True Blue by Deborah Ellis

True Blue by Deborah Ellis is about best friends Casey and Jess and their truly horrific ordeal that resulted after one of the campers they were responsible for goes missing and is found dead.  Casey is arrested and accused of murder.  Jess doesn't know how to react nor what to do.  She knows more than she's sharing but for some reason can't bring herself to talk.  In the mean time, her emotionally unstable mother is spiraling into another one of her collapses which typically end in hospitalization and electroshock therapy.  The rest of the people in town have already decided Casey is guilty and are terrorizing her family.  And, the very group of popular kids at their school who used to shun them is inviting Jess to spend more and more time with them.  As the days lead up to the trial, only a few people (Jess's mother, Casey's parents, and a sympathetic teacher) are still convinced of Casey's innocence.  Even Jess begins to waver in her thoughts about what her best friend might be capable of.

This was a thrilling mystery!  I couldn't put it down!  It is told through Jess's perspective, in both narration and through her camp journal, chronicling the events leading up to the little girl's ultimate disappearance and murder.  Parts of this book reminded me of Mary Downing Hahn's Wait Till Helen Comes, because the character of the little girl (Stephanie) who was killed is so obnoxious and annoying! As a reader, you feel terrible that you don't like her simply because you know she's going to die eventually!  I also really liked the way the author showed the changing relationship/friendship between the girls.  The ending is unexpected and the character who changes most as a result of this terrible experience isn't who you would think.  I would recommend this book to anyone who likes a good mystery or suspense story.

The Bully Book: A Novel by Eric Kahn Gale

The Bully Book: A Novel by Eric Kahn Gale is about what happens when someone writes a guide for how to "rule the school" and passes it down from one year to the next.  One day, Eric Hastings is a completely normal 6th grader with friends and hopes for his final year in elementary school, and the next he's the "Grunt".  Suddenly, everyone in his class begins taunting him, calling him terrible names, abusing his character... bullying him.  Eventually, things seem a little too formulaic to Eric and he begins to uncover where this mistreatment is stemming.  A Bully Book.  As he begins to learn more and more about his three tormentors and those who came before him, Eric meets others who were 6th grade "Grunts".  Things really begin coming together when Eric puts clues together and figures out who the author of the Bully Book was (years ago) and the original grunt.  All he really wants to do is find out why he was the one who was targeted, and he knows that answer lies within the book.  Once he finds it, what will happen to Eric?

This was an interesting story.  It is told alternately between Eric's journal and the Bully Book itself.  The author's not indicates that the story is loosely based on the author's own experiences as a child - being tormented by what seemed like the entire class.  Bullying is such a touchy subject, and I think this author did a fantastic job of showing exactly what it can be like for those on the receiving end.  He accurately portrayed the embarrassment, self-blame and doubt in the main character.  I would recommend this book to anyone in middle school, particularly boys.

The Wish List by Eoin Colfer

The Wish List by Eoin Colfer is about Meg, Belch and an old man named Lowrie.  Meg, desperately trying to make her way in the world without her good-for-nothing stepfather unwillingly teams up with Belch (another good-for-nothing) to rob a stranger's house.  Unfortunately, things go terrible wrong - Belch's pit bull bites Lowrie causing traumatic injury, Meg backs out of the plan, and Belch tries to stop her with a gun, unwittingly shooting a propane tank and causing the explosion that kills himself, Meg and the dog.  On their way to the "beyond," Belch and the dog merge into one grotesque being while Meg ends up stuck in the tunnel, having equal "good" and "bad" in her soul.  She can't go to Heaven and Hell desperately wants her.  Meg has to go back to Earth to try to turn her color aura more blue than red so she can get into Heaven.  She's sent to Lowrie to help him fulfill his four dying wishes.  The Belch creature is sent back to Earth to stop her, thus causing her to end up in Hell.

This was a great book!  It was a quick read with funny parts, adventure and excitement around every corner.  I really liked the way St. Peter and Beelzebub were brought into the story and the creative ways the author described what happens when a soul arrives in the after-life.  I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a funny, yet adventurous story with twists and turns throughout.