Deanna Hudson: Smack

I recently read the story "Smack" by Melvin Burgess. A girl named Gemma is pushing her parents way while they do the same back to her, and she simply cannot take it anymore. Her boyfriend, Tar, runs away, Gemma joining him shortly after. They meet new people as they go on a journey through drugs, sex, and having their lives turned around. They think everything is okay, that they are just having fun, but is it really worth it? I recommend this book because it was very full and really makes you stop and think.

Erogon

This book is about a boy named Erogon who starts out finding a blue rock in the woods. He heads home and is trying to sell it to people but know one will buy it. He puts it in his room and one night he hears a noise. he wakes up to see that the blue stone is rilly a dragon's egg.

The Shade peered around a thick tree and looked up the trail. It was too dark for any human to see, but for the fait moonlight was like sunshine streaming between the trees; every detail was clear and sharp to his searching gaze. He remained unnaturally quiet, a long pale sword in his hand. A wire-thin scratch curved down the blade. the wepon was thin enough to slip between a pair of ribs, yet stout enough to hack through the hardest armor.

I would recomend this book to anyone that likes fantisy storys set in old times. It is full of saspence and you never want to put it down.

Book Review: Rules

Rules by Cynthia Lord
Recommended by Haley A.

For my review I chose the book Rules by Cynthia Lord. This book is about a thirteen year old girl named Catherine who goes through the struggles of having a little brother with autism. Throughout the book you'll learn how her brother has affected her life from boys to friends from hate to love. Over the summer she meets Jason, who is wheelchair bound and she's afraid what her so called friend Kristi (who makes fun of David her brother) and her jerk of a boyfriend will think.
I chose this book because its really fun to read and I think I learned a lot about how people live when family members have disabilities.

My passage from the book:

"Your right." I click the seat belt across me and open my sketchbook open to the back pages. That's where I keep all the rules I'm teaching David so if my someday-he'll-wake-up-a-regular-brother wish doesn't ever come true, at least he'll know how the world works, and I won't have to keep explaining things. Some of the rules in my collection are easy and always : Say "excuse me" after you burp.
Don't stand in front of the TV when other people are watching it.
Flush!

Book Review: The Maze Runner

Recommended by Dillon Thompson

I read the book maze runner by james dashner. It has 374 pages. The book is about a kid who gets trapped in a maze with other kids and they have to make a small town and defend it from bad things. They also have to find a way out. Will they leave? Read the book to find out.

"The leader didn't stop moving until they reached a hug bus, most of the windows webbed with cracks. Rain sluiced down it all, making Thomas imagine a huge beast cresting out of the ocean."

This was a good book because it was suspenseful.

Book Review: The Last Song

Book Review


Book: The Last Song

Author: Nicholas Sparks

Recommended by Carney F.

Characters: Ronnie- main character

Will- Ronnie's boyfriend

Jonah- Ronnie's little brother

Steve-Ronnie's dad





Summary:



This book is about a girl named Ronnie who's parents spilt up when she and her brother were really little. So 16 years later her and her brother, Jonah, go and visit their dad in Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina.

While in North Carolina, Ronnie meets this guy named Will, who she falls in love with. While their she meets people who are good and bad for her and some of the people she meets aren't very good for her reputation.

In the end going to North Carolina wasn't such a bad thing. She falls in love, she learns things about her brother and dad that she never knew, and lots of other things too.



I liked this book because it was very interesting to read and I really enjoy reading love stories. I am recomending this book because it has alot of detail and emotions and you always want to read more.

Book Reveiw:The Book Theif

This book is about liesel meminger who lives in Nazi Germany. Her mother had to give her and her brother up to a foster family. Her brother dies on the trip to the hubermanns. Liesel then goes through a stage of stealing books.
"Leisel's papa walked to the front door and opened it. Cautiously, he looked outside, each way, and returned. The verdict was "nothing."
"Max Vandenburg, the Jew, closed his eyes and drooped a little further into safety. the very idea of it was ludicrous, but he accepted it none the less.
I would recomend this book because it is told from a diffrent point of veiw... death.

