Shaney Says…

I am currently taking a course on library services for young adults in which I was asked to write a report on something to do with young adult services. Because I am living in Japan, I thought it would be interesting to do my report on the state of young adult services in Japan. I have copied it below and it is also available in PDF.

In 1978, a young librarian named Yuji Handa, who had three years’ experience at Tokyo’s Koto Ward Library, was asked to write an article about young adult (YA) services for Japan’s ”The Library World” journal (Handa, 1999a). At that time, Handa had noticed that there was a gap in services for young adults, but he was not particularly deeply involved in providing such services. Through the process of writing the article, Handa was able to learn a great deal about the subject, became passionate about it, and made it his life’s work to develop and promote YA services in Japan.

There had been some stirrings of young adult services in Japan before the Second World War, but the momentum had not been continued after the war, so there was little evidence of such services by the time Handa wrote his 1978 article (Handa, 1999b). In fact, an American librarian named Hannah Hunt gave lectures on young adult services to preservice librarians in 1951, but there does not seem to have been a resulting boom in such services as a result of her efforts (Handa, 1997).

When Handa set out to write the article, his boss gave him several articles to read to give him a basis for his thinking. The articles were all in English, but he was not a particularly skilled reader of English at the time, so he decided to look for some articles in Japanese to get him started. However, he couldn’t find any Japanese articles on the subject of YA services at the time, other than a few that proclaimed the necessity of such services, so he soldiered on through the English materials. It was through reading these articles that he came to understand that idea that public library services in the US were, at the time, made up of children’s services, young adult services, and adult services, with YA services forming its own unit (although it was sometimes linked closely to the children’s section or the adults’ section). This was also the first time that Handa encountered the term ”young adult” (he was more familiar with a word meaning ”youth” in Japanese, which has a broader meaning than ”young adult” and can include people much older than 18). As a librarian, he was shocked to discover such a rich area of service provision about which he was previously almost completely unaware. However, his shock was temporarily mollified when he read a contemporary book by Margaret Marshall (1975) that indicated that British libraries were nowhere near providing the same level of service as American libraries in this regard at the time.

In the 1975 book by Marshall, there were two top ten lists – one of books popular with adults, and one for young adults (Handa, 1999a). Handa noticed that while there were Japanese translations for all of the adult books, there were only two books on the YA list that he was familiar with, namely The Pigman by Paul Zindel (which is called ”April, Sophomore Year” in Japanese) and Owl Service by Alan Garner (”Owl Patterned Plate”). Furthermore, in his library, one of these books was shelved in the adult collection (Pigman) and the other in the children’s collection (Owl). In essence, YA did not really exist in Japan at the time as either a library service (except, perhaps, at a few forward-thinking libraries), or as a genre of literature.

Since he couldn’t find any studies that had been done on YA services in Japan at the time, he decided to do a small-scale study of his own library (Handa, 1999a). He found that while there was a large number of 12 to 18 year olds registered at the library, their borrowing rates were lower than the rest of the population (based on a one-week survey). While people at the time were fond of saying ”young people just don’t read anymore”, Handa realized that the problem wasn’t that young people didn’t read or didn’t come to libraries anymore, but that libraries were not adequately providing services targeted to this specific group. In particular, he believed that libraries needed to think of young adults as part of their adult clientele rather than child clientele. By moving books that young adults are likely to read out of the children’s section and giving them space in the adult section, the problem of young adults no longer wanting to come to the library (where they were forced to mingle with toddlers) could be solved, at least in part. The problem was not with the young adults, but with the library, and the solution was within the library’s reach. He discovered that Osaka Central Library had placed its ”young adult corner” in the adult section rather than the children’s section, so he decided to go and have a look at it. He noticed that just moving the shelves from one part of the library to another did, in fact, make a difference.

Next, Handa turned his attention to YA materials (Handa, 1999a). He noticed that in the US, the new YA genre was being carved out with ”junior novels” and ”teen problem books”, whereas that had yet to happen in the UK, where similar books were still classified as children’s literature. Japan was even further behind, with a lack of these English books being translated into Japanese, and even when they were, they were not being marketed as books for teens. In fact, there were two series of Japanese ”junior novels” being marketed at the time (by Akimoto Shobou and Shueisha publishers), but they had recently been turned into paperbacks (known as ”tankobon” in Japanese) and libraries were not interested in including paperbacks in their collections at the time, so these books were generally not even considered for acquisition by most libraries.

