Book Review: Jacky Ha-Ha by James Patterson and Chris Grabenstein (adapted by Adam Rau and Betty C. Tang)

Book Review: Saint Training by Elizabeth Fixmer

This book follows the journey of 11-year-old Mary Clare O’Brian as she strives to become a nun, and ultimately a saint. She tries to stop talking back to the nuns at her school, fighting with her eight brothers and sisters, and secretly liking boys in her head. She thinks that if she stops sinning, God will help her family, who is struggling to make ends meet after they find out another baby is on the way. Mary Clare just wants to see her family happy again but unfortunately that means her mother going back to school and taking a job as a teacher. It is unheard of for women to work outside the home in their 1960s small town community, Mrs. O’Brien’s feminist view makes her neighbors turn up their noses. More responsibility falls on Mary Clare, who must constantly take care of the house and her siblings, which makes her an outcast with her friends. Meanwhile, the government is drafting young men to serve in Vietnam, and Mary Clare’s two older brothers take different sides.

Book Review: Unblemished by Sara Ella

For as long as she can remember, Eliyana Ember has lived a sheltered life in Manhattan, until one day her mother unexpectedly passes away. Numb with sorrow, she follows a friend to a party and gets kidnapped by a mysterious boy named Ky. She is brought to a parallel dimension called the Second Reflection, where good is battling evil. The Void threatens to wipe out the Verity, and a servant of the Void has usurped the throne. The locals believe that Eliyana’s grotesque birthmark indicates that she is the “Verity’s vessel,” with a special link to the good forces of the realm. If she has this power, it will manifest before her eighteenth birthday, which is just a few weeks away. Romance also abounds as El must battle her feelings for her old friend Joshua and new friend, Ky. She discovers that her mother is still alive, but being held as a prisoner of the crown. As El works to free her mother, she learns more about this strange new world and her place in it. Will El find a way to put aside her doubt and confront the darkness that looms over everything she holds dear? Read this book to find out!

Book Review: Penny from Heaven by Jennifer L. Holm

Summary: Eleven-year-old Penny Falucci spends the summer of 1953 in New Jersey trying to uncover the secret of her late father and figure out why the two sides of her family don’t get along. Other adventures include attempts to keep her cousin Frankie out of trouble, scoring choice seats at Brooklyn Dodgers game, and plotting to keep her mother from dating the milkman.

Book Review: Thomas Wildus and the Book of Sorrows by J.M. Bergen

Summary: In modern day Southern California, twelve-year-old Thomas Wildus stumbles upon mysterious bookstore owners, who confirm his suspicion that magic is real. He begins reading a magical book, and strange occurrences invade in his once-normal life.