Maureen Johnson novels

Another two-fer...Just like I found Jennifer Donnelly’s Northern Light through Revolution, I picked The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson off of the 2013 RI Teen Book Award list because I loved Devilish a few years ago.  Two very similar books in that both deal with the occult to a certain extent…

…the story of Jack the Ripper  is one that still resonates with the public over 100 years after the serial murders occurred in London’s East End.  Perhaps people still care because they were unsolved or because reports on the murders are incomplete and contestable.  With such sustained interest and the current adolescent interest in the macabre, it is not surprising that Jack’s murders show up as a plot element in a current novel. 

            Rory Deveaux is a young native Louisianan who enrolls in an East End public (in America that would be private—it is true that America and England are divided by a common language) boarding school when her parents take a sabbatical.  Her arrival is heralded by the first in a series of unsolved murders that mimic the famous Jack the Ripper killings. 

            While trying to adjust to the foreign world of the English school, Rory finds herself embroiled in the mysterious case in a way that she never could have expected.

            I particularly enjoyed this book because it reminded me of my own days trying to adjust to the English world.  Just like Rory, I very quickly discovered that American English is very different from British English.  My favorite American faux-pas story was when my husband and I took the children to the seaside.  We had a map of a National Trust beach area, and one part was labeled “naturist.”  I think our brains read “naturalist,” and we assumed that it was an area set off for nesting birds or wildlife observation.  What it really meant was a swimsuit optional area.  We had quite an eyeful before we figured that one out! 

Everyone who has had to adjust to new circumstances will identify with this part of the book, and anyone who enjoys a mystery will like the rest of it.  

The appeal of Devilish was twofold.  First, it takes place in Providence, and I always enjoy reading books set in places I know well.  Second, whether intentional or not (and I suspect it was unintentional), I found this to be a very Catholic book…not necessarily because it takes place at a Catholic school, which it does, but because it has, as a major theme, the importance of self-sacrifice and love in the face of evil.  Johnson gives evil a very real, and alluring, face.  As I always tell my students, if evil were not attractive, we wouldn’t be so attracted to it.  When I think of this book, I always think of the Rolling Stones song “Sympathy for the Devil.”  If you remember the lyrics, “Please allow me to introduce myself /I'm a man of wealth and taste/I've been around for a long, long year/ Stole many a man’s soul and faith.”

Just what would an awkward high school student want that she would be willing to trade her soul for?  Read Devilish and find out. 
Both books recommended for students grade 7 and above.