The Body in the Woods by April Henry

Interest Level: YA

Lexile: HL720L

Reading Level: 5.3
Genre: Realistic Fiction

While helping the Portland County Sheriff's Search and Rescue to seek a missing autistic man, teens Alexis, Nick, and Ruby find instead, a body and join forces to find the girl's murderer, forming an unlikely friendship, as well.

I recently learned that one of the differences between a mystery and a thriller is that in a thriller the bad guy is often established early on. I would call "The Body in the Woods" a thriller. Although, a student told me that I figured it out that the author did come out and tell the reader who the murder was. Either way, I found the story compelling. Even after I figured out who had done it, I wanted to read the book to the end. April Henry is a popular author with our middle school students. If you like real-life murder mysteries, I would recommend this book. One student did tell me that she had to stop reading it. It was too scary.

Winterwood by Shea Ernshaw

Interest Level: YA

Lexile: HL780L
Reading Level: 4.8
Genre: Fantasy

Rumored to be a witch, only Nora Walker knows the truth. She and the Walker women before her have always shared a special connection with the woods. And it's this special connection that leads Nora to Oliver Huntsman--the same boy who disappeared from the Camp for Wayward Boys weeks ago--and in the middle of the worst snowstorm in years. He should be dead, but here he is alive, and left in the woods with no memory of the time he'd been missing.

But Nora can feel an uneasy shift in the woods at Oliver's presence. And it's not too long after that Nora realizes she has no choice but to unearth the truth behind how the boy she has come to care so deeply about survived his time in the forest, and what led him there in the first place. 

I chose this book because I was looking for books for the library by Oregon authors. I will definitely be adding this book to the collection. I was sitting on the edge of my seat wondering how the author was going to wrap up the story. I cared about Nora and Oliver and wanted things to work out for them both. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes a spooky mystery.