“The Fault in Our Stars” is about Hazel Grace, Augustus Waters, and many other things. We follow Hazel and Gus through their lives which seem to involve a lot of cancer. Hazel's lungs are not good lungs, they fill up with water with causes problems due to cancer. Augustus has one leg due to cancer but is doing fine. Gus and Hazel develop a relationship over reading Hazel's favorite book, An Imperial Affliction. The book leaves behind a lot of questions when it ends. In the novel we watch Hazel and Augustus navigate through their lives and become close to each other. We watch Hazel and Gus live their lives and watch life happen to them.

“The Fault in Our Stars” is a book that will break your heart, be prepared for it. Both Augustus and Hazel will make you fall in love with them. Their dynamic is adorable and so adorable and so enjoyable. Isaac was such a wonderful character. He was a friend of Augustus and personally he is one of my favorite characters. The medical accuracy is probably meh but it made sense to me, who is not a medical person. This book is part realistic, romantic, and bittersweet. The writing style describes the emotions so well. The figurative elements are used in such fun and creative ways. This book is beautiful, the characters are beautiful, the plot was beautiful, and the writing style was beautiful. The book shows the characters getting screwed over by life and it was great at showing that life isn’t perfect and that sometimes life seems to bite you in the butt. This book progresses at the perfect speed, makes you love the characters, and then breaks your heart. This book is perfect for anyone searching for an emotional book that just is realistic and beautiful.

I rate this book five stars. The book tells the story of Primrose Squarp, a presumed orphan. Throughout the story she continues the search for her missing parents, despite disapproval from others. I relate to Primrose in her determination and courage. I would recommend this book to any of my friends, and it is in my top three books of all time.

Goodbye Stranger is a love letter to the changing points, the shaky areas of childhood that help us figure out who we are in a world that constantly wants us to change. Bridge survived a being hit by a car, currently wears cat ears, and wonders why she's still alive. Sherm writes letters to his grandfather and refuses to answer his calls. Emily and Tabitha made a pact with Bridge to never argue, but are being pulled inextricably apart by text messages and social justice clubs. An unnamed wanderer navigates a world where everything is made of lava, and best friends are replaced by horrid outsiders. As their stories collide and come apart, they'll need to figure out what to do when those they know best become strangers.
I read Rebecca Stead's "When You Reach Me" when I was in middle school, and it blew me away. I read her "Goodbye Stranger", now in high school, and found that the change in years didn't change the impact. The thing that astounded me was, despite me being well outside the age range of her characters, I found the book entrancing for all ages. The characters problems and personalities don't seem juvenile or trite. They seem human, a little heartbreaking, and highly relatable. I think the thing that makes this book are the characters. They're each as unique as a fingerprint, but they maintain their ability to sound strangely like the people you go to school with, or work with, or live with. Each of their motivations are perfectly obvious, each of their flaws on stunning display, fleshing out characters that feel like you'd see them wandering around your school on any given day. The book has a lot of heavy topics and sorrow packed into barely 300 pages, but still feels light enough that you aren't miserable the whole time. There's a lot of heart, a lot of happiness, and a lot of good changes alongside the tragedies of middle-school, or just regular, life. The book has a floating quality that makes it feel strangely detached. I can't tell you if this is a good or bad thing, but its definitely intentional, and it definitely messed with my ahead enough to make me want to keep reading. The only concrete things I can really say about this book is that the prose was excellent, the writing was accessible, the characters were interesting, the topics were thoughtful, and the ending was satisfying.
All in all, this book is really hard to describe. It's happy and sad and very realistic and very detached from reality and simplistic and strangely complex. I don't know what to call this book except a good read for those that like small stories, cat ears, friendships, broken friendships, and the infinite potential of strangers.
Reviewer Grade: 11

This book is a great way to be introduced to larger ideas while still being entertained by an athletic young adult novel. In the book, Michigan is a high school hockey player who is forced to push back against misogynistic stereotypes when she joins a boys' team. What happens when teenage boys are encouraged by (or at least not restricted from) adult role models to play into the idea that Michigan doesn't fit in? The play between unreliable adults and teenagers who make mistakes but are still doing their best is one of the most realistic and fulfilling stories. It sends a message about the athletic community as well as public schools and the way they respond to serious situations. I highly recommend this read.
Grade 11

If you're looking for an awesome book that makes you truly fall in love with its characters, you've found the right novel with The Outsiders! Meet Ponyboy, a greaser living in 1950s Tulsa, Oklahoma with his two brothers: Sodapop and Darry and all of his friends including troublemaker Dallas Winston and his best friend, Johnny Cade. The boys are all stuck in an intense turf war with the richer kids also known as the Socs, but will they find a way out of the intensity or will life only get rougher for them? I absolutely loved the characters in this book, you will grow to love their fun personalities and their strong bond, showing that family is not just connected by blood but by love. I also enjoy how this book focuses a lot on the differences economically during this time, showing that the 50s weren't just poodle skirts and milkshakes, but also difficult for those who couldn't afford to be rich. If you want a book that will leave you on the edge of your seat, wanting more, don't overlook the Outsiders for a minute.

