P. J. Night writes this new series- Creepover. The top and bottom of each page is dripping in black ‘blood’ (it is printed only in black and white, after all) or perhaps paint.

It all begins with Abby and Leah grocery shopping for their sleepover. The sleepover is in the basement with scary DVDs and a game of “Truth or Dare”. Abby reluctantly reveals she like Jake, the boy who lives a cross the street. Then the other girls coax Abby to text Jake. Later that night, Abby is awakened when her cell phone receives a message saying, “LEAVE HIM ALONE. HE’S MINE!!! DON’T MAKE ME TELL YOU TWICE!” (32) All the girls are creeped out by the text. It sounds like it was sent by Jake’s former girl friend Sara, who was killed in a fatal crash. The text must be a mistake or a prank.

Back at school, the first dance of the school year is announced. It will be a benefit for the Sara James Memorial Scholarship Fund. Jake and Abby walk home from school and he asks if she’d like a ride to the dance. “Yes.” Awhile later, Abby sees a girl with long red hair running, could it be Sara’s ghost? Later the new blouse Abby plans on wearing to the dance is ripped and stuffed under her suitcase, but how? Abby Googles* “proof of ghosts” (76). She find an article on-line entitled- “When the Paranormal Gets Personal” (76). Though Abby does not want to believe in ghosts it is hard not to with all the creepy things happening to her lately. Plus, her best friend is not supporting her in this.

Abby and Jake do go to the dance, but leave almost immediately when Abby can’t handle the huge photo of Sara displayed at the dance. Jake follows her out of the gym. Abby shows Jake the texts. Jake has Abby text, “IS THIS REALLY SARA? PROVE IT!” The text comes back, “I’M @ ST. RAYMOND’S CEMETERY. COME SEE ME IF YOU DARE!” (122)

Spoiler alert: it is not Sara, but Sara’s cousin, Samantha, who is staying with her aunt and uncle while Samantha’s mother is working in Africa. Samantha’s and Sara’s resemblance is so great Aunt Stacy is having a hard time dealing with it. Samantha spends most time of her time in Sara’s old bedroom out of Aunt Stacy’s sight. Samantha is miserable. Eventually Samantha goes through all of Sara’s things including her diaries.

In the end, all of the creepy things resolve themselves, except one. Is it from Sara?

• Abby does attempt a seance in chapter 8.

Seven students trapped in their school after a bomb goes off must fight to survive while also discovering who among them is the bomber in this provocative new thriller from the author of the New York Times bestselling Testing Trilogy.

Featuring multiple perspectives, this riveting thriller explores the power of prejudice and assumptions through the lens of school violence. It’s revealed early on that one of the survivors is also involved in the bombing. From the school’s perfect Queen Bee to the tough-as-nails delinquent, each of the students has a different motive for being at school that day. Charbonneau builds suspense by subtly planting red herrings about the accomplice’s identity while also raising questions about others. The frequent shifts in perspective allow readers to see beyond each character’s stock exterior. While each one has a distinct voice, some narratives are more compelling than others. The most complex and developed character is Rashid, a Muslim teenager who feels he must compromise his family’s ideals in order to make his school life easier. Other students are immediately suspicious of Rashid after the initial bomb. While the book confronts this racism head-on and another character is ultimately responsible, the narrative feels stereotypical and exploitative in its casting of Rashid as a would-be terrorist based on his race and religion alone.

Time Bomb is a fast paced quick read, perfect for fans of This Is Where It Ends by Marieke Nijkamp.

Storm-Wake is loosely based on Shakespeare’s The Tempest. Moss has grown up on the strangest and most magical of islands; the story moves from her childhood to her teenaged years. The island is covered with brilliantly colored flowers which seem to have some hallucinogenic qualities. Her father has a plan to control the tempestuous weather that wracks the shores. Pa uses the hallucinogenic flowers to conjure up storms and to create spiritual beings from the sea (first a white horse, and then a fish-boy).  But the island seems to have a plan of its own once Callan — a wild boy her age — appears on its beaches. Her complex feelings for Callan shift with every tide, while her love for the island, and her father, are thrown into doubt.

And when one fateful day, when teenaged boys from the outside world wash up on the beach, speaking of the Old World, nothing will ever be the same.

This novel is unlike Lucy Christopher’s other novels. I am not sure that it is actually a YA book.  The writing is very lyrical and mystical. I found it hard to concentrate and had to re-read pages to try to understand. It’s an interesting fantasy tale, but not one I would highly recommend.

In this sequel to One Word from Sophia, Noodle the giraffe has Sophia feeling happysad. Sophia’s One True Desire comes with giraffe-sized problems. Her family might overlook the sloppy giraffe kisses, but the giraffe snoring keeps everyone up and has them wanting a permanent solution. In her efforts, Sophia reaches out to experts and through trial and error comes up with an effective giraffe muffling device.

Interesting and nuanced vocabulary enhance the story. An excellent read aloud for intermediate grades with its STEM focus, clever female character, biracial family, and challenging vocabulary.

Endpapers include facts about giraffes and a glossary.

