I have never been frightened by a book. When I was a toddler, I could look at picture books full of dragons and dinosaurs and scary witches without ever turning a hair. When I recommend picture books to parents at the library, I have to continually remind myself that not all little children are as blase as I was.
All those fears, though, have been released by the oeuvre of one author: Susan Beth Pfeffer. I read her first book Life As We Knew It, when it came out a few years ago, and eagerly awaited the companion book, the dead & the gone, when I heard that it would be coming out this spring.
The conceit of Pfeffer’s books is that an asteroid has hit the moon, pushing it closer to the earth and causing all manner of upheaval, in the tides, the weather, the earth, and society. The first book was set in Pennsylvania, in a medium-sized town, and followed the family of a teenaged girl as they lived through the destruction of everything they knew. The second book is set in New York City, and follows Alex Morales, a junior in high school. When the asteroid hits the moon, his father is in Puerto Rico visiting family, and his mother is at work at a hospital in the Bronx; his older brother Carlos, a Marine, is stationed in California. As the weeks go by, it becomes obvious that the only one available to take care of Alex and his two younger sisters is Alex himself.
Reading about Alex, Bri and Julia as they struggle to live without parents or income, in an increasingly deserted city, their only support their church and schools (both hard-hit themselves), as more and more terrible things keep happening, was extremely difficult. Pfeffer’s writing is excellent, her characters are compelling, and (unfortunately) her situations are all-to-believable.
There are no easy outs in this book, and no definite answers. The story does end on a note of hope, but I’m still shaking at the power of the experience. I’m excited — but also terrified — at the news that a third book is in the works.
Posted by: Sarah
With the arrival of spring comes bugs, bugs, and more bugs!
Ted & Kat’s cousin, Salim, and Salim’s mother come for a short family visit before moving to New York City. The family all go together to ride the London Eye which is a huge ferris wheel in London.
Do Fairy Tales need detectives? Daphne and Sabrina, the Grimm Sisters, thought so when they were plunked down in the middle of real fairy tale characters, called the Everafters, who were living in disguise in Ferryport Landing, New York. When their granny, who they really didn’t think was their granny, was kidnapped by a giant as he crushed houses with his big feet, they had to do something.
This wonderful story was one surprise after another. It starts out with Ronnie, her brother “Gee” (who happens to have ADHD), and their mom in the emergency room after a squirrel has gotten into their home and caused havoc, resulting in a serious knee injury for their mom. It is the beginning of the kids’ summer vacation, and since their mom is out of commission, they 
This is a quick read and a funny story by a well-known, well-liked author, about a 12-year-old boy’s summer job ballooning into something way bigger than anyone could imagine. Our protagonist starts out wondering where he could get enough money for a new bike inner tube. In an unrelated happening, his grandmother gives him an old riding lawn mower for his birthday present. As our boy begins to cut the little dead lawn his family has, more to test out his machine, than to earn money his family doesn’t have, another neighbor offers him a lawn job, and then another and another, and business takes off like a meteor. Enter, now, neighbor Arnold who is a day-trader and wants to pay for his lawn cutting by purchasing some stock shares with the proceeds (if there are any) going to the boy. Too many lawn requests necessitate helpers being called in, and now our lawn boy has employees to take care of, too. Everything really gets out-of-hand with jobs, employees, stocks, investments, strong-arm thugs, and too much (?) money.
This is another Medusaesque story, based on the ancient Greek myth. One morning, Dussie wakes up to find her head covered in snakes. She is obviously completely freaked out. Then, in the space of 24 hours, she learns her mom is a Gorgon (yep, a real Greek Gorgon which means her looks can turn people to stone), turns the boy she has a crush on to stone, and meets The Sisterhood (a group of women from mythology….think Sphinx, harpy, etc). So her life pretty much sucks. But she somehow manages to make friends, learn about her snakes, and figure a way out of this mess. This is a great book that explores mythology in a modern setting. Springer, as usual, does a great job of conveying what it would be like to be a character from mythology. 
Merriweather and Magdelana Mudd are primatologists (people who study apes and monkeys), and their specialty is the study of the golden-haired apes of Ikkinasti Jungle. Now the Mudds are not like typical parents in that they are committed to raising their daughter, Evangeline, in the same fun-loving and happy lifestyle as they’ve observed in the golden-haired ape families. As a result, they have installed trapezes in their house so that Evangeline can braciate (swing) like the apes and they have encouraged her to eat using her feet
Move over, Dr. Seuss.
