What's the Weather Inside?

"What's the Weather Inside?" by Karma Wilson is a fun little book of poems. Despite what the cover and title may allude to, this book covers more than just the weather. In fact, poems about the weather aren't even a major theme in the book. Rather, the poems chosen are comical little poems about facetious nuances in life that children notice. There are many plays on words and copious double entendres. Animals, sports, emotions, family life, and more dance on the pages alongside clever illustrations in black and white. The rhyme schemes vary and the poems are all relatively short.

This book is appropriate for children. It encourages creative thinking as well as semantics. Words are used with different meanings in the poems to generate curiosity. The point is for a youngster to read a poem and see a picture that they like; this will propel them to pick up a dictionary and look up new words they are unfamiliar with (that may just sound a bit silly, too!). As for illustrations, they are drawn with old fashioned style. There is nothing inappropriate in the book. As a matter of fact, the scariest part of the book involves a poem about a substitute teacher with horns on his angry head.

Reviewer Age:17
Reviewer City, State and Country: Staten Island, NY USA

Hail to the Chief

Ollie Paras, the White House Executive Chef, is friendly with the First Lady, Mrs. Campbell. However, Ollie has a lot on her plate. Mrs. Campbell is trying to persuade her nephew Sean to come to the White House on Thanksgiving and Ollie is helping to convince Sean to come. At the same time, a bomb threat comes into the White House and everyone is on high alert for other threats. Next, a kindly electrician, Gene, dies one day while working on an electrical problem near the kitchen! And then, Sean, Mrs. Campbell's nephew is found dead! In the midst of all this, Ollie is approached by Senator' Blanchard's assistant and asked to fix the annual gingerbread decorating contest for his children. Is there any correlation between the bomb threat and Gene's electrocution? Will Ollie rig the gingerbread contest in favor of Senator Blanchard's children? Will she discover any more bombs? Did Sean really commit suicide or was it murder? You will have to read Hail to the Chef to find out.

Hail to the Chef is a suspenseful mystery book. Every page offers new mysteries and clues to the happenings in the White House kitchen. Ollie is a very believable character and the action keeps moving. I have read a lot of mystery books and I found it hard to stop reading this book. It was fun to read this book and learn about the secrets of the White House, especially around holiday time. If you are a big mystery fan, I would highly recommend this book.

Rating: 10
Reviewer Age: 16
Reviewer City, State and Country: Finksburg, MD USA

The Midnight Twins by Jacquelyn Mitchard

The Midnight Twins is about twin sisters, Mallory and Meredith, who are just like twins should be. They can read one another's minds and feel one another's pain. They are so completely close and everyone loves them. Their lives are interrupted when a fire starts at their aunt's house as the sisters are babysitting their cousins and younger brother on New Year's Eve. They save everyone but something happens to Mallory and Meredith; they can no longer know how the other is or feel what the other feels. This scares the sisters and alters their relationship.

This book was very interesting and easy to read. The chapters may be a little long and I find it takes longer to read a book with long chapters, but I enjoyed finding out how the sisters dealt with their problems. They were a great support team and I was reminded of the one I have with my youngest sister. We may not be able to read each other's minds like Mallory and Meredith, but we do support and help each other.

Reviewer Age:18
Reviewer City, State and Country: Newville, Pennsylvania U.S.A

Abomination by Robert Swindells

Abomination is Martha's sister Mary's child, and so named because of the shame he inflicted upon the family being born out of wedlock. This is what Martha and Mary's parents firmly believe, that the child is something to be ashamed and embarrassed of. Mary was exiled and now Abomination is a six year old boy who has been brought up in a cage in his grandparent's basement. Martha too is a prisoner trapped by her parent's religious fanaticism into caring for her sister's so-called "abomination". With the aid of Scott, the new kid at school and the only friend of Mary's, Mary searches for her sister, hoping to reunite Abomination with his mother and perhaps escape the confines of her own strict life.

The book had a lot of potential it did not live up to. The plot was complex, but the resolution too simplistic. Everything tended to fall in place too easily. For example, Martha's willingness to share all her dark secrets with Scott seemed unrealistic as she had for years been a loner. The characters needed further developing, and the book needed lengthening to make the plot more plausible.

Reviewer Age:15
Reviewer City, State and Country: Holly Springs, North Carolina United States of America

The Ghost and the Haunted Mansion by Alice Kimberly

This book is a riveting, haunted mystery. It has the thrill of the chase and the thrill of the ghost. Two different genres beautifully blended into one book. Pen and Jack have such amazing minds, and then combined, they have the capacity to figure out any mystery they are confronted with, including figuring out who killed Miss Todd and why. While trying to catch the murderer, Jack shows Pen parts of his own case that tie into Miss Todd's murder. These two cases together make up The Ghost and the Haunted Mansion.

