The Hunger Games (written by a student)

*Written by Ramsay T.

The Hunger Games was one of the best books that I’ve ever read. It has a lot of action and some romance. It makes you want to be brave and actually do something. I don’t want to give no spoilers but the ending made you almost have to read the next book. Katniss and Peeta kept to themselves a lot. They didn’t partner up with anyone during the games. They get very lucky though. They don’t even know what they did would turn out to be this big. These two people change the whole world with just berries. You can’t stop reading after this book either. you have to finish the series or you will always be thinking about it. You have to know how it ends. I really actually liked reading this book. I was never bored with it and i just didn’t want to put it down. All the action and drama is amazing. It makes you think what if this would actually happen. These people have very hard lives. Living in Panem for me would be crazy. I would die so fast. I really do recommend this book to anyone. It is actually a very good. I have read it more than once.

The Pigman (another student review)

*Written by Braydie A.

The Pigman, by Paul Zindel, is a action packed novel with alot of suspense.The main characters are sophomores, John and Lorraine. Another main character is, of course, Mr.Pignati, or the Pigman. John is the author of  the odd numbered chapters of the book and Lorraine is the author of  the even numbered chapters. John and Lorraine liked to play practical jokes on people by calling random phone numbers. One day, they came upon The Pigman’s number,and that’s how it all started.They pretended to be charity workers for the “Lorraine and John Fund”. The old man didn’t know any better, so he helped them out. They got to know Mr.Pignati through their phone calls. One day, they decided to go to the zoo and meet him in person. He was really nice to them. He would get them anything they wanted.The Pigman loved this baboon named Bobo and he would spent hours with him. John and Lorraine enjoyed spending time with Mr.Pignati and wanted more of it, so they continued to have more days like this with him.Then, they started coming to the Pigman’s house.There, they did whatever they wanted and had the time of lives with Mr.Pignati. John and Lorraine really took all the fun and gifts for granted. Then one day Lorraine, John and Mr.Pignati were all roller skating. Mr.Pignati skated so hard with them and he had a heart attack.The Pigman turned out to be okay for now. While Mr.Pignati was in the hospital, John and Lorraine had his house to themselves. They thought that was awesome. John decided to throw a party since Mr.Pignati wasn’t there. Lorraine wasn’t really happy about it, but she went along with him. The party was good at first,but it got out of control fast. Soon the house was a wreck. Later that night, Mr.Pignati came home from the hospital and saw the crazy party.The Pigman was speechless. The police came, and John and Lorraine got in big trouble. John and Lorraine felt horrible for what they did to Mr.Pignati. So, they decided to take him to see Bobo. When they met up with the Pigman, he looked horrible.They walked in the zoo and went straight to Bobo’s cage,but he wasn’t there. It turned out that Bobo had died. Mr. Pignati was devastated, and fell to the floor. . .

I really liked the book. I didn’t like the way that John and Lorraine treated Mr. Pignati  because they took him for granted. I also didn’t like that Mr. Pignati gave them so much. I did like all the fun that the friends had together. The book also showed that older people and younger people can still be friends. Overall, it was an awesome book and I think everyone should read it.

The Last Dog on Earth (student review)

*Written by Mattie T.

“The Last Dog On Earth” is an outstanding book that shows action and violence but at the same time shows the love and friendship between a boy and his dog. The book by Daniel Ehrenhaft was published by Dell Yearling in June of 2004. I just read it last month. I didn’t know about the book until I saw someone reading it at “2nd and Charles”. When I found it I was intrigued in the book. The beginning was a bit confusing but it was interesting. About half-way through the book, I was so committed to finishing the book because so many had lost their lives to this disease that has affected most of the population. At that point in the book, Logan Moore and Jack only have each other (with the exception of Dr. Craig Westerly)

When I finished the book I kept thinking to myself, “What will happen to Logan and Dr. Westerly? What about the people still infected with the disease?” According to me, this is the perfect book for people who like action, suspense, and love (boy and his dog love). The book will take your heart away and leave you at the edge of your seat. This book is unlike anything you have ever read. Trust me, you will LOVE this book!!!

