Jumping the Scratch ~ Sarah Weeks

Do you ever get the feeling that whenever something bad happens, there are worse things to come? Well that was what Jamie Reardon assumed when his cat Mister died and his father left his mother for another woman. Most importantly, his aunt Sapphy had a huge accident in the cherry factory that caused her to be unable to store new memories. She was like a scratched record that kept on repeating the same line over and over again, but unlike everybody else, Jamie wanted to help his aunt "Jump the scratch" and carry on with her life.

Unfortunately there is one more bad thing in store for Jamie-something he'd give anything to be able to forget, and this one leaves himself feeling like a complete stranger in the world. One of Jamie's neighbors is a girl in his class called Audrey. She is smart like him, and slowly they become friends. She said that she could hypnotize people, and he wondered whether she could help him with forgetting his secret. However, thinking about what happened to him just made him want to tell someone else about it.

Jamie tries in vain to find the magic trigger that would help Sapphy's memory 'Jump the scratch', like the needle on her favourite Frank Sinatra record, but in the end it is aunt Sapphy and Audrey who helps him unravel the mysteries of memory and jump the scratch in his own life. Jamie never thought that Jamie's horrible secret would be the key for his aunt to jump the scratch as well.

I would recommend this book to anybody from the age of eleven to one hundred and one because it will completely soften your heart and let you know what bad luck really is!

This miraculous book tells a story of a young teenage boy who has gone through a lot of obstacles to overcome what he has gone through. I found this book very interesting and memorable. The part of the book is that you find out what Jamie's horrible secret is at the very end of the book. This develops a cool twist that leaves your mind spinning. Want to know the ugly secret Jamie has to lock up in his heart and cover? Want to know why he would do anything to forget it? There is only one way you can find out. Read the book and uncover his heart-breaking story!

Binkle and Flip Misbehave

Its another edition of Binkle and Flip which includes more funny stories.These 2 bad bunnies were always playing jokes on people but always get caught by Willy Weasle the policeman.
They live in heather cottage which is in Oak tree town.
They tried to earn some money by having Flip acting as Binkles father and putting some paintings around them then showing the people coming to the market to buy food.

Beautiful Boy by David Sheff

Beautiful Boy is a story about drug addiction and Nic, the main character in the story, started smoking and using marijuana since he was in 7th grade. One of the reasons why he started using drug was because of his parents’ divorce when he was only about 3. Nic thought that marijuana would help him blocked out his feelings when he felt too much, and it also made things blurrier. After going to therapies and lectures by his dad, Nic was influenced by his dad’s talk about how drugs were bad for his health and how it will affect your life afterwards. Things started to turn well when he was in 8th grade; he stopped hanging out with the friends who sold him the drug. He started to read massive amount of books, which helped him to become the award- winning journalist. He started to work hard, wanting to get good grades so he could enter an university. Through Nic’s hard working, he entered an university in Los Angeles which forced him to leave his family, and that was when he started the drug, meth.

This book was written from parents’ point of view, so that we could feel how the parents felt when they were facing their child’s addiction to drugs. I think this is a really interesting book, because through the storylines, we could actually see the way Nic changed and the way the parents reacted. This is one of the most depressing stories I have ever read before, and I recommend teenagers to read this book.

The Other Sister-S.T Underdahl

Josey Muller's regular life of homeowork, guys, and gossip was blown away when her parents dropped a bomb: she has an older sister that she never knew about. Her parents were overjoyed to reunite with Audrey, the baby they were forced to give up in high-school. Everyone was cool with this. Somehow, this was just not so easy for 16 year old Josey, to accept this fact. She had been playing along well, until one day. She finally cannot hold this anymore, and suddenly, a torrence of uncontrollable words came out of her mouth. Tears started to roll down her cheeks. How are her parents going to react? Read this book and find out.
I really enjoyed reading this book, because of how the tension was built. The way Josey dealed with things were sometimes not very mature, but she certainly got to her point, and made sure that everyone knew how she felt. Some parts of this book was emotional and I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading about family issues.

The Lovely Bones- Alice Sebold

When we first meet Susie Salmon, she is already in heaven. When she looks down from this strange new place, she tells us, in the fresh and spirited voice of a now fourteen year old girl, a tale that is haunting and full of hope.

Following her death, Susie watches life continue without her from above. Her school friends are trading rumors about her disappearance, her family holding out hope that she'll be found, and her killer is trying to cover his tracks. As months pass without leads, Susie sees her parents' marriage being contorted by loss, her sister hardening herself in an effort to stay strong, and little brother trying to grasp the meaning of the word gone.

