Review Crew - book reviews by teens, for teens

(4.5 stars)
Today Tonight Tomorrow by Lynn Solomon tells the story of high school senior Rowan and her nemesis, Niel. They’ve been competing since freshman year, from writing contests to student body elections, and now, for the title of valedictorian. But at the end of their last day of high school, the seniors--partaking in the school’s tradition of Howl, a scavenger hunt-like game-- find themselves teaming up and realize that perhaps they’re not the enemies they thought they were. I thought this book was really cute. It made me smile much more than I thought it would. I really enjoyed seeing the progression of the characters as the story went on, such as learning their little quirks or about their pasts. I liked the romance, and even though the haters to lovers trope is kinda cliche, it turns out I really, really like it. The author did a great job of executing their relationship. I strongly recommend this book, not just for those who like the YA romance genre. It was so sweet and fun, and even though I’m not yet a senior, I think it covered the topics of nostalgia well and that feeling of leaving what you know behind.

The Hound of the Baskervilles is another outstanding Sherlock Holmes novel. After wealthy landowner Sir Charles Baskerville is found dead, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson must investigate the rumors of an otherworldly hound with glowing eyes and jaw. The Hound of the Baskervilles once again showcases Sherlock Holmes brilliant deductive capabilities and the mental chess-match he plays with villains. However, this novel also shows Dr. Watson's wit and all that he has learned throughout his years with Holmes.
This gripping adventure will keep you on your toes and leave you guessing until the very end. I highly recommend this book for any fan of classic mystery novels.

Rain Reign is about a girl named Rose who loves homonyms. Homonyms are words that sound the same but have different meanings and spellings. She purposely gave her dog Rain a name with two homonyms. When a storm hits Roses town, Rain goes missing. Rose must find Rain even though it means going out of her comfort zone.
I really liked this book. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes fast reads. Even though it was a great book, there were a couple slow parts that I really had to push through. This book was an amazing fast read. It really sucked me into the plotline.

Lane is a 17 year old girl trying to safely live her life after a deadly virus attacks the east side of the U.S 19 years ago. She is at a party until she is taken away by the infection safety group. At first, Lane thinks she has Ferae, a deadly virus that turns humans into animals, slowly turning them feral over time. Lane learns that she is not infected with Ferae, but that the head of the infection safety group needs something fetched from Chicago...which is now part of the Feral Zone. To save her dad, she must give him a letter telling him what he needs to get from Chicago in five days or else he and Lane will both die. Lane realizes that she must do the fetch when she cannot find her dad. With help from new friends, Lane attempts the fetch, but can she do it before the time limit, or before something far worse happens to her?

This was a good book, and I could not put it down. The author made the chapters like tiny cliff hangers so it was hard to stop reading especially near the end of the book. The character development was really good and I got to see the different characters evolve throughout the book. I would recommend this book to middle schoolers because it does get intense and is mildly inappropriate at some times. There is another book after this and I can't wait to read it also. Over all a very good book.

Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer, is a novel that tells the true story of Chris McCandless, a restless adventurer whose happy place was in nature. McCandless graduated college and departed shortly after on a series of adventures, his main one being Alaska. Along the way, Chris met people, many of whom were moved by his go getter free spirited personality. Into the Wild is a phenomenally written novel that I'd recommend to anyone who's trying to search for purpose in their life. It's a book that displays a young man searching for his place in the world.

The Catcher In The Rye is about the life of Holden Caulfield and his views on the world as well as life. Holden drops out of a prep school in Pennsylvania to explore New York City. This book captures living in the 1950's and 1960's brilliantly, as well, as the spirit of rebellion that Holden has. I did not like this book because Holden complains way too much and has negative views on the world around him. He also has a bad habit of using profane language in every sentence. The message of the book however is meaningful as it discuses how kids should enjoy being themselves and to stop worrying about growing up and becoming an adult so fast.

The Last Flight is a thriller filled with many unexpected plot twists and cliff hangers. Claire is married to an affluent man named Rory. Everyone is jealous of Claire as they believe she has everything in life. Little does the world know about Rory's temper and abusive behavior. An unexpected meeting at the airport changes everything for Claire. At the airport, on the way to Puerto Rico, Claire meets another woman Eve who also seems to be in a dire situation. Just before Claire's flight is set to depart the two woman swap tickets and Claire is now headed to Oakland and Eva is on her way to Puerto Rico. As Claire arrives in Oakland she finds out that the flight to Puerto Rico crashed in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean with no survivors. Claire is now stranded in Oakland with no money, and must live the life of a complete stranger who has some dark secrets. This book is a great read and it will keep you at the edge of your seat.

In this book, Harry Potter learns a lot about Lord Voldemort's past, and Harry Potter prepares for the final battle against his nemesis with the help of Headmaster Dumbledore. But in that time, Voldemort returns to power, and makes a plan to destroy Harry. So, Harry Potter tries to destroy Voldemort first, but for that, Harry must collect all parts of his soul. Voldemort had split his soul into pieces, so that he would never be totally destroyed, and now Harry has to destroy all the pieces, so Harry sets out with Dumbledore to find the Horcruxes.

