Teen Book Reviews

Amari is a young African woman who lives in the village of Ziavi peacefully. Until one day, Americans break into her village and murder her family. Amari survives and is taken to America on a boat where she is sold to a plantation owner named Mr. Derby. He beats his slaves whenever they don’t do something right. Once at the plantation, she meets an indentured servant named Polly. Now that she has a friend, can she escape the plantation?

Copper Sun is a great book to read for anybody who wants a historical fiction book. Sharon Draper does a great job telling the story of an African American slave’s daily life on a plantation while still making it an enjoyable book to read. I really enjoyed how there were a lot of historical facts in the book that taught me a huge amount about the Atlantic Slave Trade. I also enjoyed how the book taught me about how bad slavery was back at that time. There wasn’t anything that I didn’t enjoy about the Copper Sun. I would recommend this book for people over twelve years old who would like a lot more helpful information about the Atlantic Slave Trade that is not taught at school. Copper Sun is a very interesting book packed with adventure, romance, and plot twists that will surely captivate the reader from the start to the end.

Juliet always writes letters for her mom and puts them on her grave. Declan works at the graveyard for court-ordered community service. They both have connection together that starts...in an unusual way. One day, Declan finds a mysterious letter next to a grave and starts reading it and it goes on from there. Brigid Kemmerer's Letters to the Lost shows two teens communicating through letters without ever knowing each other’s identity.

I didn’t expect to love this as much as I did! I’ve been trying to expand my horizons with book genres I wouldn’t usually read. One of them being a YA romance book. But this didn’t feel like some of the other books I’ve read in the same category. It goes into depth on what it’s like to lose a loved one and to accept others and not judge them. With that being said, it is more on the heavy side and I would check the trigger warnings. But overall I really enjoyed it! I loved the dynamic between Juliet and Declan and also the foreshadowing happening throughout leading to the climax of the book.

When a life-changing scenario happens to Chase Ambrose's memory, he has to revive life. While going to school he notices others deminer to him and is confused by those actions. While some of his peers are happy for him such as his friend others are displeased by the situation. Does Chase Ambrose find himself as his old self or living life differently?

I like this book I'd read it again. It’s about a kid who is named Chase Ambrose who wakes up in a hospital bed after which he can’t remember anything then he sees how everybody is mad or scared of him and he was once a bully before he fell off the window and got amnesia. And before he had amnesia he bullied a person so badly that they transferred schools and his sister “Shoshanna Weber* is furious at Chase. So general this is a great book there were a few funny moments and Chase becomes a nice person after the entire book. So yes, you have to read this book.

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.