Charmed »

Dillon wakes me up. I fell asleep in the boots and leather mini-skirt and nothing else. He's brought a friend home. The friend is grinning down at me. I yank the sleeping bag over me. His name is Barrel, and he's big and round like one. "She'll do," he says. Then he leaves. "Do what?" My head is pounding. "Nothing. Don't worry about it." Dillon heads for the shower. "Go back to sleep." So I do. Izzy's mother works far away and leaves Izzy at home, alone with Rob the Slob. Angry at her mother and trying to deal with school, friends and the attentions of charismatic Cody Dillon, Izzy finds her life swirling out of control. Coerced into putting out to help Cody, Izzy finds she is one in a long line of girls ensnared in prostitution, with no way to escape. Believing that her mother will come for her, Izzy manages to fight back and, when the chance appears, make a run for it. Charmed is Carrie Mac's first entry in the Soundings series. Her teen novel, The Beckoners, is also available.

Diane Emge - VOYA

The Canadian-based Orca Soundings series fulfills the wishes of countless librarians and teachers by providing well-written, relevant stories geared toward lower level readers. These slender books are an easy sell with their colorful, teen-savvy covers and edgy titles. A broad range of topics and viewpoints allow readers plenty of choices for individual reading preferences, as demonstrated by four recent additions. Charmed tells a much darker story. Izzy is a teenage girl saddled with her mother's obnoxious live-in boyfriend and the uncomfortable label of "white trash." When things become unbearable at home, Izzy moves in with her dropout boyfriend, despite the strange and scary people he hangs out with. Gradually she becomes entrapped in a prostitution ring, where she is regularly drugged, beaten, and raped. The sex and violence are not graphic but implied, along the lines of Go Ask Alice. Readers interested in that kind of gritty drama would probably like this book as well. There are eighteen previous books in the series. Most are suitable for middle school through high school readers. There are many reasons why teens find themselves uninterested in reading, but these books are great tools for luring them back. VOYA CODES: 3Q 3P J S (Readable without serious defects; Will appeal with pushing; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12). 2004, Orca, 107p., Trade pb. Ages 12 to 18.