The Lewton Experiment by Rachel Sa
Summary: When Sherri moves to Lewton, Ontario for a summer job as a student reporter for The Lewton Leader-Post, it’s as if she’s crossed over into the Twilight Zone. Businesses are closing left and right, the other reporters are cagey and secretive, Sherri’s own uncle is acting like a zombie, and it all leads back to the new box store in town, Shopwells. Though she is blocked at almost every turn, Sherri keeps asking questions in the hopes of getting the story. Along the way she is befriended by Ben, a local willing to help Sherri in her investigation who may be willing to help her get back at her ex-boyfriend as well.
Number of Pages: 180
Age Range: 15-17
Review: A lighter, comical read, The Lewton Experiment is part Stepford Wives and part All Good Children, but ends up being a quick and enjoyable jaunt into the science fiction/mystery genre.
I liked Sherri’s character and her observations of the totalitarian minions, but the part that didn’t quite mesh for me was Sherri’s relationship with her boyfriend Michael. She’s mad at him when he starts hanging out with his ex-girlfriend after she doesn’t sleep with him before leaving for Lewton. When he stops hanging out with his ex and eases up on the sleeping together idea, she’s still mad at him.
And even though she seems sensible to not start a physical relationship with Michael just before her summer excursion, Sherri has no trouble jumping into bed with Ben when they stay at a hotel during their investigation after only knowing him a short time. It was an elaborate plot device on Sa’s part that seemed only to serve to explain why Sherri wasn’t in her hotel room when the minions of Shopwells came for her and I didn’t think it fit into Sherri’s established character.
Otherwise, I had fun reading it. It’s a bit overdrawn on purpose, and the larger-than-life characters and situations had me laughing out loud and cringing with fear.
Memorable Quotes:
“‘You’re serious about this?’ Ben asked, as he put the car into gear and steered toward Shopwells. ‘ You think we can just waltz in there? This is a long shot without Tom.’
‘Haven’t you seen any good zombie movies? All we have to do is look like them and walk like them. Then we’ve got a shot at getting in.'” – Conversation between Ben and Sherri from The Lewton Experiment by Rachel Sa, page 164
“She snorted. ‘What do you think this is – an old-fashioned spy movie? Do you think I have a secret file hidden on me? It’s the new millennium,’ she taunted. He’d better not search me. ‘We have this thing called the internet. Your files are already in my inbox.'” – Sherri from The Lewton Experiment by Rachel Sa, page 173
The Lewton Experiment by Rachel Sa is published by Tradewind Books (2013).
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The Boy in the Burning House by Tim Wynne-Jones
Summary: Since his father’s disappearance, Jim Hawkins has been trying to deal with his grief while stepping up to help his mother with the farm. Some think Jim’s dad killed himself, while Jim is trying to hold on to the hope that he’s alive and will return. When Ruth Rose hijacks his attention with a theory about the local minister, Father Fisher, being involved in what she thinks is Jim’s dad’s murder, Jim questions her sanity. Ruth Rose is convinced Father Fisher is a murder who is coming after her next, while Father Fisher informs everyone Ruth is a very troubled teen who has spent time in a mental institution. Jim is left to do his own detective work, looking into the suspicious death of a young man in a fire from some years back that he thinks is connected to his father and trying to figure out who is lying and who is telling the truth before anyone else is hurt.
Number of Pages: 231
Age Range: 15-17
Review: Once again, Tim Wynne-Jones takes a thriller-type, action-packed story and adds depth and dimension to it.
Jim Hawkins is having a hard time dealing with the increasingly likely possibility that his father is dead, so much so that he tries to kill himself more than once. Ruth Rose’s entrance into her life is abrupt and chaotic, but she turns out to be just the friend he needs to get him through. Not only does she help him figure out the truth, as terrible as it is, but Jim finally figures out her father has been lying about her all along, realising what a fast and loyal friend she actually is.
The mystery unfolds at a satisfying pace because Jim is an observant character who questions what other people are afraid to question. I love the contrast Wynne-Jones highlights through his story. Ministers are assumed to be truthful and worthy of trust. On the flip side, prejudices against those dealing with mental illness lead others to assume they are not truthful or trustworthy. Father Fisher uses these prejudices against Ruth Rose to keep people on his side, but eventually the façade crumbles.
