The Gospel According to Larry

by Janet Tashjian
Genre: Nonfiction...
Age group: 12+
Rating: *****(5 stars)

There's this website. It's called The Gospel According to Larry. It's run by a person, Larry, who is, at least for the moment, hiding his identity. He writes "sermons" about anti-consumerism, and the site is growing more and more popular by the day.
Josh Swenson is 17 years old. His mom is dead, and the girl he's in love with is dating a jerk. And, he just so happens to be Larry.
He is the one behind the "sermons." He's the person who's been writing the blog. But nobody knows except for him. People have tried and are trying to figure out Larry's identity, but none of them have succeeded yet.
Until one day, someone starts posting comments on The Gospel According to Larry. This person is determined to weasel out the true identity of Larry, and expose him for all the world to see. And the problem is, whoever it is is coming pretty close.
Josh still has to protect Larry's identity, and in the end he has to make a choice. But it isn't easy.

Based on what I read, this book is a true story. That is probably one of the main reasons I love it so much. It's mind-blowing to see how the story unfolds, and even more mind-blowing to know that it really happened. Suddenly, all of these crazy things are happening, just because of one website.
Larry's philosophies are also very interesting. They are very thoughtful and really give you a lot to think about. It's also interesting the way he writes them--rather than super-formal and stuffy, he puts real voice into them.
Overall, this story was very real and honest, and that is the other main reason why it was really great. Even though the content is amazing and sometimes sounds crazy, the way it is told makes it sound very real, like it could happen to you. Of course, it did actually happen, so maybe that has something to do with it. But overall, this was a great read. I recommend it to everybody.

Shug

by Jenny Han

Genre: Realistic fiction
Age group: 11+
Rating: ****(4 stars)

Annemarie Wilcox, nicknamed Shug, is now 12 and things are changing for her... And not necessarily in a good way. Her mother is an alcoholic (a fact Annemarie is very sensitive about), her father is barely at home, and when he is both her parents are constantly fighting. Plus, her close friends are growing not-so-close, now they're all in middle school. Especially Mark, who Annemarie is starting to think of as more than a friend...
Jenny Han does a really great job of capturing the difficulties of middle school without going totally overboard. Annemarie's voice is very real, and the story is realistic and interesting. The plot is relatable, and Han does an excellent job taking all the emotions middle school can bring and mixing them up into a wonderfully real novel.

Red Thread Sisters

by Carol Antoinette Peacock

Age group: 10+
Genre: Realistic fiction
Rating: **** (4 stars)

Wen lives in an orphanage in China with her best friend, Shu Ling. Shu Ling and Wen do everything together. Ever since Wen joined the orphanage when she was five, Shu Ling looked after her. But one day everything changes and Wen is adopted by an American family. She's happy about being adopted, but very sad about having to leave Shu Ling behind. Director Feng says she probably isn't going to get adopted, because of her clubfoot. She promises Shu Ling to help her get a home and then leaves for America. Life is hard in America. She knows English but somehow can't let it out. She misses Shu Ling a lot. And most of all, she's finding it really hard to tell her new mom she loves her. But she stays true to her word, and keeps trying to find a family for Shu Ling. It isn't easy--can she do it before Shu Ling turns 14 and can't be adopted any more? She has to--after all, they're red thread sisters.
This book was really great. It had many emotions in it, and the author does a really good job conveying those emotions through the characters. For example, during the one really suspenseful moment in the book, she shows the suspense by describing all the characters rather than just saying it straightforwardly. The characters also have a lot of depth. They are all pretty fully developed and so they're easier to relate to and to feel for. I thought Red Thread Sisters seemed very real and full and warm. I liked it a lot.

Small as an Elephant

by Jennifer Richard Jacobson

Age group: 10+
Genre: Realistic fiction
Rating: ****` (4.5 stars)

Jack Martel is going camping with his mother in Maine when one day he wakes up and she isn't there. This isn't exactly unusual - his mom has an illness, and back in Boston she did this sometimes. But there's a big difference from being safe in your own house and being in a small campground with only $14.63 and no food. School is starting in Boston, and Jack knows people are going to notice he's not there. He sets off on a journey to find his mother, but it's going to be hard - sure enough, his friends and family notice he's not in Boston and soon everyone's looking for him. But if they find him, they will have to take him away from his mom because of her illness. He has to lay low while trying to get back to Boston and find his mom - and it's not easy.
I thought this was a really interesting book because it takes place in cities and towns. Usually survival stories are in woods or some other rural, mostly uninhabited area, but Small as an Elephant isn't. The problems for this type of survival story are VERY different. For example, Jack has to deal with the problems of having no money, and whether or not he can trust certain people, which don't really need to be worried about in the woods. Because of that, this book stands out from the other survival novels out there. I also thought this book had an interesting plot, where the mother isn't as straightforward. I liked how the story was more weaving instead of going in a straight line. There are also many elephant references throughout, which sort of adds a solid standing point for Jack as he searches for his mother. Excellent book.

Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie

by David Lubar

Age group: 12+
Rating: ****` (4.5 stars)
Genre: Realistic fiction

Scott Hudson is just starting high school--and it's not easy. His friend group is slowly breaking apart, the bullies pick on HIM, for some reason, and his mother has just announced she's pregnant. Oh, and that girl, Julia, he used to be friends with in kindergarten? She's suddenly gone from the blending-in type to highly attractive and highly unattainable. Now he has to deal with hard-to-understand Spanish teachers, mean gym teachers, LOTS of homework, and... well... life itself. Since he's finding high school so hard, he decides to write a guidebook for his soon-to-be sibling, hopefully a boy. And during his journey through his freshmen year, Scott learns a lot of important things--about friends, books, life and girls. 
This book is really great. Mostly, it's just plain HILARIOUS. Scott has a very funny, real voice. David Lubar did an excellent job writing from his perspective. Because of this, it's easy to relate to Scott and his problems (most of the time) and the book is more down-to-earth and interesting. This book is a light read, and it deals with a few more serious problems in a not-too-serious way. Scott breaks up the chunks of text with lists for his soon-to-be sibling that are usually hilarious. It's a good summer read because of the lightness, but it's also good for school because of the shorter chapters and because it's about school. 

The Apothecary

by Maile Meloy

Age group: 10+
Rating: ****` (4.5 stars)
Type: Fantasy/historical fiction

It's 1952. Janie Scott used to live in Los Angeles, but when the government started following her home from school because her parents were communists, her family moved to London. Her school is strange, and she doesn't really like it in England until she meets Benjamin Burrows, an interesting boy who dreams of being a spy and whose father is the apothecary down the street. Under the cover of playing chess, they spy on a Russian, Mr. Shiskin, the father of Sergei, a boy at Janie's school. And one day, he leaves a message in a newspaper, which is then picked up by... Benjamin's father! The message reads:

Jin Lo has been taken. You'll be next. 

Janie and Benjamin discover a mysterious book called the Pharmacopoeia, filled with recipes for magical potions written in Greek and Latin. The elixirs are more incredible than ever--invisibility potions, transformation potions, potions to make you temporarily mute and potions to turn you into salt. But bad people, evil people who want the book for the wrong reasons are coming. Janie and Benjamin must protect the book, keep it away from Russian spies (who could be anyone) and stop a nuclear bomb from exploding. But they can't do it alone--enlisting the help of a snobby girl, a scruffy street boy, and many magic elixirs, Janie and Benjamin embark on an incredible adventure.

I remember a really long time ago my mom got this book out for me and I was not interested in it at all. Now, I have absolutely no idea why. What really makes this book interesting is the potions. They turn it from a regular historical fiction into a fantasy historical fiction, which really can make all the difference. It's a really great story as well. The Apothecary had a fast buildup. It got exciting quickly and stayed that way. Maile Meloy is a very talented writer. I recommend this book highly.

Beauty Queens

by Libba Bray
Age group: 13+
Rating: **** (4 stars)
Type: realistic fiction, mystery

The fifty contestants in the Miss Teen Dream Pageant are on their way to the competition, when their plane unexpectedly crash-lands on an uninhabited island covered in tropical plants and animals.
What a way to start the day! Most of the girls die in the crash, and others are wounded. Miss New Mexico even got an airplane tray stuck in her forehead! Finally, Miss Texas, a girl named Taylor Rene Crystal Hawkins takes charge. She idolizes Ladybird Hope, former Miss Teen Dream, and supposedly knows exactly how to run a group of beauty queens abandoned on an island. But even with a leader, the girls don't have much experience in survival skills. Should they be practicing their dance routine or hunting for food? Sunbathing in bikinis or building a shelter? Each girl has their own specific problems, from dealing with transgender-ness to having an obsessive mother to actually hating pageants and just joining so they can ruin it. Not all of them agree and get along, but somehow they have to manage... or else they die!
But not everything is what it seems... MoMo B. ChaCha, president of the Republic of ChaCha, is developing some sort of weapon to destroy The Corporation and... the Miss Teen Dream Contestants! And he may be having an affair with Ladybird Hope! Can the girls manage to get off this island and save themselves and save their world?
This book is really, really funny. For your entertainment, The Corporation provides many ads for their products throughout the book--Lady 'Stache Off, Git R Done, the TV show Patriot Daughters, and the movie Wedding Day 3: Third Time's the Charm--which are exceedingly funny and lighten the mood of the book, even with sinister things happening in the book. Even if this book does have some swear words in it, I definitely recommend it. It shows the bad side of things like beauty pageants. I have heard that the audiobook version of this is very good as well.