Soccer Chick Rules by Dawn FitzGerald

No more sports! That’s what Tess is afraid of when the school district threatens to take away all of the sports, unless the community decides to pay higher taxes. Tess joins the levy committee which supports higher taxes, and she helps with the effort by putting up signs, holding protest signs outside of a school, and throwing a Halloween party to help raise money to keep sports alive. When election day comes everyone is anxious about what the results will be, but it is always important to remember Rule #2: Even when the odds are against you, it never hurts to think positive. If the levy fails there is still something that can be learned from all that has happened, Rule #6: Sometimes you’ve got to take one for the team.

This an amazing story that tells not only about soccer but about what happens in Tess’s busy life. The author picked a very good plot for Soccer Chick Rules and did very well at writing this wonderful book. It was really easy to relate to Tess because she is in middle school, and she’s a girl who loves soccer and having fun just like me. Exciting soccer action is packed into one amazing story that is divided into sections within the chapters. Dawn Fitzgerald really tied the title in with the book because no matter what happened there was almost always a rule that went along with it. This story was kind of dirty with the stuff that the characters say and do, but overall this book was fairly clean and decent for teens to read. I recommend Soccer Chick Rules mostly to young adults, ages 12-16, who love soccer and realistic fiction.

Content:infrequent use of profanity

Rating (0 - 10 scale): 8
Reviewer Age: 13
Reviewer City, State and Country: Upper Strasburg, PA United States

All The Way: Prom Night by Megan Stine

Carmen Salgado has just moved to a new school. It is her senior year and it has been going horrible. Her only three friends are her cousin, her cousin's best friend, and her best friend from her old school. Most importantly, Carmen NEEDS a date to the prom. Finally, the most popular guy in school asks her out near the end of the school year and she accepts. They go to the donkey basketball game and everyone stares at them the entire time, especially his ex-girlfriend. When they leave the game, he takes her to a lake. He wants to go all the way, but she won't have it. So she walks home, three miles, and is extremely agrivated. He posted a message on his website, that the whole school reads, saying that they did go the whole way. Everyone believed him of course. Her friends and her tried out for the school play and she wanted to be the lead along with her crush, Tyler North. When The entire play cast goes to Cleveland to audition for American Superstar Carmen finds out the real Tyler. Does she ever get Tyler to like her? Does she find a prom date? Will everyone believe her side of what happened? Does she get revenge?

All the Way: Prom Night is a very good read. I read it in one night! The book is a page turner because the reader is always wondering if Carmen will get what she wants. The vocabulary is not difficult either. At the end of the book it kind of leaves you hanging because you don't know what happens to some of the characters. Megan Stine could have added an epilogue to it so we did know what happened. I definitly learned that you should learn more about people before you start to trust them as well as Carmen did. I recomend this book to any female mature readers (guys would be bored because the promlems in it are pretty much female issues).

Content:mature reader for sexual situations

Rating (0 - 10 scale): 8
Reviewer Age: 13
Reviewer City, State and Country: Carlisle, Pennsylvania United States

Un Lun Dun by China Miéville

Twelve-year-old Deeba Resham and Zanna Moon were just regular schoolgirls, when strange things started to happen in their hometown London. One night, they ventured out and were teleported to a parallel universe called UnLondon. In UnLondon, they discovered that the abcity was ready to go into war with the Smog, a huge cluster of gas, poison, and other chemicals that had been created from global warming. The Smog has gotten so powerful over the years from all of the pollutions created that it generated the ability to think for itself. Zanna, the Chosen One who's destined to defeat the Smog in the Prophesy, was knocked unconscious during a fight and was sent back to London without remembering a thing. Now, it's up to Deeba to save UnLondon from the powerful wrath of the Smog. Throughout her treacherous journey, she met many friends who were also determined to help her win the battle. With her bravery and dedication, she defeats the Smog once and for all and saved the people of UnLondon from a horrible fate.

