Gone

Grant, Michael. Gone. NY: HarperCollins Publishing, 2008. 558 pages. (Fantasy Series/Supernatural)

Have you ever wondered how the world would end? Would the earth come crashing down? Would it flood? In Gone, neither of those things ends the world. What happens is, all the adults disappear. That’s right; everyone over the age of 14 disappears. We follow numerous kids, and see how they survive without any adults. What will all the kids do before they too disappear on their 15th birthday? (NOTE: Look for the 2nd book, HUNGER, coming soon...)

Reviewed by: JustGuess:)

Secrets of My Hollywood Life

Calonita, Jen. Secrets of My Hollywood Life. NY: Little, Brown, 2008. 314 pages. (Fiction)

Ever wonder what it’s like to be a star? Well, just ask Kaitlin Burke. Her stardom days began back when she was just 4 years old when she started starring in the prime time drama Family Affair. With stardom, the fabulous life, and the most fabulous boyfriend imaginable, her life would be perfect, right? WRONG! Just as Kaitlin’s It Girl status is at its peak, a new girl comes to star on FA. Alexis Holden is no fan of Kaitlin Burke, and is a total suck up to all the writing staff, the press, and of course the fans absolutely love her! Can Kaitlin handle this new, snobby, star or will she say goodbye to fame and fortune when Alexis threatens take her spot on FA…permanently?

I really liked this book. It gave you a lot of cool info on the real Hollywood. And I love all the drama in it! I would totally recommend this book to anyone wanting an inside scoop on the Hollywood life.

Reviewed by: JustGuess:)

How My Private Personal Journal Became a Bestseller

DeVillers, Julia. How My Private Personal Journal Became a Bestseller. NY: Puffin Books, 2004. 212 pages. (Fiction)

I choose the book , ‘How My Private Personal Journal Became a Bestseller’. It is about a normal, everyday fourteen year old girl named Jameson Bartlett (Jamie for short) whose life is forever changed since she wrote a bestselling novel. This was never planned. You see, Jamie was just a student writing an English assignment when her best friend, Harmony, accidently handed in her journal instead of her English assignment. Her journal entry contained a story about Isabella (a.k.a. IS), the girl who destroys snobby, popular people with her legendary ‘Flick’. When Jamie’s English teacher sent her journal to be published, the once ordinary Jamie Bartlett becomes the celebrity of Whittaker High! But will Jamie forget that there is more to life than fame or will she let it all go to her head and loose her friends on the way?

I loved this book. It very inspiring read teaches that any outsider or victim of a bully can take control of any situation by being brave and believing in themselves. This book was very interesting to me once I started to read it I could not put it down. I give this funny and motivating story a nine.

Reviewed by : Figur8girl4ever

Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident

Eoin, Colfer. Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident. New York City: Hyperion Books for Children, 2002. 277 pages. (Fantasy Series/Humor)

This book that I have reviewed is very exciting and has lots of drama. Artemis Fowl’s bodyguard gets an e-mail. It is a video of a man with no leg sitting in a chair with a sign over his head that translates in Russian, “Hello Son.” Artemis’s father was lost at sea smuggling cola from Ireland. Artemis recognizes his father immediately and asks the Fairy Captain Holly Short of the LEP recon for help to get his father back from the Russian Mafia before they kill him. But the Captain and the fairies have some problems of their own when a large triad of goblens get their hands on some illegal weaponry.

Overall this book was very exciting and kept me guessing what was going to happen next. I would give it a seven out of ten.

Reviewed by: Shadowslicer4596

A Wrinkle in Time

L’Engle, Madeline. A Wrinkle in Time. New York: Random House, 2005. 238 pages. (Fantasy Series)

Meg Murry is different, to say the least. Her parents are geniuses, yet she is basically failing. Her father, Mr. Murry, is gone. Everyone suspects that he’s gone with another woman, yet Meg and her family know he’s on a secret trip involving science. Then there’s Charles Wallace. He’s Meg’s little brother and he has an incredible mind. He’s able to understand things so complex, that if a normal human could understand those things, their brain would overload. They all live pretty normal lives, but their lives are about to get a little wacky. They’ll travel through space, land on scary planets, meet strange creatures, have their minds taken over, and they’ll return at the same time that they left, that is if they return at all…

This book was pretty good. It wasn’t one of those books that you never want to put down, but you did want to find out the ending and I did enjoy it. Don’t be alarmed if you get confused at first (or throughout the whole thing) by the big, made up, scientific concepts. It’s supposed to be that way. A very interesting book- truly out of this world!

Reviewed By: DancingPengiun96

Girls in Pants

Brashares, Ann. Girls in Pants. New York: Random House, 2005. 387 pages. (Fiction Series)

Once upon a time there were four very different girls who happened to be best friends: Lena the shy one, Tibby the confused one, Bee the athletic outgoing one, and Carmen the jealous one. Everyone is having different experiences... Lena wants to be an artist but her parents take her out of drawing class and refuse to pay for her to go to art college. Tibby has a new boyfriend, but is he new in her life? Bee is off to be a coach at a soccer camp, where she sees a familiar face... Carmen has a new crush who thinks she’s a good person, and she discovers a bottle of vitamins her mother is hiding, but why? Read Girls in Pants to find out!

This series is very unpredictable and exciting. They are not the kind of books you just can’t put down, but they’re still entertaining. I like how the characters are so different from each other and yet they are still inseparable. I recommend this series to girls, but not really to boys (sorry guys!) Read the whole series: The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, The Second Summer of the Sisterhood, Girls in Pants, and Forever in Blue.

