Tua and the Elephant by R. P. Harris

Tua and the Elephant is a charming adventure story about a young ten-year-old living in Thailand. One day, while exploring the city of Chiang Mai, Tua finds a young elephant being abused by two men. Right then and there she decides to take the elephant away from its cruel owners and find it a new home. Tua manages to get the elephant, which she names Pohn-Pohn, back to her Aunt Orchid's house, but it turns out her journey has only just started. Now Tua must take Pohn-Pohn to the elephant sanctuary on the other side of town, all the while dodging the elephant's crooked original owners.

This book is a heart-warming tale of inter-species friendship, which teaches that friends can be found in the most unlikely places. The descriptions, along with the wonderful illustrations, allow you to really pretend you are traveling along with Tua during her wild tale. Tua herself is funny and bright, and she was someone I could identify with while reading. This helped make the book a real page turner, and I felt that I couldn't stop until I read it all. I thought that the writing was interesting, yet informative. Pieces of Thailand's culture and language were integrated throughout the story. This gave the whole book a satisfying feel because I was learning while reading. If I had to recommend this book to someone, it definitely would be someone with a lower reading level. Although the story included some higher vocabulary, the plot was jumpy and each plot arch was short. These qualities, along with the fact that the main character was a younger girl, led me to believe that this was targeted for younger age groups. Over all, though, the book was well written, and I found that I could look past all the jumping about to a story that ultimately made me smile.

Reviewer Age:12
Reviewer City, State and Country: Exeter, nh USA

This One Time With Julia by David Lampson

Joe is the simple-minded and often bizarre twin, where Alvin is the more adventurous and imaginative of the two. Joe is thrust into a much more complicated life when Alvin disappears and finds himself driving from Los Angeles to Tennessee with Julia, Alvin's enigmatic girlfriend. Joe's new life involves expensive pin-striped suits, hotel swimming pools, and Julia's mysterious family. His whirlwind of events almost makes him forget what happened to his brother--almost. It is only with his newly found responsibilities that he acquires a curiosity surrounding what happened between Alvin and Julia, and the more time he spends with Julia, the deeper he falls in love with her.

While there are some hopeful elements throughout the novel, I finished the book feeling much like the protagonist, Joe, in a wishy-washy state wondering what I took away from this experience. The first two thirds of the book moved much slower than I expected. Much of the synopsis alludes to a mystery/thriller type story, but the pace only merits this distinction in the final chapters. Even when the climax is reached, it falls short of any expectations built up over the course of the story. Joe's dull nature even puts the reader in a daze, and supporting characters do not add much to the story. One bright spot is the beautiful, but destructive Julia. She is a mystery that the reader never fully understands, and this element added a level of intrigue to the otherwise lackluster plot. Despite the notable journey Joe has embarked on, I did not believe that his outlook genuinely changed, and this ultimately is the downfall of This One Time With Julia.

Reviewer Age:22
Reviewer City, State and Country: Eden Prairie, Minnesota United States

A Darkly Hidden Truth by Donna Fletcher Crow

All Felicity wants is to have confidence and security—in her relationships, and especially in her recent decision to become a nun. But the orderly world she strives to maintain reverts to chaos upon the arrival of her estranged mother, the theft of a precious artifact, the murder of a friend, and her growing attraction to the irresistable Antony. Felicity somewhat reluctantly joins Antony on a search for the stolen artifact and the key to their friend's murder. Along the way, Felicity questions her growing doubts towards being a nun and her true feelings for Antony. As the plot progreses, Felicity becomes increasingly involved with the myserious knighthood of the Maltese cross and learns a great deal about the people close to her.
A Darkly Hidden Truth by Donna Fletcher Crow provides a fresh take on the lives of nuns, both medieval and present. The novel is action packed at first, but I soon lost interest in the plot. The characters are relatable but lack compelling interaction with each other. I appreciated the ending, but I had to force myself to keep reading at times. I would recommend this book to historical fiction fans and anyone who appreciates Crow's writing.
Reviewer Age:15
Reviewer City, State and Country: Bayside, WI 53217

