CHS Library Booktalk Blog

Hatchet by Gary Paulsen, is a factionary story about a boy getting stranded in the middle of the forest by a lake. He learns how to fish, hunt, and create fire with a hatchet and rock. He gets beaten up by a the forest animals and manages to learn from his mistakes so he can survive in the long run.

This kid gets in a plane crash and manages to survive but the pilot doesn’t. He learns how to survive on the land. For the first few days he starves him self because he doest know how to fend for himself. In a week or so he learns how to fend for himself and survives. He gets a transmitter from the plane and turn it on then he gets rescued. I guess I thought this book was ok to read it was kind interesting but short. I recommend it to people that like this kind of story line about survival.

Reviewed by Mike (Ms. Clemens)

The book, Fight Club, is a book that has a lot of struggles in it. It’s about a stranger that is bullied by others; he had to fight to get what he wanted. He seemed to get stuck with the consequences of his friends, and had to solve their problems himself. In an attempt to overcome all the struggles he was going through, he created a boxing club. He wanted to show everyone that he wasn’t scared of anyone. He had become a man that was able to fight back for his respect.

Fight Club is a good book. It has some weird phrases that you have to read twice to understand. The language of this book is a bit difficult to understand. The book was well written and I rate this book an 8 out of 10. I recommend this book to high school and college students because it has good vocabulary, and it is challenging.

Reviewed by Ricardo A. (Ms. Clemens)

Running with Scissors is a memoir, which describes the life of a teen boy who is dealing with a dysfunctional family in a house full of chaos. The memoir is about Augesten Burrogus and his life up to the age of 17. He is an extraordinarily descriptive writer and I would recommend this book only to a mature audience. He deals with topics or sexuality and substance abuse and is very graphic.

I would rate this book a 10 out of 10, and #1 on my best book list. Due to his superb writing skills, and hilarious writing style, I will be reading his second book Dry.

Reviewed by John (Ms. Clemens)

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is an autobiography of Hunter Thompson. In the story Hunter refers to himself as Duke, and the supporting character is Dr. Gonzo his attorney. Thompson recollects an assignment that he had from a sports magazine to cover the Mint 400 and a narcotics officer conference. They are sent on a wild trip to Las Vegas where they get sidetracked with the hopes of finding the American dream while under the influence of possibly every drug known to man, and of course never end up getting the stories.

It’s surprising that after that brain frying weekend the author was able to remember anything at all, but he did and managed to write it down, too. I rated this book an 8 out of 10, it was able to capture my attention right from the start and there was never a dull moment. I recommend this book to anyone who just wants a good read.

Reviewed by Nicole (Ms. Clemens)

During the dark years after the war of souls, chaos threatens the once mighty empire of Solamnia. Goblins raid even the most fortified of cities, and bandits rule great sections of the vast countryside. All the wile at defining moments, the lords, dukes and knights bicker and backstab. While Jamyes Markham, a power fugitive with a high price on his head traverses the countryside with the aid of his steadfast dwarven companion; he seeks revenge on the knights of Solamnia.

I would strongly recommend this book to any fantasy/action reader. I would rate it about an eight out of ten, just because it gets confusing in certain areas and you might get confused about certain key characters and points in the story.

Reviewed by Craig B. (Ms. Clemens)

Lords of Chaos is a type of research book. It has all the information you need to know about Black Metal music. It gives readers a chance to almost relive the events in this book. The book gives great detail and doesn’t leave you asking questions. Everything you wanted to know about Black Metal music is in this book. The book deals with events like; the beginning of black metal music, church burnings, Murders, and other exciting things. Some of the quotes on the back of the book really gave me a good idea of this book, so I’ll share one with you. “ He died from one stab to the head… through the skull. I actually had to knock the knife out.”I personally do not like reading, but this book was very good. It is a bit long at 405 pages, but it was totally worth every page. The only thing I didn’t like about Lords of Chaos was that because it had so much detail, I lost my place and got bored from time to time. Besides that, the book was very well written and I would give it an 8 out of 10.

Reviewed by Ken B. (Ms. Clemens)

The book Five Years To Freedom is an autobiography about a POW (prisoner of war) who was captured in Vietnam. He was tortured and tormented for five years, but he never gave the enemy any information about the United States. If you like survival novels, you should read this book to see if he was rescued from the depths of Vietnam.

Five Years To Freedom is a great book. You have to have a little military background to read this book because it could get confusing with all the military abbreviations. Once you get past the first chapter, you will not want to put this book down. If you like adventure, survival, and war novels this is the book for you. I would give Five Years To Freedom a 9 out 10 because it shows how lucky we are in America. If this author had any other literature, I would definitely read it.

