Queen of Kentucky

Title: The Queen of Kentucky
Author: Alecia Whitaker
Pages: 375 pages
Content: PG/PG13
Language: PG
Level: Middle School High School
Recommendation: Okay Read

Summary: Fourteen-year-old Kentucky girl Ricki Jo Winstead, who would prefer to be called Ericka, thank you very much, is eager to shed her farmer's daughter roots and become part of the popular crowd at her small town high school. She trades her Bible for Seventeen magazine, buys new "sophisticated" clothes and somehow manages to secure a tenuous spot at the cool kids table. She's on top of the world, even though her best friend and the boy next door Luke says he misses "plain old Ricki Jo."

Review:  Fun and easy contemporary read for those girls who are tired of dystopian or paranormal genres.  The writing is light and the characters are ones that youth can relate to.  

Things That Are

Title: Things That Are (Things #3)
Author: Andrew Clements
Pages: 167
Language: PG
Content: G
Level: Middle School
Recommendation: Okay Read

Summary: Alicia may be blind, but that doesn't mean she can't see what is happening right in front of her eyes. Like how her parents try to give her freedom. Or how Bobby now Robert has returned to figure out their relationship. Or even the invisible man, William, and just how dangerous he is to Alicia, to Robert, to their whole family or so the police say. Or is Alicia wrong this time? If her normally sharp instincts are wrong, the results could be disastrous.From award-winning author Andrew Clements, here is a novel full of adventure, romance, and mystery, which at its heart is about trusting even things we know but cannot see.

Review: I read this book without having read the previous books in the "Things" series. I was pleasantly surprised at the suspense that kept me wanting to read more.  An easy, fast read for boys and girls alike.