A new student review of Looking for Jack Kerouac by Barbara Shoup

tbrayton posted a new student review of Looking for Jack Kerouac by Barbara Shoup. See the full review.

This book is one of a rare breed, as it combines a fantastic plot with a focus on a literary hero that has been much admired over the years.  It also gives light to the desire that so many young people have to escape the lives they are living for adventure and passion.  It provides an opportunity for those of us now with this passion to discover what is unknown to us to connect with someone with the same desire fifty years ago.  Extremely entertaining and intelligent, Barbara Shoup’s Looking For Jack Kerouac, has earned a spot on my bookshelf and in my heart.

A new student review of Being Sloane Jacobs

sumrsilentmusic posted a new student review of Being Sloane Jacobs . See the full review.

I picked up this novel tentatively because figure skating novels tend to go badly, but I keep reading them to find a good one. I was hoping this was one of the good ones. It wasn’t.

 

The main problem with figure skating novels is that the author who is writing the novel doesn’t really understand what the figure skating world is like. In Being Sloane Jacobs, the skating world becomes a caricature full of catty girls and judgemental people with a couple of skating phrases thrown in. Lauren Morrill doesn’t even bother getting the vocabulary correct. For example, Morrill says that Sloane Devon uses a camel spin to avoid her opponents while playing hockey. It would be impossible to perform a camel spin while playing hockey, and while it’s true that most people wouldn’t want to come near a skater doing a camel spin, I can find no possible explanation as to how it would help someone keep the puck.

 

I found the concept of this novel to be pretty contrived and unbelievable. First, I find it odd that neither of the Sloane Jacobs has friends in their respective sport who would be in camp with them or would at least recognize that it’s not the right Sloane Jacobs here. Second, it would be pretty impossible to be able to master a sport in a couple weeks the way that Sloane Emily and Sloane Devon did. Even though both sports involve skating on ice, hockey players have different skates than figure skaters do. It would take a while to simply get used to the difference. Additionally, the Sloanes literally met twenty-four hours before they trusted the other enough to switch their luggage. Either they’re extremely naive or unrealistically trusting.  

 

This book also had too much breadth and not enough depth. The author tries to deal with too many issues in one book, and as a result, everything was easily resolved and glossed over. I don’t think both of the Sloanes should have found love interests in this novel; it made it seem too perfectly balanced. It would have given the author more room to focus and develop one of the romances, to make it more multi-faceted. Instead, having two love interests makes it hard for the reader to keep them straight in her mind, and when the conflict comes, it feels as if the conflict exists to exist instead of a natural progression of the relationships. (Seriously, why did those two boys get so angry?)

By the end of the novel, I was told that both Sloane Jacobs changed, and both characters showed change, but I wasn’t exactly sure how they got there. I’m sure this will be a good book for a certain type of reader, especially readers who can look past the technical elements of skating as Morrill is pretty good at getting down the voices of her two main characters and the love interests could be called swoon-worthy, but I was not particularly impressed.

A new student review of The Sword of Danu by Christine Norris

Mattmopp42 posted a new student review of The Sword of Danu by Christine Norris. See the full review.

I thought that this book was an excellent read and very intriguing. The book was so action-packed that I couldn’t put it down! I would recommend this book to anyone who loves fantasy or adventure novels.

A new student review of Seasons of Raina by Milissa Nelson

Tenaya posted a new student review of Seasons of Raina by Milissa Nelson. See the full review.

I enjoyed reading this book, despite the fact that there was a weak plot-line. It was mostly about Raina's day to day life which made for an easy but fun read. I would recomend this book to kids around 11 who are looking for a light read.

A new student review of The Books of Barakhai

jotaf posted a new student review of The Books of Barakhai . See the full review.

The Books of Barakhai is a great book.  I really liked that they made it two books in one so you get twice the books and twice the enjoyment.  Two of its weak points, however, are that it takes at least ten pages for it to really get going and it is a little confusing in some areas.  It has lots of good qualities, too, such as great character development, humor, and an interesting plot line.  My favorite character was Ben because he was funny and determined to get back to Earth.  The author, Mickey Zucker Reichert, took a risk that paid off nicely in this book.  I feel this book is for more advanced twelve year olds and up due to the maturity of some of the content.  If you like fantasy and adventure, mixed with a little sci-fi, this book is for you.

A new student review of Etched in Clay:The Life of Dave, Enslaved Potter Poet by Andrea Cheng

tkh2002 posted a new student review of Etched in Clay:The Life of Dave, Enslaved Potter Poet by Andrea Cheng. See the full review.

"Etched in Clay" was an absolutely amazing book. I have to be honest, when I first saw that it was a book of poetry, I wasn't sure it was going to be very interesting. Fortunately, I was proven wrong. Each and every poem in this book was so descriptive and passionate. I loved how there were different narators for the poems so that we could clearly see each side of the story. For example, some poems were written from Dave's point of view and others were written from the other characters perspective. Overall, I thought this book was a fantastic work of literature and Amdrea Cheng did a wonderful job.

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.