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April 27, 2013
Teen Review Kiss Me Again Rachel Vail Pub 12-2012, HarperTeen He closed the distance I’d opened up between us and kissed me lightly on the lips. “Maybe we can just be,” Kevin whispered. Rachel Vail is the author of over sixteen young adult novels and countless other books for children. Her latest novel, Kiss Me Again, the sequel to If We Kiss, is a contemporary teen story that pushes boundaries both romantic and familial. This isn’t a story that you hear all the time, but it  found a way into my heart with its twists and turns. Kiss Me Again picks up where If We Kiss ended. Charlie Collins explains how much has changed since last year: Her mother is now married to the father of her crush, Kevin Lazarus, so Kevin is now her stepbrother. Charlie is making all kinds of mistakes — especially with her best friend, whose trust she has to earn back after dating Kevin when Tess was dating him. To make things more odd, Charlie and Kevin are still in love, but their parents don’t know about it.   Vail uses this scenario to show how complicated romance can be for  teenagers. Charlie and Kevin have to live under the same roof, and they don’t want to upset the balance. Maybe it’s better sometimes for parents not to know things! But keeping things from parents can also make them more difficult. Because, even though their love is so complicated, Charlie and Kevin aren’t willing to let it go.   When, in If We Kiss, Tess noticed Charlie and Kevin together all the time, she wasn’t happy about it. But even though Charlie didn’t want to hurt her friends’ feelings, she realized she couldn’t make everyone happy. She was faced with a very difficult choice: What did she want the most? She learned that her real friends would stick around despite her choice of boyfriend, even if they weren’t as close as they were before.   Charlie is faced with a similar problem in Kiss Me Again: What does she want most? Does she want to be with Kevin or does she want to keep the peace at home? If she’s with Kevin, their parents will find out and they might break up. Charlie couldn’t live with the guilt. At the same time, she and Kevin can’t keep their love a secret forever. What will Charlie do?   Like my favorite  love stories, this one has a happy ending. We don’t find out what happens with Charlie and Kevin, suggesting that there may be a third book (hopefully!) in the series. But Kiss Me Again shows us how to forgive and just love what we have for the moment. It also leaves curiosity in the reader’s  head with the last chapter. Kiss Me Again is a great book for all teens still learning about the ins and outs of romance.   - Nisi S., 17  

Teen Review

Kiss Me Again

Rachel Vail

Pub 12-2012, HarperTeen

He closed the distance I’d opened up between us and kissed me lightly on the lips. “Maybe we can just be,” Kevin whispered.

Rachel Vail is the author of over sixteen young adult novels and countless other books for children. Her latest novel, Kiss Me Again, the sequel to If We Kiss, is a contemporary teen story that pushes boundaries both romantic and familial. This isn’t a story that you hear all the time, but it  found a way into my heart with its twists and turns.

Kiss Me Again picks up where If We Kiss ended. Charlie Collins explains how much has changed since last year: Her mother is now married to the father of her crush, Kevin Lazarus, so Kevin is now her stepbrother. Charlie is making all kinds of mistakes — especially with her best friend, whose trust she has to earn back after dating Kevin when Tess was dating him. To make things more odd, Charlie and Kevin are still in love, but their parents don’t know about it.

 

Vail uses this scenario to show how complicated romance can be for  teenagers. Charlie and Kevin have to live under the same roof, and they don’t want to upset the balance. Maybe it’s better sometimes for parents not to know things! But keeping things from parents can also make them more difficult. Because, even though their love is so complicated, Charlie and Kevin aren’t willing to let it go.

 

When, in If We Kiss, Tess noticed Charlie and Kevin together all the time, she wasn’t happy about it. But even though Charlie didn’t want to hurt her friends’ feelings, she realized she couldn’t make everyone happy. She was faced with a very difficult choice: What did she want the most? She learned that her real friends would stick around despite her choice of boyfriend, even if they weren’t as close as they were before.

 

Charlie is faced with a similar problem in Kiss Me Again: What does she want most? Does she want to be with Kevin or does she want to keep the peace at home? If she’s with Kevin, their parents will find out and they might break up. Charlie couldn’t live with the guilt. At the same time, she and Kevin can’t keep their love a secret forever. What will Charlie do?

 

Like my favorite  love stories, this one has a happy ending. We don’t find out what happens with Charlie and Kevin, suggesting that there may be a third book (hopefully!) in the series. But Kiss Me Again shows us how to forgive and just love what we have for the moment. It also leaves curiosity in the reader’s  head with the last chapter. Kiss Me Again is a great book for all teens still learning about the ins and outs of romance.