I have read several books but this one, without a doubt, is the best!!! Since I have read this book I see the world a little differently, I cherish all of those moments, I feel for your pain and loses. This book tells the story of Logan Moore and his loving dog, Jack.

There's something unique about how Daniel Ehrenhaft named his characters. Logan is just a normal name for many kids in the world and Logan was just a normal kid until he met Jack, a sweet, loving, FEMALE dog who hates everyone EXCEPT Logan. She is a mutt, but Logan saw that she was more than a mutt, he saw her as a dog that just wanted someone to care for her. This book is a thrill ride, if you wish to know more than READ THE BOOK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Pigman (written by a student)

*Written by Madison S.

Ever thought, you were the only one going through something? You're not! In The Pigman two of the novel’s main characters, go through some of the exact same things you might be going through right now. The Pigman is a realistic fiction novel, about a lonely old man, with a big secret, who just wants some friends. Who are those friends, The Pigman finds? You guessed it, John, and Lorraine. John, and Lorraine are friends in high school, with secrets of their own. John, and Lorraine share the same secret, that they wish they could change. They both come from homes where their not treated very well. John’s mom is too OCD to notice, anything that’s going on in his life, and his dad is the  reason John drinks. Lorraine's life isn’t much better. Lorraine’s dad walked out on her, when she was little. And her mom, oh her mom. Her mom is a piece of work! Lorraine’s mom blames Lorraine for her dad walking out on them, and her mom is always telling her she’s ugly, and not worth anything. And then there's Mr. Pignati, better known as THE Pigman. Mr. Pignati is an amazing man, who no matter what is going on, he’s always got a twinkling smile oh his face going from ear to ear. In The Pigman Mr.Pignati faces some problems of his own. The problem he goes through is actually the reason he is lonely. His wife dies. So you see The Pigman, is a very easy to relate to novel, being as the characters face problems that everyday people go through all the time.I think that The Pigman would be a great novel for anyone to read,that likes realistic fiction novels,and wants to read books that they could relate to, and that are about everyday life, and do have things going on in them, that the reader themselves might be going through. I think that The Pigman is an appropriate book to read for kids that are in middle school, and above just, because it does have some language symbols in it, and it has some chapters that mention alcohol. I think that  whoever reads The Pigman, will love it, and want to read it again, and again!

Divergent (reviewed by a student)

*Written by Katy P.

I am selfish.  I am brave.  

This is a famous quote from divergent, and you wonder what divergent  means and what it is about. Let me tell you that divergent means “Tending to be different or develop different directions.” This young lady name beatrice comes from 1 out of 5 factions. And the factions are Amity the peaceful,Abnegation the selfless, Candor the honest, Erudite the intelligent, and Dauntless the brave. The one she comes from is Abnegation the selfless. As you first read the day of the aptitude test has come for her and her brother Caleb Prior.She sits in her set  and begins the test, After the test she finds out that she is divergent from a dauntless born named Tori. Tori made the test results inclusive because in their world if you are divergent you can be kill. Its the day after the test and Beatrice is worried about what faction to choose. When it comes for her to pick her new faction she gets torn between Abnegation and Dauntless. But she chooses faction before blood and left her family behind and went to Dauntless. The first day to Dauntless she decides to change her name to Tris. We find out there's three stages emotion ,body, and the mind.We also meet their instructor Four and Eric a dauntless leader. As you read along Tris meets friends Christina from Candor also Will from Erudite and Al from Candor. later in the book there is this lady named Jeanine. She is the leader of Erudite and she wants Erudite to be the leader of all the factions ,because they're the smartest and they thing you need to selfish to run all of those factions and not selfless and caring for others like Abnegation has been doing .   

