grabs Abdu’s attacking arm and redirects his motion until he is off balance. In a blink, she steps behind the big Paladin and sweeps his legs, sending him crashing to the floor.” The Jin changed from the form of a squirrel to a lion until all of the attackers are defeated. The fight is described over two pages.
When Tula, who is a Jin, begins to shift, he “must be destroyed before the transformation is complete.” Two other Jins attack and “pounce on their fellow Jin. The battle is brutal and swift… Kaitan finishes Tula off by stomping on his skull with a sickening crunch of bone.”
When the Paladins try to bind Leo and his group, a Jin “rises up in Leo form and throws a surprised Paladin away. She does the same to one after another, throwing, flipping, knocking them to the ground… In seconds, eight Paladins are sprawled out on the grass, gasping and confused.”
Wajid and the other Paladin lift Leo, and “they dangle me over the edge of the tower… The two Paladins pitch me over the edge of the tower.” One of the Jin transforms and saves Leo.
The Paladins “waste no time marching my friends to the edge of the tower and hurling them both into the air. Stick wails like a wounded cub…” A Jin of a spider saves them.
When birds attack Leo and his friends, the spider “pulls them close and spools the beasts in layer after layer of webbing. He mercifully lowers his prisoners to the sea face-up, so they can breathe.”
More birds attack and “the minokaw latches on to Zoya’s arm with its foot, digging sharp claws into her flesh. She yowls. Stick sinks his teeth into the minokaw’s foot while Wajid sends three rapid punches into the minokaw’s stomach until it releases Zoya. . . Magmar drives his two feet into the minokaws’ chest, killing them instantly.”
Leo is told how the demon Hasatamara came to be. Before he was a demon, he killed his brother.
Leo and his friends hide in a cave, but soldiers find them. “Magmar drops from the ceiling and quickly pins one intruder to the floor, while Wajid tackles the other… Wajid’s challenger wriggles free and knocks Wajid to the ground, then swings a blade at Magmar. The giant spider dodges the attack and seizes the soldier by the throat.” No one is injured.
Leo’s mother is thrown over a cliff. “Mira plunges below the edge of the cliff and out of sight. Magmar bounds after her, but he’s too late.” The Red Firewing saves Mira.
Leo and his friends battle the Maguar leader and her friends over several chapters. During the fight, soldiers “roll Magmar to the lip of the cliff, brutally stabbing and tearing his body as they go. Screeching with pain and fury and gushing blood… a badly wounded Magmar tumbles over the edge to the sea, where he will surely meet his death on sharp rocks.” Several people are killed.
When Leo is about to lose the battle, he calls for a legion, and “the whole battlefield trembles and shifts like ripples of wind on water. All at once, millions of mice rise up from the dirt, announcing themselves with terrible squealing.” The mice swarm the soldiers, “pulling warriors down, filling their mouths and ears, smothering and suffocating.” Leo calls off the mice before the men are killed.
During the battle, a group of Maguar helps Leo. “…Not only Abba but several members of his family are among the dead.”

Drugs and Alcohol

None

Language

Zoya calls her brother “brick brain” once.
The Maguar calls Leo’s race “demonics.” In one scene, a Maguar calls them “stinking, sneaking, demonics.”

Supernatural

The Maguar leader wants to find the Axis of the Ancients. “Somehow the Axis makes it possible for the Four Guardians to be on earth at the same time without killing the Shakyah or causing devastation to the world around them.” The Maguar leader is hoping the Four Guardians will go into battle with her.
Leo is a Spinner who is compelled to tell stories. When they are telling a story, a vision appears, which only the Spinner can see. When the story ends, “a character or creature is always left behind when the disease hits me. These beings are faded, ghostly, and freakish.” Leo tries to hide the fact that he is a Spinner, but he often has these visions. When a character from the vision appears, Leo can talk to them.
Leo learns that Spinners “are gateways to and from another world. The fictions are gifts from Alayah, sent through Spinners, gifts of wisdom and truth. For a few powerful Spinners, beings from the stories are pulled into our world to protect and serve the one who brought them here.”
When a Spinner is a Shakyah, they have special power. When they say, “the name of a Jin, it is flesh and blood like all creatures in this world. When its earthly body is destroyed, or when the Shakyah who brought it dies, the Jin returns to the haven.”
Leo has dreams that “let me see things that have happened, or things that will happen.”
Hasatamara is a demon locked inside a mountain. “Hasatamara is the fabled sea demon who was drawn onto land by the salty scent of blood spilled in a prehistoric war… He rose up with a mighty wave and flooded much of the earth.”
When Leo spins a story, a ghostlike, transparent tortoise appears. When an archer shoots at his friend, Leo says the tortoise’s name. “The Black Tortoise’s name is accompanied by a thundering boom, like having your head dunked underwater. The air ripples outward from Lamasura [the tortoise]. Everything becomes deadly still, frozen in time.” Leo is able to grab the arrow and save his friend. Then, “the boom sounds again, and things return to normal.”
When a being comes from “the Haven, a world beyond ours,” they are called Jin. The being wants to return to their world. In order to send them back, Leo only has to say “I am willing.” When he says the words, “Instantly a fluttering sensation fills my chest. A cavity of light blasts out of my ribs. The brightness swirls and expands until my upper body is replaced by a vision of the Haven, where countless beings orbit an unearthly light.” The tortoise steps into the light and disappears.
Leo discovers that “if Jin are kept in this world too long, they become sick. Eventually they shift and become servants of the demon.”
Lamasura, one of the Four Guardians, can bend time.

Spiritual Content

Singas believe that the Maguar’s god, Alayah, is a “make-believe god.”
Leo questions, “If Alayah is so powerful and so good, couldn’t Alayah free the Jin?” Leo and a Jin discuss Alayah’s nature and how Alayah wants people to decide to do what’s right.
The Jin of a spider appears. The Jin, Magmar, is known for being deceptive. Leo wonders, “If Alayah is tricking him again by sending him here. Maybe what the spider means for bad, Alayah will use for good.”
Daviyah was a Maguar who died and “Daviyah’s spirit dwells in the Red Firewing, like all he Shakyahs before him.”
One of the Jin says, “The Ancients say if we trust Alayah with every step, Alayah makes the path clear.”
A Jin says, “Trust in Alayah with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.”

Forged by Fire

Gerald’s mother, Monique, has always been unstable. When his mom goes to jail, Gerald goes to live with his Aunt Queen, who gives him a stable, loving home. After six years, Gerald’s mom returns. Gerald has no desire to spend time with Monique. When Aunt Queen dies, Gerald’s life dramatically changes.

Monique and her husband, Jordan, bring Gerald into a home filled with anger and abuse. Jordan, a brutal man, doesn’t hesitate to use his fists. The only bright spot in Gerald’s new home is his stepsister, Angel. Living in a home of misery and despair, Gerald tries his best to protect Angel. When Gerald learns that Jordan is sexually abusing Angel, he finally reaches out for help.

When Jordan is behind bars, Gerald hopes their lives will get better, but his substance-addicted mother rarely pays attention to her two kids. Drug, violence, and uncertainty surround Gerald and Angel. When Jordan gets out of jail, he says he has changed and Monique welcomes him back home. Gerald doesn’t trust Jordan, but is he strong enough to face Jordan’s anger and protect Angel?

Forged by Fire vividly paints a picture of the devastation caused by addiction and abuse. As a three-year-old, Gerald was already consumed with the fear and pain of living with a neglectful, abusive mother. After a fire that almost killed Gerald, his mother spends six years in jail. When Gerald is thrust back into an abusive home, his apathetic mother refuses to acknowledge the physical, sexual, and mental abuse that is a daily part of Gerald’s and Angel’s lives.

Gerald is an admirable character, who tries to keep his stepsister safe. Despite his best efforts, Gerald cannot always shield his sister from abuse. To make matters worse, both Gerald’s friends and the adults in his life fail him because they casually accept the abuse and provide little support. Instead, they act as if the abuse is just something that Gerald needs to deal with.

Forged by Fire vividly describes Gerald’s abuse, which allows the reader to feel Gerald’s despair. In a world surrounded by violence, the brutal details of Gerald’s life come into focus. Since the story accurately portrays an abusive home, some readers may be disturbed by the images of abuse. Even though the story is engaging, the conclusion hints that Gerald’s life will always be full of turmoil.

Gerald’s story will stay with readers for a long time. Even though readers will admire Gerald’s perseverance, the story ends with a hopeless tone. Readers are left wondering if any adult will step in and help Gerald and his sister. Without assistance, Gerald’s future will be grim.

Forged by Fire is the second installment in the Hazelwood High Trilogy; however, the story can be read as a stand-alone. The events from Tears of a Tiger are mentioned, but they do not have the same emotional impact as they did in the first book of the series. While the story will spark conversations, both Tears of a Tiger and Forged by Fire don’t offer solutions. While both stories are engaging, they describe situations in detail that will make readers uncomfortable. In the end, the Hazelwood High Trilogy is an engaging, easy-to-read series that tackles difficult topics that are relevant to teenagers.

Sexual Content

Gerald’s mother was abusive, and “Mama got really mad when you woke her up, especially if she had somebody in bed with her.”

Angel’s father sexually abused her. “Terrified, she could only weep silently as he touched her, rubbing his hands over her arms, her back, her legs. He had done this many times before, ever since she was a baby… Jordan whispered in her ear, his breath hot and foul, ‘You remember our secret game, Angel… Touching is good. Telling is bad. If you tell, your mama will put you out in the snow all alone, and you will die. Now, let’s play.’”
When Angel gets chickenpox, Jordan stays home. “Angel tearfully removed her T-shirt while Jordan watched… He touched her back and she tensed at the roughness of his fingers. Angel wept silently while he explored her body for chickenpox spots. He took his time. He found all of them.” In order to keep Angel quiet, Jordan says, “Oh, by the way, if you’re lookin’ for the stinkin’ cat, it’s in the oven. Don’t worry, I didn’t turn it on. But if you say one word to anyone—I swear I’ll kill that cat and cook it!”
One of the boys on the basketball team jokes that college scouts are “knockin’ on my door, beggin’ me to drive six new Cadillacs to their school, to instruct the women in the dorms on the finer points of, shall we say, scorin’…”
When a girl calls Gerald looking for her boyfriend, Gerald says, “I bet he’s in the backseat of his car, kissin’ all over some real sexy woman!”
Jordan comes home drunk and finds Angel home alone. When Jordan grabs her, “Angel, eyes wide with fear, yanked free of his grip and ran screaming toward the door… He grabbed her again, both arms this time, and dragged her, kicking and screaming, toward her bedroom door.” The story implies that Jordan rapes Angel.

Violence

When Gerald was three, his mother caught him playing with a lighter. Mama “made the fire come out and she held his hand over the flame…” The flame “made his hand scream and made him dizzy with pain, and he could smell something like the meat Mama cooked, but it was his hand.”
Gerald’s mother “yells and gets her belt or her shoe and hits, and hits, and hits…” During his mother’s bad days, “she would slap him and he’d cry and he’d cuss at her and then she would slap him until his head hurt.”
Monique’s husband was “mean, and Monique was truly afraid of him. He would hit her whenever she made him angry, which was often… When he was drunk, it was worse.”
Angel tries to avoid Jordan. Angel “took a deep breath, lowered her head, and curried past him. But she wasn’t quick enough. His fist, like a hammer, connected with her back as she ran. She groaned in pain, but dared not stop.” Gerald tries to help. He “leaped into the room, jumped between Angel and Jordan, and the blow came down on him instead. Gerald was tough and strong, but the force of that punch almost made him lose his breath.”
When Gerald accidently walks in on Jordan molesting Angel, Jordan “slapped Gerald full in the face.” Gerald is too afraid to do anything.
Gerald tries to avoid Jordan, but “Jordan was mean—he smacked Gerald on the back of his head if he got a C on his report card, he punched him on his arm if he spilled milk, and he whacked his legs for not bringing him a beer fast enough.”
Gerald’s mother is hit by a taxi. The driver says, “She ran right in front of me! I didn’t see her!” Monique is injured.
Jordan gets angry at Monique, and “he raised his arm above his head and slapped Monique with the back of his hand so hard that she fell onto the bed. Pain and confusion filled her face… Gerald was coming back from his job. His fist hit Gerald full in the face. Blood spurted from Gerald’s nose and lip as he staggered to the floor.”
Gerald comes home to find the house on fire. “Angel lay on her bed, barely conscious. Jordan was walking slowly toward the foot of her bed…” Jordan and Gerald get in a fight. “With the steel toe of his cowboy boots, Jordan kicked Gerald squarely on the shin. Gerald screamed in pain. He heard the bone crack. He fell once again.” Jordan leaves the two kids to die in the fire.

Drugs and Alcohol

Gerald learned to avoid his mother when “she sniffed the white stuff.”
Gerald’s step-dad Jordan gets drunk often.
When Jordan goes to jail, Monique “had not returned to the drugs, but she had developed a taste for whiskey and was finding more and more excuses to go out and drink with her friends.”
After Monique’s accident, the doctor prescribes pain pills. “She keeps insisting that her head hurt…but that’s only when she runs out of her pain pills. Jordan kept her supplied with refills of her prescription, and when the doctor wouldn’t give her anymore, he bought these weird-lookin’ shiny red pills…”
After a while, Monique “used beer now, instead of water, to wash down the pills that Jordan bought her.”
Several of Gerald’s friends go out drinking after a game. They are in a fiery car crash, and one of the boys dies.

Language

When Angel tells her mother about Jordan’s abuse, Monique calls her a “filthy liar.”
Jordan calls Monique a “witless idiot!”

