+ + + + + Virginia
Author: Susan Hughes
Reading level: Young Adult
Paperback: 288 pages
Publisher: Kids Can Press, Ltd. (March 1, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1554533074
ISBN-13: 978-1554533077

Book description: Fourteen-year-old Ivy is flabbergasted when her childhood friend Virginia claims that she has been visited by an angel who has asked her to bear the child of God.  As Ivy struggles to understand and help her friend, she uncovers more secrets, including an apocalyptic plot being devised by Virginia’s weird brother, Paul.  Ivy suspects Paul’s activities must connect in some way to Virginia’s claim but she’s uncertain how.  Soon Ivy finds herself caught up in a chain of events she has no control over.

Book review: I enjoyed Virginia very much.  It was a nice fast-paced and suspenseful novel.  Ivy is a strong character that faces some deep challenges: helping a childhood friend, Virginia Donato, who claims to have been visited by an angel, coming to terms with her own family’s problems and uncovering a dark plot within the Donato household.

Virginia is a gripping story of seemingly impossible events…that could actually happen.  An awesome read with five stars.  Recommended for anyone who enjoys thrills and suspense. – R.C., 15 yrs old.