The Starcatchers Series by Dave Barry & Ridley Pearson

I had fun reading the four books in this series and can't wait to see what the other book The Bridge to Neverland has to offer.  This series is a fun take on the story Peter Pan and how he came to be  and where he is from.  I think this is a fun series and very easy to read for anyone.

In book one we are introduced to Peter and the Starcatchers.  Starcatchers are a secret organization that finds and prevents the Others from finding Starstuff, magical and deadly dust.  Peter and some other orphans find themselves on the same boat at a shipment of stolen starstuff and find themselves helping a young Starcatcher Molly, keep the starstuff away from pirate Captian Stache (later to become Captain Hook).  During this adventure Peter comes in contact with a significant amount of starstuff and finds that he can fly and will never age.

In book two Peter and the orphans along with the Indian tribe, Mullusk, and Captain Hook are on their island and find out that a very dark, evil person is on the island trying to find the hidden starstuff.  When they realize this starstuff is not on the island they head to London to find Molly and her father.  Peter along with Tink head to London to save Molly and her family.  Their main goal is to help Molly's father, with the help of a friend, George, to return the starstuff before this horrible creature can steal it.

Book three finds Molly and her father heading back to Neverland to warn Peter that Lord Ohmbra, the evil monster, is coming to take him because his father was a Watcher.  A Watcher is the special person on earth who can determine where starstuff falls.  Peter has this ability too and is taken from the island with the orphan boys and sent to Rundoon.  Here Peter is forced to find the starstuff than has fallen to earth in order to help Lord Ohmbra use the starstuff to destroy the universe.  While preventing this from happening the starstuff falls on a ship that George and the orphan boys have taken and find the ship flying through the air back to Neverland.  The original four orphans head back to London with Molly and her father while a new set of orphans that came with them from Rundoon stay on Neverland.

23 years later we find ourselves on Neverland.  The starstuff fell into the water and therefore has allowed everyone on the island to never grow old.  Molly and George are married and have three chidren.  Can you guess what their names are?  Strange men have arrived at the island searching for the hidden starstuff and in London Lord Ohmbra has returned and taken some of the previous orphan boys and Molly and George in order to find a secret stach of starstuff.  Wendy heads to Neverland to ask Peter to help her save her family.  Peter and Tink find themselves once again in London confronting old enemies as well as new ones.

Cut by Patricia McCormick

Callie is a young teenager who cuts herself to escape her loneliness and pain.  She finds herself at Sea Pines, a treatment facility.  She refuses to talk to anyone feeling even more out of place among the drug addicts, anemics, and obese patients in her group.  She finds herself even more upset when another girl arrives who cuts herself as well but is very open about it.  No one in Callie's group even know that she cuts herself.  We follow her as she goes from her individual therapy session to group sessions and sits there thinking about things around her and watching how the other girls cope with their disorders as well as watching one young woman who continues to throw up and throw away her food.  It is written with her thoughts and what she assumes others are thinking.

This is an incredibly easy read and I finished it in one evening.  Blake got this for one of his students that likes to read stories about people with problems that seem worse than her own.  In my opinion this young lady can relate to these other teens in the books and hopefully she finds some solace and inspiration to continue with life and eventually become a better person.  She definately is one of Blake's harder students to cope with, but Blake is one of the few adults that can get her to do her work and try hard.  I think this is a good book for people to read especially teens since many, even if they do not have a disorder, can relate to feelings of hopelessness and loneliness at times.  This can even give kids who are struggling with something a little hope and push to overcome what they are struggling with.