Red Dragon

By Thomas Harris

Reviewed by Ms. Andersen, BCCHS English teacher

Red Dragon by Thomas Harris is the scariest book I have ever read.  I read this book in high school when everyone was saying that Silence of the Lambs was the scariest book ever.  It is not.  This one is.  They share one character, Hannibal Lector, but he is not prominent in this book, as he is in Silence of the Lambs.  Red Dragon has another antagonist, the Tooth Fairy.  Sure, a character named the Tooth Fairy doesn’t sound scary, but this one is.

The Tooth Fairy is named that because when the killer in Red Dragon kills his victims, he leaves teeth marks on them.  But not normal teeth marks, teeth that have been filed to a point.  The killer wants to be called Red Dragon, but the FBI get on to the Tooth moniker and can’t leave it alone.

This book becomes scary when the FBI get close to catching the Tooth Fairy, but he outsmarts them by faking his own death.  Once I realized it was a fake, I was terrified.  I used to read this book late at night in front of a window.  Not a smart choice.  So I started reading it at the beach in full sunlight.  Still scary.  Once the killer faked his death I started reading it at night again.  This was a mistake.  So scary.

If you like Stephen King books, you will like this one.  Red Dragon is scarier than most Stephen King books that I have read, even his scariest (in my opinion), Salem’s Lot.  Thomas Harris does a brilliant job at terrifying his readers.  So if you want to be scared, read this book.  At night.  While your family is sleeping.

The Lightning Thief (Series: Percy Jackson & the Olympians)

By Rick Riordan

Reviewed by Ms. S. Goyak, BCCHS history teacher

What would you do if you discovered that everything you knew about yourself was wrong? That all of the flaws you thought you had were actually strengths? That's what happens to Percy Jackson one day when he goes on a field trip for school.  His entire world is turned upside down when he discovers that he is the son of a Greek god.  From there, he is plunged into a brand new world - one of gods and monsters, heroes and quests.

The first in a series of novels about Percy's s adventures as a Demi-god at Camp Half Blood, The Lightning Thief is an exciting read that puts a new twist on the old myths of Medusa, Poseidon, and Zeus, while introducing a new batch of gods for a new generation.  From the most causal reader to the most avid book enthusiast, Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief is an excellent choice for any student.

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Generation Dead

By Dan Waters
Reviewed by Anthony L., BCCHS student

Many teens at Oakvale High have died, but strangely enough, they are not staying dead. They come back to life, but they do not come back the same. Some say they are “Living impaired” and “differently biotic.” They are doing their best to try to blend back into their society again.

Phoebe Kendall was never cut out to be popular. Nobody can believe how she falls for Tommy Williams, a “living impaired” guy. Not even her best friend, Margi, can believe her. Even her neighbor, Adam, doesn’t believe her.

Adam, the star football player, is really good friends with Phoebe. He believes his feelings for her run very deep. He would do anything just to make her happy. What’s life like at a high school like this? Read to find out.

The Schwa Was Here

By Neal Shusterman

Reviewed by Saroha N., BCCHS student

This book has many aspects to it. It is about a boy who is virtually invisible to everyone but meets one friend. He tries to figure the Schwa out by talking to him. They later meet a blind girl and to the Schwa this was the only girl who saw him without literally seeing him. The mystery behind the Schwa is illustrious and leaves you to your vivid imagination. This book also teaches a lesson about how the most invisible person could be visible with the right tools. Neal Schusterman has so many vivid and sensory details that will put you in the Schwa’s situation which will make the book enjoyable.

I Don’t Want to be Crazy

By Samantha Schutz

Reviewed by Rebecca R., BCCHS student

*** This book is available at your local public library or bookstore.

It’s a terrific autobiography of her life after she comes face to face with her problems. At age eighteen she gets diagnosed with anxiety disorder and as a freshman in college this is like a death sentence. Samantha talks about her daily ordeals and sleepless nights dealing with anxiety. Reading this book makes you feel like you are living her life and facing her problems. It is all so surreal. I Don’t Want to be Crazy is a really fantastic nonfiction book that discusses topics you never knew existed.

Hunger Games

By Susanne Collin

Reviewed by Andy O.

The Hunger Games written by Susanne Collins is one of the best books I’ve read since Harry Potter. It is a book that is written so well and does it great job of showing and not telling. It is a book filled with suspense, romance, and action. It is a blend of all books and there will be something in there for everybody.

