What the Cat Dragged In

Jacques the Ripper and Cleopatra have to move with their
humans to White Sands, Alabama, when they inherit a
beach front home. Cleo is a female cat that loves to be
noticed, while the male, Jacques, is a rough, tough monster
of a feline. Their owners, Kate and Jeremy, take them to
the new house on the beach, which they will have to share
with another relative, Jake Novak, who inherited a half
interest in the house. They move in downstairs while he
moves in upstairs. The catch to inheriting everything is
that together they must care for the menagerie of animals
that the old lady owned before she died, but things quickly
get interesting when they learn Jake despises animals. Then
a murder occurs, and Jeremy is the main suspect! Will Cleo
and Jacques help solve this weird mystery and prove Jeremy
isn't the killer?

WHAT THE CAT DRAGGED IN is the first
book in the Jacques & Cleo, Cat Detectives series by Gilbert
Morris. It centers on Jacques and Cleo, two cats who like to
solve mysteries, and the lady who owns them. Since I enjoy
suspense novels and I love cats, I thought this book was
pretty good, even though it is really written more for
adults than teens since it is about two adults falling in
love. The book does include a couple teenage characters to
provide interest for us teens. There wasn't very much
action and the mystery was kind of boring even though I
didn't solve it ahead of time. A few references to drugs,
cheating, and sexual things make this book a more
appropriate choice for adults rather than teens, however.
There are two other books in this series, THE CAT'S PAJAMAS
and WHEN THE CAT"S AWAY, which I will also be
reviewing.

references to drug use, cheating on tests,
sexual references such as porn magazines in teen's
drawer
Rating (0 - 10 scale): 7

Reviewer Age:14

Reviewer City, State and Country:
Upper Strasburg, PA USA

Not Anything

Susie Shannon seems to be a very depressed girl. She is in
high school and is super intelligent though. Her mother had
died years ago, and Susie never got over that tragedy. Her
father seems to feel the same way, although Susie wouldn't
know that as they barely talk to each other,and when they do
it is very concise. Mr. Murphy is Susie's favorite teacher
and he asked her to tutor one of the hottest guys in school;
Danny Diaz. At first, the tutoring does not work out, but
after a while they start to warm up to each other. However,
problems occur with everyone....Susie's best friend Marisal,
her neighbor Marc, classmates, and even Danny as it gets
closer to Homecoming. This certainly doesn't help Susie at
home either. It is the time of the year when her mother died
and her father might be seeing someone else; Marisal's
mother. How does Susie deal with all of her problems and
does she like Danny more than a friend? Or does he like
someone else?

Before I started reading Not Anything I expected it to be
an 'okay' book. However, once I started to read it, I could
not stop. The plot picks you up right from the beginning and
keeps building up the entire way to the end. The vocabulary
is very modern and appropriate for young adults. It is an
easy read because a lot of the issues in the story are ones
that actually happen in real life so you can relate to them.
I liked the character Danny because he was interesting to
get to know, and was similar to people I know. I wish the
ending was different because I think Susie should have made
different choices, but the ending was still very strong. I
definitely recommend Not Anything to any female wishing to
read about a high school girl.
Rating (0 - 10 scale): 7

Reviewer Age:14

Reviewer City, State and Country: Carlisle, Pennsylvania
United States of America

The Sacred Sin by Estevan Vega

Jude Foster is a homicide detective in Los Angeles who is about to have a mental breakdown. About one year ago, Jude was left to die by his once close friend and partner, Morgan Cross. Cross had betrayed him, and now Jude is one the verge of a menta crash. He is seeing a pshychiatrist whom he strongly dislikes so that he can be reinstated into the department and all the while, everything around him is moving just too quickly. His brother, the only family he has left, is in need of help but does not want it, and Jude tries his best to give it to him.

A body is found in West Hollywood, and Jude realizes that this is just the first of many bad things to come. There are markings on the body which are actually a trail all leading to a new evil. Jude has to uncover the sacred sin of a killer who murders his victims without even touching them, only by stealing their souls. And time goes by all the while, given Jude only a week to find "the darkness that lies within all men."

This was a very good book. The way it was written, I just couldn't put it down.This book has so many different emotions in it that you can't see what the author, Estevan Vega, will make you feel next. Overall, it was a really great book and a definite page-turner.

This book may be scary for younger children because it deals with a murderer and his victims.

Reviewer Age:15

Reviewer City, State and Country: East Islip, New York United States

Hell Girl

Hell Girl is a collection of stories told in a manga.
Mangas are Japanese graphic novels that are read from left
to right. Hell Girl contains five chapters that only have
one consistent character, the Hell Girl. Each story's main
character has been wronged by someone. When their life
becomes miserable, they hear about a website that people can
only access at midnight. At the website, the characters
type in the name of the person that they want to send to
hell. The Hell Girl soon appears. She tells them that she
can send their wrongdoer to hell, but they also must come to hell once they die. All of the characters agree and the Hell Girl gets revenge.

