The Black Book of Secrets

This week I read the Black Book of Secrets by F. E. Higgins. This book is kind of weird, but kind of fascinatingly strange at the same time. I don't even know why I read it, but I think I"m glad that I did. This book was about a boy growing up around some time and place that seemed semi-equivalent to medieval London, and was mistreated by his parents. He then flees from them into a smaller town with a pawnbroker who sells secrets. He badly wants to trust him, but doesn't know what to do about it, as does the rest of the town. This book was interesting, really short and a quick read, and not really my type of book. Overall, I wouldn't read this book again, it was only okay, and not the type of stuff that I would normally read, but if you think it sounds good. Overall, this book was okay, had a few graphic descriptions of violence, and would probably be good or even great to someone who reads these types of books just more often.

Cloaked

This week I read Cloaked by Alex Flinn. This was a really good, weird, book, with a really good lead that was exciting and hooked you right from the beginning. This was about just a normal guy, even if he was a little weird, working as a car mechanic. Suddenly, his world turns magical. This involves a series of unexpected events. I can't tell you much more without ruining this book, but it was overall just really good. This book was kind of weird though, and interesting in that way, with a lot of strange, interesting, unexpected plot twists. Overall, I would recommend this book to anybody, maybe more seventh and eighth graders, who like magical, fantastic books set in real life, with unexpected plot twists and many eccentric, real-life characters.

The Here and Now

This week I read The Here and Now by Ann Brashares. This was a really good book-if kind of weird. The book starts with a girl named Prenna being sent back in time. Back in the future she leaves her family; her two siblings, one of them dead, and her mom, dad, and family-friend/aunt. The mosquitoes in the future have spread a disease; Prenna's own little brother died of it. She travels to the year around 2020, and tries to reverse history. She lives in a little colony, where there are very strict rules, some of the most important being to never develop friendships with people outside the future-colony, who all come from the same place that she does; never tell anybody about the future, and certainly don't fall in love. But when Prenna comes to the past, traveling back in time, she meets Ethan, and quickly gets involved in a relationship. Prenna loves Ethan more than anything, but is under strict pressure from her colony leaders, always watching her, from breaking the rules. As Prenna Learns more about the time period, she has to come to a couple of stunning realizations-including that people might know more about the disease-ridden future that they have then they think- and comes to see that she might be able to save everyone in the future; if she's willing to give up the one thing she loves more then everything else, Ethan.

This book ROCKED! It was slightly strange with the time travel and the beginning- but you have to give her a chance everything suddenly makes sense by the end and it's so sad and amazing and really awesome. There are lots of amazing plot twists and you definitely get very strong feelings about some of the characters, whether you like them, don't, or in between. It's so sad, and I love the plotline in particular. It is slightly inappropriate but not that bad. Overall, if you want a book that you actually care about, read this book. You will be glad that you did.

PS both boys and girls, eighth, seventh, and possibly sixth graders would probably like it.

Savvy

This week I read Savvy,  by Ingrid Law. This book is kind of like a coming of age book. Mibs is about to turn thirteen, and lives as part of a family called the Beaumonts, who are harboring a strange secret; when they turn thirteen, each of them gets a special knowledge, called a savvy. Mibs has two older brothers, one named Rocket (who controls electricity) and Fish (who controls the water), as well as a younger brother and sister, a grandpa, and a mom and dad. It's generally pretty hard for the Beaumonts to make friends; everybody can sense something is different about them, that they don't fit in, and playdates are not allowed because of the weirdness of their house, with tons of kids with different savvys, still learning how to control them, and sometimes things going wrong. The day before Mib's 13th birthday, when she gets her savvy, her dad gets in a car crash. Her mom, Grandpa, and oldest brother Rocket all leave in order to take care of him, and try to wake him up from the coma that he's in. They leave the kids under the care of Mrs. Rosemary, and her 16-year-old daughter Bobbi and son Will, who is Mib's age. Mibs wakes up on her 13th birthday, and realizes something-her savvy might be crucial to saving her dad's life. Through a series of events, Mibs, Fish, Bobbi, Will, and her younger brother Sampson hitchhike in the back of a bus, hoping to get to Mib's dad, and meet some pretty cool people along the way.
This book is AMAZING, but don't read it if you are too old. I think that this book would be great for the sixth graders in our class, especially the girls. It's an awesome book, probably the best coming-of-age novel I've read so far, that has Mibs dealing with growing up, boys, and a lot of other things. Also, it's so imaginative, and it relates to something I think that we've all imagined about, running away with our friends. The characters are AMAZING, and it's just so funny and so relatable.
Overall, I wish that I had read this book sooner, as a sixth or maybe seventh grader. It's really amazing though; I would totally recommend reading it, especially for girls but for boys too, if you want a funny, relatable, coming of age book that is not inappropriate at all. Overall, This was a really good realistic fiction book, even if it was a little too young for me (totally read it sixth grader girls)!