Searles, J. (2013). Help for the haunted. New York: HarperLuxe.

This book is about the Mason family.  The parents who are deeply religious and believe in helping those they think are “possessed by demons.”  Early in the story the parents are lured to a local church where they are killed.  The story moves back and forth from past to present telling tales of the family before and after the parent’s death.  Most of the story is told by Sylvie.  She is the youngest daughter, who is following in her parents belief system.  Her older sister Rose is the rebel in the house.   Initially a  preacher is charged in the murder but he denies killing anyone even though he is in jail.  At some point after the girls are orphaned, more information comes out that a reporter ma have fallen in love with their mother.  The girl’s uncle Howie says he will help but he is a drunk and lives like a pig.  In the end we find out that all of this mystery is simply overblown.  While Rose first appears to be a psychotic, we finally find out that she is secretly gay and the reason she is so mean to Sylvie is because of her Father.

With a reading lexile of about 950 this mystery may be okay for an older teenaged audience.  I felt that is bordered on offensive for some with strong religious beliefs.  The idea of ghost hunting makes this story almost unbelievable to me.  I wasn’t exactly thrilled with the ending, but it would definitely be interesting to the target audience of 9 -12^th grade.  I wonder though if the older group might find it hard to relate to Sylvie and really dislike Rose.  I do think that more kids than I like to think would relate to the dysfunction of this family.

Searles, J. (2013). Help for the haunted. New York: HarperLuxe.

This book is about the Mason family.  The parents who are deeply religious and believe in helping those they think are “possessed by demons.”  Early in the story the parents are lured to a local church where they are killed.  The story moves back and forth from past to present telling tales of the family before and after the parent’s death.  Most of the story is told by Sylvie.  She is the youngest daughter, who is following in her parents belief system.  Her older sister Rose is the rebel in the house.   Initially a  preacher is charged in the murder but he denies killing anyone even though he is in jail.  At some point after the girls are orphaned, more information comes out that a reporter ma have fallen in love with their mother.  The girl’s uncle Howie says he will help but he is a drunk and lives like a pig.  In the end we find out that all of this mystery is simply overblown.  While Rose first appears to be a psychotic, we finally find out that she is secretly gay and the reason she is so mean to Sylvie is because of her Father.

With a reading lexile of about 950 this mystery may be okay for an older teenaged audience.  I felt that is bordered on offensive for some with strong religious beliefs.  The idea of ghost hunting makes this story almost unbelievable to me.  I wasn’t exactly thrilled with the ending, but it would definitely be interesting to the target audience of 9 -12^th grade.  I wonder though if the older group might find it hard to relate to Sylvie and really dislike Rose.  I do think that more kids than I like to think would relate to the dysfunction of this family.

Carroll, E. (2014). Through the woods. New York, NY: Margaret McElderry Books.

This graphic novel is a collection of 3 separate tales.  They are really creepy around the bonfire type stories.  One tells the story of 3 girls whose father has left to “go into town.”  But in the storm and snow, it doesn’t take long to realize that he is not going to return.  After the 1^st night when a man appears at the door, leaving no footprints the oldest sister disappears.  Two nights later the same thing happens to her baby sister.  Believing that she will be next, she takes out on her own where in a “house” she is reunited with her sisters.  I believe they were all dead.

With a lexile of 550 this text’s audience is grades 14 – 17.  I loved this graphic.  The artwork was a creepy as the stories.  This could be used for inference, as well as teaching story or plot, a

lso the idea of irony.  We expect the character to be “killed” by a “mysterious man in a wide brimmed hat with a big white smile.”  But I don’t think so.  I think they surrendered to the elements and were reunited “on the other side.”

Freedman, R. (2014). Because they marched: The people's campaign for voting rights that changed America. New York, NY: Holiday House Publishing.

Set in 1965 in Selma this wonderful piece of historical non-fiction begins with Dr. King taking the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to connect with the blacks in the south.  They started by meeting in defiance of a court order by Judge Hare. The public safety commissioner) planned to try to stop the meeting without using force.  He hoped that this would prevent media attention to the meetings and cause Dr. King and his group to move on.  Sheriff Clark wanted to continue meeting these movements with force and intimidation..  The day of the march 500 were arrested and jailed.  On March 6 a group of white citizens also marched on Selma.  Riots and murders occurred in opposition to the voting rights act.  Ultimately over 8000 people participated in the march.  On August 6, 1965 President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law.  By the end of that year 250,000 black voters had registered in the south.

