Ellen, Laura. Blind Spot.

Ellen, Laura.  Blind Spot.    Houghton Mifflin/ Harcourt Brace    332p  $16.99      978-0-547-76344-6 2012  hs   E-BN        Realistic Fiction

           

When a truck driver tries to cross the shallow section of the Birch River that is used in the winter as an ice bridge, the bridge breaks and he and his truck are plunged into the river.  As rescuers fight the frigid waters in an effort to save the driver and his truck, a girl’s body is discovered.  She is identified as a troubled teen named Tricia, who has been missing for six months.

In other action, Roz is placed in the Special Ed room at school because she suffers from macular degeneration, causing a severe blind spot in her vision.  She meets others in the class who have been placed there for various reasons, including Tricia, who convinces her to buy marijuana for her to help Tricia through her heroin addiction.  This act sets off a spiral of events involving many diverse, intertwined characters and relationships, including an athlete, a teacher, drug dealers and other students.  In the end, Roz and the others discover that Tricia was not the person she was perceived to be, nor were the circumstances that surrounded her disappearance what they seemed to be.

This suspenseful story leads the reader on an adventure that reveals that things are not always what they seem, and the ways that deception can impact and change reality.  Laura Ellen has created a complex and exciting novel featuring unusual circumstances, diverse characters, and physical and mental disabilities as symbolic elements that define and depict friendship, deception, and diversity.  The refreshingly original, fast-paced plot and well-described, multifaceted and detailed characters make this an excellent young-adult novel.

Diversity–Fiction, Suspense–Fiction, Special Education-Fiction   

                                                      --Virginia McGarvey

Schwartz, Ellen. The Case of the Missing Deed (Teaspoon Detectives).

Schwartz, Ellen.   The Case of the Missing Deed (Teaspoon Detectives).    

Tundra Books 2011  189p  17.99 978-0-88776-959-7 

elm/ms      Mystery/Detective       E-BN

      In this story five cousins try to help their Grandmother find the deed to

her house. It seems her husband had hid so no one could find it. It seemed that

Grandpa liked puzzles. So the cousins turned detective with some hilarious

results as they cooked their way through the clues that he left as clues.     This

is a delightful story of a family who pulls together to solve problems that crop

up.

The cousins (Sebastien, Genevieve,Claire, Olivia, and Alex) arrive for their

summer stay with their Grandmother only to find her in a quandry. She can’t seem

to remember where her husband put the deed to their property. If she can’t

produce the deed the Tantalus Mining Company will get control of the land for an

access road.

     It seems that Grandpa loved puzzles. To help his wife to remember where the

deed was secreted, he left a series of clues that he hid in such places as her

cookbook. The cousins tried cooking their way through the recipes that had clues

found on them hoping to get some insight.

     Readers will love the various characters and the fast paced action and

intrigue that commences as the troop of cousins investigate the threat of

environmental destruction, the secret codes, and tempting recipes that are

included for enjoyment.       McNeil, Linda