Supernatural

None

Spiritual Content

When Gerald almost died in a fire, his aunt says, “Well, Praise the Lord, he didn’t.”
When Gerald’s aunt tucked him into bed, she “prayed for strength.”
Before breakfast, Gerald’s aunt prays, “Dear Lord, be with this family. We’re gonna need you. Bless this food, and please be with Gerald on this special day. Amen.”

Rescue Mission

During one of Ben’s baseball games, his dad is tasked with finding two escaped convicts. Ben promises his mom that he’ll stay home and be safe. Once he hears that his dad is missing, Ben knows he can’t keep his promise. After gathering supplies and sneaking out, Ben and Hero, his retired search and rescue dog, meet up with the police to find his dad.

Ben and Hero do everything they can to find his dad’s trail. Even with help from Officer Perillo and his new friend Tucker, finding his dad is tough. The duo fight through the forest, deal with dangerous snakes, and put their lives on the line. Ben’s dad is a cop – a hero in his own right – but the two convicts are clever and dangerous, forcing Ben and Hero to be extra cautious. The two escaped convicts won’t go down without a fight. Will Ben and Hero rescue his dad, or will the convicts win the day?

Hero: Rescue Mission is a very fast-paced story that centers on Ben. Through his point of view, the reader can understand his worries, fears, and frustrations surrounding his dad’s disappearance. Readers can also understand why Ben is so reckless. From the outside, it may look like Ben doesn’t seem to care about his own safety; however, he’s simply afraid he might never see his dad again.

The third installment in the Hero series focuses on how worry can make someone reckless. Ben wants to save his dad as fast as possible, but this also leads to him being bitten by a snake. That snakebite puts Ben in the hospital, which only makes the search more difficult. There are many times where Ben loses his cool and shouts at others because he thinks they aren’t moving quickly enough. Yet, through this adversity, Ben learns to take things slowly. He learns the value of caution, as well as careful planning.

Once again, Hero stars as one of the main characters of the story. The retired search and rescue dog is eager to find Ben’s dad. At the start of the story, Hero is just as anxious and reckless as Ben is. Through bonding and training, Ben and Hero begin to work as one. They need each other in order to save the day. Hero: Rescue Mission focuses on Ben and Hero’s fears as they race to find Ben’s dad. Despite the story’s fast pace, most of the story is about Ben learning to control both Hero and his emotions. Much of the conflict with the convicts occurs at the very end of the story. Once Ben finds his dad, he and Hero must battle the convicts and prevent them from robbing a convenience store. This mimics real police work and illustrates both the importance of the police and the danger they put themselves in.

Newcomers to this series do not need to have read the first two books in order to understand the plot. While there are references to the first two books, Ben explains the references. This book will appeal to young readers that have a parent or family member in the police force. With a realistic protagonist, an engaging emotional story, and a truly heroic search and rescue dog, Hero: Rescue Mission is a fun, exciting entry in Jennifer Li Shotz’s series.

Sexual Content

None

Violence

During Ben’s baseball game, his friend Noah is injured. The injury “had come when a foul ball had barreled toward Noah and hit him in the arm—hard. Noah had yelped in pain, and Coach Lee had called a time-out and jogged over.” After the game, Ben’s “best friend sat slumped over on a deck chair, his very swollen arm cradled in a sling.”
When thinking about Hero’s abilities, Ben thinks, “And… well, if it came down to it, Hero was pretty great at attacking bad guys too.”
Ben recalls a memory from his past when Hero was “getting attacked by two vicious dogs at the dogfighting ring.”
After picking up a rock, Ben is bitten by a snake. Before he “had time to process what it was, Ben felt a sharp sting, burning, and warmth spreading up his arm.” Immediately after that, Ben falls. He “staggered backward and fell to the ground. His arm was on fire, and he was so woozy he couldn’t even lift his head.”
Ben’s new friend Tucker carries around a slingshot. Tucker shoots a rock at one prisoner, “and the escaped prisoner let out a yell as it bashed him in the forehead. Blood spouted from a gash above his right eye, and he clutched at it with a meaty hand. He howled in shock and pain—and fell away from the window.”
The second convict has a gun. He points the gun at Ben and Hero. “There was no way Ben was going to let Hero get hurt—and this man clearly wouldn’t hesitate to shoot any of them, human or canine.” Ben then learns that the convicts are “going to rob [a convenience store] for supplies and cash and then head south for Louisiana.”
Ben’s dad attacks the convict without a gun. Ben’s dad, “swung the board in a high arc and brought it down on the man’s head with a deep, dull thwack.”
The convict with a gun goes to rob a convenience store. Ben sees “the prisoner, holding a gun. It was pointed straight at [the shop owners].” Hero leaps on the convict with “a thunk, and the man grunted as the air was knocked out of his lungs. He fell forward like a bag of rocks, hitting the ground so hard Ben felt the floor vibrate.” Tucker also “swung his mother’s bat with all his force. The sound it made when it connected with the convict’s leg was flat and disgusting.”

Drugs and Alcohol

None

Language

The second convict tells Ben that the first convict will be, “real pissed off when he wakes up.”

Supernatural

None

Spiritual Content

None

by Jonathan Planman

I Survived the Japanese Tsunami, 2011

Ben’s father had always wanted to take his family to his hometown in Japan. After he dies, Ben thinks his mom will cancel the trip, but Ben’s mom is determined to visit Shogahama. While in the small coastal village, Ben tries to avoid his uncle. Ben doesn’t want to see the pine forest his father explored, and he doesn’t want to see the cherry tree his father thought was magic. Consumed with grief, Ben refuses to think about his father.

A massive earthquake rocks the village, nearly toppling his uncle’s house. Then, the ocean waters rise and Ben and his family are swept away—and pulled apart—by a terrible tsunami. Ben is alone, stranded in a strange country millions of miles from home. Can he fight hard enough to survive one of the most epic disasters of all time?

When Ben is being swept out to sea, he doesn’t know if he has enough strength to survive. While he is floating in the sea, he thinks back to his dad’s words: “the fear is always there, but you can’t let it take over.” When Ben is trapped in a car, he thinks about his father’s water survival drills. Ben uses this knowledge to break out of the window and escape. Before the tsunami, Ben doesn’t want to think about his father. After the tsunami though, Ben realizes, “It was Dad who got Ben through his moments of panic in the quake, who helped him escape from that drowning car. It was Dad’s wisdom that echoed through Ben’s mind in those dark moments when he was alone in the ruins.”

Full of suspense, I Survived the Japanese Tsunami, 2011 uses kid-friendly descriptions to show the devastation of the tsunami. Even though Ben is scared, he shows bravery when he protects his brother during an earthquake. While the story focuses on the disaster, the story also gives readers a glimpse of Ben’s father’s experiences, which adds depth to the story. Even though the story is about survival, it also highlights the importance of relying on others in difficult times.

I Survived the Japanese Tsunami, 2011 is told from Ben’s point of view, which allows the reader to see the events without graphic details that might scare them. Throughout the story, Ben learns to deal with his grief over his father’s death. Even though the story deals with a natural disaster, it has some unexpected humor that breaks up the tension. In addition, Star Wars fans will enjoy the references to Darth Vader.

The story is accessible to all readers because Tarshis uses short paragraphs and simple sentences. Realistic black and white illustrations are scattered throughout the story and will help readers visualize the events. The story also shows people coming together to help each other during a difficult time. While the story weaves interesting facts throughout, the book also ends with more facts about the earthquake and tsunami of 2011. The I Survived Series gives readers a glimpse into deadly situations without including scary details. Each book is told from a young person’s point of view, which will help readers connect with the narrator.

Sexual Content

None

Violence

After surviving an earthquake, a tsunami appears. “The wave carried parts of houses, a smashed car, an entire pine tree, slabs of wood and metal. It was devouring everything in its path. Two men were running on the sidewalk. Ben gasped as the wave swallowed them whole.”
Ben’s family jumps into a car and attempts to race away, but the water catches up to them. Ben’s mother, brother, and uncle are swept out of the car, but Ben is stuck inside of it. “But the water was higher now, thrashing the car back and forth. The door slammed shut. Waves crashed over the roof of the car. Freezing water gushed in, surrounding Ben. In seconds, it was up to his chest.”
Ben escapes from the car and still almost drowns because “the water seemed to be alive, with powerful arms that thrashed Ben, tore at him. Each time he fought his way to the surface to take a breath, the water grabbed him and pulled him down again.”
After Ben gets to dry land, he walks through the wreckage. “Ben hoped that one day he’d forget the terrible things he’d seen as he walked: the arm sticking out from under a pile of wreckage, the old man carrying a lifeless-looking woman on his back.”

Drugs and Alcohol

None

Language

None

Supernatural

None

Spiritual Content

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The Spinner Prince

Prince Leo is next in line for the throne of Singara, a land ruled by super-evolved felines. As a thirteen-year-old, Leo is small for his age. But like all thirteen-year-olds, Leo must prove his worth by hunting a deadly beast called a slaycon. If Leo kills the beast, he will still face many obstacles, including keeping his uncle from taking the thrown. Leo’s uncle will stop at nothing to gain power and control. And once he does, he will invade the neighboring pride.

In Singara, all fiction is outlawed and anyone who tells a story is exiled. Leo must hide the fact that he is a Spinner. Leo has been taught that, “Spinners are cursed with a dangerous disease officially known as the fiction affliction or story sickness, which causes them to spew fiction without warning.” When Leo tells stories, they come alive in visions. After Leo tells a story, one character is left behind. Leo can make the character disappear or he can bring them into his world. Each character wants to help Leo, but Leo just wants them to go away.

The future of Singara is in Leo’s hands. Can he conceal his curse, claim the throne, and protect his realm? Or will he embrace his power and discover a far greater destiny?

Leo’s adventure will take readers into an interesting world where felines consider fiction to be poisonous to the mind. The pride values strength, tradition, and science. Even though Leo’s grandfather has declared Leo the heir to the throne, some of the pride believe Leo’s uncle should be king because Leo’s father is unknown. Much like the Lion King, The Spinner Prince is a story about political unrest, friendship, and fighting evil.

Leo tells his own story which allows readers to understand his fears and concerns. While Leo has a good heart, he often makes unwise decisions. However, along the way, Leo learns the importance of relying on and trusting others. Each member of Leo’s group must work together if they are to succeed in stopping the war.

The Spinner Prince isn’t only a story about Leo. Because Leo is a Spinner, he often recites stories that are based on folktales from many cultures and traditions. However, readers who are familiar with the Bible will recognize the parallels. Each chapter begins with Sayings of the Ancients, which give a piece of wisdom, such as, “You make yourself by the choices you make.”

The Spinner Prince is full of action, intrigue, and interesting characters. Both Leo and the reader will wonder who can be trusted. Although the story is interesting, the complicated plot and large cast of characters make The Spinner Prince best for strong readers. As Leo learns untold truths, he will begin questioning his societies’ beliefs. A wise shepherd tells Leo, “It is hard to be a Spinner. It is much worse to hate yourself for it. We have been raised to view ourselves as afflicted instead of gifted, but that is just another lie we Singas tell.”

Sexual Content

None

Violence

Leo is hiding the fact that he is a Spinner because “if the disease is proven, Spinners get banished and live among the exiles on the other side of the Great Mountain, right after having their tongues cut out of their heads and nailed to a post in the city.”
As a rite of passage, Leo must kill a slaycon before the slaycon kills him. The hunt is described over 17 pages.
When Leo sees the slaycon, Storm, he uses a slingshot to throw a stone. “The stone sails across the water and pounds the brute in the snout. . . Storm recoils and whimpers with the impact. He shakes his head, snarls, and charges straight into the river.”
Strom struggles to cross the river. Leo believes he can slay Storm, but when he approaches the slaycon, “His tail blurs and I’m knocked off my feet. The blade flies from my hand. I hit the ground and roll away while Storm springs to his feet. . .” Leo runs and Strom falls behind.
Leo pretends to be injured and writhes. When Storm pounces, Leo loops “the bag over his head, yanking it all the way up to their ears, and pulling the drawstring. . .I reach for my dagger as Storm’s tail sweeps the ground and flings my legs out from under me. . . I land in a heap and scamper on all fours like a panicky insect to my blade.”
While Storm’s head is caught in the bag, Leo hesitates to kill him. When Storm gets the bag off of his head, he “charges, preparing to bite. I [Leo] dodge and my blade lands behind his head, lopping off an ear as I roll to the ground. . . Strom howls, spins, and leaps. I dive under him and land a decent slice to his underside and another to his right back foot. Blood squirts into my face and torso.” Then, Leo climbs into a tree.
Leo uses his sling to shoot at Storm. “The pellet vanishes into the tunnel of Storm’s throat. However, Storm is too focused on my foot to notice or care. His mouth does not close. Instead it reaches higher, mouth agape, pushing himself on his tail. His jaws snap, and I feel teeth puncturing my right leg.” Leo goes numb and falls from the tree.
During a meal to celebrate Leo as the official heir to the throne, his cousin Tamir makes a scene. A soldier, Kayden, “hisses and thumps Tamir on the side of the head, raking his face with extended claws. Tamir makes no effort to defend himself, and the blow sends him staggering to his knees. . . Kayden hits him again with such force, I want to look away. Another blow follows. And another.” Leo’s grandfather orders Tamir to be killed, but Leo steps in. Tamir’s tail is cut off and he is thrown in prison.
When Leo gets to the academy, he must walk in the middle of two lines of cadets. As Leo walks, a cadet “huffs a little roar and thrust her blade at my head. I instinctively dodge the attack, and a cadet from the opposite line sweeps my leg, sending me crashing to the ground. . . The next cadet comes at me with his blade, this time a jab to my ribs. I bend my body around the blade, and a different cadet from the opposite line once again sweeps my leg and drops me.” After being hit, Leo closes his eyes and continues the walk. He can feel “a breeze pass over my muzzle. With another step, a blade whistles behind my head and down my back.” He makes it through the line uninjured.
During a practice battle, “Zoya and 10-2 square off. The brawny 10-2 surges forward, plowing into Zoya’s middle and forcing her down. He backflips over Zoya, but Zoya locks her hind legs around 10-2’s waist and uses their combined momentum to launch herself upright and on top of 10-2. Zoya slams 10-2 to the ground, sits on his torso, and bashes him in the head with one fist, knocking him momentarily senseless.” Leo steps in to help and conjures Rukan, who “snatches me up in his great mouth. With a flick of his head, Rukan launches me into the crowd. . . Rukan snatches her [Amara] in midair between his teeth and flings her aside. She too crashes into the crowd.” The cadets attack Rukan, who runs away. The scene is described over eight pages.
During feeding time, Leo’s cousin, Amara, approaches Leo. “Her claws sink into my pelt, causing me to wince and tremble.” Zoya sticks up for Leo and “tackles Amara, and pulls her to the floor. Amara kicks and screeches, but without success. Zoya has her pinned to the floor. . .Then we are all on our feet, lashing out like wild animals defending their last scrap of territory.” Leo’s friends are getting “pummeled.” The cadets fight until the Alpha stops them. The scene is described over three pages.
While leaving the academy, Leo and his squadron are taken through a mountain tunnel, where giant leeches live. “The slimy wretches circle around Stick’s and Zoya’s feet, then latch on to the legs of my karkadann. He rears up and kicks.” Anjali tries to hack off the leeches and “drives a blade point into the head of a leech. . . the skewered creature squeals and twists under the blade.”
In order to repel the leeches, Leo rubs their blood over his pelt. Someone “snatches the tail end of the nearest one, lifts it high with one hand, and plunges her blade deep into its wriggling body.” The leeches are held over Leo’s head and, “Hot sticky blood spills onto my head and shoulders.” The leech scene is described over three pages.
A group of soldiers surrounds Leo and his friends. In order to escape, Leo summons a draycon, who “leaps at the soldiers and knocks five of them off their feet with one swat of his tail.” Leo and his friends flee, but they tell the draycon, “Make sure those soldiers stay far away from here.”
While riding in a carriage, soldiers try to take Leo and his grandfather hostage. Leo uses a trap door to get out of the carriage. When the soldiers see him, they shoot arrows. “The first arrow zings harmlessly overhead. The second implants itself in the rump of one Karkadann. He screeches and quickens his pace, forcing his partner to keep up.” Leo is the only one that escapes.

