Smoke by Ellen Hopkins, beginning of book

Smoke is the sequel to Burned, and it picks up right after Pattyn Von Stratten has killed her father and is now on the run.  Smoke is told from alternating points of view, between Pattyn and her sister Jackie.

At the beginning of the book, Pattyn is on a bus, where she meets a very hostile Hispanic girl.  When Pattyn has not stopped bleeding since she lost her baby in her car accident, so she desperately needs to get off the bus to change her pad. When the bus finally reaches a rest stop, she gets off and goes to the bathroom.  She hears the Hispanic girl in the stall next to her, and suddenly a man walks into the bathroom and tries to rape her.  Pattyn hears it all, and opens the girl's stall door and beats up the man.  The Hispanic girl is thankful, and introduces herself as Adriana.  They walk outside, only to find that the bus is leaving without them.  Adriana tells Pattyn she can take her to her house for the night, since it's not very far away.  She spends the night there.

Meanwhile, Jackie is recovering from her father's most recent beatings and answering lots of questions from police officers.  She misses Pattyn and hopes she's okay.

The next day, Pattyn wakes up and meets Adriana's family.  There is a baby in the home who is very sick, and Pattyn diagnoses it as measles.  She does her best to relieve the baby's pain, and goes to the store to get the medicine the baby needs.

Burned by Ellen Hopkins Summary

Patton Von Stratten is a Mormon girl who is the subject of her father's constant physical abuse.  She has been told it is a woman's place to be ordered around by a man, but she refuses to believe it.  When her father catches her about to have sex with a non-Mormon boy, he sends her off to live with her aunt Jeanette for the summer.

At her aunt's house, she finally finds love from her aunt and learns how to ride horses, drive a car, and even finds a boyfriend who is much nicer than the boy her father caught her with.  Pattyn has found her place: living with her aunt and loving her boyfriend.  When her father calls at the end of summer telling her to come back home, everything goes bad.  Her father immediately starts ordering her around and continues abusing her brutally for silly things.  To make matters worse, Pattyn finds out she is pregnant, which she knows her father will not like.  She doesn't plan on telling anyone, but two do her nosy little sisters hear her talking about it and soon the gossip is spread throughout her school.  It eventually gets back to her mother, and when she asks Pattyn about it, Pattym denies it.  She calls her boyfriend and begs him to pick her up and bring her back to the country where Aunt Jeanette lives.  But a big winter storm rolls in and makes the roads very icy.   Pattyn's boyfriend swerves on the ice, killing himself and Pattyn's baby.

Pattyn swears revenge on her father and everyone who had any part in the death of her boyfriend.

Identical by Ellen Hopkins Summary

Identical is a novel by Ellen Hopkins about two identical twin sisters, Raeanne and Kaeleigh, who both share an event that shattered their childhood: a car crash that was caused by their drunk father.  We don't know why this event was so scarring to the little girls, but we hear about it throughout the story.  

Raeanne and Kaeleigh's father is a respected judge, but a drunk behind closed doors.  Every day after work he gets drunk and high on Oxycontin.  In the past, he has sexually abused Kaeleigh, and still does throughout the story.  While Kaeleigh tries to avoid her father's affection, Raeanne craves it.  She is jealous of Kaeleigh, who is her father's favorite.  He keeps a very close eye on her and makes sure she is never too fat or out of his sight for too long.  

The twins' mother is absent from the house most of the time, since she is running for Congress for the majority of the story, then gets elected near the end.  She is very distant to her family members ever since the accident.  She fights with her husband whenever they are together, but doesn't divorce him to keep her reputation intact.

Kaeleigh is bulimic (to keep her father happy), and both twins cut themselves frequently.  These disorders most likely come from post traumatic stress disorder from the accident.  Both girls are also addicted to drugs and alcohol.

One day, when Kaeleigh finds herself more stressed out than usual, she takes a few more Oxycontin than she should to get high.  She describes her sensations as slipping lower and lower, and her father finds her blue faced and close to death.  She wakes up in a hospital recovering from the suicide attempt.  Her father is furious with her, and tells her that it will never happen again.  When Kaeleigh finally confronts him about the abuse, all he could say was that nobody would believe her, but Kaeleigh's grandmother appears, saying "I would."  

Ray is put in jail, and everything seems like it is all right.  But it is then revealed that there is no Raeanne -- she died in the car crash.  Kaeleigh has dissociative identity disorder and has had Raeanne as her alter ever since the crash.  The book ends with haunting final words from Raeanne saying that she will always be with Kaeleigh, whether she likes it or not.

