Rebellion: original fiction by ahool

                          REBELLION
                      Chapter 1: Escape
Lush and pure. Thats basically how GladeKeep looks. I have heard stories of places other than GladeKeep...places with dark valleys and metal trees. Yet my parents say that talk is nothing but nonsense...  

They all call me Roach, because I am a survivor. You can't get rid of me, I'm tougher than somebody who can only take a punch, I'm like somebody who can live through falling off tall trees and a slash to the neck. I guess I'm just used to that stuff. It happened a lot in GladeKeep when I was a kid.

I get up and walk through the river and look around, picking up some things that could be useful later on, looking through the water and lean over to pick up a rusty blade. Right before my fingers can reach the handle of the old knife, I feel  something slam into my side. 

I look up and see Teo, a friend of mine who I have known since I was seven.

"What the--" I exclaim. "Why are you out of the grounds, Teo?! Is something wrong?" 

Teo looks at me and says one word, "Run." I scramble to my feet and see the very city I was born in under attack by masked figures armed with pistols, grenades and torches. 

I look at Teo and grab his hand because he is the only one I have left besides me. I have an awful feeling the others won't make it. Still gripping his hand, I pick up the old knife and run from the very place I was born, the place I thought was safe.


                    

Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul By bubblelover

Title: Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul
Author: Mark Victor Hansen
Format: Soft cover
Price: $12.05

This book has so many stories. I loved this book so much, it had stories about love, about losing love, and about learning. There was one story were three kids had gone to the store with one of their mothers and they saw a huge box, and took it home when the got home they took it to the back yard and sat in it all day using there imagination. Then when they all had to go home one of them was supposed to cover it in case of rain and forgot. The next day it was soaked from the rain they were sad for a while and then they decide to ask for a new one. It wasn't as great as the old one but there will always be more boxes out there and the'll find one like that someday.

What I liked about this book was that it had lots of different stories about learning and mistakes. I could relate to a lot of the stories because lots of them are about family and stuff. My favorite part was the box in the rain story, but I've already talked about that, so my second favorite part was the one where a boy is at a golf course, and this was when there was a lot of racism. The boy was black and his team was white, and they stuck up for him, and they forfeited because they didn't want to play without him.

I would recommend this book to people who like advice in books.

I rate this book 5 out of 5 chocolate bars.
Appropriateness: It's not inappropriate, except there's some talk of racism and stuff. I suppose there were also mentions of suicide.
Cover Thoughts: They could have put more on it, but it was okay.

Can you keep a secret? Review by Porkers

       

Title: Can you keep a secret?
Author: Sophie Kinsella
Format: Paperback
Price: $9.99

This book was about a girl called Emma Corrigan who lived in London, England. She went on a plane to help out with a meeting and there was a lot of turbulence on the plane. She was so nervous because she doesn't like planes so she accidentally started telling all her secrets to this guy sitting next to her called Jack Harper. Little does she know that he was the founder of Panther Cola. 

I really enjoyed this book. I like the sense of humor the author used and how descriptive she was while explaining where they were or what a person looked like. My favorite part was when Jack Harper had an interview and everyone was watching it from a tv in the office. Then Emma had to man the phones but she went to watch it anyways, and she was mortified because, later after she was watching it for awhile Jack accidentally started saying her secrets on tv.


I rate this book 5 out of 5 chocolate bars.There was violent language in this book.I thought the cover of this book represented the book well because it had key representing when you lock your mouth shut and don't tell anyone the secret that you are supposed to keep.
   

Best Friends For Never, A Clique Novel: Review by Alyx

Title: Best Friends For Never, A Clique Novel

Author: Lisi Harrison

Format: Paperback

Price: $9.99

There are five main characters in the novels of the Clique. First is Massie Block, who is gorgeous and hopes to rule the social scene at Octovian Country Day. Massie decides to throw her first boy/girl Halloween party, to keep her spot on top. Massie is mad. She doesn't know what's scarier, her parents making her invite the entire grade or that she has to throw the party with Claire. Next is Dylan Marvil, who has lost weight, has a bad attitude, and is planning on using her "new" boy to snatch a new guy. Then there's Kristin Gregory, who is jealous that Dylan likes the same guy she does, and she will do whatever it takes to get him. Her favorite quote is, "Clothes are for sharing. Guys aren't." Next, Alicia Rivera, who wants to takeover everything. And finally, Claire Lyons, who is out of the group and really wants back in.

I really enjoyed this book. I like that it is based upon friendship and the fact that I could relate to this book. I like how this book has letters in it because it makes the book more fun to read. My favorite part would have to be towards the end of the book when Claire and Cam were writing "love" letters back and forth. Claire isn't positive if Cam likes her or not. But Claire likes Cam! The last letter that Claire received from Cam, she read the note five times.

