The Saw Mouth

Gr 9 Up–The night Cedar arrives in ­Sawblade Lake, something with lots of teeth and an appetite for slurping down gasoline makes itself known. It dogs Cedar’s heels as it opens nearby doors and mailboxes before progressing to gory murder of Sawblade’s residents. Terrified, but determined to protect their new home, Cedar teams up with several other queer teens including Ada, a girl with a symbiotic relationship, with the semi-sentient machine in her heart. When the creature kidnaps Ada’s younger sister to use as a host, the teens start to reach toward desperate measures. Meanwhile, readers become increasingly aware that Cedar may know more than they’re sharing with their friends—or the audience—with shadowed hints hidden in the introspective letters they write to their estranged father. The gentle mystery is not overshadowed by the occasionally gruesome horror, nor is the overarching exploration of the meanings of love, safety, and community. Both character-driven and plot-driven, this book will have readers finding themselves unable to pry themselves away. Main characters are cued white.