Missing Persons
Three votes for Sadie from the Ottewell crew.

Other Wood is based on an interesting concept. It's sort of a kid version of quantum physics. It tells a few 'what if' stories. What if something happened, but on another plain or in a different dimension it happened slightly differently? What if there was some overlap? What if it was possible to change your reality? It sounds cool, but in fact it got a bit messy. We got lost part way through the multidimensional wood. Or maybe Hautman did.

Adding to the confusion is uncertainty about whom this book is aimed at. Our protagonist is 8 at the beginning of the story and not much older by it's end, but the book is well beyond 8 year olds and might not appeal to 11 year olds either.

Sadie is aimed at a much older demographic. Dianne would never stock it in a junior high library. That's not to say that it wasn't good - it's fabulous - but it is dark, very dark.

We're on a road trip with Sadie, but the goal isn't a destination, it's murder, revenge for the murder of her own little sister. It borrows from the trend in adult literature with female protagonists who aren't entirely likable. Sadie is very real and gritty, her life experiences have damaged her. The characters we're introduced to along her journey and through the alternating podcasts are also very believable. We feel as though we know people like them.

Renee read this as an audio book and loved it. The podcast portions sound just like a podcast and you get an impression of non-fiction as the podcaster interviews people linked to Sadie's story.

If you are going to read Sadie, you should probably stop now.

SERIOUS

SPOILERS

FOLLOW...

The ending is terrible! Renee yelled aloud at it. Dianne hated it too. We don't know what happened to Sadie. Is she alive or dead? We understand that this is the ending for so many waiting on news of missing girls. They get no answers as to whether the girl they loved is alive or not. That ending sucks in real life, and it sucks in fiction.

This major flaw aside, you should really read this book.

Renee, Dianne, Megan - Ottewell Junior High