Alex Rider: Crocodile Tears by Anthony Horowitz

In the book Crocodile Tears for the first time in Alex Rider’s 14 years of life, he wants to be normal. For the last year, he has been a secret agent, and thwarting the plans of evil masterminds for M-16, the secret organization that he has been working for. However, Alex knows very little that his life will be in great danger.

The story starts off when Alex and his friends go to a party in a Scottish Castle. A man there seems a bit suspicious, but Alex, at first, doesn’t seem worried. On the way home after the party, they are mysteriously shot at and their car crashes into a freezing lake. Alex barely makes it out alive along with his friends. They are taken to a hospital by a stranger.
Alex tries to forget what happened, but new problems erupt. There is a greedy journalist who finds out about his identity, and wants to write about it in order to get rich. Alex is nervous, and forces himself to go to M-16 for help. They agree to help him if he does a “little mission” for them. They want him to get data from a computer at a place called Greenfields. Since he is going on a trip there anyway, he gets in easily. However the “little mission” turns out to be extremely dangerous. Will Alex Rider survive his mission? Who will end up being behind this evil plot?

All I can say is that Alex’s adventure is impressive. There is, of course, lots of action. The story also gets to be very adventurous in the later chapters. Kids 10 and under wouldn't enjoy this book. First of all, it may be too hard of a book for them to read, but also, some of Alex’s dangerous situations might scare some of the younger readers. Overall, this book is an outstanding action-packed adventure for kids over 10 years of age.

~Matthew, Teen Book Reviewer

Ashes by Kathryn Lasky

Kathryn Lasky is an award winning author who has written over 100 books for children and young adults. She wrote a historical fiction book, called Ashes, which takes place in Berlin. In 1932, Adolf Hitler is just gaining power and Germany is about to engage in a war. Gaby Schramm is thirteen years old. She is trying to cope with all of the changes going on around her. People from her school begin following Hitler. Gaby’s older sister, Ulla, is having problems in her love life and Gaby is trying to figure out what is happening. Her father is a scientist who follows Einstein’s writings, which puts the family in danger. This makes for an exciting story that parallels the events of that time period.

I think that this book is very good. It is well-written and very engrossing, but I would not recommend it to younger readers. It uses German words throughout the book, and gives you their meaning. I found it hard to remember what each German word meant as I was reading. Also, it has some challenging vocabulary. The characters are well-developed and the plot is great. The book also shows you what it was like to live in Berlin when Hitler started to take over. I would recommend Ashes to teenage readers.

~Samantha, Teen Book Reviewer

Airhead by Meg Cabot

Runaway by Meg Cabot is by far one of the best works I’ve read by Meg Cabot. It’s an intense novel about a girl named Emerson (Em) who is turned into supermodel Nikki Howards and vice versa after a horrible accident that left her life in danger. Em was crushed after trying to save her sister Frida. Nikki, on the other hand tried to blackmail her boss, Robert Stark(one of the richest men in the world) . To prevent the “secret” that he does not want to be revealed, he attempts to murder her. The attempt fails and a man called Dr. Fong transfers Nikki and Em’s brains to keep them alive. Robert’s son, Brandon then takes both of them hostage to find out the secret that Nikki tried to blackmail his father with so he himself can use it to his advantage and take down his evil father. Both of the girls are saved by Christopher, Nikki (who is actually Em) and Nikkie (Em) tries to take down the man who had gotten her into this whole mess. This intense novel will keep you on the edge of your seat and surprise you with every page. I highly recommend it to anyone who’s ever read any of Meg Cabot’s books.

~Cindy, Teen Book Reviewer

The Pretty One by Cheryl Klam

The Pretty One by Cheryl Klam is about a sixteen-year-old girl named Megan Fletcher. Megan has always wanted to be like her older sister Lucy. Lucy is a gorgeous starlet whom everyone worships, meanwhile Megan has been living in the shadows offstage, hoping that the spotlight will never shine on her ugly, chubby face. A twist of fate changes things completely. After a freak accident, plastic surgeons must rebuild Megan’s face. No one could have predicted that under the bandages was a Megan that was more beautiful than Lucy.

