Teen Book Reviews

The Hungry Place by Jessie Haas is a book told from the point of view of a fancy pony named Princess, and a girl name Rae who has wanted a pony ever since she could talk. This book is about how Princess suddenly becomes a starved pony in an empty field and how Rae finds her perfect pony. This is about the “Hungry Place” in Rae’s heart and Princess’s belly.

I really liked The Hungry Place because it has many plot points and will keep you on your feet the whole time, whether you are worried about Princess or Rae, you will always stay on your toes. I would not recommend this book for people who do not like multiple perspectives throughout the story. I also would not recommend it to someone who does not like animal first person points of views because it does describe princess’ point of view. Finally, I would recommend this to someone who knows what it feels like to really want a horse. I personally love horses, so I really enjoyed this book.

In WWII Germany, Liesel Meminger is sent away to live with foster parents Hans (Who plays the accordion and teaches her how to read) and Rosa (Who is as fiery-tempered as she is secretly kind) Hubermann. Their neighbor’s son, Rudy Steiner also becomes her best friend. When the son of a Jewish man who saved Hans’s life, Max, arrives seeking shelter, the two children are forced to grow up and face the realities of war.

I very much recommend this book. The story is beautifully crafted, showing WWII from the innocent perspective of a child while crafting her as mature and inquisitive. Liesel is a very likable protagonist, and her dynamic/antics with Rudy is not only heartwarming but believable for kids of that age. This book also has one of the most interesting narratives in anything I’ve read; the story is told from the third-person perspective of Death. Death is not characterized as god or higher power, but simply as a “being” doing his job of collecting people for the afterlife. It is very moving that he maintains a very apathetic view towards the war and mortality, but admits at the end of Liesel’s story that he is ‘haunted’ by humans.

Cadence Sinclair has been going to the same private island off the coast of Massachusetts every summer for her whole life. On the fifteenth summer, Cadence suffered from a terrible accident, ruining her memory. Her mother kept her away from the island for a year, but Cadence needs to return. Everyone is keeping secrets about the accident, so it is up to Cadence and her broken memory to find out what truly happened.

When I first started reading We Were Liars by E. Lockhart, it immediately intrigued me. The main character immediately announces, “Welcome to the beautiful Sinclair family. No one is an addict. No one is a criminal. No one is a failure.” With those few sentences, I was sucked into the storyline. A sense of uneasiness can be felt while reading this book but also mysteriousness. The book is beautifully written, at times feeling like a thriller, others a romance, and sometimes a mystery. While the book is confusing, I have no complaints about it. The mystery and confusion echo throughout the assertive writing, creating a novel almost, but not quite, dystopian. This book appeals to fans of many different genres, thriller, romance, and mystery. With a strange beginning and a satisfying twist ending, We Were Liars is nothing short of a masterpiece.

Charlie Gordon has an IQ of 68, but is passionate about learning and attends a school for mentally handicapped adults. His wish to become “smarter” is granted when he’s chosen for a study where a procedure would be done on him to increase his intelligence. The procedure is a success, and his IQ increases to 185. However, this increase is temporary and Charlie must also accept the rapid deterioration of all that he had gained.

I highly recommend this book. It is written in the form of diary entries or “progress reports” that Charlie does to report how he has changed after the surgery. This format allows for very raw and emotional storytelling and a total understanding of Charlie as a character. In the beginning, Charlie is immediately presented as very positive despite his circumstances, and you emphasize with him when he realizes his “friends” only keep him around to make fun of him. Then, in the middle, you cheer for him as he is able to read all the things he wanted to but never could before. Finally, at the end, your heart breaks for him as he still tries to stay positive despite the entire world that was opened to him being ripped away.

The Ballad of Never After is the sequel to Once Upon a Broken Heart and takes place right after the cliffhanger! Evangeline, the heroine, reads a mysterious letter telling her not to trust Jacks, who has conveniently disappeared. This causes her to battle with who to trust, causing a lot of stress and suspense building throughout the book. She then discovers something about herself which makes her want to revert everything back to when her life was normal, before she went to Jacks. Jacks then appears, trying to convince her to continue doing his favours because she is in his debt. That’s when the story really starts.

I loved this book! With all the mysteries comes a tension between all of the characters because you're thinking “who do I trust?” and “what will Evangeline do?” Garber does a wonderful job with this because it literally kept me on the edge of my seat. However, sometimes you can feel hopelessness as the reader because you want to warn Evangeline about the curse and memory loss and literally everything else that happens. This book does leave on another cliffhanger… so beware of that.