Glass by Ellen Hopkins

Date Published: April 7, 2009


Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry


Age Group: Young Adult


Pages: 704

Rating: 4/5


Source: Library


Interest: Series


Buy: http://www.amazon.com/Glass-Ellen-Hopkins/dp/141694091X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1297470333&sr=8-1

Glass is the sequel to Ellen Hopkin's first novel, Crank, so
do not read this review if you have not read the first book yet. In this book,
Kristina has had her baby boy and is trying to stop using drugs. But she can't.
The monster is too strong for Kristina to fight. She finds a new dealer in
California, and once her mom notices that Kristina is hooked on drugs again, she
gets kicked out, without Hunter, her baby.

This book shows what addiction is like and how it affects people mentally and physically. It is told in verse and is for mature readers, so I wouldn't recommend this book to another 12-year-old unless I knew that they could handle it.
First, I like the covers in this trilogy. At first, the title looked like glass, but upon further inspection, I saw that it was actually the type of drugs that Kristina took. The cover design conveys that these books are edgy, which I agree with.
This book is quickly paced and I just swept through it since there were not that many words on each page. Glass would be great for slow readers or people who don't like long books. Even though this book looks like it would take forever to read, it only took me a few days.
I thought Kristina was stupid for leaving her baby and going back to the monster again, but I guess that's what happens to people who take drugs. It feels like it is impossible for them to quit. Throughout the book, I found myself wondering what Kristina looked like. Even though a lot of guys said she was "hot", she was on drugs, which make you look a lot worse than you usually do.
The scenes with Trey were...... interesting. The same goes with Brad. It didn't seem like the two (Trey and Kristina) had anything in common besides the fact that they took drugs.
Overall, I think I would rate this novel four out of five stars. I rated it this way because even though the writing was great and the novel didn't drag, I thought that the characters made a lot of bad decisions (like dealing drugs) and did not make taking drugs seem that bad. Still, read Glass if you liked the first book. I will definitely be reading Fallout once I get through my tower of books. Hehehe.
Allison T.

Mao's Last Dancer by Li Cunxin

(This was for my school book talk.)

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to be poor and hungry? Do you like touching stories about achieving your dreams? Does ballet interest you? Would you like to learn about China and its government? Well, if you said yes to at least one of these questions, Mao’s Last Dancer, by Li Cunxin (Chuen-shing), might be just the book for you.
Li Cunxin is very kind and loves his family. He is a great friend and works hard to get things done. Mao’s Last Dancer is set in China and America in 1960 to about 2009.
This novel begins with Li and his family, who are just barely getting by. During class one day, representatives from Madame Mao’s Dance Academy come, looking for dancers. All the selected kids had to take tests of flexibility until there were only a few children left, one being Cunxin. Next, Cunxin began his training. After years of dancing and hard work, Li finally started to love dance. He got to train in Houston, Texas for the summer and went back again for a year, where he met his first love, Elizabeth, and secretly, they eloped without telling Ben Stevenson, choreographer of the Houston Ballet.
What will happen next? Will the Chinese try to stop Li? You’ll have to pick up this fascinating book to find out yourself. Prepare to be surprised, humbled, and shocked along the way as you read about Li’s life story in his autobiography.

The Starlight Prince by Borislava Borissova

I recieved this book for review from the author, and I am glad I did, because I hadn't heard of it before. In this book, there is a boy called the Starlight Prince. Basically, he is trying to find a friend, and is a bit clueless about how to make them. The boy travels to Earth and other planets on his journey to find a friend. He gets stuck in a volcano and almost freezes in a castle, but he keeps going.
This book was interesting because I got to expand my knowledge of Greek gods and what they were gods of. I am learning about that in school right now, so that helped me out. The Starlight Prince is a good book for all ages and is very sweet and cute. I felt bad for the prince since he was not very good at making friends, but you'll have to read this book to see if he finally finds a friend.
I would rate this book 4.5 out of 5 stars, and only because there were a few grammatical errors. Also, I recommeded it to a few of my friends who also share my love of reading.
Read on!
Allison T.
allisonsbookreviews.blospot.com

(This is my review from amazon)

The Summer I Turned Pretty: book review

The Summer I Turned Pretty: Book Review by Allison T.

