The Disunited States of America by Harry Turtledove

Justin Monroe and his mother travel to an alternate United States where the Constitution was never created. Each state has broken off and formed its own country. Becky Royer, a young girl from the country of California, journeys with her grandmother to her hometown, Elizabeth, Virginia, so her grandmother can say her final goodbyes. She meets Justin there just as war breaks out between Ohio and Virginia. Ohio releases a tailored virus, trapping the two in Virginia under quarantine. Becky can't return to California, and Justin can't return to the United States he calls home. As those around them begin getting sick and the war intensifies, they struggle to find a way to get to their respective homes, alive and well.

I thought that the book had a fascinating storyline, and that the action was well-developed. However, the language was poorly executed. As the characters conversed, their dialogue was forced and its sole purpose was to further the plot. It broke the believable world of the story. Also, the narration used too much slang, as though the author was trying to incorporate the characters' styles into every aspect of the book: the scenery, the descriptions, the action. Though the story is told from Justin's point of view, Justin himself is not telling the story, and again, it discredited the world Harry Turtledove was trying to create. The character development was unbelievable as well. Either they were 100% heroic, or they had annoying weaknesses that became their entire character. It was hard to relate to the characters, because they were too lucky and too perfect (or absolutely flawed) to allow the reader to sympathize much with their struggles. Though the idea of the book was exciting, I had to force myself to finish it because of all the obvious shortcomings.

Rating (0 - 10 scale): 5
Reviewer Age: 16
Reviewer City, State and Country: Overland Park, Kansas United States

Secrets of My Hollywood Life on Location by Jen Calonita

Kaitlin Burke fell off Hollywood status when she pretended to be a normal high schooler and got caught. Now she is back in full force working on the next big movie with the next big director. She has the perfect boyfriend, a semi-normal family, and everything starts looking good for her. But when the "Cruella daVille" of Hollywood actresses plus Kaitlin's crazy ex-boyfriend costars in the movie, things start taking a turn for the worst. Follow Kaitlin and her high profile life through breakups and makeups in Secrets of My Hollywood Life on Location.

I loved the book!!! This is the kind of book I love to read. There are so many diverse characters from the yoga obsessed director to the calm and collected Austin, Kaitlin's boyfriend. I also liked throughout the book it has "Hollywood Secrets" such as "Many Stars don't stay for their own premieres." I loved the plot but the outcome was kind of predictable. Kaitlin's relationship was the boy meets girl, boy dumps girl, boy and girl get back together. It was too obvious in the beginning. However, the rest of the book was great and to girls who like girly books, this screams you.

Reviewer Age:15
Reviewer City, State and Country: Villa Hills, Kentucky United States

One Whole and Perfect Day by Judith Clarke

Lily is the only sensible on in her family. Soon she finds herself acting like a parent or grandmother would, saying odd phrases and smelling of dishwater and steamed vegetables. Should she fall in love? She seemed to figure that everyone who fell in love weren't at all sensible, surely that would help. Daniel Steadman, a grade eleven in Lily's school, was who she had her eye on. With her Crazy Family and her Pop's Upcoming party on the way, she only wished for just one whole and perfect day!

I thought this was a very beautiful book. At times I caught myself day-dreaming but that surely just means a lot was on my mind. This book was written wonderfully. The use of vocabulary just blows your mind away. I would surely choose to raise the age to young adult since some criteria may not be understandable to younger readers. The ending grabs you by the gut and certainly urges you to read the last 10 chapters as fast as you can. I didn't quite like the character, Lilly, since her attitude was all wrong towards things such as her mother bringing home old people from her nursing home job as a doctor. Her mother just put up with her nagging all the same. This book was also written from a different culture base as well [australia] so i can understand the differences. GREAT BOOK!

Young Adult would suit this book more appropriately since the vocabulary is quite confusing at points. At times I had to refer to a dictionary. Mature Readers may be an overstatement but I picked what was closest to the book. There is nothing in the book that is inapropriate so all readers are welcome, but it may be harder to understand.

Reviewer Age:14
Reviewer City, State and Country: Carlisle, PA USA

Hollywood Hills by Aimee Friedman

Best friends Alexa St. Laurent and Holly Jacobson are off on a new adventure to Hollywood after Alexa manages to secure an invitation to the hottest event in California, Margaux Eklundstrom's wedding. It's a whole week of shopping, partying and fun in the sun. The girls get to stay in the guesthouse of Margaux's hot brother, Jonah, and Alexa hits it off immediately with Jonah. But as they hang out more, Alexa realizes that they may not be meant for each other. Holly immediately senses that there seems to be trouble in paradise. She is not getting along with her boyfriend, Tyler, which puts a damper on her mood. The girls try to put their boy problems aside and have fun relaxing on the beach and shopping. Holly realizes that she loves California and decides that she wants to go to college there, which means that she will be separated from Alexa for the first time. After a week in Hollywood, both Holly and Alexa learn a lot about themselves.

