You are Cordially Invited to Get Sucked In!

How much can our genetics determine who we are? Does the color of our skin or our physical stature change the way people act around us? Do our genes hold the key to preventing violent people from committing crimes? In Sophie Jordan's Uninvited, we have to ask ourselves how far we are willing to go to protect ourselves.

Davy is your typical upper class private school girl with all the opportunities in the world. As a musical prodigy, she aspires to go to Julliard after graduation. When her high school screens for the "killer gene" or HTS (Homicidal Tendency Syndrome), the last person you would think to carry the dangerous genetic code would be Davy, but HTS doesn't follow patterns or expectations. The minute Davy's test results are communicated to the school, she is "uninvited" or basically expelled. The local private school has a program for carriers like Davy, but it means they must show up and leave int he middle of standard class times to avoid interacting with "normal" kids. When she arrives for her first day, she is led to her classroom, The Cage.

While the separation of the people with HTS is meant to protect the general public, it quickly becomes a means for the "normal" population to attack and corral the HTS population. Davy experiences this at the hands of her own boyfriend and friends. Once they find out her status, she is an untouchable. Even her own parents are scared and ashamed of her. She can't believe how the other kids in the Cage survive being treated like this, but the truth is, most of them were untouchable before a test confirmed they carried the Killer Gene. When HTS terrorists commit an unspeakable act, there is nothing left to do but take the segregation a step further. What happens when you put a bunch of people together who already have a genetic predisposition to kill? You can only imagine...

This is a fast-paced, incredible thriller that connects deeply to current situations in a broad, science fiction realm. As I was reading about the prejudice against the HTS kids, I could not help but think about current racial and sexual orientation issues that plague our nation. We currently have legislation that is openly prejudiced against our LGBTQ population that eerily relates to the kind of governmental prejudice in this book. This part of the population had done nothing wrong, but the mere possibility they might was enough to strip them of their rights to freedom. Sound familiar? I loved the carefully shrouded implications Jordan makes about society and how we treat anyone we see as "other". As a teacher of dyslexic students, I see first-hand how a label can change everything. Our students want to be "normal" and what they don't realize (and society perpetuates) is the idea that the way they learn makes them abnormal, different, or defective. It is heartbreaking to watch, and Jordan does a phenomenal job of exploring those feelings of isolation and prejudice with Uninvited. 

The characters in this story, whether you love or hate them, are also amazing representatives of the different approaches people will have to this type of situation. The government gets pressured into questionable legislation based on the acts of a few terrorists who do not represent the general population. Davy's mother is ashamed and overwhelmed while her father disappears completely and wishes he could sweep it all under the carpet. Davy's boyfriend and friends turn on her in an incredible, despicable, and realistic manner. But the characters aren't all vile. Davy's brother in unwavering in his love and support of her. He is willing to do anything to keep her safe. Sean, a fellow carrier who doesn't stick his neck out for anyone, can't stand by and let Davy be eaten alive by those around her. Most of all, this book symbolizes that those we think are predisposed to the most evil, often are not the most evil in reality, or even evil at all. This is important to remember, and I love how Jordan makes us question how we define ourselves compared to how society defines us. This was a great story for a variety of readers. I guarantee any reader will draw parallels to the world we live in today, but they might not like where they fall in that mirror image! 

How Do You Hide a Dragon?

The life of the Draki isn't easy. Have you ever tried hiding a dragon? What about a whole pride of dragons? But the hunters and the enkros (scientists who torture and dismember dragons) make life particularly dangerous. Jacinda has survived, but in Hidden, she risks her own life to save that of her pride member. Even when it means giving herself to the enkros.

Jacinda bonded with Cassian, but the bond was in name only. She truly loves Will, but responsibility to her pride changes her ability to make decisions based on her emotions. Now that Cassian's sister has been taken to the enkros, she can feel his pain through the bond and knows she must save Miriam. Doing so, however, means letting herself be captured and taken to the enkros, a fate no Draki would choose for themselves.

Inside the enkros headquarters, Jacinda learns just how awful the scientists are. While Drakis go into the lab, they never come out. But Jacinda, Will, and Cassian won't rest until they free Miriam. Inside, Jacinda is pitted against a terrifying gray dragon with razor sharp scales. She survives, barely, but the enkros take her to be tagged with a tracking device. Cassian and Will couldn't have come at a more perfect time, saving her from the implanted device, but Miriam wasn't so lucky. Now they have to outrun hunters who know where they are, and the only safe place they know if is the pride, but returning to the pride means putting them all at risk. Choices aren't always easy, and Jacinda has been plagued by enough of her own tough choices, but the safety of the pride is the toughest one she has had to weather. What will she decide?

