 |
TEEN BOOK REVIEWS
Do you ever feel like you’ve read all the books that could possibly interest you? Are you in the market for a great summer read? If you answered “Yes”, these book reviews can help you out of your rut? Fish Creek Library Teen Book Club members have created written reviews of books they’ve read recently.
To find out more about a book and to place a hold
request,
click on the "Find It" button and go directly to our library catalogue.
RATING SYSTEM
 = Wouldn’t recommend it to my worst enemy
=
Finished it, but was bored
= A good book, worth reading
= It hooked me from the start, I’d recommend it
= Awesome! Best I've read in a long time
• The Truth About Forever by Sarah Desson
This is an amazing book that a lot of teenage girls will love. It’s about a girl named Mary and how she goes from being a
perfect daughter and straight-A student to something a bit closer to human, dealing with love and death along the way..
Reviewer: Jessica, grade 10
• The Story of My Life: An Afghan Girl on the Other Side of the Sky by Farah Ahmedi
I thought this book was really good. It is a memoir of an Afghan girl who escapes
from Afghanistan as a refugee and find her way to America. It is an amazing true story that was really touching. The book
describes her troubles with losing her family and her leg. This book will make you think, laugh and maybe even cry.
Reviewer: Amy, grade 10
• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon
I thought this book was awesome! It is all about an autistic boy who finds a dead dog on his street. He decides to try and
figure out who did the crime. But the way he looks at the world is really unique. He doesn’t understand people’s emotions
and he has a photographic memory—he remembers everything! This book was written in a really interesting and unique
way—I loved it.
Reviewer: Amy, grade 10
• Story Time by Edward Bloor
This book is about two kids, Kate and George, who go to a school called Whittaker Magnet School – a very hard private school. They have tests everyday and very weird things are happening around the school. This book is really good and is a cross between fantasy and mystery. You will like this book if you like fantasy.
Reviewer: Victoria, grade 9
• The Anybodies by N.E. Bode
This book is full of comedy and it portrays the feelings of the characters very well. It’s about a girl named Fern, living with the most boring parents in the world. They wear beige clothes and the food they eat has no taste or smell. A lot is happening to her like crickets jumping out of books, snowflakes with words on them, and ladies with umbrellas turning into lampposts. One day, a man comes to the house and says that she was mixed up at birth! Fern switches places with the man’s son, who is actually her parent’s son, and amazing events follow. Read about Fern’s search for her true identity.
Reviewer: Natalie, Grade 11
• Lord of the Flies by William Golding
A group of English boys are in a plane crash on an uninhabited island and there are no adults to be found. This book is exciting because it is interesting how the characters change when they are left alone. Many characters become crazy, insane and even murderous and begin to turn on each other. It didn’t remind me of anything. It is a unique read and one-of-a-kind.
Reviewer: Katie, grade 8
• Alchemy by Margaret Mahy
This is an amazing book. The characters are a little unrealistic, but who doesn’t know at least one cool guy who’s smart and perfect, and ignores everyone under his social status? When he is blackmailed into getting to know a girl who everyone makes fun of he is surprised to find there is something different about this girl. You have to figure out what her difference is, and I am not going to tell you because that would give away the ending!
Reviewer: Nera, grade 11
• Inside the Walls of Troy : a novel of the women who lived the Trojan war
by Clemence McLaren
This book gets four stars because it is an amazing take-off on the Iliad. It is written from two different women’s point of view and will really hook you. This book is perfect for all female readers, and I encourage males to give it a try too.
Reviewer: Katie, grade 8
• The Nanny Diaries by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus
This book is so funny! Written from the point of view of Nanny, the part-time parent of rich people’s kids, this book is full of observations of Manhattan and its inhabitants. Join the sweetly sarcastic, sparingly witty Nanny on her misadventures around New York City. It started as “a few afternoons of ‘me’ time” for her employer, Mrs. X. Soon it’s ‘lavender water runs’ and cooking stuff she can’t even pronounce for four-year-old Grayer’s lunches. Why does she stay on? Does she love the post THAT MUCH? Maybe, you need to read it and find out!
Reviewer: Annalise, grade 8
• Monster by Walter Dean Myers
A boy named Steve Harmon has been accused of murder. This book tells about how he deals with his time in jail. His story is very interesting and unpredictable because the author makes it impossible to tell what’s going to happen next.
Reviewer: Victoria, grade 9
• The Wind Singer by William Nicholson
In the walled state of Aramanth, exams are very important. When Kestrel Hath dares to rebel against the strict social system, the Chief Examiner humiliates her father and sentences her whole family to the harshest punishment. Desperate to save them, Kestrel learns the secret of the magical Wind Singer, and she and her twin brother Bowman set out on a terrifying journey to the true source of evil that grips Aramanth. This book is very original and exciting. The characters are realistic and the plot will keep you turning the pages until the very end. This is Book One of a three part series; so after you finish it don’t forget to read the rest!
