"Stargirl" by Jerry Spinelli

Do you play a ukulele and sing to other students at lunch? Do you wear old fashioned clothes and keep a pet rat named Cinnamon? Well, you do if you are Stargirl Caraway. Stargirl is new in school, and everyone is talking about her. Leo Borlock is terrified the first time she looks straight at him, thinking she will come talk to him. Stargirl even sends Leo a valenitne on Valentines Day. Leo can't really get her out of his head, and one day follows her after school. Where does she go? She goes to the dessert, but he doesn't follow her any longer. He even walks to her house and hides behind their car. Then, Stargirl comes out and finds him. What does she say? Well, you have to read "Stargirl" by Jerry Spinelli to see what she says to Leo, and to find out if she can also capture his heart.

I give "Stargirl" five stars, because it's a great lesson. There probably aren't many people like Stargirl, who send you a card or do something nice for a person they don't even know. She is a very selfless person, who during the book was treated badly because no one knew her. They judged her before they knew her, even though she was a great person. I think overall it was a great book that I recommend to anybody and will read again.

"The House on Mango Street" by Sandra Cisneros

The House on Mango Street is a story about a girl, Esperanza, who moves a lot. Esperanza's Family, which includes her Mama, Papa, Kiki, Carlos, Nenny, and herself moves into a house of their own. The book tells the story about Esperanza's life on Mango Street.

The different chapters are names that I myself giggled at when I read, like “There was an old woman and she had so many children she didn't know what to do.” There are lots of other neat titles for the chapters.

This book is also very unique in other ways. It seemed to me like each chapter told a different part of Esperanza's life. One chapter told about when she moved to Mango street and told some of the places she lived. It tells about how Esperanza hates her name, and how it was passed down from her Great-Grandmother who was forced to get married and then spent the rest of her life looking out the window. Esperanza states that her name means to many letters, or sadness, like the Mexican records her father plays in the morning, songs like sobbing.

There are other chapters that state interesting things like a girl who sees mice, and a woman who lives in a house, people know she lives there, but she has never been seen. I would recommend this book to someone who likes short stories but like to read.

"Including Alice" by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

In the book Includign Alice Alice's dad marries her old teacher Silvia Summers. Alice is happy until her dad and Silvia leave on thier honey moon without saying goodbye. Alice is left with her aunt. Wher her dad and Silvia finnaly get home things change, some for the better.

I woudl give this book 4 out of 5 stars and recomend you read it.

"Death By Bikini" by Linda Gerber

Death by bikini is a book about a girl named Aphra who lives on an island with her father. Her father owns a resort so Aphra works there. When some agents and villans started to come to the resort things started to get weird. Aphra strtes to fall in love with the son of a family that has been running from the law. People are injured, including Aphras father and finally things get sorted out and all is well again.

After reading this book I would give it 3 1/2 stars out of 5 and recomnd that you read it to.

"Sister Wife" by Shelley Hrdlitschka

Born in raised within the strict precepts of a religious movement in the isolated community of Unity, Celeste has been rasied with the idea that polygamy, and complete and total obedience to the man of the family, is the only way a woman will be allowed into heaven. As she approaches her own assignment as wife to an older man, Celeste, at the age of fifteen, is struggling to accept her destiny. Her questioning attitude becomes a problem to the community when she is seen breaking a taboo by becoming close to Jon, another teenager who has his own doubts about a future in Unity. An arranged marriage is quickly scheduled, and Celeste must quickly act to decide her future.

Although life in polygamous communities might seem like a bizarre twist of religious convention to most freedom-loving readers of our culture, Hrdlitschka skirts any question of the legitimacy of these sects by examining the community of Unity from several different viewpoints, including those of a outsider who found security in the community, and Celeste's sister who is fully committed to the life. The reader is left to fully understand Celeste's decisions and motivations. This compelling study of people whose individualities are never allowed to develop is a page-turner!

Rated FIVe out of FIVE stars.

"The Dead and the Gone" by Susan Beth Pfeffer

This companion novel to "Life As We Knew It" tells the story of the fight for survival after a global catastrophe from the viewpoint of 17-year-old Alex Morales. Unlike the small-town heroine of "Life", Alex is a native New Yorker whose life changes dramatically after the moon is pushed out of its orbit due to an asteroid collision. Millions of lives are immediately lost to tsunamis, flooding, weather changes, and electrical disruption, and the dismal forecast of any improvement in services or food supply are not lost on Alex, who is immediately thrust into caregiver to his two younger sisters.

Alex continually wrestles with his faith and morals as he struggles to survive and provide food, heat, and security to his family. Pfeffer unscrolls the horrors of a civilization's collapse slowly, though, making each new disruption to Alex's "normal" life even more powerful. It will not be easy to forget the nightmarish implications of "body shopping", for example. The reader, along with Alex and his sisters, find optimism for the future perhaps the hardest ideal to have faith in when faced with the day-to-day struggles to survive.

Rated FIVE out of FIVE stars.

"Living Dead Girl" by Elizabeth Scott

This book should be issued with a first aid kit of upset-stomach relief, tissues, and heart medication, as the reader is immediately plunged, along with the main character Alice, into her nightmare world spent as the kidnap victim of her captor Ray. Since she was snatched at the age of ten, Alice is forced to spend her days as the victim of mental, physical, and sexual abuse by the monster who controls every aspect of her life. Now that she is fifteen, Alice comes to realize that Ray is planning to supplement his "family", and Alice must join him in his plans to find the right girl.

Reminiscent of "Such a Pretty Girl" by Laura Weiss, this book, although gripping and unforgettable, pushes the boundaries of content for young adult fiction. The descriptions of the abuses suffered by Alice, although not explicit, leave no doubt to the horrors the character is experiencing. I often had to just put the book down to escape the revulsion felt by the powerful and gripping story. The ending is unforgettable.

For mature readers only, I'd rate this FIVE out of FIVE stars. If you have any doubts about your maturity level (and I'm not talking about your reading level), please wait to read this novel.