Neil Armstrong Young Flyer

      I don’t know about you, but I think biographies are a great way to learn about famous people. Neil Armstrong Young Flyer is a good book that tells us about Neil’s life. Of course, it includes the historic event of the first man landing on the moon, Neil Armstrong.
    
     I chose this book because I love biographies. I thought it would be good to learn about the first man landing on the moon because he is important from history. So when you are looking for a biography and you are having trouble with finding one, read this book by Montrew Dunham. It will make you wonder and I think you will be surprised at some of the facts you’ll come across.

Hatchet

By: Gary Paulsen

Hatchet was written in 1987 by Gary Paulsen and it won the Newbery Honor. It is the first novel in the Brian's Saga and is followed by four sequels.

Hatchet depicts the excitement and adventure of a thirteen year-old boy, Brian, who has been stranded in the Canadian wilderness. While traveling on a single-engine plane to see his father, the pilot has a heart attack and dies. After a somewhat successful landing in the Canadian wilderness, Brian is forced to survive with nothing other than what he carried in his pockets when boarding the plane and the hatchet that remained attached to his belt. Brian is forced to build a shelter and face the challenges that await him told throughout the unforgettable story of Hatchet.

I would recommend this book to people who need a good book to read who like survival stories. If you’re interested in the book Hatchet, then you might like the other books in Brian’s Saga. They are: Brian’s Hunt, The River, Brian's Winter, and Brian's Return.

-Wolf

The Akhenaten Adventure

The Akhenaten Adventure is the first book in the series Children of the Lamp. It is about twins who lead a pretty normal life until at age eleven when they get their wisdom teeth and everything changes. John and Philippa Gaunt are both eleven when they get their wisdom teeth. During the surgery to remove the teeth they have a dream about their Uncle Nimrod. The dream tells them to ask their parents to visit Nimrod in London over the summer. This book is an amazing mix of adventure and fantasy that makes it hard to stop reading at the end of a chapter. It is so suspenseful. I recommend this book for anyone who enjoys reading fantasy and humorous adventure.

Slugarang

Outliers by Malcom Gladwell

      One of the finest books I have ever read, I would suggest Outliers to anyone and everyone. In Outliers Malcom Gladwell finds patterns in everything from birth months of hockey players to birth years of great lawyers and their parents’ jobs. Backed by evidence in hundreds of studies, he breaks the myth that talent alone always brings you to the top, and shows you that your age, birth date and year, parents, and ancestry really do matter.
     Outliers teaches you the reason of Bill Gates’ success, how Asians are better at math, and even how an airline turned its safety record around. Outliers is very descriptive in explaining the concepts in such depth, with so many examples, that even if you disagreed with Malcom Gladwell’s ideas you would still have to like the book.
     So I would suggest you look up Outliers in your local library, buy it now on Amazon , or take a trip to the bookstore.

-The Silver Crusade

Dragon Slippers

Dragon Slippers, by Jessica Day George, is a charming story about a poor farm girl named Creel. Creel's aunt sends her to a dragon cave that is believed to be abandoned for millions of years. They are hoping a rich, charming prince will save Creel and Creel's family will inherit tons of money, although that's not quite how it goes. Creel bargains with the dragon, who is alive and spry as ever. They soon become friends, and she gets a pair of slippers from his hoard. ( Yes, he is a dragon that collects shoes!) The curious blue slippers lead her into the bustling city, the King's Seat. She makes friends, enemies, and meets the prince on countless occasions. This book is full of great characters, amazing writing, and a creative story line as Creel struggles to save the whole dragon and human race. But in the end it comes down to who she trusts and who she doesn't... This is a must read. I could barely put it down!!
- Writer Geek

The Thief Lord

       A couple of weeks ago, I decided to shelf the menacing stack of books on my bedside table. Strewn between the regular, well-thumbed Harry Potters were a few forgotten paperbacks. Amongst these rejects was a book called The Thief Lord, by Cornelia Funke. I figured I should give it a second chance.

      An easy read, this book is about two brothers, Prosper and Bo, who flee their hated aunt and escape to Venice, where a gang of child thieves takes them in. For a while, the boys are in heaven, in love with the city, and in no visible harm. But when their aunt sends a detective to search for them, the brothers notice things starting to change in their new home.

    They will soon realize secrets about themselves and each other that will change everything forever. 

     Full of plot twists, three dimensional characters, lyrical writing, and funny dialogue, I recommend this book to anyone seeking an easy weekend read.  