Drugs and Alcohol

Someone gave Leo a pellet that would mask Leo’s scent. Leo discovers that the pellet was poison.

Language

Someone calls Leo a “royal bastard” because no one knows how his father is.
One of the cadets tells Leo, “Prince of not, you have to watch your step with Jakal and Alpha. If you cross them, they will put a foot so far up your dirt hole, you will cough out a big toe.”

Supernatural

Being a Spinner is considered a disease. A Spinner is compelled to tell stories. When they are telling the story, a vision appears that only the Spinner can see. When the story ends, “a character or creature is always left behind when the disease hits me. These beings are faded, ghostly, and freakish.” Leo tries to hide the fact that he is a Spinner, but he often has these visions. When a character from the vision appears, Leo can talk to them.
Leo learns that Spinners “are gateways to and from another world. The fictions are gifts from Alayah, sent through Spinners, gifts of wisdom and truth. For a few powerful Spinners, beings from the stories are pulled into our world to protect and serve the one who brought them here.”
Leo has a vision of a great hunter. He describes it as a “three-sixty waking dream.” The story of a hunter is described over two pages. When the story ends, the hunter is “in the halfway state: ghostly, phantasmal. I can almost look through him. . .”
Leo can summon the characters from his stories. During the slaycon hunt, Leo summons a hunter, Oreyon. “When Oreyon appears, he is no longer a phantom, a quasi-physical apparition. He is real. Vivid. Solid. Completely in the world.” Oreyon gives Leo advice on how to win the hunt.
When Leo is bitten by the slaycon, he dies. Leo meets Daviyah the “Eleventh Skahyah in your world.” While there, Leo thinks, “We Singas don’t believe anything goes on after death. When you die, that’s it. You’re done.” Daviyah explains, “What you call death is only a door. You have crossed the threshold of that door, but you cannot stay.” When Leo returns to his body, Daviyah tells him, “I am always with you.”
During a story, a sage appears and “wraps her hands around my [Leo’s] wound and mumbles strange words. I tremble. . .” Because of the sage, Leo’s wound heals quickly.
Grandfather tells Leo about the great war. One of the Maguar was “in some sort of a trance, and yet he spoke with a commanding voice. . .As he spoke, a horde of beasts appeared, slaycon and draycon, giant wolves and bears, serpents as wide as this carriage, and other horrible monsters unknown to the earth.” The creatures attacked the Singa and the “battlefield was awash in blood and covered with bodies of Singas and Maguar alike, though the casualties were heavier on our side. We lost many, many fine warriors in the effort. . .”
When Zoya breaks her leg, Leo conjures up a healer. “Instantly, Vishna appears at my side. Without glancing at me, the strange elder squats down and lays her hands on Zoya’s damaged leg. She mutters something in the Old Language.” After healing Zoya’s leg, Vishna leaves.
Leo sends the characters from his stories back to where they came from. “Where I would normally find my chest and stomach, there is a patch of blue sky and that glorious light spinning over an infinite sea. Countless winged beings soar and swirl around the light, singing with joy.” One by one, the fictions walk into Leo “disappearing in a flash of light. . . Each creature departs with a flash as it dives into me.” Once every fiction has returned, Daviyah says, “I am proud of you. Alayah is pleased with you.” The scene is described over five pages.

Spiritual Content

The Singa and the Maguar are enemies. Leo has never met a Maguar, but he has been told, “They are a superstitious breed, head so full of stories and fantasies about their gods, they wouldn’t recognize a scientific fact if it bit them on the nose . . . Consider the sun. The Maguar believe the sun is a servant of their god, which flies around our planet every day. What nonsense!”
The Singa find a hole in a border fence. Leo’s grandfather is afraid that the Maguar will attack. Leo’s grandfather says, “Perhaps their make-believe god has spoken or they have invented a new fiction about the future.”
Leo meets a shepherd who can speak the “Old Language.” The shepherd sings “a song of praise to Alayah, blessed be the name.” The shepherd explains the song, “Alayah is known by many different titles. . . One of them is the Lord of Lights. . . We come from the light and we return to the light. A beautiful image, don’t you think?”
Leo learns the meaning of faith. An elder tells him, “Faith is a special kind of knowing outside of the evidence, sometimes even contrary to the evidence.”
A shepherd tells a story about when humans ruled the earth. Humans “were violent. Greed, bloodshed, and war were common. In time, all the spilled blood flowed like rivers and formed one big pool. Drawn to the scent of salty blood, the great and horrible sea demon, Hasatamara, rose up with a mighty wave and flooded the land to claim it for himself. . . But Alayah, blessed be thy name, punished the sea demon Hasatamara and sealed him into the heart of the mountain.” Alayah saved two humans, who were changed into a new species.
The firewing is a messenger of Alayah.
The shepherd sings “a prayer of thanks to Alayah for the return of the sun.”

The Relic of Perilous Falls

Will Wilder didn’t mean to unlock his otherworldly gift, but that is exactly what happens when Will “borrows” a sacred relic believed to have protected the town of Perilous Falls for nearly a century. Even though Will’s intentions are good, the impulsive twelve-year-old unwittingly awakens an ancient evil that endangers all of Perilous Falls.

As boats sink and hideous creatures crawl from the rising waters, it is up to Will to confront a nightmarish enemy and set things right before it is too late. Along with his sweet—if lethal—great-aunt Lucille (the curator of a museum of supernatural artifacts), Will proves that the actions of one twelve-year-old boy can change the world.

In The Relic of Perilous Falls, Will goes into a vast underground chamber and must solve riddles to advance to the next room. Similar to Indiana Jones, Will must avoid traps in order to find the treasure. In this case, Will finds a religious relic that can heal people. However, Will doesn’t complete his task alone. Will’s two friends help him solve the riddles in the first two chambers. When Will finds the relic, he abandons his two friends, leaving them alone to fight demonic creatures that are similar to crocodiles.

The story blends humor, action, and adventure to create a fast-paced middle school novel. While these elements will engage readers, readers unfamiliar with the Bible may be confused by the Biblical references. Not only is a Catholic priest one of the main characters, but the relics are from Biblical times. They contain healing properties because “these relics are the remains of holy lives. Each and every bone or scrap of clothing is a physical connection to someone now in the presence of God.”

Like many middle schoolers, Will can be snarky and is often disobedient. Will’s flaws will make him relatable to readers and lead to some humorous scenes. One negative aspect of the story is Will’s parents, who argue often and disagree on how to punish Will. This negative relationship is balanced out by Will’s siblings, who play a minor, though important role. Also, Will’s elderly aunt shows that an older woman can still be physically strong and contribute to the world.

The story’s fast pace and surprises will keep advanced readers entertained until the very end. However, struggling readers may have a difficult time with the large cast of characters, the complicated plot, and the Biblical references. The Relic of Perilous Falls blends Biblical stories into a modern setting, much like the Percy Jackson series does with Greek mythology. In the end, Will is able to defeat evil with the help of other people. However, the conclusion leaves many questions unanswered, which will have readers reaching for the second installment in the series, The Lost Staff of Wonders. Readers looking for other action-adventure stories similar to The Relic of Perilous Falls will also enjoy the Addison Cooke Series by Jonathan W. Stokes.

Sexual Content

None

Violence

Jacob Wilder confronts a demon, who has taken over a dead man’s body. “As if wielding a weapon, Jacob Wilder raised a small vial filled with clear liquid and splashed it across the front of the Nazi… The officer quaked and grimaced, madly attempting to scrub away the fluid streaking down his face and uniform… Then as if he were a balloon suddenly drained of air, the Nazi crumbled to the ground.”
Will attempts to ride a donkey. The donkey goes crazy, and “the bouncing donkey sent the table’s edge and the cake flying into Aunt Freda’s jaw. She tumbled backward, her face covered in frosting.” Aunt Freda goes to the hospital because “her blood pressure is spiking, and she has a fractured jaw.”
When Will was riding the donkey, he accidentally hits a catapult lever and his brother flies out of it. “Leo flew much higher than Will thought possible… Leo smashed shoulder-first into a wooden slat, breaking the top off and flipping into the school yard.” Leo’s arm is broken in two places, and he dislocated his shoulder. The donkey scene is described over three pages.
Will watches a news story. A passenger explains that a boat was hit by something and “People were fallin’ off the decks. I grabbed hold of one lady and dragged her to shore. She was breathin’ and all, but couldn’t talk or even close her eyes. He was frozen. Couple of others like that too.”
Will’s father is told that “a couple of swimmers—teenagers—were attacked this afternoon downriver… One of the kids is missing.” The surviving teenager says a crocodile or a gator pulled his friend underwater. Later, Will’s dad finds out that the teenagers were “choked to death. Their mouths and lungs were filled with what Sheriff Stout called ‘river trash.’”
A pier collapses, and a group of wheelchair-bound kids falls into the water. Two of the campers died.
While Aunt Lucille and a man are on a boat, creatures scale the back of the boat. “The monster’s claws crushed the brass rails as it pulled itself up. The green beat with the pointy face of a dragon and round fish eyes expelled a guttural hiss.” Lucille “stretched her arms out, placed her index fingers and thumbs together to form a triangle… Then, extending her arms, a fiery ray of red-and-white light shot from the triangle of her digits. The twelve-foot-long beast was thrown backwards over the water and dissolved into a foul gray ash.” Aunt Lucille kills several beasts, and the man was “slamming his crutch into the creature’s sleek skull… the thing lifelessly slumped over the railing.” The fight is described over three pages, and a picture accompanies it.
The crocodile-like creature, the Fomorii, attacks a priest named Shen. The priest “hurled them to nearby rocks or plunged them into the waters with only a stick and his keen instincts… sensing danger, he raised his bloodstained pole. But before he could fully extend it above his head, Shen was lifted into the air by his left foot… The next thing he knew, he was flying toward the shore. Yowling as he drifted, Shen disappeared around a bend in the river.” The scene is described over three pages.
Will shows Captain Balor (a demon in disguise) a relic. When Will slips on the river bank, “a gray mass—a tentacle—smacked him hard across the jaw. The relic fell to the ground, as did Will.” After a brief conversation, the demon “held the boy’s lids open, forcing him to take in the full horror of that wicked red gaze. Will’s body went rigid, his eyes blank.” Later, someone puts Elijah’s mantel over Will, which wakes him from his comatose state.
While stuck under the church, Will’s friends are chased by giant crocodile-like creatures. Trying to get to the two boys, the creature “slithered inside the wide tunnel to the right. Within moments of entering the tunnel, a terrible grinding sound greeted the Bottom Dweller. It clawed at the walls, attempting to back out, but it was too late. The smooth walls pressed in on the creature, smashing its body in the darkness.”
The demon captures Shen and binds him. “Turning his head, Shen realized that he was attached to a slick, rocky wall. Neon green tentacles bound his wrist and ankles… His feet and hands felt numb, as if they had been stung—or were still being stung.” While he is restrained, he is struck. “After several blows, the old man’s shinbone gave way with a dull snap. Fresh blood pooled on his grey pants.” The scene is described over three pages.
Will’s friends are trapped under the church and creatures are trying to attack them. In order to help them, Leo “raised the mantel, and struck the oily water with it. A mighty gust of wind pushed the Wilders against the grille… ” The water is pushed to the side and the boys are able to escape. The scenes are described over several chapters.
Several times throughout the story, Lucille uses her powers to kill a demon. For example, “the demon wheezed. Its seven heads wriggled wildly in anguish as if they were roasting from the inside. Aunt Lucille showed no emotion. She simply stood her ground, projecting the steady laser of light.” The demons turn to ash.
In an epic, multi-chapter battle, Will and Aunt Lucille fight a demon and his Bottom Dwellers. Aunt Lucille uses her power and “the thing clawed at the walls, trying to steady itself. As it struggled, the seven heads glared at the Fomorrii in front of Aunt Lucille and Will… Aunt Lucille continued to pound the demon with her ray. Like insane dogs, the Bottom Dwellers sprang at Will, their jaws wide and bloodthirsty… One by one the reptilian crawlers were turned to reeking purple ash.”
During the battle, Will uses the relic to banish the demon. “‘Back, Leviathan!’ Will so wanted to yell. And though he didn’t, the moment he thought it, the Beast flew against the rear wall and slipped into the bubbling black Hell Mouth.” Although the demon is not dead, Perilous Falls is safe from it.

