Mystery
A Pocket Full of Rye
Author: Agatha Christie
Reviewer's Age: Grade 8
A Pocket Full of Rye is about a rich English family in the mid 1800s. It begins when the father, Rex Forsecue, is poisoned from taxine, or yew berries, that was put in his tea, with a handful of rye in his pocket. Inspector Neele is put on the case, and sent to interview the rest of the family. Together with Mrs. Marple, he catches the cold-blooded murderer and stops him before he kills again.
I thought that this mystery was very well written. You didn’t find out who the murderer was until the very end, and kept suspecting different people. Another reason why I really liked this book was the characters. They had very well defined personalities, and you could identify with them easily. The only thing that I didn’t like about the book is how Ms. Marple solves the mystery when, in real life, she wouldn’t have enough prove to figure that out. All in all, though, this is a great book and I highly recommend it.
Now You See Me
Author: Tina Wainscott
Reviewer's Age: Grade 12
Did you ever get that feeling? You know. The hair on the back of your neck stands straight up as if electrified by some unknown force of nature. You know the running a hundred yard dash. You know that feeling. You know. So does Tina Wainscott, author of Now You See Me. Tina Wainscott's Now You See Me is based on one woman's, Olivia Howes, belief that she is psychically connected to a recently kidnapped girl. Once kidnapped herself, Olivia believes that she wasn't only left blind, but also with a gift. A gift of being able to see through the kidnapped children's eyes. Now trying to help find this little girl, Olivia finds herself the top suspect. After all, wouldn't you be suspicious of someone who frantically tried to tell you about a kidnapping that was taking place seconds before it happened? Or if someone knew exactly where to reach for you when they can't even see. Detectives Callahan and O'Reilly were more than suspicious, but could they be wasting their time on the wrong person? Locked in a cage with only a few days to live, a little girl's life is on the line and a kidnapper on the loose. Is Olivia really an accomplice to this little girl's kidnapping or is she really able to see through the little girl's eyes? Is Olivia even blind or is that just an act? Are the police wasting their time on the wrong person? Could there be someone out there watching, watching every move that's being made, watching the wrong person being accused of this crime? Would you like to know the answers to these questions? Then I suggest you read this great, fast paced psychological thriller. You will be second guessing yourself through out the whole book. After all, a kidnapper could still be out there, waiting. Waiting and watching for just the right moment to claim another innocent victim. You want to turn the page yet you are terrified to find out. You know the feeling? You know.
The Face in the Mirror
Author: Stephanie S. Tolan
Reviewer's Age: Grade 8
The story The Face in the Mirror is about a boy named Jared Kingsley, age fifteen, who meets his real father for the first time. His father is a theatre producer, so Jared becomes an actor. He comes across a ghost and other obstacles but finally makes it to his first play. What I didn't like about this book was that we never find out what happens to Pop at the nursing home. What I did like about the book was that Jared wins the battle with Tad.
Audition for Murder
Author: Susan Sussman
Reviewer's Age: 16
This is really exciting and a great murder mystery-type book with a feminist heroine, an aspiring actress in Chicago.
The Oracle Glass
Author: Judith Merkle Riley
Reviewer's Age: Grade 10
This story chronicles the escape of a young, independent, brilliant, and tragically crippled French girl in the period of the "Sun King," Louis XIV of France, from the confines of her intriguing family. She rises in a society of mystery and the occult, to be valued and admired. A severe addiction challenges her in many adventures yet she overcomes this to triumph in love and success. This is a great story, full of many twists and surprises, well-written and thoroughly plotted.
A Shadow in the North (Sequel to Ruby in the Smoke)
Author: Philip Pullman
Reviewer's Age:13
This was a thrilling, satisfying adventure about late 19th century England. It combined three plots into one, with the cruelest of villains, the most heroic protagonists, and the cleverest story in a long time.
The Ruby in the Smoke
Author: Philip Pullman
Reviewer's Age: Grade 7
The place is London. The time is the 1800s. Sixteen-year-old Sally Lockhart finds herself orphaned after her father becomes shipwrecked. Now she becomes involved in a search for a mysterious diamond which leads her to discover a hidden past. I loved this book! Mr. Pullman has a new twist in every chapter.
