24 Girls in 7 Days by Alex Bradley

Alex Bradley’s book 24 girls in 7 days is a funny, fast paced story that will keep readers intrigued until the end.

The main character, Jack Grammer, is your typical, shy teenage boy who has little luck with the ladies. That is, until his friends intervene. Since Jack has yet to find a date to the prom, they decide to help him out by posting an ad in the online school newspaper without him knowing. The ad received a startling 200 responses. Jack and his friends will select a lucky 24 girls that Jack will go on dates with in hope of finding his prom date. Days left until the prom? Seven.

Jack goes on dates with some of these girls and rejects others. His dates are confusing, hilarious, mischievous and eye-opening for both the reader and Jack. While juggling these real-life girls, he finds himself irresistibly attracted to a girl he knows on the computer, by the mystery name of Fancy Pants. And, as if Jack didn’t have enough to deal with, he thinks he might really be attracted to his best friend, Natalie.

Jack’s adventure’s in dating, as told by author Alex Bradley, seems real to the point that readers are given the impression that they have actually caught a glimpse into the shy senior’s mind. Bradley’s book is funny, right up until the surprising, yet heartwarming, end.

Recommended for ages 14 and up.

Reviewed by Carolyn Devilbiss

Godless by Pete Hautman

Jason is tired of his parent's religion. One day he decides that just because people believe in a superior being does not mean that it can't be a material thing. With this belief Jason goes on to start his own religion, worshipping their city's water tower. The religion, which starts out as a fun, rebellious thing for Jason and his friend Shin, soon turns serious. As more of their friends join the religion, things get more and more intense, until they end up in a life or death situation, which Jason cannot control.

An interesting, relatively short read, although "Godless" was a bit peculiar. This unquestionably started as a very appealing book because of the title and subject. However, as it progressed it got stranger and stranger, until I found my self thinking it was more of a fantasy book than a coming of age book. Despite this, I thought the characters were well developed in the beginning of the book. It was only when the book got to the climax and the characters acted in very unlikely ways, that I lost interest in the story.

Submitted by a Flamingnet student reviewer

Dance Jam Productions by Celise Downs

Everybody has secrets, but ever since she was seven, Mataya Black Hawk has had secrets she never wants to tell. Ever. Something horrible happened in her past, and it’s not something she wants to discuss with anybody, not even her best friends. Her past has had such an effect on her life that an ex-Navy SEAL, Tykota Black Hawk, guards her, and wolves roam her property. Because of old fears, Mattie is at first unwilling to enter into a relationship with the opposite sex, but when Jarek Thanos, the hot nephew of her dance teacher, enters her life, she realizes that she should let go of the past and take hold of the future. She and Jarek enter a dance competition together, discover a heinous plot, accept her past, and finally have a happy ending.

"Dance Jam Productions" moves with the speed of light, but leaves much more of an impression. Great for the reluctant teenage reader and for suspense fans, this book had a lot of character crammed into its 135 pages, keeping the reader frantically turning its pages in an effort to finish the story. Despite its great plot, there were a few problems with the book. Jarek, for example, blurts out Mattie’s past without thinking, and then, at minor prompting from his friend, tells everything he knows about her without regard to how she would feel. Though the friend acts suspiciously, the event occurs within twenty pages of the conclusion, and is never mentioned again, leaving the reader wondering what the author was thinking. Crudity and language were common. Definitely a teen novel, and definitely an interesting read.

Rating: 7

Review written by Anna Kleiner

WE BEAT THE STREET

Flamingnet Reviewer Name: Anna Kleiner

Title: We Beat the Street

Author: Drs. Sampson Davis, George Jenkins, & Rameck Hunt, with Sharon M. Draper

ISBN: 0-525-47407-2

Summary: An inspiring account of three inner city boys who succeed in overcoming the odds, entering college, and fulfilling their dreams, “We Beat the Street” is a marvelous work. Written for kids, this book selects incidents from the lives of each of the three doctors in order to illustrate the great obstacles they had to surmount and the truth that street life won’t pay off in the end. The reader follows Sampson, George, and Rameck as they journey from first grade through medical school, and watches them as they achieve their goals in triumph. “We Beat the Street” shows the tragedy of street life and the necessity of aid for these communities.

Opinion: The content of “We Beat the Street” was skillfully edited and condensed for younger readers, making it graspable for that age level. The style was simple, but attractive, and the message was excellent. It forcefully imparted a warning, and encouraged higher education, especially for those who doubt their ability to achieve such educational goals. “Street” was quite simply one of the best books I have ever read on the subject, and deserves a wide audience.

Rating: 9 (out of 10)

Dragon's Hoard- A Knight's Story

Free Lance has left all of the tournaments behind, to work as a Free Lance. He has found a job to protect a wealthy merchant's goods. Yet, on his way to the merchant's town, something very odd happens. The merchant's horse, gets killed, and dragged away by a very large animal. The merchant is sure that this is the work of an evil dragon, but the knight isn't convinced. Only when he gets his pay from the merchant, and follows towns people to a women tied against a rock as a sort of sacrifice to the dragon, does he finally believe that this dragon may not be a legend after all.

