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Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe

Victoria is 15 years old and an author of two books. She enjoys traveling, drawing, and surfing.

The Giver is, “a powerful and provocative novel,” quotes the New York Times. This book is very different from any other book you will read. Author, Lois Lowry, said it herself. “I was aware that this book was different from the many I had already written.”

In The Giver, Jonas is part of Sameness. This is a town where no one can see color, hear music, or have a choice in what they want to do. They do not know of any other way of life. When the Ceremony of Twelve starts creeping up on Jonas, he becomes curious about what his Assignment, his lifelong job chosen by the Elders, will be. Eventually, the day comes, and he is dubbed Receiver of Memory. The Chief Elder mentions to the crowd pain, hardships, and great honor. Is this good or bad? He comes to find out that it is both. He learns that with great wisdom, comes much pain.

As he goes forward in his training, he discovers that no one in the town has had or can have memories. He goes through joyful experiences, like boats on a lake, sunshine, and snow falling slowly on Christmas. He also feels unpleasant memories. Feelings like war, hunger, death, and extreme pain go through his body, all the while understanding that everyone in the community doesn’t have to undergo these. Then his trainer and the past Receiver of Memory, The Giver, comes up with a way that he can let everyone have a choice and change Sameness to freedom. It will need much boldness, sacrifice, and bravery though. Jonas agrees to do it.

Giving up so much to save his community and giving them so much more than they could ever imagine, Jonas is a hero to both the town and the reader. For tough subjects and emotionally difficult parts, I would recommend this book for 14-15+, depending on maturity.

Find it in print, ebook and eaudiobook here.

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

I am Benny. I am in 7th grade and love to read. Some of my other hobbies include soccer, skiing cooking and playing cards.

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas is a very powerful book about the social injustice shown to black people. It showcases a girl named Starr who lives in a ghetto part of town but attends an all-white school where she is the only African American. You get to see the difference in places and it shows how awful black people have it. One night Starr goes to a party with all of her friends and sees Khalil who was her childhood best friend. When the party ends Khalil offers to drive home Starr and she agrees to go with him. One the way home they get pulled over by a cop for speeding. Starr’s dad is a cop and he told her exactly what to do when you get pulled over. Starr has her hands on the dashboard and is being very good and very cooperative. Khalil, however, is trying to show off for Starr and is dancing outside. He then reaches into his glove compartment for a hairbrush and when he pulls it out the cop fires 3 bullets into his back because he thought it was a gun.

After the shooting, there are protests and the black community tries to get the cop put in jail for killing Khalil. They say that if he was white the cop would not have done the same thing and that he is racist. It is a very good book and I recommend it to people looking for an awesome powerful read.

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

Chomp by Carl Hiassen

I am Benny. I am in 7th grade and love to read. Some of my other hobbies include soccer, skiing cooking and playing cards.

Wahoo Cray and his dad, Mickey, love to catch wild animals from the Florida Everglades. They keep the animals in their own backyard and make money by training them to appear on television. Mickey hasn’t been working due to a concussion from a frozen iguana that fell from a tree and hit him on the head. Wahoo does a lot of work when it comes to taking care of all their animals, and agrees to take a job renting out animals for a reality TV show called “Expedition Survival.”

The star of the show, Derek Badger, has been living it up in Paris but flies into Florida for an Everglades episode. It turns out that Derek Badger is a total fake and has a bunch of people making sure he is safe with the animals even though the animals wouldn’t hurt a fly. However, when Derek Badger is done with his shots he gets flown to a 5-star hotel where he lives like a king.

Wahoo and his dad also meet a girl in a Walmart parking lot named Tuna. Her dad is a heavy alcoholic and punches his own daughter. They take her in as one of there is a little romantic story with Tuna and Wahoo. If you want an action-packed adventure book with a lot of comedy blended in, I would strongly recommend the book Chomp by Carl Hiassen.

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

Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell

My name is Rya. I am in middle school and I enjoy reading, writing, swimming, and backpacking.

Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell is an incredible book based on a true story about the survival of a girl stranded on an island. When a battle leaves the chief’s people helpless and destitute, they are all grateful when a ship full of white men comes to take them to a promising country where their chief has gone. Once aboard the ship, Karana realizes that her brother Ramo’s restless and fearless spirit has left him stranded alone on the island. Karana jumps off of the ship to retrieve her brother, but once back on the island, the ship has sailed far off on the horizon, leaving the two siblings stranded alone. Not long after, Ramo is killed by wild dogs, leaving Karana to fend for herself on the vast Island of the Blue Dolphins. This survival story follows Karana as she nimbly crafts survival tools, hides from the Aleuts, and encounters unlikely friendships. 

The most interesting aspect of the book to me is that it is based on a true story. Juana Maria was stranded on an island off of Los Angeles for 18 years in the 1800s. Little is known about her, but reading this well-crafted book brings her story to life, making it that much more fascinating. I have read this book twice, once when I was 6, this time I am 13. Both times, I loved the story. Although the writing is easy to follow, it can be enjoyed by a variety of ages.

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

The Maze Runner by James Dashner

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.

Thomas wakes up to darkness. Harsh scrapes of metal against metal echo around him as the lift lurches upward. The only thing he can remember is his name. 

    The lift stops. The doors open. Hands pull him up, out of the Box, into the Glade. A safe haven, inhabited by fifty or so boys, in the dead center of an ever-changing maze, full of nocturnal bio-mechanical monsters. All of the boys have no memory of their life before being sent there. All are searching for a way out. It’s been two years, and no one’s found one.

Walls changing. 

Doors closing. 

Haunted. 

Lethal. 

There are many words to describe the maze and the things within it. 

Then a girl arrives in the Box. The first girl ever. But that’s not all. She carries with her a note bearing news: everything is going to change.

And change it does. As Thomas adjusts to life in the Glade, the mysteries that the massive maze surrounding it hold present themselves in a tantalizing fashion, begging to be solved. Why were they put here? What’s out there? Why does it change? What’s happening out in the world, beyond the Maze? And most importantly: How will they ever get out?

James Dashner weaves a masterful story, full of suspense and action, leaving you at the edge of your seat. This post-apocalyptic, dystopian young adult novel is made up of well-built characters, keeping it real even in the face of impossibility. It is original and bold, presenting a future that people will do anything to avoid. Dive into the world of the Maze, because once you’re in, you won’t want to come out. 

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

A Mango-Shaped Space by Wendy Mass

Katie is an 8th grader living in Ketchum, Idaho. She loves skiing, reading, and doing anything outdoors related.

A Mango Shaped Space by Wendy Mass is a story about 13 year old Mia. Mia sees colors and shapes, but not like how’d you expect. She sees brown rings when a door slams and sees the letter ‘a’ as sunflower yellow. Up until third grade, she thinks everyone sees the world this way. It comes as a shock when nobody believes her when she tells them that the number two is cotton candy pink. She is ridiculed, laughed at, and called a freak, leaving her thinking something is wrong with her.

Mia learns from this experience to hide her color-seeing abilities from the world. 8th grade proves to be a huge challenge for her. She’s failing math and struggling to understand Spanish. Mia at least has her cat, Mango, and Jess, her best friend and partner in crime. But when Mia tells Jess about her colors, things don’t go according to plan and suddenly the entire school seems to know about Mia’s apparent freakishness. 

Mia must learn to embrace who she is and not be ashamed, regardless of what others think. This heart-wrenching story offers a unique perspective on the world, seen through the eyes of someone who doesn’t fit in. You will find nothing short of an amazing book when reading A Mango Shaped Space.

Find it in print, eaudiobook here.