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 Hate You Give

By Angie Thomas 

     This is a beautifully crafted, hard hitting book.  I had heard about the book, seen the trailer and knew it was something that I had to read.  I also knew that I may not be comfortable with all of the content, but I am so glad that I finished this book.  It is a great book and an illuminating window into the life of an African American teenager.  It is very unapologetic and in your face about the racism and the inequality in our society as well as relevant to tensions among the police force and people of color.  

     Starr Carter is a young woman of color.  Her parents have worked hard to ensure that her and her siblings attend a private school, well away from the gang bangers and drugs in their neighborhood.  Living in the garden district, but going to school over a half hour away, has Starr straddling two different worlds.  At school she does not want to appear ghetto, while at home she doesn't want to be uppity.  When these two worlds collide and Starr is forced to merge her two selves is when she finds her voice and discovers who she really can be.  The tragic loss of her friend is the match that ignites a fire in the garden district and Starr's heart.  Will she find her voice in time to make a difference, will her and her friends make it through the tragedy unscathed?  

     Normally, I would do a much more involved summary of this book, but this book is so good that I hope you read it yourself.  I love this book and am giving it a 4.5 out of 5 stars.  The content is mature with some swearing, so I would encourage anybody younger than 8th grade to wait to read this book.  Although the heroine in "The Hate You Give" is feminine, this book would be enjoyed by all students.  I do feel that this is a great book and it is an important, relevant message to everyone.  

links 

Angie Thomas - Author

Books about "Black Lives Matter"

     

The War Below

By Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch 

     I love that this book and this author go beyond what one thinks they know about the plight of Europeans during and after World War II.  In the story "Making Bombs for Hitler", you meet two children that are surviving their ordeal in a German Concentration Camp, Luka and Lida become fast friends and learn to depend on each other in order to live.  This is the tale of Luka after he escapes the camp and how he hides, survives and tries to make it home.  

     He is very fortunate in that he stumbles upon a farmer and his wife that nurse him back to health and points him in the right direction.  Than as he stumbles to where he thinks is safety a young girl, Martina, finds him and teaches him how to remain safe from capture.  As the two of them elude soldiers they develop a close friendship, so when they stumble upon a hidden hospital and resistance fighters they willingly join the cause.  

     During Luka's time with the resistance, he learns a lot, and he is able to hone his medical capabilities, he becomes integral to his group and saves many lives.  As the war turns, however, and he looses Martina to a gunshot, he thinks he has to move on and continue on his quest to return home.  One of the adults in the resistance convinces him he should go out and share their story of what they have been able to accomplish.  Luka relents and heads away from home.  As he travels he notices an increasing number of people that have been dislocated and are homeless and have no place to go.  He follows along and finally reaches a camp run by Americans.  The Americans are trying to reconnect family members and communities, they provide food, clothing and other necessities.  For a long time Luka wanders the camps looking for family members or his friend Lida.  So when the day arrives that someone says they know her, he makes a point of hunting her down.  As he reconnects with Lida he is filled with love.  This love is put to the test when a Russian Soldier approaches Luka during school and says that his father is looking for him in Kyiv.  Luka is heartbroken when he hears the truth.  He rushes back to Lida and the reader is left with a deep hope that they remain together.
     What is amazing about this book is that it evokes images, sensations and feelings in a simple and concise manner.  All too often when hearing, learning or discussing World War II and German Concentration camps and the plight of many Europeans the emphasis is on the Jewish Holocaust.  I am in no way trying to minimize the horrors that were inflicted by the Germans, but this opens ones eyes to the atrocities on the entire continent and points out both perpetrators and victims.  I give this book a 4.5 out of 5, it was outstanding and would encourage anybody over 5th grade to enjoy this book!

Links 

Author

Battle of Kyiv (Kiev)

