Book Review: Going Bovine by Libba Bray

Going Bovine
by Libba Bray
Non-series

Delacorte Press Books for Young Readers
ISBN-10: 0-385-73397-6
ISBN-13: 978-0-385-73397-7
Publication Date: September, 2009
List Price: $23.00

Review: Do you like off-kilter humor and ridiculous (but great) plots? If you do, Going Bovine is for you. Going Bovine is the fifth book by Libba Bray, but has nothing to do with her previous four books, and a sequel is unlikely.

I found Going Bovine to be a great book. It tells the story of a 16 year old Cameron (Cam for short.) He is very apathetic about life in general and very disconnected from family. Early into the book he has a series of hallucinations that he considers bad drug experiences. But after an unrelated hospital visit, it turns out he has a human form of mad-cow disease, and that he is going to die. After learning from an angel/possible hallucination that his only chance to live is to find a missing scientist, he goes out on a road trip with a close friend.

The great thing about this book is the humor. While humor may be rather cynical and dark for some, those who appreciate it will find the book a classic. The greater part of the story is wonderful, with the majority being a road trip/ buddy comedy. Some of the plot points do seem a little contrived, but do not take away from the book as a whole. The book is excellently paced quickly going from page-turner to easy reading. The plot is broken up with a few welcome (and well done) interludes. Lastly, the characters feel really relatable and human.

The book does have a few flaws. The ending feels very rushed and fails to clarify a few things. This would not be much of a problem if the rest of the plot was not so intricate and well done. Also, many of the minor characters start to feel one dimensional. Many more concrete readers may not be able to wrap their head around some of the book’s concepts. However, these flaws feel small compared to the greatness of the book as a whole.

Review written by Colin (8th grade student).

We would like to thank Random House for providing a copy of Going Bovine for this review.

Have you read Going Bovine? How would you rate it?

Book Review: The Maze Runner by James Dashner

The Maze Runner
by James Dashner
Maze Runner Trilogy

Delacorte Press Books for Young Readers
ISBN-10: 0-385-73794-7
ISBN-13: 978-0-385-73794-4
Publication Date: October, 2009
List Price: $16.99

Review: The Maze Runner - A stunning masterpiece by James Dashner. An amazing confluence of suspense, drama, action, and fear that instantly snags in the reader. This being the first in the series, I expect many great things from this author! This is his eighth book, so greatness is pretty much a standard at this point in one’s writing career.

Thomas finds himself in a strange place with no memory of how he arrived there. While his memory remains in place about basic life functions, he has lost all personal memory about who he is, or who his parents are. He finds himself in a sort of prison surrounded by a maze with only boys inhabiting the place. All supplies are provided through the same hole Thomas arrived through. The maze, however, is filled with monsters that come out at night and keep the boys from escaping.

But Thomas's arrival sets off a chain of events that begin to lead to change. He feels determined to discover the answer to the maze and puts himself at great risk to find out how they can get out from where they are.

I was sucked into the book from page one, and just like the main character, I was dying to learn the secrets of the place where they were. The book took turns I wasn't expecting and kept me in plenty of suspense!

The pacing is quick and the world Dashner has created is very interesting and different. There's plenty of mystery beyond the maze and this, the first book in the series, gives us just a beginning glimpse into the state of the world. Sometimes, the reader might think that something is expected, thanks to the clues given by the author. However, the book is too full of surprises to think that anything is expected! The book does end on a sudden note, but it is book one of the series, so more surprises are yet to come!

It's possible that the emotional landscape of the characters could have been more fully developed, but overall this is the perfect book to lose yourself in!

Rating: 4.5/5

Things You Might Want to Know: Moderate violence, but nothing drastic.

Review written by Milosz (8th grade student).

We would like to thank Random House for providing a copy of The Maze Runner for this review.

Have you read The Maze Runner? How would you rate it?

Book Review: DWEEB: Burgers, Beasts, and Brainwashed Bullies by Aaron Starmer

DWEEB: Burgers, Beasts, and Brainwashed Bullies
by Aaron Starmer
Non-series

Delacorte Press Books for Young Readers
ISBN-10: 0-385-73705-X
ISBN-13: 978-0-385-73705-0
Publication Date: October, 2009
List Price: $15.99

Review: Eddie is a troubled teen who is more concerned about the next fight instead of the future he could be able to create - that is until he meets Lupe. Lupe, a young woman who has transferred from another school in order to get away from bullying, is smart and beautiful - and she quickly sees that Eddie is much more than what he seems to be on the outside. She and Eddie begin dating and gradually Eddie starts to see himself in a very different light. He no longer is the hopeless teen that is just figuring out how to prolong the inevitable jail time, but rather a worthwhile contribution to society. But, Eddie's path to success isn't an easy one, and certainly there are bullies and troubled family members to make life difficult along the way. But, with Lupe's confidence and Eddie's mother's wish for him to be the first Corazon to go to college, Eddie slowly begins to appreciate life and more importantly himself. MUCHACHO takes a hard look at the callousness of life and shows that hope lies just below the surface.

