Freak by Marcella Pixley

2007, Douglas & Mcintyre ltd.

I tried to make sure Artie could see my tongue when I brought the spoon to my lips. Sometimes I licked the rim of the spoon all the way around and breathed heavily so my breath would fog up the silver. 
"What's wrong with you?" said Deborah.
"I like the texture of the spoon," I panted. "It feels good in my mouth."
"Jenny Clarke is right," she muttered. "You are a FREAK." (51-52)

Miriam Fisher is about the world's least popular girl, according to how the "watermelon girls" treat her. With glasses, greasy hair, and pimples, Miriam is named a freak by the kids at her school, and even her own sister.

One year, Artie, friend of Miriam's family and her supposed "soul mate" comes to stay with them for his senior year while his parents are off digging wells in some third-world country. The big thing that Miriam and Artie have in common is their passion for poetry. Artie reads romantic poems at the table to Miriam's sister Deborah, and Miriam herself is an aspiring poet with an over sized vocabulary for her age.

All year long, Jenny Clarke and her crowd of popular friends target Miriam for liking Artie and for writing in Clyde, her personal poetry book and diary. Miriam has Rosie, her only friend by her side, but everything seems to get worse and worse.

When Miriam is pushed over the edge, she is forced to unleash a side of herself that nobody else knew before, and pay Jenny back for all the wrong that was done to her, only to discover that she and Jenny have more commonalities than differences.


Freak was, like few others, one of my favorite novels. It consists of everything teen readers will look for in a book: vivid and easy-to-relate-to situations and characters that are debatable, and heartbreaking, and a unique ending with a twist.

Many kids and teens have been bullied, and Freak showcased some very accurate problems in a normal child's life. Written heartbreakingly from the perspective of Miriam Fisher, the main character tells us about her experience being bullied and the effect it has on herself and her family. While narrating her novel, Marcella Pixley writes in such a way that tears will nearly be brought to her readers eyes.

Some of the events in the book cause the readers to ask themselves the following questions: "Is Jenny good or bad?" "Has Artie really been trashing our innocent protagonist behind her back?" Nobody hates a book that leaves you pondering over what you will read next long after it's lights out.

The best thing about Freak, linking to its questionable happenings, is the very twisted and kinky ending. The problems in the story are wrapped up all together in an extremely satisfying way that instead of begging the author for a sequel you will shift to your next novel and look back on this one fondly.

I strongly recommend Freak to any girl around 11-14 years old, and I hope fellow readers will enjoy the book as much as I did.

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That Summer by Sarah Dessen

For fifteen-year-old Haven, one ordinary summer turns into an epic journey as the days go by. It all starts with her father's remarriage to the "Weather Pet": Haven's mother's nickname for the local weather lady. Then Haven's sister Ashley's old boyfriend turns up at a pasta restaurant one day and at almost every other one of Haven's haunts, sparking her memory of the past. The biggest part of all is that Haven's sister is getting married to a guy who seems to hardly suit her and everything begins to revolve around Ashley.  On top of everything, Haven's best friend Casey thinks she's met her soul mate and Haven herself is six feet tall and still growing. It's all way too much this summer for Haven, and she is pushed over the edge to breaking point very quickly.

I know that you might think my summary for That Summer was a little choppy, but if you thought that, you must have thought the same thing about the book itself. Even though That Summer is Sarah Dessen's first novel, I have obviously read other books of hers before. I believe I've said this in the past, but I find that Sarah Dessen's novels are always slow and too descriptive for the first few chapters and turn out to be amazing later on. Naturally, I expected the same from this book, and got even less. That Summer was one of the slowest books I have ever read and I was greatly disappointed in it.

Normally in a book the characters are somewhat vivid and easy to relate to, the problems of the plot are all solved by the end, and most occurrences in the book seem to foreshadow the conclusion or support other happenings. In That Summer, the characters actually weren't so vivid. I found when Haven was narrating the story from her point of view, it was told rather drone-like. The characters were just there. The events just happened in a way that it didn't seem there should be a necessary order for them. When Haven actually reached "breaking point" in the story, it was surprising to me that she actually had feelings; the characters were so mediocre.