This manga was very different than the other mangas that
I have read in the past. The stories were only connected by
the Hell Girl, who does similar things and says similar
lines in each story. Despite this, I still enjoyed the
book. Each story was interesting, and the drawings were
very good. This manga was only the first in the Hell Girl
series. I may continue reading the series to see if the character, Hell Girl, develops or if we learn more about her grandmother, who was mentioned once. All in all, the book was interesting and unique. Manga readers will probably
enjoy it, as well as anyone who enjoys stories of betrayal
and revenge.
Rating (0 - 10 scale): 7

This book is graphic because it is drawn as well as
written. It has some violence, suffering, and sexual content.

Reviewer Age:14

Reviewer City, State and Country: Royersford, PA USA

Finding Stinko

From the time Newboy was one week old, he had
been living in the state child care system. He had lived in
11 houses in 12 years, and, to make matters worse, when he
was nine years old he stopped talking. It wasn't his fault,
he just opened his mouth one day and nothing came out. The
school he went to labeled him difficult and stubborn, so no
one wanted to adopt him, or even keep him in their house,
which is how he came to live with the Knoxes. They were the
worst foster parents he'd ever had, so Newboy dedided to
listen to his instincts. One morning, he got out of bed
early and ran away. He had no where in particular to go ,and
with only a few possessions, Newboy was on the run. On his
first day away from the Knoxes, Newboy finds an unexpected
friend. It was an old, beat-up ventriloquist dummy with half
of his face missing that he names Stinko. To his surprise,
when Newboy pulls the string to open Stinko's mouth, his own
voice speaks for the first time in years. Throughout the
book, he uses his newfound voice to deal with life on the
streets.

To be honest, I didn't like this book. It was
a little boring and the plot was very predictable. The
ending leaves you wanting a sequel because it doesn't really
tell you what happens to Newboy. On the other hand, it was
very easy to relate to Newboy. Micheal de Guzman did a good
job making Newboy seem real, so I felt whatever he felt. I
would recommend this book to people who like bitter-sweet
endings and don't mind large sections of reading without
dialogue.
Rating (0 - 10 scale): 5

Reviewer Age:12

Reviewer City, State and Country: Phoenixville,
Pennsylvania United States

Eifelheim

Tom Schwoerin is annoyed. He is a historian with a problem.
According to a certain pattern, old cities form a ring
around the cities of today. Following this pattern, he
discovers something wrong: a little town called Eifelheim.
Eifelheim was inhabited, records show, but something
happened around the fourteenth century so that Eifelheim was
never inhabited again. Tom wants to find out what happened,
so he goes on a search.
The book switches to the year 1348; the main character is
named Father Dietrich. He wakes up in his bed and knows that
something bad is going to happen, but he doesn't know what
will take place. Throughout the day, mysterious things occur
in the town. A part of the town catches on fire, and
Dietrich, and some friends find a hurt race of alien beings.
What happens to Eifelheim?

Though the book is very interesting towards the end, it
was not one of my favorites. In the beginning of the book
and towards the middle, the author had the aliens explain
their language. Unfortunately, the aliens use numbers to
talk, so it took a little while for the aliens to explain it
to Dietrich. Furthermore, some of the book was written in
German, especially the conversations between Tom and Sharon,
so I could not understand what they were saying. I did like
how the author explained the setting, but overall, I did not
like the book.
Rating (0 - 10 scale): 2

Reviewer Age:14

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

Better Off Famous?

Annie Hoffman is an average, smalltown, teenage girl. After
receiving a letter from her aunt, Annie travels to New York
City for a visit. Annie, who plays the violin, knows of a
well known music school,and goes to an audition with hopes
of getting in. After being rejected, Annie finds something
that may change her life forever. This small town girl just
might turn into a huge star.

I really enjoyed reading this book. It was very easy to
read and everything made sense in it. Better Off Famous is a
great story that teenage girls will love. There wasn't any
bad language, or bad content in this book. I enjoyed it even
more for that reason.
Rating (0 - 10 scale): 8

Reviewer Age:14

Reviewer City, State and Country: Newville, Pennsylvania USA

The Seer of Shadows

When Horace Carpetine, a photographer's apprentice, is
outside sweeping, he meets an eerie black girl named Pegg,
who needs a photograph for her mistress. She schedules an
appointment and disappears into the damp, thick mist. When
they arrive at the mistress's house, Mrs.Von Macht opens the
door and strictly informs them that she needs a picture of
herself in her house to put on her dead daughter's grave.
The photographer and Horace accept and then once outside,
Mr. Middleditch the photographer, has a fantastic idea.
Mrs. Von Macht's daughter died of yellow fever, and Mrs.Von
Macht wants the picture on her grave. Mr. Middleditch
decides to put a hoax on Mrs. Von Macht, by secretly taking
pictures of Eleanora, the dead daughter, and making her look
like a ghost in the finished picture. Horace is finally
allowed to take pictures, and when he is taking secret
pictures of Eleanora, strange sights are happening in the
Von Macht house, and the more pictures he takes, the more he
sees Eleanora. Pegg has become friends with Horace and
together they battle the demonic spirit of Eleanora before
it's too late.