In a later essay that Handa wrote in 1997, he was still lamenting the state of young adult services in Japan. He concluded that there were (at least) five problems that were getting in the way of the development of this area of library service: (1) there was no agreement in Japan about what to call this section of the library; (2) librarians did not have a good conceptual understanding of what young adult services entailed; (3) there was a debate about whether there should be a separate space/collection for young adults; (4) the image of young adult services was not well-defined; and (5) there was no proof of the effectiveness of young
adult services/collections.

Unfortunately, Handa passed away quite suddenly in 1998. It is clear, however, that the concept of young adult services was starting to gain a bit of momentum by that time. Two broad national studies have been done on young adult services in public libraries by the Japan Library Association: one in 1993 and one in 2003. By comparing the results of these two studies, it can be seen that a great deal of progress was made over those ten years, and hopefully, there will be an even bigger gap in evidence if a third study is done in 2013.

In the 1993 study (Japan Library Association, 1993), of the 1792 public libraries that responded, it was found that 460 (25.7%) offered young adult services in some way, while 1332 (74.3%) did not. In the 2003 study (Japan Library Association, 2003), of the total number of 2530 responding libraries, 1031 (40.8%) now offered YA services, while 1499 (59.2%) did not. In addition, while 79.8% of responding libraries that did have a YA collection did not have a separate space for the YA collection in 1993, by 2003 that number had been decreased to 31.9%. Furthermore, only 27.3% of libraries had put a staff member specifically in charge of the YA section in 1993, but by 2003, this had increased to 51.2%. However, it should be noted that very few libraries indicated in either study that they had librarians who were in charge of the YA collection on a full-time basis. In 1993, 0.6% of responding libraries had a dedicated YA librarian, and by 2003, that number had only increased to 1.8%. (Libraries often do not have dedicated staff for any sections in Japan. The philosophy is that all staff should be able to work in any section, which is an admirable goal, but the lack of specialization does have a deleterious effect on the quality of service that libraries can provide, in my opinion.)

In both studies, the top three reasons for not offering YA services were:

• Lack of space (74.6% in 1993, 30.9% in 2003)
• Lack of human resources (55.7%, 25.4%)
• Lack of budget (42.3%, 22.1%)

In addition to these three, Handa gave the following reasons for the lack of widespread adoption of YA services in Japan.

• Lack of professional staff assigned only to YA
• Libraries haven’t thought deeply about their contribution to solving teen problems
• Libraries don’t think of themselves as educational entities
• The staff may not understand teens, or may not try to understand them
• There is not a long history of YA services in Japan, so there is a lack of examples to follow and a lack of professional knowhow in the library community.

In a more recent article, Yasuyo Inoue (2010) indicates that some libraries are starting to lead the way towards a more robust offering of services to young adults. She notes that YA book selection is improving, there are more volunteer opportunities available to young adults, and some libraries are starting to offer space on their websites dedicated to their YA clientele. Also, while the majority of libraries still do not have a separate section for a YA collection, Inoue believes that few libraries in Japan could be said to have no YA materials at all.

In a special edition of The Library Journal (Japan Library Association, 2009) dedicated to young adult services (the existence of which is, in itself, a good indication that YA services are gaining ground), three libraries are spotlighted as exemplary models of young adults services in Japanese libraries.

Toyonaka City Senri Library in Osaka is a public library with a very high rate of usage by the local residents, with around 2000 books being lent out each day, and closer to 3000 on weekends (Furumori and Hakui, 2009). This library, which was established in 1978, started to offer YA services fairly early in its history. In addition to its collection, it offers lectures by YA authors, discussion groups, collaboration with local schools, meetings with teacher librarians at local schools, volunteer programs for teens, internships for teens, and YA newsletters (with the support of YA members), including book reviews. (Library website:
http://www.lib.toyonaka.osaka.jp/)

Hiroshima Prefectural Library has a volunteer program, teen internships, book reviews written by young adults displayed in the YA section, posters made by young adults recommending various books displayed in schools, a newsletter with contributions from young adults, and a YA page on their website (Masai, 2009). (Library website: http://www.hplibra.pref.hiroshima.jp/)

Kajiki High School Library in Kagoshima is located in a bright, open space, and features light background music to the eternal surprise of new students (Iwashita, 2009). Older students give new students an ”adventure tour” of the library and library volunteers are put in charge of selecting a portion of the books for the library. New arrivals are announced on a bulletin board and in newsletters in order to help students understand that the library is continually changing and to offer them a reason to visit. They also offer a book point card (one point per book borrowed), original book covers, and library totebags. Furthermore, once a school term, the library hosts an event called ”Joy of Books” where the students, parents, and teachers are given a chance to use the library as a space to showcase their skills (e.g. music performances). (Library website: http://www5.synapse.ne.jp/library/)

If Yuji Handa was correct and the progress of YA services in Japan was being impeded due to a lack of good examples to follow, there are now at least three libraries that are ready to lead the way in this regard, and they presumably have skilled librarians who might be engaged as librarian educators in the future. From the dark days of YA services in the late 1970s, there have been obvious signs of progress in Japan, but it is clear that we have yet to see YA services reach their true potential in this country. It may also be said, however, that some libraries are heading in the right direction.

