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.   

My Sister the Vampire: Lucky Break, a review by Shutterbug

 

Title: My Sister the Vampire: Lucky Break

Author: Sienna Mercer

Format: Softcover

Price: $4.99

 

In the series called My Sister the Vampire, Lucky Break is the sixth book in the collection. One of the twin sisters Olivia gets a part in a play which she auditioned for so she could get her first kiss with her boyfriend. But her boyfriend doesn't get the part and now she had to kiss a guy she definitely doesn't like. Luckily the director says that she will cut out all the kisses till the end. Also at that time of the school year, the twins get to meet their aunt, and Olivia gets to ride a horse, but Ivy, Olivia's twin sister, can't because horses don't really like her. She thinks it's because she's a vampire. Ivy feels left out but turns out to be braver than she thought, so everyone gets happy, but just wait till next year.

 

I enjoyed all the action and all the times they were about to get in trouble but they got out of it. There's a lot of drama in the series, and I like that the sisters always stay together. My favorite part of this book was during the play when the boyfriend went to help Olivia so she doesn't have to kiss the boy she doesn't like!

 

Rating: I would give this book 5 out of 5 chocolate bars.

Appropriateness: It's appropriate for almost any age. There's no bad language at all.

Cover Thoughts: It's fitting to the book.

Mr.Mario-small steps

Book Title: Small Steps

Format: Paperback

Author: Louis Sachar

Length/number of pages:257

Price: $9.99

This book is cool in many ways. One way is that it has drama, some good and some bad. Another reason why is because it has some weird and funny parts. But sometimes comedy is the best medicine. I’m going to tell you one more reason why this book is good. The last reason is that it has good characters. The protagonist is a guy named Theodore, A.K.A (Armpit). Another protagonist is a young girl named

Ginny. Ginny is Armpit's friend, but you don’t see her until later in the book. There really aren’t any major antagonists.

My favorite part in the book was when Armpit brought Ginny to the concert because they got to sit backstage and watch the concert and they got to meet a girl named Kaira Deleon.

Rating: I give this book 4 stars.

Appropriateness: This book is pretty appropriate. There is some minor bad language, but you won’t be too bad.

Cover Thoughts: I thought that the cover was actually kind of random. Besides the feet, I just didn’t think it fit the book.

Seekers, a review by Silver Dragon

Book Title: Seekers

Format: Paperback

Author: Erin Hunter

Length: 293pages

Price: $12.40

Short Summary: This book is by the author of Warriors. It is about three bears that must live on their own, alone as cubs. Each struggles to survive as they face flat faces (humans), fire beasts (cars), and other bears. The three bears: black, polar, and grizzly, must follow a shape-shifting grizzly cub to their own fate.

Strengths/Weaknesses/Favorite Parts: the weakness is the bears all live in different environments so it is unlikely they will meet…

Rating (out of five chocolate bars) 4 out of 5 chocolate bars...no book is perfect, but I liked this one.
Appropriateness: appropriate,  some violence though.
Cover Thoughts :I think the cover suits this book, but I feel like it could show where the bears actually are. I  like the colors.

The Sword of Darrow: A Book Review By ArwenPond

Title: The Sword of Darrow
Format: Paperback (There is a hardcover addition but it's printed in a special way so it's easier for people with learning disabilities to read it.)
Author: Hal and Alex Malchow
Length: 372 pages
Price: $12

Summary:

In a magical realm filled with creatures of every possible shape and size, war is brought upon the peaceful kingdom of Sonnencrest by evil goblin King Malmut. Princess Babette, the only surviving member of the royal family, manages to escape and seeks refuge with Asterux, a powerful wizard who agrees to teach Babette magic, and who disguises her as an ugly gypsy girl to protect her from King Malmut’s thugs.

Ten years later, Babette must use the magic she has learned to help aid the kingdom’s only hope at defeating the goblins’ horrible reign: Darrow, a lame boy who can barely pick up a sword but has a great gift for inspiring others. With Babette’s unseen help, Darrow begins a journey to free his country once and for all and bring peace back to Sonnencrest.