Book Review: Nothing but the Truth and a Few White Lies

Nothing but the Truth and a Few White Lies

By Justina Chen Headley
Recommended by Cindy Tran

    This quarter I read Nothing but the Truth and a few white lies, by Justina Chen Headley. This book is about a girl name Patty Ho. She is half Taiwanese and half American. She lives with her brother Abe and her mother. She doesn’t quite understand the little things in life. She is a freshman, and in English class, she had to write a story about her. When she did, she wrote it in one night. When her teacher read it, she loved it, but she knew Patty could do better. So she assigns Patty to write the “truth” over the summer. In the summer she is sent to Math Camp, because a couple weeks before her Grandma told her future by sticking her finger into Patty’s bellybutton. Her grandma told her and her mom that she would marry a White husband. When her mom hears this, she freaks out and tells Patty that she has to go to the Math Camp. Since her mom married a white man and left her. Her mom doesn’t want her to make the same mistake she did. In the story she learns something very important to her.

If you want to know more about what she does to learn more about herself and her dad, you must read this book.

2 short passages..

Truth:

I am Patricia Yi-Phen Ho. Patty to my friends; Patty-cake to the one aunt on my mother’s side who calls us once a year, and Pattypus to my enemy, Steve Kosanko, a short, stocky bully who’s hated me since fourth grade. He’s right in a way. I may not look half duck, half beaver, but I don’t look wholly anything either. Not quite white, not all yellow.

I believe in the 80/20 rule. Abe got eighty percent of the Mama-looking genes in our family; I got the dregs. There is no mistaking whose son Abe is, with his jet-black hair, high cheekbones, and flat rice cake of a butt. Take a look at any Ho family picture and guess which one doesn’t look like the others? Hint: the gawky girl with brownish hair and large eyes with a natural eye fold that Korean girls have surgically created. It’s as if God cruised through one of those Chinese fast food buffets and bought Abe the full meal deal so he can pass for Mama’s beloved son. When it came to my turn, all that was left was one of those soggy egg rolls that doesn’t qualify as real Chinese food.

I am recommending this book, because since I’m Asian, I can get the feel of what she might think and I love the way Justina, the author writes the story. It’s like she’s talking to you and when Patty thinks it’s almost like you are her in that position she is in. I give this book a 5 out of 5, because it’s really funny and it has a little bit of everything, romance, drama, and comedy.

Book Review: Notes from the Midnight Driver

Book Review:  Notes from the Midnight Driver

by Jordan Sonnenblick

Recommended by Ryan Ernst

At the beginning of this story a boy named Alex. He is the type of boy that gets in a lot of trouble all the time. He also plays the guitar in his free time. His parents are divorced, but soon to get back together. His dad is his favorite and his mom he is not a big fan of. He also has a friend, Laurie that is very protective over him. Alex and she are best friends, he kind of wishes they were more than that.
                Alex was in a car crash because he was driving when he was drunk. He was also under age to drive or drink, so when the cops arrived at the Sean he was in a lot of trouble and had to go to court.  Instead of getting arrested he has to do 100 hours of community service.  So now he is stuck with this old guy, Solomon Lewis, for a long time. Alex finds out that Sol is kind of a stubborn man. He has a daughter that never comes to see him and he has a wife who is dead. Alex finds a way to keep Sol calm and that is to play his guitar. Sol teaches Alex how to play because he once played guitar. Later, Alex sets up a concert for him which went great, but he does a second concert and it might be Sol’s last.

Recommendation:  This is a great book and I would recommend it to anyone. It has great scenes and characters. This book will make you want to keep reading and never stop.

“I’m sitting here next to the old man’s hospital bed, watching the bright green line spike jiggle across the screen of his heart monitor.”

