The Nest

Oppel, K.  (2015).  The Nest.  New York:  Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers.

Steve is a young boy who just wants to have a normal summer with a normal family.  Unfortunately, Steve’s baby brother, Theo, is constantly in and out of the hospital, his parents are worried, his little sister, Nicole, is talking on the phone to someone who isn’t there, and he starts having weird dreams about wasps giving his family a ‘perfect’ Theo.  But when those dreams start to feel real and he learns more about what the wasps plan to do to Theo, he risks his life to protect him and realizes that there’s no such thing as normal.  Though the majority of Jon Klassen’s dark illustrations symbolize Steve’s fears of the unknown, it is his last illustration of a clear moon that leaves the reader feeling hopeful for Steve and his family.  With themes of morality, family, and survival, as well as dark illustrations and suspenseful imagery, this is a reading for secondary grade kids.  There is also the idea of perfection, and what qualifies as something being perfect.  This is a 2016 Notable Children’s Book.  Here is the link to the author’s website: http://www.kennethoppel.ca/index.shtml