Book ReviewsVivian Vande Velde
This book is about a girl named Wendy who finds these magical glasses on her front lawn. In the few days she has the glasses she tries to find out who invented the glasses and why she ended up with them. She goes through secret gates and she ends up going back in the 1950s where her grandmother is. On the way to finding out the answers to her questions she bumps right in to her trouble. Does this sound good to you? Well if you like suspense, and creativity then you will definitely like this book.
Rating 8/10
Alexis
Author: Eva Ibbotson
Summary/ Ideas: Humphrey the Horrible is a ghost. He was the who put the horrible in his name, because he really isn't that horrible. Humphrey is actually one of the cutest looking ghosts you'll ever meet. Humphrey and his family live in a old castle in England. The family is kicked of their castle when humans turn it into a hotel. The ghost family soon finds themselves on a journey ,with Rick a friend they meet along the way to find a ghost sanctuary for themselves and all other ghosts who are in the same situation. This book is a laugh out loud comedy for anyone who enjoys a scary story with a twist.
Rating: 7/10
AUTHOR: Stephen King
SUMMARY: Roland the Gunslinger follows the Man in Black across a world in order to find the metaphoric Tower, all the while discovering what the Tower is. He meets a few companions along the way who help him, but his journey is mostly made solo. He endures the dangers as abstract as the human mind and as simple as the searing desert.
RATING: 3/10
Collin
Authour: Anthony Horowitz
Matthew Freeman has been living a seemingly normal life until he gets involved with a robery of a local warehouse in the industrial parks. He is taken into custody and held for a about three weeks before being released into the protection of Mrs. Deverill as part of the LEAF Project. During his stay with Mrs. Deverill Matt finds himself in the middle of dangerous supernatural happenings. These supernatural events will test Mattís strength and courage.
Mike
By: Iain Lawrence
Fourteen-year-old John Spencer was on his first ever voyage with his father on his father's ship when, on his return they spot lights and assume that they are coming from a safe harbor. John woke up on a beach and saw remainders of his father's ship the Isle of Skye crashing against the rocks. John then decided to look around to see if anyone could help him, and ended up being chased by the people who purposely wrecked his ship; The Wreckers. John soon found out that his father was alive somewhere, but imprisoned, and if John didn’t save him in time his body would rot where it lies. This leads to John going on a daring adventure to save his father, but meets some interesting people along the way.
Sam
Auther:Carl Deuker
Summary/ideas: Chance Taylor and his dad live on a tiny sailboat is
moored in puget sound.Chance gets asked to do a job for some fat guy,its exelent pay but its also ellegal.Once people find out what he is doing they try to stop him and he knows that what he is doing is illeagal and that he would go to jail for like ever.In the end Chance knows he needs to get out but he is too late the people who he is working for destroy the last thing he had in life.
Robert
Author: Tamora Pierce
Summary/Ideas: Aly is a fourteen year old who wants to be a spy for the spymaster of Tortall, which happens to be her father. The only thing in her way, is that girl's aren't supposed to be spies, and no one seems to think her way. When Aly decides to run away from home for a few weeks, the story begins. Aly is captured by pirates and sold as a slave in a neighboring country. When she gets to her new home, and god makes a wager with her. If she keeps the family alive for the summer, Aly will be transported back to her home. Aly agrees, because she feels that she will be able to prove to her dad that she will make a good spy if she does, but will Aly be able to keep the Balitang family from harm's way?
Rating: 8/10
Lindsey
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
By:Anna Brashares
If your intrested in books that have to do with friendship, and you also want to know what it's like to be seperated from your friends for the summer. This is the book for you. This book tells you how each of the four best friends had to deal with being alone for the whole entire summer. It also gives awsome quotes. I really intrested me in learning about how each of them dealt with it. I would recomened this book to anyone who is intrested in this.
Rate: 8
Lisa
Title: Brian’s Winter
Author: Gary Paulson
In the book Brian's Winter, Brian is left alone in the Canadian wilderness with few things found on the plane from the previous plane crash in Hatchet. Brian is left to catch fish alone in deadly winter, make his own snowshoes using wood, and create a mediocure living society. Brian struggles to keep warm throughout the book in the cold wilderness. He misses his parents, and hears things at night... will Brian be rescued, or will he stay in the forest for the rest of his life?
