James Dashner's The Maze Runner: A Review by Miles!

The Maze Runner is a fast paced book with many secrets along the way.  The name of the protagonist is Thomas, a boy about 16 years old who wakes up in an elevator with no memories except his name.  When the elevator comes up, he finds himself in front of fifty boys, all around his age.  He eventually finds out he is in a giant maze that changes every night.  Each month, a new kid comes in the elevator; always a boy.  But the next day a girl comes up, throwing everything into chaos.  Thomas and his new friends now have a limited amount of time to make it out of the maze, before they are all killed.  One thing I liked about this book was all the secrets that still go un-answered in book two.  You might light this book if you enjoy action and adventure, and the Divergent  and Hunger Games series.

Artist Arthur's Mystify: A Review by Patima edited by Ms. Hernandez!

Sasha is a very gifted girl--she can teleport to any place.  Sasha's best friends have Mystyx powers.  Jake, one of her best friends, can move objects with his mind.  Also, Krystal can speak to the dead.  There is one more girl who can mind read and her name is Lindsay.  One problem that Sasha has is that there is a dark group who wants power and they want to obliterate the Mystyx.  Every Mystyx person has a mark.  Be sure you read this novel!  One thing I like about this book was that each character has his or her own power.  You might like this book if you enjoy magic, supernatural, fantasy, romance and friendship.

Luis Rodriguez's Always Running: La Vida Loca, Gang Days in L.A.: A Review by Natalie!

The story Always Running is about Luis J. Rodriguez. It centers on his years in high school to his years after high school. Luis grows up in Las Lomas which is a sketchier town in Los Angeles. In the memoir, he deals with drugs, sex, violence, gangs, and jail. For most of the time in his high school years he gets distracted with those subjects. Then, one day at his new school he and this girl run to be the girl and boy Aztecs people as the mascot of their school. They win the election. There they both implement a Chicano Studies program. The program become a huge success, and he and the girl become known very well by the whole school but especially by the Chicano students. That program helped many other students but especially Luis. He became off drugs and started almost a new life. In that same year, later one of his teachers tells him about a poetry tournament being held in Berkeley and that she has some of his writing that she was really impressed with it. She enters his writing and a few days later he gets a call that he was one of the winners and he would get $250 and a trip to Berkeley. Luis was really excited and that was a strong turning point in his life. One thing I like about this book was how the author really describes how he feels in moments when he is scared. You might like this book if you enjoy non-fiction stories about the tough lives of some when growing up.

Ann Cameron's The Kidnapped Prince: The Life Of Olaudah Equiano: A Review by Yesenia!

*This review features a book not available at the Longfellow Library, but nonetheless enjoyed by a Longfellow student!*

In this novel Olaudah Equiano was the protagonist who is separated from his family as a boy and is brought into slavery. Anyway, Olaudah Equiano explains through his story how his sister was sold off to another man and he never saw her or his mom again and how while you have family you should care for it. First, Equiano expresses how only because he was black they did not take him seriously, at trading events. Second, in the middle of the book he enters the slave trade in Britain and sails off to Virginia, London, the Caribbean and many others. Third, Olaudah was then sold off to Captain James Doran, a year later Captain James Doran died and Olaudah was named “Captain” by all the cities and he continued to sail freed from all the slavery. One thing I liked about this book was how Olaudah was sent free at the end and had good masters throughout the time he was enslaved. You might like this book if you enjoy African-American history.

Jeannette Walls's The Glass Castle: A Memoir: A Review by Charlotte!

*This review features a book not available in the Longfellow Library, but nonetheless enjoyed by a Longfellow student!*

Jeannette Walls lives with her mom, dad, sister and brother, although they don’t have a rooted home. They are always moving during the night, “the skedaddle” as her dad calls it. Jeannette learns how to be her own parent. When she was three, she was cooking hot dogs herself, she burns the side of her torso, but she’s okay. Her dad teaches her not to run from fear, but to face it, unless it’s  the police. As she grows, her family falls apart. The Glass Castle: A Memoir is an incredible novel about family, struggle and surviving. One thing I liked about this book was how she writes the book in stories about her life, not in chapters. You might enjoy this book if you like books about struggle and making it to the end.