I rate this book 4 out of 5 chocolate bars. The book is contemporary fiction. I thought the cover of this book didn't really explain anything, other than the three main characters on the cover giving each other, "I'm mad at you, don't talk to me" looks. These girls are constantly getting into fights and starting drama over a halloween party with some guys. The design on the cover was pretty cool and the book was neatly organized.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, a review by Ezio

Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows is like one of my favorite books! It was a very good book. 

This book is mostly about Harry, Ron, and Hermione getting the final horcruxes in order to defeat Voldemort. 

SPOILER ALERT! Harry and Voldemort have the FINAL BATTLE!! Harry has to look for the Horcruxes (as heard about in book 6.)  

I like it because there was a lot of suspense, it was thrilling because Harry is running through a bank and a castle that is like crumbling. My favorite part is the final battle because it was cool. You didn't know who was going to win, even though you have a pretty good idea because mostly it's the good people who win. My favorite character is Harry. I relate to him because he breaks rules and doesn't listen to rules, and I do the same, at least not all the time. He also takes risks, and I also take risks, like when I jumped off a twenty foot cliff into a lake and almost hit the rocks. I've finished this series twice because I really like it. I recommend the series to ages at least nine and up, or just people who really, really love a good book.

I rate 5 chocolate bars!
Appropriateness: swearing and lots of violence
Cover Thoughts: Pretty cool. It gave you and idea of what was going to happen in it, not much though. 

plz comment!

The Search Ch. 2, original fiction by fluffyvragon13

2

Things Get Weird

(For Chapter 1, click on "The Search" in the tags!)

The first trap he ran into was a rope sticking out of a bush. He was on the ground trying to get up and he saw a tall man with a black mask. Ben cut the rope and ran the opposite way he was supposed to. “MOM…DAD!” yelled Ben at the top of his lungs. He got to the lake and realized he was going the wrong way, yet he was at a different part of the lake. 

He looked around for a while. Then he saw he was on the other side of the lake of his cabin. He heard leaves crumpling. “Hello?” said Ben. He turned around and saw a little wolf running toward him. The wolf sniffed him and licked his hand. "Hey there, little puppy." 

"Woof," said the wolf. 

"I will call you Snippy." Because Snippy had nipped his hand before. Ben started to walk and Snippy followed him. Snippy saw a fish jump out of the water, so he jumped and swallowed it in one bite. Now to get my mom and dad. So he  ran toward the way he was supposed to. Just  then he saw the same man behind a tree. 

The man gave him a small axe and said, "You will need this." Then the man ran off. 

What was that all about? Then Ben and Snippy ran off again.

Chapter 3: White Magic, by Ahool

Chapter 3: A book, a portal, and a bunch of random junk

Last thing I really remember was seeing Jess in her room, a bunch of fire and a diseased squirrel.

So as the dragon escalated higher into the air I saw ANOTHER weird shape and this is what it looked like: scorpion tail, bat wings, lion body, and the most awful of all, a distorted human face with blood dripping from its awful grin. A manticore. I don't know why in the world I did it. I guess I thought it was a dream, but I stood up on the dragon's back, leaped onto the manticore and yelled "FOR NARNIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! " while jabbing it with a plastic fork.  I probably looked like a psycho committing suicide.

I saw an image of her sitting on her bed, safe. The beast I was sitting on was thrashing madly. "GET OFF OF ME PUNY MORTAL!!!!!!"

"In your dreams, rat breath." (Seriously he needed some mints.)

Then a squirrel that was foaming at the mouth came out of NOWHERE and leaped on the beast's face, giving me some time to escape. I was so caught up in the moment I chucked my book into the air and it exploded into a portal. "WHAT DA HECKS?!" The manticore reared in mid-air and I fell into the portal.

"I REGRET NOTHING!!!!!!" I yelled, and then I blacked out. I woke up in a stinky, smelly place that smelled like death. I saw a candle "Vanilla death" (Oh, that  makes sense) Then I saw a plate of bacon, so I was like, "Oh cool, I can live with that," so I started eating the bacon (om nom nom... ) Then I  started walking around with my plate of  delicious bacon and I came to a table that had candles on it so I was like, "They are so colorful!"(sarcasm) They were mostly brown and ugly colors.  I saw a label that said (Unicorn turds) "Ewwww." I walked down another corridor and saw a plain, normal-smelling candle and poked  it. It erupted into flames ^_^. I picked it up and danced to gangnam style o(^-^o) (o^-^o) (o^-^)o.

I heard a creepy scream. I ran in that direction like I'm gonna save sombody's butt today! I finally got to it and saw a vampire carrying a random person. "Who are you? Life gaurd?"

But he just growled, "Get to your cell, worm, before I bite you and suck out all your blood until you look like a deflated whoopie cushion!" 

"I DON'T WANNA!"  I threw bacon at his face, kicked his shin, and grabbed the girl he was carrying. But  she resisted and pushed me away. So I was like, "What, you want to die or somethin?!"

