Napoli.  North.  

Nichols, Aeleta. The Third Child.  

ÙÙÙÙÙ Danielle, ninth grade

     The book The Third Child is a real page-turner. When Lynn’s mother dies, she found a letter in her drawer from a woman named Rachel Payne. It contained something about neglecting a third child. 

     Lynn finds Ms. Payne and ends up staying with her as her personal secretary. But when strange things start to happen, like someone trying to kill Lynn, and Ms. Payne’s Granddaughter stealing the revolver out of the safe, Lynn doesn’t know if she’s safe in the old mansion anymore. 

     This book is one of my favorites and I recommend it to anyone who likes a good mystery book. There are a number of times when the reader just doesn’t want to put the book down. The book may appear as somewhat scary to some people due to the cover, but it really isn’t as scary as it might appear.

Neufeld, John.  Lisa, Bright and Dark.  New York: NAL~Dutton.

Nordhoff and Hall.  Mutiny on the Bounty.  

Oates, Joyce Carol.  We Were the Mulvaneys. 

O'Brien, Robert C.  Z is for Zechariah.  New York: Macmillan Children's Book Group.  

ÙÙÙÙÙ Collin, 8th grade 

A teenage girl survives a post nuclear war era on her own in a small valley.  As time goes on, she teaches herself how to grow crops and raise animals, until a stranger show up and changes everything.  The book has a gradual start then it slows down towards the middle with an exciting ending that keeps you reading. 

O'Brien, Tim.  If Die in a Combat Zone.  New York: Dell.

O'Brien, Tim.  The Things They Carried.  Broadway Books, New York .

«««««Andrew, 11^th grade 

The Things They Carried is a collection of short stories relating to the Vietnam war. It tells the myriad of perspectives, feelings and truths behind why a soldier fights. It is a very good book, offering a unique and enthralling insight in to the minds of soldiers.

ÙÙÙÙÙ Fuller, 11th grade 

Tim O’Brien is a veteran of the Vietnam War, and author of The Things They Carried.  Soldiers at war carry a wide variety of different things all depending on their situations.  Tim O’Brien discusses these items and their uses, then goes on to tell about how he interacted with them and struggled to survive the war on his own.  I rated this book with three out of five stars because for the first three chapters it was like an endless list of things people carried at war.  There was no story at all, but shortly after the plot picked up and story starting moving on.  I’d suggest this book to maybe a little younger kids because it’s easy but not to older students or ones who get tired of books fairly easy. 

O’Dell, Scott.  The Black Pearl.  Yearling.      Fuller, 10th grade 

        Ramon Salazar was a young boy who was know all across the Baja Peninsula for his capture of the black pearl.  He claimed to have found it in the lairs of the monster beneath, the monster was none other then Manta Diablo.  It was a giant squid lurking the depths and known for eating humans alive.  Ramon was looked at as a role model and almost like a god of La Paz (village where Ramon Lived).  In some ways he took advantage of his creditability by showboating or rubbing it in everyone’s face how good he was but really he was not much better then anyone else.  His family was fairly poor and struggling but he didn’t care about anyone but himself.  The character choice in the book was pretty bad but It makes the story.  I gave this story three out of five stars because it was decent and short but a little to boring for my likings.  I wouldn’t suggest it unless you’ve got nothing else to read.   

O’Dell, Scott.  Island of the Blue Dolphins

ÙÙÙÙÙ Kate, tenth grade 

      A teenage Native American girl is alone on an island trying to survive with no other person to help her. It wasn’t always like this though; other Indians used to live there with her, until the Russians came and they left in fear. 

     Now she’s on her own, isolated from humans. She has to fend for herself and become swift and smart in order to find food, make shelter, and stay away from the wild dogs.

      This novel is told through the young girl’s eyes, and I enjoyed her outlook on situations.  It’s an exciting story that will make you adore the unique girl and her adventures.

ÙÙÙÙÙ Mr. Greenlee

O’Dell, Scott.  Sarah Bishop.  

O’Dell, Scott.  Sing Down the Moon.    

ÙÙÙÙÙ Halee, 8th grade 

The book Sing Down The Moon is an awesome book, it tells about the ways if life of tribe who live in a canyon. They live there for a long time and then are driven out by the Long knives. When their homes are destroyed, they are brought to all new land that is bad for growing crops. It also tells about the struggles of the moving of many tribes. This book is fantastic and I would recommend it to anyone because of its easy reading level and it is easy to understand as well.

O’Neal, Zibby.  The Language of Goldfish.  New York: Puffin Books.

Oppel, Kenneth.   Airborn.   

www.airborn.ca/airborn.htm 

ÙÙÙÙÙ Jesse

   Matt Cruse has worked on the Aurora, which is their ship, for a long time.  His father died, and his only family left is his mom and sisters.  He is a good worker and wants a promotion.  However, one day he spots a dying balloonist who speaks of beautiful creatures in the sky.  Matt Cruse meets up with a passenger named Kate, and they seem to like each other.  She wants to find those creatures that her grandpa wrote about in his journal.

ÙÙÙÙÙ Mr. Greenlee

This is a fun, fun book.  Okay, so the escape from the pit was hokey; perhaps the whole plot was somewhat hackneyed.  But the characters were likeable and the action, given the swashbuckling circumstances,  flowed out of that situation in an uncontrived manner.  The airship concept was fascinating, and I enjoyed the blueprints and the website.  It was paced well, and I read through it without setting it aside once - a very good tale.  

Orwell, George Animal Farm.  

Orwell, George.  1984.  

ÙÙ An essay thinly disguised as a novel

Osborne, Mary. Mermaid Tales From Around the World. 

      This book tries to incorporate a lot of different stories from around the world.  The reason I did not like it and decided to abandon it is stuff just pops out of no where.  For example, a man is trying to figure out how to kill a sea serpent, and out of no where he just knows: well the only thing that can kill it is with salvia.  I just don’t understand the randomness of all the stories.  Also most of the stories have unhappy endings, with someone kills someone, someone runs away, or somebody ends up dead. If the stories do have happy endings, the solution to their problem was stupid and would never work. They just did out of no where. The author took stories that made no sense to make that short, she left out so much detail it was dull and hard to understand.  The only reason someone should read this book is to their small children, who don’t care that nothing makes sense.  However I would not suggest that because it would probably scare them.