The Year of the Rat by Grace Lin

The Year of the Rat signifies change. And Grace has plenty
of changes in her life, including her best friend Melody
moving across the country. Plus, she's beginning to
question her dream of becoming a writer and illustrator.
What if she should be something else? But what other
talents does she have?

This book is a sequel to The Year
of the Dog, but it can be read independently. One of my
favorite things about both books is all the tidbits of
Chinese Culture I learned about. It boasts a very
believable voice of a young girl as its narrator. The
writing is sparse, yet flowing. It's a sweet, comfortable
little tale that I enjoyed a lot.

Reviewer Age:17

Reviewer City, State and Country: Moscow, ID USA

The Bone Race

This book is historical fiction. Some of the characters
and events are loosely based on real people and events
that occurred in the 1800's and 1900's. This book is
about the contest of an eccentric millionaire named J.
Andrew Nagle. He is hosting a race for the first
contestant to bring back a complete dinosaur skeleton to
his new museum. The story takes place across the United
States as the contestants attempt to quickly retrieve
dinosaur bones. The contestants develop complex
relationships based on love, rivalry, and greed. In sum,
the book is an adventure novel with a focus on dinosaur
bones.

I enjoyed this book. It is not a very long read,
and the book idea is unique. The novel is exciting, and
the characters are fairly satisfying. However, the plot
seems underdeveloped at times. The story jumps between
settings in order to tell each character's story, so the
action feels rushed. I also wished the interesting
setting and corrupt government were described in more
detail. Despite these shortcomings, the book was still
pleasant. This book would probably be a good, fairly
quick read for anybody, especially if they have an
interest in dinosaurs or history.

Reviewer Age:14

Reviewer City, State and Country: Royersford, PA
USA

Confessions of a Triple Shot Betty

Geena Sloane starts her summer off with the perfect plan: working at Triple Shot Betty's by day and giggling and painting toenails by night at sleepovers with her best friend, Amber, and her cousin, Hero. Amber and Hero are finally going to meet and Geena knows they will hit it off. There's just one problem, once they do meet, Geena realizes that she was very wrong. Hero and Amber hate each other and Geena is caught in the middle, needing to be loyal to both, but not knowing how. Geena works hard trying to make them like each other, but it just isn't working.

Then there are the cute boys of the summer - PJ Jamieson, the unstoppable flirt who is way to loyal to his girlfriend to ever cheat on her, John "the Man" Jamieson, his older valedictorian brother who wants Hero, Claudio, the Italian intern with whom Hero is obsessed, and Ben Bataglia, Geena's archenemy and the one who has caused her to be called a "guy-basher." The summer progresses roughly, but by the end, it all works out for the girls, and Geena Sloane gets her perfect summer after all.

Confessions of a Triple Shot Betty by Jody Gerhman was an excellent book about friendship, trust, and love. It is the perfect book for a teenage girl. I couldn't put it down and read it all in one day. The fact that the novel was written in the form of a journal made it even more interesting. The characters are all very easy to relate to and there is a character that could fit any person who reads it. It felt as if I was the main character writing in the journal myself. As Geena Sloane might put it, this was truly a "fabu" book.

Confessions of a Triple Shot Betty contains material including sexual references and teen drinking and partying.