Review written by Jennifer (6th grade student).

We would like to thank Random House for providing a copy of DWEEB: Burgers, Beasts, and Brainwashed Bullies for this review.

Have you read DWEEB: Burgers, Beasts, and Brainwashed Bullies ? How would you rate it?

Book Review: The Fatal Child by John Dickinson

The Fatal Child
by John Dickinson
Cup of the World

David Fickling Books
ISBN-10: 0-385-75110-9
ISBN-13: 978-0-385-75110-0
Publication Date: September, 2009
List Price: $22.00

Review: By at least 2015 I see John Dickson’s books being made into movies. That’s right I said “books” and “movies” because this book, The Fatal Child, is the third book in the series with two other books entitled The Cup of the World and The Widow and the King. The Fatal Child is about two main characters, Padry and Melissa. Padry is in the army and in high position working for the king. Melissa is a young five year old girl living at home with her Mam and Dadda. Tragedy strikes for both of them.

For Thomas Padry his friend and practically daughter, Atti, wakes up one morning from a dream about Ambrose, otherwise known as the “Prince of the Sky.” So she sets off on an adventure, without telling anyone were she is going, to find him while she is only 14 and her only companion is a sickly maid. So Thomas must go on an adventure to rescue her with only 1 friend to accompany him. They must use witchcraft to find her, even though it is strictly forbidden throughout the kingdom. Meanwhile in Melissa’s life things aren’t doing to good for her either. Melissa is at home with her Mam and Dadda when they get two visitors late at night. Melissa finds out that the visitors are Ambrose and his servant and befriends Ambrose. But Ambrose and his servant must leave so Melissa keeps waiting for them to show up again. They never did come again. Later Melissa is around the age of 10 or 13 and ten knights in red clothing come to their house. Mam and Dadda are against them so the knights attack. They took Dadda, tied a rope around his neck and hung him, kicking and screaming. While they killed Mam and left her lying dead, stripped of clothes next to the river. Melissa barely escapes with the knights laughing and shooting arrows at her as she runs through the trees. She ends up passed out upon the dirt road and is carried to a house. She ends up staying there with Atti and her maid. Now Melissa, Padry and Atti end up at Ambrose’s trial. You want to know what happens next? Then read the book!

When I read The Fatal Child, I personally thought it was a bit to...gruesome. Here is an extract from the story, “They had seen a babe still mewing bloodily on the point of a pike.” I would say they don’t need to go in to so much gruesome detail, but that’s just me. I mean it’s rated for teens (appropriately rated) and I’m only 11 so I’m a bit young to read it. Thomas Padry was a good character and his humor always brightens up the most dreary of moods. Though he’s a bit sarcastic and feisty. He is a great character in the story. Melissa is a great character too. She may have her moods, though but that’s the way I like it. She has an unforgiving hungry for revenge on the knight for killing her parents and in The Fatal Child it states that she was thinking “- squeeze his eyes out” because she thinks it would be a right punishment for him. She is my favorite character and adds spice to The Fatal Child. The Fatal Child goes back to before technology and is fictional with princes and princesses and they all live in a place called Tuscolo. I would say The Fatal Child is a book to never leave until the very end of it. So I would say if you are an adventurer, action and witchcraft lover The Fatal Child and its series would be paradise to you. This is a new release book so it didn’t get any awards yet, but I’m sure it will soon. I’m sure I liked it. They used some language back from the older days that I didn’t really understand but thought was cool at the same time. I would give The Fatal Child four out of five stars.

Review written by Amanda (6th grade student).

We would like to thank Random House for providing a copy of The Fatal Child for this review.

Have you read The Fatal Child? How would you rate it?

Book Review: FAT CAT by Robin Brande

FAT CAT
by Robin Brande
Non-series

Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers
ISBN-10: 0-375-84449-X
ISBN-13: 978-0-375-84449-2
Publication Date: October, 2009
List Price: $21.00

Review: When Catherine Locke (a.k.a. Cat) dreams up a science project for the science fair, her life begins to change. She faces popularity issues, hunger pangs, old friends, competition and life as a prehistoric woman. She cannot use technology like phones and ipods. She cannot eat food prehistoric people did not eat, except during emergencies. Will Cat be able to accomplish this extreme project? Find out the answers to these questions in the book Fat Cat by Robin Brande.

In the book Fat Cat, The main character Cat, has a problem. When Cat is assigned to do a project on Homo erectus, (early hominins from 1.8 million years ago) she decides to make the subject of the project herself. Her project is to see what would happen if she took away everything Homo erectus don’t have, because she thinks it could make her skinnier. Cat thinks she’s fat. This incredible task includes food Homo erectus didn’t have, plus, phones, ipods, and TV! Her friends, (Amanda, Cat’s best friend) and Jordan (Amanda’s boyfriend) are all there to support her. Oh, and don’t forget Cat’s arch enemy Matt. He’s her enemy because she is convinced that he took first place from her in a previous science fair and he said something pretty nasty about her behind her back. When she starts going from fat to normal and not cool to popular, her life begins to unfold page by page.

