The Vanishing Season, by Jodi Lynn Anderson

Maggie had to leave her home in Chicago because of her mother that lost her job. They moved to a very old house that was built in 1800s in Door County. Leaving her home, her friends and her city wasn't really easy for her, but she had no other choice. In Door County, she sees Pauline who is a very rich and pretty girl who lives in a large big white house across from Maggie's new house. Maggie thought that Pauline would be one of those mean rich girls, but she found out that she was wrong after they became friends. Through Pauline, Maggie meets a guy named Liam. Everyone in the Door County thinks he is a weird guy, but he isn't really what others said when Maggie got to know him more. From the moment Maggie saw him, she felt something inside her, but always tried to ignore it until Pauline had to move because of missing girls in Door County. Maggie's feelings for Liam got deeper and deeper while Pauline was gone, and Liam got the same feeling for Maggie. However, things changed between them when Pauline came back when the murderer of the missing girls was arrested.

The Vanishing Season, by Jodi Lynn Anderson, made me feel sad at the end and even while I was reading it, something inside me kept telling me that I should stop, but a stronger feeling made me continue and finish this book. What was said as a summary on the cover of this book was way different from the actual story. First, I thought this book would be a story about a mystery of some missing girls, but when I actually read the book, I found out this is only a story of a girl named Maggie and her friendships with other people in Door County. I believe that this book would be good for teens, but I should say that it isn't that much interesting or exciting. I don't recommend this book that much because I think the ending wasn't really strong. The reason is, everything happened so fast and suddenly at the end and it could've had a stronger ending, but it didn't.

Reviewed by Orkideh, Grade 12
Downtown Central Library

American Born Chinese, by Gene Luen Yang

Jin and his family are Chinese immigrants and he moves to his first school in 5th grade. Since he felt that he would never make any friends since he was the only Asian in the class,he met Wei-Chen,a Chinese immigrant who moved to America after Jin. While Wei-Chen is down on Earth with Jin,the monkey king watches him from the high skies because he gave Wei-Chen a mission to do with his best friend. Also,a white American boy named Danny is struggling in the schools he goes and moves. His Chinese cousin Chin-Kee visits him every year and he follows him wherever he goes. Even to school. He feels that whenever he follows him to school,he gets humiliated. Although,he tries to kick him out of his house but Chin-Kee says he has to stay in America for a year.

I really enjoyed American Born Chinese, by  Gene Luen Yang. It made me feel like that there was laughter inside my body. What I liked about it was the stereotypes in the book made it into something funny and positive rather than people having to implicate that it's negative and racist. What I didn't like was nothing really. It is a very funny comic book that teens could read. I think that anyone could read this comic book. Even children. I liked the fact that there wasn't much bad words in it because I think that's what makes the book suitable for everyone to read. If this book was in a library's book shelf,then I think that the book should be placed in the children's area. I would give this a 4 or 5-star rating if I needed to. I also think that if you are Chinese or any other kind of Asian descent and you read this book,I really hope you try to not make the stereotypes sound really bad. Because really. I bet the author wrote these stereotypes down so people could learn more about the Asian culture and so people could have a laugh. I hope you guys would enjoy this book if you check this out!

Reviewed by Hannah Rachel, Grade 8
Downtown Central Library

The Gift, by James Patterson and Ned Rust

The book "Witch & Wizard, The Gift" is the second book from the "Witch & Wizard" series by James Patterson. The series follows Wisty and her brother Whit as they rebel against The One Who is The One and the New Order. The New Order is an organization that is rapidly taking over the world and seizing the people's power to freely express themselves in various forms of art such as music, dance, and most other forms of entertainment.

I enjoyed reading "Witch & Wizard, The Gift" by James Patterson and Ned Rust. The characters were well presented and the story was well told. The character names are a bit unusual but that just adds to the story. Seeing how the rebels in the book were being executed every other day, I'm unsure of how someone could fit things like concerts into their life but such is the world of fiction. I'd recommend this book to anyone who likes books about magic and rebels and things.

Reviewed by Anton V., Grade 9
Montrose Library

Empire State:A Love Story (Or Not), by Jason Shiga

A 25 year old adult named Jimmy is helping his best friend Sara prepare to leave for Brooklyn. She plans to take journalism there while Jimmy devises a plan to follow her there. He commits lying by omission by telling his mom that he is going to Brooklyn for "helping making a magazine". He ends up getting away with the lie and he takes a plane to New York. Then,he finds Sara while walking around town in Brooklyn and they hang out until it's the day when Jimmy flies back to Oakland.

I think that this comic book I just read is a great book to read if you want a combination of romance and comedy. What I liked is the animation that was made in the book because the I thought the pictures looked attracting to the reader. I felt like the colors made me feel good about myself because pastel colors looked good in the book. What I didn't like about the book is REALLY I LIKED THE WHOLE THING. It is too much of a good book. I think that people that are into romance and comedy would like this book. Or people that would want to read something short would possibly read it. So come get Empire State:A Love Story (Or Not), by Jason Shiga at your local bookstore or your local public or school library. This is a very good short rom-com story that you could possibly like.

Reviewed by Hannah Rachel, Grade 8
Downtown Central Library

Deadman Wonderland, by Jinsei Kataoka

What I liked most about this series, is the storyline and the concept of a circus-like prison, where people have to constantly fight for survival. I also love that, despite the series having few characters compared to other book series’, they all get developed well and let the reader form an emotional attachment to them. The gore might steer some people away but I encourage to give Deadman Wonderland, by  Jinsei Kataoka, a shot, it’s a really entertaining story that is sure to leave the reader wanting to read more, with a satisfying conclusion.

