The Truth about Forever-Sarah Dessen

This book is about a girl, Macy, whose father had recently died. So, she is struggling with that, but not letting anyone know. She dates a guy that seems to not care about her and seems to be perfect in every way. Because of that, everyone has very high expectations for her to be the same. She then meets new friends who help her realize she does not have to be perfect and people like her for just being herself. Throughout this novel, she goes through a change from someone completely fake to who she really is.

I really enjoyed this book because it really gets your attention and keeps you reading I definitely recommend it.

-Student post

Great book!!! The author is good and provides great descriptions of both the emotional and physical aspects. In the book, the main character, Macy, struggles to be "perfect" but she is also struggling with her dad's death. When she gets a catering job, she makes new friends and they help her find herself. A very amazing, touching book, I highly recommend it for anyone who wants to read a good, thoughtful, deep book
~student post

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig

This book is about the Author who went on a motorcycle journey with his son Chris and friends John and Silvia. The main point of the book was to talk about a philosophy on how to live and learn from experience. Pirsig talks about classic and romantic things. To live is be between classical and romantic. Classical thinking is when you facing challenge you use logical thought to solve it. Romantic is more of a Zen type experience- with your intuitions and emotions. An enjoyable, thoughtful read!
~student review

Castle of Shadows - Beverly C Warren

A girl named Olivia goes to live with her uncle after the death of her parents. There at the castle is a lot of weird things going on. Olivia also tries not to admit she is in love with Alex, even though she grows up knowing he was her cousin. In fact- she discovers that he is truly not related to her at all.

~student review

Grand and Humble

A novel about Harlan Chesterton the privileged son of the Governor and Manny Cravitz a lower class boy who lives alone with his dad. This novel takes you on a journey of twists and turns to unravel the causes that connect the two boys together, the premonitions of their own demise. they come to learn that the visions are truly repressed memories that unveils the truly unpredictable ending. Hortinger uses incredible writing voice and the day out of the diffrent chapters makes you want to keep reading more and more. Ground and Humble is a true visionary work and is nothing short of greatness.

Student Review

Sniper One

Darkside (Becker) Vrs Neverwhere (Gaiman)

Take a careful look at these covers- could it be the same book, by different authors?

We decided that these two books, while they are similar, are not copies. Darkside, which came after Neverwhere, seem sto have some similar plot elements adn characters, but that is most likely because Tom Becker probably read Neverwhere during the writing proecess. Even though teh covers UNCANNILY similar - Darkside is not a carbon, dummed down, copied version.

~student review

Diary of a Wimpy Kid - Jeff Kinney

This book is about a teenager named Greg. The book recounts (in a funny way) how students interact with friends in school...often showing conflicts in an ironic way.

I found this book to be a very pleasant and relaxing read. It is a nice change of pace from all teh serious, dramatic books I have been reading. It leaves you with a smile on your face and a lifted heart!

~student reviews

Sock Puppet Poetry Slam!

Hey- Check this out...the Sock Puppet Poetry slam! Runs about 7 minutes- and contains the March Champion clip from Ms VanD! Have a good break!

19 Minutes by Jodi Picoult

Peter is a high school boy who has been bullied ever since Kindergarten. One act finally triggers him to enter the school with four guns, killing 10 students and wounding dozens more. One of the survivors is Josie, who was Peter's only friend when they were younger. Her mother was the judge on the case, so Josie ends up being involved in it. However, she doesn't tell anyone that she knows something about what happened that day that could change the outcome of the case.

~Student Review

Boy Meets Boy - David Levithan

This is about a boy who is gay and he falls in love. The theme and message of the book is to find yourself and fall in love. He and Noah (the new kid/love) go to a High School like no other. The homecoming queen is also the quarterback named Infinite Dariene. He also has a very colorful group of friends. If you like books that are different and that are romantic you would like this book. In my opinion, I gave this book a 6 out of 10 because I did not like the authors writing style through it, but it was an OK story.

~Student Review

Leaving Fishers - Margaret Peterson Haddix

"Love bombing" - a way of showing affection to intice friendship.

Dorry Stevens knows exactly how this feels. She was sucked into "Fishers" a harsh and demanding cult. Will she be able to escape their impossible demands?

~Student review

Thirsty by M.T. Anderson

This book made me want to vomit continuously. It was horridly written and looked like a 4th grade had written every piece of dialog in it. The characters are so stereotypical and two dimensional it makes it impossible to know the characters beyond their stereotype! Simply horrid writing style + bad characters + 4th grade dialog + elementary school plot = Thirsty by M.T. Anderson

~Student Review

Ben's Voki

Get a Voki now!

Mein Kampf - Adolf Hitler

Mein Kampf is a ridiculously long rant. A rant about the German race, about his ideals. It is a long rant with a bit of his past mixed into it. It is a long rant with a bit read, but I never want to read it again -_-*

I give Mein Kampf two stars.

If you read it, here is some advice: (1) skip round. (2) Read it in 1 sitting or try too!

New Moon - Stephenie Meyer

Borderlines - Caroline Kraus

Ever wonder what it’s like to be so completely and totally engrossed in another human being? To feel so connected that you’re almost one person? Caroline Kraus did. Borderlines is a story of how deep relationships between women go. How your self worth can be dependent on the way another person sees them selves and the way they see you.

~Student Review

Unwound - Neal Schusterman

The Pact – Jodi Picoult

18 year old Chris grew up with his neighbor Emily and he loves her more than anything. Chris is shocked when Emily tells him she wants to kill herself, but he agrees to do anything to help her. When he is arrested for her murder, he has to face the truth of what happened to her if he is going to clear his name.

Highly recommend! Confusing at first but becomes more clear as “flashbacks” are revealed later on. Very intense at the end, keeps you interested!

~Student Submission

Harmless By Daba Reinhardt

Harmless.

That was what it started as. A Harmless lie. But this harmless lie became bigger and now…now it isn’t so harmless. Emma and Anna have been friends since the sixth grade, and now they had Mariah. If not for her…maybe none of this would have happened. If not for her they would never had been at that damn party and this would never had happened.

This book was really interesting and a pretty fast read. Really makes you think about just how “Harmless” anything is. If your bored this book is good to read.

I give it four stars. ~Student Submission

Unwind - Neal Schuseterman

Its far in the future- after the second civil war waged between the Pro-Choice and Pro-Life armies. Young Conner discovers that he himself is scheduled to be "unwound". Unwinding is an honorable action according to adults, but it is a terrible fate for the young so Conner decides to go AWOL. If he can make it under ground until he is 18, the law can't touch him.

Conner begins to discover other AWOL Unwinds in his struggle for survival, not all as lucky as he. I really enjoyed this book and couldn't put it down, not only for the plot and task, but also the questions that it raised for me. Very interesting read!

7 Days in the Hot Corner - Terry Trueman

They say in baseball, playing third base can be tricky- they call it the "Hot Corner". Scott lives for baseball...and after his senior year he has dreams of not even going to college, but being picked up on a farm team for the majors somewhere.

The book isn't really about that though- you see Scott comes is afraid that he might have AIDS. He just got tested and won't get the results back for seven days- the same seven days that his baseball team will be competing in the state tourney. In this fast, east read- Trueman (Stuck in Neutral, Inside Out) tells the story of anger, betrayal, fear and some interesting observations of the high school experience.

Got a free afternoon? Check it out!