Teens

This cover rocks!

Publisher’s Summary: Super-stylish and uber-harsh, Kacey Simon is the social dictator of Marquette Middle School. She's BFFs with the prettiest girls, and she even hosts her own TV segment dispensing advice and the cold, hard truth to her classmates -- whether they want to hear it or not.

But then an eye-infection and a visit to the dentist leave her with coke-bottle glasses, a mouth full of metal, and... a littthp. Dismissed by her popular friends, she falls so far down the social ladder she can barely see the top, even with her magnifying specs.

With nowhere else to turn, Kacey has to hang with her nerdy neighbor and a boy who walks to beat of his own drum -- or rather, to the beat of the drummer in his band. Zander wants Kacey to be their lead singer, but she's determined to reclaim her throne. Will she climb back to the top? Or will she discover that hitting rock bottom kind of... rocks?

Why we love it: I was squealing with joy when this book came in because it reminded me of middle school. In seventh grade I was forced to wear glasses all the time and had a mouth full of metal braces so I can totally sympathize with the main character.

Now I don’t want to be accused of sipping on too much haterade but man am I TIRED of seeing such similar YA book covers. I love that this book looks so different-- like a page ripped out of a notebook belonging to a bored person sitting in class (most of my high school and college notebooks look like this only with more colors). The cover is totally adorbs and the premise of the book sounds like something most of us can relate to in some way or another, this book is definitely going onto my humongo-normous list of books to read.

Also, I just saw that Nickelodeon has turned this book into a new show called How to Rock. It debuts Saturday (February 4) at 7:30p.m. I might just have to set my DVR! If anyone catches it or has read the book, let me know your thoughts!

2/3/2012 by Erin S. Add a Comment Share this:

Topics: Books, Cover Lover

The Ninja Reviews... Death Cloud by Andrew Lane

In the year 1868 and young Sherlock Holmes is in boarding school. While on break, his brother Mycroft informs Sherlock that he will not be coming home but will instead be staying in Farnham with his quirky aunt and uncle. Feeling put out by being dumped on relatives he doesn't know, Sherlock uses his time to explore the neighborhood and learn from his American tutor, Amyus Crowe. When he runs into street urchin Matty and the two become friendly, Matty reveals that he has seen a mysterious death. Though perplexed, Sherlock does not dwell too long upon Matty's tale until he runs across another body bearing markings exactly as Matty had described.

Looking for answers, Sherlock visits a specialist on tropical diseases and confides in Amyus Crowe. The operation he stumbles upon is stranger and more frightening then he thought. Sherlock is captured by the pale and crippled Baron Maupertuis (mow-pah-twee) at a county fair and again with spirited Virginia Crowe, daughter of Amyus. Together, Virginia and Sherlock uncover the Baron's true plot, and plunge forward with Amyus and Matty to halt the Baron's dangerous plan.

This book shows Sherlock Holmes' first mystery and brings together the famous confidence of Arthur Conan Doyle's Holmes and typical teenage uncertainty and doubt. Sherlock learns to find his footing, though we still see traces of his lack of self-confidence through his reliance on Mycroft and Matty. Sherlock's crush on Virginia is not well explored, but fun to read. Occationally the plot seemed unbelievable, but in the end that was half of the fun of reading this book.

I would highly recommend this to fans of the mystery genre, especially boys who love a dose of adventure with mysteries. This book is also on the 2012 Lone Star list!