Books for Teens

Oggie Cooder doesn’t mind being different.  He does wish he had more friends, but the people in town just can’t accept his weird clothes and odd habits.  When he accidentally auditions for Hidden Talents and is chosen to appear on TV everyone in town starts to notice him.  It starts out as a blessing.  Oggie loves to Charve (Chew and carve- a word he created himself) cheese into sculptures of the states.  However, when Donnica becomes his manager, she wants to be famous at all cost.  Will Oggie make it all the way to Hollywood?  Make sure to check out Sarah Weeks’ novel to find out!

In this installment of the House of Night Series, Zoey has just escaped Kalona and the Raven Mockers.  She and her friends are hiding in the tunnels with the Red Fledglings.  Neferet has become evil and is a powerful enemy.  Zoey and Eric seemed to be making up just as Heath arrives again!  And when Zoey is seriously injured she must drink from Heath and their Imprint is reestablished.  Not to mention, Kalona has been stalking Zoey in her dreams and wants her to be his A-ya.  That is three guys after Zoey so far and there is still a fourth she encounters that she begins to fall for!  I enjoyed the fast pace of this novel.

By the time I reached the end, I half hoped that things would be resolved but I also didn’t want the story to end.  Will Zoey remain with Eric?  What about her Imprint with Heath?  Can she save Stark?  Defeat Kalona?

Alvin Ho is a great easy read.  In fact, it made me laugh out loud quite a few times.  Alvin wants to fit in with his classmates.  But, the only one who wants to be his friend is a weird little girl in his class.  Alvin just wants to be a guys guy.  But, alas it is not to be.  He even asks has father and brother for advice about making friends.  He is scared of many things and makes a disaster preparedness kit to take everywhere with him.  In the end, much to his surprise…he realizes maybe the best friend for him is a girl.

Another great read in the House of Night series.  Zoey is back!  She went from three boyfriends to NONE.  All her friends seriously hate her right now.  Her enemy Aphrodite has now become her ally.  Stevie Rae is still learning how to be normal again after becoming undead.  Neferet has declared war on humans.  Zoey must figure out how to tell her friends what is going on without Neferet finding out (she reads minds…except for Zoey’s.)  In the end, Neferet’s plot to release Kalona a powerful evil spirit is uncovered.  Zoey unites with her friends and battles the evil that is released.  However it is too great and Stevie Rae is fatally wounded.

Book 3 of the House of Night series is a page turner!  I tell you as I finish each one, I can’t wait to get my hands on the next.  Zoey realizes that her bestfriend (who died) isn’t really dead.  She is undead and to make matters worse she is a crazed red fledgling.  Zoey has to hide her until she figures out what to do.  Neferet turns out to be a traitor and Zoey knows she can no longer trust her.  She and Erik become closer and she imprints with her human boyfriend.  When a sexy teacher at the school Loren, starts showing Zoey some affection she is drawn to him and can’t resist his poetry and intellegence.  Somehow she ends up with three boyfriends.  And just when things couldn’t get worse, one betrays her and Bella ends up all alone.

If you read Marked, you were probably like me…you had to read the second book in the series…like NOW.  I am really enjoying this series.  I find it a guilty pleasure.  Zoey is the new leader for the Dark Daughters.  She attends the House of Night a sort of boarding school for prospective vampires.  If you survive you classes you become a vampire.  In book one, Marked, Zoey started making friends but was still learning how to fit in.

In book two, Zoey is much more confident.  She has two boyfriends.  (Although she really didn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings.)  A fledgling and a human!  Everything is going good, until humans start dying.  Zoey thinks the House of Night is some how involved.  Zoey must face the mystery and danger that surrounds her friends and school.

The final book in the Twilight series is a shocker.  If you haven’t read it yet…just stop here, because I don’t want to spoil it for you.

You still there?

Bella gets married and soon after finds out she is pregnant.  Her pregnancy developing very quickly and Edward can’t turn her into a vampire since it could jeopardize the baby.  He wants to terminate it since having a vampire baby inside a human appears to be dangerous.  The baby incapacitates Bella, drains her of all her energy, breaks her ribs when it kicks.  But, Bella can’t imagine not having the baby and so she decides no matter the risk she will have it.

Meanwhile, Jacob’s werewolf clan discuss killing the baby since no one knows what power it will hold or whether it can be controlled.  Jacob leaves the clan in order to protect her.  Bella’s baby grows alarmingly fast.  And in quite a short time she is ready to deliver.  There are complications however, and Edward has to turn Bella into a vampire to save her life.  Both mother and baby thrive.  When the other vampires hear there is an immortal child (which is not allowed in vampire society) not only are werewolves after Bella’s baby but the powerful Volturi vampire clan also confront the family.

You have to read the book to find out what special talent Bella develops as a vampire and to learn more about her baby.  Also can Edward’s clan fight off the powerful Volturi?

This is the third book in the Twilight series.  In this novel, Bella is torn between her friendship with Jacob and her love for Edward.  When Jacob declares his love for her, she doesn’t want to lose their friendship.  In the end, both guys want what is best for Bella and unite to fight off a group of vampires that are hunting Bella.  Bella begs Edward to turn her into a vampire.  But, he insists they get married first, which Bella thinks is not a good idea.  To me that was a little confusing… she wants him bad enough to die for him, but she is not ready to marry him?  Not much gets resolved…which led me quickly to book 4–Breaking Dawn.

This is a great book for upper elementary students through middle schoolers.  I won this book in a raffle and I quickly finished the book.  It reminded me a lot of the movie National Treasure.  It is basically a treasure hunt book.  The main characters Amy and Dan Cahill are left the first clue by the grandmother.  Unfortunately, she left the same clue to many other relatives, so the race is on to see who can figure it out first.  The race leads to many historic places, with enemies ready to trap them at every turn.  Book one ends with clue #1 solved, but does this mean we have to read 38 more books to find out what the mystery treasure is?  I liked the book well enough, but I’m not sure I want to commit to reading 39 books.  Something that was cool is that each book comes with clue cards to help you decipher the big mystery.  You can go online and log in to find out more about the characters.  There are also additional card packs to buy if you want more clues.  I think kids will enjoy the internet connection and the chance to win prizes.  I went ahead and put this in my elementary library to see how the kids react to it.

I really enjoyed this first novel in the House of Night Series by PC Cast.  I must admit right up front that this book is more “mature” material than Twilight.  The main character Zoey goes to a regular high school and has a normal life until a tracker approaches her in the school hall and marks her.  What this all means is that she has been marked as a fledgling vampire and must immediately start attending the House of Night (which is like a prep store for vampires.)  Zoey must leave behind her “kind of” ex boyfriend and her not so good home life.  Things start looking up for her as she gets settled in to the House of Night.  Her mentor is wonderful, her roommate is a reliable new friend and a cute guy seems interested in her.  The only problem is that she is marked to be different than all those around her.  Her mark is filled-in, while all the other fledglings only have an outline.  Also, she can feel all the elements: earth, wind, fire, water, spirt and this is very rare.  Because of this she attracts negative attention from the popular kids in school.  Book one ends with Zoey and Aphrodite going head to head to see who will control a secret society called the Dark Daughters.

I enjoyed this enough to go out today and snag book two Betrayed from Barnes and Noble.