Bethany Hamilton lives in Hawaii, Kauai. She is a pro surfer in Hawaii. She gets home-schooled by her parents and she does get homework like we do. She got attacked when she was 13 in 2004 and now she is 18 and still living her dream. She is a very inspiring teenager to many and someone who is willing fight for what she loves doing.

- Bailey G.  p.7 Argentar

Imagine a mother that has to go through so much trauma and fright to get her daughter who has been kidnapped back? What if you had to take risks that would effect your life forever? What if every move you made decided whether your daughter will live or die? Sue Young’s one month year old daughter and nanny have been kidnapped by a stranger. A man has ordered her to do tasks and if she does not follow them correctly she will never see her daughter again she will only know one thing. Traveling in her escalade through a snow storm not knowing where she is headed. Sue feeling pain and heartache and only hoping her daughter is okay. Driving across all the back roads fighting for her daughters survival. She is doing everything she can to stay calm and not call the police. Sue is also making sure she is cooperating with what this man is telling her to do along the way to save her daughter. Will Sue ever see her daughter and nanny? Read Chasing the Dead by: Joe Schreiber to find out more. 

Taken, by Chris Jordan, is the mystery where a parent’s nightmare enters reality. When Kate Bickford’s son Tommy scores the winning run for his little league baseball game, he goes to get himself something to eat. And that’s the last time Kate sees him. She goes all over her town searching for him. So then she goes back to her house thinking that he’s there. She looks and finds that her new nightmare is sitting in her chair with a gun pointing at her.

On every page in this book, there is something intense as well as interesting to find in Mrs. Bickford’s struggle to find her son. Her journey will make everyone who will read this wondering what is going to happen on the next page. Readers might also be trying to think and figure out what happened, how did this go about, and more importantly, why did this happen. Taken is a thrilling mystery that will have readers eager to know what happens next.

By: Michaela M.

Wells

Period 3

Some may say a person dealing with depression also means they are bad, cranky people who don’t have lives. In Ned Vizzinis It’s Kind of A Funny Story, his main character, Craig Gilner, re-defines what depression is all about.

Craig is an out-going, kind, teenager whose main goal right now is to succeed in high school, get a hot girlfriend, and be accepted by his peers.  The only thing stopping him is his depression, resulting from pressure at his new high school. This eventually leads him to a suicidal episode, putting him in a mental hospital. Vizzini himself spent some time at a psychiatric hospital, so Craig’s experience in it are very realistic. There he learns the importance of friendship and that becoming happy doesn’t always involve pleasing others.

As depressing as that all sounds, Ned Vizzini created his book with so much comedy that it wasn’t at all depressing to actually read. He mixes common teenager problems with problems only a depressed person could face and made them relatable. The reader really feels Crags’ feelings as if they were their own. He made connections from the past, when Craig was younger and considered himself to be happy, to the present. The way these connections help Craig evolve are extremely creative.  As Craig finds himself again, the reader feels complete to know he’s finally found happiness.

In another one of Vizzini’s books, Teen Angst? Naaah…, you learn about experiences he himself went through and learned from. In it, you also learn that much of his personal life is sewed into It’s Kind of A Funny Story. To me, that makes this book even more realistic for a reader. The way Craig acts in certain situations in the story is sometimes unusual. Knowing it is because the author himself acted that way and looking back on it now can make fun of that, is what really gives this book an added authenticity. Craig’s lovable and relatable personality, crazy but funny story, and Vizzini’s own life experiences truly make this a must read book.

Winter Games By John Lacombe

Review by Aaron Appelbaum
Wells period 4

Winter Games is a captivating novel that leaves you hanging at the end of every chapter.  You will always be begging for more.  If you enjoy action, suspense, cliff hangers and thriller novels then this is the book for you.  I never knew what was coming next and I just couldn’t wait to find out.  I had to keep on reading.  This book is tells a story about love between two brothers who are different from other people.  One must fight to save the other when trouble arises.  Will the brothers be able to get out alive and be able to avoid what is lurking in the woods?  Read winter games to find out.  The writer uses very clear everyday language, this allows for a very easy and understandable read.  This book showed me for the first time that reading can be very entertaining. I would recommend this book to all of my friends and I am sure they would love it.  I am so exited to read the sequel.  Winter Games was one of those action books that I would love to see be turned into a video game or even a movie.