 

- Nisi S., 17

 

Tags: nisi i teen review kiss me again rachel vail if we kiss teen romance romance young adult ya teen book review

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February 16, 2013
1 note
Young Reviewer The Sasquatch Escape Suzanne Selfors Pub 4-2013, Little, Brown for Young Readers Suzanne Selfors is known for writing books with magic—just a little, though. The Sasquatch Escape is the first book of a new series: “The Imaginary Veterinary”. Selfors takes her readers on a magical journey through Buttonville, and what seems to be a boring town at first is not boring anymore. Ben is a ten year-old California kid who visits his grandpa in Buttonville for the summer. Soon enough, he makes friends with a girl named Pearl. Ben and Pearl find an injured dragon that Ben’s grandpa’s cat had bitten. It is not everyday that you find an injured dragon! They take it to the hospital, but once there, they find it’s no ordinary hospital. It’s a hospital for worms! But not just worms—magical creatures. They are scattered around the hospital. Meanwhile, Ben and Pearl get into trouble because a sasquatch—a big, brown hairy beast—escapes from the WORM hospital. And it’s Ben’s fault! He didn’t lock the door. I like the setting because Buttonville is a boring town but soon comes to feel like a very suspenseful Olympic Final. Ben is a city boy from Los Angeles, where there is a lot more things to do than in Buttonville. Compared to L.A., Buttonville is a speck of dust! This setting affects Ben because, where at first, he predicted it would be the most boring summer, now he discovers it is the best summer ever!   My favorite character in the book was the Sasquatch because he is a very funny magical creature. The Sasquatch is my favorite because it is not a normal creature, but is a very important character in the book. My favorite part was when Ben accidentally trapped Ms. Mulbery and her daughter, Victoria in a net! The net was from the “Sasquatch catching kit”. I like this scene because it is very funny and unusual. It’s not every day that people get trapped in a net by a ten-year-old boy! At first, when I read the beginning of The Sasquatch Escape, it seemed like it would be uneventful because nothing happens in a place where nothing happens. But progressing through the story, I became more and more interested. This book is one that everyone should read. And if you read this book and like it, you can get the second book! Read the whole series! Soon you will read a lot of Suzanne Selfors’ books! By Krish G., 8

Young Reviewer

The Sasquatch Escape

Suzanne Selfors

Pub 4-2013, Little, Brown for Young Readers

Suzanne Selfors is known for writing books with magic—just a little, though. The Sasquatch Escape is the first book of a new series: “The Imaginary Veterinary”. Selfors takes her readers on a magical journey through Buttonville, and what seems to be a boring town at first is not boring anymore.

Ben is a ten year-old California kid who visits his grandpa in Buttonville for the summer. Soon enough, he makes friends with a girl named Pearl. Ben and Pearl find an injured dragon that Ben’s grandpa’s cat had bitten. It is not everyday that you find an injured dragon! They take it to the hospital, but once there, they find it’s no ordinary hospital. It’s a hospital for worms! But not just worms—magical creatures. They are scattered around the hospital. Meanwhile, Ben and Pearl get into trouble because a sasquatch—a big, brown hairy beast—escapes from the WORM hospital. And it’s Ben’s fault! He didn’t lock the door.

I like the setting because Buttonville is a boring town but soon comes to feel like a very suspenseful Olympic Final. Ben is a city boy from Los Angeles, where there is a lot more things to do than in Buttonville. Compared to L.A., Buttonville is a speck of dust! This setting affects Ben because, where at first, he predicted it would be the most boring summer, now he discovers it is the best summer ever!  

My favorite character in the book was the Sasquatch because he is a very funny magical creature. The Sasquatch is my favorite because it is not a normal creature, but is a very important character in the book. My favorite part was when Ben accidentally trapped Ms. Mulbery and her daughter, Victoria in a net! The net was from the “Sasquatch catching kit”. I like this scene because it is very funny and unusual. It’s not every day that people get trapped in a net by a ten-year-old boy!

At first, when I read the beginning of The Sasquatch Escape, it seemed like it would be uneventful because nothing happens in a place where nothing happens. But progressing through the story, I became more and more interested. This book is one that everyone should read. And if you read this book and like it, you can get the second book! Read the whole series! Soon you will read a lot of Suzanne Selfors’ books!

