When You Reach Me

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Miranda, a twelve-year-old girl, lives in an apartment building with her mother. Her best friend is Sal, the boy who lives downstairs. One day a boy named Marcus hits Sal in the stomach on their way home from school, and Sal suddenly doesn't want to be friends with Miranda anymore. Other odd events happen; Miranda receives strange notes that seem to foretell the future. The reader cannot help but be pulled into the intriguing mystery of the story.
Rebecca Stead does a great job of creating believable characters in this warm, but strange narrative. I think the book's uniqueness and warmth helped earn this book the Newbery Award for this year.

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Eon: Dragoneye Reborn

Eon: Dragoneye Reborn by Alison Goodman


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Eon is one of twelve vying to become the apprentice to the Rat Dragon in the Empire of Celestial Dragons. Only boys can become apprentices, but Eon is really Eona--a sixteen-year-old girl. She has been disguised as a boy by her master, and has trained to be a Dragoneye. When the competition begins, Eona is not chosen as an apprentice to the Rat Dragon, but instead is chosen by the Mirror Dragon lost for more than 500 years. This is an amazing adventure with touches of old Chinese history woven into the tale. I really enjoyed this book.

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Dork Diaries

Dork Diaries: Tales from a Not-So-Fabulous Life by Rachel R. Russell


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Dork Diaries is the girl counterpart to Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Quite an enjoyable book that captures how hard it is to feel popular in middle school, and how popularity can change from day to day.

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