References
Furumori, M. and Hakui, Y. (2009). Young adult services in Toyonaka City Senri Library [in Japanese]. The Library Journal, 103(8):513–515.

Handa, Y. (1997). The current state of young adult services and programming [in Japanese]. In Current State of and Future Issues in Children’s and Young Adult Services, pages 170–205. Japan Society of Library and Information Science.

Handa, Y. (1999a). A personal history of young adult services [in Japanese]. In An Introduction to Young Adult Services. Kyoiku Shiryo Shuppankai.

Handa, Y. (1999b). Youth services and materials in public libraries [in Japanese]. In An Introduction to Young Adult Services. Kyoiku Shiryo Shuppankai. (Originally published in 1980.)

Inoue, Y. (2010). Children and young adult services [in Japanese]. The Library World, 61(5):469–475.

Iwashita, Y. (2009). A day in the life of a young adult services librarian in Japan [in Japanese]. The Library Journal, 103(8):518–519.

Japan Library Association (1993). Young Adult Services in Public Libraries: Survey Report [in Japanese]. Japan Library Association.

Japan Library Association (2003). Young Adult Services in Public Libraries: Survey Report [in Japanese]. Japan Library Association.

Japan Library Association (2009). The new century of YA services. The Library Journal, 103(8).

Margaret Marshall (1975). Libraries and Literature for Teenagers. Andre Deutsch, London. (I wasn’t able to read this book. It was mentioned in Handa 1999a.)

Masai, S. (2009). Support for soon-to-be adults: Young adult services in Hiroshima Prefectural Library [in Japanese]. The Library Journal, 103(8):516–517.

My Windows 7 (64 bit, Dell) computer seems to randomly pick when it wants to play sound and when it has better things to do. I upgraded the soundcard’s firmware and tried all sorts of things but could never make the problem go away without having to reboot. Tonight I found a way to get the sound back immediately.

1. Right click the speaker icon.
2. Click “playback devices”.
3. Double click “S/PDIF”.
4. Click “Supported formats” tab.
5. Click on the word “44.1 kHz” to select it (not the checkbox, the word itself).
6. Click “Test”.
7. You then get a warning box.
8. Click “Yes”.

Source: memolipd on m-audio forums.

I tried it tonight and my sound came back right away. I’m not sure if this will end up being a permanent solution or not. I will update this post if I find that it doesn’t have a lasting effect.

Not a permanent solution, it seems. Sound disappeared again the next time I turned the computer on. The good news, I guess, is that this trick worked to bring the sound back again.

I am currently taking a course on library services for young adults in which I have been asked to review 10 books, so I have decided to post my reviews here too. This is my eighth review. (You can read other book reviews that I have done here if you really want to.) This book will probably appeal to teens around 16 and up. Themes include Christianity, first love, siblings, maturing, relationships with parents, and fitting in. The genre is autobiography. This book is a graphic novel.

Teaser
This is a story told with images (graphic novel) drawn by Craig Thompson about his own life as a teenager. He focuses on his relationships with his brother Phil, his first love Raina, and his Christian faith. The story jumps around in time from Craig’s childhood to his early adulthood, touching on various episodes in more or less depth. The focal point of the story is Craig’s relationship with Raina, a girl that he meets at a Christian camp. Craig is a socially awkward child who seems to fall on the wrong side of the bullies at every stage in his life. Raina, however, accepts him for who he is, giving him a new confidence and also making him reflect more deeply on his relationship with his brother and with his faith.

