Boot Camp

By Todd Strasser

Reviewed by Christian H., BCCHS student

Boot Camp deals with a fifteen-year-old boy named Garrett. One day Garrett is kidnapped in the middle of the night and taken to Lake Harmony, a teenage boot camp. What he doesn’t know is that his parents have paid for him to be taken to Lake Harmony to learn respect and self-discipline.

As this story progresses, we get to see the corruption and violence within the boot camp. Garrett has to deal with abuse and many failed attempts at brainwashing by staff member and students of Lake Harmony. “The concrete floor of TI feels colder than last time. Fall has arrived. I’ve lost count of how many times Ron and Jon have come in to twist my legs and arms and leave no visible marks or bruises. Every part of my body hurts.” (Strasser, 113) This quote made me think even though this book isn’t based on a real person, it shows us the physical and emotional abuse Garrett has gone through. The book not only deals with violence, but also with love, as Garrett has memories of his girlfriend Sabrina, who is the main reason he is in Lake Harmony.

If I were to rate this book, I would give it a two out of five. This book would appeal to tenth graders because of the way it shows love, action, and depression. Boot Camp can be boring due to the author’s tendency to repeat the same scenes over and over again. Besides that I feel that this book will make you wonder about the many boot camps that possibly are like this. If you want to find a good book to read, this is probably one of them due to the shocking ending the author leave us with.

Street Pharm

By Allison van Diepen

Reviewed by Ser Michael V., BCCHS student

“Know your enemies. Understand them. Figure out their next move,” “Never show weakness.” This is some of Tyrone Johnson’s personal code. It means he doesn’t trust people easily because it might bring him trouble.

The book Street Pharm takes place in the city of Brooklyn, New York where some illegal activities are happening, a noisy place where you can see gang fights on the streets. A place that is not the easiest place to live in. A boy named Tyrone Johnson takes over his dad’s drug dealing business because his dad got caught and went to jail. When Ty was 14 yrs. old, he took over his dad’s business and worked hard to fully control the business. Ty is a really good and smart person; everywhere he goes they know him because his father is one of the best hustlers in town when it comes to drug dealing. He has a lot of rules and one of the most important is don’t let a girl into your life if you’re dealing because it might ruin your reputation and put your family and love ones in danger. However, Ty meets Alyse, a very nice girl who catches his attention, and at first they don’t know if they are really in love with each other. But when they get to know each other and become closer, they fall madly in love with each other.

When the business is doing well, a guy named Darkman wants to take over Ty’s territory. Darkman plans to kill Ty, but Ty knows how to survive. How will he take the challenge of Darkman? Will he survive or die? If you want to know more, read this book—It’s really a good book. The book has a lot of intense parts; it has funny and sad parts that make the book more interesting. I would recommend this book to everyone, even if you don’t like reading books. I will definitely say that when you start reading this book, you won’t be able to stop because it will be interesting at the start and will be more interesting as you read on.

I like this book because it relates to problems that most teens today might be going through and therefore they might be able to connect with the book at some point. Having a broken family might lead you to be a rebellious child to your family and even get involved in some illegal activities. I like how Allison van Diepen wrote the story because it’s easy to picture the scenes as you read and not hard to understand what’s happening, and also, it gets you to predict what will happen next.



The Morgue & Me

By John C. Ford
Reviewed by Fatma S.

This is a great book--I'd rate it 8 out of 10.

Chris, a boy who gets a job at the morgue, gets suspicious when the owner of the morgue has a briefcase with $15,000 in it.  He suspects a murder and thinks his best friend, Mike, has something to do with it.

Chris meets a girl named Tina, and Chris and Tina try to solve the case of who killed the dead guy at the morgue.  Things are getting weird and Chris's best friend, his best friend's girlfriend, the mayor, and Tina's ex all become suspects.  Who is it; who is the murderer?  Chris and Tina plan to find out.