Kendra is the daughter of a young mother, so she lives with her nana. When her mom, Renee, comes and stays with them for a night or two, Kendra realizes she wants to live with her. Even after Renee is out of college, she won't take Kendra. While Kendra designs sets for their school play, she gets into a lot of trouble. She and her aunt, also her best friend, Adonna, get in a big fight over a boy. Her nana can't take it anymore and sends her out to live with Renee. Kendra and Adonna stay mad at each other, but not for too long.

I really enjoyed reading the book, Kendra. It started off kind of slow, but after that I became hooked. Coe Booth really made me believe that the characters were alive. It was like there was a movie playing in my head. I have never read any story like it. I would probably suggest this book to a mid teen.

Reviewer Age:12

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

All Meg has ever wanted to do was get away. Get away from everything that makes her life the insane thing it is: her high school, her overprotective parents, and her annoying in-the-middle-of-nowhere town. To show her feeling for this, she does everything a teen in her town isn't expected to do: dye her hair blue, ride a motorcycle, do drugs, and hook up with random guys. Though, one day she just goes way too far. She is caught hooking up with her boyfriend on a train track where two teenagers were killed 8 years ago, while her friends, Tiffany and Brian, were a few steps away. The police officer, John, decides to teach her a lesson. So, now on her spring break she is stuck riding around with a hot but totally frustrating guy named John (the cop who arrested her) during the middle of the night busting up random things. As her week continues, secrets come out about the two of them but will they end up falling for one another because of this or will it push them further apart?

Going Too Far was an amazing book that either had me laughing out loud or sitting on the edge of my seat wondering what was going to happen next. I absolutely loved Meg. She was a funny and honest character who had a great back story to why she was the way she was. Also, John's personality was cute and a great addition to the story. Though, the thing that had me mainly hooked was Jennifer Echols' writing. It was fast paced, detailed, and addicting. Basically, it was everything a good book should be. Overall, Going Too Far is a book you will still be thinking about days after you have read it. I suggest this to fans of Courtney Summer's Cracked Up To Be and Brooke Taylor's Undone.

Reviewer Age:13

Reviewer City, State and Country: Mountain Top, PA USA

The Black Ship by Diana Pharaoh Francis

Sylbrac, otherwise known as Thorn, is a member of the Pilot's Guild. This group contains members who have the capability to navigate and travel Crosspointe's deadly seas. The cruel leader of the guild bans Thorn from sailing only because of his hatred for him. Thorn, however, lives for sailing and is devastated. While he is on his way to relax and grieve, he is kidnapped by sailors of an unregistered ship. On board, he is forced to work and battle with the wicked captain and crew. If the ship ever makes it back to port, will he still be alive?

The Black Ship is a book that can be read by adventure and action lovers alike. The vocabulary used is of a high quality and highlights the skill of Diana Pharaoh Francis. In the beginning, there are many events and pieces of the storyline that capture your attention and hold it throughout. Thorn is grieving over his brother's death, and many people can relate to his life in different ways. The land of Crosspointe has the ability to catch the reader's attention with its intricate environment and characters. I recommend this book to readers who love sailing, action, or adventure stories.

Reviewer Age:15

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

Rating: 6

Content Rating: 1

The Octopus Effect by Michael Reisman

The Octopus Effect, written by Michael Reisman, was a good and adventurous book. I really enjoyed the action and excitement as Simon Bloom, the main character, discovered new abilities, while also finding new challenges. The book is based around the fictional Knowledge Union, a group that rules and controls the universe. However, lately, things have gotten out of hand. After defeating Sirabetta, an evil woman who wants to take over the Knowledge Union, they must defeat her again, against an even more powerful Sirabetta. To find out what happens, you should read this action-packed book.

In my opinion, this was a great book that you should almost definitely read. The Octopus Effect was a great book filled with excitement and suspense. It always kept you turning page after page to find out what happens in the next part of the book. The main characters were always in some adventure or another. Also, in some parts it was told in first person, while in others, it was told in third person, which mixed things up. However, the only drawback to this book is that it is confusing at times. It is sometimes hard to follow all the different things happening. Otherwise, this is a very good book that I suggest you read.

Reviewer Age:13

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

The Substitute Kid by Joseph Smith

Joseph Smith's "The Substitute Kid" is a short children's book. It follows the month of a fourth grade girl yearning for summer vacation

with her best friend. Cute little shenanigans are sprinkled across the pages as sibling rivalry comes into play. Also, the main girl

discovers that her father--who is a science professor--has made a life-like robotic replica of her. The girl then uses this robot to act as

herself and literally as a substitute for her. The robot takes a history test for the girl and earns an A. Suspicion arises as the father

looks over surveillance tapes and the girl's arch nemesis realizes this "substitution" is suddenly very nice towards her. The book ends

with a discovery for all that is quite pleasant and touching.


