Mallory in the Spotlight

I read the book Mallory in the Spotlight by Laurie
Friedman.  The main characters in the book are Mallory and
Mary Ann.  When their school decides to put on the play,
Annie both girls try out for a part.  Mallory wins the
part of Annie but Mary Ann does not get any part at all.
Mary Ann begins ignoring Mallory.  Mallory is sad and
doesn t know what to do about the situation.  Two girls in
the class begin to be nice to Mallory.  They act like they
are her new best friends.  Mallory sends them an email
explaining how sad she is that Mary Ann is ignoring her. 
They send the email on to Mary Ann. Mary Ann becomes upset
and Mallory get embarrassed. In the end Mary Ann and
Mallory work out their problems and promise to stay best
friends.

Mallory in the Spotlight is a good book and I could barely
put it down because of the excitement.  It was well
written and I wanted to know what would happen next.  My
favorite part is when Mallory and Mary Ann become friends
again. Jealousy can ruin a friendship.  These girls work
out their problems but that does not always happen in real
life. Mallory in the Spotlight is the fourteenth book in
the series.You don't have to read the first ones to
understand this one but now, I want to read them all.   I
think that girls seven through twelve will like this book.
  
Age 8
Jackson, MO USA

You Have Seven Messages by Stewart Lewis

A year after Luna' s mother dies, Luna wants to take a chance. She decides to clean out her mother' s studio and finds her mother' s cell phone. Bright red. Fully charged. With seven unread messages.
When I picked out this book, I though it would be a well-written murder mystery. It isn' t. The only part of the plot that' s good is Luna 's trying to find out how her mom died. That took up about one-third of the book. The other two-thirds consisted of drama, teen angst, puppy love, and extremely unrealistic and paper-thin characters. The plot was just drawn out over way too many pages, when it could 've been put nicely into a smaller book.


Luna, as a character, is confusing. One minute she says she isn' t into guys, and the next minute she says she' s liked one since eighth grade. She starts out as a shy but strong person, but actually gets weaker towards the half-way point of the book.... and goes downhill from there.


Luna' s father is a wimpy, horrible character. He' s truly not fit to play the father role, and I disliked him very much throughout the entire book.


Tile, Luna' s brother, was the only really good character. While he may seem naive because of his age, he experiences life like no other person and changes for the better over the course of the story.


While the overall message of the book is good, the way the author gets to that message is unnecessarily complicated.  Saying that people who' ve not had sex before they turn 15 are prudes is highly subjective.  That parents are liars, and that marriages can' t last forever is not what I want to be reading about; and unfortunately, that' s what I got when I read this.
There are multiple curse words (no f-bombs, thankfully). The concepts of divorce, adultery, molesting, and homosexuality are talked about and seen.
Reviewer Age:17
Reviewer City, State and Country: Yucaipa, California USA

By The Time I'm Twenty

In By the Time I'm Twenty, Lawrence attempts to make money in the hood by selling drugs with his friend Winston until two of his friends get shot in a crack house. Then Lawrence realizes how dangerous drug dealing is, and he wants out. The problem is,  he doesn’t have enough money to "buy himself out" so he ends up telling his parents about all of it.  Now he has to make a decision, to tell the police, or not. Meanwhile, Winston and L.C, the drug lords, are after him.

In the book it makes you feel like you are right there in the action.  The characters of this book seem like very real people. Lawrence, the main character, is just like any other teenager, but is put into a tough situation. This book is written as a play so there is no feeling of a narrator. At the end of the book you actually know what happened to most of the characters. I believe the author shows about how drugs can ruin a person’s life in many ways. The book had a good climax and falling action which is very exciting. After finishing this book I learned about how school is important and how terrible drugs are. I would recommend this book to my friends because it is entertaining and after I finished the book I think I will never forget it.

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

Blood Sun

Book Title: Blood Sun
Author: David Gilman
ISBN: 9780385735629
Summary: Blood Sun By David Gilman

The book Blood Sun was about a teenage kid named Max Gordan who tries to uncover the truth about the mysterious death of his mother. She died in the dangerous forests of Central America. There, man-eating snakes and deadly creatures wait at every turn. A powerful agency is also hunting down Max to exterminate him. Max is willing to die to uncover the truth, and he must find it before it's too late.
Opinion: The book Blood Sun was an amazing novel that generated constant suspense. I could actually imagine what everyone and everything looked like. I could understand everything the author said and found the book entertaining and interesting to read. I liked how in the end, Riga teamed up with Max to uncover the truth. I loved this book and it is definitely one of my favorites.

