You Have Seven Messages by Stewart Lewis

I am always amazed to read a book written by a man whose narrator is a fourteen year old girl.  I was delighted by Stewart Lewis’s new book where Moon, also known affectionately as Luna and Moon River, tells the tale of finding her deceased mother’s cell phone a year after her untimely death.

Amazingly her cell phone still contains the last seven voice messages her mother received before she was killed tragically by a taxi in Manhattan’s East Village.

Moon’s father is a well-known film director.  Her mother  had been a fashion model totally committed to Moon and her much younger brother Tile.  Imagine Moon’s shock when her father arrives at her summer camp and delivers the news, “Your mother is gone and she’s never coming back.”

 As Moon begins to piece together parts of her mother’ s private life from the messages she received shortly before her death, the image she has had of her beloved mom begins to waiver.  Will her world crumble as she learns more?  Read this realistic fiction novel to find out!

 

 

Devine Intervention by Martha Brockenbrough

Jerome Hancock and Heidi Devine are pictured on the front cover.  Jerome was killed quite by accident when his cousin Mike completely missed his mark and accidentally shot an arrow into Jerome’s head.

Jerome has been assigned as part of an angel rehabilitation program to Heidi Devine as her guardian angel.  Poor Jerome--he completely misunderstands his duties! He constantly talks to Heidi.  There is a commandment for guardian angels to never talk directly to the people they are entrusted with protecting. She has been hearing Jerome’s voice in her head for years.  Poor Heidi!  She thinks perhaps she is crazy!

When Heidi drowns trying to rescue her dog on a lake with thin ice, Jerome over reacts  in trying to save her.  He pulls her soul from her body.  Their two souls wander.  Heidi actually helps Jerome to understand what he has done completely wrong in being a guardian angel in his inability to follow the Ten Commandments for the Dead.

Is there any hope for Jerome or will he end up in one of the nine levels of hell?  Will he be able to save Heidi before her soul is lost forever?  Read Devine Intervention  to find out!

 

No Safety in Numbers by Dayna Lorentz

What could go wrong on an ordinary trip to the mall? There are always lots of stores, shopping, food courts, meeting friends, avoiding enemies, and trying to stay clear of your family when your friends are around, right?


No one would think of a bomb being planted at a mall, right? What if it was a different kind of bomb? What if it contained a biological weapon. . .something that could make everyone in the mall VERY ill. .  . . .maybe even kill people?

What if the Senator who is visiting the mall with her husband and daughter Lexi, makes the wrong decision in the early minutes of the "attack"?

Read this book to find out how four different students suffer through the ordeal.

Son by Lois Lowry

It's been nearly 20 years since Lois Lowry's The Giver left its mark on a generation of readers. If you have read The Giver, you've been left wondering what became of Jonas. As readers remember, Jonas's assignment was passed over as all the other year twelve children received theirs. It wasn't until later that he was told he would be the society's next receiver of memory. But The Giver leaves the reader hanging. Son reconnects us with Jonas and the child who was left in his care--Gabriel.

Son begins with the story of Claire. At her year twelve celebration, she is given the role of birthmother. Claire knew her poor ability at school had contributed to this less than desirable position in the society. Along with the other newly deemed birthmothers, she will be a vessel for the community. Her product (her son) will be taken from her and raised in the nurturing center until his first year when he will be given to the couple who will raise him.

Claire's body isn't really designed for childbirth so after her son is born and assigned the number 36, she is classified as defective as a birthmother and reassigned to the fish hatchery.

Somehow during this change, Claire was never told to take the pills that all others must take. Since she doesn't take them, she can feel emotions that others can't. Her emotional tie to her son is very strong and she finds ways to watch him in the nurturing center. There she finds he isn't able to sleep well. When he turns one, he isn't assigned parents. Rather, a nurturer takes him home in the evenings to play with his son and daughter. The nurturer's son just happens to be Jonas!

Read this final book in The Giver series to see what happens!

Stolen by Lucy Christoper

From the very first sentence of Stolen  I was drawn into this intense novel about the kidnapping of  Gemma, the narrator of the story. 

                “You saw me before I saw you.  In the airport, that day in August, you had that look in your eyes, as though you wanted something from ,me, as though you wanted it for a long time.  No one had ever looked at me like that before, with that kind of intensity.  It unsettled me, surprised me, I guess.  Those blue, blue eyes, icy blue, looking back at me as if I could warm them up.  They’re pretty powerful, you know, those eyes, pretty beautiful, too.”

 When Gemma allows Ty to purchase her cup of coffee, she can’t anticipate that he is about to drug her and kidnap her.  Ty has planned this attack on her.  There are disguises for them both hidden in another part of the airport.  Security cameras at the airport will never be able to find how she has suddenly disappeared.

Where will he take her? What are his motives? Does he seek a ransom” No, his motives are much darker than wanting money from her parents.

Read this captivating account of Gemma’s ordeal.

Recommended for mature readers.  Some incidents of strong language in this novel.  Stolen  is a Printz Honor Book.