As she explores heaven, it looks a lot like her school playground, with the good kind of swing sets. There are counselors to help newcomers adjust and friends to room with. Whatever she wants appears before she thinks of it-except the thing she wants most: to be back with the people she loved on earth.

With compassion, longing, and a growing understanding, Susie sees her loved ones pass through grief and begin to mend. Her father embarks on a quest that is very risky to ensnare her killer. Her sister takes undertakes a feat of remarkable daring. And the boy Susie cared for moves on, only to find himself in the middle of a miraculous event.

This is one of the most unusual books I have ever read before. The descriptions of heaven may be a bit unrealistic, but it was a great book for the most part.

Blue Heaven

Twelve year old Annie Taylor could scarcely have imagined the consequences of taking younger brother William out for a fishing trip along the banks of Sand Creek one rainy spring afternoon. Nicknamed Blue Heaven because of the influx of retired California cops that moved in looking for peace and quiet. That peace was shattered when the children witnessed three men murder someone execution style and worse, the murderers spotted the kids looking on from the underbrush. Annie and William are suddenly thrust into a struggle for survival in a world where no one is quite what they seem.

Dear dumb diary my pants are haunted

it is a story about a girl who isnt as popular and hates Angelina for her beauty but later on her mum buys her a new pair of jeans and then Jamie realizes that the jeans that her mum bought for her is no ordinary jeans its the best jeans,but later on she realizes that her jeans are haunted.her jeans made her do weird things like taste kiwi shampoo to see if it tasted like kiwi or watch 20 minutes of a commercial about a chicken toaster. but she found out that that jeans made her popular just by the way her dog bit the jeans and it became a new trend.

Ballet Stories by Caroline Plaisted

This book is talking about different stories from learning the front two steps for the rehersal and then the end of term show. One of the stories in the book is called Silver shoes. Silver shoes is talking about a girl called Charlie that had a siver ballet shoes for her birthday. She didn't like ballet and didnt want to be a star, she wanted to be a pilot instead. She learned ballet only because her mom loves it. The silver shoes were gorgeous, so she asked her mom if she could bring to school and show it to her friends. At breaktime, she showed it to Janine and Susila, her two best friends. They loved it. A girl called Lally camed to watch too. She loved dancing, but she had never had ballet classes before and didn't play with Charlie. Susila asked her to move and it's time for class.

Lally decided to try on Charlie's new shoes, so she went to get it when Charlie is having a class. When Charlie finished her class, her classmates asked her if they could look at it once again. Charlie went to get it in her locker, she didn't see it, one of the classmate called out" I saw Lally coming down here." Charlie went to find Lally in the end of term show stage. She saw Lally, wearing her silver shoes. lally danced really well, better than all the girls Charlie had ever known and she never go to ballet lessons. Charlie forgived her and she asked her if she could dance for her in the show instead. Lally agreed, but she was nervous. Lally danced, but charlies mother didnt believed that it was charlie. No one got mad with them after founding it out and they were really happy that Lally was a natural. After, they became friends and charlie's mom kind of adopted lally. The silver shoes were covered in holes after lally wore them so much.

The Midnight Library by Nick Shadow

Turn off your lights, get ready for frights!! Because "The Midnight Library" will haunt you tonight! In this nail-biting book, there are three horrifiying stories to read at the edge of your seats! Filled with tension, suspense and terrifying moments.

In the first story called " Blood and Sand", John and Sarah are on a town having their most boring summer of their lives. Instead of not doing anything, the kids decided to join a sand sculpting competition. It's not until they met "The Sinister Sandman". They really begin to wish they'd stayed at home.

In the second story called "Man's Best Friend", Ben's grandfather has passed away, and all his antiques and belongings were given away to Ben's family. Everything seemed pretty normal, until the stench of corpse filled the room. It was his grandfather's pet parrot called "Igor". And when strange stuff starts to happen, Ben begins to wish he was never born.

In the third story called " Stranger in the House", Jessica is anxiously waiting for her cool babysitter, Laura. Laura was never late, but tonight seemed different. She was drenched by the rain. And blood from her skin oozed out horribly. The evil forces surrounds the house. Something must be wrong.

This book will have you shiver from head to toe!!! I strongly recommend this to anyone, including teachers. No matter how brave you are, you can't escape the horror in the book.

DARE TO BE SCARED?