Larkin's Book Bloggers

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Do you like books about deadly outbreaks of flesh eating monsters? How about books in which people are willing to risk their life and the lives of others to find out what’s over a fence? Sounds intriguing? Then you should definitely read the book, The Dead-Tossed Waves.

Mellie, Cira, Catcher, and Gabry hop over a fence. The guards are the least of their worries. When the Mudo sense the presence of a human, they go wild. Hidden around every corner until the perfect time is near, the Mudo creep out and attack their next meal. As they make their move, they attack the four teens. As the days go on, the teenagers try to cope with the tragic and very foolish punishments they receive for their stupid act over the fence. When Gabry’s mother fights to defend her when she needs it the most, she bursts out and tells Gabry that she was adopted, that she was found in the forbidden forest, half dead and very alone. When Gabry finds this out, she sets out on a journey to discover two things – her lost friends and her long-lost mother.

I though that the book The Dead-Tossed Waves was a very interesting and weird sort of package. It was definitely full of mysterious things. I thought that this book was a lot like the movie, I Am Legend. I didn’t like how the author had people dying and going missing all the time, it kind of freaked me out. One minute someone would be talking and then the next they’re dead, come on, give me a break! I guess I had mixed feelings about this book. Sometimes I couldn’t put the book down, and other times, I had more important things to do! I honestly would recommend this book to anyone who loves reading books about dramatic romance, friends in jeopardy, and the fact that teens don’t know how to make the right choices. In the end I hope you ENJOY!

Gabby S., EMS Blogger

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Have you ever heard of Tim Green? He was once an NFL player for the Atlanta Falcons. Now he coaches baseball for his kids and writes books. He uses his knowledge of sports to write realistic sports stories. In his new book, Rivals, he definitely uses his sports knowledge to write this exhilarating story about a boy named Josh with a big dream.

If you like baseball then this is the book for you. The main character Josh enters the Cooperstown Hall of Fame Tournament with his team. There they play teams from across the country. Josh and his team find one team that they know they will play if they make it to the finals, the Comets. The team then realizes the umpire is helping the Comets and making bad calls against other teams. Josh tells his dad as they keep an eye on them and prepare for them if they make it to the finals. After the game Josh finished that day he goes to a restaurant and sees Mickey’s assistant giving the umpire money. Mickey is the star pitcher for the Comets and the best player. The next day Josh gets suspicious and goes to the umpire’s house to, confront the umpire about the money that Mickey’s assistant gave him. Will Josh get the money and prove the Comets are winning by cheating? Well you will have to read and find out.

I thought this book was extremely good and very exciting. This book is very well written and suspenseful. I thought that Josh had a lot guts to go and accuse the umpire of cheating. I thought Josh had a lot on his mind with trying to win the championship and trying to catch the umpire.  Overall, this book would be good for anyone who likes baseball and a little mystery.

Justin M., EMS Blogger

Twelve year old Josh is playing baseball on his little league team and they are scheduled to play in the Hall of Fame Tournament in Cooperstown, New York. It’s a huge tournament that rivals the Little League World Series in popularity. Upon arriving, Josh discovers his own rival, Mickey Mullen Jr., son of the Boston Red Sox great Mickey Mullen.  Later he sees the team’s assistant coach give the head umpire a suspicious envelope, and later the umpire makes some questionable calls in favor of the Mullens.  Josh starts to fear that Mickey may be trying to bribe the head umpire into calling the game in his team’s favor. Josh has to find a way to level the playing field so he and the Titans can win the Hall of Fame Tournament.

This story has a great plot and inspirational story with lots of great baseball action mixed in. I loved the way the author tells how Josh and his friends have adventures on and off the field, like the investigation of the Mullen’s bribary attempts. This makes the book much more interesting. One of the only problems I had with this book was the author spent too much time talking about Josh trying to solve problems in his personal life. For example Josh made his friend Jaden mad at him and, all throughout the tournament, he was trying to get her to like him again. So the more time he spent worrying about getting his friend back, the less time he spent on the baseball field. Overall though I thought this was a great book. If you like sports novels you should definitely read this book!

Kyle W., EMS Blogger

CHECK OUT TIM GREEN’S WEBSITE!

http://www.timgreenbooks.com/

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“You,” Isaac pointed towards Baz, the main character, “you are coming to the island with us.” If you were Baz, this would be the happiest day ever in your life. Although this island is definitely not what Baz had expected.

X Isle takes place in the future where the whole world is flooded. One island remains though that isn’t flooded. This place is run by six adults who – for some strange reason – only take young, teenage boys to the island.

Every once in awhile the six adults go back to the mainland on a boat and look for two new boys to take. Everyone wants to be selected as X Isle is thought to be a place of paradise.  All the teenage boys on the mainland will gather in one of the flooded streets where the leaders are parked. Parents will show them valuable things to give them in exchange for choosing their sons. There the boys would work for them and, in exchange, they get three meals a day and a bed. The first person the leaders take on the boat is a kid named Ray. Baz is then selected. Baz says goodbye to his dad and steps onto the boat that will lead him to the island. After a long journey on the boat, the two kids arrive at the island. As soon as they get off, Baz and Ray immediately have to carry loads of food to the kitchen. Also, Baz and Ray get into a fight with the people in charge after getting off. Then Baz meets the other six kids on the island. The other teens teach Baz the schedule – which is working all the time except on Sundays when they rest. At dinner, one of the leaders, Steiner, came in to give them their food. Each person got one tin of food. There are two meat cans, two beans, two spaghetti, and two tomato cans. Baz ended up with the tomatoes and was starving after. After a couple days there were many food shortages and some of the kids were being abused. Baz and his pals are getting more annoyed and scared. They also have been over-hearing rumors about sacrifices. What is going on at X Isle? What are the boys being used for? Will the boys revolt? To find out what the kids do, you’ll have to read X Isle. What they do is completely unexpected!

