The History of Jane Doe

Life as an adolescent in a small town - once labelled, it’s permanent. If you don’t get
invited to lunch with the cool crowd, you never will. But then the new girl - Jane Doe -
arrives and changes all that for two nerdy teen boys. Although it is hats off to the
history-teaching author for touching on teen mental health problems, this plot plods along
somewhat predictably.
The main character and his sidekick are cute and quirky and there is some suspense
as the author does a “slow reveal” about Jane. However, the overall read is neither
compelling enough to have me wanting more nor to win this round.
We recommend teachers walk through and discuss with students the issues t
hat the author presents. It is still worth the read.

Some members of our group thought this book should move forward, but we opted to
go with the majority.

Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow   -

“Readers will feel as though Harry Potter is meeting Alice in Wonderland in this first of a new series.”  - Kirkus Review -

This whimsical, fun-to-read story has an almost Mary Poppins feel to it. The reader is immediately drawn into Morrigan’s plight and cheers her on from the start. There are enough minor plot twists to keep the reader guessing and cheering on Morrigan. Many of the other characters in Nevermoor are endearing - even Fen, the Magnificat - and bring life to the story. Junior high students, maybe even grade 9 boys(?), will have fun with this 400+ page tale.

Some of our team were disappointed it did not live up to the magnitude and comparison of Harry Potter.

Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow moves on for this round.