Shit is Real

 Franz, Aisha. Shit is Real. 2018. 288p. ISBN 9781770463158.

Selma's boyfriend has just broken up with her, and she finds herself cast adrift, without much of a plan. She moves into a small apartment, and quickly notices there is a whole in the wall allowing her to view the unit next door. A glamorous woman lives there, but is rarely at home due to her world traveling schedule. That woman's cat, however, often crosses the balconies and comes to visit Selma. 

Suffering from depression and anxiety, Selma has trouble managing her own life. She left her job, and though her friends try to be helpful, it only makes her feel worse. When the woman next door drops the  keycard to her apartment on her way to yet another trip, Selma can't help herself and begins visiting the other apartment. She borrows clothes, does laundry, and feeds the cat. Selma also meets Anders, the man who used to date the woman next door, and she decides that maybe it's worth taking a chance on a new relationship.

Illustrated with simple yet very effective drawings, Selma's loneliness and confused state comes through loud and clear, and the life of a single woman never looks so depressing. Fans of life struggles will appreciate Selma's efforts as she attempts to rebound from her breakup.

Lost Soul, Be at Peace

Trash, Maggie. Lost Soul, Be at Peace. 2018. 187p. ISBN 978-0-7636-9419-7. Available in the graphic novels section of the library.

Maggie Trash has always been different from her family. Her father is a Federal Court judge, while her mother is a socialite who spends time at galas and fundraisers. Her older brother has left for college, and Maggie finds their large house very empty. Only her cat Tommi keeps her somewhat sane, but even then Maggie thinks she might be better off if she were insane, because then she wouldn't worry about finding out who she really is.

Over the last year, Maggie has grown progressively more depressed. Her grades are failing, and she's drastically changed her hair color. Her parents didn't say a thing. They are too self-involved to even notice that Maggie is suffering on the inside. Now in 11th grade, Maggie is in danger of flunking high school. A year ago Maggie realized she likes girls. She came out at school, but nobody cared. She hasn't come out to her family yet, simply because she doesn't think they would care either. Since then, she's felt very lonely.

One night, Tommi goes missing inside the house. While searching for her, Maggie finds a door she had never seen before. It takes her to a rundown house with piles of trash laying about. Returning through the hallway, she finds a boy armed with a gun inside her home. The boy has no substance. She learns that his name is Tommy, that he's looking forward to go to college, but that he's worried that by leaving to pursue his future he will be damning his mother to more abuse at the hand of his father. Tommy doesn't know where he's from, or why he's haunting Maggie, but he's pretty sure there's something he needs to do.

As Maggie and Tommy search for the missing cat, truths will be revealed, but they may not be the answers Maggie was looking for.

Beautifully illustrated, this memoir recounts seminal events in the life of Maggie Trash and attempts to find the source of her depression. Novels dealing with self-discovery include When My Sister Started Kissing and All the Bright Places.

It's Kind of a Funny Story

Vizzini, Ned. It's Kind of a Funny Story. 2006. 444p. ISBN 0-7868-5197-X. Available both as FIC VIZ on the library shelves and as an ebook on Overdrive.

When he was a kid, Craig loved drawing maps. For over a year, fifteen-years-old Craig Gilner has been spending most of his time preparing for possible admission to Executive Pre-Professional, a highly selective and elite high school in New York City. And when he wasn't doing that, he was with his best friend Aaron, smoking pot and pinning for Nia, Aaron's girlfriend. With that being done, however, Craig suddenly finds himself at a loss. He's working hard at his school, but he's only scoring 93%, while Aaron, who doesn't even try, is still top of the class.

Unable to cope and lacking strategies that would help him get through, Craig develops suicidal thoughts and ends up developing an eating disorder. Caught in a vicious circle, Craig ends up checking himself into a psychiatric facility near his house. Lacking room in the juvenile wing, Craig is placed instead on the 6th floor with adults, and he begins dealing with the issues that led him here. Onsite, he meets the other patients, including Noelle, another teenager who severely maimed herself to deal with the abuse she was suffering. Can Craig reconnects with his life and achieve some stability?

