The Brothers Torres by Coert Voorhees

Brandon Sanchez

Summary
The book is about about a kid in high school named Frankie Torres Towers who lives in the shadows of his older brother who is better than him in mostly everything. His brother gets the girls and scholarships, is popular, and does whatever he wants without his parents bothering him. Frankie, on the other hand, has problems at school with a boy named Dalton, who is a rich kid whose parents own a tortilla company. Frankie's life becomes more miserable when Dalton gets the girl that Frankie likes. Things change for Frankie after an a incident in a golf park but is it for good or bad?

Critical Evaluation
This book is about karma and the different lifestyle a person can take. Frankie is a good kid and follows the rules but his brother pulls him into making crazy dumb decisions which end badly.  His brother is gang affiliated and his lifestyle is way different from Frankie's, but Frankie is getting involved into his older brother lifestyle as well and he is seeing how his brother is bit by bit destroying himself.

I give this book a 10/10 because its very suspenseful and it makes you want to read more and more.And also it's very interesting because it's got action, suspense, love and more.

All Involved By Ryan Gattis

Madeline Cruz

Plot Summary:

All Involved by Ryan Gattis is a novel based on various stories of gang members and people who witness the Rodney King riots.  But throughout the book we learn about why they're in gangs and why they do activities such as killing or doing drugs.  

Critical Evaluation:

Throughout this book you'll learn about fear and doing drugs. Gattis seems to be telling the reader that when a person does drugs when scared they'll do stuff they never thought they would be capable of doing. For example, a character called Lil Creeper does hard core drugs in order to help himself out in his daily life because he feels unstoppable on drugs. This hurts him both emotionally and physically because when he is on drugs there are situations where he doesn't remember how he got to a place or how he got something done, which affects his health by giving him a tumor. Through this example we see the author telling us that we can't use drugs to get out of our problems, because drugs will only make them worse.

For this book I'll give it a 10/10 because the way the book was set up really made it interesting and it really kept me on the edge of my seat because I kept wondering what's going to happen next.

Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell

Antonio Sanchez Ortiz 

Plot Summary:
This book follows two teenagers named Eleanor and Park, who meet on the bus after Eleanor comes as a new student to the school and Park is forced to sit with her after yelling at her for taking his seat. After this moment they start sitting together on the bus and we start seeing their relationship develop and throughout the book we see the struggles that Eleanor has to face throughout the book that also impact Park.

Critical Evaluation:
This book would be an 8.5/10 since during this book you feel as if you are with the characters and you won't want to let go of the book, but some parts in the story are too "perfect" without little to non-struggles. This book makes you question everyone's background because of how Park has a nice background and Eleanor has a tough background but each has their own struggles. It also makes you realize that you should walk a mile in another person's shoes in order to understand their struggles without judging them.

Good-bye Days by Jeff Zenter

   

Anayency Favela

Plot Summary
Carver Briggs has everything: a perfect family, a good school and three best friends, Mars, Blake, and Eli. Until one day when Carver texts Mars to ask them where they are and he never texts back. Later Carver finds out that they had been killed in a car accident and the police found Mars phone texting Carver back. Now Carver blames himself and Mars's dad, judge Edwards, is opening up a crime investigation.

Critical Evaluation 
Goodbye Days reminds us that you never know when something bad can happen to the ones you love.  Jeff Zentner tells us to acknowledge the ones you love by dedicating your time to them. In the book, Carver dedicates his time to his best friends by having a "goodbye days" where they do things the dead person would love. For example, Blake loved to fish, so they spend the time fishing.

I give this book a 10/10 because it's filled with sadness, heartbreaking moments and it taught me to spend more time with my loved ones.

It by Stephen King

Maria Donlucas

Plot Summary
The terror begins in 1957 when Georgie is killed by Pennywise the clown. Pennywise the clown is also called It because he can turn into your worst nightmare or someone you love. Bill, Beverly, Eddie, Stanley, Ben, Richie and Mike have all seen the clown and seen the horrible things IT has done. Now they must find a way to kill IT before he kills more innocent kids.
  
Critical Evaluation
Stephen King asks us if we should kill our nightmare or hide away and hope IT doesn't kill us. At first the kids are scared of what IT can do to them because IT has killed so many innocent children. The kids find out that IT would not leave them alone until they are buried 6 feet underground. They all stick together and fight against IT's nightmare of illusions. Nevertheless, the kids fight back against IT to survive the Derry horror. 

IT the book is more detailed than the movie. IT gives you the thrill you need in a book. IT makes you think of your worst nightmares but makes you always want to keep reading. I give this book a 10/10 stars because it makes you go beyond your imagination and gives you the creeps. 

Grendel's Guide to Love and War by A.E. Kaplan

Haotian Jiang

Plot Summary
Tom Grendel was supposed to have a peaceful summer vacation by earning money through lawn mowing, and hanging out with his best friend, Ed Park. Everything changes when Tom's old neighbor moves away, and the new neighbor, the Rothgar family moves in. Tom has a crush on Willow Rothgar, but he hates her brother Rex Rothgar because of all the things he has done to ruin Tom's perfect summer. Everything goes wrong for Tom after the Rothgars move in, and now it is up to Tom to fix everything that has been broken after his mom's death.

Critical  Evaluation
 If I would write an essay on this book, I would talk about "What does the book tell you about communication and family?" Tom's family was shattered after his mom's death, but nobody in the family really talks about the real issue, and this only makes his family more broken than it already is. I strongly recommend you read this book because it shows how important it is to communicate to your family in order to built a strong bond among the family.

 I would give this book a 10 out of 10. I have never read any book like this before. The complicated relationships between the characters made the book really fun to read. And there are funny moments and serious moments which balance out the story's purpose.

Every Falling Star by Sungju Lee

 

Joseph Gomez

Plot Summary
This book is the first to show North Korea to a young audience. It's about a boy named Sungju who at age 12 is forced to live on the streets and fend for himself after his parents are killed.  He and his friends kill chipmunks and eat them in order to survive. They come up with several strategies to steal food from shops.

Critical Evaluation 
I would give this book a 10 out of 10 it is suspenseful and explores the issue of survival and politics. After Kim Jong Il died, the North Koreans became poor and paranoid that the U.S. was going to invade them. The main character is very courageous for doing everything he can do to survive out in the street by stealing food and clothes. In this book, I would love to explore why the author doesn't try to relocate somewhere else in North Korea and live with another family member.