My Bookshelf

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
Reviewed by Shannon Trant
This book is about a normal teenage girl named Clary who discovers a new world when she witnesses a murder committed by three teenagers covered in odd markings at a club. After they finish the murder the three of them disappear into thin air. When she returns home she cannot stop thinking about what she saw at the club. Then her Mom suddenly disappears and she comes face to face with a real demon. After she survives through her fight with the demon she is forced into a new world that she was introduced to at the club. This world is full of vampires, werewolves, magic and people who fight demons called shadow hunters. In order to find her Mom, Clary has to discover the truth about her Mom's past. On her journey yo do this she becomes friends with the three teenagers from the club, who turn out to be shadow hunters, named Jace, Alec, and Isabelle. Then she is faced with betrayals, lies, tangled stories and she is forced to deal with the fact that everything she knows about her past and her Mom is a lie. I would recommend this book to any one if they like adventure books and mysteries. This book is the first book in the Mortal Instruments series of three.

Confetti Girl by Diana Lopez
Reviewed by Elisa Abraham
Confetti Girl is about a girl named Lina Flores. Lina is a sock collector, a volleyball player, and a science lover. Her mother died the year before and her father loves books. He loves books so much that Lina can barely walk through the house because it is covered in books. Lina's best friend, Vanessa Cantu, lives across the street and she is dealing with her own problems. Vanessa's parents are divorced and her mom is obsessed with making a cascarones, a Latino tradition of filling hallow eggshells with confetti and cracking them over other people's head. Lina had always been a great English student but now her grades are failing. She has a crush on a boy from school named Luis. Luis is what some people would call a nerd because he stutters. All of a sudden, Vanessa would rather hang out more with her new boyfriend than Lina. Lina tries to seek answers to why her dad is obsessed with books, why her best friend doesn't want to hang out with her anymore, why her best friend's mom is obsessed with making cascarones, and most importantly, why her mom died. Things don't get better when Mr. Flores and Mrs. Cantu get into a fight that Lina thinks was about Mrs. Cantu wanting to get married to Mr.Flores. Will everything patch up before the school fair where Lina and Vanessa have to do a booth together? Or will friendships be ruined? Read Confetti Girl to find out!!!

Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton
Reviewed by Emil Abraham
Many people have probably seen the movie Jurassic Park, but the book is an entirely different experience. Spielberg managed to realistically portray the dinosaurs on the big screen, but Crichton truly brought them to life using vivid descriptions and thrilling scenes. The story begins with a girl being attacked by a pack of unknown lizards. A lizard specimen is sent to paleontologist Alan Grant to be identified, and he realizes that it is a dinosaur in the flesh and blood. At the same moment, he gets invited by John Hammond, a wealthy entrepreneur who has invested his time and money into a mysterious island and large amounts of genetic material. Dr. Grant accepts the invitation and travels down to the island only to discover an amazing theme park filled with extinct dinosaurs that had been resurrected through genetic cloning and manipulation. Along with Dr. Grant, came a famous mathematician, Ian Malcolm who calculated using chaos theory that the island would only cause disaster and unpredictability. But, the visitors were assured by the geneticists that everything was under control. Malcolm's calculations were proven true as a series of events unfolded that eventually led to the destruction of the island along with many of the employees of the theme park. This book is a fast-paced, heart-stopping tale of the futile attempts of human beings to control life on this planet. As Ian Malcolm says, "The planet has survived everything, in its time. It will certainly survive us."(Crichton 365).

Rocky Road by Rose Kent
Reviewed by Sierra Bulger
I love that the main character in this book moves from Texas to Schenectady, where I live. I also think it's cool that the author lives in nearby Niskayuna. This book has sad parts and funny parts, which makes it very interesting. It is a very good book and I recommend it!

Never Blame the Umpire by Gene Fehler
Reviewed by Naomi Spivey
This book is about a poetic girl who just found out her mother has cancer that can't be cured. She wrestles the news in her brain, and makes poems about it, ( see pages: 100,101 and 153) She doesn't understand why God could let this happen to her mother until her mom explains " God has a plan. We might not understand it, but it doesn't mean He is wrong, or that He's made a mistake. We get mad at God sometimes, just like we get mad at umpires.......We blame God for the bad things, just like we blame umpires for bad calls in ball games......... Our life is like a ball game and I am winning, no matter what happens, because I am trying to play by God's rules. I accept His will for me." I enjoyed this book very much.