Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul 2

Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul 2. Florida: Health Communication, 1998. 324 pages. (Inspiration / Non-Fiction)


Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul 2
Is a book written by teenagers.
When you read its stories you are whisked away
And sucked into the pages.

Don’t be surprised if it makes you realize
A whole new side of you.
After reading of all the tragedies and mistakes,
You may see life through a different view

Some stories are of love,
Some are of hate.
Others are on kindness,
Question or debate.

When you read it,
Don’t worry about how you dress or look
Just choose to experience
A whole new kind of book

This series is incredible. It really makes you realize how much others can be in pain and you may not even realize it. The Chicken Soup… series is great in how it’s written by hundreds of different teenagers and even adults. Some of them are the popular type, others are misfits, and some are in pain. From all of those different points of view you can begin to understand people better. I recommend the Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul series for all teenagers (especially girls) of any shape, size, knowledge, or ability.

Reviewed by: DancingPenguin96

That Summer

Dessen, Sarah. That Summer. New York: Penguin Group, 1996. 198 pages. (Drama / Romance)

For fifteen-year-old Haven, she can’t stand the fact that she is almost six feet tall and still growing. She and her older sister Ashley had to go through her mom and dad’s divorce, which isn’t always easy. But the hard part about it was that, that summer her dad was getting re-married to Lorna Queen the local television newscaster. The “Weather Pet” as Haven likes to call her. Also that summer Ashley was going to get married to Lewis Warsher, who Haven doesn’t really think suits Ashley at all. Then one day when Haven was working at the mall she saw Ashley’s old boyfriend, Sumner Lee. When Haven saw Sumner she remembered back when her parents were together and happy. When Ashley was nice and carefree. And everything was the way she liked it, or not…

I would and wouldn’t recommend this book to anyone because it’s a good book, but it didn’t keep my interest at all, and it’s not something I would want to read again.

Reviewed by: PrivilegedReader

Things Not Seen

Clements, Andrew. Things Not Seen. New York City: Penguin Books, 2004. 251 pages. (Fantasy)


Bobby Philips is a normal 15 year old boy who lives in Chicago. One morning, he wakes up invisible. Not knowing how this happened, Bobby turns to his parents, the Professor (mom), and the Physicist (dad). Soon it becomes a race to figure out how Bobby became invisible and make him visible again because people start to wonder where Bobby is. Later, he meets Alicia, a blind girl. She begins to help him find out how he became invisible. Bobby starts telling her things and trusting her, but what happens if the government were to find out about the invisible boy? How are they going to find out what turned Bobby invisible and reverse it? You can read the story and find out.

This book was O.K. At some places in the beginning it would move slowly, but it was fun to read. Andrew Clements is a good author for young adults. All of his books are exciting.
Reviewed by: DeidaraSama1

The Book of Story Beginnings

Kladstrup, Kristin. The Book of Story Beginnings.Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2006. 360 pages. (Fantasy)


After moving from her apartment to a house in Iowa, Lucy learns that her family all the way back to her great uncle lived in the house which the towns people called “The Brick”. Her Aunt Lavonne had lived in the house till she died and that’s when her family had moved there. She knew that her great uncle had one night disappeared from the farm house into the ocean, but everyone knows that there’s no ocean in Iowa. Lucy’s Dad told her about a little book that Oscar (her great uncle that had disappeared) had wrote in. The book had little story beginnings that Oscar had wrote years ago, one of them was a boy who lived in a small farm house in Iowa looked out his window one night and saw an ocean, on the shore there was a boat just the right size for him, he got in and sailed away. That story, Lucy realized came true according to Oscar’s sister, her aunt Lavonne, but she couldn’t ask her because she was dead!!

I highly recommend this book: it’s funny and so random! I would read another book by this author because she keeps her imagination wide open and always makes serious things hilarious.

Reviewed by: Sabine's World

Lily’s Crossing

Giff Reilly, Patricia. Lily’s Crossing. NY: Yearling Books, 1999. 208 pages.

This is a story about four main characters Lily, Albert, Grandma, and Dad. This all takes place during World War II on a beach in Rockaway. Lily is faced with a problem her friend is going work for her father in Michigan. Lily’s father is also thinking of fighting in the war in France. Albert, Lily’s new friend, has left his sick sister in Europe. Lily and Albert solve their problems by try going to France in a rowboat. That really didn’t work out so when the war ended they sent letters to his family members. Read this book to see how it ended.

If I were to describe this book in ten or more words it would be dry but kind of interesting in a way. There was really nothing there to keep my from reading on to further chapters or even finishing the book…There were so many times I wanted to put the book down, but since I didn’t have time to start another book, I read on.
Reviewed by: Sky's the Limit