Ms Rush Reads

copyright date: June 2011 primarily marketed for: young adults (12 and up) Imagine waking up every day without a memory of the previous day.   Imagine relying on notes you write to yourself to keep track of the life you are living.   Imagine being able to remember the future, but not the past.   Imagine you are London Lane in Cat Patrick's Forgotten . Every night when London Lane goes to sleep, her memory of the day is wiped clear.   Because she is able to remember the future, she has a loyal best friend Jamie (which she knows without a doubt because they are still friends in her memories of the future).   However, Jamie’s current choices are having a negative impact on her future and London begins to test whether or not she can make an impact on or even completely change future events.   When she meets an attractive new student named Luke, she is unable to remember him from day to day since he is not in her future memories. ...

copyright date: March 2012 primarily marketed for: young adults “Someday an opportunity will come.   Think about Harry Potter.   His life is terrible, but then a letter arrives, he gets on a train, and everything is different for him afterward.   Better.   Magical.”             “That’s just a story.”             “So are we—we’re stories too,” Russ says. -from Boy 21 by Matthew Quick Boy 21 by Matthew Quick was a book that surprised me with its depth.   On the surface it is the story of a basketball player who is challenged when a talented new player, who is used to wearing the same number as him, moves to his school.   However, there are many layers woven into that seemingly simple story.   Basketball means everything to Finley.   The only thing that comes close to meaning as much to him is his girlfriend Erin.   When Fi...

copyright date: May 2011 primarily marketed for: from 5 th grade up What if your parent’s car was stolen and you were in the back? OR What if your dad was a car thief and the car he stole contained a young girl? At first, I thought the plot was reminiscent of April Henry’s Girl, Stolen .   However, Helen Frost takes the premise in a whole new direction.   As usual, Frost tells a fascinating story from multiple viewpoints through a beautiful form of poetry that she invented especially for this book. Wren Abbott is accidentally kidnapped when she is 8 years old.   Her kidnapper, Darra’s father is unaware that she is in the car, even after bringing the car home to his garage.   In fact, Darra is the only one other than Wren who figures out she is there.   The kidnapping is told through each girl’s eyes, in two different poetic forms.   However, the kidnapping is only the beginning of the story of Wren and Darra.   The real truly juicy part o...

copyright date: 2011 primarily marketed for: young adults (middle/high school) Although Willa’s life is not perfect, she has always believed she is part of a “happy family.”   Until something happens to change that.   Willa lives with her mother, stepfather, and stepsisters.   She has never really known her biological father, who her mother ran away from when Willa was young.   She has never wanted to know him because of the way he treated her mother.   He has never been part of her life.   Until now. Willa gets news one day that her biological father is suspected of having killed his new wife and two daughters.   His third daughter is missing, and so is he.   The police believe he is on his way to find Willa and her mom.   This sounds like the makings of an action packed thriller of a story, right?   But it’s not.   Instead it is a touching coming of age story set against one of the most gruesome and dramatic plots I’v...