I saw the vampire was wearing a cool mask. "I WANT A COOL MASK!!" I grabbed it and put it on my face. But  he picked me up by the hood.

"NOBODY TOUCHES MY HOODIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"  

The girl said, "Run or you'll die, so move it!"

"Fine.." I grabbed her arm and ran, leaving my beloved plate of bacon sad and alone on the ground. Then  she created another portal. Before she pushed me in, I sat on the ground and pouted (everyone hates pouting children). The girl made a sparkly ball of sparkles. I blacked out for the second time. To be continued....

The wave by Kolton

Title: The Wave
Author: Todd Strasser
Format: Soft cover
Price: $6.99
Pages: 138

This book is about some kids in high school who watched a video about what the  Nazis did to the Jewish people. The kids suddenly get very interested in it and wanted to do a little classroom experiment, but it gets way out of hand.

I thought that this was a really good book. It was a historical fiction book that was based on an incident that took place in a high school history class in Palo Alto, California, in 1969. One of the book's strengths was how the author makes it seem like the time period, like using the older words. I liked it because the book had lots of words on one page, so it was a longer book, not a really short book. I think longer books have a better storyline. My favorite part of the book was when things go back to normal in the end because it seemed like everything was better after that. Laurie Saunders was one of the main characters, and she seems like she would be a really nice person. I would recommend the book to people who are from the ages of 11 to 18, people who like real stories.

Rating: I give this 5 out of 5 chocolate bars.
Appropriateness: There are a couple of swear words, but that's about it.
Cover Thoughts: I like the cover because it's orange, and I like orange, and it has the Wave symbol.

Wednesday Wondering: What Makes a Book Good?

Wednesday Wondering: What makes a book good? by Lilly,The Muse

Today I interviewed multiple students in my school about what they want to read in a book. There were only three girl volunteers, many boy volunteers, and one teacher.

(I have created code names for people whose names I didn't know.) 

Volunteer#1: Violence and adventure.

Guns, violence, blood, gore and a bit of mystery, but not too much so I don't get confused. --Mason

The same thing as Mason but no mystery and lots of violence.
--Hunter.

Mystery, action, and fantasy. --Giggle Monster

Action, killing, fantasy, and at least one death. --H.1.M.

Blood, guts, gore, death, and machine guns. And death. -- Random Man

I don't know. As long as it's interesting I don't care. --Manly Man

  
Guns, death, murder, and aliens. --Person 2

Murder, fantasy, death, and with a movie about it so I don't get confused.  --Person 3

Death, destruction, and cyborgs. --Gabe

Death, fantasy, and many deaths. --Male volunteer

 
Nothing boring. --Gamer Man(Duh)

(sorry for the monotony but these are the answers)

I don't care as long as it has pictures. --Giggle Dude
(this is what our male youth is becoming....illiterate)

I love violence in books and them being about a video game. --The Man
(so basically a gaming manual)

 
Some times I like fantasy, non realistic (science fiction), and sometimes I like realistic fiction like medical thrillers. I like realistic characters, but most of all something that changes my point of view  about something. --Teacher X

Violence, action, and adventure. --Text Master

No romance and all action and pictures. --Handsome Man

(In my defense, these people were volunteers and came willingly. Don't shoot me; I'm the messenger.)

Personally, I like diversity in the books I read, but I'm not crazy about non-fiction books. I love books that can take me away from this world and its problems.

Bad Moonlight: A Review by M. C. Doodledog

Title: Bad Moonlight

Author: R.L.Stine                                         

Format: Paperback

Price: $8.89   

Hey it's M.C. Doodle dog and I just finished a great book! Its called Bad Moonlight by R.L.Stine. The main character Danielle had just lost her parents when they got in a car crash. Danielle lives with her aunt and brother.  Her aunt said that she should join a band so Danielle did. When she was with the band Danielle would get horrifying fantasies that seemed so real. The people in the band are Dee (she does NOT like Danielle at all!), Joey ( he hits on every girl he can see), Caroline (she is REALLY nice to Danielle ), Mary Beth, Billy, And Kit (Danielle has a crush on him!). Before the concert, Danielle went on a walk with Kit! The band did their first concert and rocked the house. After that bad things started to happen. As you get farther in the book, Danielle starts to just run, at random times when she she's in the moonlight she just runs. Danielle thinks Kit is the only thing that keeps her safe.

What I really liked about this book is how many times it made me predict what was going to happen next. And how the book would make you think one thing was happening but it wasn't. What I didn't like in the book is how some of the characters turned out. That's pretty much all of the things I didn't like. My favorite parts were whenever  Danielle and Kit were together. It made my stomach tingle.

         
I rate this book 5 out of 5 chocolate bars.
There was violence in this book.
I thought that the cover of the book was pretty good, but I thought that it could have been better. It was really fun trying to find out who was who on the cover.