Review
Despite its length (592 pages — a hefty tome to hold), I found this to be a very quick read (finished in a few hours one evening). The images are well drawn and serve to enhance the reader’s understanding of Craig’s perspective. The story is compelling and would certainly appeal to teenagers. There are some explicit drawings (primarily of naked men and women, sometimes in compromising sexual positions) that will certainly offend people who are looking to be offended, so it would be advisable for librarians to read this book before adding it to their collections in case they are asked to defend it. While I enjoyed the book as a whole, I found the ending to be unsatisfying (it seems to just *end*) and I sometimes felt that the discussion of Thompson’s struggle to come to terms with his faith took over the story. People who are looking for non-traditional Christian literature may find this struggle enlightening/entertaining but I found that it often threatened to dominate the themes in the book, making me wonder whether I was reading an edgy coming-of-age book or one that was designed as a conversation piece for Bible study classes. Forewarned of the religious overtones, the reader can make her own choice of how to digest the story.

I am currently taking a course on library services for young adults in which I have been asked to review 10 books, so I have decided to post my reviews here too. This is my seventh review. (You can read other book reviews that I have done here if you really want to.) This book is probably suitable for children around 10 years of age or older. Themes include siblings, grandparents, and rural vs. city living. The genres are humour and historical fiction.

Teaser
Joey and his younger sister Mary Alice are sent away to the country to spend the summer with their grandmother in the late 1920s. At first the kids are pretty annoyed with their parents for sending them away from home (Chicago) to a place where they have no friends and nothing to do, but eventually they start to appreciate the chance to watch Grandma Dowdel in action. Grandma gets up to all sorts of capers which tend to shock and amuse Joey and Mary Alice, and most of the chapters end with a funny twist that lets the reader in on why Grandma did what she did. The book is written in episode-based chapters, which, after the first chapter, could probably be read in any order.

Review
I enjoyed this book (as an adult), but I am not entirely convinced that it would capture a young adult audience. The writing is kind of hokey and the themes are a bit simplistic (e.g. Grandma pulls one over on the sheriff, Grandma enters a pie in the county fair, Grandma teaches some local hoodlums a lesson). I can’t imagine contemporary urban youth finding anything to identify with in these pages. However, as I said, I enjoyed the book as an adult and I think that younger kids (maybe 9 or 10 year olds?) would probably enjoy listening to the stories being read to them. I think the audiobook version of this book would be good for a family roadtrip — although even young kids might balk a bit at the slow place of the first couple of stories. If they can get through the preliminaries, Grandma Dowdel might win them over.

Wow. That was not a good movie. Here’s why.

1. It was horrifically disrespectful to Muslims and religious people anywhere. You may not believe the same things that other people believe, but you have to respect their beliefs and their culture, especially when you are in their country. The scene with Samantha in the market was shocking, wrong, and upsetting on so many levels.

2. It had no discernible plot other than “can Carrie and Big make it through another two hours without breaking up?”

3. If you break the law in a foreign country, you are likely to suffer a fate worse than being pitched out of your $20,000 per night hotel room.

4. I wonder how much money the film made on marketing clothes and shoes alone?

5. Muslim women do not look up to vapid New York fashionistas as their saviours.

6. Did you notice how they were CONSTANTLY eating?

7. I don’t even need to ask if you noticed the unbelievably shocking make-up on all the girls. Why didn’t anyone say anything before this film was released?

8. What exactly were they trying to say about marriage, and children, and singleness? Or Islam? Or traditions? Or gay marriage? Or Danish architects?

9. Liza, Penelope, Miley. Whatever. (No, I take that back. Liza was fabulous. She’s had my heart ever since she played Lucille 2 in Arrested Development.)

10. If you get a flat screen TV as a present, the correct answer is “thank you”, not “jewellery would have been nice”.

I am currently taking a course on library services for young adults in which I have been asked to review 10 books, so I have decided to post my reviews here too. This is my sixth review. (You can read other book reviews that I have done here if you really want to.) This book will probably appeal to teens around 15 and up. Themes include sisters, families, death, and boyfriends. The genre is contemporary (Canadian) fiction.

Teaser
This book mainly takes place over the span of about two weeks. Natalie is a normal teenager who hangs out with her friends and steals her older sister, Claire’s, clothes. Claire has just graduated from high school and is set to start college in the fall. One evening, Claire goes out with her boyfriend (with the intent to break up with him), and she gets hit by a car. The story continues on from there about how Natalie deals with Claire’s accident.