The Winter Pony by Iain Lawrence

The Winter Pony is about a horse named James Pigg.  The story started when he was a cute, white colt, dancing in the field with his mother, the stallion, and the rest of the herd.  When rough men captured the stallion and James Pigg, he was pushed into cruel work.  He was broken very roughly.  The men would whip him until they got bored.  One man hit him over and over on his collar bone with a glass bottle.  James Pigg had a scar there for the rest of his life.  When he was broken, he was forced to move heavy logs and other things.   After he completed many years of tough work, he was put up for sale in a carnival with other worked horses.  He was bought by a gentle man and boy.  They bought 19 other white ponies, including the stallion from James Pigg's herd.  He and the other horses were put on a ship and treated with love and care.  He was named James Pigg on the ship.  When they reached their destiny, he learned that they were going to the South Pole.  On the way there, many horses died, and some were killed because they were in pain, too old, too slow, or untamed.  Which horses survived, which didn't?
The book was a fascinating book.  The author chose a very interesting and enjoyable topic.  It had an awfully sad ending, though.  I wouldn't recommend it for people who have a sensitive nature.  I think it is a good book to have on your favorite book list.  I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did.

Reviewer Age:11
Reviewer City, State and Country: Leesburg, Virginia U.S.A.

Trail of the Spellman

Isabel Spellman retains a normal life since the crazy antics of her last adventure. But this only lasts so long. Soon everything in her life begins going wrong. Her boyfriend might break up with her, her P.I. agency is getting too many jobs to handle, and her family is falling apart. Can Isabel save her family from all the craziness they had in past novels?

This book was a smart read about a dysfunctional family with humor laced throughout. The downside to this: this is a series book and can only be understood by having read past books by Lisa Lutz. I thankfully have read all of them; and this one is by far the best. The smart humor goes hand in hand with the mystery and creates a great book.

Reviewer Age:13

Reviewer City, State and Country: Addison, Illinois USA

Agent Amelia No, 1: Ghost Diamond!

              Who's super sneaky and likes to pretend she is someone else?  It is Agent Amelia in the book Ghost Diamond by Michael Broad.  Ghost Diamond is the first book in the Agent Amelia series. Amelia uses her brains and courage to solve crimes.  There are three mysteries in this book.  In the first case, Amelia sends her teacher to jail after she discovers her teacher stealing a diamond. In the second case catches some cat nappers who use real cats to rob a bank.  In the third case, Amelia stops a man from using his whispering weeds to take over the plant world.  

              If you are a girl seven through twelve and you like mysteries you will like this book.  Although this book was very easy for me to read I enjoyed reading about how Amelia solved the mysteries.  If Amelia lived in my neighborhood I would love to be her friend.  My favorite part of the book was when Amelia discovered her teacher was a crook.

Age:8

Jackson, MO USA

Plunder by Mary Anna Evans

Faye Longchamp-Mantooth and her husband Joe just consider themselves normal archaeologists until, on a research mission to find sites soon to be wrecked by oil at the mouth of the Mississippi in Louisiana, their voodoo mambo babysitter becomes unable to work due a major injury.  Babysitterless with a toddler that can potentially slow their plans of getting any work done, they hire treasure-hunting, school-loving Amande.  They suddenly find themselves thrusted into her life where relatives are battling for Amande's miniscule inheritance due to her grandmother's death, including a rundown houseboat, some shares of stock, and an inhabitable island soon to be swamped by oil.  Will Faye and her family be able to protect Amande from her greedy relatives, and possibly, even death?
I delved into this book thinking it would be terrible, because I don't really like archaeology or pirates.  But, as with the other Flamingnet books I have reviewed, I was greatly surprised.  This book is probably the absolute opposite of what I thought coming in to it.  It ended up being a murder mystery with a touch of romance.  The plotline is exquisite, the subplots tie together with the main plot very nicely, and there are many gripping plot twists.  The character development is superb and I felt connected to all the characters.  I strongly recommend this book to anyone who likes mysteries.

