Riley Park

October 1, 2009
Gr 7 Up-During a party-prepping trip to Safeway, friends Corbin and Darius flirt with Rubee, a local hottie manning the cash register. Darius invites her to the party, and the boys leave the market anticipating Rubee's arrival. At the party, he makes a play for her, and Corbin, in a jealous and alcohol-induced fit, attacks him. The party ends when Corbin passes out. (Gallant friend that he is, Darius remains with Corbin until he wakes up.) Without warning, the boys are jumped and severely beaten by hooded assailants. Corbin awakens in the ER and learns that while both he and his friend suffered severe head trauma, he is now under investigation for murder as Darius has died of his injuries. No witnesses saw the attackers, but the partygoers can attest to Corbin fighting with Darius. Corbin tries to resume his pre-assault life and find out who killed his friend, but his extensive injuries hamper his attempts. Likable flawed characters drive the plot in this gritty contemporary drama. The fast-paced read feels current and edgy without succumbing to inner-city staging. "Riley Park" will have both reluctant and struggling readers flipping the pages."H. H. Henderson, Heritage Middle School, Deltona, FL"

Copyright 2009 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2009
Grades 7-12 Corbin used to be a hockey player, a scrapper, a fighter, but then he and his best friend, Darius, were savagely attacked in Riley Park by three kids with a crowbar and a grudge. Darius was killed, and Corbin, brain-damaged, was leftin a state ofnew normalsimply surviving and trying to rediscover himself and his fragmented memories. In the meantime, the police struggle to find the assailants and to determine what part the beautiful Rubeeto whom both Corbin and Darius were attractedmight have played in this sad affair. A new volume in Orcas excellent Soundings series of hi-lo novels for reluctant readers, Riley Park is a suspenseful, tightly plotted story that manages, in only 102 pages, to create both a memorable protagonist and a thought-provoking, emotionally involving story.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2009
After a party at a riverbank, best friends Corbin and Darius are attacked. Darius dies and Corbin, who was brutally beaten and now struggles to remember words and do simple tasks, is left to try and point the police to a suspect. The story has action and suspense but suffers from underdeveloped characters.

(Copyright 2009 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)