Review (includes spoilers)
I was very tempted to stop reading this book shortly after I started it. It is clear that the author is a talented writer — the book is quite well written — but I just did not like the topic that she chose to write about. The older sister, Claire, is in a coma after her accident and the reader is subjected to Natalie’s tormented thoughts about the situation. When, after the doctors have done more testing, it has been determined that Claire is brain dead, Natalie is left with a person-sized hole in her heart. Reading about this kind of pain was too upsetting — at least for me — to enjoy it. I am not sure who would enjoy it. I would think that a person who lived through such a tragedy would not want to relive it by reading about another person’s pain in a book. I suppose it would be an informative book to read if you had a friend who was dealing with the loss of a sibling, but I think it is really just too much tragedy and not enough “other stuff” to water down the raw emotions and make it an enjoyable read. Then again, maybe some people like to stir up raw emotions. It would certainly be a cathartic read if someone wanted give herself a reason to cry!

Overall, I would say that I cannot recommend this book to a general audience. There would have to be a very good reason for me to suggest this book to someone; for example, if the person was in a play about death and was looking for insight. Otherwise, I think teenagers have more than enough angst of their own to deal with without giving them extra things to worry about!

I am currently taking a course on library services for young adults in which I have been asked to review 10 books, so I have decided to post my reviews here too. This is my fifth review. (You can read other book reviews that I have done here if you really want to.) This book will probably appeal to teens around 13 and up. Themes include war, relations with parents and siblings, responsibility, and life in Afghanistan under the Taliban. The genre is international fiction.

Teaser
Parvana is an 11-year old girl living in Afghanistan under Taliban rule. If she wants to go outside, she has to cover her head and shoulders with a cloth. Her older sister and her mother have to cover their entire bodies with burqa, a kind of tent-like head-to-toe dress with a mesh covering over the eyes, and they must be accompanied by a man at all times. Women are not allowed to work. Parvana’s parents used to be university professors, but the universities are now closed and her parents’ home was destroyed by bombs, so they have had to move their family several times. The family is now living in a one-room apartment. Parvana’s father lost a leg in one of the bombings, so Parvana must help him walk. Her father works as a letter reader and writer at the local market while the rest of the family stays hidden in the one-room apartment. One day, some Taliban soldiers visit Parvana’s home and arrest her father. Without a man to take care of them, the family will be ruined, so they decide to cut off Parvana’s hair and have her act like a boy. She goes to the market and works as a letter reader and writer and does the shopping for the family with the little money she makes. The story is told through Parvana’s eyes and includes her thoughts about her parents and siblings, living under an oppressive regime, and her future.

Review
I enjoyed reading this book and learning about what it must have been like for women and children to live in Afghanistan under the Taliban. I liked the characters and I felt that the premise of the story was interesting; however, I think the author could have done a better job at developing the storyline. Several events happen in the story, but there isn’t a natural progression that leads to a climax and a resolution. The story just kind of ends. I learned after reading it that the author has written more books in this series (Parvana’s Journey, Mud City), so perhaps there is a better story arc to be found by reading all of them, rather than just one. I think that young adults who are interested in learning about life in other countries would enjoy reading this book. Also, Parvana’s struggles with her older sister are universal and can be appreciated by little sisters everywhere. There is some violence in this book, so I think it might be better for older readers, or at least readers who are not sensitive to violence in stories.

Booktalk

Here is a booktalk that I recorded for my course.

I am currently taking a course on library services for young adults in which I have been asked to review 10 books, so I have decided to post my reviews here too. This is my fourth review. (You can read other book reviews that I have done here if you really want to.) This book will probably appeal to teens around 13 and up. Themes include growing up, problems with parents, friendship, loneliness, social awkwardness, sexual relations. The genre is contemporary fiction.

Teaser
Melinda’s life was pretty normal up to Grade 8. She had friends and sleepover parties and she expected high school to be more of the same. In the summer before Grade 9, however, Melinda and her friends go to a party hosted by high school students. Melinda gets drunk and ends up calling the police which brings the party to a crashing halt. The people who Melinda thought were her friends start ignoring her and she starts Grade 9 as a social outcast. Melinda had a good reason for calling the police, but she can’t seem to find the right way to explain it to anyone. And even if she did, who would believe her? As Melinda’s secret starts to consume her thoughts, she spends more and more time listening to her inner dialogue and less time interacting with the people around her. She almost never speaks, even when being addressed directly. Melinda finds at least temporary solace in her art class (although her art teacher seems to be going through some problems of his own) and in an abandoned janitor’s closet that she has claimed for herself. As the year goes on, Melinda fights to give voice to the girl inside who knows she did nothing wrong and doesn’t deserve the kind of treatment she is getting from everyone around her.

