THE FISHY FOUNTAIN: A MYSTERY WITH MULTIPLICATION AND DIVISION

Author (last name first):

Thielbar, Melinda
Publisher, Date of Publication: 
Graphic Universe/ 2011
Grade Level/ or Age Level:  

3rd and Up
Classification: 
Fiction 

After a prank is pulled that puts dangerous chemicals in the fountain at Stacy's new science magnet school, Stacy and her friends from Sifu Faiza's Kung Fu School use multiplication and division to help figure out who, what and when it happened. there is an AR test available for the book as well. I would recommend this book for anyone who likes math and for teachers in their mathematics classes.

Reviewed By:Lila Davis  
(Night Manager of the Circulation Department at Midwestern State University's Moffett Library)
  

GIL MARCH

Author (last name first):

Bauer, A.C.E.
Publisher, Date of Publication: 
Random House/2012
Grade Level/ or Age Level:  

6th and Up
Classification: 
Fiction 

This novel was not one of the easiest ones to read but it is one of the most touching and heart wrenching ones i have ever come across. 
Gill is the most successful track and field student in his school and has the respect of most of his peers. Then Enko moves into town and Gil finds himself feeling like he is second best. Enko is from Quebec. His father's job required them to move to the United States and Enko does not know how long he will be there. Gil wishes that he will leave soon until they have a fateful confrontation that leads them to being fast friends. 
Then Enko discovers that he has an aggressive form of Leukemia that they have caught too late. Gil does not give up hope and stays faithfully at Enko's side. However in the night, when Gil must be home, Enko passes away. The family takes him home and Gil is not allowed to say goodbye. this breaks his heart and he sinks to one of his lowest moments. 
Eventually Gil settles on a plan. He will go to Quebec and find where Enko is buried and pay his last respects. He tricks his mom and sets off on a journey that exposes him to the reality of human nature and helps him  realize just how strong he really is. 

Reviewed By:Nicola Clement(Midwestern State University Student) 

BUZZ BEAKER AND THE OUTER SPACE TRIP

Author (last name first):

Meister, Cari M.
Publisher, Date of Publication: 
Stone Arch Books/2010
Grade Level/ or Age Level:  

1st and Up
Classification: 
Fiction 

Buzz, a young African-American inventor, talks to his dog about troubles he has experienced building a working spaceship. That night Buzz and Raggs become stowaways on an spaceship.Raggs notices a robot cat on the ship and gives them away. Buzz makes friends with the aliens by giving them some cookies and get a tour of the ship and the aliens' planet. Who knew Aliens loved cookies? LOL.
Bill McGuire does a great job with his illustrations, the colors are very captivating and keeps the attention of the audience. there is a AR test available as well. 

Reviewed By:Lila Davis
(Night Manager of the Circulation Department at Midwestern State University's Moffett Library) 

THE BOY PROJECT

Author (last name first):

Kinard, Kami
Publisher, Date of Publication: 
Scholastic Press/ 2012
Grade Level/ or Age Level:  

3rd and Up
Classification: 
Fiction 

Kara McAllister has decided to change her image and by that she means get a boyfriend. To obtain her goal, she has decided to treat the situation like a scientific study and uses her actual behavioral science project "Relationships: What do Guys and Girls Want"to help her achieve her real goal.
She begins by studying the boys in the class and makes cue card notes on them. She also seeks advise from an online guru called Bebe Truelove who sends her 10 emails with advice, one email per week. Eventually she begins to realize that girls have ways of attracting a boy's attention and begins to study the three most successful girls in her class. 
As Kara tries hard to understand boys and what it is about her that makes them indifferent to her. When Kara is caught doing this by none other than her greatest enemy, she is forced to evaluate the situation. 
Her sister Julie helps her with an excuse that gains her equal parts revulsion and respect but Kara also lerns to respect herself. She stands up for herself and gains confidence which also helps her gain a boy's attention. By the end of the novel Kara does transform herself and it is through her own self-discovery that she does so.

