A new student review of Three Bird Summer by Sara St. Antoine

iamabooklion posted a new student review of Three Bird Summer by Sara St. Antoine. See the full review.

The setting (Three Bird Lake) was a significant component toward the plot of the story. The descriptive writing was beautifully written, and it made me feel like I was right there next to Adam and Alice on their adventures. The main character's name is Adam, and it's also written from his point of view. Adam felt very realistic to me; he was shy and nervous. He was also my favorite character because his character really developed throughout the story. This book was a cute and quick read; I would recommended it if you love contemporary and adventure mixed with a bit of mystery.

A new student review of The Dark World by Cara Lynn Shultz

vbobrocks posted a new student review of The Dark World by Cara Lynn Shultz. See the full review.

Cara Lynn Shultz’s The Dark World is a fast-paced, emotional adventure of wild power, terrifying evil and blossoming love.  Readers will experience Paige’s every emotion and watch all of her adventures unfold with Shultz’s detailed storytelling.  The few major writing letdowns for this reader were the overuse of some coarse language that didn’t add depth to the novel, some rather insensitive sexual references and innuendos, and the feeling that the plot was a mix between high school drama and relationships and heavy duty fantasy demonslaying.  Many teens prefer just one genre; it was sometimes hard to tell which theme was more dominant, though both were enjoyable.  Overall, The Dark World is a fun, page-turning adventure that will appeal to junior high/high school girls in particular.

 

A new student review of Signed, Skye Harper by Carol Lynch Williams

Star360 posted a new student review of Signed, Skye Harper by Carol Lynch Williams. See the full review.

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. 

A new student review of Why? by Joel Levy

Gwendolyn posted a new student review of Why? by Joel Levy. See the full review.

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

ReesaOnFire posted a new student review of The Summer of Shambles (Ondine Book #1) by Ebony McKenna. See the full review.

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

princess2813 posted a new student review of Broken by Tanille Edwards. See the full review.

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

Lucy posted a new student review of Mistry by Moonlight by Claire Merchant. See the full review.

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

Queen_Ri posted a new student review of Edna In The Desert by Maddy Lederman. See the full review.

"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

kirstinhailey22 posted a new student review of Mr. Terupt Falls Again by Rob Buyea. See the full review.

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

S.Ehlers posted a new student review of Feral Curse by Cynthia Leitich Smith. See the full review.

Feral Curse was a mediocre book. I enjoyed Cynthia Leitich Smith’s overall idea, but the ending result was not as thrilling as I hoped. In my opinion, this book was dragging along as slowly as a kid avoiding to eat their vegetables at dinner. Overall, I would not recommend Feral Curse to anybody as great book, but others may have their own opinion.