Duraleigh Road Library Reads: Flush

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Flush by Carl Hiaasen

Flush is a wonderful book about a family who loves the environment so much that the father has gone to jail more than once for being an absurdity when someone is polluting the waters or the land. When their father is in jail, he tells his kids to work out a plan and gather evidence that the owner of the casino boat is polluting the waters around their Key West home. Therefore,Noah and Abbey find a waitress aboard the casino boat in helping them arrest the owner.

Will their plan work? Will Noah and Abbey get caught?

Join this epic adventure with a shocking twist at the end!

 

 

 

 

Eva Perry Library Reads: The Fetch

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The Fetch by Chris Humphreys

This book was surprisingly good. The best part about it was the fluidity and detachment of the writing style. It gave a strong sense of the dream-like state that the main character lived in, in which time was flexible and individual events insignificant. It was pensive, interesting, but unfortunately slow. Due to the nature of the protagonists’ world, very little change occurs in very long periods of time. For the most part, these were fast forwarded, but the plot was still discouragingly boring. I think that this would be more appealing to the older high-school age group, who (theoretically ) have a more developed patience.

 

 

Eva Perry Library Reads: Amaranth Enchantment

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Amaranth Enchantment by Julie Berry

I really enjoyed this book, but it’s not anywhere close to being one of my favorites. I understood what the protagonist was thinking, and the plot was somewhat original. However, I did not find either significantly better then many other books that were hastily discarded. Nothing differentiated it from the hordes of mediocre sci fi/fantasy, where the protagonist finds an enchanted object and has to deal with someone magical trying to get it back. Moreover, I didn’t recognize any realistic character development. The plot did occasionally surprise, but I honestly didn’t care. The writing style was adequate but not distinctive, and I don’t expect to remember the story for years to come.

Eva Perry Library Reads: Anything But Typical

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Anything But Typical by Nora Raleigh Baskin

This was an amazing book! It’s from the point of view of a mildly autistic character, but I was still able to completely understand and relate to him. The author created an entire world that existed in the boy’s head, using subtle twists of word and phrase to signify the slight difference between his conscious and the readers’. I could sympathize with him and his emotions despite my different view of the world, and I still remember why I loved the book clearly many months after I read it. The ending, and the entire story, was realistic and believable. I felt that it’s only shortcoming was the lack of real surprise. I could have predicted the concluding events more or less correctly from the beginning, and it lacked any exciting plot twists. Overall, though, it was a very good book.

 

Eva Perry Library Reads: Wither

*This blog post got Rachel tickets in the prize drawing for our Teen Summer Contest. Click here to find out how to enter!*

Wither by Lauren DeStefano

I was astounded by the complexity of this story. I expected just a simple plot where the girl gets kidnapped, falls in love with her kidnapper, and decides to remain with him, or where the girl falls in love with someone else also confined in the palace, and escapes with him, or where the girl is in love with someone outside of the palace, and escapes to return to him. At a stretch I thought it might have had some type of plot where the girl *gasp* isn’t in love with anyone and escapes the palace all on her own simply because she doesn’t like being cooped up, or wants to return to her life as a diamond and rose quartz thief or something. However, this story was a delightful mix of all three.

Eva Perry Library Reads: Before I Fall

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Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

Before I Fall was one of the few books with a truly unexpected ending – it’s great how the “happy” conclusion still involves the protagonist dying, but doing so in a more meaningful way than she lived her life. I found the climax – and all of the plot twists – surprising and yet still believable, which is extraordinarily rare. I also loved the way the narration flitted around from one thing to another, in one place just describing a scene or action, but then switching to some type of deeply existential thought. I don’t know about anyone else, but that’s exactly the way that my brain works. And I read tons of books with highly clichéd “character development” that only serves to irritate rather than to inspire, but Before I Fall wasn’t like that. Sam changes dramatically in a week – a relatively miniscule amount of time – but every little bit of it was fully justified in my mind. I was with her the whole way, from her point of view at the beginning, to the ending where she is willing to sacrifice her life. It was a gorgeous book!