Book Review: A Child Called It

Book Review:

Title: “A Child Called It”

Author: Dave Pelzner 

Recommended by Ana Westerman

“A Child Called It” is one of the saddest books I have ever read. Every page I turned, I nearly bawled my eyes out. I never know something so sad could happen to a poor, innocent little boy who has no control over it. In this book, Dave Pelzner tells the story of his life. In his life, his mother severely abused him. This is one of the worst child abuse cases in history. This book is the first, out of three books, that Dave tells about his life. The other books are: “The Lost Boy” and “A Man Called Dave.” In “A Child Called It”, his mother abuses him, with words, violence, and locking him in a bathroom full of chemicals, but thats not even the worst part.  She starves him, makes him sleep in the basement, holding a position by standing up for hours. She makes him lie on the gas stove, with it on. His mom disowns him, calling him “It” or “That boy” because she thinks he doesn’t deserve to have a name. She treats the dog a thousand times better than she treats Dave. She starves him, makes him sleep in the basement, holding a position by standing up for hours. It gets worse and worse. I never know a mother could treat her child so badly.

Passages:

This passage is when his mother says to him, “If you don’t finish on time, I am going to kill you”. Of course, she was drunk, like she always is. While she was saying this, she was waving the knife around.  She trips, and stabs Dave in the chest.

“I snatched another rag, rolled it up and stuffed it in my mouth. I focused all my         attention on the thumb and first finger of my left hand, as I pinched the skin around         my slit. With my other hand, I wiped away the pus: The pain from the pinching was         more than I could stand. With my teeth clamped tightly on the rag, my screaming         was muffled. I felt as though I was hanging from a cliff. By the time I finished, a river     of tears soaked my shirt. Fearing that mother would catch me not sitting at the bottom     of the stairs, I cleaned up my mess, then half-walked, half-crawled to my assigned         place at the foot of the staircase. Before I sat on my hands, I checked my shirt; only         small drops of blood escaped from the wound to the rag bandage.”

I loved this book. It is one of my favorite books. I asked myself when I got this book,

“ I don’t want to read this today, because I knew I will end up crying.” It was one of         the most terrofying books I have ever read, and I ended up with more questions than         answers. This book made me want to donate all my money to child abuse orphanges         all over the world.

Book Review: The Uglies

The Uglies

by Scott Westerveld

Recommended by Anya G.

I would reccomend is the Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld. There are 3 books in the series, Uglies, Pretties, and Specials. There is a fourth book which takes place in the future, but I decided not to read it though, because I have heard it wasn’t very good.

     These books are about a girl named Tally. She is trying very hard to find her place in this world. She keeps changing herself for people she meets. Shay is her best friend, Tally tries really hard to make Shay happy with who Tally is. They live in a society where at the age of sixteen you get a surgery that makes you perfectly pretty. They are separated from the “uglies” a.k.a normal people and get to do just about anything they want. But when Shay wants to run away from the city Tally is forced to make a choice that will change her life.

Book Review: The Pact

The Pact
Jodi Picoult

Book Review By Mikaela Mallin

"There was nothing left to say.
...As she put her arms around him she could picture him in all his incarnations: age five, and still blond; age eleven, sprouting; age thirteen, with the hands of a man. The moon rolled, sloe–eyed in the night sky; and she breathed in the scent of his skin.
"I love you,"she said... She pulled back slightly, to look into his eyes.  And then there was a shot."

 [Page 1, Paragraph 1]

For eighteen years, Emily Gold and Chris Harte have lived next door to each other; sharing everything, They've been soul mates since the day they were born. It's no surprise when their brother-sister like, best friend relationship turns into something so much more. Everything was perfect, until that fateful night when Emily's parents receive a call in the middle of night, saying their daughter has died, from a gun shot wound to the head. Emily and Chris had been together, at the merry-go-round park. And when the gun containing a single bullet is found to belong to Chris, authorities automatically blame him, doubting the double suicide pact he and Emily had planned on. Besides, he wouldn't shoot Emily; he loved her..right?

I loved every aspect of this book..from the riveting story line, to the way it's written. I could not put it down, and stayed up late into the night reading further. It had me hooked from page 1..where the aforementioned quote is taken from.  The way she jumps back and forth from the past to the present, from Emily's perspective to Chris's keeps it interesting.Jodi Picoult is one of my favorite authors, which is what lead me to read this book. That, of course, and recommendations from about four others. So just read it(: You'll love it, I promise.