This novel is very well written by Miéville. The story has suspense and at the same time, is filled with humor. Just when I thought something was going to happen or Debba was finally going to defeat the Smog, something unexpected happened and Deeba must find a new way to try to annihilate the Smog. For example, when Deeba finally obtained the UnGun, which is the only weapon that is able to defeat the Smog, one of her allies stole it and gave it to the Smog's allies. This created many problems for Deeba and her wide range of friends, which included a milk carton, a half-ghost, a bird, some "words", a rebrella (a fixed unbrella, which is a broken umbrella). But they were able to get the UnGun back and defeat the Smog. The 425-page-book is divided into 99 “chapters” so it’s easy to read and stop. It never gets dull and is packed with action. This is truly a must-read book that everybody will be able to enjoy.

Rating (0 - 10 scale): 9
Reviewer Age: 13
Reviewer City, State and Country: Urbana, Illinois United States of America

Dragon Avenger by E.E. Knight

In the beginning of Dragon Avenger two dragon eggs are hatching. The evil Wheel of Fire clan (dwarves) come into the cave and Wistala (one of the hatchlings) leaves the cave with her older brother. Her brother sacrifices himself to save her and then she is left alone to find her father. When she does, Wistala needs to get metal for her father's stomach. She travels to Tumbledown and meets a cat named Yari-Tab. When the evil Fangbreaker comes to kill her father and her, Wistala runs away. Later she meets Rainfall, an old elf, and the circus led by Ragwrist. Many terrors come and go throughout this book along with deaths and triumphs. Will the book end with one of those? or both?

Dragon Avenger was an interesting book to read. I suggest that only very good readers read this book. It is extremely challenging even for me; I was at an 8th grade reading level in 2nd grade! Otherwise, the book was very good. It kept me entertained all the way throughout reading it.

Rating (0 - 10 scale): 8
Reviewer Age: 13
Reviewer City, State and Country: Carlisle, Pennsylvania United States of America

Frogs and French Kisses

Rachel has finally got over the fact that she does not have any magical powers and uses her sister, Miri, as much as possible. In exchange for simple spells, like a love spell for her crush, Raf, Rachel has to help Miri stop wildfires, feed the needy and other plots to save the world. Suddenly everything starts to go wrong. First off, their mother, a non-practicing witch who has not been on a date for a very long time becomes a serial dater and uses magic for every possible situation. Then, the love spell goes awry and instead of Raf falling in love with Rachel, it is his brother Will who is under the love spell. Then Miri's attempt to save the world endangers other parts of the world, and even affects the senior prom. And it's up to Rachel to save the day, without magic.

I really liked the first book, Bras and Broomsticks, so I figured that the sequel would be just as much fun. I wasn't disappointed with Frogs and French Kisses, but I don't think it was as good as the first one. The story was interesting though and I kept wanting to know what happened next. The ending also leaves room for the next book, which I'll be looking forward to.

Reviewer: PS

Secrets of a South Beach Princess by Mary Kennedy

Amber Fielding is a local celebrity-her father owns one of the most popular hotels in South Beach and she's an up and coming model. Her life seems perfect, but underneath that facade, Amber has a lot to deal with. First, there's Nick, a guy who she's just hit it off with, but he seems to be flirting with her best friends as well as her. Then, her best friend Zia ends up in the hospital and she gets all the blame. Then, to make things even more complicated, the Changelings, a popular band ends up checking into the hotel a month earlier than they were expected. Amber is finding out that people are not who they first seem to be.

I thought that this book was really entertaining. The crazy twists and turns of the plot kept me reading until the very end. I rarely put the book down! I also loved that the story took place in Florida. The descriptions of South Beach made me want to go there immediately. Overall, I was pleased with how the story ended and I'm looking forward to picking up more books by Mary Kennedy.