I really liked the book. It was suspenseful and haunting, a very good mystery and paranormal book. The writing was nicely done. This book kept me on my toes and guessing throughout the whole book. Jack has a good personality, and it balances out with Pen's more conservative personality. I also liked the stereotypical view of small town police officers. The mean and biased police chief, with his not-so-bright relative as a deputy, Bull and Chief Ciders add some humor to the story.

Reviewer Age: 15

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

Killer Creatures by Claire Liewellyn

Killer Creatures is about animals in the wild and how they survive life: they kill. There is a variety of animals that survive solely on their strengths. Another aspect to how they survive is that they're scary. They intimidate their prey or use camouflage to trap them. This book also shows different and interesting facts about certain animals. Some of the facts are how they track down their prey and also how they capture them when they least expect it.

Killer Creatures is a very good way to understand wildlife and their means to survive. It's a world were survival of the fittest is always the golden rule. This book is an eye opener to how ruthless the animal kingdom can be. The pictures are a little graphic but yet it's all true. This book was also very easy to read. The text is pretty big and understandable.

This book may be a little too graphic for smaller or younger children.

Reviewer Age:18

Reviewer City, State and Country: Newville, Pennsylvana U.S.A.

Heartbeat for Horses by Laura Chester and Donna Demari

"Heartbeat for Horses" is a collection of writings about girls and their horses. There are stories, poems, and excerpts from famous horse books. Parts from "The Silver Brumby", "Misty of Chincoteague", and "Black Beauty" are included. Some of the authors showcased in this book are E. E. Cummings, Charles Dickens, Marguerite Henry, and Laura Chester. Each piece of writing is also accompanied by a picture or two that capture the true beauty of horses.

"Heartbeat for Horses" reflects on the unique bond between human and horse. The pictures are breathtaking, and fit very nicely with the writings. All of the stories flowed, and held my attention. The grace and esscence of horses is beautifully portrayed in "Heartbeat for Horses". Women of all ages will enjoy this book. Those who, like me, are passionate about everything horses must read this book.

Reviewer Age:14
Reviewer City, State and Country: Renton, WA USA

A Veiled Deception

Annette Blair's A Veiled Deception introduces Madeira Cutler, better known as Maddie. Maddie is a young woman with a taste for fashion, especially anything vintage. While home in Mystick Falls, Connecticut, to help her sister, Sherry, with wedding plans, Maggie realizes that these vintage pieces magically speak their histories to her. Not long after arriving in New England, Maddie finds Sherry's fiance's former girlfriend strangled to death with Sherry's veil around her neck. Determined to prove her sister's innocence, Maddie conducts her own investigation. Along the way, Maddie enlists the help of a certain FBI agent who happens to be her on-again-off-again boyfriend and a resentful local police detective who she nicknamed Wiener as a child.

A Veiled Deception is one of the best mysteries I've read in a while. This novel is a quick read, filled with romance, history, magic, and cute fashion references. I especially appreciated the way Blair gave her characters depth, especially Maddie and Mr. Vancortland, by including meaningful family history plots to support the main mystery. Blair's new series incorporates magic wonderfully, blending Maddie's newfound psychic powers into the mystery through ghosts and visions that add an element of supernatural to the story without taking away from A Veiled Deception's clear storyline. This book is a sure hit for any fan of Blair's Accidental Witch Trilogy, Laurie's Psychic Eye Series, or Alt's Bewitching Mysteries.

Reviewer Age:19

Reviewer City, State and Country: Farmington, CT USA

The Scary States of America by Michael Teitelbaum

Warning: This book is not for the faint of heart. Some of these stories are scary, but some are just plain weird. Yet they're all true. For example, the bleeding house in Georgia was at one time the home of a serial killer. There are also some tales that aren't scary, they just have to do with the paranormal, like the statue of a little girl that comes to life and hides during thunderstorms. This book is for people who are ready to face the paranormal in their home state.

This book did scare me, but it was also fascinating to see what unusual things happen in each state. I didn't love the stories about the creatures such as the lizardman or the real-life werewolf, but the others were good. A story of the girls who got lost in the lighthouse made me feel really sad and scared because anyone could follow after and die. I would recommend this book to people who laugh at the paranormal. However, I would advise people to proceed with caution.

Reviewer Age:12

Reviewer City, State and Country: Exeter, NH US

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