Some Girls Are by Courtney Summers

Regina Afton used to be part of the Fearsome Fivesome, a girl-only clique. The Fearsome Fivesome is feared and admired by the students of Hallowell High. When a brutal rumor is started about Regina and her best friend's boyfriend, she is kicked out of the clique. Now her ex-best friends are out for vengeance and the bullying gets worse. Regina tries to set things right with her friends, but they only believe the intense rumors around school. She takes comfort in the company of Michael Hayden, a boy with a grim past that she used to bully. Regina realizes that Michael could be more than friends and she tries to make things right from her past. Can Regina set things right or will the Fearsome Foursome send Regina to rock bottom?

Some Girls Are is a very intense novel. As the bullying increases, you want to keep reading to figure out what will happen. This book seemed realistic because sometimes rumors get out of hand and you can get bullied. This books makes you realizes that, in high school, you really need good friends that will have your back. If you enjoy romance, suspense, or drama you should pick up this book and start reading it.

Some Girls Are contains some sexual content that may not be suitable for some readers

Reviewer Age:13
Reviewer City, State and Country: Enon, Ohio USA

Silver Shoes by Paul Miles Schneider

Donald Gardner's family takes a summer road trip through Kansas, which is the most boring way Donald could imagine spending his summer. On their trek home, his family is on its last roadside stop when Donald's mother meets a poor woman. To get money, this poor woman sells the only thing she has to Donald's mother: a single silver shoe.

When the school year begins, Donald brings the shoe in to show his classmates, and the connection between The Wizard of the Oz by L. Frank Baum and the shoe is made. One girl from his class relates how in the book by L. Frank Baum the shoe is silver as well. Later when Donald walks home from school with his friends, he is dared to try the shoe on, and from then on strange things happen around Donald. A man, George Clarke, comes out of hiding and meets Donald. Together they untangle the true secrets behind Baum's story.

The beginning of the book was a little slow but quickly jumped into the rush of the story. Otherwise, it was an upbeat and fast paced read. It brought in elements from L. Frank Baum's book and added a new story that will please Baum's fans. When I began reading the book I couldn't put it down. I recommend this book to not only to fans of Baum, but also to people who want a thrilling ride.


Reviewer Age:16
Reviewer City, State and Country: Carlisle, PA United States

The Pillow Book of Lotus Lowenstein by Libby Schmais

The Pillow Book of Lotus Lowenstein by Libby Schmais is a realistic-fiction journal about a teenager named Lotus who is an anything French addict. Her greatest aspiration is to live in France and live as an existentialist. She is not looking for love, but when a cute boy walks into to the French Club she created, she is head-over-heels. When Lotus hears that her best friend, Joni, feels the same way about the new boy, Sean, she hides her feelings, for she doesn't want to stomp on the socially awkward Joni's first crush. This book talks about how insane a teen's life can be and shows how boys can test friendship.

It is necessary to say that this book will not be the next literary masterpiece of the decade, but it is a truly "livre intressant." I loved how the author decided to use French continually during the book; it really brought out the main character's character! While the book did move fast enough, I felt there was really no plot line. The book really didn't go anywhere. Also, I didn't like many sexual comments that littered the pages, even though I am a teen, and this is a teenage book. Overall a "merveilleux" read!

Reviewer Age:13
Reviewer City, State and Country: Lake Bluff, IL The United States of America

Day of the Assassins by Johnny O'Brien

Jack Christie and his best friend Angus enjoy playing
their Point-of-Departure World War 1 video game although
they do not realize what an impact World War I has on
their present day lives. How could something in the past
affect the present? After Jack and Angus discover a secret
library in Jack's house that used to belong to Jack's
father, their adventure begins. When the boys bring in an
artifact found in the library to show their history
teachers, they learn about things that they thought were
impossible and somehow end up in 1914. They learn that
time travel does exist. They also learn about how the
scientists who invented this amazing, or maybe terrible,
method of time travel have entirely different viewpoints.
The VIGIL group does not want time travel to be used
because of the unknown consequences. The Benefactor wants
to use time travel to change history by preventing the
assassination of Franz Ferdinand. It's up to Jack, stuck
in time before WWI, to decide. Who will he side with?

