Jane of Chelsea by J. J. Edwards

Jane is with her cousin, Edward, returning to her kingdom when a mysterious fog surrounds them. Soon it clears, ending their fear, but only to give them a new one. They find themselves in a different world where their adventure starts by being kidnapped. A huntress saves them and takes them to talking storks who think Jane is the missing daughter of their kingdom. Jane is taken to the kingdom, and automatically fits in, convinced she is the missing daughter. Edward, however, doesn't fit in and wants to return home. Jane has to see through challenges to prove she is the missing daughter, while Edward is tricked into going to a place where whoever goes into it never returns. Distressed, Jane goes in to save her cousin. Will they both get out of there alive?

I thought this book was pretty good, although sometimes I would get a little confused. My confusion was caused when I didn't know exactly who was talking. I thought it had a good plot, which consisted of twists and turns that the characters had to think a way out of. There were many good qualities to this book, it was very descriptive and it had good dialogue. However, the beginning was a little slow. This is a good book for readers who like fantasy and adventure all in one.

Reviewer Age:15
Reviewer City, State and Country: Carlisle, PA United States

Prophets: Apotheosis: Book One by S. Andrew Swann

Something is going on with the supposedly uninhabited planet Xi Virginis. An egg sent out by humans to see this planet has disappeared without a trace. The Roman Catholic Church and the rest of the universe decide to intervene and see what is going on with this planet.

Enter Father Mallory, Nickolai, Jusuf Wahid and Julie Kagura, the team assembled to find out what is going on. Mallory is sent by the Roman Catholic Church and is posing as ex-staff sergeant Fitzpatrick. Nickolai is an alien prince who has super-human strength. Wahid and Kagura both posess exceptional skills with weapons.

This odd team of people will be the universe's only hope to figuring out what is happening on Xi Virginis... and may be the universe's only hope to not cause a full out war.

I thought that the book was all right. I thought that some parts of the book were rather slow while other parts were extremely interesting. I enjoyed the plot line and the diverse characteristics of the characters. However, I thought that the first half of the book was rather confusing because the author had the point of view switch with the characters; that is, the author had each character narrate a chapter or two and then switched narrators, which made it difficult to follow which character was doing what. Overall, I thought that the book was pretty good, but it was confusing during the beginning of the book.

Reviewer Age:15

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

Hannah Pritchard: Pirate of the Revolution

Hannah Pritchard: Pirate of the Revolution is about a girl named Hannah who wants revenge on the attackers who killed her family. She goes out on an adventure and meets 2 women who give her work at an inn. Then she sees an ad in the newspaper for a cabin boy on a ship. She knows that girls aren't allowed on ships so she dresses as a boy. She barely gets the job as cabin boy. Dressed as a boy, she tries to keep her secret. She had trouble with another sailor named Lawson. Finally, they go back home. Then Hannah inherits her father's farm.
I loved this book because it told a good story. It was the best story I've heard in ages. Also, it told her emotions about her problems with Lawson and everything.
Reviewer Age:11
Reviewer City, State and Country: Leopold, MO United States of America

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

City of Bones, the first in the Mortal Instruments series, is an intoxicating and addictive novel told from the point of view of Clarissa Fray. Clary is an ordinary girl, living with her artistic mother. But Clary always thought she was different. Her suspicions became reality one night when she sees a blue haired boy being attacked and killed by a group of very attractive looking teenagers. Though it seems she is the only person to be able to witness such events. After this incident she is thrown into a world of paranormal magic and her life is never the same again. She befriends a group of shadow hunters (teenagers who kill demons etc) and finds that she is mysteriously connected to all the strange supernatural happenings around her.

I thought City of Bones was amazing. It truly caught your imagination and was hard to put down. Cassandra Clare used so much description in her words and in the way she betrayed her characters that City of Bones was a very interesting read. I was a little disappointed at the final twist in the story and was able to pick what was going to happen a while before it did. This would definitely be a great book to follow Stephanie Meyers Twilight series, if you are like me and a die hard Edward fan. Overall, City of Bones was an intriguing mix of urban fantasy, witty humor and romance.

