dcampbell

Alebrijes by Donna Barba Higuera

Hi my name is Kire. I am in 6th grade and I love to read. Other than reading I like to do gymnastics and play viola.

Alebrijes is an odd and interesting book that is set in the future. For 400 years, the world has been a wasteland in which there is only one settlement of people living on Earth as far as we know. This settlement is called Pocatel. The story follows a thirteen-year-old boy named Leandro who lives in this town as a poor Cascabel. The Cascabels are the descendants of those who worked in the San Joaquin Valley. The Cascabels are frowned upon by the rich Pocatellon people. Leandro and his sister live a horrible life in Pocatel and want to leave to find a better place to live. They want to find a way to leave Pocatel.

Little did Leandro know that his sister would steal a strawberry from a fruit stand. In Pocatel when someone steals, they are exiled by walking across a bridge where there are wandering spirits and wyrms which eat anyone who walks across the bridge. Leandro took the blame for stealing the strawberry and ended up getting a different punishment than exile. His soul was put into an animal drone from before the world collapsed. Leandro ends up meeting other souls who were put into drones and together they all find a way to escape Pocatel with the rest of the Cascabels. The story ends in the Cascabels moving and finding a better place to live in peace.

Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone who is into dystopian books or people who just want to read an awesome book. As you can see, I really enjoyed reading Alebrijes.

Find it in print here.

We Set the Dark on Fire by Tehlor Kay Meijia

My name is Bria, I am a ski racer, swimmer, and dancer. I love reading in my free time

We Set the Dark on Fire is a captivating dystopian tale set on an island ruled by two brothers: the God of Salt and the God of the Sun. The story unfolds with Constancia, the clever daughter of Medio’s King, whom the Sun God marries. While wandering his Moonlit Garden, the Sun God encounters the Moon Goddess, a beautiful woman, and soon falls in love, leading to his indecision. Torn between Constancia, and the Moon Goddess. He decides to marry both Constancia, his equal, and the Moon Goddess his opposite, sparking a devastating war and resulting in the God of Salt’s banishment and curse.

The narrative follows Daniela, a student at the Medio School for Girls, where young women are groomed to become ideal wives—Premera (the smart one) and Segunda (the beautiful one). As Daniela nears graduation to be a Premera, she grapples with feelings of insecurity due to her family’s illegal immigration status. When faced with a choice to join the rebellious group La Voz or risk exposure, she chooses rebellion.

The book takes readers through Daniela’s journey with La Voz, filled with unexpected twists and turns. I enjoyed this original plot that kept me engaged. Although the first-person perspective is compelling, I would have appreciated hearing from different viewpoints. Overall, this book offers an intriguing, plot-twisting exploration of identity and rebellion in a dystopian setting.

Find it in eaudiobook here.

We Set the Dark on Fire by Tehlor Kay Meijia

My name is Bria, I am a ski racer, swimmer, and dancer. I love reading in my free time

We Set the Dark on Fire is a captivating dystopian tale set on an island ruled by two brothers: the God of Salt and the God of the Sun. The story unfolds with Constancia, the clever daughter of Medio’s King, whom the Sun God marries. While wandering his Moonlit Garden, the Sun God encounters the Moon Goddess, a beautiful woman, and soon falls in love, leading to his indecision. Torn between Constancia, and the Moon Goddess. He decides to marry both Constancia, his equal, and the Moon Goddess his opposite, sparking a devastating war and resulting in the God of Salt’s banishment and curse.

The narrative follows Daniela, a student at the Medio School for Girls, where young women are groomed to become ideal wives—Premera (the smart one) and Segunda (the beautiful one). As Daniela nears graduation to be a Premera, she grapples with feelings of insecurity due to her family’s illegal immigration status. When faced with a choice to join the rebellious group La Voz or risk exposure, she chooses rebellion.

