Deep and Dark and Dangerous by Mary Downing Hahn

Ali is just your average 13-year-old girl looking for some adventure in her summer. When her Aunt Dulcie invites her Gull Cottage by Sycamore Lake, where Dulcie and her mother used to spend summers, to baby sit Emma while Dulcie paints, Ali can’t say yes fast enough. Ali’s mother is not as open to the idea, could it have something to do with the picture Ali found a few weeks of Dulcie, her mom, and the arm of a girl who’s name completely gone except for the letter “T”? Ali tells her mom that there is nothing dangerous about Sycamore Lake. Although her mom seems to be holding something back, she eventually lets Ali go with her aunt and cousin. When they get to lake Ali has no idea how her mother could hate such a gorgeous place.

Emma, who’s 4 years old, is simply ecstatic that she gets to spend the summer here and is almost happy except for one thing, besides her mom Ali is her best and only friend. Then Sissy comes. Sissy is cruel, bratty and Emma’s new best friend. Ali is furious when Emma starts acting exactly like Sissy. Ali is sure that Sissy is just using Emma ,but whenever she brings the topic up Emma becomes furious and Ali gets in trouble with Dulcie. When Sissy starts telling them the rumors about a girl being drowned right in Sycamore Lake, Ali begins to wonder who she can trust and what is and isn’t real.
Deep and Dark and Dangerous by Mary Downing Hahn is a thrilling, quick read that will keep you reading until the very end. I’d give it a 4 out of 5 because at times the plot was quite predictable, other than that Hahn does a wonderful job of making the characters jump off the page and has really created a wonderfully chilling ghost story.

Review by SilentLikeALamb17

Works Cited
"Deep and Dark and Dangerous Cover." Online image. LibraryThing. 7 May 2009 http://www.librarything.com/work/2338116.

Forensic Mystery

I did a little travel over break and took the first two books in the Forensic Mystery series by Alane Ferguson with me. These books feature a high school student, Cammie, who is fascinated with forensics and has convinced her coroner father to allow her to work as the assistant to the coroner. This job brings her to the scene of several crimes, and she gets really involved in helping to uncover the mysteries behind the deaths. Intertwined in all the medical and crime scene investigation information is insight into Cammie's personal life including the disappearance of her mother, her relationship with her best friend, and her interaction with the new deputy sheriff, Justin. Cammie somehow seems to get herself in the middle of the action through her tenacity, persistence, and curiosity.

I really enjoyed these books and am looking forward to reading about Cammie's third adventure.




Works Cited
"The Angel of Death Cover." Online image. LibraryThing. 30 Nov. 2008 http://www.librarything.com/work/1782424/
"The Christopher Killer." Online image. LibraryThing. 30 Nov. 2008 http://www.librarything.com/work/1439350/

The Case of the Bizarre Bouquets by Nancy Springer

In this mystery Sherlock Holmes' assistant Dr. Watson goes missing. Enola Holmes, Sherlock's sister, is determined to show her brother that she is capable of solving mysteries just as well as he can and she sees this mystery as the perfect one to solve. When Enola starts to investigate, she realizes that these bizarre bouquets of flowers keep showing up. The bouquets are regular flowers but there is green asparagus in all of these bizarre bouquets. Enola is determined not only to solve the mystery of Dr. Watson but also the case of the bouquets. The story is filled with some suspence and a lot of big words.

Out of five stars, I give this book a three because the plot is a little hard to understand. There are many slow parts in the book that did not entertain me.

Review by Fredrick O'Charles

Works Cited
"The Case of the Bizarre Bouquets Cover." Online image. LibraryThing. 10 Nov. 2008 http://www.librarything.com/work/3569417

Rat Life

I picked up Rat Life by Tedd Arnold tonight and almost before I knew it I had finished the entire book. It was partially a mystery with a little bit of history and realistic fiction mixed in.

Todd is an aspiring teenage writer and the events that he is part of during 1972 certainly lend themselves to his stories. During an incident that haunts Todd when a stray dog he had tried to protect gets struck by a truck, his path crosses with a slightly older boy named Rat. To say Rat has had a difficult life would be an understatement. He has abusive, often absent parents and a mom who arranged for him to serve in Vietnam when he was just 14! Todd is interested in Rat and wants to really understand this mysterious kid who seems to somehow be linked with a dead body found in the river.
This book, with its short chapters and layered storytelling, was a quick read that was as much an exploration of character and story telling as it was a mystery.

Image Citation
"Rat Life Cover." Online image. LibraryThing. 16 Aug. 2008
http://www.librarything.com/work/2885103/34797091