Reviewer: SMill
Age:14

Reviewer City, State and Country: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

The Anatomy of Wings by Karen Foxlee

When Jennifer looses her sister, she has no clue why this horrible thing has occurred. Her sister, Beth, was beautiful, popular, smart, and according to their grandma, could talk to angels. Plus, now that Beth is gone Jennifer has lost her stunning ability to sing. Every time that she opens her mouth, the words just will not come out. So now with the help of her best friend, Grace, Jenny is on a hunt to figure out what went wrong with her sister. In doing this, she thinks she will regain her ability to sing. Though, along the way, she finds a few secrets that she simply can't understand.

When beginning The Anatomy Of Wings, I thought I was going to love it since the summary made it seem like it was going to be fast paced and I loved the cover. Unfortunately, it was none of those things. The plot moved incredibly slow and sometimes showed little or no relevance to the main plot at hand. Also, the writing was, at times, too descriptive and had little action. For example, there is one time in this book when the author spends around seven pages describing all of Jenny's aunts and uncles who are not part of the story at all! The only part that made this book somewhat decent were the characters. They were well developed and Karen perfectly captured the feeling of their love for and loss of Beth. Though, in all, the cons out weighed the pros. Overall, The Anatomy Of Wings was a big disappointment to me. Even though, I felt that way, I still think Karen has the ability to get better over time and I look forward to possibly reading some of her future books.

Reviewer Age:13
Reviewer City, State and Country: Mountain Top, PA 18707

What It Do! by Natalya LaBauve-Williams

This is an exciting romance about a girl named Vicki whose biological mother shows up suddenly and wants Vicki to spend time with her. She has to leave her beautiful town and friends behind for the summer to live in Faye's (her mother) rough neighborhood that's filled with gangsters and drug dealers. She has to adjust to the new life and learn how to handle her problems. The main problem is that Vicki falls in love with a street guy who might just be a drug dealer. Can a drug dealer be the right guy for Vicki?

You will love Vicki, who is patient and loving. At first she's not too sure about going with her mother, but she soon learns to like the alternative lifestyle. You understand how Vicki feels through all her love difficulties with Terrence--and you find out that not all of the street guys are bad. Even some of the drug dealers aren't such bad guys, except of course for their chosen profession. Vicki's love problems and finding out about the real world will keep you from putting the book down.


Reviewer Age:12
Reviewer City, State and Country: Cedar Grove, IN U.S.

The Other Side of Magic by Debbie Dadey

This book is about Natalie, Penny and Luke. They are all key holders. Key holders are people who protect the border between the non-magical world (or the place where the humdrums live) and the magical world. The magical world and non-magical world are referred to as this side of magic, and the other side of magic. When Natalie first finds out that she is a key holder, she really does not want to be one. Over time, she begins to enjoy her new role, and as she tries harder, she discovers her own strengths and makes many new friends along the way.

This was a book for small children. It would be an excellent bedtime story for a 5 or 6 year old. There are lots of fun characters, and opportunities for funny voices. This is also a good book for a 6 or 7 year old to read "all by myself" and be proud. Having said that, the plot was not very strong, and the entire story was not presented very realistically. I thought many parts of this book did not connect very well. A few examples of this include Luke and Penny not liking Natalie, and Natalie being a spoiled brat. Although they all circled around Natalie's trip from mean to nice, the scenes did not really go together very well. All in all this was a good book, but not worth reading if you are over 9.

Reviewer Age: 12

Reviewer City, State and Country: Exeter, New Hampshire USA

Operation Redwood

The book I read is called Operation Redwood. This book takes place in San Francisco and a Northern California town called Willits. The main characters are Julian Carter-Li, his uncle Sibley Carter, and a girl who lives in Northern California named Robin Elder. Julian's uncle is a CEO of a big company and his company has been planning to cut down a forest of old-growth Redwood trees in Northern California. This is how Julian meets Robin; Robin sent an email titled "SIBLEY CARTER IS A WORLD-CLASS JERK." to Julian's uncle, but Julian found it before his uncle and deleted it (but not before forwarding it to his best friend, Danny Lopez). Julian continues to contact Robin from Danny's house and together they think of a plan to get Julian to Robin's farm, Huckleberry Ranch. Unfortunately, Julian is supposed to be at math camp, so when his aunt finds out that he's not there, she’s upset, and goes to Willits to get him. It seems like this will be the end of Operation Redgrove, their plan to save Old Tree Grove (the forest of old-growth trees that Sibley Carter's company is going to cut down), but the story doesn’t end here.