I know that Sarah Dessen is a terrific author otherwise, so if this is the first book you've read by her, don't be turned off. But all in all, this book disappointed me. I really would not recommend it to anybody. My final decision for That Sumer may shock you, or you may agree with me. Please comment on this post , or vote on the book below.

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Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen

Ruby and her mother have been constantly moving around together, ever since her parents got divorced and her sister left for college. Although it may seem strange, it's normal for Ruby to be left alone for weeks at a time by her mother. But when Ruby's mother leaves for the final time and does not return, she has to illegally fend for herself in the small yellow house she loves so much without heat or running water.

When the landlords discover the absence of Ruby's mother, she is sent to her sister Cora's mansion to stay until she can legally and comfortably be on her own. Ruby hasn't seen her ten-year-older sister for a decade, but after settling in, Ruby and her sister learn that they are still as close as they were before.

In the months that Ruby stays with her sister and brother-in-law, she is befriended by Nate, the rich boy next door, tutored by a twelve-year-old genius in calculus, and is taught how to accept help when she needs it and the true meaning of family.

With a stunning plot, well-crafted world readers will lose themselves in, and yet another batch of vivid, believable characters, Sarah Dessen presents to teen readers one more book you will be incapable of putting down.

What exactly is so good about Lock and Key? Despite the reference to drugs in the novel, the story is just so unpredictable you simply have to find out what happens next in the story. It's impressing how Sarah Dessen could gracefully switch the mood of the novel from serious and a bit depressed to warm and humorous.

If you have read any other of Sarah Dessen's novels and enjoyed them, then I guess you already know what to expect from her eighth book. If you haven't read any of her novels, then pick this one up and brace yourself for your new favorite author!

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Chat Room by Kristin Butcher

 Linda is a lonely ninth grader with one friend: Janice "Beastly", the school bully and least popular girl. When Linda's high school introduces chat rooms to the school website, she is sucked into chatting and is soon addicted to the computer, despite Janice's persistent warnings. In the school chat rooms Linda (aka Roxane on the Internet) meets another anonymous student nicknamed Cyrano; a character from her favorite move. The two quickly get to know each other while chatting online.
When Cyrano finds out who Roxane really is, Linda receives flowers, poems, chocolates and finally a ticket to the school dance, and assumes that Cyrano is her secret admirer and he has invited her to the dance. But when Linda misses her bus and is walking home from school in the pouring rain and a twelfth-grader offers her a ride home, she finds out that this guy is Cyrano. He mentions nothing about liking her or the gifts he sent, so Linda still thinks he likes her.
The night of the dance, Linda finds out that it was not Cyrano ( Marc Solomon in real life) who has been sending her gifts, but the shy, younger and less popular Chad Sharp. That night, the two learn the hard way how the Internet can trick people; or get them into some serious situations. Linda is forced to tell Chad she does not like him, and Chad has to convince Linda that he is her secret admirer.

I can't say I completely enjoyed this novel. I never expected it to be so good when I picked it up in the first place, but I found many things wrong with it.

The first thing I'd like to mention about Chat Room is how unrealistic it was. Sure, lots of people participate in chatting online and find themselves caught up in some serious issues even greater than the ones addressed in the novel, but Kristin Butcher made Linda into a character who hadn't ever really been interested in the computer. Linda had to psyche up just to join a chat room on the school website, where these days basically everybody has Facebook and/or Twitter and doesn't give a second thought to signing up. And I know that if my school website had chat rooms and forums on it, nobody would take part in them because by the time you're twelve and older, it's not cool to visit your school website unless absolutely necessary. I think the story should have been based on something involving more peer-pressure and a more popular social networking website.