The book is about a girl named Katniss Everdeen who struggles in the district where she lives, along the way she encounters hardships that force her to make some difficult decisions, but through these decisions she learns that not all of them were made correctly.

I truly recommend this book for everyone and it is a great read for a English project or just for your personal taste. 

Raiders Night

By Robert Lipsyte

Reviewed by Marsail J., BCCHS student

“Matt measured the distance across the kitchen table as if Dad were a tackler who needed to be avoided or leveled.”

This book is a very good book; a lot of interesting things happen. This book is about real things that really happen in football in high school, from players getting played favorites to taking steroids to get them musclcular. There’s always that one group that thinks they’re cooler than everybody else; in this book it’s called the Backpack group. They are the juiceheads on the team; all they do is lift and try anything to get bigger and be the best on the team, and they think taking steroids is the key to getting bigger and badder.

There is an incoming freshman that plays tight end/ wide receiver and he is really good, but there is a senior that is starting already, and the senior knows that his spot is in jeopardy, so he decides to do something heinous to the incoming freshmen. The leader of the team finds out and he doesn’t know what they should do: tell or keep it quiet. He ends up with a lot on his plate trying to figure out what he should do. Out of 10 I give this book a 9.57.  I recommend this book to all students in grades 9-12.  Even though some of you may not be into football or like it, I think you guys will still enjoy Raiders Night.

 

Rich Dad, Poor Dad

By Robert T. Kiyosaki

Reviewed by Afshin A., BCCHS student

Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki presents many great points about how the rich people make money work for them and how everyone else works for money. The book does a great job on teaching how one should think about work and money. It has good real estate and business management advice, but I do not agree with how the book presents this information. Kiyosaki speaks as if investing in real estate and the stock market is a really easy thing to do, but your average person has virtually no experience in investing in the stock market or real estate. The biggest problem with this book is that it lacks actionable techniques, in other words it doesn’t tell people what to do.

One of my most favorite quotes in the book would be, “Most people never study the subject. They go to work, get their paycheck, balance their checkbooks, and that’s it. On top of that, they wonder why they have money problems. Few realize that it’s their lack of financial education that is the problem.” I like this particular quote because it distinguishes what the working class does compared to the wealthy. I would recommend this book as a way to challenge one’s thinking about work and money, but not as an educational book for tactical recommendations of financial strategies. Overall, I would rate this book as a 7 out of 10.

Runner

By Carl Deuker

Reviewed by Edward G., BCCHS student

Runner is about a boy named Chance, a teenager that is living in a sailboat in Seattle, Washington with his dad who always drinks. He helps his dad pay the mortgage for the boat by working in a cruddy restaurant as a dishwasher. His dad then gets fired, so Chance tries to get a raise in his job but can't. But one day, a fat guy who always looks at Chance run every night comes to him and tells that he has a job for him. He just needs Chance to run and pick up a package everyday under a tree. That’s when the story gets interesting and conflicting.

My opinion of the book is that it’s very intriguing. This book will catch your attention in the beginning and then gets you to read more and more. The title makes you curious about why it’s called Runner; it makes you wonder what the ending would be like, and you will have so many theories about the ending in this book.

My favorite character in this book is Chance. He thinks just like me sometimes and does some things that I do in a related way just like this quote from the story, “… I did what I always do when I feel like my head is about to explode: I ran”. I go outside once in a while to cool myself down whenever I get mad. I like that he thinks so much and wonders about things that he does, what people do, and what people say.

People who might like this book would be people who like mysterious, fast-paced, mind-blowing, surprising, and suspenseful books. This book will blow your mind in the end and I would really recommend this book to anyone. A lot of people will like this book, it’s very simple to read and easy to follow. I would give this book 4 out of 5 stars. To me it’s not 5 out of 5 stars because it needs a little more suspense, but everything else about this book is great.

The Kite Runner

By Khaled Hosseini

Reviewed by Jessica M., BCCHS student
 

Kite Runner is about friendship, loyalty, and cruelty. It’s about Amir’s childhood with Hassan and his relationship with his father in a cruel society. He has to deal with a secret that makes him who he is now.

