Book Review: Japan Ai: A Tall Girl’s Adventures in Japan

Book Review: Japan Ai: A Tall Girl’s Adventures in Japan
Steinberger, Aimee Major. Japan Ai: A Tall Girl’s Adventures in Japan. Go! Comi. 2008.
Aimee Major, an artist and Japan-o-phile chronicles her adventures when she visited Japan with two friends.  In this graphic travel diary she brings the reader to some of the awesome famous landmarks in [...]

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Book Review: Gay America: The Struggle for Equality

Book Review: Gay America: The Struggle for Equality
Alsenas, Linas. Gay America: The Struggle for Equality. Amulet Books. 2008.
A history of GLBT Americans and the history of the Equal Rights movement in America.  Broken up into easily manageable time periods and rich in photographs and text excerpts from contemporary publications of the times.
Published Reviews:
Kirkus Reviews:
From the [...]

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Book Review: Dancing in My Nuddy-Pants: Even Further Confessions of Georgia Nicolson

Book Review: Dancing in My Nuddy-Pants: Even Further Confessions of Georgia Nicolson
Rennison, Louise. Dancing in My Nuddy-Pants: Even Further Confessions of Georgia Nicolson. HarperCollins. 2003
Our Good Pal, Georgia is back again in this, her fourth, confessional adventures.  She still chases the Sex God and strives to impress with her maturosity.  Georgia doesn’t dissapoint in this [...]

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Book Review: Inkheart

Book Review: Inkheart
Funke, Cornelia. Inkheart. Scholastic/Chicken House. 2003.
Meggie has been surrounded by books her entire life.  Her father is a book binder by trade.  When a mysterious man named Dustfinger appears in the middle of the night and calls her father by a strange name, Silvertounge, Meggie’s life is thrown into chaos as things from [...]

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Book Review: Song of the Sparrow

Book Review: Song of the Sparrow
Sandell, Lisa Ann. Song of the Sparrow. Scholastic. 2007.
Elaine is sixteen years old and has been living in the war camp with her brothers and father ever since she was very young.  King Arthur depends on her to help heal his wounded men and Elaine cannot imagine a different life [...]

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Crispin: The Cross of Lead

Book Review: Crispin: the Cross of Lead
Crispin’s mother has just died and the steward of his village wants to kill him. Surely Crispin must have sinned against God to receive such a harsh life. Hunted down and forced to leave his village Crispin must overcome all odds if he wants to live to [...]

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Knocked Out by my Nunga-Nungas

Book Review: Knocked Out by my Nunga-Nungas by Louise Rennison
Rennison, Louise. Knocked Out by my Nunga-Nungas.
Georgia Nicholson is at it again in this, her third volume, latest confessional novel.  She’s trying to show the Sex God just how mature she is, and also deal with Dave The Laugh who knows that she was just using [...]

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Book Review: Your Own Sylvia

Book Review: Your Own, Sylvia by Stephanie Hemphill
Hemphill, Stehphanie. Your Own, Sylvia. New York: Knopf, 2007
This book is a picture of the life of famous poet, Sylvia Plath.  It is told in poetry through the eyes of people who knew Sylvia, from when she was a young child all the way up until she took [...]

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Review: The Last Book in the Universe

Philbrick, Rodman. The Last Book in the Universe. New York: Blue Sky Press, 2002.
Imagine a world without color, without clean air, without real food, and without real family.  And you’d have imagined Spaz’s world.  His whole life is taken up by trying to stay out of trouble with gangs that rule everywhere, trying to get [...]

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Review: Three Little Words

Rhodes-Courter, Ashley. Three Little Words. New York: Atheneum, 2008.
Ashley spent nine years of her life in fourteen different foster homes.  Some of her foster parents were kind and well intentioned while others were intentionally abusive and neglectful.  In this thoughtful and reflective autobiography, Ashley reflects on the upheavals of her young life and the problems [...]

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Review: I Am The Messenger

Zusak, Markus. I Am the Messenger. New York: Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2005.
Ed Kennedy is a loser. His life consists of driving a cab, sharing coffee with his powerfully smelly dog, playing cards with his equally deadbeat friends, and never getting laid. Especially never getting laid by his friend Audrey who he’s [...]

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Nothing But The Truth

Review: Nothing But the Truth by Avi
Avi. Nothing But the Truth: a documentary novel. New York, Orchard Books, 1991.
I found this book to be fairly dated, although the events that took place could easily have happened today. The use of payphones and telegrams severely dates the book.
Published Review: from School Library Journal
Ninth [...]

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City of Light, City of Dark

Review: City of Light, City of Dark by Avi and illustrated by Brian Floca
Avi. City of Light, City of Dark. New York: Orchard, 1993.
Sarah Stubbs loves her father very dearly. He’s the only family that she has. But she knows that her father has a dark secret, something in his past that a [...]

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Poppy

Book Review: Poppy by Avi
Avi. Poppy. New York, Scholastic/Orchard, 1995.
A little bit young for a YA book. But I wanted to log it because I’d read it. I read this for my author study. So I am not counting it as one of the required 16, but am logging it.
Published Review: [...]

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Coraline

Book Review: Coraline by Neil Gaiman
Gaiman, Neil. Coraline. New York, HarperCollins, 2002.
Published Review: From School Library Journal
When Coraline and her parents move into a new house, she notices a mysterious, closed-off door. It originally went to another part of the house, which her family does not own. Some rather eccentric neighbors call her Caroline and [...]

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Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood

Satrapi, Marjane. Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood. New York: Pantheon, 2003.
Marjane’s world is turned upside down when fundamentalist rebels overthrow the Shah of Iran. The graphic novel traces the ups and downs of an average teenage girl who is into rock music and playing with her friends set against the backdrop of revolution [...]

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On the Wings of Heroes

Peck, Richard. On the Wings of Heroes. New York: Dial Books, 2007.
Davy Bowman has the coolest dad in the entire town. And he’s got a pretty awesome big brother. Davy’s father fought in the Great War and came home a little bit different. So when World War II arrives and Davy’s brother [...]

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On the Bright Side, I’m Now the Girlfriend of a Sex God

Rennison, Louise. On the Bright Side, I’m Now the Girlfriend of a Sex God: Further Confessions of Georgia Nicolson. New York: Harper Teen, 2002.
Georgia Nicholson should be over the moon! She’s now the girlfriend of a Sex God! She’s made it to at least six on the snoggisity scale and she’s found the [...]

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Book Review: Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

Brashares, Ann. Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Dell Books for Young Readers , 2005.
Published Review:
The pants were magic–worn, thrift-shop jeans that made each of the four best friends look absolutely fabulous. Obviously they were life-changing pants. Thus the plan: route them to each of the four at their various summer destinations, with appropriate rules attached, [...]

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Book Review: Deathwatch

Book Review: Deathwatch
White, Robb. Deathwatch.  New York, Bantam Doubledall Dell Books for Young Readers, 1972.
Hmn.  So not my kind of book.  But I can see how other people might like it.  A tense struggle between life and death.  A psycho maniac versus a good kid.  I found the action kind of confusing and hard to [...]

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