American Fringe

Spring has arrived in Brooklyn, and everything's coming up
roses. Adora Benet is madly in love with her boyfriend,
Noel, and she's landed her own teen advice column in the
local paper. Imagine her surprise when one of her articles
makes her a national sensation! Adora wouldn't mind all the
attention, except that the media frenzy and her unexpected
crush on a new guy are suddenly distracting her from Noel.
Unfortunately, she's also far too distracted to help out Eli
and Liza, whose friendship has hit a rough spot. Well, if
Adora, the advice queen, can't help them patch things up,
maybe the cute barista at the local coffee shop can do his
part by serving Eli a spring fling that will make her forget
all her troubles...

American Fringe is one of the best books I've read in a
long time. It was hilarious, entertaining, and realistic.
I definitely could not put down this highly amusing page
turner. I thought this book was very well written and I
really enjoyed reading it. I often found myself laughing out
loud. The characters were funny and very likable. They
seemed like real people that I could relate to. I also
really liked the plot because it very interesting and
unique. I loved American Fringe, and I recommend it to all
teenage girls!
Rating (0 - 10 scale): 10

This book contained some profanity, sexual references,
and the use of drugs.

Reviewer Age:16

Reviewer City, State and Country: Leopold, Missouri USA

Iron Thunder

Iron Thunder by Avi is an outstanding book about a thirteen
year old boy, named Tom Carroll. In this story his father
died fighting in the Civil War, so Tom has to work in order
to take care of his mom and little sister. He finds a job
building The Monitor, a unique ship made of metal. This ship
is supposed to help the Union win the war, but in order to
do that they need it to remain a secret. The crew,
especially Tom, is constantly threatened and bribed to
discuss the Monitor. This book takes you through the entire
life of the ship all the way from the making of it, the
final battle, and then to the destruction of the ship.

Iron Thunder by Avi is a historical fiction. In fact,
the Monitor was an actual ship in the Civil War; if you look
in the last few pages of the book you can learn more about
the ship. This book keeps your attention from beginning to
end; it is none stop suspense. It is a fantastic book that
is not only interesting, but also educational. This book
makes you feel sorry for all the teenagers who really had to
fight in the Civil War after the death of a parent. It is an
extremely well written book and one of the best historical
fiction books I have ever read.

Since it is about the Civil War it is fairly gory.
Rating (0 - 10 scale): 8

Reviewer Age:15

Reviewer City, State and Country: Lemoore, CA USA

The Third Eye

If you're looking for a book with fairies prancing through
meadows, or high school basketball players shooting hoops
till 8:00 at night, The Third Eye is definitely NOT the book
for you. Zarku, a mysterious new healer comes to the village
of Morni, a Hindu village in India. Tara, and her brother,
Suraj, live with their dreadful stepmother, Kali, her wicked
daughter, Layla, and their father, Shiv. After Tara and
Suraj have enough of their step- family's odd wickedness,
they escape into a supposed haunted forest where men of
Morni, return in a deformed manner, known as the Vetalas.
The Vetalas are a translucent green, with a huge wound on
their forehead, and a strange black liquid which oozes its
way out. Their feet are turned backward from the ankle, and
their chests are 100% transparent -- you can see a black
heart pumping the black liquid throughout the whole body.
Suraj struggles to survive as a fever takes over. Tara
struggles to find her mother, Parvati, and Prabala, her
grandfather, in time to save their village from the evil
Zarku, and free the captives in this thrilling story.

The Third Eye, by Mahtab Narsimhan was a definite page
turner. The Third Eye described Hindu mythology and its
gods, including: the God of the Sun, the Underworld, the
Lord of the Dead, and the Heavens. This was a particularly
easy read, but some sections of the story were a bit
confusing. The Third Eye's genre would be classified as
mystery/thriller/adventure. Narsimhan included wit when it
was necessary, but most of the novel was serious. This book
wasn't very predictable, and took some subtle and some
obvious twists and turns. The Third Eye isn't the type of
genre I would typically read, but I found it very well
written.
Rating (0 - 10 scale): 10

Very violent situations and some situations where some
younger children may not understand.
NOTE- Not an advanced proof and several spelling errors.

