Black Juice by Margo Lanagan

Strange and weird would be the two words to describe Black Juice. This book is a collection of 10 short stories by Margo Lanagan. From a young boy singing to his sister as she is executed, to a clown being killed, to an encounter with a demonic angel that helps a boy break free of his oppressor, these stories look into the dark side of humanity. Lanagan offers peaks into familiar shadow worlds that we normally don't think about. She pushes the boundaries of the human spirit that leaves your mind haunted by the knowledge that there is a dark side to us all, a side we don't want emerging from the depths, a side we want to keep hidden.

Tom Burnham

MANIAC KILLER STRIKES AGAIN BY CARTOONIST RICHARD SALA

A wonderfully gruesome collection of cartoon stories including one in which members of the creeping cat society are being mysteriously killed, in another there are man eating plants, then there's the one in which a man's life is ruined when he falls in love with a girl he meets in a library. A mad scientist is tricked into using his fiance's blood to restore his father to life and her brain fluid to treat his own mysterious disease. AND ITS ALL DELICIOUSLY SILLY CARTOON FUN

Out of the Dust By: Karen Hessee

Billie Jo the main personality throughout the novel demonstrates enormous strength, courage throughout her ordeal. This book is written in free-verse poems, so the reader is able to understand the story. The story takes place during the depression in Oklahoma, when times were very hard to make ends meet.

Billie Jo grew up in the dust bowl, where farming was impossible, due to environment, and poor conditions of the soil. Farming was poor due to the dust that accumulated , andd no water available.

Billie Jo's Mother died when she was 14 years old in a freak accident that happened in the kitchen of their house. Billie Jo was often hired as a pianist, and made a few dollars.

After the death of her Mother Billie Jo decided to leave her home, and seek a better life in Arizona. She got on a box car on a train for three days. She did lots of thinking, and decided to return home. She now got along with her Father. Billie Jo's Dad, has a special lady friend Louise.

This book is very interesting, but true, and very clear about happenings in the Dust Bowl of the Great Depression. It deescribes trials, and problems in the 1920's, and 1930's in the United States. L.D. 5/16/05

My Abnormal Life - Lee McClain

How would you feel if you were taken from your home and put in a foster home because your mom can't take care of you? This is what happens to Rose. She is caught stealing food for her mom and sister. Social Services becomes involved when they see how Rose, her sister Dani (who has Downs Syndrome), and her mom are living. Social services puts Dani in a foster home with other developmentaly challenged children, and Rose is put in a home where the mother acts more like a teengager and wants Rose to become exactly like her daughter. Rose attends high school, joins the newspaper, makes a few friends, and even falls in love. Underneath all of this Rose is adament about getting her family back together. She gets Brian to drive her and Dani an hour into the city where there mother lives, and while they are in the grocery store Dani runs out in front of a car and Rose gets her foot run over. After this Rose's foster mother, Dani's foster mother and Social Services all sit down and decide that Rose, Dani, and their mom will be a family again one day, but it will take time.

Tom Burnham

Song of an Innocent Bystander by Bone

Ten years ago, John Wayne Grady held a group of people hostage in a Family Value Restaurant for 36 hours. Most survived their trauma, but the survivors were all hurt. They tried to live good lives. Some tried to do good, some gave in, some froze some did bad things. What happened behind those closed doors? Freda was there, she knew didn't she?