Drugs and Alcohol

None

Language

Simon calls his friend a “Muttonhead” once and a moron five times. For example, Simon says, “I guess you’re embarrassed to admit that I saved you from sudden death, moron.”
One of Will’s friends says, “holy crab butts!”
Heck is used once.
When Aunt Lucille sees Will’s boys partly submerged, she says, “Oh, dear Lord!”

Supernatural

Several times, Will’s family hears strange sounds and finds “sea shells, fish bones, rocks, and dead beetles raining down in zigzag patterns… ” Once, the collection of trash fell onto the house’s roof. Another time, the trash fell in the house, and then “the flickering lights were gently disintegrating into the windows and up the chimney, and there before him was an immaculate den. Not a hint of a bone or a shell or anything out of the ordinary remained.”
A man is injured in a car crash. While the man was lying on the ground, Will saw “a dozen shadowy arms and hands—claws—reaching, grasping for the injured man… scores of smoky claws rising from the street, inching ever closer to the old man.” The claws disappear when Will screams, “Go away! Go away!” The scene is described over two pages.
Will is a seer and can see demons.
One character is a Sensitive and foresees an event’s outcome.
One character is a Repeller, “that means I can repel major demons when I touch my fingers together.” The Repeller uses “Rebutting illuminance… It’s merely spiritual light that repels evil.”
One character is a Summoner and “can call down the angels in time of need. The good ones.” The character can also heal people.
Simon learns that the Brethren can travel by “Saccophagal peregrination.” If they lay in a sarcophagus, it takes them to a predetermined destination.

Spiritual Content

The story revolves around a demon, who has seven faces. At one point, “Balor’s head now bobbed upon a lengthy serpent’s neck, wide and reptilian. Gray scales covered his hulking chest. Massive arms and a set of tentacles jutted out from his sides.”
Will must fight the Fomorii, which are minor demons “under the control of a major demon.”
A prophecy tells of a time when demons will come and “a young one will come” to unite the Brethren and defeat the demons.
Will has been seeing shadows. While he was riding a donkey, he saw a shadow that was “black, like a phantom—right next to me. Everything got icy cold.” Will’s Aunt Lucille tells Will that he has a gift that allows him to see spirits. She says, “…Everywhere we go, there are bright, good spirits and dark, malevolent ones.”
As punishment, Will has to help plant trees at a Catholic church. While he is working, a priest tells him about the relic of St. Thomas. The priest says, “People pray to the saint, and his prayers have great power in heaven. Miracles wait on his intercession. Like a magnifying glass focuses on light, so the relic focuses faith.”
The priest tells Will about St. Thomas. “The only way he would believe the Savior had risen from the dead was to shove his hand into the Lord’s side and his finger into the nail wounds of Christ.”
The relic, St. Thomas’ bone, is hidden inside the church. “For centuries people have claimed miracles happen just from touching it: healings, protection, amazing things.”
Aunt Lucille tells Will that the relics are “sacred touchstones. They’re antennae of faith—magnets that draw belief and devotion from us… These relics are the remains of holy lives. Each and every bone or scrap of clothing is a physical connection to someone now in the presence of God. They have real power!”
Aunt Lucille tells Will a story from the Bible where a man’s body “touched the bones of the prophet—POW! The man rose from the dead!”
A museum has the “remains of the prophet Elijah’s mantel, his cloak. History tells us it can control water and fire, and even allow the wearer to hear the voice of God.” Elijah’s Biblical story is told.
Someone tells the Biblical story of Saul becoming the apostle Paul, including how Paul was beheaded.
When Elijah’s mantel is put over Will, Will hears a voice that says, “Believe and keep your heart pure and I shall be at your right hand always. Will you heed my words?”
Elijah’s mantel heals Will’s brother’s broken arm.
Will uses the relic to heal a priest’s battered legs. “In amazement Shen ogled his bent limbs. The bloodstains dissolved from the gray pants, and his legs straightened. The pain that had afflicted him for hours melted away.”
When Will shows up, unharmed, his mother “thanked the Almighty.”
Two men discuss how “Every war ever started—all the problems of the world—was caused by some religious nut.”

Children of Blood and Bone

Children of Blood and Bone takes place in Orïsha, a rich fantasy landscape where magic users are born with white hair, signaling the powers they will inherit at thirteen. However, an evil king has wiped magic from the land in a genocide of all magic users and severed the people’s connection to the gods. The book alternates between the perspectives of the characters Zélie, Amari, and Inan.

Zélie is a seventeen-year-old girl from a small village, who has been called “maggot” most of her life because of her white hair. After her mother was killed in the slaughter of maji, survivors with white hair became second-class citizens. Bitter and stubborn, Zélie has been taking lessons to fight with a staff while trying to care for her ailing father.

Inan and Amari are the king’s children—the prince and princess of Orïsha. Amari sets off the story’s chain of events when she spies on her father, discovering a scroll that has the power to return magic to the land. Determined not to let it fall into her father’s hands, she runs away with it, and meets Zélie and her brother, Tzain. The three soon find themselves hunted by the king’s army, headed by Inan, who is haunted by an inner conflict over whether the king’s cause is just.

The majority of the narrative follows Zélie, Amari, and Tzain’s journey through Orïsha. While evading capture, they also embark on a quest to reunite the scroll with other ancient artifacts. Their goal is to perform a ritual that can restore the magical connection between the gods and the people of Orïsha.

Children of Blood and Bone includes unique worldbuilding and a magic system that proves central to the plot. Although the switches between narrators are almost dizzying, each character has a unique personality that comes alive on the page. Readers will find themselves sympathizing with the gentle Amari, the stubborn Zélie, and the conflicted Inan in equal measure.

The plot takes a few chapters to get off the ground, and the first act contains an unavoidable amount of worldbuilding. Still, it is packed with action, and the pacing will likely keep the attention of even easily bored readers. As the plot progresses, readers slowly get to see Orïshan’s magic firsthand. Each demonstration of magic will leave readers eager for more.

The story contains two central romances: Tzain and Amari, and Zélie and Inan. Both work rather well: their dynamics complement each other, and a decent amount of chemistry builds up between the two couples. In addition, readers will enjoy watching the friendship between Zélie and Amari develop from hatred into a deep mutual respect.

Fans of fantasy and magic will enjoy Children of Blood and Bone. Despite the fresh new look it gives to its magical land and teenage heroes, Children of Blood and Bone relies on the typical structure of a young adult fantasy. Seasoned readers of the genre will likely recognize the tropes of the “evil king,” the “chosen one,” and the “perilous quest.” These tropes are ubiquitous for a reason, though, and many readers won’t mind. The action, suspense, and intensity will make it irresistible.

Sexual Content

Amari’s complexion “makes the nobility gossip that [her mother] slept with a servant.”
Amari sees Tzain undress and lowers her eyes, thinking, “the last time I saw a boy’s bare body my nannies were giving Inan and me baths.”
Zélie and Tzain meet in a dream. Zélie thinks, “My gods, is he even wearing clothes? My eyes comb over his broad chest, the curves of each muscle. But before I catch sight of anything under the water, I jerk my eyes up.”
Tzain talks about Inan to Zélie, saying that he “doesn’t care about you, Zél. He just wants to get in between your legs.” A moment later, he calls her “the prince’s whore.”
Inan describes kissing Zélie. Inan’s “mouth presses against her neck. She gasps as I run my hands up her back. A small moan escapes her lips. . . Her fingers dig into my back, pulling me closer. Everything in me wants her. Wants this. All the time.”
Zélie and Inan kiss. “Inan presses his lips to mine and everything fades. His kiss is tender yet forceful, gently pushing into me. And his lips . . . soft . . . When he finally pulls away, my heart is beating so fast it feels like I’ve just finished a fight.” Before they are interrupted, they intend on going further. Zélie narrates, “I grab his head and force his lips back onto mine. Restraint can wait for tomorrow. Tonight I want him.”
Amari watches Zélie and Inan kiss. “The tender way he holds her, the way his hands roam, pulling her into him… an embrace like this is far too intimate to watch.”
Some drunken guards make a veiled insinuation that Zélie is a prostitute, and one “wraps his pudgy hands around [her] neck and presses [her] against the wooden wall.” Zélie remarks that it’s against the law for maji and non-magic users “to so much as kiss . . . but it doesn’t keep the guards from pawing at us like animals.” Zélie wants to fight back, but forces herself to remain calm until the guard unhands her.
Later Zélie says, “The guards grope me whenever they have a chance,” and refers to them as “rapists.”

Violence

During a childhood training session, Amari and Inan’s father (the king) commanded Inan to strike Amari. She still carries around the massive scar.
Amari watches her father kill her servant Binta, who was her best friend, after seeing her demonstrate magical ability. “One moment Binta stands. In the next, Father’s sword plunges through her chest.”
Zélie watches a man hit a boy with a cane that burns his skin. “The acrid smell of burning flesh hits me as the stocker presses the cane into the boy’s back. Smoke rises from his skin as he struggles to crawl to his knees.”
Zélie frequently fights with her staff. She hits a man in the head so hard he collapses. She kicks a man in the jaw. She smashes the bones in a boy’s hand. All of these actions are for survival or self-defense.

Inan destroys a village and watches a young child try to revive his dead father. “A small child hurls his body to the ground. His cries out through the night. It’s only then I discover the sand-covered corpse at his feet.”
A woman wearing sharp rings on her fingers smacks a servant, and “the rings cut into his skin.”
A man is stabbed in the chest, and “his eyes bulge and his mouth falls open. His staff drops from his hand. His blood splatters as it hits the ground.”
Zélie, Tzain, and Amari compete in a battle to the death. The arena is flooded, and thirty boats are launched out onto the water. A team cannot win until every other competitor has been killed. Zélie narrates, “Chaos surrounds me, pulsing through every breath and heartbeat. It sings as blood splatters through the air, screams as boats explode into oblivion… My insides lurch as a cannonball rips through the deck of another boat. Injured cries hit my ears like shattered glass. The stench of blood stains the air.” The competition lasts for twelve pages.
Inan accidentally kills a military leader with his magic. “Kaea’s cries of agony grow. Her eyes turn red. Blood trickles from her ears, trailing down her neck . . . A shuddered gasp escapes her lips. Her eyes roll back.”
Amari beats someone up. Amari pulls “my fist back, twisting from my hips as my fist collides with her jaw. Her head snaps with a lurch. Her eyes roll before she blacks out.”
A mercenary explains the twenty-three scars on his arm. An unspecified enemy “killed one of my crew members in front of me, each time they carved a new one.”
When Zélie is captured, the king has the word “maggot” (a hateful slur) carved into her back with a knife. In the same scene, a physician “cuts a shallow X into Zélie’s neck . . . and pushes a thick, hollowed-out needle into the exposed vein . . . removes a small vial of black liquid and prepares to pour the serum down the needle.”
A Burner (maji of fire) demonstrates his powers in battle. “A fire explodes from his skin. Smoldering embers rain from his body. Flames blaze around his form. The fire erupts from every limb, shooting out of his mouth, his arms, his legs.”
A Cancer (maji of disease) uses her power in battle. “She leaks dark green energy from her hands, trapping the men in a malignant cloud. The moment it touches the guards, they crumble, skin yellowing as disease rages through them.”
Zélie watches a young girl get shot with an arrow. “An arrow pierces through her gut… [she] looks down, small hands gripping the arrow’s shaft.”

Drugs and Alcohol

A mercenary takes “a long drag off a hand-rolled cigarette.”
When Zélie encounters a palace guard, “the pungent smell of alcohol wafts into the air with his unwelcome presence.”
The characters drink palm wine during a festival. Later, during an intimate moment with Inan, Zélie thinks, “His words make my head spin. His words or the alcohol.”

Language

Profanity is used infrequently. Profanity includes: damn and hell.
Royals and nobles say “Skies!” as an invective.
Characters say, “Gods” or “Oh my gods.”
Zélie thinks, “Dammit.”
Tzain says, “I don’t give a damn.”
Tzain says, “What the hell are you doing?”
Amari describes a place as a “hell.”
Tzain tells Zélie, “You’re always screwing everything up.”

Supernatural

This book tightly blends the supernatural and the spiritual. The magic system in Orïsha encompasses ideas like higher powers, gods, prayer, human souls, and the afterlife.
Magic in Orïsha is tied to the Sky Mother, a deity who reigns over all the gods.
While sleeping, Zélie and Inan use magic to meet in a “dreamscape.”
As a Reaper, Zélie can sense spirits of the dead, and she can summon them in physical form to do her bidding.

