Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Rites of Spring (Break)-Diana Peterfreund

Rites of Spring (Break)
Diana Peterfreund
Delta, Jul 2008, $10.00
ISBN: 9780385341936

Eli University senior Amy Haskel belongs to the Rose and Grave secret society where her moniker is Bugaboo. The R&G diggers try to break into the building hosting their rival secret society the Dragon’s Head. However, the Dragonheads identify one person in the break-in, Amy. They assault her with a vengeance using childish pranks while destroying her property without any regard to the harm they cause her.

Amy’s former boyfriend Brandon asks her to help him with fellowship packages, which shocks her as he is the math whiz and she avoided numbers at all cost. Even more surprising he begins to hang out again with her when she knows his girlfriend belongs to DH. During spring break, Amy joins the diggers on an R& G owned island, but on the boat trip, she as a non-swimmer falls overboard and her life jacket fails her falling off instead. If she makes it to the island, more danger awaits her and the other Diggers.

With a cast of quadrillion, young adult readers will need an access database to keep track of who is doing what and why to whom; yet somehow author Diana Peterfreund insures her myriad of secondary players, including a family and another group not mentioned above, have differing traits. Still this is Amy’s tale as she finds her senior year RITES OF SPRING (BREAK) initially prank-filled but soon dangerously deadly. Over the top absolutely, but fun as Amy and the teen audience will wonder what’s going on.

Harriet Klausner

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