Eva Perry Library Reads: Divergent

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Divergent by Veronica Roth

I love this book! The dystopian world was put together seamlessly – I completely understood what I needed to know about how Tris’s world worked when I needed to understand it, but I wasn’t bored with excessive description. The characters were fantastic. With each of the significant ones I got a strong sense of exactly who they were, and how they were distinct from everyone else. But what I thought was best about it’s book was its sense of harsh reality.

*Spoiler Alert*

North Regional Library Reads: The Willoughby’s

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The Willoughby’s by Lois Lowry

The small family, the Willoughby’s, consuming the families 4 children, Jane the youngest, Time the oldest, and the twins Barnaby A and Barnaby B. The family is quite odd especially when a baby is left on their doorstep, and the parents of the family decide they have no care for their children so, they go off doing the most dangerous actions and hoping to die. Meanwhile the children leave the baby at a man named Mr. Melanoff. He used to have a son and a wife who were tragically left in a snow storm. The children are left with a nanny haveing to face the troubles of prospective buyers showing up at their home and nanny falling in love with Mr. Melanoff who has been changed by the baby left at his doorstep. Mr. Melanoff is back in his old candy business and his long lost wife and son are alive, but M. Melanoff stopped checking his mail. With the Willoughby’s parents now dead and Mr. Melanoff’s son running back home to papa, nanny steps up to marry Mr. Melanoff. What will Barnaby A., B., Jane and Time think, and will Mr. melanoff’s son ever find his way back home? Read the fantastic book “The Willoughby’s” to find out!

Eva Perry Regional Library Reads: Unwind

*This blog post got Anna a ticket in the prize drawing for our Teen Summer Contest. Click here to find out how to enter!*

Unwind by Neal Shusterman

When I first saw Unwind at the library I was immediately attracted to it, that saying “don’t judge a book by its cover” was ignored by me because the cover looked awesome!!! I LOVE horror, sci-fi, fantasy, and action books, and this book was perfect for me! It had me on the edge of my seat the whole way through and I never wanted to stop reading! It is a good-sized book, not to short, but not to big and heavy to read in bed. The way Shusterman leaves cliffhangers at the end of almost every chapter, I couldn’t even set the book down to go shopping! Although Shusterman writes many awesome books, Unwind was my #1!

Teen Reviewer: Anna, Eva Perry Regional Library

West Regional Library Reads: The Last Olympian

*This blog post got Rebekah a ticket in the prize drawing for our Teen Summer Contest. Click here to find out how to enter!*

The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan

I thought the book, The Last Olympian, was the best of The Lighting Thief series. My favorite part was when Luke realized he does not have to be Kronos. Then he finds his Achilles heal and stabs it with a celestial bronze knife and dies with Kronos. This is my favorite part because it helps resolve the whole problem of the series and that was to stop Kronos from destroying Olympus and Western civilization.

The part I disliked about the book was that Rick Riordan, the author of the series, left you with a cliff hanger at the end of the series. I think he might write a sequel to this series because of that cliff hanger.

I recommended this book to everybody who liked the Lightning Thief book or the movie. Especially people who love fantasy books like Harry Potter. Also if they like Greek Mythology.

-Teen Reviewer: Rebekah, West Regional Library

Southeast Regional Library Reads: Ramona’s World

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Ramona’s World by Beverly Cleary

Ramona’s World by Beverly Cleary is a great book about Ramona during her elementary school life. Living with her sister who is growing up too quickly for her parents this makes Ramona feel like she isn’t growing up. Ramona has fun with her baby sister Roberta, Ramona soon becomes Roberta’s role model she teaches her to stick out her tongue, and many other fun things then Ramona realizes that her baby sister is growing up by making her own decisions. Finally Ramona realizes she is growing up to.