Reviewed by Nicholas T. (Ms. Clemens)

This book is about teenagers getting into the world of drugs and violence. This story started out with two blood brothers, Jesse and Rise. As they both grew up, Rise starts to drift away from Jesse. One day Rise asked Jesse to write a biography about him, because Jesse has the best brain on the block. As the story goes on, you get the feeling of where it’s going.

I enjoyed reading the book when the action took place. I just couldn’t stop reading. If I was to rate this book, I would rate it an 8/10, because it isn’t that hard to read. I would also like to recommend this book to teenagers around the age of 12 or older just to give them an early look at the life as a gang member.

Reviewed by Meng V. (Mrs. Clemens)

The book is about a gunslinger named Roland; Roland is tracking an evil sorcerer through a desert trying to capture him. Roland needs to extract information from the evil sorcerer a.k.a. the man in black; the information Roland need has to do with his fate and the location of the dark tower. Capturing the man in black would not be an easy task for the gunslinger he has to overcome some difficult situations that cross his path.

My opinion about this book is that it’s an all right book to read; I like the bits of action that occurred through out the book. My rating for this book would have to be a 6 out of 10 mainly because it was real easy to read, but it didn’t have as much action as I thought it would. I would recommend this book to everyone. The author Stephan King writes great books and if you read one of his books your going to want to read more of his books.

Reviewed by Anthony T. (Mrs. Clemens)

The book I read was called Hearts Blood. The book is a fantasy fiction. The author’s name is Jane Yolen. The story is about a boy and the dragon he raised, the girl that he loved, and stopping the rebels, but that is just the start of this fascinating trilogy. This book is the second book in the trilogy and may later have a fourth book. The story is about another planet, so you can expect to hear some strange terms.

I think that this is an excellent book for those who have a taste for dragons and a little science. If you read the Dragon Riders Series By Anne Mccaffry and liked it, then this book is definitely for you. The book has a few parts that confused me but later I understood it. I give this book a 7 out of 10. I would read the first book before you read this book or you may get confused in the middle of the book. This would not be a book for light readers. If you are not fully into dragons then you may want to read anther book, however, if you love dragons then come to the library and check it out.

Reviewed by Randy (Mrs. Clemens)

A Brother’s Journey is an autobiography of Richard Pelzer. Richard Pelzer is Dave Pelzer’s younger brother, (Dave Pelzer wrote A Child Called It), and he wrote about when David was taken by child services, Richard took his place as their mother’s punching bag. It’s the same story as David’s, but from a different viewpoint. Did the Pelzer’s mother treat Richard different from David?

Richard’s books are inspiring and heart-wrenchingly great books. They will make you cry, but learning his story was something I recommend to everyone. I rate this book 9 out of 10 because I read his brother’s books first and loved them. I had just happened to stumble upon Richard’s books, they are my second favorite.

Reviewed by Heather G. (Mrs. Clemens)

This book is about self-improvement and self-acceptance. It is packed full of great advice. Every page has its own passage, written very metaphorically, about different problems in life. Some passages are a little difficult to understand the first time you read it, so it helps to read it a couple of times. Each passage is fairly short and quite direct, which makes it a pretty quick and easy read.

I really liked this book and would recommend it to anyone who likes philosophy. I would rate it a nine out of ten because every page has extremely informative advice on life. If everyone took the advice in this book, the world would be a much better place.

Reviewed by Ian J. (Mrs. Clemens)

In the book “From Pieces to Weight” by 50 Cent is an autobiography of 50 Cent. The book explains about 50’s life in the ghetto. The character is 50 Cent. His real name is Curtis Jackson. He was born New York. His mom was murdered in his teen years. What I learned was that he was a successful rapper. He sold a lot of mix tapes in the beginning. A lot of people listen to his music. He got a record label from Dr. Dre. He sold 11 million copies of Get Rich or Die Tryin’.My opinion of this book is that people should read it because if they want a rap career then this is what you should read. I rate this book an eight because it is an easy book to read and if you’re a 50 Cent fan, then this is a good book to read.

Reviewed by Micheal (Mrs. Clemens)

The book We’ve Got Spirit by James T. McElroy is an awesome informational non-fiction book. This book tells the story of the Kentucky Greenup County High School cheerleading team and how they put so much effort and dedication into winning the National Cheerleading Championships in Orlando, FL. In the book, it explains how much their coach Candy Berry motivates the team to a win for the 9th year in a row. Many people think that cheerleading isn’t a sport, so this book shows you just how many different competitions and how much skill you really need to be a cheerleader and an athlete.