Reviewer Age:11

Reviewer City, State and Country: Osseo, Wisconsin United
States

Snakehead

Snakehead is about Alex Rider, a fourteen year old spy,
being sent undercover into a Chinese gang, Snakehead. His
mission is to discover how Snakehead is illegally
transporting Afghanistan refugees into Australia. Being
forced to accept this assignment, Alex is not given any
weapons or support, but he is determined to survive. Of
course, he gets caught in a couple of tight places and is
forced to think on his feet. In true Alex Rider style, he
manages to come out of dangerous situations spectacularly.

Snakehead is a ten out of ten all the way. This book
is the seventh book in the Alex Rider Series, and just like
the others, this one was a thriller. Snakehead is a fast
paced adventure. Having read all the previous Alex Rider
books, I would rank Snakehead as my second favorite.
(second only to (Scorpia) The author, Anthony Horowitz,
usually ends each book with a cliffhanger. The previous
book, Ark Angel, left Alex in a capsule falling from space
into the Pacific Ocean, only to be captured by the
Australian Secret Service in Snakehead. I'm an avid fan of
the Alex Rider series and I'm already checking to see when
the next book will be released.
Some gunfire and a few deaths
Rating (0 - 10 scale): 10

Some gunfire and a few deaths.

Reviewer Age:13

Reviewer City, State and Country: Hamilton, OH USA

Beautiful Stranger

Anna decides to take an end-of-summer getaway--to get away
from her drama-filled LA life. So she packs her Louis
Vuitton, grabs her close friend Sam, and heads to the Big
Apple. Between trips to the Met and shopping at Bendel's,
the girls are living the A-List life on Anna's home turf.
But their trip isn't exactly a vacation. Sam is here to spy
on Eduardo and decode his recent strange behavior. Will
what she discovers send her hopping on the next private jet
back to Beverly Hills? And who is the beautiful stranger
who appears on Anna's Upper East Side doorstep? Anna begins
to wonder whether she wants to head back west
again--especially since Ben seems to have moved on...with
someone who isn't a stranger at all. When it comes to the
A-List, there's drama coast to coast.

Filled with humor, romance, drama, and everything in
between, Beautiful Stranger was a wonderful book. The plot
was interesting, suspenseful, and pretty original, making it
very hard to stop reading. Although I haven't read all of
the A-List books, Beautiful Stranger was easy to read
because everything from the other books was explained so I
didn't get confused. I liked how I really got into the book
and could relate to the characters. It was also interesting
to see how the rich and glamorous live. The only thing I
didn't like was that some of the plot seemed a little
unrealistic. All in all, I loved Beautiful Stranger. I
would definitely recommend it to teenage girls.
Rating (0 - 10 scale): 9

Reviewer Age:16

Reviewer City, State and Country: Leopold, Missouri USA

Thick As Thieves

This novel is an autobiography of Steve Geng. Its purpose
is to entertain, to explain Steve's and his sister's life,
and to persuade the readers to take care of themselves.
This book is the story of Steve and Victoria Geng's life and
relationship as siblings. Steve has been an actor, a thief,
an alcoholic, and a drug addict throughout his life. His
sister was a writer. Throughout the story, they share a
close bond as they grow up and face the challenges of their
lives. The book grows darker and more desperate as the time
passes in Steve's life. This novel portrays a scarily
honest view of life's pain, sickness, and tragedy.

This book is truthful and deep. It deals with illness,
death, and other serious issues. I sometimes found it
depressing. Also, the author does not gloss over his or his
sister's faults, so it is not always easy to like them and
be sympathetic. The end of the book occasionally sounds
wishful, and there is not a standard happy ending. I
recommend reading it only if you are looking for a serious
and sober read.