Content:1


Rating (0 - 10 scale): 9
Reviewer Age: 13
Reviewer City, State and Country: Springfield, Ohio United States

You Can Run

Book Title: You Can Run
Author: Norah McClintock
ISBN: 9780761383123
Summary:  You Can Run is a book about a girl named Robyn who has a fight with a another girl from her school, Trisha. The same day they have the argument, Trisha mysteriously disappears. Robyn is afraid that she was the cause of Trisha's disappearance. She tries to find out everything she can about this girl to help get her back, but along the way, she could find herself in danger. She doesn't know why Trisha ran away, but she wants to find her to bring her home.
Opinion: This book overall was okay. The ending was fabulous! All the loose ends were tied up, and everything made sense. Unfortunately, the rest of the book was kind of slow. There wasn't much suspense, or shockers. I would have liked to have seen that in the book.

Content:0


Rating (0 - 10 scale): 6
Reviewer Age: 13
Reviewer City, State and Country: Enon, Ohio USA

Forced Out by Gene Fehler

A new catcher has joined Zack's travel team, the Roadrunners. His name is Dustin and everybody is wondering why he gets so much playing time. How did he even get invited to such a good travel team? Everyone is also wondering how the team can finally afford to go to an expensive tournament. It creates lots of problems and threatens the Roadrunners chance at winning the championship. A rumor starts about Dustin and the tournament. Then Zach finds out what Dustin's dad is secretly planning that Dustin doesn't even know. But what can Zach do about it?
Overall, it is an interesting story about teamwork, choices, and fairness. All Dustin's dad cares about is himself and his son. His choices affect the whole team. It gives a vivid description without too many adjectives, and I can picture things in my head. I can also tell a lot about Dustin and Zach's personalities. They are very believable characters. The vocabulary was appropriate for the recommended age, but it is about high schoolers. High schoolers with lower reading levels would probably enjoy this book as well. The bad thing was the plot seemed to drag a little bit at some points.
Reviewer Age:11
Reviewer City, State and Country: Calhoun, GA USA
 

Unleashed by Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguie

In Unleashed, a girl named Katelyn McBride moves from colorful California to dull, rural Arkansas to live with her grandfather after her mother dies. Wolf Springs, in the Ozark Mountains, has hidden surprises. Katelyn is warned of walking alone in the forest but never believes there to be true danger until she is attacked by a wolf one unplanned evening. One of her only friends, Trick, is intensely disliked by most, if not all, of the locals. Cordelia, her only other friend, seems to have secrets of her own. Katelyn begins to uncover some of the town's mysterious wolfy secrets, and along the way she gets herself into danger.

Unleashed was not overly original, but neither was it incredibly boring. I did not enjoy the way that Katelyn discovered some of the town's secrets (a school project), as it seemed somewhat commonplace. Still, the local werewolf populace was interesting, as was Cordelia's eccentric family. Trick, the disliked writer of poetry, was certainly unique, as were many of the other characters, such as Katelyn's unconventional grandfather. Unleashed is a decent rainy-day read and may leave one with anticipation of the second book in the series.

Reviewer Age:19
Reviewer City, State and Country: Charleston, SC USA

Graffiti Moon

Graffiti Moon
What has mystery, intrigue, and deceit
lurking around every corner? Cath Crowley's new novel,
Graffiti Moon, of course! Lucy Dervish, just graduating
from high school, has an obsession. Obsessions, actually.
She s obsessed with art. And glass-blowing. And colors,
trillions of colors. And a notorious graffiti artist
named Shadow who has all of her sweet obsessions rolled
into one tantalizing package. Yet, as always, there is a
problem. She hasn't even seen Shadow, much less has been
introduced to him. But she wants to. She really, really
wants to. Lucy believes that Shadow has all the answers
she wants. Answers about love, hidden wants, and, most of
all, art. So how could she refuse when her best friend
Jazz suggests that they go out on the town to celebrate
their graduation? Lucy believes this is her only chance
to find Shadow before she goes off to college. She has an
entire night to get what she desires. But there s a
hitch. She has to go on her Shadow-hunt with Ed, a guy
she spent the most embarrassing date with in her entire
life. Yet she has to find her man.
Ed, by the way, is no more interested in this hunt
than he is in physics. He has had enough of Lucy Dervish,
thank you very much. He certainly can t help that she
broke his nose during the most awful date of his eighteen-
year life. But when the two are thrown together by pure
fate, Ed finds himself being sucked into Lucy s satisfying
aurora. Something is stopping him, though. It turns out
Ed just might a secret of his own...
Let me make it this time. Let me meet Shadow.
Poet too but mainly Shadow. The guy who paints in the
dark. Paints birds trapped on brick walls and people lost
in ghost forests.