Reviewed By:Nicola Clement (Midwestern State University Student)
 

TIGHTER

Author (last name first):
Griffen, Adele
Publisher, Date of Publication: 
Knopf Books for Young Readers/2011 
Grade Level/ or Age Level:  

9th and Up
Classification: 
Fiction 


In the beginning 17-year old Jamie explains that she has an injury that requires her to take prescription medication and she states that she isn't a addict. When her parents send her to work for a family friend, she steals a bag full of any kind of medication she can from her parents' medicine cabinet. When she arrives on the tranquil New England island of Little Bly to work as a summer nanny to Isa a family friend's daughter. Jamie is taken back to learn of the horror that awaits her. Seeking the truth surrounding a young couple's tragic deaths, Jamie discovers that she herself looks shockingly like the dead girl. She has an alarming ability to sense ghosts as the secrets of the house encloses around her.Will Jamie solve the fuzzy divide between the blurry medication hazes and the worlds of the living and dead? 
Adele Griffin's book was a brilliant page-turner and the startling twists make you want to read more. The cover is dazzling and makes you want to dive in as soon as you look at it. There is an AR test available for this book as well. 

Reviewed By: Lila Davis     
(Night Manager in Circulation Department at Midwestern State University)

THE BOY ON CINNAMON STREET

Author (last name first):
Stone, Phoebe
Publisher, Date of Publication: 
Arthur A. Levine/2012
Grade Level/ or Age Level:  

3rd and Up
Classification: 
Fiction 

Louis Terrace has a secret admirer. He writes her notes and draws hearts in pink chalk on her patio for her. Her best friends, Reni and Henderson(who is also Reni's brother), help her figure out who this person is. Reni believes that it is a boy in her school named Benny McCartney. On the same night Louise gets the note, Benny had delivered pizza.
The thing about that night is, her grandparents, whom she lives with, had a strange reaction to Benny that settles in the back of her mind. Reni is so sure he is the one that Louise decides to agree with her. They set out to get Benny's notice while at the same time Henderson suddenly becomes despondent and uses the novel he is writing as his excuse for all the drama. 

As Louis visits Reni, she is desperate to leave her home and be a part of Reni's family which seems to be such a cohesive unit. She even asks Reni to influence her mom into allowing her to stay.She is especially desperate when her Grandparents try to encourage her to remember her mom and her dad calls, reminding her that he prefers someone else's daughter over his own.

When Reni's older sister decides to have an art show, they see it as the perfect opportunity to talk to Benny who will be attending. Instead Louise realizes Benny was not her secrete admirer and Reni's sister takes advantage of this. Crushed and heart broken, Louise runs away to the home she used to own and faces memories of that night where she found her mother who was devastated and depressed by the divorce. Henderson helps her face that night and she eventually realizes that he is the secret admirer.

Reviewed By: Nicola Clement (Midwestern State University Student)   

MODELLAND

Author (last name first):
Banks, Tyra
Publisher, Date of Publication: 
Delacorte Press/ 2011
Grade Level/ or Age Level: 
6th and Up
Classification: 
Fiction  

Tookie de la Creme is a forgettable girl. No one sees her; no one cares. People in school walk by her, on top of her and around her without  acknowledging her presence as she prostrates herself in the middle of the school hallway skipping classes. Everyone thinks she is a freak with her mismatched eyes. Her hair is said to have a multiple personality disorder, it is so wild and her forhead is the width of 6 fingers. Even her family feels pressed to remember her existence. Her mother remembers her only when she needs help, while her sister lives only to torment her, and her father no longer believes that she is a child. The only person who may love Tookie is Lizzie and her sanity is questionable at best.

All this changes on The Day of Discovery(T-DOD). This is the day when the yellow smoke clears away and gives the world their rare glimpse of that magnificent place that churns out 7 of the most beautiful and magical girls in the world. They are the Intoxibellas and every girl aims to be one. 

