Paranormal Pick

The Haunted (Book two, The Hollow Trilogy)
by Jessica Verday
Simon Pulse (Simon & Shuster), 2010
467 pages

Abbey returns home to Sleepy Hollow after a couple of months at her aunt's farmhouse trying to gather her sanity after the death of her best friend.

Thinking she's safe to return home, Abbey tries to get back to normal and begins to be tutored by her science partner Ben. That's during her waking hours. Her sleep is still tortured by weird dreams of Caspian--another love. He simply won't leave her alone. But that's not the worst of it--Caspian can never be with Abbey because he is already dead--a ghost only Abbey can see. Can she ever be happy stuck between two worlds?

Readers who like a gothic love story will like this one; however, book one, The Hollow, should be read first.

Recommended grades 9-12.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for my review.

Out of This World Fiction

Stuck on Earth
by David Klass
R.R. Donelley & Sons, Co.
2010
227 pages

Stuck on Earth is the most hysterical laugh-out-loud book I have read this year. Snarky, crude, obnoxious, boisterous--boys will LOVE this read. David Klauss had found the middle school-high school niche in humor reads.

Ketchvar III is sent to Earth by his superiors to find out if Earthlings are worth saving. If not, the Gagnerian Death Ray will destroy the human race and our planet will be given to another more deserving type of alien.

Ketchvar III invades the brain of the typical 14-year old boy. Of course, who does he pick?--none other than the most geeky, nerdy, and bullied 14-year old in the whole town. Tom's family is not the best model for the American dream family either--they are uber-dysfunctional.

Tom Filber is not happy to have a space alien in his brain, but Ketchvar is able to control everything about Tom.

With Ketchvar in control, Tom begins to sound very formal and nearly British. His mother asks him where he's been, and Ketchvar/Tom eanswers, "Good evening, Mother. You're looking quite well. I was just out for a brief constitutional."

Ketchvar sends messages to his ship via Tom's "old-fashioned" lap-top. He encodes them and gives the files names like, "Old Hip-Hop Songs That Sucked" and "How to Saute a Skunk." He figures with titles like those, no one will want to open them.

Ketchvar's commentary on the human race is spot-on, almost a Will Rogerian insight. Ketchvar's view on school is that "..we observed that nearly all of the bad habits manifested by adult humans can be traced back to their early develpment and were acquired and reinforced during a twelve-year period of voluntary daily incarceration known as school."

Stuck on Earth is a wickedly funny book. If you don't find this one humorous, you may need to have your funny bone examined.

Highly recommended for YA collections grades 6-12. Readers who enjoy humor will enjoy this one. Recommended for reluctant readers.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I purchased this book for my middle school library with school funds. I was not influenced by any publisher to buy or review this book. I received no monetary compensation for the review.