Chilling reality

Wintergirls

by Laurie Halse Anderson

Enter Lia's mind.  It is disturbed, especially since her former best friend, Cassie, died alone in a motel room after calling Lia 33 times on her cell.  Both girls have suffered from eating disorders.  Cassie was bulimic.  Lia is trying to recover from anorexia.  She counts each and every calorie.  Sets new and dangerously unhealthy goals.  She does everything to maintain the illusion to her parents and step-mom that she is still on the road to recovery. But Cassie's death derails her, big time.  Cassie is haunting her, beckoning her to join her.

Laurie Halse Anderson, author of Speak, puts the reader inside the mind of a anorexia victim like nothing I've read before.  I suspect that the author must have suffered her own battle with an eating disorder.  That's how real the story reads!  Though sad and disturbing at times, I always knew the end would be the real beginning of Lia's recovery.  Wintergirls is honest and raw, and something not to miss.

JAWS!

Shark Girl
by Kelly Bingham

Told through sparse poems, letters, and conversations Bingham eloquently reveals the tragedy and mending processes for Jane Arrowood, a fifteen year old girl recovering from a shark attack that resulted in one arm being amputated.

Jane's attack is videoed by a onlooking beach goer, published incessantly, resulting in an outpouring of condolences...letters, flowers, teddy bears but also stares, whispers and interview requests. She can't heal in privacy. Family and friends are uncomfortable with the new Jane. Jane is uncomfortable with herself. No longer able to draw, cook, tie her shoes, button her pants, she feels helpless and utterly dependant on her mother and brother. But this is a story of healing and slowly Jane learns how to adapt to her new life.

This inspirational story, written in a style similar to Sonya Sones, is honest, powerful, and engaging. Once you pick it up, you'll be drawn into Jane's survival.

CREEPY

The Adoration fo Jenna Fox
by Mary E. Pearson

Okay, this is a perfect example of not judging a book by it's cover! I never imagined the depth of this story. The cover made me think of E.L. Konisburg's Outcasts of 19 Schuyler Place or City of Beasts by Isable Allende. WRONG! The Adoration of Jenna Fox is a biomedical creepy thriller. Well...maybe thriller isn't exactly the right word...how about thought-provoking and spine-tingling story...at least it was for me.

In a future America, biomedical life-saving advances are possible but illegal and antibiotics no longer ward off illness and infection. The governemnt has established an ethics board to set guidelines on medical advances and life-saving treatments. This is the world Jenna Fox re-enters after over a year-long coma. She remembers very little of her life prior to her accident. Fortunately her parents have annual compilations of Jenna's life on disc. As her memory slowly returns, Jenna naturally begins to ask questions. How is it she surivived? What happened to her friends? Why has her family abruptly moved to California? Why can't she access anything about her accident on the Net? What is her mother hiding in a closet? Why does her grandmother dislike her? As Jenna pieces together answers, her very existance comes to question.

This book truly makes one think about the ethics of scientific advances. Without giving away to much of the plot, ask yourself if 90% of your body is dead, would you still want to live? This is the moral dilemma of Jenna Fox.