The Angel Experiment

Maximum is not a normal 14-year old girl.  She is a human-avian hybrid and has wings under her arms.  A few years before this story takes place, Max and the flock (five other human-avian hybrids named Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy, and Angel) have escaped a mad scientists' lab called The School with their friend Jeb.  A year later, Jeb disappears. 

The flock have lived on their own for a while and are very surprised when they get attacked by Erasers (human-wolf hybrids) sent from The School.  They take Angel and Max has to send a rescue mission.  But after they rescue Angel, what will they do?  Where will they go?  Find out in James Patterson's great book, The Angel Experiment.

-Mattalex

My Side Of The Mountain

           If you are looking for a really good book that you can’t put down and you have to just keep reading without a thought of anything that goes on in the world around you then do not read My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George. I only read this book because I had to, otherwise I would not have gotten past the first chapter.

            My Side of the Mountain is about a boy named Sam who wants to escape the busy city of New York and just go look for his great-grandfather Gribley’s  farm and live there. This book might appeal to you if you are planning to leave your life and go live in a tree (literally). It could work as a guide, but as entertainment? This book does not fall under that category. Unless you really love nature and the wilderness, I would not recommend opening this book.

~Anonymous

Dark Force Rising

In this thrilling new addition to Timothy Zahn's Star Wars books Leia, Han, and Luke are searching for a lost fleet of 50 Dreadnaught Class star ships that got lost during The Clone Wars. The Sith and The Empire are also in the race to find the missing fleet. Who will get there first? Find out by reading this book. I recommend this book to people who like a lot of adventure and sci-fi.


Apple

Skellig by: David Almond

            When Michael thought matters couldn’t get any worse or more complicated, his life took another interesting turn.
           Michael decides to explore, and visits an old shack placed in the front lawn of his new eerie home. After his father specifically told him not to step foot in the close to collapsing shack, that’s exactly what Michael does. With cobwebs tangling into his hair and dust collecting in his throat, Michael creeps deeper into the small old building. When he’s about to turn back he finds a man leaning against the wall. Startled, Michael runs out realizing what he saw on the man’s back was a pair of wings as dusty as the shack. Michael’s life has forever been changed, because the man in the shack wasn’t a man at all, but a fantasy-like creature living in his front lawn. This is the start of Michael's new life.

             With his parents distracted and preoccupied with his close-to-dying baby sister, Michael develops an interesting relationship with this creature and his quirky new friend Mina. What makes this book interesting? Its plot is very fun to read and the writer always leaves you wanting more which pushes you to read further.

I would encourage everyone to read this because its definitely like nothing you’ve ever read about before.


-sunnysideup

The Orange Houses by Paul Griffin

               The Orange Houses by Paul Griffin is an exciting book. It jumps from three people's perspectives- Tamika's, Fatima's, and Jimmi's. Tamika is the main character, and is a girl who blocks the world from getting to her, but with her hearing aids. Fatima is a girl who's from a different country, who moved trying to get a better life, and soon meets Tamika. Jimmi is a boy who's a street-poet, former drug addict and alcohalic who currently lives on the streets.

This book is an interesting book that is meant for an older audience (so, I recommend it to an older audience because of inappropriate language), but was still a read worth reading.

                   -Looneytunes                      
              

The Wild Girls by Pat Murphy

      A couple of months ago I was skimming through my book shelves at home, looking for a book I had not read before. My eyes met The Wild Girls by Pat Murphy.
     When Joan's family moves from Connecticut to San Francisco she finds herself at a new school and exploring the woods near her neighborhood with her best friend, Fox. Throughout the seventh grade life at home slowly goes downhill. Joan's mother and father are fighting all the time and her brother keeps on disappearing with his gangster friends. Can Joan lift her family's spirit?
     I would definitely recommend The Wild Girls to readers who enjoy sitting with a fantastic book and reading a long but quick read about two young girls who love to write.

~ Leaf

Ghost Town

Ghost Town is a really good book written by Annie Bryant. Ghost Town is in the series the Beacon Steet Girls. The plot is cool. It's about five friends who are going to a resort in Montana. At the airport they see two singers who are famous and two of the friends get to go in a limo with them. The other three girls go in a run-down car and end up in a ghost town. The story goes on from there. I would recommend this book and other books in the series. The writing is great and puts a picture in your head. The characters are well developed so you know just what they're like. There also really easy to connect to. You don't wont to put it down.             

