Pretty Little Liars

Title: Pretty Little Liars

Author: Sara Shepard

ISBN: 978-0-06-088730-8

Publisher:HarperTeen

Copyright: 2006

 Plot Summary:  Five friends, Alison, Spencer, Emily, Aria, and Hanna, are bound together by a horrible secret that Alison knows. However, after a slumber party in 7th grade Alison goes missing.  Four years later, the remaining girls are no longer friends but all have new secrets to hide, when they start to receive taunting text messages signed only by the letter 'A'. These text messages seem to insinuate that Alison is not dead as everyone assumed, but on a mission to uncover all their secrets.

Critical Evaluation:  Shepard writes this book in such a way that the suspension keeps building and building until the end is revealed. The ending does not resolve much of anything as this is the first book of a series. Shepard has skills writing suspense, but also understanding teenage girls enough to write them in a believable way that teenagers will relate to.

Reader's Annotation: Spencer, Emily, Aria, and Hanna all thought their secrets died with Alison, but was she ever really dead?

Genre: Chick Lit, Series, Realistic Fiction, Young Adult, Mystery

Author Information: Sara Shepard has written many young adult books, many of which are books in the Pretty Little Liars series. She wrote a series following this one called The Lying Game.  To learn more about the author and her work visit http://www.sarashepardbooks.com/.

Book talks: Secrets, Death, Rumors, Texting

Reading Level/Interest Age:
Challenge: One of the girls is in an inappropriate relationship with her teacher, another has an eating disorder and yet another is stifling feelings she has for another female. These may be reasons people would want to challenge this book but there are no explicit details in this book. These characteristics are what give 'A' the ammo that she needs to taunt these girls.

Why was this book chosen?: This book is very suspenseful and overall a good book, and a great opening book to this series.