The Sword of Shannara

Brooks, Terry, The Sword of Shannara, New York: Random House, 1977. 726 pages. (Fantasy Series)

Shea Ohmsford a Half-elf and his human “Brother” Flick have lived in the Shady Vale their entire life.  Everything changed when the tall forbidding druid Allanon appears and warns them of the Skull Bearers and their twisted dark master the Warlock Lord which all thought was slain by the elf king and shea’s ancestor Jerle Shannara. Now Shea must travel the Four lands with a band of men, elves, a dwarf, his “brother “ Flick, and his friend the prince of Leah to use the elf stones to recover the Sword of Shannara and destroy the Warlock Lord.

My father introduced me to this book. He read the Shannara series when he was in his teens. One day when I was looking over my dad’s old books I found the series, so I showed it to my dad and he had me start reading them. I loved The Sword of Shannara. I thought it was an amazing book and if you like long fantasy, you have to read it.

~Haymitch

Speak

Anderson, Laurie Halse. Speak. New York: Penguin Group, 1999, 198 pages. (Poem Review / Fiction)

Melinda, Melinda what do you see?
I see cheerleaders hating me.

Cheerleaders, Cheerleaders what do you see?
I see the Trojans coming for me.

Trojans, Trojans what do you see?
I see a school as happy as could be.

School, School what do you see?
I see the principal looking over me.

Principal, Principal what do you see?
I see Mr. Neck with a problem for me.

Mr. Neck, Mr. Neck what do you see?
I see trouble approaching me.

Trouble, Trouble what do you see?
I see Cheerleaders bossy as could be.

Cheerleaders, Cheerleaders what do you see?
I see Melinda quiet as could be.

Melinda, Melinda what do you see?

Reviewed by: Mouse

Beowulf a New Telling

Nye, Robert. Beowulf a New Telling. New York N.Y.: Bantam Doubleday Dell Books for Younger Readers, 1968. 103 pages (Epic)

Beowulf is an amazing story about a man named Beowulf who dares to stand up to one of Cain’s three children Grendel. Beowulf has an amazing characteristic of finding his weakness and turning them into strengths: he has very poor vision but he sees it as a gift because he can see the world differently than other men; he sees the things men don’t even notice. Grendel has begun to raid the golden hall of Heorot at night ever since the hall was finished. Many men have tried to kill Grendel but all have failed. Beowulf does not seem worried about killing Grendel; he doesn't even bring his sword to fight him. Hrothgar the king of the Danes and his wife Wealhtheow are worried for Beowulf’s safety but they know that if any man can kill Grendel it is Beowulf.


I thought this was a superb retelling of Beowulf. I want to go out and read the direct translation now. I think anyone who wants to read a short epic tale should read this. It’s a quick read and I loved it and that’s coming from a guy who reads 400-600 page books. I think anyone could love this story.

Reviewed by: Haymitch

Middle School the Worst Years of My Life

Patterson, James. Middle School the Worst Years of My Life. NY: Hachette, 2011, 283 pages. (Realistic Fiction / Humor)

The book Middle School the Worst years of my life is an excellent book that is great for the readers from 11-13. It was a great read that I could not put down. The book has to do with breaking rules, family troubles, and an “imaginary” friend that gives him ideas along the way.

Rafe Katchadorion is a middle school boy who doesn’t want his next year in middle school to be boring and just breeze through it. The main characters are Rafe Katchadorion, his imaginary friend Leo, Rafe’s mom, and Rafe’s mom’s boyfriend bear.

The main idea of the story is Rafe’s makes a game so his first year of middle school isn’t boring and just drag on. The game is to make school interesting by breaking the rules. Rafe has to get a total of 1,000,000 points by the end of the school year. There is only one rule in this game is to not get anyone else hurt.

Book review by: TheGreatMeatball279

Sparks, Nicholas. The Last Song. NY, Boston: Grand Central Publishing, 2009. 380 pages. (Romance- Fiction)

Seventeen-year-old Ronnie Millier’s life was destroyed when her parents got a divorce and her father moved from New York to Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina. Three years later she remains angry and becomes a total rebel. Ronnie used to be an amazing piano player and then after the divorce she quit. Her mom thinks it is a good idea for Ronnie and her younger brother to spend the whole summer vacation with their father in North Carolina. Ronnie’s father, a former concert pianist, is living a nice, quiet life in a beach house and making an art masterpiece for the local church. Ronnie, the rebellious person she is, rejects all of her father’s attempts to become closer and meets a boy, Will Blakelee, the last person she ever thought she would be attracted to. As time goes on, Ronnie falls in love with Will and realizes he is not the boy she first thought he was when they had a little run-in at the beach on Ronnie’s first day there. Ronnie has many decisions to make about her future with college and her true love and her dad. But at the same time, Will has decisions too. Will the two of them blow off college and stay in North Carolina together? Will Ronnie go back home to New York? Will Ronnie and Will both go off to college? Will she get the relationship back with her father that she secretly kind of misses? Before the summer is over, Ronnie feels so much guilt and regret to her dad that she secretly finishes writing their song…………….The Last Song.