Another thing I saw wrong with Chat Room was how it was written. The characters were constantly talking about the dangers of the Internet, blah blah blah. No teenager and/or child wants to read something they already have to sit through their parents telling them. Chat Room was the kind of book your parents tell you to read and hope that you'll obliviously learn something and recommend it to your friends. The characters were phony, and the dialogue was too mature for their ages. I support these two opinions of mine with the following quote: "Chat rooms are nothing but hangouts for perverts. Anybody who visits them is asking for trouble." -Janice (8)

So now after stating and supporting my opinions that Chat Room is unrealistic, too educational to be attractive to the average teen reader, and phony, my final conclusion is that I will not recommend this novel to anybody I know, for I believe it is not by far the best book I have ever read.

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Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen

Publisher: Speak
Copyright: 2009

Auden expects a long, hot, boring two months, when she chooses to spend her summer with the stepmother she isn't too fond of, and her dad's selfish attributes. Not to mention a constantly crying half - sister that's just been born.
But this particular summer, Auden gets way more than she expects to. She gets a job bookkeeping at her stepmother Heidi's store, meets new friends, and is helped to catch up on the childhood she never had.

Ever since Auden's parents divorced when she was little, she never slept at night from having to listen to their fighting. When Auden lived with her no-fun, nagging mother nearly all her life, she was expected to be the little adult, never doing anything fun, never having many friends, and never doing anything as basic in her childhood such as learning to ride a bike.

But all that changes when she meets Eli in the small town her father, stepmother and half-sister calls home. Eli is a former BMX star that quit doing what he loved when he and his best friend Abe were in a car accident and he was the only one of the two that survived. When Auden and Eli become friends, they change and teach each other what they both need to learn. Eli to come out of his grief and trauma; Auden to come out of her shell and experience some simple things included in a childhood, much less learning to live a proper social and academic life. Overall, they both learn the value of taking risks and living life.


I loved Along for the Ride, Sarah Dessen's latest novel published in 2009. From the beginning, I found the characters and storyline attractive, despite the sluggishness in the plot during the first few chapters. Sarah Dessen put everything into this novel that I expect from a good book: humor, vividity, attractiveness, and most importantly, an interesting and gripping, dramatic plot.

I have only read a few of Sarah Dessen's books, but this one inspired me to embark on my 'quest' to read all of her novels, if people who have already read this book know what I mean. I think a lot of other teenagers who read this book will be able to relate to many of the themes and parts in the story of this masterpiece. Anybody who is looking for a good book to read, I strongly recommend it; it will be one of my favorites for years.

Another reason to read Along For the Ride was that it was also clean. I have read a few books before that had mature content, etc. in them that made me question whether or not I should continue on to the next chapter. Readers will find Along for the Ride a satisfying, appropriate, recommendable adventure.

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Pop by Gordon Korman

Publisher: HarperCollins
Copyright: 2009

Marcus Jordan moves to a small town in the summer and doesn't know anybody there. Marcus wants to be on the football season this upcoming year, so he starts practicing in Three Alarm Park. While practicing, Marcus throws the ball really far, almost to the other side of the park. He suddenly sees something while walking to where the ball landed. It was a person! This guy was running towards Marcus and he just couldn't figure out why. Then when the man was close enough to see his face, Marcus realised that this man in fact had his ball! The man stopped in front of Marcus and explained himself to Marcus. After a few minutes of tossing the ball around the mysterious man said he had to go but would see Marcus tomorrow.

When school starts Marcus immediately navigates himself to the field where the tryouts are held. When he gets there he is told that not a lot of new people get onto the team because it is a very tight-knit group who play. In spite of this, he gets on the team, just not the place he wanted.

Marcus has being seeing Charlie a few times a week; he learned that the guy's name was Charlie when they went to the store together and Charlie didn't pay. After a few more weeks of training with Charlie, Marcus realises that he seems a bit odd. Whenever Marcus tries to talk about the last time they trained Charlie doesn't seem to remember.

Marcus goes on the computer and searches diseases that can happen to football players, because when Marcus is told of Charlie's name he remembers that he used to be a famous football player. Marcus finds a site that talks about some of the symptoms Charlie seems to have and finds out that Charlie has developed early-onset Alzheimer's disease.

