Scheerger, Sarah Lynn. Are You Still There? Chicago, Illinois: Albert Whitman and Company, 2015.

Instant suspense when the reader is in the bathroom stall with Gabi, an emergency lockdown drill, and she is stuck. Readers will be engaged immediately. Gabi and her friends learn that someone had left a bomb threat at the school. Gabi becomes involved - through her dad who is a police officer, through the school as a volunteer for the school’s new “hotline” for troubled students, through her own curiosity, and through the actions of the bomber - who seems to be targeting her throughout the story. What really makes the book for me is the character development of Gabi, as she grows through her experiences. She experiences love for the first time. She inadvertently hurts her friends and has to find ways to deal with that. She finds a new relationship with her sister, the family rebel. She even comes to a better understanding of both of her parents (while still relating to them in a truly teenaged way - so well done).

This book will punch a number of buttons for my readers. The mystery, enhanced by the stranger’s manifestos, that punctuate the narrative will get my true crime readers. The love story develops and has ebbs and flows that will keep my romantics involved. The ripped from the headlines feel will grab my nonfiction lovers who are being forced to read some fiction.

Always, books that remind my kids to treat each other better - with more compassion and respect is one that I will encourage them to read. I think we always just hope that as educators that something will speak to them and inspire them to create a better world.