The Seer of the Shadows, by Avi, is a gripping fictional
story of spirits and photography. I was amazed by how well
the book was written, with deep descriptions of not just
Eleanora, but everyone. I could picture all the characters
through their vivid descriptions, and could hear their pleas
when they were affected by Eleanora's wrath . The Seer of
the Shadows is horrific and heart wrenching. The details of
1800s photography, just after it had become popularized,
provide a perfect plot line for the story. This is an
amazing book!
Rating (0 - 10 scale): 10

Various situations that some parents may approve
of-(religiously)

Reviewer Age:11

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

Why Can't My Turtle Be A Ninja?

If you want to laugh, you can read poems such as "The Wreck
of the Ski Bum", "The Family Vacation", "Profit Motive",
"Girl Troubles", or "A Forest of Fungus". If you want to
bone-up on some of life's lessons, you can read poems such
as "Simon Says", "Reginald Dixon Farnsworth, III",
"Darwinian Theory", "The Wright Brothers", "Polly and Kevin"
or "People Are Like Tea Bags". And yet, there are some of
Keith's favorites, such as "Changing Lines", "Keegil's Law
of Laughter", "Why Can't My Turtle Be a Ninja?", "Poker with
Sasquatch", "Electric Eel", "Jersey Traffic", and "Life is
One Big Experiment". Life truly is one big experiment. We
need to laugh, think and live. These are poems that most
people can relate to, identify with, and enjoy.

Why Can't My Turtle Be A Ninja? was a fantastic, funny,
and fast read. Webster's poetry was extremely delightful
and witty. Reading this eBook was quite enjoyable because
it was such a page-scroller. I thought Webster's writing
was very effective because it appealed to all ages and
genders. Some of his poetry often reminded me of Shel
Silverstein, another great poet. I thought this eBook was
very interesting, but a few poems were a bit bland. All in
all, Why Can't My Turtle Be A Ninja? was a really great book
that I would recommend to people of all ages.
Rating (0 - 10 scale): 8

Reviewer Age:16

Reviewer City, State and Country: Leopold, MO USA

The Chicken Dance

Don Schmidt lives on a chicken farm in Horse Island,
Louisiana. He is unpopular at school as well as at home. He
has absolutely no friends and everyone refers to him as "new
kid," even though he has lived on Horse Island since
kindergarten. At home his mother constantly refers to his
dead sister Dawn, and thinks the world revolves around
herself. Out of loneliness he befriends the chickens living
in his backyard and they become his best friends. Don's luck
soon changes when he becomes the youngest person ever to win
the chicken-judging contest at the local dairy fair.
Everyone wants to be his friend and his mother seems to
care about him a little more, but not enough to stop
ordering him around. Don is content with his life until he
finds a metal box with a birth certificate in it. The birth
certificate belongs to a boy named Stanley. Don wonders who
Stanley could be and decides to ask his father. His father
simply tells Stanley that it is his birth certificate and
they changed his name to Don, because the uncle whom he was
named after was a bad man. Don doesn't believe his father
and begins to believe that Stanley is actually his twin that
got kidnapped when they were younger. Stanley isn't real,
but Don believes he is and talks to him like he was a normal
person. Don soon learns that the hidden birth certificate
isn't the only secret his parents have been keeping from
him. Once he learns one secret he is hungry for more, and
then they all unravel into a shocking, unforeseeable truth.

For the most part I enjoyed the book. It was full of
unexpected twists and turns and made me laugh. There were
parts of the book though that made me very mad. Especially
when Don's mother forgot his birthday - twice, and when she
wouldn't even congratulate him on his winning the
chicken-judging contest. I would get very frustrated with
the book and put it down and walk away at these points,
because I feel that no mother should ever forget a child's
birthday and should never treat their child the way his
mother treated him. Besides this, the book was suspenseful
and ends with a bang you would never see coming. Jacques
Couvillon created a good first novel that I would recommend
to other teen readers and I look forward to reading what he
has coming next!

The book has some mature content that I would not
recommend for readers aged 9-12. For example, Don's mother
has an affair which I don't think is very appropriate for
younger children, but some parents may be fine with these
types of topics. Also, there is reference to drinking and
sex, which again may not be appropriate for younger readers.
Rating (0 - 10 scale): 7

Reviewer Age:15

Reviewer City, State and Country: Cur