“Jellicoe Road,” by Melina Marchetta

“Jellicoe Road,” by Melina Marchetta is a very unusual book about the parallels between the lives of two groups of children, and the effect that their decisions and the unique place called Jellicoe Road has on them. The complex social interactions, foreshadowing, and strange clues in the story makes the it slightly difficult to understand, especially at first, but it gives the novel a powerful effect.

The main character is Taylor Markham, a seventeen year old girl who was abandoned by her mother at a gas station on Jellicoe Road when she was eleven. Fortunately she was found by a family friend named Hannah and taken to live at Jellicoe School, a selective state run school for clever children with troubled pasts. Read the rest »

“The Other Side of the Island,” by Allegra Goodman

“The Other Side of the Island,” by Allegra Goodman is a dystopian style science fiction novel about a girl living in a future time when humans have started enclosing areas of the Earth as a way of dealing with the ruined environment.

Honor and her family have always been slightly eccentric. Although they live on Island 365 in the Tranquil Sea, Honor can sometimes remember a time when they lived somewhere else: somewhere where it snowed and the islands were not enclosed, but open to the sky. Read the rest »

Interview with Author Susan Beth Pfeffer

About Susan Beth Pfeffer

Born in New York City, and raised on Long Island, Susan Beth Pfeffer moved to Middletown, NY immediately following the publication of her first children’s book, Just Morgan, and continued to live there as she wrote another 74 books for kids and teens. Read the rest »

“Found,” by Margaret Peterson Haddix

“Found,” by Margaret Peterson Haddix is book one of “The Missing” series, a science fiction fantasy about a group of children who discover that they have been stolen from various time periods using advanced time travel technology.

Thirteen years ago a plane full of infants landed at jetway of Sky Trails Air. There was no pilot of flight crew on board, and after the babies were removed from the plane it disappeared. Careful scrutiny of the flight records indicated that the plane had never landed. Even the radar records show nothing at all. Read the rest »

“Emmy and the Home for Troubled Girls,” by Lynne Jonell

“Emmy and the Home for Troubled Girls,” by Lynne Jonell is a delightful book about a young girl named Emmy and her adventures with a group of intelligent rats that have mysterious powers. This book is the second in a series that began with “Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat.”

When Emmy first met Raston, he was a sulky and obnoxious classroom pet that liked to bite. But the first time Emmy was bitten by Raston she discovered an amazing thing about Raston: people who are bit by the rat can understand Rat speech.

Emmy helped Raston to escape, and later the strange powers of Raston and other unusual rats helped Emmy to free her household from the sneaky influence of Miss Barmy, an evil nanny who had been poisoning Emmy’s parents so that she could get the family fortune and send Emmy off to the Home for Troubled Girls. Read the rest »