Falmouth High School Library

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Welcome to the library.

We received new books last week to add to the collection. Come to the library or see the “New Books” feature on Destiny to check them out!

I hope you all had a fantastic summer and you are excited to get back to school and learning! I am going to be updating a few things on the “Databases” page, so keep an eye out for new databases and some other changes. As always, please come find me with any questions you might have. Have a wonderful school year!

Derting, K. (2010). The Body Finder. NY: Harper. 329 pages.

Violet Ambrose has always had the supernatural ability to detect dead bodies, and the ones that have been murdered call to her in “echoes.” Generally these murdered bodies are victims of nature – birds, squirrels, etc. Not only do bodies emit unique echoes, but that same echo is imprinted on the killer. So when her cat kills a mouse, Violet might hear the same screeching sound, taste the same terrible flavor, or see the same strange light coming from both the dead mouse and her cat. When she was eight, she found the body of a murdered girl, and the killer was never found. Now Violet is sixteen and someone is kidnapping and murdering girls in her county. Violet is determined to help, but must keep her ability secret. The only people who know what she can do are her family and her best friend, Jay. As Violet begins her hunt, the killer realizes that she is onto him, and suddenly, she becomes his prey.

This book is the first in a series, and I cannot wait to read the next one. It reminded me a lot of Lisa McMann’s Wake series, which I also loved. The subplot of Violet & Jay’s potential romance is sweet – almost a little too perfect – but I found myself hoping they would get together. Violet’s friends are funny… a little stereotypical, but they made me laugh. If you are looking for an intriguing read about a strong girl with a really strange ability, you should check out The Body Finder.

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Williams, C.L. (2009). The Chosen One. NY: St. Martin’s Griffin. 213 pages.

Kyra Carlson is not a typical thirteen-year-old, by our standards. She has three mothers, all whom are married to one father. The mothers have 20 children amongst them, with two babies on the way.  Kyra’s family is part of some sort of polygamous religious sect that answers to a man called The Prophet and his Apostles. The Prophet is guarded by a group of men called the God Squad. The Prophet, his Apostles, and the God Squad share all the wealth of the community, while the others in the sect live packed in trailers. Kyra breaks two of their biggest rules routinely – she reads books that she sneaks in from a mobile library (basically a small library contained in an RV that drives past the compound on Wednesday afternoons), and she meets Joshua, a boyfriend of sorts, late at night. When Kyra is told by the Prophet that she has been “chosen” to marry one of his Apostles, who just happens to be her sixty-year-old uncle who already has six wives, Kyra has to make a decision – be obedient and become a seventh wife to her father’s brother, or try and escape from a life that, to us seems radical and extremist, but to her is all she knows.

This book was a little unsatisfying. I was intrigued by the plot, but it fell a bit flat for me. There were lots of loose ends that never really got tied up, which is annoying. There were too many characters for there to be real character development. I think that the characters could have been fleshed out more, even if the result was a longer book. Also, Kyra talks out loud to herself quite a bit, which was strange.

Mazer, N.F. (2008). The Missing Girl. NY: HarperTeen. 284 pages.

This was a very quick read about five typical sisters who laugh, cry, fight, and, at the end of the day, love each other unconditionally. The girls range in age from 11 (Autumn) to 17 (Beauty). As they walk to school every day, they are watched by a man who surreptitiously watches them and eventually becomes obsessed with them. I don’t want to give anything away, but picks his favorite sister and manages to kidnap her. Read the book to find out what happens and how the other sisters cope with the kidnapping. This book is written in alternating points of view – mostly, Autumn, Beauty, and the man’s — which can be confusing at times, but once you can figure out who is narrating, it is impossible to put down.

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Yesterday I attended a Hunger Games Book Club hosted by Mrs. Botelho at the Lawrence School. Her blog has a link to some fun Hunger Games information and trivia games: Open Book. On a related note, see my book review of Mockingjay below.