Guest Reviewers!

We all know that there is no way I am going to read all the books stacked up by my front door.  In an earlier blog post, I mentioned the safety hazard they have become, and just yesterday another HUGE box of books arrived to add to the pile.  I am so glad that I can take advantage of the teens and tweens in the neighborhood to help with the reading and reviewing.  And perhaps in another blog post, I will commiserate about why I cannot count on my own 13-year-old son to help.  Let's just say it has something to do with equating reading and being stabbed with an icepick... 

Just this week I have received the first batch of "reviews" back from my wonderful neighborhood readers (I need to come up with a better name for them).  And I do use the word "review" loosely...it is summer, and they are teenagers, so you should not expect a dissertation.  Here are the ones that they took the time to reflect on, and you should definitely take that as a recommendation because there are several they returned without bothering to comment:


"Matched" by Ally Condie(9th grade girl, 5 stars, "LOVED IT"--published 11/30/10)

"Stork" by Wendy Delsol
(9th grade girl, 5 stars, another "LOVED IT"--published 10/12/10)

"Ship Breaker" by Paolo Bacigalupi
(9th grade girl and her family, all rated it 5 stars!!  All hoping for a sequel!)

"Living Hell" by Catherine Jinks
(8th grade boy, 4 1/2 stars, "...interesting...makes you think about life")

"The Web of Titan" by Dom Testa--this is a sequel to "The Comet's Curse" which you must read first.
(8th grade boy, 4 stars, "...good plot...very interesting...quick read")


"Marbury Lens" by Andrew Smith
(8th grade boy, 3 stars, "...interesting...a little confusing...")

"Morpheus Road" by D.J. MacHale
(8th grade boy, 4 stars, "...good book...kinda creepy, but very interesting," published in November)

Thank you guest reviewers! I appreciate your insight, and for those reading the blog, you should know that I would love to make this a regular segment. Let me know if anyone out there is interested in posting a review! My 3rd grade daughter has already volunteered for the next guest reviewer segment. She received numerous advance copies at the library conference in June and has been busy reading them.

Have you read these books? Do you agree with their reviews?