Absent, by Katie Williams *LIBRARY BOOK NOT IN SYSTEM*

I really enjoyed this book. It was a very unique and interesting ghost story that involved humorous characters.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good, short, a well-written ghost story. This story really makes you want to put yourself in the main character's(Paige's) shoes. Thinking about being stuck in your high school for eternity really makes you rethink the story and feel sympathy for Paige. It makes you think about what you would do with this much power to possess the spirit of anyone who is thinking about you, which is the main reason I would strongly recommend this book.

Absent, by Kasie Williams, is based on a girl named Paige who died during a physics class when she fell off the roof. Her spirit is now trapped on the grounds of the high school in which she died. Paige heard many people spreading rumors that her fall was not accidental and was actually intentional like a suicide. Paige could not bear to hear any more of these rumors. After discovering that if someone thinks about her she can take over their thoughts and make them do what she wants, she possesses the spirit of the most popular girl in school to stop the rumors and show the truth about her death.

Reviewed by EB, Grade 8

Grandview Library

The Language of Thorns, by Leigh Bardugo

 AYAMA AND THE THORN WOOD: The second girl of the family was born, she wasn't as beautiful as her older sister, instead she was so ugly. Her ugliness made her to become the maid of the family instead of a daughter, but she was lucky because her sister loved her and talked to her when their parents weren't around. However, her ugliness is why she becomes the hero of the kingdom, the reason why she meets the king's son who is a beast, her ugliness was the reason of how she helped her family to get rich and of how she got the power by love with the beast.

THE TOO CLEVER FOX: The fox of our story was born with ugliness, his mother wanted to eat him just like his other two weakest siblings, but his intelligence saved him. He was different from others, nobody really liked him, but his cleverness made him to be popular and save the animals of the forest. However, there was one thing he did not have. He trusted easily, the reason why he didn’t get to have a happy ending at the end.

THE WITCH OF DUVA: The girl of our story had a really tough life, she was young and innocent. She lost her mother and had to live with her father and the woman who married him, who didn't like her. She suffered by her and couldn't do anything about it, her father stopped listening to her due to his second wife's influence. One day, the daughter was gone and nobody knew where she was, nobody cared. However, she was lucky, she found a witch and lived with her, eating delicious meals, deserts and anything you can imagine of. All she had to do was helping the witch and do her work, but hide from her customers. One day, she decided to go back home, she was tired of how her life has been. She just wanted to go back. Lucky her, the witch helped her. However, things weren't like before. Her father was someone else. Everything changed when she saw her family...

LITTLE KNIFE: She was born to be beautiful and rich. Every man wanted to marry her. Every man that saw her, got crazy and was willing to do anything to get her. When there came a chaos because of her, her father decided to do some deals with whoever was willing to marry her, they had to do some really tough things. He thought of them because he knew the only one who could get her would be the prince, he had everything and he was rich, the father could become richer if her daughter married him. But she did not understand how these deals could get her a husband who would love her, she did not understand how she can marry without love. The story doesn't end here. There was a man who was poor and had nothing, but only the friendship of the water. He knew of the deals, but didn't know how to get them. One day, after he heard the first deal, he talked to the river and asked for help. The river helped him, he won the first deal, but the father didn't expect that so he decided to put another deal. Meanwhile, the prince was also shocked. The competition got harder and harder. Finally, after the last one, the father had no choice, but to give her daughter to him, but the river was the one who stood up and talked. It was the little knife who was never been thanked by the man. Who would get the most beautiful girl, finally? Could it be the river?

THE SOLDIER PRINCE: The Clocksmith was the one who always made the best toys for kids, but he wasn't liked by the people. Nobody wanted to marry him since everybody thought he is cursed. Therefore, he had to do something, he had to marry the daughter of Zelverhaus family, but she was too young and he was too old for her. He didn’t know how to get to know her, her family didn't want him around their children that much. There he came up with a solution. A toy. He made a toy that could talk, that could spy on the girl and tell him what she liked the most. This way, the girl could fall in love with him and finally marry him, but things didn't turn out how he expected...

WHEN WATER SANG FIRE: She was born with an unusual look, she had dark hair and blueish skin, nobody even her family liked her that much, but she was good at what humans call witchcraft. Her voice was magic and she was powerful more than any other mermaid. Sometimes, she thought she didn't belong to her family, sometimes she doubt that her parents are her actual parents. She got the chance to go on land, where humans lived. She found out that what she believed, were to be all lies... She got betrayed...

First of all, the Language of Thorns, by Leigh Bardugo, is divided into six short stories, each different and not related to the other ones.  As you can see, I tried to give a short summary about each of the stories. Overall, the book is pretty good. Beside of the stories, the art is so amazing. I think this book would be good for teenagers mostly and they would enjoy it. I liked it and I recommend it since to me, it was really a different kind of book. However, some stories were tense and I really didn't enjoy them. Some of them really didn't make sense to me and I couldn't understand what happened at the end. Meanwhile, my two favorite ones were the little knife and the last one, especially the last one.

Reviewed by Orkideh, Grade 12
Downtown Central Library