I thought X Isle was a great thriller. The best way to describe this book is, expect the unexpected! Many twists happen in the book that I never would’ve thought about. I loved when the leaders were scaring the kids by shoving them down a sewer. Then the kids shoved the leaders in and started a huge fight! The only bad thing about this book was it didn’t start off fast. All the book did was describe Baz at work every day. Then the book just took off like a rocket. Then kids started to do weird things, but if I told you, I would give the book away. This book is a great thriller and everybody who loves action and suspense will love this book!

Kevin S., EMS Blogger

And check out the author’s link to find out more about Steve Augarde!

http://www.steveaugarde.com/

“Going to a magic school with other prodigium is how my dad put it. Basically, it’s prodigium juvy” said Sophie. Are you wondering what a prodigium is? Well I was too when I started reading. Read Hex Hall to find out.

Hex Hall is by Rachel Hawkins. In the book a girl named Sophie does a love spell that goes terribly wrong. Well, it’s a love spell, what does she expect? They always go wrong! Sophie’s dad orders her to Hectate Hall (which everyone calls Hex Hall), a school for training prodigium powers. (Prodigium powers are magical powers). All the prodigium at Hex Hall are there because they did something wrong. Sophie arrives and discovers she is roommates with a supposedly vicious vampire, but when she spends time with her, she finds that she really likes her and that she is just misunderstood. The three most popular girls at her school, led by a girl named Elodie, ask her to join their coven. She says no because her roommate Jenna (the vampire) told her stories about the girls and what they have done in the past. But when she declines their offer, they tell her about last year when the fourth member of their coven was killed. They found her with two holes in her neck and all her blood gone. Sounds like something a vampire would do. Sophie is confused because she really likes Jenna and she is the only friend Sophie has at Hex Hall, is it really true that Jenna is a killer? Holly, the girl who was killed, was Jenna’s roommate after all. Now the girls have it out for her because she said no to them - a word they are not used to hearing. To make matters worse, she falls for Archer, Elodie’s boyfriend. Then girls start being mysteriously attacked. Everybody else thinks that it is Jenna, but Sophie is hesitant to believe them. The girls don’t just have two little holes in their necks, they also have cuts on their wrists and show up floating almost dead in bathtubs - blood flowing from their wounds. Wouldn’t Jenna drink it all? Then Sophie finds out that Archer, Elodie’s boyfriend and the person she likes, is part of a secret association to kill all prodigium. She is confused because Archer is a warlock. Why would he want to kill his own breed? Want to find out? Read Hex Hell!

I thought this book was a little bit violent the way the girls kept getting killed. But I did like the suspense in the book. I liked all the mystery it had in it. It let you guess for yourself. I didn’t like how no one was honest with Sophie in the book; no one told her the whole truth ever. She didn’t know she was a witch until her 13th birthday when her parents knew they absolutely had to tell her. I didn’t like how there was so many things you had to remember. All these little “prodigium” (magical powers) rules. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes mystery, suspense, and fantasy.

Elizabeth J., EMS Blogger

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“Again, the cemetery was oddly silent. From the top of the hill, the tombstones glowed like thousands of pearls against the dark velvet grass. In a photograph, these stone-hewn jewels would be stunning against this otherworldly backdrop. But not now.” Sounds eerie doesn’t it? The book Tombstone Tea by Joanne Dahme is full of mystery, thrills, and shocking events. It is the type of book you can’t put down without itching to pick up again and start reading! If you love fantasy with a twist of mystery, this is definitely the book for you!

This book starts off with the main character Jessie moving from her old town, Doylestown, to her new home in East Falls. She is nervous about becoming the school nerd again and not being able to fit in. When she meets a group of girls who are the school’s most popular, she tries to become one of them by accepting a dare to spend a night in the local cemetery. By lying to her mother and saying she is spending the night at their house, she heads off to the cemetery where she is to collect rubbings from some of the most well- known tombstones. . . but there’s only one problem, she runs into one of the gravediggers there, whose name is Paul, and soon finds out he’s not human! He’s a spirit and has been working there for years and years! As Jessie tries to leave, he takes her further and further into the cemetery, and on the way they run into who he calls “ Actors of the Tombstone Tea “, who turn out to be spirits too! As they collect the rubbings for the dare, they meet many different spirits who talk about their past lives and explain that it is dangerous for her to be there with the angry spirit named Jenny who still is in grief over losing her daughter, Amy. As they avoid Jenny, they soon run into Amy who is still extremely mad at her mother for treating her as the perfect girl all her life and soon it is up to Jessie to fix this feud between mother and daughter. Can she do it? Can she travel back in time to fix the mistake that led to this? Read this book to find out along with many other shocking secrets that you never would have guessed!

This book was really good! I enjoyed reading it except it was kind of hard to follow because it kept switching on and off between Jessie and Paul’s point of view, which you never figured out who it was talking about, until at least five pages in when they were spoken to. Other than that, Tombstone Tea just has so much mystery in it. For example, when Jessie is sent to fix the feud between Jenny and Amy, the author made it so you would think something would happen but she would drift away from it to make you sit there and wonder when you are ever going to figure out what happens! If you like mystery or ghost stories, I would highly recommend this book for you! I promise you’ll be surprised!

Tiffany L, EMS blogger