Posts Tagged 'teenage'

Between by Jessica Warman

Published October 12, 2011 Mystery , RAC , Realistic Fiction 2 Comments
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Genre:  Realistic Fiction/Mystery

# of Pages:  454

RAC Book:  Yes

Elizabeth Valchar wakes up to find her own dead body, but she can’t remember anything before she died.  As she watches her friends and family move on from the tragedy she realizes that her life was not as perfect as everyone thought it was.  She had already suffered the loss of her mother at a very young age, and of her father’s hasty remarriage afterward.  She did truly love her boyfriend, Richie, which is why it’s so hard to see him suffer after her death.  She has a ghostly companion in Alex, a boy in her high school who died a year before Elizabeth.  He was very unpopular and people did not react to his death the way they do hers, which makes for an uncomfortable situation.  Can Elizabeth find out what happened to her so that she can be free?

This story grabs readers right from the beginning because there is so much that Elizabeth does not know.  The more she remembers about the months before she died the more confusing it gets.  She is surrounded by a bunch of questionable characters who could either be on her side or working against her.  Her circle of friends is particularly mysterious as they appear vapid, but some of them know more than they are saying.  Fans of The Everafter, Elsewhere, and Thirteen Reasons Why will enjoy this book, but there are some heavy issues discussed.

Trapped by Michael Northrop

Published April 26, 2011 Adventure , RAC , Realistic Fiction 4 Comments
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Genre:  Realistic Fiction/Adventure

# of Pages: 232

RAC Book:  Yes

Scotty and his friends make the critical error of choosing to stay late after school one day to work in the shop classroom instead of going home during an early out.  The entire school had been let out early due to a snowstorm, but this is no regular snowstorm.  This storm continues to snow for several days and Scotty and six other students are left stranded in the high school.  Their situation continues to get worse as the snow keeps falling and they begin to wonder how much they can withstand.  Worst of all, they have no way of communicating to anyone that they need help.  Will they ever live to see the end of this storm?

This survival story is a bit reminiscent of Life As We Knew It, but in this instance the natural disaster is a blizzard instead of a meteor.  Scotty and his friends begin to realize how dominated they are by modern conveniences such as cell phones, Internet, electricity, etc.  and are not sure how to cope when it is all gone.  Plus, they also worry about their friends and family who are also trapped in this storm somewhere.  Usual teenage feelings of inadequacy, competition, and hierarchy are still present, but these do begin to break down as they must come together to survive.  The story is written in a believable way that will make young readers think about how they would deal with such a situation.  Adventure fans will enjoy it, even if it moves a tad slow at times.

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