Oasis

Gr 9 Up–Recent graduate Alif is looking forward to a summer working on her father’s archeological dig in the desert with her four closest friends. Then a sudden sandstorm hits, sweeping the dig site away and leaving Alif, her friends, and research assistant (and longtime crush) Tommy lost in the sands of Dubai. Fearing the worst, the six are relieved to stumble onto an oasis, even if something seems to be watching them from the trees. But the oasis may not be a refuge after all. Time and space are distorted, and the young people quickly turn on one another as reality shifts around them. The six main characters are diverse and distinguishable, but the friendship between them doesn’t always ring true. And though the group spends only a third of the book at the titular oasis, the haven becomes a character itself. Foreshadowing prepares readers for an eerie introduction to the sanctuary, and manipulation and determination are common. Readers will be engaged as Alif and the others encounter one crisis after another, and small details woven throughout the plot build to a surprise ending.