Book Review: The Night Tourist by Katherine Marsh

Jack Perdu is a ninth grader in New Haven, where they live because his dad works at Yale. He's really smart and he doesn't have any friends. He's always reading, and one time, he was walking down the street reading, and got hit by a car and almost dies. His dad sends him to a really weird doctor in New York. While he's at Grand Terminal Station, he meets a girl named Euri who insists on showing him underneath the station where no one knows about. He agrees and finds himself in an underworld full of ghosts who haven't moved on yet. Jack's mom died eight years ago, and he starts to look for her, but he only has three days or else he'll actually die. Jack also learns the real reason Euri died.

"Ta-dum, track sixty-one!" said Euri, gesturing toward a padlocked door.

But Jack wasn't looking at the door. "Where does that go?" he asked, pointing to the staircase.

"Oh, that leads to the other levels of the station," Euri said. "Want to see?"

Jack took a few steps toward the staircase and looked down. "But the guide said there were only two levels."

"That was the official tour. I'm giving you the unofficial tour. There are nine."

Jack suddenly remembered the dream he'd had at the hospital, how the nurse had mentioned a ninth floor under New York. "Nine?" He looked at Euri, but she crossed her arms over her chest and stared straight back at him.

"Come on," she said. "I'll show you." With a smirk, she added, "It's a different world down there."

The amulet

This book is about a girl in this story her father dies in a car accident. then her family gets into a bind and has to move to her grandfathers home the house is old and dusty. so that means that they have to clean it up and when there cleaning she finds a room in the house it was where all off her grandfathers invention where made then she puts her hand on a hand print then out come the amulet since her brother was there he wanted it and she said we will share it but that night they herad a noise it came from the basement it was this weird monster and it ate her mom but didn't kill her. so she and her brother went to go looking for the creature and then they ran into their grandfather on the way and when their grandfather got done talking he had passed away and then she had had to make a choice if she wanted to take thne power of the amulet or not and she takes the power of the amulet she finds her mom and takes her back to her grandfathers robots but her mom was knockedout cold

I would give this book **** because the authour cuts the book off right at the good part
TyQuavious
            Davis

Morgan Hughes: Book Review: Girlhearts

I read the book "Girlhearts", by Norma Fox Mazer. It has 308 pages and can be found in the Peet Junior High Library. This book is about a young girl named Sarabeth. Her mother had a heartattck in the park. They didn't find her and take her to the hospital for a long time because she was found on a trail by an elderly couple. Sarabeth knew it wasn't normal for her not to be home and called her mom's best friend and she said she would ask around. Sarabeth recieved a call later telling her that her mother was in the hospital and she hadn't awoken yet. The next day instead of going to school she secretly goes to visit her mother, and sees shes fine, only a few hours later her mother dies of another heart attck. Sarabeth goes into a deep depression and is being fought over for who will take care of her. She goes to find her lost family she's never met. Will they except her after shutting out her mother for getting pregnant? Read the book "Girlhearts" and find out!

Touching Spirit Bear

The main character, Cole Matthews, is a troubled boy who has been commiting crimes all of his life. His Mom never steps up for him and is always worrying how she looks. His father beats Cole every chance he gets. They are divorced and Cole has a very rough life at home. Cole beats up a boy named Peter Driscal because he ratted him out. Peter suffers serious brain damage and has trouble walking in a straight line. Cole gets sent to a detention center where he meets a wise Native named Garvy. Garvy tells him that he has a choice of jail or the circle justice program. He wants to do the circle justice program, but he has to earn their trust that sending him away to an Island off the coast of Alaska instead of jail is enough to change him. His first day he has an ancounter with a spirt bear, who mauls him leaving him with serious injuries with know one there to help him. You will have to read the book to find out what happens.
A paragraph from the book:" He stoood in his underwear and stared across the waters. The boat had brought him west from Drake. Now, with the afternoon sun setting behind him, he fixed his eyes on the first island to the east. He could swim island to island, stopping at each to warm up, eat, and sleep. Sooner or later there would be a passing boat to take him back to the main land. Nobody would ever find him, and nobody would ever tell him what to do again."
I recomend this book to anybody that likes adventure books and action books. I recomend it because the author made me want to keep reading and had alot of cliff hangers. The book is also unpredictable, you just never know whats going to happen.
Book review by: Nick Vonderhaar

Book Review: The King of Torts

The King of Torts by John Grisham
Recommended by Caleb I.

