Book Beat Reviews

Nothing More to Tell by Karen M. McManus

Hello, my name is Cora. I’m in 8th grade and some of my favorite things to do, besides reading, are playing soccer and skiing.

Freshman year, Brynn left The Anderson school shortly after a teacher was killed in the woods behind school property.

The case was never solved.

It’s now senior year. Brynn is back home, landing her dream job as an amateur detective for a true crime show, and she’s determined to find out what really happened that day in the woods. But the further Brynn digs into the case, the more secrets she finds.

Mr. Larkin’s body was found shortly after the death by three Saint Ambrose students, including Brynn’s old best friend, Tripp Talbot, and former enemies Shane and Charlotte. They all claim to have stumbled on Mr. Larkin, while working on a school project, before alerting the police. Besides having found the body, these three have mostly avoided scrutiny from everyone, and are presumed innocent. But if Brynn knows Tripp, she also knows he’s one to keep secrets, and always seems to know more than he’s telling. Tripp was never friends with Shane and Charlotte until after the day in the woods. What changed?

Mr. Larkin always seemed to be everyone’s favorite teacher, but someone is defacing posters of him right before his memorial. As Brynn digs deeper, it emerges that he may have had a slippery past, with several people having a motive to kill him. Maybe he isn’t as respected as we thought, or the person he appeared to be.
The scariest part is: what if the killer never left?

I really enjoyed this book because the story was so captivating, and the characters were so likable and well developed. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who has any interest in mystery books.

Find it in print here.

Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance

Hi, I am Sarah. I am sixteen years old and an avid reader; it is one of my favorite things to do. Inspired by all the amazing stories built by simple letters, I aspire to be an author and, meanwhile, nurture the love to write.

There are two stories you could tell about J.D. Vance. 1. He is a Yale Law school graduate, served in the Marine Corps, and is currently a U.S. Senator living in Cincinnati with a wife and two children. Or, you could say 2. He grew up in Middletown, Ohio, smack dab in the middle of the poor “Rust Belt” stretching through Appalachia. Growing up, he lived alternatively with his drug-addicted mother and his grandparents, and most of his childhood was spent living with financial insecurity.

These two stories are both true, but on some level they seem to exist in different worlds. Considering the circumstances of his childhood, the fact that Vance is where he is now is quite extraordinary. And because of the disintegrating state of the demographic he belonged to, the white working class, achieving something relatively ordinary (going to college at all) is so very out of reach for so many kids like him, and even when he thinks he has left the traumas of his childhood behind, they cling to him still.

Hillbilly Elegy is a fascinating exploration of a societal problem we do not often think about. It provides powerful insights into concepts like social capital, childhood trauma, and the importance of strong relationships. Most of all, it inspires empathy and (at least for me) a desire to truly understand all people, from all backgrounds and walks of life.

Find it in print, ebook, and eaudiobook here.

The Players’ Plate by Emily Cole

Hi, I am Sarah. I am sixteen years old and an avid reader; it is one of my favorite things to do. Inspired by all the amazing stories built by simple letters, I aspire to be an author and, meanwhile, nurture the love to write.

The human body is like a car: a powerful machine made of complex parts and systems, and in order to keep it running, it needs to be adequately fueled. When you break it down like this, it can be easy to see how important proper nutrition is for overall health and performance. But, like many things in life, it can be tough to know where to start when it comes to proper nourishment.

The Player’s Plate, by accomplished track and field athlete Emily Cole, is your entrance manual to the world of good nutrition. Through personal stories and heaps of advice from experts in the field, Cole compiles a comprehensive guide of nutritional advice that will be sure to improve both your understanding of food and also your performance. Have you ever asked yourself, what foods should I be eating? When should I be eating? What macronutrients should I be getting? What even are macronutrients? Because if you have, and you’re interested in improving your ability in your sport and overall quality of life, you should definitely read this book.

