The Girl in the White Van by April Henry

Genre: Middle Grade, Young Adult, Mystery
Source: I purchased a copy

I absolutely love this author’s books.  She takes young people and puts them in situations that are a nightmare in themselves.  Savannah is a young girl who is kidnapped. She is taken out to an old trailer where she finds Jenny. She is another kidnap victim and has been held for ten months. Savannah and Jenny are completely different. Savannah takes Kung Fu and so she fights back.  Jenny seems to have just given up until she meets Savannah.  As they try to escape knowing the danger the tension is brought to a whole new level. Just like in her book, “The Night She Disappeared” the author has given us a character in Savannah that is willing to fight back. This action keeps the story moving forward. I love how her characters are strong girls, or girls who find the strength to do what they didn’t know they could do. I had to wait until the summer to read this because my students handed it from one to the other.  I can make sure to get this book into the hands of my students.  

Where She Fell by Kaitlin Ward

Genre: Young Adult, Adventure
Source: I purchased a copy. The opinions expressed here are my own.

This was one of the stranger books I have read. I had actually started it last year and never finished it. Today was as good as any day to finish it.  Eliza is not very out-going. She and two of her friends go down near the swamp. When her friends leave her to take a picture outside a cave she walks on. Suddenly she finds herself falling through the earth.  Eliza is found by a group of people who have fallen down as well. They’ve not been able to find a way out so they have formed a colony.

Eliza learns many things about herself while she is underground. She learns to be more assertive. She learns what true friends are. The friends she had on the surface were not true friends. She learns you can’t just sit back and wait when things take a wrong or bad turn. Sometimes you have to step up and go for what you want or what you know you should do.

For me I felt the ending needed a bit more. It was like watching a movie build up to the end and then you want to know what happened next, but never find out.  I will still recommend this book to my students and others who like adventures and young adult books.

The Lake Never Tells by Alex Tully

 

Genre:  Young Adult, Mystery

Source: I received a copy from LibraryThing to facilitate my review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

I won this book from LibraryThing a while back and finally got the chance to read it. I am sorry I waited so long. I sat and read it through in four hours. I will definitely be looking for more work by this author. I couldn't sleep and got up at 5AM and started reading this book. I am so glad I did.

Zoe and Patrick have about five years difference in their ages. They are like sibling. They live in the same trailer park. Meredith is Zoe's best friend, the daughter of the local sheriff and tormenter to Parker. Ethan is the rich kid who spends his summer at the lake with his twin sister and divorce attorney parents.

All of these kids have issues. Zoe's mother wants her to call her Debbie instead of mom. Zoe is okay with this because she has pretty much raised herself. Her mom drinks and parties with Zoe's friends. Parker lives with his grandmother since his mother died.

Ethan is recovering some something that happened to him the year before. That is the main reason they are at the lake. He still has to see his psychiatrist each week. Together these kids join together as friends and help each other deal with things that have happened to them in the past.

Then Parker finds a dead body on the beach and things really take a change.  I loved the relationship between Parker and Zoe. They truly did act like siblings.  I enjoyed Ethan's attitude. Where Parker and Zoe envied the things that Ethan and his sister own, they soon realize that no matter how much money you have everyone has problems.  Parker's grandmother Shirley was the glue that held them all together. You just didn't see it until farther into the story. I definitely didn't like Zoe's mom and didn't care for Zoe's best friend Meredith. The author did a great job of making them unlikable.  Through the eyes of these kids we learn that when it comes to people, no matter hat your financial situation, people act the same. You have your good people, your weak and needy people, your selfish people and your just down rotten people. The only difference as my dad would say is the size of their toys.  I highly recommend this book. Although I could have done without the F-bomb, it wasn't used so much it took away from the book. If I was going to criticize anything it was the repetitive way the author switched from one character to another. I probably would not have noticed this a few years ago until it was pointed out I had done this with my own first book.  Still it didn't annoy me to the point of taking away a star in my rating. Like I said, I look forward to sharing this book with my students. It is definitely recommended for the older students due to some language and situations. However, I consider it a must read.