A running commentary of the events leading to and including his hospitalization told from Craig's perspective, It's Kind of a Funny Story provides a hilarious yet sobering look at mental illness and the pressures that children and teenagers experience in competitive educational environments. Readers will be cheering Craig on as he works through his problems and hope that he and Noelle are able to tame each other on their way out of the psychiatric unit. Fans of An Abundance of Katherines will appreciate the messy resolution that occurs at the end of the story.

Ray vs. the Meaning of Life

Stewart, Michael F. Ray Vs. the Meaning of Life. The Publishing House, 2018. 275p. 978-1-989-13300-2. Available at FIC STE on the library shelves.

When seventeen-year-old Ray’s grandmother is killed by a grizzly, Ray has one month to discover the meaning of life so he can inherit a million dollars and Sunny Day, the campground where he’s lived his entire life. If he can’t, both his mother and his uncle Jamie will get everything. His mother wants him gone. His twenty-five-year-old sister, Crystal, an avid hunter, wants him dead. Tina, the girl he likes and the daughter of Salminder, the one person who acts like a father, has bigger issues to contend with than helping Ray in his quest. The summer guests have begun to arrive, and there’s still an iceberg floating in the pool. Fortunately Grandmother left some help for Ray through a paid contract with Dalen, a celebrity motivational speaker. Armed with platitudes and an infectious positivity, Dalen sets to assist Ray in not only finding what the meaning of life is, but also truly discover who the real Ray is, and in the process help the entire campground community. But will one month be enough?

Filled with an unforgettable cast of characters, Ray’s struggles are realistic and are told with humor. Containing much of the “wise” sayings from countless Internet memes, the wisdom disgorged by Dalen still represents the fundamental building blocks of philosophy, and through them Ray eventually figures out that one person’s meaning of life is not necessarily another person’s. Every reader will empathize with Ray’s heartfelt struggles to discover the meaning of life, and by extension himself. A brief attempt at awkward sexual activity makes this better read for older students searching for themselves as well as those looking for a humorous book.

Every Exquisite Thing

Quick, Matthew. Every Exquisite Thing. 2016. 288p. 296 mins. Available as an audiobook from Overdrive.

Seventeen-year-old Nanette O’Hare’s life is unremarkable. Along with her friend Shannon, Nanette is the star of the varsity soccer team at her high school, and has scored more goals than all of the other players put together. In school, she is an average student, with no ideas on what her future will look like. During her junior year, her English teacher gives her his own personal copy of an old out-of-print book called The Bugglegum Reaper. In this book, the main character, Wrigley, rebels against society and bullies and rages about quitting, though it’s never made clear what he wants to quit. Nanette takes to the book and it instantly becomes her own personal bible.

When her English teacher mentions that the author lives in the same South New Jersey town they do, Nanette endeavors to meet him. A recluse, the author never allowed another run of his book to be printed and has chosen to prevent his work from circulating. He and Nanette strike an unlikely friendship. A few months later he introduces her to Alex, a poetic high schooler who also loves The Bubblegum Reaper. Soon the two of them are not exactly dating, but they are experiencing thoughtful conversations and moments.

Nanette can see that Alex is troubled, however, and when he decides to defend a middle schooler named Oliver just like Wrigley did in The Bubblegum Reaper, the law catches up with him and he is sent to Reform School. Nanette cannot contact him there. Troubled by this and by other experiences, Nanette soon discovers that to be true to oneself can be very expensive emotionally. As she burns bridges and experiences a meltdown of her relationships, Nanette feels even more lost than before. Can she muster within herself the courage to discover what she really wants and force the world to accept her as she really is?

And the Trees Crept In

Kurtagich, Dawn. And the Trees Crept In. 2016. 341p. ISBN 978-0-316-29870-4. Available as an audiobook on Overdrive.

Living in London, Fourteen-year-old Silla and her four-year old sister Nori have just run away from their abusive father, and seeking refuge, they turn to their aunt, Catherine. She lives at La Baume, a manor that has been in their family for generations. Located outside of a small village in England in the middle of Python Woods, the residence is decrepit and old, and Cath used to run an orphanage there.

Nori cannot talk or make a sound, and she was severely injured to the point where her collar bone and her arm are now deformed. Cath is happy to meet them, and welcomes them into her life. Over three years, Silla and Nori grow up but lack for nothing, except companionship. The manor does not have a telephone, nor a television. Electricity is provided by an old generator, which is broken more often than not. Still, it’s a better life than being stuck in a small apartment with a violent man.

