Teen and Staff Reviews

Teen Review
The Sword of Summer book cover

The Sword of Summer

By Rick Riordan
Star Rating
★★★★

Rated by
Mahad Z.
Nov 20, 2023

The Sword of Summer by Rick Riordan is the first book in the Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard series. The story follows Magnus Chase, a homeless teenager in Boston who discovers he is the son of a Norse god. After his mysterious death, Magnus finds himself in the afterlife, where he learns about his heritage and the impending doomsday, Ragnarok.

Teen Review
The Radium Girls book cover

The Radium Girls

By Kate Moore
Star Rating
★★★★

Rated by
Anna S.
Nov 20, 2023

Toxic, radioactive material infecting girls, mostly teenagers, daily, without the girls knowing about it. In The Radium Girls, the horrors that girls who worked in radium factories faced in the 1920s in Orange, New Jersey, and Ottawa, Illinois. These factories used radium to create watches that had glowing dials, and the young girls working there painted these dials using a method which involved them putting the paintbrushes in their mouths.

Teen Review
The Hired Girl book cover

The Hired Girl

By Laura Amy Schlitz
Star Rating
★★★★

Rated by
Anna S.
Nov 20, 2023

The Hired Girl is a delicate story of family, faith, and love. Janet has a secret, she isn't really Janet, she really is Joan.  The family she works for doesn’t know this. The family she works for also doesn’t know that she isn’t 18 like she told them, but she is actually 14. One thing that they do know as truth; when they found her, she was a scared girl on the streets who had just run away from home.  She was in desperate need of a home.

Teen Review
The Outsiders book cover

The Outsiders

By S.E. Hinton
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by
Mahad Z.
Nov 20, 2023

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton is a coming-of-age novel set in the 1960s in a small American town divided between the affluent "Socs" and the working-class "Greasers." The story is narrated by Ponyboy Curtis, a Greaser, who grapples with societal expectations and prejudice.

Teen Review
Fourth Wing book cover

Fourth Wing

By Rebecca Yarros
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by
Caitlin T.
Nov 20, 2023

The book Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros is an adventurous fantasy book that will take readers on a journey throughout the magical world the author has built up. Twenty-two-year-old Violet is considered fragile by her peers. Smaller than the rest of her family, she felt as if she was destined to be a part of the Scribe Quadrant, the people who live among the history and books of her world, but yet being the daughter of a military commanding general mother calls for other plans.

Teen Review
The Trial book cover

The Trial

By Franz Kafka
Star Rating
★★★★

Rated by
Mahad Z.
Nov 20, 2023

The Trial by Franz Kafka follows the surreal and nightmarish journey of Josef K., a seemingly ordinary man who is arrested by mysterious agents for an unspecified crime. Throughout the novel, Josef navigates a bewildering and absurd legal system, facing a series of bizarre and surreal trials without ever being informed of the charges against him. The narrative unfolds in a disorienting and dreamlike manner, exploring themes of bureaucracy, power, and the absurdity of the legal system.

Teen Review
Scream movie cover

Scream

By Wes Craven
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by
Anonymous
Nov 20, 2023

In 1996 the timeless Scream franchise began. The main character of this franchise is Sidney Prescott a girl from Woodsboro, California. The town is being terrorized by a killer that is desperate for revenge. Sidney’s past has her worried that the murders are personal and that she could be next. In defense against the killer, she attempts to gain protection in numbers by staying with her friends and boyfriend. 

Teen Review
Twilight book cover

Twilight

By Stephanie Myer
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by
Mia M.
Nov 20, 2023

Twilight is a supernatural romance novel that follows Bella Swan as she moves to a rainy town called Forks. She finds herself sitting next to Edward Cullen in Junior Biology. Now, Edward isn’t any normal boy, he has pale skin and a perfect face. But, Bella can’t seem to connect with him.  Had she done something wrong? 

Teen Review
Carrie book cover

Carrie

By Stephen King
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by
Isabella
Nov 20, 2023

The main character, Carrie was raised in a religious household with her mother. Carrie gets her period while showering after gym class at school and thinks she is dying. The other girls in the locker room make fun of Carrie. While some girls feel sorry and try to make it up to her, other girls want the mean joke to go on. After the girls continue on with a terrible prank, Carrie gets her revenge by using her mind. She goes home to her religious mother who says she is a witch/devil.

Teen Review
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas movie cover

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

By Mark Herman
Star Rating
★★★★

Rated by
Isabella
Nov 20, 2023

During WWII 8-year-old Bruno and his family had to move to a new house, and his father had to relocate for work. Bruno was bored with the new house and he missed his friends. Bruno noticed a “farm” as he called it, while looking out of his window. Bruno was always exploring new things. He was told not to explore in the backyard but he wanted to explore the “farm”. He met a boy named Shmuel. Shmuel is a Jew in a camp but Bruno doesn’t fully understand what that means. The story gets more intense and surprising as you watch. 

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