Sanctum

By Madeleine Roux 

     The perfect second book in the Asylum series.  This book does a great job of tying up all of the loose ends from Asylum.  Dan, Abby and Jordan are still in contact and decide to return to Brookline and the source of their nightmares.  They meet up on campus during a prospective students weekend, strange things happen right away when one student begins to chant "Daniel Crawford" then jumps out of the window.  Dan and his friends have been paired with current students who are supposed to show them the way around campus and keep them wrangled.  Dan and his friends have other ideas of course, they want to hunt down some addresses and search for clues and a resolution to their nightmares.  

     The trio decide to visit the first abandoned house and find nothing extraordinary, but Dan does begin seeing glimpses of the past again.  Somebody is working against the group, by stealing information from the library and trying to keep them contained within campus.  The deeper they dig, the more convinced they become that something is not right.  A secret cult has taken over the school and the surrounding community.  Small subversive acts like attacking Dan at the carnival quickly spiral to more aggressive acts.  They are being controlled by a hypnotist and a mysterious stone that has ties to the Warden.  Anything that ties to Daniel Crawford it sure to be evil and deal with mind control.  Dan and his friends discover a lot of information on the early life of the warden, and slowly unravel his secrets.  But, will they be able to discover everything they need to know to save their lives?  Will they be able to evade the Scarlet Cloaked figures?  Will more people die? 

     This is a fitting sequel to "Asylum".  I enjoyed the story telling and the deeper understanding of the characters.  It is a fairly quick read, but the content might be a little gory for younger readers, so would keep it for mature 7th graders and up.  I am giving the book a 4.5 stars for that reason, I just wish that it had a little less gore so younger readers could enjoy the tale.  Basically, if you enjoy creepy, scary and a little gory you would love this book.  

Links

Author - Madaleine Roux

Hypnosis

Secret Societies in College

Asylum

By Madeleine Roux 

     Finally, I was able to track a copy of this book and finished reading this interesting first book in the series.  This is when Jordan, Abby and Dan first meet during the New Hampshire College Prep program.  A program letting interested high school students check out college life.  The trio meet at Brookline Dorm, which used to house a psychiatric hospital.  Dan is an introvert, he has questions about his life before his adopted parents, and is fascinated with history.  Abby is artistic and beautiful.  Jordan is a math wiz, who is afraid to show his true self to his parents.  How do these three very different people become such fast friends.  

     On one of their first nights at Brookline, they happen upon an old office in the west wing.  Full of old paperwork, pictures, and a hidden stair well that is crying to be investigated.  What they find on the multiple trips to the west wing can be very disturbing.  For one the old warden at the hospital was shares Dan's name.  The warden had taken it upon himself to cure criminally insane patients through rather extreme measures.  One such inmate is Abby's Aunt Lucy and another patient is the notorious mass killer "The Sculpture".  When people start missing and some people are killed, the program is in danger of being cancelled.  Friendships are pushed to the brink and a crazy killer is on the loose.  Of course things get interesting when Dan is at the center of all of the killings and his lapses in memory are not helping matters.  How are these mysterious texts going out and putting people in danger? Who is behind all of the drama?  

     This book is a good build up to the rest of the series, I will definitely be reading "Sanctum" quickly.  I did enjoy this book, I am giving it a 4 out of 5 stars and would suggest it for grades 7th and up.  The protagonist is a young man and it is told from his view point, so it would be accessible to either gender.  This is another book that if you are open to the supernatural and believe in ghosts you would enjoy this book and the whole series.  

Links 

Author - Madeleine Roux

Images from Brookline Asylum

College Prep Programs for high school students

One for Sorrow

By Mary Downing Hahn

     This is a very thought provoking story.  I picked it up by happenstance one day subbing in a classroom.  I had just finished a book and this happened to be laying around, once I started reading I was hooked.  The new girl in town inadvertently becomes friends with a very unlikable person. Annie quickly regrets becoming acquainted with Elsie and wants to extract herself from the relationship, but Elsie will not let her go.  Annie gets her chance to remove herself from Elsie's grasp, when Elsie is absent for a week, and quickly shifts her friendship to Rosie's group.  Unfortunately, Rosie and her gang are "Mean Girls"  and belittle and bully Elsie. 

