Final Crossing.

Rodman, Sean.  Final Crossing.  Orca      2014  107p  $9.95 ISBN 978-1-4598-0552-1  ms/hs      Realistic fiction, Hi-lo   VG   

Will and Big O are brothers and best friends.  Having learned robbery techniques from their currently-imprisoned father, the boys have survived by stealing from others.  The pair decides to clean up their act and go to live with their respectable uncle, but they need a hundred dollars to get there.  In the duo’s final heist to raise this money, they plan to steal loose change out of cars being transported on a ferry while the unaware owners are on the upper decks.  As they pick locks on various cars and count their money, they come upon a van from which strange noises are coming.  When Will picks the lock, he discovers a kidnapping victim, a girl. Action and suspense build and build as the boys try to help the girl escape while evading the authorities because of their own activities.

This Hi/Lo novel will resonate well with young, struggling and reluctant readers.  The action begins on the first page and does not end until the last.  Written at a lower reading level, the text will not intimidate readers.  The plot is exciting and well written.

Summary: Determined to change their criminal behaviors and go to live with their uncle, brothers and best friends Will and Big O plan one last heist, robbing cars on a ferry, when they stumble upon a kidnapping victim.
           

Brothers-Fiction, Crime-Fiction                       --Virginia McGarvey

Running Scared. (series: Cap Central, book 2)

McGill, Leslie.  Running Scared. (series: Cap Central, book 2)  Saddleback  2014    141p  $9.95 ISBN 978-1-62250-706-1  ms/hs Realistic fiction, Hi-lo    VG     

Cap Central High School is a typical inner-city high school.  In the second in the series about Cap Central students, Rainie decides not eating will make her lose weight quickly and make her less desirable to her mother’s boyfriend.  No overt sexual content appears, just the sense of uneasiness and inappropriate comments made by the man to Rainie.  She is a talented student whose grades begin to suffer as she finds any excuse to stay away from home, from working long hours at the yogurt shop to going running to burn off any calories she may have consumed from her meager meals.  Her friends are aware that she is changing, as her appearance deteriorates, she dresses in multiple layers to hide her thinness, and her grades plummet because she has no place nor time to study.  

The hi/lo appeal for those struggling with reading is that the topic is timely and believable.  Once a reader completes this book, he or she can continue reading others in the series that focus on other students, male and female, at Cap High.  Characters overlap from one book to the next, leading the reader to become familiar with many different characters and the difficulties they face while trying to get an education in a sometimes violent environment.     The problems faced by the students are believable and of interest to teenagers.      

Summary: Rainie has been losing weight, hoping to derail the interest being paid to her by her mother’s boyfriend.  Friends take the lead in making her confront her problems at home as well as with her weight. Hi/lo fiction about inner-city high-school life. Gr. 8-12. 

High-school life-Fiction, Anorexia-Fiction                  --Lois McNicol