Thursday, July 20, 2006

Camp Fear by Carol Ellis

Eight new camp counselors, all about eighteen or nineteen years old, begin shaping up Camp Silverlake for the children arriving soon. Some of those counselors have been to Camp Silverlake before, years before, when something unspeakable occurred. Now, seven years later, someone is haunting those counselors at Camp Silverlake, turning each individual’s worst fears into reality.

Although this book was a bit predictable at times, overall it was a great, suspenseful, blood-rushing novel. Camp Fear by Carol Ellis will surely thrill any mystery lover! - Timmy W

The Stalker by Carol Ellis

Janna Richards was just one of the dancers in the play Grease, so she was thrilled when she had her own personal fan. But, that quickly changed when the so-called “fan” began stalking her- following her tour route, sending deadly messages, and even watching her through her motel window. After some near-fatal “accidents” occur, Janna calls the police, only to learn they can do almost nothing to help. Now, Janna must take matters into her own hands before the curtain closes on Janna’s life!

The Stalker started off a little shaky, but overall, it is an exciting mystery that I would recommend to mystery lovers everywhere! - Timmy W

Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher

Whale Talk is a sports fiction novel. However, it deals with other topics, such as modern day racism (a few characters in the story are racist), abuse, and how one accident can change someone’s life forever. The story is about The Tao Jones; everyone just calls him T.J. Jones (the J is from Jones). T.J. was adopted when he was very young because his biological mother was a drug addict and left him alone for hours at a time. Throughout his life he has faced racism and is tired of it. T.J. is very athletic, and in a school that values its athletic program, he is also criticized for not trying out for football, basketball, or any other sport. Then, he sees a kid being picked on for wearing his deceased brother’s Cutter High letter jacket. When T.J. is asked to put together a swim team, he decides to fill it with a group of kids who don’t really fit in with the other Cutter kids, including Chris Coughlin, the kid who was wearing his brother’s jacket. The book caught me because of the plot and a few other things. The main plot of the story is about how the swim team progresses throughout the season. Another thing that caught me in
Whale Talk is that it is a roller coaster ride of emotions. In a matter of pages, the story can go from normal to suspense to sad and back to normal, or it can go from normal to suspense to rage to suspense and back to normal. Another catchy thing in the book is the ending. IT is very unexpected and sad. All things considered, it was an okay read. - Bruce H

The Island of Dangerous Dreams by Joan Lowery Nixon

Andrea is forced to spend the summer with her creepy aunt when her parents decide they need some time alone. Then Andrea and her aunt are invited to an island to bid on an amazing art artifact. Everyone knows the object is stolen, but Andrea is the only one who seems to care. Then the artifact is stolen and someone is murdered. No one knows who will be next.

What I liked most about this book was that it wasn’t easy to figure out. Some mysteries I have read had plots that were easy to figure out and mysteries are never as good when you know the ending. In this book, there are many surprises that keep you guessing and wondering until the very end. - Natalie M.

The Window by Carol Ellis

After a sprained ankle keeps Jody from enjoying the slopes for the rest of her ski vacation, she decides to stay in her room in the cabin, without anything to do. A little spying into another cabin wouldn’t hurt. Especially when the cabin belongs to the lovely Leahna Calder, whom boys drool over while girls wish they were even half as pretty as she was.

Too bad someone feels different. Someone wants Leahna dead, but whom? It couldn’t be one of the other six staying at the cabin with Jody, could it? Each one had a motive, but only one’s reason for wanting Leahna dead was strong enough to actually kill.

And while that one person is fighting Leahna, leading to her death, Jody is watching. She sees everything…including the killer staring back at her.

The Window by Carol Ellis is full of suspense and will keep mystery-lovers on their toes all the way till the end! - Timmy W.

Poison by Chris Wooding

This book is about the travels of young Poison who lives in the Black Marshes. The scarecrow takes her baby sister and a changeling is put in place of her. So Poison starts her journey along with Bram to ask the Phaerie Lord for her sister back. She faces many dangers including a witch that eats bones and a giant spider queen. Poison has to find out who she really is and her innocent quest to find her sister has become a life threatening adventure.