Ruth Rose is definitely my favourite character because I loved her commitment and passion. She lights up the book with her intensity and is never afraid to speak her mind and be herself.
Mostly I just had fun reading The Boy in the Burning House because I enjoy good thrillers with the slightly overdrawn evil character. It makes for a page-turning read.
Memorable Quotes:
“For a spilt second, he was too stunned to react. Then the tears came. They surprised him as much as they surprised her. He thought he had cried them all months ago. But he had only been damming them up, it seemed, for now they flowed out of him and dripped from his face onto the hillside. He made no attempt to stop them of mop them up. He sank back down to the ground and cried and his tears fell on the earth where they would eventually find their watery way through the loam to Incognito Creek.” – Jim from The Boy in the Burning House by Tim Wynne-Jones, page 36
“Suddenly Jim knew what it must be like to be Ruth Rose. To always be under a cloud of suspicion, to never be accepted at face value. As soon as you knew she was under medication, that she had been institutionalized, you could never be sure. And Father had made sure everybody knew that.” – Jim from The Boy in the Burning House by Tim Wynne-Jones, page 175
The Boy in the Burning House by Tim Wynne-Jones is published by Groundwood Books (2000).
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Blink & Caution by Tim Wynne-Jones
Summary: Living on the street, Blink has his ways of finding the food and clothing he needs. On one of his food expeditions, he stumbles upon a hotel room key, thinking he’s hit the jackpot, until he finds out the room belonged to a man who has been abducted and his life becomes complicated. Caution is a teenage girl living with Merlin the drug dealer. She considers her life with him to be a worthy punishment for mistakes she has made in the past, until she realizes he’s sleeping with someone else. When Blink and Caution meet, it’s a rocky start, but their adventures together create a friendship and attraction that will change both of their lives.
Number of Pages: 342
Age Range: 15-17
Review: A fast-paced read, Blink & Caution by Tim Wynne-Jones explores themes of guilt, grief and self-esteem against a thriller-type background. While I enjoyed the character development and the way the story resolves, I never quite got used to Blink’s first person narration style.
It was complicated, because both Blink and Caution’s stories could have filled their own books. I wanted to know more about Caution, but I have to admit Wynne-Jones does a skillful job of weaving the two stories together and he does tell his reader all they really need to know and wraps things up with a satisfying conclusion.
I was intrigued by the contrast of city life with small town life. The story is a physical journey as much as an emotional one, and Wynne-Jones makes the various settings another character in the story.
What I loved most though was the depth of Wynne-Jones’ writing. Caution’s involvement in a freak accident leads to her trying to punish herself, and ultimately wishing she was dead. Her journey is insightful and authentic as she connects with Blink and comes to the realization that life is worth living.
It’s a longer read, but the tension of the plot holds the reader’s interest throughout the book. I’d recommend it for mid to older teens.