    It seems like overnight that Annie has a new friend group and begins to bully Elsie, and Elsie is left once again friendless.  Things quickly change, however, when a deadly Spanish Influenza hits Mount Pleasant and people begin to die at an alarming rate.  As schools are cancelled and the kids are left to their own devices, Rosie comes up with a plan to get free sweets, why not visit some of the wakes, and pretend to know the individual in the coffin?  They even learn to peruse the obituaries the night before and garner information about the deceased.  On one of these ventures, they happen to run upon Elsie alone in the park.  Elsie is wearing a flue mask, in an attempt to protect her from contracting the flue bug.  Rosie decides it would be fun to harass Elsie and chase her down.  After surrounding her and singing about her getting influenza, stealing her mask, Elsie is left crying in the park;  Annie and the rest of her friends feel bad,yet vow to never speak of this again.  The secret is kept until, they visit one wake with out forewarning and it happens to be Elsie...       Annie believes she is truly done with the worries of Elsie, but is she?  

     An accident that results in a concussion while sledding in the cemetery, another secret and somehow Elsie returns to haunt Annie from the grave.  Elsie is out for revenge!  She wants Annie back as her one true friend and she wants Rosie and the gang to pay for her death.  suffice it to say Elsie is a very angry ghost.  She coerces Annie to do her evil work, and puts words in her mouth that Annie would never say.  Annie's behavior and outbursts reach such a point that she is sent to a convalescent care home, so she can get the rest that she needs to recuperate.  Elsie follows her and continues to make her mind miserable.  Fortunately, there is help in the guise of another patient.  One who claims to be able to see and communicate with ghosts, one who says she can help Elsie transition to her afterlife.  Step one is to get Elsie's friendship, Elsie must believe that her and Annie are best friends.  Will Annie be able to help Elsie move on and reconnect with her mother?  Will Annie be able to return home and be able to get her friends back.  

     This book is very entertaining to read, a fairly quick read.  I think that it would be appropriate for fifth grade and up and even though the main character is female, the content is available to both genders.  I am giving this book a 4.5 out of 5 stars and think that if you like books about the supernatural you would love this book.  

Links 

Author - Mary Downing Hahn

Spanish Influenza 1918 

Dangers of school bullying

Crow nursery rhyme from title

     

The Silent Boy

                                                                                           By Lois Lowry 


     Another great story by award-winning author Lois Lowry. This work of fiction is  told in retrospect, as an aging Docky or Katy looks back to a defining moment in her long life.  Katy remembers when she met her house maid and her brother, Jacob.  The siblings grew up on a poor farm and Peggy is coming to help her family.  Jacob is her special brother that has an infinity for animals but has been "touched".  That is to say, he does not communicate orally.  Jacob is allowed to roam the countryside after he has performed his chores on the farm, so Katy sees him in her family barn and on her father's rounds.  She develops a friendship with Jacob, simply because she can tell him everything.  This friendship is solidified as she learns more about this quiet boy, especially when she visits the family farm the day that her sister is born.
     Katy's best friend Austin lives next door, and as luck would have it their housemaid is Peggy's sister, Nellie.  The two sister are polar opposites both are good hard workers, but Nellie is boisterous with bright red hair and Peggy is quieter.  Nellie has her head in the clouds and wants to become a famous movie star.  Katy discovers that Nellie and Austin's older brother, Paul, are sweet on each other.  This is definitely not acceptable, for the aspiring lawyer to be and the house girl to have a relationship.  Nellie falls for Paul, yet he sees her as easy pickings.  Nellie is forced to return to her parent's farm and Paul is sent to boarding school.  What follows is the night that Katy can not forget.  The event changes everyone's lives and lands Jacob in the local asylum.
     I enjoyed this story for its glimpse into a different time, a different way of life;  the beginning of the phone, the advent of automobiles and when the United States had a definitive class system.  A lot of the rules that governed behavior where more unspoken, acceptable and unacceptable actions.  Many of these have faded from the daily fabric of our lives.  This book is an excellent read for fifth grade and up and appropriate for either gender.  Since this is one of my favorite books by Lois Lowry I give it a 5 out of 5 stars.  By the way, educators, my copy of "The Silent Boy" came with discussion questions and an interview, Happy reading!

Links 

Author: Lois Lowry 

History of Autism

History of Mental Illness - Asylum

History of treatment for autism