Papillon

This book is based in China and it is about twin sisters name Hana-Chan and Ageha. When they were little Ageha went to live with her grandmother in the country and Hana-Chan stayed with their parents in the city. Ageha came back to the city when her grandmother became ill. Hana-Chan and Ageha turned into completely different people even though they were twins. Ageha ended up working with her childhood friend but doesn't ever say anything to him because she is in love with him until one day he realizes who she is. She and her twin sister, Hana-Chan, end up competing for young Ryusei Koike. Along the way friendships are gained and lost and Ageha becomes friends with someone unusual who gives her a lot of helpful advice.

I loved the book Papillon because it was very descriptive of what an everyday life of a teenager would be like if they thought they were in love. I would definitely recommend this book to kids of mature age and good moral standings. It has some graphic details and vivid pictures so some parents may not approve of the children reading it. This book provides real-to-life situations and is very true to what love is like and what happens in relationships. I would definitely recommend this book and trust me you won't be able to put it down once you start to read it.

Reviewer Age:14
Reviewer City, State and Country: Leopold, Missouri United States of America

Endless Quest by Bruce Algozin

This book is a great and adventurous story where you make the decisions of what to do. In the book, you are a halfling that goes by the name of Tammery Blackfoot, a quiet and peaceful person. However, behind this disguise, you are the Night Shadow, the only one who can stand up against the evil Blue Hag! And when your friend, Clarion the Pegasus, is captured by the Blue Hag, you immediately go out on a quest to find her, with some help from your friends. If you make the right decisions, you get closer every step you take, and will eventually find and save Clarion. But if you make one bad move, the Blue Hag will catch you, Clarion will certainly die, and it will be The End!

In my opinion, this book was exciting, but it lacked some crucial parts to it. The idea was a great one and I liked how the author set it up in the beginning. But, once the group got inside the castle, the choices you could make seemed obvious and boring. I did not think this was a very suspenseful book, and at some parts, I had wanted to close the book and give it up. Also, I felt that the story was short and not well described. However, I did like that one wrong turn could lead you the defeat or victory. This is my opinion of the book, Endless Quest 2: Search for the Pegasus

Reviewer Age:12

Reviewer City, State and Country: Baltimore, Maryland United States of America

Rating: 4

Content Rating: 1

Time's Chariot

This novel is science fiction, action, mystery, and
historical. Its purpose is to entertain. This story is
set in future period called the Home Time. In the Home
Time, it is possible to travel back in time as long as one
is careful not to upset the history of the world. If
history is drastically altered, the time stream will split
and many more people will be created. The main problem
with the Home Time is that it will end in twenty-seven
years and it will no longer be possible to travel through
time. Two field agents, Rico and Su, that escort groups
back in time are swept into a plot involving a murder,
time paradoxes, and dangerous contact with the people of
the past by people at the highest levels of Home Time
society. While seeking the truth, Rico and Su are sent
through time, threatened, and held captive by their Home
Time foes and powerful historical figures. Though the
characters in the book travel through history, the book is
more science fiction and adventure than historical or
factual.

I found this novel very entertaining and
exciting. I read lots of science fiction books and many
contain time paradoxes or time travel, but this one was
unique. It was for a young adult, though not childish,
and more general audience, rather than most science
fiction books that are written for adult science fiction
fans. It was cleaner and less focused on hard science
fiction. The flawed futuristic society is not the focus
of the novel, but it does provide room for thought about
how much people should be controlled. The different
periods of time and alternate histories were enjoyable, as
were the straightforward main characters. There was
enough mystery and intrigue to keep me guessing, but I was
never too confused or lost. The ending has unpredictable
and exciting plot twists. The book is a short and easy
but thoroughly worthwhile read.

There are a few
instances of language and violence.

Reviewer
Age:14

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

The Writing On The Wall by Wendy Lichtman

When eighth grader Tess looks at the back wall on the church across from her school, she notices something that she's never noticed before: about twenty bright green fours. Her friend gives her the idea that maybe, just maybe, the fours mean something. With this in mind, and being the math whiz that she is, Tess decides that maybe they are a fours four problem (a type of math problem) and decides to figure it out and look for a pattern or a code. Throughout the next few days, she gets help with the problem from her friends and a boy that she really likes, who keeps waiting for her after her school clubs. Does that mean that he likes her too, and if so, will they be able to take their relationship to the next level? Will she ever be able to stop the harassment from Richard, a classmate, who is cruel to her because she was going to tattle on him for stealing the answers to the U.S. Constitution exam? Also, will she ever find out what the problem means? Find out by reading Writing on the Wall.

