Sunday, June 7, 2009

What Happened to Cass McBride? By Gail Giles




By: Gail Giles
Publisher: Little Brown Young Readers
ISBN: 978-0316166393
Date: May 1, 2007




Summary:

This book is a nail-biting story involving three main characters: Cass McBride, David Kirby and David’s older brother Kyle. David commits suicide shortly after he asks the most popular girl in school, Cass McBride to go on a date with him. Kyle believes his younger brother’s suicide is a result of Cass’s rejection and sets forth to kidnap and torture Cass in return. While Cass is entombed in a coffin-like box underground with a breathing tube and a two-way radio for communicating with Kyle, the both of them discuss many issues involving the hardships of life and family. Kyle comes to the realization that it was his mother that was the cause of David’s pain, not Cass and acts on it by almost killing his mother. Cass is left dealing with the mental tortures of the kidnapping ordeal but is getting help.

Assessment:

This book was a roller coaster ride! The storyline never faded and the action started right at the beginning when the police detectives were interrogating Kyle on Cass’ whereabouts. You really feel for David, Kyle and Cass throughout the book. For example, they all had hardships in their lives. David had the verbally-abusive mother, Kyle was left picking up the pieces and trying to help David when he was off at college, and Cass was left with dealing with her parents split and living with her father whose outlook is your image is everything and money means everything!

I liked the writing format in this book because these characters were so important and found the author’s detailed chapters of each of them very important to the story itself. Each of them had a story and I felt this made the book really believable because you were able to humanize each of them. This was a really good book and kept my attention to the very end.

Potential Use:

This book should only be used with high school students. Not that I wouldn’t feel some middle school students would benefit from reading this book, but feel the subject matter of this story needs to be read by someone with a good maturity level. I’m not sure if this book would be picked by a high school student to read leisurely, but this book could be a good one to use in a reading club. Since this book deals with very real life issues such as depression, abuse, suicide and attempted murder this book could be used as a tool to get young adults to open up about these types of issues and when to seek help before a devastating reality happens.

Reader Appeal:

This book would appeal to young adults due to the realistic nature of the story. This would also appeal to anyone who likes mysteries or similar genres.

Other Information:

This book was a nominee for the 2007 “Thumbs Up” award. An interesting note while searching the author’s website you could get a teachers guide and learn how the author wrote this story (http://www.gailgiles.com/Teachers_Guide_Cass_McBride.html).

The Problem Child By Michael Buckley





By: Michael Buckley
Publisher: Amulet Books
ISBN: 978-0810993594
Date: September 1, 2007




Summary:

This book is about two sisters (Sabrina and Daphne) that live in Ferryport Landing and their quest to find their parents that were kidnapped by the “Scarlet Hand” that is a group led by the homicidal Little Red Riding Hood. Sabrina and Daphne have many dangerous encounters with Little Red and her Jabberwocky (pet kitty) as well as other dangerous fairytale characters such as the Little Mermaid, Queen of Hearts and Baba Yaga just to name a few in this fast-paced adventure.

Assessment:

This book is full of action that starts in the beginning that helps get the reader addicted. For example, one of my favorite parts of the book that had an interesting twist was when Sabrina, Daphne and Uncle Jake had a run in with the Little Mermaid. The Little Mermaid was a jilted lover that turned to food for comfort which in turn added to a significant weight problem and her hatred of the “topsiders” (humans). Another part that was interesting in my opinion was when the girls came across the medical records at the Ferryport Landing Asylum that included diagnosis for the Mad Hatter (schizophrenia), Chicken Little (panic attacks), Hansel (eating disorder), White-Rabbit (OCD), the Old Woman who Lived in a Shoe (exhaustion), Ichabod Crane (night terrors) and Little-Red Riding Hood (psychosis with homicidal tendencies). I felt the author did a great job at keeping the reader hooked. I also like the small amount of pictures that were used to accompany some of the text entries. For example, the picture of Sabrina looking into the bathroom mirror to see the artwork Puck had left on her face was funny. I valued the descriptive detail the author gave during some of the events. For example, when the sisters and Uncle Jake went to see Baba Yaga, the detail of the human bones all over her pathway and house due to her cannibalism was accurate in giving the reader the fear factor of the dangers that could happen to them.

Potential Use:

This book would be used for leisure reading purposes. This book could be assigned as a mystery/fairytale assignment in an educational environment or could be part of a fairytale display in a library.

Reader Appeal:

The action element of this book helps to keep the readers attention and the storyline itself is very interesting. I feel the idea of “happily ever after” fairytale characters displaying a dark side can appeal to potential readers. The handfuls of pictures presented throughout the book are full of detail and are eye-catching.

Other Information:

This book is part of a series. This series has received many honors such as the Kirkus Best Fantasy Book award and is also a New York Times bestseller. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sisters_Grimm_(novel_series).