Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle

Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle

by CLAMP

(manga)

Plot Summary:

Sakura, the Princess of Clow, and Syaoran, an archeologist's son, both love each other, but have not confessed their feelings for each other yet. One night, Sakura is swept away to the ancient ruins which lie outside of the city. She is spotted by Syaoran who sees her in the depths of the ruins. In a trance, Sakura mysteriously opens the floor to reveal a mark on the wall. Sakura floats on top of the symbol with glowing translucent wings coming from her back. Syaoran goes to rescue her by climbing up, but once he takes her down, the wings disperse and turn into feathers which fly out and never return. Syaoran takes her outside of the ruins and is met by the king of Clow, Sakura's brother, and the high priest. The high priest, states that Sakura has lost all of her memories which were the feathers which were dispersed and now have traveled to different worlds. The high priest sends and unconscious Sakura and Syaoran to meet the Witch of Dimensions who will help them travel to those different worlds to collect the feathers. Along with Kurogane the ninja, Fai the magician, and Mokona, they travel to those different worlds to collect the feathers. This is where the journey begins!

Warnings: Some graphic blood involved throughout the series and some cursing.

Other books by the author:

xxxHolic

Cardcaptor Sakura

X

Magic Knight Rayearth

Clover

Wish

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks

by E. Lockhart

Plot Summary:

Frankie is a fifteen year old girl attending Alabaster Academy as a sophomore. Matthew Livingston, a popular Senior attending Alabaster, takes interest in Frankie and they begin dating. Matthew has a friend who goes by the name Alpha who comes off as being, well, the Alpha dog in the group of boys they hang with. Frankie knows that her father, when he went to Alabaster, was part of a secret society for boys there called the Bassets. Frankie learns that Matthew and Alpha are not only part of the society now, but they are also the presidents. Frankie wants to be part of the group, and finds a way to make it inside the group without even sneaking into a meeting. Frankie cleverly poses herself as Alpha through making a fake email address that would make it seem like him and instructs the other Bassets to do her bidding in pulling off pranks at the school. The question is, will Frankie get caught in the end?

Personal Review:

I really liked this novel. It was easy to fall in love with Frankie and see how intellectually smart she is and clever too. The way she is portrayed is quite accurate for a fifteen year old who is enamored by her boyfriend and would do whatever it takes to be part of his life. In Frankie's case, it would be to be part of Matthew's club. I wonder if I would have been as obsessed as her in wanting to be recognized by her boyfriend and Alpha as being as clever as she was in coming up with those pranks.

Warnings: Usage of words of private parts and beware of women's undergarments

Other books by the Author:

The Boyfriend List

The Boy Book

The Treasure Map of Boys

Fly on the Wall

Dramarama

How to Be Bad

War Is...

War Is... Edited by Marc Aronson and Patty Campbell.

Plot Summary:

There really is no plot to this book for it includes stories, news articles and letters from several different veterans of wars. It makes the reader realize how brutal war is and how people really did put everything on the line when they fought in battle.

Personal Review:

I got a wake up call in reading about war and what it entails. I won't ever look at things the same way as what happens in battle for the men and women who have experienced that. I understand the frustrations these soldiers and veterans have in hoping that they still stay alive and try to help their fellow comrades to survive as well.

Warnings: Strong swearing and gory details about wounds and dead bodies

Other books by the authors:

Race: A History Beyond Black and White by Marc Aronson

Robert Cormier: Daring to Disturb the Universe by Patty Campbell

La Línea

La

Línea by Ann Jaramillo

Plot Summary:

Miguel turns fifteen and is given the opportunity to travel up to California to meet up with his dad. However, he must do it illegally. He leaves his grandmother and thirteen-year-old sister behind, but his sister, Elena, manages to come along for the journey. They meet a man named Javier who helps them along their trek up to the border and beyond. They must face dangerous situations like running into the militia, avoiding getting beaten up by gangs (including keeping Elena safe from being raped) and to not be killed by the mata gente, a name that trains are given where people try to board them while it is moving and do not succeed and die in the process. Miguel, Elena and Javier have to try to survive while going through a desert. Will Miguel, Elena and Javier make it to their destinations?

Personal Review:

I enjoyed reading this little book. I could imagine how hard it would be to try to cross the border into another country illegally. This puts in perspective what kind of hardships one would encounter in making such a journey. It made me sad reading when a certain character (I will not mention who it was ) died. I would recommend this to anyone I know.

Warnings: Some gory descriptions of how people die.

Other books by the author:

None other than La Línea

Ender's Game

Ender's Game
by Orson Scott Card

Plot Summary:
We begin reading about Ender Wiggins, a six year old genius who lives in the future where space travel and occupation has been achieved. He is taken to a space combat academy in a space station where he and peers are trained for combat against aliens called 'buggers'. All throughout the story, his commanding officers (the adults) are setting Ender up to be the most successful and ingenious commander in history next to a legend by the name of Mazer Rackham. Ender struggles to gain respect from his peers but is able to make a few friends by showing how capable he is at strategizing. As years go by he is able to climb in rank, causing some discord with some of his fellow students. Ender is tested on his strategizing methods by the way he is able to effectively solve problems solving games and perform battle tactics in Zero-Gravity wargame rooms. Ender learns what he seems to be good for and he finds that he is being used by the commanding officers to help defeat the 'buggers'.

Personal Review:
In the beginning, the story kind of reminded me of the story by Lois Lowry, The Giver in how the community on earth begins somewhat as a controlled society. However, I could not find anything quite special about the book. It was well written and that Card showed a lot of intellect when he wrote it, but I found the story to be anti-climatic. I know that there are more to the series, but I have heard that the other books are not as good. Would I read Ender's Game again? Probably not.

