The War That Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

The War That Saved My Life
Author: Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
Lexile: 580
Length: 316 Pages
Genre: Historical Fiction
Awards: None
Reading Ram Star Rating: 4.8 out of 5 Stars



               Ada has never left her tiny apartment in London. Her mother is too embarrassed by her crippled foot to ever let her outside. Ever. Ada is forced to sit inside all day and do nothing. Every day. 7 days a week. Then one day Ada's brother Jamie is to be sent away to a village, so he is safe in case the Germans bomb London. It is the beginning of WW2, and lots of people are doing this sort of thing. But Ada is not to be sent anywhere. She would just stay with her mother, and leave her brother. But Ada isn't going to let that happen. She sneaks out with Jamie, and leaves London. Finally she is free from her mother. Free to do whatever she wants. But she is faced with another challenge, Susan Smith, the woman who is forced to take her and Jamie in. Ada's and Jamie's bond with Susan grows, and when the time comes, would they ever go home?
                I really loved this book! It is such an interesting take on WW2. Most people hated it. In all the other books I've read about WW2, they always think it is so horrible. It definitely was, but this one was just so different. Ada definitely hated the war, but she hated her mother much, much more. So she was grateful for it, almost. Which is why the title is what it is. I gave it 4.8 stars because it was such a low lexile. Absolutely no vocabulary in it at all! Please author, maybe next time just a little bit more challenging words? But it got pulled up a lot because it was still such an amazing story. There are no inappropriate parts in it at all. You should really try it out in your free time!

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman

Seraphina
Author: Rachel Hartman
Lexile: 760
Length: 465 Pages
Genre: Fantasy
Awards: William C. Morris Debut Award Winner
Reading Ram Star Rating: 4 out of 5 stars


             Dragons. That one word creates fear in the peoples of  Gorredd's hearts. Long before, a peace treaty was made between the most important general of the dragons and the current queen. Over that time,none of the hostility people felt toward dragons eased, if anything, it became more solid and bitter. Dragons could take a human form and would attend certain ceremonies and councils with the humans, which only made the public even more angry. Right before the 40 anniversary of the treaty, a member of the royal family, next heir to the throne, was murdered. What outraged the public is that he was decapitated. Exactly how a dragon would kill a person. Seraphina Dombegh fears both sided warily. She is the new music mistress at court, with tremendous musical talent. But her secret behind it could end the peace. Seraphina teams up with the head of security for the royal family, Prince Lucian Kiggs. Together they must unravel the mystery behind Prince Rufus' death. Can Seraphina really reunite 2 drastically different worlds?
                     I did enjoy this book a lot, it really captured what I think about dragons well. It was a little confusing, like how she went from peasant to court life, but it still worked out okay. The reason I gave it 4 out of 5 stars however, was that it just wasn't very different from other fantasy books. It was a classic Hero's journey, so I could basically tell what was going to happen. Some parts did surprise me a little, but it's like that in every good book. That is just me, it will probably not be like that for you, so don't let that stop you from reading it. Overall, it was a good book, very interesting. And dragons are actually a hard topic to write about, making them different from the classic fairytale dragon, so the author did a great job with that. You should really try this book out in your free time if you are a fan of fantasy!

Author visit-- Chris Colfer: The Land of Stories:Beyond the Kingdom

Chris Colfer: The Land of Stories: Beyond the Kingdom

Saturday, July 11, 7pm

St. Louis County Library, 1640 S. Lindbergh Blvd., St. Louis, MO  63131

Author and Golden Globe-Winning actor Chris Colfer presents the third installment in his #1 New York Times bestselling series for young readers. Colfer’s The Land of Stories series brings readers on a thrilling quest filled with magic spells, laugh-out-loud humor, and page-turning adventure. In Beyond the Kingdom shocking secrets are revealed about Conner and Alex’s past, and they once again find themselves fighting to save the fairy-tale world – this time from a villain neither could have ever imagined.

Tickets available at slcl.org beginning June 10.

left-bank.com/event/chris-colfer-land-stories-beyond-kingdom

Lemonade Social with YA Authors at Left Bank Books in St. Louis, MO

Hey Readers! Here's a chance to meet some YA authors!