The Walking Dead: Book Four, pages 31-60

Lori is having her baby's heartbeat checked by their doctor, who says everything sounds fine.  Lori asks when the baby will come, and the doctor says it will be very soon.

The group heading to the National Guard Station tries to think of a way to get to it without going through Woodbury.  They are about to go back on the road they came from when Axel finds a road sign on the ground  showing the direction they need to go to find the station.

They arrive at the station and decide to split up to check everything out. Tyreese is startled by a huge truck coming at him, but realizes it's only Glenn, who found it with a full tank of gas.  He says they have a working gas pump, and Tyreese tells him to fill as many gas cans as possible.  They are about to leave when Andrea asks if they should destroy the remaining stock of items the place has, so the Woodbury people can't use it.  Tyreese ponders the question.

The RV and Glenn's new truck drive away from the station that has just exploded in all places.  Glenn passes the RV so Maggie can talk to Tyreese, and Maggie suggests that since the Woodbury people will be preoccupied with the station, they should check out the nearby Wal-Mart.  Tyreese agrees, and they go inside.  Maggie picks up a crib for Lori, and one for herself, "just in case."  Just as Glenn is about to take a trip out to the RV, a threatening group of men with big guns enter the building.  The biggest man orders two of his cronies to check out their vehicle while he and the other man find out who "these people" are.  Glenn sees them, and decides to go out and try to get them away.  He tells them they're just getting some food and supplies, but the man tells him they know they're the ones who blew up the station.  He shoots Glenn, who collapses to the ground.  Andrea immediately shoots the big man in the neck, and Michonne cuts off the hands and head of another one of the men.  She throws her katana through the stomach of another man, leaving one remaining.  Andrea tells him not to move and to put the gun down, but he doesn't listen and gets a bullet in the face.  Maggie lies with Glenn, who says he can't breathe.  His bulletproof suit protected him from the gunshot but his chest is bruised and he has trouble breathing.  Tyreese says he may have cracked ribs or a punctured lung, and they need to get out of there.

Lori comes lumbering out of the prison and tells Rick that she thinks it's time.  Rick and Hershel rush her to the infirmary and tell Alice -- the doctor -- that she's going into labor.  Alice is worried since it is getting dark.  She says that if the generator goes off for a second, it will be a disaster.  She sends Billy to go check on the generator and make sure it stays running.

Billy finds Dale who he hopes will help him with the generator.  They run to the generator, but the gas cans are all empty.  Billy pours in whatever gas they have left and Dale says they need to open the gates and find more gas.  They reach the parking lot, where Dale has a close call with a zombie.  They continue trying to siphon gas out of the cars, but Dale gets bit in the leg by a zombie that came out from under one of the cars.  He falls and bashes his head on a car, and Billy runs away, leaving him behind.

The Walking Dead: Book Four, pages 1-30

Lori and Rick think about the arrival of the baby that is getting closer and closer, and Rick realizes he needs to build some kind of crib.

The doctor's assistant from Woodbury has cleaned up the prison infirmary quite a lot and it looks ready to use.  She feels that when the baby comes, she'll be ready.  Carol walks in and introduces herself, and she says they'll get along very well.

The wedding between Glenn and Maggie is going on, and Hershel is acting as the priest.  The wedding ends, and they both found it to be a nice ceremony considering the circumstances.

Tyreese is alone in his cell, sleeping, when Michonne walks in and lays with him, sobbing.

Everyone is playing a boys-vs-girls basketball game, and Andrea has even sewn shirts and shorts for everyone.  Carl asks why Rick isn't playing, but then he remembers his right hand is missing.

Rick, Tyreese, and Glenn are in the armory discussing what they should do when the Woodbury group attacks the prison.  Dale knows they definitely aren't prepared but suggests that they stop at the national guard station since it's nearby.  

The usual crew piles into the RV to go to the station, but this time, Rick stays behind.  He tells Lori how useless he feels with one hand, but Lori isn't listening.  She says she needs to talk to him about Shane.  Rick refuses to listen, and tells her he doesn't want to hear what she's going to say.

The group going to the station (Axel, Tyreese, Andrea, Michonne, Glenn, and Maggie) wakes up in the RV.  Tyreese and Andrea take a walk and see a zombie.  Tyreese wants to try to shoot it, but he misses and Andrea tells him they can't afford to waste bullets.  Tyreese is upset that he's so bad at shooting and asks Andrea to teach him.  

