The Death Catchers by Jennifer Ann Kogler

352 pgs.

Target audience: Young adult

Rating: Wizard

Books that take an offbeat approach always fascinate me. In Death Catchers, the main character, Lizzy, has to write a defense paper for her English class to save herself from flunking after failing to turn in her final paper. Ordinarily this would be a huge challenge for a highschooler, but her life takes an unexpected turn providing her with ample writing material. Lizzy finds out that like her grandmother, Bizzy, she is a Death Catcher. She can see someone's impending death as messages hidden in the written word. She writes her defense paper as a letter to her teacher, Mrs. Tweedy. Each chapter is titled after a literary technique or device such as mood, the archetype, irony, foreshadowing. Instead of making the story choppy, it is seamlessly done. The story moves quickly and teaches you about literary techniques without sounding preachy. It's witty and fun. To top it all off, both Lizzy and Bizzy are descendants of Morgan Le Faye and Lizzy's ultimate task is to protect King Arthur's last descendant. There will be a sequel and I will be there to read it.