Memorable Quotes:
“And so shame is added to her sorrow, but that’s okay. For her, sorrow is so deep, the shame is no more than a hard pebble thrown into a vast emptiness.” – Caution from Blink & Caution by Tim Wynne-Jones, page 53
“Caution sits silently, across a table in another universe. Was this what Wayne-Ray wanted for her? To know that beyond killing her parent’s beloved son, Wayne-Ray’s best friend, and her own brother, she had also robbed this stranger of the love of her life? Because Caution can see in Tamika’s eyes what Spence had meant to her. How many murders have I committed? she thinks.” – Caution from Blink & Caution by Tim Wynne-Jones, page 131
“In silence she had to face the screaming in her head. That’s what she meant. The city was like a drug that took the edge off the scream, hid it at least. Her scream merged with a million other screams. On the street, pretty well everybody she met looked as if they had some major scream going on inside their skulls. There was this thin wall of bone holding it in. She could see it in their eyes. She wondered what would happen if all the lonely people let it out at the same time. She imagined the city quaking, collapsing like in some apocalyptic movie – The Day After Whatever. She remembers expecting it to happen any day. Waiting for it. But now, up here, driving north, she wonders if the cream she took with her to the city is even in her anymore. In her hurry to leave, did she leave it behind?” – Caution from Blink & Caution by Tim Wynne-Jones, pages 213-214
“But there is nothing else weak about him, she thinks. He is bold – reckless, perhaps – but full of this crazy kind of certainty that is like a tonic to her. In his determination to turn things to his advantage, he seems invincible in a way. Somehow he’d convinced her, against her better judgement, to join in on this whole scheme. So she feels guilty for knowing better and yet falling for it. Falling for his eagerness, the way it lights up his eyes.” – Caution from Blink & Caution by Tim Wynne-Jones, page 292
“‘Shhh,’ you say into her hair. ‘It’s all right.’ And what you mean is just that – this is all right. You expect nothing more than this. And you wonder if this is what love might be. And you wonder if you knew it would take so much for it to happen. And you wonder how anything that felt like this could ever die. And then, because you can’t help yourself, you wonder again if you are dead and this isn’t purgatory anymore but a kind of heaven suitable for the likes of street urchins and losers. And you know that it is enough of a heaven as long as it includes her.” – Blink from Blink & Caution by Tim Wynne-Jones, page 317
Blink & Caution by Tim Wynne-Jones is published by Candlewick Press (2011).
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Adam and Eve and Pinch-Me by Julie Johnston
Summary: Sara Moone has been a ward of the Children’s Aid ever since her adoptive parents died in a fire. She’s lived in so many foster homes she’s lost track of them all, but now that Sara’s sixteenth birthday is quickly approaching she can finally make good on her plans to get out of the system. Her last foster home is on a farm with Ma and Hud Huddleston, as well as two other foster children, Nick and Josh. To survive being moved from home to home and school to school, Sara has shut herself down emotionally, finding more companionship in her computer than in the people around her. After a summer that wears down all of her defenses, Sara finds herself in a place she never expected to be, caring for others and being loved in return. But caring about people has the potential to hurt her once again, especially when her birth mother pops into her life.
Number of Pages: 220
Age Range: 14-16
Review: What an exquisite read. Julie Johnston leads her reader skillfully along the path of Sara’s character growth, and her reader is better for the journey.
Adam and Eve and Pinch-Me contains a full range of emotions and characters that will capture your heart. I love how Josh’s innocent and child-like reaction to a mean joke jolts Sara out of her commitment to not caring about others. And there were tears in my eyes when Josh came back from living with his mother and Sara realises the experience has moved him from babyhood to childhood. Once again, the influence of a child has a positive effect on the growth of another character.
It’s difficult to know what to pick out and highlight because this is a complete reading experience. The Huddlestons genuinely care for the children they take in, and reading about their effect on opening Sara up to love again is powerful. The farm setting adds to the atmosphere of the book, because having physical space helps Sara heal.
I also loved the theme of dealing with the ghosts of your past, something that is especially prevalent for Sara when her birth mother comes to town seeking to reconnect with her.
I’m not going to say anymore, except this: Read it. You won’t regret it.
Memorable Quotes:
“If I’ve learned one thing in my life it’s this: if you don’t want your heart broken, don’t let on you have one. It’s the motto I live by. It allows me to keep my personality flat. No heart, no brains, no guts.” – Sara from Adam and Eve and Pinch-Me by Julie Johnston, page 7
“‘I know a haunted person when I see one.’
I tried to make my eyes look empty, but I think instead they were burning into his, waiting for an explanation. I stood up, ready to escape.
