Forensics by Richard Platt

This information-packed book provides readers an inside look at the world of forensic science. Forensics is the branch of science that deals with crime. At every crime scene, some sort of evidence is left behind. It is up to crime-scene officers to secure the scene and preserve the evidence. Fingerprints are the most common evidence found at the crime scene, but there are many other types of evidence that investigators use to help them find the criminal. This book thoroughly goes through numerous types of evidence and how they help investigators catch the suspect. For example, the Integrated Automatic Fingerprint Identification Systems can search one million fingerprint records in less than a second, and the closest matches are presented for detectives to make the final comparison. It is also possible to test a suspect's hands to see if he/she has fired a gun recently. DNA analysis, special chemicals, autopsies, cyber crimes, poisons, weapons, and forgeries are just some of the things the book discusses. This book covers everything one needs to know about forensics, and nothing one don't.

When I first got the book, I didn't know much about forensics. Of course, that changed by the time I finished reading the book. Every page is filled with pictures which further helped me understand the topic. All aspects of forensic science are covered, from collecting evidence to finding the criminal. If you have a question about forensic, there is a great chance that that question will be answered after reading the book. I enjoyed this book because I learned the more about forensics than I initially thought. Each page is packed with information, and everything is very easy to understand. I recommend this book to people of all ages who are interested in learning how detectives and scientists work together in order to solve a crime.

Reviewer Age:14

Reviewer City, State and Country: Palo Alto, CA USA

Devil May Care by Sebastian Faulks

The book Devil May Care is a continuation of the various
dangerous adventures of the notable character James Bond.
Bond is summoned from his sabbatical in order to investigate
Dr. Julius Gorner, a powerful figure that seems to
have an interest in selling drugs, of both the legal and
illegal kind. He is helped on his adventures by Scarlett
Papava, who is, supposedly, a banker. James Bond struggles
to uncover Gorner's operations as strange things occur,
such as a missing British airliner and heroin addicts
on the rise in Britain. Bond travels to the Middle East
and has quite a few surprises. There is a twist at the end
concerning Scarlett Papava.

The book Devil May Care has
a few significant flaws. First of all, some scenes have way
too much detail. Some parts of the book are absolutely
gory. There did not have to be that much detail. Also, it
is a little boring in some places. It seems that Bond
is always eating, talking, traveling, or thinking about
Scarlett. The writing is not difficult to follow, but it
is not too easy either. I don't think I'll ever read this
book again; it was pretty disappointing. Even without the
disgusting scenes, this book is not at all
spectacular. However, Sebastian Faulks did make it seem realistic, just
too realistic in some places. The characters seemed real,
but I, for one, would not like to meet them.

Reviewer Age:15

Reviewer City, State and Country:
Charleston, SC USA

The Elite by Jennifer Banash

Casey McCloy is your average teen, from Normal, IL, but now she's decided to take advantage of her mother being away on business. She moves in with her grandmother, to the fabulous Bramford, right in the heart of NYC. Almost immediately, she runs into the most popular girl in her building, as well as in Casey's new school, Madison McAllister. After Madison and her friends give Casey a total makeover, Casey starts catching everyone's eye, including Madison's sometimes-boyfriend Drew. With everyone vying for the spotlight, will Madison ruin Casey's new image to deter Drew, or will she let Drew have Casey?

I enjoyed this book, and although I thought at first that it was going to be one of those fake, all the populars get their way kind of book, it really wasn't. I liked that the author had several chapters from each of the main characters’ points of view, which gave me a well-rounded opinion of each character in the story. The author was very descriptive, although I honestly felt that I did not need to know every single brand of clothing/shoes/accessories each character wore. One slightly annoying thing was the amount of sub-plots, the majority of which were never finished. For example, Madison and Drew's relationship sometimes overpowered the main plot. But the good thing about sub-plots is that they give each character a story behind them, so I felt as if I knew them better. Although this book was fun to read, the amount of cursing was appalling. For this reason, I would only recommend this book to all young adults 13 and up.

On the first page alone, the main character curses 3 times. The language is very strong, including several uses of the f-word. There is also an enormous amount of sexual content, including very sexually intimate scenes with several details. There is also underage drinking, and one of the main characters gets drunk.

Rating:7

Reviewer Age:13

Reviewer City, State and Country: Boothwyn, PA USA

The Guy Next Door by Carol Culver

After her parents get divorced, Maggie moves away from the guy next door, her love, Ethan. Maggie misses the days when she and Ethan used to ride bikes and play tag because now with her metal braces and glasses he barely notices her. After her invisible braces replace her metal ones and contacts replace her glasses, Maggie finally gets the chance to talk to him at a dance, and when she gives him a fencing lesson. Now, that they're taking a chorus trip to Hawaii, Maggie will get to show off the bikini that her friend, Victoria, made her. But is that enough to get Ethan to notice her?

