Steph's Book Talk

Behind the Door

Behind the Door is a pretty scary book, for people who like scary books. All the characters are black kids, except the ghouls who don't have any skin at all. Jamal is the central character, a decent guy, who hangs out with his friends Amos and Delmar in the basement of an old warehouse. One day a door shows up in the back wall (how come these things just happen in ghost books??). The guys go through it to investigate, and the ghouls come at them. First the ghouls get Amos, then Delmar, and then they have their eyes (or non-eyes) set on Jamal. He nearly gets trapped, but Lee (from Dancing on the Edge) helps him go back to rescue his buddies.

Does the rescue work? Well, the ending of this book is kind of weird, so I'll leave that to you. Tadadadahdadahda (Twilight Zone music)

Incidentally, a bunch of librarians made this a "quick pick" for reluctant readers, but don't let that creep you out. It's still a good book.

Breaking Free

On the outside Christina Smithers looks perfect - she’s a smart kid and a great runner. But when her parents divorce, her dad goes to jail and her mom is caught making out with her therapist and that’s when Chris gets angry. She starts vandalising, stealing, smashing windows, whatever it takes to get into trouble; she doesn’t even care if she gets caught! I mean no wonder she’s doing all these things, because her friends don’t care about breaking the law, and her dad’s in jail and her mom is such a b---- (you fill in the blanks…)! This girl has no boundaries and even ends up breaking a guy’s nose! Chris is on the verge of getting kicked out of school when her grade 10 homeroom teacher starts taking an interest in her because she’s smart and she thinks she has potential. Will Ms. Cooper be able to keep Chris from getting expelled? Well I’ll give you one clue - there’s a sleazy drunk and a couple of jocks in her way, but Chris can really kick some but!

And here’s the amazing news – the book was written by a 15-year-old kid. I mean, the author is younger than me!

Dancing on the Edge

The book starts off that the main character’s name is Bonnie Lee (now that’s the most obvious country bumpkin name ever!). She’s scared, but wants to change her life from the loser she was in her old school. Once she crosses Division Street all that changes, she decides she wants to be called just “Lee” now and that she’s going to take control of her life but it’s harder than she thinks. Lee thinks she really doesn’t belong at City Arts High School because she doesn’t have the money but luckily she does have the talent. Will Lee upstage the talented but cheesy “Queen Victoria” (you can sure hope so cuz she’s wicked) or even get into DansCool the coveted school dance club. This book is kinda like “Step Up” the dance movie, so if you like clashing social classes, downfalls of nasty but extremely popular girls, and slightly romantic dance movies you’ll definitely want to read this.

The Edge is Burning

Nick is a pretty ordinary kid until his house gets burned down, the 5th house in just a two block radius of the Edge! Nick has this near-death experience right at the start (I’m not spoiling anything to tell you that he doesn’t die in the first chapter cuz the books 104 pages long) and just barely manages to save his scaredy-cat little brother. Now just like any other kid, he gets pretty pissed at having his house burned down, I know I would be (hey, all my money is stored under my mattress)! He returns back to school only to find that his best friend Marco thinks its arson. Marco is definitely right- somebody is torching these houses on purpose. The guys along with Rosa (Lee’s friend from Dancing on the Edge) and start a risky investigation on who’s doing this. Unfortunately when you deal with criminals things can get ugly and Nick and Marco get themselves into some sticky situations.

This book will definitely keep u on the edge of your seat and maybe get u to re-check you fire alarms’ cuz I know the night after reading this I sure did.

Outrage

Man, Connor Mullins is a really unlucky dude. His day starts getting bad when he beats up his buddy Shawn cuz the guy called his mom a slut, then Connor got kicked out of school, and beat up Shawn again for getting him kicked out, and got his eyebrow piercing ruined, and went to get a frozen coke to ease the swelling and GOT ACCUSED OF ROBBERY!! Pretty serious stuff this guys getting into. You’d think the cops would believe an innocent high school boy but nope, he’s caught on video and the tape makes him look like he’s accompanying the robber. Since Connor’s suspended he’s got some time and he’s determined to find out who framed him. Hopefully Connor will stay safe during his investigations because criminals are dangerous and not afraid to hurt teenage guys. At the end, they sure do. (Who needs teeth, anyway?) The boss tells me that this book is racking up awards too! Go figure.

Turf War

Kasim and his friends aren’t a gang at all. I mean, if you’ve watched any gang movie you’d know gang members are bigger, tougher and have much better weapons, but the guys are definitely not sissy little girls and when some preppy Parkside boys want to show them who’s in charge of the Edge. Kasim and his buddies don’t back down. This book gets pretty tough so be prepared for some rough fights, and you really learn that fighting is not the answer (I’m not just being corny because it’s pretty gross, and you won’t expect the ending).