Review: Peeled

Peeled
by Joan Bauer

Something's Rotten in Apple Country!
Hildy Biddle is a high school reporter eager to stand up for the truth. She's just waiting for a chance to prove herself as a journalist, and yearning for a big story. The trouble is, the town's biggest story stars... a ghost. Not a very easy interview!

This ghost has the town in a tizzy, and the local paper is playing up people's fears with shocking headlines of eerie happenings and ghostly sightings. Hildy's determined to discover what's really going on, but her desire to uncover the truth is making some people awfully nervous.
Does the truth have a chance of being heard over all the buzz?

First Sentence:
DATELINE: Banesville, New York. May 3.
Bonnie Sue Bomgartner, Banesville's soon-to-be 67th Apple Blossom Queen, let loose a stream of projectile vomiting in the high school cafeteria.

Including Peeled, I have read four books by Joan Bauer. I originally read The Rules of the Road around fifth grade and have been in love with it ever since, which could also explain why I liked Best Foot Forward because it is a sequel. However, when I decided to try Thwonk I wasn't that impressed because it had a lot of fantasy elements within it which isn't her normal style. This caused me to be a bit hesitant towards reading Peeled, but I gave in due to the fact that the cover was just that amazing.

I am very glad that I decided to give her another try. Peeled is an excellent story about a teen journalist who is trying to uncover the truth about a haunted house in her town. All of the characters are extremely lifelike, even though the book just offers a brief glimpse into their lives. Both Hildy and her cousin Elizabeth have lost a parent, but under two completely different circumstances. Hildy got to know her father, while Elizabeth's mother died while she was young. This helps connect with the readers because it doesn't limit the experience.

The story was a little predictable at times, but it does contain a couple of twists are still surprising to the reader. I would definitely recommend this book to any fans of The Rules of the Road, YA fiction in general, and especially anyone who has written for a newspaper or dreams of doing so in the future.

Favorite Quotes:

DOG FOR SALE - Eats anything and is particularly fond of children.

"Everyone needs fudge, Hildy. It's how God helps us cope."

Title: Peeled

Author: Joan Bauer

Hardcover: 247 pages

ISBN 10: 0399234756

ISBN 13: 978-0399234750
Buy It: Amazon, Borders, Barnes & Noble
Review Number: 7

Just thought I would move this up since it was buried by Read-a-Thon posts ;)