Russian Prison Camps

Resistance during WWII

Brown Girl Dreaming

By Jacqueline Woodson

     This book is a beautiful surprise.  Many people have told me that they love this book and I now know why.  It is extraordinarily well crafted, the voice is honest and the imagery transcends time.  This is an incredible narrative through the craft of poetry.  In this tale you meet the Woodson family as they grow and move from their Ohio home, to South Carolina and than New York during in the  1960's.  A time when this country went through the civil rights movement and emotions were charged. 
     Jacqueline is the youngest of the Woodson family, initially, and as such feels constantly challenged by her older siblings.  Both Odell and Hope are seemingly very intelligent one loves science and the other can lose themself in a good book.  Young Jacqueline wants to be a writer, but the process of getting her beautiful stories on paper is a struggle.  At first, she does not know how to write, than she struggles finding words that she knows how to spell, so her writing does not flow nor is it fluent. 
     As time marches and the Woodson family moves from Ohio to South Carolina, to live with their grandparents, whom they love a great deal.  Jacqueline and her siblings learn to love the heat of the deep south, though they do not understand all of tension between everyone.  They are forced to become Jehovah's Witness, by their grandmother.  They love their grandfather, whom they consider their daddy.  Their mother leaves them in her parents care while she travels to New York looking for a job that could support their needs.  When she finally returns to bring them to the big city with her, she brings a baby, Roman.  Jacqueline misses her South Carolina family and dislikes their new home and the cold dreary New York weather.  This new time in her life brings her her best friend Maria and opens her up to new experiences, public school.  Yet the still spend their summers in South Carolina with their aging grandparents.  Daddy's health is beginning to wane as a life time of cigarettes takes a toll on him.  As Jacqueline ages she learns more words and how to spell and she is finally recognized as a writer. 
     I love this book, it was a nice read and it flowed beautifully.  The use of powerful poetry worked well with the imagery that the author projected.  I am giving this book a 5 out of 5 stars and feel that it is appropriate for fourth grade and up.  The content about discrimination, although beautifully done and not graphic at all needs to be above third grade.  What I appreciated the most about this book is the multiple layers to each chapter and the ease of the read, very enjoyable.  If you have not done so, pick up your copy today. 

Links 

Author Jacqueline Woodson

The history of the Civil Rights movement in South Carolina

The History of New York city

Irena's Children

By Tilar J. Mazzea

     This book touched me on several levels.  It is a very well written story about a time in history that I am sure many wish never happened.  With the uncertain times that we are currently embroiled, this book really opens ones eyes to the reality of racism, the danger of letting those in power go unchecked and how even the smallest defiance can make a world of change.  

     One is introduced to Irena, a student in Warsaw Poland at the beginning of World War II.  She has befriended many people at the University, including many Jews.  The encroaching German's have many concerned but no worried for their lives.  The small steps that the Gestapo utilized to immobilize the Jews, the ghetto and the erosion of their rights and humanity are frightening.  Many Jews planned on just making it through, never dreaming the depth of hatred that would fall upon their shoulders.  Irena is Christian, but since she works for the Welfare Department, she is enabled to enter the ghetto and move about freely.  She takes it upon herself to free as many children as possible from their German captors.  

     Irena manages a large network of resistance workers that help her move children to safety, whether it be orphanages, christian homes or into the countryside.  What is remarkable about her journey is that she maintained a very dangerous list, so that after the war, Jewish families may be reunited.  Irena did everything at great peril to herself and her loved ones, but she felt that she was not a hero, she was just doing what had to be done, for humanity.  Even when Irena is captured, she maintains her list and does everything she can to keep the children safely hidden.  She entrusts her list with a compatriot, and maintains silence through months of beating and threat of execution.  Zegota, another underground organization that helped Irena, finally manages to get free Irena and she goes into hiding.  Much of what she accomplished was through blatant disregard to the Germans, hiding in plain sight.  It is estimated that her network of helpers hid and saved over 2500 children.  This is incredible!  

     I know the aspect that really resonated in my heart is the constant lesson of doing what needs to be done, when a crime against humanity is occurring.  Not to sit idly and let something happen when you know it is not right.  To give a voice to those that can not speak or are afraid to speak.  All of the hatred that abounds in today's world, needs to be checked we need to be more accepting of each other, we do not want to relive another atrocity, let's learn from the past.  

     I love historical novels just for the lessons that be learned from the past, the are unapologetic and in your face.  I am giving this book a 4.5 out of 5 stars, I loved it, but I know over time, some of the details have been forgotten, and I missed those.  I loved the harrowing tales of how some of the children escaped and wished for more!  I think that this book is appropriate for all students in fifth grade and up.  Happy reading! 

Links 

Warsaw Ghetto 

Pawiak Prison

Concentration Camps

Author Tilar Mazzeo

Olive's Ocean

By Kevin Henkes

    This coming of age book could be an incredible story, but it falls a little flat for me.  I think it tries to encompass too much.  It tries to cope with death of a classmate, first love, secret passion of writing a demanding sibling, parental discord and a lasting relationship with  a grandparent.  If one of the conflicts would be eliminated it would be a stronger read.  

     Martha's summer is going pretty well until she finds out that a classmate, Olive, has died in a tragic accident.  Even though they were never truly friends, Martha gets a surprise visit from Olive's Mom.  Martha receives a slip of paper from Olive's journal.  Martha gets a inside look into Olive's shy life.  Olive shares her desire to write and a wish to visit the ocean.  Of course, Martha spends part of every summer at her Grandmothers on the east coast.  Olive dwells on how to find closure for her dead classmate, has a romantic kiss, almost drowns before she safely returns home.
     Unfortunately, since  the main conflict was diluted there was no strong climax and no resolution that left the reader wanting more.  I am going to give this book a 3 out of 5, it was sufficient but I found it lacking.  This book is appropriate for readers 5th grade through 7th grade.

Links

Author Kevin Henkes

Dealing with the death of a classmate

Guide on how to become a writer