Reviewer Age:13
Reviewer City, State and Country: Torrington, CT United States

Following Christopher Creed by Carol Plum-Ucci

College reporter Mike Mavric sells everything he owns, for the oppurtunity that he hopes will launch his writing career. He drives to sleepy town of Steeplton with his girlfriend Rayann hoping to interview some of the most important and popular people involved in the case of Christopher Creed's disappearance. Nobody knows what could have happened to Chris. There were no clues left behind, thats what makes this case so astonishing. Does Mike have what it takes to put these different stories to find the real answers behind this stor? Mike will have to put his true dedication to reporting to the test, and find the lines between business and personal.
Overall, I would say that this book is probably my favorite of all time. Every single sentence has you on edge, down to the peiod. You will never be bored. It has such powerfull effect that you find yourself putting yourself in the characters shoes, trying to imagine what it would be like to feel such pain and aganony of never knowing what happened. This boook is definitly worth reading. I highly recomend it.
The book makes a lot of drug and sex refrences. Also a lot of cussing.
Reviewer Age:14
Reviewer City, State and Country: Jackson, MO United States

Nameless by Kyle Chais

    Life as a Nameless can get boring. Monotonous days awaiting your execution can get very dull. That's why one Nameless decides to possess a troubled human named Aurick. The Nameless sees Aurick, about to be murdered, and steps in to save Aurick's life. The only problem? The Nameless gets a bit too comfortable in Aurick's body and decides to stay awhile.
Let me start by saying this book was written by an 18 year-old, Kyle Chais. I think it's absolutely amazing an 18 year-old could crank out a full-length novel at such a young age, and that's to be applauded. However, I really just didn't ever connect with this book. I guess it just wasn't my cup of tea. My main problem was that I found there to be too many extraneous events and characters that detracted from the overall plot. There were just a lot of characters who floated in and out, not really having a purpose. I did enjoy some of Aurick's antics towards the middle of the story; some of his adventures are fun to hear. Though, as the story stretched on, I just never had that moment where I was enthralled. I never felt engaged with the characters. Another problem I had with this story was the peculiar religious themes. I don't want to give anything away, but there is a lot of both challenge and support of religion and it felt misplaced. I have read several other books about fallen angels and such that managed to keep the plot away from religious territory. I just didn't care for the writing style, so it was hard for me to enjoy the story. Overall through, Chais has accomplished an amazing feat as such a young author. I hope he continues to grow as a writer and that maybe his next book will be something more up my alley.
Along with religious themes, this book has a fair amount of sex and violence and is more suitable for older teens and young adults.
Reviewer Age:15
Reviewer City, State and Country: Tigard, Oregon United States

A Million Suns by Beth Revins

In the first book we learned that GODSPEED was run by secrets, but that was only the beginning. In the second book, with Eldest dead and Orion in cryo, Elder assumes leadership, but some people don't think he's ready.  As Elder tries to deal with the growing chaos, he learns a secret that could crush everyone's hope.  Elder and Amy race to uncover the truth that's been hidden for hundreds of years with the fate of 2,298 passengers on their shoulders and the knowledge that they have to get off this ship.


A secret that's been hidden for hundreds of years is bound to change their lives ... and end others.
Okay, I'll admit I had very high expectations for this sequel and Beth Revis took it above and beyond anything I could have hoped for. She started A Million Suns so smoothly and took her characters to the next level. Her sensory details are amazing and easy to understand so you can picture what it's like to live on GODSPEED. She had a really good mystery woven in with a shocking ending that you don't see coming. Revis had just the right amount of romance - nothing going over the line, which is nice compared to some teen books. The only thing I didn't like was the language even though they're substitutes (see content review for more info) and there was a lot of violence for younger readers, but other than that it was a really good fast - paced book. I can't wait to see what happens next in book three, Shades of Earth, coming out January 2013.   
Language

 "Frex" the replacement of the f - word is used quite often

"Effing" the British equivalent of the f - word is used once

"Shite" the replacement  of the word shit is used often
 1 real f - word


Sexual content
1 steamy makeout scene


Violence
 There are several riots. People get sucked out into space. A girl is found strangled to death after being raped. Several people are killed with medicine patches and one is hanged as a warning. A girl is shot and killed in the end and another man is shot in the leg. A man is badly beaten along with several other fights. We read about a girl's suicide/murder and we are reminded of a man's suicide from the first book. We read about Amy's memories of just about being raped during the season in the first book several times. 
Reviewer Age:14
Reviewer City, State and Country: Sharpsville, Indiana USA