Testify By Valerie Sherrard

Author: Valerie Sherrard
Pages: 144
Date Published: August 4 2011
Publisher: Dundurn

Introduction
       Shana Temain and Carrie are best friends. So when Carrie comes to Shana saying that she is being molested by her stepfather, Shana knows that Carrie is telling the truth She will do whatever it takes to help her. Carrie convinces Shana to testify in court. Shana's testimony states that she saw Carrie's stepfather molest her. Which of course is a lie, but for a while Shana doesn't care about her lie. Especially after Carrie's stepfather ends up in jail. Now Shana just can't wait for everything to get back to normal with her group of friends. Unfortunately, that's not what happens. Carrie accuses Hayley, another one of Shana's friends of stealing. Everybody believes Carrie, but soon Carrie reveals some pretty nasty things that she claims Hayley said. Shana just wants to find out the truth, so she goes to talk to Hayley. As secrets become revealed, Shana begins to doubt how trustworthy Carrie really is.

Characters/Relationships
       I liked the characters in this Testify, although, it didn't tell you a lot about any of the characters besides Carrie, Shana, and Haley.
       There was no love story involved in this book. It does tell you about a past relationship that Shana had and how they broke up though.

Cover
       The cover to this book is a girl looking down, hiding her face. The cover is plain ans simple but very pretty.

Dislikes
       The book didn't go into very much detail about anything, if I remember correctly, It didn't even give a description of what the characters looked like, If it did it was very small. Like what the general weight of what the characters were. I don't really know what the characters were supposed to look like, but in my mind, I pictured Carrie, with very short brown hair, and I pictured Shana, tall with black hair. 


Conclusion

       Overall, Testify was a good book. Boys could read this book, although it only really has a few male characters. Most boys can't get past that though.

Crush. Candy. Corpse. By Sylvia McNicoll

Author: Sylvia Mcnicoll
Date Published: February 17 2012
Publisher: James Lorimer & CompanyPages 224

Introduction
     
       Sonja "Sonny" Ehret is on trial for manslaughter.

       After being forced to do her forty volunteer hours in order to graduate at an Alzheimer's ward, she meets and and interacts with many of the residents. After about two visits she meets a boy named Cole Demers who visits his grandmother Helen regularly.
 
       When Sunny and Cole become friends, Cole confesses that his grandmother made him promise that when the disease progresses too far, he was to help her 'go.'

       When Sunny 's hours are finished, she returns to the Alzheimer's ward to visit Helen one more time. Ten minutes after she leaves Helen Demers is found dead in her room. Sunny was the last person to see her alive.

Cover 
       
       The cover is Sonny showing of her trademark pink streaks with a black background. I like the cover because it's simple, and because of the pink streaks, there is no confusion that the cover is showcasing Sonny.


Characters
       
       If I had to pick a favorite Character, it would probably be Wolfgang. I know, he's not in the book all that much but in the part he is in, he is really nice. And for the record his name is pretty cool.

       I guess that Sunny and Cole are a little bit more than friends.  I was not a fan of their relationship. I found it annoying because Sonny has a boyfriend but she still lets Cole kiss her. PLUS Cole knows that Sunny has a boyfriend yet this still goes on. The relationship between them was not an aspect of the book that I enjoyed.
     
Conclusion 
     
       This book was very enjoyable. I think that boys would enjoy this book too as long as they don't mind reading books with a female protagonist. I would read this book again in the future, and I would recommend this book to teens looking for a quick read whodunnit type read.