Life in the manor becomes strange, however, and it becomes clear to Silla that something strange is taking place. Cath warns them not to go in Python Woods, ever. When Cath tells the story of the Creeper Man, who supposedly dwells in the forest, Silla becomes scared. Cath tells them the Creeper Man will never let them out of the woods. When Cath serves a birthday cake with living earthworms inside, Silla becomes even more scared. Then Cath barricades herself in the attic, and doesn’t come down. Suddenly there are weird sounds throughout the manor, almost as if it is haunted. A strange boy, Gowan, arrives from the woods and offers to help them. Food begins to run out. And all the while, the trees are physically getting closer to La Baume as the house itself appears to be slowly sinking in the earth. And Nora. Poor Nora, she should have a normal childhood. Instead, she is hungry all the time, and she is the only one who can see that the Creeper Man is in fact already in the manor. Silla must discover the source of the Creeper Man’s power before Nora and her succumb to the threat represented by the trees creeping ever closer …

The horrific atmosphere of La Baume builds slowly, but as details are revealed the terrifying nature of what the girls face is revealed. Fans of horror will definitively want to get their hands on this scary book!

The Unlikely Hero of Room 13 B

Toten, Teresa. The Unlikely Hero of Room 13 B. 2013. 272p. ISBN 9780385678346. Available as an audiobook from Overdrive.

Adam Ross has problems. Lots of them. So many of them, in fact, that he meets with a support group once a week. The other kids in the group, like him, are dealing with obsessive-compulsive disorder, and for each one it manifests in different ways. For Adam, it’s crossing thresholds, having to count series of odd numbers, and performing actions in the same way every time. Adam’s home life is also hard. His mother and father divorced years ago, and his mother also suffers from mental health issues but Adam’s not sure how to help her. His father remarried, and he and his new wife have a son, Wendel but also known as Sweetie, who has panic attacks and needs his big brother to help him. Adam’s plate is full, and just making it through one day is tough enough.

That’s when Robyn joins his group. He is as drawn to her as a moth is to a flame, and it becomes his goal in life to protect her. His OCD can’t let him enjoy this growing relationship, however, and he is completely focused on what it would feel like to kiss her. Not that a girl like that could ever fall in love with a guy like him. He can’t even imagine what a normal relationship would feel like. The group, under the leadership of their therapist, adopts a superhero persona, and suddenly Adam becomes Batman, while Robyn is, well, Robin. As Adam learns to navigate a complicated relationship along with the daily challenges that being severely OCD present, he must also deal with the threatening letters his mother is receiving and the hoarding that’s turning their house into a dump. Can Robyn truly be the anchor that helps him get better? Can Batman really save Robyn? More importantly, can Batman save himself?

What World is Left

Polak, Monique. What World is Left. 2008. 215p. ISBN 978-1-55143-847-4. Available as an eBook from Overdrive.

In the First World War the Dutch were neutral, and they fully to retain the same status if Germany went to war against France and England again. Only that wasn’t the case, and Hitler’s armies invaded Holland, Belgium and France. The Dutch bravely resisted for five days but then surrendered in the face of overwhelming force. Suddenly, the Jewish population of the Netherlands was under Nazi subjugation.

For Anneke Van Raalte and her family, life doesn’t change much at first. Sure, there are food shortages, and they now have to wear the yellow star, but her father still works as an artist for the newspaper. Soon, however, strict rules are implemented. Her father loses his job, and the entire family receives orders to report to the train station to be deported to a Nazi model city for Jews, Theresienstadt.

Packed in cattle wagons, Anneke can’t believe that things will get worse. But concentration camp life is hard on her and her little brother. Working hard every day, Anneke soon loses hope of ever seeing freedom again. As more and more people are brought into the camp, trains collect even more people to take them to the East, and an uncertain fate spoken in whispers. As the tide of war turns and Germany is put on the defensive first on the Eastern Front, then in the West with the Allied landing, German leaders attempt to put a better public face on their camps. The Danish Red Cross requests a visit to Theresienstadt, and Anneke’s father is coerced into participating in the sprucing up of the camp with new paints and “public works” that will make life appear better than it is.

