Wondrous Strange by Lesley Livingston

5/5 Stars
Kelly Winslow who is seventeen years old, is going to play a role as queen Titania in a production of Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream when she meets Sonny who is a guard of the Samhain gate, the doorway between the mortal sphere and the faeries’ enchanted, dangerous otherworld. The gate stands open only once a year to the human world and an onslaught of malevolent faerie creatures who are very destructive.
Sonny keeps on telling Kelly that she is no mortal and Kelly happens to be the Princess of faerie world who is being hunted by powerful creatures from the faerie realm.
Andrea B.

Hunger by Michael Grant

4/5 Stars

A book set in the 21^st century full of lots of thrills and many chills. A great read for young teens. A book where all humans over the age of fourteen have disappeared and a barrier has sprung up all around perdido beach. This forces these teens and young children to cope with hunger and solve problems that would require more maturity than most regular teens would have.

Kinsley G.

Pass the Book!

This year's Pass the Book title is "The Factory Voice" by Jeanette Lynes. Pass the Book is a program that runs across Durham Public Libraries, giving everyone the chance to check out a great book and then talk about it with others!

This year's book is a World War II novel. Candace Fertile (Quill & Quire Magazine) writes that "Jeanette Lynes’ debut novel, The Factory Voice, is an entertaining and engaging story set in an airplane factory in Fort William, Ontario, during the Second World War. Lynes, a professor at St. Francis Xavier University, brings the wartime experiences of the factory women to vivid life by skillfully employing the language and manners of the era."

The book features several characters, one of whom is teenager Audrey Foley who ran away from an arranged marriage and became the factory's snackwagon girl.
Interested in learning more, or checking out some of the fun 40s themed programmes this summer? Visit the Pass the Book blog at http://www.passthebook.ca/.

Stardust

Directed by Matthew Vaughn
5/5 Stars
Stardust is a great movie! It is about this man that really wanted to marry this girl so when he sees a shooting star he told he would go and retrieve it. So he returns home to his father and his father gives him a note from his mother. Attached to it a candle so he uses this to travel to his mother that he has never met before, but as he was wishing to go to his mother “the star” popped into his head. Instead of traveling to his mother he travelled to the star. “The Star” ended up being a lady and from there they set of to go back home so he could give the star to the girl he wishes to marry! The only problem is that there is a witch and a princess also looking for the star! In this movie they over came a lot of obstacles but he finally discovers that “The Star” is his one true love and marries her!!!
Nataly L.

Amazing Grace

Amazing Grace
Michael Apred
5/5
Amazing Grace is a true and heart-touching story of how slave trading came to end. Up until the 18th century, eleven million African men, women and children were taken to West Indies and American colonies as slaves. Slave trading being one of the greatest economic activities in the British Empire, was in favour of all but a few. Amoung these few, William Wiberforce (Joan Gruffudd) was brave enough to express his opposing to opinions about the slave trade in public. William Wilberforce was a prosperous Member of Parliament (MP) who not only tried to end the slave trade, but also tried to make the world a better place. Although William wanted to end slave trading it wasn’t easy. William’s passion of passing a bill on the abolition of slave trade hasn’t succeeded as many MPs in the parliament relied on slave trade. But even if William failed for the first time, his perseverance and honest way of abolishing British slave trade hasn’t disappeared. With the help of his fellow mates – Equiano, William Pitt and John Newton – William Wilberforce was able to overthrow the opposition party and pass the bill and finally succeed in the abolition of slave trade. Amazing Grace takes us on an emotional and romantic journey of a man whose ambition was not only to end slave trade but it’s improved education and health care and social conditions in his country. In the end, William proved that slave trading is a disgrace to humanity and every man – no matter what race or colour he is – is equal in God’s eyes.
Geervani D.

Secret's out: St Jude's New Girl by Carmen Reid

This girl named Gina has a half brother named Menzie and as far as they know, they have always lived in a nice house and her parents, I guess you could say rich and so they lived in luxury. She loves her 3 best friends, Paula, Ria, and Maddison and they always hung out. They had this plan to hook up with Paula’s boyfriend, Martinez and 3 of his friends and go to a festival and see some cool bands. Some were planning on losing their virginity. Gina got in trouble though, she spent all her money on clothes and got bad grades and her mom was not pleased at all. Gina is now being sent to Scotland to go to some boarding school called St. Jude’s. Now Gina has to leave her luxury life she has been living in and leave her friends behind. She learns to cope with her new life and her 3 kooky dorm buddies.
This book is a good read and it’s hilarious. This book keeps me interested in it and when I know I have to do something else I kept reading it. I would recommend it to other teens especially since we can relate to this or have seen this happen before.
Chelsea S.

The Sweet Life of Stella Madison by Lara M. Zeises

4/5 Stars
In the book The Sweet Life of Stella Madison the main character has a boyfriend Max that tells her that he loves her. Stella just rubs it off and goes to her work, which is her parents’ restaurant Open Kitchen. There she meets this hot intern, Jeremy, who she has a crush on once she sees him. While Ben is home sick, Stella is reviewing restaurants (for her internships with Jeremy). One day Stella finds out that her (separated) parents are seeing other people. On her 18th birthday party everything crashes. In the end Stella find out that she’s a foodie just like her parents.
I think this book is very good. I just love how the author makes you feel as if you are actually tasting the food. I also like how food, boys and separated parents are all in one neat package. This book is a total page turner!
Grace N.