Teen and Staff Reviews

Finding My Voice by Marie Myung-Ok Lee focuses on17-year-old Ellen Sung, the only Korean girl in her small, all-white school in a small, all-white town. While grappling with her parents’ high academic expectations, Ellen also experiences blatant and implicit racism. Time and time again, she catches hissed remarks or sly smirks from other students, yet she doesn’t seem able to speak up against them.

If I could, I would give this book more than a five-star rating. I think that my favorite book will never change because I do not think anyone can make a storyline better than this. The first book I read in the DC icons series was Batman Nightwalker and I liked that. I thought that was going to be my favorite book forever until I read Catwoman Soulstealer. This book is more than a masterpiece because of its storyline, plot, writing, and characters. I learned a lot from this book about Catwoman that I did not know.

If you are looking for an adventure, mystery, and friendship book, this is the book that you are looking for. Notorious is an amazing book about Keenan and ZeeBee who investigate how ZeeBee’s dog was murdered by a person who tried to break into her house. ZeeBee believes that there is treasure on the island that one person wants for themselves. Keenan does not believe it as much as she does but he goes along with it and they become friends.

This book is by far better than Ungifted, in my opinion. I liked how Donovan was one of the main characters in this book but I really liked how they switched the role and made Noah the second main character. In my mind I thought if Gordon Korman was going to make a second book Donovan would be the main character but it was surprising how Noah got to be a main character in this book more than he was in Ungifted.

I had an amazing time reading this book. When I started reading about Donovan Curtis it seemed like he was just a prankster and could not change. The book is about how Donovan makes a terrible prank and then gets transferred, accidentally, to a higher-level school. He tries really hard on all of his tests so that he doesn't get transferred to the school he was supposed to get transferred to. He meets new people at his new school and it takes a while for Chloe to like him but I did like how Noah, another character, had a role in this book but later in the second book he had a bigger role.

Level 13 is an amazing book and sequel to the original Slacker novel. I loved the original novel and wondered if Gordan Korman was ever going to make another book about Cameron Boxer.

Murder on the Orient Express, by Agatha Christie, is a Mystery/Thriller.  After Midnight, the Orient express stops due to heavy snowfall. The trains stop overnight, and the passengers fall asleep. The train is full of passengers until the following day. One person is killed in his compartment. He was stabbed twelve times. The detective must solve the case before the killer strikes once more.

And Then There Were None, by Agatha Christie, is a Mystery/Thriller. Ten strangers were invited to spend time at a coast in Devon. Each of them have a deep - dark secret. While everyone is at the private house, the host is nowhere to be found. One by one, the ten guests begin to die. Until there iso ne left and then there were none…

Slackers was by far one of the best books I have ever read. This was the first book I read in the series and the first book I read that Gordon Korman wrote. I love all the books that he writes because they are entertaining and interesting. Cameron Boxer is the main character in Slackers and he loves playing video games. My favorite part about the book is how he likes playing video games so much that he would create a group at school to fool his parents that he was doing something else instead of video games.