The Ghost of Crutchfield Hall by Mary Downing Hahn

Florence Crutchfield moves from an orphanage in London to Crutchfield Hall, her uncle's house out in the country. When she first arrives, she doesn't think she will have a happy life at Crutchfield Hall because her aunt hates her. She has other things to worry about too, like her dead cousin, Sophia, coming back from the grave! Sophia thinks her brother James should be dead instead of her so she tries to kill him to revive her life. Florence is part of Sophia's plan to try to kill James.

The Ghost of Crutchfield Hall, in my opinion is a great book that is written in a fast moving pace. It was one of those books that you can't put down until you're done--I know I couldn't! If you like stories that are very suspenseful, you will like this book. It wasn't as scary as I thought it would be, but the ghost was gross. It was a short book compared to what Mary Downing Hahn usually writes.

Reviewer Age:11
Reviewer City, State and Country: Friendswood, Texas United States

Infinite Days by Rebecca Maizel

When Lenah becomes human after hundreds of blood-sucking vampire years, she doesn't know how to fit in. Although she is free from ruling her coven, taking innocent humans lives, and staying hidden, the real world is definitely different for her.

Going to high school is no challenge to Lenah. Lenah entered high school during the middle of the year but going to school is no challenge for her as she is one of the smartest students who knows practically every language. When she meets Justin Enos, she has a feeling she'd never felt before. Soon they are dating and Lenah learns to live. While they are at the winter dance together, something happens to Lenah which leaves her heart broken, but not by Justin.

Infinite Days is a very good book. Although it is about vampires, it has a different scenario; normally it's a human turning into a vampire but this book is the complete opposite, a vampire turning into a human. Readers who enjoy non-fiction books with lots of action and suspense with a little romance would love this book. This book is very detailed and written very well, and it seems like it is happening right in front of you! Infinite Days is a very fun and interesting book.


Reviewer Age:14
Reviewer City, State and Country: Fairborn, Ohio USA

A Family Secret by Eric Heuvel

"A Huge Allied Assault of the most important bridges by Arnhem and Nijmegen took place on September 17, 1944..." Says Mrs. Helena to her grandson, Jeroen. One day, as Jeroen was digging through some old things in his grandmother's attic, he had noticed some old newspapers that were dated back in the 1940s and an old Jewish star. He had gone and asked his grandmother what the papers said. He couldn't read them because they were in German. When he asked about the star, Helena had told him that the star had belonged to her best friend because she was a Jew. She had started to tell Jeroen about the Nazi war, about how a crazy guy called Hitler was trying to take over. Helena had also mentioned to Jeroen that her dad worked for the German police, meaning that her dad was the one who took her best friend from her and sent her to a concentration camp. In a way this story had really helped me, because normally when you hear about the Nazi war in Germany it is usually always from a Jewish persons point of view, never from a German person. It was based off the point of view of the Grandma that had lived through that time but all she had to deal with was losing her best friend to the Nazi s. But seeing as Helena didn't want to remember it, she had never really mentioned this to her grandson, thus making that the Family Secret.

I really enjoyed this mainly. It's one of my favorite times in history that I love to read about, WWII. This book has a lot of historical facts in it about the Nazis and a lot of fictional things. I do prefer that you read this book if you like things on history. Seeing as it is a graphic novel, it tells alot more with the pictures than I think it could have if it was just a novel. It shows you the reactions on the faces instead of just describing how they looked. I think this would be a great book for all ages to read. Historical or not it is a very good book.

Reviewer Age:15

Reviewer City, State and Country: Casa Grande, Arizona United States

Almost To Die For by Tate Hallaway

Being a dhampyr brings its struggles for Ana. Her controlling witch mother tries to restrain her from seeing anyone but witches, and her vampire father tries to reclaim her for the vampire throne. What is hard about satisfying both parents? Vampires and witches are enemies and will do anything to stop each other. Ana must choose to side with her over-protective mother or her father who she only just met. Through high school drama, magic, and boys, Ana Parker goes through the craziest time of her life.

Almost to Die For is a novel that follows current trends. Vampires, boys, and action are in many new teen books. Tate Hallaway made her novel unique by incorporating witches as characters as well as normal humans. The plot is fun and interesting but rather predictable near the end. Though it is not a perfect piece of literature, this novel is worth reading to the teenage girl. Up-to-date vocabulary and slang make the dialogue seem realistic, and the first person narration draws the reader into the protagonist's mind. I recommend this novel to anyone who enjoys the Twilight series and other vampire novels.

Reviewer Age:17
Reviewer City, State and Country: Carlisle, Pennsylvania United States of America

Secrets of the First Daughter by Cassidy Calloway

Secrets of the First Daughter by Cassidy Calloway is about the first daughter of the United States, and the problems that follow her everywhere - including England! Senior, Morgan Abbott, the first daughter, is perfectly happy. She gets to see her boyfriend, although it’s in secret, and she takes the role of class president after her enemy Brittany Whittaker is removed from office! Unfortunately for Morgan, nothing can go smoothly. With a secret relationship, Brittany, and now colleges, Morgan has her hands full. This is a sequel to Confessions of a First Daughter.

Secrets of the First Daughter is a perfect summer read full of love stories and hilarious mishaps. Although it doesn’t grab your attention at the beginning like its prequel, Morgan quickly gets herself into such a mess I found it impossible to stop reading. The author describes Morgan’s feelings well and makes the situations mostly believable, but still somewhat comical. There isn’t a complicated, intense plot or hidden symbolism. The morals are relatively simple. For me, this made it a nice book to read in between harder ones. It is a fun, easier summer read.