Reviewer: Amanda, grade 8
• Crime School by Carol O’Connell
This book is about a policewoman, Kathy Mallory, investigating the murder of a prostitute. Crimes begin to mimic each other, and secrets from the past are remembered. Crime School is an incredible book, because the plot is complex and intense, and the characters are just as good, even better. You really get to know them, love them, and feel them. This is a can’t-put-down-book that will have you reading the rest of the series.
Reviewer: Erica, grade 10
• Keeping You a Secret by Julie Anne Peters
This book is about a girl who begins to discover her identity through her fascination with a girl at school. This book is thought provoking. It really makes you think about other people and how they are treated no matter their sexuality. You’ll like this book if you keep an open mind and give it a chance.
Reviewer: Katie, grade 8
• Away Laughing on a Fast Camel : even more confessions of Georgia Nicholson
by Louise Rennison
This book is very funny. It is about a 16 year old girl named Georgia, who is mainly focused on boys, parties and make-up. She’s an English teenager who is anything but typical. What she does and how she does it is guaranteed to make you laugh!
Reviewer: Victoria, grade 9
• A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
The Nolans went through many times of suffering and live in the slums of Brooklyn, New York. The main character is imaginative Francie. This book is thought-provoking and interesting. If you are interested in books that are close to real life and hard times, you will enjoy this book.
Reviewer: Carly, grade 9
• Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
A wonderful, heart-warming story about four sisters living in the peak of the American Civil War. Learning to deal with all of the possible hardships thrown at them. If you love stories about family and strong family ties you'll love Little Women. It really is a wonderful book that will have you hooked until you read the last word. Family, love and friendship are the basis for this wonderful novel that will warm any heart and leave you wanting to find out more about the March girls and their futures. I really enjoyed reading the book and would recommend it to anybody who is into romance and historic novels. It’s wonderfully happy and sad and will pull at your heartstrings as you become one with the March sisters. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll feel their pain and sorrow and share in their happiness and love.
Younger readers may want to try reading the condensed version by "Great Illustrated Classics".
Don't forget to look for "Little Men" and "Jo's Boys", both continuations of the March family saga.
Reviewer: Amy, grade 9
• Troy by Adele Geras
Beautifully written, Geras captures the story behind the story. By showing the life of a Trojan girl during the last year of the famous Trojan War, she shows the true meaning of love and the deadly power of the Olympus gods.
Xanthe, a young girl falls in love with one of her citys soliders. After he is wounded, the man meets Marpessa, Xanthes younger sister. Once they meet, you could say it was love at first sight. When reading Troy, I noticed that many of the old stories by Homer and others, they’re all based on men. After I finished, it truly showed the heart and courage of the women in the Trojan War.
Reviewer: Victoria, grade 7
• Witch's Sister by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
I like this book because you don’t know what’s coming. It has a surprising twist and it shows what influence people can have on you and the mistakes you make because of it. And the way people have control over you and your actions without you even knowing it.
Reviewer: Chloe, grade 8
• Guitar Highway Rose by Brigid Lowry
This book follows two teenagers on a run-away road trip after they both get tired of the way their lives are going. It’s written in a unique way that makes the characters and situations easy to relate to, and makes for a very interesting and amusing read.
Reviewer: Jessica, grade 10
• Surviving Sam by Karen Rivers
The story begins three years after Pagan’s twin brother dies in an avalanche that roars down the mountain they’re climbing together. Now, she is still trying to get over his death, and when she agrees to try anti-depressants, she finally starts living again.
This is an amazingly emotional story that anyone who enjoys the “teen fiction” genre will love.
Reviewer: Jessica, grade 10
• Bat Summer by Sarah Withrow
It was amazing. You had an indescribable feeling, it was like you were living the story or in the story. It was like you wanted to be or act like Timber or Lucy. Or be their savior like Terrance was. It really shows how you’re dedicated to someone and how much you would give and lie for them. It really inspired me and reminded me of my life. I would totally recommend this for my friends or just about anybody. It was awesome and the best book I’ve read that’s worth reading.
Reviewer: Chloe, grade 8
• Silverwing by Kenneth Oppel
A young bat gets lost on his first migration and needs to find his way back. Along the way he meets cannibal bats with 3 foot wing spans. This book keeps you up all night, wondering what’s going to happen next.
Reviewer: Steven, grade 10
• Romeo's EX by Lisa Fiedler
If you like Shakespeare, you’ll love “Romeo’s Ex”. A modern, feminine point of view on the classic “Romeo and Juliet”, this book is as captivating as the original. Rosaline is training to become a healer while avoiding the love struck Romeo, who insists on following her around. After awhile, Romeo grows tired of being repeatedly turned down by Rosaline, and turns his attentions to her cousin Juliet. Rosaline, determined to break the two up, teams up with Romeo’s relative Benvolio to destroy the couple. The task is harder then both of them expected, and they find themselves battling both an ancient hatred between two families and the developing romance between them that will endanger their mission.
Reviewer: Amanda, grade 9
|
 |