-Teen Reviewer: Margie B., Southeast Regional Library

Southeast Regional Library Reads: School Story

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School Story by Andrew Clements

The School Story by Andrew Clements is a very interesting book. It is about a sixth grade girl, Natalie, as she writes a book. She then gives it to her friend Zoe, who reads it and absolutely loves it.  Natalie’s mom works at a publishing company. Natalie tries to publish her book, but if she gives it to her mom then she is afraid it will not be taken seriously. Can she publish her story? I think this book really relates, to me even though I don’t have a relative who works in the publishing department, I love to read and write and maybe I could even try to publish a story.

-Teen Reviewer: Margie B., Southeast Regional Library

West Regional Library Reads: Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment

*This blog post got Cheenu a ticket in the prize drawing for our Teen Summer Contest. Click here to find out how to enter!*

Maximun Ride: The Angel Experiment by James Patterson

This book is about six teenager kids who have wings and can fly. Their names are Max, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Angel, and the Gasman. Max is the leader of the group. They live away from public so that they can’t be found by people from the “School.” That was where they were born and had bird DNA grafted into their bodies. The School is full of corrupt and inhuman people, and the group does not want to be captured by them to be experimented on. Who knows what evil things they will do the them?

West Regional Library Reads: Fresh Off The Boat

*This blog post got Divya a ticket in the prize drawing for our Teen Summer Contest. Click here to find out how to enter!*

Fresh off the Boat by Melissa De la Cruz

This book was a quick read, but gave none of the things it promised. Vicenza, upon immediately arriving to her all girls private school in which she has an academic scholarship to, is labeled as “Fresh off the boat”.  Vicenza, whose family used to be undeniably rich, after one wrong investment, have come to America for a fresh new start.  But Vicenza find herself at the mercy of Whitney, the most popular girl in the school, who seems insistent of torturing her. Vicenza bonds with Isabel, a French student, after both secretly crushing on Claude, a student who has to share classes with them after an all boy school nearby has to go coed temporarily because of an accident. They believe he looks like Toby Maguire.  But with family struggles, money struggles, school struggles, and even boy struggles, Vicenza must find out who she really is.  I felt this book was boring, and very cliche, and VERY predictable.  This book tries to identify with normal girls, but does a poor job of it, and felt like a torture to read.  It explain emotions terribly, and got to the point where the author decided to pop in random surprises on every page.  This book had a great plotline, but the author did a poor job of writing it.

-Teen Reviewer: Divya R., West Regional Library

West Regional Library Reads: The Last Silk Dress

*This blog post got Divya a ticket in the prize drawing for our Teen Summer Contest. Click here to find out how to enter!*

The Last Silk Dress by Ann Rinaldi

The Last Silk Dress takes place in the Civil War, except not from the noble Yankee’s view. Instead we learn from the Confederates, a beautiful young lady named Susan Chilmark, determined to help the Confederates win the war. So Susan and Connie (her best friend) ask for a silk dress from all the families in her town, for building a hot air balloon to spy on the Yankees.  But when Susan stumbles upon her banished brother, she finds that the war isn’t as black and white as it seems. She must deal with her unloving and raging mother, her scandalous brother, and her brother’s Yankee friend who is a bit cuter than Susan likes to admit.  And most of all, a box full of secrets Susan feels she was never meant to uncover. With its intricate details, and a good balance of romance, action, adventure, and war, Ann Rinaldi will take you to another level with this Civil War based LAST SILK DRESS.

-Teen Reviewer: Divya R., West Regional Library

West Regional Library Reads: Wintergirls

*This blog post got Divya a ticket in the prize drawing for our Teen Summer Contest. Click here to find out how to enter!*

Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson

Lia has gone to anorexia rehab. She will die to stay thin.  Why?  Her best friend Cassie, decided to have a contest to see who could be the thinnest, the best wintergirl.  But when Lia decided not to talk to Cassie after she went to rehab, Cassie seems even more determined to win.

Cassie has died in a hotel room, but only after calling Lia 33 times, each time Lia ignoring her.  Now, Lia knows she must make it to the magic number; 0 pounds.  Between dropping pennies in her pockets (to add weight, so her stepmother thinks she’s eating well), and being visited by Cassie’s ruthless ghost, Lia begins to lose control of her life, forgetting how to eat, breathe, live.  You take a journey into a girl with anorexia’s mind, and learn that anorexia is like a drug. It’s easier to get addicted; harder to stop.

