FINISHED: 
Smith, Ronald L. (2017). The Mesmerist. New York: Clarion/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

[In Victorian England, 13-year-old, white Jessamine helps her mother in swindling those who wish to contact the dead, and comes to discover that her parents were members of the League of Ravens, a group of folk with special abilities who protected England from an evil necromancer named Mephisto.  When Jess figures out that she, too, has an ability (to read people’s memories) she goes to live with Balthazar, the old head of the League of Ravens, and two other young people with special powers, and the three of them take it upon themselves to banish Mephisto forever when it appears that he has returned and is spreading disease throughout London.  Smith’s follow up to his eerie Hoodoo (Clarion, 2015) is equally creepy, dripping with mood and a heavy sense of foreboding, with tense, claustrophobic battle sequences against ghouls in the newly constructed London Underground, and the repeated use of the rhyme/song “Ring Around the Rosie” that will elicit chills.  When London becomes overrun by a mysterious disease (caused by Mephisto) and townspeople look for a scapegoat, ultimately settling on immigrants (“Foreigners out of our England!”), one can’t help but call to mind Brexit, the “Muslim Ban”, and other similar events in the current tide of nationalism.  This is one that more mature scary story fans should thoroughly enjoy.]

STARTED:
Wolk, Lauren. (2017). Beyond the Bright Sea. New York: Dutton/Penguin Random House.

[Newbery buzz...]

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FINISHED:
Wood, Maryrose. (2013). The interrupted tale (The incorrigible children of Ashton Place #4). New York: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins.


[.]


STARTED:
Setterington, Ken. (2013). Branded by the pink triangle. Toronto, ON: Second Story.


[.]

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FINISHED:
Bruchac, Joseph. (2011). Wolf mark. New York: Tu/Lee & Low.

[Luke is a seventeen year-old living in a trailer with his father, a former Special-ops agent who has turned to alcohol and pot for comfort after the death of Luke’s mother, who does well in school, has a crush on his best female friend, rides a motorcycle, and just so happens to be a shapeshifter. When his father goes missing and he’s led to an old house by a note his father left behind, Luke finally comes to fully embrace his “skinwalker” ancestry by putting on a wolf skin he finds in an old chest which transforms him into a human/wolf hybrid. Luke’s search for his father ultimately ends (with the help of some Russian students at school who seem to be a vampire mafia) at Maxico, a mysterious “cutting edge” research facility in town which, it turns out, needs shapshifters in order to do tests on cellular self-regeneration, with the goal of hoping to stop the aging process. Despite a few encyclopedic asides that assume ignorance of the reader and come across as didactic, and some cultural references that Luke makes which seem unlikely for a teenager of today (“Make it so!” from Star Trek: Next Generation, David Byrne, E.T.), Luke’s personal journey is thorough and thoughtfully realized with a lot of attention paid to Luke coming to understand who he is and what that means (“That, my father’s brief instructions told me, has long been the way of our people. You must learn to be human first before you can accept the power and not be lost in it. Otherwise, you become a creature out of nightmares with no compassion for any being, no urge other than to hunt and kill.”). The novel’s size (almost 400 pages) and lack of much dialogue may be intimidating, but short, digestible chapters and a story which brings in elements of science fiction, thrillers, horror, spiritual lore, and even teen romance help to keep up a steady pace that moves the action along. An Author’s Note speaks to Bruchac’s own heritage, research on werewolf lore, knowledge of martial arts, and wanting to justly depict Russian characters.]

STARTED:
Jones, Allan, and Chalk, Gary. (2010). The Six Crowns: Trundle's quest. New York: Greenwillow/HarperCollins.

[.]

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