Release Date: May 5th, 2009

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Age Group: Young Adult

Pages: 288

Rating: 3.5 Stars

Source: County Library

Other books in series:It's Not Summer Without You

Buy the Book: amazon

"The Summer I Turned Pretty" is about a girl named Belly who goes to the beach every summer with her mom, her mom's friend, and her two sons. But this year, things are different. Belly has turned pretty. Belly must face three love interests. Who will she choose? This book is a great beach read. I read it in the winter, and it took my mind away from all of the snow and ice that's covering the ground. Here's my review.

The setting was great, since it describes the beach and the places that Belly goes to very well. I also liked the flash backs to when Belly was a kid. Jenny knew how to make the readers question about things but then reveal it just before they start to get annoyed. It helped me to relate because Belly felt that she got left out.

A thing that I didn't like was how Belly acted towards the boys once she became "pretty". She was rude to Connor and Jeremiah and was not acting like her character that was depicted in the flash backs. She seemed really cocky and whiny. Also, the boys pretty much started liking her just because she got pretty. If Belly had never changed, they wouldn't have acted this way towards her. It shows how shallow they are because it seems that all the two brothers care about is looks.

Savannah and Belly's mom, Laurel, were cute friends and I liked the dialogue between them.

The Summer I Turned Pretty is the first book in Jenny Han's Summer series. I definitely will read the second one when I can get my hands on it. I hope you enjoyed the review.

-Allison T.

Book Review: Mostly Good Girls by Leila Sales

Mostly Good Girls by Leila Sales
Release Date: October 5Th, 2010
Age Group: Young Adult
Pages:368
Rating: 4.5/5
Source: The Library
Buy the book:


This book is one of my new favorite reads. It kept me up at night turning the pages because of the author's writing style. When I first saw that this book was coming out, I thought I wasn't going to like it but put it on my wish list anyways. But when I was at the library, I saw Mostly Good Girls on display in the teen area. I read the summary and LOVED it. I could relate to it easily. This is Leila's debut, so I'll be very excited when her next books come out. She has a very promising career ahead of her. Before I tell you what I liked and didn't like about this book, here's the summary.

The higher you aim, the farther you fall….

It’s Violet’s junior year at the Westfield School. She thought she’d be focusing on getting straight As, editing the lit mag, and figuring out how to talk to boys without choking on her own saliva. Instead, she’s just trying to hold it together in the face of cutthroat academics, her crush’s new girlfriend, and the sense that things are going irreversibly wrong with her best friend, Katie.

When Katie starts making choices that Violet can’t even begin to fathom, Violet has no idea how to set things right between them. Westfield girls are trained for success—but how can Violet keep her junior year from being one huge, epic failure?

My favorite character in this book was definitely Violet. She always tried her best and studied hard. She was also very supportive of her friends and I think that this will show readers to be nice to others even though they're not nice back. Violet had a good "voice" and she made me laugh out loud at times. I thought that Violet's best friend, Katie, was just ok. She was very smart, but didn't even try hard. Katie had a lot of things going for her, but then she just doesn't want to do them anymore. In my mind, she made some very poor decisions.
I liked how this book was more of a book about friends than a romance. It made the book unique to me and showed me and maybe others how to be a good friend (in Violet's case). There was a good message in this book. It was, even if you feel worthless or like they can't do anything sometimes, but you shouldn't let that stop you.
I could relate to this book because I go to a private all girls school and the academics are very challenging. I can see how Katie was feeling so stressed out and decided to just stop.
I am looking forward to readng more books by Leila Sales in the future.
-Allison

Another contest!

http://snifflykitty.blogspot.com/2010/12/150-follower-giveaway.html You can win a gift card!

Good contest to enter!

There is a great contest to enter! It is where you can win three YA books from 2011! Here is the link: https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dHdWRmxmcDVZUDZjNGRXRzBDdDR6a2c6MQ