The Public Eye. (Port City High)

Freeman, Shannon.  The Public Eye.  (Port City High)  Saddleback  2014  203p  $9.95  ISBN 978-1-62250-040-6  ms/hs  Realistic fiction  G   

This latest Port City High novel provides much drama centered on several girls navigating their way through high school.  The plot also focuses on family dynamics and how they affect the girls. Abusive relationships, infidelity, anger management, abduction, and drug rehabilitation are a few of the themes that the girls and their respective families face, while a campaign for public office reveals more than the family anticipates.  Working together and relying on true friendship and family relationships, the situations are worked out.

This fast-paced, hi-lo novel will delight young readers as many themes are relevant to their high-school experiences.  Diversity is celebrated, and the use of vernacular in the dialog adds authenticity to the various characters and their backgrounds.

Shannon Freeman has created a novel that girls going through high-school drama and relationships will certainly be able to relate to. A lower reading level and high-interest level will make this a good book for struggling readers and reluctant readers who can identify with a variety of common themes experienced in high school.

This is one book in the Port City High novel series.  There are currently four titles in this series.

Summary: High-school drama is revealed as several girls and their families deal with adverse life situations and discover that friendship will carry them through the tough times.        

Teens-Fiction                                   --Virginia McGarvey