Teen Book Reviews

The School for Good and Evil follows two best friends from an unassuming town. Sophie wished to be a princess while Agatha was deemed a witch. The two girls are kidnaped by the mysterious schoolmaster and taken to the fabled School for Good and Evil, where Agatha finds herself in good and Sophie in evil. They have to work together in order to escape the school master and find a happily ever after.

I highly recommend this book. Each character is well developed and has clear intentions. This makes them very relatable. The book explores the themes of good and evil, and it will make you question what they truly mean. It also discusses the complicated mess that is real friendship, and how two people can get along even when they are different. You will fall in love with the unique array of supporting characters, and you might even find yourself rooting for evil. With every twist and turn of the plot you will get caught up in the fairy tale world of the endless woods, and discover who is truly good and evil, for beauty can only hide truth for so long.

The Reappearance of Rachel Price follows Bel, who is the lone witness of her mother’s disappearance sixteen years prior. The one issue: she doesn’t remember it. Her mom is believed to be dead, but when a true crime documentary about her mom begins filming, her mother suddenly reappears. Claiming that she has escaped from an unknown captor, Bel knows that something isn’t right, and she is the one person who can figure out the truth.

I really enjoyed this book and I absolutely recommend it to anyone interested in a good mystery. While this is a much slower novel than the author’s claim to fame, A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, I found some of the characters to be more likeable. The book also has a strong plot, and the main twist is definitely unexpected. The book also has a strong theme that carries on throughout the story, ultimately leaving the reader with a satisfied feeling, despite the shocking ending. Ultimately, I quite enjoyed this book and I urge anyone who enjoys mysteries or has read other books by the author to read it.

After Adena’s best friend Paedyn Gray unexpectedly leaves to compete in Ilya’s annual Purging Trials, she is thrown into the mess that is the real world: constant hunger, eerie men, and lonely nights. That is, until she meets Mak, a serious boy with a troubling past. They are complete opposites, but they discover there is something they can do for each other.

This fast-paced novella had me so hooked, I read it in one sitting. The way that Roberts creates her characters amazes me. You may expect the novella to be less exciting than the main novels, but in this case, you would be greatly mistaken. Adena and Mak’s relationship starts off rocky, but slowly progresses into something nobody could have expected. The deaths in this book were so heartbreaking I shed real tears. Mak’s progression of put-together and stern to happy to completely broken was very well-written. Overall, this book was one of the best I have ever read and I would recommend it to anyone who wants a story full of love, loss, and plot twists!

The main characters are the Pye family and Pinky the kitten. The Pyes went to Fire Island to research birds. They found Pinky, and the Pyes adopted her. Pinky could use a typewriter and box with Ginger the dog. Bennie caught locusts and kept them in the alcoves. Then a storm came and suddenly all the locusts disappeared. Mr. Bish came and he said he lost his pygmy owl, which they found in the alcoves.

I recommend this book because of many reasons. First, it is a funny book that is very attention grabbing and funny as the people do a lot of silly stuff. Second, it is a good book for kids that like cats as it is all about a cat. Finally, it is a good mystery book as they struggled to figure out what made the locusts disappear. That is why I think this is a good book to read.

Nora is a girl whose mom had died during her birthday. This caused her to be depressed. For her next birthday she went to a canyon in the middle of nowhere with nobody there. While she was in this canyon a flash flood separated her from her dad. So she tried to find him by moving through the canyon to find him. Then finally, they found each other and got rescued from the canyon.

I would recommend this book. I thought this book was very good with many plot twists and exciting moments. Throughout the book I wanted to keep on reading because of how many cliffhangers and exciting moments there were. As a person who doesn’t often read or like books, this book was certainly one of my favorites, and you should definitely read it.