I am reading the book The King Of Torts by John Grisham. It is a very good book. The book is about a lawyer named Clay Carter who works in Washington D.C. He is a trial lawyer for the Office of the Public Defender, or OPD. He has a tough job. The hours are long, his co-workers aren’t the best ones around, and the pay is sub-par. He works hard and doesn’t get much for it. While working in the office, there is a street killing that he is assigned to that has something wrong with it and he knows it. The client was in a drug rehabilitation center, but was let out for 2 hours because of good behavior and also because he had spent 100 days in there. After that you’re allowed out, but only for 2 hours. The guy was about 20 years old. He got out of the detention center, walked to the first place possible to get a gun, grabbed it, went outside, and shot the first guy he saw. It was completely random. There was absolutely no motive. Usually there is some kind of connection through gangs or family like in other street shootings, but there was nothing. Clay knew something was wrong, se he kept looking. He checked everything. He was about to give up when a man by the name of Max Pace approached him. He had answers to his problem, but he could only tell him if he signed secrecy documents. Clay agreed, and was told the truth. There was a..... You’re going to have to read it to find out.

This is my passage:
After suffering through the most unproductive morning of his career, Clay left at eleven-thirty and took his time driving to the Willard, now officially known as the Willard Inter-Continental Hotel. He was immediately met  in the lobby by a muscled young man who looked vaguely familiar. “Mr. Pace is upstairs,” he explained. “He’d like to meet you up there if that’s all right. They walked toward the elevators. “Sure,” Clay said. How he’d been recognized so easily he was not certain. They ignored each other on the ride up. They stepped onto the ninth floor and Clay’s escort knocked on the doo of the Theodore Roosevelt Suite. It opened quickly and Max Pace said hello with a businesslike smile. He was in his mid-forties, dark wavy hair, dark moustache, dark everything. Black denim jeans, black t-shirt, black pointed toe boots, Hollywood at the Willard. Not exactly the corporate look Clay had been expecting. As they shook hands he had the first hint that things were not what they seemed.

I would recomend this book because it is really has depth. There is a lot revolving around he next word that you read all of the time. The author makes the hole book seem equally important. I recommend the book The King Of Torts by John Grisham. 

Book Review: A Walk to Remember

A Walk to Remember

By Nicholas Sparks

This book is about a 17-year-old boy from Beaufort, North Carolina. The story takes place in 1958. His name is Landon Carter. He was a popular kid in school; he had cool friends and his parents were wealthy. He went to a Baptist church every Sunday with his family even though the Priest didn’t really like his family that well. When Landon was a kid he would always make fun of or teases the Baptist Minister; Hegbert Sullivan. That year Landon started school he signed up for an Acting Class. He didn’t really know what he was getting in to when he signed up; he thought it was just going to be an easy A. The teacher signed Landon up for the annual Christmas Play hosted by Hegbert. He wrote the script and every year they had a play. The whole town would go to watch. Hegbert’s daughter-Jamie Sullivan- was old enough to be in it this year so it was special to Hegbert. Landon fell deeply in love Jamie. He cared about her so much no matter what people said about them. Jamie brought out the best in him. He wouldn’t do anything to hurt Jamie, but Jamie was an outcast. No one liked her. She carried a bible around every where she went every day, and she wore a plaid skirt with a brown cardigan with her hair pulled in a bun every single day. All of Landon’s friends and the whole school made fun of Landon for dating Jamie. Jamie gets very sick, but Landon’s heart is not broken.

The passage in the book is during play when Landon says Jamie.