This book was great! I couldn’t put it down once I started reading it. The end keeps you wondering about what will happen next in Poison’s life. - Saniya S

Digital Fortress by Dan Brown

Digital Fortress is a Dan Brown masterpiece. It is a mystery/suspense/action novel in which an NSA (National Security Agency) cryptographer (one who studies and deciphers codes) Susan Fletcher and her fiancé David Becker, who works for a university, are caught up in a huge twisting scandal threatening to destroy U.S. intelligence. It is a captivating twist of events, with enough evidence to support that one person is the criminal, then abruptly giving you the evidence to support that the person is innocent and someone else is threatening American intelligence. The story is set in two countries, with two story lines interconnected completely. The part that grabbed me was the suspense, the constantly twisting power struggle, and several occasions in which believing or rejecting theories could have been the difference between life and death. Also, David is constantly dodging bullets, both figuratively and literally. I enjoyed learning about a few types of codes including one used by Julius Caesar. The characters in Digital Fortress were developed at different rates, sometimes giving false hints, forcing the readers to make their own guesses about what a character will do, and then, later, they find out something different, and the plot line could change completely. The mood of the book is both slow and steady, with not a dangerous feel, just a search for an item or a search for clues at times and other times, the mood is suspenseful, mysterious, and fast passed and there is a lot of danger or the need for quick thinking and decision-making. Overall, Digital Fortress is a good novel and is worth reading; it has a good plot, a suspenseful feel as you anxiously read toward the next shocking twist, and the danger that lurks around every corner. I give this book a 5-star rating. - Bruce H.

She Said Yes by Misty Bernall

On April 20, 1999, Cassie Bernall was asked a question ‘Do you believe in God’ by two students with guns. She was shot for answering yes. Although without the help of her parents, Cassie would have been down the same troubled path as her killers. This is the sad story of Cassie Bernall’s short, but inspiring life.

This story makes you think about what you really believe. In the same life or death situation would you still have stuck up for your beliefs like Cassie did? This story also made me appreciate parents more because I learned no matter what, they’re going to love you and help you through any problems you have. This touching tale gives you many new outlooks on life. - Natalie M

Soldier’s Heart by Gary Paulsen

This book report is about Soldier’s Heart. If you like books on wars, this is a book for you. This story takes place during the Civil War. There was a boy who had lived in the Civil War Era, and his name was Charley Goddard. He was a fifteen year old boy who lived in Minnesota and enlisted in the army. Charley went to battles and made a new friend. He learned that war isn’t a great adventure and lots of fun but, that lot’s of people die and get injured during wars.

Read this story by Gary Paulsen about a boy who went to war and came back a changed man. - Ronak P

Samurai Girl: The Book of The Sword by Carrie Asai

The lone survivor of a terrible plane crash in Japan, thought she was lucky when taken in by a wealthy rich Japanese family; how very wrong she was. Now on her wedding day in Los Angeles she is attacked by a ninja; loses the person she loved the most, her brother; and learns that everything about her family is a lie. Someone is out to get her and she must find out who. She must now forget the past. The old Heaven Kogo is gone; now she is the Samurai Girl.

I found this book interesting. A pampered princess has to become a samurai warrior. Throughout the book there is a secret that kept me reading. All the characters are keeping something from Heaven. - Saniya S

The Lovely Bones by Alice Segold

At the beginning of the novel, Susie Salmon is murdered by a strange neighbor, Mr. Harvey, who killed her in the cornfield behind her house. Susie is in heaven as she watches her family deal with her murder throughout their life. Her dad gets a suspicion that Mr. Harvey murdered her, but the police don’t help much since he is just “assuming”. One afternoon, Susie’s sister Lindsey, broke into Mr. Harvey’s house. She found some evidence to prove Mr. Harvey’s guilt. But before they could capture Mr. Harvey, he fled. As this was going on, Mrs. Salmon left the family and moved across the country. Many years passed with Susie gone. She would watch her family as they changed.

Altogether I didn’t like this book because it was too depressing and sad to read. Nothing good or hopeful aspired in the entire book. -- Hannah K