All You Get Is Me

All You Get Is Me by Yvonne Prinz is a realistic fiction novel about a 16-year-old city girl, Roar, who moves to become a farmer with her father after her mother abandons them. A tragic accident occurs causing talk in the town and trouble for some of the migrant workers working there. While Roar’s father sorts things out, Roar meets a new boy named Forest who she quickly falls for. This book was not extremely challenging but had a nice mix of romance, family, and tragedy. Although I liked this book I would not say it is memorable. If a friend asked for a book to read I probably would not recommend this book, only because I probably would not remember it. But if a friend was reading it I would say that it was good and I liked it. 

Joelle, 14

Clara Lee and the Apple Pie Dream

I liked how Clara Lee finds her courage to try out for Little Miss Apple Pie by making a speech in public. She is a really believable character, as is her little annoying sister. Her friends were really encouraging and supportive of her. I liked how she talked about being Korean-American and how much she loved her grandfather. He was like her best friend. I liked this book so much that I read it twice. Of course, I would recommend it to my friends! It’s really great. Clara Lee is a lot like me, and her friends who are a lot like mine. The story is great, and unexpected things happen that keep things interesting.

Sophie, 12

Joseph's Grace

Joseph's Grace was a very good read. The one qualm I have is the length. It is a very, very short book, but the content is definitely inappropriate for anyone under the age of ten. Kids in the intended age range may want something longer. However, the language is very rich and it is very accurate about conveying real world topics. 

Andrew, 11

The Running Dream

The Running Dream was amazing! It’s about a girl named Jessica who loves to run, then she losses one of her legs in a vehicle accident, and the story is of how she overcomes the emotional and physical obstacles that lay in front of her. The emotions are so strong; you feel the pain, depression, anger, and happiness that Jessica feels in the book. The emotions are incredibly real, and they help you see a lot of different people in a different way, like people with cerebral palsy, a prosthetic limb, or people who always seem serious. This book was inspiring!

Sophie, 12

Aloha, Kanani

Kanani is a 10-year-old girl living on the Hawaiian island of Kaua'i. Her cousin Rachel comes from New York to visit for a month. Rachel almost never talks and Kanani uses her compassionate "Aloha spirit" to help her cousin. She accidentally reads Rachel's diary and discovers why Rachel is unhappy. Together, they rescue a rare baby monk seal. I really like Aloha, Kanani and recommend it to anyone over 7 years old. American Girl fans would probably love Kanani’s story.

Emily, 9

Taking Off

Taking Off is a wonderfully written book. I really liked how the author showed the differences between characters and how they felt about the hard decision ahead of them in their senior year: if they should go to collage, or not. I would recommend Taking Off to my friends because the book really kept me on the edge of my seat-I couldn’t put it down! I didn’t really dislike anything about Taking Off. I pretty much liked all of how Anne, the main character, decided how her life was going to turn out. Taking Off is very unique and definitely an original.     

Julia, 10

Timeless

What made Timeless interesting was how the author jumped back and fourth in time so well. It wasn't confusing to switch settings and blended in very well. Also there wasn't a lot of scientific information about time travel to bore the reader. Another thing the author did well was that her descriptions of each settings were very descriptive. Although the book was interesting the start of the book was weak. I think if someone was not committed to the book, they might abandon it because the beginning didn't capture themselves. I recommend this to a person with patience. 

Yemisi, 13

The Girl Who Became a Beatle

The Girl Who Became a Beatle was really intriguing. I loved every bit of it! This book is about a girl who makes a wish, and it is granted! She and her band end up replacing the Beatles in history! The main character ends up having to make a huge decision about how she wants her life to be. If you are a fan of the Beatles, music, or just enjoy reading about Hollywood or famous people’s lives you should definitely read this book! This book was a mixture of fantasy and realistic fiction. So, if you just love realistic fiction or fantasy come read this book! 

Lucia, 13

Wishful Thinking

People should read Wishful Thinking purely for reading the end. All electric excitement is drained, gently removed and replaced with quietly intense content. This book has an actual ending for the reader. The author does a magnificent job of writing: Wishes, and magic dresses. Magic manifests in fortifying-ly fragile butterflies. This isn’t a ‘girly’ book though. There is nothing stereotypically feminine about choices, choices which can literally shake lives. Wishful Thinking demonstrates not acceptance of these choices, but friendly combating of them: by living through them, utterly simply and purely.

Dia, 13

Keepers of the School: Fear Itself (2nd Review)

Fear Itself is about a group of kids who make new friends and the story shows how  each of them are afraid of something.  You learn interesting words like “Scelerophobia.”

I liked that it was somewhat funny. My favorite funny part is that Theo (one of the main characters) is afraid of cars, and he gets really scared in a car.

I didn’t like when Celery wanted private time with Hihy because I don’t like dating stories.  At least they didn’t kiss or anything.

 It wasn’t that interesting. There wasn’t enough action.  There wasn’t any mystery or danger and I like those kinds of stories.  

It does not have a table of contents!  That stinks.  If you lose your place, you have a hard time finding where you were if you can’t look at the chapter title and page.

