Creek Critiques

Kissed by an Angel (Book One) - 230 pages; Miss Simer’s Rating: ***1/2

Ivy has just moved in with her new wealthy step-family and her step-brother Gregory is the boy of her friends’ dreams.  Gregory treats Ivy and her brother Philip with disdain because he is not used to having others in his home.  At school, Ivy finds herself drawn towards Tristan, the school’s superstar swimmer.  For him, it is love at first sight, but Ivy takes her time before falling for him.  On the night of prom, she and Tristan get into a terrible accident and Tristan is killed - but he returns to Earth as an angel on a mission to protect Ivy from danger.

The Power of Love (Book Two) - 225 pages; Miss Simer’s Rating: ***1/2

Tristan knows his mission is to protect Ivy, but he’s not sure what he’s supposed to protect her from.  Slowly his memory of the night of their accident returns and he realizes that he couldn’t stop the car because the brakes were cut.  The pieces begin to come together and Tristan understands that Ivy witnessed something and now someone is after her to stop her from revealing the truth.  Tristan uses some of his newfound angel powers to share thoughts with Philip, Will, Eric, and Gregory - but will it be enough to convince Ivy she’s in terrible danger?

Soulmates (Book Three) - 235 pages; Miss Simer’s Rating: ***1/2

Ivy has survived a few near-death experiences - a car wreck, being attacked in her home, being drugged and almost jumping into the path of an oncoming train - but she is resilient and she is beginning to regain her faith in angels.  She is able to see Tristan’s golden glow and knows that he is protecting her, but she’s still not sure who is after her.  Is it Eric, the drug-taking crazy guy who plays violent “tricks” on others?  Is it Gregory, the over-protective step-brother who has romantic feelings toward Ivy?  Is it Andrew, the new stepfather who isn’t thrilled to have two new kids in his home?  Is it Will, the mysterious art student who seems to know more than he lets on?  Find out in this thrilling conclusion to this romantic suspense trilogy.

The Lightning Thief (Book One) - 375 pages - Miss Simer’s Rating: *** 

Myth meets reality in this fast-paced Rick Riordan novel, which is the first in the Percy Jackson series.  Twelve-year-old Perseus Jackson is living in modern-day New York City , unaware that he is being pursued by monsters intent on murdering him because of his family history.  You see, Percy’s father happens to be the god of the sea, Poseidon.  Percy discovers his half-blood heritage and that his life is meant to end with a hero’s fate, which is never good.  Percy is accused of stealing Zeus’s lightning, the symbol of all his power.  In order to survive Zeus’s deadly threats, he must go on a quest to the underworld to retrieve the lightning and face Hades, god of the underworld.  With friends Annabeth, daughter of Athena, and Grover, a satyr (half-goat), Percy embarks on his quest.  He encounters Hades, Ares, nymphs, naiads, centaurs, minotaurs, and many other mythological creatures during his journey.  Will Percy be successful in finding and returning the lightning to Zeus?  Will he finally meet his father, Poseidon?  Find out in this mythological adventure!

The Sea of Monsters (Book Two) - 279 pages - Miss Simer’s Rating: ***1/2

Halfblood Percy Jackson is back in this sequel to The Lightning Thief.  The son of Poseidon, god of the sea, and a human mother, Percy is anxiously waiting for the summer so he can return to Camp Halfblood and reunite with his friends Chiron and Annabeth.  When he learns that the camp is under attack and is on the brink of being destroyed, Percy and Annabeth take action.  The only thing that will save their camp is to find the Golden Fleece, which has an incredibly strong healing power.  Unfortunately, it is on a remote island in the Sea of Monsters, guarded by a flock of man-eating sheep and a very unfriendly Cyclops.  With some notable characters returning, including Luke, Percy’s nemesis, and new characters introduced, including Tyson, a young Cyclops who has a special relationship to Percy, this book is easy to follow and action-packed.  In my opinion, it probably isn’t necessary to read The Lightning Thief first, but I’d recommend it as a seperate read!

The Titan’s Curse (Book Three) - 312 pages - Hank H.’s Rating: ****

When fourteen-year-old Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon gets a very important call from his friend Grover, a satyr, he gets prepared for a fight.  His two demigod friends, Thalia and Annabeth accompany him to be his aides.  When the three reach Grover, he tells them that he has found two half-blood children.  The goal is to recruit these half-blood children to fight against the evil forces of Lord Kronos.  But it isn’t as simple as it seems to just take the children with them.  They have many obstacles to overcome.  This is a very entertaining and action packed book, which interjects Greek mythology in a modern day setting.

The Battle of the Labyrinth (Book Four) - 361 pages - Miss Simer’s Rating: ***

In an attempt to stop the evil Lord Kronos from using his Underworld army to invade Camp Halfblood, Percy, Annabeth, Grover, and Tyson head into the mythical Labyrinth.  There is no shortage of terror-inducing monsters in and out of the Labyrinth, including the vampiric empousai, snaky dracaenae, Laistrygonian giants, Calypso, the Sphinx, a Hundred-Handed One, Hephaestus, Daedalus and Kronos himself.  This fourth novel foreshadows the fifth and final novel in the series, in which Percy will finally have his chance to face Kronos and Luke in one last battle.