The Walking Dead: Book Three, pages 61-90

Rick, Michonne, and Glenn make it to Woodbury at last.  They look around and realize the place looks dead, like no one else is there.  There are several zombies nearby, and they wonder if their best bet is to use one of them to mask their own smell in order to get around.  Suddenly, bright spotlights shine on the ground and they hear a voice telling them to get on the ground.  The zombies are all shot, and the voice tells them to walk toward them and give up their weapons.  The man who takes their weapons explains that it's for their protection, and introduces himself as Martinez.  He begins taking them to "the big man," but he is already on his way.  His name is The Governor, and he begins giving Rick, Michonne, and Glenn the tour of Woodbury.  He says the town has 40 people and 4 blocks of fenced in land.  Rick wonders where he's taking them, and he simply says that there's a fight tonight.  They make it to a huge arena in which several zombies are chained to poles.  The Governor explains that they put live people in the arena as entertainment for the citizens of Woodbury.  He says they use strangers to feed the zombies in order to keep them docile.  He explains that the couple in the helicopter is getting chopped up to feed the zombies after the fight.  Michonne calls him sick, and he threatens to put a bullet in her.  He wraps up their conversation since the fight is about to start.  The Governor notices their weapons and suits and realizes they must have some camp nearby. As the fight continues, The Governor and his cronies hold down Rick, Michonne, and Glenn and threaten to do nasty things unless they give answers about their camp.  To make his point very clear, he swings his large knife onto Rick's wrist, cutting off his entire hand.  Michonne springs into action, pinning The Governor onto the table.  She leans into his face and bites off his ear.  The Governor holds back his assistants, telling her the only pain that will come upon her will be from himself.  The Governor takes Rick to his medic before he bleeds out.  He wants Rick alive at all costs so he can get the answers he needs.  The medic is obviously not a fan of The Governor and does not support what he did to Rick.

Michonne is chained against the wall, having a conversation with herself about how she's just not strong enough to break the chains.  The Governor walks in and orders his assistant, Bruce, to take Michonne's pants off and tie her legs to separate walls.  He orders Bruce to leave and tells Michonne he is going to try to humiliate her every day until she figures out a way to kill herself.

The Walking Dead: Book Three, pages 31-60

Rick, Michonne, and Glenn are driving in the direction of the helicopter, guided by the rising smoke.  Rick notices all the zombies that are walking toward the prison, and Glenn says he and Maggie can go out into the ever growing horde of zombies outside the fence and kill them while wearing the newfound suits.  The road they are driving on comes to a turn, and doesn't go in the direction they want.  Glenn takes it offroad to the dismay of Michonne, who hits her head on the ceiling on one of the bumps.  She tells him to slow down, but he gets stuck in the mud and they are forced to walk the rest of the way.

Andrea and Dale talk to Allen's kids, explaining that since their father is gone now, they will be taking care of them, and will even give them their own room.

Rick, Michonne, and Glenn are in the woods, still looking for the helicopter, and it's getting dark.  Michonne talks about her life before all this; she was a lawyer, and stole her katana sword from her neighbor's delinquent son.  She brings up Tyreese, and tells Rick he should talk to him sometime.  She says they used to be best friends, and it's weird how they aren't like that anymore.  Rick says he will the next day, maybe.

Lori is on a rampage about how Rick left her again to find "some stupid wrecked helicopter," and Carol tries to calm her down.  She tells her it can't be good for the baby, and sure enough, Lori feels pain in her stomach immediately.  She says it'll pass and tries to leave, but Carol says she needs to talk to her.  Carol says she wants to marry Lori and Rick.  She loves them both, and they can all raise Carl, Sophia, and the new baby together.  She says they could all be happy together, but Lori is not convinced.

When Rick, Michonne, and Glenn finally reach the helicopter, no one is in it.  They see several groups of footsteps and Rick thinks someone else must have taken them.  Rick and Michonne walk away, talking about who could have been there quicker than they were.  Glenn suddenly stands up, yelling to the others.

Lori and Carol are still discussing Carol's proposal.  Lori says even though they've seen each other every day for the last seven months, they don't know that much about each other.  Lori starts getting angry, asking what their children would think if they went through with it.  She asks if she's even thinking about Sophia anymore, and Carol is infuriated.

Rick, Michonne, and Glenn come up with a plan: they're going to try to find this other group of survivors who took the people who crashed in the helicopter.  They come across a road sign and see that a town called Woodbury is only a mile away.  They begin heading in that direction.

While everyone else has already gone to bed, Axel and Tyreese are waiting by the gate for Rick, Michonne, and Glenn to return so they can open the gates.