Dead City Review

Dead City by James Ponti This book is on the Sunshine State list for 2014-2015. It is about Molly, a seventh grader, who attends MIST. MIST is a school for gifted students and where he mother went to school. She doesn't have many friends and hangs out at the morgue where her mom worked before she passed away. All that changes when she is recruited to join a team of Zombie hunters called Omegas. The story is about her building relationships and learning what she needs to be a member of the team. I really enjoyed this book. It was a really fun adventure story. I loved Molly and the choices she makes really make a lot of sense. I liked that the we got to see this story from her perspective so you get to really understand how the character feels. It wasn't a scary book so it is good for kids. This is the first book the sequel is Blue Moon. I also loved the first page of this book!

The Doll Bones by Holly Black This book is about three kids who acquire a haunted doll. Zach, Poppy, and Alice have been friends for a long time and they decide to go on a quest to discover who the ghost girl who is visiting and communicating with Poppy is and hat happened to her. This is a great coming of age story. The kids are in the painful stage of changing and growing up. When it is time to focus on becoming who you are and to start putting away childish things. They all struggle with what they want to do and what they feel they should be doing. You watch the characters grow and discover more about themselves and each other. They are trying to navigate through their changing relationships and trying to help and understand the ghost. This was a good middle grades book. It was a bit creepy and if you have someone who isn't a big fan of dolls this book is not for them. I loved that the book had some illustrations to go with it. They were very well done and they were so beautifully done. I took the book out of my school's library and plan on buying my own copy of the book. I enjoyed everything about this book.