By Krish G., 8

Tags: sasquatch escape suzanne selfors sasquatch middle grade teen review young reviewer review book review

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August 24, 2012
5 notes
Kid Review Sky High Patricia Reilly Giff Pub 10-2012, Wendy Lamb Books Patricia Reilly Giff’s book Sky High is about Charlie, who really likes inventing things. I think he’s very smart, and he’s also very funny. He does this very funny thing. There is this piece of food that he splashes in the soup and goes all over the apron of the cafeteria lady, and his punishment is to help the lady for an entire week. What Charlie really wants to invent is something that goes sky high. The first thing he invents is called a Zinger-Winger, but it crashes. He was also going to invent a thing that can water plants very fast. He would call it the Sink-to-Drink. And he also makes another Zinger-Winger that can go in the hall where it won’t crash. He also does nice things: when he smashes a potato because he steps in the garden, he invents some stick with a string with bells on it so that if you were to step in the garden it would ring and everyone would know. The thing I like about this book is that it gave me ideas about things to invent when I grow up and become an inventor. There are a lot of really good ideas in this book. I recommend this book for people who like inventing stuff. It doesn’t matter if you’re scared of things, because it doesn’t have scary stuff at all, so you can read it. There’s just one thing that is kind of creepy, how they make Mr. Redfern look on page 27. It’s only 68 pages long, so if you like short books and you don’t like taking like a year to read a book, you should pick this book. I wonder if Charlie is going to invent more things, like something that can transform dragons with a box where you put the dragon inside and with an arrow that you turn you get something else than a dragon after saying some words or something. You have to use your imagination when you invent something! - Manu B., 6

Kid Review

Sky High

Patricia Reilly Giff

Pub 10-2012, Wendy Lamb Books

Patricia Reilly Giff’s book Sky High is about Charlie, who really likes inventing things. I think he’s very smart, and he’s also very funny. He does this very funny thing. There is this piece of food that he splashes in the soup and goes all over the apron of the cafeteria lady, and his punishment is to help the lady for an entire week. What Charlie really wants to invent is something that goes sky high.

The first thing he invents is called a Zinger-Winger, but it crashes. He was also going to invent a thing that can water plants very fast. He would call it the Sink-to-Drink. And he also makes another Zinger-Winger that can go in the hall where it won’t crash. He also does nice things: when he smashes a potato because he steps in the garden, he invents some stick with a string with bells on it so that if you were to step in the garden it would ring and everyone would know.

The thing I like about this book is that it gave me ideas about things to invent when I grow up and become an inventor. There are a lot of really good ideas in this book. I recommend this book for people who like inventing stuff. It doesn’t matter if you’re scared of things, because it doesn’t have scary stuff at all, so you can read it. There’s just one thing that is kind of creepy, how they make Mr. Redfern look on page 27.

It’s only 68 pages long, so if you like short books and you don’t like taking like a year to read a book, you should pick this book. I wonder if Charlie is going to invent more things, like something that can transform dragons with a box where you put the dragon inside and with an arrow that you turn you get something else than a dragon after saying some words or something. You have to use your imagination when you invent something!

- Manu B., 6

Tags: patricia reilly giff sky high kid review book review first chapter

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June 20, 2012
3 notes
Hark! Teenage litfiends! We request your intellectual prowess in reviewing multitudinous books for our site.  500 words, or the best you can do. Smart. Witty. Deep. Honest. Payment: as many free books as you want. Email reviews@mcnallyjackson.com immediately.

Hark! Teenage litfiends!

We request your intellectual prowess in reviewing multitudinous books for our site. 

500 words, or the best you can do. Smart. Witty. Deep. Honest.

Payment: as many free books as you want.

Email reviews@mcnallyjackson.com immediately.

Tags: teen reviewers young adult book review middle grade

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June 19, 2012
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What Minty Knew

This is late news, but we just want to congratulate our friend Natalie Standiford, author of the wonderful new novel The Secret Tree, for her glowing Times review. The Secret Tree is one of our absolute favorite books of the year and we hope it will be yours, too. Well done, Natalie. 

Here’s our favorite excerpt from the review:

Natalie Standiford (“How to Say Goodbye in Robot”) harks back to the time when helicopter parents didn’t exist and free-range children didn’t return home until dusk. Is there a middle-class neighborhood in America where parents fling open the back door and 10-year-olds roam free until supper? Yet “The Secret Tree” is also a very contemporary tale, one that deals with changing friendships, sibling relations, betrayal and neglectful parenting — while still imbuing childhood with a sense of mystery.

It reminds us of what our very sharp teen reviewer, Diana R., said about the book just the other day:

I think that one of the reasons it was good was that some of the elements of the book are definitely from the present, but other aspects would definitely be from a long time ago. I think it’s great that she combines all these elements and makes them from her own time period. I think that the book has a pretty good moral: everybody has flaws. I think the writer really shows that even the people who seem flawless aren’t always.

Our thoughts exactly. Buy this book. Read it on the grass. Read it in your backyard (or fire escape, New Yorkers) while the fireflies are out. It is imbued with simple, neighborhood magic. And it won’t let you down.

Tags: Natalie Standiford the secret tree middle grade new york times book review