The Last Olympian (Book Five) - 381 pages - Miss Simer’s Rating: ***1/2

Percy and his friends at Camp Halfblood are doing what they can to prepare for an all-out war between the Titans, led by Kronos, and the gods, led by Zeus.  The campers learn that Kronos is planning to overtake Olympus, but he has dispersed many distractions to keep the gods away from their home base.  Typhon is winding his way from the west coast to the east causing weather-related destruction in his path.  Poseidon’s sea palace is threatened, keeping him very busy and away from the main battle that is to come.  It is up to Percy, Annabeth, and their fellow campers to stop the Titans from taking Olympus - at all costs!  This is an entertaining and action-packed finale to a fantastic series - and the author leaves the door open to another Camp Halfblood series in the future.

Eight-graders Boot Quinn and Mick Sullivan are bitter enemies.  Whenever they’re near each other, expect a fight to break out.  In fact, their latest fight has landed them in the new principal’s office.  The boys expect detention or suspension, but the principal has a different idea.  His punishment for the boys is to force them to hang out for a couple of hours a day in a game room near his office.  The boys are required to play board games to get to know each other and they must eat lunch together in there as well.  The punishment gets off to a rocky start (mainly because the boys hate each other!) but when they both start to crush on the same girl, things definitely heat up quickly.  Find out if or how the boys learn to co-exist in this 2009-2010 Sequoyah nominee.

Miss Simer’s Rating: ***

Hutch loves to play baseball. When it comes to baseball his dad is not always there for him. His Dad played in the minor leauges and knows alot about baseball but is heart broken because he did not make the major league. Hutch’s dad does not want the same thing to happen to his son. This is a book about the relationship between a father and a son.Even with all this going on, Hutch leads his baseball team to the state championship game. They win! This is the best baseball book I have ever read.

Review by Lane W.

Ama, Polly, and Jo were best friends since the third grade.  Like most friendships, theirs was tested as they endured middle school and grew apart.  Ama is on the fast track to earning a high SAT score, getting into a great college, and being a valedictorian.  She’s only 14, but she’s spending her summer earning high school credit at a special camp.  She thinks there’s been an error when she finds out her summer camp requires hiking and camping rather than reading and writing.  While she’s miserably growing accustomed to her outdoor surroundings, Jo is spending her summer at the beach with her mother.  Her parents have recently separated, so she welcomes the distraction of the gorgeous boy she meets on the bus to the beach.  Meanwhile, Polly is stuck at home with a mother who doesn’t pay much attention to her and gets it into her head that she should go to modeling camp, despite lacking typical “model” beauty.  She puts herself on a diet and gets ready to tackle a life of modeling.  Throughout their summer apart, the girls reflect on what their past friendship meant to them and how much they miss each other. 

Miss Simer’s Rating: ***

One year after his mother was arrested for murdering his stepfather, runaway Michael Daye returns to his hometown.  He’s been living as “Robert Frost” with the carnival for the year, not telling anyone his real name or his family history.  His mother’s trial is starting soon and Michael is reliving his last days with her and his stepdad.  He remembers two years of verbal, emotional, and physical abuse that he and his mother endured and he begins to remember what really happened the night his stepdad was killed.  Told in alternating times (from last year and this year), the truth behind Michael’s urge to runaway slowly begins to reveal itself.  How much abuse can one person take before finally reaching their breaking point?  Find out in this thriller!

Miss Simer’s Rating: ***

Greg Heffly, a middle school teenager, writes about his life in a journal, not a diary.  He is a wimpy and gets bullied at home and at school.  His parents don’t really care about him because they pay more attention to Manny, his little brother.  His older brother, Rodrick, bullies Greg at home and at school.  Greg writes almost daily through a whole school year about everything that happens in his everyday life.  He doesn’t like school that much because bad things happen to him.  Most of the kids are bigger, meaner, and smarter than he is and he hates it.  He also writes about crazy adventures with his friend Rowley, the class clown.  There are lots of great illustrations and funny moments in this book.  I thought the book was pretty funny to read.  If you want to read and laugh at the same time, then read “Diary of a Wimpy Kid.”

Review by Kyle V.

Marcus’s world is full of techno-secrets and gadgets.  He and his friends are out in the city of San Francisco playing a reality-based technology game when a terrorist attack destroys the city’s Bay Bridge.  Marcus and his friends hear announcements about taking shelter and head for the subway tunnels.  The crowds are so fierce that one of his friends is stabbed!  When trying to flag down help, Marcus is picked up by the Department of Homeland Security and tortured for being a suspected terrorist!  This all happens in the first 50 pages of the book!  Marcus’s techno-knowledge helps him to lead an underground, anonymous rebellion with the help an XBox and he tries to restore normalcy to his beloved home city.  (for mature readers)

Miss Simer’s Rating: ***1/2

Beyond the Deepwoods is a great book that is full of endless danger and includes carnivorous plants and mysterious creatures – some friendly and some not so friendly.  This book by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell has 278 pages and many illustrations.  It’s about a boy named Twig who never has fit in at his village.  He embarks on a treacherous journey when he finds out that he is not his mother’s real son; here Twig has to escape many evil creatures, perhaps the most evil creature of all…the Gloamglozer!  Find out if Twig survives by checking out Beyond the Deepwoods at the DCMS school library.  I give this book 5 stars!!

Garrett R.’s Rating: ****