Books for Young Adults

[Mshoemaker]

Amber Appleton, a 17 year old girl, faces struggles throughout her life, but remains optimistic and hopeful through everything. She lives on a bus called “Hello yellow” with her dog, Bobby Big Boy, who is the joy of her life and her mother who is an alcoholic and doesn’t have enough money due to consistent spending’s on alcohol. She is very active in that she leads the Asian Diva choir and does volunteer work at an elderly home. She is also part of the Franks Family Force Federation with four other boys who are always there for her. She met Donna, one of the boy’s mothers, who later adopts her due to her own mother’s murder. Tragically, Bobby Big Boy develops a tumor and Amber raises money to get rid of it. She later goes to the prison to speak to the man in prison that had killed her mother. This book made me feel very emotional and made me think of memories in my life. The author catches your attention at the beginning of the book and uses brilliant word choice. You are able to see life through the eyes of Amber and really get attached to the book.

[Rhommel]

Rachel Hommel
Ms. Julian
English IV Period H
Book Review
29April 2011
Deadly Little Secret
This novel is a very exciting mystery murder. It takes place when the protagonist, Camellia is almost hit by a car; and suddenly pushed out of the way by a stranger who disappeared after assurance of her safety. The boy who saved Camellia’s life, Ben, transferred to her school midway through the year; and word had it that he was a murderer who killed his ex girlfriend. When Camellia began dating Ben, her friends, including ex boyfriend Matt, begin to stray away from her. This novel has repetitive misleading as to who Camellia’s true friends are. One minute you think Ben is a genuine nice guy, and the next you think Matt is they psycho killer. The way that Stolarz was so detailed and descriptive made me feel like I was really a part of the story. It had such an emotional impact on me and I developed feelings for the characters as if they were my friends. I got excited when things began to get better for Camellia and I filled up with tears when she was betrayed and abused. The twist ending kept me wanting more and made me want to continue reading her books.

[Eddie]

This book is about the World War II in North Africa and what the soldiers had to go through to stay alive. this book doesn't just stay with one Platoon it shows the over all battle and the political side of things too. if anyone loves History or World war II this is the book to read. I Like this book for the most part.

[Danceswithwolves]

"The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" by Stieg Larsson is a rare treat. It is often difficult to find such a compelling story that contains elements drama ,suspense, romance, and action all packed into a tantalizing murder mystery. As a reader I found myself fully immersed within the pages, unable to put the book down until I reached the end. Stieg Larsson brilliantly blends realism with a fictitious story that has a mass appeal. Although I have no real cons to discuss about this book; I can offer two warnings to potential readers. First, there is quite a lot of background information and exposition. This book easily has more characters in it than any other I have read. If this does not sound appealing perhaps "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" isn't for you. Also be aware that the story contains graphic subject matter that some readers could find disturbing. Personally, I feel that both of these elements only make the book that much better. Overall, "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" is an excellent book filled with twists and turns that will entertain the reader front start to finish.

[Bmoneyrecords]

"Ship Breaker" is a fun read. Many authors these days do not capture the reader as well as Paolo does in this post-apocalyptic adventure story. When the reader is first introduced to the characters, immediately it is easy to connect with them, offering great emotional connection when bad things happen to people in the story. Personally, as I read the novel, Paolo captured my attention and I was not able to put it down. When introducing a reader into a whole new world, it is sometimes hard to assimilate the reader into the society, however, Paolo paints an amazing picture within the mind of each reader and makes it effortless. In order to warn readers, I will offer a few reasons some people would not buy the book. If the reader is looking for insight on a particular subject, they would not find it here. Also, if the reader is looking for strong opinions from the author, “Ship Breaker” is not the book to buy. If the reader is looking for an easy-to-read, action-packed thriller that keeps you hooked, then “Ship Breaker” is definitely worth looking into.

