The Everafter by Amy Huntley

This realistic ghost story follows Madison Stanton as she figures out how she died. This book reminded me a little bit of Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold, in that a dead girl is telling the story of her life. (If you like Everafter, then I would highly recomend Lovely Bones and vice versa.) At any rate, Madison tells the story of her life through these objects she finds in a place she calls "is". Each object, like a pine cone, a sweatshirt, and a bracelet brings Madison back to the specific time in her life when she lost the item. Some of the items take her back to times she spends with her best friend Sandra, and some of them take her back to times she spent with her boyfriend Gabe. The ghost story part of this book comes in when Madison discovers that she can talk to other dead people, and that she can change things in her life like a ghost. In the end, I couldn't put this book down until I found out how and when Madison actually died. If you like a good ghost story or a teen romance then you will like The Everafter by Amy Huntley. To find this book on the shelf look for: FIC HUN

Stardust

Stardust
By: Neil Gaiman

The story starts with Dunstan then moves on to his sonTristan. Dunstan try’s to find the perfect gift for hissweetheart Daisy. Years later when his son is about thirteen hesets off on a journey to find his love a star. He’s gone formonths and can’t find a fallen star. He meets new friendsand enemies as well. Tristan gets a big surprise half waythrough his journey.This book is good because it has a lot of places from England. Like forests, mountains, an old city, and a castle. Stardust was one of my favorite books last year. Read the book to see what happens.

-C. McCoy

Aquamarine

Aquamarine
by Alice Hoffman

I love this book. It's about two best friends named Claire and Hailey who find a mermaid in a swimming pool. The mermaid is named Aquamarine. There was a storm that day and that's how she ended up in the pool. There are two problems in the story, one of them being Hailey having to move all the way to Australia for her mom's job as a marine biologist, and the other problem is that Aquamarine is in search of true love. Luckily, Aquamarine will give the girls one wish if they succeed in helping her find true love. Aqua falls for the hot lifeguard, Raymond. So it's Claire and Hailey's duty to make him fall in love with her, although that doesn't work out too well. But in the end it all works out and shows just how strong the power of friendship really is. If you have a best friend, then you're probably going to love this book just as much as I did.

-N. Ortega

Romiette and Julio

Romiette and Julio
By Sharon M. Draper

This book is about teenage love. Romiette is a very nice smart teenager. She lives with her father and mother. Her father is an anchorman and her mother owns her own shop of African art and clothing. Her best friend is Destiny. Destiny believes in the stars and always tries to find her and Romiettes soul mates. Every night Romiette has a dream that she’s drowning and that a man either saves her or drowns her. She has a terrible fright of water. The closest she gets to it is taking a shower or a bath. Julio is sweet, nice and always dreams of moving back to Texas where he moved from. In Texas he had to move because of the gang violence. He doesn’t like the new state he moved to. His dad tried to move away from the gangs and now there’s a gang at Julio’s school that dislike him because he’s from Texas. Julio doesn’t understand it; it made him very angry because he doesn’t even like gangs. So the first day of school all of his frustration was let out on this boy Ben, he punched him in the nose. After they talked it out, Julio and Ben became good friends. They started talking on the phone and even the computer Julio liked using the computer and so he started to have room chats. There he met Romiette. After a while of them talking they begin to like each other and that’s where all the problems began. But the biggest problem is the gangs don’t like seeing them together, so now they have to fight for their love.I like this book because it’s about love and shows the troubles people go through. It also shows friendship, which I think is very important in life.-M. ColonWhen Julio and his family leave Texas to move to Ohio, he thinks the worst has happened in his life. He hates the cold weather, and he misses his friends and family down in Texas. But everything changes when he meets Romiette in a chat room and finds out she goes to his high school. The two begin spending more time together, despite objections from the local gang, the DevilDogs, who don’t like Julio because of his Latino heritage. When Romiette and Julio decide to entrap the gang members and get them punished, their plan goes horribly wrong. Will the two make it through the ordeal alive, or are they doomed to repeat the deaths of Shakespeare’s characters Romeo and Juliette? This book will have you on the edge of your seat.-Ms. McConnelI thought this book was really good. It kept me interested. Some books get boring after a while, but this one didn't! In the middle of the book it gets REALLY interesting!!! I could not stop reading because I wanted to see what happened next. You want to read books that will make you keep reading. This book also has a very good endiing. I think you should read this book because it's very good. BUt be careful, because it can be addicting!

-B. Clark