This story was ok, but I thought that it was written for younger kids because the vocabulary was very simple and it didn't possess a very complicated or interesting plot. Since I'm almost fifteen, I thought the book was rather boring and didn't hold my attention for very long. It was an extremely quick read and it only took a few days to finish. The story seems like it should be for kids ages 9-12 but some of the things included like the eight grade math problems make this story seem like it was written for younger teens around 13. I learned a lot of interesting math facts and formulas, which is definitely useful when it comes to getting good grades in Algebra. Overall, this was an ok book, and I recommend it to younger pre-teen girls.

Reviewer Age:14

Reviewer City, State and Country: Upper Strasburg, Pennsylvania United States

The Snake Prince of Montreal by Aliana K. Deveza

Agatha and Lucille are best friends. Lester and Prince Aaron are best friends. Lester likes Lucille who likes Aaron who likes Agatha who likes Aaron. Aaron and Agatha marry, making Lucille angry. So she runs off to her aunt (a black witch) and learns dark magic to plan revenge on Agatha. On the day of their wedding, Lucille shows up out of nowhere and curses Agatha's unborn son. Every full moon, he will turn into a snake! Will he ever break the curse?

This book felt like a Dick and Jane book: I felt like the sentences were very choppy and did not flow well. That was before I read the About the Author section. Turns out it is very good for her age - she is only 11! It had a very good storyline but I think the author could have given more detail. It was a cliffhanger ending, so I am going to have to locate the second book!

Reviewer Age:14
Reviewer City, State and Country: Gearhart, Oregon United States

Escape the Mask by David Ward

Escape the Mask is an action-filled novel that tells the story of a young girl named Pippa and a young boy named Coriko. These characters were captured and enslaved when they were no older than ten by soldiers called Spears. Spears seem especially frightening because of the fact that they wear masks, and they are never seen without them. Coriko and Pippa have been put to work in the Spears' special labor camp, digging up shards. Every day, they work in the sun, digging up baskets of shards. One day, however, Coriko and Pippa meet up with two newcomers, fellow diggers Bran and Tia. Then everything falls apart. Pippa begins to realize that something is out of place . . . the Spears seem awfully nervous about something. But no one can discover what! The story continues to unfold with an adventure of daring acts and an attempted escape. To find out more, read Escape the Mask!

My favorite part of Escape the Mask is when the four children (Coriko, Pippa, Bran, and Tia) work together to carry out their escape attempt. I think the story teaches a great lesson about cooperation, without making it seem like an actual "lesson." I liked the way the kids in the story developed relationships with each other in spite of the hardships they were going through. I would recommend this book to kids ages 12 to 15. It was a wonderfully exciting story filled with action and love and conflict -- very entertaining.

Reviewer Age:12

Reviewer City, State and Country: Saugerties, New York USA

Discovering Pig Magic

The book, Discovering Pig Magic, is about Matilda, a young girl, who along with her two best friends (Nikki and Ariel) discovers how hard growing up is when you are thirteen years old. Ariel has a dream to be just like Rachel Ray and follow in her footsteps. Nikki finds that it is hard to trust her parents after she finds out the big secret. Matilda started loving pigs at the age of six when her aunt gave her very first pig keychain. Now her thirteenth birthday is coming, and she hates pigs. Her dilemma is: should she tell her parents she hates pigs or risk receiving more pig presents. She keeps telling herself she can do it. The solution to all the girls’ problems is to get a magic book to make all their problems go away. However, they quickly find that to make a problem go away you must change what you do. For example, to get Matilda’s problem to go away she must tell her parents she hates pigs.

This book was fun to read. I would recommend it to anyone. It was well written. Julie Crabtree is an amazing author who held my interest and I could not put the book down. I even received approval from my 6th grade teacher to review the book for a report. I am hoping for an A+. My teacher thought it was perfect challenge for young readers.