This book is fabulous for young readers. The author gives the main action away on the back (the girl using a robot) but does not fully

divulge into that scene until at least halfway through the book. This gives youngsters extra incentive to read. Additionally, since the

chapters are only a couple of pages each, little ones will not find the book too hard / difficult to read at once. Great messages are in this

book. When the girl uses a robot to take her test, it is a history one. The girl does not need help in math or science. Hence, that

stereotype about girls is not played into. The girl even wears glasses and is an athletic captain. Also, her best friend is a girl with blond

hair and blue eyes. The main character stays very true to her self and does not envy other characters or girls' features. The book subtly

gives girls confidence while making reading fun and cool.



Reviewer Age:17

Reviewer City, State and Country: Staten Island, NY USA

Rating: 8
Content rating: 1

The Rule of Claw

This novel is a dystopian science fiction story set in the near future. Thirty-one teenage humans live in a seaside camp, trapped in their camp by a forest that maliciously attacks them. Ash, the best surfer, is their leader until she loses a surfing contest due to a seagull. The new leader, Jon, is the first to kill and eat an animal, driving others to savagery as well. That night, Ash is captured by a species she did not even know existed, the Raptors, and is saved from death by the Raptor king, who is the most peaceful member of his species. She also befriends a Rodent, another species and an enemy of the Raptors. The situation becomes chaotic when the Raptor king dies and Ash must flee for her life. Luckily, she is taken in by the Rodents. She learns that all these different species are a result of her father's work of designing plants and animals to rapidly evolve to better suit humans. Unfortunately, most humans died off as a result of his work. Soon after she learns this, the Raptors attack all the humans. They are saved by a militant religious society that decides to help the human teenagers by killing off inferior races. Both groups plan an attack on the Raptors.

I enjoyed the setting of the book and the variety of characters. The different species were imaginative and interesting, as were the different humans. However, the book had too many messages. It seemed that the book’s purpose was to warn humans to respect each other and the environment. However, for long stretches of time, all the book did was express different morals. The major morals were: do not be racist, understand science instead of blindly following religion, all killing of animals is bad, and do not tamper with the environment. These messages did not always fit together well and interfered greatly with my appreciation of the story. In my opinion, the book would have been much better with more plot and less preaching. In addition, this book has some violence and anti-religion messages.


Content: 2
Rating: 5
Reviewer Age:15
Reviewer City, State and Country: Royersford, PA United States

Sass Girls

If you like to read books about alien babes and dumb dudes, then you will love Sass Girls. One day while Sho and Steve are guarding the museum, Sho accidentally knocks over one of the sculptures on display. Steve decides that they should try to put it back together with glue. Sho goes to look for the glue in the janitor’s closet which is on the floor below. However, after retrieving the glue instead of going back upstairs, he accidentally pushes the down button which leads to the basement. When he arrives, he sees a hole in the wall ahead of him. He approaches the hole and discovers a capsule that has “Her” in it. “Her” is an alien – and one of the hottest babes ever- alien or not!

In Sass Girls, Passiona or “Her” is the daughter of the supreme leader of her planet, who has invasion plans for planet Earth. She and her two sisters are sent to Earth as spies to learn more about the “weaklings” that their father plans on subjugating. After Passiona meets Sho her attitude towards the weaklings changes; and she joins with Sho and Steve to prevent her father’s invasion of Earth.

Sass Girls is a great book. As you get started, it may seem boring. However, once you get past the first seven pages, I promise you that you will not want to put it down! It is full of action and alien romance. It’s a great book all and all. I would personally recommend it to readers over the age of fourteen due to language.

Due to adult language.
Reviewer Age:14
Reviewer City, State and Country: Casa Grande, AZ USA

The Girls by Tucker Shaw

The main characters in The Girls are five very different
girls: Mary, Crystal, Sylvia, Amber, and Peggy. Peggy is
Mary's best friend that is obsessed with becoming a chef.
Mary is the "perfect one." She's nice to everyone, is
rich, beautiful, and her boyfriend is cheating on her.
Sylvia is rich as well and likes to cause trouble,
especially when she finds out who's cheating with Mary's
boyfriend. Crystal is the one cheating with Mary's
boyfriend. Amber works in a coffee shop and knows
everything there is to know about everyone.

