Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

The Lightning Thief, the first book of the Percy Jackson series, is written by Rick Riordan. He has also written two other series, one about Egyptian mythology and the other about Greek as well as Roman mythology.  The Lightning Thief is a fantasy fiction, revolving around Greek Mythology. Riordan uses the three powerful Greek gods: Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades as well as the Titan Kronos to play major roles in this novel. This fictional book is based on a dyslexic 6th grade boy, finding out that he is a half-blood, meaning his father is a god, however his mother is a human mortal. This boy, named Percy Jackson, finds out that he is not a normal human. He is taken to a camp to be trained to face evils that he will face in the future. As the title states the Lightning Thief, this book is about a thief who stole the Lightning Bolt, a symbol of power, from the Greek god, Zeus, in order to ignite a significant war against the powerful gods. The ending of this novel, is left at a cliff-hanger as the thief is known only to Percy. The overall theme of this book is associated with the motif of identity. Riordan suggests that the theme of the novel is: identity should be recognized as life progresses, rather than at rough times of life. This fictional book talks about a young boy and his ambiguity of his reality. This novel is really interesting as a boy in middle school finds his real parents and sets out on adventurous journey to help a god. This is an action packed book which ensures that the reader doesn’t get bored at any point of the plot. The only question that this book would raise in a reader, is, “What happens next?” By ending the plot with a cliff-hanger, Riordan compels the reader to continue reading the next book in the series. In my opinion, this book lacks nothing. It is both relatable as well as action-filled. By visualizing the plot of the novel, I personally find it amusing to read this book. I love this book, because it is fascinating to portray in my mind. As the plot deepens, so does my attention to detail as I visualize the images of the plot in my mind. The book talks about the strength that each god posses, and their power granted to their children. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in action-filled novels.

 

 I picked up this fictional book, because it had a displayed a contrasting and interesting juxtaposition of an innocent boy in a dangerous world. The novel implied a relatable yet an engaging tone as suggested by the adventurous almost dangerous cover. I selected this novel, because of both the peculiar and the conceptual title, The Lightning Thief. Finally, I chose this novel, due to the vast majority of my friends and peers recommending it. I was genuinely drawn into the novel because it was fascinating to me. Not only was it easy to comprehend, but also this book was extremely relatable to me and displayed to me that even though school and life gets rough, just seek comfort by surrounding yourself with people that give you positive influence in your life. This book was also exceptionally easy to visualize the scenes in my mind, which in turn made it better for me to effortlessly understand the entire plot. I would give this fictional book to anyone interested in reading action and adventurous books. People who are interested in fantasy fiction and greek mythology would love reading this book. This text could be given to anyone as it is easy visualize the plot.

Reviewed by Sam Choppala

If I Stay by Gayle Forman

 

 

 The book If I Stay by Gayle Forman is about a young girl named Mia who wakes up to an unexpected joyful snow day, making her and the rest of her family now have some available free time. They all together decide to take a small trip to visit some family friends at their home. They could have visited, then go to a bookstore to roam all of its inviting ailes, and then have dinner with the grandparents, but everything changes within seconds. There is a sudden car accident, completely totaling the car. Mia gets up only to shattered pieces of the car everywhere,both her now deceased parents, and her younger brother lying on the ground. She finds her own wounded body on the ground as well. She watches as the ambulances arrive quickly rushing her body in an ambulance and follows. Mia is in very critical condition putting her in coma. Now, Mia is forced to accept the death of her family and realizes she might not want to stay at all. This story brings attention to the difficult question that Mia has to answer that will make out what her life will become. In the end,she still is struggling with making her decision whether to take the easy way out and leaving with her family or to fight and live with the loss of her family. Will she have the power and courage to stay?

 I picked this book up because it caught my eye after hearing and many good reviews about it. I also knew there was a movie and was excited to read before watching to compare and contrast. I kept reading even though it was upsetting to me, I was determined to find out what she decided. It helped me in a way I could relate, my situation is not as tough and difficult as hers but it still guided me on my own life decisions making me realize every decision has an impact and effect. I would give this book to be honest to anyone really. It’s a great fictional read that could very much be a real life thing. It has the message of how in the matter of seconds everything can change and any decision you make no matter how easy or hard there’s always needs to be consideration of yourself and others.

