Slumber

September 1, 2013

Gr 10 Up-When Ruby's single mom becomes ill, the 17-year-old has to fill in at Happy Housekeepers in order to keep money coming in. She enters the house that she is assigned to clean in New York's tony Hamptons and finds it trashed from a wild party. While cleaning, she meets handsome and flirtatious Tam and a host of other young people who are engaged in sexual exploits and indulging in alcohol and drugs. Violet, an ex-girlfriend of Tam's, is jealous of Ruby and demands that she clean her room. Ruby, desperate for money, reluctantly does so, and in the process steals a necklace. She later confesses her crime to Tam, who has some bad news for her: the necklace will not come off and will only get tighter and tighter. Violet and the others in the house, including Tam, are fae or fairies. They are bored with their lives and enjoy watching humans suffer. The only way for Ruby to end the curse that Violet puts on her family is to perform a series of tasks. In the same vein as Nancy Werlin's Extraordinary (Dial, 2010), this modern-day fairy tale's accessible vocabulary and dialogue make it easy to read. The fairy characters are faintly reminiscent of the group of vampires in Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight" books, but they use four letter words and seem less mature. Teen girls who are reluctant readers and enjoy watching shows such as True Blood will pick up this title.-Kathy Lyday, South Caldwell High School, NC

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