I would recommend this book to other people. I would because it is an amazing love story and every chapter somebody has a new challenge to face, so it never gets boring. I am not much of a reader but I could not put this book down. I love how in just a month or two a person can just change their whole attitude about life, one day at a time and even though Ronnie has some really hard choices to make, any reader would have done most of the same things. Ronnie is just like one of my best friends. Her parents got a divorce about a year ago and after it was official she was so angry and rebellious. She won’t listen to anyone and she hasn’t even said a single word to her father since he moved out, just like Ronnie. The Last Song is an amazing book and I hope you read it

Reviewed by: Don'tShakeTheTrackerJackerNestGirl

A Child Called It

Pelzer, Dave. A Child Called It. NY: HCI, 1995. 200 pages. (Non fiction)

A Child Called It was one sad story. Besides getting being beaten, Dave was forced to eat his own vomit, swallow soap, ammonia, and Clorox. This was just the beginning of his mother's torture. Dave's childhood wasn't always a nightmare. There were the good years in the beginning of Dave’s life. By the age of 4 these feelings were replaced with fear, starvation and lowliness.

I would recommend someone to read A Child Called It because is not all about the beaten, it's more about how selfish and cruel people can be. I first got my hands on this book from my mom. I heard about the book all the time, and I was dying to read it when my mom finished reading it.

Review By: Fate

The Maze Runner

Dashner, James. The Maze Runner, New York: Random House, 2009. 336 pages. (Adventure / Sci-Fi Series)

The Maze Runner is about a guy named Thomas who wakes up in a box and has no idea where he is. Then he hears a sound that makes him more worried. When he sees a group of boys just standing there waiting for him to come up. When he finally does they are all talking to him all at ounce. Then the leader comes and tells everyone to be quit. When he asks where he is they tell him that he is the Glade. After about 3-4 days when he get use to the Glade the box makes a sound that means something is coming up they run over and see that it is a girl. The problem that Thomas face is that when the girl comes up he has this strange felling that he knows her but he doesn’t remember her because everyone lost their memories. He solved his problem by becoming a runner which means that he has to go into the maze and try to find a way out. I think that anyone who read The Hunger Games will really dig The Maze Runner because it has boys going through a maze that has these things called Grievers and they can kill them and it is going on live TV. I recommend this book because it really sticks to you and you don’t want to put it down. After you read this book than you must read the 2nd and 3rd book.

Reviewed by: Monkey man300

The Hunger Games

Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games. Scholastic, 2008. 374 pages. (Sci-Fi Series)


In the future America there are many natural disasters and war. After a war a capitol thrives. Then a rebellion! The capitol wins and then every year one male and one female between the age of 12 and 18 are split by gender and selected at random for the annual Hunger Games.

The story starts in the poorest of the twelve districts in the poorest part, The Seam. Sixteen year old Katniss Everdeen hunts illegally to support a family because of her father’s death. On reaping day Katniss and her little sister Primrose are entered in.

Effie Trinket picks the women first. “The girl tribute is Primrose Everdeen” she calls out. Katniss can’t believe it! “I volunteer! I volunteer as tribute,” she calls out. Then baker's son Peeta Mellark is called and off they go on the train to the capitol for preparation for the arena where the twenty-four tributes fight to the death.

Who will win???? May the odds be ever in your favor.

Personally my favorite charter was the district eleven male tribute Thresh. I didn’t care for either of the district two tributes. I love this book I recommend it to anyone who likes to compare books and movies and who loves a great violent read.

Reviewed by: Patman490

The Hunger Games

Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games. NY: Scholastic Press, 2008. 374 pages. (Sci-Fi Series)


The Hunger Games is a book about survival and courage. It takes place in a country called Panem which has 12 districts. Once a year, a boy and a girl from each district are selected to fight each other in the Hunger Games. The survivor of the games wins food for their district for a year. Katniss, a teenage girl from District 12 chooses to fight in the Hunger Games. The boy tribute from District 12, Peeta, becomes good friends with Katniss. Based on the rules of the Hunger Games, they may need to kill each other in order to win the games. The dilemma that these 24 children faced was that in order to win the Hunger Games, they had to kill the other 23 kids.

It is a great book because it reminds the reader that we are in a great country and that you don’t have to worry about being chosen to play in the Hunger Games and risk being killed. The author Suzanne Collins, did a great job writing this book and ending each chapter with a feeling of suspense that made me want to read the next chapter. I read this book in my English class and really enjoyed it. The Hunger Games is the first book in a 3 book series. There is also a movie made based on this novel which I look forward to watching.

Reviewed by: Gravel17