01/30/12: 52 Broad Street by Diane Dorce, Review by Antonia Whitmore

52 Broad Street is about three best friends (Nikko, Shantique, and Martinette) who all want the same thing, a “Baller.”  Shantique has a four year-old son and lives with her mother.  Her baby’s father is about to go pro for the NBA and she still has feelings for him. However, she meets a famous rapper, Crazy X, and falls in love.  He accepts her child and really cares about them.  He also risks his life for them. Now Shantique is finally happy and moves in with X to settle down. 

Nikko has over protective parents. They want her to go to college and practice medicine, but she wants to dance.  She auditions for the Atlanta Ballet and gets accepted. However, she meets Laron, a famous singer and start acting differently. Then, he cuts her off, but she finds someone better in so many ways.  Laron dies all of a sudden, and Nikko finds out he was HIV positive.  Thankfully, she didn’t get it. 

Martinette has it going on and every man wants her.  She uses men and thinks nothing of it.  When she meets Ro, a basketball player, she falls in love.  She gets pregnant and her world turns upside down.  Ro is never around and she’s scared.  Then, Ro finds out he’s not the father and leaves.  The moral of the story is treat people the way you want to be treated. 

11/23/11: James Kennedy Author Visit, Review by YA member Eden Brunson

The visit of James Kennedy, author of The Order of the Odd Fish to the Rockford Public Library, was as odd as his book title would imply, but equally as enjoyable. He regaled us with a tale of his time in Japan as the lone foreigner in the area and his quest for ultimate manhood taking part in the Hadaka Matsuri festival, a Japanese tradition that is much akin to a free-for-all brawl. He also shared fan art and a couple of videos, one from an event at which Mr. Kennedy’s fans participated in caged insult battles while in full costume, and another video from a project he is working on called 90-Second Newberry. As though these things didn’t make it interesting enough, the real highlight of the visit were the dramatic and highly entertaining readings straight out of The Order of The Odd Fish. These theatrics included yelling, the acting out of scenes and even Mr. Kennedy climbing over chairs at the teens who attended this program. All in all it was quite a treat for the Rockford Public library to invite this fantastic author and showman to meet with library goers. If other programs like this became available in the future I would highly recommend attending.

08/10/11: Far World by J. Savage, Review by Maggie Larson

Markus and Ryja look for Land Keep, when Marcus suddenly sees Ryja being attacked, but they escape.  Then Marcus is accidently captured by Harbingers, but Ryja escapes, because she is immune to magic.  Marcus is then practically led to Land Keep.  Ryja and he figure out how to get into Land Keep and escape with land elementals.  At that point they defeat the keepers and safely escapes.

07/6/11: Predator by Terri Blackstock, Review by Jacob Vrolyk

“They would find her sister today.”

Predator is first and foremost, an incredible suspense novel.  From the first sentence, it very effectively grabs the readers and pulls them into the shoes of Krista Carmichael, the sister of a victim of a deadly scandal.  GrapeVyne, the fictional social network brought her there.  Ella, Krista’s sister, had over a thousand friends on the network.  One of them had been a murderer who found Ella, kidnapped her, did unmentionable things to her, and buried her.

Terri Blackstone does an amazing job weaving this yarn of deception, intrigue, and love.  Her writing style is easy to read, concise, and descriptive.  Rarely does she get lost in describing something, nor does she inadequately explain anything.  Even in the scenes where things are not tense, you continue to feel the suspense hanging over you.

As Krista searches for her sister’s killer and tries to save others, she starts to fall in love with someone she initially hated – GrapeVyne’s inventor, Ryan Adkins.  As things start to come to a head, the author has complete control of what the readers’ ideas about the mystery are, which gives her a perfect opening to swoop in with a complete surprise. 

Many words could describe this novel – amazing, suspenseful, intense, detailed, and others, but I might describe this as an epic – not the overused adjective, but the noun, meaning a long and adventurous story.  I have nothing but praise for this great novel.

06/29/11: Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson, Review by Maddie Gustafson

Mattie is a young woman growing up in England, 1793. When fever strikes, thousands die every week, so her mother sends her to the country, where things go terribly wrong.  I liked this story because it keeps you on your toes.

06/23/11: Enemy Has a Face by Gloria D. Miklavitz, Review by Aracely Inigues

The story is about a boy that disappears when he doesn’t come home. His name is Adam and his parents are worried why he didn’t come home and if he is okay. They also worry if he has enough food, shelter, why he hasn’t called, and if he’s hurt or dead.

I did not like the part where he disappears, because it could be dangerous outside with no food and no shelter. I like the part when the police get involved.