Ganta Igarashi, a normal middle school student, was enjoying an ordinary day at school. However, things take a dark turn when in an instant, the peaceful classroom suddenly changed into a bloodbath full of the corpses of Gantas classmates. Only he was spared, the killer standing in front of him called “The Red Man”. When police arrived, the true killer disappeared, and falsely accused Ganta of the crime. Following a swift trial, he is sent to the ultimate prison for criminals on death row, Deadman Wonderland.

Reviewed by Anonymous, Grade 9

Grandview Library

My Hero Academia, by Kohei Horikoshi

A world full of supernatural human beings, is a world where a teenage boy named, Midoriya Izuku is born into. His lifelong dream was to be a hero, even if he had no superpowers to begin with. Even knowing this fact, he still strives to be the best hero he can possibly be, and to one day be accepted into the most prestigious high school there is, UA. However, on one fateful day, everything changes when Izuku meets the number 1 hero, All Might for the very first time.

I love My Hero Academia, by  Kohei Horikoshi. it is the start of a beautiful series with a lovable cast of characters and an interesting story to get the reader hooked. I admit, the beginning is pretty cliche, with the main character being different from everyone else and finding a mentor figure to help better himself. I don’t think that’s a reason to drop the series however, the more you read, the more you get hooked into the world of My Hero Academia. What I like most about this book, is it’s amazing cast of characters. With the unique character designs and personalities, there’s not really much characters you can hate. However, because there’s so much characters, I think it would be hard for people to remember who is who and for the author to develop most of them. Other then that, this book is fantastic, I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in these types of books.

Alan Turing : The Enigma, by Andrew Hodges

“Alan Turing The Enigma” is a biography about a World War 2 mathematician named Alan Turing. He was the son of Julius Mathison Turing and Ethal Sara Stoney. He wasn’t any ordinary person. He was deeply interested into science and mathematics at a very young age and was also unique by being a homosexual. He had a close friend who he also loved named Christopher who died when he was a young adult. Devastated, Alan Turing went on to get hired to crack the secret German code-The Engigma. He cracked it by using the “first computer” named the Turing Bombe. This wasn’t the end of his adventure since he had also developed papers based on Comptable Numbers and Universal Machine. His life was not easy once he admitted being a homosexual. From then on, his life went on in a hard fashion.

In my opinion, Alan Turing : The Enigma, by  Andrew Hodges, was great however I did not like how most of it was dedicated to explaining advanced Mathematics. I think people who had goals of being in the Math or Science field would enjot this book as that’s is what most of the book is. Even though this book was hard to understand, it made me think outside the box, for example when I would try to figure out how to solve some problem myself. I enjoyed the book and recommend it for others to read.

Reviewed by Anonymous, Grade 8

Casa Verdugo Library

Titans, by Victoria Scott

 

This is a story of a girl named Astrid Sullivan who has to risk her future in order to save her family. She comes from a poor family whom the grandfather played cards and lost everything and a father who bet on the Titans, lost his job and now eventually will lose everything. Titans were not the old Greek gods, they were the half machine, half horses that always raced to win. She had never ridden a Titan, nor she ever thought of riding one in her life, but as we all know life changes everything all of a sudden. Destiny is all. She decides to ride a 3.0 Titan from her neighbor who found it. If she wins, everything will change, and her family will be saved. If she loses, there'd be no hope for saving her family and they might become homeless and fall apart from each other. What would happen? Will she make it or lose the race?

Titans, by Victoria Scott, is a fine book. It takes place in a time that is both known and unknown to us.  We don't have such things as Titans in our lives, but sure we have other things that are like it.  I believe the story has lots to tell and lots to teach.  It is an interesting book even though it wasn't my type. What I didn't like about it was how the story went slow and how tense the setting was. However, that's my opinion. What I liked about it was how the main character had hope and tried to do her best to save her family from falling apart. I recommend this book to those who are seeking for a both familiar and unfamiliar world to learn new things in their lives.

Reviewed by Orkideh, Grade 12
Downtown Central Library

Dark Breaks The Dawn, by Sara B. Larson

 Dark Breaks The Dawn, by Sara B. Larson, of a battle between light and dark. The peace between them is finally broken by Dark Kingdom of Dorjhalon after thousands of years. But, this isn't only a story about war, this is the story about Princess Evelayn who lost her father sooner than she ever expected and her mother on her 18th birthday. She is the only hope of her people and her kingdom. In order to defeat King Bain and his sons, she has to come into her ability of shape-shifting. But how can she use her gift when it never worked correctly, when she tried hard, but only a little bit of it happened? Does she need to rely on her fighting skill like ordinary people, her gift or both? What will be the destiny of Light Kingdom? What will happen to the only hope of Eadrolan? 

I liked most of the things in this book except the romance part and how the story goes a little bit slow at the beginning. I think the romance part was too early for the story and was somehow forced in. It could've been better if the author had the romance later in the book. However, this does not mean this book isn't fine. It is such an exciting and interesting book. The main character who is the Princess is so pure and innocent, she is too young and weak to face the war and reality of life. It made me sad a little bit of how she had to take a great responsibility, but as we all know, this is how life is. I believe this is a good book for teenagers and young adults. Those who like Game of Thrones or Falling Kingdoms would also like this book too.

Reviewed by Orkideh, Grade 12
Downtown Central Library