Teen and Staff Reviews

Teen Review
Closer to Nowhere by Ellen Hopkins

Closer to Nowhere

By Ellen Hopkins
Star Rating
★★★★

Rated by
Shreya A.
Oct 4, 2021

Closer to Nowhere is an inspiring and eye-opening fiction novel by Ellen Hopkins. This book is about a boy named Cal, who has PTSD. When his mom died when he was nine, he moved in with his dad. His dad, who went to prison two times, abused Cal by hitting him and telling him to lie to the government on his behalf. When Cal’s dad went to prison again, he moved in with his aunt and uncle, and his cousin Hannah. Every so often he would run away for one reason or the other.

Teen Review
Iron Man 2

Iron Man 2

Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by
Aryan C.
Oct 4, 2021

The best thing about Iron Man 2 for me was how this still peaked my interest. I liked Iron Man the first movie but I saw the trailer for this movie and I thought I would not like it. It turned out to be better than the first movie. I liked how Marvel made the villain Whiplash but I loved how this was the first Marvel movie with two bad guys. Justin Hammer resented Tony Stark and that fueled him to join Whiplash.

Teen Review
Avengers Age of Ultron movie

Avengers Age of Ultron

Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by
Aryan C.
Oct 2, 2021

Avengers Age of Ultron was mind-blowing. I watched this movie in theaters for the first time and it was spectacular. It did not correlate with the Infinite Stone Storyline from the other movies but the film did have a few details relating to the next two movies. The second Avengers movie introduces new heroes and creates conflict and doubt between the Avengers. They begin to fight with each other but end up joining back together.

Teen Review
Thor The Dark World movie

Thor The Dark World

Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by
Aryan C.
Oct 2, 2021

This movie was different from what I expected it to be. In Thor The Dark World you get to see the first Infinity Stone “Aether” and you get to witness a tragic and funny event by the God of Mischief. In this movie, Thor is trying to bring peace throughout the realms but encounters Malekith. This is an amazing movie to watch and I would recommend this to people who loved the first Thor movie. My opinion over this movie is marvelous.

Teen Review
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

By Benjamin Alire Sáenz
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by
Kendal A.
Oct 2, 2021

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, by Benjamin Alire Sáenz, is a realistic fiction novel about Aristotle “Ari” Mendoza. Aristotle is a lonely, angry teenager. He wants to learn more about his brother, who is in prison. And his father, who has become quiet and closed off after returning from war. Once he meets his best friend, Dante, he starts questioning more things than he ever had before.

Teen Review
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Mexican Gothic

By Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Star Rating
★★

Rated by
Lisa J.
Oct 2, 2021

After her father receives a cryptic letter from her cousin Catalina, young socialite Noemí Taboada is sent to visit High Place, the crumbling mansion where Catalina lives with her new husband. Upon arriving at the remote estate, Noemí receives a frosty welcome from Catalina’s English husband and his family, as well as a list of strict house rules. As Noemí begins to uncover the decrepit house’s violent past, she starts to realize there might be something more behind the troubling dreams and visions she has begun to experience.

Teen Review
Avengers Infinity War movie

Avengers Infinity War

Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by
Aryan C.
Oct 2, 2021

After more than a decade of Marvel movies building up to this point Marvel has made an amazing movie. Since the start of Marvel’s first movie, building up to this movie where all of the heroes were fighting side by side together was astonishing. Infinity War was a well-thought-out movie which had comedy, action, adventure, loss, and sadness. In this movie, Thanos was searching for the Infinity Stones to wipe out half of the universe.

Teen Review
Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado

Her Body and Other Parties

By Carmen Maria Machado
Star Rating
★★★★

Rated by
Lisa J.
Oct 1, 2021

In this collection of eight short stories, author Carmen Maria Machado explores the lives of women through a journey into psychological realism, fantasy, horror, and more. In “The Husband Stitch”, a husband attempts to remove the green ribbon tied around his wife’s neck — her only secret. In “The Resident”, a writer has trouble reckoning with her childhood trauma while vacationing in isolation at an artists’ retreat. In “Especially Heinous”, the show Law and Order: SVU is reimagined with doppelgängers, insanity, and the ghosts of raped and murdered girls.

Teen Review
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

All the Light We Cannot See

By Anthony Doerr
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by
Ayan A.
Oct 1, 2021

This novel is about two characters and their stories while living through the Second World War. Marie-Laure is a young, blind girl who lives with her father in Paris but is forced to move to Saint-Malo after German occupation. Werner is a young orphan from Zollverein with incredible talent who is enlisted in the army after attending a Nazi training school. Ultimately, their paths collide and they try surviving the devastation of the war.

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