How to Post Your Own Reviews

Welcome to Paramus Teens Review- a place to talk about books. You, too can post reviews on this blog. To review a book, movie, website, or cd, send an email to miller@bccls.org with the word "Review" in the subject line. Then give us your name, grade, and age as well as the title of what you are reviewing and your review. Lastly, tell us how many stars you give the item.Here's the rundown:One star means "Run the other way! I hated it!"Two stars means "I read it, now I'll forget it!"Three stars means "I'm torn- did I like it or I hate it?"Four stars means "Worth a shot!"Five stars means "I loved it so much, I'm rereading it again right now!"We will then post your review for all to read.

Just Listen by Sarah Dessen

Annabel has been keeping a lot inside of her lately. As the youngest of three girls, she has always felt secondary to them and their issues. In addition, she's lost her best friend and is afraid to tell her mom she wants to quit modeling. When Annabel returns to school after a troubling summer, she connects with an unlikely person. Owen is a music obsessed outcast with anger management issues. Slowly their relationship helps Annabel learn to open up.
Annie, Librarian

*************************************************************************************

Before I read this, I was already obsessed by Sarah Dessen's books, specially This Lullaby. Her new book Just Listen is very good, almost as good as This Lullaby (I'm prejudiced because that was my first Dessen book). However, I think the main difference from this book is that Annabel had to deal with a traumatic experience. She had to find a way to get pass the trauma and had to deal with the effects it had on her life. On top of that, her family was also broken and needs to be healed. In the process of healing she realizes important lessons about sharing yourself and not keeping it all locked up inside you. She goes through it with Owen who taught her to be honest and to just listen.
Remy Starr
10th grade
16 years old

Book News

Going through my email this morning, I found out some things I'd like to share with you. First off, two well-known YA authors will soon be taking their popular series to the graphic novel format. Meg Cabot (Princess Diaries, Avalon High) and Brian Jacques (Redwall) are working with publishers to make graphic novel adaptations of these bestselling books. Look for them in early 2007 (maybe even earlier for Redwall), I believe. Also, check here for the master list for the 2006 Eisner nominations. The Eisner awards are named of course, after Will Eisner and given out for achievement in comic books. Some of titles on this list that we own are:
The Clouds Above, by Jordan Crane
Epileptic, by David B.
Buddha, by Osamu Tezuka
The Rabbi's Cat, by Joann Sfar
Age of Bronze, by Eric Shanower
Bone, by Jeff Smith
Runaways, by Brian K. Vaughan

We are adding new graphic novels and manga all the time!Lastly, on the first of every month we'll be telling you about all the new materials we have in the YA section, with a few other things thrown in. If you can't wait that long, you can always go here to find out what has come into our library in the past week or month. You can limit to find out what new movies, books, cds and more! I use it all the time and think its great for just browsing our really, really new stuff. Try it yourself!

Book News

Did you love Twilight? If you go to the author's site, you can read Twilight from Edward's point of view. The second book in this trilogy, New Moon, will be out in August 2006. Can't wait!

A Brief Chapter in My Impossible Life by Dana Reinhardt

Simone's life is going well. She has great parents, a loyal best friend, and even a pretty decent brother. School's pretty good, too. She's just joined the Atheist Student Alliance and the staff at the school newspaper, which are taking up a lot of her time. She's pretty secure in her beliefs and about the crush she has on Zack, the photographer at the paper. So when her parents let her know that Rivka, the birth mother who she's never met, called, she's not sure she wants to return the call and turn her life upside down. She decides to do it and what happens after that changes everything- her beliefs, who she is, her life.This is the author's first book.


If you like this book, try these:
So B. It , by Sarah Weeks
The Secret of Me, by Meg Kearney
Whale Talk, by Chris Crutcher
The Realm of Possibility, by David Levithan

Nailed by Patrick Jones

"The nail that sticks out the farthest gets hammered hardest", says his dad.Bret Hendricks is an outcast. With his blue ponytail, his distaste for auto mechanics and sports, and his love for reading classics, he drives his father crazy. Not to mention all the popular jocks in his school who live to torture him, who he's named the "jockarchy". The only things that provide a means of escape are playing in his grunge rock/funk band, "Radio Free Flint" and participating in school plays. When he meets Kylee, the violet haired pixie girl who shares his interests, he thinks he's finally found happiness. He and Kylee become inseparable and Bret feels like he has finally found someone who understands him. Are things to good to be true? A turn of events tests all of Bret's relationships, including his relationship with himself.

Party Girl by Sarah Mason

**two stars
I really was disappointed in the story. I was hoping that it was going to be funny with some British humor included in the story, however it wasn't. I thought it was going to be like Bridget Jones's Diary but it's not witty at all. It was ok, not something that I would read again.
Jenny Greenly
10th grade
16 years old

Enthusiasm by Polly Shulman

FIVE STUPENDOUS STARS!!
This book is one of the newer books on the YA shelves. This is about 2 best friends who can't be any more different. Julia, the main heroine of the story, is more of the quiet, poetry loving, all around good girl type of person. Her best friend and next door neighbor, Ashleigh (yes with an eigh) is the enthusiast of the two, who always has some new hobby every couple of months (she takes to her hobbies VERY seriously) and always does crazy things, even if they are mortifying to Julia. But when Ashleigh takes to Jane Austen's work, especially the great romantic novel Pride and Prejudice, Julia can't get any more embarrassed as her friend drags her to forbidden balls at Forefied, the all-boys academy up on a hill, in search of True Love. However, during these times at Forefield, they meet their Mr Darcy's, or so it would seem as Julia battles through friendship, family, and unrequited and unwanted love troubles. This is seriously one of the cutest books I've ever read and I'm very ENTHUSIASTIC about it =]--
Bella
8th Grade
13 years old

King Dork by Frank Portman

*** 3 Stars
King Dork is the story of Tom Henderson, a 15-year-old loser who is exposed to daily hazing by his fellow classmates. Tom finds several books, including Catcher in the Rye, that were owned by his father, who died a few years ago. A mystery ensues and Tom finds himself in odd situations, meeting different characters, and growing up a little bit.This book is equal parts interesting and grating. Tom and his best friend have a band, and Tom spends the book giving the band many different names and designing many different album covers – all of this is hilarious and clever. In addition, every high school has a “Tom” – a skinny, loser-y sort of guy who’s the butt of lots of jokes. In that way, the book is an eye-opening view into the life of “Toms”. I also loved the Catcher in the Rye jokes (the “Catcher Cult”)!! However, the “mystery” of King Dork –revolving around a copy of Catcher in the Rye – is anti-climactic at best. Additionally, there isn’t a single decent adult in the book and the girls are so weak-minded and silly that King Dork borders on misogynistic. I would recommend this book to anyone that feels trod upon by the jocks and “normal” people at their school. I’d also recommend it to almost any teen in a band. But anyone else may have a hard time relating to Tom and his (mis)adventures. Review written by Laura, YA Branch Librarian