He said, ‘You have to raise your ghosts before you can properly bury them. Some people see ghosts but won’t admit it. Some people, for one reason or another, cling to their ghosts and won’t relinquish them.’ He flipped his hand over and back. ‘Some, somehow, do both.'” – Grainger from Adam and Eve and Pinch-Me by Julie Johnston, page 112
“‘The thing about land is, it’s there.’ Matt was resting, sitting on a boulder that had probably been there since the last ice age. His eyes were on Hus as if he thought he was the prophet Isaiah. ‘There’s some that figure land is what you own, or else something you scrape off your books, or maybe frame and hang on a wall. But it’s what you work. It’s what binds body to soul.'” – Hud from Adam and Eve and Pinch-Me by Julie Johnston, page 147
“Ma said, ‘I’ve tried so hard with you I’ve just tried and tried and you know I have but you’ve struck me a deep blow m’lad that pains to my very heart and soul when it comes to Hud as it did this day and if you were to be the death of him I’d wilt, I’d just wither and wilt for I’m only a bit of something growing on top of the earth but he’s my root my very root and all I have in the world for I never was able to have any babies which I dearly would have loved an Hud too but he said it’s all right m’darlin’, it’s all right don’t worry there’s lots of babies can’t have parents so there now the very root of me so he is.'” – Ma from Adam and Eve and Pinch-Me by Julie Johnston, page 177
“‘I’m sorry you have to go someplace else.’ What a lie! I was sorry to see a kid doing what I’d had to do so many times, put my meager life into a bag, layer by layer. I must admit I wasn’t sorry he was leaving here.” – Sara from Adam and Eve and Pinch-Me by Julie Johnston, page 185
“I said, ‘Maybe I’ll write you a letter. I’m better at writing than talking.’ I think I am. In a letter I could tell him that when he smiles at me I feel as though the sun is shining only on me.” – Sara from Adam and Eve and Pinch-Me by Julie Johnston, page 194
“I looked carefully at The Woman. I felt like closing my eyes on her. Not only do I acquire an unasked-for mother, I get one straight out of the Twilight Zone. A second though crossed my mind. I must be feeling better. My sarcasm was coming back.” – Sara from Adam and Eve and Pinch-Me by Julie Johnston, page 209
Adam and Eve and Pinch-Me by Julie Johnston is published by Tundra Books (1994).
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Under My Skin by Charles De Lint
Summary: In Santa Feliz, teens are randomly discovering they can shift into animals at will. Labelled as Wildlings, the initial shift can happen at anytime, and for Josh it happens when his mother’s boyfriend hits him. Suddenly he’s a mountain lion fighting back and his entire life has changed. Becoming a Wildling opens up new friendships but also new responsibilities for Josh, as the atmosphere in the community becomes increasingly paranoid and fearful. When he’s abducted to be experimented on, Josh’s new friends rush to come to his rescue, until it becomes clear he can take care of himself.
Number of Pages: 408
Age Range: 15-17
Review: The start of a new series, Under My Skin by Charles de Lint sets up an intriguing premise when teens in a small community find themselves able to transform into animal counterparts. Marina’s a teenage girl and an otter, but keeps her transformation a secret for months. When Josh, her best friend and crush, finds out he is also a mountain lion, his revelation of his secret to his friends puts Marina in an awkward position.
Things are pretty complicated in Santa Feliz. No one knows why or how the Wildlings have sprung up, and older Skin Walkers are resentful about the increased attention they have brought with them. It’s a mystery that everyone seems to be trying to solve, but in the meantime fear over the situation runs rampant.
I was hooked and left wanting the answers to the questions de Lint leaves his reader with, yet I found I was still satisfied with how Under My Skin ended. It entertained me and stirred my imagination, plus I loved the way de Lint puts things. My favourite quote is the one from when Josh and his friends find themselves in the spirit world, enjoying pureness of nature and the lack of industry. It’s breath-taking.
There are some disturbing scenes when Josh is abducted, but otherwise it’s a fast-paced read with interesting characters. Presented with a situation they never expected, each learns to adjust to a new identity of being a Wildling in their own way. Under My Skin is about adapting to the unexpected, and flourishing in spite of it.
Memorable Quotes:
“He shakes his head. ‘No. I’m just saying. Wildlings should be amazing. We should treat them like rock stars. But instead, it’s like everything else – just another opportunity for people to make it all scary and weird.'” – Desmond from Under My Skin by Charles de Lint, page 37
“I haven’t been thinking any such thing. Mostly, I’ve been trying to figure out how to get my life back. I know it’s not going to happen, but it’s kind of like when I hit that ball through our front window. There’s that moment when you know it’s happening, but you still have this impossible hop that it’s only going to bounce off the glass. Of course, it just smashes right through.
