City of Bones

Title: City of Bones
Author: Cassandra Clare
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry
ISBN: 1416914285

Recommended for Grades 9-12
Genre: Fiction-Fantasy

Reader’s Annotation:
Clary Fray just witnessed a murder. Even though she is in a club full of people, no one else saw the strangely tattooed murderers. Clary has to discover if she is going crazy or if something more sinister is going on.

Plot Summary:
When Clary Fray sees a trio of tattooed teens kill another boy, no one else believes her because no one else can see the murderers, and the victim disappears. Next her mother disappears after a monster attacks her apartment. She manages to kill the monster with the help of Jace, one of the tattooed teens. Before long she discovers that these teens are called Shadowhunters, a group of demon and monster hunters. Clary’s mother was one of these Shadowhunters and Clary needs their help to get her back. Clary must embrace her heritage and learn about the power she has inside of her. And the closer that she gets to Jace the more secrets she learns about her family's past and the true identity of the father she never knew.

Evaluation:
Clary struggles with discovering the truth about who her mother really is and learning who her father is. Jace’s adoptive brother Alec struggles with the internal conflict of his homosexuality and keeps it a secret from his family. Both serve as positive examples for teens facing their on conflicts.

Notes:
There are two other books in the “Mortal Instruments” series:
City of Ash
City of Glass