Anya's Ghost

Any book that Neil Gaiman calls "a masterpiece" is one I have to read. Neil is quoted on the front cover of this graphic novel by Vera Brosgol.

Anya is a Russian girl who desperately wants to fit in at her American high school. It's not happening. She is leaving school ---- actually skipping --- when she falls down into an abandoned well. As she lights a match to look at her surroundings she finds a skeleton. Emily tells Anya she was murdered 90 years ago and thrown down the well. She's missed out on a lot of teenage living. Emily's ghostly spirit follows Anya. At first it seems Emily has only good intentions. As she infiltrates Anya's life, her intentions are questionable. It becomes more frightening.

This slightly creepy book will have you cheering Anya on!

The Body Finder

I read this book by Kimberly Dertling over spring break and LOVED it!

The main character, Violet, has always been able to sense dead things. Usually it is an animal ---- a mouse that has been killed by her cat, or an animal from the forest surrounding her home. But now, the "pull" is more than that. At an end-0f-summer party Violet and Jay are canoeing. Violet steers the canoe into a marshy area and discovers a body. Soon there is another body and it is learned that a serial killer is at work.

It is most definitely a page-turner. Not only because you need to know how Violet is going to help resolve the murder mystery, but also because you want to know how the relationship between Jay and Violet will play out.