This book had its good points and bad points. One
thing that extremely disappointed me in this novel was the
language. We re talking about major profanity here. I
had to lay down the book a few times to clear my mind. It
also could get a little dull at times, especially when Ed
would reminisce about his past girlfriend. I just felt
like screaming "Get on with it!" sometimes. Yet, even
with its faults, it also had many strengths, too. It
really shows how tough life is for some young Americans.
It made me feel eternally grateful for my privileged life
I live. I also liked how deep it was. These kids
thought and thought hard. I picked up many good points in
here that portrayed the human soul, deep inside, just
waiting for you to take it out, release it, examine it,
and cherish it. Another thing I enjoyed was the poems
scattered throughout the book, written by Ed' s partner in
crime, Leopold Green. They really got me in touch with
reality. This book had a beautiful blend of romance,
drama, and mystery to keep me entertained most of the
time, yet sometimes I felt slightly bored with the
patterned plot. I believe that if you love art, you'll
probably love this book. If you don't, you feel
uninterested sometimes, but all in all, this book is a
good read.
I close my eyes and spray and piece in my head, a
wall with a shadowy guy on it and a shadowy road in front
of him.
I would recommend this book to ages
fifteen and up, just because of the language would
definitely not be suitable for a younger age.
So, will Lucy find her man or her match? Will Ed
ever spill his dirty little secret? To find out, read
this exciting novel by Cath Crowley!
The profanity in this novel was a force to be reckoned
with. Reader discretion advised!
Reviewer
Age:12
Leopold, Missouri U.S.A

Shadowrise by Tad Williams

This fantasy novel is the third book in a series. It takes place in an imaginary land. The twin heirs of Southmarch Castle, Prince Barrick and Princess Briony have been separated as they each battle with two very dangerous enemies to their kingdom. Each must find a way to save their kingdom from these powers as well as some mysterious force awakening underground.

I've never had a problem with long books, nor with detailed books. I absolutely love to read, and the size of this book did not deter me from wanting to read it. As soon as I actually started, however, my opinion started dropping pretty quickly. I like William's description and character development; Briony, for example, is very easy to sympathize with, as is Barrick. But there is just too much going on with the plot; there are too many subplots and characters and it is quite hard to follow what is going on. The detail would have been fine if not for this flaw, but the addition of so many new characters every chapter made it tedious. I felt bogged down with so much detail and so much new information coming in at once; it felt more like an assignment than a book one would read for pleasure. I fought through the book for a few more chapters, but I was unable to read on when the combination of an overly-detailed plot, uncomfortably ornate descriptions, and unbelievably tiny font gave me such a big headache that I was forced to stop reading. The thought of picking this book back up is extremely unappealing. Again, the detail would have been a huge plus in a book that was around 300 pages, but for a 625-page book, it was way too much. I don't think the author achieved his purpose because the book was extremely boring to me and the writing would have been a lot more effective if there was just less of it. I'd recommend this book to hard-core fantasy fans or to people with lots of time on their hands and a magnifying glass handy, as well as a character web ready to fill out in order to keep all of these characters straight. All in all, definitely not the next Harry Potter or LOTR.

Reviewer Age:16

Reviewer City, State and Country: Columbus, Indiana United States

Mourning Under The Bridge by C. Amethyst Frost

Mourning Under the Bridge is about a girl who was an orphan. She had some other older orphans caring for her. Her favorite was a seventeen year-old girl named Jo. While Mourning was prowling around the Pullman s old, burned house, she is caught by a count named Damien. He takes her to the dungeon under the castle. While she is there, she saw Jo, who was to die. Orphans were killed or sent to a workhouse. When Count Damien did her blood test to see who her parents were, the results showed she was the last Pullman heiress. Damien was her brother. She now has to learn how to behave like a normal person after ten years on the street. Is she successful or should she have stayed on the streets?

The book had a very exciting topic, which I find unique. When I picked it out, I suspected it would be very interesting. It has a very exciting suspense in many of the chapters. I have definitely added it to my favorite books. Mourning Under the Bridge shows a real example of what it is like to be an orphan on the streets and how to deal with the outcome. I recommend it for 12+.

Reviewer Age:11

Reviewer City, State and Country: Leesburg, Virginia