Review:

One of my favorite parts of this book isn't actually part of the book; my favorite part is that it's written by a father-son duo and the son has a reading disability. Everything about this book is inspiring -- the authors, the characters, and especially the story. Alex has a reading disability, yet with the help of his father, he was able to write a whole book, and it's amazing. Darrow is a lame boy from a small mountain village, yet he is able to lead a whole entire army. I would recommend this book to anyone, old or young. It's such an astounding story. If you've ever heard the song "Make Them Hear You" from Ragtime, well, this story just goes along with the song perfectly.

I rate this book 5 out of 5 chocolate bars. It's one of my favorites.

There is absolutely nothing inappropriate in this book, I would read this to a 5 year old if I knew they had the attention span for it.

The cover is really cool and matches the story really well. Although it isn't a scene in the book, it shows you all three of the main characters.

The Jack Blank series: Review by The Muse

Post By The Muse  
Review of the Jack Blank series
By Matt Myklusch

Titles: The Accidental Hero, The Secret War and The End of Infinity

Author: Matt Myklusch.

Price: At Walmart I got The Accidental Hero and the End of Infinity for $7.99 & $14.44. I got The Secret War at Barnes&Nobles for $7.99

Length: 470 pages, 525 pages, and 398 pages

Summary of the series:
Starting as an orphan with his  future job as a toilet brush scrubber?  Jack is suddenly chased down by a  robot zombie, and  he barely makes it out alive by causing a generator to explode. He is about to be sent to the loony bin. He is saved by Jazen, an  android  from Imagine Nation. No, not imagination, Imagine Nation -- a place where anything is possible like aliens, superheros and androids. He doesn't even know who he is, and just as he's about to find out, an alarm goes off!  Then we meet the "loving" Mr.Smart, who tells everyone that Jack is infected and demands his execution and Jazen's dismantling. A lot of Jack's  comic  heroes like Prime the Valorian and other famous characters are voting on his fate.  These books follow his adventures as he tries to find out who he is and save the world from the Rustov -- an evil zombie race that is going to take over the world.     

Strengths/ Weaknesses or favorite parts: Well, I loved the whole series, but my favorite book is the last one because it leaves me in suspense. I want to know what happens next! Please, Matt, make a fourth book!

Rating of the series: 5 out of 5 chocolate bars.
Appropriateness: A wussy vampire  because the only bad thing in is the violence.
CoverThoughts: I think the covers are awesome!

                                                                      

                                                                      

                               

Nearfall, by Joe Rasbeck, a review by nothingdoer

Title:  Nearfall

Author:Joe Reasbeck

Format:  paperback

This is a book that comes from two people's point of view.They are brothers named Matt and Mike. Matt is a fourth grader and Mike is a seventh grader. Mike is a brother who will pound anyone who hurts Matt. Mike is also a wrestler for his school. Matt is being bullied by a kid named TJ because Matt likes a girl named Kimberly.

                                                                                         

Matt's story

   

Matt gets in trouble a lot at school but he gets out of it by flashing his "signature smile." (Ladies don't get any ideas he is fake.) At recess if there is mud he plays smear with 5th graders. Smear is a game where a fourth grader gets a football and runs across muddy concrete without getting smeared by 5th graders. He likes a girl named Kimberly. Unfortunately all 4th and 5th graders do, too. Tj thinks Matt likes her a little too much, so he beats him up.

                                                                                         

Mike's story

Mike gets caught cheating on a nerd named Billy's test Billy doesn't tell... yet!(DRAMATIC MUSIC.)The next day Billy gets a B- Mike gets an A-. Billy almost tells, but Mike begs. Billy doesn't tell. Mike has a best friend named Dan. Dan is the best kid on the wrestling team. Sorry I can't say more, but I'll talk about it in Billy's story. He also is an over-protective older brother.

                                                                                       

Dan's story

Dan is the best kid on the wrestling team. He used to be fat. His dad abused him. So he worked out. His dad doesn't work -- he drinks, and he smokes. Dan doesn't like him. Dan's best friend is Mike.