Rating: 8/10
By Tyler
Code Orange Book
Imagine a story about one of the most feared diseases in the world and you’ve got the average teenage boy who’s worst subject is biology, who’s studying that particular disease and he probably has it himself. Not to mention that there could be bioterrorists out there waiting for him to unleash this virus into the world and he’s waking up in the middle of the night thinking he has these giant scabs oozing pus all over his body. Of course this does all seem like an impossible thing to him because this virus has been exterminated, according to all the books, biologists and scientists in this field of concern. That is to say, all of the scientists and biologists studying or guarding variola major, which is mostly known as, smallpox. This isn’t your average cold or flu and the average boy who may have it, Mitty, knows this and is prepared to do anything to stop it from living and spreading again.
Caroline B. Cooney writes Code Orange, it is about the impossibility of smallpox coming back to life after years and decades of extinction and yet it is realistic fiction. Most of her books have always been about more realistic ideas and this is the first book she's written that has been a bit of a thriller, some mystery and a little romance all thrown into 200 pages.
In New York City of February, 2004 Mitty, an eighth grader, goes to a private boys’ and girls’ school and has been put into an advanced biology class by his parents because they want him to become a famous scientist when he gets older but Mitty would rather listen to study rock music than study some virus that doesn’t even exist. Mitty has to do a project for this class researching a type of virus and he chose variola major virus, a.k.a. smallpox. So as Mitty is researching the virus he stumbled upon some scabs from the smallpox epidemic that had hit Boston in 1902, he had found an envelope of scabs from an old book his mom had gotten from an old doctor who had passed away. Anyway, Mitty had put the scabs into his hand and sneezed, crushing the scabs in his hand. All but one which was a scab darker than the rest and a little thicker too. As Mitty examines the scab his dad is calling for him and Mitty quickly puts the scabs back into the envelope and hurried out the door with the germs of those scabs on his hands and face.
For the next few days and that week Mitty seemed to develop the symptoms of his disease and became worried that the disease may lie within him. He was worried that if the disease lies within him, what would happen to his beloved New York City if another epidemic hit? Mitty knew how fast the smallpox could spread and how hard it hit everyone. After all, he had done the research this time and if some bioterrorist nut could get to him what would happen? Doing the research for this project made Mitty realize that if another epidemic hit New York City the disease could and probably would keep spreading, to the state to the country, then to the world. So Mitty posted a question on different sites if he could get the smallpox virus from inhaling smallpox scabs and he gets many emails back the next day.
He gets many requests to meet with different people who he doesn’t know but isn’t sure if he should. Mitty starts distancing himself with his family and friends and meets someone on the street that claims to be a scientist and he decides to go with the “scientist”. When he gets to the taxi the scientist had gotten he is knocked out and manages to wake up and realizes he’s tied down and has tape over his mouth. Mitty meets his kidnappers and knows at once they’re not American because they speak in an accent. So they keep him for about a week and mean while his family and the FBI are looking for him because what they expected happened. The terrorists thought he had smallpox and kidnapped him, Mitty’s girlfriend, Olivia is also very worried about him and hopes he’s okay, everyone does.
Caroline B. Cooney has a written an interesting book of what would happen if a normal, teenage boy was pushed into a world full of doubt and hopeless options of a disease's world. The doubt of not knowing if you have one of the world's worse disease, of thinking soon you'll start growing these huge zit-like things just about everywhere on your body, mostly your face and hands. If you do have smallpox though for about a week then you'll face the scary fact and know that there's no cure for you, no vaccine or amount of medicine can save you from the horrid things to come to you and everyone around you. Caroline B. Cooney does a very good job with the suspense in the book because you don't really know until the end of the book if he has the smallpox disease or not, and by that time you're sick with worry about Mitty, because he's been kidnapped and made himself look sick to lure the bad guys down and trap them. This book isn't one of her best because it seems boring and if you've read enough books you might be able to predict the ending, but trust me, it's worth the read.
I would recommend this to someone who likes a mystery and has a taste for a little bit of action and romance mixed in. Although I didn't like the book very much myself I'm sure someone will. I didn't like it because I thought it was too predictable and needed a little more mystery and suspense, she could have actually had the disease hit and it would've been a lot more exciting and unpredictable. You always want to leave the reader guessing and I wasn't guessing all that much. What I liked about the book was that she did a very well job seeing through the eyes of a guy, being a middle aged women, and she definitely left you hanging on a cliff at some parts. So please don't take my word for it and enjoy the book that makes the impossibilities possibilities.
Sydney
If I should Die Before I Wake
Han Nolan
Hilary was in a traumatic motorcycle accident with her boyfriend in Germany. She was put into a Jewish hospital... Hilary is a Nazi. When she blacks out she remembers a life in Poland she never had in a town she’d never been in as a girl named Chana she’d never met. Now Hilary and Chana have to survive against impossible odds.
