Signed, Skye Harper takes place in a small town during the hot, school-free months of the year. The characters all have their funny or emotional moments, but they mostly seem like cliches rather than real people. The romance between poor girl Winston and the rich boy, Steve, is sweet. However, it is also rushed and unbelievable. What does makes the book memorable is the rich bounty of 70’s references. It was easy to imagine Winston strolling to Piggly-Wiggly in bell-bottoms and flip-flops, getting a Sports Illustrated with Olympic hero Mark Spitz on the cover. Since the novel is told in a series of bite-size chapters, I was able to fly right through it. The down side of those little chapters was that there was not enough time for the reader to get used to the characters. However, the ending earns the book points for setting the reader up to believe one ending, then– bam!– another one comes along. Signed, Skye Harper earns a solid total of three stars for presenting a tale about love, family, and the power of dreams.
Wednesday, July 16, 2014
A new student review of Signed, Skye Harper by Carol Lynch Williams
A new student review of Why? by Joel Levy
Broadening my knowledge of the universe that I live in is something of which I take great relish in doing. I like to think that I have always been an extremely inquisitive and curious individual, and I was quite pleased to be provided with the opportunity to read this book! It is my personal belief that as a human being who has the power to read, I am the only one who can truly administer the development of my education. I feel that this book promotes that concept. For as far back as I can remember I have mulled over many of the questions that are tackled in Why? but never knew or sought out most of the answers until now. It was an amazing feeling to be able to comprehend the explanations to matters that I didn’t understand. Most of life’s mysteries are actually less complicated than we think, and this book is perfect for anyone looking to expand their proficiency in science and nature. In a way, I think that this book is better than a science textbook or Wikipedia article, because I found that I understood the answers more thoroughly after reading them in Levy’s format. In doing so it helped me to be able to further research these topics and truly comprehend them, which I had difficulty doing beforehand. Why?: Answers to Everyday Scientific Questions equips the reader with a sentence long answer to each question, followed by a more in depth and detailed clarification which is sometimes accompanied by small drawings for further explanation. With its brightly colored and eye-catching exterior I think that this book is quite pleasing to the eye. I also thoroughly enjoyed the introduction, as it gave me a sense that Why? would be a greatly entertaining and a well-thought-out read. I think that most ages can learn something from this book because it gives universally descriptive explanations that could make sense to both an eight year old and an eighty-eight year old. I fail to find any aspect that caused me displeasure while reading Joel Levy’s book. Overall, I think that Why? is great for those who possess an inquisitive nature, and for those who hope to magnify themselves and their education in all areas of life.
A new student review of The Summer of Shambles (Ondine Book #1) by Ebony McKenna
Summer of Shambles was quite enjoyable. McKenna wove a wonderful, whimsical story that takes the reader on a humorous journey. McKenna’s characters were loveable. McKenna took roles that could be mundane (side characters as an example) and gave them a most colorful and beautiful essence.
Adding to that note, McKenna’s writing style is among my favorites as of now. She writes with a lot of humor and small jokes. As I was reading this, I held a goofy smile on my face nearly the whole time. McKenna showed great ingenuity in this book; the plot and characters were admirably written.
The only drawback I found while reading was that in the beginning it was hard to understand the timeline of the book. Even though McKenna placed several footnotes, maps and ‘informative tidbits’, I still found the exact location of the plot implacable. Instead of the ‘informative tidbits’ being helpful, I thought them to hinder the flow of the story and rather wished that McKenna had used more descriptive tools to explain things.
A new student review of Broken by Tanille Edwards
I do wish that there was more about Milan dealing with her disability. She's trained herself to sound "normal" when speaking, but I wanted to feel more of her struggle. It seemed like this was something she would have to deal with on a daily basis. Most of the time, I forgot that she was hearing impaired. But in all its a great book and is very easy to read and understand.
A new student review of Mistry by Moonlight by Claire Merchant
I believe that Mistry By Moonlight is an amazing book. I loved how the author made the plot, leading one thing to another. And I liked how the author started the story off with a nice preface allowing the reader to take a glance on what would happen in the story and made the reader want to continue to read on to find out what would happen next.
I admired how the writer added many supernatural beings (ex: werewolf, vampires and etc.) which allowed the story to become more interesting and surprising. Personally, I'm very interested in supernatural beings which may or may not existed and liked how the author added them to make the story more fictional and interesting.
A new student review of Edna In The Desert by Maddy Lederman
"Edna in the desert" is a great book if you're interested into a teen romance. Honestly, I don't like romance books, and did find myself day-dreaming in parts of this book. But, in many parts, I felt as if I couldn't let go of the book. I would recommend it to friends at the age or 13-15.
A new student review of Mr. Terupt Falls Again by Rob Buyea
Mr. Terupt Falls Again is a book with lots of action and adventures. I think it's good to read from 10-13 years old. This book teaches you about trust and forgiveness. I honestly love this book and recommend it for anybody who loves fun twists and mind-blowing adventures.
A new student review of Feral Curse by Cynthia Leitich Smith
A new student review of The Giant (Bareknuckle) by Jonathan Mary-Todd
The Giant by Jonathan Mary-Todd was an inspiring book overall, with extremely lifelike settings and dialogue. Some of the events were a little bit unrealistic, but they added to the adventurous nature of the book. Luc's journey was full of relatable emotions and endearing struggles, It seemed unlikely that he could be below the radar of all authorites as the story portrays him, and his background information is rather vague. However, I was immediately transported into his world and fully absorbed in his situation. I would recommend this book for mature young readers looking for a fast-paced adventure story.
Tuesday, July 15, 2014
A new student review of Deadly Delicious by K. L. Kincy
Deadly Delicious is a great book about how Josephine grows up in a world of magic and conjure. The plot is great, but the prologue is not very detailed so it is confusing until you get to the part in the book about it. Although Josephine is powerful not a lot of people appreciate her except for Quentin. In this way this book is awesome because it shows how she is growing up to be the person she is suppose to be. So this is a pretty good book.