At a memorable moment, near the beginning, Hermione gets very angry at Harry because he starts doing very good in the potions class. Harry starts doing so well after he finds the “Advanced Potion-Making” book that was filled with quicker ways to make potions. It was personally improved by Professor Snape, and then nicknamed the “Half Blood Prince”.

This novel can definitely petrify you as well, like in one part, Harry and Dumbledore go out to find the 1st Horcrux, where Dumbledore is forced to drink the Drink of Despair, which is a mysterious potion that makes a wizard very vulnerable and weak. So, this potion is meant for protecting something very important.

With Harry constantly chasing after Horcruxes, this book keeps a good pace, so I'm going to go with 3/5 stars for Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince.

Catching Fire is about a girl named Katniss who gets put into the battle royale of the seventy-fifth Hunger Games. This is the second time she has been put in the arena. This time, the tributes are victors. Katniss competes against different and better tributes, in a different arena, with a different motive. She must think quick on her feet and use new skills if she wants to keep herself and the person she loves alive.

I loved this book. It is the second book of the Hunger Games series so make sure you read the first book, The Hunger Games. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes books with suspense and adventure. This book had many plot twists and always left me in suspense. It exceeded my expectations one hundred percent.

The Impossible Climb is about Alex Honnold's journey from being a newbie to the professional climbing community to doing the famous free solo of El Capitan in Yosemite, CA. The author also describes his own adventures on North Face's athlete team. The author is one of Alex's mentors who was there for his famous climb up the Freerider route. I loved this book because of how descriptive Synott was of all of his trips he took to exotic places. It was also excellent because of how the author told his story and Alex Honnold's at the same time.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame is about four men who are captivated by a mysterious gypsy dancer. The story begins on a holiday where a play is going on until everyone becomes distracted by the gypsy girl dancing in the square. This is where we meet Esmeralda the gypsy and Gringore the playwright. Many things happen until Esmeralda ends up meeting Pheobus, a soldier, who is very egocentric, when he saves her from the deformed bell ringer - Quasimodo - and a priest named Claude Frollo. Esmeralda is soon accused of witchcraft and is sentenced to be hanged. Fortunately, she is able to find shelter in Notre Dame before that can happen. Many want to kill her, but some want to save her.

I had to read this book for school, and my English teacher recommended it. And the first chapter was not very interesting so I became skeptical, but at the end, I thought the book was really good. There are some parts where the author goes into detail about a location to better help set the scene, and this is where I struggled to focus on the book, but you should push forward because the story line is worth it. The Disney movie did not do this book justice and there is some adult-themed content in the book so I would not recommend this book to middle-schoolers or younger. I do think that sooner or later, everyone should at least give this book a try because it really made me think.

American Street is about a girl named Fabiola who moves from Port-Au-Prince, Haiti, to Detroit to see her aunt and cousins. When Fabiola and her mom get to New York to go on there connecting flight to Detroit her mom got held back
in New York while Fabiola goes on to Detroit. Once she gets to Detroit and gets to her cousins house she finds out that her mom wasn't coming to Detroit because of immigration laws. So she stays with her cousins Chantal, Donna, and Pri and her aunt Jo till she can figure out how to get her mother to come to Detroit. Fabiola enrolls in school and struggles to adjust to America. She grows close to her cousins who were known as the "Three Bees," Pri is the brawn of the group, Chantal is the brains, and Donna is the beauty and together they made a good team. Fabiola becomes friends with a classmate to get help with homework and stuff. They slowly become fast friends. Slowly she falls in love with a boy named Kasim who was best friends with Donna's drug dealer boyfriend, Dray. Finally, she figures out that Kasim went to a party to sell drugs for Dray and something bad happened that left Fabiola and her cousins heartbroken. In the end Fabiola, Pri, Donna, Chantal, and Aunt Jo moved away from Detroit for good and left for New Jersey.

Something that I liked about this book is that it was moving and heartbreaking but still a beautiful piece of literature. Something that I didn't like about the book was that Dray and Kasim were friends because they were so different and Dray wasn't a good guy but Kasim was a good guy. I usually don't like books like this but this one was so passionate and moving that I had trouble putting the book down. Another good thing about this book was that the plot didn't take awhile to develop and Fabiola changed a lot with her visit to America.

Wonder is about a boy with Treacher Collin Syndrome (TCS) who goes through the adventures of a sixth grader. To everyone else, this may be just the first day of school. But to Auggie Pullman, this is the first day in a public school. Before sixth grade, he was homeschooled. Through the ups and downs in of middle school, Auggie Pullman manages to get through it, make new friends, and shows he doesn't care what they think or say. I would recommend this book to anyone looking for an emotion pulling book or just a good and fast read. I loved this book. There was never a dull moment. I couldn't put this book down for a second. Whenever someone asked me for a good recommendation, this was first on the list. This book was one of the best books I have ever read.

