Acceleration

I, like so many others in our class, was very suprised by this book. I am a huge fan of mystery novels, but I do not like the really scary mystery novels and judging by the cover, that is exactly what I expected. For that reason, I put off reading it until the weekend, when I could read it during the day (I know, I'm goofy!). Once I started reading, I could not put the book down! I was so drawn into the story.

The author expertly uses all kinds of comparisons and imagery to help us see and feel what is being described in the story. I could visualize the "dungeon" with its rows and rows of dusty unclaimed items as if I was staring at it with my own eyes. I could feel the terror as the water turned black as night in the middle of the day. I used this book for my craft lesson for that very reason. This would be an incredible resource when teaching literary comparisons like metaphor and simile.

I was a little disappointed in the ending. It felt like everything happened very quickly and I was very suprised that "Roach" died so quickly. I felt like the time between discovering who he was and his death could have been a little longer in order to learn more about what had happened in the time since the diary left off and allow further exploration of that character. It just seemed to end entirely too quickly. I expected something more explosive (that sounds funny to say since he was hit by a train), but it was not what I expected.

I would definitely recommend this book to older students (high school); although, I would be careful due to some of the more adult content found in places. All in all a wonderful book!!