John Grogan's Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World's Worst Dog: A Review by Leo!

*This review features a book not available at the Longfellow Library, but nonetheless enjoyed by a Longfellow student!*

The main characters in the book Marley and Me, are Marley, the dog, the narrator/John, his girlfriend/wife and later on in the book his kids.  One important event early in the book was when they went to go admire and pick out a little Labrador puppy. When they arrived to the small breeding farm, the mother of the puppies and the owner came out to greet them. Where was the dad? Later on when Jenny and John are about to leave, they finally get to see the father. He emerges from the woods, his coat is covered in mud running at top speed towards the house. Another important event in the book is when Marley begins to act strange and not himself.  After a few days of being like this John takes him to the hospital to find out that Marley has a stomach torsion condition that does not allow him to eat because of all the pain in his stomach.  One of the main themes in this book is family.  One thing I liked about this book was that it was based on a true story and that I also have a Labrador so I can relate.  You might like this book if you like emotional and funny stories based on true events.

Felicia Pearson's Grace After Midnight: A Review by Brianna edited by Ms. Hernandez!

*This review features a book not available in the Longfellow Library, but nonetheless enjoyed by a Longfellow student!*

To begin, it starts of where she is very young.  She is about 9 in the memoir.   It never reveals her real age so we have to base it off from the information given.  When she was born she was born a miracle baby which means that her mom was on crack when she was in her mom's womb.  She was put into the foster care system so, ever since she was young she had a tough start.  One day her mom supposedly changed and stopped taking crack and she was allowed to visit her mom again.  To Felicia this is one of her biggest mistakes because when she got there her biological mom told her to strip down and to go lock herself in the closet.  When this happened her social worker found her there crying for her life.

Once she went through that she had another struggle coming to her.  She didn't know her sexuality and she had to do some “experimenting” and found out that she was a lesbian.  One day there was a parade and she decided to go and because she was African American, this one girl came swinging at her with a bat and she had a gun in her back pocket.  Felicia decided to pull it out and shoot the girl in self defense.  Once she realized what she did she needed some help, so she asked her favorite uncle and eventually there was nothing he could do in the end so she had to go to jail.  She found her girlfriend in jail. She started going out with somebody that worked in the jail and broke up with her later.  Her uncle dies and she is very depressed.  Once she got out she started changing, making the right decisions and changing [her life] so it's very positive.  It was to hard for her and she couldn't do it so she changed back to the person she was.  She turned back into a drug dealer and the top pf the streets.  Right then the memoir ends. 

One thing I liked about this book was the fact that she realized what she was doing wrong and she changed for a while, but she did quit the bad things she was doing.  You may like this book if you enjoy exhilarating pieces of writing.  [This is a book] that makes you question what's going to happen next?

Ni-Ni Simone's If I was Your Girl: A Review by Didi!

The protagonist is Toi.  She is a young girl finishing up her last year in high school.  She and her twin sister Seven are applying to Stanford University.  The main college for Tori is who is going to take care of her kid and who will she be with: the father of her son or a boy she recently met but really liked.  The theme of this book is you shouldn't have a baby at a young age because it messes up your future.  One thing I liked this book was when the two "baby mamas" fighting over the same boy.  You might like this book if you enjoy teen stuff, drama, sadness and excitement.

Jacqueline Woodson's Behind You: A Review by Didi!

The main character is Jeremiah.  He died and all his friends have memories of him.   He was walking in the park at night time with his hood on and two white cops shot him in an identity mix-up.  All the chapters are about all the stuff he and his friends did.  The main challenge is when everyone has to try to get over his death.  The theme of this book is when someone dies and leaves you, they're really not gone--they're still in your heart.  One thing I liked about this book was that it kept me wanting more and that all the chatacers were telling from the heart about Jeremiah.  You might like this book if you enjoy drama and sadness.

Douglas Rees's Vampire High: A Review by Didi!

The main character is a gadje (human) named Cody Elliot.  He failed all his classes at his old school Cotton Mather, but that all changed when he became a student at Vlad Dracul Magnet School.  He was looking for a totally "different" school.  The main challenge in this book is for Cody to get good grades and play water polo.  The theme of this book is don't judge a book by it's cover.  One thing I liked about this book was when the girl Illean put the mark on Cody's face to keep the vampires from eating him.  You might like this book if you enjoy Twilight and if you love mysterious books.  You might enjoy this book if you like the book leaving you with more.

Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream: A Review by Lucas!

In A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare there are six main characters: Hermia, Helena, Lysander, Demetrius, Puck and Oberon.  The main challenge faced is love and the theme is that love can be challenging.  First, everyone love each other and is happy except for Demetrius and Helena.  Demtrius isn't loved by Hermia and Helena isn't loved by Demetrius.  Then Lysander and Hermia go out into the night to live happily away from  Athenian law.  Finally Puck messes around with Lysander, Hermia, Helena and Demetrius (who followed Hermia and Lysander into the wood).  Puck makes everyone love everybody that hate eachother and the battle of love rages on.  One thing I liked about this book was that it had very challenging words and it was fun to figure out what those words mean.  You might like this book if you enjoy acting, Shakespeare, and hard, hard words.

Sharon Flake's You Don't Even Know Me: Stories and Poems about Boys: A Review by Howard!

I like the first poem titled "You Don't Know Me."  It's about how this boy has a friend that he talks to and his friend doesn't know anything about him.  He doesn't know about him because his friend always wants to talk about basketball and other sports, they could get to know each other if they meet each other in class because they sit right next to each other.  They also hang out in and outside of school, but all his friend wants to do is talk about sports.  This is why they don't know each other.  One thing I liked about this book was that I liked how it has a lot of poems about boys.  You might like this book if you enjoy sports and other things that boys and men do in life.

Matthew Stover's Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith: A Review by Joao!

Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith by Matthew Stover is a novel about a young man named Anakin who goes from superhero to supervillain.  When he and his mentor Obi Wan go on a dangerous quest to rescue Senator Palpatine, he was ordered by Palpatine to kill Count Dooku, Palpatine's Sith apprentice.  What he doesn't know is that Palpatine is trying to reel Anakin to join him by his side.  Palpatine continues to throw his good side at Anakin, convincing him that he should join him and to begin his rage as emperor...

One thing I liked about this book was how Anakin was able to fight his anger and would not give in to Palpatine.  You might like this book if you enjoy the connection that Anakin doesn't like Obi Wan but he does respect him for making him his mentor.

Sara Shepard's Wanted: a Pretty Little Liars novel: A Review by Aliyah R.!

*This review features a book that is not available at the Longfellow Library*

Hanna, Aria, Emily, and Spencer were nothing special, just normal students at Rosewood Day in Rosewood.  But then Ali came along.  She was pretty popular and everything any other girl would want to be.  And she chose Aria, Emily, Hanna and Spencer as her four new BFF's in sixth grade.  But at their end-of-seventh-grade sleepover, things took a wrong turn.  Ali went missing.  Now, four years later Ali comes back--dead.  Little do Spencer, Emily, Aria and Hanna, the "Pretty Little Liars," know; Ali was keeping a secret.  Getting strange texts and creepy notes from dead people isn't the only freaky thing going on either.  One thing I liked about this book was the suspense and action.  You might like this book if you enjoy mysteries and suspense books where you have to remember certain things to figure out an important fact from the book.

Walter Dean Myer's Monster: A Review by Damon!

Sixteen year old Steve Harmon is in jail for the murder of Mr. Nesbitt, a man who works at a drugstore. The important events that happen in the story are he wasn't the only one in jail for murder. Steve also got to see his family and most people say that he wasn't a part of the murder. One thing I liked about this book was that Steve got let out of jail. You might like this book if you enjoy books by Walter Dean Myers.

Malcolm X's The Autobiography of Malcolm X: A Review by Ameer!

The Autobiography of Malcolm X is about the life of Malcolm X. The main theme of the book is the fight for racial justice and how faith can change a man’s life. His life began with the tragic racial murder if his father, which led him to a life of drugs and hustling. After "thugging" around Harlem for a while, he was put in jail for robbery, which led him to become Muslim and follow the lead of Elijah Muhammad. This book taught me a lot about Malcolm X’s early life and how he changed drastically after going to jail. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in being surprised about one of the most influential people in the fight for racial equality.

