Your Book Review, be sure and give your first name and the state you are from.
Deondre Anderson
Richmond, VA
Summer of secrets review
In a “summer of secrets” Darcy Willis basically has to face the world alone. Her parents are constantly arguing at home because of problems they have. Her grandma dies so there is no one really there for her except her boyfriend, but he moves during the middle of the year. Darcy liked this dude named Brian, but one day when they was alone Brian tried to take it too far. Darcy was scared and doesn't know if she should tell anyone or not. To put her past away Darcy gets a job at an ice cream shop. Darcy’s friend Jamee began dating Cooper’s brother. Darcy didn't like it because she felt that her friend wouldn't want to hang out with her anymore. At the end of the book Darcy’s mom has another child and the whole family is happy again.
I recommend reading this book because it’s interesting and people go through stuff like this in real life.
Alex Bly
Richmond, Virginia
THE AUSTERE ACADEMEY
Incase u didn’t know the main characters violet, Klaus, and sunny are orphans because their family died in a fire. Their family was very rich and this guy named count Olaf their uncle is trying his best to steal their fortune. He tried many things and did many evil things. Like killing their family members, lying to people, and threatening. he has evil henchmen that he works with. they are all disguisers.
The Austere Academy is about a the baudilers who have to travel to this school full ofsnotty kids. The school Prufock preparatory school is run by a principle called principle Nero. He has bad punishments. Also the two older siblings go to school and sunny was forced to work at the main office. So the kids are mean to them. And they have mean teachers. Also they are forced to sleep in this dungeon place.
But the good things are they meet these twins named Duncan and Isadora quagmire.
So coach Ghengis walks to this school and he comes to the principle office and the Baudelaires (sunny, violet, and Klaus) were there. The children were frightened because they recognized him It was Count Olaf. He was their gym teacher. He makes them run the Special. Orphan. Running. Exercise at night. it is an acronym sore. And those strong siblings did that for nine hours. But principle Nero has a violin concert and he has rule that if you miss the concert you will have to buy him a bag of candy and you will have to watch him eat it in front of you.
So they start failing their tests in class. Sunny is getting too tired to staple with a broken stapler. And Nero said if they keep failing they will have to leave Prufrock. So the quagmires and they made a plan that the Quagmires will disguise themselves as Klaus and violet. BUT YOU SHOULD READ THE BOOK AND FIND OUT HOW THEY GET OUT OF THIS ONE. I recommend this book defiantly it’ll keep the suspension up until you are finished with the book or series. I love this series.
By Howard H. Virginia Pedersen
The Book The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a gothic fiction story that was published in 1851. Although this book is a classic and is definitely recommended to collectors and serious readers, it is definitely not an easy story to read through. Although the plot and characters are very intriguing, the intricate vocabulary and grammar style of the 19th century is very difficult to get around. I found it very difficult to get into the story because there was at least one word that I had to look up on my own, in every sentence or two, which distracted me from the story. I feel that not looking up the words would result in the reader not understanding what is happening in the story, thus rendering it less enjoyable and causing bewilderment.
There were many good parts, though, that make this book unique from your average fiction story; it is based on real people, a real location, and real events. I myself find it hard to call this a fiction, or even a historical fiction, when everything seems so accurate and aligned with the actual events in the times that this story revives. I easily internet searched some of the characters in the story and got a unique history of each one, and even a picture of a few of them. This adds to the experience of reading a book, and contributes greatly to the use of imagery when reading through the pages.
I would recommend this book to collectors of classic novels and to very serious readers who want a taste of the 19th century.
Reggie B Vargina
Secrets In the shawdow
By Anne Schraff
The Book Is About a boy name Roylin. Roylin tries to impress a girl that he likes. By doing that he ends up doing something every regretful. So now roylin is being blackmail into doing work for a man who saw him do his crime. If roylin doesn’t do what the man says he will call the cops. I Feel that this is a good book. I Would recommend this to a lot of people but mostly teenagers.
By: Andre Flowers, Varina HS, Period 5
Big Nate Out Loud is a awesome book to read. I recommend it to kids (8-12). It is a 223 paged book with little skits or scenes here and there in the book. I enjoyed reading this book even though I don't like reading I enjoyed this book. It was made by Lincoln Pierce published on April 26, 2011, what a great day. (Virginia) It has comedy, tragedy, and some life lessons. I most definetley enjoyed reading it. I also recommend it to guys (12-13) b/c t has humors I find funny and i'm in high school.
Among the Impostors.
