BANISHED

Author (last name first):
Littlefield, Sophie

Publisher, Date of Publication: 

Delacorte Press/2010

Grade Level/ or Age Level: 

8th-12th

Classification:  Fiction 

Sixteen-year-old Hailey Tarbell bides her time living with her negligent as well as abusive grandmother and four year-old foster brother, Chub, in a decrepit corner of Gypsum, MO. She secretly hopes to run away with Chub and start a new life. When a classmate almost dies in a gym accident, Hailey discovers that she possesses a healing power. She is unaware how devastating her powers can be when she tries to save her dog Rascal after it is hit by a car. When he becomes unresponsive to feelings, Hailey fears he will never be normal and is confused when she healed her class mate she got better. Suddenly her long-lost aunt Prairie arrives in town, along with two mysterious men who trail Hailey every were she goes. When her grandmother is killed in a violent shoot out, Prairie escapes with Hailey and Chub and takes them to Chicago, where they join forces with another healer and her son. Prairie reveals that the Tarbell's are part of an ancient Irish clan of "Banished" people. She learns that healers that healers are forbidden from resurrecting some who has already died. That explains why Rascal became a walking zombie. When her aunt's ex-boyfriend, a nefarious medical researcher who wants to use Hailey's skill to raise a mercenary army of zombies tries to capture he, the climax builds at the research laboratory. The background of the Banished id vague, but it may be better explained in a sequel. The back of the book gives information about the author and lists a web site to get more information about other books she has written. There is a AR Test available for this book.

Reviewed By: Lila Davis(Night Circulation Manager in the Moffett Library at Midwestern State University)