Reviewer Age:15

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

The Mysterious Edge of the Heroic World by E.L. Konigsburg

The Mysterious Edge of the Heroic World by E.L. Konigsburg is about Amedeo Kaplan. He had moved from New York City to Malo, Florida with his mother. His parents are divorced and his father is an artist, so Amedeo knows a great deal about art and its history. Amedeo meets William Wilcox and his mother, who are the liquidators for Amedeo's neighbor, Mrs. Zender. Mrs. Zender is a colorful character. She is the last heir of the Tull family. The Tulls owned hundreds of acres of timberland in northern Florida and southern Georgia. Mrs. Zender's mother was an Italian and highly controlling of her daughter. She organized most of Mrs. Zender's life. Mrs. Zender was a minor opera star in Europe and local celebrity in the 1940s and 1950s. She knew Alexander Calder, Simone de Beauvoir, James Jones, Karl Eisenhuth, and Harper Lee. She is vain, smart, funny, demanding, and generous. She believes in the old class structure. She dresses up in costumes every day and she is used to having servants. She informs Amedeo that a person must remain ninety percent secret to even their friends. William Wilcox is aloof, quiet, smart, and nice. Amedeo tells William that he would love to discover something that has been lost for a long time. While cleaning the library, Amedeo discovers a drawing of a nude called The Moon Lady by a dead Jewish Italian artist named Modigliani. Mrs. Zender informs Amedeo that it was a wedding present from her Austrian husband. She keeps the drawing hidden and shows no interest in keeping it. He takes the drawing to his house and researches it. Amedeo's godfather, Peter Vanderwaal, is the Director of the Sheboygan Art Center. The art center is hosting an exhibition of art banned by the Nazis. Adolf Hitler wanted to be an artist but was not admitted into art school because his art was not modern enough. Hitler developed a strong dislike of modern art. When Hitler became the leader of Germany, he banned Modern and African Art. He banned art by Jewish, homosexual, and insane artists. Hitler banned Henri Matisse, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Pablo Picasso, Vincent van Gogh, Marc Chagall, and Georges Braque. At the opening of the exhibit that Amedeo is attending, Peter's mother shows them Peter's father's autobiography. Peter's father, John Vanderwaal, grew up in Amsterdam, Holland and was raised by his older homosexual brother and his partner at their art store. One day, a Nazi officer arrived at John's brother's art shop; the next day John's brother was sent to a work labor camp. In a photo that Mrs. Vanderwaal shows them, Amedeo sees the The Moon Lady. What is Mrs. Zender's connection to John Vanderwaal's story?

I give The Mysterious Edge of the Heroic World a nine. E.L. Konigsburg has the talent to make unexciting events fascinating. This is a rare skill. If a reader has enjoyed E.L. Konigsberg's other books, then the reader will truly enjoy this book. Konigsburg has a very similar writing style in this book to her other works. When I was in the eighth grade at school, I wrote a report on Konigsburg. Since then, I have felt that she is one of the best young adult realist novelists alive today. I found this book particularly interesting because I had just visited the Museum of Modern Art in New York City and I saw art by Vincent van Gogh, Marc Chagall, Pablo Picasso, and Henri Matisse, who are all named in this novel.

Reviewer Age:16

Reviewer City, State and Country: Urbana, Illinois United States of America

Perilous Passage

OK... heres a basic summary of A Perilous Passage, by B. J.
Bayle.
This book is set in the New World between the years of
1810-1811. The main character ia a boy named Peter. He
suffers from a case of amnesia, and as a result, no one
knows him. He meets a man named Boulard. Boulard is an
explorer who works for David Thomson. Boulard takes him on a
journey to meet his boss, David Thompson, and Peter quickly
gets involved with an expedition to find the Columbia
River, headed by David Thompson himself. He meets many
different Native American tribes and animals as he travels
across the continent of America.

This book is a wonderful example of a good adventure
book. I felt immersed in the setting, and felt like I was
with the characters as they adventured throughout America.
The main character is Peter, an understanding boy of 15, who
has lost him memory to amneseia. I found this a good weekend
read. I would recommend this book to history buffs, and
people who enjoy adventure stories.
Rating (0 - 10 scale): 7

