Scat

Author: Carl Hiaasen

Genre: Mystery
 Setting: Florida, USA around the time when the book was written (2009)
Summary: Mrs. Starch is the scariest teacher at the Truman School. When her biology class takes a field trip to the Black Vine Swamp, they have to leave early because of a sudden forest fire. It turns out that the forest fire
wasn't a forest fire; it was arson. The prime suspect is Duane Scrod Jr., one of the students, who made Mrs. Starch angry and threatened her. When the students have to go back on the bus, Mrs. Starch goes back into the forest by herself to get a student's medicine. The medicine is left on the student's doorstep, but the only sign of Mrs. Starch is her car, which was being driven by a man with a mask. The other person in the car was none other than Duane Scrod Jr. Several people are trying to find out what happened to Mrs. Starch and how the fire relates to it; the police, the headmaster, and Mrs. Starch's students Nick and Marta.

This is one of those books where you know part of what happened but the people in the book don't. It makes me want to tell the characters who did it. I think the characters in Scat are interesting, like the substitute teacher, Wendell Waxmo, who is completely loopy, and Mrs. Starch herself, who is rumored to live in a house full of taxidermied animals.

A Snicker of Magic

Author: Natalie Lloyd
Genre: Fantasy
Setting: Midnight Gulch, Tennessee in present day (or close to it)
Summary: Midnight Gulch used to be a magical place. It still is, but it only has a little bit of magic. Felicity Pickle is a word collector. She can see words around people, coming from objects, and floating in the air. She writes down the ones she likes. When Felicity moves to Midnight Gulch, she sees the word lonely a lot until she meets Jonah Pickett, who's secret identity is the Beedle, a mysterious person who does good deeds for people secretly. Felicity hears the story of the Brothers Threadbare, really called Stone and Berry Weatherly, who had magic in their music. They dueled each other, and the one who lost was cursed with a wandering heart, so they never felt right in one place, a lot like Felicity's mother. Felicity signs up for the Stoneberry Duel, a kind of talent show. She decides to write and read poems for it. Jonah makes her meet several interesting people so she can collect interesting words. Felicity is also interested in the curse put on Stone Weatherly, who turned out to be her great-great-grandfather. But mostly, she wants to break the curse.

I had a fun time reading A Snicker of Magic. It seems like the kind of place that I would want to visit. Some things in it that were revealed later were pretty easy to guess, but I wasn't able to guess everything though. I think most people would enjoy reading it.