Billy's story

Billy talks to Mike at Pattison Park. For cheating Mike will have to teach Billy wrestling. Billy comes home and his sister Kimberly is crying. He asks her what's wrong, and she talks about how Matt got beat up. Billy makes it worse by saying Matt's brother is a jerk.

Billy ends up being a wrestler. So does Matt (long story).I won't say any more so I won't give it away.

This book has violence but is fast paced. It has drama. I'd only read this book if you are 10 or older. The cover doesn't pop out. In fact it's really boring. I would rate this book 4.5 chocolate bars, because at parts it is slow but the rest is good.

Fairy Tale: A review by ArwenPond

Title: Fairy Tale

Format: Paperback

Author: Cyn Balog

Length: About 260 pages

Price: $8.99

Morgan Sparks and her boyfriend Cam have been best friends since they were children, but just before their shared sixteenth birthday, Cam confesses that he is a fairy who was switched at birth with a human child, and now the fairies want to switch them back. 

I personally don't have a favorite part of this book; I didn't like it very much. At the very beginning we're told that Morgan can see the future when she thinks about someone, but she can't see Cam. The power itself doesn't bug me. It's the fact that they never mention it again throughout the whole book. Another thing that bugged me was the fact that it has an awful ending and yet the characters don't seem to mind at all! You would think that they're all miserable, but they're not! I mean, I don't wish misery onto people, even fake people, but still, I don't think that they react appropriately for the situation.  Overall the writing was very good and I liked the characters and thought that the plot was interesting, but those things bugged me too much to actually like it. 

I give this book 2 out of 5 chocolate bars. 

There's nothing inappropriate throughout the book.

I thought the cover looked interesting, but it doesn't look like a fairy like the cover people are trying to do. It just looks like words written down the middle with pretty fairy wings on either side.  

Shiloh, a review by do nothing

Title: Shiloh
Author: Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Format: Paperback

Shiloh is a book for serious readers. If you are not sure if you should read it, read it anyway. There are many parts where you will want to quit reading, if you read through it you won't regret it. It also has many good parts I won't say any because that would ruin the book.
  
There are many parts where you won't understand the plot (at least if you're me.) I think it may take place before Elvis Presley was born or maybe it takes place a day - a year after he died. (OH THANKS A LOT, YOU GOT ME OFF TRACK!)

Now I will tell you the plot. The boy named Marty will do any thing to save Shiloh. That is the plot, plain and simple.  The dog is being abused, and Marty doesn't think it's fair.  

The book's strengths are the way it explains about how Marty feels about the dog.  The book was a little slow.  It had a little too much description.

Appropriateness: there are uses of tobacco, and alcohol. There may be swearing a few times but I don't remember any. I wouldn't read this book if tobacco and alcohol will make you stop reading.
           
I'd rate this book 3.5 chocolate bars. 
Cover Thoughts:  I don't really know how much it has to do with the book.

Hide in Plain Sight, a review by Zombified Unicorn

Title: Hide in Plain Sight

Author: Marta Perry

Format: I read this as an e-book on the kindle library

Price: Free on the kindle library

Hide in Plain Sight is one of those books that you probably shouldn't read in the dark at night… It was a great book to get lost into the plot. The two main characters are Andrea Hampton and Calvin Burke. Andrea’s younger sister gets hit by a car, and Andrea is forced to move in with her grandmother (where her sister Rachel was living and working). They were working at turning her grandmother’s mansion into The Three Sisters Inn. But with Rachel’s accident, their chances at finishing by their opening date are now slim. But as word gets out about Rachel, and the Inn, and the opening date, strange things start to happen. Andrea and Calvin have a hard time figuring out who is out there, and it takes a while to get their final answer.

            

If you asked me to pick my favorite part of this book, I honestly wouldn’t have an answer for you. The entire book is full of cliffhangers and suspense. It’s a great book to just pick up and read. 

            

Rating: five chocolate bars

Appropriateness: I think it might swear ONCE. So if you’re freaked out about it, I’m sure it won’t be a problem.

