Book Beat Reviews

Theodore Boone: The Abduction by John Grisham

Hi, my name is Zane. I am in sixth grade. I enjoy playing soccer, video games, and exercising.

Theodore Boone, The Abduction was a great book about a 13-year-old girl named April Finemore who mysteriously disappears overnight. Theodore, April’s best and only friend, is immediately called to April’s house the morning after the abduction. There was no sign of a break-in and no evidence left behind. Except for one thing–the police found letters in April’s room from a relative who recently escaped jail in California. They find Jack Leaper a couple days later but don’t know if he knows where April is or not. A search is immediately started by the police, and by April’s Friend, Theo, who asks some people from his school who wanted to help if they would join him. Nothing is found until a couple weeks later when a dead body is found floating down the river that runs through the town of Spartanburg.

Theodore Boone, The Abduction was a great book and it had a lot of great and exciting parts. The events that lead up to the climax were well organized and made sense. Overall, this was one of my favorite books that I have read and I would recommend it to everybody in my grade.

Find it in print here.

Five Survive by Holly Jackson

My name is Advik. I am in 8th grade. I love to swim, bike, watch TV and much more.

Five Survive by Holly Jackson is by far the best mystery book I have ever read. The book takes you on an exhilarating ride of suspense and nail-biting experiences, making it a nonstop read. I started reading Five Survive at night and couldn’t put the book down.

17-year-old Red Kenny is on a road trip for spring break with five friends: Red’s best friend, her older brother, his perfect girlfriend, a classmate, and the guy Red wishes was more than a friend. When their RV breaks down in the middle of nowhere, not once but twice, they realize this is not an accident. As the man shoots three warning shots, breaking the windows, they realize there is someone out there, someone who clearly wants them dead. A failed escape attempt discloses that there are two shooters. The shooters also plant a walkie-talkie on the RV to communicate with the six friends. The shooters claim that one of them has a secret. They want the friends to work out who that person is and send them outside the RV. It doesn’t take long to realize that they all have kept secrets from each other. After hearing the secrets, loyalties change before the night ends, and violence erupts inside the RV.

As I mentioned before, this is a fantastic book. I recommend this book for ages 12 and above due to some inappropriate language. I strongly encourage everybody who loves mystery to try out this exhilarating book.

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

A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson

My name is Camille and I am in 8th grade. I love to snowboard and play volleyball. I love to read mysteries and fantasy books.

This book is called A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder and is written by Holly Jackson. This book is about a girl named Pip who starts an investigation project in her senior year of high school. She is researching a case that happened five years ago and the conclusion doesn’t seem accurate to Pip.

In this book Pip discovers secrets from her town and her closest friends that she might not have wanted to know. However, she pushes through all of the challenges and shocks that come her way and ends up solving the mystery in a very surprising way.

I really enjoyed reading this book because the plot was very unpredictable. There were always twists and turns that kept me on the edge of my seat. I also liked this book because none of the secrets were given away but there were enough hints that made it so I could try and solve the mystery myself before finishing the book. All the characters were so different and had such interesting personalities. This made the book more intriguing because the different personalities helped me try and solve the mystery based on their behavior and hobbies. Overall I loved this book and would definitely read it again. I would recommend this book to someone who likes mystery and suspense. It is a really good book for middle school age kids.

Find it in print, ebook, and eaudiobook here.

Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer by John Grisham

Hi, my name is Zane. I am in sixth grade. I enjoy playing soccer, video games, and exercising.

Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer, is about a man named Pete Duffy, who was accused of murdering his wife, who was found on the floor dead in her house. This was one of my favorite books that I have read, but some parts weren’t as interesting as others. Although there were a couple of boring parts, most of the book was very interesting, because there were so many intense scenes where Theodore did not know what to do. For example, there were many times that the lawyers involved in the trial went back and explained how Pete Duffy was guilty of the murder of his wife, or how he was innocent. With that said, they talked a lot about things that were irrelevant to the text, which made these parts boring. These parts were not as fun to read because you wanted to figure out more about the murder.

In the end, the trial was not going how a lot of people wanted it to, until 13-year-old Theodore Boone gets involved and knows something that changes the trial drastically. Overall, I think that many people who are in middle school would enjoy this book, although I wouldn’t recommend it to people below 3rd grade.

Find it in print here.

Legend by Maire Lu

My name is Jasmine. I love ski racing, snow/winter, and many other fun things.

In futuristic LA, the city is part of the Republic. It is a totalitarian state, meaning that the government controls everyone’s public and private lives. From the moment one is born, they are strictly monitored and forced into the republic lifestyle. Everyone must take a test called “the trial” as a teenager to determine what job and ranking they will have. 

The republic was practically unbeatable, except for one teen named Day, the most wanted criminal, and a legend to the people. When he failed the trial he turned to blowing up military aircraft, vandalizing public buildings, and staging bank robberies. June, on the other hand, is a prodigy and the only known person to have achieved perfection during the trials.

 When June’s elder brother dies, Day is rumored to have killed him while performing another one of his famous scandals. The Republic sends June on her first solo mission to find Day and capture him. Although it seems impossible to find Day, June is determined to seek revenge. The problem is that no one knows what Day looks like. 

As June starts her mission she meets a beautiful boy from the streets, and sparks start to fly between the two of them, though she never really catches his name. Later, she figures out who it is, and is forced to make the choice between love and her mission. Overall, I loved how the story was told by both June and Day, for it gives it so much more depth.

Find it in print, ebook, and eaudiobook here.

The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han

Hi, my name is Rya. I am a sophomore and I enjoy reading, swimming and traveling.

To Belly, summer is all that matters – tanned skin, ocean salt, and stretches of endless sunny days are what she lives for. Every summer, Belly and her family go to Cousins Beach to visit her mom’s best friend, Susannah, and Susannah’s sons, Jeremiah and Conrad. Susannah is like a second mother to Belly, and Jeremiah is Belly’s best friend. But for as long as she can remember, Belly has been in love with Conrad, who, although he cares deeply about her, still sees her as a little kid. But since the summer before, a lot has changed, and this summer, Belly has a feeling that things might be different.

I definitely enjoyed The Summer I Turned Pretty as a light, simply written, quick romance story whose pages were easy to turn. I did find much of the plot to be fairly predictable. However, the personalities of the characters, as well as their growth throughout the book was engaging. I also thought that the relationships (not just the romantic ones) between the characters were well-thought-out. This is not a book that I’ll rave about or remember for very long, but I did have fun reading it and would recommend it.

Find the book, ebook and eaudiobook here.