Savind Maddie by Varian Johnson

Saving Maddie by Varian Johnson is difficult to put into words. The synopsis makes it seem as if this is about a wayward girl with low morals that is brought back to the Church by a preacher's son that must resist her temptations. However, Maddie never returns to the Church. She claims to still believe in God but renounces organized religion. She drinks, smokes, wears provocative clothing, and is not sexually pure. She does seduce the preacher's son and causes him to rethink why sex before marriage is wrong--something the author does not explicitly use Scripture to back up.

There are some parts in the book that are unnecessary. Sure, Maddie and the preacher's son never "make babies," but they get awfully close and in detail that readers will not want to hear. Also, while God is mentioned, there is not any explicit discussion of Jesus. There are even points in the book where Catholicism is subtly demoted compared to other forms of Christianity. Towards the end of the book, readers discover why Maddie acts the way she does. There is a seed of sympathy, but that seed is not planted on good soil (pun intended for Bible scholars). The book is engaging, but readers are left unhappy with the ending, longing for a more Christian basis for a book with a cross on the cover, and an edition of the book with perverse scenes deleted.

Inappropriateness

Reviewer Age:18

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

Still Sucks To Be Me by Kimberly Pauley

Mina (Hamilton) Smith is a regular teenage girl about to start her senior year of high school. She has a boyfriend, George and a best friend, Serena, both of whom she cares for deeply. She argues with her parents and even does a little bit of rule breaking. There is one thing, however, that makes Mina different from other girls her age. She is a newly turned vampire. After her changing, Mina's life starts to go downhill. The Vampire Council stages her death, changes her name, and forces her family to relocate. Against all rules, she manages to let Serena know about everything that is going on. But her life continues to get worse. Her family moves to Cartville, a tiny town in the middle of Louisiana so that her dad can play historian with some vampire doctor who is older than the earth itself; her boyfriend goes to Brazil to reconnect with his absentee parents and she has not heard from him since he left; the only other vampire teen in town, Cameron, is oh-so-complicated, mysterious and smells way too good to be allowed; and, to top it all off, a weird, vampire wannabe, Goth girl, who got kicked out of Mina's vampire (propaganda) preparation classes, is stalking Serena. Add to that the fact that neither girl should know anything about the existence of vampires and Mina is in a whole lot of trouble.


Kimberly Pauley sucks the reader in with her capture of Mina's voice. Her writing style makes a reader feel as if Mina is their close friend. Her sarcastic and witty humor keeps a reader laughing at every turn. I was glued to this book from start to finish and if a reader enjoys teen fiction, then they will be too. Mina's life is a roller coaster of laughs and thrills all the way to the finish.

Reviewer Age:16
Reviewer City, State and Country: Leverett, Ma USA

The Seven Rays by Jessica Bendinger

The Seven Rays, a fantasy and science fiction novel by
Jessica Bendinger, is about a girl named Beth Michaels, a
seemingly normal girl who's a senior in high school and
on her way to go to Columbia University, after a lot of
hard work. She receives a strange golden envelope, at her
school, with an intriguing message that's not even
addressed to her, rather to an Aleph Beth. Then she
starts seeing things, strange things, like dots, bands,
and ropes. She has surgery done to her eyes because she's
so worried about her strange vision, but it doesn't work.
She also falls in love with a guy from school, Richie. He
happens to be the brother of her best friend's love
interest. Beth eventually ends up in a mental institution
because she keeps seeing things and has episodes. She's
diagnosed as a schizophrenic. While she's there, she
befriends a girl that happens to be deaf, learns difficult
truths about her mother and best friend, who actually
turns out to have a terrible character, and discovers that
she's actually not crazy.

The Seven Rays started off
pretty boring, when Beth got her golden letter. It got a
lot better in the middle, when Beth was at the mental
hospital, but got worse when she got even more messages in
golden envelopes. It was somewhat interesting when she
broke out of it. The plot was interesting, though not
spectacular, and Beth was a decent character. It was,
however, pretty predictable. I could tell that something
was off about her mother from the beginning. This was not
one of my favorite books, but neither was it one of my
least favorites. It was pretty strange when Beth got a
tattoo and started talking to a deaf person, who talked
back, at the mental hospital. I got mildly sad after
Richie, Beth's boyfriend, left. If you're looking for a
fantastic book to read, go somewhere else. If you're
looking for a decently written book with interesting
characters and an somewhat unusual plot, then read The
Seven Rays.

There were some inappropriate and
disturbing scenes with Beth and Richie.

Reviewer Age:17

Reviewer City, State and Country: Charleston, SC US

Prowling The Seas by Pamela S. Turner

Daniel Corrigan just moved to Nodle's Green, Pennsylvania and notices something strange. Soon, he figures out that his new friends have superpowers. One can fly, one is super strong, and another can turn invisible. These kids watch over the town and keep everyone safe. The only problem is that the superheroes are disappearing one by one because when they turn thirteen, their powers and any memories of them disappear. To find the villan that is stealing the powers of the kids of Noble's Green, everyone will have to work together and stop him once and for all.

This book is now one of my favorites! The author made me feel like I was actually there. I felt like I could relate to all of the characters in some way. I also liked how the author described eveything in great detail so you knew exactly what was going on. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves a good adventure or mystery.

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

I Kissed A Zombie, and I Liked It by Adam Selzer

Alley knows how it is with vampires.She has them as daily life.When she goes to review the Sorry Marios there is a mysterious new guest that she falls under his musical voice. When they start dating she is so head over heels in love she can't see that he wears the same clothes,has a weird smell,and can't talk a lot. He's a zombie... She knows that they have to break up but,later learns that she can't shake him.Then figures out that another guy(dead) is after her and has an expirement in mind.Will she survive the expirement and dating her boyfriend?