Charlie's family knows he has this disease but the rest of the town doesn't. When Marcus confronts Charlie's daughter at school about his disease she threatens him if he dares to tell anybody about it. Marcus drops the subject for a few weeks then goes and finds Charlie's old school buddy and tells him about what happened to him. Marcus had to tell Mac (Charlie's school buddy) about his disease because Charlie and Marcus were making trouble for one of the shop owners and Marcus was getting blamed for it because Charlie would just walk away.

Marcus and Mac also take Charlie to one of their school reunions when they hear that Charlie is going to get an award and will be put into the school's hall of fame. The only problem is that Marcus didn't tell Mac that he hadn't asked the family if he could take Charlie. The next thing they knew, they had lost Charlie in the excitement. The police found him and took Charlie and Marcus back to their town. Marcus was wondering why they were rushing back so he asked the police officer and he replied that the football team was losing and they had to get Marcus back home so that they could win the game.

Marcus was about to throw the ball to the end zone when out of the corner of his eye he saw Charlie walking towards the back of the bleachers. Marcus ran up the bleachers to Charlie but he was already standing on the bar at the back of the bleachers about to set the other team's Mascot hawk free. Marcus could see Charlie standing on the bar then Marcus blinked. When he opened his eyes again there was no charlie standing on the top of the bar. Marcus knew what had happened and ran down the bleachers and around the side to find Charlie while everybody else ran towards where he had been standing.

It was a small funeral for Charlie and some other famous football players even showed up when they heard the he had died. Even Charlie's son Troy was sort of nice to Marcus during the mourning at Charlie's house.

Gordan Korman wrote this book like a movie and made it feel like he was slowing it down when it came to serious parts but in the happy exciting parts, he wrote it like he was telling a story.

I felt that this book was truly telling both sides of the football world or any sport for that matter, that a sport can be fun and very fulfilling if you honestly love it but on the other side they can also be dangerous and a horrible experience if you don't really love it.

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The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen

Publisher: Speak Books
Copyright: 2008

Macy's summer is based on a boring library job and studying for the SAT's. For the past year and a half, Macy's family has been grieving the loss of their father and husband, who passed away right before Macy's eyes.

Running was Macy's passion. Every Saturday morning, Macy and her father would go for a run, and that's where it all ended. Macy's father collapsed from a heart attack right in front of her.

Now Macy, her sister Caroline, and her mother Deborah, continue to grieve. Deborah and Macy's lives are organized and quiet. Caroline is the only one able to resume her life and help her family do so, too.

But when Macy accepts a job offer at Wish Catering, along with her job at the info desk, she makes five new friends: Delia, Kristy, Bert, Monica and Wes, and her life begins to return to what it was.
Macy's mother is scared of a real life without her husband, hides behind her work, and prevents Macy from having one, too, by later banning her from her catering job and seeing her friends. Together, Macy and her sister must support their mother in fixing up the old beach house, letting Macy move on, and finally grieving.

Will Macy's forever be returning to her old, boring boyfriend and mother; her calm, quiet life, or be a regular life with friends and jobs and fun? Has Macy changed for the better, or worse?


Getting into the first few chapters of The Truth About Forever, I expected that I'd enjoy the novel as much as any other of my favorite books. Sarah Dessen creates such vivid characters that if anybody told me this was a true story, I could have easily believed it. Sarah Dessen narrates her story from Macy's point of view in such a way that the reader will become the character, experiencing the same emotions and thoughts as Macy herself.

Due to the reality in the plot, the deepness in the story, and the vividity of the characters and their opinions and how they tie in to what the character is experiencing in the story, the novel proves the amount of thought and work Dessen put in to her sixth novel.