While this bold faced lie the Nazis purport to present to the world bothers Anneke, her father’s participation in this propaganda effort bothers her more. What is more important? Keeping one’s family alive at all costs, even if it means helping the enemy conceal the true conditions of the camp, or stand up for what is right, even if it may cost you your life? Anneke has a life or death choice to make if she hopes to survive the war.

Partially based on the life of the author’s mother in Theresienstadt during the Second World War, Anneke’s story is one of survival and its costs. For another story of Dutch citizens caught in the webs of the Second World War, take a look at The Girl with the Blue Coat. Monique Polak also wrote a great contemporary story about a girl who loves boxing, Straight Punch.

The Metamorphosis

Kafka, Franz. The Metamorphosis. 2011. 201p. 159 mins. ISBN 9781937028121. Available as an audiobook on Overdrive.

As a traveling salesman, Gregor Samsa rarely sleeps at home. On the few occasions he gets to sleep in his bed, he relishes the experience. So when he awakens in his own bed one morning only to discover that he’s been transformed into a giant insect, Gregor is at first concerned that he is late for work. Somehow he slept through his alarm and missed his train for work, and surely his manager is already on his way here to see what the matter is and ask why Gregor is being such a bad employee. The metamorphosis from a human being to a bug is only of secondary importance to Gregor, who is the family’s sole breadwinner. He really must get ready for work.

But moving around as an insect is simply too hard, especially if one is not used to it. Soon the manager comes to Gregor’s bedroom door, and he orders that Gregor open his door. Encouraged by his parents through the left door as well as by his sister through the right door, Gregor struggles in his insect body to unlock, then open the door. His sudden appearance when the door finally opens shocks the manager, his parents, and his sister. Gregor quickly loses his job, has trouble finding food he likes, and finds himself unable to communicate with his loved ones.

As Gregor’s life slowly devolves, he remains as sharp as ever, but can only witness the absurd circumstances that rendered him even more of an outsider than he already was, alienated from all but his own thoughts. Gregor’s guilt and loneliness is not enough to encourage him to leave his family, and as he observes new family dynamics change, he realizes that he’s the one holding them back. A classic for the ages, Kafka’s story of alienation remains current even today.

Aftermath

Kensie, Clara. Aftermath. 2016. 256p. ISBN 978-1440598708. Available at FIC KEN on the library shelves.

Twelve-years-old Charlotte was a cheerleader at a baseball game when she walked away with a stranger. He kidnapped her and kept her confined in his attic. For four years, Charlotte was sexually abused by the man she calls the Keeper. Found alive after the Keeper fell down his stairs and got hurt, Charlotte is reunited with her parents and her twin sister, Alexa.

During her captivity, she imagined Alexa fulfilling the dreams from the Dream Book they wrote together. Instead, her father had a memorial service for her, divorced, remarried to a woman barely ten years older than herself and they have a baby named after her. Her mother became an alcoholic and hoped she was still alive. Her sister stopped cheerleading, fell in with the bad crowd, just returned from detox, and thought she was better off dead.

Her Keeper has arrested but he refuses to talk about the girl he murdered before catching Charlotte. Charlotte can’t stop imagining his hands closing on her throat. Can Charlotte free herself of her demons and make things right? How do you reconnect to the life you left behind after so much time and so much trauma?

Speak

Anderson, Laurie Halse. Speak. 1999. 198p. ISBN 978-0-374-37152-4. Available at FIC AND on the library shelves.

Melinda has always been engaged with her friends and family. During the summer before 9th grade, however, she attends a barn party with her friend Rachel, has too much to drink, and is raped by an incoming senior who attends Merryweather High. In pain and in a panic, she called 911 but was not able to speak in the phone due to shock. Her friend Rachel found her and realized that she had called the police. The party broke up and everyone ran away, including Melinda. Now she’s the only one, along with her aggressor, that knows what the real reason for the 911 call was. Her friends all think she simply wanted to ruin everyone else’s fun.