Review
(**includes spoiler, so don’t read it if you don’t want to learn Melinda’s secret before you read the book**)

This book deals very well with the subject of sexual assault and the way that secrets can become harder to reveal, even as they become harder for their keepers to ignore. Anderson gives Melinda a strong and often humourous voice which helps the reader identify with her as a normal teenage girl. Several subplots deal with the problem of cliques and the insane level of emphasis placed upon being popular in high school. An excellent book, and certainly an important topic to be addressed in a young adult library collection.

Booktalk

Here is a video that I made as a part of the review assignment.

And here is the original Powerpoint file in case you want to use it to make your own booktalk. I created the presentation, saved the slides as jpg files, and then imported them into Microsoft Movie Maker (which is free for Windows users).

I upgraded to Ubuntu 10.04 today. I only just restarted my computer a few moments ago after the upgrade, so I can’t give a full report just yet, but so far I have noticed two things that I like and one thing that I don’t.

Like
With 9.10, there were some problems with the screens of certain programs/applications showing up as a hashed grid. This was a problem because if I launched an application like “system monitor”, I would just get this hashed grid (i.e. garbage) on my screen instead of the application interface. This was a fairly big problem, but one that I couldn’t be bothered to figure out how to fix, so I just left it. This also affected the internet connectivity display (the little thingy that pops up to say that you are connected or not connected to a particular network). This has been miraculously fixed in 10.4. (Thank you!!)

When I upgraded to 9.10, I lost the ability to type in Japanese. It was a pain to go back and figure out how I installed the input method editor (IME) and do it all again. This upgrade has not affected my IME, so I am quite pleased about that. I hesitated to upgrade because I thought I would have to go back and do it again AGAIN, so I’m glad that will not be the case. Well done, Ubuntu people!

Don’t Like
I know it’s only been about 23 minutes, but I am already annoyed with the minimize, maximize, and close buttons being on the wrong side. Luckily this is easily fixed. Also, I had read about this change, so I was ready for it and knew that I wouldn’t have to live with it, so I decided to go ahead with the upgrade. I feel a little “who moved my cheese” about the whole thing, especially because I didn’t even give it a try, but I’m not going to dwell. I guess it’s good that they made the change so I had the experience of going in and fixing it. It taught me something about the guts of the OS, so I shouldn’t complain too loudly.

So there you have it. “So far, so good” would be my official take on this upgrade. If you are wondering about whether or not to go ahead with the upgrade (or to install Ubuntu 10.04 for the first time), I would recommend doing it. Just be aware that it may take a couple of hours to complete the upgrade, so you might want to have a good book by your side before you start.

I am currently taking a course on library services for young adults in which I have been asked to review 10 books, so I have decided to post my reviews here too. This is my third review. (You can read other book reviews that I have done here if you really want to.) This book will probably appeal to teens around 15 and up. Themes include kidnapping, fake identity, music, chase, adventure, police, school. The genre is mystery.

Teaser
A sixteen-year-old girl and her mother have a routine they follow every time they move to a new town. They go to the library, choose a fiction book and look for the first girl’s name to show up in the story. This time, it’s a romance novel with Fabio on the cover, so the first name that comes up is Chastity Pureheart. The girl complains a bit, but finally concedes to that being her new name — although she prefers to call herself “Chass”. About three years after arriving in this town, High Hopes, Alabama, Chass’ mother goes missing and Chass is left to fend for herself. The mother-daughter team has been on the run for as long as Chass can remember, so Chass is quick to realize that there must be some connection between that and her mother’s sudden disappearance. Over the next few days, things go from bad to worse as Chass is threatened with foster care and even juvenile detention. At first, her best friend Ben Purviss and his family help with her investigations, but it soon becomes clear that Chass is playing a dangerous game and the consequences for those involved, even peripherally, can be dire, so she is left to her own devices. There are subplots involving Chass’ feelings for Ben, her budding musical career, and her acceptance (or not) into the cool crowd.

Review
I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would. As I have said before, I am not a big mystery fan, so this is not a genre that I would choose to read if I were not trying to expand my horizons (because of the course I am taking). I don’t enjoy reading about (or watching) violence or death. However, judging by all the police/forensics shows on TV, I imagine this genre is very popular with a good portion of the population, teens included. There is some violence in this book, although I think it would be more offensive to parents than to the kids themselves. Some of the things that happened were a bit unrealistic, but perhaps no more than any average book that is trying to appeal to teens. Since I work in a school, I thought it was a bit unfortunate that all of the school-related characters were uniformly unforgiving of Chass’ loss and refused to cut her some slack. I can see how most teens view teachers/school as a hindrance rather than a help, though, so they can probably relate to that situation. Overall, I would say that this is a good, diverting read.