                               -Fishy

Time Stops For No Mouse

Time  Stops For No Mouse
by Michael Hoye

        Hermux Tantamoq is a watch maker who runs a watch shop and has a pet ladybug. He's a pretty normal mouse until one day a mouse called Ms. Perflinger arrives. She is an adventuress and flies all around the world. Ms. Perflinger's watch is in very bad shape and when, after a week, she hasn't came to pick it up Hermux starts to get suspicious. Then a rat comes into his store one day requesting Ms. Perflliger's watch but he says that he can't give him the watch without the pickup slip. After the rat leaves his shop Hermux follows him to Ms. Perflinger's house finding himself in a mystery so complicated he may never figure it out.  This is a good book that I would recommend to a younger audience. This book is good because it has a good mystery and the author does a good job of keeping the plot moving.

by: Mountain Bike      

Number the Stars

             Number the Stars by Lois Lowry is an interesting and factual book set during World War II.  Annemarie Johansen, her little sister Kirsti, and their parents hide Annemarie's friend, Ellen Rosen, from the Nazi soldiers.
             They take Ellen to their uncle Henrik's house, where the adventure really begins. The soldiers come to their house, there's a "funeral" and Annemarie runs into soldiers and guard dogs.
             I recommend Number the Stars to all readers because this is a well-written, amazing book that I would read again and again.
                     - Looneytunes
                                               

The Know-It-All

In the case of the massive, regally embossed, thirty-two volumes of the Encyclopedia Britannica, reading them is out of the question. The books explore every person, plant, and ping-pong ball that ever existed on Bible-thin pages and close-set, tiny rows of pearl-like print. However, A.J. Jacobs offers a smaller, less complete version with a lighter touch in The Know-It-All. He skillfully intertwines funny stories and memories from his own life with interesting facts from the Britannica. The whole book is an endless bundle of connections that create bridges between information and his own quest of reading the Encyclopedias.

Everyone in his family is skeptical about him reading the books, and their snide comments are sprinkled throughout The Know-It-All in a hilarious way. I would certainly recommend this book because not only is it laugh-out-loud funny, but is packed with knowledge. A fast and silly read, it is a crowd pleaser.

Eragon

Life in the farm town of Carvahall is normal, until Eragon finds a stone that turns out to be a dragon egg.  Eragon is then forced to flee Carvahall with the storyteller, Brom.  Doing that isn't easy while learning the rules of magic, traveling towards a rebellion, being pursued by slavers, creatures of darkness, and the whole of the king's army with only the help of Brom, Eragon's dragon, and some mysterious warriors they meet on their way.  If you like adventure, fantasy, and mystery, I would highly recommend this book.  Read about this adventurous tale in Eragon, by Christopher Paolini.

-Mattalex

Tracks of the Tiger by Bear Grylls

In this exciting new edition of the mission survival series Beck and his friend Peter spend their holiday vacation in Indonesia. But when they are on their way back to the hotel from an Oragutang sanctuary a volcano explodes causing their jeep to crash into the woods. Beck and Peter face flowing lava, crocodiles, and tigers as they try to stay alive. I recommend this book to people who like a lot of adventure and realistic fiction. Visit Bear Grylls' website at http://www.beargrylls.com/.


Apple

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

As I skimmed my bookshelves in late fall, a certain book caught my eye: The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, by Ann Brashares. I made a greivous mistake by taking it off the shelf and deciding to read it.

The writing is awful. To sum it up, it was the sappiest, girliest, worst book ever. Hardly a chapter went by without the narrator swooning over some guy.

The four main characters, Lena, Tibby, Bridget, and Carmen, are best friends in school, but go different places over the summer: Lena to Greece, Bridget to Mexico, Carmen to South Carolina, and Tibby to the local drugstore for her first job.

They keep in touch using letters and sending the Pants, a pair of supposedly lucky blue jeans that magically fits them all.

They all have their corny romances, come back together at the end of the book, and that's it.

There is no worse reading choice than this book; the plot is nonexistent and the word choice is feeble. Do not read this book.

~Skyler Mae

The Book Thief-B.R.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusack
       
                The Book Thief is a wonderfully woven story of a girl in 1939 Nazi Germany, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist-fighter, and quite a lot of thievery. After her brother dies, Liesel Meminger gets sent to live with foster parents, Rosa and Hans Hubermann, who live outside of Munich.
                
                 The country holds its breath, and death has never been busier.  Yet the Hubermanns find the courage to harbour a Jew in their basement. Liesel finds herself stealing books from Nazi book burnings, the mayor's library, anywhere books can be found. With the help of her foster father Hans, Liesel slowly learns to read in a world where books are extremely rare.
               
                 Beautifully written, The Book Thief is a life-changing book of love, loss, tragedy, and kindness. Markus Zusack blends fiction with reality to make a truly incredible book. I would recommend this to any reader, regardless of age or genre interest.

You can find a website about the author here, and if your interested about WWII, you can go here.
Book Review written by Julio.