Day of the Assassins, by Johnny O'Brien was a pretty
good book. It had some aspects of historical fiction and
science fiction so if you like either science fiction or
historical fiction you would probably like it. Part of
this book takes place right before WWI and the
assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. If you are
interested in that period of time you would probably like
this also. The beginning of Day of the Assassins was a
little slow but after I got into it I couldn't put it
down! This book showed a different side of the trigger of
World War I, the assassination of Franz Ferdinand. You see
the assassination through the eyes of the assassins.
Overall, Day of the Assassins was a good book!

Reviewer Age:13
Reviewer City, State and Country: Harleysville, PA USA

Girls Acting Catty was a great book to read. In it, Annabelle is a new girl in town and Rachel is a mean girl who makes it hard for Annabelle to fit in. When Annabelle arrives in town, she makes friends with some of the other girls, but they are not part of the popular crowd. Rachel is beautiful and popular, and eventually invites Annabelle to be part of her group, but Annabelle wouldn't be able to include her other friends. Eventually, she has to choose between Rachel and her older friends, and it is a hard decision to make.

This book was very interesting to me because it was something that everyone could relate to in their own school. The setting was very realistic because the characters and the things that happened could happen to anyone. That made the book more interesting. I also thought that the story had a very good message, and I liked the ending. I would definitely recommend this book to others.

Reviewer Age:10

Reviewer City, State and Country: Pittsburgh, PA USA

Adam Canfield: The Last Reporter, by Michael Winerip

Adam Canfield is the star reporter/co-editor of his school newspaper, The Slash.The Slash was shut down and they're trying to put it out by them selves. Adam Canfield: The Last Reporter, by Michael Winerip, is a story of adventure with a touch of romance through out the whole book. You won't want to put it down from cover to cover. It's like a movie in your mind, you can picture everything that the author explains in this number one choice book.

I love this book and I think a lot of other people would like it also. The characters are likable, and easy to relate to. This is a top book and easily makes my top ten books. A reason I recommend this book for others is the plot is clear and understandable.
Winerip uses a clear writing style that is easy to follow.

Reviewer Age: 13

Reviewer City, State and Country: Sandy, Oregon

The Curse of the Romany Wolves by S. Jones Rogan

This animal fantasy could also be called an adventure novel. The Curse of the Romany Wolves starts in a land called Kernovia, with two foxes, Penhaligon and Rowan, living in an old manor. They have turned this manor into a hospital. In a nearby place called the Purple Moor there once lived a pack of wolves known as the Romany Wolves. One day a sickness called "wolf fever" came through and wiped out almost all of the wolves. Penhaligon and Rowan adopted the only two survivors, wolf cubs Dora and Donald. When Donald suddenly comes down with wolf fever, Penhaligon sets out on a journey to try and find the cure. On this journey, Penhaligon becomes friends with a sea serpent, is captured by a pirate, and reaches the Howling Island where he finds his father, Mawgan. Meanwhile, in the town of Porthleven in Kernovia, the sickness is spreading to the children of other animal families, which is strange because wolf fever had never spread to other types of animals before. Though he goes through many hardships seeking the cure, Penhaligon will not give up, because he is determined to save Donald.

I liked the pictures in this book, and thought that the ones of the sea serpent were very creative. This book is very interesting because the characters have unusual names, and there are a lot of characters who play important roles in the story. This book is a pure animal fantasy, with no human characters, and almost all of the characters are hilarious in their own way; for example, Pig-wiggy, one of the pirate Dredge's crew, is a guinea pig who is very concerned about his hair, and Dredge and his ferret crew are frequently described as very stinky. The setting of the book was easy to imagine, for example, the description of the three peaks on Howling Island and the serpent's cave were easy to picture in my mind. I found this book so good I could not take my eyes off of it, and finished reading it within four hours after it came in the mail. The ending surprised me a lot because Penhaligon found in the end that he had had what he needed without knowing it. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys books with talking animals or sea serpents.

