Teen Book Reviews

The Lightning Thief, written by Rick Riordan, we learn about a 12-year-old boy Percy Jackson. Percy goes to camp-half blood where he finds out that he is the son of Poseidon .Percy gets his first quest: he has to save his mother who is in the underworld and to find the master bolt to give the lord of thunder Zeus. If Percy doesn’t retrieve the master bolt in a week Zeus might kill him, and he might never see his mother again. Read to find out how Percy and his friends go through this journey.

I would definitely recommend this book. It’s suitable for all ages and it’s probably the only book in the series that I have read more than once. Though I had heard of this book in the past, it had never occurred to me how amazing it was. The characters are relatable and likable and the story has a storyline to make the reader drawn to it, also the plot of the story make the reader more focused on the book. I think this book was fantastic. It was like I was in the book. The characters make such funny choices, it is hilarious and gets you hooked pretty quickly. It can be hard to understand if you don’t know much about Greek mythology but after reading a few chapters everything will start to make sense. I highly recommend it, especially to people like me who love to read fantasy genres.

The Benefits of Being an Octopus by Ann Braden is a witty book about a girl who has a hard life, many siblings, and a small house with a mom who has a terrible boyfriend. She is quite inspiring because she just plows through it and does what needs to be done to help her family. Then, she joins the debate club and learns a lot there.

I recommend this book because it just really shows you how much you have compared to some others and makes you open your eyes to people with a much worse situation than you. I think that girls would like this book more than boys because it is told from the point of view of a middle school girl and is not an adventure book, either. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes realistic fiction. I hope that this review helps you choose to read this amazing book!

All her life, Adele has been told that her visions of the dead are just schizophrenia. This ability, however, doesn't benefit Adele when she discovers that her former best friend Tori is dead when she finds her at a thin burial in the forest. Because Adele has no plausible excuse, she is now the main suspect in Tori's killing. Her only hope of finding the true killer lies with Tori's ghost.

What a nail-biter! Henry never disappoints with keeping her readers on their toes until the very end of her stories. When I first picked this book up, I was in the middle of a terrible reading slump. Not only did this tale get me out of the slump, but also captivated me till the very end with its exquisite twists and turns. The book's dynamic themes add even more to the underlining psychological message about schizophrenia. However, I wish we could have seen the same dynamics within both the protagonist and the antagonist. Nonetheless, Henry truly knows how to cultivate her audience without revealing too much of the climactic ending. Overall, The Lonely Dead is an exhilarating, yet stellar book to devour in one sitting.

Stella Grant, a cystic fibrosis patient, has lived her whole life worrying about death. Her goal: avoid that fate, at all costs. Stella’s control-freak mind will be blown when she meets Will, a boy with B. Cepacia, the death warrant for cystic fibrosis patients. Unlike Stella, Will wants to live all the life he has left to the fullest. Two teens and five feet between them, what will Stella choose, Will or her life?

I’ve read this book a handful of times and it’s my first pick when I want to sit down and revisit some old friends. Although two very different people, Stella and Will make you contemplate aspects of your life that you don’t often have to face. The book addresses love, tragedy, and human mortality, but not in a way that makes you feel hopeless, but instead one that makes you grateful for all the wonderful things about life! This book would be appropriate for most preteens and young teenagers even with these more mature themes. The vivid characters and scenery descriptions allow you to immerse yourself in Stella’s world. It’s funny how what could be a silly little love story has so many hidden themes and valuable life lessons. Overall, I highly recommend this book!

A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson is an enticing novel with witty, caring characters that the reader immediately loves. The book follows Poppa Fitz-Amobi as she attempts to discover what really happened in a seemingly simple murder case that rocked her idyllic town of Fairview five years before. Along the way, Pip will find new friends, encounter dangerous enemies, and discover hidden secrets that eat at the foundation of Fairview.

I would recommend this book to any reader searching for relatable, funny characters, for this book is stock-full of them. This book has the full package: drama, suspense, slight romance, tricks, and plot twists. This book is a wild ride that leaves the reader hungering to read the second book. Once I picked this book up, I could not put it back down. I could not recommend A Good Girl's Guide to Murder enough.