The Golden Path by Anson Montgomery

In the book The Golden Path by Anson Montgomery you get to decide your own destiny. You and your two friends, Dresdale and Peter, spend the summer on an internship at an archaeological and geological expedition run by your parents in the Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico. You and your friends are exploring off the trails when you find an unusual pottery shard. You start researching it and decide to use it as a project for school. The next thing you know your parents are missing, some guy is accusing you of stealing the pottery shard and you're getting expelled from school. You have no choice but to find your parents and save the day. It's up to you to be the hero in this adventure.
I thought the Golden Path was a good book. I thought the beginning was slow, but the more I got into the book, the harder it was to put down. I thought it was a great idea to let the reader choose the decisions the character made and how the book was left with multiple endings. One of the strengths in this book is how it draws the reader's attention further and further into the story. I think a weakness in this book are some parts where the reader gets to decide what happens to the character, I think it becomes more confusing, like where the character can die. You have to find the place where you went wrong and re-read it and make another decision of what to do. I found myself trying to remember my page number or writing it down so I could just go back to that page if I made a mistake. I thought the ending in this book was okay. It left me with many questions but just enough answers to buy the next volume book and read on. I would recommend this book to anyone who is tired of reading the same types of books and wants to try something new.

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

The Miracle Girls

The Miracle Girls by Anne Dayton and May Vanderbilt tells
the story of 14 year-old Ana Dominguez. Ana has just moved
from San Jose, California to the nearby small town Half
Moon Bay. A few weeks after she starts her freshman year
of high school in this new town, Ana lands herself and
another girl, Riley McGee, in detention after accusing
Riley of cheating on a pop quiz. While there, the teens in
detention are required to write an essay entitled "The Day
My Life Changed" and are then divided into groups of four
to whom they must read their essays. Ana is paired up with
Riley and two other girls, Christine and Zoe. After each
girl reads her essay, they all realize that the four of
them each would have died years ago, but each was saved by
a miracle. Ana and Zoe team up and try to befriend the
other two "miracle girls" and in the end the four
experience adventures that can only be experience with a
true friend.

This book was an exciting, heartwarming page-
turner. The Authors have successfully written an
intriguing story for teens and preteens. The story is both
slightly foreseeable while also being reasonably
unpredictable. The details are vivid enough to let you
easily picture the settings of the story. Also, the
characters are very much real to life. The Miracle Girls
is an excellent book that I would recommend to any teenager
especially girls.

Reviewer Age:13
Reviewer City,State and Country: Marble Hill, Missouri, USA

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