Book Review: Missing Since Monday by Ann M. Martin

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Missing Since Monday by Ann M. Martin follows Maggie and her older brother when their father and stepmother leave on a long-delayed honeymoon, trusting the siblings to care for their four-year-old half sister, Courtenay. When Courtenay fails to come home from daycare one Monday afternoon, Maggie and her brother are thrust into a frightening mystery. With no adults around to help, they must piece together what happened and find a way to alert their parents before it’s too late. This standalone novel for readers ages eight to twelve was one I completely missed as a kid, but as an adult and a longtime fan of Ann M. Martin’s The Baby-Sitters Club  series, I couldn’t resist picking it up. The first chapter or two felt a bit choppy to me at first, but once the story found its footing, everything began to come together nicely . Because this is a short children’s book, the characters aren’t deeply developed, which is to be expected. That said, Martin does an excellent job conveying Maggie’...
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Book Review: The Silent Scream (Nightmare Hall, #1) by Diane Hoh

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YA Horror Book Review of The Silent Scream (Nightmare Hall, #1) by Diane Hoh
 

The Silent Scream (Nightmare Hall, #1) by Diane Hoh opens with six students arriving at Nightingale Hall dubbed Nightmare Hall, which is their off campus dorm at Salem University. After the students learn the deep, dark secret that another student committed suicide in the dorm, odd things begin happening.

Diane Hoh was a very popular author in the 1990's with a slew of books to her name. It seems as though she simply vanished into thin air as I haven't heard of any new books written by her. I'll have to look into what happened to her and why she hasn't continued writing, or if she has continued writing, why I haven't heard of those books.

Young Adult Book Review of The Silent Scream (Nightmare Hall, #1) by Diane Hoh
In my attempt to reread my way through my childhood, I picked up The Silent Scream (Nightmare Hall, #1) by Diane Hoh. Since this wasn't a book that I reread a ton as a kid, I really didn't remember too much about the book with a couple of exceptions, and those parts that I did remember, I only remembered when I started reading those sections. So, it was like reading the book for the first time again, and it gave me all the feels and didn't disappoint.

Diane Hoh did a great job on throwing suspicion on several different characters throughout the book on who the "bad guy" was. Being an adult, I thought I knew who it was from the get go, but when the author put out the other clues, I did doubt myself a bit and let myself be led astray. The great thing about this book is that everything was resolved by the end of the book.

The Silent Scream was a compelling read and fast paced. It could easily be read in two or three hours, even by the target audience. With that being said, every time I sat down to read, I was really tired and only got fifty or so pages read at a time, and it took me a few days to finish. I gave it five out of five stars, and even though it was written in the 1990's, kids today would enjoy this book and the series.

If you enjoyed The Silent Scream (Nightmare Hall, #1) by Diane Hoh, then you would enjoy Trick or Treat by Richie Tankersly Cusick.


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