Don't Scream by Joan Lowery Nixon

This mystery thriller follows a high school senior named Jessica Donnally who lives a pretty normal life until 2 new kids enroll in Jessica's school who go by the names of Mark Malik and Scott Alexander. One of them, Mark, move into Jess's neighborhood. She grows a liking into Mark, and her best friend, Lori, grows a liking to Scott. Life is pretty normal for Jess at this point until her grumpy neighbor's cat and Jess's beloved cat disappear almost too coincidentally. Now she has to deal with the struggle of keeping her grades up, helping a young boy named Ricky, finding out the truth of the mysterious disappearance of these 2 cats, and the increasingly strange behavior of both Mark and Scott.

This book offers a mysterious story about 2 boys who grow increasingly stranger and stranger. The book takes a while to build up the suspense, but when it does, you're left desperate to finally know the truth about these 2 strange boys. The book is a bit slow in the beginning, but by the middle it really picks up it's pace and in the end is an extremely good mystery thriller and I would really recommend it to anyone who takes a liking into mystery books. This one's not the most complex mystery book out there, but it still is one that I much enjoyed.

Reviewed by Rolan, Grade 9
Glendale Central Library

A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L'Engle

 This amazing book, known as A Wrinkle in Time, has a very unique plot. The book starts off by introducing the main character, Meg Murry. She is not the smartest girl or the prettiest. Meg and her brother, Charles Wallace, have a mother, Mrs. Murry and a father, Mr. Murry that has disappeared. When Meg, Charles, and their friend Calvin, were walking in the midnight, Meg started peeling very tired and weak. Next thing we know, she is on this planet with the other two boys and these three old ladies which all have a last name starting with a "W. This whole book is based on them trying to find Meg's father, Mr. Murry. They all go through a lot of adventures and at towards the end, the book takes a lot of unexpected turns that really makes you wanna read more.

I would definitely recommend A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L'Engle, to anyone who likes books with adventures. If you are interested in a book based on a lot of magic spontaneous and unexpected events than this is the book for you. I really enjoyed this book and I really enjoyed the writing style that made me want to keep reading. The characters were really unique and entertaining throughout the whole story. The book does not have any boring parts and is very fast paste. My favorite part of the book would probably the ending because of how unexpected it was. So, if you really like adventurous style books, A Wrinkle in Time is the perfect book for you.

Reviewed by E.B., Grade 8
Grandview Library

The Story of an Assassin by Anthony Horowitz

The story is about a Russian assassin that is reading his life story the day before he completes his mission. It starts off with this assassin arriving to London, he then books a hotel nearby the location of this new mission, he then makes it to the hotel, and gets his room. From there, he decides to leave the room for a little, then returns. He turns on his laptop and receives the coordinates for the location of the mission, and that's when he decides to read his digital diary a bit. He reads about his life living in his hometown in Russia, what happened that turned his life around, how his town gets blown up, how he escapes, how he becomes a hoodlum, how he gets enslaved on his first score, his life during slavery, how he manged to escape his slavery, and how he became an assassin.

The book is a masterpiece for its plot line, for its characters, and for its story. I mostly loved how good the story is, with a unclear beginning of this protagonist, an emotional roller coaster ride between the chapters, with the ones he loved dying before his very eyes, to the ones that made him suffer, suffer in his vengeful hands, and somewhat of a relieving ending. Now, I think that many artists or creative people would love this story. How it made me feel though can only be described as an emotional roller coaster. So yeah I would give it a 10/10.

Reviewed by Yadeadboi007, Grade 8
Glendale Central Library