I want to believe that I’m in that moment where things aren’t completely screwed up yet. I know they are, but that doesn’t stop me from wishing I could still wake up from all of this.” – Josh from Under My Skin by Charles de Lint, page 61
“‘Life’s probably always going to be complicated,’ Marina says. ‘It doesn’t matter if you’re a Wildling or an ordinary teenager.'” – Marina from Under My Skin by Charles de Lint, page 104
“‘It will pass. And nothing can change what lies under the skin of the world. The spirit that burns in its heart remains unchanged.'” – Auntie Min from Under My Skin by Charles de Lint, page 216
“I let myself be distracted and nod in agreement. It’s not just the absence of the Pacific Coast Highway and parking lots and condos and all those other artifacts of civilization that inevitably follow the coastline – though that certainly helps. Without the light pollution, the sky is a deep dark velvet as far as we can see, and we can see a long way. The air is a rich stew of brine and marsh and wet sand, without a trace of smog or exhaust. But mostly, it’s the space. I’m so aware of how it unrolls around us in all directions and seems to go on forever. And because of that, it feels like we can, too. That something inside us can expand and reach its full potential with nothing to stop it.” – Josh from Under My Skin by Charles de Lint, page 244
“But both Marina and I know that nothing’s going back to exactly the way it was before. I want it to, but I feel a touch of wariness toward her that I wish wasn’t there.” – Josh from Under My Skin by Charles de Lint, pages 352-353
“‘We have to figure out how to fix this.’
I shake my head. ‘It’s not a disease, Mom. There is no fix. This is what I am now. And I don’t want to change it.'” – Conversation between Josh’s mom and Josh from Under My Skin by Charles de Lint, page 402
Under My Skin by Charles de Lint is published by Razorbill (2012).
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September 17 by Amanda West Lewis
Summary: When the Germans turn their sights toward England during World War II, the government decides that sending the nation’s children away to the safety of other countries is the best course of action. One by one, Ken, Bess, Louis, Beth, Sonia, and other children and teens all make their way to the City of Benares, a ship that is going to take them across the Atlantic Ocean to a new life in Canada. A large convoy of ships escorting the City of Benares leads the Germans to believe the ship itself is of military importance, and a German U-Boat guns it down. Suddenly the children that were expecting an adventure are fighting for their lives in the coldness of the ocean, and most aren’t going to survive.
Number of Pages: 296
Age Range: 13-16
Review: With a large cast of characters, September 17 examines the tragic sinking of a ship with child passengers during World War II from a variety of perspectives. Though the results are grim, Amanda West Lewis’ writing highlights the optimistic nature of children, and their ability to adapt and survive. It was the survival aspect kept me turning the pages, and I was surprised by the ending.
I love the Memorable Quotes I gleaned from September 17 because they truly capture the essence of the impact of a historical event such as this one. I appreciated her exploration of the impact of sending away the youth of a nation only to have it end in tragedy, and, in a way, it reminded me of P.D. James’ Children of Men. Lewis’ point is the same, children are hope and our future, and their loss is felt by all.
Lewis’ book opened my eyes to impacts of World War II I hadn’t even considered. As an adventure story, it works for younger teen readers, but its historical significance makes it a good read for older teens as well.
Memorable Quotes:
“We need to decide that we will not go to war, whenever reason is conjured up by the politicians or the media, because war in our time is always indiscriminate, a war against innocents, a war against children.” – Howard Zinn, Historian and Author, from The Progressive, November 2001 in September 17 by Amanda West Lewis, page 6
“‘They say that since all of the children have gone, London is now a city without heart. Perhaps England will become a whole country without a heart, without a future.'” – Miss Grierson from September 17 by Amanda West Lewis, page 128
“Bess took a few deep breaths before she trusted herself to speak. She had dreamed of going home, dreamed of the safety of her own bed. All of that time on the overturned lifeboat, she had pictured her mother and father, pictured her house, pictured life before the war. But she realized now there was no way of going back to the time before the war. Life would never be the same.” – Bess from September 17 by Amanda West Lewis, page 243
September 17 by Amanda West Lewis is published by Red Deer Press (2013).
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About Amy
Amy Mathers has been passionate about reading from a very young age, and hopes others will share her enthusiasm for funding a teen book award. Read more Follow Amy
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