This story is the second book in the "shadow children" series. I personally thought the book was pretty good. It takes place at a reform school for boys. The main conflict in the book is that there is a law against "third children." There is not enough food fopr people in the country so the population has to be kept down. The story is told from Luke's point of view as a third child trying to survive the government. DO NOT read this book unless you have read the first one in the series. You will be totally lost and have no idea as to what is going on.
-Jordan Period 3
Brenna (Iowa) Elsewhere-By Gabrielle Zevin. When a fifteen year old girl dies, where does she go? This book offers one possibility. It is about a young girl named Liz, who dies at age 15 from a car running into her while she is riding her bike. After death she goes to another world called Elsewhere, which is really just a continuation of her life before, with the one exception that instead of getting older, she ages backward. This is a quick and easy read that will keep you entertained as you read about how Liz deals with the fact that she will never get older and be able to get married or have kids, and how she adjusts to life on Elsewhere.
Kael (Iowa)--Monster--Walter Dean Myers. This book depicts the life of sixteen-year old Steve Harmon. He lives in a poverty-affected part of town and is on trial for murder. He did not commit the murder, but if the jury finds him guilty he will serve 25 years to life in prison. An interesting part of the story is that Steve writes the story is a play script format. I believe that this is an excellent story that keeps you reading all through the book.
Rebecca (Ohio)--Animal Dreams--Barbara Kingsolver. After many years wandering from place to place, a young woman returns to her hometown to care for her ailing father. Back in the town she had spent years avoiding, she must come to terms with her misunderstood relationship with her father and the town she had always thought she hated. Was the past that she had spent all those years running away from really as she had remembered it?
CeCe Mills (Iowa)--Leslie's Journal--Allen Stratton. This is an amazing book that really makes you think twice before you decide to date and or continue dating someone. Check it out. It is, as I said before, amazing!
CeCe Mills (Iowa)--Hard Love-- Cynthia D. Grant. This book is about a boy who isn't sure about his sexuality. He meets a young woman who is a lesbian and falls in love with her. On a scale of 1-10 it is an 8!
Grant [Iowa] - The Bourne Ultimatum - Robert Ludlum. In the Bourne Ultimatum, David Webb is an aging professor of oriental history at a nondescript unversity in the American Northeast. When a telegram concerning an international terrorist arrives at his home, his violent alternate personality, Jason Bourne, takes control. The Jackal, a former nemesis of Bourne, is back and he is prepared to finish the job. This is a thrilling tale of one man's internal struggle, his past haunting him, and how he finally brings it to an end.
Jamie Bortell
Popular Fiction
5/14/09
Secrets
Secrets, by Robin Jones Gunn is a story of secrets and the way they destroy a person from the inside out. Secrets is the first book of a series called The Glenbrooke Series. All of the books deal with a big life problem taking the main character away from God and leading her back to Him as she deals with her problem.
Jessica Morgan is a twenty-five year old runaway looking for a new life in a small town called Glenbrooke. Suspense is held by the author’s semi revealing statements about Jessica’s past and her feelings about whatever made her run. The story is told in third person and only the thoughts of the main character are written. When Jessica crashes her car on the way into town, a local firefighter, Kyle, saves her life in more than one way. After changing her last name to Fenton, only a few people in town know who she really is and help her to face her past and move towards the future.
I love reading series books and read rather quickly, so I picked this series to read for the choice unit in my high school popular fiction class. I enjoyed this book because Jessica is very easy to relate to at the beginning of the book. She feels guarded and has trouble trusting people and I think that’s an easy feeling to connect with.
The pace of the novel was very suitable. Although Secrets is not a mystery novel, it held suspense and was a page turner. The word choice was a little elementary so it was too easy of a read for me. A novel with adult characters should be written with more mature vocabulary than a novel written for pre-teens.
The end of the book seemed cut short. All of Jessica’s problems were resolved at once and fixed with the snap of her fingers. It’s part of a series so the closure desired may be in the next book, but each one is told with a different main character so it won’t be the same. I would like to see the author make the book a little longer to make the ending seem more important and thought out like it should be.
Jessica finds that her past would stay with until she dealt with it, which is true in the real world as well. Running away can only make problems seem farther away and make it easier for them to haunt us. I would recommend this novel to a younger reader who is looking for a good series to pass the time with. Secrets is a casual read that doesn’t take a lot of attention or effort to get through.
Jamie Bortell
Popular Fiction
5/14/09
Whispers
Whispers the second book in The Glenbrooke Series by Robin Jones Gunn, is an easy to read novel about decision making and the importance of thinking things through. The main character Teri is on vacation in Hawaii making mistake after mistake in her romances and leading her to question herself and everything around her.
