"Enthusiasm" by Polly Schulman

Enthusiasm is the perfect book for Pride and Prejudice fans! The book is about a girl, named Ashleigh, who is an enthusiast (person who changes interests faster then the weather). Her best friend introduces her to the world of Elizabeth Bennett and Ashleigh gets hooked. When Ashleigh decides to find their soul mates, will it go wrong or will Ashleigh and her friend find their “Prince Charming”. This book is filled with romance, friendship friction, and unwanted beaus as well as a mystery.

I really enjoyed this book and I think that any girl who reads it can’t help but identify with one of the main characters. This book would attract girl readers and any fans of romance or romantic mysteries. Pride and Prejudice fans will love this modern spin-off of the classic.

The author was very creative with her characters and also with just making this book into a modern fairytale, which ties in with Pride and Prejudice. There are many twists in the plot that keep you interested and there’s also a nice ending.

"Freak the Mighty" by Rodman Philbrick

The main characters are Maxwell Kane, a huge but learning- disabled kid and his friend Kevin, nicknamed "Freak", who is physically crippled but very intelligent. They meet each other when they are still kids in a day care center, and after a long time they met each other again when freak moves in behind and becomes his neighbor.

This book has easy vocabulary, and the content is awesome. I think an adventure over will like to read this book because it is an adventure kind of fiction. The author clearly describes Max’s mind about things he sees, and his emotional side.

Chiui

"Fire Star" by Chris D’Lacey

In the third book of The Fire Within series, David rain travels to the arctic reaches for a field trip, only to find that an old enemy is back and has kidnapped Lucy, his land owner’s daughter. As soon as he returns, his girlfriend who stayed in the arctic mysteriously disappears. A young being of the multi-dimensional race of the Fain, enters the world through one of David’s dragons, G’reth, which subsequently causes an older, and much more malicious Fain to follow, wrecking havoc through the world. All of this ends up back where it all started, but not without some paying the ultimate price.

An exciting saga, surrounded by mystery and loss, hope and grief. Filling you with wonder of what will happen next, till the very end. However, it has a sad ending, and leaves too much in shadow, and is not for the weak hearted. One who wishes for more would enjoy this story, surrounded with the lights of the north to the gloomy weather of a rainy island. This story makes you wish to never put it down, and you can’t wait for the next book in the series. It can be improved if it tells more at the end. I highly recommend you to go to the website, www.icefire.co.uk.

"Anne Of Green Gables" by L.M Montgomery

This story is about Anne Shirley, an amusingly imaginative and bright little girl who is an orphan, who is adopted by a stubborn woman named Marilla Cuthbert. Eventually Anne comes to live at a place where everyone dislikes her because of her wild imagination--a rare feature for a woman.
I believe that this book is really good but as they say, nothing can be perfect, “Anne of Green gables” did have some weaknesses. One of the main weaknesses in this book was the two pages long chattering of a little girl called Anne Shirley. It does get boring when the dialogue gets long so I would recommend the author to change her ‘superbly long’ passages to something short and interesting. I am very sure that this book has wild imagination in it and it grasps the reader’s attention despite the long paragraphs of details. Personally, I love reading this book as many times as I want. This book symbolizes me with wild imagination and endless talking. Readers who love to go into detail about how a place looked or how something felt to someone would love to read such books.

Shushmita

"The Secret Scroll" by Lynne Ewing

Four seemingly ordinary girls are born as the goddesses of the moon to protect the goodness of the world from the enemy, the Atrox. Catty has a special power; she can go back to the past. One day, she gets a secret scroll from a man she doesn’t know. She realizes that it will help them destroy the Atrox. Of course, people on the Atrox side wanted it too. She keeps it very safe. She gets a new boyfriend. He is very kind to her, and they like each other so much. On another day, when she was walking down the street, same man talked to her, but said ‘don’t look at me’. Though she held up her mirror to see who he was, and found out that it was her boyfriend. After the notice, they corporate to fight against the Atrox. Unfortunately, Atrox noticed that Catty has the secret scroll. So the strongest Follower, who is in the inner circle of the Atrox, calls her to the park at the night with no moon. But before that, she wrote the fake scroll; because she knew it she would have to destroy it. As she thought, Follower said to destroy it. And he hunts down her to the death. For he can read the mind, he realizes that it was the fake one. Of course he let Catty get the genuine one. While getting it, she remembered the spell that will weaken the Atrox. She uses it with other goddesses, and won the ‘game’. But suddenly, she was caught up in the other world with a flash…

I think the strength of this book is that at the end of the book, it is usually the good ending, like goddesses beat up the Atrox. But in this one, one goddess disappeared and ended. It was really unexpected one. Weakness is it is always same that main character’s boyfriend is related to the Atrox, or the goddess, so it was very obvious that her boyfriend was the man. Still I liked this ending the best. It didn’t tell us about what was the flash, and where she was. So it inspired me to read the next one. And teenagers will enjoy this book.

