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A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park

Hi my name is Kire. I love to read, play volleyball and play my viola.

A Long Walk to Water is a historical fiction novel that follows two main characters, Salva and Nya. Salva is a young boy living a normal life in a small village, until one day while he is in school, a group of people attack the village because of the war going on in Sudan. This causes Salva to flee and get separated from his family. Salva then finds a group of people to walk with to a refugee camp. Along the way, Salva faces many hardships. He makes it to a refugee camp where he lives for a couple of years until the government forces everyone to leave.

Eventually, Salva ends up at a different refugee camp where he learns English and is chosen to move to America. He moves to Rochester, New York where he then comes up with an idea as an adult to help people in Sudan who don’t have clean drinking water. This is where Nya comes in. Nya is a young girl living in a village where there is no clean water to drink and the trek to get water takes all day. With the help of Salva’s organization, a well for clean drinking water was built in Nya’s village.

Overall, I would say that this book has a nice ending. I would probably give A Long Walk to Water three out of five stars because at some points in the story, I found it to be a bit slow. I would recommend this book to people who want a short and interesting story based on true events.

Find it in print, ebook and eaudiobook here.

Escape from Aleppo by N.H. Senzai

Hi, my name is Reese. I like hanging out with friends, skiing, and playing softball.

In the book Escape from Aleppo by N.H. Senzai, you follow the journey of a young girl who is fighting her way through the war in South Sudan.

In the start of the book, 14 year old Nadia’s house is bombed, and she is separated from her family. She is living in the war-torn country of Sudan during the civil war between the president and the rebel forces. Nadia has to find her way back to her family while trying to stay alive in these times of war. As Naida tries to make her way across the state lines to Turkey, she meets new people who are in the same position as her.

One of the main characters that she comes in contact with and comes to like very much is Ammo Mazen, a traveler who has a secret job as a collector of precious items for a group. Ammo Mazen helps get Nadia where she needs to be while pursuing his own duties. She also comes across a young boy named Basel, who helps them along the journey with knowledge from his deceased grandmother. In the end, Nadia ends up reunited with her family across the Turkish border. Overall, this book was a very good read for me personally. I think that it brings in aspects of all interesting topics and makes this book interesting and not boring to read. It was mostly interesting and intriguing, but there were some parts where I was left without an explanation.

Find it through Interlibrary loan here.

As Good as Dead by Holly Jackson

Hi, I am Advik. I love to read, write, bike, swim, and watch TV.

As Good as Dead is book three in Holly Jackson’s A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder series. It is emotional, gripping, and completely unputdownable. I went into it expecting a thoughtful mystery, but it was so much more—it felt darker and more psychological than anticipated. In this installment, the characters, particularly the protagonist, Pip, seemed to have grown.

At the beginning of the final book in this series, Pip is preparing to head off to college, but she is constantly haunted by what happened in her past two investigations. When Pip starts reviewing weird signs and anonymous threats, she begins to suspect she has a stalker. The more she digs into her stalker, the more shocking secrets are revealed, secrets Pip would’ve never found out about. This investigation just started as another mystery for Pip to solve, but it becomes much more personal and dangerous. At a point in the book, you can’t tell if Pip is the hero or the villain, making the book even more on edge.

Overall, this book was one of the best concluding books I’ve ever read. It took daring risks and dove more into Pip’s darker side. This book has a point where the novel turns, and the reader can start doubting Pip’s decisions and reasons. I couldn’t recommend this book more to anyone who likes dark, twisting mysteries.

Find it in print and eaudiobook here.

The Heir by Kiera Cass

Hi I’m Reese and I’m in 7th grade. I like hanging out with my friends, going skiing, and playing softball.

The Heir by Kiera Cass is not only the fourth book in the beloved Selection series but is also a fan favorite from the series. Personally, I thought that this was one of the best books from this series and I especially enjoyed reading this book in particular.

This book starts off in the same place, the palace of Illea, but it’s 18 years later and the time is approaching for the young princess to find a suitor. Princess Eadlyn has never seen herself ruling the country with someone by her side. So, when her father, King Maxon, has the bright idea to hold a Selection, she isn’t thrilled. Eadlyn makes a deal with her father that if she isn’t in love in three months the whole thing can be called off and she may go on to rule the country alone. Her plan is to not fall in love. She thinks that there is no way she could ever love any of the possible suitors, but she finds herself more interested in some of them than others. She feels a connection with a childhood friend, Kile, who lives in the palace with her.

The book ends with a cliffhanger before jumping into the next book. You’re left wondering if Eadlyn is still going through with her plan, or if she is truly falling in love with one of the Selected.

Find it in print, ebook, and eaudiobook here.

The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd

Hi my name is Kire. I love to read, play volleyball and play my viola.

The London Eye Mystery is an exhilarating mystery that kept me on the edge of my seat for almost the entire book. It follows Ted and many of his family members. Ted is an interesting kid who thinks much differently than most people. He is almost always thinking in terms of weather. This special thinking was able to figure out the mystery of his cousin’s disappearance.

Ted and his family’s life was normal until everything was turned upside down when Ted’s cousin Salim and his Aunt Gloria came to visit on their way to move to Manchester. At first everything seemed fine until the next day when Salim, Ted, and his sister Kat all got into a line to get on the London Eye. A strange man offers them a free ticket and Salim agrees to take it and go on the London Eye by himself. Ted and Kat patiently wait for Salim’s pod to come back to the ground. When his pod eventually lands, Salim is nowhere to be found. It is as if Salim magically disappeared while he was on the London Eye. This is how the mystery of how Salim disappeared began. Eventually the police were called after Salim wasn’t found for an entire day. Ted didn’t think that the police would come up with the correct theory, so he came up with his own 9 theories. This was how Ted figured out what had happened to Salim. If you want to find out which of his nine theories was correct, you are going to have to read the book.

This book was interesting and kept me on the edge of my seat for most of the book. The only thing that I didn’t love about this book was that it had a slow start. It took a long time before the action started; however, once it did, I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to read an interesting mystery. All in all, I enjoyed reading this book.

Find it in print here.

Falling Short by Ernesto Cisneros

Hi my name is Kire. I love to read, play volleyball and play my viola.

I listened to Falling Short for the Idaho Battle of the Books and found it interesting. The book is a fiction novel about many aspects of middle school, mainly basketball. It follows and is written with the point of view of two boys, Marco and Isaac. They are neighbors and best friends even though their personalities and strengths are quite different. This book is about these two conquering the challenges of school and family problems.

This year, Marco, who is academically gifted and always gets straight A’s in school, wants to impress his father by making the middle school basketball team. His father has never been there for him, and he hopes that by making the basketball team, he will be able to win his father’s approval. The only problem is that he has never played basketball. Isaac has different hopes for the year. He is naturally good at basketball, but unlike Marco, he struggles with his schoolwork and grades. This year he hopes to change this as his parents have often argued about Isaac and his work. His mom thinks that school is the most important thing, but his dad has drinking problems and thinks that basketball is the most important. Isaac hopes that by improving his grades, he will be able to mend his parents’ arguments about him and fix his family. Through helping each other, Isaac and Marco are able to overcome their struggles and continue their middle school year.

I found this book very interesting and fun to read. There were many jokes within the book that made it hilarious. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants a funny and interesting book. Overall, I found this book to be one of the better books that I have read this year.

Find it in print and eaudiobook here.