Karen M. McManus’ novel, One Of Us Is Lying follows the lives of five of Bayview High School’s students- Bronwyn: smart, factual, studious, and headed for Yale, Cooper: athletic, charming, confident, and the star player on Bayview’s baseball team, Addy: pampered, popular, sophisticated and one of the most envied girls at Bayview High, Nate: the highschool hoodlum, notorious drug dealer, and Juvenile Delinquent, and finally, Simon: the self-proclaimed omniscient narrator and the infamous creator of Bayview High’s gossip app About That. When they all end up in detention after school, only four of the five leave the room alive. Simon is dead- and Bronwyn, Cooper, Addy, & Nate are now prime suspects in Simon’s murder- and just before Simon was going to release a juicy About That update on every person in that room. With a rousing plotline full of twists and turns, One Of Us Is Lying is eloquently written, and an over-all brilliant book! I enjoyed the authentic characters and intrigue and would recommend it for middle school readers and up! Definitely one of the best Mystery/Suspense YA novels I’ve read in a while!

Ivan is a Silverback gorilla. He is very intelligent, and his perspective of the world is very unique. Ivan is quite happy with his life. He has 3 amazing friends. Bob, the stray. Stella the wise elephant. And Julia. Ivan lives in a small cage at a mall. He's been there for a while. One day, everything changes. Stella tells Ivan and Bob that she can hear a baby elephant. And it is coming in their direction. Sure enough, a baby elephant is delivered to the mall. Her name is Ruby, and she was taken from her home in Africa. Stella uses all the free time that she has in the day to comfort Ruby, and ensure her that everything would be fine. Ruby and Ivan become friends as days pass while Stella is getting weaker and weaker because of her foot that is always getting infected because it never healed properly after the circus accident from her youth days. It gets to the point that Stella can no longer stand. One night, Stella asked Ivan to promise her that she won't let Ruby live the same life that Stella did. Confined. Shackled. Lonely. By morning, Stella is gone. It is a sad day for everyone and Ruby is very nervous and scared now that Stella is gone, and nobody is there to keep her safe. Ivan decides that he should keep his word, and make sure that Ruby gets a better home. I really recommend this book. I mean, there are sad parts that will make you cry if you're sensitive, but overall it is a phenomenal book. I can't wait to read The One and Only Bob!