Real by Carol Cujec & Peyton Goddard Realistic Fiction * * * * Stars (Great!) Charity is an intelligent thirteen-year-old, but no one knows that because she is autistic and has difficulty communicating and controlling her body. Her parents love and support her, but have no more idea than anyone else how smart she really is. Forced to attend a special “school” that’s basically just a holding cell for kids with disabilities, Charity is regularly … Read more
The Final Gambit The Inheritance Games #3 by Jennifer Lynne Barnes Mystery Romance Suspense Thriller * * * Stars (Pretty good) Pretty satisfying conclusion to the Inheritance Games trilogy. Avery Grambs manages to unravel the mystery surrounding her unexpected inheritance as well as survive the terms of its settlement. Family drama! Romance! Secrets! Puzzles! The game/puzzle-solving elements are fun. What will she do with the money? What would you do? It’s interesting to speculate. For … Read more
The Innocence Treatment by Ari Goelman Dystopian Mystery Science Fiction Suspense Thriller * * * Stars (Pretty good) Lauren Fielding has always been extremely trusting, generous, good natured, and friendly – so much so that her condition is viewed as a disability, because she can’t tell when people are trying to take advantage of her. She has to be supervised outside of her home and at school and has aides assigned to her to keep … Read more
Diper Overlode Diary of a Wimpy Kid #17 by Jeff Kinney Funny Illustrated Fiction Realistic Fiction Grades 5+ Review #1 * * * Stars (Pretty good) This book is about Rodrick, the older brother, and his band. Rodrick and his band want to be very famous so they decide to enter a competition. They practice a lot, but at one poin tthey stop because they think it has gotten too extreme for them. Rodrick now … Read more
I Am Not a Serial Killer John Cleaver #1 by Dan Wells Horror Mystery Supernatural Suspense Thriller * * * Stars (Pretty good) 15 year old John Wayne Cleaver is a sociopath and he is obsessed with serial killers. While he finds them fascinating, he’s also concerned that he might become one, so he comes up with rules he has to follow in order to keep that part of himself locked away. When a series … Read more
All These Bodies by Kendare Blake Historical Fiction Mystery Supernatural Suspense Thriller * * * * Stars (Great!) It’s 1958 and Michael Jensen, aspiring teen journalist, gets the opportunity to interview the prime suspect in a string of unusual murders, 15-year-old Marie Catherine Hale, where the victims have been found exsanguinated (drained of all their blood). She’s caught red-handed (and red everything else as she’s covered in the blood of the dead when she’s arrested), … Read more
Lines of Courage by Jennifer A. Nielsen Historical Fiction Review #1 * * * * * Stars (Amazing!) One wrong turn. That was all it took to fire Austria-Hungary and Germany into war after the assassination of their Archduke. Of course, this war grew as other countries joined their allegiances. The war was titled, “The War to End All Wars.” WWI. The story is told from five different points of view. Felix Baum – a … Read more
The Summer of June by Jamie Sumner Realistic Fiction Tween (grades 5-8) * * * * Stars (Great!) Summer just started and eleven-year-old June Delancey has shaved her head. She experiences a lot of anxiety and uses hair pulling as one of her coping mechanisms. She figures she’ll have to find some other way to cope if she doesn’t have any hair… That works for about 5 minutes and then she feels BOTH anxious AND … Read more
What to Say Next by Julie Buxbaum Realistic Fiction Young Adult * * * * Stars (Great!) Kit Lowell and David Drucker don’t really move in the same social circles, but when Kit’s father dies in a car accident she finds herself sitting with David at lunch one day, and that one conversation leads to another, and soon they are…friends? Up until now David hasn’t had many friends – his quirks sometimes make people uncomfortable … Read more
Sadie by Courtney Summers Mystery Suspense Thriller * * * Stars (Pretty good) Sadie has always looked after her little sister Mattie, but when their mother leaves them on their own, Mattie falls into a deep depression that only lifts when she finds out where their mother went. She becomes obsessed with finding her and going to her and it causes a lot of friction between her and Sadie. When Mattie attempts to hitchhike after … Read more