A new student review of Close by Erika Raskin

zkraus posted a new student review of Close by Erika Raskin. See the full review.

Close by Erika Raskin was a very well written book. I really enjoyed it. I breezed through it! The characters were so complex, and the way they were written made what was going through their head so easy to understand. The humor intertwined throughout this book was beautifully executed, and realistic. It was kind of a tear-jerker! This book isn't just for adolescents, adults would enjoy it just as much. It gives you an insightful look on the inside of a divorced family- and shows you the similarities between every family that you may think no one may ever understand. I can't wait to read more by this author!

 

A new student review of Mirror of Stone by Corie Weaver

mrthebeast posted a new student review of Mirror of Stone by Corie Weaver. See the full review.

Starting with what I like in the book, the most apparent thing that you could see from page one was the description, even from the beginning I was able to completely visualize the setting of the book. The characters were also very realistic, they had their flaws, and the line between good and bad, like in real life, was not perfectly clear (which is definitely a good thing). One last thing that I found amazing was the suspense at the end of every chapter or before the setting changed.

On the flip side I did feel the author’s descriptive language started to die out as the story progressed, which did detract a little from the quality of the book at the end.  I also did not like how easily some of the characters were willing to change their views throughout the book.

In the end, this was a great story and the flaws that I pointed out did not take away that much from the book as a whole. I would easily give this book 5/5 stars, and would recommend this book to kids ages 13 and up, of both genders. While there was not much bad language used throughout the book, the plot was intricate and I do feel that some younger readers would not comprehend and enjoy the book fully.

A new student review of Grace and Dignity by Laura Grody

sisto8 posted a new student review of Grace and Dignity by Laura Grody. See the full review.

I love this book! The characters were interesting; Princess Grace is my favorite. The characters were humorous, but they stayed in the character block of what characters are supposed to be. They were sad and gloomy when they needed to be, but they cheered up about everything that was good…except Prince Denial. The adventure was so perfectly amazing to read. I read the whole book like ten times. I really enjoyed the ending. When I finished the book, the ending made the entire book worth reading again. I think every story should have a strong ending for the reader to look forward to like this one. I recommend this book for everyone 12+. 

A new student review of The Templeton Twins Have An Idea by Ellis Weiner

admin posted a new student review of The Templeton Twins Have An Idea by Ellis Weiner. See the full review.

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A new student review of Noggin

chinchilla97 posted a new student review of Noggin . See the full review.

Noggin by John Corey Whaley is the most bizzare book I have ever read, and I loved it. I had never heard of a kid getting his cut off and reattached to another body, and honestly, Whaley did an amazing job of making that crazy idea into a realistic story. The characters are lovable, maybe a bit strange in the best way, and very relatable; they know what true friendship means. Written in the first person, you really live the whole experience with Travis. For example, when Travis would do something stupid and embarrassing, I would have to close the book and breathe for a second because I could feel his embarrassment. It made me laugh and cry in a good way, and left me wanting more. The writing style was hilarious and thought-provoking at the same time, though the amount of swearing was distracting and unnecessary to the story. Overall, I thought it a very unique and fun book, and would recommend it to others.

A new student review of Tour of the Merrimack

farmerboy posted a new student review of Tour of the Merrimack . See the full review.

 

After reading the description on the back, I was certain that I would like this book.  As I began to read, I wanted to like this book.  As I continued reading, I worked at liking this book.  But in the end, I didn’t like this book.  What kept me from liking it?  

 

  Writing-style

 

It definitely wasn’t the unusual writing-style.  Though I thought it needed to be refined a bit, I could appreciate its uniqueness, and could easily see others enjoying it as is.  The heavy use of implied subjects constituted an interesting and engaging technique.  Although short sentences were necessary for this, they were overused elsewhere, which made for an undue choppiness that detracted from the skillful use of implied subjects.

 

Plot-line

 

It wasn’t even the plot-line.  That was okay, except that it was like a bulldozer, stuck in quicksand, moving in first gear.  It was dramatic, potentially gripping and exciting, but so painfully, agonizingly S L O W . . .  and D R A W N    O U T . . .

 

Character Development

 

Some of it was the character development, or the lack thereof.  To that end there were descriptive paragraphs when each character was introduced, along with occasional factual passages sprinkled throughout the book to fill in the blanks.  Without these I would have been completely lost.  

 

Dialogue

 

Some of it was the dialogue.  That was almost funny when the author had the otherwise two-dimensional characters crack some “witty” yet cliché-ish and unreasonably terse banter.  Unfortunately, banter seemed to be the only purpose of dialogue in this book, since it contributed nothing towards developing the characters.  In addition, the lines struck me as being of the one-size-fits-all variety; it seemed as though they were factory-made and applied to each character at random.  Instead of using dialogue to help move the plot along, the author employed...

 

DRAMATIC ACTION SCENES!!!!!!!!!!

 

These appeared ad nauseum, and were the only reason the story went anywhere.  They kept my attention for about the first chapter, after which they became a melodramatic distraction from an otherwise tedious plot.  I would have been able to enjoy them if they had been used a little more sparingly and less like duct tape.  As it was, it seemed as though any time the author hit a snag in the plot, out would pop a “DRAMATIC ACTION SCENE!!!!!” to distract you from it.

 

Conclusion

 

In conclusion, I found the book to be choppy and draggy overall with certain points over-sensationalized.  The characters were flat and undeveloped to the point of being almost indistinguishable from one another.  Dialogue was poorly used.  I did, however, find the writing-style interesting.

A new student review of Happily Never After by Missy Fleming

jenny3940 posted a new student review of Happily Never After by Missy Fleming. See the full review.

I really enjoyed this book because I was entertained and kept in suspense from beginning to end. The characters were all great in keeping character and I never knew what would happen next to ether one of them. I highly recommend this book for supernatural romance/mystery book addicts!

A new student review of The Brewster Boys and the Red Revenge by Stephen Dittmer

sisto8 posted a new student review of The Brewster Boys and the Red Revenge by Stephen Dittmer. See the full review.

This book was very interesting.  I read the first book and I liked it a lot.  I suggest reading the first book before reading this book so everything makes sense.  The author did an awesome job with the characters.  The characters seemed familiar and their personalities stayed the same as the first book.  The setting was very realistic, it wasn’t a made up fantasyland.  The author gave a clear picture of what the setting was like around the characters.  The book did seem a little foggy on some of the story details.  I left the book asking myself questions about what happened and how it happened.  I recommend this book for anyone who read the first book and enjoyed it.

A new student review of Lupus Rex

spickle posted a new student review of Lupus Rex . See the full review.

The book was well-written and intriguing from the very start, with just enough mystery and romance to keep it versatile and interesting. I chose a favorite character almost immediately because of the sufficient information given. The character development is fabulous. I think, though, I could do with a little less descriptiveness during some action/battle scenes. Not all of them are too violent, and a diverse array of words is used throughout. Overall, this is definitely a book I want to read over and over.            

A new student review of Tramp: A Detective's Story by Bill Kennedy

blackbeauty posted a new student review of Tramp: A Detective's Story by Bill Kennedy. See the full review.

This book was very interesting; I loved it. When I was reading it I could not put it down. It gets more interesting as the book goes on. The book has some sad parts, but most of it is happy. It even has some funny parts. One of the funny parts of the book was when and how Tramp gets a family.