Among the Impostors

Haddix, Margaret. Among the Impostors. NY: Aladdin; 2001. 172 pages. (Sci-Fi Series)

This book is about a boy named Luke who lived in the countryside, but got sent to an all boys private school. He got sent with a fake ID because he was a third child and third children were illegal. He finds himself picked on and tortured. Eventually he ends up finding out that he was not the only third child in his school. He is somewhat relieved but still doesn’t want to give away his real identity.

I really like this book. It seems like a case of what could really happen in the future. I also like the way the author wrote this book because you never wanted to put it down. I really think that everyone should read it. Even if you don’t think you will like it, try it out and I really think you will.

Reviewed by: DivingDolphins

Tunnels

Gordon, Roderick and Williams, Brian. Tunnels. Somerset: Chicken House, 2007. 472 pages. (Adventure Series)


“Tunnels” by Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams is about a fourteen-year-old boy named Will Burrows who lives in Highfield, England. He has little in common with his family, though he does share one bond with his father: an obsession with archeological digs. Then one day his dad vanishes. Will and his friend Chester embark on a dangerous underground odyssey in which they stumble upon an entire civilization that has secretly been thriving beneath modern-day England. But as they continue their search for Will’s father, they learn about the dark society which rules over the underground Colony, the Styx, and their plot to wipe out the entire population above ground.


I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to read a good adventure novel. The reading level is rather advanced, so it is a junior-high-and-up kind of read. I selected this book when I saw it in a Scholastic book order in fourth grade. Its cover caught my eye, so I read a few pages and I was hooked. All in all, I greatly enjoyed this book.

Reviewed by: Chebubka99

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier

Beah, Ishmal. A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier. NY: Sarah Crichton Books, 2007. 229 pages. (Memoir / Non-fiction)

The main character in this book is Ishmael Beah he ranges from twelve to sixteen in the book. He also has some friends that come and go in the story. The story takes place in Sierra Leone, Africa during a war torn time in the country. The problem Ishmael faces in this story is that he is thirteen, lost his family, on many drugs, and is a boy forced into war for his survival. Ishmael does not, at first, try to solve the problem because he has been brainwashed to think what he is doing is doing the right thing then at the end he is in rehabilitation and tries to become sober and free of thought of what he had done to people. In this story a lot more interesting things happen such as almost meeting up with his family, many adventures in the wilderness, and Ishmael coming to New York City and seeing snow, many cars, etc.

As a reader I would recommend this book because it’s great and keeps you turning pages. But as a student I don’t know if I would recommend this book because it is more in detail about the blood and harsh way the people were treated. The scene that had the greatest impact on me and made me think for awhile was when I imagined when the rebels went into town and were very harsh and violent to the point of death of unborn and born babies, also crude and wild to the mothers and other women. I don’t think this author would make a good teacher or professor but would be a great to person to talk to about one of the world’s greatest problems that we don’t even think about because it has just started to have been talked about. This book was heart wrenching, sad, and made you look at the world in a different perspective because of what the people are going through.

Reviewed By: urbs518

Creech, Sharon. Heartbeat. Harper Trophy Publishers, 2005. 180 pages. (Fiction / Poem Review)


Happy about the alien baby!
Enchanting, it kept me reading!
Apple drawings for 100 days
Running and running just for fun
Track for Max, running to win
Breathe taking pages
Eating the apple, but still drawing it!
Alien baby was born!!
Track for Annie? Will she join?

The reason I chose this book is because I wanted to find out what the apple on the front meant! I really enjoyed this book! One thing I wanted to find out but I didn’t was why Annie’s grandfather quit running! That is why I kept reading I wondered if it would tell me at the end! What also kept me reading was if Annie was going to take Max’s advice for joining the track team! If you want to know you will have to read the book!! I hope you enjoy it was much as I did!!

Reviewed by: KaseyAtBat

Marked

Cast, Kristen. Marked. NY: St. Martin's Press, 2007. 306 pages. (Vampire Fiction / Poem Review)

Meet Zoey Redbird,
An average life gone wrong,
Chosen to be marked.
Zoey’s gift from Nyx,

Wind, water, fire, earth, spirit,
The five elements.
Zoey imprint’s on Heath,

From accidental blood lust,
Bound together tight.
Never seen fledging,
Her moon filled with Safire,
Nyx’s eyes and ears.

Neferet,
High priestess
Of the Dark Nights,

As Zoey’s mentor.
Aphrodite,
Leader of Dark Night’s Daughters,
Reading fledglings’ minds.

Evil ghosts summoned,
Casting the savior circle,
She saves the fledglings’!

I thought the book Marked explained a teenage life perfectly. There were parts making me proud of Zoey and parts that I was angry or sad. It was an incredible book and I loved it! I recommend this book to anyone who loves romance, drama, and a teenage life!
Murky Waters

Al Capone Does My Shirts

Choldenko, Gennifer, Al Capone Does My Shirts, NY: Penguin Group, 2004, 225 pages. (Historic Fiction)

The year is 1935 and Matthew Flanagan a.k.a. Moose lives on Alcatraz, an island full of murderers, mob bosses, and convicts. He has to sleep with Al Capone, Roy Gardner, and Machine Gun Kelly. Moose tries to be a good kid, but on this island there is all ways a dilemma. He has a sister named Nat and that is always in her own mind and barely pays attention to other people. He has made little friends, but except for Scott. Hew both have a passion for baseball. Piper is a trickster and always gets them in trouble. Annie is a sweet girl that just likes to have fun. Moose’s father has high expectations for Moose, and his father has to work two jobs and is rarely home. But with all this he still gets to have some fun on Mondays when Scott and he play ball with other kids. He has good times and bad times, but will this get him booted off the island?

Over all this is a great book because it is interesting about Alcatraz. It is a fiction book with a little view of a non fiction idea. Some of the people I have never heard before were great! The feeling was immense from one problem to another. I would greatly recommend this book to anybody especially historic fiction fans, Great Book!

Reviewed by: PiedPiper

The Hobbit

Tolkien, J.R.R. The Hobbit. New York: Ballantine Books, 1937. 305 pages. (Fantasy) 

Meet Bilbo Baggins, a small hobbit living in his comfortable in- The Hill (as it is called) home, with windows overlooking his garden, pantries (oh, so many pantries), wardrobes, and a round door with the knob in the middle as the entrance. Most Baggineses were often rich and very predictable, never going on adventures, and most didn’t need to ask a question to know what the answer would be. This is the story of many things unpredictable. While smoking an enormous pipe for one of his size, Bilbo sat on his porch enjoying the smoke, when, most curiously, a wizard came along, looking for an adventurer to accompany him. An adventurer! This was unheard of in The Hill for many years! However, as Bilbo turned him away, he learns that this is the one and only Gandalf! The great wizard and friend to many a hobbit! Unfortunately, Bilbo was not an adventurer, and turned him away, after inviting him for tea. The next day, expecting Gandalf to show at the door for tea, a dwarf shuffles in, then, again answering the door, another showed up, then a pair, then another five, and finally, another set of five, and Gandalf. After taking care of the business of feeding the dwarves and Gandalf, Bilbo is asked to go upon an adventure from which he may never return, to steal back the gold and riches from Lonely Mountain, taken by an evil dragon by the name of Smaug from the dwarves. Along the way, Bilbo will face beasts, tree folk, goblins, and more. A marvelous book, I would highly recommend it to fans of Tolkien or those looking to see what happened before the Lord of the Rings series as a read for any reason.

Reviewed by: “Magik Monqe”