Black box by Julie Schumacher

Publisher: Delacorte Press © 2008 ISBN (library bind): 978-0-385-73542-1 Price: $15.99 #pages: 168 Call number: F SCH
Genre: Realistic fiction
Annotation:
“I understood unhappiness when it came attached to something…But Dora’s unhappiness—or whatever it was—seemed to exist independently on its own. I pictured stunted, faceless creatures manufacturing it in a cave somewhere, like a toxic gas.” (Black box, p.59)
Elena’s big sister Dora is depressed. As her condition worsens, Dora eventually attempts suicide and ends up being hospitalized. As the “steady Eddie” of the family, Elena shoulders the burden of helping her sister and trying to support her very distracted parents as well. While her parents have had the wisdom to set Elena up with a therapist, she receives immediate help from a neighbor boy, Jimmy, whom she knows only slightly. Elena slowly builds her trust of the therapist, but comes to rely more and more on her friendship with Jimmy as the family situation and Dora’s condition spiral out of her control. Schumacher has captured the jerky, quirky writing style of many young adolescents in her moving account of a teenager’s descent into mental illness and its toll on her family. Chapters are rarely longer than three or four pages, but have a strong, forward narrative line that makes Black box not only emotionally affecting, but also compelling.

Recommended grade levels: 7-12

Joseph by Shelis P. Moses

For Joseph Flood, life is tough. Joseph's parents are divorced. Joseph lives with his drug and alcohol addicted mother in a homeless shelter in a ghetto neighborhood.

Joseph is enrolled in another new school because Joseph and his mother move from shelter to shelter, as a result of Joseph's mother using the child support money to support her habit.

Joseph's father is serving in Iraq and his aunt and uncle, who live close by, are not fully aware of Joseph's strife as he struggles to keep Mama clean and to hold their broken family together while trying to keep what's going on in his life a secret.

A good pleasure read for anyone 12+ who is enduring an unpleasant situation and can empathize with the character/situation in the book. Knowing someone else is having the same problem as you is good medicine.

There are some descriptive phrases that are redundant.

Twisted Journeys #5 Nightmare on Zombie Island

Remember the Choose Your Own Adventure books? Well the Twisted Journey series lets the reader chose their own adventure in a graphic novel format. In this particular book of the series, you arrive on a deserted island from a charter ship. The ships crewman tells you the island is cursed and anyone who searches for the hidden treasure left from pirates of yesterday will be killed. How the story will end will be decided on by you and the decisions you make.

Living Dead Girl

When Alice was ten, Ray took her from her family and friends—her life. She was known as Kyla before she was kidnapped by Ray during a school trip. Alice is now 15 in the story. There was another ‘Alice’ before Kyla who was abused and killed when she turned 15. Her family was also killed by Ray. Alice knows from the previous newspaper clippings of the other ‘Alice’ that if she ever left Ray her family would meet the same fate. Alice has been abused by Ray physically, sexually, and emotionally for the past 5 years and now that she is the same age as when the other ‘Alice’ was killed she is ready and looking forward to her death. However, it is requested that she find Ray another child to take her place. The gripping conclusion will leave you horrified yet wanting to know what is going to happen next.

"A haunting story of an abducted girl you'll be desperate and helpless to save; her captor so disturbing, so menacing, you'll want to claw the pages from this book and shred them. Brava to Elizabeth Scott for creating such an intense, real, and perfectly painful story of terror, not without hope. Living Dead Girl is impossible to ignore."-- Lisa McMann, New York Times bestselling author of Wake