Skin

What do you do when your face is covered with acne that you can't get rid of?  Nick Barry wonders this when his face suddenly starts breaking out.  He is also experiencing cold chills that go all the way to his bones and nightmares about a well out in the country.  One day he is seized by uncontrollable anger and fights to help another kid who is being picked on.  This earns him a suspension and a couple new enemies at school. The more problems Nick has, the more he becomes isolated from his friends and his family.    Is all of this related to is breakout?  Read the book and find out!

Be sure to check out the other creepy thrillers in the Night Fall Series which are now in our library!
- Mrs. Daugherty

Among the Hidden

Population control has been enforced and Luke is a third child.  This makes him an outlaw, a secret, a shadow child.  As time passes and a housing edition moves in right down the road from their farm, Luke has to spend more and more time inside until finally he can't go out at all.  He is a prisoner in his own home because his parents decided to have him.  Then one day, he sees movement in a house in the new addition.  Everyone there is already at work or school.  He discovers another shadow child hidden in one of the houses.  And his life changes forever.

A particularly gripping story which embraces a fear held by many teenage kids.  What to do if you can do nothing!  Luke's isolation is more than any modern day teen could bear, but he does it because it means survival.  This story is fast moving and is relatively short but there is a lot to be said for the content.  It engages the reader from start to finish and leaves them wanting more.  And they can have more, if they move on to the second book in the series.  Great book for grades 4 and up. 
 - Mrs. Daugherty

A Big Little Life: A Memoir of a Joyful Dog Named Trixie

If you have ever loved a dog and even if you haven't, you must read this book.  I was so stunned by the heartfelt emotions that Dean Koontz expressed about their dog Trixie.  I am sure this book was difficult to write and it is a great remembrance of her life and the pleasure she brought to their lives.  I would never have imagined I could feel as though I knew a dog from the simple words portrayed by their owner but Koontz has done it with this one. A beautiful story of love and devotion that only a dog owner could write.
- Mrs. Daugherty

Watersmeet

This book is gripping from the very beginning for fans of fantasy worlds.  There is racism even in fantasy and this books shows how easily we can give into our fear of what we don't know or understand. Abasina is an outcast in the village she lives in because her skin and hair are dark.  But because he mother is the village healer, they allowed her life to be spared instead of throwing her over the wall as a baby.  But she wonders if she should have been left for dead rather than endure the awful way she is treated by everyone. 

Abasina decides that she must seek out her father because of the horrible events in the village so she begins her search for Watersmeet.  She will learn much more on her journey than she ever thought possible.  She will learn to trust creatures whom she was taught were nothing but monsters.  She will also confront the demons inside herself and find out if she is any better than her tormentors were in the village.

Great book! I would recommend for grade 6 and up.  Very clean/does include battlefield violence.
- Mrs. Daugherty

A Monster Calls

One day a monster calls on Connor and makes a request that he will tell the boy 3 stories and after the last story is told, Connor must tell his own story, a true story.  But Connor learns that life is not as simple as it may seem when the monster starts to tell his stories.  As Connor struggles to make sense of the problems in his own life, he must also unravel the stories the monster shares with him.  Then he must find the strength to tell his own.

A powerfully moving book that explores the many facets of the human mind.  Though we think we know what we believe, many motivators may change our viewpoint and alter our perception of the world around us.  Injecting a monster into this story is a brilliant move which distracts to the true story of Connor and his life.  I suggest this book for 12 and up.
- Mrs. Daugherty