Good Masters! Sweet Ladies Voices from a Medieval Village, by Laura Amy Schlitz and Robert Byrd

Reviewed by Melanie

Good Masters! Sweet Ladies is the 2008 Newbery Winner. It is a very interesting, fun to read, and educational book. Why I find this book interesting is because of the the style of writing, the facts, and the definitions the book has on the side of the stories and mini plays. I find this fun to read because the book gives vivid descriptions and details of the settings and the people being described. Finally, I find this book educational because in the stories, mini plays, and on the sides of the book it tells you facts about people and places and defines words from medieval times.

Elijah of Buxton, by Christopher Paul Curtis

Reviewed by Joel

This book starts out in Buxton, Canada, a town of freed slaves. Elijah is eleven,, but his mother says he is “fra-gile”. During this book, the reader enjoys words like “horrorific”, “terrorific”, and “fra-gile”, and sees them a lot. Buxton is a town for freed and escaped slaves, and the settlement is very wild throughout the story. The main event of this wonderful tale is when someone steals a man’s gold that he saved to buy the rest of his family out of freedom. Elijah is sent on a quest to America to find the thief, and retrieve it.
In this story, I really liked the way of the ex-slaves talked, because it felt realistic. I also enjoyed the understanding of the slave family in the end, because I feel that Christopher Paul Curtis does a good job with making the reader feel emotions here. The mother slave knows that escape isn’t possible, so she keeps Elijah from making a terrible decision.
I liked almost all of the book, but the parts I didn’t like were first of all, I read the book jacket, so I knew that the gold would be stolen and Elijah would go to America, (which I keep hitting myself in the head for!!) and I also predicted that the preacher would be the one to steal the gold. I think the author may have tried to make the readers predict this.
These are a bunch of random thoughts, and for that I am sorry, but I thoroughly and immensely enjoyed Elijah Of Buxton and I am sure you will also.

Underwater, by Debbie Levy

Reviewed by Ms. Merrigan

Gabe and his two brothers have never quite fit in. His older brother has ADHD and immerses himself in making art out of garbage he collects, while his younger brother shouts "whee-yuh! whee-yuh!" when he gets excited. Gabe himself has a hard time getting along with his classmates and prefers to play an ocean exploration video game and build his new aquarium. Gabe is concerned that he and his brothers are crazy, that he is the "difficult child" that is the subject of a book his mother is reading. This coming-of-age novel follows Gabe as he learns to dive below the things that bother him and to find his skills and talents in swimming, computers, and, perhaps, movie production.

The characters are charming and the situations that Gabe finds himself in ring true. But Gabe's narration of his emotional growth - from the edgy child unable to avoid conflict to a maturing young man able to accept imperfections in himself and others - seems unrealistic in its articulate self-recognition.

Leading Ladies by Marlee Matlin

Reviewed by Anaistasia

Since I am a T.A. I get to read books BEFORE they are added to the library. I read the book Leading Ladies by Marlee Matlin. This book is part of a trilogy. The other books are "Deaf Child Crossing" and "Nobody's Perfect." This book is about a girl, Megan whose class room is reading and performing "The Wizard of Oz" (the school play's name is "Wizard!"). Megan wants to be the leading role, Dorothy. The problem is that Megan is deaf. She uses sign language and rarely speaks. When her best friend from camp moves into town, Megan has some competition for the role. Her best friend Lizzie, who is also deaf, auditions for the part of Dorothy and signs and sings (with the help of another friend). Megan is mad and a little scared of being judged as a copy cat. I highly recommend this book once it is put on the shelf. So place your holds at the circulation desk!

Teen, Inc. by Stefan Petrucha

Reviewed by Ms. Merrigan
Jaiden Beale is a very fortunate 14-year-old: He has a flat-screen television, nice laptop, and all the DVD's and video games he can desire. He has just been assigned by his teacher to complete a science project with the girl of his dreams, and she seems just as excited by the idea of coming over to his house to begin the project as he is.

The only problem is that Jaiden doesn't have a house to come to; he has an office. He has not parents, only a parent corporation that legally adopted him and has "managed" his upbringing since his parents were killed in an explosion resulting from a faulty valve produced by that same corporation. Jaiden has a department manager and a team of executives that hold weekly meetings to determine everything about his life, from whether he gets to attend public school to what video games he is allowed to play. And lately, they are concerned about his social development, specifically his lack of dates.

But Jaiden has bigger problems than that. His favorite corporate cafeteria cook has been fired, and the parent corporation has been accused of polluting local streams. Jaiden must use his insider status in the company to find out the truth, and he begins to question whether his "parent corporation" actually has his best interests at heart.

Teen, Inc. is a funny modern take on the classic orphan story. Jaiden's insights into corporate ethics are amusing and enlightening, and his struggles to shrug off his trademark parodies the real commercial branding that all American teens must battle. My only criticism of this otherwise enjoyable novel is the ending. The showdown between Jaiden and the evil executive falls into the Scooby Doo trap when the bad guy spills all ("If it weren't for those nosy kids...").

Recommended 7th grade and up.

Student Library Assistant Reviews

Our Student Library Assistants get to see the very newest books as they come into the library. Oftentimes, they get to read those books before they have even been processed and made available on the shelves. Read the comments below for reviews of some of our newest titles!