Reviewer Age:11

Reviewer City, State and Country: Lake City, IA USA

Laughing Wolf by Nicholas Maes

Circa 71 BC - this is where Felix Taylor and Carolyn Manes must go in order to save the world. In the 23rd century people are suffering from a mysterious disease that will kill everybody on the planet if not cured. The laughing wolf flower is the only thing that can possibly cure the plague. However, the flower has been extinct for thousands of years! Felix and Carolyn must travel back in time and find the flower. The fate of the world rests in their hands.

Laughing Wolf was an okay book. It was sometimes hard to figure out what character said what. Also, the author introduced too many characters, some of whom were easily forgotten. But, the ending was strong and very interesting. It wasn't one of the best books that I have read but kids who are particularly interested in history and the future might like Laughing Wolf.

Reviewer Age:11
Reviewer City, State and Country: Randolph, NJ United States

The Other Queen by Pjilippa Gregory

During Elizabethan England, Queen's Elizabeth's cousin Mary Queen of Scots has been forced to flee her country from rebels and seek refuge in England. Mary, while being the Queen of Scotland, is also heir to the English throne, and some believe that she is the true monarch while Elizabeth is merely an imposter. Fearing assassination and a royal overthrow, Elizabeth imprisons Mary against her will as a "guest" of the Earl of Shrewsbury, George Talbot, and his wife Bess. George and Bess, at a great expense to them, are forced to host Queen Mary and her entire court. As they sink deeper and deeper into debt, their residence becomes a center of intrigue and rebellion against Elizabeth. But as George begins falling for Mary and Elizabeth and her steward, William Cecil, become mroe and more paranoid, will George and Bess be able to escape with their fortune intact, and hopefully their lives?

I love books about Tudor England and think that Philippa Gregory is a fantastic writer, so I knew I would enjoy The Other Queen. The one problem I had with this book, that I didn't have with others written by Gregory, is that it was really hard to get into. In the beginning, there wasn't a lot of dialogue or movement in the plot, just a lot of narration, made worse by the fact that The Other Queen is written in first person. It wasn't until the 200 page mark that the book picked up and I actually started to enjoy it. I didn't know that much about Mary, Queen of Scots, so it was neat to read and learn about her. The characters, especially George and Bess, had a lot of depth, and it was interesting to get into their minds and see their thoughts and feelings. I would recommend The Other Queen to any fans of historical fiction.

Reviewer Age:18
Reviewer City, State and Country: Aston, Pennsylvania United States

The Better Part of Darkness by Kelly Gay

This book is a fantasy adventure novel. Several years before the book began, the Revelation occurred, bringing off-world beings reminiscent of the angels, fairies, and demons of myth into open contact with humans. As a result, Atlanta has become a mixing pot and hotbed of off-world and human crime. The Atlanta P.D. Integration Task Force partners humans and non-humans to deal with this crime. One of its detectives is Charlie Madigan, a divorced mother of one. She has been recently resurrected from the dead, which has left her with horrible and mysterious dreams. Her partner is Hank, a siren who can control beings with his voice if he removes his voice-modification device. Together, they are trying to track down the source of a new, deadly, and off-world narcotic known as ash. While doing so, Charlie must deal with and protect her daughter, her sister, and her ex-husband. This book is the first by Kelly Gay and has a sequel coming out in August.

This book wasinteresting and entertaining but not completely satisfying. The settings and various types of beings were well explained and creative. The characters, especially Charlie, develop as the book progresses. The plot is enjoyable and has unexpected twists. As a side note, this book had several references to sexuality and a few lust-charged scenes. However, the ending was not conclusive enough. There are still unanswered questions and unresolved serious problems. There is going to be at least one sequel, possibly more. The book is best for someone who likes fantasy and adventure and either enjoys or does not mind some complex relationships and sexuality. Readers should also expect to be left hanging and waiting for the sequel.

This book had both violence and sexual references. It is best for high school or adult readers.

Reviewer Age:16
Reviewer City, State and Country: Royersford, PA United States