Cold Calls by Charles Benoit

I know your secret, and I am going to tell everyone unless you do exactly what I say. How far would you be willing to go to keep your secret - the one you want no one to ever find out?

Eric receives a call from a strange voice telling him that his secret will be revealed unless he follows the instructions. What does the voice want? Eric must bully Connor, a kid he doesn't even know. All the directions are specific including the day that Eric is supposed to dump mac & cheese on Connor's head in the school cafeteria during lunch. Eric is not a bully, but how can he risk the humiliation of having his secret revealed to the world.

Shelly gets the call, too. She must bully a girl in her school the same way. She goes to a different school than Eric and doesn't even know him until they meet in a anti-bullying class they are required to take after they follow the voice's instructions. Their loud discussion is overheard by a third person who also received the call.

Together, they decide (although with some reluctance) to find out the identity of the caller and stop him/her before it is too late. Suspense builds as the mac & cheese deadline approaches. We, as readers, are asking the same questions as the three: who is the caller; why are they being targeted; why were their victims chosen? We also want to know what the secrets are? How bad can they be?

It's a suspenseful, quick read.

For more info, check out the Indianapolis Public Library catalog and the author's site.

You by Charles Benoit

Kyle is not who he used to be. He used to get better grades; now he thinks school is a joke. He used to have different friends; now he hangs out with the 'hoodies.' His parents used to treat him like they do his little sister; now they just criticize him all the time. Things are not all bad - at least he has Ashley and someday he will tell her how he feels so they might actually be a couple.

So where did it all go wrong? Kyle needs to know before time runs out. And how come there's so much blood?

I must confess that I wasn't sure about this book when I started it. The narrator's perspective took me a few chapters to get used to. Like Kyle, I wanted to know what was going on. We are also introduced to another character that made the book interesting enough for me to recommend it.

Click here for more info about this book from the Indianapolis Public Library.