No Castles Here-A.C.E Bauer

Great book. A.C.E Bauer is an amazing story teller, an she admits it to us in the back of her book. Its a little elementary, meaning it is NOT challenging what-so-ever.

This book covers a lot of controversial topics such as gays, racial discrimination, bullying, teenage pregnancy, and a tinsy bit of incest which blew my mind. I mean, seriously? This is a childrens book! But it does cover them in a respecting manner; A.C.E Bauer doesn't discriminate against any of the things she is talking about and makes very meaningful points in her book as well.

The book itself is about a little white boy named Augie[Ah-ghe] living in Camden, New Jersey, a run down town over thrown by gangs and poverty. He is the only white child in town and is constantly bullied because of it, so life is hard. One day he stumbles into a book shop in Philly and discovers he likes reading and from there things go crazy. His school is getting shut down to save money, his mom gets him a Big Brother and he learns he can sing. Its actually very interesting once you read it although it is a little oddly sewn together. But it works.

And for A.C.E. Bauer, I am expecting greater things coming from you in the hopefully near future.

Deadly Little Secrets-Laurie Faria Stolarz

This book was amazing. It gave me so many goosebumps and not to mention the way Laurie Faria Stolarz describes her characters and creates mystery is a gift I am so jealous of. Not to sound wierd or anything but Ben, my gosh did he sound fine or what? I think she is great at balancing this book with the drama, friends, romance, mystery and a little sprinkle of sci-fi.

I love the way she developed her characters. She made them sound very real although many of them are out of the ordinary. Like take for example Kimmie, the main charater's bestfriend. Ms. Stolarz had taken the picture of a steriotypical, boy loving teenager and mixed her in with a fashionista and gave her some outstanding traits. She has a black pixie cut and has a flair for old-timey clothes like the 20's and not to metion that 1950's poodle skirt of hers. She developed a strong foundation and gave each of her caharters life and a pulse. [You would the pulse statement if you read the book.]

Now her way of creating a super creepy stalker in the story was cool too. You kept guessing the whole time who was stalking her and at first you think for sure its Ben. I never thought it was him. I always thought it was John Kenneally, but I was obviously, I was WAYYY wrong. She has a way of weaving the unexpected into the obvious and loving aspects of the book. I can't wait to get my hands on her next book which came out on the 10th, Deadly Little Lies.


-uneekteen [Lainy Barnes]