Cover Thoughts: The cover was a great example of the book. There are a lot of Amish families in the book, and the mansion looks very realistic

Wednesday Wonderings

We at In the Middle (Of a Good Book) are a curious lot.  As in, we have a lot of questions.  And we thought, hey, we are an inquisitive bunch of people, and we also have access to entire classrooms full of middle school students who might have answers.  So each Wednesday, we are going to try to pose some questions about books and reading to our fellow middle school students and choose the most awesome answers to post for you.

BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE!

You, too, may have questions about books and the reading habits of middle school students...and we would be more than happy to survey our guinea pigs test subjects classmates with your questions.  Leave any questions you have in the comments, or you can email them to us at inthemiddlereading (at) gmail (dot) com!

NEXT WEEK: Our first post will explore what makes a compelling villain!

The Graveyard Book, a review by Joza

Title:  The Graveyard Book

Author: Neil Gaiman

Format: Hardcover 

Price: $17.99

Summary:

At the beginning of the book a murderer is killing a family. The main character, Nobody, is the only member of the family that survives. He makes his way to a graveyard and is raised there. At the end of the book, Nobody confronts the man that killed his family. 

Nobody is a young boy who can do things that normally only ghosts can do. His major motivation for the last part of the book is finding the man who killed his family. The main character Nobody, “Bod,” becomes more mature as he grows up in the graveyard and goes from being scared of the man who killed his family to wanting revenge on him. 

This book teaches you to live life to the fullest because you only get one chance to do it. 

It is a children’s fantasy novel. 

The graveyard book is an amazing read. I was completely absorbed in it the entire time I was reading it. I really didn’t like the ending to this book -- it seemed too abrupt like it should have kept going. I would enjoy reading other books by this author.

The cover of the book is very interesting and very cool-looking. 

This book has almost no violence I don’t think this book is inappropriate for anyone of any age.

My rating for the book is 4.5 chocolate bars.

  

Zach's Lie, a review by Brandon

Title: Zach's Lie
Author: Roland Smith
Format: paperback
Length: 211 pages
Price: $3.99

I finished reading the book Zach's Lie by Roland Smith in about four days.  The book has a third person narrator, and every chapter begins with one of Zach's journal entries.

The book starts out with Zach's (who is actually known as Jack in this part of the book) retelling of the night when three men came into his house and warned him, his sister, and his mother not to go to the police.  The police arrive on their own and ask what happened.  When they discover that Zach's father is in DEA custody, they decide to stop keeping quiet.  As a precaution, the DEA has to relocate the Osbourne family in the witness protection program.

They are moved to Elko, Nevada, and have no contact with their previous friends and family.  They are now known as the Grangers, and Jack's name becomes Zach.  But they haven't seen the end of those three men that came to their house in the night.

Zach starts out extremely upset and skeptical about moving to Elko, Nevada, but ends up liking it.  He grows up about the whole situation towards the end of the book.  He grows to like Nevada because the new friends he makes and well, I guess the food.  If given the chance to move back home, I think he would stay in Elko.

This book teaches that moving is not always a bad thing because you still make more friends.

I liked that the book wasn't too long, but it was pretty quick, and I felt like there should be more so I guess it's a good thing they made a sequel called Jack's Run.  It was very suspenseful and even was able to spark emotion in the reader, and I liked it a lot.  I suppose that's all thanks to Roland Smith's excellent writing.

Zach's Lie ended with a major cliff-hanger, implying that there would be a sequel written.  I definitely want to read this sequel.

Rating:  I would give Zach's Lie 4 out of 5 chocolate bars
Cover thoughts:  the cover has a picture of Zach on the front with unnaturally blue eyes.  He actually has brown eyes but was to wear blue contacts.  I thought it was interesting that it related to the book in only that small of a way.
Appropriateness:  There was no sexual content or bad language in the entire book, and only one or a couple brief scenes of violence.

All in all, it was a pretty good book and very underrated.

