November 20, 2013

4 student Reviews


The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen 
reviewed by Valerie 

Amazing. Astounding. Extraordinary. Actually, all of these words understate how good this book is. The Truth About Forever reflects the life and difficulties of high school girl Macy Queen. This book revolves around the saying "life isn't perfect". And although it isn't perfect in so many ways (as Macy proves) it can still be pretty wonderful. Sarah Dessen, the book's author, describes an extremely real situation that so many people, of many different ages, can relate to. Macy's only parent, her mom, has blocked out the world emotionally and spends all her time working to keep herself distracted which can be a huge problem when you need someone to talk to. Macy is struggling, between studying for her SAT's, her summer job at the library, and finding some fun during the summer. When she meets a caterer offering a job, chaos erupts.
Dessen's vivid descriptions add to the suspense in the story. There is just enough drama to get you excited but not too much that you find it heavy.Throughout the story, you will find yourself laughing and crying as you navigate your way through Macy's life and you'll love the book just like I did. So when you're having some down time, just pick this up and I promise you won't want to put it down again.



The Whisper by Emma Clayton 
reviewed by Jasmine 

The Whisper is an excellent sequel to the book The Roar. In The Whisper Mika and Ellie put their plans into motion. In this world, the earth was split by a gigantic wall into the North and the South. The North is a cold and barren cement wasteland where its people have never heard of trees, plants, or live animals. The South is a beautiful paradise which only a handful of people know about, and even fewer live there. The people who do live there live in gigantic mansions with butlers and maids. In the North the implanted army of children starts to stir in response to Mika and Ellie's plans.
The Whisper is a fantastic sci-fi book which also has quite a bit of fantasy sprinkled in. The only flaw was that the author did not spend enough time explaining each event. Otherwise it was fantastic.



Twilight by Stephanie Meyer 
reviewed by Nell 

The Twilight Saga is, as I'm sure you know, quite popular these days. Recently I decided to check it out, if only too see why. I was well and truly disgusted. The writing is ridiculous, nearly every plot point was introduced in a painfully roundabout manner, and there were so many obvious grammatical errors I wanted to phone up the editor and complain. In addition to this, the characters are flat and unoriginal. Bella Swan, the female protagonist, is useless. She claims to be depressed, but this is immediately resolved once she meets a hot guy. This is remarkably ableist. In addition, she is an incredibly sexist character. Bella is unrealistically shallow, relying solely on her physical appearance and rich boyfriend to get by. She is simply waiting for Prince Charming, utterly incapable of doing anything for herself. This is an age-old female stereotype and one of the most revolting. Edward, her love interest, also has no personality. He is that male character we so often find in early 1900s romances: strong, brave, and patronizing. Incredibly, he is also the essence of a cut and paste male character. Edward is also a mass of angst, mystery, and stalker-like tendencies. Meyer has managed to combine the two worst male stereotypes. Congratulations. The only saving grace it would have would be the love story, but Meyers fails us even there. It has that quality most Disney films possess: the idea of glancing at someone once and then falling madly in love. A painfully unrealistic idea. Bella literally forgoes college to have sex with Edward 24/7. Twilight is, in all honesty, a waste of time.



The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen 
reviewed by Jasmine 

The False Prince is about an orphan named Sage who finds himself in a situation which no one could have foreseen. Conner, a nobleman who wishes for power, hand picks four orphans, along with Sage, who have similar qualities to the lost prince. He then takes them to his home, but when they get there, there are only three orphans left. Once they get to his home Conner tells them of his plan, which requires the three to compete for a spot to stay alive. They are competing for which one resembles the lost prince the most, including personality, physical looks, and skill. Sage goes along with Conner's plan and hopes that no one will find out his secret.
This book was awesome. The story line was perfect and so was the character development. The only problem I had with it was the order of the events. If the author would have added a little less foreshadowing it would have been perfect.

Posted by Sarthak at November 20, 2013 03:00 PM
Recent Entries
Hope
The Donovan Effect
Dirty Water
The Lifeboat
Escaping the Hollowgasts
Teleporting with George
Return to Pemberley
In den Alpen
Jeeves and Bertie
In the Calais Coach
Other Web Logs
News
Books
Children's Room
Teen Book Buzz
Archives
August 2015
April 2015
March 2015
February 2015
December 2014
November 2014
October 2014
August 2014
July 2014
June 2014
April 2014
February 2014
January 2014
November 2013
October 2013
September 2013
August 2013
May 2013
March 2013
January 2013
November 2012
October 2012
August 2012
June 2012
May 2012
April 2012
February 2012
January 2012
November 2011
October 2011
September 2011
August 2011
July 2011
June 2011
May 2011
April 2011
February 2011
January 2011
November 2010
October 2010
September 2010
July 2010
June 2010
May 2010
April 2010
March 2010
February 2010
January 2010
December 2009
November 2009
October 2009
September 2009
August 2009
April 2009
March 2009
December 2008
October 2008
August 2008
July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
July 2007
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007
March 2007
February 2007
January 2007
December 2006
November 2006
October 2006
September 2006
August 2006
June 2006
May 2006
April 2006
March 2006
February 2006
January 2006
December 2005
November 2005
October 2005
September 2005
August 2005
July 2005
June 2005
May 2005
April 2005
March 2005
December 2004
November 2004
October 2004
July 2004
June 2004
April 2004
Takoma Park city seal THE LIBRARY IS A DEPARTMENT OF THE CITY OF TAKOMA PARK
Call the desk at 301-891-7259
Contact the director by e-mail