This was a very exciting conclusion to this interesting young series. We all have an idea of "the perfect ending," which might not be the perfect ending for some characters, but we know what we want to happen. We also know what the easy ending would be- something that doesn't rock the boat too much and leaves us warm and fuzzy inside. Jordan took a risk with this conclusion by not giving you everything you wanted. You won't be disappointed, but you won't feel warm and fuzzy either. In a book full of tough choices, some of those choices were bound to lead to sacrifices, and that is exactly what happened in Hidden.

I loved where this series went, and I think it matured and grew up in content dynamics as it aged. It went from a clear middle reader series to a final book that expects more from its readers in the depth and breadth. This conclusion proved Jordan knows how to elevate her readers as they progress through her stories, and I am looking forward to her next endeavor!

A Dragon Who Can't Leave Her Hunter

Dragons are real, but they aren't the same dragons of medieval times. They are Draki. Draki are dragons who can manifest and demanifest- turn into dragons or turn into their human forms. Jacinda has always been happy being a draki, but when her mother and sister took her away from the pride to the desert where her inner dragon started to wither, she fell in love with the one person she shouldn't have- a hunter. In Vanish, by Sophie Jordan, we see how that love led Jacinda down a path she never thought she'd find herself.


Jacinda committed the worst crime a draki could commit- she manifested into a dragon in front of a pack of hunters. Now they know the secret of the draki- that they can disguise themselves as humans. Jacinda's twin sister saves them though. Tamra had never manifested as a dragon, but when her family was in trouble she finally found her inner dragon- a shader no less. There is only one more important dragon than a fire-breather like Jacinda, and that is the shader. Shaders have the ability to confuse people and make them forget they saw a dragon. Now that the danger is temporarily over, Jacinda, Tamra and their mother must return to the pride where they are likely to be in a lot of trouble.


When they return to the pride, Tamra becomes the focus of everyone's positive attention. Jacinda and her mother become the focus of everyone's negative attention. They are being punished for running away and almost exposing the draki's secret. But Jacinda still can't forget her hunter, Will. When he stumbles into the pride's land, Jacinda decides to run away with him where she can finally be free of the pride's control. What she doesn't expect is for Will's family, a family of hunters, to be waiting for her. Can she escape the hunters? Or will Jacinda become an experiment like so many butchered draki before her?


This was a fun follow up to the first book and definitely took the story in a good direction. You saw more of the pride and the dragons, which was an interesting addition. The social situation in the pride is very feudal and is interesting to learn more about. I was also happy to see Tamra finally manifest and find her inner dragon. She was so sad in the first book that it was nice to finally see her come into her own! I think this is a good middle reader/YA series for any student who is breaking out of the middle reader books that are still rather immature but hasn't completely moved onto the more mature young adult novels. The language is simple and clean, but the story is fun and exciting. 

Sincerely, Not a Victim

Were you the bully? The victim? Or somewhere in between? Maybe you were more than one through your childhood. Whatever mold you fit into, I am sure you have been a part of bullying from one angle or another throughout your life. As a teacher or parent, you have probably had to witness it. You have tried to stop it, but felt powerless in the face of the beast that has consumed childhoods and ended some. Sure, you can stop what you see in front of you, but the bullying is everywhere, like an omniscient, suffocating monster that is impervious to your efforts. That is why Dear Bully was published.

Dear Bully is a compilation of short essays from 70 authors. These are authors our children have read, and maybe we have read as well. These are adults who write for our children every day, so who better to talk to them about bullying? The stories these adults shared were ones of anger, of survival, and of shame. Some were the victims, the bystanders, or the bullies themselves. This is an amazing compilation of stories that dissect the bullying phenomenon from the inside out. But most importantly, they speak to kids today.

The stories aren't written for parents or teachers. They are written directly for the children surviving in the terrifying jungle that high school has become. Some are stories of triumph while others show pure survival. Either way, bullying is serious, it can kill you, but you don't have to give in to it. Some are funny, some are terrifying. R.L. Stine's story of how coincidence combined with his wise-guy big mouth got him bullied reminded me of why I loved his books as a young adult. He added humor to his story and showed how quick wit can get you into trouble and out of it with quite a flair!