As the book comes to the end Abnegation is attacked by….. who? Try to read the book Divergent to know. I like this book for teenagers because its showing us teeenagers how to become adult by learning what is right and wrong in life . It is also very romantic and sad at the same time because, you feel her pain and her brokenness when she misses her family but, you love that she in’s up with four.

Hunger Games (student review)

*Written by Hannah M.

The book I read this month was the Hunger Games.  It was the first time i had ever even read the book, and before that i had seen the movie. So i compared it to the movie a lot which i shouldn't have done. Anyway what my point is is that if i mess up on some details its because i compared and thats how i remember it. The Hunger Games in the beginning is basically telling about her life. You know like how she grew up, her circumstances and how her dad died. It also talks about what she enjoys to do and what she loves. In the first couple of chapters you're getting to know Katniss and i think thats the most important time to actually pay attention because later on in the book you're gonna need the little things to know what's actually happening. Okay so once she starts the games its like she is telling the reader about the games, how she feels, is she hurt, what that pain feels like, what her competitors did and more detail than you could ever imagine but thats what is great about the book. Suzanne Collins made the book great out of imagery and detail. You can tell what's happening easily. Towards the end of the book she has to kinda fight for her and peeta because peete was hurt and sick. Plus also at the end of the book Peeta was gonna sacrifice his life so Katniss could win the games but instead they tricked the capitol and the games so they both won. What they were gonna do is both eat poisonous berries so no one was the winner of the games and of course that was impossible. I think towards the end of the book everything starts moving faster like right after they almost eat the berries. The people tell them to stop and then they get water and next thing you know they are on a plane. So thats also a pretty good time to pay attention to the words and what’s going on because you will get lost if you are like me.

Tears of a Tiger (Reviewed by a student)

*Written by Emma B.

Andy doesn’t know if he could handle this pressure anymore.. In Tears of a Tiger by Shanon M. Draper, Andy kills his best friend in a car accident based on his drunk driving. Andy was driving while intoxicated, then they got into a car accident and killed Rob. After the accident, Andy goes into horrible depression and loses his other best friend(also his girl friend), Keisha, because of his mood swings. Andy soon goes to a psychologist to help him out of his depression. Andy deals with racism, depression, and horrible mood swings everyday. Tears of a Tiger is a great insight to how much teenagers can deal with in just months.

In my opinion, Tears of a Tiger was a great book. It showed you that all of your choices can turn into consequences; good or bad, depending on what you do. The rest of his life Andy goes crazy blaming himself for the accident and saying it should’ve been him. Tears of a Tiger had a great ending and you never knew what was coming next. Andy believes that if would’ve died instead of Rob everything would’ve been better off, which is sad because no one should feel like they need to die.

Tears of a Tiger is a great book because of how it’s told. The book is told in many different elements, from Andy’s point of view, to the “Hazelwood Herit” which is the school’s newspaper article. It showed everyone elses’ point of views and what they thought about it. To rate the book in stars, I would rate it a 4 out of 5. The book was great overall, but some of the different point of views were not necessary. I liked how the story was told, how it started, and how it left a cliffhanger as the ending. Tears of a Tiger shows you how much someone can deal with, when you lose your best friend.

Tears of a Tiger was overall a great book. It had many twist and turns but it always kept you guessing. This is my opinion on the book and how I liked it and what I didn’t like. Andy never knows if he is going to be able to make it through all this pressure.. did he?

The Pigman (Student review)

*Written by Dallas B.

Are you a teenager who knows that a bizarre adventure is waiting for you? Well Lorraine and John from The Pigman did not.