Ostracized by her friends and feeling like damaged goods, Melinda must find a way to survive her freshman year at school. Art is the only subject that offers her a ray of sunshine in an otherwise tedious and depressing day. Even her parents have noticed the change in her, but don’t know how to reach her. Melinda refuses to communicate her problems and her needs, and the only friend she makes, Heather, eventually drifts away as well. As the year progresses, will Melinda rediscover her own voice?

Melinda provides a contrasting response to a very traumatic event than Hermione did in Exit, Pursued by a Bear. Both teens are strong in their own ways, but Melinda interiorizes her assault and does not possess the confidence to actively deal with it and the rumors that swirl around that fateful evening. But in the end she finds her voice and, like Hermione, is able to talk about it. Readers who appreciated Melinda’s strength should also look up Naked, the story of a teenage prostitute who ran away from home and is now trying to reintegrate school two years later.

Highly Illogical Behavior

Whaley, John Corey. Highly Illogical Behavior. 2016. 256p. ISBN 0525428186. Available as an eBook on Overdrive.

Solomon has not left in house in three years. Suffering from severe panic attacks, he had a meltdown in middle school, and the only way to relieve the stress was to lay down in the fountain. That was Solomon’s last day outside. Now sixteen, Solomon lives at home, attends virtual school, and is fascinated by board games and Star Trek: The Next Generation reruns on television. His parents worked with him but they have pretty given up on him ever leaving the house. With his grandmother as the only visitor, Solomon leads a quiet life. And as far as he is concerned, that’s the life he wants to lead.

Lisa wants to get in the second best psychology program in the country, in a university on the East Coast. She plans on submitting an original essay that explains her personal connection with mental illness, but what could she write about? Winning this contest would provide her with a full scholarship and her ticket out of Upland, California. She comes upon a clever solution she she discovers that Solomon has not left his house in three years. She will become his friend, help him get better and hopefully get him outside his home. This will make incredible writing and compelling reading.

Lisa thus contacts Solomon, and he reluctantly accepts to meet with her. Soon, Clark, Lisa’s boyfriend, joins them and the three of them grow inseparable. But as Clark and Solomon, who came out to Lisa, become closer, Lisa begins to feel like a third wheel. Solomon appears willing to take more risks, and is even looking forward to the swimming pool his grandmother is building in the backyard. At the same time, however, Lisa’s life seems to spin out of control and she fears she’s losing her boyfriend to Solomon. With lies underpinning the basis of their relationship, can Solomon, Clark, and Lisa live a happily ever after?

Exit, Pursued by a Bear

Johnson, E. K. Exit, Pursued by a Bear. 2016. 387 mins, 248p. ISBN 978-1-10199458-0. Available as an audiobook on Overdrive.

Palermo Heights is a small Canadian high school where cheerleading is the most competitive and highly rated sport. Forget football, basketball and hockey. Cheerleading is the sport every serious athlete participates in. For three years Hermione (her parents were big Harry Potter fans) has worked hard. The only freshman with her friend Polly to join the varsity squad, she has climbed the cheerleading pyramid to become captain her senior year. Even Leo, her boyfriend, is a member of the squad.

Every summer, during the last two weeks of August, cheerleading teams from many Ontario high schools meet at a camp where they train to get ready for the new season. The Palermo squad is looked up to, but when the time comes to share a dedication at the beginning of camp Hermione aims to end once and for all a curse that has plagued the team since the death of a student seven years ago: Every year, one of the cheerleaders has become pregnant and has had to drop out of the squad. This is the year that the curse ends.

However, when someone slips a drug in Hermione’s drink and then rapes her, she becomes that girl from the curse. Pregnant, Hermione has some hard decisions to make. How does she regain control when she can’t remember anything that happened that night? How does she deal with Leo’s jealousy and the rumors that spread around school? Can she avoid becoming this year’s cautionary tale cheerleaders will talk about at future camps? And will a run to the provincial cheer championship trigger her into a total meltdown when she has to return to the site of the attack? Readers will appreciate the hard choices Hermione makes to deal with this situation and end her senior year on a hopeful but inconclusive note.

Readers who enjoyed this book will appreciate Speak, where Melinda finds herself in a similar situation but deals with it in a completely different way.

Fat Angie

Charlton-Trujillo, E. E. Fat Angie. 2013. 264p. ISBN 0763661198. Available as an eBook from Overdrive.

