Innocent Blood

Gr 7 Up–Ever since Rosa’s dad disappeared, life has been tough for her and her mom. Classmates at Foggy Creek High School are speculating why he might have taken off, and Mom has to take a second job. A month after the disappearance, on the night of the full moon, sleepless Rosa is looking out her bedroom window when she hears a mysterious voice calling, “Innocent blood.” Soon after, at a party following a football victory, star quarterback and possible love interest Kyle mysteriously disappears into the fog at the edge of an abandoned oil field. A search party discovers not only a sinkhole, but also Rosa’s dad’s truck hidden in a thicket, confirming Rosa’s belief that he had not abandoned his family. Rosa finds some consolation talking with odd but sympathetic history teacher Mr. White. He fills her in on the legend of Bucky LeBlanc, a 19th-century local who was murdered and had his oil-rich land taken from him by an ancestor of Kyle, then later appears to her in a dream as Bucky’s ghost bent on revenge. The book is written at a fourth grade reading level.