Ullman, James Ramsey.  Banner in the Sky.  

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ÙÙÙÙÙ Mr. Greenlee

Van der Rol, Ruud, and Rian Verhoeven.  Anne Frank: Beyond the Diary.  New York: Viking Children's Books. 

ÙÙÙÙÙ Mr. Greenlee

Even though I didn't read this from cover-to-cover, I consider it a must-browse for every reader of Anne Frank's Diary.

Verne, Jules.  20,000 Leagues Under Sea.  

Verne, Jules.  Around the World in 80 Days.   

ÙÙ Mr. Greenlee

This is my first Jules Verne book, and I must say that I’m disappointed.  This is a “classic”?   Everything is viewed from afar.  Verne never let me feel as though I were right there.  There is almost no dialogue, and even the action is related as though it were second-hand.  Although I didn’t expect it to be in Jane Austen’s league, from its reputation I was hoping for something in the range of Stevenson, Tolkien, and Wells.  It’s not.  This sort of storytelling is more of the Edgar Rice Burroughs or Stephen King variety. 

Verne, Jules.  Journey to the Center of the Earth.  

Verne, Jules.  Master of the World

Voigt, Cynthia.  Bad Girls. 

ÙÙÙÙÙ Melissa, tenth grade 

Two young girls Margalo Epps and Mickey Elsinger meet each other when they both attend the hardest grade, school and have the hardest teacher in the county.  Mrs. Chemsky is the strictest teacher in the whole school and it just so happens that Margalo and Mickey are stuck with her.  Throughout the year the girls have more then just them sitting next to one another in school.  They are both very Bad Girls and throughout the year they beat up the school bully, bring their pets to school, put a dead squirrel in a girls lunch, and outplay the boys in soccer.  There friendship strengthens as the year goes on and at the end of the book they can't wait until sixth grade.  This book is recommended by Melissa for 10-13 year olds.

Voigt, Cynthia.  Homecoming. 

Voigt, Cynthia.  Dicey's Song.  New York: Macmillan Children's Book Group. 

 The sequel to Homecoming.  

ÙÙÙÙÙ Melissa, tenth grade 

Dicey and her siblings Maybeth, James, and Sammy spent a long time looking for their Grandmother after their mother abandoned them and became deathly ill.  She checked herself into a hospital in Boston and left Dicey on her own to take her siblings all the way from Provincetown to Chesapeake Bay where her Grandmother lives.  Their Grandma didn’t even know she had any grandchildren or that her daughter was deathly ill, but when the children arrived and surprised her she had no other choice, but to let them in with open arms since the children have no other family.  The family lives in a large farm home dealing with welfare, schooling, and their mother’s death throughout the years.  Together they get through everything and become one big happy family.     

Voigt, Cynthia.  Solitary Blue.  New York: Macmillan Children's Book Group. 

ÙÙÙÙÙ Ashley,11th grade

 I recommend that people read this book. It is a good book there is this Boy named Jeff and he is an only child and he lives with his father. His mom moved away when he was a little kid and he doesn’t see her that often only in the summer time. His father has a friend that is over all the time and help Jeff cook dinner sometime because his father works all the time.

Voigt, Cynthia.  Tell Me if the Lovers Are Losers.  New York: Macmillan Children's Book Group.

Volsky, Paula.  Illusions.  

 ÙÙÙÙÙ Mr. Greenlee

von Ziegesar, Cecily.  Gossip Girl.  

ÙÙÙÙÙ Jane, 9th grade

Blair has everything, she is the most popular, has the cutest boyfriend, and all the freedom she could want, but that changes when her old friend Serena comes back.  Serena is one of those people that is naturally cool.  She is beautiful, and has a charm that no one can deny.  Serena and Blair used to be best friends before she went away to boarding school, but now she’s kicked out, back, and Blair isn’t sure if having her best friend back is what she wants.  Now she will go back to being the second coolest, and the second prettiest, Blair won’t go back to that.  What will Blair choose, being cool over her best friend, or her best friend over being cool?  The author knows her girls very well, down to all their little mannerisms.  The girls personalities don’t blend, they each have a mind of their own.  I would recommend this book to an older audience, some content may not be appropriate for younger children.  Drive into the beautiful world of these gossip girls, and let them take you for a ride!

