The Reality Bug by D.J. MacHale
Review by Eugenia 

The Reality Bug is a very unique story and is one of four novels in the Pendragon Series. This book is classified as fantasy, but it does not contain fairies and magic, but it does have a variety of fictional places, (territories), such as Veelox in this particular book. In all of the four stories, Bobby, the main character, is trying to keep Saint Dane, the evil guy, from collapsing these territories into disaster. However in this book, Lifelight, a popular creation created by a young boy (age 11), that turns reality into paradise by pulling things out of your mind, takes over the whole city, but then goes wrong, it’s all up to Bobby to stop it. This plot was very suspenseful and kept me reading to find out what happened next.

          In my opinion, boys and girls would like this series of novels, Pendragon. Even if some people do not particularly like fantasy, this story has a plot of its own, very different from a book like Artemis Fowl.

          In this book, there wasn’t anything I didn’t like. The author kept the story by introducing a new idea on every page.

          D.J. MacHale did a very good job in the first book, The Merchant of Death, describing the characters and the whole plot in a limited amount of time. He didn’t keep the reader waiting for a too long for the action to begin.  Also, in my opinion, each book in the series gets better and better, even if one thinks it can’t get any better. D.J. MacHale ha san amazing ability of making words into n exciting, suspenseful story.

          Although this is a fictional story, the author adds in some lessons for the reader to pick up as well. For example, even if one bad thing happens, you have to go on with your life. You can’t let one mistake bring you down. Also, in all the books, the author includes the sentence; this is the way it was meant to be, at least twice. This shows that sometimes if a bad thing happens, maybe that was the way it was meant to be.

          By reading this book, I learned that by trying different genres, you can learn about how different one author’s way of writing is different than others. For example, in this story, the author keeps the reader interested in the story by not including too many details.

          Although D.J. MacHale is a rather new author, he has a gift for writing like no other. For all of these reasons and more, the Pendragon

The Ride of My Life

       My view on the book “The Ride of My Life” was different from many other books I have read.  One reason I think it was a good book was because it was non fiction and the other books I’ve read are fiction.  I also knew a lot about what they were talking about and in most other books I don’t. 

        It was a good book but I would recommend it for older kids.  One reason is because it has a lot of swears in it.  Another reason is because it was long.  It was 311 pages.  

        It was fast paced in some parts like in the middle, so it took longer to read it in that spot.  It was also slower in some spots like at the end and begging so I could read it faster.  I learned that you should live life to its fullest so if you die tomorrow you will die a good death and you wouldn’t feel empty. 

        It made me want to read on. I don’t like how it was at a fast paced because it was hard for me to follow along.  I did like how it told you about his life and all the records he broke. I also liked how it told you all the bones he broke and how.  It also told about his business and how he got it started.

Running Out of Time is suspenseful and interesting, and it is also one of my favorites. Running Out of Time is great for both boys and girls ages 12-14 and anyone who likes mystery, suspense and a touching moral. Margaret Peterson Haddix builds up clues throughout the plot pulls you in. I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did.

Running with Scissors
Reviewed by Chris

I recently read the tragic book, Running with Scissors. It was unlike anything I’ve ever read before. This book dealt with many problems I definitely don’t want to face. It showed me just how much worse my life could be.         

          I didn’t really enjoy the setting in this book. It was always confusing where the main character, Augusten was. I’m pretty sure he was in Masseuses most of the time, but he moved around so much, I can’t be sure. 

          The conflicts in this book could happen, but I can’t imagine them happening. I know it’s real because it’s a memoir, yet I am still in disbelief.

A kid gets given away at the age of twelve, adopted by a psycho-psychologist, who looks like Santa and never has any friends. It is funny in a weird, twisted way. I couldn’t relate to this book at all.

          There weren’t many things I didn’t like about this book. Some of the characters could have been explained more, but that was it. I liked the other characters though. They were described very well. They had depth. They had emotion and sometimes, you knew how they were going to react. 

          I would recommend this book for adults. It is certainly not for seventh graders. Late high school and early college would be fine. 

          I finished this book with a new look on life. The moral of this story is “No matter how bad you think you’ve got it, somebody has got it worse.”  I have learned to appreciate the way I’ve “got it” more.