Lorraine Jensen and John Conlan, two high school sophomores who are best friends, have totally different personalities, and have horrible family issues. One day Lorraine and John were prank calling a random stranger whose named Angelo Pignati. Little did they know that that prank call was going to start something new. Lorraine and John are alienated from adults(their parents, teachers, etc.), so they reject the adult world. But that is very ironic because Lorraine and John becomes really great friends with Mr. Pignati in no time. Mr. Pignati introduced Lorraine and John to his strong love of fun and adventure. He was also very welcoming. At first when Lorraine and John first met Mr. Pignati, they pretend to collect money for the “L&J Fund”. After that, Mr. Pignati invites Lorraine and John to the zoo where they find Mr. Pignati’s best friend, Boo Boo the baboon. after the trip to the zoo, the friendship between Lorraine, John, and Mr. Pignati gets stronger. Mr. Pignati even shows his collection of ceramic pigs, which is how he got his nickname, “the pigman”(but sometimes they called him “Mr. Pignati”). Lorraine and John goes to Mr. Pignati’s house every single day, he makes them feel very comfortable in his house more than their parents’. Mr. Pignati even lets Lorraine and John explore through his house, which they find out Mr. Pignati’s big secret he was hiding all along. Eventually Mr. Pignati tells the truth as well as Lorraine and John about who they actually were. Lorraine and John goes through an awesome adventure with Mr. Pignati, which will be unforgettable for them both.

The story of The Pigman is somehow the only way Lorraine and John could ever really find peace as they write down their story, the epic story of the Pigman. I love The Pigman because it is based on a teenagers’ point of view. This is why I recommend this book to teenagers because at this age, we feel like we are excluded from the real world. This what I liked about the book. However, what I didn’t like about the book was the ending, I felt like the author, Paul Zindel, could’ve changed it up a bit. Other than that, the book was a masterpiece.

The Hobbit (Student Book Review)

*Written by Casey H.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to leave your comfortable home without anything but one bag on your back? Well, neither can Bilbo Baggins, yet he choses to anyway. This young hobbit was spending his morning like he always did,outside on his porch, enjoying the fresh air. This young hobbit lives in his home at Bag End where nothing unexpected ever happens. Until, one morning Bilbo is visited by a wizard named Gandalf the Grey who wants him to pack his things and join him on an adventure. Bilbo of course denies this invitation and carries on with his day. But, later that night he receives a knock on his door, and opens it to find a dwarf! As the evening rolls on more and more dwarves pour into Bag End! Surprised to be hosting this Unexpected Party, Bilbo answers the door one more time to find none other than the Grey Wizard himself, Gandalf. Gandalf explains that he and the dwarves are going on a journey to the

Lonely Mountain of Erebor, their old homeland which was taken by a dragon known as Smaug the Defiler. Another thing to add to this “eventful” night is the fact that Gandalf expects Bilbo to join them on this journey! Bilbo is astounded by the request, but once again denies it and heads off to bed. The next morning he awakens to find his ransacked, food deprived home cleaned. He looks around for any sign of dwarf, but finds nothing but a contract for him to sign. Bilbo thinks long and hard about this decision and decides to join the Company on their quest. The Hobbit is the incredible prequel to the Lord of the Rings trilogy and a great book in itself! I am sure anyone who reads it will be enticed to read it to the very last page. The small pieces of humor make it all the more enjoyable to read as well. Go ahead and pick up The Hobbit today and I guarantee that you won’t regret it.

Tears of a Tiger (Student Book Review)

*Written by Bryant B.

Have you ever wanted to

read a book with excitement?

If so, stop by your bookstore and get Tears of a Tiger by Sharon M. Draper. In this book, Andy Jackson, a high school student, and his friends, Robert Washington, B.J. Carson, and Tyrone Mills, are drinking when they decided to go for a ride in Andy’s car. The car crashes killing Robert Washington. Months later, Andy can’t seem to stop blaming himself  for the accident and Rob’s death. He block his family, friends off and he can’t seem to look past it all. This book will be the best book that you will ever read in your life time.

