Deported. (Port City High)

Freeman, Shannon.  Deported.  (Port City High)  Saddleback  2014  200p  $9.95  ISBN 978-1-62250-039-0  ms/jr  A  

The summer had been so wonderful and everything just felt right. Then school began, and as everyone got into a routine little things began to fall out of place. Marisa’s brother who was in 8th grade befriended a new boy who seemed to be okay on the surface.  Then trouble broke out, and although her brother was not involved, he was caught near the site of the incident and was carted off to jail.  He was released, but he still had to go to court as an accused.  The day of trial, things went from bad to worse, and when her father was called as a witness he was led by the prosecutor to lose his temper and was found in contempt of the law.  The bigger problem was that her father was just days from becoming an American citizen, but now that opportunity was gradually disappearing.

Summary: Marisa thought life was going okay for her and her family, but then her younger brother got into trouble and the effect it had on her family was quite devastating.         

Immigration-Fiction                                   --Magna Diaz

High School High. (Port City High)

Freeman, Shannon.  High School High.  (Port City High)  Saddleback  2014      200p  $9.95  ISBN 978-1-62250-037-6  ms/hs  High/Low  A

High School High has a very appealing cover and a tired tried-and-true formula: three good friends embark on their freshman year of high school.  Will the pressures and stresses of their new environment bring the girls closer together, or will it tear them apart?

Saddleback’s intended readership is high-low readers, so the text is colloquial and  conversational.  Dialogue is slangy and laced with “teen speak,” to make it appear more authentic.  Nonetheless, the text would benefit from more stringent copy editing; it was riddled with grammatical errors and read like an uncorrected proof.  The slim volume only offers enough space to tell a very brief story.  This results in a truncated plot, riddled with clichés, and a large cast suffering from underdeveloped, stereotyped, shallow characterization.  Brandi, a cheerleader, dates an older football player who pressures her to have sex before she is ready.  Marisa shares more classes with Brandi’s ex-boyfriend than with her girlfriends, and the two soon share a guilty kiss (resulting in inevitable drama).  Shane wants to start high school on a fresh page and drops her pot habit, only to become addicted to prescription drugs.

This is the first volume in the series Port City High. 

Summary: Inseparable since middle school, four friends tackle the challenges of their freshman year of high school.  Will the stress of high school break up their friendship, or bring them closer together?

High school-Fiction, Friendship-Fiction           --Hilary Welliver    

Taken. (Port City High)

Freeman, Shannon.  Taken.  (Port City High)  Saddleback     2014  200p  $9.95  ISBN 978-1-62250-038-3  hs  Realistic fiction  A

Shane, Marisa and Brandi are three freshmen at Port City High.  Each does well in school and participates in extracurricular activities, but also faces challenges at home (parental substance abuse, sibling teen pregnancy, caring for a younger sibling).  The book covers the second half of freshman year, when Shane and Marisa are trying out for the school play, Shane’s older sister is pregnant and Brandi’s father is struggling with substance abuse.  Brandi hides her pain by losing herself on the social network Friender and talking to a boy from another school called Camden.  After deciding finally to meet him, she disappears.  While Brandi is not tortured or abused in any way during her capture, the story serves as a warning to the stranger danger of meeting people online, without being graphic as to how badly such an event could turn out.  Like the abduction, the substance abuse is handled in a very PG way.   

Summary:  Shane, Marisa and Brandi are three freshmen at Port City High.  Each does well in school and participates in extracurricular activities, but also faces challenges at home.  When one of them becomes involved in an online relationship, she is abducted.   

High school-Fiction, Drug abuse-Fiction, Abduction-Fiction 

--Stephanie Pennucci

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

Freeman, Shannon. Taken.

Freeman, Shannon.  Taken.  (Port City High series)    Saddleback  2013 200p ISBN 978-1-62250-038-3  ms/hs  VG  Realistic fiction    

The Orca Soundings novela meets Stephanie Perry Moore and husband Derrick’s split book series in this book that teen readers will not want to put down until they have finished it.   It has intrigue, a fast-moving plot, lots of girl talk, new relationships and an easy-to-read style by author Shannon Freeman.  Saddleback Publishing is known for putting out books by authors who know that lots of emotion, action and real-life relationships interest young readers.  Protagonist Brandi doesn’t listen to her best friends and meets her new on-line buddy, Camden, at the mall, but her excitement turns to terror when she is abducted by a young man who says he’s Camden’s older brother.  He ties her, locks her up and regularly feeds her and allows her to wash up.  His abduction is odd, for he never hurts her physically, but he does give her a drug that he administers regularly to calm her.  Her friends and family search for her for several months, to no avail.  It is her little sister Raven, who spots a suspicious black car driving by the family home each evening, who never gives up, not even after the police dismiss her claim as ridiculous.  This rising action leads to an exciting climax that young readers will anticipate nervously.  Although the falling action is over-dramatic, and the subject matter of abduction is not new by any means, fans of mystery, horror and teen terror will not be able to put this book down because Brandi’s predicament is exactly like something right out of today’s news.    

Port City High constitutes a series of several books:  High School High, Deported, Taken and The Public Eye are examples.  All revolve around three friends whose lives are shaped by their relationships with each other, with their families and with their school.

Summary: The Port City High girls are back: Shane is fresh from rehab, ready to rejoin her high-school friends and try out for the play, Marisa is moving forward with her plans to become a model, and Brandi has a new love on-line who naturally wants to meet her!           

Kidnapping-Fiction                                    --Martha Squaresky