I liked this book. It was a great book to take my mind off of serious things. But this book was somewhat predictable and unrealistic, but that made the story more fun. Once I started this, I didn't want to put it down. I really want to go to Hollywood now after reading this! Alexa and Holly are fun characters to read about and I hope that the author will write more books about them.

Rating (0 - 10 scale): 8
Reviewer Age: 20
Reviewer City, State and Country: Philadelphia, PA USA

Criss Cross by Lynne Rae Perkins

Debbie wished something exceptionally exciting would happen to her--a normal, average girl living in a boring, old city. Hector, the other main character, wants to learn how to play the guitar and impress a girl named Meadow. There are a few different characters that are the narrator in this story and each is very similar to the other. They sit in Lenny’s dad’s old pickup truck a lot and listen to a show called Criss Cross on the radio. Debbie has lost her necklace and it gets passed along to each character until it finally ends up being given back to her. Criss Cross mainly tells about the life of these teens through each one’s own perspective.

Criss Cross was a pretty good book but it didn’t really seem like there was a main focus to it. It mostly seemed like the author, Lynne Rae Perkins, just wrote this HUMONGOUS story to tell about some events that happened in these teens’ lives. I thought it was really neat how the author added extra things like haikus, poems, songs, and pretty detailed pictures to help you visualize what was occurring at that time. I think that the characters and their personalities weren’t really described well enough though. The characters were pretty much static (unchanging) and it was kind of hard to tell who the narrator was at times because they were so identical. I also think that there were definitely TOO MANY people involved in this novel. Criss Cross was written by Lynne Rae Perkins and is a Newberry honor book.

Rating (0 - 10 scale): 7
Reviewer Age: 13
Reviewer City, State and Country: Upper Strasburg, PA United States

Forever in Blue by Ann Brashares

Lena, Tibby, Carmen, and Bee have just finished their first year of college, and are hoping for some time together. As in summers past, that doesn't work, and they rely on the pants to keep them together as their worlds are rapidly changing. Bee is upset to find that her boyfriend, Eric, is going to teach at a summer camp in Baja without her; as a way to get back, she signs up for an archaeological dig in Istanbul- finding more than just “ancient dirt.” Tibby is trying to find out if Brian is the one. After a rough summer start, she breaks things off with Brian in search of answers, while also staying for a summer class at NYU. Lena is still trying to forget about (forgetting about) Kostos, by having a summer fling with a boy in her summer art class. Carmen is the September having the hardest time dealing with change; the girls' first year of school separated was brutal to her. She, in turn, goes to theater camp for the summer to try and find out who she really is. Forever In Blue takes the girls on their own personal journeys; it questions how far they want to go in life, and for how long they want their friendship to last. As the last summer with the pants comes to a close, Tibby, Carmen, Bee, and Lena come together to realize that their friendship, with or without the pants, will be never ending.

Forever In Blue was a good ending to a wonderful series of books. It was very poetic; I experienced the lives of the Septembers as they experienced everything themselves. The book had a wonderful message: true friendship conquers all. The only things I would have recommended Ann Brashares not to put in the book were scenes in which Tibby had sex and in which Lena had sex. It didn't go into too much detail, but it was not necessary. This would have rated a 10 on the Flamingnet scale if not for those factors.

Content:Forever In Blue is best suited for mature readers, due to some sexual situations.

Rating (0 - 10 scale): 7
Reviewer Age: 15
Reviewer City, State and Country: , USA

Crispin - At the Edge of the World by Avi

When we last left Crispin, he was walking out of jail after saving his mentor and friend, Bear. As they are walking down the road, they stop at a hut to eat and drink,but after Bear gets in a fight with the owner of the house, he gets shot in the shoulder as they leave. They must run as they try to escape their newfound enemy. As Bear gets worse, they meet two suspected witches, Auge and Taaaa. When they are forced to run again, they must take Taaaa with them. They end up taking a boat to a new land... with new dangers.

Avi delivers once again! I think this is a solid book with a good storyline and an awesome moral. I did have some trouble staying with the book, but I think thats just me. I can almost guarantee that this will be a good read for any age. It isn't a very long book though, so it should only take about 5 days. Anyone who likes realistic fiction, or Avi, will like this book. It has already won a lot of rewards, and is one of the best books I've read in a while.

