Hubbard, Kirsten. Watch the Sky. Los Angeles: Disney-Hyperion, 2015. 978-148470833-0. 262p. $18.99. Gr. 5-8.

Jory is a sixth grader who is surrounded by secrecy imposed on his family by his paranoid stepfather, Caleb, who believes he sees signs of impending doom and the end of the world. Convinced he can save his family from disaster, Caleb has the family assist in building an underground bunker. But, their preparations must remain secret, causing Jory to exclude himself from normal friendships and interactions with peers, teachers and neighbors. His isolation is compounded by the fact that the family has living with them a young girl who was found on their farm and about whose existence no one outside the family can know, a girl who speaks to no one but Jory. Jory’s mother, a seemingly weak woman so grateful for Caleb’s support of her family and a true convert to his world view, is of no help to Jory as he goes from being committed to keeping the family’s secrets and distrusting all “officials,” including teachers, to questioning his stepfather’s motivations. Along the way he encounters friendships for the first time, learns to trust his instincts and successfully sways his mother away from Caleb’s paranoid influence. THOUGHTS: A coming of age novel when a young person is faced with standing up to his parents’ unrealistic and fanatical beliefs, Watch the Sky, is appropriate for middle school as well as high school students and begs the question, “what if I was in this kind of situation?”

Realistic Fiction    Annette Sirio, Pittsburgh Obama Academy of International Studies