Shelter Me by Alex McAulay Grades 7+ 288 pages MTV Books January 2009 Paperback     As bombs rain down on WWII London, young Maggie Leigh suffers a near-miss that didn’t miss her Aunt Joan, who now lays comatose in a nearby hospital. Maggie’s overly religious mother believes the bombings are London’s punishment for lack of faith. In order to save Maggie and her soul, her mother swindles the young girl off to a Catholic boarding school for girls on the outskirts of coastal Wales. Maggie quickly discovers a weird cult-like setting where the students are shuffled about and mistreated like livestock, and the headmistress, Mother Superior, is crazy as a bedbug. A dangerous encounter with a downed Nazi soldier on her first day means punishment for Maggie, who is locked away like Sleeping Beauty in a tall tower. Instead of Prince Charming, spunky fellow student Kate comes to her rescue. Along with two other schoolgirls and a baby, they set off on an ill-fated journey of escape. Along the way, the girls get separated, and what seems to be a safe harbor turns out to be the worst nightmare of all. Alex McAulay’s Shelter Me begins with a bang - literally. Even so, things drag on a bit until Maggie’s world begins unraveling upon her arrival at the school. From here, the story grows into a moving page-turner with an I-didn’t-see-it-coming twist toward the end followed by minor letdown as Maggie’s salvation comes not from her own doing. As the last page is turned, there are a few loose ends left dangling that itch for clarification. Could this be a strategic tactic by the author in preparation of a sequel?     web reviews   Niki Schoenfeldt/2009 for curled up with a good kid's book   For grown-up fiction, nonfiction and speculative fiction book reviews, visit our sister site Curled Up With a Good Book (www.curledup.com)