Rating (0 - 10 scale): 9
Reviewer Age: 13
Reviewer City, State and Country: Chambersburg, Pennsylvania USA

The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt

It is the middle of the Vietnam War with young Holling Hoodhood living on Long Island in New York. Everybody in Holling's new seventh grade class either goes to temple or church on Wednesday afternoons leaving him with his new teacher, Mrs. Baker, Wednesday afternoons. Having to survive an afternoon once a week for the school year doesn’t seem that hard, except that Holling feels that Mrs. Baker “hates his guts” and his family won’t help him at all. So every Wednesday afternoon all of his friends leave and Holling is stuck sitting with his teacher reading Shakespeare. Holling’s father an architect with his own company thinks about only two things the future of Hoodhood and Associates and Walter Cronkite’s evening report. Now Holling has to survive seventh grade, not just against Shakespeare, but rats, the class bully, Doug Swieteck’s brother, cream puffs, track, feathery tights, and many other things, while fate keeps giving twists and turns everywhere.

The Wednesday Wars is an amazing book that tells the story of an average kid leading an exciting life. The book is very good and has bits of history entwined in it like the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy. The book shows a lot of unexpected things happening that all seem perfectly logical making this book a good read that keeps you entertained and waiting for the next twist. It is definitely a page turner, even when my mom said lights out; I took out a flashlight and continued reading. I enjoyed how the entire book was written form the point of view of a seventh grader showing every event form their point of view.

Rating (0 - 10 scale): 8
Reviewer Age: 13
Reviewer City, State and Country: Eastchester, NY USA

Pompeii: The Living City by Alex Butterworth

Pompeii is a well- researched historical non-fiction that examines life in the Roman city of Pompeii. The book begins with the arrival to power of Nero, a vibrant new Emperor. The twenty-five years preceding the eruption of Vesuvius are detailed in many aspects, including economic, social, and political problems as well as greatness. The eruption of Vesuvius, and the subsequent burial to the city under volcanic ash and mud, is considered to be one of the most catastrophic events faced by the great ROman Empire. As the authors explain, it is nearly impossible to positively date artifacts so far back in antiquity and since the initial discovery and excavation of Pompeii began in the eighteenth century, much of that work has to be deciphered as well. This book tells a story based on the understanding of the authors and many scholars to allow readers to discover Pompeii for themselves without sorting through the tremendous amount of artifacts made available through the discovery of Pompeii.

I really liked the authors' style in introducing individual chapters, and different time periods with short stories showing emotion and daily activities. This book, I believe, is intended for individuals interested in the social sciences. It is not necessarily a quick read to pass the time in the afternoon, although the authors do an excellent job of putting their tremendous research into an understandable story. Readers will definitely learn a great deal, but patience is the key when dealing with historical non-fiction. I like how the book has a specific aim and provides a lot of detail in presenting the twenty-five years preceding the eruption Vesuvius. I also appreciate the fact that the authors do not assume great amounts of previous knowledge regarding the subject. Overall, not everyone will enjoy this but it is a great book.

Rating (0 - 10 scale): 7
Reviewer Age: 18
Reviewer City, State and Country: Kansas City, MO USA

Pompeii: The Living City by Alex Butterworth

Pompeii is a well- researched historical non-fiction that examines life in the Roman city of Pompeii. The book begins with the arrival to power of Nero, a vibrant new Emperor. The twenty-five years preceding the eruption of Vesuvius are detailed in many aspects, including economic, social, and political problems as well as greatness. The eruption of Vesuvius, and the subsequent burial to the city under volcanic ash and mud, is considered to be one of the most catastrophic events faced by the great ROman Empire. As the authors explain, it is nearly impossible to positively date artifacts so far back in antiquity and since the initial discovery and excavation of Pompeii began in the eighteenth century, much of that work has to be deciphered as well. This book tells a story based on the understanding of the authors and many scholars to allow readers to discover Pompeii for themselves without sorting through the tremendous amount of artifacts made available through the discovery of Pompeii.

I really liked the authors' style in introducing individual chapters, and different time periods with short stories showing emotion and daily activities. This book, I believe, is intended for individuals interested in the social sciences. It is not necessarily a quick read to pass the time in the afternoon, although the authors do an excellent job of putting their tremendous research into an understandable story. Readers will definitely learn a great deal, but patience is the key when dealing with historical non-fiction. I like how the book has a specific aim and provides a lot of detail in presenting the twenty-five years preceding the eruption Vesuvius. I also appreciate the fact that the authors do not assume great amounts of previous knowledge regarding the subject. Overall, not everyone will enjoy this but it is a great book.

Rating (0 - 10 scale): 7
Reviewer Age: 18
Reviewer City, State and Country: Kansas City, MO USA