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Now Entering Addamsville

by: Francesca Zappia

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As soon as the janitor’s house goes up in flames, Zora knows she’s in trouble. Sure, she has a past with fire, but there is no way she would kill someone. But, her current straight and narrow path does not matter to the townspeople, who, since her father was thrown in jail, hate her family even more.

With the townspeople breathing down her neck, Zora must find a way to clear her name. But with no leads, and a town with a history of unsolved, tragic fires Zora has no idea where to being. So, she teams up with her cousin Artemis, and together they must deal with a ghost hunting crew in town, the paranormal and townspeople who want nothing more then to see their family fail.

Francesca Zappia weaves a story of ghosts, family and a small town perfectly together, creating an atmospheric novel that plays to readers fears and love of family dynamics.

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A Study in Charlotte

by Brittany Cavallaro

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Jamie Watson has an interesting year ahead of him. With a Rugby scholarship in hand, he is on his way to an elite prep school in Connecticut, which also happens to be a car ride away from his absent father. Almost immediately, Jamie realizes this is not his only worry: he is at the same school as Charlotte Holmes, the great-great-great granddaughter of Sherlock Holmes.

After acknowledging that his family and hers have a lot of history, Jamie decides to keep his distance. However, when a student is murdered in the fashion of a Sherlock Holmes case, Jamie is pulled into a storm of murder and intrigue with Charlotte Holmes at the helm. As more time passes, Jamie realizes he and Charlotte are being framed for murder. Together, they must overcome their tension and work toward an answer that will clear their names.

Brittany Cavalarro creates a tense and atmospheric read, with a new twist on beloved stories and new character in the Sherlock Holmes universe.

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Jarrett J. Krosoczka

3.5 Stars

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Both as a French as an English book, I believe that this series overall has been very successful, until the original writer, Jeffrey Brown, left the trilogy as it was. So Jarrett J. Krosoczka, the author of Lunch Lady, took over and extended the trilogy with a brand new main character, Victor Starspeeder. The Principal Strikes Back describes Victor’s final year at the Jedi Academy, and it is one he will never forget.  

As anyone would presume, Jarrett’s extension to the series wouldn’t be as successful as the original trilogy that Brown began, but this book does do the series justice. I would personally recommend the English version of this book to younger people as the vocabulary would be lacking, whereas the French variant would be directed towards seventh to tenth-grade students. 

The story does get a bit stale at the midpoint, but I do think that it is very deserving as the sixth book in the series and the final year for Victor Starspeeder. The characters are mostly unique, but I would’ve liked to have seen more character development for Elara Ayres and Artémis Oophanoe. They didn’t have too much of an impact in this book in comparison to A New Class, the fourth book in the series. 

All in all, Le directeur contre-attaque is a little disappointing, but also what we expect when we think about how any series, whether it’s a movie, a show, or in this case, a book, will most likely get boring and stale as we approach the double-digits. 

Alec T.

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Woven In Moonlight

by: Isabel Ibanez

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Ximena has always lived her life as someone else. When her city fell to an usurper, she was whisked away and made a decoy for the last Illustrian royal.

Fueled by revenge, Ximena spends her days training and becoming the Condesa. Their plans are turned upside down when the usurper, Atoc, demands the Condesa’s hand in marriage. As the decoy, Ximena must go in Catalina’s place.

Their plan to take back their city quickly unravels as Ximena realizes that the revolution can be accomplished without blood shed. Will she forget the revenge she was raised on and betray the Condesa in order to overturn Atoc? Follow Ximena as she makes decisions she never thought she’d face and as she discovers just how powerful she really is.

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