ARC Review: Hear the Wolves

                                                                                         

Hear The Wolves

by Victoria Scott

Teen Poetic Reflections...

Time passes on the clock,

as Sloan’s family leaves her in shock.

Left by her mother as a child,

she's scared of being alone, yet not the wild.

She's not entirely lonesome, there's others in town.

You'd think just people, but wolves lurk around!

Ravenous and lost, wolves start more trouble.

Sloan’s well-thought up path starts to crumble.

An old woman who’s hurt,

a friend who's a flirt,

a very caring teacher,

a father who's  anything but a preacher,

a boy who's got some smarts,

and a dog called Farts,

make their way to the river,

and fight the  cold shiver.

Things get extremely rough,

but they must stay tough.

For they are in major haste,

since time cannot be in waste.

That's all I can tell you for now,

I know this will leave you saying, “Wow!”

Although it's meant for the youth,

it's great and that's the truth!

Well this has been my honest review,

goodbye and thank you!

The wilderness is the most unpredictable thing in the world, depending on who you are, yet it doesn’t bother Sloan. Hear the Wolves by Victoria Scott is phenomenally written and beautifully climatic about a young girl with an important fate. Left to die as a child by her mother in the woods, Sloan has always had a fear of being alone. In fact, she always had a mental “lasso” around someone, whether it’s her father or sister or friend, so she’s never in the path of isolation. Yet, that fear would be riled up like fuel to fire when what’s left of her family, as well as everyone but a few towns folk, leave for Vernon and leave her alone for what should have been a couple days. But nature didn’t agree with that. A monstrous blizzard approaches her hometown, Rusic, Alaska. It not only limits transportation, but wipes out the local population of wolves’ food source of rabbits. With snow drifts with the ability to freeze a person to death and rabid wolves on the hunt for food, the prodigy hunter, Sloan has to find all the other people in town to not only escape the blizzard and wolves, but to also get an injured friend to where the local doctor is in Vernon. Watch as Sloan races to save the abandoned townspeople and avoid the dangerous blizzard and wolves in Hear the Wolves.

I had been in a reading slump for a couple weeks, so when I saw my ELA teacher Mrs. Kelly post a photo on Instagram of the new Victoria Scott ARC, I knew I had finally found something I wanted to read. I love Victoria Scott’s style of writing. Her extremely descriptive chapters and amazing use of figurative language makes novels very action packed. There’s constantly something going on! That being said, this was the perfect book to get me out of my reading slump. My favorite character is Mrs. Wade. She is always so positive and makes an effort to be a mother figure for Sloan, even if she is in dire danger. Not only that, but she is incredibly smart. She always has an idea in even the most intense situations!

In all, I highly recommend Hear the Wolves by Victoria Scott. You’ll never put the book down and it’ll leave you with a perplexed mind and an overall accomplished feeling. I give it a 4.5 out of 5 stars. So on March 28th, hopefully you’ll be able to see this  novel because it is really worth the read.

The link to her website is http://www.victoriascott.com/.

Review by Laney J.

Publisher: Scholastic Press

Release Date: March 28, 2017
Pages: 240

*Our class received and ARC of this book to read/review from the publisher, in exchange for my honest review.

ARC Review: The Baby

The Baby

by Lisa Drakeford

The Baby is written from the point of view of five friends and one life changing event at a birthday party. The five different perspectives are Olivia, Nicola, Alice, Jonty, and Ben. A little bit about each charter is Olivia is best friends with Nicola but is upset when her friend has a baby and finds out she cheated with her boyfriend. Nicola is Olivia's best friend and cheated on her boyfriend Jonty and had a baby Eliza. Alice is Olivia’s little sister and has a hard time making friends so she spends time with Nicola and her imaginary farm. Jonty is Olivia’s abusive boyfriend and supposedly the father of Eliza. And finally Ben is best friends with Olivia and Nicola and is the only one of Nicloa’s friends who supports through this tough time.The theme of this book is drama and realistic fiction.

The Baby is set across five months and each month being from a new perspective. This is a good way to really get the thoughts from each character in the novel. One of my favorite quotes from this novel is “Only five weeks ago she was getting ready for Oliva’s party...Now there is a stack of nappies in the corner”(Drakeford 39). This quote really spoke to me as the reader because it shows how much can change in just a few weeks or even days. My favorite character in the story is Alice because I really feel sympathy for her having a hard time making friends and always being bullied in school. Alice is a very shy girl who spends most of her time alone or reading books in the library trying to avoid, and whenever she tries to make friends she always embarrasses herself. This character was very believable and easy to relate to even if you aren’t like her almost everyone has experienced what she has.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys drama and realistic fiction books because at some points of the book it is easy to relate to one of the characters and the book itself. Overall, I give this book 5 stars it was truly a wonderful story and easy to follow along to as well as great characters.