The book takes readers through Daniela’s journey with La Voz, filled with unexpected twists and turns. I enjoyed this original plot that kept me engaged. Although the first-person perspective is compelling, I would have appreciated hearing from different viewpoints. Overall, this book offers an intriguing, plot-twisting exploration of identity and rebellion in a dystopian setting.

Find it in eaudiobook here.

Dead Voices by Katherine Arden

Hi, my name is Reese and I like to read books with a horror-ish edge. I like movies, sports, and hanging out with friends.

Dead Voices by Katherine Arden is an amazing book with tastes of horror and little bits of excitement. In this sequel to the first book of the series, Small Spaces, Coco, Brain, and Ollie are on another adventure to the Hemlock Lodge out in the middle of the wild. On the way there, they encounter a dangerous storm that keeps them in the lodge longer than expected. During their stay, the three friends go face to face with paranormal activity and a long story that goes back almost a hundred years. The lodge used to be an orphanage, and it seems that the ghosts of the little girl who died there just won’t go away.

After discovering that a man named Mr. Voland, who was helping them and claimed to be a ghost hunter, is really the relentless Smiling Man who’s come back to attempt to beat them again. The Smiling Man makes a new deal, but this time no one is there to help them. Ollie, Coco, and Brian all get separated and must find their way back to each other before they can figure out how to stop the Smiling Man again.

Throughout this amazing book, the three friends learn what it really means to feel hopeless, and what it takes to get past that feeling of defeat. This book shows exactly what it means to be a team and work together through hard times and get out of anything.

Find it through Interlibrary loan here.

The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han

Hey! I’m Kinley, and I’m 12 years old, living in the awesome Wood River Valley. I love reading it’s one of my favorite things to do, and I can get really into a good book! When I’m not reading, I’m usually swimming, ski racing, or dancing. I love being active and having fun with my friends. I’m always up for trying new books!

Every summer, Belly has gotten really close to her mother’s best friend’s sons, Conrad and Jeremiah Fisher. They have always felt like family to her because they’ve shared lots of happy moments together. But now that Belly is getting older, she starts to see them in a new way, and her feelings begin to change. Belly has always had a crush on Conrad, but this summer he seems really angry and distant, which makes her feel confused. On the other hand, Jeremiah has been very kind to her, and she begins to notice how sweet he is. What she doesn’t know is that Jeremiah secretly has a crush on her, which adds a bump in their friendship. Belly’s summer is filled with fun days at the beach, going into town, and swimming in the ocean. However, her best friend Taylor joins them and causes some drama between Belly and the boys. As the summer goes on, Belly learns a lot of secrets from her mom, Conrad, and Jeremiah, as well as from Conrad’s and Jeremiah’s mom, Susannah. These secrets help her understand more about the boys and what they are going through.

Belly’s summer becomes more than just about having fun it’s also about figuring out who she is and what her feelings really mean. This summer is where Belly learns a lot more than she has before and the summer is filled with fun packed moments but also some drama between Belly, the boys, and Taylor. Overall, The Summer I Turned Pretty is about Belly, and her summer at the beach house.

Find it in print here.

A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson

Hi I’m Reese and I like playing softball and volleyball, skiing, and hanging out with family and friends. My favorite genre of book is mystery and some subtle horror

I think that this book, A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder is the perfect mystery. It has aspects of suspense, closure, and so much more. It has everything from happy parts, sad parts, and parts where you are left with so much suspense that you can’t put the book down.

Pippa Fitz-Amobi is a young girl detective who works to solve a mystery that forever haunts her town. When another older girl is supposedly murdered by her boyfriend, Pip doesn’t believe it. When an opportunity for Pip to dig deeper into the case shows itself, she takes it to prove Sal innocent. She must take risks and put her life on the line. Pip wants so badly to prove Sal innocent, but is it worth possibly her own life? Along the line she loses people, and she loses her own mind.

In the end, Pip discovers the truth behind the brutal murders of the 2 innocent kids. She was right all along. A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder is the perfect book for anyone willing to read a page and not be able to stop.

Find it in print and ebook here.