Dragon’s Bait

Vande Velde, Vivian. Dragon’s Bait. Orlando: Magic Carpet Books, 1992. 196 pages. (Fantasy)

The main characters of Dragon’s Bait are Alys, a girl from Saint Toby’s and a very hard working girl at that; and Selendrile, the dragon that was going to eat her but turned out not to be interested in Alys. The novel takes place in Saint Toby’s, Griswold, and Green Barrel Inn. They both wanted revenge on the person that turned Alys in. Alys was sentenced to death and tied to a pole to be eaten by the dragon, Selendrile, for being a witch. There is one event that struck my eye: Alys had to cut her hair and act like a boy, but the witch realized that she was a girl because of her fake boy voice.I am very likely to read another book by this author because she described every detail fully; she wrote that Selendrile, the dragon, first appeared out of nowhere. Also, the great details such as how Selendrile’s mane was such a lush color of gold. I would also recommend this to a parent because they both like a good fiction book even though they may not know it.

Reviewed by: 90210

The Quillan Games

Machale, D.J. The Quillan Games. NY: Simon & Schuster, 2006, 486 pages. (Fantasy/ Sci-fi)

In this novel, Bobby Pendragon finds himself on another adventure through Halla, the universe. In this part of Bobby’s quest to defeat the evil traveler, Saint Dane, he goes through the flume, a teleporter only travelers can use, to the gaming planet of Quillan. Here, he meets people who take gaming seriously because it is the only way to make life for your family better. When he arrives in Quillan, he finds out a super-company, Blok, controls everything. He encounters spiders and super-humans who are called D.A.D.O.S. He is then forced to compete in the Quillan games with life and death stakes. Meanwhile, on Second Earth, they place we live, Courtney Chetwynde, bobby’s childhood friend and rival, is recovering from a near death experience. Courtney then finds out that that Mark, a friend of theirs, has gone to a different territory with Saint Dane who was disguised as their middle school bully, Andy Mitchell. On Quillan, a group of rebellious citizens, called the Revivers, is trying to overthrow Blok and regain their lives. Bobby has moved onto the finals of the games, the Grand X. Will Bobby survive and make it home? Will the Revivers help the turning point on Quillan? Will Mark ever come home?

You will have to read the book to find out. I recommend this book to anyone who likes action, fantasy, and comedy. This book is the seventh one in the Pendragon series. I would read the other books in the series so you will get the concept of travelers and Halla. If you are a person who has good taste in books, this book will taste good to you.

Reviewed by: TXTtehBALL12

Midnight Rider

Hiatt, Joan. Midnight Rider. NY, Aladdin, 2006. 372 pages. (Historical Fiction)

The book I selected was called Midnight Rider. It takes place during the Civil War. Hannah is the main character in the book. She is fourteen years old, an orphan, and was very sad because her aunt Phoebe had just sold her horse Promise. Everyday since then, she snuck out to see the boy who bought the horse. When her aunt found out, she sent her to live in England with the Gages. The Gages are a rich family who live in London. General Gage lives there. Hannah was to be their maid. The boy, Caleb, knew the Gages and went there and left Promise in the stables. Hannah found a secret tunnel to get to the horses, but she had to dress up as a boy to get out so no one would be looking for her. Girls had a curfew they had to follow. She went to meetings only guys were allowed to attend at night. I would tell you more but, you need to read it find out what happens next. I recommend this book to all my friends because it is about history and includes Paul Revere who was one of the first people who found out Hannah was a girl. This book is a very good book. I read it in fifth grade and I made my grandma get it for me because it was so good. This book is also one of the books that if you only read 330 out of its 372 pages, it does not make sense. So read it and tell more people about it.

Reviewed by: BlueGoo32

Breaking Dawn

Meyer, Stephanie. Breaking Dawn. NY: Little, Brown and Company, 2008. 754 pages. (Fantasy Series / Vampires)

Breaking Dawn is the fourth and last book in the Twilight saga. The saga is about a teenager named Bella, Edward Cullen, Jacob Black, Victoria, and the Cullens (Edward’s family). The story takes place in a small rainy town called Forks, in Washington State. In this book, many events happen: one of the first things to happen is that Bella and Edward get married. While on their honeymoon, Bella gets pregnant. The couple is faced with another problem. Someone isn’t happy about the baby and is ready to kill it… along with its family. What will happen to the new couple and their newborn child? Will Bella ever get to be a vampire? Read Breaking Dawn to find out!
I loved all of these books and found it hard to believe there will ever be a series that pains me so much to stop reading. I highly recommend reading the first book and going in order, or you will be terribly confused. Read Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, then Breaking Dawn. If anyone is in need of a thrilling book, an adventure book, a love story, or just a book to fall in love with, these are your books.

Reviewed by: DancingPenguin96

Freak the Mighty

Philbrick, Rodman. Freak the Mighty. NY: Scholastic, 1993. 160 pages. (General Fiction)

Max has always been called dumb, slow, and stupid, while Max’s cousin Freak is really smart, but really short. Max’s father is an inmate in prison for trying to kill Max several times and supposedly murdering a citizen. While Freak and Max became best friends, Freak found out that he had a disease that was going to leave him in braces and crutches for life. I think that this book was astonishing. I would recommend it to readers who like a good story.

Reviewed by: Rick4Nascar47

Talent

Dean, Zoey. Talent. NY: Penguin Group, 2008. 288 pages. (Fiction)

My book review was on Zoey Dean’s Talent. There are four main characters: Mackenzie (Mac), Coco, Rebecca (Becks), and Emily, they are all entering high school. This story takes place in Los Angeles just before school starts. Mac has no talent but tries encouraging a girl from a party she went to to be an actress. Emily faked her way in the party and Mac realized that Emily had talent. Her mom tries to tell her that she’s not cut out to be an agent but Mac pursues her dream. Mac had to turn Emily into a boy by changing her style because the role in the movie, Sea Devils, was for a boy. Some interesting things that happened in the book were that Becks got hit in the face by a football when she was on the beach. While I was reading it, I felt that you don’t have to be cool or rich to become what you want to become. The reason it was a teens book is because it speaks to teens by having a teen in the book with a teen life and the same issues that teens today have. I highly recommend that teens should read this book!

Reviewed by: BrownieLover101

Companions of the Night

Vande Velde, Vivian. Companions of the Night. Orlando, Florida: Harcourt Inc., 1995. 212 pages. (Mystery / Horror)

The main characters in the story are Kerry Nowicki and Ethan Bryne. Kerry is a 16 year old girl who lives in a small town. Ethan, however, is a vampire who lives in another small town. The story takes place in Rochester, New York. Kerry’s dad and her little brother Ian get kidnapped, and she has to fiend them with Ethan’s help. Ethan, on the other hand, is trying to hide from the vampire hunters. Kerry solves her problem when she meets someone named Professor Marsala who tells Kerry that her family is at the police station or they got to go back home. Ethan, though, had Kerry protecting him because when vampires sleep, they go into a very deep sleep because there are vampire hunters trying to kill him. I would recommend this book if you find vampires fascinating. Also, once you started reading, it you can’t stop.

Review by: No Where Man