Legend by Marie Lu



If you liked The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, you are in for a treat. The story takes place in Los Angeles in the not so distant future. June lives as a member of the government's elite citizens.  She needs to avenge the death of her beloved brother but to do that she must enter the dangerous world on the other side of L.A. Will she sacrifice her life to complete her mission or will she trust Day, the boy she believes murdered her brother?
This is the first in a trilogy.  Prodigy is the sequel. Book 3 will be published in November 2013.  I'm looking forward to it!
Check out her website.http://marielu.org/
Genre: Dystopian Fiction
-Mrs. Mastros

New Moon by Stephenie Meyer

Bella is still living in Forks, with her dad Charlie. She spent a dreamy summer with her vampire love, Edward. She turned eighteen and Edward refuses to turn her into a vampire. She is worried that she keeps getting older every second that passes by and Edward will stay young and handsome for the rest of his life. The Cullens throw a birthday party for Bella. But clumsy as always she accidentally paper cuts her finger and Jasper attacks her. Bella fell down and ends up with a bigger wound on her arm. If only Edward had turned her into a vampire this accidents wouldn't happened Bella thought. Edward keeps getting flashbacks from the accident and feels like he puts Bella in danger. The Cullens decide to leave to give Bella a more human-like life. He tells her "It will be as if I'd never existed." and takes off. Bella realizes that when she does reckless things, she can hear Edwards voice very clearly in her head. Bella's need for a mechanic causes her to renew her relationship with Jacob Black. On a visit to the meadow Edward once took her, Bella meets with Laurent a vampire of the same coven as James. He tells her that Victioria wants to kill her to take revenge for Edward killing James. But Laurent is blood thirsty as well and decides he would kill her instead. But before he can attack, wolves appear and chase him away. Genre:
Tatiana Rojas
Grade 9

A Child Called It by David Pelzer

"A Child called it" is an autobiography. It is about a small boy named David that is torturtured by his mother. He looks back on "good times" he had with his mother to relief his pain. His mother was once loving, but now is a mean, grumpy lady that just wants to torture David. He has emotionally and phisically hurt by his mother. David just tries to survive throughout the book. He shows that he has a lot of courage, and will to survive. This is a very emotional book.  Genre:
Paola Chavez  Grade 9

The Magician by Michael Scott

The Magician is about Josh and Sophie's escape from an evil necromancer named Dr John Dee who is trying to assasinate them. He thinks that they are the twins of legend who have the power to destroy the world. If Sophie and Josh are gonna have any chance of surviving the upcoming war between all magical beings they need to learn all the elemental magics(air, water, fire, and earth). And the chase begins again but this time they might not get away so easily.
Genre:
Michael Chan Grade 9

Homeless Bird by Gloria Whelan

I finish reading this book Homeless Bird.  It is about a young Indian girl forced into a tragic marriage with a terminally ill boy, through the experiences of widowhood, discovers the truth about who she is and what love is really means. Koly, the main character which is the young Indian girl who has just reached the age which tradition dictates she is eligible to be married. She will have a difficult life because it is not easy for her to take care of person who has tuberculosis. What I take out of this book is all about tradition and religious beliefs.  I have a great time reading this book and I hope all of people who read this book will enjoy as much as I did. Genre:
Linh Chieng
Grade 9

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

This book- which I am almost finished with- is way funny and true.  I really like Junior, the main character, and his funny/smart perspective on life.  He is something of a misfit, and I think since most teenagers feel that way at some point or another, this book holds a lot of wisdom and humor for kids who feel out of place within their own communities, schools, and skins.  The book starts by describing Junior's life on the Indian Reservation in Washington (the state, not the city) and how he was born with an enlarged brain.  Junior is small and skinny, so he gets beat up alot, but he has a best friend- Rowdy- who protects him.  However, because Junior decides to go to school in the "white" town outside of the reservation, his friendship with Rowdy is jeopardized.  In order to find out how it all turns out ok- you should read the book yourself.  Junior is an aspiring cartoonist, so the book also has his drawings interspersed throughout, which breaks up the reading and gives you a glimpse into his active imagination.  This book appeals to people who like to laugh while they are reading and want to identify with a protagonist who doesn't always have it so easy.  I HIGHLY recommend this book. Genre:
M. Crabtree

13 going on to 30 by Christa Roberts

My second independent reading book is called 13 going on to 30 by Christa Roberts. I am reading this book because it caught my attencion. It caught my attencion because of the title of it. In fact this book is a very interesting book. It is about a girl named Jenna and it was her 13 birthday and she invited the coolest people in her school and the coolest people in the school took advantage of it and told Jenna that they would go but they had to do a school project. So because Jenna really wanted them to go to her party she told them that she would do there school project so the cool kids took advantage of that. At the party they tricked Jenna and they left right after she gave them the school project Jenna felt really sad and disappointed and she kept on repeating i want to be thirty, flirty, and thriving then some of her wishing dust fell on top of her head and the next morning she was thirty and she was in shock and very confused. She went from being 13 to 30 in one day. Genre:
Marisol
Grade 9th