I liked this book but it was not one of the best I have read. The book has some key things I liked and some I didn't. I thought the plot was good and I also really liked the author's ability to make me feel like I was actually looking at the settings. I also liked some of the characters, especially Julian, Danny, Robin, Nancy and Ariel because they seemed like real people. However, Sibley was not the typical uncle to me and he and his wife were way too harsh and evil for real relatives. Also, Bob Elder was nothing like I pictured him. I pictured him a balding sweet professor who loved the outdoors, but Bob was almost as harsh as Sibley and he wasn't anything like I thought he would be. He was critical of Julian and was a pretty mean father towards Robin. I think the author thought she achieved her purpose of writing this book but I didn't really get it. I thought most of the story was pretty powerful and definitely age-appropriate. I think the strengths are that the title is very captivating and the story has a good plot, but there are some parts that don't really work. There are a few parts in the middle of the book were I got really bored and the parts didn't make much sense. I don't read many realistic fiction books and even though most of this book really is fiction it is not the kind I personally read. I don't think this book will be as popular as, say, Twilight or Harry Potter, but it does target people who like to help the Earth because it is really environmentally-themed. I have not read another book by S. Terrell French and for a first book, I thought it was pretty good, although I thought some parts of it were dull. I really think this book needs a prequel, because a lot of the things discussed in the book refer to things that previously happened, and that makes it confusing. I did learn a lot about Redwoods and about old-growth trees and would recommend this book to others because I found it to be very interesting and captivating.

Content: 1
Rating: 9
Reviewer Age:12
Reviewer City, State and Country: Braintree, Massachusetts United States

The New Mars: The City Dome by John L. Manning, Jr.

John L. Manning Jr.'s "The New Mars: The City Dome" is a fabrication of reality in every sense of the word. From living quarters to shopping centers to relationships, everything is copacetic. The plot follows three college students, their families, and their girlfriends. Initially on a vacation, they tour the Mars planet that has been newly developed for long term visitation. Basically, the characters serve as venues for the author to describe how each new structure in Mars is "cool." Pages are full of explanations as to what each place does and why it is important. There is not so much dialog, and the interactions between the characters are brief.

This book, like its predecessor, is very predictable. There is not really any mystery, and the whole story is expounding on what Mars is like. There is some Pod racing, but not as much as there was in the previous novel in the series. Most of the story is based on entertainment facilities and how fantastic they appear to be. There isn't really much scientific explanation given as to why the planet is inhabitable, but there are spare facts thrown in every ten pages or so. This book is more grammatically correct than its predecessor, but it still has vague associations with inappropriate behavior.

Vague encounters among couples and sparse drug reference

Reviewer Age: 17

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

The New Mars by John L. Manning Jr.

"The New Mars" by John L. Manning Jr. is science fiction. It encapsulates what life would be like if Mars were colonized. First in the series of several Mars books, this details the beginning stages of civilization. Malls, condos, entertainment facilities, and other structures are built towards the very end of the novel. The bulk of the plot focuses on NASA workers building racing vehicles dubbed Pods. While working on several machines, the workers find that they have many leftover parts. Thus, they begin to build their Pods and race them. A good 200 pages repeats the building, repairing, racing, and promoting process.

This novel does not go much further beyond what the back of the book suggests. The workers races as described on the back is detailed and mentioned over and over. The story then gets a little boring and redundant, only inserting a bit of suspense in the last twenty pages. Additionally, there are some grammatical errors in the book. For young readers just learning their syntax, they should not pick up this book. Also, there are some drug associations and explicit content. While nothing is graphic, its mere mention may be disturbing to some readers.

Drugs and intimacy mentioned

Reviewer Age:17

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