When terrorists bomb Dani’s home town in Argentina, her whole world starts to crumble. Not only is her aunt killed in the bombing, but as the economy crashes, her father loses his business, she can no longer afford her private school, and all of her friends are emigrating to other countries to escape the turmoil in Argentina. Dani’s family is left with no choice but to emigrate as well, to New York, where her uncle lives. Adapting to a new country, a new language, a new school, and a new life is anything but easy for Dani and her family. There are kids at school who bully her and call her a terrorist just because she’s from another country. They make fun of her charity clothes and misunderstanding of the language. All that changes when Dani stands up to the school bully for a boy who has been nothing but kind to her since her arrival. The others start to view her as gutsy and not someone to mess with.
Miss Simer’s Rating: **1/2
International pop star Holla Jones’s daughter Hudson wants to make her debut in the music industry. Hudson likes her calm, relaxing voice and piano while her mother wants to change her daughter’s CD into a fast energetic bubblegum pop sound. To prove her mother wrong, Hudson gets involved in a local jazz band to wow her audiences with her own unique style. Find out if she makes it big time in The Daughers Take the Stage!
Owen opens this novel by describing himself as an overweight twelve-year-old genius. He hasn’t always been overweight, but the past two years have been very difficult for him and he’s taken the stress away by eating. Oreos are his favorite food, but his mom has put him on a diet and has limited him to three Oreos each day. Those three Oreos are the only joy in Owen’s day, especially when he has to attend gym class and be harrassed and humiliated by the teacher. But those three Oreos keep getting stolen from his lunch sack. Each day, Owen sets a new trap to catch the thief, but each day the thief manages to bypass the traps. He is convinced that the thief is resident troubled youth, Mason Ragg, who is said to carry a switchblade in his sock. When Owen isn’t at school, he spends his time inventing things. His most precious invention is a television that can pick up old signals and possibly uncover the mystery of who killed his parents. At times funny, ironic, and poignant, this novel will tug on your heartstrings while you live vicariously through the genius of Owen.
While just discovering she is an immortal, Damen helps her in her journey for her new powers. Yet Roman hasn’t left yet. Roman is up to something and Ever wants to know what. In the mean time Ever is learning her new abilities, But Damen’s are weakening to a point where he forgot his relationship with Ever and is falling for Ever’s worst enemy, Stacia. Will he ever regain his memory?
A creature lurks in the woods, preying on children who play alone. He once was a boy, beaten by his father and then abandoned in the woods. He became a monster, covered head to toe in thorns, living in a stone pit past the Widow’s Stone. Stucks and his friends listen intently as Ronnie recalls the campfire story of The Pricker Boy, but Stucks is convinced the monster is real and is haunting him. He and his friends venture into the woods and discover where the Pricker Boy lives, but an underlying tragedy may be distorting Stucks’s imagination and causing him to see things that aren’t there. Or are they?
Mount
Before I begin my review, I must say that this is quite possibly THE most unique book you’ll ever pick up! Of the 533 pages, nearly 75% of those are pictures. The author has created a picture book novel that includes gorgeously crafted pencil drawings as well as an interesting storyline. Hugo Cabret is a boy of twelve working in a Paris train station. He lived with his uncle, who has since disappeared, as the clockmaker’s apprentice, but now he is responsible for winding all the clocks in the station himself. He hides in fear of being captured and taken to an orphanage. In the meantime, he entertains himself by attempting to repair a broken automaton (or robot) that he is convinced will write a message from his deceased father when it is working properly. What the automaton truly creates leads Hugo and his new friend Isabelle to a mystery involving French filmmaker Georges Melies. This is an intriguing novel and is one you won’t forget!
Stormbreaker (Book One) – 192 pages – Miss Simer’s Rating: ***1/2
Point Blank (Book Two) – 274 pages – Miss Simer’s Rating: ***1/2
Skeleton Key (Book Three) – 327 pages – Miss Simer’s Rating: ***1/2
Eagle Strike (Book Four) – 322 pages – Miss Simer’s Rating: ***1/2
Scorpia (Book Five) – 312 pages – Miss Simer’s Rating: ***1/2
Ark Angel (Book Six) – 326 pages – Miss Simer’s Rating: ***
Snakehead (Book Seven) – 388 pages – Miss Simer’s Rating: ***1/2