The Princess Diaries series

Meg Cabot definitely keeps the reader captivated with her main character, Mia. In the first book Mia finds out she's a Princess and everything spirals down from there.

Mia is very real in most ways -- her thoughts, writing style, conversations, love interests, and friends, and yet she's frustratingly naive. Still, so far I've loved every book except the 3rd and 2nd to last in the series. I can't explain why because it would give away everything.

I think 8th graders and up could read these series. I say this because even though it's all very sweet and the writing isn't complex, Mia thinks a lot about boys.

-Jojo

Old Man and the Sea

Old Man and the Sea by Earnest Hemingway was about an old man who goes fishes. Seeing as it's a classic, I'm thinking most of you have heard of it.

I loved the first 30 pages and the last 10. 40 out of 127 pages isn't too bad. It's a bit boring, choppy and hard to read. Hemingway does not develop his character, and the plot is thin. I wouldn't have read it if I didn't have to.

-Jo

Message (not a book)

Hi guys! so sorry for not posting anything, I switched schools this year and it's been a big change so i've been focussing :) Hopefully reviews to come: Lord of the Flies, Night, Brave New World, Old Man and the Sea, Princess Diaries, Julie and Julia, and Antigone. (Yes, most of those have been school reads)

-Jo

Three Songs for Courage

Three Songs for Courage by Maxine Trottier is not my favorite book. I got three chapters in and it was inappropriate and shallow. As of now I have only abandoned two books. So I'm serious about this book being bad. Don't read it. That is my advice.

Same Difference

I enjoyed Same Difference by Siobhan Vivian quite a bit. It's about a girl (Emily) who goes to a summer program for art. She begins to feel unsatisfied with her life at home and changes herself. Unfortunately her "new look" is unwelcome at home and her old one is unacceptable for art classes. Emily learns about herself, her art, and who her real friends are.

Siobhan Vivian did well to make the characters realistic and 3D. I wondered through the whole book which person Emily would be and who she would choose to be her friend. I would give Same Difference an 8 and say people 13 and up could read it.

-Jojo

The Diary Of Mattie Spenser

I read The Diary of Mattie Spenser by Sandra Dallas while at camp. My fellow campers were constantly telling me to put my book down and join in the conversation. I would not put it down it was just that good. Sandra Dallas really is an excellent author. Her stories are complicated webs that all connect somehow and not just in The Diary of Mattie Spenser, but throughout all her books. I also listened to Prayers For Sale (which I recommend just as much as The Diary of Mattie Spenser). There are main characters in Prayers For Sale that get mentioned in The Diary of Mattie Spenser which I thought was very cool.

The Diary of Mattie Spenser is about a girl who gets married and moves to "the Colorado territory" in 1865. Mattie deals with everything a Colorado woman can imagine dealing with, from Indians to dirty neighbors. Through Mattie's diary you get to know her and grow with her during her life on the prairie. Both Prayers for Sale and The Diary of Mattie Spenser are high school through adult books.

-Jojo

Trouble

Trouble by Gary D. Schmidt was awesome. It's hard to describe, but I'll try. Trouble is about a boy who has had a very easy life until his brother gets hit by a car being driven by a Cambodian boy. Henry (the boy) tries to deal with his brother being in the hospital while a racial "war" starts at school and in the community. And thus begins the random weird paragraphs at the end of chapters that don't seem like Henry's thinking. So who is it? And what are they talking about?

Read Trouble. That's all I can really say.

-Jojo