Delia, the owner of Wish Catering where Macy works, always does her jobs in a disorganized fashion, so that the reader believes her to be a very disordered person. But Delia herself justifies her unmethodical way in the dialogue of the book, by explaining to Macy: "If everything was always smooth and perfect, you'd get too used to that, you know? You have a little bit of disorganization now and then. Otherwise you'll never really enjoy it when things go right." (94)
And Macy keeps working at her library job, with the other two girls who hate her, Bethany and Amanda. The reader wonders again when or if the heroine will quit her job, despite how much Jason, her boyfriend wants her to do well in it for him, and how much her mother believes she should complete the summer job for her resume. But as Macy is changed by her new friends at Wish, the job is no longer the least bit good enough for her.
"In so many ways, I was realizing the info desk was a lot like my life had been before Wish and Kristy and Wes. Something to be endured, never enjoyed" (198)
Aside from the characters, Dessen puts out a very real and possible story. The grounding, boring summer job, breaking up with Jason, and meeting Wes, are all things that would happen to the average teenage girl, "smushed", into one summer, all happening to one person. The Truth About Forever presents several situations where the reader will debate over which character has the right opinion, or who in the book is most agreeable with. The Truth About Forever is truly an amazing and remarkable novel.

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A Crooked Kind of Perfect By Linda Urban

Publisher: Harcourt Books
Copyright: 2007

Zoe has a dream of becoming a Prodigy in Piano, but that dream is shattered when her dad brings back a Perfectone D-60, a "wheeze-bag" as Zoe calls it. Zoe tells her dad that she is destined to play the piano but her dad just signs her up for "More with Les" musical lessons at a senior center. Zoe tries very hard at playing the organ, but finds it difficult and almost gives up.

This is a classic story of one girl trying ever so hard to fit in at school, when the worst thing happens. Zoe goes back to school after Christmas Break, all ready to pour her troubles and broken dreams onto her best friend, Emma Dent, when she sees it: her best friend Emma Dent not sitting at their regular table, but, sitting with Joella Tinstella! Zoe begins the long walk over to her so-called friend, but, to her dismay, Emma says: "Me and Joella are best friends now, but you can sit here until you find a new best friend if you want". Zoe, now friend-less and with no piano, has gone over to the "dork side".

After practicing with Mrs. Person, Zoe is told about the Perform-O-Rama. Zoe asks her mom if she can drive her to the event and she says yes, but a few days later on Zoe's birthday her mom calls home and tells Zoe's dad that she cannot drive Zoe anymore to the Perform-o-Rama. Zoe's dad says that he will drive her to the Perform-O-Rama instead of mom. At the Perform-O-Rama, Mrs. Person shows Zoe to Mona and her mom. Mona is another contestant at the Perform-O-Rama and tells Zoe everything she should expect at the show. The Perform-O-Rama lasts for two days, so on the second day Zoe's mom drives her.

Zoe and Mona become fast friends and once the show is over, they stay friends and Zoe even goes over to Mona's house.When Zoe gets home, she is surprised to find a beautiful cake for her belated birthday, that her dad and Wheeler made for her. (Wheeler is a boy that I forgot to mention earlier; he is the one who invited her to sit at the boy's table at lunch when Emma wouldn't). When Zoe finds out that Wheeler made the Marzipan Zoe holding a trophy, she thanks him profusely. Then her mom gives her the best birthday present ever...a piano! Zoe is ecstatic when she hears this and can't wait until it arrives the next day.
So in the end, Zoe gets two new friends, a piano, a fourth place trophy, and a crooked kind of perfect life.

I absolutely loved this book because it told a beliveable story that would probaly happen in real life and I'm sure everybody who reads it can relate to it somehow, be it losing a friend or having your one and only wish be ruined in one day.

Linda Urban Writes just like she is writing in a journal, and tells you day by day how Zoe's life gets worse or possibly better. I could never put this book down while I was reading. I was amost afraid of missing something really important that happened to poor Zoe.
Linda didn't try to slow the story down or speed it up, she just wrote it like it came and wasn't afraid to even put some humorus kids jokes in the story, e.g "The Dork Side..."

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Sniper by Theodore Taylor

Sniper is a different novel about 15-year-old Ben Jepson who is left alone to tend to his parents' wild cat preserve in South California. It's not the responsibility of the big cats that burdens Ben, but the responsibility of keeping them safe from somebody who stalks the night armed with a sniper waiting to kill the next of his cats.

