Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

Title: Children of Blood and Bone
Author: Tomi Adeyemi
Publisher: Holt Books for Young Readers
Rating: 4.75 Stars
Reviewer: Evelyn
Age: 13

Children of Blood and Bone is an amazing tale that lures readers and ensnares them into reading. Zélie's journey through Orïsha is representative to her spiritual journey. At first, the tale is confusing, but smooths out over the book. I would recommend this to readers who have read books that have some violence in them. Overall, Tomi Adeyemi did a great job of weaving a tale that makes sense and captivates me.

Find out more here

Here's a video to inspire you about writing from the author of Children of Blood and Bone:

Rutabaga: Adventure Chef by Eric Colossal

Title: Rutabaga: Adventure Chef
Author: Eric Colossal
Publisher: Abrams Books
Reviewer: Snowden
Age: 11

     This is a review of the book “Rutabaga the Adventure Chef” Eric Colossal.  It’s a graphic novel. I am going to start explaining this book now. It’s about a young boy named Rutabaga who meets three young adventurers. Winn their leader, Manny the injured, and Beef the tank.
     When the adventure begins Rutabaga decided that he wanted to go with them on their journey to kill the all mighty dragon that destroyed their castle. When they finally get to the cave where the dragon lives they find nothing but an egg. When Rutabaga tries to cook it a baby dragon pops out! He ran away but after a while they caught up with it. It was with its mom the Mighty dragon. All three adventurers were wiped out except for Rutabaga the ADVENTURE chef.  He pulled out some exploding mushrooms and threw them at the dragon and killed it. 
     You think that’s a lot of action? Well get ready that was only the first chapter!
     I am not going to write down the whole book (in case someone wants to read it.) But in the end here I would like to say, I really enjoyed reading this book I would recommend it to 8-10 year olds because there is a little death and darkness in this book, but it’s also funny and charming too!! I guarantee you will have a blast reading this book. I know I did!!!

     

Luv Ya Bunches by Lauren Myracle

Title: Luv Ya Bunches

Author: Lauren Myracle

Publisher: Abrams Books

Rating: 5 stars

Reviewer: Leah R.

Age: 11

I read a book called Luv Ya Bunches, by Lauren Myracle. It was amazing!!!!! This book is about four friends in middle school who try to break up a group of mean girls. There are many lessons in it about friendships.  This was a life changing book for me. I could relate to the characters.  This helped me feel involved with the story. They seemed almost real to me.  My favorite part was almost at the end, at the ice cream social.  Do the friends succeed in their plan to break up the mean girls?  What happens at the ice cream social?  Will this book change your life too?  It is a great book! I hope you enjoy Luv Ya Bunches as much as I did.

Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes

Title: Johnny Tremain
Author: Esther Forbes
Date Published: 1943
Reviewer: David
Rating: 

     Johnny Tremain, was a young apprentice silversmith, he was known as the head boy on Hancock's wharf. However things soon took a turn when Johnny burnt his hand and could no longer do silver work. Now without a job he got swept up in Boston’s cry for independence in the 1770’s. He became apart of ‘The Boston Tea Party’ and ‘The Battle of Lexington’.Johnny Tremain also went through other things such as, the hardship of unemployment, love, being rejected from his family, and hunger. Despite all of this he has a revelation about his own life.
     I love this novel about historical happenings mixed in with fiction. I like how Johnny Tremain meets revolutionary characters such as Doctor Warren, Paul Revere, and John Hancock.

National Velvet by Enid Bagnold

Title: National Velvet
Author: Enid Bagnold
Date Published: 1935
Reviewer: Leah (12)
Rating:

National Velvet is a book about a girl named Velvet who loves horses. In the beginning of the book she has only one horse, but soon she receives 6. Velvet is a very good rider and everybody comments on how well her seat is. She has 3 sisters: Mally, Merry, and Edwina, and one little brother named Donald. This book in the beginning can seem kind of confusing, but you should understand more as you go along. One thing I noticed about this book is that I could not really connect with Velvet even though I love horses too. I think this is because the author did not give enough description of the character. Don't get me wrong it is a very well written book, but I felt no connection. Velvet was supposedly born with a natural seat and I don't doubt that that can happen, but it just seems she barely had any practice and was an amazing rider who wins awards, which I think is very unrealistic. When I finished this book I was not very satisfied first because I did not understand the character, and at the end she did not get what she deserved. I am sorry to say that I would not read this book again or recommend it to a friend. On a good note this is a great book on girl empowerment. #GirlPower

I Was Here by Gayle Forman

Title: I Was Here
Author: Gayle Forman
Publisher: Viking Books
Reviewer: Katie (12)
Recommended Age: Grade 9+
Rating:

 I’m doing this review on the book, I Was Here by Gayle Forman. I think it’s good to be honest in book reviews.  Well, here I am being honest. I totally cried about six times. That being said, I might want to tell you what this book is about. Cody is the girl whose story I am telling you about, and her best friend Meg who committed suicide. Except that Cody thinks that somebody helped her.  In this book you go on a long journey with Cody to find out what really happened to her better half.
     Cody and Meg had known each other since they were children. Meg went off to college and Cody stayed in the town they grew up in.  Cody would go to visit every once in a while, but the visits grew less and less as Cody was unconsciously envious that Meg got out of their small town. They never kept secrets though. Or that’s what Cody thought.
     Meg’s ex-boyfriend, Ben, and Cody went on a search for the suspect who might have helped Meg commit suicide.  They ended up in Nevada to confront him.
     Reading this book will make you feel what Cody felt. Anger at the people calling her dead best friend crazy and sadness over losing an amazing character/friend. In conclusion, this a tragically beautiful story with well thought out characters and I recommend it to all teenagers who enjoy thought provoking and emotional books.

The Unbelievable Top Secret Diary of Pig by Emer Stamp

Title: The Unbelievable Top Secret Diary of Pig
Author: Emer Stamp
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Reviewer: Bennimus
Age: 15
Recommended Age: 7-12
Rating: 3.9

WARNING: Crude humor protocol level 2:
Fart/Poop jokes.
Adults will be offended




Stretching the physical boundaries of time and space, The Unbelievable Top Secret Diary of Pig brings out the child's innocent desire to save animals as Pig goes there and back again to not get eaten by the Farmer (or catapulted into oblivion by the chickens). A very funny and entertaining book if you have a somewhat irreverent mind, because beware, the book is filled to the brim with poo and farts to keep your little devils laughing it up.

This book explores the blissful ignorance of the animals and the misunderstandings they might have, which, of course, has to be hilarious. This book is a must-have for every little kid who loves animals and particularly enjoys their lack of proper human intelligence.