Teri goes to Hawaii to visit her older sister Anita and her husband Dan, and to reconnect with her romantic interest from the previous summer. When she gets there, everything is not what she expected and she meets Scott, Gordon, and several other new people who change how she feels about the direction of her life. Scott, the sailor sweeps her off her feet with charm that may not be real. Gordon, the clumsy Australian is the humor of the book with his one-liners and clumsy incidents.
I’ve read the first book in the series as well as this one and the first book was clearly better written. It was hard to enjoy this book because the main character is supposed to be a mature adult and she seems to just whine for half of the book. I would have enjoyed it more if she had made more informed decisions and reacted to problems like an adult should.
While the writing style of the first book, Secrets, was somewhat plain, the vocabulary of Whispers was painfully plain. It held no qualities of a page turner for me. There were only simple phrases and sentences with the occasional word that was way above the rest of the writing.
The plot was unrealistic. I would have like to see Teri do something more interesting than go to the beach and cook. That seemed to be all she did in most of the story. It finally became more interesting when she returned home to a small town. The good part of the book should have been when she was in an exotic place on vacation; it just didn’t make sense.
While this book stresses the importance of decisions, which is a valuable life lesson, I would only recommend reading this book to someone interested in reading the entire series; this is by far the worst of all seven books. The story is necessary to understanding the rest of the books, so I finished the whole novel. I would only give Whispers three stars for it’s poor writing style and slow moving plot.
Sara
Period 4
Popular Fiction
Change of Heart, by Jodi Picoult is a type of mystery novel that makes the reader dig deep, and really think. Throughout this book the reader gets the story told to them by four different characters. Each character is completely different, but they are all connected by one person, Shay Bourne. This story gives a different perspective for each chapter. The author wrote this novel with the idea that “redemption can come in many different ways.”
This novel tells the story of Shay Bourne. He is a death row inmate in a New Hampshire prison, the first inmate on death row in many years. There is something special about Shay that makes him stick out. Many people believe Shay is the new Messiah, he can heal people, turn water into wine, make many out of one, and all of these miracles relate back to what Jesus did in the Bible. Shay is in prison because he was convicted of double murder of a police officer and a little girl. The mother and wife of the victims, June Nealon, has a tribulation to overcome. Her other daughter, Claire, is in need of a heart transplant, and Shay wants to donate his heart to her. The problem is Shay is supposed to die of lethal injection and lethal injection stops the heart so it is not able to be transplanted. This is where Maggie, the attorney, comes in to try and get the state to change their rules and let him die by hanging. All the mention and publicity of Shay brings June to a lot of anguish as she tries to make a decision. “If Claire received Shay Bourne’s heart, it would be bad enough if she were to harbor thoughts of murder. But what would absolutely wreck me was if, with that heart in her, she had to feel her own father and sister being killed. In that case, better to have no heart at all.”(Picoult238)
Change of Heart was a persuasive novel. It seemed to me, as I was reading this book in popular fiction class, that Jodi Picoult was trying to convince people to believe different things, mainly regarding religion. Many times I felt like the author was ridiculing Christianity. She wrote it being respectful but underneath the words I caught a hint of sarcasm. Throughout the story she made Christianity the antagonist. Overall I did like the book, because the story line was interesting, minus the put-downs on some religions. The author’s writing style had a very broad vocabulary, and at times it was difficult for me to understand. I also found that it was hard for me to keep reading because it seemed repetitive and elongated. The characters in this novel were very well-developed; they were round, and dynamic. This made them more believable.
This reflective, informative, and gloomy novel was difficult to read as a fifteen year old popular fiction student. I would recommend this story to an older crowd because of the broad vocabulary, and obscene situations. This book was interesting to read but I would not recommend it to most people.
In this story many people would instantly characterize Shay as a bad person because of the inhumane crime he was convicted for. Many believe that no matter what he does it is impossible for him to make up for his past. Others, such as Maggie, give Shay the chance to redeem himself by letting him donate his heart. Shay felt that he could make up for what he cannot change by saving the life of another young child. The question is “can redemption be reached by giving and eye for an eye?”
Jessyka D.
