Extraordinary

Title: Extraordinary
Author: Nancy Werlin
Reading Level: Young Adult
Location: YA Werlin

Phoebe finds herself drawn to Mallory, the strange and secretive new kid in school, and the two girls become as close as sisters . . . until Mallory's magnetic older brother, Ryland, shows up during their junior year. Ryland has an immediate, exciting hold on Phoebe, but a dangerous hold, for she begins to question her feelings about her best friend and, worse, about herself. Soon she'll discover the shocking truth about Ryland and Mallory: that these two are visitors from the faerie realm who have come to collect on an age-old debt. Generations ago, the faerie queen promised Pheobe's ancestor five extraordinary sons in exchange for the sacrifice of one ordinary female heir. But in hundreds of years there hasn't been a single ordinary girl in the family, and now the faeries are dying. Could Phoebe be the first ordinary one? Could she save the faeries, or is she special enough to save herself?

Bottomline:
Interesting story, but I have mixed feelings about the plot. We know from the get-go that Mallory and her brother are faeries and sent to befriend Phoebe, for reasons unknown until the last few chapters. They gain her trust, then are instructed to crush and belittle her to get her into a certain frame of mind for their purposes. It all turned out well, but I was hoping for more redemption for their actions towards her. Is this supposed to be a girl-empowerment novel? There had to be kinder ways for her to realize that she's "extraordinary".

Suddenly Supernatural: School Spirit

Title: Suddenly Supernatural: School Spirit

Author: Elizabeth Cody Kimmel

Level: Juvenile

Location: J Kimmel

School Spirit is the first book in the Suddenly Supernatural series. In this book we meet Kat whose Mom is super cool, but a bit of an embarrassment to Kat. I know you're thinking my life would be sooo much better if my Mom was cool. But is your Mom a medium who has seances with weird noises coming out of the room and drops in temperature that make you shiver when you have the most popular girl from school over. And did you suddenly start seeing people who say haven't eaten a meal in awhile and wear clothes that are so far out of style because - oh yeah- they're dead.

Talking to people no one else can see doesn't exactly help you make friends in middle school or survive without taunting, but Kat makes friends with a new student, Jac, who has her own secret and Mom problems. Together they try to figure out what happened to the faded girl in the library and how they can help her.

Bottom Line: A fairly quick, likable, somewhat humorous, middle school read. This book should appeal to any girl who is trying to fit in and avoid embarrassing teasing. So that would be all girls tween or older and those who survived middle school. Look for more titles in the Suddenly Supernatural series this summer.