Spiritual Content

Zélie believes that the gods control her fate. “No matter how much I crave peace, the gods have other plans.”
Amari and Inan are from nobility and have different beliefs. Amari thinks, “Gods don’t exist. Everyone in the palace knows that.”
The beliefs held by the Orïshan people also play a bigger part in the plot. In one scene, Zélie enlists the help of mercenaries by telling them, “[the gods] have chosen you because they want your help.”
Orïshan legend speaks of an afterlife. After a fire in her village claims four lives, Zélie thinks, “If their spirits have ascended to the peace of alâfia, death would be almost a gift. But if they suffered too much before they died . . . If the trauma of their deaths was too much, their spirits won’t rise to the afterlife. They’ll stay in apâdi, an eternal hell, reliving the worst of their pain.”
Zélie’s narration often uses the word “pray” interchangeably with “wish” and “hope.”
Zélie can sense people’s souls leaving their bodies as they die.
Zélie remembers that after the raid, she “cursed the gods for making us this way.”
During the climax of the book, Zélie has a near-death experience and sees her dead mother’s spirit. Her mother says, “You are a sister of Oya [a goddess], my love. You know our spirits never die.”

by Caroline Galdi

The Program

Suicide has become an epidemic, affecting one out of three teenagers. The government and parents are scrambling trying to understand, but are unable to find a source. The Program is considered the only cure. With a 100% success rate, parents think it’s an incredible gift. But teenagers don’t view it the same way, because once you go through The Program, you come back without your memories. You’re happy, but you’re no longer you.

Sloane and her boyfriend James depend on each other to keep up each other’s spirits. They pretend that everything is okay. But after their friend commits suicide, James falls apart and is taken into The Program. Sloane quickly follows, when her mother betrays her by calling the handlers. Once inside The Program, Sloane is determined not to lose her memories. But the drugs the facility use keep her in a constant haze and start whittling away at who she is. Will Sloane be able to keep a hold on who she is? Or is she doomed to become just another happy, vacant shell?

While The Program centers around suicide, it does not go into possible causes of suicide, such as social media or familial issues. In The Program, suicide is like a contagious disease. If someone you know has committed suicide or is depressed, then you’re infected and are likely to follow. While suicide isn’t encouraged, it is dramatized in a way that may concern parents. Multiple teenagers in the story commit suicide not only because they are depressed, but also because they feel like they lack control over their lives. Suicide is how they take their power back. Given that teenagers often struggle with such feelings, portraying suicide in such a manner may be concerning.

The Program contains a copious amount of profanity and questionable sexual content. For example, when Sloane feels like she is losing her boyfriend, her solution is to give him a blowjob. During the blowjob she thinks, “I know I have him back—even if only for a second.” Sloane also trades a sexual favor for a memory and knows it was the right thing to do.

The Program will entertain younger readers, but more advanced YA readers will find several plot developments implausible, which may detract from the story’s enjoyment. The teenagers in The Program are well-developed, but the parents and adults in the book are not. While Sloane is a well-developed character, she lacks the ability to make her own decisions. At first, she is utterly dependent on James. Then, when Sloane loses James, she quickly becomes dependent on another boy character rather than finding her own footing. All in all, The Program is one YA series that may be better left unread.

Sexual Content

Sloane kisses her boyfriend, James, frequently. Some kisses are not graphic, such as when Sloane leaned “forward to press my lips to his, letting him have me in a way that only he can.” Another example is when, “And so I whisper that I love [James], then climb onto his lap and kiss him, as if it’s the last one we’ll ever have.”
Sometimes James sneaks into Sloane’s room at night. “When he’d stay over, he’d show up in my room at three in the morning, kissing me quietly while everyone slept.”
Sloane feels like she’s losing her boyfriend, so she gives him a blow job in an attempt to get him back. Sloane “kiss[es] softly at his lips, nearly stopping when he doesn’t respond. Then I kiss his neck, his chest. I undo his button as I kiss his stomach and then lower. And it isn’t until I feel his hand in my hair and hear him murmur my name breathlessly that I know I have him back—even if only for a second.”
After a camping trip, “James told [Sloane] that when he touched me, when I looked at him, he got a hard-on.”
Sloane remembers losing her virginity to James. She closes her eyes, “remembering how warm James’s mouth was on mine, how his tongue touched my lips before I opened them, letting him in. Letting him lay me back on the blanket as his mouth found mine, again and again, always gentle, yet urgent.”
A handler in The Program insinuates he can save one of Sloane’s memories if she gives him a sexual favor. “His eyes narrow deviously then, scanning over my body. . .” Sloane tells him no at first, then changes her mind. “He grabs me roughly. . . His mouth is on mine, wet and strong. . . I can feel how turned on he is as he presses against me. I whimper and try to move back as his tongue licks my lips.”
Later, when Sloane is angry, the handler says, “I think you’d be a little too feisty to trust with any of my naked parts now.”
It’s mentioned that “somehow James talked me into a game of strip poker, only he lost.” During the game, James says, “Sloane, when winning means getting you naked, you better believe I’m going to try my damnedest to win.”
Sloane kisses a boy named Realm four times. “Realm’s lips are soft but unfamiliar. Warm but not hot. My hands hesitate on the sides of his face. . . His hand slides down to pull my thigh over his hip. We could do anything right now; no one is bothering us. He lays me back in the bed, lying between my legs as he trails kisses down my neck.” Another time, “I get on my tiptoes and press my lips firmly to his. Realm responds immediately, surprising me by backing me against the wall, his tongue eagerly finding mine as if he’s been waiting to do this since I got here.”
A girl teases Sloane, “That’s James Murphy who you’re currently eye-humping.”
James and Sloane go to a place that “looks like a place where unsuspecting teenagers come to have sex and get murdered.”
Realm and Sloane almost have sex. “Realm rolls me off the couch, getting on top of me as we lie on the carpet. He’s kissing my neck, his hands searching my body. . . Realm’s hand slides away from my breast.”
James and Sloane have sex. “We climb into the backseat, yanking at each other’s clothes, tongues tangling in a heat that I know I could never have with anyone else.”

Violence

When handlers come to take Kendra to The Program, she fights them. “Kendra jumps up to run and the handler lunges for her, his closed fist connecting with her face. The shot sends her into Mrs. Portman’s podium before knocking her to the ground. . . Kendra’s top lip is split wide open and leaking blood all over her gray sweater . . . she tries to hold on to anything within her reach, but instead she’s leaving a trail of blood along the floor.”
In Sloane’s world, “teen suicide was declared a national epidemic—killing one in three teens—nearly four years ago. It always existed before that, but seemingly overnight handfuls of my peers were jumping off buildings, slitting their wrists—most without any known reason.”
Sloane remembers when her friend showed up with “a black eye, cuts up and down her arm” because a guy she was dating “had pushed her out of the passenger door—while the car was still moving.” When Sloane tells James what happened, he finds the guy and “beat[s] the hell out of him.”
Sloane can’t let her parents know that she’s sad. So when the tears start to spill over, she purposefully burns herself on the stove to give herself an excuse to cry. “I turn over my arm, the tender part exposed, and stick it into the fire. The burn is immediate and I scream out in pain. . . I decide that I like it. I like the pain and distraction.”
James had tattoos of the names of people he has lost. When his best friend kills himself, he says he can’t wait for ink and carves Miller’s name “jaggedly into his flesh. Blood is everywhere.”
Sloane’s brother jumps off a cliff and kills himself. “Then I saw Brady—he was floating, facedown. . . I screamed again, pointing toward him as I watched his body slam into a rock, and then another.”
Sloane jumps off a cliff trying to kill herself, then decides she doesn’t want to die. “Just then my body slams against a rock, hoisting me half-way out of the water. I hold on to it, vomiting up river until I’m sure I’ll pass out and die anyway. My throat burns, my lungs ache. My arm is numb and I think it may be broken.”
When The Program comes for her, Sloane hurts herself because she’s angry. “Then, just because this is my last moment of having a real emotion, I tighten my grip on my scissors. And I slash my wrist.”
Sloane punches one of her handlers. “I swing out my arm, punching the left side of his jaw. He immediately recovers and twists my hand up behind my back, cursing under his breath as he slams me against the wall.”
Realm goes after a handler for bothering Sloane. “Realm has got his forearm to Roger’s throat, pinning him to the wall. . . [Roger] winks, and then gets up to hobble away.” Later Realm attacks the handler again. “He cocks back his arm and decks Roger, sending him flying over the desk. . . Realm grabs Roger’s right arm and yanks it so hard behind his back the snap is audible.”
It’s mentioned in passing that Sloane’s mom hit her. “Mother slapped me that night.”
Sloane slaps Realm when she finds out he is part of The Program. “I cross the room and slap him . . . A red handprint is obvious on his face.”
Outside a community center, Sloane sees a guy die after drinking QuikDeath. “Liam coughs again, spitting blood onto the patio. Red streaks his lips. He’s going to die. . . his eyes momentarily roll back in his head before he focuses on me again. His body convulses. And then he collapses against the door, sliding to the ground.”

Drugs and Alcohol

The leading theory for the suicide epidemic is “that the oversupply of antidepressants changed the chemical makeup of our generation, making us more susceptible to depression.” The Program is the only cure; a facility that erases peoples’ memories via a series of pills. If patients refuse to take the pills, the medication is given to them via shots instead.
QuikDeath is mentioned several times throughout the book. Sloane’s friend tries to kill himself with QuikDeath. After taking it, he calls Sloane to say goodbye. “‘It’s too late,’ he says, sounding far away. ‘I took it ten minutes ago. But I couldn’t leave without saying good-bye.’”
Sloane meets a girl who tried to kill herself with QuikDeath and now has short-term memory loss.
A girl in Sloane’s class jokes that “Maybe a coffee spiked with QuikDeath would help you focus on the pain.”
When James hurts himself, Sloane goes “through his dad’s medications until [she] thinks [she] find[s] something that will calm him down.”
While in The Program, Sloane is sedated often. They give her different colored pills without telling her what they do. If she refused to take the pills, they give her a shot.
When talking to her father, Sloane realizes “the faint smell of alcohol clings to him. I wonder when he started drinking.”
Realm drinks a beer.

Language

Profanity is used frequently. Profanity includes: goddamn, ass, and pissed. For instance, when Sloane gets hurt James says, “Goddamn it.” Another time James tells Sloane, “I’m going to kick your ass tomorrow.”
God, hell, damn, and bullshit are used constantly.
Once when James is teasing her, Sloane says, “Oh my God, shut up.”
Sloane often thinks “Oh God,” like “Oh God, I miss him” or “God, I just want him back.”
James says, “Holy hell, you really were checking me out.”
After James and Sloane first kiss, James says, “Well, damn, Sloane.”
While in The Program, Sloane and her friends often play the game Bullshit and call bullshit on each other.
Sloane thinks, “We’ve seen it before, how someone will piss off their friends or start sleeping around when depression takes hold.” Another time, Sloane tells her therapist “I’m pissed. I want my life back.”
Smartass, shithead, asshole, shit, and dick are all used several times throughout the book. James tells Realm, “We want to know, shithead.” James also says, “I can be a total shithead” and “I’m a dick.”
While in The Program, Realm says, “That asshole! What’s he giving you?” Realm also says, “Shit Sloane, I thought this would cheer you up.”
Bitchy and fuck are used a few times. Sloane tells her therapist to fuck off several times. “I’m not taking the fucking pill, okay.”

Supernatural

None

Spiritual Content

Teenagers suffering from depression are sent to The Program, but once Sloane turns eighteen, she says, “It’s my God-given right to off myself if I so please.”
Sloane’s parents say, “Thank God for The Program. It’s saving so many lives.”

by Morgan Lynn

The Fire Keeper

Living on a secluded tropical island should bring happiness to Zane Obispo. He is surrounded by his family and his friends. Zane is frustrated that he still can’t control his newfound fire skills that he inherited from his father. Zane is also convinced that he is the only one who can save his father, the Maya god Hurakan, who is now in prison. Plus, there is a painful rift between him and his dog ever since she became a hellhound.

Zane and his shape-shifting friend, Brooks, plan to take action and find a way to save Hurakan. But their plans come to a sudden halt when they discover that their island home is a prison. They can’t leave the island. When another godborn shows up, Zane and Brooks know they must come up with a plan to save Hurakan as well as the godborns who are in danger. Zane has no idea how to find the godborns or who would have taken them hostage.

Zane and his friends must race against time and save his father before he is executed. But first he must find the godborns before they can be hunted down and killed. In a world where Maya gods cannot be trusted, who can Zane trust to lead him in the right direction? How can a mere boy save both the godborns and his father?

The Fire Keeper is an action-packed adventure that never lacks a dull moment. As Zane and his friends jump through portals looking for clues to the whereabouts of the godborns, they meet several gods and monsters. Even though Zane doesn’t trust Ah-Puch, the previous god of death, he teams up with the god in a desperate attempt to save both the godborns and Hurakan. The constant question of who can be trusted adds to the suspenseful tone of the story.

Before readers pick up The Fire Keepers, they will need to read The Storm Runner. Zane’s story includes a huge cast of characters—monsters, magical creatures, godborns—which are introduced in The Storm Runner. Another aspect that may cause readers confusion is when Zane and his uncle occasionally mix Spanish words into their dialogue. Although readers should be able to use context clues to understand the word’s meaning, struggling readers may find the mix of English and Spanish difficult. Both The Storm Runner and The Fire Keepers have a complicated plot and an extensive cast of characters which may intimidate struggling readers.

All of Zane’s friends make an appearance in the second installment of the story. The addition of Ren, who is also a godborn, gives the story more humor. Ren is convinced that the Maya gods are aliens, and her refusal to change her mind breaks up the tense scenes. In addition to Ren, Ah-Puch has a starring role in the story which allows readers to see the god of death in a unique way. Some readers may be disturbed by Ah-Puch because he drinks bat’s blood to gain power. For example, he grabbed several bats and “snapped their necks, and turned his back to us as he drank their blood.”