A Series of Unfortunate Events, a review by dirigibleplum7

 

 Title:  A Series of Unfortunate Events

Author: Lemony Snickett

 

* * * * * SLIGHT SPOILER ALERT * * * * *

 

This 14-book series is about three orphans with extrememly unlucky lives. The youngest of the Baudelaire orphans, Sunny, loves to bite things. Which turns out to be a good thing... Her chomping helps when the going gets tough. The middle child, Klaus Baudelaire, reads nonstop! His special knack for books is a big help when problems arise. He always knows the right spur-of-the-moment information to solve their problems. The oldest of the three, Violet Baudelaire, is an inventor. Her siblings can always tell when she has an idea, simply by looking at the back of her head. When she has an idea, her hair is tied up in a simple purple ribbon.

 

You're probably wondering why their life is so miserable. Well, to sum it all up, when they were a tad younger, Their rich parents perished in a mysterious house (actually at the time, they lived in a mansion) fire. Since their parents were rich, they left behind an enormous fortune that is always being chased after by one of their extremely vast relatives, Count Olaf.  They first met him after their parents passed away, and were found a new home in a masion covered in moss and vines, alongside a murderous actor, Count Olaf. He sent them to the attic , where there was nothing but boxes of old junk, a musty bed, and cobwebs.........MANY, MANY COBWEBS...... Later, Count Olaf plans a feast with his acting group (which includes a wide variety of creepy men and women involved in Count Olaf's plays). The Baudelaires are not allowed out of their room while Count Olaf's acting group is still there. Soon, Count Olaf plans a horrific scheme to steal the enormous fortune that the Baudelaire parents left behind for them, by attempting to marry Violet (by reenacting a marriage in his play), which would then give him an all access pass to the Baudelaire fortune. Happily, he fails..... To read about his other failed attempts to steal the fortune, check out the other 12 books by Lemony Snickett!

 

 

These books are rated Vampire ---- due to slight violence and notions of toddlers dangling in a cage from an extremely tall building...and some other stuff that's not too pleasant. Anywho, in case you're more of a movie person, there is a movie that combines all of the books into one film. 

Book Review: Inheritance, by Christopher Paolini

Book Title:  Inheritance series

Author: Christopher Paolini

Format: Hardback

Price: $27.99

Length: 880 pages

A thrilling series with excitement and suspense is now reaching a breathtaking finale with a book called Inheritance. The series starts with a boy named Eragon who finds a blue dragon egg. Without knowing it Eragon changes his life and fate by taking the egg home and names the dragon in the egg Saphira. After three novels filled with all of Eragon’s adventures, the final battle that fate has brought Eragon to is now here. Now Eragon and Saphira have to face Galbatorix and the fate of all of Alagasia rests on there shoulders. But with the help of Glaedr and others that you will hear about in Inheritance maybe Galbatoix will be defeated and a new ruler will rule Alagasia again.

           

To me the book Inheritance was a great finale with an ending that wasn’t as romantic or sad as it could have been. But the way it was written, the end was fabulous. One of my favorite parts is when Saphira, Glaedr, and Eragon find hidden treasure on Vroengard and discover that not all is lost. Another one of my favorite parts is when Roran conquers Aroughs. There are other parts I really loved but I won’t go into the details. If you are interested in reading you must read the other books. Sometimes they can be slow with lots of details but there are certain parts that are so good the slower parts don’t even matter anymore.

           

The ending of Inheritance was a good ending but it was sad because Eragon never got the one he loved and neither did Murtagh or Saphira. I think the author did that so the book wouldn’t get lovey dovey. But the way Eragon and Saphira left was I think great way to finish the book and the series.

