The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

When you open The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, you are embarking on a Five Star reading experience! The setting is Nazi Germany during the Second World War. You history scholars out there know immediately the atrocities that could be included and Mr. Zusak does not hold back. His descriptions of the lines of Jewish people being marched through the center of town--weary, hungry, and thirsty--send chills through your bones. Would you like to know which character in the book is telling you the story? Death. Yes, death is the narrator.

Death is kind. Death is also weary. He's grown tired of the work claiming all the souls he must tend to; the souls of those being marched through the center of town to their death at the command of Hitler.

Liesel Meminger is the book thief. She so longs to read that she takes books from others cleverly sneaking into the home of a wealthy woman helping herself to the woman's personal library. It's a bit ironic that the first book Liesel takes she finds in a graveyard. It's title: The Gravedigger's Handbook. You see, death is all around.

Reviewed by Mrs. Boehm

Skin and Other Stories by Roald Dahl

The whole book is filled with great short stories. I always loved reading books with short stories basically because the story keeps changing.

The first story in this is called Skin. Skin is about a greedy group of art dealers who will stop at nothing to separate a poor man from a valued picture tattooed on his back.

Another story in the book is Lamb to Slaughter. Lamb to Slaughter is about a married couple, the O'Mailey's. When Mr. O'Mailey brings bad news to Mrs. O'Mailey, she loses herself and ends up killing her husband with a lamb leg. After the incident she feeds the lamb leg to the police.

There are other stories in this book. Skin and Lamb to Slaughter are my favorites.

Reviewed by student M. Wood

Sight by Adrienne Maria Vrettos

I opened this book on a Saturday morning and could NOT put it down! The descriptive language and flow of the story hooked me instantly.

"It is a wide-sky darkness, made pale by a full moon rising, the desert sand reflecting its glow. We follow a dirt road, our headlights devouring the tracks we made just hours ago, when there was still daylight, and hope. In every direction the desert and the night sky are following in each other's footsteps, pushing farther and farther into the empty distance until their edges press together at the horizon."

When I read Adrienne Maria Vrettos' opening paragraph in Sight, she held my hand and took me on a literary ride that wouldn't end until Sunday evening. This is one suspenseful story!

Dylan is sixteen years old and she has psychic abilities - she can see children in the last moments before they are murdered. She has kept this ability secret from her friends, but they have secrets too. You will be on the edge of your seat until the end when all the pieces come together and you can finally breathe a sigh of relief.

Reviewed by Mrs. Boehm

A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly

Sometimes I choose a book based on the awards that it states on the cover that it has received and as luck would have it, this novel has such a list. Luckily, it has lived up to its stated potential - a great read!

Based on a true "murder" story set back in the early 1900's, this story weaves a tale around a young woman, Mattie Gokey, her family, friends, new romance, hardships and, yes, what the murder has done to her young life. Set in the "Northwoods" of upper state New York, the novel highlights the summer of a young high schooler, her passion for learning, her unfounded friendships at a summer resort, her future goals to attend college, and a budding romance with the "hot" neighbor.

The reader is drawn into A Northern Light and never disappointed with the unsolved "mystery" of the murder (be sure to read the author's note at the end) but intrigued, especially toward the end, with the unexpected finale, or was it, you tell me. This book is worth the effort.

A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly was a Printz Honor recipient for excellence in young adult literature in 2004.

Reviewed by Mrs. Rozanski