Reviewer Age:14

Reviewer City, State and Country: Milwaukee, Wisconsin USA

Web of Lies by Jennifer Estep

Strong, confident, courageous, and dangerous is what Gin Blanco is, also known as the Spider. Being one of the most dangerous assassins and one of the most gifted elementals, she has a reputation of being the most feared -until Gin Blanco retires from her life as assassin. Being bored with
her new retirement, she tries to find out why Fletcher, her tutor in the assassin world, left her a mysterious file after his death. This file has everything she would want to know about her life previous to becoming an assassin. It does not take long after her retirement, however, for trouble to find her again. After having a curious girl, Violet, asking about Fletcher, her restaurant being robbed, and then being shot at soon after, she has to find out what is going on. With the help of her Goth dwarf friend, Sophia, Fletcher's son, and an attractive detective she goes after one of the well known dwarfs in Ashland. While going on her next
killing, she keeps finding information that is making her second guess everything.

Web of Lies is the second book in the An Elemental Assassin series, and a good book to read if you like a little action. Set in a town called Ashland with giants, dwarfs and elemental magic such as ice, fire, earth, and stone powers, it is a good book for those who enjoy a perspective of a magical world.

Reviewer Age:16
Reviewer City, State and Country: Naugatuck, CT United States

eBully by David Conifer

Scott Halifax is a kid who knows the system. He never knew his parents, has been through four foster homes, and is now doing time at the County Youth Detention Center for shoplifting. Steve Lukather is a vice principle at Lakeland Middle School. One of his students tried to commit suicide after a horrific incident of internet bullying the previous year. Now, another student is a victim of an eBully and she appears to be going the same way. Lukather approaches Scott with a deal. Work undercover to find the bully and Lukather will clear Scott's juvenile record. Carly Gillette is the bully's victim. She does not know why this is happening and has never done anything to warrant this type of treatment& right?

As a past victim of internet bullying and a resident of an area where a high school student recently killed herself due to bullying, I was quite eager to read this book. It is simple to read and keeps the reader hooked. The characters are likable and the reader feels as if they, too, are experiencing the pain that Carly does as the bully becomes more and more vicious with their taunts and threats. This book is a good read, not only because of the story but also, the message behind the story. Bullying, online and otherwise, is a serious problem. This book does a wonderful job of illustrating that in a way for everyone to understand makes it so the reader is capable of entering the head of the bullying victim.

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

Windblowne by Stephen Messer

Windblowne is an engaging adventure story starring a boy
named Oliver. Oliver must stop his great uncle's evil
counterpart who is killing the oaks. Along the way he
discovers the secret of the oaks and learns that if your
talents aren't in one area, they're in another area. The
story has a message that technology can be bad, if in the
wrong hands. The story is also somewhat medieval in its
wording because of words like towne.

When I first
started reading the book, I thought it was going to be an
absolutely ridiculous story, partly because the cover shows
someone flying on a kite. Then when I started reading it, I
couldn't put it down because the chapter breaks practically
stop between letters so it's hard to stop reading because
you're so curious about what happens next. It's written in
a way that makes you feel like you're part of the story and
like you know the characters. It is written with
awesomely-worded descriptions that make it feel like you're
remembering a movie that you saw; for example, one great
visual description in Chapter 4 is Oliver thought the winds
sounded angry enough to rip the treehouse from the tree's
embrace and send it spinning away. I highly recommend this
book to everyone.

Reviewer Age:11

Reviewer City,
State and Country: Sammamish, WA USA

SOLID by, Shelley Workinger

Clio thought that she was a typical high school girl. She had been living a semi-normal life with her book-writing mom. That was before she learned that she was a victim of an experimental drug. Clio and many others had been gathered together in a special school to help them and the army learn more about their abilities. But Clio and her new friends find out that not everything was as it seemed. The groups started a quest for the truth and learn a shocking secret.

"Solid" was a good book but it's not the best I've read. It had a great plot and some good scenes but I found it hard to relate to since the main character was a girl. It's a good girls' book but not so much for guys. I did, however, find that there was plenty of action and suspense to keep me from putting it down. I think girls would enjoy this book more than I did.

Reviewer Age:13
Reviewer City, State and Country: Mineola, Texas America

The Search For WondLa by Tony DiTerlizzi

The Search for WondLa by Tony DiTerlizzi is an adventure/fantasy story. Eva Nine has lived her whole life underground. When the evil huntsman Besteel ravages her underground Sanctuary, Eva's guardian, a robot named Muthr, tells her to go above ground. All that Eva takes with her is a strange item she found with the letters w-o-n-d-l-a on it. When Eva reaches the surface, everything she sees is strange to her. She meets a blue creature called Rovender and a giant water bear, which she names Otto. Eva knew the planet was called Earth, even though Rovender insisted that they were on planet Orbona. Riding on Otto, Eva and Rovender return to Eva's Sanctuary and rescue Muthr. They travel through many towns and Eva is captured by Besteel and is trapped in the queen's castle. With the help of Otto and a pillar guard, Eva uses her wits to escape the castle and find the rest of her friends. They finally arrive at the ruins they have been heading for, but Besteel has tracked them, and he brought some friends. Can they outwit Besteel a second time? What is WondLa? And will Eva ever find other humans like her?

The setting of this book is almost indescribable. The mood was very E.T. (extra terrestrial). It was different from other adventure or fantasy stories I've read because it had more of a mixed main point. There were always two or three main things happening at the same time. Eva was an amazing character. I liked the way she argued with the omnipod when she met Otto because it insisted that water bears were microscopic but she knew she was seeing a giant water bear big enough to ride on. I could hardly pull myself away from this book; it was too good to stop reading! I think it would nice if there was a sequel to this book. I would recommend this to anyone who likes aliens, long journeys, odd friends and mysteries. The webcam idea was cool because it unlocked a 3-D map of their journey.

Reviewer Age:11

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