Aristotle is 15 and has no friends. One day at the pool Aristotle metDante, Dante offered to teach Aristotle how to swim. After swimming they became fast friends. They laughed and joked together. Then one day Dante saw a bird in the middle of the road with a broken wing then picked it up. Dante stood in the middle of the road and didn't notice the car coming. The next thing Aristotle remembered was waking up in the hospital. Then Aristotle's parents told him that he pushed Dante out of the way. After the accident
Aristotle learns that Dante's family is moving to Chicago for the school year, for Dante's dads job. They wrote and they called each other. In one letter Dante told Aristotle that Dante would rather kiss boys than girls. Aristotle didn't think much of it till 4 people beat up Dante so bad he has to go to the hospital. In the end they go out in the desert and Aristotle realizes something with help from his dad. The ending was quite different then what I expected. The book is happy and sad. I recommend this book to any one who likes to have a good cry. It is really good. I also recommend the authors other books.

Undefeated is about a Native American named Jim Thorpe who is an amazing athlete and becomes an Olympic medalist. Him and his coach, Pop Warner create an unforgettable team with the legendary Carlisle Indian Football Team. Then Carlisle Indian Football Team was known for having the most wins in 1907. The team goes through an adventure of close games, injuries, and amazing plays.nI really liked this book. I couldn't put this book down for a second. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes Native American history or likes sports. This book also shows some of the plays the Carlisle Team played.

The Reminders is about Joan Lennon Sulley and a ten-year old girl and Gavin Winters a 30-year old actor. Gavin's partner Sydney just had just died and Gavin is going through a rough time. So Gavin goes to live with Joan and her family. Joan's mom was Sydney's friend and Gavin went to stay with them to get away from the Reminders. The only problem is the Joan has HSAM which means she has a highly superior autobiographical memory so she remembers everything. So as a deal Joan promises to tell Gavin of all her memories of Gavin if he helps her write a song for a singer-songwriter contest. Gavin finds out things about Sydney he didn't know. It turns out that he had come to New Jersey for a different reason then what he told Gavin. So he investigates that. Joan tries to make the song to win the contest. Once they finish the song her dad has to close down the studio because he can't work in it anymore.

The reason I liked this book was because it reminded me of other books I've read and loved. One reason I didn't like it that much was that Sydney had to die because according to Joan's memories he seemed like a good man. This book wasn't very funny but it made up for it by being touching and moving. Another thing I like about the book was the characters seemed so real like I was there with them and part of the story.

Sabrina Beckham moves to a little island in the Florida Keys. She moves to Little Bridge because she had just gone through a rough time. She moved to the island to take a break from the busy life of living in New York. After 3 months of living their a category hurricane is coming. After the hurricane Sabrina and her friend Drew go out to take care and feed all the pets of the people who evacuated and couldn't come back, because the bridge to the main land got washed out. The book ends with a happy ending and everything in the hurricane worked out.

The one reason I picked this book was because it was one of the books by Meg Cabot I hadn't read. I really like her other books. After reading the book I thought about what I thought the way it would end, but the ending was different then I thought. The book was really good and I recommend it to any one who doesn't know what to read.

This book is kind of like an apocalypse story, but instead of zombies, it's plants. Now, I know that sounds boring, but these plants, they are carnivorous, they kill people, and they are scary. They come unexpectedly, and soon, they are all over the world. People are dropping like flies, and nobody knows how to stop it. But three kids on Salt Spring Island may have the answers people need. For some reason, they are not affected by the sleepy gas the plants let off, or the acid they use to digest their prey. How can these three teenagers save the world? And how are they connected?

I really enjoyed this book, even though, to be truthful, it scared me a little bit at times. It was an interesting take on the apocalypse, and I loved seeing it play out. This book is part of a series, one that I am still reading, and I am already looking forward to the next one! This book has hardly any swearing in it, and plenty of action. I shouldn't give too much away, but I'll tell you this: I never though plants could be so scary! I hope you enjoy this book

Careless Whiskers is the twelfth book in the Cat in the Stacks Mysteries. It takes place in Athena College in Athena, Mississippi where Charlie Harris' daughter and son in law, teachers of theater at the college, are putting on a production of Careless Whispers, starring Luke Lombardi a semi-famous actor who has a bad relationship with Charlie's daughter Laura. Following over the top pranks on Luke, he is murdered on opening night in the middle of the performance, and his co-star Laura is the prime suspect. Charlie needs to find out who would go to such extreme lengths so he can prove his daughter's innocence. The book is pretty good but it can be a little slow in parts.

The Silence of the Library is the fifth book in the mystery series "The Cat in the Stacks Mysteries". It takes place in the town of Athena in Mississippi, where Charlie Harris volunteers at the local public library. The library is holding exhibit to honor mystery authors of old books with female detectives, especially Electra Barnes Cartwright, the author of the Veronica Thane mysteries. When a avid collector of the Veronica Thane mysteries is murdered leading up to the exhibition, the police must discover who will stop at nothing, not even murder, to get a hold of one of the rare Veronica Thane books. The Silence of the Library is a good mystery story but is a little predictable in parts and can be slow in others.