Ali Reccommends~

Gone by: Michael Grant

Wow. That's really all I can say. WOW!

Gone is one of those books that you pick up thinking, "Hmm. This might be nice for a little light reading." And than you open it and get sucked into a worlwind of "What If's." "

What If" everyone over the age of 14 suddenly disapeared? "What If" you started developing mysterious "super powers"? "What If " all of a sudden there were no rules? No one to break up fights between angry kids? No one to put food on your plate every day? No one to keep things from getting dangerous, and bloody? Everyone but the kids are just Gone?

These are the questions that 14 year-old Sam and his fellow peers have to face and awnser, in this amazingly suspensful and captivating young adult novel. I reccommend this book to just about anyone. I warn you that if you have a weak stomach you might wantto skip over a few different pages. Grant does a marvalous job of illustrating what would very likely happen if you were to lock 400 kids in a small California town with no adult authority. Even with the surreal super powers that several of the towns kids have developed, Grant manages bot only to keep readers on the edge of their seats, but to make it realistic. No small feat, but one that he accopmlishes amazingly well in this dramatic page-turner. A great read for all ages. :)

Ali Reccommends~

Lock and Key by: Sarah Dessen

This over all was a great book. However I feel it important to start this review with th ething that I didn't like, so that I can end on a positive note. :)

There was a fair amount of language, some drinking, some drug use, and a few other things that aren't all that great.
However all of these things, while I don't really like them, give a very real elememt to this novel. Dessen does an amazing job of making her novels realistic and easy to relate to.

Ruby Cooper, a senior in highschool who has been living with her alchoholic mother, moving all the time, and with minimal contact to the outside world since first her father, than sister extract themselves from her life. When Ruby's mother suddenly go missing social services drop her off with a sister she hasn;t seen or heard from in 10 years. Lock and Key allows you to travel with her on a journey of self-discovery and acceptance.

It is beautifully and realistlically written to draw readers in and let them experiance a life most of us have never seen. Overall I give it a thumbs up. :)
~Ali~