Reviewed by: DancindPenguin96

Forever in Blue

Brashares, Ann. Forever in Blue. New York: Random House, 2007. 384 pages. (Fiction Series)

It’s the fourth summer of the sisterhood and Lena, Carmen, Bee, and Tibby have gone to college. This summer they’re off on their separate ways and they must rely on the Traveling Pants to keep them together- maybe a little too much. Bee is off to Turkey for an archeological dig where she falls in love with the floor –literally. Lena tries to forget Kostos but is reluctant, fearing that the day she forgets him will be the day she sees him again. Tibby finds her true love, but something will change her mind. Carmen expects to spend her summer working on sets but is dragged into another role. At the end of all this the pants (which may be smarter than them) will find a way to bring them all back together.

These books definitely are unpredictable, but they leave some to be desired. I guess I thought the last book would be phenomenal but it just wasn’t. It’s not like they are bad books they just don’t have enough passion to hook you and make you want to never stop reading. Granted, this book did have a good ending for the series. Okay, but not the best.

Reviewed by: DancingPenguins96

Hoot

Hiaasen, Carl. Hoot. New York: Random House Children’s Books, 2002. 292 pages. (Fiction / Humor)

Being the new kid is tough. It’s hard to make friends, hard to keep away from bullies, and hard to start over in a new town and new school. But, Roy Eberhardt is used to it. He has been to schools all over the country! But, he finds his new town, in Florida, very interesting.

Roy meets Mullet Fingers. A runaway kid from a military school. Mullet has been pulling pranks on a construction site where a Mother Paula’s Pancake House is scheduled to be built. Why would any kid object to pancakes, you ask? Well, hidden underground the construction site in little burrows are baby owls. No bigger than a soda can. So Mullet, and his step sister Beatrice are planning to get the Mother Paula’s people out of there and let the owls be free. But, it turns out that is nearly impossible since no one believes them about the little owls. Roy decides to help and maybe together they can save the owls!

St. Louis Post-Dispatch calls Hoot, “A laugh-out-loud tale.” With a story full of greedy rich guys, stupid cops, pranking middle school kids, and little baby owls this book is a hoot! I really like this book. It is written really well and has very interesting plot twists. I would recommend this book to everyone.

Reviewed by: JustGuess :)

Half-human

Coville, Bruce. Half-human. New York, New York, 2001. 207 pages. (Fantasy: Shory Stories)

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be half-human and half-animal or creature? If you have, Half-human is the book for you! In this book you will find myth’s that have been written by authors who have an imagination beyond typical. One of my favorite stories in this book was, Princess Dragonblood, by Jude Mandell.

Queen Margot would do anything to please her husband, King Rolf, by having a baby. She stumbles upon the most horrible person she could ever meet, Glendora. Little does she know as she followed Glendora to her small cottage in the woods that she was actually a witch! As they sat around Glendora’s table drinking, feasting, and sharing laughs, Glendora was putting Dracon’s blood into Queen Margot’s cup. After the evening had gone on far too long, Glendora confessed to Queen Margot about what she had done. As Queen Margot was ready to flee from the house, scared and angry, Glendora told her that she was pregnant with Dracon’s baby. Queen Margot was so full of joy when Glendora finished that she hugged her and ran to tell her husband. When the baby was born, she was named Princess Eleanor. As Eleanor grew she knew she was different. Her strength was unbelievable, she would explode with rage at the smallest things, and she knew that she shouldn’t have been growing at the rate she was. When the time came, Eleanor and Glendora met. Eleanor was furious with her mother, Glendora, and her blood father. When she finally meet Dracon, she found that there was a bond that couldn’t be broken. Will these relationships stay tied? What will Eleanor do to Dracon? Read the pages of, Half-human, to find out.

I would definitely recommend people to read this book! Anyone who is interested in mythology with a twist would enjoy reading this book!

Reviewed by: BlueBerryBuddy

The DaVinci Code

Brown, Dan. The DaVinci Code. New York: Random House, 2003. 739 pages. (Mystery)

Robert Langdon is a symbologist at Harvard University. He was supposed to meet Jacques Sauniere for a discussion and drinks one evening. Sauniere never showed up. That’s because Jacques Sauniere was murdered at 10:46 P.M. that night in the Louvre Museum in Paris. With him disappeared a powerful secret… or did he find a way to pass it on?

Follow this intricate story as it weaves through history and a mystery. Code after code, this book is anything but predictable. Every sentence made me want to find out the solution even more, and the end was certainly not disappointing. I even think (and this is really hard for me to say) that The DaVinci Code is better than the Twilight series. This book does have some violence and grotesque details, so beware of that. When I say this, I truly mean it: this is my favorite book I have ever read! EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!

Reviewed By: DancingPenguin96

Ripley’s Believe It or Not: Creepy Stuff

Ripley’s Believe It or Not: Creepy Stuff. NY: Scholastic, 2003. 96 pages. (Non-Fiction)

Ripley’s Believe It or Not was about creepy stuff from the book of Ripley’s Believe It or Not. My favorite one is when they show John F. Kennedy and Abe Lincoln’s personal life and how well they were connected. James Dean’s car was possessed. The book shows you the creepiest facts you will every hear in your life. It turns the facts into creepy stories. It turns the believable into the unbelievable to the human mind.

I would recommend this to people who like creepy stuff. I wouldn’t recommend it to people who get scared easily because they would get scared. But I liked it because I like creepy stories. This is a great book for everyone but little babies, so check it out sometime.

Reviewed by: HurleyHogs