The Fire Keeper brings the magic of Maya mythology to life in a fast-paced, action-packed story that will leave readers with a new understanding of the complicated nature of people (and gods). Zane is a very likable character, who clearly cares about others. The Storm Runner series is perfect for fans of the Percy Jackson series or of Aru Shah and the End of Time. However, Zane’s story takes a more serious tone and lacks the humor of the other series.

Sexual Content

Zane thinks back to when he “almost kissed Brooks last month at the bonfire. Emphasis on almost. It didn’t happen, okay.”

Violence

While on the beach, Zane sees “a small shadow, no bigger than a fist, slid over the boat’s edge and began to grow into a tall column. Before I could blink twice, three shadow monsters emerged from the column, spreading their colossal wings. Long insect-like arms and legs sprouted from their swollen, pulsing bodies. . . Rosie exploded into killer-hellhound mode, shooting fireballs out of her mouth and eyes. . . One monster swiped Brooks away, sending her crashing into the violent black sea.” When Ren wakes up, the shadows disappear. The scene is described over three pages.
A mud monster takes the shape of Ms. Cab. “This demon version of Ms. Cab reached into her dress pocket and pulled out a small red bird. Using a small knife from the table, she split the bird’s chest open, and a flurry of tiny winged beetles escaped. . .The bedazzled beetles swarmed me [Zane], climbing all over my body, their teeny feet stepping across every inch of my skin, up my cheeks and across my scalp.” Zane surprises the demon when he “swept my storm runner leg across the intruder’s ankles, bringing her to the ground with a loud thud.” Brooks and Rosie show up and help Zane. “Flames erupted from Rosie’s eyes and mouth. . . Bright blue flames engulfed Ms. Cab as her screams rose into the air. . .The thing’s skin dripped to the ground in a sizzling heap of goop that smelled like canned spinach and burning hair. All that was left of Monster Cab was a lumpy statue made of hard, cracked mud, its expression frozen with terrified eyes and a wide contorted mouth.”
When Ren dreams, she creates shadow monsters. One of the monsters attacks Zane and his dog. When Zane tries to help his dog, his “spear sailed right through the form and looped back to me. I drop-rolled to the ground, swiping at Top Hat’s remaining stilt with my leg. I connected with nada. . .The shadow reached for me. I tried to scramble away from his grasp, but in a flash, he caught me, clutching my ribs so tightly I couldn’t move or breathe.” Ren wakes up and the shadow disappears.
Zane and his group are attacked by bats. “They were bats with curled, flesh-colored claws and crooked fangs. . .The bats landed on me [Zane]. . . Their little claws tap-danced all over my back, up my neck, and across my head. Their mouths pressed against my ears and cheeks, breathing hot puffs of air. . . One of the beasts had his mouth wide open, and he plunged a mouthful of fangs into the back of my hand.” Ah-Puch “stood upright, seizing the bats out of the air with such incredible speed his arms were only a blur.” The bat’s blood gives Ah-Punch more strength and the group is able to escape. The scene is battled over three pages.
Zane falls into a trap and when he wakes up, he “couldn’t open [his] eyes. I was blindfolded. I couldn’t move, either—my hands and feet were bound to some kind of tree or wooden pole.”
To free Zane, his uncle Hondo attacks the bats. “Hondo whirled, did a backflip, and kicked a few of the bloodsucking beasts in midair before landing. . . Hondo swung his crowbar mightily, but he was losing. The bats attacked him claws-first, tearing at his cheeks and neck.” When it looks like someone might die, Ah-Puch helps. “Then in a whirl of shadow and dust, Ah-Puch surfaced and blindsided the one god with a massive shard of glass, driving it deep into the bat’s ribs and slicking upward with a nauseating ripppppp.” During the fighting, Ah-Puch is attacked by a god. The god “leaped at the god of death, fangs bared. His claws slashed, ripping Ah-Puch like paper. Thick blood spilled onto the dirt.”
During the multi-chapter battle, Zane shoots “fire bullets from my hands, aiming precisely for the guy’s eyes. His bat wings didn’t deflect them fast enough this time. He screamed, shook his head, and looked back at us with empty, scorched sockets.”
Zane tries to free his father by attacking the villains. Zane “went after them, shooting dozens of fire bullets from my hands and nailing them in the chest, but it didn’t stop their rage. . . Just then, Rosie appeared by my side, blue flames exploding from her mouth as Jordan swept down with ferocious speed, slicking my neck with a razor-sharp claw.” A friend saves Zane.

Drugs and Alcohol

Someone gives Zane a drugged candy. After he eats it, he feels terrible, and “felt a sharp pain in my back, like I’d been stabbed with an ice dagger. . . Cold sweat dripped down my face, and my insides felt like a giant fist was wringing them out. Uncontrollable shivers gripped me as my mind stumbled over all my memories. . .”
Zane walks through a wedding reception, where “a few guys stood in the corner doing shots and slamming their fists on the table. . .” When a waiter comes by carrying “a tray of what might have been champagne,” Zane’s uncle yells, “How about a drink?”
After fighting with huge bats and surviving, Ah-Puch drinks “a one-hundred-year-old bottle of tequila.”

Language

Crap and heck are used occasionally. For example, when Zane goes through a portal, he lands on a frozen lake. He thinks, “Crap! Crappity crap!”
“Oh my gods” is used as an exclamation once.
Zane calls people a jerk three times. Zane thinks the gods are “jerks” because “they wanted to be rid of godborns.”
Someone tells Zane, “Hey, wake your flojo butt up.”
“Holy hell” is used once.
Hondo refers to someone as a “moron.”
Several times someone calls Zane an “idiot.”

Supernatural

Gods and monsters from Maya mythology are real. Ixtab, the queen of the underworld, uses shadow magic to hide Zane from the other gods. However, the shadow magic also makes Zane and Brooks prisoners who cannot leave the island they are living on.
Brooks is a nawal (a shapeshifter) who can turn into a hawk.
Zane’s dog, Rosie, is a hellhound who can breathe fire. In the previous book, Rosie went to the underworld. Zane can also talk to Rosie telepathically. When Rosie licks a wound, the wound heals. Rosie can also teleport. During the adventure, Rosie sprouts wins and can fly.
Zane’s father is a Maya god. Zane is trying to learn how to control fire. “Ixtab had told me that my skin and anything touching it was nonflammable.”
Zane’s father gave him a jaguar tooth and “the amulet was fused with the most ancient and potent magic in the universe. I could use the amulet to spirit jump to the Empty, and also to grant any power to whoever I gave it to.”
Ren’s mother is a goddess. She can make shadow monsters appear, but she doesn’t know how to control them.
Ms. Cab was a Maya seer, but “ever since Ixtab had turned her into a chicken for a short time, Ms. Cab could actually speak bird, which helped them trust her.”
Ms. Cab tells about the first humans who were made from mud. “But the people ended up being dumb and weak, so the gods destroyed them.”
Ixtab takes Zane to a scrying pool, and tells him, “Souls live inside the sacred waters and help me see things.”
Zane must find the Fire Keeper because “the Fire Keeper can read each lick of the flame, each glimmer in the embers. He sees what no one else can—places, people, events—with perfect clarity. Choices and outcomes. He can even manipulate the future.”

Spiritual Content

When Zane goes into a church, he can hear people’s prayers through the candles they lit. While in the church, Zane lights a candle and “said a silent prayer.”

Price of Duty

Jake Liddell is a war hero. During a fierce firefight, Jake risked his life to save his comrades. Now, the military is considering awarding him a Silver Star—a huge honor for any soldier. Jake, injured and confused, returns home. His military family is proud of his service and sacrifice, but Jake is beginning to question everything his family brought him up to believe.

The memory of war haunts him. As he recovers from his physical wounds, he wonders what direction his life will take. His famous grandfather wants Jake to return to the battlefield to fight again. Others want him to speak out against the military system. Jake was raised to believe that fighting for one’s country was a moral obligation, but that was before he saw the horrors of war and the death of his friends. Will Jake decide to return to the battlefield or will he fight to get out of the military?

Jake’s story makes it clear that war is nothing like the movies or like playing Call of Duty. Instead, war is brutal, bloody, and deadly. “There’s no heavy metal soundtrack when you’re in a firefight. The terror is real. The pain is real. Death is real.” Price of Duty does not glamorize war, but instead paints a bloody picture of the physical and emotional wounds that soldiers face. Jake’s story shows the gruesome decisions soldiers have to make in order to survive and the hardships that come afterward.

Jake knows someone has to fight in order to protect America’s freedom, but he is conflicted because the cost of war is so high. His experiences have made him realize that “There is no glory in war. There is no honor in killing. No matter where they send you to fight, innocent people will die.” Even though the cost of war is high, Jake believes that “for all the things that are wrong with the military, we still need and depend on it to protect us.”

Price of Duty explores the tragedy of war as well as the idea of an all-volunteer Army. Even though no one is forced to join, many feel the military recruits children through the ROTC program. “We’ve just changed the method of conscription. We let economic forces compel minorities and have-nots to gamble their bodies and lives for a slim shot at a better financial future.”

Jake’s story is engaging from the very first page. As Jake struggles with his time in the war, the reader will feel the devastation of soldiers making life and death decisions. The events in the story are described in vivid detail and may shock some readers. Price of Duty will definitely stay with readers for a long time. Anyone who is thinking about joining the military should read Price of Duty. It accurately portrays a soldier’s sacrifice and shows the complexity of military service—the honor, the death, the sacrifice, and in the end, the reason why some choose to join.

Sexual Content

Jake’s ex-girlfriend, Erin Rose, began dating an older boy. The two “got serious really fast. By the time he enlisted after graduation, Erin Rose (then going into tenth grade) was pregnant.”
When Jake and his girlfriend park in a secluded place, he wonders if his girlfriend is thinking about another man. He wonders if she had parked in the same place with someone else.

Violence

Jake flashes back to his time in Iraq. An IED hit the Humvee Jake was in. When the soldiers exit the vehicle, the enemy shoots at them. Jake is injured by shrapnel. As he crawls out of the Humvee, he hears “intense machine gun and small arms fire bashing my eardrums. Supersonic lead bees whizzing past. . . The hot air stinks of gasoline and sulfur. A fusillade of bullets rip into the ground, spraying grains of dirt into my face and mixing with the blood in my eyes.” Jake can hear his friend screaming “somewhere to my right, where a lot of enemy fire is coming from.”
After a suicide bomber hit a Humvee and “blew the guys inside to smithereens,” Jake’s squad had to go “find the pieces. All of them. He wasn’t talking about the pieces of the Humvee.” Jake and his partner puked. As they were gathering the body parts, Jake found a detached hand.
During a firefight, Jake can’t reach his injured friend. Jake throws “a flashbang over the wall, then jumps up and hustle[s] thorough the closest opening. The pain from my wound slows me down, but I’m totally juiced on adrenaline. . .” Jake shoots two men and then, “something smacks into me from behind and knocks me flat on my face. It felt like a sledgehammer. . . Whap! A round slams into the ground inches from my head, kicking dirt into my eyes.”
During the battle, Jake has to “toss a smoke grenade around the corner. Instantly there’s rifle fire and rounds slam into the wall near me. . .” When Jake shoots his M-16, “there’s a grunt and a thud. . . I head up the stairs, stepping over the body of a dead sniper. . .” As the firefight continues, Jake wonders how to get to his wounded friend.
During a firefight, Jake breaks into a house where shots are coming from. “Inside, a woman screams. . .” Jake discovers that the shooter is “a scrawny kid. Can’t be more than twelve. . . I grab [the rifle] by the forestock and rip it out of his hands. The kid cowers. . . strangely, he’s not looking at me. Instead, he’s staring across the room.” The boy’s father is “soaked with blood” and dying. Jake goes to the window and “I plug the one closest to me, but the other has time to get off two shots. The next thing I know, I’m hurtling backward. The SOB got me.” Jake is injured. When a medic finds Jake, the medic “shoots me full of morphine and dresses my wound with QuickClot, bandage, and tape.”
While soldiers cover him, Jake runs to his friend, Skitballs. “His anxious eyes are open, a little glassy. A bubble of blood slowly forms in one nostril, then pops. He’s lying in this open sewer, enveloped in the stink of human waste, the mush around him reddened by his blood.” Skitball dies from his wounds.
Jake’s unit is sweeping for landmines when one goes off. “We all flinched, then looked around. A ball of black smoke rose from the next gulley over. ‘Ahh! Ahh! Ahh!’ came the screams…Morpiss’s anguished cries were like shock waves. They blew through you, tearing you up inside…” Morpiss survives but loses both legs and an arm.
Insurgents attack the base. “Ka-boom! The explosion was so big and close that the shock waves knocked a few guys out of their beds.” The soldiers go outside and “bullets whizzed and pocked into the walls. Men shouted.” Jake and another man, Brad, need to get to the guard tower. Jake “felt my scrotum contract. Even with suppressive fire, we’d be running right under the insurgents’ noses. . . I followed Brad, running as fast as my legs would carry me, praying I wouldn’t get hit. Lead whizzed past us and kicked up dirt around our feet.” Jake and Brad throw grenades into the guard tower and then went up. “The scene inside the tower was gruesome. Mangled bodies, blood, parts of bodies. The acrid stink of smoke.”
During an attack on the base, three children shoot at the soldiers. “They were skinny, all knees and elbows, not even old enough to have whiskers.” None of the soldiers want to shoot them, but “when we still didn’t return fire, the other two jumped to their feet and started towards us again.” A soldier finally shoots the kids, but their death is not described.
One of the soldiers, Brad, writes a suicide note. “I was going crazy at home. You knew because you walked into the bathroom and I was sitting there with a gun in my mouth. You have no idea how many times I did that when you didn’t walk it…I’m looking at my rifle right now and wondering for the millionth time what hot brass tastes like.” Later in the story, Brad locks himself in the “crapper.” Jake tries to talk to him. “When the gunshot came, a couple of guys jumped. I felt like the bullet had gone through me, too. Someone ran to get a cutting tool. I sat in the hot, dusty sunlight and sobbed.”
While on guard duty, a woman approaches the base. When she refuses to stop, a solider kills her. The woman drops a bundle. When the soldier goes to investigate, they find she was carrying a burned baby that needed medical help.

