Editorial Review

“Rosa is a regular teenager at Foggy Creek high school. However, she is also someone with a special connection to the spiritual world and major events that stir up the town. The text starts with Rosa’s dad missing and her mother working two jobs to keep the family functioning. Rosa has a crush on schoolmate and football star Kyle Barron. Her mother Marisol permits Rosa to attend the football game, then Rosa sneaks with her best friend Manny to go see Kyle at the after party. Within a few hours Rosa’s life becomes the subject of a spiral of events. From strange visions in her dream to viral internet post with fellow teens calling her a witch and someone who people should watch out for. This fast-paced, 15-chapter book is part of a series titled Sinkhole. Each book centers around the unique experiences of teenagers within the community of Foggy Creek and a sinkhole that suddenly appears. Readers will be able to easily make connections to characters and see themselves as a part of the events associated with missing people. Innocent Blood is a great text for older readers who need high interest but lower reading level material to engage them in the reading process. These readers will be able to easily make connections to characters and see themselves as a part of the events of the missing people. They will also begin to question the events and draw their own conclusions about why these people are missing and how them being missing relates to Bucky Leblanc. Last, readers will benefit from the authors representation of the challenges of a single-parent family with a unique characteristic of a “missing” dad. Reviewer Rating: 4" –Children’s Literature