ÙÙÙÙÙ Danielle, ninth grade 

      Gossip Girl is a book that really tells how girls can really act. Throughout the book it gets kind of pathetic on how they really do act and how they seem to take revenge on each other. 

       It shows how girls and really turn on each other just because one of their friends doesn’t like them. I really don’t get how when Serena comes back from boarding school, Blaire, Kati, and Isabel all instantly turn against her because of nasty untrue rumors that had been spread about her.    

      This book was really good and I think that throughout the book it really portrayed the way that teenagers act, and how bad they can really be toward each to each other. It can get pretty bad and some people can take things way to far. It was a great book and I recommend it to any one who likes a good book full of good gossip. 

ÙÙÙÙÙ Arial, tenth grade 

    Teen People describes it as “Sex and the City for a younger set.”  I agree completely; it’s an incredibly catty book.  It is definitely a page-turner, once started, it’s hard to put down.  I think it is highly realistic to teenage life. 

    Serena is back from boarding school and is as beautiful as ever.  She expects to fall back in to her old crowd and become best friends again.  She is rudely awakened to find her friends aren’t happy to see her.  Her old best friend Blair is very mean and in a unstable relation ship with Serena’s former fling Nate.  Blair is now bulimic and Nate only cares about himself.  People start creating nasty rumors about Serena having an abortion, having STDs, joining a cult, and other reticules things.  Serena has to find out who she really wants to be friends with.  

Gossip Girl 2: You Know You Want Me.   

Gossip Girl 3: All I Want is Everything.

Von Ziegesar, Cecily.  Gossip Girl 4: Because I’m Worth It.        

ÙÙÙÙÙ Arial

This book is about a variety of characters that somehow all relate.  This is the fourth book in an amazingly, amusing, exhilarating, charming series of the Gossip Girl books.  In this book Dan and Vanessa finally get together.  They were always meant to be, but Dan was blinded by Serena’s beauty.  They are an amazingly talented couple.  But in the end one of them ends up tragically hurt. My favorite character is uncountable Serena. She is still her same non-caring, happy self.  Blair, the moody one of the story finds herself getting tangled in an affair with a married man.  Dan’s sister Jenny finally finds love and delightfully cute and charming Nate goes to rehab where he ends up helping a beautiful coke addict with an overdose. Its strangely romantic.

These books really make you want to keep reading them.  They relate to teenagers on an entirely new spectrum. I highly recommend them.

von Ziegesar, Cecily.  Gossip Girl 5: I Like It Like That.  

ÙÙÙÙÙ Arial, 10th grade 

It’s all about old relationships getting back together. I liked it because the people that work out should have been together a long time ago.  Serena is my favorite character in all the books, but in this one she is sad and distracted by her thoughts all the time which is out of character for her. I loved it, but then again I always do.  In this GG book everyone is anxiously waiting the arrival of their acceptance (or not) letters. It also takes place over spring break, were everyone’s getting into all sorts of trouble.  Nate, Chuck, Georgie, Serena, Erik, and Blair, all go to the same ski resort together.  Annoying Chuck is officially gay and is flirting with the entire winter snowboard team.  Nate is sad because his soon-not-to-be girlfriend, Georgie, is always too messed up to spend time with him.  The perfect Serena is sad because she had no one to love her.  Blair and Serena’s brother, Erik, get super close to “doing it.”  Back at home Dan gets a new job and starts to realize he is still in love with Vanessa, the girl whose heart he broke. Secretly Vanessa is falling back in love with him again too.  Dan’s little sister spends all her time trying to figure out the mysteries behind her adorable new boyfriend, but in the end it may not be as romantic as she anticipated. 

von Ziegesar, Cecily.  Gossip Girl 6: You're the One That I Want.    