Written by: Anam .R

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

The brutal murder ofhisgrandfathersends15 year old Jacob to a remote Welsh island where he discovers that his grandfather’s stories of peculiar spirits with peculiar abilities are all true. He befriends these peculiar spirits and learns that hollow gasts are the monsters set out to kill peculiar children for their abilities, as well as the ones responsible for the death of his grandfather. To protect the peculiars and revenge his grandfather, Jacob goes through time loops and suspenseful chases with the children and together, they unravel hidden truths of identities and pasts. This book had me hooked and surprised at every turn. The writing and photographs adds a more realistic feel and makes you feel like you have also fallen through time into the world of the peculiars. All the characters are very distinguishable and special in a way where every single one is important to the storyline. The cover of the levitating young girl looked a bit unusual and haunting so that naturally appealed to me. From the start, the book’s oddity captured my attention. The vintage photographs were unique and set this book apart from the books I normally see on the shelves. You discover that the pictures have actually been lent from personal archives from people’s collections and nothing has been photoshopped. This only adds the creepy tension and the sense that it is all real. This book is definitely something that people who are interested in darker, more paranormal stories will like. It is also for anyone who is simply looking for something different to read.

Reviewed by Hazel Liang

 

 

 

 

Twilight by Stephanie Meyer

A young girl Bella moved to the city of Forks to live with her father while her mother traveled around the country. She is intrigued by one of her new classmates Edward. Though Edward does not want Bella to be part of his life. Bella insists that when two people love each other they should be together. Their love takes them through a long sequence of events that continue through the next book New Moon . When reading this book I found myself, surprised, and constantly on edge about what was going to happen next. I wanted to know how their love was going to unravel. And what would become of their love. In my opinion, I absolutely loved this book. I have never really like to read, but I do not know what this book had, that made me want to read more often. They say not to judge a book by the cover. Unfortunately that is what found myself doing. I was randomly taking out books from the shelves and when I pulled Twilight out. I was very intrigued by the cover. The apple, I wanted to know what the apple meant. Even though many would say not to judge a book by the cover. I am glad I did, because it is a spectacular book. I kept reading this book, beause it constantly had me on edge, waiting to see what was going to happen next. All the events that happened before the climax were very good because when the book made it to the climax. It was amazing in every way. Next, I would probably recommend this book to my friends. They generally have the same taste as I do in books and I am sure they would love. Although for anyone who likes books that are fantasy novels with a bit of romance, I am sure they would enjoy this book.

Trailer by Analila E.

 

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

Summary: Ten people with ten entirely different personalities are invited to the same location. They have all committed sins, known only by their mysterious host. Arriving at Soldier Island, the ten people find a recording that accuses each person of committing undetected murder. One by one each of them is killed according to a nursery rhyme. There is no way to connect to the outside world. How long can they survive? Will they figure out who the killer is before they all end up dead?

Critic: An isolated and lonely Soldier Island, ten strangers, and a creepy nursery rhyme are all the elements used to make a great book. All of these elements are the perfect combination of mystery, suspense and thriller. This book, And Then There Were None, by Agatha Christie has it. How Christie writes is well thought out and her effort is clearly shown in her work on this book. She explores her characters in such depth that causes the reader to feel the same emotions that the characters have felt, making the reader attached to them.

Why we picked it up: Our friends read this book and suggested it to us.

Why we kept reading it: There was a lot of intriguing suspense in the plot. We had many questions about the story, but for them to be answered we had to keep reading.

Who would we give it to next: We would suggest this book to anyone that likes a good mystery and suspense book.    

Reviewed by Megha K. and Vaishnavi P.