Rating: 7
Patrick
Title: The Power of Un
Author: Nancy Etchemendy
Summary/Ideas: Gib Finney is a modern boy with an unusual life. He gets many good ideas that continue with bad actions following. He needs to act upon the most horrible day of his life over and over to make it all right. With the mysterious man within the woods and the confused mutt running around will he pay for his actions or will it all pay off in the end.
Rating: 8/10
Brian
Chu Ju's House
Gloria Wheelan
Chu Ju's House was probably one of my favorite books because she was so different from characters from other books that I've read. Like Kino from The Pearl, he was so selfish to his wife and son to have kept the pearl and put them through all that; but Chu Ju made sacrifices for so many people and was so selfless. She was such a caring and loving person when all Kino cared about was becoming wealthy.
Physically they were similar because they were both strong but the difference between them was that is Kino's strength was used under water when Chu Ju's was used on the rice paddy. Kino wasn't very socially strong at all because in his culture it wasn't normal to be very social with the other families; but Chu Ju was really great at making friends and building a strong relationship with them, very rarely did people not like her. Chu Ju was very emotional in all aspects of her life and wasn't afraid to show them, Kino on the other hand wouldn't show his emotions a lot and when he did it was hard to tell unless he was angry, then it was easy.
Chu Ju creates the whole climax of the story, if it wasn't for her there wouldn't be a story. She made the story interesting and exciting by actually getting somewhere on her journey instead of turning back home. She impacted a lot of people in the book like the girls from the silk worm place would never have gotten treated better if it wasn't for her and Quan, Ha Na's son, never would've gotten to go to the city. Kino also created the whole story. He impacted his whole village by finding the pearl because after that everyone became greedy. He also impacts his family by taking them away to sell the pearl because Coyotito died along the way.
I think that Kino was good but became bad because at first he really cared about his family and keeping them well taken care of and then once he found the pearl all he cared about was becoming a wealthy man and ended up hurting his family in the process. Chu Ju I think was good because she helped so many people along her journey and made so many sacrifices. Chu Ju also always had a positive attitude too she never let people bring her down as she got older and she always seemed to find the good in everything and everyone. I think Kino was positive because he wouldn't give up on the pearl no matter what people said. Those are some similarities and differences between Kino and Chu Ju.
Kelsey
by Suzanne Collins
This book is about a boy named Gregor who discovers a vast underground world under New York City. As soon as he arrives he finds himself in danger and unable to trust anyone. He is in the midst of an ancient power struggle that may either save or destroy the world where he finds himself.
This is an excelent book that I would recommend to anyone. I give it a 5/5.
Parker
The Specials
Scott Westerfeld
This book is about two fifteen year old girls trying to save there friends from the New Smoke in the world. The two girls Tally and Shay have fought a smoke named David and delt with a death of a very close friends. Tally and Shay are Specials and specials are like the President but they are more powerful and strong. Do you think Tally and Shay will capture the New Smoke?
Rate : 3/10
Sonja
Title: The Uglies
Author: Scott Westerfield
Summary/Ideas: Tally Youngblood Lives in a ultra high tech world, where life before your 16th birthday is spent dreaming of being pretty. When you turn 16 you undergo an operation that makes you supermodel gorgeous, what could be wrong with that? Tally doesn't think that there could be anything wrong with it either until she meets a mysterious guy named David who was born outside the city, in a world where they burn wood for heat, and hunt animals for food. When Tally's friend Shay ran a way to David's world, also known as the Smoke, a short week before their operation Tally is forced to make the hard decision of to follow her friend or to be like everyone else and become pretty.
Rating: 8.5/10
Sarah
Title:After
Author:Francine Prose
Summary/Ideas:
Tom and his friends all go to Central High School, fifty miles from Pleasant Valley High. At Pleasant Valley, three students shoot other students and some of the staff. This causes the town of Pleasant Valley to be an ideal target for an Operation Turnaround revolution, with Tom's town included. About a day after the shootings, Tom's school has been given a new grief and crisis counselor, one who works for Operation Turnaround. Operation Turnaround is this huge plan where they have people go to schools that have been having problems, as counselors to help heal the students but really, anyone who does not follow all of the rules set by the new counselor is sent away to Operation Turnaround camp, where they are basically killed off. Tom and his friends Silas, Avery and Brian all think they are perfectly safe, but that turns out to be wrong after Silas and Avery are sent away, and neither return.
Tom and all the other students try to keep going and avoiding anything that could cause them trouble but this becomes nearly impossible. Dr. Willner is the grief and crisis counselor and he can see where anyone is at any time. He also had camera's installed in the bus, hidden as televisions. E-mails he sent out to the parents have hypnotized some of them and made them believe they wanted their kids to be sent off to camp so they can "get better" when there is really nothing wrong with them at all.
