Review: The Caged Graves by Dianne K. Salerni

The Caged Graves by Dianne K. Salerni.

Clarion Books
Publication Date: May 2013
List Price: $16.99
ISBN-13: 9780547868530

Review: In Catawissa, sometimes the dead don't stay where you put them. This is merely one suspenseful quote from Caged Graves, the excellent book by Dianne K. Salerni.

The book begins when Verity Bonne, a teenage girl, returns to her hometown, Catawissa, Pennsylvania in 1867 to meet her soon-to-be husband face-to-face for the very first time. At this point, it all goes wrong. When Verity arrives in Pennsylvania, everything doesn't go as planned. She has a distant relationship with her father, Nate's not all what he seemed in his letters, and some shocking news is revealed about her mother and aunt's death. While in Catawissa, Verity goes to see her mother's grave and finds that it is caged along with her aunt's grave. She wants to find answers to everything. Some mysterious events happen that lead up to all of the answers such as on the Fourth of July, two men almost kidnapped Verity, because of the reason her mom and aunt's graves are covered in cages. During the story, a close relationship forms between Verity and another guy even when Verity is engaged. Who will she end up with? At the end of the story, Verity, her aunt, and two of her cousins are put in serious danger and Verity learns some very shocking and tragic news. All of the cliffhanging events lead to tough decisions and even put Verity in serious mortal peril.

Caged Graves by Dianne K. Salerni is a magnificent book that leads to turn every page you read. Although there is a negative side to this book, and that is the many challenging, very accelerated, and some slightly inappropriate words for some people. Caged Graves' storyline is intended for girls more than boys because of some of the events that occur during the story such as the romance and some of the small events that happen. However, there are some parts that boys may enjoy, such as the parts that include some gory details. I would recommend this book to girls 7th grade or higher because of the accelerated words and some of the gory, and mysterious events. Caged Graves is definitely a blend of mystery, fantasy, and realistic fiction. In the book, there is a lot of violence involved at the end of the story, for example "Clasping it in both hands, she turned around and fired it" and "There was blood everywhere." There are many cliffhangers, especially the suspense of it all when Verity is figuring out why her mother and aunt's graves are caged. There are elements of witchcraft, buried treasures, grave robbers, gory violence and kidnapping involved. In my opinion, the book was a little too violent and intense closer to the end of the story; otherwise Caged Graves couldn't get any better. I really enjoyed the all the suspense that kept me at the edge of my seat. All in all, I thought that Cages Graves was a marvelous book to have read and the author, Dianne K. Salerni, did a wonderful job writing this book!

Review written by Chloe (6th grade student).

We would like to thank Clarion Books for providing a copy of The Caged Graves for this review.

Have you read The Caged Graves? How would you rate it?