Rating (0 - 10 scale): 10
Reviewer Age: 20
Reviewer City, State and Country: Philadelphia, PA USA

Jinx High by Mercedes Lackey

Fay Harper is like any other “most popular girls at school”-or at least that’s how she appears. But she is really a 300 hundred year old witch that stays young by taking over the bodies young girls. Fay’s power has been running low so she targets Deke, a psychic (though he doesn’t know it), by acting like his girlfriend until she can take his power. She also goes after Monica, the new girl in school who is getting pretty friendly with Deke. Deke’s dad notices something is wrong and calls in his old friend Diana Tregarde. It’s up to Diana to protect Deke and Monica, take down Fay, and prevent an ancient power from waking up and destroying Tulsa.

At first I thought the book was really slow-moving and not getting anywhere. It took a while for Fay to be discovered for what she was even though it was pretty obvious to the reader. But once I was about halfway through it was hard to put down. I really liked how the story built on itself and had a lot of small plots that connected at the end. Mercedes Lackey does a great job of connecting the reader to the characters emotions because I really understood how they were feeling.

Content:MATURE READER
Rating (0 - 10 scale): 7
Reviewer Age: 16
Reviewer City, State and Country: Erlanger, Kentucky United States

Beyond Basketball by Mike Krzyzewski

Beyond Basketball is a book composed of many personal anecdotes from the life of Duke Basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski to teach readers about the most important characteristics and aspects of life. Coach K talks about 40 different words, from adversity to work, that can be used to define success. Coach K has had a very successful coaching career at Duke, and he uses these exact same ideas principle and characteristics throughout his daily life. This book is a simple read but is also an excellent teaching tool for any team, business corporation, or family to truly attain success.

Overall, I think this book served its purpose very well. Coach K definitely shows that he not only coaches his players for basketball, but also for life. The author does a great job of presenting a simple layout of these ideals, but he also shares some very important lessons that are critical to achieving success. Each chapter focuses on one idea, but instead of simply defining the term, Coach K uses a personal story in his life to help readers understand this idea and to define it in their own terms. I think it is great that Coach K has written this book because it can connect to a wide variety of audiences. It is simple enough for children, but informative enough for adults. In conclusion, I really enjoyed this book, and it should be very successful.

Rating (0 - 10 scale): 9
Reviewer Age: 16
Reviewer City, State and Country: Eden Prairie, Minnesota United States

Confessions of a Beauty Editor by Linda Wells

This book was very good and very imformative about beauty. It basically touches every topic you can think about such as; skin care, applying make-up, dealing with your hair, and it even has tips on going to the salon and spa. In each section it gives you do's and dont's, and even special beauty secrets. It also answers beauty myths which is very important for women.

I really enjoyed this book. I learned so much from it. Its really enjoyable to read because it's not set up in a conventional book set up. The chapters have really small paragraphs, pictures, and boxed in words, and it makes reading the book so much more fun. I would reccommend this book to any girl or woman who is interested in reading about make-up and how to work with your hair or really anything that has to do with your body.

Rating (0 - 10 scale): 7
Reviewer Age: 17
Reviewer City, State and Country: Dundee, Oregon USA

Just In Case by Meg Rosoff

Just in Case is the story of a boy who wants desperately to escape fate. He runs and runs from fate, but can’t ever seem to go quick enough to escape. First he changes his name from David to Justin, with the mentality that he can trick fate into forgetting his existence. He changes his physical state, his wardrobe, even his friends, but all in vain. Fate is not so easily fooled. As the book progresses Justin’s fate plays out in many unexpected and refreshingly peculiar ways.

Reading the first couple chapters of Just in Case, I thought it would have a predictable teenage book plot: guy has problem then guy meets girl, they date and his problem is fixed, leaving him a changed man. No big deal, nothing new. I was so wrong. After further reading I was pleasantly surprised by many unexpected plot twists. As in her first novel, Ms. Rosoff plays with the strand of character relationships until it becomes a delicate and complex web. This works well for the most part, however, it becomes a bit confusing when Fate is given a voice in the novel. The way the book is written, Fate speaks as an ominous entity, seeing all that the characters do. The position of Fate is at times a tad confusing and hard to understand as relevant to the story, but in the end Fate adds to the perplexity of the story line. Although the book begins rather slowly, it picks up shortly and is refreshing because of its ending and intricacy of character relations.