The story takes place in Afghanistan. This book gives people a good idea of Afghan history, so I highly recommended this book to those people who love to learn about history and who like violent books. I’m not a person who likes violent books, but when I got to some parts of the book, it was surprising because unexpected things happen that are intense. An interesting quote from the book was, “For you, a thousand times over.” Hassan tells Amir these words that mean that he would basically do anything for him, which is disturbing because Amir wasn’t really a true friend and Hassan was.

It would have been a little better if the book had had a mini glossary in the back of the book so that the reader could understand what it is saying because it has a lot of Arabic words. On a scale from one to ten, I would give this book an eight because even though it has violence, it’s still a great book.

Hole in My Life

By Jack Gantos

Reviewed by Adrian H., BCCHS student

A Hole In My Life is a very interesting book, but if you want to enjoy the book you must always be thinking as you read and trying to predict what’s going to happen so that you understand what’s going on. The book keeps you on your toes. It’s mainly about this young teen who is forced to become a man at a young age because of his life situation. He has his own apartment, his own car, and he is a student in high school trying to do everything in his power to become a professional writer, and the way he does it is unique: Instead of making his writing plain and boring, throughout the story he forces himself into situations that are dangerous and daring, which get him into trouble and sent to jail, and from there the story begins!

If I were to rate this book, I would give it eight out of ten, which is good. This book is mainly for anybody that likes reading, but it also depends on what type of a book reader you are. For example the book is based on a true story, and it is based on somebody’s life. You must begin with high expectations for the book to actually like it.

I found it interesting and unusual that the character is a good kid and his mentality in life is positive, but from out of nowhere he goes to jail for a mistake that he will regret his whole life. It was interesting when he said, “I wasn’t raised around this level of violence.” He’s not a bad man; he’s just put in a spot where he doesn’t belong. And many people can relate to this situation because when you least expect it you can make a mistake that will make your life go downhill. So reading this book will keep you aware of how anything can happen even though your intention isn’t to do anything bad. The book makes you visualize his perspective so that you don’t make the same mistakes. This book can be looked at in many ways—from entertaining to an eye opener to many other subjects. That’s the main reason why you will enjoy this book, guaranteed.

Dark Places

By Gillian Flynn

Reviewed by Jazmine L., BCCHS student 

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn is about a girl named Libby Day. Libby Day was only seven when she lost both her sisters and mother in “The Satan Sacrifice of Kinnakee, Kansas.” After seeing her family laying there all cut and stabbed, bleeding to death, she runs to a tiny little farmhouse, freezing in the middle of January. You will never believe who killed her family.

My favorite quote from the book is, “I have a meanness inside me, real as an organ.” I like this quote for many reasons, but I believe it means that she has so much pain and hate against someone who hurt her.

The best thing about this book is that it has so much mystery and suspense. I personally recommend it to everyone who enjoys a good mystery. You will also see how Libby thinks and feels, what she thinks of everyone, why she’d rather be alone, and why she has so much hate. I rate this book a ten, because I love how she is, the way she sees people, and how she doesn’t care about anyone other than her mother and sisters.

A Walk to Remember

By Nicholas Sparks
Reviewed by Ashely P., BCCHS student

A Walk to Remember is a wonderful book by Nicholas Sparks who writes about two young teens that fall in love with each other. The main teens are Landon, a popular guy who basically does whatever he wants, and Jamie a girl that was born in her dad’s church and is an intelligent student who doesn’t really care what people think. These teens wind up getting stuck with each other in a school play, and they soon get to know each other and fall madly in love. I recommend this to anyone who has an interest in romance and tragedy. Other authors who talk about love and death at same time don’t really have it quite down like Nicholas Sparks. This author really puts you into his own book, and you feel like you’re actually there.


One of the quotes from the book that really stuck in my mind was when Landon said, “Our love is like the wind, I can’t see it but, I can sure feel it.” It made me go back to a friend of mine that passed away that I had a really close connection with.

This book is going to give you some happy tears and some sad tears. It gave me mixed feelings.  I give this book 5/5 stars. I think maybe people who like love stories would really want to read this book. I say maybe 10th graders and up would appreciate reading this book.  Again, I really recommend that teens read this book. Trust me you’re not gonna want to put the book down.

Wicked Lovely

By Melissa Marr
Reviewed by Sarah G., BCCHS student

“Studying the art and realizing that beauty wasn’t in the order, but in the unplanned harmony.”

