Reviewed by Sally Kruger aka "Readingjunky" for TeensReadToo.com
Does anyone remember the REPLICA series by Marilyn Kaye? It was quite popular with my middle school students about 10 years ago. (Geez, that's probably before most of you younger bloggers even knew how to read.) Anyway, Marilyn Kaye has a new series, and I'm predicting it will be just as popular with my students.
OUT OF SIGHT, OUT OF MIND is book #1 in this new series. Once again there is something special about a group of young people. This time there are nine teens that are "gifted". These "gifts" include things like being invisible, reading minds, and seeing future events before they happen.
A girl named Amanda stumbles across this unique collection of individuals when she discovers a "gift" of her own. Usually, Amanda is known as one of the mean girls around school. She struts around like a queen bee and verbally harasses her classmates. What people don't know is that her behavior is a cover-up. She learns as a little girl that if she feels sorry for someone, she becomes that person. She sort of inhabits their body so that she feels their pain, both mental and physical. This time she accidentally feels sorry for geeky Tracey, and the next thing she knows she is waking up in Tracey's bed in Tracey's body.
It's all confusing for Amanda/Tracey until she finds herself in one of Tracey's classes. It is a special class Amanda never knew existed. After several days living as Tracey and attending this class, she is beginning to understand that the small group of students has powers they call "gifts", and they may be more important than she ever realized.
Book #2 is titled BETTER LATE THAN NEVER, and book #3, HERE TODAY, GONE TOMORROW came out in October. These books are fast-paced and simply written, but just like Kaye's earlier series, they are addictive. I'm starting book #2 and will most definitely purchase any others that follow.
Does anyone remember the REPLICA series by Marilyn Kaye? It was quite popular with my middle school students about 10 years ago. (Geez, that's probably before most of you younger bloggers even knew how to read.) Anyway, Marilyn Kaye has a new series, and I'm predicting it will be just as popular with my students.
OUT OF SIGHT, OUT OF MIND is book #1 in this new series. Once again there is something special about a group of young people. This time there are nine teens that are "gifted". These "gifts" include things like being invisible, reading minds, and seeing future events before they happen.
A girl named Amanda stumbles across this unique collection of individuals when she discovers a "gift" of her own. Usually, Amanda is known as one of the mean girls around school. She struts around like a queen bee and verbally harasses her classmates. What people don't know is that her behavior is a cover-up. She learns as a little girl that if she feels sorry for someone, she becomes that person. She sort of inhabits their body so that she feels their pain, both mental and physical. This time she accidentally feels sorry for geeky Tracey, and the next thing she knows she is waking up in Tracey's bed in Tracey's body.
It's all confusing for Amanda/Tracey until she finds herself in one of Tracey's classes. It is a special class Amanda never knew existed. After several days living as Tracey and attending this class, she is beginning to understand that the small group of students has powers they call "gifts", and they may be more important than she ever realized.
Book #2 is titled BETTER LATE THAN NEVER, and book #3, HERE TODAY, GONE TOMORROW came out in October. These books are fast-paced and simply written, but just like Kaye's earlier series, they are addictive. I'm starting book #2 and will most definitely purchase any others that follow.
