As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust

Finished January 30
As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust by Alan Bradley, read by Jayne Entwistle

This episode in the Flavia de Luce series takes Flavia away from Buckshaw, her home in England to a boarding school in Canada. Flavia, now twelve, is sent by her father and aunt Felicity to Miss Bodycote's Female Academy in Toronto, the same school where her mother Harriet once went. She is escorted from her home by the chair of the board of the school, Ryerson Rainsmith, and his wife, Dorsey, not a couple that Flavia warms to at all, across the Atlantic to Halifax and on to Toronto by train.
On her first night at the school, another boarder attacks her in her bed, and then a corpse falls out of her chimney. The body is wrapped tightly and charred, but in the aftermath of this Flavia takes the time to observe as much as she can, and palms an object that fell out with the corpse. The headmistress, Miss Fawlthorne seems to change her character at a whim, sometimes becoming quite approachable and other times retreating to a stern demeanor. Flavia becomes acquainted with the other girls, exchanging information and even getting invited to late night meetings involving Ouija board, but she doesn't gain a true friend. She is intent on finding out more about the body, and about finding what truth there is to the rumors of missing girls.
There is an element of intrigue here that seems to make things unnecessarily difficult, with certain topics off limits, and a secret society, brought up in the previous novel, making a larger appearance here. Flavia is an intelligent girl and relates best to those who recognize that and who are also intelligent, which means that her strong relationships are to adults. Here, she looks forward to chemistry classes with Mrs. Bannerman, a woman acquitted of murder, and one knowledgeable with Flavia's favourite subject. There is less labl time here, although chemistry does indeed play a role in the mystery.
There are several interesting new characters here, that I hope to see again, but I missed the folks from Bishops Lacey.

Reconstructing Amelia

Finished January 18
Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight

This is an amazing novel about a subject that is very "in the news" right now, bullying and its effect on teens. Kate is a lawyer and single mother. Her daughter Amelia is 15 and goes to a private school with a good reputation. The two have a pretty good relationship despite Kate's long hours and the time they spend together is very much quality time.
But one day Kate gets a call from the school that Amelia is suspended and she rushes to the school. But by the time she gets there, Amelia is dead, seemingly having jumped from the school's roof. Following her initial grief, Kate struggles for answers and despite the police's initial investigation, doesn't believe Amelia killed herself. It is an anonymous text message that says simply "Amelia didn't jump" that triggers her to step back from her grief and look for what was going on in Amelia's life. Tracking her email, text messages, Facebook interactions and other clues, Kate finds that she missed a lot of what was going on in Amelia's life recently.
This book really shows how the online world and the anonymity that it can create allows bullying in a different form than what existed when I was young. This book is sad and shocking, but reads like something that actually happened. By the end, I was weeping.

Teen Read

Finished August 19
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart
This is a great read, with a strong female protagonist (Frankie). Frankie is going into her sophmore year at Alabaster, an expense boarding school that her older sister and her father also went to. Over the summer, she has grown into her body and is quite goodlooking. She also has a sharp mind. She immediately gets a senior as a boyfriend, the goodlooking Matthew Livingston. When she finds herself sometimes ignored in favor of Matthew's friends, and feels herself being boxed in by others' opinions of her, she takes matters into her own hands.
Frankie has a good sense of herself, is aware of potential weaknesses, and knows she is every bit as smart as the boys in the school's exclusive secret society. As she infiltrates the society, she shows that she is not to be underestimated.
I really liked this character, and she displays a good sense of self.