With a lexile level of 1160 the target audience for this book is grades 5 – 9.  I found the book so interesting.  Even though I was alive during this time, I do not remember the marches on Selma.  I was 5 years old at the time and my first and second grade classes were integrated.  The vocabulary is well within reach of the 5^th grade audience. Freedman does a great job of providing insight into the times and events.  The photos were amazing.  I found myself totally captivated by them.  This text has so many educational applications it is difficult to narrow them down.  Black History Month, encouraging activism, the civil rights movement, the nonviolent ways of Dr. King and his ministry council and 1960’s America.  It has a wealth of information which could be easily applied.

Tamaki, M., & Tamaki, J. (2014). This one summer (1.st ed.). New York, NY: First Second.

Up at her family’s cottage for the summer, Rose and her friend Windy spend their days watching horror movies, checking out the boys and spying on the older teens in town.  Rose’s mother is extremely depressed due to her miscarriage and eventually her father goes back to the city just to get away from her. When the local girl, Jenney, turns up pregnant, they realize that life will never be the same. The girls find out that being a woman is more complicated than Rose and Windy originally thought, and this one summer will show them what growing up really means.

With a lexile of 300 this graphic novel targets a reading audience of grades 9 – 12.  I enjoyed the illustrations: the pale shades of the images well represent the fluid nature of the teen aged years.   These seem to follow the thoughtful and reflective tone of the novel itself.  Personally I was more enchanted by the artwork and the detailing of the illustrator.  I would be cautious about allowing younger adolescents to read this on.  There are some sexual references and a significant amount of profanity that I feel might be inappropriate.  I’m not sure it would appeal to high school students as the protagonists are tween aged.

Ewing, L. (2014). The lure. New York, NY: HarperCollins /Balze.

15-year-old Blaise lives in a bad neighborhood, where gangs roam the streets. Blaise lives with her grandmother who works herself to death every night trying to keep a roof over their heads. There are battles waged over drugs and territories, and even innocent bystanders get shot if they happen to be in the wrong place, at the wrong time.  Blaise thinks that things would be easier if she joined a gang, and she’s set on joining C9 but things get only more dangerous when she becomes a member of Core 9 and tensions with a rival gang heat up. Trek, the head of Core 9, asks Blaise to be his "lure," the sexy bait he'll use to track down enemy gang members and exact revenge and Blaise can't resist the money and power. As Trek puts Blaise in increasingly dangerous situations, she begins to see that there's more to lose than she ever realized-including Satch, the one person who has the power to get under her skin. 

This book started out pretty strong with me.  At a lexile of   its target audience is grades 9 – 12.  Unfortunately the plot started to fall apart and it became way over dramatic.  The love triangle was terribly predictable and some of the sentax choices simply did not seem realistic within the setting.  The ending left way to many unanswered questions for me to feel satisfied with it.  I’m not sure I would necessarily recommend this book, but I might consider others by Ewing after previewing them.  One review referred to it as “stylish gangster porn.”

Kiely, B. (2015). The gospel of winter: A novel. San Francisco, CA: Margaret McElderry Books.

Aidan Donovan is a 16 year-old boy whose family is falling apart in front of him. His priest, Father Greg, begins to show him a lot of attention and he is the only adult that will take the time to listen to Aiden.  Aiden experiments with Adderall, his father’s wet bar, and the attentions of Father Greg.  Aidan’s  own life falls apart when he realizes that there is more to Father Greg’s attention than simple priestly concern.  Aidan turns to his friends for help to make sense of all that is going on. The novel ends with Aidan confronting Father Dooley and railing on the conspiracy to conceal the truth and allow the abuses to be covered up and the priests transferred.  Ultimately Aidan admits his secret.

The target audience for this book is 9^th – 12^th grade with a lexile of 780.  I found the story both intense and complicated.   It deals with sexual abuse within the Catholic Church, and the scandal and cover up that was all a part of that.  It addresses the shame and the confusion that occurs in the victims and the natural reaction of denial.  Some of the content might be a bit intense and quite tricky in a predominantly Catholic area.  I was unable to find any lesson suggestions for this text, however, I do think that it would work well for teaching about social issues.  For the child who has been abused, the characters would be extremely relatable.