Reviewer Age:12

Reviewer City, State and Country: , Texas United States

Slippery Slopes

Slippery Slopes is about a group of friends who are
working at the Les Trois, the fabulous ski resort in Europe,
where the rich and famous people come to ski and socialize.
The main characters, Melissa and Dove, are covering for
another friend, Harley, who is on vacation in the Tropics.
Melissa is working as the host, greeting and meeting all the
famous people that come and stay at the resort. Dove, on
the other hand, is working in the kitchen as a chef,
preparing all the food at the resort. The biggest party of
the year is coming up soon and Melissa is in charge of
overseeing all the planning and events for the ball. Dove
is in charge with planning a spectacular menu that will live
up the other parties in the past. With all the pressure of
planning and throwing an equally spectacular ball, as in the
past, the girls must somehow find time for their own social
life. While working at the resort they meet plenty of
people and have many invitations to a lot of the parties,
dances and skiing events. To complicate the planning,
Melissa has a lot of the ski bums after her, and Dove is
trying hard to stay loyal to her boyfriend back home.

I thought the book was so-so. It was hard to stay
focused, it skipped around a lot. The author, Emily
Franklin, did describe the characters fairly well as she
made you feel like you were at the resort with the
characters in the story. I felt that the characters
sometimes over reacted in some situations that they had to
deal with in the story. Overall, the book pretty much held
my interest. I would recommend this book to others because
it did have a good story line.

This book has relational scenes and profane language.
The underwriter of this book was Liz Bloom.
Rating (1-10) 7

Reviewer Age:13

Reviewer City, State and Country: Minooka, Il United States

Operation Red Jericho

Doug and Becca MacKenzie, two teenage orphans, are forced to
live with their uncle after their parents mysteriously
disappear. Their uncle, Fitzroy MacKenzie, is the sea
captain of a research ship named Expedient. Doug and Becca
over hear Fitzroy talk to an unusual passenger, and decide
to do some snooping about. As they learn, Expedient is not a
research ship at all. It is a World War II Q ship. As a Q
ship, the Expedient is disguised as a defenseless cargo
ship, but once an enemy ship comes within firing range,
cleverly hidden guns rise above the deck and open fire. Doug
and Becca are caught, but Fitzroy offers no explanation for
the guns. Soon after, he effectively removes Doug and Becca
from his ship. Doug and Becca, back on dry land, are
determined to find out if their parents are still alive.
They follow a mystifying set of clues that leads them on an
extraordinary journey.

Operation Red Jericho is an extremely well written book
with teenagers as the main character. Joshua Mowll, the
author, puts you in the character's head with incredible
detail. You can see the gears in Doug's head as he ponders
every new challenge. It is always comical when Doug or Becca
outfox the captain and other characters.
Rating (1-10) 8

Reviewer Age:13

Reviewer City, State and Country: Hamilton, OH USA

The Dragon's Eye

When young Daniel and his sister Beatrice leave boarding school to go visit their parents, the siblings learn that their parents have gone to India. The siblings must travel to see Earnest Drake, one of their parents’ good friends. Upon arriving at Ernest’s castle, Beatrice and Daniel learn that they will be attending a new school where Ernest is the teacher. The main subject of study at this new school is Dragonology. While Daniel and Beatrice learn more about new dangers, the evil Ignatious Cook tries to steal the most important possession of the dragons and the dragonologists: the Dragon’s Eye. Can Beatrice, Daniel, and Ernest Drake defeat Ignatius Cook?

The Dragon’s Eye was pretty appealing, but I think the descriptions could have been more thorough. It was a particularly easy read, and I would have liked it more if it was a little more modern or realistic. If I was younger I may have liked it more, but it wasn’t too bad. This was a definite page turner, but it wasn’t the best book I’ve ever read. I recommend this book to anyone who has a great imagination and would like an upper elementary leveled book. I wouldn’t recommend this for first through third graders, because it was pretty graphic. I think this book would appeal most to readers aged 8-10.
Rating: 7
Content Rating: 1

