Peeled; Chapters 1-2

By: Joan Bauer

Pages 1-21

This book is a pretty good book of what I've read so far. Here is a little piece of what happened in the first and second chapters...

Hildy Biddle is her high school's best newspaper reporter for The Core. In the first chapter, she writes a story on how Bonnie Sue Bomgartner, upstate New York's 67th Apple Blossom (was-to-be-) Queen, got food poisoning the day before the crowning at the local festival. She goes on to write, the next day, how Lacey Horton, the runner-up, gets crowned. Both, Lacey's and Hildy's families are orchard owners. Hildy seems to feel a connection to Lacey because she is the type of person that is on the same level as Hildy. She gets what she's going through. The festival coordinator, Mrs. Perth got on my nerves because she is a snooty, know-it-all, person. She doesn't appeal to me because of her snobbiness towards others. She doesn't seem to like the fact that Lacey got crowned to be the Apple Blossom Queen.

We learn about the Ludlow house as well. The house is known to have a ghost inhabiting it who is, supposedly, Mr. Ludlow, himself, or, as everyone likes to call him, Old Man Ludlow. Hildy wants to get behind the story and all there is to know about the house before she jumps to any conclusions. And she gets a sneak peak of just that...

Hildy embarks on an adventure to the Ludlow house early in the morning due to a call she got from Darrell, The Core's editor. Hildy is the best newspaper reporter in her school because of her great detail and her ability to keep asking questions. After she takes her notes and leaves the house, we leave her while she's at the school. In the midst of typing, she is stopped by Darrell who informs her to go over to the courthouse, where the man who was convicted of trying to break into the Ludlow house earlier, is being held. She decides to embark on this adventure...

The first two chapters of Peeled were very good. The book just grabs you and pulls you in. It is filled with a sense of "what's going to happen next?" which I love! Also, sorry for the lengthy summary, but the next blog entries to come will be better because we all have an idea of what's happening.