Guest book reviewers Nick, Jennah and Natalie have made my job so much easier this week. I love to receive book reviews, and hope that more readers will turn in their thoughts before the end of August.
Nick, who is 11, almost 12, read “Ghost Detectors book 2: I’m Gonna Get You!” He says this book deserves five stars because “ the author puts humor, mystery, and adventure together in one book.” The “Ghost Detectors” is a series by Dotti Enderle. Copies are available in Litchfield, and they look like a great fit for someone about Nick’s age.
Natalie, age 12, read “Small Persons With Wings,” by Ellen Booraem. She says that the book deserves five stars. In Natalie’s words, “You would think that a 12-year-old would not like a book about “small persons with wings” (fairies), but this book turned out to be a treasure. The “fairy parts” are very good and as realistic as fairies can be; the fairies had normal emotions and even cliques. This book also deeply explores the feelings of a typical 13-year-old girl through the main character, Mellie Turpin. I feel like I can relate to her feelings. The next time I’m asked for a book suggestion for a family read aloud, I’m going to recommend “Small Persons with Wings.”
Jennah, age 13, reviewed two more books. The first, “The Dangerous Days of Daniel X,” by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge, deserves five stars because “the book is full of adventure, mystery, some unique magic, and a sarcastic wit. James Patterson has again created a series, with help, full of all those traits that will capture any reader’s attention.
Jennah also read “Heart to Heart,” by Lurlene McDaniel. Jennah says the book deserves five stars, because “the book is very inspirational and tells about things that happen that most people couldn’t even begin to describe. It tells of friends, severed by death, but reunited partially through the girl who got a heart.” Lurlene McDaniel writes about teens and their families who are facing some kind of tragedy. In “Heart to Heart,” she tackles the issue of heart transplants, hinting at the concept of cellular memory. Does some part of the donor live on in the recipient of a heart? Interesting question.
Finally, the High School Book Club, which will meet at 3 p.m. on August 28, is reading “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, “ by Ransom Riggs, a book that has generated a lot of interest. It was chosen by amazon.com as one of the best books of 2011. The book is filled with strange vintage photographs from various collections, so I expected a creepy horror story. Instead, it’s a combination of fantasy and adventure that I really enjoyed. I hope the high school readers like it as much as I did. The only drawback is that I read it on my Nook, so the pictures and hand written letters were hard to decipher.
Read a book and tell someone about it. You’ll be glad you did. See you at the library!
