By: Linda Sue Park

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A Long Walk to Water is an amazing book that blends two of my favorite book genres, historical fiction, and a true historical account of war. This book is another novel that tells two different stories and uses alternating points of view throughout the book, which I really liked in this case, because the two stories were related and it was interesting to see how they came together at the end.

The two different stories in a Long Walk to Water focused on Salva, a 12 year old boy who lost his home in the Sudanese Civil war (this is the true story), and Nya, an 11 year old girl whose village had no water and needed to walk eight hours a day to retrieve water for her family (this is the fictional part of the book). Throughout the book, you learn about Salva’s journey leading 1400 boys through Sudan, Ethiopia, and eventually a refugee camp in Kenya, and finally a program to get to the United States where Salva focuses on building wells for villages in Sudan. Their stories come together when Nya’s family, who is in need of water, hires Salva’s company to build them a well. Will Nya and Salva work together and build a friendship? 

I would recommend this book to readers who are interested in recent global conflicts, specifically when Sudan was unstable. Other readers who just enjoy stories of leadership and taking charge in what you like would also enjoy A Long Walk to Water. I recommend this book for grades 6th-9th. It is also a short and quick read, which can be nice when you are short on time!

By: Ally Condie

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Matched is a dystopian-fiction book with a twist of teen-romance thrown in throughout the book. I read this in school with my entire language arts class, and almost everyone loved this book in a way that I haven’t seen with many other books. It the first book in a series of 3, and I have already ordered the next two books, Crossed and Reached, so stay tuned!

Ever since Cassia was born, she has believed that the Society can’t make mistakes; it’s perfect, the choices, the beliefs, everything in the Society is perfect. On her matching day, the day where a government is deciding who your partner will be for the rest of your life, she was hoping for at least someone nice, but when she saw her childhood bestfriend, Xander, pop up on the screen, she knew she would never doubt the Society, until another face showed up, a different one, Ky. Soon enough, Cassia can’t stop thinking about Ky, and what freedom tastes like, and eventually falls in love. Now she has a very hard choice to make, Xander or Ky, safety or freedom? Which one will she pick? Only time will tell.

One of my favorite parts of this book wasn’t actually a part of the plot, but how many themes the author was able to explore and add to Matched. One of the main, overarching themes of Matched was “control vs. freedom”. This theme played out in many different parts of the book, from exploring the difference between a love marriage, and an arranged marriage, to the constant restriction of daily life things, especially art and music, against Cassia’s will to be free and do what she wants.

I think that people who enjoy dystopian, teen-romance, romance in general, or fighting for freedom topics will enjoy this book. Also, people who enjoy Ally Condie as a writer should check this book out. Since there are some heavier topics along with this book being a little longer, I would recommend this book for 6th-9th graders.

By: Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

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Jefferson’s Sons is a historical fiction book about the life and children of Thomas Jefferson during the early 1800s. I was interested in reading this book because I love history and learning about this period of time during the founding years of our country. I have already read a few books about the founding fathers, and seen the musical Hamilton a few times. I was in learning more about Thomas Jefferson.

One thing that I thought was interesting about this book, is that it is told from the prospective of three different people, two of Thomas Jefferson’s sons, Beverly and Maddy, and one of his slaves, Peter. It bounces around quite a bit in the time period it’s covering, when the narrators switch. I usually don’t love this format, but Kimberly Brubaker Bradley did it really well and it seemed a lot smoother than some other books I’ve read with this format. 

Even though it is told from the perspectives of three different people, they each deal with the same issues, like the segregation and differences between black and white society, and the injustices that slaves were forced to suffer. 

I think that this book is great for people who like historical fiction, founding fathers, and more mature readers because of the topics and themes. I recommend this book for grades 6-10th!

By: Emily Ecton

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This series is one of my favorite book series that I’ve read. Emily Ecton is now one of my favorite authors and I’ve read a lot of books by her, including Project Jackalope and The Ambrose Deception (still need to review that one!). The Great Pet Heist series is about a group of funny pets living in an apartment in NYC, and even thought I’m getting a little old for the books I like re-reading them and I always ask my mom to preorder her books whenever there is a new one coming out. I reviewed The Great Catnapping and my younger sister guest reviewed The Great Pet Heist, and she’s reading the whole series now so will try to review them all for you.

