Yellow Flag

Lipsyte, Robert. Yellow Flag. New York City: Harper Collins, 2007. 234 pages. (NASCAR, Sports Fiction)

In the book Yellow Flag, by Robert Lipsyte, The main charactars are Kyle; Kyle’s older brother brother, Chris; their father, no name; their grandfather, Walter; and their great-grandfather. This story occurs at a race track and a school. The problem is that Kyle is upset about an upcoming race. This problem is resolved by Kyle’s grandfather offering to help him. One interesting fact is that Kyle can end a racing dream by hitting his brakes and letting everyone pass him.

I selected this book from the school library and the story looked good. The book also seemed to fit one of my interests. That interest is “CARS”. I would recommend this book who is really into cars and racing.

Reviewed by: OJ

Abduction

Keheret, Peg. Abduction. New York City: Puffin Books, 2004. (Mystery)

In the book Abduction, Matt leaves his classroom at the end of the day to go to the bathroom when he meets a “UPS man” who is really his father who he never knew existed. His father, Denny, is here, at the school, to kidnap his son into his car to take him to show his sister and brother-in-law that he does have a son. He is kidnapping Matt because he doesn’t have custody over his son. When Matt doesn’t meet his sister, Bonnie, at the bus stop as he normally does Bonnie goes to his classroom and she can’t find him anywhere then the staff of the school go searching to when they can’t find him either they decide to call the police and get them involved with it. Later on in the book when Bonnie goes to the baseball game she notices someone who looks like her brother but is wearing glasses and has dark hair. So to figure this out she tells her friends that she’s going to see a friend when she follows Matt and he eventually sees her he yells to her and then she sees who he’s with, Denny. So that Bonnie won’t go and tell the police Denny also take Bonnie with him. As the story comes to an end some things work out for the better some for the worst.

In Abduction the person that I despise the most would be Denny because he is very rude and neglectful to Matt after he kidnaps him. All Denny wants to do is use him to show his family that he really does have a son because he’s jealous of them with their children since they clam he doesn’t have any children. Denny is also a big gambler so he wins a lot of money then will buy Matt toys then when he loses a bet he returns all of the toys and games for money which upsets Matt. Denny also threatens Matt with a gun that he carries around with him in case Matt does something he doesn’t want him to do or if Matt is annoying Denny he will put his hand in his coat so Matt knows that he must stop. If I had to explain this book in ten words it would be…page turning and an adventures story about two very brave children.

Reviewed By~urbs518

The Silent Room

Sorrells, Walter. The Silent Room. NY:Dutton Children’s Books, 2006. 233 pages. (Thriller)

Oz is a fairly normal fourteen years old. After his father’s death, he is still doing well in school until his mom marries again. Oz’s stepfather is a controlling bully that is set on framing Oz. After pulling off framing Oz for drug possession, he gets sent to a “school” which turns out to be a prison for troubled boys in the middle of nowhere. At this school, Oz rooms with a group of guys who are set on breaking out of the controlling grasp of an evil overseer. Discovering that his evil stepfather is behind it all, Oz feels like his mother and him are in danger. While trying to escape from this island of swamps that the prison is located on, one of Oz’s buddies stumbles upon an old broken down boat. Can Oz and his friends fix it up in time before one of them gets hurt? Can Oz get out alive or will something happen in the Silent Room?

This book keeps you guessing right up until the last page. When you think you’ve figured it all out, the story changes in a matter of sentences. I would recommend this book to anyone who isn’t afraid to be taken away by this creepy thriller.

Reviewed by: CupcakeSALT

Princess Academy

Hale, Shannon. Princess Academy. New York: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2005. 314 pages. (Fantasy)

The main character of the book, Princess Academy, is Miri. There are many other secondary characters that wouldn’t be the same if the story didn’t have them, but Miri is the main one. The story takes place at Mount Eskel, there is an isolated village on this mountain were mostly quarry workers and their families live. Miri’s mother died in the quarry while collecting linder to trade so Miri’s dad won’t let Miri work in the quarry. She doesn’t like being the only girl who is fourteen and not working in the quarry. Then, by surprise some lowlanders came to tell all girls under age seventeen that they have to go to an academy and that a year from then a prince would come and pick a girl to marry to live with in the lowlands. Olana, the teacher at the academy, is very strict and I mean REALLY strict but the girls still find a little hope that they might be a princess. Many bad and good things happen at the quarry and when Miri finds out a way to do quarry speech, (a way of talking to people in their minds without saying anything) some of their problems are worked out. The girls become good friends and work things out together when they need to. Many things happen in this book while Miri goes through her life. She and Peder are now acting differently around each other and Miri knows after all of her troubles that she is home and she really wants nothing more.

I would recommend this book for someone to read because there isn’t just one character in the story. Even just a small character has a big part and has to be there so the story can be told. When I read this book, I felt I was right there being one of the girls going through the same obstacles they were going through. When you start reading you think you can guess easily exactly what might happen, so it seems a little boring. You finally get to that part in the story, and it is totally different from what you suspected, but it still comes out to be a great ending. Everything in this book hits you by surprise and that is why I liked this book so much.

Reviewed by: irishdance64

Stray

Vincent, Rachel. Stray, Hortonville, WI: Mira, 2007. 624 pages. (Fantasy Series / Romance)

The main character in Stray is Faythe Sanders; Faythe is a werecat who can transform into a wild cat, something much like a panther. Faythe is the daughter of Greg Sanders, who is the leader of the Pride in the United States. Greg makes sure no one finds out about the cats, as well as making sure they’re safe. Faythe attends collage but soon has to move back to her house. At her house Faythe lives with her father, Greg Sanders, her mother, her three brothers –Ethan, Parker, and Ryan, some guards, and a few friends of the family. One of the guards who lives with Faythe is Marc; Marc is an extremely strong and fast black werecat. Another guard who lives with Faythe is a man named Jace who has always been, and always will be a flirt. The story takes place in present time in the Southern part of the United States.

One of the problems that Faythe faces is that two of her fellow tabbies, her cousin Abby and friend Sara, have been kidnapped. Faythe also faces a bigger problem, should she become the new leader of the Pride?  One type of interesting event that happens throughout the novel is the battles in human form and also in cat form. Another is the steps that the werecats go through in order to transform from human to cat. One more interesting type of event that happens throughout the novel is the romance, especially the “love triangles.”

The character that’s most like me is probably Faythe because she cares about her friends a lot, likes to help her friends, sometimes likes to take matters into her own hands, likes the same style of fashion as me, and some other small reasons. The characters I despise are the group of Strays who kidnapped Faythe, Abby, Sara, and also murdered many human women. I recommend this book for people who love action and romance books, but they should have it approved by their parents for people under the age of fourteen because there are parts that should only be read by young adults because of certain topics throughout the story. I selected this book because my eighteen year old sister was reading it and told me I would like it because it had werecats. After she was done reading the book I began to read it. I would read and look forward to reading another book by this author because I thought this book was amazing and I never wanted to put the book down because it was so great. This book is by far my all time favorite book, and I cannot wait until the sequel, Rogue, comes out.

Reviewed by: Kirby