The Guy Next Door is an amazing book. Carol Culver always added a different twist, that you would never see coming. When Culver wrote about the class in Hawaii, I felt like I was there experiencing the surfing, sand and sun right along with the characters. This was a great read because I felt like I knew the characters. I would recommend it to any girl because overall I LOVED it.

Reviewer Age:12

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

Rating: 9

Content Rating: 1

Wish You Were Here by Catherine Clark

Ariel (no, not the little mermaid) Flack is obsessed with
exactly two things; skittles (who wouldn't?) and sending
postcards home to Gloves, Ariel's cat, and her almost-sort
of-kinda boyfriend, Dylan. After her dad gambles the
family's life savings away (not to mention Ariel and her
little sister's college money) and embezzles from his
company, Ariel's family is splashed across the cover of
newspapers everywhere. Not to mention, Ariel's mom
divorces her gambling husband and like only a self-help
author can, drags her reluctant two daughters, Ariel and
Zena, into a weeklong bus tour called Leisure Lee's. Sound
bad? You haven't heard the worst of it. In attempt to give
her daughters a responsible male figure in their lives,
their eccentric uncle, who has a bizarre phobia of
squirrels, is along for the ride as well with their
grandparents, too. Just when everything seems to be awful
(who wants to spend a week in a small space with a
gazillion senior citizens?), Ariel discovers the other
reluctant teen on board - Andre. Together, they plot to
escape their prison and Ariel decides that maybe, just
maybe mind you, things aren't so bad after all. In this
wonderful bit of realistic fiction, the characters come
alive and well, this is as "fantasterrific" as it gets,
folks.

Told from the view of a sixteen-year old girl,
Ariel Flack, the tone is cheerful but sometimes angry.
Her voice is slightly bitter, but Ariel has a positive
outlook on things and can be funny. It wasn't my favorite
book - it left me kind of bored and I think some of the
characters were a bit stereotyped. There was a little less
detail than I would have liked. Catherine Clark's meaning
in the story seems to be that you can always find hope no
matter what situation you are in, and she addressed that
fairly well. I would recommend it to other people because,
even though it wasn't my favorite sort of book, it is a
decent read. However, it pales in comparison to Clark's
other books, such as Better Latte Than Never and The
Alison Rules. Altogether, Wish You Were Here is a
quick, nice read.

Reviewer Age:13
Reviewer City, State and Country: Canton, Michigan United States of
America

Behind the Wheel by Janet S. Wong

This book talks about peoples’ journeys while they are driving. It covers a range of situations, from car accidents to driving in a hoopty, and about what could happen. The poems also tell you about what's going on in each character's head. The author makes it clear that driving can be a good thing, like when hanging out with friends, or bad when you kill someone in a car accident. So that has lead me to believe the author's purpose was to show the readers the ups and downs of driving.

I think this book was very interesting. I heard about people's experiences with driving. I really liked the way the author explained things so I could get a visual picture from each poem. I also liked this book because it was a page-turner. I always wanted to know what was going to happen to the next person, or character. A question I had was why does the author choose to use poetry for this book? I would recommend this book for people who like realistic fiction about teens or for people who like short books. Or even for people who are interested in driving sooner or later on in life.

Reviewer Age:14

Reviewer City, State and Country: St. Paul, Minnesota USA

Riding High by Donna King

Billie Mason has always loved riding and competing with her wonderful horse, Valentine's Kiss. She has always been told that she is a great rider. But Billie soon loses all of her confidence and stops competing when she witnesses a frightening mishap with another horse during one of her events. Billie knows that she might have to face her fears when she hears even her closest friends talking about her losing her nerve, her dad is complaining to her about how much money they are wasting by not competing, and the thought of maybe having to sell her extremely loved horse scares her the most. On the other hand, Billie loves her new trainer, Sarah, who understands her perfectly and is trying to help her overcome her fears in the show ring and on the cross-country course. Now she is torn between two choices. Will she choose to start competing again to keep her talented horse or will she be too scared about putting her horse in danger after what she saw and have to sell Val?

When I read Riding High I thought it was an okay or pretty good book. I liked the connection that Sarah and Billie shared and how Sarah understood and could help with what Billie was feeling. I was surprised by some of the negative attitude her family and friends gave her. I thought it was weird that they were not supporting her no matter what she did. I felt that some parts of the book went by too fast and more detail would have been nice. But I also found this book interesting, especially to me, because I am also a horseback rider and have experienced some of the things she has, so it was easy for me to understand what Billie was thinking and feeling. This story, overall, was a fun story to read. I didn't think that it was very powerful, with a lot of deep meaning, but still a good pleasure book.