Angie has never been thin, but she’s always had her sister and her adopted brother to protect her from bullies and those who torment the weak and the different. Her sister was dedicated and worked hard towards her goals. A champion basketball player, she turned down a full scholarship and joined the military before being deployed to Iraq.

Nine months ago, she went missing in Iraq and has not been seen since. Angie’s world ended on that day. Called Fat Angie at school by the well-meaning kids and worse names by beautiful Stacey and her clique, Angie attempted suicide during a school assembly, in front of everyone. With divorced parents who don’t care, with a brother now on the skids as well, and with her sister gone, Angie thought she had nothing left to live for and wanted to make a statement. Only she didn’t die. She survived her attempt, and had to return to school after a bout with therapy. Her miserable existence continues, and only the hope that her sister will be found alive sustains her.

Then KC Romance arrives in her little Ohio town. KC is everything Angie is not: bold, outspoken, pretty, thin. But, like Angie, she’s got several secrets. She’s a cutter. She’s gay-girl gay. And she’s attracted to Angie, whom she does not see as fat but rather as exceptional. With someone new in her life, someone who loves her for whom she is, Angie’s life has just gotten more complicated.

This book really has it all: bullying, divorce, homosexuality, body issues, harassment, parental neglect, self-harm, depression, sports competition, and intense sibling rivalry. Readers interested in any of these topics will find their fill by reading the sad, tragic, but ultimately redeeming life of fat Angie.

Rebecca

Du Maurier, Daphne. Rebecca. 2006. First published in 1938. 393p. ISBN 0-380-73040-5. Available at FIC DU on the library shelves.

When she first meet Maxim de Winter, owner of the large English estate of Manderley, the narrator is suitably impressed. A lady companion to a wealthy American, they have been spending time in Monte Carlo entertaining high society and gossiping around. Paid ￡90 a year, this is a large sum for an orphan such as herself. Maxim and her begin courting, and soon he reveals his love for her. Nearly twice her elder, Maxim was previously married to Rebecca, who died tragically in a boat accident and was found drowned nearly a year ago.

Coming back to stay at the estate, the new Mrs. de Winter meets the staff of Manderley, who were all enamored and retain fond memories of Rebecca. Especially, Mrs. Danvers, the head housekeeper. A maid in the service of Rebecca’s family, Mrs. Danvers takes every opportunity to note to Mrs. de Winter every way in which she is lacking, pointing out that Rebecca was in every way better. Rebecca was more cultured, more sophisticated, more beautiful, more well-bred, and more entertaining. And Maxim is growing distant again, leaving his new wife to fend for herself Life for the new Mrs. de Winter becomes very hard, and everywhere she feels the presence of the ghost of Rebecca.

Then a shipwreck happens in the bay near Manderley, and in the investigation it is discovered that the first Mrs. de Winter’s boat has sunk in the same spot, and her body is aboard. So who was the woman who was identified by Max as his dead wife? Why did the book sink? What did happened to Rebecca?

A psychological thriller wrapped in a gothic novel, the mysteries contained in Rebecca will entertain the readers and leave them pondering how decisions taken a long time ago influence events later on.

Speed and Your Brain: The Incredibly Disgusting Story

Cobb, Allan B. Speed and Your Brain: The Incredibly Disgusting Story. Part of the Incredibly Disgusting Drugs series. 2000. 48p. ISBN 0-8239-3253-2. Available at 362.29 COB on the library shelves.

Though opioids remain an epidemic now afflicting New Hampshire and the rest of the nation, there are other drugs out there that are dangerous and that can have a serious physical and psychological impact on users. Stimulants such as amphetamine and methamphetamine, also known as Speed, are manufactured illegally in makeshift labs and then distributed and sold to users. But what are the effects on the brain?

Speed makes the user high by firing neurons and preventing the inhibitors from intercepting messages. The user experiences euphoria and mental alertness, but soon becomes exhausted and depressed. Tolerance builds and the user must consume more and more just to reach the same feelings. Other physical symptoms include hyperactivity, irritability, excitability, anxiety, paranioa, and possible violence. Heart attacks and high blood pressure are also possible. Long-term effects include schizophrenia, malnutrition, kidney and lung diseases, chronic hallucinations and depression, and even death.