ÙÙÙÙÙ Arial

Finally all the seniors find out all the colleges the lucky kids have got into.  Everyone is ready to check out all those colleges to decide which one they want to go to, and of course celebrate. Vanessa and Dan are finally back in love, but when a new girl decides to move in with them, will Dan and Vanessa drift apart? After the ferret-loving roommate decides to throw an outrageous party, Dan and Vanessa start to open their eyes to who they really are.  Chuck’s parents have decided to send him to boot camp, poor guy was so cocky he didn’t make it anywhere else.  Stoner boy Nate surprisingly makes it into everywhere he wants to go, including Yale, his girlfriend’s dream.  When his girlfriend Blair finds out she was put on the wait list to Yale, watch out for lose eyes that have been clawed out. Jenny decides that her dream is going into modeling, but when a photo shoot makes an embarrassing turn, she has to learn to recover to go for her dream.  In this book I think everyone is realizing there life is about to take sharp turns. You’re the one that I want, has a lot to do with the characters finding themselves. I liked it a lot; these books always have me ready to jump into the next.

von Ziegeasar, Cecily. Gossip Girl 7: nobody does it better.

ÙÙÙÙÙ Arial

 Finally everyone has figured out where they are going to go to college.  Things start to get a little crazy as people get ready to leave there safe well known lives and go of to college on there own.  Blair and Serena are friends again, and Nate and Blair are back together.  Of course nothing between them ever lasts long.  Dan get kicked out of his band, and is replaced by his little sister Jenny.  Jenny is letting out her wild side.  This book was fun and easy.  I really feel like I know all the characters. 

von Ziegesar, Cecily.  Gossip Girl 8: Nothing Can Keep Us Together.  

ÙÙÙÙÙ Arial

Finally everyone is getting what they want.  They’re all graduated.  Well except for Nate, his diploma was withheld because he stole his coach’s Viagra.  Nate has the beautiful Serena, but for some reason he is still weeping all the time.  Maybe it’s because his true love Blair has found someone she is worthy of. a British lord named Marcus who treats her like a princess. Serena has everything she ever wanted, and now she has a new part in a big time movie.  Jenny has finally gotten into boarding school, and not just any boarding school.  It’s just right for her about the arts.  Vanessa is with her wonderful boyfriend Aaron.  Yet when she starts cheating on him with Dan things start to change, she starts coming out of her black cocoon and turning into a beautiful white moth.  I liked this Gossip Girl a lot.  Everyone seems to be going for what they want and getting it.  I seem to know the characters so well it makes me happy to see them find what they’ve been looking for.

von Ziegesar, Cecily.  Gossip Girl  9: Only In Your Dreams.   

von Ziegesar, Cecily.  Gossip Girl 10: Would I Lie to You?    

ÙÙÙÙÙ Arial, 10th grade

 This Gossip Girl book was filled with love confusion. Dan thinks he’s gay, and Vanessa’s is still in love with Dan.  Nate loves Blair, but Serena loves Nate. Self conflict was a big focuses in this story. When I first began reading this book I was worried that it would be just like all of the other Gossip Girls books and it would be a bore. But as always as soon as I started it I fell in love with the story all over again. These books never get boring because the characters are all just living out there lives. Life is always filled with twist and changes.

ÙÙÙÙÙ Danielle, 10th grade

There is always more to come from these kids. They seem to find new adventures and more ways to ruin the lives of whom they don’t like. In a way, most readers in the young adult section could probably relate to these books more than they think. They know that they do the same things, or something like it, that take place in these books. 

      This book continues the travels and mischief of Blair, Serena, and Nate. The two girls start out at Bailey Winters’ –a famous designer- as fashion muses for his new line of clothing. Things here get thrown off for Blair and Serena when they find out about the other guests that are staying with them. Nate runs into trouble while working for his coach and makes a very risky move that may cause him his future. 

      These kids continue their crazy lives with each other and follow through with screwing up everyone’s around them. 

       This book, to me, was really good. I enjoy this series because I like to know about the lives of other people that I have yet to experience. It just seems interesting to me to read how spoiled these kids are. It’s just so different from the life that I live. 

Vonnegut, Kurt.  Slaughterhouse Five. 

Collin, 9th grade 

It was strange but very interesting book in that it you never had a clue to what was going to happen next, leading you to want to keep reading. This book jumps back and fourth many times making it a little hard to follow but still very good read