Mia Is Now Rosalind

Hi!  I have decided to change my blogging name from Mia to Rosalind (from The Penderwicks).
She is an awesome character!  (If you haven't read The Penderwicks, you should!  It's a great book, and there's even a second book and a third book!)
     I changed my name to Rosalind on all of the posts I have written and on the "About Us" section.  Just so you know! :)

P.S.  Come on people, send your book reviews to teenbookshelf2@gmail.com and we will put them on our blog if we like them!  (See the post entitled "Review Books For Our Blog!" for more information)

                                                   ~Rosalind~

Surviving The Applewhites

     I just finished reading this book today, and I really liked it.  It pretty cool because there was some sort of grant that allowed everyone in my school district to get a free copy of this book.  I might have never even heard about this book if it wasn't for that.
     Surviving The Applewhites, by Stephanie S. Tolan, is what I would call a fun, light read.  It all starts when a juvenile delinquent named Jake Semple, who was rumored to have burnt down the last school he went to, goes to stay at Wit's End, which is the name of a big house where lots of kids in the Applewhite family are homeschooled.  There's Cornelia, a moody dancer, who at first sight Jake thinks is the most beautiful girl he's ever laid eyes on, there's the mysterious artist Hal who never comes out of his room, except when the rest of his family is sleeping, there's cute four-year-old blond-haired Destiny (He's a boy), who takes a liking to the rebellious Jake and follows him wherever he goes, and of course there are pets and a bunch of cool, eccentric grown-ups like the mom Sybil (An author), meditate-y Aunt Lucille, and Grandpa Zedideiah (I don't think I spelled that right!).  But the main character, besides Jake, is a girl named E.D., who is the only organized, not-so-artistic person in the family.  As the story unfolds, we also meet more colorful people (The  great characters are definitely my favorite part!), and the dad directs an interesting version of The Sound of Music.  It's totally worth reading to see how the show turns out!  All in all, this is a fun, interesting read, even though it might be a little predictable in some parts, and I would rate it four and a half out of five stars.  Thanks for reading!

                                                                ~Rosalind  (^ - ^)

Chicken Soup For The Pre-Teen Soul

I was just reading Chicken Soup For The Pre-Teen Soul

This book is a collection of inspirational stories. They're each about 2-4 pages long but the book is 386 pages all together. The book is divided into sections depending on what the story is about. The book includes stories about...

Achieving dreams
Friendship
Family
Love
Attitude and Perspective
Overcoming Obstacles
Choices
Changes

Chicken Soup (especially on achieving dreams) are amazing inspiring stories. I would rate this book   4 1/2  out of 5 stars. It was really nice for me to read especially when I was feeling down. But it didn't have enough action or adventure.

I hope YOU love it too if you read it!!!

-Luna

Matched

I just finished reading Matched, by Ally Condie. It's about a girl named Cassia, who lives in a society where officials choose everything for you. They pick your job, when you die, and your match, the person you are expected to marry. At first, Cassia is matched to her life-long best friend, Xander. She is very happy and thinks it's a perfect match. Then, soon after, when she is looking at the information that everyone gets telling more about your match, a different face flashes on the screen. It's Ky, another person Cassia knows. Now, she is not sure whom to love. Sweet Xander, or kind but not society-perfect Ky. As time goes on, she falls in love with Ky. Now, Cassia has to hide her love for Ky from the society. But keeping secrets is hard. Cassia fights for freedom and the right to choose her match.

This book is very good and hard to put down. I would rate it five out of five stars, because it's a really cool story and has a positive message. I hope you get to read and enjoy this excellent book too!

                                       

                                         -Cassia

Boy 21

Finley's life revolves around basketball.Every pre-season, he and his basketball player girlfriend Erin practice their butts off. Shooting drills, passing drills, a five mile jog around town, dribbling the basketball whichever way you can possibly dribble it, and the practice ends with weightlifting. And every season, the  high school senior couple break up, because Finley can't focus on Erin and basketball at the same time. Why is Finley so obsessed with basketball you might ask,and the answer is this. Finley's dad grew up in the same drug dealing Irish mob ruled town that he lives in now, Finley's mom died when he was a toddler, and his grandfather, or "Pop" now has stumps for legs because he tried to sneak back to Ireland from America. One day Russ  Allen comes to town and Finley's coach brings him to meet Russ. Coach says that Russ is an incredible b-ball point guard, like national high school standards, but that Russ's parents, Coaches good friends were murdered, and that event shook Russ mentally. In the car ride over Coach explains that Russ came from California and might come and play for Finley's team. Finley's is anxious because point guard is his position and the way that Coach is talking about him Finley thinks that he might lose his starting position. But it turns out that Russ is now acting like he is from outer space, and calls Finley an "Earthling". He also tells Finley he wants to be called Boy21. When the season begins, Russ obviously isn't trying so Finley gets the starting position. During the rivalry game against Pennsville, Pensville uses a special defensive formation that means that Finley will be open to shoot. Finley's team, Bellmont, plans to give Finley the ball and he will shoot, so once Pennsville realizes they need to mark Finley, Terrell, Bellmont's best shooter, wouldn't be double teamed. But Finley can't sink a shot. At halftime, Coach takes Finley out and puts Russ in. Right before they go on the court, Russ asks Finley if he can use his extraterrestrial powers to win the game. Finley says yes, and Russ shows what he can really do, sinking half court shots and making perect passes. After that Russ gets the starting position. Soon after, Erin is hit by a car and recieves many severe injuries.Will Erins injurie change the way that Finley feels about the game, and will it change anything else as well? Read the book to find out.

I rate this book five stars.Definately. It kept me wanting to read it and had the perfect amount of sadness and drama. The author Matthew Quick did an outstanding job on this book, and I definatley think there should be a sequel.This is a must read teen book.

-Alex

Review Books On Our Blog!

If you're awesome and want to review books for Teen Bookshelf, listen up!  You can email us at  teenbookshelf2@gmail.comwith your book review, and if we like it, we'll post it!  Include a title, a photo of the book cover, your review (duh!), a book rating from one star to five stars, and a made-up name (A book character you like, or maybe your first initial).  We'll give credit to you with your made-up name.
   Thank you, anonymous commenter, for suggesting that our readers might like to review books too.  This is gonna be really cool!  And Annabeth came up with the details so that this plan would actually work, which rocks.  I'm just the one telling everybody about it.  So start emailing us, dudes!  :D  And Teen Bookshelf bloggers, we'd better start checking our blog email!

                                                            ~Rosalind