Reviewer Age:11

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

Return to Zandria by Christine Norris

It’s been three long years since Ivy Peterson last saved the world of Zandria from total destruction by the evil witch queen, Zahara. Ivy is once again faced with the challenge of saving the Talisman and the future of Zandria, but this time it’s with a new twist. She has her best friend Lori with her and the empress’s fairly newborn daughter’s life is at stake. Without very much hesitation, Ivy and Lori, both agree to embark on the life-threatening adventure. A few days after setting out on their dangerous journey, they realize that they are being followed. As they prepare to attack the oncoming stalkers, they recognize the one person as Queen Siobhan and her guards. Queen Siobhan leads them to the Water Gate and from there they cross over into Otherside, where they have reason to suspect it as being the place that the Princess is being held captive by Duke Drake (the empress’s cousin.) After coming through the portal, they exit the cave that they were transported into, and waited for the cover of night to explore. They headed into the small village within a few days of being there, and asked a supermarket owner a few questions, and found out that Drake is somewhere in the premises of the “haunted” and abandoned beach house offshore. They leave the store and head back to the cave. On their way there, Ivy decides to wash-up in the restroom, and tells her friends to wait for her outside. When she comes out, no one is around and it is uncomfortably too quiet. Without warning, a man she doesn’t recognize comes around the corner of the building and chases her through the woods. She trips over a log, and falls to her destiny, which is being captured, tied up, blindfolded, and carried through the woods to his master’s secret lair. She doesn’t know where she or her friends are, who took her, or what the fate of her and her friends, the princess, and the whole world of Zandria will be. Everything rests in the very evil hands of her wicked captor and his psycho master; and whatsoever they choose to do with her is entirely up to them, no matter what it may be.

The Return to Zandria by Christine Norris is a wonderful story and it’s the sequel to The Talisman of Zandria, which also was a fabulous book. I think that this is about as awesome as the first one, but it doesn’t have quite as much adventure and action as the first one did. It was still an exciting read though, and it kept me guessing as to what would happen next the whole time. The plot was very interesting and the author chose a good conflict to write about. The climax was pretty intense and I wasn’t sure what was to become of the characters. I enjoyed how the author had Ivy’s friend go along on the adventure because it made it all the more interesting, definitely since she was a girlie-girl. Overall this novel is a remarkable and outstanding book and a great pick, if you want to add some excitement to your life.

Rating (0 - 10 scale): 9
Reviewer Age: 14
Reviewer City, State and Country: Upper Strasburg, PA United States

Prey

Ryan Piccoli, a good-looking freshman, knows that a teacher is supposed to impart a love of learning--a thirst for knowledge. But it's different with Ms. Lori Settles. All the kids are talking about how hot she is. When she starts giving Ryan extra attention, he feels more than happy--at first. Ryan is used to being the class clown, but he's actually a loner. And then one day after school, the friendship with Lori Settles goes farther than Ryan ever expected. She's his history teacher. She's twice his age, yet it feels so good to have this special relationship. When Lori begins to make demands, Ryan feels overwhelmed. His attempts to deal with his situation also bring to the surface long-repressed emotions about his mother's suicide. Ryan's friend, Honey, can tell something is wrong, but Ryan refuses to admit that anything is going on. Even his busy father sees a difference in Ryan's behavior. In some ways, Lori Settles is more that Ryan bargained for, but the thought of not having her is almost unbearable. In this complex relationship, who is the predator and who is the prey?

Prey was a very well-written novel that demonstrated the dangers of romantic relationships between a teacher and a student. It also proved that the choices we make today can change our lives forever. Although this book was different than Lurlene McDaniel's other books, it still showed the challenges that today's teenagers face. I thought Prey was very insightful and informative, but the whole idea seemed a bit disturbing. Although the relationship between Ryan and Ms. Settles was startling, I thought Prey was very good and well thought out. I liked all of the characters and thought the plot was great. This book contained everything from romance, to comedy, to deceit, a little something for everybody. Prey was a great page-turner that I would recommend to everyone.

This book contained sexual content.

Reviewer Age:16

Reviewer City, State and Country: Leopold, MO USA