The Galaxy Bookshop

I thought that this was a good story that showed inspiration in many ways. Not only did Zoe show determination as well as inspiration to play the piano, but her parents showed the struggle to balance work and time with their children. This was an easy book to read and seemed to be meant for children younger than fourteen.

This book is very interesting. The author has a wonderful taste, and is able to create these characters who may resemble real life. Skullduggery Pleasant is about a girl, Stephanie, who is a very dark 11-year-old. Her uncle has just died, and he was the only friend she pretty much had. But, at the reading of her uncle's will, Stephanie meets a very strange character named Skullduggery Pleasant. From there things escalate, and Stephanie finds herself the owner of her uncle's house. While sleeping there for one night, she learns the truth about Mr. Pleasant, when he saves her from an attempted robbery. From then on, Stephanie learns that her uncle was on to something; that there's another place in the world meant for her, and there's an evil mage trying to bring horrible evil back.

This book is full of witty conversations and adrenaline pumping action. I recommend it to readers who enjoy a good mystery/adventure/fantasy book.

This book is about a girl trying to solve a murder and a school problem. This girl is what you could say a "mini-genius" in math, so she uses her math skills to solve these problems. All in all it was a good book, but I recommend it for a younger age, maybe ages 10-12.

This book was about a boy named Hal and his sister, Charley. Last summer, Hal found Charley drifting in the waves by their summer house. This year Hal is determined to find out what exactly happened to result in Charley being in a coma. This book was a truly heart-wrenching story. I look forward to reading other books by this author.

This book was about a Jewish girl who really likes a Christian boy. She's afraid to tell her parents because they won't approve. All in all this was a pretty good book, but definitely not one of my favorites.

The Pirates! in an Adventure with Ahab is a story I'll never forget. It gripped me from the very beginning (when the mast fell onto a pirate while they were telling what the clouds looked like). The cast is mostly the pirate captain; Cutlass Liz, the beautiful bloodthirsty pirate boat sales lady, Jennifer; a pirate they signed up in their last adventure, Ahab; an enigmatic white whale; Black Belahmy, the captain's arch-nemesis; and the pirate crew who all have names like: the pirate with the peg leg and the pirate with the gout. The crew decides to buy a new boat at Cutlass Liz's shipyard with 8 doubloons. Unfortunately the pirate captain buys the lovely Emma, a boat for 6,000 doubloons! So in order to pay off Cutlass Liz they decide to put on a show in Las Vegas, treasure hunting, and finally pirating! After two disastrous attempts they finally manage to board a boat using tar covered lemons. This does not exactly turn out as they planned but I'll let you find out why. Then in a strange turn of events they end up dining with Ahab and his crew where Ahab offers 6,000 doubloons for the death of the white whale. The pirates leap at this opportunity and decide to go whaling. After many hilarious tries including the pirate captain reading from his romance novel, the pirate captain goes crazy and offers his prize ham for the capture of the white whale! Oh yes, for the pirates, their world seems to revolve around ham and grog. Finally they get Black Belahmy to help. But the rest I'll leave up to you to read! I would give this book 10 stars.

The book Small Steps, by Louis Sachar, is about a boy named Theodore, (nicknamed Armpit) who struggles to fix his life after being sent to Camp Green Lake (a detention center for boys) about four years ago. Theodore/Armpit is made to dig holes at Camp Green Lake, because it is supposed to teach him something. After finally getting out of Camp Green Lake and staying away from anything that could cause him to go to jail, he sees his friend X-Ray who comes up with a major scheme to 'get rich quick'. Armpit/Theodore is wary about doing this, but X-Ray assures him that it isn't illegal

This is a story of a girl named Elle Woods who goes from Drab 2 Fab while trying to get attention from Hunter Perry (the basketball star) and improve the cheerleading squad by getting help from her manicurist (who was once a cheerleader in Texas!). I would give this book 4-1/2 stars for determination, positivity, and selflessness!

Talk is a very moving book. The two main characters are a gay male 12th grader and male star in the controversial play, "Talk," and a girl 12th grader who is also the female lead in "Talk" and who also happens to have a crush on the male (gay) lead. This is a very mature story of how this play brings [together] (and divides) friends.

This book is very interesting. It gives you three very different lives and fuses them together in this wonderful book. It's very animated and wonderful to read. Once you get into the story, you can't get out.

(From the publisher)"This first novel in the Noble Warriors sequence begins when sixteen-year-old Seeker's older brother is publicly humiliated and--with no explanation--exiled from the Nomana, a revered order of warrior monks."