Warsh, Sylvia Maultash. Best Girl.

Warsh, Sylvia Maultash.  Best Girl.  Orca/Raven  121p  $9.95      978-1-55469-897-4 hs    Series: Rapid Reads(Orca/Raven)      VG    Realistic fiction

Amanda Moss feels her whole life has been a lie.  Her parents did not die in a car crash, but her mother has died in prison, where she was living since being sentenced for killing Amanda’s father.  But did she do it?  Amanda must find out the truth.

Best Girl is an adoption story, a murder mystery, and a book about the road to self-discovery.  What Amanda’s adoptive mother Shelley wanted was her career as a hairdresser.  But Amanda yearns for a career in music.  When a stranger appears with a guitar, and the story that her dead birth mother was unjustly imprisoned for killing her father, Amanda’s view of the world abruptly changes.  In her search to find the truth, she encounters new friends, frightening circumstances, and the stunning truth.  This novel is well written, even with the controlled vocabulary, and it features believable characters, a taut plot, and a satisfying ending.  It is a quick read and a book the reader will not be able to put down.  

This volume is part of the Rapid Reads series.  There are 25 volumes in the series at this time.  The series serves to provide short, easy-to-read novels for adults and young adults with literacy and/or reading difficulties.  Best Girl is recommended for high-school students with reading difficulties.  These high-interest, very low-reading-level titles will appeal to challenged readers.

Mystery, Murder-Fiction, Suspense, Hi-lo books              -- Pat Naismith  

Secrets of the Cicada Summer

Beaty, Andrea. Secrets of the Cicada Summer
Amulet see Abrams, Harry 2010 167p 6.95
978-0-8109-8419-6 elm/ms Realistic Fiction VG
“ Twelve-year-old Lily, believing she could have prevented the accident that caused her brother's death, has quit speaking leaving everyone to think that she is brain damaged, but in her silence she sees everything, and when sly newcomer Tinny comes to town, Lily suddenly has a lot to talk about--if only she can make herself speak the words.”
Geared toward upper elementary and middle school readers, this mystery/adventure story will keep students wondering why would a girl quit speaking to anyone leading others to think she is brain damaged for so long. In this title, Lily Mathis, a twelve-year old girl hasn’t spoken to anyone including her parents, ever since the death of her brother. Lily blames herself for her brother’s death because she thinks she could have prevented the accident. Even though Lily has remained quiet, she read Nancy Drew mysteries in secret keeping her secret of why she didn’t speak to anyone. Despite her nonverbal communication to people, she did watch and take in everything going on around her. When a new girl named Tinny Bridges enters the town, who is the storekeepers’s niece, she finds it difficult not to speak. Tinny is mischievous, talkative, ad mysterious. Lily learns of Tinny’s secret and in turn she sees that Lily actually can read and is not brain damaged. When Tinny disappears, Lily needs to break her silence and speak the truth about what she knows in order to save her from harm. Even though Lily’s brother Pete is deceased, her memories of him are present and provides readers with a feel that he is there too.

Filled with adventure, suspense, mystery, and excitement, this title will be enjoyed by many who seek a fast paced novel. Would make a nice addition to an elementary of middle school collection. Forba-Mayer(2)Charleen Brothers and sisters -- Fiction.

Bodeen, S.A. The Gardener

Bodeen, S.A. The Gardener
Feiwel&Friends/Macmillan Child Pub Gr 2010 280p 16.99
978-0-312-37016-9 ms/hs Science fiction E-BN
Mason uncovers a bizarre experiment called the Greenhouse. In which he tries to help a beautiful girl who doesn’t need food and water to live. Mason, a sophomore, lives with his mother as they struggle to survive. His father is no longer in their life. His mother works in a nursing home attached to TroDyn Scientific facility to provide food and shelter. She is unhappy with her job but continues to work. Mason visits her at work one day only to discover a beautiful comatose girl (Eve) who wakes up when Mason plays his father’s last recording to him as a child.

Mason kidnaps the girl because he wants to help her. His friend, Jack, has a family home in the mountains. They are pursued almost immediately by some very unsavory characters that mean business. Readers will sit on the edges of their seats as pursuers break into the home, ski mobiles go sliding off the mountainside, and Jack breaks his arm.

The ending of the fast paced intrigue finish up at the TroDyn Scientific facility.
Mason is refused help by Dr Kelly Emerson, a former researcher at the facility. However, he enters the facility to find some answers.
Answers are sometimes a hard to swallow. In this suspenseful nerve wrenching ending, Mason has to come face to face with some very surprising events and people.
Readers will see that there are some rays of sunlight even in the worst situations.

I would so love to reveal the ending. Let me just say that readers will find the story suspenseful, surprising, and uplifting at the end.
Readers should think about the definition of a greenhouse. What could the scientific company be growing and why?
This is a well written book that is recommended as a Books of Note. It would be an excellent addition to any secondary school library. McNeil, Linda