Sophie, 8

Unearthly

If you are looking for a light romance novel than look no further. Unearthly is very fast paced and fun, it grabbed me right at the beginning and didn’t let me go. It is about a girl named Clara who is ¼ angel, and is trying to discover what her purpose is on earth. But things get even worse when it becomes clear that is has something to do with one of the hottest guys in her class. I would suggest this for people who like fantasy.

Jenna, 14

Vesper (3rd Review)

Vesper is quite the interesting novel. At first I was not grabbed by the story, but as it progressed, I became intrigued. The story centers around a girl named Emily Webb, a girl who has never done anything bad in her entire life; yet, the first night she acts out of character, another girl is killed, a girl who is also named Emily. The Emily who is still alive begins to wonder what is happening, as do the readers. Why is she suddenly different? Why are more people ending up dead? Most of all: is she even human anymore?

Emily, 16

Dark Goddess (2nd Review)

I think Dark Goddess is really good. Every sentence is vivid, and you can tell what is happening every minute. On every single page, it seems like some action is happening. But, the ending seems to be the most gripping of all. It just stops suddenly, like one minute you are reading, and the next you see it’s the end. You don’t even see it coming. I recommend this book to people who love reading action, adventure, and fantasy, especially those who love Halloween stuff like vampires and werewolves. I hope this book has a sequel, otherwise I’ll be disappointed.

Inez, 13 

Prom and Prejudice

My review for the book Prom and Prejudice is an amazing story about the stereotypes of rich and average people. It shows the different ways that people are treated because of their belongings and money. It is an amazing story that is great for young teens about how there are so many things covering the important things in a person but when you get close to a person you can see through the specifics covering the inside. I love this story and if I had the choice I would read it again.

Chiaki, 12 

Love, Inc.

The book Love, Inc. by Yvonne Collins and Sandy Rideout caught my attention in the first sentence. In the book, Zahra, a tenth grader, is three-timed by a guy and then meets the other girls. They start off their friendship by getting revenge on the guy who hurt them, and then open up a business to help people meet someone new, break up with someone, or get revenge. Everything seems to be going smoothly until small things change which result in large consequences. In the end, they work it all out, and their lives become a little more normal then when they started out. Anyone reading it can easily relate to how the characters are feeling at any point and can understand the decisions they make. In each chapter, you delve a little bit deeper into the characters and by the end you feel their pain, happiness, and love.

Celia, 13 

Dark Goddess

Dark Goddess by Sarwat Chadda was not very interesting in the beginning. The lead didn't suck me in at all. Chadda tried to tell the reader all of the information before the action happened. But I think the author could have probably done that in a more interesting way, so the reader will be intrigued. Although the beginning was boring the last two hundred pages were pure genius. The action packed events were very decscriptive, I felt like I was fighting too. The pain of the battle felt so real, keeping me racing to see what would happen.

Yemisi, 13 

Warped

The book, Warped, is about a girl named Tessa, who, at an auction, buys a set of boxes.  Inside one of these boxes is a tapestry with a unicorn on it.  Meanwhile, the Norn (the Weavers of Life), have a missing piece from the Wyrd (threads of human life).  Do these things have any connection?  You'll have to read to find out. This book is very interesting.  It has a lot of action and suspense. Maurissa Guibord does a very good job writing it.  But it is for advanced readers.  Some kids under ten might not understand it.  All in all, a pretty good book.

Miles, 10 

Famous

As with most works by Todd Strasser, Famous was incredibly unnerving, and not something I am likely to forget. It is about a girl named Jamie who lives in New York City and takes photos of celebrities. When she gets offered a job taking photos of one of the most famous Hollywood starlets, Willow Twine, Jamie is incredibly excited. But when she discovers photos on her camera that she never took, and that could be the down fall of Willows entire career Jamie has no idea what to do. I love Todd Strasser, and this book was not a disappointment. The only issue I had was the formatting was a little confusing in the beginning, but once I read about 50 pages I started to understand it better. Famous makes you question what you think you know about the lives of famous people, and asks one of the questions that not many books do. Is it really that great to be on top? 

Jenna, 14 

Drought

Drought is about a girl named Ruby who lives in a cult in the woods. The cult leader, Darwin, beats and hurts all the people there and makes them collect water off of trees, because he thinks it makes people immortal. And the water does, but it is not the scrapping off of plants, but Ruby’s blood, which is put in secretly every night. I found this book to be very slow throughout, and very hard to understand in the beginning, it took me about 70 pages to get what was going on. I enjoyed the idea of it but would not recommend it to other people simply because I felt like it was work getting through this book.

Jenna, 14 

The Rendering

The Rendering is in blog format, so everything is a little bit blocky, with each few paragraphs having a new heading. This format has its uses, but fluidity isn’t one of them. The blog is written by Doug Solomon a fugitive from justice, an orphan, and our hero. He is taken care of by his aunt Margaret, a biodigital researcher, meaning she researches how to turn people and animals minds into code. Doug loves the research center where she works because there are free video games. But when the evil Dr. Roach sneaks in and digitizes aunt Margaret, Doug has to stop him from digitizing everyone earth too! With the help of some zany friends, he works towards saving the world from a state of eternal slavery on this whirlwind adventure!

Gabe, 12