Book Reviews
by KIDS for KIDS

The Last Apprentice: Revenge of the Witch, by Joseph Delaney was sooooo good!!! You meet a boy named Tom who is the 7th son of the seventh son, and he's getting an apprenticeship with the local spook. (as the spook says the 7th son of the 7th son has a gift of seeing things that others can't.) Kind of like a sixth sense. And you can see ghosts, boggarts, witches for what they truly are. And he has to spook away the ghosts, boggarts, and witches. The witches have to be taken care of specially like, if you have a dead witch you bury it upside down so it's harder for it to get out. There's one main witch in the story and she's the worst, the witch is still alive but the spook didn't want to kill her. Because killing that witch would be worst than having it alive. More dangers dead than alive. Mother Malkin the witch talks to herself! The spook warns Tom that he must be aware of village girls with pointed shoes. One village girls with pointed shoes gives Tom muffins to give to Mother Malkin. Important! The muffins make Mother Malkin strong and she breaks free. Tom has to go after her because the spook is out of town. Tom kills Mother Malkin and now she can come back as anyone. Everyone is now afraid that she will come back as someone else and kill them but in the end they all live happily ever after, ....kind of.

Hattie M. (14)
(other reviews by Hattie)

The Last Apprentice: The Curse Of The Bane, by Joseph Delaney is book two and is better than the first! In the beginning of the book Thomas Ward has grown up and has learned a little bit more. His master gets sick and can't come help him bind a boggart of the first rank, a ripper, one of the most dangerous boggarts out there. It was his master's brother (the priest) who tried to bound the boggart. Like his master's teachings priests don't know very much about creatures of the dark (though they think that they do). Even though the doctor tried his very best to save the Spook's brother he couldn't. And this is where the main part of the story starts. They have to go to Priestown which is exactly like it sounds...it's full of priests. They have to go there because that's where Spook's brother's funeral is. The other problem that they have to deal with is that, um, there are two prob's actually: (A) They have to deal with this guy called the Quisitor, and he kills innocent people to get their land but the way he does it is by saying that they are all witches and he wants to kill the Spook. (B) The Bane which is a really big bad boggart that when in its full form can read minds, kill any way possible, and can see through others eyes. So they have to deal with those two big bad problems, and along the way you see some old friends like Alice or the girl with pointy shoes, the Spook's pet boggart, and to say the least Tom's family.

Hattie M. (14)
(other reviews by Hattie)

LETTING GO OF BOBBY JAMES OR HOW I FOUND MY SELF OF STEAM, Valerie Hobbs, is about a young newly wed who's new husban hits her. She runs away and has to build a new life for herself from nothing. She sleeps in a movie theater and works in the kitchen of a diner, washing dishes. Then, just when she has started her new life, her husband shows up. Fabulous. (11 and up)

Kat W. (14)
(other reviews by Kat)

Leven Thumps and the Whispered by Obert Skye

This is the second book in the Foo series. Leven and Winter are finally in Foo, a magical realm that makes dreaming possible. It turns out that Sabine isn't really dead ... yet. Leven and Winter must stop him from reentering Foo while also stopping "the ring" from getting Geth (the toothpick) and bringing him to the tower of flame.

Miles M. (11)

by Rick Riordan

The Lightning Thief, book one in the series, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, is a fast-paced tale of young Percy Jackson. While on a vacation with his mother, a hurricane comes and forces them to leave. While on their way to take Percy to a secret summer camp (and a fight with a minotaur), Percy arrives at the camp just as his mother is taken to the underworld. At this camp, he discovers that he is god of the sea, Posideon's son. That means that he is a half-blood or demigod, a true hero in training. He is sent on a mission to bring back Zeus's master lightning bolt, Zeus's master weapon, and the one after each lightening bolt is patterned, from Hades, god of death. He must find his way all the way from New York to Los Angeles, where the entrance to the Underworld is, find the lightening bolt, and go all the way back to Manhattan, where Mount Olympus is, and return the lightning bolt to Zeus. This is a story that everyone will enjoy.

Eddie Mac H. (13)
(other reviews by Eddie Mac)

The Lightning Thief: Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan is one of the best books I have read. Of course I do like stories about Greek Mythology which is what The Lightning Thief is about. You have a boy named Percy Jackson and he doesn't know what has been going on all his life- he's always been in trouble. When his chaperone on a school field trip tries to kill Percy, you come to find out he is a "half-blood" or half human and half Greek God. Sadly, Percy doesn't yet know who his father is, but that's not uncommon since the Gods and Goddesses have lots of girlfriends and boyfriends. All the sudden he has to travel to the underworld and prevent a quite possibly world ending war between the gods. If you like adventure, this book is for you. I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Hattie M. (14)
(other reviews by Hattie)

I loved the Sea of Monsters. I couldn't put the book down. I stayed up till 11:30 reading. I love how you learn your mythology gods and creatures!=) It's like all of a sudden he thinks hes pretty normal in the first book then BAM!! he is the son of Poisidon! The fact that all he has to do is uncap his pen and there is his sword is pretty amazing! I thought it was so cool that close to the end the watch thng that turned into a sheild that tyson(cyclops) made for him. Man I would hate to have a cyclops for a half brother... except maybe tyson. The last sentence of the book made me mad because I wished there was more of the book left. That last sentence was a great cliffhanger, dont you think? Do you, by any chance, know what the sequal to the sea of monsters is? I want to read it so bad!!!

Adriene E.

LOVE, CAJUN STYLE, by Diane Les Bequets, is a comming of age story about Lucy. Lucy has alot going on in her life. A new boy just moved into her small Louisiana town. He is not the only new arrival, though. A new family has just arrived, and the husband seems to want to have more of a teacher-student relationship with Lucy. What nerve!!! (11 and up)

Kat W. (14)