Reviewer Age:12

Reviewer City, State and Country: Midlothian, VA USA

Cruel Summer by Alyson Noel

Seventeen-year-old Colby cant believe what she's hearing when her parents announce that she's spending the summer in Greece with her crazy Aunt Tally. At least that's what her parents call her aunt. Her world suddenly comes crashing down the minute she hears the news of her three-month-long departure to the Greek civilization because everything was going so good. She'd finally ditched her geeky past, along with her ex-best friend for the popular life of gossip, fame, and parties. Besides the fact that her parents were getting a divorce, she was totally looking forward to the summer. When first arriving in Greece, she is full of everything but tranquility. So she starts a blog to update all of her friends on her unwanted getaway to the Greek paradise. She decides that instead of making the most of her time in Greece and this new experience, that she's going to try and stay connected with the former life she just left and dearly wishes to return to, via the internet. Well, that is until she attends her aunt's huge Fourth of July party and meets Yannis, the cute guy from the ship she sailed on to get to the tiny island of Tinos. Maybe life on the island wont be as bad as she expected after all.

I really enjoyed reading Cruel Summer by Alyson Noel. It was a very unique book filled with love, hate, adventure, and many unforgettable opportunities and experiences. I thought it was cool how the author wrote the book like it was partly a blog, a regular story, and a diary. Also, it was neat how she included emails and letters that were written between the girl and her family and friends. However, I think the author overdid it on the use of the blogs and diary entries and that the story would have been better if she would have just written about the girl's experiences first hand as they took place. Overall, Cruel Summer was a great novel that I definitely recommend to teenage girls looking for a little summer romance.

Reviewer Age:14
Reviewer City, State and Country: Upper Strasburg, PA USA

Bronze Dragon Codex by R.D. Henham

Tatelyn had more than one reason to hate dragons. A possessed one had killed her brother, while another had destroyed her friend's town. Thus, Tatelyn had been spreading the word that dragons must be banished. On the other side of the ordeal, a dragon, named Simle, hates humans because they maliciously stole her siblings. Her siblings were eggs, at the time, and the eggs had suddenly disappeared. And when Tatelyn and Simle met, although they felt an intense hatred for each other, their fates were intertwined in unimaginable ways.

Bronze Dragon Codex was an exceptional book, with only a few flaws. First, the setting seemed vague and almost non-existent in some parts. However, there were also some dramatic scenes in which the setting was a powerful factor in the layout of the book. At the very ending, or climax, there was definite frustration and anger between one of the main characters, Tatelyn, and her friend, Rogan. There were two very distinct, and different, main characters, Tatelyn and Simle. Tatelyn was a dragon-hating human, while Simle was a human-hating dragon. This resulted in much of the book's conflict. I like the way the writer let the dialogue set up the story, rather than narration. Having the story change views was completely appropriate, because there were two main characters. The author did a great job of closing up the story and finishing all subplots.

The writer succeeded in showing that Tatelyn and Simle, while very different, had more in common than they realized. The writing was effective, showing how two very different characters dealt with the same conflict. Bronze Dragon Codex had strong dialogue, but, as I said earlier, had a weak setting in many parts. This novel was well written, with an interesting plot and an unusual, but happy, ending. The author could have allowed us to know the characters better, just to give this book that final touch. I would highly recommend Bronze Dragon Codex, as an excellent book. Once you start reading, you can't put it down.

Reviewer Age:12

Reviewer City, State and Country: Baltimore, Maryland USA

Braless in Wonderland by Debbie Reed Fischer

Alee Rosen is a lot of things: High school senior, overachiever, feminist, brainiac. The one thing she's not is super model material--she leaves that to pretty people like her little sister (a.k.a. "The Fluff"). That's why it's a complete shock when Allee, not her sister, is the one spotted by modeling scouts at the mall and signed by a major modeling agency in Miami. It's classic geek-to-chic--but it's not like it's going to change her, right? She's doing it for the money that will pay her way through college. Very soon, however, Allee is swept up in the whirlwind of go-sees, designer labels, and photo shoots. She's hot, and that has her backstabbing model roommates steaming and scheming. Will her sudden rise to elusive It Girl status lead Allee to drop her dreams and forget who she really is?

Braless in Wonderland was a wonderful book. Right from the start I was hooked. This page-turner had an interesting plot, relatable characters, and a hilarious narrator. It was a very well-written book, with vivid descriptions and dialogue. Debbie Reed Fischer made it easy to feel as if you were really there. It was very interesting to get an inside look at how the modeling world works. I especially liked that Fisher related Allee's transformation to Alice's transformation in Alice in Wonderland, which I thought really made the story.

This book contained underage drinking and the use of illegal drugs.

Reviewer Age:16

Reviewer City, State and Country: Leopold, MO USA

Rating: 10

Content Rating: 3