In my opinion, this book is an outstanding real life cheerleading story. I would definitely have to rate this book a 9 out of 10 because it keeps you wondering and it really explains the sport of cheerleading. I would recommend this book to other cheerleaders, or to people that enjoy winning just as much as the Greenup girls do!

Reviewed by Katlin R. (Mrs. Clemens)

The book Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury is a science fiction story about a man named Guy Montag. Guy lives in a world extremely different that what we live in today. Working as a firefighter his job is to burn books, not to put out fires. The government in place has outlawed books in their city. The book follows Guy through his life, in which he discovers the importance of books in everyday life the question is will he choose to help his new found passion, and stop burning books?

Fahrenheit 451 is a great book. It starts out a little slow but stick it out and you wont want to put it down. The language is a little tricky, re-reading sections may be necessary. The book was very well written and I would rate it an 8 out of 10, if you enjoy this book, Ray Bradbury has many other pieces out that are very enjoyable as well.

Reviewed by Matt S. (Mrs. Clemens)

This story is about a dog that overcomes the challenges of living with an Indian tribe in the wild, and then getting put into a totally different scenario living in the civilized world in harsh cold climate of Alaska. White Fang lives in Alaska as the Klondike gold rush was really booming and a lot of people where finding gold. White Fang was being passed to trainer to trainer and not finding a home. White Fang ends up with a trainer named Beuty Smith who trains dogs to kill other dogs. A man named Weedon Scott sees this happening and saves him and soon gives him a home. White Fang and Weedon Scott live together, after living in Alaska for months they leave and head for California where Scott’s family lives.I would recommend this book to readers who like stories about adventure, Alaska, and dogs. I think young adults would be most interested in this book because it would be difficult for kids under 14 to read. The writing was somewhat hard, but at the same time I really like the books that this author has written and I have read books by this author before so it wasn’t to hard for me to read. I rate this 9 out of 10 because it is one of the best books that this author has written.

Reviewed by Aaron W. (Mrs. Clemens)

This book is a conservative man’s opinion on how America is being destroyed by an enemy within our nation, the left wing liberals. He talks about how they are “launching” an assault on the religion that this country was founded on, or schools, military and moral values. He states his theories and backs them up well. I give it two thumbs up.

Reviewed by AJ R. (Ms. Clemens)

The title of my book was Basketball: It’s Origin & Development. It was copy written in 1941 and written by James Naismith. William J. Baker however wrote the intro. My book’s genre is historical non-fiction

The book’s main part is the history of basketball. Naismith, includes information from the days he spent behind the blacksmiths shop with a peach basket in a tree, to today modern day NBA. In a very in-depth way, he explains the rules and their changes. James also states facts of the sports introduction into the 1936 Berlin Olympics. The book also shines insight of where he created the indoor game of basketball.

I really enjoyed this book for a few reasons. To me, it taught me more about my favorite sport, basketball. That’s why I recommend it to people interested in this sport. I believe we all can enjoy it. This book is also a very easy read. It uses very easy English and the chapters aren’t long. So, all and all, I gave this book a 9 out of 10 because it was very informational and a classic in it’s genre.

Reviewed by Jacob B. (Ms. Clemens)

The Child Called It by David Pelzer is a non-fiction autobiographical book about Dave Pelzer who was heavily abused by his mother while growing up. The conflict in this book is that his mother would beat him and starve him. No one liked Dave at school and he was constantly being made fun of. Will Dave ever be able to escape this horrible reality or not?

I thought that this book was good. It was sad how his mom treated him and what she put him through. I give the book a nine or a ten because it was a well-written book. The book was easy to read because it had a lot of detail so it was easy to understand. I recommend this book to people who like biographies and non-fiction books. I support the author because he went through a lot and stayed strong. I think he is a good author and should continue writing books.

Reviewed by  J. Brown (Ms. Clemens)

The book The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin is a mystery Fiction book. It’s about 16 people who are chosen to rent room in Sunset Tower. Only a week later, they found out Samuel Westing, a millionaire, was murdered. Invited to his wake, the 16 people were chosen to figure out who killed him. Paired up and given $10,000 they were off to find the killer. As they searched throughout his house, homemade bombs were set off and many people got injured.

I like this book because it was a good mystery to figure out. I gave it an 8 out of 10 because it was very interesting and detailed. I recommend it to anyone who likes a good mystery book.

Reviewed by Eliseo (Ms. Clemens)