Speak

Anderson, Laurie. Speak. New York City: Penguin Group, 1999. 198 pages. (Fiction)

It happened in A, at an end of the summer senior party. Melinda and her friends were going into ninth grade. Melinda was drunk. She went outside and came back a different person. Nobody knows but her and him...
Now Melinda is in ninth grade. She has no friends, and almost everyone hates her. Her grades have dropped from straight Bs to Fs. She’s is letting the past tear apart her future. Is there a way back?

This book was so deep and emotional, and written so well I actually felt like what had happened in the book had happened to me. I was kind of shaken up (I know that probably sounds weird). Believe me when I say that LAURIE HALSE ANDERSON IS AN INCREDIBLE WRITER!!!!!!!!!!! If you don’t read this book, you will have missed out on a truly amazing book!

Reviewed by: DancingPenguin96

Sabriel

Nix, Garth. Sabriel. Australia: HarperCollins Publishers, 1995. 491 pages. (Fantasy)

Sabriel is a girl with an unusual father: he puts the dead to rest. One day when Sabriel is almost ready to graduate from school at the early age of sixteen, she gets a shadow messenger from her father. It goes to death and she follows it. It gives her the tools that her father used, seven magical bells and a magical sword. Sabriel realizes that he is either trapped in death or is dead. Whichever one, she sets off hoping to save him. When she crosses The Wall into the Old Kingdom, she experiences many difficulties. She also finds out that her father was an Abhorsen, and that she must now take on his responsibilities, like banishing zombie-like creatures. Convinced that when she resurrects her father, she will be free of these new obligations, she sets out to find him. She comes across a mysterious cat that has been advising Abhorsens for a lengthy amount of time. Another one of these strange discoveries is Touchstone, a young man that was frozen in time for two hundred years with a secret as to how he got there which might be the key to defeating the enemy that Abhorsens have fought for centuries. But, will Sabriel find her father in time to stop it?

This book was really excellent. I liked that Sabriel was so determined to relieve herself of her duties and to get her father back, but she was forced to eventually face what she must do. For almost the whole story, she tries to get rid of her responsibilities, but when she is told that she must step up, she does and realizes that it’s not really as horrible as she was making it out to be. I’m looking for the next in the trilogy, Lirael. It’s going to need to work hard to be as good as Sabriel.

Reviewed by: Funky Zebras19

Chasing Yesterday the Awakening

Wasserman, Robin. Chasing Yesterday the Awakening. New York: Scholastic 2007. 207 pages. (Mystery/Suspense)

Jane Doe goes through a terrible explosion, and she’s only bruised, but she loses her memory and is sent to a cell with other kids until her parents come for her. She meets her new best friend Daniel, who teaches her how to pick locks, and helps her through tough times of rage, terrible dreams, and flash backs. But then, her mother comes and calls her Alexa Collins. Jane looks through the memories of Alexa and finds herself feeling completely different than the Alexa she was known by. She was used to a tough life from the memories she gathered. But, she takes the role of Alexa pretending that she is like the girly girl Alexa is. She sees the man who terrorizes her dreams as a family doctor. More and more she unravels the truth about Doctor Sytron and his evil plotting against her. Will she live or will she end up giving in to the lies that he injects into her?

I extremely loved this book. The action that goes along with her symptoms as all of her memories start coming back into place, memories that aren’t of hers but of the fake Alexa Collins, was all good. I never wanted to put the book down because it was awesome because of the descriptions. I’m sure you’ll feel the same way as me when you start reading.

Reviewed by: C is for cookie

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw

Kinney, Jeff. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw. NY: Amulet Books, 2009. 224 pages. (Graphic Novel / Humor)

The third book in The Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. Greg Heffley is back for more mayhem and insanity. Greg goes through his daily life with the new fear that his father will ship him off to military school. The things he experiences in the book are different, strange, and embarrassing, from his dad signing him up for soccer to becoming a boy scout. As always Greg is having problems with his family, school, and life in general. It appears to him that life is being taken to the wrong turn, which makes this a very interesting book to read.

This was a fun, quick, and easy read for me. The text and dialogue made me think a 6th grader wrote the book because it was kid-like. The only problem I can see with it, was that it’s really good but too short. I plan to buy the fourth book if Jeff Kinney decides to write another. I would recommend it to people who need a quick read or funny book.

Reviewed by:Fred Figglehorn

High School Musical, Under the Stars

Perelman, Helen. High School Musical, Under the Stars. New York: Disney, 2008. 246 pages.

I read High School Musical, Under the Stars and thought it was an interesting book. There are 9 main characters, Gabriella, Troy, Kelsi, Martha, Sharpy, Ryan Chad Zeke, and Taylor. They all went on a school field trip to a campground for the weekend. The first day they were there, they all went on a scavenger hunt in the woods. There was a green and blue group. Sharpy went with Troy and Martha in the green group. While Gabriella went with Taylor, Ryan, Kelsi, Zeke, and Chad in the blue group. Both groups went in the woods but the blue group went on an expert trail. Ryan and Taylor found a rabbit that was on the scavenger list while they were walking. When they went to go back with the group no one was there. They were worried because they were lost. Will Taylor and Ryan get back to camp or will they never be seen again?

I thought this book was very interesting. Once I got to when Taylor and Ryan were lost, I couldn’t put the book down. I really wanted to find out if they were ever seen again or not. If there was a sequel to this book I would read it.

Reviewed by: ???