Whispers from the Dead
Author: Joan Lowery Nixon
Reviewer's Age: Grade 9
After a near-death experience Sarah begins having hallucinations where she sees and hears a Spanish woman crying for help. After a thorough investigation, she finds that a dreadful murder was commited in her house-and the Spanish woman is trying to give Sarah clues to catch the murderer. This novel was a suspenseful thriller, and although I wasn't fond of the plot focusing on her hallucinations this book kept me enthralled from cover to cover. It is not a good read if you're home alone at night!
The Changeover
Author: Margaret Mahy
Reviewer's Age: 14
This is one of those books that can be a thriller, a romance, and even delve into the supernatural, all at once, and yet, remain uncrowded and captivating.
Shadows In the Water
Author: Kathryn Lasky
Reviewer's Age: 13
Very interesting. A lot of stuff about telepathy. Thrilling mystery. Interesting to all kinds of people.
The Green Mile
Author: Steven King
Reviewer's Age: Grade 10
The Green Mile by Steven King is a great book to read because once you pick it up, you don't want to put it down. This, as are most of King's books, is a science fiction novel with great content. Readers enjoy this novel because it is interesting to read and is full of surprises. The Green Mile is placed in the South back in 1932. It is about a man convicted of a horrible crime which he doesn't commit. John Coffey, the man accused of the horrid crime, is no ordinary man, but a man with special powers that he uses to rid people of their sicknesses. This novel is about Coffey's cell block and what goes on during his brief stay there. This fascinating novel will keep readers staying up past their bedtime to finish it.
The Maltese Falcon
Second place winner, Belmont Teen Read Week Book Review Contest 2002
Prize: $10 gift certificate for Newbury Comics
Author: Dashiell Hammett
Reviewer's Age: Grade 12
The latest and maybe one of the most interesting books I have ever read was The Maltese Falcon, by Dashiell Hammett. The reason I felt this book was so good was because it had almost every component to the makings of a great novel. It contains everything a serious reader would want in a book: good characters, interesting plot, and solid ending. Throughout the entire book there was almost a constant suspense that made you want to read at least one more page. The first ten pages include lying, murder, and deceit. It is really about a detective who takes a case with his partner who ends up dead after the first twelve hours. He spends the rest of the book trying to figure out who murdered his best friend and solving the case of the Maltese falcon. I would recommend this book to any reader above the high school level interested in finding a good novel.
Sammy Keyes and the Hotel Thief
Author: Wendelin Van Draanan
Reviewer's Age: Grade 7
Sammy Keyes is somewhat of a kid investigator. In this mystery, Sammy is looking through her binoculars and sees a thief in the hotel across the street, and he sees her! She knows that he looks familiar but she doesn't know from where. I like how this book allows you to try and figure out the mystery too. I like the whole Sammy Keyes series.
Airframe
Author: Michael Crichton
Reviewer's Age: Grade 9
A pilot in a plane calls in to the airport declaring a state of emergency and asking for emergency landing permission. After the plane lands many are injured and three are dead. The pilot claims it was the turbulence but it's up to Casey Singleton to investigate what happened. This book was very much like a murder mystery and was very fun to read, it keeps you on the edge of your seat.
Out of Time
Author: Caroline Cooney
Reviewer's Age: Grade 10
The book Out of Time by Caroline Cooney, I like most of all because it is mysterious, romantic, and it takes you on a journey through time. Out of Time focuses on a girl living in the twenty first century, who has always dreamed about what it would be like to live during the 1800s--the extravagant gowns, the fairy tale balls, and most of all the romantic gentlemen. Annie Lockwood has always been a helpless romantic wanting to be swept off her feet by her own Prince Charming. Her boyfriend in the twenty first century is the complete opposite of romantic, he cares more about cars than her. One day, as she is daydreaming in front of the old abandoned Mansion that was built during the 1800, she steps into the ballroom. Feeling the velvety scarlet curtains, and gazing at the chandeliers, she goes into a trance. There are people in the ballroom, men dressed in white frilly shirts and long jackets and women dressed in beautiful gowns. "I have drifted back in time," she thought to herself. Will Annie finally find the love and the life that she has been searching for? To find out read Out of Time.