This book is available to purchase on October 25, 2016.

Review by: Maddie H.

Publisher: Scholastic

*  Our class received an ARC of this book to read/review from the publisher, in exchange for my honest review.

ARC Review: The Scourge

The Scourge

by Jennifer A. Nielsen

In the novel The Scourge by Jennifer A. Nielsen, a deadly plague has broken out that hasn't been scene for 300 years. Ani Mells is tested for the Scourge and found positive meaning she will be going to the island where all the victims live out their lives. Ani starts to discover things that point towards a terrible plot happening on the island and what she finds out will shock her entire country.

In the book Ani Mells is a citizen of Keldan and lives with the river people. She is a troublemaker in every sense of the word. Not only does she wreak havoc within the river people but also in the towns. The river people are not welcomed among the townspeople and this is where Ani usually runs into problems, but that doesn't stop her from showing up anyway.

The book is filled with astonishing quotes and powerful statements. One of my favorites is “we are the Scourge, and we're going home.” I like this quote because for years Ani and her people had been oppressed by the governor and her soldiers. I think at this moment it shows that Ani isn't going to take it any more. This moment is where she takes back everything the government stole from the river people.

Nielson uses lots of descriptive language and writing strategies to fully explain the plot. The plot continuously twists and turns and moves in all sorts of directions. All this leads up to an epic ending for an amazing book. I would definitely recommend this book because it's one of the best books I've read in awhile. I would recommend it to people who enjoy adventure books and books about rebelling against the evil in your life. I would rate this book about a 4.5!

The link to her website is http://www.jennielsen.com.

Review by MollyL.

Publisher: Scholastic Press

Release Date: August 30, 2016

Pages: 368

*Our class received and ARC of this book to read/review from the publisher, in exchange for my honest review.

Another Review...

I just finished reading was The Scourge, by Jennifer A Nielsen. 15 year old Ani Mells lives in Keldan, where a disease is taking over called the Scourge. One who gets the Scourge will be taken away from their families to go to the Scourge Colony, where victims can live the rest of their days in peace. When Ani and her best friend Weevil get the disease, they find something out about the Scourge. Can they find a way to sneak past the wardens and get back to Keldan, to warn Keldan about the truth of the Scourge.

My favorite character in the novel was definitely Ani. In a way, she reminds me of Katniss Everdeen from the Hunger Games. Fans of that book will love the Scourge. Ani is a young girl, but she has a really snappy attitude. She fights for what she wants, and is right, and always finds herself in a big pile of trouble. Throughout the book, she's constantly getting into trouble, but hopefully it pays off in the end. The character was definitely believable because she showed traits that I love to see in characters.

In closing, many readers find this book amazing, including me. Fans of the Hunger Games, Divergent, and Under the Never Sky will be on the edge of their seats with this novel. It truly is awesome.

Review by TaraT.

ARC Review: Blood, Bullets, and Bones

Blood, Bullets, and Bones

by Bridget Heos

*Boom* A gun sounds and a man drops to the floor dead. Now its time to be detectives ourselves and find out who killed him. The book Blood, Bullets, and Bones by Bridget Heos helps readers to become a professional sleuth. It explains everything from firearm analysis to DNA testing and everything in between. Things such as poison testing of the stomach to the original blood and fingerprint testing will not be overlooked either. Readers also find out things about older literature and the beginning of detectives and forensic science as we know it today.

Let’s begin with the purpose and genre of the book. The purpose of this book was to provide information on previous cases, to provide background to the reader on all that goes into the criminal justice system and the science behind everything that we know about forensics today. This book was made to inform readers to be more knowledgeable about detectives and the origin of detectives and forensics in the police force and modern world. Something mentioned in the book for the Valentine’s Day Massacre under firearm analysis is “First, all bullets and shells came from a .45 automatic submachine gun. Because the casings had different markings, two guns must have been used. The bullets had six right-twisting grooves—the kind found in the barrel of a Thompson machine gun or ‘Tommy gun’ ” (Heos124). This was one of my favorite quotes from the book because it describes what the police managed to get off of the firearm analysis of the Valentine’s Day Massacre, one of legendary mobster, Al Capone’s most devised plans to get rid of his competition and one of my personal favorites of all the bad things Capone did in the 1920’s.

This book is definitely great for those who want to read a sort of collection of real life detective novels and learn how the police solved them in the past and even some of the mess ups they made along the way and some that are still being made, and hopefully fixed, today. Those who like detective and forensic science books, this is for you. This book deserves a good rating of 4.5 stars out of 5. The author can be found on twitter @BridgetHeos For more information on the book, look there.

Review by: AJ W.