Drugs and Alcohol

When Jake returns home, he takes anti-anxiety meds. When he sees a crowd of people, he gets anxious and explains, “…even with the pills, I’m still wound tight like a spring.”
After being in the warzone for months, “more than a few guys were taking pills for sleeplessness, loose bowels, and anxiety.”
When he gets back home, Jake goes to a party where beer, tequila, and spiced rum are served.
When a soldier’s girlfriend broke up with him, he “sobbed, wiping his eyes and nose on his sleeve.” To calm down, “he washed down a couple of pills because there was no hooch allowed.”
Jake and his sister eat a meal with their grandfather. His sister orders “a Long Island iced tea. I have a Patrón on the rocks with a lime wedge. We may be underage, and the General may be a straight arrow, but the one exception is the rule of booze. Real men and women drink.”
Some of the soldiers are given pills for night terrors. When Jake was in the hospital, “I tried to stop taking them, but my nightly yelling woke the other patients on the ward. So I started again.”
After a soldier steps on a landmine, he is given morphine for the pain.
The army gives soldiers sleeping pills. “The Army provides soldiers with a selection. The short-term variety gets you about four hours of shut-eye. The medium-term pill is good for six. And then there’s Sleeping Beauty, a twelve-hour sleep-like-a-baby dose that leaves you feeling the next morning like you’ve been raised from the dead.” Jake discusses the addictive qualities of the pills. “Pretty soon guys had so many meds inside them that they couldn’t think straight, couldn’t feel straight. So what did the docs do? Gave them anti-depressants and anti-psychotics to stop all of the other meds from driving them crazy. After a while, guys were taking seven or eight different pills a day. With no one monitoring them.”
To deal with the stress of a parade, a veteran filled his water bottle “from a flask.”
When having dinner with his grandfather, Jake thinks, “I’m a tequila man, but in the General’s company, it’s the rule of bourbon. The only choice you have is which brand. . .”

Language

Profanity is used often. Profanity includes ass, bastards, bitch, crap, crapper, damn, hell, and pissed.
Goddamn is used two times. After Jake returns home, his father asks Jake if he’s okay. Before Jake can reply, his grandfather answers, “Of course he’s okay, he’s a goddamn war hero.”
When a soldier is injured, he screams, “Oh Lord, Jake!”
While eating in the mess hall, the soldiers hear a “clang!” One of Jake’s friends was “going fucking nuts, ranting like a madman and smashing a metal tray against the edge of the table.”
Jake wakes up sweaty from a bad dream and “there’s that split-second fear that I’ve pissed myself in my sleep. But it’s never urine. It’s always sweat.”
Oh my god is used several times.
Someone tells Jake, “Don’t play dumb white cracker with me. . .”
To get the attention of enemy soldiers, Jake yells, “Hey douchebags.”

Supernatural

None

Spiritual Content

Jake is shot in the back, but is uninjured. He thinks, “Thank Almighty God and ceramic body armor.”
When soldiers have to leave the FOB, “we knew it might be the last time. We all had good luck charms. Some soldiers smoked, some joked, some dipped and spat, and some got on their knees and prayed.”
Jake thinks the army recruiters lie in order to get people to join the army. Instead of being like a party, “You go in, make a couple of friends, and then pray you’ll all make it out alive.”

I’m Not Dying with You Tonight

Lena and Campbell aren’t friends.

Lena has her killer style, her awesome boyfriend, and a plan. She knows she’s going to make it big. Campbell, on the other hand, is just trying to keep her head down and get through the year at her new school.

When both girls attend the Friday night football game, what neither expects is for everything to descend into sudden, mass chaos. Chaos born from violence and hate. Chaos that unexpectedly throws them together.

They aren’t friends. They hardly understand the other’s point of view. But none of that matters when the city is up in flames, and they only have each other to rely on if they’re going to survive the night.

Told from both Lena’s and Campbell’s point of view, I’m Not Dying with You Tonight will grab readers’ attention right from the start. The chapters go back and forth between each character, which allows the reader to understand both girls’ prejudices and conflicts. Campbell is completely out of her element and has never taken the time to try to understand the people in her neighborhood. On the other hand, Lena has more layers, but talks in a stereotypical manner. As the girls try to survive the riot, each girl makes assumptions based on each other’s race and learns that their assumptions are often wrong.

The fast-paced story takes a look at white privilege and racism from the girls’ point of view. When the fighting first breaks out, Campbell sees the police as helpful, but Lena is fearful of their presence. In the end, both girls face loss because of the riot. Campbell’s father’s store is completely destroyed by looters, and Lena’s cousin is injured and arrested. Although Campbell cannot understand the rioters’ actions, Lena tries to explain “when you push people to their breaking point, and they ain’t got no power, they’ll find a way to take it.”

I’m Not Dying with You Tonight explores modern conflicts in an action-packed story that will keep teens interested. The authors do not leave the reader with any solutions to the problem, but instead, give them many questions that they will want to discuss. The story will cause readers to ponder racial issues, but they will also see how they should try to get to know people that are different than themselves. The story also highlights the importance of choosing friends well. As Lena’s cousin Marcus says, “He can be an eagle, but if he chooses to flock with pigeons, he gone’ have pigeon ways.”

Sexual Content

Lena’s boyfriend kisses her. While saying goodbye, Lena leaned “over to hug him, and he smells as good as I expected. I almost don’t want to let go. I lift my face for him to kiss me and melt into him. His soft lips press against mine, and it feels like sun rays warming my skin.”
At the end of the night, Black tries to kiss Lena, but “I turn my head and his lips land on my cheek. I’m not feeling it right now.”

Violence

While at a school football game, two men begin fighting and start a riot, which continues until the end of the book. When the fight first begins, “The boys clash, chests bumping together, arm swinging. A boy stumbles, and his knee hits the ground. Fists batter downward, pummeling his head, his shoulders. His mouth is open in a cry I can’t hear.”
During the fight, Officer Kersey shows up and tries to stop two guys from fighting. One of the guys, Gabriel, goes to throw a Coke on a kid, but hits the officer instead. “Officer Tate, grabs Gabriel by the back of the shirt and yanks him up until his heels leave the ground. The collar of his shirt pulls on his neck. Gabriel’s flapping around.”
An officer “elbows a girl in the chest. I didn’t see what she was doing, other than running in his direction. . . He hits her, though, hard and violent, and she falls to the ground a cries out.”
During the fight, someone shoots a gun. A police officer is shot, but it is not described.
Two girls begin fighting. “They wrestle until one girl scrambles up, her bright yellow tank top now smeared with dirt. The other girl cowers on the ground. Yellow Tank windmills her arms, battering and snatching until she comes away with a fistful of hair.”
A car hits a woman and “she goes flying forward and crashes through a group of people in a line for the club. . . The woman’s on the ground. A few people crouch down by her, and the crowd surges . . . Someone grabs the driver and hauls him from the car, flinging him onto the street.”
Lena and Campbell walk into an area where there are bars and shops trying to get away from the riot. But soon a riot breaks out in the streets and “a bottle flies through the air right over me. What the hell? I barely duck in time to keep my head on.”
Someone “chucks a liquor bottle that smashes through the window of the SUV. . . Someone done lit a T-shirt on fire and threw it at a car.” A fire starts and soon people are looting.
The girls hide in a shop and watch as a man uses a cone to break car windows. “Out in the street, someone comes up behind the cone guy and wallops him. They start pushing and shoving. . . Mostly, this seems like a massive crowd fighting and destroying stuff.” The man throws the cone into a bar and grill. “Instant uproar. Tables topple. The trendy fire pit in the middle of the patio falls over. Something catches, maybe a table cloth, and with a whoosh, flames flicker to life.”
As the girls try to find a safe place, “people are running everywhere, getting knocked over. Someone bumps us, and we fall on a pile of people. I land on my back. My elbow drags along the pavement, skin ripping open and collecting gravel.”
Lena’s cousin Marcus and her boyfriend Black get in a fight. Black “charges Marcus like a bull, headfirst into Marcus’s belly. They both hit the ground. These fools are rolling around on top of each other in the middle of the street, even though people are stampeding like a game of Jumanji started. . . Marcus accidently punches me in the arm.”
A cop hits Marcus with a baton. “I see Marcus’s mouth open in a scream, his arms go up, swinging wildly. The baton comes down again. And again. Marcus’s body falls forward, his forehead cracks against the asphalt, so loud I can hear it over all the other noise.”
One of Lena’s boyfriend’s friends pulls a gun and points it at them. Black jumps towards the man with a gun. “A gunshot. Me and Campbell drop to the ground. . . Black goes for the steel. Peanut sticks him in the jaw, but Black is still able to knock the pistol away.” Black’s friends drive off without him.

Drugs and Alcohol

One of Lena’s friends doesn’t say goodbye because “that’s the last thing her mom said to her before she passed away from a heroin overdose.”
A boy who was in the concession stand was selling weed.
Before Campbell moved, she used to “like playing foosball in Megan’s parents’ basement and sneaking cans from her dad’s beer fridge.”
Lena’s cousin “went to jail because he got caught with a little weed in his car.”

Language

Profanity is used often. Profanity includes: ass, bitch, crap, damn, fuck, hell, holy crap, and piss.
“God,” “My God,” and, “Jesus” are used as exclamations occasionally.
Lena’s cousin warns her against dating Black. He says, “I don’t like to call a black man a nigga, but that’s a nigga.”
Someone calls a man a “damn cracker.”
While at a football game, Lena goes to the concession stand and thinks, “I damn near have to crawl over the nasty-ass counter to get the attention of the chick hanging out back there.”
While trying to find a ride home, Lena and Campbell pass a group of men “passing joints.”

Supernatural

None

Spiritual Content

Lena “sends up a quick prayer” that her ride hasn’t left without her.

Shooter

Following the lives of five high school students that were trapped in a horrific high school shooting, Shooter is called the modern-day Breakfast Club. Alice is a shy, introverted writer who spends a lot of time worrying about her autistic big brother, Noah. Isabelle is the perfect egomaniac princess who seems to run the school and have a perfect life. Hogan is the giant, scary ex-football player who gave up on life after his brother’s death. Xander is the awkward student photographer who has a hard time understanding other people. These five students would never, ever be friends with each other.

But when a lockdown drill starts, they are forced to hide in a bathroom, where they realize their pasts are all intertwined in some way. Locked in a room with no way out, they gain an understanding of one another and start to care for each other. However, everything is thrown for a twist when Isabelle receives a text that the lockdown is not a drill—there is a live shooter on campus. When things cannot seem to get worse, they discover the shooter has planted a bomb on campus and plans to blow up the whole student body. They have to stop him before time runs out!

Shooter is about who the main characters really are versus how others perceive them. Isabelle seems to be a perfect princess, but after her trip to the Dominican Republic she hates how materialistic her life has become. Alice may appear like a successful writer with a great future ahead of her, but she worries about leaving her brother when she goes to college. Hogan might seem hateful and violent but deep down he still has not gotten over his brother’s death. Xander does not mean to be awkward, mean, or insensitive, and in actuality is very kind and thoughtful. The author even develops the character of Maxwell, the school shooter, by giving him a backstory and personality—rather than just leaving him as an undeveloped, evil villain. With this, Pignat teaches readers that everyone has a past that has shaped who they are and that we should get to know people before we start to judge them.

Pignat’s use of prose, poetry, text messages, journals, and homework assignments perfectly show the characters’ different points of view. Readers will find they have a lot in common with the characters as they watch them struggle to overcome their problems. However, the book is about a school shooting, a touchy subject in today’s times, and is not an easy read because of the amount of violence in the novel. However, with the engaging characters, it is a good read and may help readers better understand self-identity and social problems. Readers who enjoyed Shooter may also want to read This Is Where It Ends by Marieke Nijkamp.

Sexual Content

At the party, Hogan and Izzy kissed. Hogan thinks, “Man, she was beautiful. Hair swept high in a ponytail, firelight glowing on the curve of her neck. Her face warm. And her eyes dark and sparkling as she smiled. I just wanted to kiss her—and the next thing, I did. Isabelle Parks—the girl every guy wanted.”
Izzy finds out that her boyfriend, Darren Greene, is cheating on her when she sees an Instagram photo of him making out with her best friend Bri. In the Instagram photo, “he has her up against the doorframe, one hand pulling up her shirt, the other hiking up her leg while she runs her fingers through his hair.”
Xander helps Maxwell with one of his pranks. They move Mr. Quigley’s lab skeleton into a sexual position where it was jerking off with a pretend penis made out of a graduated cylinder.

