TAB Reviews!

Welcome to the new TAB year. Bookclub members review the following…

MJ writes:
“The Dark is Rising” by Susan Cooper. The best thing about this book is that it’s so full of adventure and it is almost like a puzzle.

CM writes:
“Pirate Emperor” by Kai Meyer. I really like his writing style. I love the characters (especially Jolly). It’s an interesting book. There aren’t really any others like it. Be warned it is a cliff hanger!
“Blaze of Silver” by K.M. Grant. It was action packed, plus it wasn’t the type of book where you can guess every sentence before you read it. It didn’t have a cliff hanger ending, and I really liked the way all the characters turned out.
“Titan’s Curse” by Rick Riordan. I love this book! I really liked the plot and the new characters introduced.
“Charlie Bone and the Beast” by Jenny Nimmo. I liked it as a continuation of the series with the same characters but it was a huge cliff hanger.

SB writes:
“Epic” by Conor Kostick. I think it deserves to be a TAB book because it is an interesting “epic” story full of action and adventure. I liked the author’s style and the development of the characters. This book is especially interesting because the topic is very distinct and unique.

CK writes:
“Twisted” by Laurie Halse Anderson. It was a great book about a guy who’s having a very “twisted” life and I like how he learns to “untwist” it and make peace with his family. Some parts I think could have been taken out, but overall it was a good book.
“Harlem Summer” by Walter Dean Myers. It gave me a look at how some people felt during the Harlem Renaissance and how not everyone wanted to be really famous. I also liked how there were historical facts in the book and that most of the characters were real people.
“Diary of a Wimpy Kid” by Jeff Kinney. I chose yes (for this as a TAB book) because it was funny and I liked how it wasn’t a “Dear Diary” type of book. So it was a nice change from the standard diary.

DK writes:
“The Titan’s Curse” by Rick Riordan. It’s heartstopping, just as good as the first two.

KS writes:
“The White Darkness” by Geraldine McCaughrean. This is the story of a girl in love with an Antarctic explorer who’s been dead for 90 years. Her “uncle” then grants her favorite wish – to go to Antarctica. I can’t say much more, because that would give away the plot – which is AMAZING. Everything in this story is unexpected, it doesn’t feel like a copy cat. The descriptions are wonderful, and the characters seem like they could exist. Not too pretty or perfect.
“The Invisible” by Mats Wahl. This book is about a boy who becomes invisible. No one can hear him, he can’t lift anything, he can hardly move. The writing is better than most, but the ending is very predictable. I could put it down whenever, and the plot wasn’t great.
“Getting Air” by Dan Gutman. This story tells of the hijacking by terrorists of a like … forty minute flight. One of the many reasons it sucked. Who hijacks a plane 3 hours from anything important, on only 45 minutes fuel? (***SPOILER ALERT***) Then it crashes, after three 13 year olds kill terrorists along with 30 knitting granny ladies. It moves too quickly, with hardly any description, only dialogue and 1st grader descriptions of actions. It’s a rip-off of Hatchet and Lost, and the plot is predictable.