Moore, Carley. The Stalker Chronicles.

Moore, Carley.    The Stalker Chronicles.  Macmillan/Farrar Strauss     230p $16.99 978-0-374-37180-7       ms/hs       Good            Conflict   

We meet Cammie as a sophomore in high school, with flashbacks to elementary and middle school to set the premise of the novel that Cammie has always found direct verbal communication difficult. Instead, she secretly listens in on conversations of her family (her parents sound as if they will divorce) and clandestinely observes people who she would like to be friends with, and this behavior earns her the reputation of being a stalker.  She has only one true friend, Rosie, who tries to offer advice on how to better relate to people.  When a new boy moves to town, Cammie is compelled to go through his garbage, go into the boy’s bathroom to investigate, and through other means secretly learn about his past, which is shrouded in mystery.   Whether Cammie is just socially awkward or has a more serious mental disability is never fully explored.  This is a light read for middle-school and high-school students that will leave some questioning the total cluelessness of Cammie’s parents and whether Cammie’s transformation into a more popular person could really happen in such a short time.           

Stalking, Friendship-Fiction                          --Lois McNicol

Springer, Nancy. My Sister’s Stalker.

Springer, Nancy.  My Sister’s Stalker.    Holiday House     93p   $16.95  978-0-8234-2358-3                 jr/sr       E-BN      Realistic Fiction

Rig misses his dad and sister. Since the divorce, they have left to live in another city.  Rig stayed with his mother, who is an artist, but sometimes he feels as if she is simply not in touch with life.  Curious to see what his sister is up to, Rig googles her and finds her in all kinds of pictures of her college life.  He also finds one web site that is different from all the rest.  On the surface, it seems to be a romantic web site about his sister, but as he views it, he begins to feel that something is not right.  He has a gut feeling that this isn't an ordinary web site.  He visits his father and shows him the contents of the web site and they agree.  What happens next is the most fearful event of Rig’s life. He is sure that his sister is being stalked, and he is afraid that it is escalating.  He doesn't know why it is happening, but if he wants to save his sister, he had better figure it out soon.

This story is a fast and scary read, a book that you will not be able to put down until the end.           

Stalking-Fiction, Divorce-Fiction, Realistic fiction  -- Magna Diaz