Reviewer Age:11

Reviewer City, State and Country: Germantown, Tennessee United States

Julie Crabtree

Kurt Cobain: Oh Well, Whatever, Never Mind by Jeff Burlingame

Kurt Cobain. A name that, if you didn't know, you would never forget after hearing one Nirvana song. “Kurt Cobain: Oh well, Whatever, Never mind," by Jeff Burlingame, is a narrative about a boy who was not your typical boy of the seventies or eighties. He certainly wasn't your typical man of the nineties, and he didn't come from your typical family. This biography gives little known details about Cobain's rise to fame (which for the most part he did not want) to his not so shocking death. In the story, Cobain appears to be a good man (and child) who got lost. As a child, he never seemed to fit in, to which many young adults can relate. Cobain was a bit like an extra in a movie; he was just there. Kurt Cobain never really learned how to deal with a bad situation; maybe bashing instruments was his way of doing so. He was a bit misunderstood (like most) and a lost soul (seen frequently in society in today). Cobain walked to the beat of his own drum, or in his case the strum of his own guitar.

Although you can only capture a person's essence (especially one like Kurt Cobain’s) to a certain extent, Jeff Burlingame did an astounding job summing up Kurt's life in 134 pages. I would recommend this book to fans of Nirvana, Musical rebels, Kurt Cobain fans, and anyone who enjoys reading about celebrities or tragic stories.

Reviewer Age:15

Reviewer City, State and Country: Raleigh, NC United States

Between Golden Jaws by Tiffany Trent

After their adventure in Scotland, Corrine and her friends hurry off to London to try to find the next Rathstone, which can help them regain Hallowmere. On the long trip there, while trying to fight off the evil Captain, Corrine is surprised to find that her magical powers are bound, which causes her to be little help to Council. With that in mind, the Council needs all the help they can get and requests that her two friends and Siobhan join in on searching for information that can help find the whereabouts of the next Rathstone; they all agree to it. Throughout the next few weeks, many evil forces are working which puts Corrine and all of her friends in danger. When a report of two missing girls arrive, Corrine and Ilona go in pursuit of them, which leads them into a trap set by the Captain and The Dark Fey Prince. He makes Corrine a deal that he knows she'll accept: Become his lovely consort and he won't harm her beloved friends and Father Joe. As the day comes to complete the deal, will Corrine go through with her promise or will she find another way to escape the wicked arms of the scheming Prince?

Between Golden Jaws was a great book full of mystery and intrigue. I was kept on my toes guessing the whole time what would happen next to Corrine. While I was reading this book I was puzzled at how Corrine could possibly get out of the muddle she got herself into. This third Hallowmere novel also managed to reach my high expectations that were set by the excellence of the first two novels. I'm looking forward to reading the fourth book in the series, Maiden of the Wolf, to find out what problems and situations Corrine will find herself in next.

Reviewer Age:8

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

The Night I freed John Brown by John Michael Cummings

Ever since the Richmonds have moved in to the historical
town of Harpers Ferry, young Josh knows he has to
investigate further into an old family secret. The
Richmond's house is a five-story Victorian house, with a
Catholic church built in. The twist is that Josh's
grandmother's house is the exact structure, except it's
hidden by the woods. Josh shows his new neighbor, Luke, the
abandoned house in the woods, and describes the woeful
event that occurred in Josh's grandmother's house. Years
before, someone stole everything from the house and the
church; from the napkins to the bell. Ever since, the house
has been abandoned. A wax figure of John Brown, a
historical abolitionist, overlooks Josh's house. Could he
be the one causing all the bickering in Josh Conner's
house? What about Father Ron, the mysterious pastor? And
can Josh and his brothers solve the mystery of the
Victorian house in the woods before time runs out?

I liked the book. Considering that this is Michael
Cummings's first novel, The Night I Freed John Brown was
great. In the beginning, the story seemed monotonous. It
took me awhile to finally catch on to the book's action.
The story was very easy to predict, although the first
chapter leads you astray, making you think that this was
going to be a ghost story, not realistic fiction. I liked
the parts that held suspense, and the sudden change of
character each person displayed. Overall, The Night I Freed
John Brown was a great book.

Reviewer Age:12

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