Lemonade Social with YA Authors

Friday, June 12, 5 pm

Left Bank Books, 399 N. Euclid, St. Louis, MO 63108

Come meet Young Adult authors Heather Brewer (The Cemetery Boys), Sarah Bromley (A Murder of Magpies), Cole Gibsen (Life Unaware), Shawntelle Madison (Coveted), and Paula Stokes (Liars, Inc.). They'll be on hand to pour lemonade and mocktails, sign books, and talk about their favorite new reads with you!

www.left-bank.com/event/local-social-lemonade-social-ya-authors

A Long Walk To Water by Linda Sue Parker

A Long Walk To Water
Author: Linda Sue Parker
Lexile: 720
Length: 121 Pages
Genre: Realistic Fiction/Nonfiction
Awards: None
Reading Ram Star Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Stars

               Salva: 1985. Salva lives in southern Sudan, right in the middle of a war zone. His family is pretty well off, they own several cows and always have enough to eat. Then one day when Salva is at school, something happens. The rebel army attacks his village, and Salva is forced to flee into the country. He is now a refugee, traveling Africa on foot, searching for his family and a home. But how can a mere boy travel all across Africa and find 3 people. 3 people that might be dead.
               Nya: 2008. Nya also lived in Sudan. But now it is for the most part at peace. She and her family have a crisis, there is no clean water in their area. Nya has to walk for 2 miles every single day to get water. And that's only the trip there! The water isn't even clean! It's muddy river water. During the dry season, her family has to move to a special camp, away from there village just to have water. Again, it isn't even good water! It is dirty water that has to be dug out of a shallow lake bed. So she lives a typical Sudanese life. Although her family is a little better well off then some other families.
               These 2 people, it would seem, have nothing in common, apart from the fact that they both lived or lives in Sudan. But you would be surprised the impact a single person could have on many, many lives.
                I loved this book! It was so good! It is based off a true story, so it is kind of a mix between nonfiction and realistic fiction. The way the author incorporated these 2 stories into 1 book was very straightforward. The author simply put part of one story into a paragraph, then started a new paragraph, which would be the other story. It made for a very interesting read. I would just be getting into one story, then I would have to read the other one so I could keep on reading the first. Overall, this book was awesome, I just wish it could've been longer! 121 pages is hardly anything! Another cool thing about this book is that each of the stories is in different ink. Nya's orange and Salva's regular black. I really enjoyed this book and I know you will too, You should definitely try it out in your free time!

Twilight by Stephanie Meyer

Twilight
Author: Stephanie Meyer
Lexile: 720
Length: 486 Pages
Genre: Fantasy
Awards: None
Reading Ram Star Rating: 5 out of 5


           Bella Swan thinks her life has made a turn for the worse when she moves to Forks. Forks is a small rainy town in Washington, and a stark contrast to the huge sunny city of Phoenix, where she lived before. Her mother Renee and her boyfriend Phil have moved to Florida for a little while, and Bella chose to pick somewhere else to go. She chose Forks because, well, her real father lives there and she hasn't visited him in a while. Big mistake. 1, it is one of the rainiest places in the U.S., no joke. 2, she is the daughter of the Police Chief and gets a lot of unwanted attention at school. There is one good side to it though, Edward Cullen. Edward goes to her tiny high school, and is in a lot of her classes. As Bella becomes closer and closer to Edward romantically, he cannot hide his secret any longer. He is a vampire. With this knowledge, Bella's life takes a frightening turn. Is Edward really worth all this trauma?
           I really, really, really loved this book! No surprise, obviously. I know so many people have read it and gushed about it, but I am telling you, this book is worth it. As you probably saw, I gave this book 5/5 stars. So I am truly serious, this book is awesome! It has so much suspense and action! It was sooooooo amazing! You should seriously consider reading it. No, not consider. You should read it. In the beginning of the book, you knew something was up at school with the way Edward treated Bella, and that will just suck you in! It looks like a super long book, but it goes by really fast. You want it to be that long, trust me. It made me really sad when it was over, but at least it's a series! I finished it in about 2 days. Seriously. So yeah, you should read it. It is a little old for some 6th graders, and even some 7th graders, but it is still really good. There really aren't any super inappropriate parts in it, but this is still not a book for 5th or 4th graders. You should really try this book out in your free time! You will not regret it!