Warnings: Some very crude humor (LDS author, really?) and some gory details.

Other books by the author:
The Ender Saga
The Shadow Saga (in correlation with the Ender novels)
The Tales of Alvin Maker Saga
The "Women of Genesis" series
The Worthing Series
A Planet Called Treason
Hart's Hope
Lost Boys
Treasure Box
Enchantment

After the First Death

After the First Death

by Robert Cormier

Plot Summary: Miro, a young terrorist, and his fellow comrades hijack a bus full of preschoolers and take hostage Kate, the teenage bus driver. Kate is ordered to drive the bus over a bridge. She does what she can for the kids while she can still try to keep herself alive. Miro does his best to keep Kate in check, however Kate tries to outsmart the terrorists by making her own plans to get her and the kids out of harm's way. As the hijackers give their ultimatum to the government, they request that Inner Delta, a secret agency, be disbanded. Inner Delta's general sends his son Ben to give information to the hijackers regarding what they plan to do in order to fulfill their requests. The story leads you to hope that the terrorists lose and Kate and Ben survive.

Personal Review: I had previously read this book in high school and didn't really like reading it. However, as I read it again, I changed my mind on how I thought about it. In high school, the teacher had us read it in conjunction to what had recently occurred: 9/11. The book was very intriguing, especially when we find out that it is Ben's father who is narrating the story rather than Ben himself and that Ben's father had gone insane. I did not realize that when I read it in high school. Although I have to admit that I did not like the idea of Kate having to remove her underwear and her having to talk about her weak bladder.

Warnings: Swearing, violence and death.

Other books by the Author:

The Chocolate War

I Am the Cheese

In the Middle of the Night

Tunes for Bears to Dance To

We All Fall Down

Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox

Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox

by Eoin Colfer

Plot Summary: The boy genius returns in the Time Paradox and this time, his mother is suffering from a deathly illness and the only cure is getting brain fluid from a species of lemur called the silky sifaka lemur, which Artemis had put into extinction years ago. He is faced with needing to go back in time with the help of No. 1, a demon he met in the previous novel, The Lost Colony. Along with Captain Holly Short, his fairy friend, they travel back to the time previous to the execution of the lemur. Not only are fourteen year old Artemis and Holly facing against a younger Artemis, but an extinctionist by the name of Damon Kronski will help ten-year-old Artemis kill the lemur. We run into our old friend, Mulch Diggums who aids older Artemis and Holly in trying to get the lemur into their hands. Having to outsmart his younger self and to prevent Kronski from getting the lemur creates quite a predicament for Artemis. Will Artemis be able to save his dying mother?

Personal review:

This was a fun read. I love all of the Artemis Fowl novels. However, I did not like this one as much as some of the others. Why? I am not quite sure myself. I do however recommend this book to other Artemis Fowl fans who have not opened it's pages yet to read.

Warnings: There is nothing that stood out to me that would make anyone uncomfortable.

Other books by the author:

The whole Artemis Fowl series

The Wish List

The Supernaturalist

Benny and Babe

Benny and Omar

Stop Pretending

Stop Pretending by: Sonya Sones

Publisher: HarperTeen

Brief Summary:

This book of poems is written from the perspective of a girl whose sister goes crazy because she had a bipolar episode. The girl goes through how this has affected her emotions and her family's as well. She talks about how her parents have changed from being happy to feeling numb to the world. She wishes throughout most of the story that her sister will return to normal and will remember how good life was before the incident. The reader comes to a point where the girl falls in love with a boy and is afraid to tell him about her sister, but when he finds out, he is okay with it. This gives a sense a relief to the girl. Eventually the sister gets better and the whole family returns to being normal again.

Personal Review:

I really liked this book of poems because I could relate to it. I am bipolar myself and I have had a couple of episodes where I literally went crazy. This helped me to put into perspective what a witness to seeing someone going bonkers can do to them. My own family struggled during the times when I had an episode, but now that it is taken care of, we are all very happy ourselves. What I thought was interesting is that the bipolar sister ended up going into Library Science as a master's degree, and that is also what I am pursuing.

Warnings: Those who are sensitive to the topic of mental illness, will find this hard to read.

Other books by this author:

What My Girlfriend Doesn't Know

What My Mother Doesn't Know

One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies

Diary of a Wimpy Kid

Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney

Publisher: Amulet Books

Brief Summary:

Greg Heffley, the main character of the story, goes through and tells about his life as a middle schooler through entries in his diary. His diary consists of events which occur in his life such as what his big brother, Rodrick does to tease him, what he does for fun with his friend, Rowley. Greg is not a popular kid at his school and he and Rowley are constantly being picked on by larger, but dumb bullies. Greg finds ways to try to gain popularity by wanting to gain more muscle through lifting weights and to make it into the school's student council. A hilarious part of the story revolves around an old piece of cheese that is outside of the school and that if someone touches it, they get 'the cheese touch'. Those who have touched it is officially forbidden to touch someone else. At the end, Rowley is forced to eat the cheese, but Greg covers for him saying that he touched the cheese and threw it away, but now he was infected with 'the cheese touch'.

Personal Review:

This was a hilarious piece of literature. I enjoyed reading about Greg and his misadventures as a middle schooler. The complexities of tween life is present in this story, from feeling awkward at that age to how one is viewed as either being popular or not. I would recommend this book to anyone who would like to read a book that will allow someone to reminisce about how it was like to be in middle school.

Warnings: Beware of the 'cheese touch' and boogers!

More books by the author:

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days