For the first time since I’d known her, her hair honey-colored hair wasn’t pulled into a tight bun. Instead it was hanging loosely, longer than I imagined, reaching below her shoulder blades. There was a trace of glitter in her hair, and it caught the stage lights, sparkling like a crystal halo. Sat against her flowing white dress tailored exactly for her, it was absolutely amazing to behold. She didn’t look like the girl I’d grown up with or the girl I’d come recently to know. She wore a touch of makeup, too-not a lot, just enough to bring out the softness of her features. She was smiling slightly, as if she were holding a secret close to her heart, just like the part called for her to do.

She looked exactly like an angel.

I liked this book because it was so cute the two of them, but it was also really sad in the end. I would recommend this because Nicholas Sparks did a really good job writing it and he put a lot of detail in it so it’s easy to picture.

Book Review: Catching Fire

Catching Fire

Katniss is coming off of her victory in the Hunger Games, an annual contest that takes one boy and one girl from each of the 12 districts of Panem and puts them in an arena to fight to the death as a reminder of what the Capital can do to the districts if they try to rebel on the Capital. But has Katniss’s act in the closing moments of the last Hunger Games sparked another rebellion? She can only hope that she can convince the entire country of Panem that she is just a star crossed lover and not the spark that ignites the fire that leads to war against the Capital. More importantly, can she convince President Snow? Then there is the Quarter Quell, which happens every 25 years of the Games. How will it affect Katniss and possibly all of her friends and family as well. Can the Districts come together and take down the Capital? It is all answered in Catching Fire, the second book in the Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins

I loved this book because every page could bring new possibilities and different conflicts that could twist the story in a new and different direction just because of one sentence or one paragraph. The cliff-hangers at the end of every single chapter made me keep wanting to read it and not put it down until I knew what happened in the end. I also liked the descriptiveness of the author, this book is particularly difficult to describe because of the wide areas that are in this book are so large and full of detail. Suzanne Collins does a great job of describing how things look, smell, and feel to Katniss and also what is happening in the outside world. I definitely recommend this book for anyone that loves an action book with smaller conflicts mashed into one big conflict. If you want to read this, I recommend reading the first book in the series, The Hunger Games. You can find multiple copies of both of these books along with the 3rd and final book, Mockingjay, at our Peet Library

"There's a long pause. Then, from somewhere in the crowd, someone whistles Rue's four-note mockingjay tune . . .By the end of the tune, I have found the whistler, a wizened old man in a faded red shirt and overalls. His eyes meet mine. What happens next is not an accident. It is too well executed to be spontaneous, because it happens in complete unison. Every person in the crowd presses the three middle fingers of their left hand against their lips and extends them to me."

Book Review: Can't Get There From Here

Runaways and throwaways. They call her Maybe. She  live in a tribe of homeless teens with no place to go and no one except each other. January comes and brings with it a new girl named Tears, a twelve-year-old whose mother doesn't be leave her about her stepfather when she says he abuses her. As other kids start to disappear. Maybe tries to get Tears off the streets. If it is not to late too.
     "Yeah, right. A wedding. All the rich and famous invited," OG grumbled from the corner where he was sitting in a broken chair, rolling a cigarette. I was surprised to hear his voice. It was the first time he spoke since Country Club died.
      "What do you know?" Jewel stuck his nose in the air.
       OG coughed and wheezed." Look around the room, man. Look at who you're with. You can't get there from here."
I recommend this book because it shows you that in life that you can either make good choices or bad choices. That you should make good choices or it will be to late to do anything to change it.

Book review Artemis Fowl

I am recommending this book because I thought it was funny and hard to put down. It's the first in the series, but it does have a little bit of a high vocabulary at times. It is about a guy who discovers the Fairy people and kidnaps one of them. then the faires start to seige his house. duh duh duh................ And i found this part of the book that shows that the guy has a tendancy to come prepared for things.
" 'Let me fill you in on the weapon status, I am unarmed but Butler here my ah..... butler has a sig sauer in his shoulder holster, two strike trowing knives in his boots, a derringer two shot up his sleeve, garrotte wire in his watch, and three stun grenades hidden in various pockets. anything else, Butler?'
'the cosh sir'
'ah yes, a good old ball bearing cosh stuffed down his shirt, but not to worry, the weapons will not be used on you.'
Nguyen didn't seem reassured."

