Ernest Hemingway: A Writer's Life by Catherine Reef

Ernest Hemingway was not only one of the most influential American writers of all time - he also had a fascinating life. He was born in 1899 to a wealthy Chicago family. He began writing in school, where his teachers encouraged his talents. When World War I broke out, he went to Italy to fight. His experiences in the army influenced one of his most famous books, A Farewell to Arms. Throughout his life, Ernest Hemingway enjoyed doing the unusual - he was fond of bull fights and safaris. He joined with Spanish forces in the Spanish Civil War. However, despite his exciting life, Hemingway struggled with depression over his writing and life. In 1961, he took his own life. But his writing lives on - his books have become classics of American literature.

Reef's biography of Ernest Hemingway was a fascinating account of Hemingway's life. She aptly used quotes from Hemingway's friends and family to describe his life from his childhood to his death. She provided numerous antidotes that enabled the reader to glimpse into the life of Hemingway in an engaging way. Also, the book had lovely photographs chronically Hemingway's life. However, what I particularly enjoyed in the book was Reef's careful analysis of the factors that influenced Hemingway's writing. Having read some of the Hemingway's works, I found it fascinating to read about the experiences that led Hemingway to write his books. Even for those who have never read a Hemingway novel, this biography gives you a extraordinary glimpse into the life of one of the most influential Americans of the twentieth century.

Reviewer Age:17
Reviewer City, State and Country: Urbana, IL USA

Boys, Bears, and a Serious Pair of Hiking Boot

Jenna is just a girl living in the New Jersey suburbs and has a life revolved around environmentalism. From recycling to protesting out on the streets, her and the Green Teens, a group of fellow environmentalists, do everything possible to help the planet. Then, Jenna
decides to fly to Canada to visit her godmother, Susie, during the summer. After some crazy encounters with the locals and wildlife (a stray moose on Main Street, a group of cute, nature-loving boys, and Susie's stepdaughter, Fiona), Jenna soon realizes that her eco-friendly ideas
don't appeal to the residents of Stillwater. As Jenna arms herself with a nature survival guide, she sets out to learn how to live in the wilderness the locals call home.

Boys, Bears, and a Serious Pair of Hiking Boots is about a girl trying to fit in and survive that wildlife that she's always heard about. Boys, Bears, and a Serious Pair of Hiking Boots is a fun and fast paced novel that contains humor, romance, and a group of fun-loving, characters that readers can relate to. The relationships between the characters that Abby McDonald established were very realistic. They have traits that readers could compare themselves to. Jenna is a eco-friendly girl that supports nature, but doesn't really know much about
living, or surviving, in it. The boys she meets, Ethan, Grady, and Reeve, are a group of boys that love having fun and can do that in nature. The characters have obstacles that they have to learn how to overcome. I think that these traits will let the readers to actually imagine the
characters as real people. This book was a very enjoyable read and kept me hooked to it until the end. I think that many young adult readers will enjoy reading this.

Unfamiliar Magic by R. C. Alexander

Unfamiliar Magic is about a young witch named Desi, whose mom is also a witch and she refuses to teach Desi any spells or tell Desi anything about her father who has been absent Desi's whole life. Desi has a cat named Devil which is a familiar. (Devil can travel to different worlds- the witch or the demon world) Desi's mom, Desi, and their cat have moved all over the world for an unknown reason to Desi. They have just moved to the suburbs when her mother leaves without any notice right after turning their cat Devil into a teenage girl. After Desi's mother leaves unexplainably Desi is lost. She makes friends with the boy next door, Jarrett. Devil, who is now called Cat, starts dating Jarrett's older brother, Bob. Unfortunately Cat is just a person on the outside and still thinks like a cat, which causes problems for Desi. When the foursome goes to the mall Desi meets a magician willing to teach Desi some magic. Bad things happen after that include battling demons, learning magic, getting stuck in portals, and her mother and father fighting over what is best for Desi.

