Divergent by Veronica Roth

If you have finished Hunger Games and are looking for the next great read then Divergent is your book!  This book has just the right amounts of government conspiracy, danger, mystery, love, and excitement.

The Mortal Instrements by Cassandra Clare

What a captivating series this was for me! I could not put it down.  If you are going to get into this series and you have a thing for happy endings with no clifhangers... stop at book 3.  Book 4 picks up after all the happy endings and leaves you and a really horrible cliff hanger :( but I'll have to see how book 5 turns out :) Cannot wait!

The Spiderwick Chronicles

I know that a lot of people love this book but it was pretty boring to me.  I felt like it was a slow read aloud for my class.  I loved the movie though.

The Witches by Roald Dahl

Fabulous book to read to children around Halloween.  This book is so cleaver.  My second graders loved it!  My favorite part is in the begining when it says:

Anyone might be a witch, you never know.  Your teacher, reading this book to you, might be a witch!

Clementine by Sara Pennypacker

This is truley a darling book!  I read this to my second grade students at the begining of the year and they loved it!  It's about a little girl who has everyone thinks has a hard time focusing but really she is just focused on a lot of other things going on around her.  She says and does the darnest things!

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

The HUNGER GAMES is my new obsession... I'm already reading it for a second time! I have not been this obsessed with a book since I read Twilight. I don't really wanna say anything about it because I don't want to give anything away but you MUST MUST MUST read this book and the two that follow it!!!!!!

The Actor and the Housewives by Shannon Hale

I tend to like Shannon Hale's young adults novels better then her adult novels but this book was really great. This story was very eye opening about whether or not a married women can have a close friend that is a man.

Forest Born by Shannon Hale

I LOVE LOVE LOVE Shannon Hales books! This book was just as beautiful and as enchanting as the first 3. The world of Bayern that Shannon has created is inspiring. I RECOMMEND THIS!!

Fablehaven by Brandon Mull

I read this book during my 3 weeks in a 4th grade class. The kids loved this book and were so excited that I was reading it. I would recommend this book to an elementary student or someone who really likes juvenile books.

Handle With Care by Jodi Picoult

This book was very interesting. It's about this couple that has a baby with OI its a type of birth (a bone disease, and their little girl never gets to be bigger then a toddler and breaks her bones about 60 times by the time shes 6. The mom is conflicted about whether or not having her daughter was the right decision. It is such a heart breaking story and Jodi Picoult really knows how to write!!

The Work and the Glory by Gerald N. Lund

I finally read the Work and the Glory! Reading this really made me appreciate all the things that the pioneers went through. I saw the movies before I read the book so I felt like the books were going really slow because I think the first movie has the story from 3 books in it. Anyway I really liked this book.

Percy Jackson & The Olympians by Rick Riordan

I give this book 2 thumbs up. I love reading good a fantasy. I forgot to blog about this after I read it, which was about 3 months ago. I cannot really remember what exactly it was that I liked about it ha ha but I do remember that I was excited to read the sequels, I just have not been able to get my hands on one yet.

After reading the book I went and saw the movie and was greatly disappointed that they changed so many things! I hate when they do that! When they adapt movies after great books, why change things?

Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan

Esperanza Rising is truly and amazing story. Not only are the characters captivating but the culture and history are extremely enlightening. This story is set during the Great Depression and is about a family that falls hard from privileged circumstances in Mexico to working the orchard fields in California. I enjoyed reading about their experiences because its not something we typically think about or even learn about at school. If your looking for a quick read that might possible make you cry then this is the book for you! (p.s I love a good book that can make me cry :))

The Candy Shop War by Brandon Mull

Last year I visited a 5th grade classroom for a couple weeks for school and the kids had just finished reading this book. I tend to judge a book by its cover now and again and found this one very intriguing. I asked the kids about it and they went wild telling me how much they loved this book and I have been wanting to read it ever sense. This book is definitely original, the story line is not like anything I have read before and had me guessing on every page. I really enjoyed it and the ending was amazing!

(Interesting fact: The author Brandon Mull is a fellow Utahn)

The Short Second LIfe of Bree Tanner by Stephenie Meyer

I am pretty much obsessed with EVERYTHING that has to do with Twilight! Therefore this book was perfect for me :) Stephenie should just keep writing as many books as possible in this world!

I really enjoyed this book and devoured it in one day. I loved seeing things from the "bad vampires" perspective. I came to love Bree and Diego. I wish there was more!!!

The Wish by Gail Carson Levine

I read this book because the author wrote Ella Enchanted and that was an amazing read. This book however is very very juvenile. I would suggest it to a 5th grade girl. Although there was a quote that I love:

If only I could bottle tonight and take a sip of it every so often for the rest of my life.

There Are No Children Here by Alex Kotlowitz

I read this book for my Multicultural class at UVU. It's a story about two young boys growing up in the "other America" aka the Chicago projects. Before reading this book I had no idea what life was like in the projects (and I suppose I still don't). I understand now that these kids barley have a fighting chance at being successful outside of their environment. It saddens me to think that there are children out there who are literally scared for their lives everyday.

When I first started reading “There Are No Children Here” I had a hard time with it. It is kind of biased and I kept trying to fight it. Once I started to understand the characters and where they were coming from I could not wait to finish it. I think reading this book is a great experience and helps you understand things from a different point of view, even you don’t agree with everything. This book is great because you realize that not every city in America is the same as the one you grew up in.

Some unforgettable quotes:

“If I had one wish I’d wish to separate all the good from the bad and send them to another planet so they could battle it out and no innocent people would get hurt.”

“I ain’t doing nothing, I could get killed, or if not get killed I might go to jail for something I didn’t do. I could die any minute, so I aint going to be scared of nothing."

“I’m tired, Mama,” he said. She believed he was just tired of being.

What the Moon Saw by Laura Resau

I got this book at the Orem Library in their sale section. (Side Note: The Orem Library has an awesome book sale section and they put new books out the first of every month.) I've had this book for a while and was a little apprehensive to read it because of the juvenile cover, but don't judge this book by its cover. It is very enchanting and beautifully written. I underlined multiple quotes from this book because I loved them so much.

What the Moon Saw is about a young American girl who has never met her Mexican grandparents because her father left them for American when he was young. Her grandparents invite her to come to their home for the summer and initially she hates it because they live in tin shacks with no electricity but she comes to love it there and doesn't want to leave. She learns to love and respect her heritage.

I really enjoyed this book and definitely recommend it to you!!

Flossie & the Fox by Patricia C. McKissack

I discovered this book during my literacy class at UVU. This book is so cute!! Flossie has to protect a batch of eggs from the fox and instead of being scared of him, she is sassy with him, and tells him that she does not believe that he is a fox and the fox becomes distracted from the eggs by trying to prove to her that he is indeed a fox! This is a must read!

Loser by Jerry Spinelli

I just finished reading the book Loser by Jerry Spinelli. I really enjoyed this book! I didn't think I was going to like it because I have read other books by Jerry Spinelli and I have not been very impressed, but this book was different. It's about a kid who loves school and loves life but he does not fit in with his peers. He is so much in his own world that he does not even know that he is different. But you end up loving this little boy and you just want to give him a hug and pick him to be on your team! I would recommend this book to anyone and I will defiantly be reading this book to my children and students in the future!