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The Great Ghost Hoax is the second book I’ve read in the Great Pet Heist series by Emily Ecton. There are now five books in the series, and I’ve already reviewed the first book, The Great Pet Heist for you. I love these books because they are about a hilarious group of pets living in an apartment in New York. They are cute, lovable, and they are always getting into mischief, which makes me laugh and think of my dog because he looooves to create mischief 🙂 If your pet sounds like mine, I bet you will like this book!  

In The Great Ghost Hoax, Mrs. Third Floor believes her apartment is haunted after experiencing strange noises and objects moving on their own.  All of the animals wanted to investigate and figure out what happened. The pets knew something the humans didn’t. Will they find out if  there is a ghost or who is it?

My favorite part was when the ghost busters scammed Mrs. Third Floor, and the pets tried to warn the humans about the scam. I loved this part because it shows how animals can sense a lot about people, my dog is like this too! 

I would recommend this book to 2nd through 5th graders. If you like funny animals getting into mischief, then you would love this book. 
I can’t wait to read The Great Vandel Scandall!!!!

By: Rebecca Stead

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When You Reach Me is a fictional, middle grade, sci-fi “lite”, book by Rebecca Stead. This is actually my first book that I’ve read that was published by Rebecca Stead, and I am excited to read more. The book won the Newbery Award-winning novel, which caught my interest because I’ve noticed that Newbery Award-winning books are usually amazing! If you want to learn more about Newbery Award-winning books–be sure to click here after you read this book review.

But back to When You Reach Me! Miranda, a 12-year-old girl, whose family is financially struggling and lives in Manhattan, is surprised when Sal, her bestfriend, decides to end their friendship very abruptly. She is even more confused once she starts getting random notes each day, with each one becoming more and more terrifying, as they’re predicting future events. Can she salvage her relationship with Sal, and discover who is writing those notes, or will she forever be cursed with the eerily accurate, foreshadowing notes and a long-gone friendship?

My favorite part about this book, is when Miranda realizes one of her fellow classmates, Marcus, has learned to be able to time travel, and accidentally (almost) duplicates himself. I’m not going to include a spoiler, but wait until you find out about who Marcus really is! I really liked this surprising twist in the storyline, and how the theme of time travel popped up.

I think this book would be best for kids in 5th-8th grade, or anyone in middle school because of the reacurring theme of switching and building new friendships. Most people I know have experienced changing friendships, and I know they would relate to that part of the book.

By: Anne Frank

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The Diary of a Young Girl is a non-fiction book based around the life of a teenager, Anne Frank, during WW2. This book expresses how difficult life was during the holocaust, from the point of view of a teenage girl.

Around Anne’s 13th birthday, she and her family moved to the Netherlands. Germany invaded the Netherlands in 1940, which caused the Frank family to go into hiding along with the van Daan Family and a dentist, Fritz Pfeffer. They used the small, cramped, hidden annex above Anne’s father’s business as a hiding spot. They also made sure to fill up on supplies before hiding. While they were hiding, they listened to a radio that was stashed in the annex for news and updates. Anne grew increasingly isolated in the annex with only her family, her journal and her imaginary friend Kitty, who she wrote to frequently. Anne started to feel depressed that every other Jewish person was dying. To make things worse, their food supplier was arrested for giving too many food ration coupons.This non-fiction book was really heartwrenching to read, and made me more aware of the atrocities of The Holocaust. Anne was amazing because even though she was sad and lonely, (with the exception of Peter,) and had a toxic mother, she persevered longer than anyone else could have in that situation.

My favorite part of this book was when Anne started to like Peter van Daan and feel less and less lonely with his company. She didn’t have a good relationship with her parents, so connecting with Peter gave her motivation to keep going in hard times. This happened slowly over time, initially Anne didn’t like Peter. Anne completely changes her mind as she gets to know him and realizes that they have a lot in common and that Peter is just a teen, like her, trying to figure out his life. It was interesting to see her change her mind so much about a person and see how a friendship can develop if you give someone a chance and get to know and understand them. 

I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading non-fiction books and learning more about important historical events. Grade recommendations – 5th-10th

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By: Gordon Korman

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The book Unplugged is a fiction book based around a ‘resort’ named the Oasis. Jett Baranov, a spoiled twelve year old son of tech billionaire Vladimir Baranov, ends up at the Oasis after one too many mischievous pranks, and his dad hopes that time away from technology will fix his bratty behavior. At the Oasis, he meets three friends, Grace, an altruistic rule follower, Tyrell, who is allergic to just about everything on the face of the Earth, and Brooklynne, a secretive girl who Jett thinks is hiding something. The friends are getting to know each other and learning about their differences, when they find ‘lizard’ named Needles and taking care of him, (and breaking the rules.) brings them together. As the weeks progress, Jett starts to notice something is off, maybe the Oasis isn’t what it seems to be. Jett, the troublemaking rich spoiled kid, is suddenly in the position of having to stand up for what’s right. Will he succeed in his plan?