Monster Nanny by Tuutikki Tolonen

School has just let out for the school , when Mother wins a two week free trip to Lapland. The contest will send a nanny to take care of her three children. Mother is thrilled to be going to Lapland, but worries because the children’s father is still off on business in America. The nanny turns out to be a half-human, aka monster, aka troll. “Strange things were happening. Mom, who never went anywhere, was going away. Dad, who was never at home, was coming back. The children, who had never been left alone, were about to spend the night on their own. And in the hall closet slept a trained monster, though everybody had always been told that monsters didn’t exist.” (20)

The monster takes good care of the children. The children learn more about monster by checking out a very old book from the public library. From the book, which they read in bits and pieces, they learn to let the monster go into the woods at night to eat, it is a vegetarian. Between the book and the youngest child’s ‘talking bathrobe’ ( the siblings think it is an imaginary friend, but it isn’t) they decided they should go camping outside by their back fence next to the woods. Soon the children learn their mother was not the only one who won the contest. Fourteen other children’s parents are now on vacation in Lapland, too. Each child has its own monster nanny. Little by little, it is discovered the monsters are connected to each other and the monsters can not go back home to their own world until a missing monster in this world has been found.

Dad returns home by the first morning of the camp out. He seems fine with the monster situation (this is Finland) and at one point states, ” so what we have here is a monsters’ liberation camp”. (249) Dad is enjoying his role as camp director. He helps ward off the three strange ladies, perhaps witches, when they show up looking for the monsters. As the monster puzzle’s pieces continue to fit into place the missing monster is found, allowing them all to go back home to their own world, the last monster through the hole removing the key to the doorway.

In this fifth book in the Hank the Pet Sitter series, Hank agrees to watch Melissa’s 5 chicks. When he lifted the lid for closer look, all 5 escaped. Even with his sister’s help, he cannot catch them. Finally he gets the idea to answer their peeps with a bawk of his own. Soon he was leading the chicks back to their box. When Melissa returns, Hank is worn out, but the chicks are all safe.

The premise of the Hank the Pet Sitter series is that Hank is working to raise money to replace a bike that was destroyed by his carelessness. Both this premise and previous adventures are alluded to in this story so reading the first four books in the series will influence the reader’s understanding and appreciation of the plot.

In this nearly wordless picture book, a young girl would rather be using her small electronic device than going to the zoo with her mom and pesky toddler siblings. Sullenly she tags along through the zoo until her mom makes her climb up onto the Monkey Walk, an elevated platform. When she stops to look over the edge, something snatches her zoo hat. At first annoyed, she realizes she didn’t really want the hat, she wants to play on her device. When she pulls it out of her pocket, something blows on her. She sets her device down to deal with the blowing and something grabs the device. There is no way she’s okay with that. The story continues with her bargaining with the animals until her device is returned. The adventure has her leaving the zoo with a smile on her face.

Expressive engaging illustrations tell the story in panels large enough for a group read aloud.

My Beijing is a book with four stories about a sweet little girl, Yu’er, her grandfather and friends. Yu’er and her grandpa have a very close, loving relationship and he helps her navigate a world that is somewhat difficult for her, since she has a (unspecified) disability.  Her difficulty with walking doesn’t stop her from enjoying the world around her as her grandpa wheels her in a cart, on his bike or even on his back.  The reader will cheer for Yu’er and Grandpa in this lovely book.

This book of four stories keeps a slow, relaxed pace.  They have an almost dreamlike flow, where the author/illustrator mixes the magical elements casually among the everyday aspects of life. This is much different from many American graphic novels in that respect – both the fantastical elements and the  big plot happenings in general avoid being “in your face”.  The stories are a bit strange, but weirdly comforting.  If you have read stories of a similar genre, these aren’t surprising.  But, some readers might not really understand the flow or casual plot twists.  Even so, it’s good for kids to be exposed to lots of different types of storytelling and this is a fun way to do it.  

There are asterisks that explain different parts of Chinese culture in the story, which is helpful for those that are unfamiliar with it. The illustrations are gentle and sweet, with mute tones.  This book is highly recommended for all library collections!

Mouse, an avid outdoorsman, invites his friend Monster to go camping.  Monster isn’t too keen on the idea until Mouse assures him there will be…FOOD.  That clinches it for Monster and they are on their way.  Monster pulls the wagon load of supplies while Mouse darts ahead to scout out possible camping sites.  Unfortunately,  Monster eats something from the wagon each time Mouse runs ahead.  When they find a suitable campsite, Mouse discovers that Monster ate the lantern, tent and sleeping bags.  At least they still have food…nope, Mouse forgot to pack it in the box (conveniently marked “food”).  The hungry, cold friends sit sadly in the dark until they spot a group of humans around a campfire.  Yay! They rush toward the campers, who are in the middle of a scary story about monsters.  As one might guess, the human campers run screaming away, leaving behind a lovely campsite, campfire, food and tents. Mouse and Monster are puzzled at their sudden departure, but decide not to waste the lovely camping experience.  

This fun, colorfully illustrated story will delight young readers as they follow the two friends on their adventure.  The background of the illustrations darken as the story moves from day to night and  the readers will watch as monster continues to eat their supplies, although Mouse has no idea.  This will be a great addition to your library and a fun read-a-loud.

This is a story about Archie (who thinks he’s a bear) and a bear (who thinks he’s a boy).  Archie and the bear have a wonderful day together after meeting  in the woods.  Archie is there because he is fed up with people not understanding that he is not in a bear suit…he is a bear!  He and the bear learn so much from each other, like skimming stones and eating honey sandwiches.  

The illustrations are dramatic and bold.  The size difference between the boy and bear are quite evident in each two page spread.  More often than not, the reader does not see the entire bear – just rather large parts of him!  This is a very gentle tale of two friends who might be different, yet are comfortable in their relationship and learn so much from each other.