Living Dead Girl

Living Dead Girl

by Elizabeth Scott

"Once upon a time, I was a little girl who disappeared. Once upon a time, my name was not Alice." This is a fictional story about a fifteen year old girl who has been living with her kidnapper for five years. She endures daily physical, mental and sexual abuse. As she has become older her kidnapper becomes angry and more abusive to her for not being a little girl anymore. He begins to starve her in an attempt to keep her figure that of a ten year old. As the reader, you feel powerless to save her. You also see countless opportunities for her to get away or ask for help when she is out in the community, but she never does. Her kidnapper has her frozen with fear of what he will do to her family if she ever leaves him. He has her family address memorized and through the years brings her evidence that he is keeping tabs on them. The main character has many conflicting elements to her personality: defeat, naivety, self-blame, hardened, envious and mean to other children, longing for death and yet still being hopeful she will escape alive. This story will stay with you long after you have finished the book. -- recommended by Jessica H. - Walt Branch Library

[ official Living Dead Girl page on the official Elizabeth Scott web site ]

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New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide web site. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month.

Staff Recommendation - Welcome to Wahoo

Welcome to Wahoo
by Dennis and Elise Carr

"Welcome to Wahoo" is a light read for young adults and anyone else interested in the lives of high-schoolers and/or in learning 'life lessons' such as tolerance, integrity, loyalty and responsibility. Victoria Julianne Van Wyck is a spoiled but smart rich girl enrolled at the ultimate Swiss boarding school when she is suddenly propelled into hiding under a new identity in Wahoo, Nebraska. There she must try to keep a low (haha) profile as she adapts to an allowance and circle of friends that are both much smaller than before. She pals up with a brainy girl and gets a part-time job at the public library while at the same time trying to apply damage control to a smear campaign being waged against her by the high school's star quarterback, whom she rebuffed at a makeout party. Things eventually turn out well for our heroine, who dispenses pearls of wisdom along her way, and who may still be lurking in the Cornhusker State even now! (Note: at times it seems the authors must have originally set their story in Washington or Idaho, as potatoes seem to be the side dish to every meal!) -- recommended by Becky W.C. -- Bess Dodson Walt Branch Library

[ official Welcome to Wahoo! web site (also the official author web site) ]

Have you read this one? What did you think?

Ten new reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide web site. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog over the course of the entire month.

Staff Recommendation - The Recruit

The Recruit (Cherub #1)

by Robert Muchamore

A new take on the ever-popular espionage genre. James is a recently-orphaned child who has problems controlling his temper. When he is sent to an orphanage, he gets caught up with some of the trouble-makers at the home. He wakes up one day to find himself in a mysterious campus, where he is presented with two choices: join our organization, or go back to the orphanage. He chooses the former, and enters into a super-secret training program. Recruits must undergo intensive training, and then they must pass the test of their lives to be accepted into the program. This program is a division of Britain's MI5 agency. All the agents are between 10 and 17. The beauty of the program is that no one expects children to be spies, so they can infiltrate places that no adult possibly could. Find out what happens to James - does he pass the test and get to go on missions? Is he booted out of the program as a failure? What about his sister Lauren? -- reviewed by Julie H. -- Walt Branch Library

[ cherubcampus.com -- the official web site of the cherub series ]

Have you read this one? What did you think?

Ten new reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide web site. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog over the course of the entire month.