The Big Field

The book I’m doing this review on is The Big Field by Mike Lupica. Lupica has written lots of great sports novels. This book is about a 14 year old boy named Hutch whose passion is to play baseball. He was the star of the baseball team until Darryl Williams, better known as; D-Will came along and took his position at shortstop. Hutch and his best friend Cody spend their entire summer trying to make the best of the situation and win a championship.

Hutch’s father was a professional baseball player but a career-ending injury caused him to be watching games on TV rather than being a part of them. Hutch’s dream is to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a big-leaguer. But right now that’s too far into the future for him to worry about. Hutch’s goal is to lead his team to Roger Dean Stadium and win a national championship. But that goal is crushed when D-Will comes along and takes away his captain roll on the team. Darryl Williams the biggest prospect in the state just comes out of nowhere and takes every goal Hutch had and ruined it. Hutch absolutely hates Darryl, after a long day of baseball Hutch and Cody decide to go to the field and play some more baseball. That’s when he saw his own dad giving fielding advice to Darryl. In that very moment Hutch’s desire was to do everything in his control to take his team to the championship and win.

This book is full of great moments. I would recommend this book to anyone, even if you aren’t a big sports fan. This young boy overcame his difficulties and everything he could to do his best. This book inspired me and I’m sure it’ll do the same for you.

Book Review by Jacob S.

Small Steps

I've read Small Steps by Louis Sachar for my book review. Sachar has wrote many books like Sideways Stories From Wayside School, There'sa Boy in the Girls' Bathroom, and Holes and many more. Small Steps is the sequel of Holes, which is about a teenage Stanley Yelnats that is falsely accused for stealing a pair of shoes from a charity event and sent to Camp Green Lake, a bording camp in the middle of the Texas desert where you spend all day digging holes. In 2003, Holes was turned into a movie by Walden Media.

In Small Steps, Theodore Johnson, that has recently dropped the nickname "Armpit" that was given to him at Camp Green Lake, has moved back with his family in Austin, Texas. Theodore is working hard at his land scaping job, when an old friend, X-Ray, shows up with a big plan. X-Ray wants Theodore to lend him $700 for concert tickets to scalp for profit. After some convincing and a couple guarantees, Theodore gives into buying the tickets. Theodore ends up going to the concert with his younger neighbor, Ginny, who has cerebral palsy. During the concert, Theodore gets into an arguement with the security at the event and Ginny has a seizure. As she gets picked up and escorted by Theodore to backstage, she runs into  Kaira DeLeon, the singer that is performing at the concert. Theodore and Ginny are given special seats behind the stage to watch the concert privately.

I enjoyed this book very much. I think that it was a good sequel to Holes, and I like how it didn't focus on the same main characters in Holes. This book has many twists and turns that I didn't see coming and it kept me wanting to read more. I really recommend this book, especially if you read and enjoyed the book Holes. 

Book Review by Jordan S.

Across the Universe

Across the Universe is a book written by Beth Revis. This is the first book I read by her.

           

Amy and her family live on earth, Amy’s mom and dad decide to freeze themselves to go into the future to help out on the new planet because they have the skills needed. Amy is just loose cargo who decides to go along and has no purpose on the new planet. Any feels like she’s been frozen for millions on centuries. Until she is unfrozen by someone and awaken by the sight of a young boy and a doctor.

           

Elder looks at this young girl and thinks she’s the most beautiful girl on the ship he lives on. This book is about an adventure of a girl who awakens too early when she goes in time, a boy who is being trained to be the next leader and a crazy boy who’s best friends with the boy who is about to be the leader. These three people go in search to find out who is unplugging the people who froze themselves to help out the future of the new planet.  These three run into a lot of problems on the way to finding this bad guy but enjoy each other’s company while investigating the ship.

           

This book has a lot of twists and turns and a lot of adventure. It’s a good book to read and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys sci fi space books.

Book Review by Trace B.

The Mark of Athena

The Mark of Athena

Rick Riordan has written a lot of books based on different types of mythology such as The Son of Neptune and The Battle of the Labyrinth.

The mark of Athena is about a group of seven demi-gods. Greek and Roman. The book starts of as the seven demi-gods land at the Roman camp. After some peace talks with the romans the captain of the Argo II Leo was posed by a ghost and made to shoot at the roman camp.

I enjoyed this book because I enjoy mythology. I also enjoy the way the author switches point of views between the characters. Also this book is kind of the turning point in the series and a lot of important things happened so there was never a dull moment.

I would suggest this book to people because it is an easy to read book. It also doesn’t require the reader to know much or if anything at all about Greek/ Roman Mythology. It also has a very good plot

Book Review by Mike D.

Until We Meet Again

I am reading a book called “Until We Meet Again” by Anne Schraff. She has written other books as well such as the previous ones:  Lost and Found, A Matter of Trust, Somebody to Love as well as many more. This book compared to others is like a series you have to read them in order in order to understand what is happening. Most of them are based on a single person. Her books are part of the Bluford Series. There are other authors in there but she is one of the many ones.

