Pictures of Hollis Woods

Ok, I really didn't think I was going to like this book. The main character, Hollis, is a brat! Well, until she finds the right family...only to run away from them. Hollis describes her drawings as she recalls life with the family she should be living with while she hides from the social worker with an eccentric former art teacher whom she grows to love.
The book started a little slow, but picked up pace a third of the way through...rating? 6

The Afterlife by Gary Soto

The Afterlife is a book that starts and ends with the reading wondering "why?". Author, Gary Soto, puts the reader in the life, death and afterlife of a teenage hispanic boy, Chuy who learns just how much people cared about him. He also learns what it is like to fall in love...after he died.
On a scale of 1 (low) to 10 (a must read) ....8.5 the story moves quickly and you feel a part of the character in this first person narrative.
Some of you have been reading this as well...please comment and tell what you think about the book.