Violence

When Isabelle finds Hogan on top of Alice, trying to help with after she bumped her head, Isabelle screams “get off of her! Get off of her right now, you perv!” Isabelle then thrusts her knee hard into his side.
As Alice and Hogan leave the safety of the bathroom, an explosive “BANG-BANG-BANGBANG!” causes everyone to cower in fear. The shooter is right outside the bathroom door.
In the locker room, Hogan and his brother, Randy, made fun of each other for playing badly during the game. The two brothers wrestle and fight just like they had when they were little kids. Hogan swept Randy’s legs out from under him, and Randy fell back off the bench, back into the lockers, slamming his head against the corner of the one Hogan had left open. “A dark gash on the side of his head oozed red. It ran into a sticky puddle that spilled wider and wider with every second.” Randy dies. The fight takes place over two pages.
Noah freaks out from being confined to the bathroom too long. “Like a tornado of fists and spit as his arms windmill around him like crazy propellers. Alice tries to step back, but there isn’t anywhere else to go. The broom wedges under the sink and Noah’s next swing catches her smack in the face, sending her staggering back, and she falls to the ground.” Hogan tackles Noah to the ground where he stops fighting. The scene takes place over two pages.
Xander shoots Hogan with a paintball gun, and Noah hits Xander in the head with his broom handle to prevent him from shooting Isabelle and Alice.
Maxwell is planting a bomb and is going to use a fake fire to lure everyone to the atrium where he will detonate it. The group of kids discovers Maxwell’s outline for Operation Resolution. It’s a drawing where “the ground isn’t ground exactly, but arms, legs, severed heads with Xs for eyes. Pieces in puddles. Each of them named.”
The school police officer grabs Hogan and “wrenches my arms back in some cop-hold.”
While everyone is gathered in the atrium, Maxwell uses a drone and paintball gun to shoot people. “CRACK-CRACK-CRACK!” People are hysterical.
The police surround Noah who has a broom handle in his hand. The police shoot at Noah, but Hogan pushes him out of the way and takes the bullet himself. Alice puts pressure against the wound. After being shot, Hogan is wounded and “a whole five inches below his collarbone bubbles and oozes a dark red that puddles beside him. Blood–not pain.”
Xander finds the bomb suspended on some wires above the atrium. When he climbs on the wire to get it, Maxwell’s drone swats at him, trying to knock him off. Maxwell disables the bomb but when he does the wire snaps. “There is no blast. Just a sickening—CRACK!—as Xander” crashes to the floor.
After Maxwell’s bomb is defused, Maxwell kills himself. “On the second floor, in the room above the mural, a light flashes as one final shot rings out. Then all is silent.”

Drugs and Alcohol

Isabelle asked if a boy drugged Alice with “roofies or something?”
Hogan smokes in the bathroom. “The Hulk yanks off his furry mitt and plucks the smoking cigarette left balanced on the edge of the porcelain urinal.”
Isabelle suggests that the secretaries are “probably ‘hiding’ in the staff room cracking open their TGIF wine.”
Xander’s “mom’s Matinée cigarette” started the house fire. Xander was woken up by the fire alarm and managed to save some of his mom’s important things such as “her big red purse, her near-empty bottle of Jackson-Triggs wine, her pack of Matinée cigarettes.”

Language

Profanity is used frequently. Profanity includes: hell, ass, crap, God, bastard, numbnuts, crotch, and dick.
Hogan says its “hotter than hell” in the mascot suit.
When Hogan starts to smoke, Isabelle asks, “Still the badass, Hogan?” Hogan replies, “Still the bitch, Izzy?”
Hogan doesn’t want to go to the “dumbass pep rally” and is thankful for the lockdown.
Hogan says he is “done with that crap. Just so you know” in reference to his smoking.
After Hogan’s brother’s death, Coach Dufour tries to kick Hogan “in the ass a few times” in order to get Hogan back in shape.
Izzy looks at Hogan with a face that says “God, you’re an idiot.”
Izzy says Hogan’s been “an angry ass since Randy died.”
Hogan thinks he is a “stone-cold bastard” for not crying over his own brother’s death.
On one of Xander’s missions with Maxwell, Maxwell holds one of his smoke bombs “against his crotch and told me to check out his foil dick.”
Hogan asks the school shooter, “What do you numbnuts have planned?”

Supernatural

None

Spiritual Content

Xander knows that “stealing and lying is wrong. That’s even in the Bible.”

by Matthew Perkey

Heartwood Box

Araceli’s parents wanted her to have a normal, American senior year, so they sent her to stay with her Great-Aunt Ottillie. Araceli is supposed to be focusing on school and getting ready for college, but she thinks that her aunt’s old Victorian home may be haunted. Araceli can feel someone watching her, and it doesn’t help that her great-aunt still leaves food out for her husband that has been missing for twenty years.

Araceli’s great-aunt isn’t the only creepy thing in town. Local businesses are plastered with missing posters. The townspeople are watchful and suspicious of each other. There are unexplained lights in the woods and a mysterious lab just beyond the city walls that no one talks about. When Araceli begins getting letters from the past, she thinks someone is playing a nasty joke on her.

When Araceli’s friend disappears, she is determined to find out what is going on. In order to solve the mystery, she must investigate the other disappearances as well as the secretive lab. But someone is willing to go to great lengths to keep their secrets hidden. Can Araceli uncover the conspiracy or will someone make her disappear?

The Heartwood Box is an immensely enjoyable, complicated story that will have readers guessing until the very end. Told from Araceli’s point of view, the creepy town comes alive. Although Araceli isn’t the most relatable character, her story is compelling. The supporting characters are not well-developed but they help move the plot along at a fast pace. For those who love character-driven stories, The Heartwood Box might disappoint.

This story is a mix of science-fiction, mystery, and historical romance. The multiple plots may leave readers confused unless they pay close attention. Not only is Araceli falling in love with a World War I soldier, but she is also trying to fit in at a new school and solve the mystery of the town’s disappearing people. The end of the story ties all of the threads together in a satisfying, if somewhat implausible, conclusion.

Aguirre also throws in the theme of colorism. Several times in the story, Araceli talks about colorism and gives examples of how dark skin people are treated differently than whites. At one point she thinks, “I wish America cared the same about Black and Brown girls, but there’s a lot to do yet.” Even though Araceli is bi-racial, this theme is not well fleshed out.

Readers looking for a unique time travel mystery will enjoy The Heartwood Box, which has several surprising twists at the end. Some of the vocabulary is difficult, but the majority of the story is written in easy to understand language. Although the ending is rushed, the book will captivate readers who enjoyed the Ruby Red series by Kerstin Gier or Passenger by Alexandra Bracken.

Sexual Content

When Araceli has a friend over to the house, her aunt says, “You can watch TV in the parlor if you want. I do trust both of you, but it would be disrespectful for you to go upstairs.” Araceli thinks to herself, “Oh my God, if I wanted to hook up with Logan, I’d go across the street. He already said his parents aren’t home.”
In a dream, Araceli is able to see soldiers who are on a ship. She hears, “a slick skin-on-skin sound that I identify as a soldier jerking off, trying to be stealthy about it.”
While talking to a boy, Araceli thinks, “He’s thirsty for me. I’ve seen the look enough to recognize it, but I pretend not to know. . .”
When Araceli is sitting in a car with a boy, her aunt “saves me by flipping the porch light on and peeking out the front door, likely to make sure we’re not getting hot and heavy in her Plymouth.”
While in a dream, Araceli meets a soldier and, “I can touch him in this dream, so I do. There’s no reason to hold back. When he drops his weapon and opens his arms, I slide into them like I belong there. . . I stretch up on tiptoe and cup his face in my hands; I feel the heat of his skin, the scruff on his chin and jaw. Then I press my mouth to his, light and soft. He drags me closer and kisses me like our lives depend on it, all heat and desperation. . . We kiss and cling until I can barely breathe.”
When Araceli’s aunt and uncle see her sitting in a car with an older man, her uncle asks, “Is there something you need to tell us? We won’t judge you. Grown men who entice young girls should be ashamed.” Araceli tells them that the man was a family friend.

Violence

The town sheriff physically abuses his son. The abuse is not described, but Araceli sees the bruises. When the boy gets to school, she “can see his lip is busted, and his face is swollen on one side. At a minimum, someone slapped the shit out of him, and it looks more like he took a few hits to the face.”
In a letter, a soldier writes about his experiences. “France has become hell on earth, no way around it. Great tunnels in the dirt, piled high with bodies and you can’t tell a Jerry from a Brit from a Sammy. . . Death makes every soldier the same. Nobody is coming for those men, not to give them services or say a few words or even to bury them. The birds pluck out their eyes. . .” The soldier also writes, “I killed my first Jerry and threw up afterwards. . . My friend John took one in the gut, bad way to go. Took him hours to go west, and we were all freezing next to his body in a trench during that first long hour of hate.”
Araceli thinks back to the past. “The kids are protesting, shouting, waving signs. A shot rings out. The student leader goes down, bleeding from his head, and it’s all mayhem, all running and screaming.”
Someone tells the county sheriff to kill someone. The sheriff says, “You’re trying to give me a kill order? I can’t believe you think you bought me for fifty thousand.”
Araceli and her friends are trying to destroy mechanisms that create the ghost light. A man sees them and Araceli “rush[es] toward him, and everything else is instinct. With the hammer, I knock whatever he has out of his hand, and then I swing again, as hard as I can, right upside his head. His body goes flying, tumbling down the hill and into the water with an ominous splash.” The man dies.
Araceli and her friends are chased by guards who shoot at them. Araceli’s “heart thunders in my ears as more bullets spray the area. I get stung on a ricochet and a sharp pain slices across my calf. Shit, it hurts. . .” One of her friends is shot. “His voice comes out liquid with blood and breathy from his struggle for air. . . Jackson gives me a sad smile, his teeth stained with blood. . . He goes limp in my arms. . . Jackson’s blood is all over the soil and the stones, staining my hands and the suit he made to protect us.” The scene takes place over seven pages.
After Araceli’s friend dies, she jumps on an ATV and tries to escape. The guards, “snap shots at me as they can, but it’s not as easy from the back of an ATV, firing at a moving vehicle.” She crashes, and a man “twists my arms behind me and binds my wrists with what feels like a zip tie, then drags me out of sight. . .I taste blood from where my lips split against my teeth.” The man gags her and then puts her in a cell. The scene takes place over 4 pages.
Over a radio, Araceli hears “the sound of a Taser discharging and the impact of a fist hitting flesh.”
As Araceli and Dr. Perry try to get to the lab’s control room, Dr. Perry “slams into three guards coming around the corner. His weapon flies out of his hand. . .” Araceli shoots a guard in the belly and “the guard screams and topples over. . .” Dr. Perry shoots a guard. Later Dr. Perry shoots two more guards “neatly, two chest shots, two clean kills.” Eventually, someone shoots Dr. Perry. “Slugs slam into the blocks, shaking the cement. . . He’s down, bleeding from several wounds. . . He manages to shoot three of the four, and I fire on the last one while he’s reloading. . .” Dr. Perry dies. The scene takes place over four pages.

Drugs and Alcohol

As Araceli goes through town, she thinks about her past homes. “I can’t remember ever living in a freestanding house. There will be no rooftop garden parties here, no barbeques that draw out the neighbors so that we grill whatever’s on hand, and I take beer from the cooler without anyone asking how old I am.”
While in the past, Araceli goes to a Halloween party and gets drunk.
Araceli goes into a pizza place where some adults are drinking beer.
A girl’s mother is put on depression medication after her son disappears.
In a letter, a soldier says that while passing through England, they stopped at a town and some men got “puking drunk.”
When a boy is teaching Araceli to drive, he tells her, “You’re going really slow. If you’re not careful, you’ll get pulled over. Only people who are slightly high drive this much below the limit.”
Araceli is given a document that has information about the Heartwood box. A researcher had an “unfortunate addiction to hallucinogenic drugs.”
Araceli sends a note to the past, but wonders if the person receiving it, “was stoned when he got my note, laughed and rolled a joint with it.”
A boy’s grandfather only talked about a girl he once loved when he “had a little to drink.”

Language

Profanity is used often. Profanity includes ass, asshole, bitching, crap, damn, dammit, fricking hell, holy shit, piss, pissed, shit.
Araceli meets a boy and thinks that he is “kind of a dick.”
When Logan’s father gets home, he yells at his wife and asks, “Where the hell is he? I told him to come straight home from school and look after the fucking yard.”
OMG is used twice. Oh my god is used six times. Oh god and Oh Lord are both used once.
When her aunt gives her snacks after school, Araceli thinks, “I swear to God, I’m starting to like pretending I’m five. . .”
Araceli describes her mood as, “grumpy as hell.”
Araceli thinks, “I’ve experienced some shit in my life, but I can’t say I ever lived in a haunted house. Until now.” Later she thinks, “This house is so damn haunted.”
A boy is wearing a shirt that says, “Get in line B*tches.”

Supernatural

While in her aunt’s house and at school, Araceli feels a chill. She also feels as if someone is watching her.
Araceli has vivid dreams where she goes into the past and can interact with a World War I soldier. When she is dreaming, no other people can see or hear her besides the soldier. However, after one dream a picture of World War I changes. When she dreams, she can find the soldier because “there was a tug. . . I feel that same pull now, delicate and tenuous. . .”
Araceli goes into the attic, and “before I get to the pull cord, it’s tugged by an invisible hand until the distinctive click, and the light flares on.”
Araceli finds a treasure box that allows her to communicate with a World War I soldier. They write letters back and forth. Araceli also puts small objects like mint and antibiotic ointment into the box.
The town has “ghost lights” that make people slip into another time.
When people disappear, their loved ones leave out food for them, which also disappears.

Spiritual Content

When Araceli wakes up after being asleep for days, her aunt says, “Thank God.”
Araceli thinks about her parents who “aren’t religious. My mom’s agnostic and my dad is a lapsed Catholic, so I was baptized and that’s about it. . . We go to mass once a year at Christmas, and it’s a somber occasion in most of the countries I’ve lived in.”
Araceli goes to church with a friend, but the service is not described. While there, a woman says, “Everyone is welcome in God’s house.”