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Spy School by Stuart Gibbs

My name is Zach. I am an eighth grader and live in Ketchum, ID. I enjoy playing board games, reading, mountain biking, Nordic and alpine skiing, playing with my family, snowmobiling, and being outside.

Spy School by Stuart Gibbs is a quick and easy read that is very believable.

Ben Ripley is a smart young boy. He has a gift for math and can do complex calculations in his head. Because of this, he is “accepted” into a spy school. He immediately realizes how hard it is to be a spy, let alone lie to his parents and his best friend. He meets friends like Erica Hale, a strong, confident and pretty girl who smells like gunpowder and flowers. Everything goes smoothly until…Ben dramatically discovers that he is part of an operation to find a ‘mole’ (or enemy double agent) working undercover at the school. And by ‘part of’, I mean to say he is the bait to draw dangerous people out of hiding.

Sounds scary? It is.

Things go from bad to worse as the book goes on, leading up to a crazy finale.

Overall, this book would normally be around a B+ for me, but it was so fast paced and fun, I forgot about all sorts of nitpicky details I usually don’t like. All I remember after reading it was that it was fun, captivating, and funny. Quirky characters following a standard plot (with some twists and turns) written in a great way. There are eight other books after this one, with more to come. I would say, if you need a book to read in the car, or when you are bored, you should check out Spy School. You won’t be disappointed.

Find it in print, ebook and eaudiobook here.

The Infinity Courts by Akemi Dawn Bowman

My name is Zach. I am an eighth grader and live in Ketchum, ID. I enjoy playing board games, reading, mountain biking, Nordic and alpine skiing, playing with my family, snowmobiling, and being outside.

The Infinity Courts, by Akemi Dawn Bowman is a wonderfully captivating story that explores the complex dynamics of the main character.

Nami Miyamoto spends most of the book battling her struggle to do what is morally right over what needs to be done in order to survive. Nami starts out living a great life She is on her way to a high school party, when she dies. Immediately the author transports you (in an unbelievably cool way) into quite an enchanting version of the afterlife.
Unbeknownst to Nami, there is a war going on in this world. She is thrown into the mix, where she meets allies, friends, and foes. She tries to decide how far she is willing to go in this war, and where she draws the lines. She discovers how to live and thrive in the afterlife, and how to survive this brutal world.

The reveals and turns of this book were by far some of the best crafted, mind-boggling twists I’ve ever read. Immediately after finishing this book, I couldn’t wait for the second book to release (on April 19th) and continue this story. On a story level, the author does a great job of keeping the danger high, the interactions believable and cool, and the plot progressing at a nice pace. It is really hard to describe how this book made me feel, all I can say is that I was engrossed the whole way, and I loved it. I’d highly recommend this complex, action-packed story to any teen who likes to read.

Find it in print here.

Brave Enough by Jessie Diggins

Hi, I am Sarah. I am fourteen years old and an avid reader; it is one of my favorite things to do. Inspired by authors’ creations of magnificent places and surprising havens built by simple letters, I aspire to be an author and, meanwhile, nurture the love to write.

“I can do it myself,” said twelve-year-old Jessie Diggins, tromping through the Boundary wilderness, vehemently resolved to carry her own canoe. She was fiercely determined and had long since fallen in love with the wilderness. 

This was the same sentiment that pushed her across the brightly-lit, fan-clogged finish line in the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in 2018, her left ski thrust in front of her, her arms thrown up in celebration as she crossed the finish line to win the first-ever US cross-country gold medal in the Winter Olympic Games. 

It’s this same drive, I can do it myself; this same independence that streaks through her everyday life, as a professional Nordic skier and beyond. 

How’d Jessie go from a scrappy twelve-year-old to a famous, professional athlete? That’s the story of Brave Enough: a Nordic skier’s autobiography. This is a bubbly story, one built of sweat and hard work, of triumph and hardship, of slippery skis and grueling races, peppered throughout with a healthy amount of glitter. And it is an honest story, these pages extending far past races and ribbons. Diggins openly shares her struggles with an eating disorder and her recovery, reaching out to spread hope to others with her shared experience. 

Ultimately, it is a strong story, and an independent one: of finding your own drive, your own, fierce voice, that one that tells you that you can do it. That you are brave enough. 

Find it in print here.

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Review by Ella; dreamer, ski racer, writer, and rock climber. Ella lives in SV, Idaho with her mom, dad, cat, dog, gecko, and fish.

In Catching Fire, Peeta Mellark and Katniss Everdeen are the new victors of The Hunger Games after defying the Capitol with a simple handful of berries. They are about to be married as part of the fake love strategy they started in the past games. The ruthless President Snow is not happy with their act of defiance so he decides to make sure they will never do anything of the sort again. He takes one female and one male victor from each district, including Katniss and Peeta, and forces them back into the arena.

The other victors are trained fighters and are cunning, vicious, and clever. Katniss makes a decision to save Peeta and make sure he comes out as victor, at whatever cost. But as the games begin everything starts to go wrong. Just as Katniss is about to enter the arena her beloved stylist, Cinna, is dragged off by Peacekeepers. Katniss and Peeta team up with Finnick and Mags from District 3 and start their journey into the jungle. They suffer many losses and soon find out a horrifying, bone-chilling secret.

Find it in print, ebook, eaudiobook, CD and DVD here.

Number the Stars by Lois Lowry

My name is Madeline. I am in middle school and enjoy playing the violin, ice skating and reading good books!

Number the Stars, by Louis Lowry is a historical fiction story of life in Denmark during World War II.

It is 1943 and the Nazis have been growing steadily hostile to the Jewish citizens of Denmark, harassing them, and closing their shops. These actions frighten ten-year-old Annemarie Johansen, whose best friend, Ellen, is Jewish.

Then, one day, news comes that all the Jewish people living in Denmark are to be relocated that very night. The Johansens quickly decide to hide Ellen in their house. They plan for her to act like one of their own children in the event any soldiers should enter their home. Everything seems to go smoothly, until late at night when the Nazis come to their apartment. Though they fail to discover Ellen, the Johansens deem it too close a call. They resolve to help Ellen and her parents escape to Sweden.

This is an intense story relating some of what happened in World War II in Denmark. I recommend this story for ages ten and up.

Find it in print, ebook, eaudiobook and CD here.

Chasing Lincoln’s Killer by James L. Swanson

Hi, my name is Duncan. I am in the 6th grade. I love to Nordic and alpine ski in the winter and like to bike, hike, and camp in the summer.

Chasing Lincoln’s Killer is set in 1865 and is about the murder of President Lincoln and then the chase for the assassin and his companions. My favorite scene was when the barn was burned down and he was caught. so much for his life.  I like this book and would recommend it to anyone that is into history or mystery. I would recommend it because it is very well written and has lots of good detail. Some of the other things that made me want to keep reading it are because wherever you stop it is hard because it will always leave you wondering until you read more and that will happen every time you stop until you finish the book. My favorite part was at the very end of the book but you do not get to know what happens until you finish the book. The reason I read this book was I was somewhat interested but then my friend recommended it to me so if a friend recommends a book in a genre that you like then it will probably be a good book. I think that this was a great book and a lot of you could like this book.

Find it in print here.