The Body in the Library
Author: Agatha Christie
Reviewer's Age: 13
This book was a very interesting muder mystery that was wrapped up in so many different knots you do not know the final outcome untill the last chapter! Though the detective is an old spinster by the name of Ms. Jane Marple, she decifers the murder on page 53, yet does not tell you the answer untill the end! This is a really great mystery that will have going back and forth in your opinion.
Sleeping Murder
Author: Agatha Christie
Reviewer's Age: Grade 10
This was a clever pageturner, as all Agatha Christie books are. However this mystery involved a murder of the past, which has been "sleeping" for twenty years . . .
Curtain
Author: Agatha Christie
Reviewer's Age:Grade 10
This book is about the perhaps final case of Christie's most documented detective, Hercule Poirot. It begins where Poirot's first case began nearly half a century earlier, the House of Styles in England. Poirot meets his great companion Captain Hastings to once again trail a long- elusive and extremely cunning murderer staying at the very house in which they find themselves. Suddenly, an invalid wife is killed and Hastings suspects his own daughter of the crime. Embodying love, power, and greed this book takes the reader down an eerie path to Poirot's final and most triumphant success in revealing the grim psychology of a most brutal villain.
The Cat Who Saw Red
Author: Lilliam Jackson Braun
Reviewer's Age: Grade 9
Royal Whodunnits
Author : Mike Ashley, editor
Reviewer's Age: Grade 10
A collection of short stories based on actual historical deaths, this book focuses mostly on the kings and queens of England and France, but also includes Bohemia, Italy and Scotland. The collection includes well-known characters such as the Borgias, Mary Queen of Scots, Elizabeth I and Henry II, but also includes more obscure characters, such as King Wenceslaus of Bohemia (and Christmas carol fame)! Those with some historical knowledge will have fun seeing the historical figures come alive to plot, lust, hate, love and kill.
A Matter of Honor
Author: Jeffrey Archer
Reviewer's Age: 17
If you're looking for a great thriller and lots of adventure, this is the ultimate source. It is 10 times better than "Mission Impossible" and far more twisted than any "James Bond" movie. Get it now!
The Ruby in the Smoke
Author: Phillip Pullman
Reviewer's age: Grade 8
The Ruby in the Smoke, by Phillip Pullman, is about a 16-year old girl name Sally Lockhart whose father just died when the shop that he was going to China on suspiciously sunk. She received a note from him, or someone that he dictated it to. The note says:
SALI BEWARE OF THE SEVEN BLESSINGS
MARCHBANKS WILL HELP
CHATTUM
BWARE DARLING
But when she goes to her father's old office and asks his secretary if he knows anything about the Seven Blessings, he falls over dead. With the help of Jim, the office boy, she finds Marchbanks, and stumbles over a plot that got her father, and many other people killed.The Ruby in the Smoke is a really good book. Its plot is rich and complex, and Pullman makes it feel like you're watching Sally instead of reading about her. Out of 10 stars, I'd give this book an 8.5
A Pocket Full of Rye
Author: Agatha Christie
Reviewer's Age: Grade 8
A Pocket Full of Rye is about a rich English family in the mid 1800s. It begins when the father, Rex Forsecue, is poisoned from taxine, or yew berries, that was put in his tea, with a handful of rye in his pocket. Inspector Neele is put on the case, and sent to interview the rest of the family. Together with Mrs. Marple, he catches the cold-blooded murderer and stops him before he kills again.
I thought that this mystery was very well written. You didn’t find out who the murderer was until the very end, and kept suspecting different people. Another reason why I really liked this book was the characters. They had very well defined personalities, and you could identify with them easily. The only thing that I didn’t like about the book is how Ms. Marple solves the mystery when, in real life, she wouldn’t have enough prove to figure that out. All in all, though, this is a great book and I highly recommend it.