Fat Cat is a pretty good book. In my opinion, this book should be recommended for older middle school students since they will most likely enjoy the book. If I were an eighth grader when I read Fat Cat I would probably have said that the book was interesting because it mixed daily life and science together. From this book I learned that you can’t give up something important just because you think it’s too hard and you should look at things from a positive view. The book shows what happens when you do certain things such as getting off junk food when you have practically been living on it the whole summer. It also shows that maybe trying to cook with only the food that the Homo erectus had is trickier than Cat thinks. In the book it says “Even if my cave woman had grain, it’s a separate thing to say she figured out how to mill it into flour.” I chose this sentence because it shows the problems of trying to cook with only the food that Homo erectus had. I would probably give these book 4 stars. This book was exciting funny and made me laugh. The author did an excellent job with Fat Cat. I hope everyone else will enjoy Fat Cat like I did.

Review written by Sarah (6th grade student).

We would like to thank Random House for providing a copy of FAT CAT for this review.

Have you read FAT CAT? How would you rate it?

Book Review: KIT FEENY: The Ugly Necklace by Michael Townsend

KIT FEENY: The Ugly Necklace
by Michael Townsend
Kit Feeney

Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers
ISBN-10: 0-375-85615-3
ISBN-13: 978-0-375-85615-0
Publication Date: October, 2009
List Price: $6.99

Review: Kit Feeny: The Ugly Necklace, the second comic book in the series, is written by Michael Townsend. The main characters of the story are Kit, his two friends Hoff and Devon, and of course his family, Mr. and Mrs. Feeny, and his two bizarre sisters, April and Bonnie Feeny.

Talking about his family, it is Mrs. Feeny’s birthday and Kit is determined to win the contest of “who gets their mother the better gift”. He also wants to get her something way, way better than his sisters, something completely “stupid awesome!” Would she like a cool silver metal detector? Where might he buy a baby dragon, or maybe a spiffy pair of hip purple hi-tops? What if he loses to his sisters, then what will happen? He knows what will happen, but just doesn’t want to think about it. Does he beat his sisters, or does he lose? Read the rest of the comic book to find out what happens to him, his two sisters and also his mother.

This book has lot of interesting and bold undertakings and the one I love most is the idea of Kit and Hoff pretending to be treasure hunters and giving that treasure to someone to get the ultimate present. I also like when Hoff and Devon are being chased by Mr. Garthe, who sells ice cream at the park. My most favorite part though, was when Kit and Hoff made the plan for getting the best gift ever for Kit’s mom. It was hard to read the part when their plan for getting a best gift ever didn’t work. Kit must have felt like he was a total loser. Anyway, if I graded this book on a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being the worst, and 10 being the best, I would grade it a 9.

I look forward to reading the next book after this in the series. It will be interesting to see what stupid and awesome adventure Kit goes through next. I can just feel it, I can feel that there is going to be a next book and that it is going to be dynamite and daring!

Review written by Karan (6th grade student).

We would like to thank Random House for providing a copy of KIT FEENY: The Ugly Necklace for this review.

Have you read KIT FEENY: The Ugly Necklace? How would you rate it?

Book Review: KIT FEENY: On the Move by Michael Townsend

KIT FEENY: On the Move
by Michael Townsend
Kit Feeney

Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers
ISBN-10: 0-375-85614-5
ISBN-13: 978-0-375-85614-3
Publication Date: October, 2009
List Price: $6.99

Review: Kit Feeny: On the Move is the first comic book in the series and it is written by Michael Townsend; it is a humorous and entertaining, comic book. The main characters in this book is, Kit Feeny a normal boy, his two crazy sisters April and Bonnie Feeny and his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Feeny and last but not the least, Kit’s best friend, Arnold.

Kit Fenny is a boy who is moving, and isn’t very happy about it. He tries to smuggle his best friend, Arnold along with his family. Obviously it doesn’t work and Arnold is sent back to his own family and house. Now Kit doesn’t know what to do and has to make new friends and has to go to a new school. What will Kit Feeny do and how will he survive without his best friend? Read the rest of the comic book to find out what happens.

I loved the vivid and bold colors on each box of the comic book. I also liked the thrilling cover with all these different illustrations on it, looks like Michael made Kit a “stupid awesome” artist (stupid awesome is Kit’s favorite quote). My favorite part is when Kit is reading the comic that Arnold and he made together, “The Great Gummy Fish Disaster: A True Story”, it is very hilarious and amusing. My least favorite part or the saddest part was when Devon, the bully in his new school is making Kit look like a fool and making bad jokes about him on his first bus ride to his new school. I thought that it was very vile.

I look forward to reading Kit Feeny: The Ugly Necklace, the second book in the series. People have told me that it is totally “stupid awesome, and I can’t wait to read yet another of Kit’s fully action and energy packed story!

Review written by Karan (6th grade student).

We would like to thank Random House for providing a copy of KIT FEENY: On the Move for this review.

Have you read KIT FEENY: On the Move? How would you rate it?