Belzhar by Meg Wolitzer

Mature readers should really enjoy this book.  Warning- -strong language is used infrequently in this book.

Jamaica (Jam for short) Gallahue has suffered a devastating loss.  Teeve Maxwell was Jam’s first love.  The loss of him has completely derailed Jam.  Since Jam is still in mourning after a year, upon the advice of her family and her therapist, she is sent to The Wooden Box, a special type of boarding school in Vermont.

“Although no one comes right out and says it, The Wooden Box is sort of a halfway house between a hospital and a regular school.”

The transition to this special school isn't the easiest for Jam.  The other “unhinged” fellow students have their own personal traumas through which to work.

When Jam is selected with five other students for a special English class entitled “Special Topics,” Jam’s roommate DJ is crushed.  She has been at The Wooden Box for two years and has never been offered the opportunity to be in this class.

Mrs. Quenell has decided since this will be her last semester teaching, the sole author the five students in Special Topics English will explore is Sylvia Plath.  They will be studying her poetry as well as her most famous work The Bell Jar. Each student is given a very special red leather bound journal in which to write his/her thoughts.

What they don’t know initially is that the journals transport them back to the trauma with which they are suffering.  The five discover that all of them are experiencing the same effect of the journal writing.  They decide to term this out of body experience “going to Belzhar”-- thus the title of this book.

Will traveling to Belzhar help each of them cope or will it induce more trauma into their already troubled lives? Read this title to find out!

Mind Games by Kiersten White

I liked this book a lot. However, I would only recommend it to advanced readers. Why? The manner in which the book is written can be quite confusing for a less able reader.

Chapters alternate being told by two sisters. Annie, the older sister who is blind, has the ability to “see” things before they happen and her younger sister, Sofia, nicknamed Fia.

Fia has the uncanny ability to immediately tell if something is right or wrong.

Besides alternating the narrator for each chapter, the author also decided to have Annie and Sofia flashback to different times in their lives. The flashbacks are not sequential.

Their parents were killed tragically in a car accident. Their Aunt Ellen has placed them in an “academy” for specially gifted students. Sofia immediately knows the “academy” is wrong for the two of them. Annie has been promised the best doctors to help correct her blindness. She insists they stay.

What neither girl realizes is that they are being used by a very powerful man- Mr. Keane.

By making Sofia use her special gifts to predict the stock market and other things to his advantage, Mr. Keane threatens Sofia with the mistreatment or death of her blind sister if she doesn’t comply. He is playing a powerful mind game.

Mr. Keane’s demands escalate to even include murder! How will the girls ever be able to escape his hold on them? Read this mind bender to find out!

 

Apollo's Lights

Written by Heather Baer, this title is a unique blend of realistic and paranormal fiction.

A tight knit group of seniors are starting to pair off and become couples. When a new boy arrives at Enterprise High School, Makayla is instantly drawn to him. Blair is quite handsome with honey blonde hair and hazel eyes--just like Makayla's.

As Makayla's eighteen birthday approaches, she begins to experience frightening nightmares which are all too real. She knows that something is terribly wrong. Headaches compound her discomfort. Someone is in grave danger, but until Blair helps her sort out what is happening to her, there is no relief from the terrifying, exhausting dreams. The emergence of Makayla's gifts makes her character remarkable.

Highly effective dialogue among the characters adds to be realistic feel of the novel. The use of effective vocabulary helps the reader envision the episodes that Makayla experiences. The ending clearly indicates a sequel will follow!