Oddity by Sarah Cannon - OPTIONAL

Cannon, Sarah Oddity, 310 pages. Feiwel and Friends (MacMillan), 2017. $17. 9781250123282.

Language: G (0 'f'); Mature content: PG; Violence: PG.

EL, MS--OPTIONAL

Ada Roundtree lives in the town of Oddity--a place where kids are trained from their earliest days to recognize and be prepared for dangerous situations to occur. She understands how to maneuver around the Blurmonster that lives outside of town, the zombie rabbits in her yard and a plethora of other things. She and her two best friends, Cayden and Raymond, spend a lot of time seeking out proof of the mysteries around the town, but one day they unexpectedly stumble on proof that the entire town's premise might be more sinister than what they'd been told. Now the kids must seek answers that are bigger than themselves, and maybe just find Ada's missing twin sister in the process.

For a YA science fiction fantasy, this book is super creative and interesting. I did feel like the book took way too long to establish its weird world in a way the reader could understand--a big failing. But once it was established and you figured out what was going on--what an adventure! Ada is a really charismatic character and I will say the twists and turns the author created here are things I would never have come up with myself. I also think the cover is far too cartoon-y for what the book is actually about. So could the book have been better? Absolutely. But if you're willing to power through the first confusing 100 pages, you'll be glad you did. The PG ratings are for some fairly scary stuff--people in cages, life-threatening situations--happening to kids in elementary school.

Reviewer: TC