Thursday, October 13, 2016

The Duff Book Review

The Duff by Kody Keplinger

Bianca is a senior in high school. She has 2 friends named Jess and Casey. She is considered as a designated ugly fat friend compared to the popular girls. Bianca has a special place in her heart for the guy that she loves named Toby.  But besides that, there is a guy in her school named Wesley that she absolutely hates. She wouldn’t come anywhere near him or speak to him because he considered Bianca as a Duff. Until one day, Bianca and Wesley were sitting next to each other, and out of nowhere, they kissed! Bianca seems to have enjoyed that moment that she had with Wesley even though they were enemies. Bianca then finds out that Wesley’s life is pretty screwed up like hers, and with absolute horror, she’s falling for the guy that she thought she hated the most, building an enemies-with-benefits relationship.

          The main message of this book is that sometimes you will fall in love with the person you hate the most, so you shouldn’t pick enemies quite yet. I think the author did a great job presenting the book as the message was very easy to interpret and find. It was pretty straight forward, and was very easy to read, because everything made sense and there weren’t any errors. I think the author made a very clear point about enemies and relationships so there might be a few teenagers reading the book and thinking about how it connects with them. I would recommend this book to a high-school audience, because some parts of the book contain sexual actions which some middle schoolers wouldn’t be able to handle. I think that this book is worth having in the library because it shows how some people can connect with the story. Leyla L.; Teen Reviewer

Monday, October 3, 2016

The Program Book Review

The Program by Suzanne Young

Sloane and James have been together before the epidemic occurred. Now that suicide has become an international struggle, they are being watched and one mistake can send them to The Program. They will do anything to keep themselves out of The Program because everyone that comes out has their depression erased but so are their memories. They are both under continued surveillance everywhere so they hide all of their emotions. With Brady gone, Sloane’s brother, Sloane’s parents don’t want to risk losing her too so they will do anything to keep her alive, including bringing her to The Program. James is the only person she can trust with her emotions but they are both slipping and it’s getting harder to hide the truth.


                The plot of the book was interesting and the writing was good but I sped through the book because I wanted to know what happened. The ending was pretty interesting too and it made me curious about the rest of the books in the series. It was easy to read and get through. There are some issues with the book though. First of all, the main plot of this book is that depression is a contagious disease. This is giving people the wrong idea, we shouldn’t avoid people that are depressed, and we can’t catch it from them. The second issue is that Young makes it look like the government can magically erase their depression if they take some memories away. That’s not how life really works. I think the most appropriate to read this book is high school level because if younger kids don’t know the meaning of depression, they will get the wrong idea if they read this book but all those aside, this was an overall good, and suspenseful book and I would definitely recommend that you read the series. Leslie L.; Teen Reviewer

Vampirates: Immortal War Book Review

Vampirates: Immortal War by Justin Semper
 In this immensely growing war raging across the seas, young twins Grace and Conner must both give it their all in order to win this war. With Grace working with the Nocturnals behind the scenes, and Conner, one of the most valuable pirates with some incredible sparring and fencing abilities, they believe that they can win the war. Both Grace and Conner have an incredible ace up their sleeve though, they both have a dhampir gene inside of them, giving them unimaginable telekinetic powers. This war, waged by Sidorio, the self-proclaimed Vampirate king, and Lady Lockwood, an expecting mother, is one that goes on throughout the entirety of the novel. The Alliance eventually beats the Vampirate nation into submission, but at what cost?

The plot of the story was overall very well thought out, and wasn’t one-sided, favoring the Alliance. The balance in between The Alliance and the renegade Vampirate army is surprisingly well written, and had a good flow. The author definitely achieved what they set out to do, which was to give a thrilling conclusion to end the war, as well as give a surprising plot twist at the end. This book definitely has appeal, mostly to people appreciative of genres such as fantasy and thrilling action. Overall, this book is one that I highly recommend to audiences of both middle and high school, for it uses a bigger vocabulary that young children of elementary school wouldn’t be able to comprehend. This book is definitely one that should stay at the public library because of this new twist on the classic story of vampires. Lyonel L.; Teen Reviewer