Book Review: Chosen

Chosen

by Ted Decker

Report by Cameron Sievers

I am doing my book report on a very good book called Chosen. This book was written by Ted Decker. This book is the beginning of a great series called the lost book series. The story takes place in a world in the far future were a disease takes over the world and enslaves the human race by cracking the skin and taking over there minds. The only part of the world that is left green and alive is 7 forest with a lake in the center of each. These lakes can heal the disease. The horde(the enslaved people) are bent on destroying the 7 lakes. The only thing protecting the lakes are an army of humans called the forest guard and a leader from the past named Thomas Hunter. Their numbers are running low so Thomas has to lower the recruitment age to 16. A young boy and three other cadets are chosen to go into the desert to get four special Cati but are attacked by horde. The four companions run from the horde and hide in a small cave were a white fuzzy bat called a Roush gives them a quest to save the world.

Book Review: Genius Wars

Genius Wars by Catherine Jinks is a great book. I highly recommend it because It is well thought out and keeps you reading until the end. It is a fiction book I would have to say because a lot of the things in it are futuristic and probably won't happen. It is the third book in the series and is about a boy named Cadel. He has finally learned who his real father is and is living with adoptive parents for certain reasons. He tries to live a normal life after his childhood (he is 16) so he goes to college because he is a prodigy. He tries to help his friend Sonja who is spastic by linking her wheelchair with wireless signals so all she has to do is think a command and the doors and stuff will do it. While doing this he does something and nearly gets killed. Then he goes to a series of safe houses and through a series of adventures trying to pursue the man that once raised him as a freak. A man that thinks he is Cadel's father. So if you like suspense and a thrilling action story you should read Genius Wars by Catherine Jinks. Though I recommend reading Evil Genius first so you understand what is going on.

Book Review: Football Genius

Football Genius by Tim Green


                Troy White can predict football plays before they happen. Any position. Any team. Even though he is a way better quarterback than Jamie Renfro, the Duluth Tigers, still sit him on the bench. When his mom gets a job in public relations for the Atlanta Falcons, Troy thinks it’s his chance to prove what he can do to his coach and Jamie. But with the Falcon’s tight security and a notoriously mean coach, even his mom’s field passes aren’t enough. He plans to get the attention of star linebacker Seth Halloway. If they worked together the Falcons could be unstoppable, but that still doesn’t fix the problem of Troy not getting the chance to help his own team win. Troy and his single mom struggle, but with the help of his friends, Tate and Nathan, things turn out a lot better than they thought they would.

                Here are some passages from the book: “Tate was the kicker and Nathan was on the line. Troy was the second-string quarterback. Nathan and Tate agreed that he should be first string, but Jamie Renfro’s father was the coach , so Jamie got to be the Tigers’ quarterback. In fact it was because of him they were out at night when they shouldn’t have been…. “The strategic adjustments the Raiders had made in the locker room at halftime were suddenly clear. He looked at his two friends. He looked up at the owner and touched his arm. Think you got something? Mr. langan asked. Oh yeah, Troy said. I got it all…

                I recommend this book for anyone who likes a suspenseful climax and a really good ending, or likes football. I like the way how Tim Green builds conflict on top of conflict, and has unexpected events. Tim is also very descriptive making it easier to see the events in your head. You can checkout this book at the peet library.

Reviewed by Ryan O.

Book Review: Flush

Flush by Carl Hiaasen is a story about protecting the environment that shows that anything is possible.  The main character is Noah Underwood, who is smart and witty at the same time.  His father, Paine Underwood is passionate about the environment, but is also very impulsive.  So, when he sinks a casino boat in the Florida Keys, this isn’t a big surprise.  The owner of the boat is supposedly dumping the sewage from the boat into the ocean, which is gross and highly illegal.  When Noah’s smart sister, Abbey, and him come up with a plan to prove to the coast guard what the casino is doing, he is following in his fathers’ footsteps, even though their dad isn’t involved at all. 

