The Eighth Day

Salerni, Dianne. The Eighth Day. Harper Collins, 2014.

Jax has been orphaned due to a horrible accident, and rather than living with his aunt, uncle, and cousins, he is forced to live with Riley - an friend of his father who is barely older than Jax and doesn't know the first thing about caring for a teen. The Wednesday night after Jax's thirteenth birthday, though, he discovers something odd - a day exists between Wednesday and Thursday, and Jax is from a long line of people who can inhabit the regular week and the 8th day. But just as there are good people on this 8th day, there are also bad people, and soon Jax has to determine whom he can trust.

I thought this book was very cleverly done, and it would be an easy one to book talk with middle grade students. Jax's age makes it possible to recommend this book to middle school students as well, and the action will keep even reluctant readers still reading. This would be a fun book to read aloud in an English/Language Arts classroom as well.

Recommended for: middle grade
Red Flags: fantasy violence (minor)
Overall Rating: 4/5 stars

Read-Alikes: The Merchant of Death, Far Far Away, Sky Jumpers