All-in-all, Tom's school is a wreck, and a recent check on Pleasant Valley shows that all of the kids are gone, all sent away to camps. This will happen to Tom's school, and soon. Tom and his only two friends left, Brian and Becca, need to get out of their as soon as possible. But will they be able to outwit Dr. Willner or not? This adventure story is mind-numbing and heart-racing, and you will feel the fear of Tom and others as they try to escape the web of lies and threats made by Dr. Willner.
Samantha
Title - Stormbreaker
Author - Anthony Horowitz
Summary- Stormbreaker is an action packed book. It is about a fourteen-year-old boy who becomes a spy. One night the police come to his house and tell him that his uncle died in a car crash. Alex doesn’t believe them, so he goes to investigate. Alex goes to a junkyard and finds his uncle’s car covered in bullet holes. Alex realizes that his uncle was shot. Alex’s uncle told everyone that he worked at a bank. The next day the bank asked Alex to come in. They told Alex that it wasn’t a bank and his uncle was a spy. His uncle had died while on a mission. His mission was to watch a man named Herod Sayle. Herod was planning to give thousands of free computers to every school in England. the company Alex’s uncle worked for thought Herod was doing something evil, so they sent Alex’s uncle to investigate. The reason they asked Alex to come into their office, was to ask him to continue the mission. Alex was forced to say yes. He spent about 2 weeks at a training camp. After that, Alex was sent to watch Herod Sayle. It took Alex only one day to find out what they were doing. Alex spends the rest of the book trying to stop Herod’s evil plan.
Rating- 8 out of 10
Matt
Title: Small Steps
Author: Louis Sachar
Summary
Armpit is a teenage boy that already has a criminal record and is trying to change his life around by takeing small steps towards being scsufull in life. He has a disabled ten-year-old friend named Ginny that is also trying to take small steps. He has a friend that he met at Camp Green Lake named X-Ray.Camp Green Lake was a place that Armpit and X-Ray went to because they had done a crime. X-Ray has a get-rich-quick scheme that includes Kaira DeLeon coming to an aerna near them. Could this idea spin Armpits life out of control?
Rating: 8/10
Mike
The Cry of the Icemark
Author - Stuart Hill
Summary - Princess Thirrin Freer Lindsenshield lives in a medieval world where her country, the Icemark, is at war with a country called the Polypontian Empire. When her father, the King, is killed in battle, she must take his place as commander of the Icemark army. Being only 14, she isn’t ready but she is brave and strong, and steps up to the job with her two best friends, Maggiore and Oskan. Her country is losing the war because of their small army and lack of allies, but in a climactic conclusion they turn the tide of battle around. This book is filled with talking animals, descriptive battle scenes and strong characters.
Haley
Title- Speak
Author- Laurie Halse Anderson
Melinda Sordino is a ninth grader at Merryweather high school this year. She was pretty popular before the summer party where she called the cops and broke up the party. Everyone hated her for that. No one really knew why she called the cops though. Only if they really knew what happened to her they would treat her a lot better. Well Andy Evans had raped her. He took her out into the woods and they were both very drunk and one thing went to the next. Once Melinda had a chance to ran she did. She keep on running until she got to a phone. She called the cops then ran home. Then she spent the rest of her summer sitting in her room. Then the first day of school was pretty bad for her. People her pushing her around whispering to her that they hate her. But then her ex-bestfriend starts to date Andy around the end of the year and Melinda tries to send notes and everything to protect Rachel from him but Rachel won’t listen to her.
Rating 10
Shelby
Title: Maximum Ride – School's Out Forever
Author: James Pattrson
Maximum Ride and her flock have had countless dangerous adventures. They were taken from their parents as babies, and they were raised in a lab called the School. Jeb Batchelder, Max's father, is chasing them with vicious wolf-mutants called Erasers. Maximum's 7-year-old brother was turned into one of them. At the beginning of the book, the flock is flying to Washington D.C. To find their parents. On the way, Fang is seriously injured when they were attacked by Erasers, and had to go to the hospital. Luckily only the doctors and one “FBI” member found out about Fang's wings. After Fang was felling well enough to walk, Anne, the FBI member invited the flock to stay at her house. They stayed there for about three months, and even went to school – but only for a few weeks before the Erasers found them, and they were forced to flee, and found out that Anne had been with Jeb and the Erasers the whole time. The life of Maximum Ride for anyone else, would be a horror story.
10/10
Arman