Publisher: HarperCollins

Release Date: October 4, 2016

Pages: 272

Disclaimer:

*Our class received an Advanced Reader’s Copy of this book to read/review from the publisher, in exchange for my honest review.*

ARC Review: Marvin and the Moths

Marvin and the Moths

by Matthew Holm and Jonathan Follett

The book Marvin and the Moths is about a boy named Marvin who is having some trouble starting middle school.  Marvin is forced to move into the attic of his house in order to make room for his new baby brother in his old room.  In the attic, Marvin concocts a mixture composed of Pork Loaf Incorporated (the major corporation that keeps Marvin's town, Butcherville going) secret ingredients.  These ingredients have turned out to be much more than Marvin expected, and will change his life forever.

 

    My favorite character in this book was Aristotle,  the tallest and smartest moth. He is my favorite character because he is always bossing his fellow moths around in a humorous way.  Also, Aristotle often gets the characters out of trouble because of his smarts.  If Aristotle was not in this book it would just not be the same.  He is a great character.  I think that the authors Matthew Holm and Jonathan Follett wrote this book purely to entertain the reader.  I’d say they had lots of fun writing this book, and made it so that the reader has lots of fun reading it too.  The writers of this book can also can be found on Twitter @jonfollet.

Review by Riley Q.

ARC Review: A List of Cages

A List of Cages

by: Robin Roe

Summary: Julian, a closed-off freshman with the anxiety of twenty, and Adam a popular, yet caring and warm-hearted senior, cross paths again. Despite Julian's desperate attempt the avoid the school counselor, whom Adam is temporarily job shadowing, they reunite in a rather surprisingly friendly manner. As their friendship begins to blossom, Adam realizes there may be a few things Julian isn't telling him.


(Favorite Character) Although Julian warms my heart a thousand times over, Adam blew my mind countless times and therefore, I dignify him as my absolute favorite character. In quite a few scenes, Adam has the largest opportunity to be, well basically, a senior. Many of Adam's friends are bitter and arguably irresponsible, while Adam is protective and reassuringly brotherly. Throughout the entire novel, Adam has nothing but Julian's best interest at heart, creating an adult-like quality that is portrayed constantly.

(Author's Purpose): Obviously, no one can tell you the author's purpose but none other than, the author. But we can sure try! From my point of view, the main message or moral was the trust and importance of friendship and its everlasting qualities. While that is quite a mouthful, it's a simple and extremely effective idea. As Julian's mind was molded into thinking certain things are something that they are not, his new found friends saved him from a life of danger and misconception. Sometimes the relationships that we form and create dig us out of a hole we never knew we were in, and that is what I believe the author's purpose was.

Check out Robin Roe's twitter: https://twitter.com/robinroewriter

Recommendation: I would absolutely recommend this book. The beginning was not painfully slow, as are others, but rather mysterious and captivating. The conclusion is by far the last thing you would expect (in a good way, I swear!), but comes to a satisfying ending that does not leave you begging for more questions that more often than not, you won't ever receive the answer to. I would mainly recommend the novel to young adults and adults who are looking for a realistic fiction novel that you don't find reluctant to pick up every day, but exciting. With every bone in my body, I rate this novel 5 stars! Wonderful book, Robin Roe!

Published By: Disney-Hyperion
Release Date: January 17, 2016
Genre: Teen Fiction
Pages: 320
Age Range 12-18 years

Review by Mia O.
*Our class received an ARC of this book to read/review from the publisher, in exchange for my honest review.

ARC Review: The Singing Bones

The Singing Bones

by Shaun Tan

 Imagine yourself in an exciting and enchanting world, filled with scary new stories on each page. The book, The Singing Bones, by Shaun Tan, is a mixture of dark and creepy fairy tales. Each page contains a new and haunting story with a dark twist to it. The genre of this book is thriller and fantasy. My personal favorite quotation from this story is, “Finally, she came to the forbidden door. She wanted to walk past, but curiosity got the better of her.” In this story, a young girl finds a door that she is not allowed to enter. After entering, she ends up dying, since her curiosity is what killed her. 

My favorite character in this book is Death. Death is creepy and chilling. His presence scares many people and makes everyone on edge. This character is believable because when someone dies, people get scared and worried. The purpose of the author writing this book was to entertain. 

I would highly recommend this book because it is a very entertaining and exciting book. Also, it is an easy read. I would give it 4.5 out of 5 stars. For additional information: http://www.shauntan.net/books.html In conclusion, The Singing Bones is an extremely enjoyable and thrilling book.

Publisher: Scholastic

Release Date: October 11, 2016

Pages: 192

Age Range: 12-17 Years

Review by Adriana S.

*Our class received an ARC of this book to read/ review from the publisher, in exchange for my honest review.