A Great and Terrible Beauty

Bray, Libba. A Great and Terrible Beauty. NY: Declorate Press, 2003. 416 pages. (Fantasy / Romance)

This book is about a girl named Gemma Doyle who has returned to England to go to Spence Academy, a boarding school that teaches girls how to be a proper wife in the 1800’s, after her mother’s tragic death in India. She has just discovered that she has the ability to go into other realms and can see visions. She then learns about the order, a group of people who have the same abilities that she does, that have been lost thanks to Circe, an evil power-hungry thing that wants all order members dead, especially Gemma. Along the journey of her visions, Gemma encounters a little girl who gives her the diary of Mary Dowd. To Gemma’s surprise the diary’s still with her in the morning when she wakes. Soon Gemma befriends Felicity, Pippa, and Ann. They decide to start an order of their own. Now all magic of the realms is loose and trouble could be at hand, but that doesn’t concern her. She will leave those troubles out of her mind for at least little while, hopefully.

If I had to describe this book in one word it would be astounding. This book was all around amazing. It had a romance, mythical, and very dramatic theme to it. With the loving realistic characters and well written plot, all most anyone would enjoy this book.

So1cc5er

The Sign of The Beaver

Speare, Elizabeth. The Sign of The Beaver. NY: Bantam Doubleday Dell, 1984. 135 pages. (Survival)

The main characters of this book are Matt and Attean. The story in Maine. The problem Matt faces is he is left in the woods alone for about 6 months because his dad had to get his mom, sister, and little baby sister back where he used to live. The problem is that he is alone with no one. But about 2 months after his dad left an Indian comes from out of the woods his name is Attean. An interesting thing that happened was that Attean would come over to his house almost every day to learn how to read and write. In return Attean would teach Matt how to catch fish without a fishing poll or make a bow and arrow or something like that. Then Attean and his tribe had to move because there food was moving north and Attean asked if Matt wanted to go with them.

I think that this author would be teacher. I think that this author would be a good teacher because she could teach about the outdoors. She could teacher about the outdoors because of all thing about the outdoors she talks

Reviewed by: GlibGibb

Shug

Han, Jenny. Shug. N.Y.: Simon and Schuster Children’s Publishing, April 25, 2006. 256pages. (Realistic Fiction / Romance)

The book I chose to read is Shug by Jenny Han. Shug’s real name is Annemarie Wilcox. But her mom, dad and sister call her Shug. They call her that because it’s short for sugar and it means “sugar and spice and everything nice” and lots of mothers call their babies Shug. This story takes place in Clementon, New Jersey and it was the end of summer and they’re beginning school, seventh grade actually. The problem Annemarie faces is she is in love with her life-time friend, Mark Findley. She has to go about this “problem” while Jack Connelly, the boy she’s hated for quite some years, was bothering her.

If you want to know the ending, read this book, ‘cause I’m not giving the rest away. I selected this book from a book order, and I’m glad I did. It’s my new favorite book. This book makes you want to keep reading, and reading, and reading.

Reviewed by: Tinkerbell14

Two Way Street

Barnholdt, Lauren. Two Way Street. New York: Simon Pulse, 2007. 288 pages. (Romance / Realistic Fiction)

Two Way Street is a book that tells each sides of an ex’s story. Jordan has his story which surprisingly, is totally different from Courtney’s. Which Courtney doesn’t know quite yet.

Courtney McSweeney is heartbroken. She placed her world around a boy, and he lied. Jordan Richmond just broke up with his girlfriend, Courtney, and her dad keeps bugging him. Jordan and Courtney are going to the same college together and had planned a trip together for 3 days in a car before they broke up. 3 days, two exes. Something bad is bound to happen.

On the first day of the trip, Jordan was late. Either he is going without her, or he is doing it to annoy Courtney, because so far, it was working. Jordan pulls in the driveway just as Courtney’s dad is coming down the stairs. Jordan looks like he just woke up and he explains that he had packed for college just that morning. Courtney had been packed for weeks. That tells you a lot about Jordan. This is a great book about two exes that absolutely hate each other in the beginning and then towards the end Jordan tells Courtney the real reason he broke up with her and they both realize that they were meant to be together. This is a great book that tells both sides of the couple’s story, and strangely, each side is different, but in the end, both stories match. I would definitely recommend this book for someone who wants something with a lot of emotion and twists.

Reviewed by Jlee007