review by Lawrence A

Slam is an average African American trying to succeed in school and in life afflicted by moving to a new school and neighborhood, he tries out for the basketball team and finds himself in problems that make life harder. Already with a grandma in the hospital and a father that’s not able to support his family, Slam finds himself trying to wonder to believe whether he could trust his best friend.

In the book Slam goes through saying every detail in his mind and tries to compensate between the good and bad parts oh his. Although under the poverty and living in a bad neighborhood he finds ways to cope with the new life. tries out for basketball and still stays in touch with his friends, still doesn’t know and doesn’t know how to succeed in life and etc.

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The book Saving Zoe by Alyson Noel is about a girl name Echo. Echo’s life is drastically changed when her sister Zoe dies. It’s hard for Echo to realize that she will never be able to talk to her sister again. She is extremely upset about it. In the beginning of the book, Echo says how she thought that these kinds of tragedies only happened to other people far away from her and her life.

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Nobody knew where Cass was. The police was immediately on the case. It was so weird that right After David Kirby commit suicide, Cass went missing. No one knew that someone was seeking revenge on Cass for something she didn’t do.

What Happened to Cass McBride was a thrilling story. You do know who kidnaps her and why but the reason why the criminal did it was not why you think. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys not a mystery but a suspenseful story that doesn’t reveal its answers until the very tail end.

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“Dreamland” by Sarah Dessen is about a young girl by the name of Caitlin. She was the complete opposite of her older sister Cass. Cass was the perfect child. She was on many school clubs and other activities as well. One day Cass ran away. It was up to Caitlin to follow in her footsteps. She ended up joining the cheerleading squad at school. She was in the “in” crowd. She meets this boy Rogerson at a party and feels she is falling for him. He is a drug dealer and isn’t the safest of people to be around. She becomes very attached to him until something goes terribly wrong. Caitlin needs to put herself first this time. She needs to save herself.

I really enjoyed the book “Dreamland” by Sarah Dessen. It’s not like most books i read. The book is based on a teenage girl falling into the typical trap of fitting in. I picked up a very important message from reading this novel. It taught me to not be afraid of who I am. I should be proud of who I am. Don’t ever be someone you’re not just to fit in. It’s a life long message that will help you along the way in years to come. I recommend this book to anyone who loves romance and drama. It would be great for teenagers to read this because Caitlin is one and it is easy to relate to her situation.

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Dark Angel Blog

In David Klass’s Dark Angel, Jeff is conflicted when his convicted murderer brother is about to return home. Jeff, the main character, feels as if he just got his life under control. He has recently moved to a new state with his mom and dad, and is happy with his new high school experience. More than anything, he is glad for the anonymity he has in this new town versus his old town where everyone knew that his brother, Troy, stabbed one of his classmates. Jeff resents his brother for returning to town and creating havoc in his life. Little does he know that his brother’s brush with the law may not have come to an end.

The details in Klass’s books always make them interesting and appealing to read. Dark Angel did not fall short of my expectations. I feel as though the author did an incredible job using descriptive language, keeping the reader engaged in the novel. I also thought the foreshadowing that the title, Dark Angel, casted on the novel. The theme of good versus evil was apparent throughout. I would highly recommend this thriller to anyone because he is a gifted writer.

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This book is about a girl named Cyd Charisse. Cyd is extremely mean to her parents, so her parents send her to New York to meet her biological father. Cyd’s biological father, Frank, has a son and a daughter. His son’s name is Danny and his daughters name is Rhonda. Being in New York is an adventure for Cyd Charisse. This story tells about everything she does when she is in New York with her biological family.

I really like how the author made the character, Cyd, a punk looking character. On the front cover of the book, Cyd is wearing all black with black and white nylons and she is holding a doll in her hand. This shows that people can be different and you can’t judge people right away.

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My book is The Tenth Circle by Jodi Picoult. It’s about a fourteen-year-old girl named Trixie whose world comes crashing down when she gets raped by her boyfriend Jason. Her father Daniel is a comic book writer working on a comic about Dante’s nine levels of hell. Laura, Trixie’s mom and a well liked college professor, loses her family’s trust. Trixie and her family struggle to overcome this traumatic event while failing to convince Mike Bartholomew, their defendant, that Trixie did actually get raped due to several other factors the night of her rape. After Trixie, Jason, and Zephyr’s stories are all inconsistent, the investigators are at a loss as to who to trust. Jason’s life gets messed up all because of miscommunication and his compassion for Trixie, and he doesn’t think he deserves it. However, one event makes everything even worse for him and everyone else. Anyone could relate to this story because it’s about a teenage girl faced with a midlife crisis and is forced to grow up all in one night and how her family deals with it.

This book is definitely not disappointing because it remains realistic throughout the whole book. It is very powerful because girls between the ages of sixteen and nineteen are most prone to rape and it could help the huge number of teens girls who are afraid to speak out do so. It would be appealing to both parents and teenagers.

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The Tenth Circle is a teen book by Jodi Picoult about a fourteen-year-old girl named Trixie Stone. One night, Trixie gets raped by her boyfriend Jason. With a team behind her, Mike Bartholomew (the investigator) and Janice (the social worker) investigate this case. When they hear Trixie, Jason, and Trixie’s best friend Zephyr’s points of view, they don’t know who to believe. Meanwhile, Trixie Stone morphs into a different person in the process. Her parents, Laura and Daniel Stone, go through the nine levels of hell by Dante in order to protect her from further danger. Do they succeed? So what exactly is the tenth level of hell? Read the book and find out.

This book suits people of all ages because it describes not only a teenage girl’s traumatic experience but the toll it takes on everyone around her. This fast paced book is filled with twists and turns and as the mystery unravels, it’s surprising. Those are a couple aspects about the book that make it enjoyable and appealing.

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Shoeless Joe by W.P. Kinsella is a story revolving about a man named, Ray, who keeps hearing mysterious voices coming from old baseball announcers. “If you build it he will come” is the first voice he hears. Instantly Ray knows what he has to do, build a baseball field. While beginning to build the field, he thinks of a novel that was written specifically about him by a famous author. He drives to meet the author and on their way home from a ball game they meet a couple of new friends.

Right from the start i was really drawn into this story because I love hearing old stories about baseball from long ago. Baseball has always been a big part of my life and it is the second biggest part of Ray’s after his family. I was shocked how Ray’s wife wants him to do whatever makes him happy even if it involves Ray being gone for long periods of time. This book is very realistic because i could see myself going out to find an author that wrote a book about me and taking him to a ball game. Ray kind of reminds me of myself because I would do whatever it took to meet the player I’ve always been dreaming to meet. There are many conflicts in this novel. For example, while Ray is on his road trip, he isn’t paying his mortgage and people are trying to take his house. His wife tells his to do whatever he can to keep the house on the farm because she loves it there. This shows another side to Ray other then just baseball. This book relates to me a lot and I’m sure it could to a lot of other readers.