The most touching stories for me were those of the bystanders, the kids who did nothing to stop the bullying or went along with it for fear of being the next target. In my senior literature class this term we have been talking at length about a three character play called Death and the Maiden where the characters represent the victim, the perpetrator, and the bystander. Victims and perpetrators are fairly straight forward, but the bystander is a fuzzy gray area. Sometimes they are guilty, sometimes they are innocent, but one thing follows them and even haunts them- the failure to do anything to stop the hurt of the victim. This is a group my kids and I struggled to define because they are so different. One thing they have in common, though, is that shame of not trying to stop it.

When we are young, we barely know who we are yet. Who are we kidding, I am 30 and I barely know! So how do we empower kids to stand up, stop the bullying, and free themselves from the shame of being a bystander? How do we let kids know that there are people out there to talk to, people who can save them? This book is a huge start. I loved the fact that the stories ranged across the bullying spectrum, but my one criticism is that the stories are predominantly from the female perspective. There are a few male authors, but mostly women contributed their stories. i wish it was more even across genders, but I still love what this book contains. It holds hope. Page after page, from cover to cover, you see hope. This is a message we can't prevent our children from hearing.

The stories themselves are very short- the longest is about 5 pages long. This is great for a student who has a short attention span or struggles with comprehension in a full-length novel. The short snippets are independent and can therefore be used as excellent comprehension checks by themselves without a need to remember everything that came before it. The wide mix of stories is also great to reach many different kinds of children. And if they aren't into a particular story? Skip it! This is an amazing book that should have a home in every classroom, library or home with children. Spread the message:

"Dear Bully, You think you can beat me. But I disagree. Sincerely, Not a Victim"

Light My Fire!

Who needs vampires, werewolves, zombies, and pixies?! We have Draki! Draki are descendants of dragons who have evolved to shift between their dragon form and their human form. This is how they live amongst the rest of the population, by shifting between forms. Unfortunately, there are enough hunters out there who now about dragons. The only thing that keeps the dragons safe is that the hunters don't know they can take human form.

Jacinda is rare even for a dragon. One of the first fire-breathers in generations, Jacinda is the prized possession of the dragon pride. In fact, the alpha has ideas of mating her with his son in order to produce more fire-breathing draki. While Jacinda isn't completely sold on this idea, she isn't completely against it either. She actually loves being a draki, and loves being a dragon even more. When she and a friend tempt fate by sneaking away from the safety of the pride's village to fly, she finds herself surrounded by hunters. She hides behind a waterfall, but a young hunter with soulful eyes finds her. Thankfully, he doesn't tell the other hunters she is there and lets her go free.

When the pride finds out what Jacinda did, endangering herself and the entire pride, they begin scheming. They want to make sure their prized draki doesn't leave the pride. But Jacinda's mother, a former draki who let her dragon die when Jacinda's twin sister, Tamra, didn't present as a draki, has other plans for the girls. Together, Jacinda, her mother and her sister flee the fertile lands of the mountains and the protective mist and head for the desert- a place where the inner dragon is literally dehydrated from the draki's body.

Although Tamra is thrilled for the move and a chance to live a normal life away from being the pride's outcast, Jacinda is horrified- until she sees Will, the hunter who let her go, at school on her first day. Will seems to bring the dragon out of her even in such an arid climate. Unfortunately, he brings out the dragon so much she almost manifests into her dragon just by being near him. As she gets to know more about Will, she realizes he isn't like the rest of his family. Will isn't a ruthless hunter. She also knows she can't reveal her secret to him, though, for fear of endangering her family and the rest of the pride. Although Jacinda knows she should stay away from Will, she can't keep herself away from him. Will she be able to keep her secret from him and his family, or will this be the end of the draki?

This is a fun supernatural story with loads of fun mythology and lore. Everyone loves dragons, right?! Well now you get dragons rolled into romance and death-defying stories! I love the stories about the actual draki, all of which have different abilities. Some can produce the shielding mist, some understand plants and herbs and are therefore amazing cooks. Some are water dragons, while others are made to fly. They dragon personalities and talents seem to manifest in their person as well. For instance, Jacinda's fire breathing seems to come out in the hot-tempered, impulsive person she is when she demanifests into a human. So interesting!

The story is at a moderate reading level, perfect for middle school through high school. It is probably a book more aptly suited for girls, although the dragons might intrigue some boys. It is also the start of a continuing trilogy, so we can expect to see more from Jacinda and the other draki in the future! The only question to answer now is, what kind of dragon would you be?