Now Megan is living her new life as the pretty one and she lands the lead in her secret crush’s (Drew Reynolds) play. Now she is battling with not only Lucy, but with Lucy for a spot in brew’s heart.

I really enjoyed this book and I would definitely recommend this book to anyone that loves a good novel, with some sibling rivalry.

~Taylor, Teen Book Reviewer

The Earthsea Cycle, The Farthest Shore by Ursula K. Le Guin

In the fantasy book, The Earthsea Cycle, The Farthest Shore,
by Ursula K. Le Guin, magic starts to disappear due to an unknown reason. In the world of Ged the Archmage, all things depend on an equilibrium, including magic, and something has upset this equilibrium. Since only humans can use magic to create disturbances in this great balance, an evil mage must be among them. He visits a local island, and find out from an elder’s dream that a dragon master, or very powerful wizard, is causing this. In the book, The Earthsea Cycle, The Farthest Shore, by Ursula K. Le Guin, Ged the Archmage and his companion, a prince from Enland, must search all over the vast chain of islands they call home in order to stop this evil. In the book, certain chapters were difficult to understand because they were not explained until the end or next chapter(especially magelight). Although the book is meant to be read in a series, it was enjoyable to read on its own. The book was also required a knowledge of fantasy to be fully understood. I recommend this book to those who have read a fantasy book before, as this would be a challenging read otherwise. I give the book 9/10.

~Robert, Teen Book Reviewer

The Earthsea Cycle: The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. Le Guin

At a young age, Tenar, is taken away from her mother, her possessions and her home. She is raised by the high priestesses of the Godking to become the priestess of the Tombs of Atuan. While in her domain, a wizard tries to steal the tomb’s greatest treasure, the ring of Erreth-Akbe. The wizard teaches Tenar about a world she never entered and gives her the choice to escape her current life or be locked in her domain forever. The Earthsea Cycle: The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. Le Guin is a masterpiece that will pull you in and won’t let go until you have read the entire series. Don’t delay, check out your copy today at the Half Hollow Hills library!

~John, Teen Book Reviewer

High Rhulain by Brian Jacques

I recently indulged myself upon the likes of Brian Jacques' fiction novel High Rhulain. This is a tale of a humble abbey otter who must cross the daring western seas to the Green Isle. Intrusting her life to a lunatic hare by the name of Captain Cuthbert Frunk W. Bloodpaw, she is destined to free other captive otters bound to slavery by Riggu Felis, tyrant of the wildcats and ruler of the Green Isle. For Tiria, the abbey otter, is a direct descendent of the famed High Queen Rhulain whose reign was brought to a sudden end many years ago due to her death at sea. To clear up any confusion, all characters in this book are animals and there are no references to human life. At times, this book is hard to follow do to the fact the Jacques purposely misspelled many words so that the reader can get a sense of the character’s accents. I thought that this novel was interesting for the most part, but it may be a difficult read for those who are not accustomed to the use of slang language. I would first recommend reading the other books in the series in order to get a full understanding of all of the books references.

~Joseph, Teen Book Reviewer

Into the Wild Nerd Yonder by Julie Halpern

I would highly recommend Into the Wild Nerd Yonder for young teens. In this book, a sophomore girl named Jessie goes through a wild adventure. Along for the ride are her two best friends Bizza and Char, who have completely turned into punks! Jessie, Char, and Bizza have been really good friends for a long time, but now Jessie doesn’t know how she fits in any longer. All Bizza and Char want to do is hang out with her older brother and his band. This isn’t what Jessie wants to do. So she starts hanging out with a nerdy crowd... and liking it! If you enjoy stories about friends and relationships, you will like reading this book. You can also see how Jessie goes on an adventure from being friends with punks, to being friends with nerds.

~ Sarah, Teen Book Reviewer