Jules Verne's The Mysterious Island: A Review by Sarah I.!

The Mysterious Island, a fiction novel by Jules Verne, is about five escapees from Richmond during the civil war, who land on a mysterious island. The have to fight for survival, and meet many strange encounters. They fight pirates, mysteriously recover from lethal illnesses, while somehow managing to stay alive, despite the odds. I enjoyed this book, because of all the adventure. It is thrilling to read, and keeps you turning the pages. However, I would not recommend this book to weak readers. Although I enjoyed the story, the vocabulary and sentence structure was hard to keep up with. Also, it requires a lot of patience, because of its length. Overall, if you are a fan of action and adventure, I recommend The Mysterious Island.

C.J. Omololu's Dirty Little Secrets: A Review by Aniya!

This book is about a girl whose mother is a hoarder. A hoarder is a person who cannot throw things away. One day when she comes home she finds her mother dead. Instead of calling the police, she opens all the windows and cleans the house. She does not want people to find out about her dead mother's hoarding. I like this book because it starts off interesting and ends interesting. You should read this book because it shows that everyone has secrets.

March is Women's History Month!

Think about about the people you admire or aspire to be--who is he or she? How many of your heroes are women? Women of all backgrounds definitely make an impact on our world and have been for centuries. Tomorrow, March 8th, is International Women's Day and every March in the United States, we take the time to recognize and celebrate the contributions of women in history. One of the best ways to do that is by exploring their lives and achievements through books at the Longfellow Library. The history of women is both inspiring and surprising! Come see Ms. Lane or me about the following nonfiction and fiction titles:

Failure Is Impossible! A History of American Women’s Rights by Martha E. Kendall
A history of the female heroes who defied and challenged society’s views on the rights and roles of women.








Damsels Not In Distress: The Story of Women in Medieval Times by Andrea Hopkins
Describes what life was like for noble and peasant women during the Middle Ages; a time when the church had great power and the concept of romantic love was born.







By Grit & Grace: Eleven Women Who Shaped the American West edited by Glenda Riley and Richard W. Etulain
Whoever said, “Go West, young man” failed to predict the women who would heed this call. This book explores the lives of eleven women, the likes of Calamity Jane and Annie Oakley.







Shout, Sister, Shout! Ten Girl Singers Who Shaped a Century by Roxane Orgill
Get to know the lives, the loves, and the music of influential female singers such as Ma Rainey, Judy Garland, Madonna and more!








Girl in a Cage by Jane Yolen and Robert J. Harris
In 1306, eleven-year-old Princess Marjorie, daughter of king of Scotland must confront the humiliation of being caged in the middle of the town square by the King of England. Armed with only the weapons of her spirit and wit, can she break free from her prison?







Miss Spitfire: Reaching Helen Keller by Sarah Miller
Partially-blind yet young and determined, Annie Sullivan sets out to work a miracle with a deaf and blind little girl named Helen Keller.









Uprising by Margaret Peterson Haddix
One of the greatest tragedies of its time, the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire in 1911 killed 149 workers and changed the lives of all American workers. Told through the eyes of Bella, Yetta, and Jane who join the fight for the safety and protection of workers’ rights.







Fire from the Rock by Sharon M. Draper
Sylvia Patterson has been selected to be one of the first African American students to attend Little Rock’s Central High. Sylvia is on the brink of changing history, but can she withstand the racism that undermines her safety and dignity?

John Flanagan's The Emperor of Nihon-Ja: A Review by Jeremy!

This book is mainly about a ranger named Will and his friends Horace, Halt, Alyss. The theme of this book is adventure. Exciting things happen in this book. First, the emperor they are trying to help is being attacked, and they have to stop it. They use a falling bridge to escape bad guys. Next, Horace is given a special gift. Finally, Horace has a great achievement and becomes really special to the emperor. If you are a fan of adventurous books that are set in historic times, then I recommend this book. This is the tenth book in this series, so I advise reading all the others first. I liked this book because I am a fan of books set in older times and I like mysterious characters in the books I read, which the rangers are supposed to be. A reason you should read this book is because it’s full of action and also a little comedy. There are exiting moments and you can connect with the characters.