The book I would say have mainly the ideas of the book have love,fighting,death.I would say Alley has the characterictes of in a popular and a stab in the back with disses.She really likes to make fun of people.It was kind of dull. Adventure here, attack over there. Lots of talking. A little weird with some of the things.Make it some more romantic. If she did a vampire I think it would been a little more exciting.I don't think I would recommend it to others with how the story went.

Reviewer Age:11
Reviewer City, State and Country: katy, Texas U.S.A.

Hunted by P.C.Cast and Kristin Cast

Zoey Redbird, and her friends are at it again. The secret about Stevie Rae and the other red fledglings is out, but there is a new secret to crack; Neferet has a new console, Kalona. No one else seems to think there is anything suspicious about him, but Zoey and her friends have their doubts for various reasons. He is gorgous, and he seems to have everyone under a spell that makes them blind to the truth about him. It's up to Zoey to try and break the spell, but along the way, she discovers truths she dosen't want to know, and secrets that she feels should be kept hidden. With all the pressure of boyfriends, and the red fleglings that seem tohave aged, but have they really?

I thought that Hunted was an amazing book. It was really suspenseful, and had me reading all the time. I couldn't put it down. This book is filled with action, friendship and romance.Zoey's romance problems were unpredictable, and exciting. I recomend this book to anyone who likes vyampire fantasy.

Reviewer Age:13
Reviewer City, State and Country: Springfield , Ohio US

Defining Twilight by Brian Leaf M.A.

Defining twilight is a workbook that helps you learn vocabulary that often appears on SAT, ACT, GED, and SSAT. Brian leaf has done all of this and he also uses one of the most popular books written in the past fifty years. Stefanie Myer's Twilight! This workbook helps you learn over 600 vocabulary words. Also you learn synonyms, Latin word parts, and memorization tools throughout the workbook.

Teen girls will find this book very useful with their studies. They may even find it fun, I know I did. Brian Leaf found a way to teach teens vocabulary, and it's fun. This workbook makes you think and if you are a vocabulary buff like me it does have words that even you won't know. I hope this book helps you I know it helped me :)

Reviewer Age:14
Reviewer City, State and Country: Tipp City, Ohio United States

Secrets of a Christmas Box by Steven Hornby

Christmas is near, and the Ferguson family has just finished decorating thier Christmas tree.But later, when the family is drifting to sleep, others are waking up. In the living room, on the tree, the ornaments, lights, and other decorations are awakening from a year of slumber. As "Tree-Dwellers" catch up with one another, Larry, a joly snowman, spends hours searching for his brother, Terrence, who has seemed to dissapear. After giving up on his search, Larry- along with his girlfriend, Debbie; his long time companion, Tinsel; and a new-comer, Splint- breaks the laws of the Tree Elders and escape the prickly branches in search of Terrence. But how will Larry and his friends fin Terrence without being noticed by the family and the "Tree-Dwellers?" Will they make it back to he tree in time to be packed away? And why is this new-comer so eager to help?

Secrets of a Christmas Box is a wonderful holiday story. Steven Hornby captures the essence of Christmas while making the book thrilling and exiting with a happy and justified ending. Beautifully sketched illustrations help tell this tale without taking to much away for the reader's imagination. The story made me want to run out to my garage and find my family's Christmas box. All in all: a magical children's tale any one could fall in love with. Soon to be a Christmas classic.

Reviewer Age:12
Reviewer City, State and Country: Fortuna, California USA

Timeshares by Jean Rabe

Timeshares is a book made up of short stories. All the stories are related to timeshares in one way or another. Sometimes the narrator is a customer or maybe a rival or just an employee. Timeshares is a travel company; they can take you anywhere, wait, no anywhen. All of the stories have at least one problem. If you expected that every story has a happy ending, then you are far wrong. In some of the stories, the character fails, it might be in their mission or they just might die. There are also some happy endings too though. Most of the times the author leaves you on a cliffhanger so you have to infer about what would happen next.


This book is an okay book for me. I don't really like short stories but since timeshares is all related to the timeshares company, it is better than some of the other short story books that jump from one subject to another. I liked this book the way i do is because to me, the subject of time traveling is confusing and challenging to understand but that's what I like in a book. The last short story changes everything if it WAS real life. It's pretty surprising. I really like the last sentence in the book: I did it for mystery" I cannot tell you why without spoiling some of the stories and taking away some of the suspense.

There are cuss words and adultish stuff

Reviewer Age:10
Reviewer City, State and Country: katy, texas United States Of America

Cat Burglar Black by Richard Sala

Cat Burglar Black tells the story of K. She is an orphan who has lived a fairly difficult childhood. One day, she is invited to a mansion by her aunt, whom she hasn't seen in a very long time. When she gets there, she finds three other girls at a mysterious academy her aunt runs. Only one issue: her aunt is very ill and the staff of the academy have taken it over while her aunt is laying in bed. They begin to train K to become an expert burglar, which they have already been doing with the other three girls. They have to steal paintings from around the village to solve a mystery hundreds of years old.

This book was fairly interesting. The plot was a little slow at certain points of the story, yet it was still captivating and I was excited to see how the book would end. The artwork was slightly distracting, as it was drawn in an intentionally unpolished style. I got used to it after awhile, but I found it somewhat hard to concentrate on the story with the drawings the way they were. I would recommend this book to fans of other graphic novels and definitely for fans of spy stories.

Reviewer Age:15
Reviewer City, State and Country: Westerville, OH United States