Living Dead Girl

By:  Elizabeth Scott

Published by:  Simon Pulse

Once upon a time I was a little girl who disappeared.

Once upon a time my name was not Alice.

Once upon a time I didn't know how lucky I was.

When Alice was ten, Ray took her away from her family, her friends -- her life. She learned to give up all power, to endure all pain. She waited for the nightmare to be over.

Now Alice is fifteen and Ray still has her, but he speaks more and more of her death. He does not know it is what she longs for. She does not know he has something more terrifying than death in mind for her.

This is Alice's story. It is one you have never heard, and one you will never, ever forget.

I got this book from the library because I had kept seeing it on the banned books lists.  I wondered what in the world was so bad about it that it would get banned.  Now I get it. 

This was a small book, only 170 pages and many of those only had one or two paragraphs on them.  I read it in about an hour....so it's short, but it packs a major punch.  This book deals with kidnapping, violence, rape, and pedophilia.  Other than the violence, none of it is really explicit, but as an adult I knew exactly what was going on.  A child that picked up the book might not get it, but who knows, kids now know more than I did when I was a kid. 

Would I want my middle school child reading this book?  Absolutely not.  My high school kid?  Probably not, but I think the maturity level would hopefully be there by then to handle it.  Should kids read it?  Yes, because it would scare the ever living daylights out of them and perhaps make them more aware of strangers.  Would I recommend an adult to read this book?  If they could handle violence against a child, then yes, because it was a really well written book.  It made me want to look for more books by Elizabeth Scott.