Review of "The Hallowed Ones" by Laura Bickle

Review of The Hallowed Ones  By Annalise Giuliano, eighth grader at Bradley Beach Elementary School

In the action-packed book The Hallowed Ones by Laura Bickle, Katie, a teenage Amish girl, is on the verge of adulthood, ready to partake in Rumspringa with friends and her boyfriend Elijah.  Rumspringa is the time in Amish life when teenagers are free to experience non-Amish culture before officially joining the church. But before Rumspringa arrives, Katie’s safe world starts to crumble. It begins with a fiery helicopter crash in the cornfields, followed by rumors of massive unrest and the disappearance of huge numbers of people all over the world. Something is out there. It is killing people without faith; and it is bloodthirsty.

The main characters in this book are the narrator Katie; Elijah, the boy Katie is planning to marry; Alex, a boy Katie found outside the Amish gate; Joseph and Seth, Elijah’s brothers who go missing; Katie’s loving but stern parents; Ginger Parsall, an English woman who gets trapped inside the Amish gate when the world goes haywire; Katie’s sister Sarah; The Hexmeister, who listens to and helps Katie; and the Elders who run the Amish community, including the stubborn and ignorant Bishop who puts the community in danger.

I found The Hallowed Ones to be a fast read that was  impossible to put down due to the suspense of seeing which characters would and would not survive in this new world. I would recommend this book to teenage girls who enjoy futuristic stories that are set in a post-apocalypse world.  I give this book a five-star rating, and I am really looking forward to reading the sequel.