               

In this story a young girl named Darcy is having trouble facing the fact that Hakeem (her boyfriend) might end up having to moving to Detroit. He has a chance he might not move but those chances are big. They have to move so his dad can get better. With Darcy’s grandmother being sick she is lost and confused her boyfriend will not return her call. Darcy gets a job as a babysitter to keep her mind off of what is happening in her own world. She turns to a guy she just met for comfort. She later realizes that she might have feelings for the guy named Brian. Until things start taking a turn for the worst. What will Darcy do next? Will she make the right choice?

               

I truly loved the book it has an amazing twist in the end. This book and the series are relatable to me. I first fell in love with this when a friend recommended me reading these books. At first I wasn’t into reading, unless they are the Bluford Series. They have different kinds of them. It has twists and turns you would not imagine. It is addicting. I recommend you read these books. 

Book Review by Linda V.

The Hand You're Dealt

The Hand You’re Dealt

By: Paul Volponi

Other books written by this author: The Final Four, Crossing Lines, Rikers High, Response, Hurricane Song, Rucker Park Setup, Rooftop, Black and White, Homestretch,

This story is about a kid named Huck Porter. Huck’s dad had just died and he feels like nothing makes sense to him anymore. The only thing that Huck learned from his dad was the game of poker that they would always play together.

Huck’s math teacher Mr. Abbott is a big poker player also, and wears the silver watch that Huck’s dad wore for three years for being the poker champion in the town tournament. Huck wants to win that watch back for his father and will do whatever it takes to get it back. Even if that means lying to his friends and family.

               

At the beginning of the book some of the poker players including Abbott and Huck are leaving the rec center when an old friend Stani shows up and is going to rob them when Abbott says I think you’re bluffing and then Huck says the same thing and it made both Stani and Abbott angry.

               

Huck has to bluff his way into the tournament which means he’ll have to lie to everyone that he knows. Along the way he gets help from the way he gets help from the local priest and will get a date to the high school prom with his ex- girlfriend but could get lost in the all of the cards. When huck starts to get far into the tournament he’s afraid that he’ll get lost in the cards and won’t know who he is when the last hand is done. 

Book Review by Austin M.

Send One Angel Down

The book I read was called Send One Angel Down, the author of the book was Virginia Frances Schwartz. She has written 6 other books. Two being called Crossing to Freedom and If I Just Had Two Wings, all three books deal with race and freedom. For instance in my book it’s about slavery and African American’s wanting freedom and in Crossing to Freedom it’s pretty self-explanatory, the African American’s in the other book want freedom as well.

This book is basically about slavery and how their master would take the babies away when they were old enough and either sell them or make them work the fields at age 5. It’s more about this boy, Abram and his cousin Eliza. She was a mixed girl and could never understand why everyone was darker than her and why she had blue eyes. Abram was the over protective cousin and a slave farmer. He took care of his cousin as best as he could and also worked the farms. For example Abram would take Eliza to the masters every Sunday to play with the masters daughters and they would question her skin color and eyes. The nanny would start to play with the girls to distract them from talking about it. Everyone had a pretty good idea what the master had done and why the little girl was mixed with blue eyes. The mother of Eliza had become ill and got pregnant again, read for yourself.

I recommend this book to anyone who is into history or slavery. It’s a fascinating tell over experiences some people will never understand. I would encourage anyone to read this book to be honest. I loved it I thought it was a great book over what happened to colored people and the differences between how people were treated then compared to how they are treated now. It was a very fascinating book and if I had the choice I would make it a class book for everyone to read.

Book Review by Kristan S.

Invisible

Invisible

I’ve never read a book by Pete Hautman, so I can’t say I know what his other books are like.

Four years pass, but Douglas still sees his dead best friend Andy.  If the medication can’t help Douglas to realize Andy is gone, what can? Fires set, lives are taken and losing a best friend is hard. Standing on the bridge, Dr. Ahlstrom tells Douglas “You got out, Douglas. Andy didn’t.”

Douglas was the freak at the High School, every kid hated him. He watched Melissa every night through trees, people made fun of him. Douglas spoke to Andy, but people only noticed Douglas speaking to himself. When Douglas was just 13 years old, he lost his best friend, his only friend, Andy in a house fire. Douglas blames himself for it because Andy went back into the house to get Douglas’ most valuable knife. Douglas remembers him and Andy getting out, but doesn’t remember Andy going back in. After the lost, Douglas becomes someone no one knows. Meds may help, but they won’t help bring Andy back.

I enjoyed the book and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys mystery books, books that have you thinking and books that will surprise you at the end. I loved the fact that, Douglas didn’t let people around him stop from having his beliefs. 

Book Review by Tyciera W.

If I Grow Up

The book I read is If I Grow Up by Todd Strasser. Todd Strasser has also written the book such as Give a Boy a Gun and Boot Camp. Most of Strasser books are realistic fiction about real situations some people face in life. The novel If I Grow Up is about a young boy named DeShawn. DeShawn lives in the Frederick Douglass Project where gang violence and crime happens every day. This book is about a life of a teenager struggling with living in the projects.

