The Substitute by Nicole Lundrigan 399 pgs.

The Substitute switches back and forth between two narrators, an unknown psychopath in the making, and Warren, a socially awkward, issue laden, substitute teacher who loses his job when they find a body in his back yard. I wanted to wipe my hands of both, I really did, but I couldn’t. Maybe because the author does such a great job fleshing out the characters that it doesn’t take much to understand why they are the way they are. Or maybe because the darker side of me might have done the same had I been in the same predicament. Or maybe even, it was all the twists and turns that kept me constantly guessing who the narrator was and who done it. Hard to say. Either way, I didn’t want to put it down.

Superheroes Don't Eat Veggie Burgers by Gretchen Kelley 266 pages

I was drawn to this book by the title.  Sadly, I was not wowed by the story.  The main character, Charlie Burger, is starting middle school and facing bullies, changing friendships, etc.  His science teacher gives the class a journal in which they are to write what they wish.  This frustrates Charlie initially, as he is a science nut, but he decides to start writing the adventures of Dude Explodius.  The journal entries have an odd way of sometimes entering the real world, but sometimes the results of the entries were completely disconnected to me.  I didn't really think the resolution of the story was entirely satisfying.  That being said, it did speak to some topics that middle graders will recognize.  I would still recommend it to some 4th and 5th grade kids, but ones who are looking for a specific type of read.  

Save Yourself by Kelly Braffet 310 pages

Patrick lives with his brother Mike and Mike’s girlfriend Caro in a rundown old house on a dead end street. He works the graveyard shift in a convenience store. His father is in jail for killing a child while driving drunk. He is ostracized by the town because of his father’s actions and the fact that he waited 19 hours before calling the police. Mike blames Patrick for their father’s incarceration. 

Layla Elshere and her younger sister Verna live with their parents—their father is a fundamentalist minister who holds services in the basement—and attend high school where Layla has ruined all the teachers for future generations of Elsheres and Verna—the good child—is mercilessly bullied. Layla and her blood drinking boyfriend Justinian draw Verna into their goth like cult.

Save Yourself is really dark in places, deals with hard subject matter and a what’s-the-use feeling pervades throughout much of the book as the characters interact and consistently make questionable choices. Still I couldn’t put it down, I didn’t want it to end, and days later I’m still thinking about it.