Reviewer Grade: Senior/12th

Gracefully Grayson is about a boy in sixth grade who is forced to go through the struggles of transfering to a girl. In the middle of sixth grade, Grayson has the opportunity to try out for a school play. He has not done any after school, but he decided to go out on a limb and try out, but for the lead girl part. He ends up getting the part, but word spreads fast around his school, and him and his teacher, who is the play director, both get hate. While he rehearses for the play, he has to deal with bullies, the weight of thinking that he might get his teacher fired, and his aunt not supporting him fully. He also has to figure out whether he wants to show off everything he wants to wear, or stick to the boring ways boys act and what they wear.
This book was ok. It showed the pressure that LGBTQ people go through every day, but there were no huge plots. The book was boring at parts, but overall, it was a good story and book. I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for an easy read.

If you have already read the award-winning story Wonder, you would know the story of an ordinary boy who has a face, that is not so ordinary. August Pullman is a boy who was born with no physical disability, but a severe facial deformity. He has to make his way through middle school, his first public school experience. He has to deal with name calling and isolation, but eventually he wins over the hearts of middle school society with his wonderful inner spirit. This amazing story that has warmed so many hearts, you might think, would be ruined by the sequel Auggie & Me, as sequels usually discredit the original story, but the special thing about this sequel is it is the same story but from some different perspectives that weren't in the original book. These perspectives are from Charlotte, a girl who has always been nice to August but didn't say much in the book, Christopher, August's best friend that moved away when he was younger, and Julian, the bully. This last one is especially important because many people looked at him like a "devil child" but what many forgot to remember was that everyone has their own battle. This new perspective helps his case. I would recommend this book to anyone who would like a new perspective and a further view of the characters in the book Wonder.

I liked this book because of the fact that it gave me even more closure on an already amazing book. I picked this book because I had already read, and loved, Wonder and I wanted to see the next book from R. J. Palacio. The thing that I enjoyed most about this book, surprisingly, was the new perspective on Charlotte. In the book Wonder it said that it "was a boys war." This quote is key because with the new perspective of Charlotte, it gives us way more of the perspective the girls had and the friends that they became. I honestly didn't dislike a single bit of this book. It wasn't predictable at all, and it was able to spin a wonderful addition to an already amazing story. One character I could relate to was Christopher because he had to leave his best friend and his school and go to a new place where no one else was going. I can relate to this because when I went to middle school, I went to a middle school that no one I knew went to. This was hard for me, and I saw that with Christophers Experience as well as mine. Because of this and other reasons stated, this is 100% one of the best books I have read all year.

Reviewer Grade: 8

Abbie Emmon's debut novel is a contemporary romance following Tessa Dickinson, a poetry blogger who temporarily loses her eyesight, and Weston Ludivico, who is hired to help her type her poetry onto her blog. Tessa is upset by his presence and claims he doesn't understand what she's going through - what she doesn't know is that Weston lost both of his legs three years ago and has been wearing prosethics ever since.
The idea behind this novel is something that I rarely see, and I appreciate the representation of different disabilities and how that affects the character's lives. However, the romance feels very unrealistic and unhealthy. The pacing is very slow until the ending, and I couldn't relate to Tessa at all, unlike Weston. The book felt very predictable, especially by the end, and I never felt interested in the romance or like I was rooting for the main characters. I did enjoy Weston's backstory, but Tessa felt comparatively one dimensional. However, the book did have a sweet overall message and quite a few good lines.
If you are not looking for something very serious and like a sappy, fluffy romance, I think you would enjoy this novel. Weston is a very sweet character that I enjoyed reading about, and Tessa's thought process is interesting. However, the pacing problems and lack of character development can be very difficult to get through.

Reviewer grade: 9

I am the Messenger is about an ordinary guy that makes something of himself when he gets playing cards in the mail telling him to help people. I thought this book was ok. It tried to have a quick and clever writing style, but there are other books that are much better for that. The plot is ok, and it is entertaining. While I'm not going to spoil the ending, it is kind of a disappointment. Overall, I would say that this book is ok, but there are much better books out there.

With its short chapters and simple tone, Paul Fleischman's book Seedfolks is a quick and inspiring read. The story begins with a young Vietnamese girl planting lima beans in a vacant lot on an apartment block in Cleveland. From there, more and more people begin to contribute, and just as the vacant lot grows into a garden, these people--all of different ages and ethnicities--grow into a community. Each chapter features a different perspective, incorporating previous characters, showing how they interact with each other. The small impact these strangers have on the lives of their neighbors is wholesome and profound.

Seedfolks is a great read for kids, teens, and adults alike. It follows a simple plot but carries more complex undertones of race and class, while creating a hopeful atmosphere. I found the story creative and inspiring. As someone who often gets caught up in thinking about the unknown lives of strangers, I enjoyed seeing through Seedfolks how everyone we encounter has an impact on our lives, and how, whether or not we realize it, we do the same for others. In a world that tries to divide people, it is possible to come together, coexist, and support each other--even across the lines drawn by society.