To get chosen all girls must strut their stuff on T-DOD in the hopes of getting picked by a scout. To get the best chances of success you must have a Smise, a strange yellow membrane that covers your eyes and makes you look even more beautiful. Tookie finds one but is forced to give it to her sister. Yet on T-DOD it is Tookie who is chosen by a scout, who then continues on to pick 3 more girls, all of whom are like Tookie, the antitheses of what a Modelland Bella looks like. As it turns out the scout is Ci-L, the most famous of all the Modelland Intozibellas ever to graduate with all the seven abilities. She is on a mission to change Modelland and she sees her chance in the 4 girls. 

The 4 girls become fast friends and learn quickly that they will need each other to survive the tortures of Modelland and their standards of what is acceptable beauty versus unique beauty. They discover that the place has some well hidden secrets and it will take the 4 friends and lots of courage to uncover what they are and free the secrets that have been buried for too long. 

Reviewed By: Nicola Clement (Midwestern State University Student)

BECKA COOPER BOOK THREE: MASTIFF: A TORTALL LEGEND

Author (last name first):
Pierce, Tamora
Publisher, Date of Publication: 
Random House/ 2011
Grade Level/ or Age Level: 
6th and Up
Classification: 
Fiction  


Rebeka "Beka" Cooper has slowly worked her way into becoming one of Tortall's great legends. She has made a name for herself with the Provost Guard where they are called "Provost Dogs" and solved many high profile case with the help of her former trainers Clara Goodwin and Matias Turnstall. This case is about to be her most challenging and gut wrenching yet. 
Beka and her equally famous partners Turnstall and the tracking dog Achoo are called on a special mission. The son of the king is missing and a spell has been put on the Monarchs. Beka and Turnstall must find the Prince in time or the Monarchs die. Accompanying them is the Lady Knight Sabrine who is also Turnstall's love, and the mage Former. They follow the kidnappers, and track them with Achoo and protect themselves with Farmer's magic. As they travel, they also begin to see and expose, in debt, the child slavery life that the Monarchs have so far ignored. Beka herself has a personal hatred against it. 
To keep everyone up to date, Farmer sends messages back to the Capital but these messages are being interrupted by rogue mages more times than not. He does manage to get an important message through and just in time. The king is able to send soldiers on to deal with the renegade Dukes and Beka finally finds the Prince. Here she also has to face an internal betrayal. Turstall seeks status to make himself worthy of his Lady Knight. In so doing he joins forces with the rogue Dukes. As a result, Beka is forced to apprehend him but he is injured and dies in the end. 
She sees this as a blessing as he is well respected in the Capital as a "Top Dog". 
Beka also manages to change the way things are done in Corus. The young Prince speaks on behalf of himself, Beka and all Children when he request that Slave Laws be established to protect children.

Reviewed By: Nicola Clement (Midwestern State University Student)  

TRAPPED

Author (last name first):
Northrop, Michael
Publisher, Date of Publication: 
Scholastic Press/ 2011
Grade Level/ or Age Level: 
6th and Up
Classification: 
Fiction  

It was the worst snow storm ever and no one saw it coming. When the snow started falling school was let out, but seven children were left stranded. Three of them didn't take the situation seriously and so went on to finish a project in another class. Two were waiting on the bus. 

In the beginning a teacher stayed with Scotty and the others but he eventually left to get help and was swallowed up by the great white fall of snow. As a result they are forced to learn how to survive in an abandoned school. They had to find ways to create heat and obtain food. Most importantly they had to learn to work together. That isn't easy especially when there are girls involved and one of the boys has a reputation for being a punk. Still they have managed to form a tentative truce until one of the girls comes back crying with a torn shirt. A fight occurs and tensions are high.

To make things right Pete takes his friend's invention, a sled of sorts and decides to use it to get help. The sled is a prototype and Pete loses his life in a fiery explosion. Scotty, shocked, runs out to his friend and finds him dead. Now that he is out, he decides to find help. There is white everywhere and Scotty is soon lost. He loses track of time so he does not know how long he is gone when the rescue helicopter shows up. The rescuers revive him enough to ask him questions and he is able to tell them about the others. 

Reviewed By: Nicola Clement (Student at Midwestern State University)