A Review by Desiree Sprinkle

All the Bright Places, by Jennifer Niven, is about a relationship between two teens, that have their own fears and problems. They think that they are broken, but they are really just bent and looking for the right person. They don't know they are in love at first, but then you can start to see the pieces fall together. They have problems like all relationships, but they work their way through it. I would have not been able to get into the book if it was all happy; I think that books need to have problems because it makes you want to stick around to find out how they fix the problems. I loved this book. I could not put it down. It was by far the best romance book I have read. It really makes you want to keep reading to find out what will happen next.

A Review by Brenna Millsaps

Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper

Melody is 11 years old and has a disability called Cerebral Palsy. She cannot walk or talk. She is in the 5th grade at Spaulding Street Elementary School in the disability class. One day Melody has an idea to get a computer that can talk for her. Melody’s parents agree and soon she gets a Medi-Talker, a computer that will talk for her as she types. Melody is thrilled. Soon, a team called the Whiz Kids (a team where smart kids compete in a competition) has tryouts, and Melody makes the team.

A lot of people underestimated Melody. She has to go through a lot, and some people are really cruel to her. In the end though, Melody realized that she is not to be underestimated, and that she is really smart. This book helped me see into Melody’s life and what she went through. I saw the experiences she had even though she was disabled. I thought it was a great book. I definitely recommend this book!

A Review by Drake Desseker

The Eleventh Plague by Jeff Hirsch

In this alternate universe a war has taken place leaving hardly anybody alive. A family of three, a boy, his dad, and his grandpa, have to work to survive another day. They have to salvage leftover junk from the war and houses to trade for food and supplies. In this world you do not get any ‘free’ days, you have to earn them to survive.    

A Review by Aleah Childers

In Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira, Laurel, the main character, is struggling to move beyond her sister’s death and her parents’ separation so, she writes letters to the dead about her life relating to the person she is writing to. I saw a mirror in this book when I read it. Like Laurel, I struggle with overcoming trials and keeping things bottled up so, I journal about my trials when I’ve been stuck with something I am not comfortable sharing or keeping to myself. All though I have never experienced getting over a sibling’s death or parents separating, I have had a lot to keep to myself which becomes overwhelming. In the end, Laurel and I learned that overcoming trials is possible if we just take it one day at a time.

A Review by Sierra Gobble

Green Heart by Alice Hoffman, which has the novels Green Angel and Green Witch, showed me that different people deal with grief differently. Green made a barrier to block out the world and then she started to heal. If her family hadn’t died, she wouldn’t have ever changed and she wouldn’t have been through all of the grief that she faced.

A Review by Elaina Moose

If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo

I never really understood what it was like to be a transgender and how hard it actually was for them. I hadn’t ever really thought about it until I started reading this book and saw how differently she was treated when people found out she was transgender. She had to go through a lot to be happy. Reading If I was Your Girl gave me a new understanding of what they have to go through. It  made me think how even though I may not completely support their lifestyle, it’s who they are and they shouldn’t be bullied or made fun of for being themselves.

A Review by Sam Snyder

(Image from Amazon.com)

If you like mysteries and teenage shenanigans, then you will love All Fall Down by Ally Carter.. This book is about a girl whose Grandfather is the ambassador for the U.S. Her mother had died three years back in a fire that was supposedly an “accident”, which is not what Grace thinks (or should I say, knows). Grace was there the moment her mother was shot and killed, she knew exactly what happened and who did it. Or so she thought.

Three years after her mother’s death, her father decides to send her to Adria to live with her Grandfather in the U.S. Embassy. While she is there she finds new friends who courageously decide to help her find the “Scarred Man” who shot and killed her mother. The mystery takes them throughout Embassy Row. Will Grace and her friends find the truth in this tragic death of her mother?