This retelling of the play The Women is filled with twists and
turns, and the last pages are filled with surprising
secrets that are revealed and the lies told are brought to
light.

The Girls was a decent book that had a pretty
interesting plot and characters that seemed real due to
their thoughts, dialogue, and actions. I found it
surprising how there were only girls in the book. Sure,
Mary's boyfriend was cheating on her with Amber, but he
never actually appeared in the story. The ending was
decisively the best part. I also liked how Peggy always
thought of recipes when she was stressed, and overall,
this was an acceptable book. It was attention-grabbing
enough to read once, but perhaps not good enough to read
again and again. At first, it was difficult to distinguish
the characters since there were so many. It was a pretty
good book, but definitely not on the same level as
Stephenie Meyer's Twilight, Cassandra Clare's City of
Bones, or Meg Cabot's Princess Diaries. It's a worthwhile
quick, easy read, but not an outstanding book, nor will it
be a bestseller.

Reviewer Age:16

Reviewer City,
State and Country: Charleston, SC USA

The Smile by Donna Jo Napoli

The main character of The Smile by Donna Jo Napoli is Elisabetta, who is the daughter of a silk merchant outside Florence, Italy during the Renaissance. There is a subplot where Elisabetta is friends with a young servant named Silvia. Elisabetta's parents keep pressing her to end her friendship with the servant. Later on in the story, Silvia becomes important to the plot. Once when Elisabetta's family attends the funeral of the ruler and banker of Florence, Lorenzo de'Medici Il Magnifico, Elisabetta tours the city with her father's friend, Leonardo da Vinci. He promises to paint her portrait when she is older. Elisabetta meets Lorenzo's youngest son, Giuliano. They fall in love. Then the French army masses outside the gates of Florence because the city is an ally of France's enemy, Naples. The citizens support France, because Florence is one of the financial capitals of Europe, and the French were financially powerful at that time. The Florentines accuse the ruling Medici, Piero of being a tyrant and banish the family from the city. Will the love between Elisabetta and Giuliano survive the political turmoil? Will Elisabetta's friendship with Silvia survive? Finally, what does this have to do with the portrait da Vinci is going to paint of Elisabetta?

I will give this novel a 7. First I will give a disclaimer. I did not realize that this book was a romantic historical fiction. Anyone who enjoys romantic fiction would probably rate this novel higher. The author knew a great deal about the Italian Renaissance. The novel contains many historical events. I through transitions as Elisabetta gets older could have been smoother. I have noticed that young adult historical novels often interject modern thoughts and ideas into the story, especially about the role of women and class structure. I through that part three was realistic for the role of women at that time. If you enjoy romantic historical fiction, you will enjoy The Smile by Donna Jo Napoli.

Reviewer Age:18

Reviewer City, State and Country: Urbana, Illinois U.S.A.

The Smile by Donna Jo Napoli

The main character of The Smile by Donna Jo Napoli is Elisabetta, who is the daughter of a silk merchant outside Florence, Italy during the Renaissance. There is a subplot where Elisabetta is friends with a young servant named Silvia. Elisabetta's parents keep pressing her to end her friendship with the servant. Later on in the story, Silvia becomes important to the plot. Once when Elisabetta's family attends the funeral of the ruler and banker of Florence, Lorenzo de'Medici Il Magnifico, Elisabetta tours the city with her father's friend, Leonardo da Vinci. He promises to paint her portrait when she is older. Elisabetta meets Lorenzo's youngest son, Giuliano. They fall in love. Then the French army masses outside the gates of Florence because the city is an ally of France's enemy, Naples. The citizens support France, because Florence is one of the financial capitals of Europe, and the French were financially powerful at that time. The Florentines accuse the ruling Medici, Piero of being a tyrant and banish the family from the city. Will the love between Elisabetta and Giuliano survive the political turmoil? Will Elisabetta's friendship with Silvia survive? Finally, what does this have to do with the portrait da Vinci is going to paint of Elisabetta?

I will give this novel a 7. First I will give a disclaimer. I did not realize that this book was a romantic historical fiction. Anyone who enjoys romantic fiction would probably rate this novel higher. The author knew a great deal about the Italian Renaissance. The novel contains many historical events. I through transitions as Elisabetta gets older could have been smoother. I have noticed that young adult historical novels often interject modern thoughts and ideas into the story, especially about the role of women and class structure. I through that part three was realistic for the role of women at that time. If you enjoy romantic historical fiction, you will enjoy The Smile by Donna Jo Napoli.

Reviewer Age:18

Reviewer City, State and Country: Urbana, Illinois U.S.A.