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SOCIAL SUICIDE

Name: SOCIAL SUICIDE
Author: Gemma Halliday
ISBN: 978-0-06-200322-4

From the Deadly Cool series , Vol. 2

by Gemma Halliday ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 24, 2012

Suspenseful fun.

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In a follow-up to Deadly Cool (2011), Hartley Featherstone returns to romp through another murder mystery.

Hartley has joined the Herbert Hoover High online-newspaper staff, working for her intriguing, black-clad friend, Chase, the editor. She’s set to interview Sydney, caught cheating on strict Mr. Tipkins’ math test. Hartley arrives for the interview only to find Sydney face down in her pool, electrocuted by her laptop, an apparent victim of “Twittercide.” Hartley again meets the annoying Detective Raley, who can’t really do his job because Hartley won’t tell him what she knows. Raley thinks Sydney committed suicide, but Hartley convinces herself that it had to be murder and sets out to catch the culprit. Again, she puts herself in danger, sneaking off at night to dark parks and breaking into her school, trying to investigate how the test answers might have been stolen. She winds up at the homecoming dance with Chase, a welcome development, but her investigation may have worried the murderer, who now targets Hartley. Will she survive? And what’s Detective Raley doing with Hartley’s mom? Halliday again balances the comedy and suspense notes well, keeping her characters intriguing and her narrative bright. Hartley has enough smarts combined with obvious foibles to make her a likable heroine. Meanwhile, the mystery bubbles along.

Suspenseful fun. (Mystery. 12 & up)

Pub Date: April 24, 2012

ISBN: 978-0-06-200322-4

Page Count: 288

Publisher: HarperTeen

Review Posted Online: Feb. 4, 2012

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2012

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

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BETWEEN SISTERS

by Adwoa Badoe ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2010

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Ghanaian teenager Gloria Bampo has hit a rough patch. She failed most of her school exams, her long-unemployed father has lost himself to religion and her mother is ravaged by a mysterious sickness. Her one consolation, her older sister Effie, has discovered boys and all but disappeared. Gloria is offered a job in a distant city with Christine, a doctor who needs househelp. Her father is quick to assent, with one condition: In lieu of payment, Christine must take responsibility for Gloria's future and adopt her as a sister. Gloria adjusts easily, studies hard and explores her newfound freedom. But when the temptations of her new life—brand-name clothes and handsome doctors—prove hard to resist, a misunderstanding cuts a rift between Gloria and Christine. Each must confront class stereotypes and re-examine the meaning of family. Badoe's sharp and engaging prose unfolds the story with spryness, deftly navigating readers through heady social issues. But she wastes readers' goodwill at the end with a conclusion both haphazard and overly moralistic, jarringly out of place in this otherwise thoughtful and well-excuted novel. (Ghanaian glossary) (Fiction. YA)

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2010

ISBN: 978-88899-996-2

Page Count: 208

Publisher: Groundwood

Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2010

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
ALUTA
by Adwoa Badoe

- BOOK REVIEW
THE POT OF WISDOM
by Adwoa Badoe & illustrated by Baba Wagué Diakité

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WHEN I WAS JOE

by Keren David ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2010

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When 14-year-old Ty witnesses a brutal murder involving neighborhood thugs, he and his mom are put into a witness-protection program in a small town far away from their East London home. Now named Joe, Ty enters a new school a year behind and finds himself haunted by his past and torn between two girls: Ellie, a physically disabled teen who trains able-bodied runners, and her sister, Ashley. Despite lots of Briticisms and the occasional longwinded spells of narration, David pens a mostly fast-moving page-turner. Her characterizations feel mostly fully fleshed, and their dialogue rings true. The staunchly un-Americanized text results in some odd, culturally specific references that could confuse some readers unfamiliar with the milieu: Kissing Ashley makes Ty's body sizzle like sausages in a pan, for instance. The contemplative pages within the blood-spattered cover may disappoint readers more drawn to gore than to the self-reflection the experience renders in Ty. However, if teens can move past these speed bumps, they’ll find a complex, engaging read about a boy starting a new life by escaping his past. (Thriller. 12 & up)