My favorite part was when Jett ordered a Dance Dance Revolution Machine, a jetski, two boxes filled with fireworks, an ATV, a hoverboard, and candy. This was hilarious because of the diversity of the items and how they managed to be shipped there. He did this because he got bored and wanted to ‘spice things up’ with some new gadgets. Unfortunately, they all got returned, and Jett could not have any fun. He ordered all of this stuff at a camp where he is supposed to be detoxing and getting back to basics, away from his normal lifestyle.

Another thing that I really liked about this book is that I got to know all the characters in this book very well, thanks to Gordon Korman’s awesome writing. One thing he does a lot in his books that I really like is that each chapter will be told from a different character’s point of view. This helps you see what’s going on from all the different characters’ views, and understand the story better.

Grade Recommendations.

5th-10th

By: John David Anderson

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Posted is a fictional novel about friendships in middle school. Due to unkind comments and posts on social media, Branton Middle School made a rule that phones are no longer allowed at the school. When this happens, Frost and his friends, Bench, Wolf, and Deedee (these are all nicknames) make up a new way to communicate, the sticky note. It caught on, and slowly, but surely, more and more people were using it. A new girl named Rose arrived at the school and started sitting with them. She was a bit taller and more masculine, which caused the friend group to get bullied. Will sticky notes get banned and the friend group will be teased constantly, or will they stand up for themselves and overpower the bullies?

I really liked the character Rose in Posted. She was a bit taller and more manly than most girls, but instead of feeling bad about it, she was very self-confident and protected Frost and his friends. She even dared the bullies to run the gauntlet, which is a steep hill with many hazardous trees that they rode down on their bikes, and she beat them! Rose really showed how one brave person can change the entire social dynamic within a grade, for the better.

My favorite part of Posted is when Rose walked into the boys bathroom to stop Deedee from getting bullied. It showed that Rose is willing to go against the norms to help a friend in trouble, which is really brave.

I would recommend this book for anyone who likes middle school drama, and the theme of friendship. I would recommend ages to 10-15, because there were some more mature language and themes.

By: Stephen Crane

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The Red Badge of Courage is a fictional novel written in 1895 about a young soldier named Henry Fleming, who’s fighting in the Civil War.

When Henry Fleming enlisted in the 304th Regiment, he didn’t know what he signed up for. When the first battle came, his regiment was beaten and he ran. While he was running, a soldier hit him on the head with his rifle, and he ran into trees for cover. After a day, he comes back to the regiment base, and realizes that they actually won. The guilt was hurting him so much, that he faked a story about getting shot in the head, and he was praised as a hero. This caused him to feel even more guilty, and swore to do his best in combat next time. Will he gather up all of his courage and bravery, and fight with glory against the enemy, or will he let his fear take over and prevent him from fighting?

My favorite part about this novel is when Henry steps up and keeps shooting, and doesn’t stop until all of the Confederate troops are dead. This shows how brave someone can be when life depends on it.

I would recommend this book for people 10-14, who like historical fiction and war stories. While younger readers might like the illustrations, the language and dialect used might be hard to follow.

By: Wendelin Van Draanen

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Flipped is a middle school fiction book that focuses on a relationship between two neighbors, Byrce, and Juli. From the beginning, Juli instantly falls in love with Byrce when his family moves to her neighborhood in second grade. Bryce doesn’t like her at first, but as the story progresses, he starts to take interest in Juli, just as she starts to learn more about him and realizes he’s not as great as she thought. Will they ever decide to like each other at the same time? Or will they stay forever “flipped”? 

My favorite part about this book is how the characters “flipped”. I think it’s so funny and interesting how people can switch up feelings and emotions so fast. One day, Bryce thought of Juli as a pest, the next day, he was falling for her. This made the book one of the most enjoyable books I’ve ever read.

I originally decided to read this book as part of my summer reading for school, but I really liked it and realized there is also a movie based on the book that I want to try to watch. I would recommend Flipped to readers who enjoy romantic fiction, or like reading about a little bit of family dynamics. This book would be appropriate to read for 5-7th graders.