Richmond, Va
Ms. Pederson's First Block
Payback With Ya Life, by Wahida Clark, is a fiction book about a young lady named Shaun who recently lost a best friend, whom she considered a sister, named Briana to suicide and has a brother named Anthony, also known as Peanut. Shaun’s only family was Briana and Peanut; now that she is gone Peanut is all she has. Previously, Shaun and Briana had a huge disagreement on successful viewpoints of life; which in Briana’s eyes was going to ruin their tight bond. Shaun wanted to fix things with Briana and move them both far away as possible because she and Briana had not so pleasant lifestyles and she discovered that she would be stuck with a mistake for the rest of her life dealing with an inmate, Forever, where she wishes to no longer work. Thinking the grass is greener on the other side, Shaun ends up moving out of state and housing up with an old friend who is in the mix with everybody, little does she know that move will cost her to lose the only family she has left. The inmate she was running from gets transferred to her new place of work and soon is out for a good deed done. Shaun is unaware that he is a life threat to her, and wakes up to find out that the grass is not always greener on the other side.” Why is the man I've been living with standing with Forever? He is supposed to be in jail!” Shaun thinks to herself. Everything soon comes to light in the blink of an eye.
I did very much so enjoy reading this book. This is connected to a chain of books by Wahida Clark, whom I feel is an amazing author. I will be buying the next one that bites off Payback With Ya Life. I can honestly say the thing I enjoyed the most about this book is that I never wanted to put it down, take my eyes off of it, or leave it anywhere but when I did, it was always is arm’s reach. The thing I didn't like about the book was that it ended, but everything has to come to an end for a new beginning to start. I would most definitely recommend others to read this book and many others by Ms. Clark but I have to say they need to be a mature audience. I said that because there are some graphic parts of the book that may seem shocking but the book is greatly full of suspense, emotion changes, and thrills, this book gets two thumbs up from me.
Taelyr O.
Richmond, VA
Ms. Pederson’s Second Block
Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, by Ann Brashares, is a young adult literature book about four girls who have been bonded together since their mothers were in a pregnancy aerobics class sixteen years before. The book tells of the first summer when all the girls are going to be separated. For several years before Carmen, Tibby, Lena, and Bee were always together. This summer was going to be different. Lena went to Greece to visit her grandparents. Carmen was going to South Carolina to be with her father. Bee was headed for a sports camp in Baja. Tibby was left at home to work a minimum wage job at her local Wallman's drug store. Everyone can tell that Tibby is upset especially because she will be the only one at home. So Tibby grabs a pair of jeans out of Carmen's closet and decides that they will make her feel better. Everyone ends up trying on the pants and a miraculous thing happens. The Pants fit all of them even with their varying shapes and sizes. They decide then and there that they will all share the pants for the summer. It will be the thing that connects them all. They make a list of rules about the pants before they left.
I really enjoyed Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. I can’t wait to read The Second Summer of the Sisterhood. The thing I enjoyed the most about the book is that I could barely put it down. I loved reading the book. I think that Ann Brashares is an amazing author. I recommend other to read this book.
Kevin A.
In the book dragon ball by Akira Toriyama it talks about how a little boy name Goku traveled from another planet to planet earth. The reason he has to travel to another planet is because he cried and would not stop crying. As he got to earth he grew up on his own and basically he could fit in with the humans only thing different about young Goku is that he has a tail and has abilities different from an average Joe. But young Goku did everything for himself he cooked, cleaned, hunted, kept himself warm, and clothed himself every chance he gets.
One thing about Goku is that at a young age he isn’t afraid to defend himself at all. He is really strong and really powerful. As he was walking Goku fell off a clip and hit his head and forgot everything. As he lay there passed until this old guy name Master Roshi walked by and found him lying there and brought him to his house. Master Roshi took care of him as his own child and raised him. As Goku got older he became the greatest hero ever.
Comments (5)
vanhookc@... said
at 10:11 pm on Jan 7, 2014
Way to go, Jessyka! Your review has grown to excellence over these past few days! I love your statement......"The thing I didn't like about the book was that it ended, but everything has to come to an end for a new beginning to start." What a wonderful thought! - Mrs. VanHook
vanhookc@... said
at 3:42 pm on Jan 6, 2014
Well, Jessyka! I love your reader's enthusiasm! You have inspired me to want to get this book and read it!
Jessyka Davis said
at 10:08 am on Jan 6, 2014
Yes Vanhookc! Payback With Ya Life was a great book! It was full of suspense, a few humor pieces, and worth every penny the only problem I had was that it was not long enough, but that is where the next book comes in hand. :) Wahida Clark is an amazing author. I have read read a lot of books by her but i jumped around in stead of going in order due to stores not carrying the next. I give her 2 thumbs up.
vanhookc@... said
at 7:29 pm on Dec 29, 2013
Was, Payback With Ya Life a good read, Jessyka? I see the book is highly rated by over 100 reviewers on Amazon!Several say they could not put the book down till done! The author tells her stories from real life experiences, for sure.
Jessyka Davis said
at 6:26 pm on Dec 29, 2013
Jessyka Davis
Payback With Ya Life B
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