To me this quote not only signifies art but it could represent a person too. Things aren’t always going to be beautiful at first, but to see someone for who they truly are-- That’s what makes them beautiful. That’s what makes someone truly special. 

Wicked Lovely is a story about a summer king looking for his summer queen. Ash is destined to become the summer queen but throughout the story you read of her struggle to remain human and remain in the semi-normal life she has been living. Also, the struggle to remain with the man she loves and not fall prey to the fairies of the summer court.

I enjoyed this book very much. My favorite character in the book is Seth because even though he doesn’t exactly believe that fairies exist, he still tries to find ways to help Ash to defend against the fairies. And another weird thing is that the summer king’s parents were the former summer king and the winter queen. The reason it’s so strange is because the summer king and the summer queen cannot stand to be around each other because one brings warmth and the other brings frost.

I most certainly recommend this book. Especially for those who love fantasy love story drama. On a scale to 1 to 10, 10 being the greatest, I rate this book a 9. This book is good for anyone from middle school to high school and maybe for older people who enjoy these types of books.

A BCCHS Patriot publishes her story on FanFiction.

Senior Sarah Gonzalez has gone from spinning her supernatural tales on paper to sharing her stories on the World Wide Web.

Check out this Patriot's first installment by clicking on the link below:

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7540462/1/



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Snitch

By Allison van Diepen

Reviewed by Gloria X., BCCHS student

I have to admit, Snitch is one of my favorites.  Since the first day I saw it and my teacher told me about it, it got my attention.  This story is basically about how this girl named Julia started high school.  Before starting school, she made a pact with her friend Q to never be part of a gang and stay in school.

At the beginning of the story, Julia gets sent to the dean’s office for making a stupid comment.  That same day she meets this cute guy named Eric Valiente.  After time passes she starts talking to him, but things start to change in South Bay High School.  A lot of arguments are going on between her and her friend, and despite her pact, Julia begins to feel that she has no other choice but to join a gang for protection.

I think most teens, such as high school boys and girls, will like this book because it talks about how things in high school change, and although you try to stay on the right path, things don’t really work the way you want them to.

One of my favorite quotes was, “He kissed me again, taking my breath away. It thrilled me and scared me at the same time.” I chose this quote because it reminded me of me and my boyfriend. That first day we started talking.  When he kissed me and I felt butterflies in my stomach.

I recommend this book to everyone, and to be honest, this is the first book I’ve liked.

Perfect Chemistry

By Simone Elkeles

Reviewed by Elizabeth F., BCCHS student

Perfect Chemistry is an interesting, entertaining love story. There are two main characters, Brittany and Alex. Brittany is a girl that has a reputation to keep at school. She lives a perfect life in the eyes of everyone, when in reality her life is pretty tough. Brittany has a sister named Shelley who is disabled, so her parents expect Brittany to be the “perfect one.” On the other hand, Alex is a gang member that has the worst reputation at school. He is in the gang called Latino Bloods, and the kids at school don’t really mess with him.

Brittany and Alex have a little misunderstanding on the morning of the first day of school. Alex drives a motorcycle and parks it in the school lot, but Brittany has a car, and she doesn’t see Alex’s bike parked so when she tries to park, she almost runs over his bike. That causes a misunderstanding, which makes Alex and Brittany hate each other. Things get interesting when Alex makes a bet with his friends and then tries to talk to Brittany more. 

One quote that really touched me was when Alex says, “I don’t belong here. It doesn’t matter, because even if I don’t belong in this place, she’s here and I want to be where she is.” That shows how much he really loves Brittany. It was so cute and romantic for him to think like that. I wish a guy would say something so caring like that to me.

The character I feel a connection with is Brittany. She has to keep an image, so that she isn’t judged, and sometimes I feel like I have to keep an image too. It’s not only with my friends, but with my family as well. I have three older brothers, and I am the only girl, so in my family I have to be the “perfect one” kind of like Brittany.

I think it is a really good book, and I enjoyed reading it. I would definitely rate this book 5 out of 5 stars. It kept me in the mood of wanting to know what would happen next, and I couldn’t put it down. I think all high school students would enjoy this book. Those who like love stories will really enjoy this book because it is a funny entertaining love story. 

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.