- Teen Reviewer: Divya R., West Regional Library

West Regional Library Reads: Shiver

*This blog post got Divya a ticket in the prize drawing for our Teen Summer Contest. Click here to find out how to enter!*

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

For so many year after that yellow eyed wolf saved her, Grace watched him, taking in his earthy smell, wishing she was just like him. But she was human.

For so many years, Sam watched Grace, clinging to the smell of her, trying to remember her, one of the things he desperately wanted. But he was werewolf.

But when a wound somehow causes Sam to change human, Grace and Sam find themselves taking desperate measures to find out question they have been subconsciously asking themselves for so many years; Who is Sam?  Is Grace less human then she imagines?  Will they be able to find the courage to defy two werewolves who threaten Sam and Grace’s love?  And most of all, will Sam lose himself to his inner wolf side? Find out in Maggie Stiefvater’s incredibly woven romance novel, Shiver.

-Teen Reviewer: Divya R., West Regional Library

Cameron Village Library Reads: Witch and Wizard

*This blog post got Alfre a ticket in the prize drawing for our Teen Summer Contest. Click here to find out how to enter!*

Witch and Wizard by James Patterson

This book came charging to the front of teen reading, because of its popular author and I, personally, was not swept into the race for it simply because of that fact. Although, I eventually did succumb to it and read it apprehensively, not knowing what to expect since this is my first Patterson book. To say it simply, I was presently surprised. The plot was always moving and the changing of perspectives was great. It was also good that he didn’t redo the same moments over and over again from different perspectives, because things can become dry and boring. Wisteria and Whitman know very little about where they come from and their capabilities, but they rally together through the love of their parents to become stronger people. My only dislikes were their magic and abilities seemed to come way too easily and were a little unbelievable to a very obvious point. The chapter organization was a little strange to me too. The book did end on an excellent cliffhanger filled with mystery, danger and possible death anyways. Overall, this book doesn’t have a ton of substance, but it is a fun easy read that will have you wanting more when it is over (which is good, because it looks like it will become a series). I enjoyed this book on the beach and I hope some other teens will too!

Teen Reviewer: Alfre W., Cameron Village Library

West Regional Library Reads: Tentacles

*This blog post got Cheenu a ticket in the prize drawing for our Teen Summer Contest. Click here to find out how to enter!*

Tentacles by Roland Smith

This book has been written by the renowned author Roland Smith. It is about two cousins named Grace and Marty, who live with Grace’s father Travis Wolfe. They are on a quest to capture a giant squid alive using state-of-the-art technology. Unknown to them, Grace’s grandfather, the evil Noah Blackwood, has sent his right hand man Butch to stow away onto the ship being used to capture the giant squid and kidnap Grace. Noah wants Grace in his custody and Wolfe dead, and will stop at nothing to do it. Will Grace be separated from her cousin and her father and be in the hands of her evil grandfather? Or will they get caught in the tentacles of a giant squid?

Eva Perry Regional Library Reads: A Cricket In Times Square

*This blog post got Evelyn a ticket in the prize drawing for our Teen Summer Contest. Click here to find out how to enter!*

A Cricket In Times Square by George Selden

“A cricket in times square” is a delightful children’s book by George Selden displaying the themes of trust and the true meaning of friendship.It is the story of a boy named Mario and his pet cricket. Chester (the cricket) has a remarkable talent for chirping to familiar tunes and eventually plays daily for huge crowds at the family newsstand.Chester’s friends Harry cat and tucker the mouse stick with him through every challenge that comes their way.Mario’s trust must be regained after Chester eats a dollar bill in his sleep and later accidentally starts a small fire.woven throughout this charming tale are threads of forgiveness, friendship and an unexpected ending.In conclusion,”A cricket in time’s square” is a heart-warming story that’s a classic for the entire family.

Teen Reviewer: Evelyn H., Eva Perry Regional Library