Book Review of The Arkadians, by Lloyd Alexander

Book Title:  The Arkadians

Author: Lloyd Alexander

Format: Hardback

Price: $15.99

Length:  272 pages

Lucian worked in the palace and found that the soothsayers are cheating the king. Then, he was chased out of the palace after meeting Fronto, a poet-turned-donkey. He attempts running away, but runs into Joy-in-the-Dance, “a girl of marvels and mysteries.” She helps Lucian get Fronto back after he was stolen. Afterwards, Lucian runs with some (friendly) wolves and finds Ops in a tree. Ops was a village leader, until the king ordered everyone working with the Lady of the Wild Things, and then he was made the village scapegoat (he took all the blame for everything that was wrong in the village). After getting Ops down, they run into the Goat Folk. Catch-a-Tick (member of the Goat Folk) hits Lucian in the head. Buckthorn is the leader of the Goat Folk and leads the group through a mountain pass to the valley of the Horse Clan. Joy-in-the-Dance is the daughter of the leader of the Horse Clan and the Lady of the wild Things. See-Far-Ahead (leader of the Horse Clan) leads them through another mountain pass to the palace of the Lady of the Wild Things. When they get to the palace, Ops finds someone to be his true love, and the Lady of the Wild Things sends Lucian and Fronto to find the shipmaster that is loyal to her and will do any of her favors. Ops and Joy-in-the-Dance have to stay behind. Joy-in-the-Dance and Ops sneak on board, and then the boat crashes on an island. There, they have to fight (and ultimately kill) a bull. Joy-in-the-Dance ends up calming the bull down long enough for the others to escape, and runs after them. They get back to Arkadia, and they immediately find the old king in ruins. They bring the king along with them, and go to the shipmasters old tavern. There, he finds his fiancé, who kicked him out (but didn’t really want him to go) and who helps them. The guards catch the king (who ran away to save his life, and didn’t want his newfound friends to get in trouble) who goes with them to allow Lucian and the others a new chance at life. Lucian and the others promptly go to the palace, and try to stop the sacrifice. Lucian ends up hitting the king in the head and knocks him out. One of the banisters catches fire and lights the whole palace on fire. The whole town is in flames soon. And you’ll have to read the book to find out what happens next. The end is all good, but I’m not telling.

I think this book is really weird, but it's a really good book.   This is the fourth or fifth time I've read it, so clearly I like it.  It's really random, and I'm kind of random, too.  I think that the author described stuff really well, in my opinion, and he knew a lot about medieval castles, the way they were run.  I didn't enjoy the language, and I would have substituted one word with "donkey" because he says it a lot.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 chocolate bars

Appropriateness:  Some inappropriate language

Cover Thoughts:  I like both covers.  The hardback cover shows the setting, and the paperback cover shows the main characters really well.

Book Review: Paint the Wind, by Pam Munoz Ryan

screen name: -Aligator-

Grade: 6

Book Title: Paint The Wind

Format: Paperback

Author: Pam Munoz Ryan

number of pages: 316

Price: $6.99

Short Summary: Maya lives with her grandmother, who is all about discipline. Maya can`t wear jeans, t-shirts, or anything fun. She doesn`t have any friends, pobably because of how she dresses. And her parents? They died. Both. All she has left of them is a box full of toy horses, which her grandmother would MURDER HER if she found out about them.

Maya`s grandmother hates Maya`s mom, a lot. She cuts out her face out of photos, or puts up photos without her mom. When Maya`s grandma has a heart attack, Maya comes to live with her strange relatives on her mom`s side, which turn out to be her new family. She also meets Payton, her cousin, and her mom`s old horse, Artemisia. I don`t want to give too much away, so I can`t explain anymore. The book is beautifully written, just to point it out! I really enjoyed reading the fantastic story of a girl who realizes she can be anything she wants.

Rating: 5 Chocolate bars!

Appropriateness: Fairy Princess

Cover Thoughts: I LOVE the cover. It`s mysterious and dramatic, It`s exiting yet somehow calm. It shows an amazing looking horse, running in the wind.

book review The accidental hero

A book review BY DIMESIONGIRL12
BOOK TITLE The accidental hero.
FORMAT: I read it in paperback.
AUTHOR: Matt Myklucsh

LENGTH: It has 470 pages
PRICE: It’s $5.99 at Walmart, but it's $7.99 elsewhere.

I love this book because it shows an alternative reality and how it would happen if we opened up our minds to the impossible.  I wish it were real. I liked how everyone was very unique, and I can get what Jack feels because I, too, have experienced what it's  like to be unique.  The one weakness is it was boring at parts because it follows a pretty basic plot of the hero finding out who he is, training, and beating the bad guys.  I wish it would have been mixed up a little with maybe some more conflict like Revile could have captured him or something.