Sniper is set in South California, around the 80's. For a novel set in South California, you would expect a happier feel to the plot, although the reader feels what emotions the characters experience : grief and anguish.

The story begins when Ben and the hired hands on the preserve are awakened by the sound of panicking peacocks, and they go outside to find Helen and Daisy, The Sisters, shot dead and bleeding on the ground, and most of the other cats released from their compounds. This isn't the last assault on the preserve, though. Despite Ben's and the hired hands' efforts to protect the cats, Rachael, one of the cheetahs, is shot dead one morning, followed by Rocky, a lion Ben raised right from the earliest stages. Now, along with the challenge of keeping most of the cats alive, Ben must work with Deputy Metcalf to discover who the culprit is, and why they have any reason to shoot the most gentle cats on the property.

The main characters in Sniper are Ben, his girlfriend Sandy, Luis Vargas, and Deputy Metcalf. The story, told from Ben's perspective, lets the readers express their grief and concern for the events in the book.

Theodore Taylor's style of writing is slow and gradual, yet exciting and intriguing. Theodore Taylor not only provides readers with an excellent story, but  expresses his characters' emotions so well that readers sort of turn into his characters, and live their parts in the story.

Theodore Taylor was born in North Carolina on June 23, 1921, and passed away more recently on October 26, 2006. He is the author of over fifty novels, including The Cay and The Bomb. He is the winner of eleven literary awards.

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Leap by Jane Breskin Zalben

Publisher: Yearling Books
Copyright: 2007

Krista and David used to be best friends, until they got to the age when it wasn't cool to be friends with a girl or a guy any more. When David is temporarily paralyzed from oxygen deprivation, he and his family begin having problems. David's mom leaves for a while to stay with her sister, and David and his father have trouble cooperating.
Since David is paralyzed, his hopes for joining the swim team this season are crushed, but his father encourages him to work out in the pool daily to regain his strength.

Meanwhile, Krista is confused about her friendships and growing up. She still wonders who gave her the candy box in grade 3, and if her crush likes her back. Slowly, David and Krista become even better friends than they were before, and everybody learns to go their separate ways; even the tadpole Krista and David raised for a class project.

I thought this novel was AWESOME all the way through. Told form David's and Krista's perspectives, Jane Breskin Zalben creates vivid and realistic characters that are easy to relate to. The story is symbolic in parts, amazing in others, and even touching in more. This novel kept me hooked all the way through. The novel is perfect for people who are not a fan of fantasy or action, or for lighter readers. I would definitely recommend it.

Rating: ****

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Peaches by Jodi Lynn Anderson

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Copyright: 2006

This novel is about 3 girls: Birdie Darlington, Leeda Cawley-Smith, and Murphy McGowen. They all get sent to Darlington's Orchard to work over the spring break.
As you read further into the book, you find out more about their background and how they deal with problems at the orchard. Each girl has a different yet unique perspective about their ups and downs.

Jodi Lynn Anderson captures the essence of reality, which makes her first book heartwarming and irresistibly hard to put down. This novel really shows you the true binding power of friendship.


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On My Honor by Marion Dane Bauer

Publisher: Yearling Books
Copyright: 1986
On My Honor is a quick, snappy, ninety page novel without a happy ending. The novel is about two boys who go bike riding to Starved Rock, and one of them wants to climb it. Tony, the reckless one of the two, insists that they stop to swim in a river on the way there. Tony knows he can't swim, but accepts Joel's dare to swim out to the sandbar.

When Tony drowns, Joel does his best to conceal the awful truth with his own lies and stories, but in the end he is forced to confess how it was partially his own fault of his best friend's death.

This story was predictable, and focuses on the grief of the characters. It resembles the effect of one careless act or one silly mistake. The author really makes you feel the emotion of the characters as they must face the truth about they're son and friend. On My Honor is a timeless story reminding people to think twice.

Despite the emotion in the novel, its predictability is way too high, and the plot is depressing, so that you expect a sad ending. The novel was clearly not the best I have ever read.

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