Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Mockingjay is the final book in the Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins. It is, in my opinion, the best book out of the three. Katniss is back "home" from the capitol. However, home is not District 12, where she has lived all along. 12 was bombed in hopes to punish Katniss for the stunt she pulled at the Quarter Quell. She is now living in District 13. Her new home is anything but the ordinary. For starters, they live underground. She would probably be happier if she had Peeta, but he is being held hostage in the Capitol. When a group is formed to go and rescue Peeta, Katniss is not allowed to go. When he comes back, he is very confused. He does not associate love with Katniss, but he associates fear. After a very long time, Katniss and Peeta start to get along with each other. Everyone is very upset by all this that they form a group and go to the Capitol themselves. Many lives are lost along the way, including some very important and loved people. Even though their relationship will never be the same as it use to be, they are back together and very happy.

There is a very surprising twist waiting for you at the end. This book is one of my all time favorites. Before you read this book, make sure you read The Hunger Games and Catching Fire.

Eve F.

E. S. Rhodes

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Catching Fire, in my opinion is a fantastic book. It is the sequel to the Hunger Games, but make sure you read the first one first. Catching Fire starts off with Katniss and Peeta waiting for their victory tour to begin. Then however, Katniss is told that after her performance in the games, she must prove that she and Peeta are madly in love. If this fails, the entire nation could be thrown into rebellion. The victory tour is a whirlwind of emotions for the two of them and before they know it, the Quarter Quell, is upon them. However, soon there is a twist that could change their lives for the better or for the worse. This is one of the best books I have ever read. It provides action, suspense, romance and a huge twist at the end. If I had to rank this book out of every book I have ever read, this one would be in the top five. Suzanne Collins has done a fantastic job on this book and an even better job on the series as a whole. If you liked the Hunger Games you will love this book and the next one in the series, Mockingjay.

Out of the websites concerning the Hunger Games Trilogy, I feel this one is the best.

Nat H.

E.S. Rhodes

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

The Hunger Games is about an annual game that takes place in the future. There are 12 districts around the world. The Capital rules the world. This is because the world was destroyed in a large war. A small amount of land and people were left, and they rebuilt the world. Unfortunately, most districts are in poverty. Few districts were rich. They became rich by winning The Hunger Games. If you win, you obtain a large sum of money for you and your district. When the Hunger Games begin, two kids, a male and female, are randomly chosen to participate in the Hunger Games. The problem is that this game is a fight to the death. 24 children try to kill each other. The last person standing wins the Games. The story revolves around Katniss Everdeen, who takes her sister, Prim’s, place in the Hunger Games. She has one goal: Stay alive.

I personally enjoyed The Hunger Games. It was well written and very intense at times. My favorite part of the book is hard to decide. I loved everything in it. I think I liked the part with the trackerjackers the best, though. Trackerjackers are deadly bees invented by the Capital for war. Their stings cause delusions, and soon, death. Katniss is hiding in a tree when she knocks a nest of trackerjackers to the ground. They attack her, and other tributes trying to kill her. Katniss obtains only a couple stings, and she has the power to stay alive. Sadly, the others don’t fare as well as Katniss. A girl named Glitter is stung multiple times, and she is killed. I dislike the scene where Katniss found Peeta, though. The scene just dragged on, and was boring. I think Foxface was my favorite character. There wasn’t much back story about her, but you only needed a little information to know her. She was sly, and stealthy.

I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone. I would even recommend it to people who hate reading, because even they would be captured by its plot. With this book, it doesn’t matter what your age is. You will love this book no matter what. You can read it at any age, because it is a great book. -- D.R., Garden City

Isaac Newton by Kathleen Krull

Many of us have enjoyed Kathleen Krull's Lives of the Presidents, Lives of the Athletes, and so on. Isaac Newton is the second book in the new series, Giants of Science, and a marvelous book it is!

We meet Isaac Newton the man, with all his hatreds, fears, and idiosyncrasies, as we read about his investigations of light, motion, and matter. Fascinated and frustrated with alchemy, Newton was in some ways a Harry Potter. Cambridge University, where Newton was Lucasian Professor of Mathematics, was not unlike Hogwarts in atmosphere. Here the similarities end. Seventeenth century England was a place where the temperamental Newton verbally sparred with Robert Hooke, Robert Boyle, and Edmund Halley. It was Newton who bridged the gap from a mysterious natural world to modern science based on observation and hypothesis. His laws of motion form the basis for classical physics. 

Check out other biographies in the series, including the soon to be published biography of Albert Einstein,  who called Newton the greatest genius of all time:

http://www.kathleenkrull.com/science.html

Book Suggestion: Shredderman Series #1: Secret Identity, by Wendelin Van Draanen

If you need a step up from Diary of a Wimpy Kid, you need to check out Wendelin Van Draanen's realistic fiction Shredderman series. There's the unlikely but likeable protagonist, Nolan, his very real-life problems (bullying), and the stroke of genius which inspires his unusual solution: he creates his own super-powered cyber secret identity. Fortunately, this is the first of a series of five, and you're going to want to read each one (best in order, of course). The illustrations by Brian Biggs are hysterical.

If you're really curious, I'll save you some time with the sequels:

#2 Attack of the tagger

#3 Meet the gecko

#4 Enemy spy

#5 (stay tuned! Coming out May, 2009)

Related links:

Shredderman's own extremely fun website

http://www.randomhouse.com/kids/vandraanen/shredderman/

The author's website

http://www.randomhouse.com/kids/vandraanen/shredderman/clean/about.html