Night Runner

September 15, 2009
Grades 7-10 Zack Thomson has grown up in the Nichols Ward of the Peterborough Civic Hospital. Its a place for people with mental disorders, but there was nowhere else to put an orphaned kid with his strange condition. Zack is allergic to the sun, has excessive energy, cant sleep at night, and cant stomach most foods. He drinks liquid meals that Nurse Ophelia whips up in the blender for him a couple of times a day. Zack is comfortable with his odd but routine life until the day a weird old guy crashes a police motorcycle through the wall of the Wards common room, looks right at Zack and says, Thank heavens, boy! . . . Ive found you. So begins Zacks desperate efforts to elude an enemy he never knew he had and to discover just how strange his condition really is. This fast-paced vampire story featuring a likable character with a strong voice will appeal to a broad teen audience, but lovers of the genre may be left craving greater originality and story development.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)