I think that the book Unfamiliar Magic is a great book and a must read for all who like fantasy. I really liked Desi she was full of energy and never gave up. I also liked Cat because she would do anything to save Desi. This book was very well written, very exiting, and a real page turner.

Reviewer Age:10
Reviewer City, State and Country: Boothwyn, PA USA

Travelers Market by Maureen Doyle McQuerry

When an evil rat bites Timothy's mom, its up to him, his sister Sarah, and their newly found friend, Jessica to find the cure. An old acquaintance leads them to the Traveler's Market. They don't trust anyone, and an old foe that hides in the dark of the Market makes it dangerous. Timothy and Sarah find two extraodanary talents inside themselves that lay dormant, until now. Even with the help of Timothy and Sarah's new talents, the Dark's warriors are a threat to millions of lives.

This book was awesome! Almost all the characters had a lot of depth. The plot was very well written, and I loved the different things that the characters find deep inside themselves. Although it is the second in the series, you don't have to read the first book to get the story line. For you older kids who still like illustrations, there are illustrations throughout the book and they're very well drawn. Whether you've read the first book or not, I strongly recommend this book and hope you have as much fun reading it as I did.

Reviewer Age:10
Reviewer City, State and Country: Rockwell City, IA USA

The Whispering Sand by Ian Kenworthy

Annabeth a young girl comes to stay with her very down-to-Earth grandpa, Grandpa Bambertide. Grandpa Bambertide lives in an enormous, wacky house called Gull Cove Cottage located on Gull Cove Beach. Living on this property, Grandpa Bambertide feels that it is his job to take care of, and protect Gull Cove Beach.
Something is terribly wrong with the sand on the beach. The sand begins to whisper a song and when the song is over, the sand turns grey and dies. Annabeth and Grandpa Bambertide must get to the bottom of this. Upon going on many adventures, Annabeth figures out that songs are trapped inside the sand, and by being sung, they are keeping the sand alive. Every song in the sand has been sung, and old memories trapped in the sand have faded. Grandpa Bambertide and Annabeth must save the sand and figure out how to cure it.

The Whispering Sand by: Ian Kenworthy was meant to really bring out your imagination. It did not. It was hard to follow and did not keep me intrigued. Written with many details, I wanted the story to come to life in my mind. At parts of the story, I began to loose interest. The main plot was good however, my loss of interest was due to reading about problems in the story that absolutely had nothing to do with the main plot. Overall, The Whispering Sand was a creative book for someone who enjoys fantasy books.

I gave The Whisering Sand a rating of 3 because the book was not mainly focusing on the plot, which would have made the story clearer. The story had smaller more less important problems more focused on, than the entire main plot of the story.

Reviewer Age:12
Reviewer City, State and Country: Cleveland, Ohio USA

Ghostgirl: Homecoming by Tonya Hurley

Charlotte's world is turned upside down by a
simple gummy bear in the first book of this series,
ghostgirl. She dies and enters the afterlife where she is
forced to work at a hotline for troubled teens.
Charlotte's old friend, Scarlet, desperately needs
her help because her big sister, Petula, is gravely ill.
Charlotte's friend, Maddy, in the neighboring cubical
intercepts the call from Scarlet. She has to find another
way to get to Charlotte. So she enters the afterlife
world herself to find Charlotte. When she finds her,
they go on a search for Petula's holding room . Along the
way Maddy tries to lead them astray. Maddy is trying to
steal Petulas life for herself, in the end Petula is saved
and crowned Homecoming Queen.

I did enjoy this book the author made me feel like I
was there. The characters were great and worked together
well; she really made me feel as if they were best friends
or sister. The authors voice changed thought out the
book to what every mood they were in at the moment (funny,
serious.). She gave great detail and I was never left
wondering what was happening. I found this book to be
entertaining and interesting. I think the ending was great
because I like happy endings. I would recommend this book
to others.