 

Review #2 And Then There Were None is a detective novelwritten by Agatha Christie, one of the famous crime novel writers. Ten people are invited to an island and find themselves are trapped in the games of their unknown host, Mr. U.N. Owen. They are murdered according to the rhythm which known as the ‘Ten little Indians’. Why do they get killed? Each of them, with incredible secret, has an unknown past that fascinates every single reader. Agatha creates an extremely mysterious and horrible atmosphere which you can never stop reading from it. Are they going to survive? Are they able to escape before they are killed? I personally like this book because Agatha creates an interesting setting and plot for the story. Her writing makes you feel like you are one of the characters in the story! I strongly recommended it to persons who like detective stories to read this book! And Then There Were None is a suspenseful and mysterious story for questions with an unexpected ending.

Reviewed by Hannah K.

Cirque Du Freak by Darren Shan

When you hear the word “Vampire” what comes to your mind? Is it sucking blood, sharp teeth, garlic and crosses? That is the typical answer, but the book Cirque Du Freak by Darren Shan, goes in dept about vampires from a whole different view. The horrific scenes and the grotesque and detailed description allows the reader to feel as if they were really there. This heart pounding book will provide you with the excitement that will feel even bigger than watching a horror movie at a theater.
Most books about Vampires are just stories of vampires sucking blood from humans and being evil. But in this book, the author creates another world about vampires, describing their complicated lives. Also, in this book, vampires are not evil. This interesting view of vampires that has never been seen before adds to the uniqueness and newness to the theme of the book. Also, the fact that the name of the main character is the name of the author, makes the reader believe for a second that some part of the story might actually be real. This also adds to the horror of the book.
It all started when Darren Shan and his group of friends find an advertisement to a freak show. None of them believed it could be real, after all it was a freak show, describing that there would be actual “freaks”. No one would have ever thought that going to this freak show would change Darren’s life forever. Darren’s friend Steve, was in charge of buying the tickets for the group of friends, but he was only able to attain two tickets. There were four people in his group of friends, so their only option was to fight for it. Darren and Steve were the ones that ended up with the tickets. And their story began from here.
When arriving at the freak show, Darren and Steve could not believe their eyes. After witnessing a half wolf half human boy, a man who had two bellies, a man who controlled a deadly spider, and many more, they knew for sure that the freak show was real. After the freak show, he overhead his friend Steve talking to one of the people from the freak show. When he heard his friend begging the man to turn him into a vampire, his jaw almost dropped. The man refused, so they both went home. All seemed well until one day Darren decided to do something that was completely insane. No one had any idea that his next decision would alter his life forever.
This book provides excitement, and provides a whole new view about Vampires. All of the material in this book was new, and exciting, causing me to never want to put the book down. The author not only talks about vampires, but also touches on the meaning of appreciating things, especially life. Before Darren went to the freak show and witnessed all of the abnormal people, he didn’t think twice of what he had. And before he became a half vampire, and found out he could no longer stay with his family, he realized for the first time how important his family was to him. It is interesting and amazing how the author can include so much meaning and make the book horrific at the same time. This book is a must read not only for horror lovers, but for those who read in general.

Reviewed by Erika F.

Twilight by Stephanie Meyer

The novel starts off with a young teenage girl named Bella, who leaves her sun filled home in Arizona to live with her father in Forks, Washington . Forks was the usual small, city, where everyone new everyone, but its strange cold weather was no help for Bella to feel welcomed to her new home. Yet, her new high school was filled with students who quickly fell in love with her and hoped to be her friend. But, there was one person who stayed away from her, who stunned her with his beauty, and made her feel nervous every time he glanced at her. Edward Cullen was an absolutely gorgeous and handsome vampire, who stayed away from Bella to avoid her death. However, he could not reside away from her and soon and their once small conversation in a biology class leads to an epic love story. The novel, Twilight has truly been an amazing piece of work to read and it is now one of my favorite books. The author uses wonderful detail and vivid imagery that grips the reader till the end. The novel contains a remarkable plot and the story is very intriguing and well-written. This book is truly indescribable and it is one novel that holds all the components of a great story. Stephanie Meyers, has done an extremely wonderful job in creating this book and has written an enchanting novel that has a insightful understanding of love, relationship, and life in general. Reviewed By: Vaishali S.