Amy by Mary Hooper (170 pages)
Fifteen-year-old Amy has been dumped by her best friends. Without them, she’s extremely lonely and turns to internet chat rooms to make new friends. She befriends Zed, an eighteen-year-old office manager who immediately asks her into a private chat. There, they discuss everyday aspects of their lives, flirt some, and Amy starts to think of Zed as her boyfriend. He asks her to come visit him, and Amy isn’t sure she should, but she does. She tells her parents she’s hanging out with a friend, and makes the trip to visit Zed. The question is: Will he be the sweet, romantic Zed she knows from their chats, or will he be a twisted man intent on taking advantage of young girls? You’ll have to read Amy to find out!
Miss Simer’s Rating: ***
Ian Slater is the principal’s son. He’s expected to be a good student, behave in class, and keep his nose out of trouble at all times. He and his friend Teddy spend their free time practicing their photography skills out in the redwood forest. But, Teddy has disappeared. No one has seen or heard from him, and the authorities expect the worst. Ian begins having vague memories of Teddy being hurt, but he thinks he must be dreaming because he knows he wasn’t with Teddy when he disappeared, or was he? Fall through the dark hole that is Ian’s life, with a mentally abusive father, verbally abusive Grandmother, and reclusive mother, as he attempts to solve the mystery of his best friend’s disappearance.
Daniel X, the alien hunter, is back to pick off another one of the top ten aliens who threaten Earth. In the previous novel, he destroyed Number 6, and this time, he is facing Number 5, a 300-pound catfish alien. Number 5 is intent to use humans as his puppets in an intergalactic reality show. He is obsessed with the entertainment business and wants to be the leader in all space programming. To control the humans of Earth, he uses electronic messaging and attempts to rewire the brains of the people. Daniel will stop at nothing to ruin Number 5’s plans before the human race is wrecked beyond repair.
This novel, written entirely in poems, details the life of seventeen-year-old Kristina Shaw. The reader picks up Kristina’s story as she leaves her home to visit her estranged father. She hasn’t seen him in 8 years, and he’s not exactly the role model any teen needs. He works nights at the local bowling alley and spends his free time smoking, drinking, and doing drugs. Soon, Kristina meets Adam, the neighborhood bad boy, and he introduces her to meth, also known as “The Monster.” From then on, her life is never the same. Her grades fall, her love life is filled with unsavory characters, and she takes on a new name and persona - Bree. As Bree, she is fearless and out of control, letting The Monster lead her deeper and deeper into darkness. This is the first of several poetic novels by Hopkins that details drug abuse in teens. (For mature readers)
