Kids Books - Family
Tomorrow Girls #4: Set Me Free
By Eva Gray
The fourth Tomorrow Girls is full of action, suspense, and new reveals. I love the fantastic ending to this quartet, and I'm already wishing for more.
Tomorrow Girls: Behind the Gates
By Eva Gray
Maddie and Louisa are best friends who are living in Chicago in the middle of war. It is not a safe place for children to be so Louisa parents are going to send her to a boarding school close to the border of Canada. Maddie parents are both in the war so Maddie pretends she's Louisa's sister so she can go to the boarding school as well. On the ride there they meet a girl named Evelyn. She has a theory that the school is really a secret Alliance(the enemy of the U.S.A) training school. Louisa is not buying it because her and her new friend Rosie love the school. They have cool classes like how to survive in the wild or how to build a bomb or how time start a fire. But Maddie and Evelyn are not buying it. Though it sounds crazy, is it possible that Evelyn is right and her and her friends are being trained to work against their own country? Read the book to find out.!
Hunger (Gone)
By Michael Grant
Hunger is the second book in the Gone book series. It again stars many main characters in a town called Perdido Beach after everyone over 15 vanishes. In this book, everyone is now starving due to poor management of food in their town. Additionally, people are not trying to farm to get more food. The leader of the town, Sam, is trying to find food, which is the main plot of the book. I really like the premise of this book, as if I were in the same situation, I would probably do the same thing. This book shows the reality of the situation, and makes me ponder about it. Also, I like this book (and the entire series in general) for having a bit of a sci-fi twist to it, where many people start developing mutant powers due to exposure to a power plant explosion. This leads to some normal people starting to hate the people with mutant powers. There starts to be a bit of an allegory to civil rights issues, which I find very interesting, especially in a young adult book. I feel that the right demographic for this book is young adults from the ages of 12-15. This is because there is a bit of language and inappropriate content in this book (and generally in the series) This book gets a 4 out of 5 from me.
The Watsons Go To Birmingham - 1963
By Christopher Paul Curtis
A great book! Definitely a wonderful choice for readers of all ages. Kenny Watson, an African -American boy, embarks on a few adventures, but the real major adventure is when the whole Watson must go south to Birmingham, Alabama. Why, you ask? Byron, Kenny’s older brother had been stirring up a LOT of trouble, such as setting toilet paper on FIRE, and also straightening his hair, so Kenny’s parents think he should stay with Grandma Sands for a while, since Grandma Sands will not accept any form of trouble at all. While in Birmingham, the family notices some extremely discriminatory events (segregation), but the final straw is when a church near Grandma Sands’s is destroyed by a BOMB, so they all decide to head home, even Byron. This book is an awesome realistic-fiction, and it really cracked me up some of the time. Definitely recommended.
The 47 People You'll Meet in Middle School
By Kristin Mahoney
The premise of the story is this: a person named Augusta(Gus) writes an extremely long letter to her sister Louie who's in 4th grade. The letter chronicles her journey through the first few months of middle school, where Augusta comes to this educational facility called Meridian, whereas her best friend Layla has gone to a whole other place known as Parkwood. Layla, who is overcome by an overwhelming wave of school spirit, makes a friend only known as "Jolly Jocelyn." Eek, unfortunately, Gus is not able to have this sort of luck at first. She wonders if the Meridian mascot is an armadillo, and grows unsure about her friendship with Layla. Well, eventually, Gus is able to make some friends, including one connoisseur of tomatoes who devours them with voracious delight, one mediocre soccer player, an old acquaintance who becomes a friend, and a human with messy hair. A prominent theme in this book is friendship, which it portrays reasonably well. So good. But I was perturbed by the excessive amount of semicolons in the book; semicolons are not very good; no, they are not. Really, though, 'twas a bit too much, in my opinion. Finally, I would recommend this book for people who are interested in realistic fiction or middle school. 4 stars...
Betsy-Tacy
By Maud Hart Lovelace
I like the book. It is easy for me to read. I like the adventures they go on. I want to read more books from the author.
Five Feet Apart
By Rachael Lippincott
Imagine being in love with someone but not being able to get within 6 feet of them. Five Feet Apart by Racheal Lippincott, is told from Stella Grant's perspective, along with Will Newman’s. Stella Grant suffers from cystic fibrosis (CF) and is waiting for a lung transplant. She’s had CF for almost her whole life and has been in Saint Grace’s Hospital for a long time too. She’s used to being in control of everything and Saint Grace’s is her second home. Will Newman is the complete opposite. He has just come to Saint Grace’s after being in several different hospitals because of his CF but also B ceptica. Will does whatever he wants and whenever he wants. Stella meets Will and instantly she hates him. She doesn’t like how he doesn’t care about his meds or health. Stella tries to help Will out by getting him to take his meds, but something unexpected happens, they fall in love. Except they can’t get closer than 6 feet or they can die. Anyone who enjoys romance with a big conflict should read this book. In my opinion this book is good for 6th graders and up. It has a mature context but isn’t widely inappropriate. I really liked this book because the story was told from both characters' point of views. This helped me understand how both Will and Stella felt.
The Tiger in the Well: A Sally Lockhart Mystery
By Philip Pullman
Veronica Beatrice Lockhart, known as just Sally. It`s the year of 1881, and unlike any other Victorian women in England, Sally is independent woman along with her toddler daughter, Harriet. The man who Sally loved, Frederick Garland, was killed due to the fire while Sally is pregnant with Harriet. Sally`s friends, Jim, Webster, and Charles all were in South America, taking pictures. She is good friends to her nurse, Sarah-Jane, and a house-maid named Ellie. But one day when Sally got news that said that one man, Arthur Parrish is suing her for divorce which Sally didn`t. That caused Sally and Harriet to escape their home to hide from Parrish and his gang. Despite that event, Sally met a journalist, Daniel Goldberg, who Sally has married to in the ending of the book. Bridie Sullivan, Jonathan Mendel who is also known as Kid were with Harriet when she went missing. That`s part of the book but I wouldn`t want to spoil the whole book for you guys but I would def recommend this book! - Happy Reading!
Gone
By Michael Grant
Gone is the first book in the 6-part Gone series by Michael Grant. The book (and the series) is about a town where one day, every person over the age of 15 just disappears one day. After this, the children in the town are in what they call the FAYZ (Fallout Alley Youth Zone), with walls surrounding them. Eventually, some of the kids start developing mutations, such as running very fast, or burning people. All of this leads to a lot of havoc in the town, which is explored in this book and the rest of the series. I feel that this book has good points and bad points. This book is well written, has interesting characters, and detailed descriptions. However, it also contains many boring sections and some powers seem a bit cliche. Overall, Gone is a decent book with some interesting parts. I give this book 3.5 out of 5 stars from me. I recommend this book anyone from the ages of 12 and up (However, if you want to read the other books, I feel that you should be at least 14 years old.)