Maria

"Dragon's Blood" by Jane Yolen

Jakkin is a bond servant working in the dragon barns of Master Sarkkhan. Dragons are raised to fight in the pits, and bond servants must tend to them. Jakkin loves dragons and dreams of freedom. The only way to freedom is to steal a baby dragon, raise it to be a fighter, and win battles to get enough gold to pay his way out of bondage, so he attempts it.

This story has a great plot. Although the story is great, I think the author doesn't develop much of a setting. I definitely know it's in the desert, but sometimes it talks of starships and other planets. Even with the bad setting, I would still recommend this book to people who like fantasy because it is a really fun story.

Mil

"The Pact" by Jodi Picoult

The main characters of this book are Christ Harte and Emily Gold. Their parents are friends, so they grow up together and become lovers when they get older. The story begins when the police find Chris and Emily together, but Emily is dead. When Christ is taken to the hospital, he tells the police that it was going to be a double suicide, but the police had come before he could shoot himself. Emily’s family sues Chris, who has to endure the pain of being accused of murdering his own girlfriend. Throughout this story, secrets are revealed about Chris and Emily’s relationship and the true reason behind Emily’s death.

I think that this is a great book that is very deep and meaningful. Chris and Emily really love each other a lot, and it is so sad that it even made me cry. The book really makes you want to know what really happens because there are so many times in the book when you think you know what happened or why something happen and be proven wrong in the next chapter. I think that people who like a lot of action in books will not enjoy this book because there isn’t much action. Anyone who enjoys romance and mystery will enjoy it though.

"Warriors" – Forest of Secrets" by Erin Hunter

Fireheart’s best friend Graystripe falls in love with a Riverclan she-cat, Silverstream. After one full-moon, Silverstream is about to give birth to her and Graystripe’s kittens. After she gave birth, she was exhausted and passed away. In sorrow, Graystripe took his kittens to his clan, Thunderclan. Everybody was shocked to know that the kittens had both Thunderclan and Riverclan blood. Later, Graystripe decides to become a Riverclan cat, so he can nurse his kittens. While Fireheart and Graystripe are in conflict over Graystripe’s kittens, the Thunderclan deputy, Tigerclaw attacks Thunderclan’s leader, Bluestar with the rogue cats. What will happen to Bluestar and Graystripe and his kittens? The setting is in a forest near a small village. Four clans of cats live among the forest; Thunderclan, Riverclan, Shadowclan, and Windclan. These four clans all respect their ancestor warrior’s clans, Starclan. The main characters, Fireheart, Graystripe, are the best friends.

The weakest part of this author’s story is that if you do not read the series of his books from the beginning, they wouldn’t be much fun and exciting. The strengths are that he writes as if he was a cat, and he knows and describes the cats excellently. This story, which of course is a fantasy book, would be enjoyable to any person who likes to read fantasy books.

Geun Ho

"Shoeless Joe & Me" by Dan Gutman

In this story the main character, Joe Stoshack, has a special power to go back into time using baseball cards. In This Adventure, he goes back into time to meet Shoeless Joe. All this takes place in the city of Boston in the 1940’s. The Genre of this book is a Sport adventure Genre. It is mainly about baseball, and he’s always on a great adventure. If you want to know what happens in this story, you should really read his book.

There were a couple of strengths and weaknesses in this story. Some Strengths were that it was always exciting and often thrilling. It also gives you some fun information about what truly happened to the character (Shoeless Joe). It also gives you some cool tips on how to play baseball. The Weaknesses were that sometimes it is hard to understand what happens and how it happened.

I think that if you are an athletic person and a person you seeks action books this is the right book for you. I think that this is one of the best books I’ve read so far.

Mike

"Stormbreaker" by Anthony Horowitz

Stormbreaker is an action packed novel about a teenage spy set on a deadly mission to save his country. It is set in present day England. Alex Rider is nothing but a normal school-boy that lost his parents when he was a child and so now lives with his uncle. Alex’s life suddenly turns upside down when his uncle is found dead in a car-crash. After his uncle's death, he is forcefully recruited to M16 and learns that his whole life his uncle has not been a businessman but a spy, and he has been training Alex for the day that he also becomes a spy. Alex’s life goes from normal to extraordinary as he is pulled out of school and dragged into a mission that can save thousands. What will this 14 year-old boy do when the fate of his country is placed into his hands?

