Mark Your Calendar: The Eighth Day by Dianne K. Salerni

Premise: Newly orphaned Jax Aubrey discovers an eighth day of the week hidden between Wednesday and Thursday and a reclusive girl living next door who exists only on that secret day. She's the key to a 2000 year old spell with its roots in Arthurian legend, and Jax's teenage guardian is her reluctant jailor. When Jax accidentally leads a pack of human bloodhounds to her door, he incites a catastrophe that could destroy the regular seven days of the week. (From the author)

Title & Author: The Eighth Day by Dianne K. Salerni
Length: 320 pages
Genre: Fantasy
Series or Stand Alone: First book in a new trilogy
Content appropriate for: Grades 4-8
Format: Digtal ARC provided by HarperCollins Childrens via Edelweiss
Publication Date: April 22, 2014

Three adjectives that describe this book: intense, magical, intriguing

Mad props to the production team on this book - the title, cover, and premise really drew me in! I just HAD to read this book! I had some seriously high expectations, and boy did it deliver. The Eighth Day is my favorite book of the year so far.

I was really curious what Dianne Salerni would do with the an entire extra day of the week. And who are these people that only exist on the eighth day? What is life like for them? How did they end up trapped there?

The Eighth Day is not only a fun fantasy, set around a really cool premise, but it is a complex adventure with plenty of action and suspense. There are people robbing banks and engaging in human sacrifice and delving into magical legends.

As a fifth grade teacher, I was especially glad that this super cool, very intense adventure stayed away from YA topics. I will definitely be purchasing a copy (or two) for my classroom and heartily recommending it to my students.

5 stars

* Author's website
* Author's blog