This novel has sexual content, violence, and drugs. It
also deals with HIV and cancer. It should only be read by
extremely mature readers.
his novel has sexual content, violence, and drugs. It also deals with HIV and cancer. It should only be read by extremely mature readers.
Rating (0 - 10 scale): 7

Reviewer Age:14

Reviewer City, State and Country: Royersford, PA United
States

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

The book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by
Sherman Alexie is about Arnold Spirit, also known as Junior.
He lives on the Spokane Reservation. Junior lives with his
kind but alcoholic father, mother, tolerant grandmother, and
his hermit sister, Mary Runaway. Junior was born with too
much cerebral spinal fluid in his skull. The doctors had to
drain the fluid out of his skull. This surgery led him to
have seizures and other medical problems. Junior cries
easily so he is bullied often on the reservation. His
friend, Rowdy, who is mean and tough but protects Junior, is
the most important person in Junior's life. Another
important person in Junior's life is his father's best
friend, Eugene, who is an optimistic alcoholic. On the first
day of geometry class in his freshmen year of high school,
he notices that his geometry book had been used by his
mother at least thirty years before. Junior becomes angry
and throws the book at his geometry teacher, Mr. P. While
Junior was on suspension, Mr. P. stops by his house. Mr. P.
asks Junior to forgive him because Mr. P feels that when he
was a young teacher, he tried to take away the Indian way of
life. Mr. P. tells Junior that Mary Runaway had wanted to be
a Native American Romance Novelist, but lost her dream after
she left high school. Mr. P. tells Junior that he has to
leave the Reservation in order to find hope. That night,
Junior asks his parents if he can go to Reardan High School.
Reardan High School is a white school where fifty percent of
the school goes on to college. Rowdy beats Junior up when
Junior tells him that he is going to Reardan High School. On
his first day at the new school, Junior punches Roger, the
lead jock at Reardan High School, after Roger makes a racist
joke. Junior earns Roger's respect after that. As time goes
on, Junior begins to adapt to his new life at Readan High
School. He makes some surprising new friends, and even has a
chance to become a superstar. But, in the process, he will
loose his old friend Rowdy even more. When tragedy touches
his family, Junior will have to reconcile with his own
choices in life, and come to terms with the people closest
to him.

I give this book a three. The ideas were all there to
make a good book, but the author did not write it properly.
The author tried too hard to be funny. For example, he told
several jokes about seizures that just fell flat. He also
tried to write as he imagined a teenager would write, even
though he was not a teenager, which didn't really work. A
cartoonist drew cartoons for the book, but they also lacked
humor. I would suggest reading other books on this subject
rather than this one.
Rating (0 - 10 scale): 3

Reviewer Age:17

Reviewer City, State and Country:

First Light

Peter is going on an expedition to Greenland with his
scientific father, mother, and a young man named Jonas. He
is really excited to go, but lately has been feeling weird
when he sees random visions. They also lead to headaches.
Peter tries to figure out what they mean while sharing his
dad's adventures and playing with the sled dogs, especially
Sasha.

Meanwhile, on another side of First Light, Thea tries to
convince her people to move back to the surface of the
actual Earth. She is the seventh in a generation of people
that have lived in a secret place inside the arctic ice. Her
grandmother, Rowen, definitely disagrees with Thea's plan,
but when Thea gets a mysterious map she comes up with an
even better plan to move back to the surface and see the sun
for the first time.

Together, Peter and Thea search for answers and try to live
their dreams with help from maybe only one or two others.
What would happen if they broke their world barriers and met?