Stormbreaker is an incredible book for any reader that enjoys action and adventure. I would also recommend this book to teenagers since they can easily relate to how much pressure and fright Alex Rider must be have felt when he was asked to go on a deadly mission to save his country. I would give this book a 9/10 because it is so suspenseful and action-packed. I liked how I could relate to the main character in the story since he was my age, and how in each chapter something thrilling occurred. The only part of this book I would have changed was the ending since it wasn’t as exciting as it could’ve been. I really think that this novel is incredible and worth reading, so even if you’re not into adventure or action you should give this book a try.

Brennan

"The Five Ancestors: book 4: Crane" by Jeff stone

This book is the fourth book in the five ancestor’s series, following the Tiger, Monkey, and Snake. In this book, the main focus is Hook the crane, who reveals a lot about her past and hidden secrets. This series is about 5 young kungfu monks, each with different animal attributes, which create their personalities and identities. After a tragedy near Kaifeng, China, Hok has to survive alone, with one handicapped “Snake”, and two stolen brothers. On her trip to an underground battle city, where winning or losing means life or death, she hears news about the “golden dragon." Could the “Golden Dragon” help her find her long lost brother “Dragon”, master of the dragon style kungfu? She’s Chinese, she knows that, like her brothers at Cangzhen Temple. At least her mom’s Chinese, but because of her brown hair and brown eyes, many people don’t welcome her. And why does the word “Dutch” sound so familiar? Could it help Hok answer where her father is, and why she is different from other Chinese people?

This is a very fast paced book with very interesting character identities and very descriptive actions. The author really paints a movie in your mind, which you can see like a kungfu movie coming out of the paper pages! Though the language is not too advanced, it is really fun to read. Sometimes I cannot stop flipping the pages! I also learned how to say the names of some animals in Cantonese because the names of characters in the book are named after animals. I think many readers would enjoy this book because it is action packed, interesting, and keeps the reader wanting to know more of the secrets and mysteries in the book.

Jetro

"The Recruit" by Robert Muchamore

James is a boy that has trouble staying out of trouble. He lives with his half sister and mother, who make a living from shoplifting. When his mother dies he goes away to a boarding school and is asked by Cherub, a secret organization of agents who are kids, to join their organization. He agrees to join them and has to undergo intense training and face one of his greatest fears in order to become a ‘Cherub’. Lauren, his sister, also comes to live at Cherub because she wants to live with James. James goes on a mission where he has to live with a bunch of people he doesn’t know, pretend he is someone else, and try to figure out what a terrorist group called Help Earth is planning to do.

I think that this was a fun book to read. It doesn’t have much meaning in it but it makes you want to keep on reading because it is so suspenseful. Anyone who likes action books will definitely enjoy reading this book. It also has a lot of twists and turns in it that makes it even more fun to read. I enjoyed reading this book but got annoyed at James because he makes a lot of stupid decisions.

"Inkheart " by Cornelia Funke

Meggie naturally loves books, just like her father Mortimer (Mo), who is a bookbinder. One rainy day, a stranger named Dustfinger suddenly comes and tells Mo that he wants to be read back into a book. Meggie then realizes why Mo never read aloud for her. When he reads, he can bring a story to life, but the cost that has to be paid is astonishing…

“Inkheart” was fascinating to read because of its originality and blend of fiction and non-fiction. Mo’s ability to read things out of books was interesting because it led me to imagine what it would be like to meet a character in a book.

A strength of “Inkheart” is that the character in the book is normal yet abnormal. For example, Mo is a normal person who binds books for a living, but he has a unique ability of being able to read things out of books.

One weakness is that it sometimes can be too descriptive, so some parts of it are boring.

I would recommend this book strongly, because it has more strengths than weaknesses. “Inkheart” is coming out as a movie in 2008, and I’m really excited to see the movie.

T.K.

"The Dark Portal" by Robin Jarvis

The book, “The Dark Portal,” by Robin Jarvis is a book about a struggle between two species--the rat and the mouse. The rats are a violent and disgusting breed of creatures preying on mice and peeling their skins off as trophies. The mice are peaceful nature loving creatures. One day, a mouse called Albert falls into the sewers and into the land of the rats. There he meets a mouse called Piccadily, and they suddenly end up in the altar of Jupiter, the god of the rats who is brewing up a big plan to destroy mankind and rule the Earth. Meanwhile, after Albert’s mysterious disappearance, Albert’s daughter Audrey ventures into the sewers to look for her father and lands between Jupiter and his goal of world domination…

The book was very entertaining and interesting to read. It was a bundle of non-stop action! There were mice flying everywhere and rats flying everywhere to get the mice. I could not read a single page without being scared or excited. Also, the author succeeds in giving the animal characters human like characteristics that each of the characters had their own special personality. The only thing that I didn’t really like about the story was that the ending felt a bit rushed because the climax wasn’t long enough but other than that it was a very nice book and I would like to recommend it to people who like suspense.