For 12 years Jack lived at St. Barneby’s Home for the Hopeless, Abandoned, Forgotten and Lost.  Now he lives in the world of Imagine Nation. Jack has been infected with a virus that usually turns the host into a robo-zombie.  But will the robo-zombies get Jack?  Will he beat the virus ??

RATING: I think it rates 5 chocolate bars.

APPROPRIATENESS:  I think it’s sort of a vampire book but not quite because it has some violence, but only a little, like a punch in the face.  No language or sexual content.

COVER THOUGHTS:  I think the cover should be more eye-popping like it showing Jack and his friends and them standing on Revile.

I know right now you think I'm crazy, but read the book and you'll thank me.

Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan

You can tell that the In the Middle (of a Good Book) staff has a lot of tastes in common, because we've had a Hiaasen theme, and now we're in a Riordan streak!  Everyone's been crazy to read the book Son of Neptune, so this is our second review of it by thierryhenry14!

TITLE: Son of Neptune

AUTHOR: Rick Riordan

FORMAT: ebook

PRICE: Discounted to $9.99

Son of Neptune is...aaaammmmmmmmaaaaaazzzzzzzzzzzzzziiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnngggggggggggg!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This second book of Heroes of Olympus series is a perfect sequel to the first book The Lost Hero. The second book is from a Greek demigod's (Percy Jackson) point of view, whereas in the first book it was from Jason's (a Roman demigod) point of view. Percy's memory was stolen by Juno (Hera), so Percy has to find the Roman demigods' camp, Camp Jupiter, without his memory. At camp, Percy meets Hazel and Frank (who both have a curse set on them). They help him along the way on his quest to Alaska, also known as the land beyond the gods, to release Pluto's (Hades) lieutenant Thanatos from his captive, the giant Alcyoneus (who is unbeatable in the place he was born, a.k.a. Alaska), son of the earth goddess Gaea.

Son of Neptune is totally the action-packed, exciting, suspenseful book I was looking forward to when I bought it. The book goes above and beyond expectations -- I mean this book is seriously amazing. I have read the Percy Jackson and the Last Olympians series, and the gods in those books are in their Greek form, so personally I liked seeing the change in the gods' characters and personalities, and of course I enjoyed reading the new characters.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoyed any of the Percy Jackson books by Rick Riordan. It's seriously good.

I give this book 4 1/2 chocolate bars because it is really good. I am being more serious than I ever have in my entire life; I do not joke about chocolate.

My Life in Pink and Green By: Cece07

A book review by Cece07
Title:  My Life in Pink and Green
Author:  Lisa Greenwald
Format: Paperback
Length: 272 pages
Price:  $6.95




This book, called My Life in Pink and Green, is by Lisa Greenwald. It is about a girl named Lucy Desberg who works at a family-owned pharmacy with her mother and grandmother. Their family-owned pharmacy is going through tough times, also known as bankruptcy. Lucy is brainstorming ideas how to help the pharmacy, when it just so happens that the prom queen has a hair crisis, and Lucy is asked for advice.

Lucy has worked at this pharmacy ever since she can remember, so she knows where everything is, and of course where everything is supposed to be. So she helps the prom queen, and the word spreads quickly. Lucy's really getting the hang of this--she's getting to do make-up for dances, birthdays, parades, and even Bat Mitzvahs. Meanwhile, she has developed a big crush that popped up out of nowhere.

One day she's surfing the web and comes across this Eco-grant that the mayor has posted. She thinks that they should try to open an Eco-spa to help save the pharmacy.The mayor said whichever person has the best reason to help the earth and make a living off of it will win and get the money to do their idea. Mom's all for it, but Grandma is the opposite. Take a guess or just read this novel and see for yourself if Lucy saves the pharmacy and see if her crush likes her back.




Rating:4 out of 5 chocolate bars
Appropriateness: fairy princess: it's pretty good, nothing too bad
Cover Thoughts: It's a totally cool cover! It fits the book perfectly!