The Hunger Games

I just read the Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. It takes place in a future where the US has collapsed and been replaced with Panem, a country made up of a capital and twelve districts. Every year, each district is forced to send one boy and one girl called "tributes" to the capital to compete in the hunger games, a competition where the 24 tributes are put into a giant outdoor area and have to fight to the death until the one remaining tribute is crowned victor. In the book, 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen volunteers to take her younger sister Prim's place in the games. Now Katniss will have to face 23 other tributes in a fight to make it back home. There's also a little bit of an interesting love story that questions what your feelings will tell you when loving someone is the difference between life and death.
I absolutely LOVED this book! It is so suspenseful and exciting that I finished it in two days and the sequel in three! I'm a person that is easily repulsed by guts and gore, but although people are killed, the book never gets too gory. I'd rate this book a 9 or 9.5 and can't wait for the third one next fall!

~Lily

Unwind

Unwind is probably the best book I have ever read. Unwind is about a world where human body parts are harvested from people when they turn thirteen. Not everyone is unwound, only the unwanted or problematic children. Unwind is from the prospective of three main characters. Two of the characters are "normal" unwinds, which were chosen to be unwound because they were unneeded, but the other one, named Lev is a tithe. Tithes are honorary unwinds. Their unwinding is looked at as a privilege, rather than a death sentence. So the story follows the three main characters, and their struggle to escape their doomed fate, but meet constant snags.
I read this book from a suggestion in library by Ellen, and reinforced my decision from raves by Lily.I loved Unwind because all of the problems they face seem impossible to avoid, and some don't get avoided, which makes unwind a very unpredictable book to read. Unwind was a thoroughly riveting book that twisted and turned too many times to count. For your own sake, READ IT!!!

I just finished a book called Drivers Ed. By it's title you would think it is a book about driving and that is part of the concept but really not what it is about. 

It's a bout a girl named Remy who is a no-body. She is in a Drivers Ed class. One day a boy is talking about how he steals signs from bike paths. Remy her best friend Lark and a boy named Morgan who she has a crush on. A couple days later they find one of Morgan's friend Nicky to drive them around. Lark can't go though because her mom is sick. In the end Morgan and Remy flirt in the car and make out. But the next night they see on the news someone was killed because a stop sign was stolen. They see that the stop sign they took was the one that killed the lady. 

 From then on it is sad and Remy and Morgan both don't know what to tell there parents or if they should tell them at all.

I really liked this book for the suspense and the ending is good. So if you like a book with some suspense and kind of a mystery you would love this!

Cheating Fate

Cheating Fate, a realistic fiction novel by Audrery Pfitzenmaier tells the story of four teenagers living in BC, all whom have grown up together as the best of friends, since kindergarten. After recovering from a snow accident that happened the previous year, they discover that the same frightening flashbacks and memories they shared, occurred amongst them all, while they were in a near death state. Uncovering the scary truth that their futures hold they decide to split up; Cassidy with Kyle and Jeremy with Sukh, in order to cheat fate. The night they part tension rises between Kyle, Jeremy and Cassidy when a love triangle slowly comes into play. Later, as Cassidy is dating Kyle she realizes what she wants might not be with Kyle after all.

I thought that this book was packed with action and suspense which made it a fun read and a definite page turner. I found that the way Audrey Pfitzenmaier described events that took place in the book, created a totally realistic plot and allowed me to connect with each character as well as visualize what was happening. Personally i would rate this book a 5 out of 5 because it was well written and interesting. Also i would certainly recommend it to my classmates.

Howl's Moving Castle

Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones is about a teenage girl named Sophie, (maybe eighteen or nineteen years old) who works in her fathers hat shop. Her Father married another woman named Fanny who is her step mother and she has two younger sisters. Being the oldest of three she always though that she would be the most unlucky, working in the hat shop until she died, never getting married. But one day, the Wicked Witch of the Waste comes to the hat shop and isn't happy with what she finds. In return the witch turns her into an old woman! She sets of to find Howl, the evil wizard who eats girls hearts. When she finds him he doesn't turn out to be so mean. They have crazy adventures and battles with witches and all sorts of things.

I'd give this book a 10/10 because 1) I love fantasy 2) I love the movie and 3) it's funny. So if you like fantasy and humor this book is for you. I also recommend it to anyone who likes adventure stories.

Mortal Engines

"Mortal Engines" by Philip Reeve is a VERY GOOD BOOK I read over the summer. If you like Sci-Fi novels in which humanity totally screws up the world, then this is your kind of book.
The premise of the book is that it takes place at least two thousand years in the future, but the actual time period isn't mentioned. It takes place in a world where cities, many of which are from today's world, have all become individual nations that move around like tanks, boats, planes, etc. Each city wants to come out on top of the others, and the way the cities sustain themselves in the ruined world is by "eating" other cities and taking their resources.
The story follows an orphaned teenager named Tom. He has dark hair, is very skinny, and has few friends *cough* Harry Potter *cough.* He witnesses an failed assassination, carried out by a girl with a mutilated face. This encounter leads him to something that could reveal the horrible truth about the "traction cities." For this, he and the assassin are exiled from the city, and that's when it gets good...
I thought this was a REALLY GOOD BOOK. I haven't gotten around to reading the sequel yet, but this is the first in a series of four and I want to soon.
- Sam

The Rules of Survival

The Rules of Survival by Nancy Werlin tells the a story of three siblings trying to survive living with their heartless, brutal mother. Matt, Callie, and Emmy have a very strong bond with each other, perhaps this is what kept them going for so long, fighting for a better life. One night, in a convenience store Matt, the oldest witnesses a man named Murdoch coming to a child's aid. This experience gives Matt hope, for him and his sisters. Astonishingly Matt's mother, Nikki starts to date Murdoch. When Murdoch breaks up with Nikki, she starts to gets very malicious towards her children. Matt, and his siblings must be strong willed during this time, if they are ever to free themselves of their mother. 

I thought this book was very intense. I will say Matt, Callie, an Emmys mother is a horrible person, and shouldn't be able to call herself a mother. It is very shocking how she treats them. I think this book is well written. After reading this book I thought how surprising it is that parents can treat their children so viciously, and get away with it. I would give this book an 8.