    Sadly, about 2,000 teens die from drinking while behind the wheel. Alcohol is a factor in a third of all teenage auto fatalities. Teen feel as if they need relief from the world so they start drinking. When the start drinking they start to make mistakes. Mistakes that the will regret. A mistake to where you get behind the wheel while intoxicated and putting their life and other people’s life in danger. Sometimes that happens, It happens because they were careless and didn’t know what they need to do. It happens because they are lost in the world. Driving while intoxicated is a major offence and teens don’t want to go through that.

Divergent (Student Book Review)

*Reviewed by Ashley S.

Could you imagine a world where you are split up into factions based on human virtues, but you figure out that you are Divergent and you think that you will never in with a faction?

Well Tris Prior finds outs that she is Divergent when she takes a aptitude test to see if she was going to stay in the Abnegation faction or move to the Amity, Candor, Dauntless, or the Erudite faction.Tris is warned when she finds out that the head leader of Erudite: Jeanine Matthews is going to do something to all of the Divergents in each faction.

    When the faction deciding day came Tris has to choose between if she is selfless, peaceful, honest, brave, or intelligent. When it was Tris’s turn to stay in Abnegation or go to another faction, she decides to go to Dauntless because she wants to be the brave one in her family.After Tris is placed in her faction, her and the other initiates were put into training so they can learn how to shoot guns, fight with other initiates, learn how to throw knives. At the end of each training period the initiates are ranked on how well they did in the training. On the first stage of training, Tris was #6, bur after having some practice in the Dauntless headquarters Tris came out to be #1 in the final rankings of training.

    During the Dauntless training, Tris had some help from one of her trainers named Four. Four is one of the head leaders at Dauntless besides Eric who is the head leader of Dauntless. Four is also a Divergent, he grew up in the Abnegation faction but he went to the Dauntless faction when he became 16 because his dad was not treating him right when Four (Tobias) was living in the Abnegation Faction.

    I would suggest that Divergent would be a good book for young teenagers to read because when they are reading the book, they will start to imagine what all of the factions would look like in their head. I read Divergent during the summer and now I am reading the rest of the Divergent series and they are called Insurgent, Allegiant, and the newest book to the Divergent series is the book called Four which is broken down into four little stories which is told from Four (Tobias) perspective. The stories that is broken in the book are: The Transfer, The Initiate, The Son, and The Traitor.

   

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Student Review)

 *Reviewed by Aaliyah A. 

“Hallows not horcruxes.” This is a very good point of Harry Potter’s. In J.K. Rowling’s series finale of the amazing Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is by far one of the best.  This book is about Harry Potter’s adventure in trying to find and destroy the horcruxes of Voldemort. He is accompanied by his two best friends, Hermione Granger and Ronald (Ron) Weasley. In this book Harry does not have the immediate help of his biggest role model Albus Dumbledore, because in the previous book of the series Professor Dumbledore was killed, yet he does have some help from things that he remembers about Dumbledore and hints and items Dumbledore gave Harry. For example, Ron was given one of Dumbledore’s own inventions, called a Deluminator, that has a secret ability that Ron learns about when he needed that ability.  Also, Dumbledore gave Ms. Hermione Granger an original copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard, which she had to translate, which led them to a very important discovery. Lastly he gave Mr. Potter a golden snitch with an engraving that stated “ I open at the close”. Although he did not figure exactly what Dumbledore meant by this message, he found out at the exact right time.

As for my opinion on this book, I thought it was the best book out of the series. Rowling is a very gifted writer who has shared her gift with the world through the makings of Harry Potter. I became attached with many of the characters in a very special way, and in some places I felt as if I was going through what Rowling was explaining myself, she is a very powerful writer. I don’t want to spoil anything for someone who has not read this book but there were many places where I had to set my book down and just cry because I felt so bad for the characters. If you have read the Harry Potter series but have not read this final book of the series I can not stress enough that you will not regret reading this breath taking miracle of a book. So I leave you with a few very important words, “nitwit, blubber, oddment, and tweak.” Thank you!