First Light had an excellent description of the setting
the entire time. I loved how the story kept switching from
character to character and that I could follow each side
very easily. Both main characters, Peter and Thea, were well
described and I loved their personalities because both were
determined to succeed. Because of the switching of the two
characters, I loved how it was written in third person. If
it was written in first person, I may have gotten lost or
forgotten which character it was. For my age group, the
writing and vocabulary was perfect. It wasn't so easy that I
knew every single word, but I didn't need a dictionary
beside me while reading it either. The whole time I was
reading the book,I loved each plot and how each side
advanced equally. Even though they were separate plots. I
also liked how the plots combined together so well. First
Light is definitely a book I would recommend to others if
they like adventure and mystery.
Rating (0 - 10 scale): 6

Reviewer Age:14

Reviewer City, State and Country:
Carlisle, Pennsylvani

The Highwayman

The Highwayman is a book set in three different sections,
each ten years apart. The first third is about Bran Dynard,
a monk of Abelle. He is married to a native of the southern
land of Behr. Her beliefs are similar but not identical to
his own, so the church of Abelle refuses her as his wife.
He won't make her leave, however. Sen Wi, his wife, is
pregnant with a child, but she must hide to avoid being
killed. When she gives birth, she dies during childbirth.
Her book of teachings, the book of Jhest, is thought to be
destroyed, so the church believes it is safe. Bran then
makes a pilgrimage to the northern Chapel of Abelle, but is
killed along the way. Their son, Bransen, is raised by his
friend Garibon Womak. Ten years later, the story is about
Bransen, a cripple since birth, who is taken care of by
Garibond. After a while, however, Bransen is given to the
church, who are paid with a sword crafted by Sen Wi.
Bransen had taught himself to read and had read the Book of
Jhest before he went to the chapel. He copied it onto the
walls, but the monks recognized it. They went to Garibond's
house and found the book. It was destroyed, and Garibond
burned for heresy. The politics at this point are unstable.
The Laird of Pryd, where the story takes place, is forced
to align himself with a greater holding in the coming war.
As he cannot continue his line due to a wound from battle, a
choice is forced upon him. Also, the two major religions,
the Blessed of Abelle and the Samhaists, are vying for
supremacy. Ten years later, Bransen learns of his mother's
sword in the possession of the Laird and of the death of
Garibond. He adopts the name "The Highwayman" and uses a
sacred soul stone stolen from the monks to heal his crippled
body. But will Bransen use his newfound freedom for just
vengeance, or to his own gain? Read The Highwayman to find out.

At some points, The Highwayman was great, at others slow.
Once you're into the book, however, it's hard to put down.
The advancement of the story over ten years is a bit
confusing at first, but it all adds to the overall quality.
This was a great book that I would advise to any and all
fantasy readers.
Rating (0 - 10 scale): 9

Violence, sexual references

Reviewer Age:14

Reviewer City, State and Country: Chambers

The Year My Sister Got Lucky

Katie, a New York City fashionista and dancer at the
Anna Pavlova Academy, the finest and most competitive of all
ballet schools, has just hit a brick wall. Her family is
leaving the city for, yes, Fir Lake, population: 2,100. All
of a sudden her bags are packed and her friends, ballet, and
the bright city lights, are gone and replaced with Ms. Mabel
Thorpe's School for Dance and Movement, people who climb
mountains and milk cows for fun, and neighbors who know you
too well. When school starts Katie sticks out like a sore
thumb, but somehow her sister Michaela seems to fit right
in, quickly befriending the popular girls, getting the
attention of all the boys, and, worst of all, forgetting all
about ballet. And when one day Katie stumbles upon a great
secret that her sister, her best friend, hasn't told her
about, she suddenly realizes that she needs to stand on her
own two feet from now on if she ever wants to fit in.

The Year My Sister Got Lucky has all the components
of a fun and believable book, you feel as if you are
experiencing this, and feel the characters sadness and
excitement. The characters are well built up with background
information, so they are very realistic and a picture comes
easily to mind. The plot is very fun, but occasionally in
areas it is either too drawn out or leaves you wishing there
was more. For me, the book ended abruptly and I was very
frustrated, and wanted to know what happened next. Overall,
I would say this book is nothing particularly special, it
lacks the power and strength of many books, but I would
recommend it to girls looking for a quick, fun, and
leisurely read.
Rating (0 - 10 scale): 6

Reviewer Age:14

Reviewer City, State and Country:
Marblehead, MA USA