She put a finger to her lips and motioned for me to follow.  It was impossible not to notice that she was wearing those wild fishnet stockings and tippy high-heeled shoes that make her about five inches taller than normal.  She led me along a dim corridor that opened onto one of the busy casino decks. The noise hit me like a roar― the slot machines clanging, people laughing and hooting, some lame calypso band mangling a Jimmy Buffett song.

I loved this book because of its purpose.  It is a funny story that tells about what kinds of animals live in the Florida Keys and what pollution can do to them.  It is informative, without being a non-fiction book.  I would recommend it because it has a lot of excitement, and it is different from what you would usually read.

Reviewed by Emily B.

Book Review: Heat

Heat
By Michael Cadnum
Peet Junior High Library
Recommended by Jaime W.

This book is about a young girl named Bonnie who loves to dive and wants to go to the olympics for diving. But one day she hits her head on the bottom of the pool and had bad head injuries and is sent to the hospital. She doesn't know if she will ever be the best diver ever again. A few months after the accident she tries to go back to diving but the accident haunts her and she doesn't know if she will every dive again. Well this is going on her father is getting married and getting arrested. All she wants is her life to get back to normal.

This is a passage from the book when she is in her accident when she is diving.
Someone was saying my name. I opened one eye and couldn't focus. Light-I could see light. And shapes-humans figures. I opened the other eye and blinked, a big, effort, like opening and shutting a very heavy door.
"She's still not breathing" Her words made perfect sense now-someone couldn't breath.

I choose this book because I love to read books about athletes who go though a change in there life and want to get back to being the best. That is what this book was about. People should read this book because it you never know what will happen next and she will get back to normal.


This was written by Jaime Wilson

Book Review: Charlie St. Cloud

Charlie St. Cloud

by Ben Sherwood

summary by Amber Hagen

In a small New England fishing village,Charlie St. Cloud takes care of the cemetery where his younger brother, Sam, was buried. After Charlie survived the car crash that took Sam’s life, Charlie is given an amazing gift. He can see, talk to, and even play catch with his brother’s spirit. Then comes Tess who is a woman training for a solo sailing trip around the world. She gets caught in a storm that throws her into Charlie’s life. Their strange, amazing connection puts  Charlie in a race against time. He has to choose between life and death, the past and the future, and between holding on and letting go.

        I really liked this book because it had a story life that keeps you wondering. The love connections are really different in a sweet kind of way. It is really inventive and keeps you full of hope while realizing what’s important in life. This book helps you figure out what real decisions actually are.

        The quote from this book is early on in the story. It is: “Of all his reckless decisions that night, surely this was the worst. Charlie raced the moon, and in the final second before the end, he saw the perfect image of happiness. Sam’s innocent face looking up at him. The curl over his forehead. The Rawlings glove on his hand. And then there was only fracturing glass, metal, and blackness.”

Book Review: The Truth About Forever

The Truth About Forever

by Sarah Dessen

Reviewed by Agatha Fenech

Macy trys her best to be absolutely perfect. From her perfect hairpart, to her “perfect” boyfriend, or her perfectly boring summer job at the library information desk. When she momentarily doubts her ability to be perfect, she trys a job at a chaotic catering business run by bits and pieces of a tight family, and she finds that maybe her “perfect world” isn’t so perfect after all,……and that perfect isn’t necessarily happy.

                I chose this passage from the book to share:

          I didn’t say anything, which probably didn’t inspire much confidence. Just then, the oven timer went off with a cheerful bing! noise. “Okay,” she said suddenly, as if this had signaled a call to action. “Macy. Can you answer a question?” “Sure,” I said. “How are you with a spatula?” This hadn’t been what I was expecting. “Pretty good,” I said finally.

“Wonderful,” she said. “Come here.”

                This passage shows Macy's first step to joining the catering business and letting go her goal of being perfect.  Throughout the book, Macy's character relays to the saying "The first step is the hardest" multiple times and I think that this passage illustrates her first step.

                I really loved this book because Macy’s story of becoming part of the family that runs the catering business is really funny and enjoyable to read. The story also keeps you guessing and has many interesting sub-plots about Macy’s realtionships with the different members of her catering family, and her real family. I enjoyed this book a great deal and finished it with a smile on my face.