This book was very good, but very short. I think that this book would be great for younger elementary school children. The authors wrote this book in a funny, sort of childish way, adding to the suggestion that this book is for younger elementary children. They made quick decisions that were risky, and made you move to the edge of your chair. This book was very good, but would be even better, if it were longer.

Rating: 8

Reviewed by Flamingnet student reviewer.

Home to the Sea

This book is about a girl named Marian who's family has always had a medical condition called syndactyle which skipped a generation. Marian has it and her condition progresses more than any of her ancestors. Slowly, she finds out that she is turning into a mermaid. Now, her life is rapidly changing. What can she do about this and what will happen when the time comes that she becomes a fully developed mermaid?

This book was very interesting and touching. It was interesting in how the author managed to combine both a fantasy character with a real life-like scenario. It seems like this could really actually happen. Also, it was interesting to see how Marian, who was my favorite character, developed over time. She turned from a carefree girl to a serious young lady who ponders how her future will turn out. The touching bit was that she tried to do as much as she could to help before the inevitable happens. Chester Aaron uses a lot of captivating words that help to show how Marian was feeling. The ending was very satisfying and pretty much sumed up the book without leaving you hanging too much. This was a pretty deep book and I recommend it to readers who like fantasy mixed with real life and can take some sadness.

Rating: 9

Reviewed by Flamingnet student reviewer.

A Victory for Humanity

Mike Celizic’s and Dick Traum’s book, ‘A Victory for Humanity’, records the stories of the many people connected with and/or part of the Achilles Track Club, a running group for disabled persons. Within ‘Victory’ Dr. Traum tells of his participation in races around the world, and also includes stories of other disabled persons who achieved great personal victories, even if some of them did not actually win races. Some of the most inspirational stories include the story of Pat Griskus, an amputee who ran a marathon in three hours and thirty-one minutes, and Cyril Charles, a blind runner from Trinidad who received an operation that restored his sight. Besides the inspirational stories, ‘A Victory for Humanity’ also relates the creation of the Achilles Track Club, and contains various opinions of the authors.

‘A Victory for Humanity’, though initially promising, was a very disappointing book. Dr. Traum, according to the brief biography found on the inside of the cover, is a popular speaker, a statement corroborated by the fact that the book is written more like a collection of speeches than a book. The writing is, overall, mediocre, though there are a few exceptions that successfully excite the reader. ‘Victory’ is written along the lines of the typical ‘self-help’ books, but instead of imparting information it tells stories, stories that are usually not told very well at all. Several stories that could have been inspiring were reduced to sadly flat narrative by the overall lack of style. The style, however, could have been forgiven were it not for Dr. Traum’s questionable morality. Either of these two issues, taken separately, would not be grounds to condemn the book; together, they ruin it. In justice to Dr. Traum, ‘A Victory for Humanity’ could have been excellent—the raw material was generally interesting and occasionally even inspiring, but it was very difficult to ‘get into’ the book, because of the monotony of the text. Adults.

Reviewed by Anna Kleiner

Rating: 3/10

A Crack in the Line

Alaric Underwood is in a deep depression due to the horrible death of his mother in a train wreck. Naia Underwood is very happy in her life with her mother. Just the memory of the terrible train accident that almost took her mother away sends her mind reeling. When Alaric discovers the alternate reality where his mother is still alive, he longs for some answers. Where is he? How can his mother be both dead and alive? And who is this girl that looks just like him? A Crack in the Line is a mysterious journey with plenty of hair-raising ideas.

A Crack in the Line wasn't the best book in its genre. The beginning was so confusing that I had to read the first 20 pages four times to understand it! The idea behind the book was so unique, that I didn't mind it. I thought that the questions running through my head were unbelivably suspicious. I thought that the real ending was a let-down. The book did, however, have an alternate ending. I thought it was 1,000 times better than the real ending. Overall, this was an alright start to a mysterious and thrilling trilogy.

Rating: 7

Reviewed by Flamingnet student reviewer

Cyberbullies

A friend recently told me that her ninth grader had received very nasty emails from students in his school. It was around the same time that my daughter received an anonymous IM (internet Messenger) message that called her names and really upset her. Last year, we received a series of threatening messages on our bulletin board, and despite post-Columbine sensitivity, the police, school, and our Internet provider were more concerned with protecting the privacy of the sender, than protecting my children.

Cyberbullies are way out of control on the Internet, and today’s preteens and teens are the main offenders. PEOPLE Magazine ( March 14, 2005; pages 152 – 155) told a story about a 13 year old who committed suicide after being harassed by cyberbullies. This is a very serious problem and needs to be addressed by parents, schools, and local authorities. More attention should be paid to this new form of harassment before cyber threats turn into real life actions.

Avril Crump and Her Amazing Clones

In this book, Avril Crump is like a pastry. She is very sweet, round, chubby and bald. She always seems to be thinking of food. In a lab accident, she gets landed with three clones, and numerous adventures. Trying to keep the clones inconspicuous is hard enough, being a talking dog, an wimpy general, and a very intelligent girl, without an insane scientist trying to kill them. The four friends meet several people on their journeys, some of them friendlier than the next.

This book was alright. It was very fast paced, but slow reading. My favorite thing about the book was the different characters. It was ahard book to get into, and it remained that way the whole time. I didn't love the book, but you may find that you like it.

Reviewed by a Flamingnet student reviewer.