What I loved most about this book was that it was not just a plain presentation of nutrition. It was a talk from a friend. It picked through the weeds of media-crazy diet fads and faced the difficulty of disordered eating. It serves as a reminder that “the body that you feel the worst in and the one that you perform the best in are the same one.”

Find it in print here.

The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams

Hi, I am Sarah. I am 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.

Esme Nicole is six years old when she loses her first word. At the time, she does not know what that means. Her father is a lexicographer writing the Oxford English Dictionary, so she absorbs the plethora of words around her. As she grows, she begins to notice that some of the words are going missing. They might be dropped, landed near someone’s shoe, or a slip with a quotation left out in the rain, and Esme, as if led by some ethereal force, starts to collect them.

As her knowledge as a lexicographer grows, she starts to understand that not all words end up in the dictionary, even if they have a place within it. How could a system that relies only on written quotations, in a time when most published words were scribed by white men, hold the entirety of the English language? So she starts her Dictionary of Lost Words: somewhere where she can start her own revolution, keeping the words spoken by women, the poor, and the illiterate safe from oblivion.

Powerful and poignant and vitally thought-provoking, The Dictionary of Lost Words may be my favorite book. The deep dive into the history of the OED and the world history of the time is factual and fascinating and provides a powerful lens with which to examine the very building blocks of human connection. How does the way we define words define us? And what happens when some words are inevitably left out?

Find it in print here.

The Golden Goblet by Eloise McGraw

My name is Judah. I enjoy playing soccer and baseball. In the winter, I enjoy Nordic and alpine skiing. When it comes to reading,  adventure books are my favorite.

The Golden Goblet is a book of thrilling excitement and danger that keeps the reader on the edge of their seat. This book is historical fiction novel set it ancient Egypt along the Nile River in Thebes. The main characters of this book are Reket, the gold smith,  Ranofer, the gold smith’s apprentice and Gebu, Ranofer’s half-brother and Stone Cutter. Later in this book Ranofer meets “The Ancient,” and Hequet who become Ranofer’s friends. This gripping novel begins with Ranofer learning the gold smithing trade by being Rekt’s apprentice. Since Ranofer’s dad died, he lives with his hateful half-brother Gebu. Living with Gebu is hard. He gives Ranofer little to no food at all and has a quick temper which leads to relentless beatings. Throughout the book, Ranofer meets Heqet and The Ancient. They soon grow in a strong relationship which prove extremely important later in the story. Then suddenly, out of nowhere, Gebu decides to apprentice Ranofer to his stone cutting shop which he hates. From this point on Ranofer is trying to get back into the goldsmith shop and regain his apprenticeship. He even risks his own life to get back. This book covers historical facts and a bunch of mysteries that keep the reader wanting to read more and figure out what happens next. I recommend this book for middle school age readers who like action and mystery.

Find it in print here.

The Book of Lost Names by Kristin Harmel

Hi, I am Simi. I love reading because it lets me travel to other places and times that I wouldn’t otherwise see. I also love to play lacrosse and hockey, and write.

Eva Traube’s life before the war was good, she was happy living with her Jewish parents in a flat in Paris. She was gonna get her doctorate in English literature, she was content. Then, the war came, and the Jews were scorned, dehumanized and rounded up, yet somehow Eva and her mamusia escaped capture. Her father, heartbreakingly, did not. Eva had to do something, she couldn’t lose her mother and father, so she forged papers. Good papers. Then, she and her mamusia left, they went to the tiny town of Aurigon, where, for a while, they felt safe, or as safe as fugitives can feel, and focused on finding Eva’s father. Until, Pere Clement, recruited Eva in his mission to save Jews, using forgery, in exchange for looking for Eva’s father.

Eva quickly got invested in saving people, but she did not want to just erase the Jewish part of these people, especially the children. So she, and her fellow forgery partner Remy, created a book. The book of lost names, a book that held pieces of so many lives.

I really enjoyed this book because the story was very fascinating, the characters were well developed and the writing was great. If you love world war two stories, or any historical fiction, i highly recommend this book.

Find it in print here.