[Lmholle]

The Hunger Games is a Sci-Fi novel that is very interesting on all levels of reading. This book allowed me to escape my normal world and imagine the intense life of Peeta and Katniss. In the beginning of the book the author, Suzanne Collins, painted vivid images within my mind about their society they live in called Panem. As she describes the Post- Apocalypse world in the Hunger games it really brought a whole new world to the readers mind. As the book continues into the hunger games, the tributes fight to the death until there is one winner. From there they are given royalties and are offered special treatment the rest of their lives. This book was extremely easy to read and always left me hanging and wanting to know what was going to happen next. In my opinion this book is a fantastic book for high school scholars to read because the detail to artistry and how easy it is to relate to what each character goes through allowed me to getting extremely involved with “The Hunger Games”. I would recommend this book to mainly everyone who loves to read a Sci-Fi or an intense book that allows you to escape from your norms and think about something completely new. I am excited to see what the movie is going to be like and would definitely recommend this book.

[D33COFF3Y]

I have recently read the book “Water for Elephants” by Sara Gruen. It is about a man that leaves his house and runs away to the circus. It is called Water for Elephants because the main character, Jacob Jankowski, mocks another resident at the retirement home that he is staying at for saying that he carried water for elephants during his own circus years. This book is very easy to understand and truly makes you escape into the book through the characters and situations they get involved in during the novel. This book one many awards, including the 2006 Quil Award nominee for General Fiction, 2007 Alex Awards selection, Entertainment Weekly Best Novel of 2006 nominee, New Yourk Times Best seller listn for 12 weeks in 2006, Winner of the 2007 BookBrowse award for most popular book, and the number one on the New York Times Best Seller list on July 8, 2007. This book is so amazing that it is even a movie as of last week!

[Ajs1009]

I recently have read a book called Lockdown by: Walter Dean Myers. It is a story about a young teenager that is put into a juvenikle detention center for stealing perscriptuion pads from a doctor's office. After reading this book I can say that it is deffinately a page turner. The author did a very good job on relating with his target audience, teenagers. It talks about many real life problems that some teens really have to deal with.I also found this story to be extremely inspirational because the main character, Reese, completely turns his personality around in prison and he learns to make it through each day by always thinking of his sister, Icy. I highly recomend this book to people who like books that deal with human nature because in the book, Reese finds himself in many situations where he must choose wether to be good in order to reduce his prison sentence or stand up for the dignity and saftey of himself ansd his friends. I was extremely impressed with this book and I would recomend this book to anyone.

[Kellym1092]

The Glass Castle is a beautiful story of how Jeannette Walls grew up with her family. The book is a collection of stories of her, her family, their struggles, and their success. Her family was not the average American family by any means, but because of their strange and unique lifestyle the book never fails to keep ones interest. She has struggles with her parents, but they always stay together through the hardest of times and remind the reader of the importance of family. Her parents are ilequipt to take care of the children according to today’s society’s standards, but she, along with her other three siblings, are amongst the smartest in their classes. It is and autobiography, but she is not asking sympathy from anyone, she is simply sharing her coming of age story. It is a very raw and a very well written book. The book keeping your interest is not something you will have to worry about, it is enlightening and encouraging. The Glass Castle is a good and easy read!

[Matthewsalamun]

While reading The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi was a great descriptive read. The book its self painted a future world of struggle in Thailand. The world destroyed after the oil age now faces energy shortages, immigration issues and the need for calorie rich food. The detail in making this new world was amazing and became clear as the story went on going into the history of this post apocalyptic world. I was really lost inside the world from the small details of the new food to the new gene-engineered animals and New People. This book also incorporates since fiction with the creation of New people, genetic engineered plants, and the present doom of the city against the risen oceans. The story its self also goes deep in to who we are as people and how much we are able to grow and adapt against what we were intended for. The book takes the story of the windup Girl/ New People to an interesting level with the whole being breed to be loyal and obedient and how they are despised as fake humans and the whole issue with her breaking down these barriers trying to discover herself. The book its self is beautifully detailed, full of action and a little futurist spin off of major world events. This book was fast pace, exciting and thrilling while giving off themes of deeper thinking and moral dilemma in the new society.