               

This novel gives reader an insight of living in the project. DeShawn is smart and wants to get out of the project and he knows the only way is to stay in school and keep away from gangs. But since most of his friends are in gangs they have drug money to buy nice things. DeShawn wants nice things to but has no other way to get them which leaves him with a big choice to make.

               

I would recommend this book to anyone to read. It gives readers who have a lot in their life what it is like to have nothing to open their eyes and see not everyone has the best life. It is a great realistic fiction book to teach people to cherish what they have in life. 

Book Review by Selena S.

Ender's Shadow

Ender’s Shadow was written by Orson Scott Card, author of other books, such as Speaker for the dead and Enders game.  Ender’s Shadow is a parallel novel to Ender’s Game, with the same characters, same story line, same settings, and same timeline, except focused on another character in the story; Bean. The book focuses on Bean’s struggles and life, eventually melting into the same story as Ender’s Game.

Bean is a tiny genius child living in the streets of Rotterdam on earth. The streets are a place ruled by children and teenagers where food is scarce and survival is even harder to obtain. Bean falls into a family of children led by a girl passing as a boy named poke. after a serious turn of events, a nun discovers bean and his intellect and sends him up into battle school, away from earth, where she believes he belongs. Bean starts immediately assessing everybody else in battle school, being the smartest there. Bean is studied by the teachers, and some become convinced that him, and not his companion, Ender Wiggin, is the one to lead earths armies against a hostile alien race.

I really enjoyed this book because it is filled with action and conflict. The book is very well structured to keep the reader predicting on what could happen next. The book is incredibly detailed and written, so the reader can be sucked into the story as if though they were in the story. Filled with fantasy and scientific fiction, Ender’s Shadow is a great book for those who enjoy scientific fiction, action, space, and fantasy books. 

Book Review by Bryan R.

Paper Towns

Paper Towns by John Green

The overall situation in this book is when Margo realized that her boyfriend has been cheating on her. She decides to get all the people who did her wrong back, including her ex-boyfriend and his new girlfriend. Late one night, Margo climbs through Q’s window dressed in all black, convincing him to accompany her in her journey of revenge. Q agrees to going on the journey and sneaks out, taking his mother’s minivan with him. After their night of adventures, the next day at school Margo isn’t there. After asking around, Q realizes that Margo has left clues for him to find her. When he gets enough clues to go looking, he ditches his friend’s party that they had planned for months to go look for his best friend, Margo Roth Spiegelman.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading books about mysteries and lots of plot twists. John Green did an amazing job on being vey descriptive about each character, including the adventure of Quentin Jacobsen and Margo Roth Spiegelman. 

Book Review by Alex H.

The Years of Rice and Salt

Taking place in an alternate history where the Black Death killed 99% of Europe’s population, The Years of Rice and Salt tells the story of a world without Europe.

With 99% of Europe’s population dead, history is instead dominated by China and the Muslim world, with Christianity becoming an obscure historical footnote. Through 10 novellas, the book follows a group of souls who keep reincarnating together through a history that might have been.

With each separate story being between 80 and 100 pages long, The Years of Rice and Salt manages to break what would otherwise be a very daunting novel into a manageable format. Each story transitions to the next with the main characters ending up in the Bardo, the afterlife, where they are reincarnated. Everything about this novel is masterfully done.

I found the novel to be very well done and enjoyed it tremendously.  Even if Alternate History isn’t your thing, The Years of Rice and Salt is worth checking out. I highly recommend it.

Book Review by Maxwell J.

A Clash of Kings

A Clash of Kings

The author of this book is George R.R. Martin. Other books he has written include the rest of this series, which includes A Game ofThrones and the sequel to this book, A Storm of Swords. This story somewhat has the same theme has Lord of the Rings, which is the magical medieval sort of theme. However, despite the fact that there is magic involved, it’s more realistic than lord of the rings. For instance, there aren’t multiple races of people, like elves, the plot revolves around the medieval feudal system, and magic is very uncommon and mysterious.

               

This book, as the sequel to A Game of Thrones, naturally started where book 1 left off. There are 5 “kings” in the realm and each one is at the other’s throats. Out of these kings the two you’re mainly rooting for are King Robb Stark and Khaleesi Daenerys. King Robb is the oldest male in the Stark family, which is rebelling against King Joffrey because of a conspiracy involving the death of Jon Arryn. King Stannis is rebelling because of a conspiracy that King Joffrey is born of incest between the Queen and her brother. Daenerys is on a different continent, trying to get boats and loyal men for her return to westeros (the continent where most of the story takes place). Throughout this story you see time go by from multiple people’s point of view, such as seeing the start of a battle through one person’s point of view, and then seeing the end of the battle through another person’s point of view.

               

I loved this book because it’s filled with little conflicts, hints at magic, and multiple ways of seeing things that just feeds your imagination. Also, this is a must read sequel if you have already read A Game of Thrones. I would recommend this series to anyone who enjoys reading challenging terms that you wouldn’t see in everyday life. Also, this series has the very successful and famous theme of a magical medieval era. If you do plan on reading this book, then read A Game of Thrones first and continue the sequence. Otherwise, you would be very confused.

Book Review by Victor M.