Review By Hanna Boorom

Hoffman -  Period 6

A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray

Have you ever had a dream or a premonition come true? Well, for 16 year-old Gemma Doyle, that is a stark reality that haunts her. Growing up wealthy with her mother, father, and housekeeper in India in the 1700’s, Gemma has led a privileged life. When a girl in her social ranking comes of age, she is sent off to London to learn how to further become a young lady. Gemma desperately desires to go to London, however, her mother will not let her, but does not tell why. Infuriated and frustrated with her mother, Gemma lashes out, to her great regret. Later that day, Gemma gets a strange sensation, then, suddenly, she is pulled into a vision. she sees a terribly gruesome thing happen, then, in another moment, she is pulled back into the real world, only to see that what she saw a few moments ago actually happened. With her heart full of loss, Gemma is now, almost forced to go to a finishing school in London, where she will be instructed how on how to be a proper young lady, who will be, hopefully, married off to a rich husband. When at the school, she tangles with the most popular and powerful girls in the school, has more visions, and sheds light on her family’s dark past. The fate of the realms between the afterlife and this one rests in her hands as she learns the joyous benefits and malevolent consequences of experimenting with the magic that she finds there. When things go too far, she has to choose between what is right and what is easy. Can Gemma take the huge responsibilities that she is given and restore peace in the realms? If she can’t, there may be lives to pay.

The Taking by Dean Koontz

Review by Mikey Ling

Ms. Hoffman – 6th Period

The book I chose to read was called The Taking by Dean Koontz. This book is filled with twists and turns that are truly meant for the type of person who can stand scary books. The suspense is overwhelming! Molly Sloan wakes up beside her sleeping husband, Neil, in the middle of the night to a pounding drumbeat of a heavy rainfall. Molly looks out of her window and notices the rain is luminescent! It was such a heavy downpour she could barely see out her window. Little did she know that this was the beginning of the end for humanity. She decides to wake Neil up to tell him the weird phenomenon that was going on outside, but in the corner of her eye she spots her mirror. Something was wrong with the reflection. As she takes a closer look, she notices the reflection is like a totally different world. Out of the shadows of the reflection a dark, strange figure flies across the room. She turns around and notices nothing is wrong….It all goes downhill from there. A neighbor who’s body has been sliced and shot to death, a headless body that walks the streets, and a doll that comes to life with a sole purpose to spook its spectators are few of the many sick, scary, yet amazing experiences that make you want to keep reading the book until your20mind is filled with so many sick images you have to stop.  This had to be one of the scariest books I have ever read in my entire life! This book portraits the original “end of the world” setting, except instead of the original meteors falling from the sky, volcanoes gushing with lava, and a sky as red as blood, Koontz developed a different, more creative way to end the world. BE WARNED! This book gave me nightmares

The Sea of Monsters
By: Rick Riordan
Review by: Hayley Glatter

What would you do if a swarm of killer pigeons engulfed your camp and started pecking everyone’s eyes out? Well, Percy Jackson, the demigod, would pull out his trusty sword Riptide and begin his assault. The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan follows the half blood Percy Jackson as he finds himself on another exciting quest with his friend Annabeth. This t hrilling sequel to The Lightning Thief, features Percy trying to save Camp Half Blood because someone poisoned Thalia’s tree. In addition to the camp, Percy feels that his satyr friend Grover could be in serious trouble. Throughout the adventure, Percy fights cannibals, cyclopes, killer pigeons and many other monsters. He also has a few confrontations with an old enemy who has some new tricks up their sleeve. With the help of new friends, like Tyson the Cyclops, and old, Percy must save the Thalia’s tree by obtaining the coveted Golden Fleece, or Camp Half Blood will no longer be safe.
If you enjoy adventure or fantasy books with excitement on every page than The Sea of Monsters is for you. It is a high energy novel that picks up where The Lightning Thief left off. I would highly encourage you to read the entire Lightning Thief series including the second installment called The Sea of Monsters.

The Lightning Thief By: Rick Riordan

Review By Julie Moy Leong

Roarrr!!! The monster races toward a boy, charging like a raging bull. The boy, named Percy, faces many more monsters than just that Minotaur, a bull-man. In the book, Percy discovers he’s half human and half god, or a Demigod. He goes on a quest to find something that was stolen from the gods to try to restore the peace among the Big Three: Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades.

Percy is a very brave fellow, but he sometimes doesn’t use his head. I think he’ll make a great Hero after he gets some training done. If you like myths about the Greek gods and also a bit of the present, this book is for you. But if you just like a good story with a touch of magic, you’ll just have to read it to find out.

Nineteen Minutes by Jodie Picoult

Review by Jaime Horwitz

It only takes nineteen minutes for a school shooting to happen.