[Napptime45]

Cormac McCarthy’s The Road is a novel that explores ones morals and consumes their thoughts. McCarthy has an uncanny ability to depict his characters thoughts through the written word. His dialect has an archaic feel, but still is a feasible read for your educated teen. The journey of the Road has readers on edge from cover to cover. It is a true testament of a bond between a father and son. The Man and Boy travel along a post-apocalyptic countryside riddled with chaos. The dreary setting of gray skis and burnt out buildings give the readers a sense of tragic loss in a world that was once whole. Several travelers are met along the way; one that stood out was Ely. McCarthy pulled this character from the Biblical reference Elijah who the Hebrews welcomed into their home just as the Boy invited him in his own metaphorical household, feeding and clothing the old tattered man. As a written piece of literature The Road is in its own genre of work being in a purgatory of narrative and poem. McCarthy’s thoughts translated to an absolute masterpiece on paper, illustrating a gruesome picture of brutal catastrophe and heartwarming connections between man and son.

[StephenKingman]

Cormac McCarthy’s The Road is a novel that explores ones morals and consumes their thoughts. McCarthy has an uncanny ability to depict his characters thoughts through the written word. His dialect has an archaic feel, but still is a feasible read for your educated teen. The journey of the Road has readers on edge from cover to cover. It is a true testament of a bond between a father and son. The Man and Boy travel along a post-apocalyptic countryside riddled with chaos. The dreary setting of gray skis and burnt out buildings give the readers a sense of tragic loss in a world that was once whole. Several travelers are met along the way; one that stood out was Ely. McCarthy pulled this character from the Biblical reference Elijah who the Hebrews welcomed into their home just as the Boy invited him in his own metaphorical household, feeding and clothing the old tattered man. As a written piece of literature The Road is in its own genre of work being in a purgatory of narrative and poem. McCarthy’s thoughts translated to an absolute masterpiece on paper, illustrating a gruesome picture of brutal catastrophe and heartwarming connections between man and son.

Having 40 different usernames under the same IP address is not really allowed as it encourages spam so please stick to the one username if you want to join the forum thanks.

[Tlang]

One book that I truly enjoyed, and think other would enjoy, is "Going Bovine" by Libba Bray. One thing that I really enjoyed about the book was how easily i could enter into Cam's world, and make it reality. The book easily transitions between the reality of everyday life in Texas, to the dreams/ Hallucinations of Cameron Smith. Anther thing that I enjoyed was the clear and accurate voice used by the other. The voiced allowed me connect with the character further because the word choice used, is very similar to the was I speak. Not only did this allow me to connect, and easily follow, but it also allowed for further comic relief from the central plot, themed around a young man around my age, dying from a debilitating illness. The author also excelled with the imagery and ability to evoke emotion. I say this because it had me, a 17 year old boy, almost in tears. I recommend the book "Going Bovine" by Libba bray to anyone looking for a fast paced, funny book that allows you to escape from your reality, and enter into that of the protagonist

[Jacob]

It's quite obvious that these are the same people, they type the same thing but with different books over and over again.. They all have the most random names.

[Aileenhu]

Oh, I realised I haven't posted here before. (the person who posted a lot of reviews did some hard work!)

The FAYZ series, by Michael Grant is very good. (Set in Perdido Beach)

In the first book, Gone, the characters are introduced. People over the age of fifteen disappear. There isn't any internet connection. Mutants appear. Also, people develop strange powers. The "FAYZ" appears, as an inpenetrable wall, shaped of a dome. Gangs form.

It's a really creative mix of sci-fi, adventure, action, probably mystery, romance and horror. There are four books in the series that are out and two more planned.