Reviewer Age:14
Reviewer City, State and Country: mineola , Texas USA

Looking for Marco Polo by Alan Armstrong

The book Looking for Marco Polo is about an eleven-year-old boy who travels to Venice. His father traveled with him on the adventurous journey. On the trip Mark had an asthma attack. He went to see one of his father's friends named Dr. Hornaday. He found out that Dr. Hornaday had a big, black dog named Boss. While all the adults were asleep Mark found out that Boss was his dog named Marco Polo.

I thought this book was really adventurous and good. This wasn't my favorite book in the world but it kept me going. I think people who would like to read this book would have to love to read adventurous books. Im more of a person who likes to read mostly mysterious books.

Reviewer Age:12
Reviewer City, State and Country: Nokomis, Illinois United States

Yokaiden 2 by Nina Matsumoto

Hamachi Uramaki travels to the Yokai realm, to avenge his grandmother's death. A Yokai named Madkap has killed his grandmother for setting a Yokai trap and severing Madkaps leg. Hamachi is in search of the nine tails, but when he finds her she wants him to stay so she gives him three different tasks. They endanger his and his only chance of survival and completion of the tasks is his knowledge and determination to avenge his grandmother. So will he succeed or will he fail, find out in this adventurous novel by Nina Matsumoto.

A great book I highly recommend it, but if you don't like Japanese Mangas then I suggest you don't read it. This is definitely a great book so please read it. You can even skip the first one, it explains it to where you know enough to where you understand the story. It's great 'cause unlike a lot of Mangas you don't have to read back to front. It's an easy quick read that provides an entertaining story.

Reviewer Age:13
Reviewer City, State and Country: Sandy, Oregon USA

Short Circus by Stephen V. Masse

Jem Lockwood has just got back to school and his first
task is to write a report on his summer vacation. Short
Circus is Jem's story about all of the adventures he went
on with his friends and famliy. Jesse Standish is Jem's
older brother through the Big Brother Association and he
may be forced to move. That is one of Jem's problems
along with someone destroying the swimming pond, and
problems among his friends. Will Jem even make it through
the summer?

I didn't like Short Circus very much. In
fact, it was difficult to pick up and read because I
wasn't really interested in it. I couldn't finish the
book. I thought Short Circus had a weak plot and no
rising action. There was not much happening throughout
the book. It is written in a kid's point of view, but it
is not like what a kid would do. If I had a say in the
making of the book, I might make it more of a narrative
instead of a first person story.

I thought the book was
uninteresting. I had a tough time getting into it. There
wasn't much action or interesting things
happening.

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

Riding Invisible by Sandra Alonzo

Yancy is the good kid. He is the one who gets all A s in
school, does not get in trouble, is a talented writer and
artist, and keeps his responsibilities to his horse, Shy.
Yancy's brother, Will, has a conduct disorder. He is the
one who does not do well in school, gets in trouble, beats
on other kids and needs to have a good deeds chart
completed before he can get his learner's permit. So, why
is Yancy the one who runs away? After Will attacks Shy,
Yancy packs up his horse and leaves home, attempting to
find a place where he and his horse can live safely. He
gets himself into a whole heap of trouble and has more
adventure than he could ever imagine.

As a horse lover,
myself, I have often been disappointed by the inaccuracies
in horse-related books. I was not with this one. Yancy
is a clever and detailed narrator and it is a pleasure to
step into his mind while reading his so-called adventure
journal . Travel with Yancy and Shy along their journey
that is full of sarcasm and potholes. This is a book
about a boy, his horse, and the life they are determined
to escape from.

This story is told through the eyes of a
sixteen year-old boy in journal format. He does not mince
his words and some of his references to the female
characters could be offending. Also, Yancy's brother does
things that include drugs and alcohol.

Reviewer
Age:17
Reviewer City, State and Country: Leverett,
Massachusetts USA