14-year-old Emma loves reviewing books!

One of my favorite things to do at New Moon is to open mail that we get from girls. From time to time, I get an email with several book reviews from Emma in British Columbia. I love reading her book reviews because she often writes about books I've read or thought about reading! Below are a few of her reviews in honor of Teen Read Week. :)

All-American Girl by Meg Cabot
Reviewed by Emma, Age 14

Gwen Stefani can get any boy she wants. Well, maybe not ANY boy, but she could probably get the boy I want. Who sadly is my sister's boyfriend. But whatever. And if Gwen chose to wear black every single day, people would just accept it as a sign of her great genius and no one would make ninja comments, like they do about me.

Samantha has problems; Her sister, Lucy, is perfect. Her sister's boyfriend, Jack, is even more perfect, but in a different way. Her German teacher hates her, and is giving her a C-minus. This of course has NOTHING to do with her secret business drawing and selling celebrity portraits in class. This business did not of course stay secret. Thanks, Lucy. As punishment, Samantha is being forced to take art lessons. Oh, and did I mention the Pineapple Incident...?

Meg Cabot is the American author of All-American Girl. Some of her other work includes The Princess Diaries series, Haunted, Nicola and the Viscount, and Victoria and the Rogue. She is also a ghostwriter, meaning she writes under other names. I recommend All-American Girl to kids (mostly girls) age 10-16.

All-American Girl is a story about a regular teenage outcast, labeled something different by everyone, and never really understood. Samantha's world is well-orchestrated and amusing, with many interesting characters. The plot is outrageous, and the tone hilarious, as we see into Samantha's world through her own eyes. From capitalized nouns to Capitol Cookies, from Wite-Out daisies to the White House, Samantha's life is about to take some crazy turns!

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Sun Signs by Shelley Hrdlitschka.
Reviewed by Emma, Age 14

From: cosmicgirl
To: distantstudybuddies
Subject: calling all science 10 victims

Who else thinks science projects should be outlawed?? Have any of you started It yet? My horoscope this week is right on, as usual. It says I can't continue to ignore the project that's been left undone. Can you believe it? It's like it's directed exclusively at me. Do all geminis have science projects they haven't started yet? I don't think so.

Cancer-stricken Kaileigh Wyse (aka cosmicgirl) explores the future as well as the cyberworld around her when she starts a term project on astrology. Kaileigh is part of distantstudybuddies, for kids unable or unwilling to attend regular school. She soon meets starlight, blondie, and 2good, who become her Leo subjects, her guinea pigs. They report to her on the accuracy of their daily horoscopes, and she begins to learn who they are, or at least, who they say they are...

Shelley Hrdlitschka (that's her-dah-LITCH-kah) writes from her home in North Vancouver, BC, where she lives with her husband and three daughters. Shelley is the author of Dancing Naked, as well as several other books for teens. She is also a Cancer.

Sun Signs is different in that it is written all in the form of e-mails between Kaileigh, her teacher, an astrologer, and the Leo subjects. It is also on two levels. One, the e-chattering and mystery of the studybuddies, focused around her project; And two, the moving e-mails and weekly diary entries of a sick teen, as Kaileigh pours out her soul to the non-replying astrologer, and her own "Immortal Gemini Twin." I recommend this book to kids age 10-16.

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What do you think? Have you read either of these books? Have the reviews made you interested? I'm personally interested in picking up a copy of Sun Signs! Leave a comment or send your own book reviews to blog@newmoon.org.

Category: books, events
Posted by: Lacey