Weaning is possible, but it is expensive and hard on the former user. The best route is to never start Speed in the first place. But if you are using, there is help available. Talk to your physician, or contact one of the many organizations dedicated to helping addicts.

Chopsticks: A Novel

Anthony, Jessica and Rodrigo Corral. Chopsticks: A Novel. 2012. 272p. ISBN 978-1-59514-435-5. Available at FIC ANT on the library shelves.

Raised as a piano prodigy by her single father, Gloria has travelled the world playing in the most prestigious concert halls. A rigorous schedule and her father’s overbearing presence has caused her to disappear. The story begins with Gloria’s disappearance and traces back her life over the last few years, when she meets Francisco and begins to question whether music should be all that there is in her life.

Told mainly in images, this is a fascinating way to tell a story without using words. Advertisements, excerpts from magazines, youtube videos, photos, drawings, all are used to convey the depth of Gloria and Francisco’s love.

If you enjoyed this book, you will like The Lucy Variations by Sara Zarr, which is also about a musical prodigy and her constrained life.

What Happened to Cass McBride?

Giles, Gail. What Happened to Cass McBride? 2006. 212p. ISBN 978-0-316-16638-6. Available at FIC GIL on the library shelves.

Cass McBride is the queen of her high school. As a freshman, her poise, enthusiasm, and looks made her the envy of every girl, and the desire of every boy. She dates sport captains based on the season. And she’s looking forward to being the first junior ever elected to Prom Queen. Friendly but reserved, outgoing but secretive, Cass is like her father, callous and driven.

Imagine her surprise when David Kirby, the school loser, asks her out. She turns him down gently, but she writes a caustic note to her best friend about the bottom feeder who even dared to talk to her, and leaves it in her desk to be found next period. Too late, however, she realizes that David has grabbed the note and read it.

The next morning, Cass finds out that David has committed suicide and had pinned a death note to his chest. Was she the cause of his suicide? David’s big brother, Kyle, certainly thinks so, and vows revenge on Cass.

Kyle kidnaps Cass, and buries her alive. He wants her to suffer as much as he and David did. With a miserable home life and dysfunctional parents. Kyle and David were each other’s support, but when Kyle left for college David was left alone to fend his mother’s verbal and emotional assaults. Now, it’s time to avenge all the wrongs in the world, and Kyle doesn’t care how far he will have to go to derive satisfaction.

With Cass in the ground and time running out, can the police find out who abducted her and rescue her from her grave before she dies in it?

A great psychological thriller, this book will keep you on the edge of your seat the entire time, even if the conclusion leaves you wanting. For more, consider All the Bright Places.

Reality Boy

King, A. S. Reality Boy. 2013. 353p. ISBN 9780316222709. Available as an eBook on Overdrive.

Gerald is very angry. He has always been angry. The third child, Gerald was an accident, but that didn’t make him angry. What did make him angry was his sister Tasha. Tasha, the eldest child and seven years older, has always hated Gerald. And not in the way siblings sometimes hate each other. In the visceral sense of the word. She hated Gerald, and on several occasions tried to kill him.

Gerald’s mother decided that it would help their situation if she participated in Network Nanny, a reality show about a nanny providing help to struggling families. The show came, and Gerald became the focus of this dysfunctional family. The cameras were rolling when Gerald crapped in his mother’s closet, on the table, on Tasha’s dolls. As a five years old, he became known as the Crapper.

Twelve years later, Tasha still lives in the basement. Gerald’s second sister, also a victim of Tasha, left as soon as she could and now goes to college far away in Scotland. His mother is still in denial with Tasha’s psychopathic tendencies. His father is still disconnected from the family. And Gerald is still angry. He’s in the special ed class at school, though he can learn perfectly well. He is still known as the Crapper at school. But now there’s Register 1 girl, Hannah. Gerald is intrigued by her and attracted to her. He works register 7 at the local arena, and the distance is necessary between the two. For Gerald knows he’s on the borderline to an angry burst that would land him in jail. His therapist tells him to stay away from girls, he can’t handle them right now. But Hannah is still there, and Gerald just can’t push her away. Can she help him discover his true self and reconnect to the world that exists beyond the Crapper?