Reviewed by Olivia

Rating: High Four

Who I'd Recommend to: Fans of Echo, The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, and anything by Cornelia Funke. 

Synopsis (from Amazon):
Ben and Rose secretly wish their lives were different. Ben longs for the father he has never known. Rose dreams of a mysterious actress whose life she chronicles in a scrapbook. When Ben discovers a puzzling clue in his mother's room and Rose reads an enticing headline in the newspaper, both children set out alone on desperate quests to find what they are missing.

Reviewed by Olivia

Rating: High Five

Who I'd Recommend to: Fans of anything Jerry Spinelli, Ida B., Blackbird Fly, and My Diary From the Edge of the World.

Synopsis (from Amazon): 
You are now entering Ruby Holler, the one and only Ruby Holler! Your lives are never going to be the same—" 
​"Trouble twins" Dallas and Florida are orphans who have given up believing there is such a thing as a loving home. Tiller and Sairy are an eccentric older couple who live in the beautiful, mysterious Ruby Holler, but they’re restless for one more big adventure. When they invite the twins to join them on their journeys, they first must all stay together in the Holler, and the magic of the place takes over. Two pairs of lives grow closer and are changed forever.

Rating: High Five!

Synopsis (from Amazon) : 
Welcome to the Wonderful World of Hypnotism!Molly Moon is no ordinary orphan. When she finds a mysterious old book on hypnotism, she discovers she can make people do whatever she wants. But a sinister stranger is watching her every move and he'll do anything to steal her hypnotic secret...

Why We'd Recommend It: We first stumbled upon this book on audiobook, some four years ago. We were instantly captivated, and proceeded to read all the other books in the series within weeks. Molly Moon's world is one that all readers will instantly love, with adventure, action, danger, fame, mystery... who could ask for anything more? It's the perfect book to get you out of a reading "slump," and lucky for reluctant readers, this fast-paced book is only the first of a long series. It's also incredibly imaginative. Overall, one of our favorite semi-fantasy books, still to this day!

Rating: High Five... Million :)

Synopsis: Two orphaned brothers, Prosper and Bo, have run away to Venice, where crumbling canals and misty alleyways shelter a secret community of street urchins. Leader of this motley crew of lost children is a clever, charming boy with a dark history of his own: He calls himself the Thief Lord. Propser and Bo relish their new "family" and life of petty crime. But their cruel aunt and a bumbling detective are on their trail. And posing an even greater threat to the boys' freedom is something from a forgotten past: a beautiful magical treasure with the power to spin time itself.

Why We'd Recommend It: When I think about my younger years, The Thief Lord comes to mind. Written by one of my favorite authors, Cornelia Funke, when my third-grade-teacher recommended this to me, I found it hard to resist. Just read the synopsis and you'll see why. Ever since this book, I've been obsessed with writing stories that take place in Europe - especially Italy. The story grabs you right in from the start and doesn't let go until you get to the mind-blowing end. Truly an incredible book that I've probably reread about a thousand times by now. But don't take my word for it. Go and read it yourself!

Reviewed by Olivia

Rating: High Four 1/2
Who I'd Recommend to: Fans of Chasing Vermeer, the Doldrums, Wildwood (similar feel), and Masterpiece.
Synopsis (from Amazon):
For twelve-year-old Emily, the best thing about moving to San Francisco is that it's the home city of her literary idol: Garrison Griswold, book publisher and creator of the online sensation Book Scavenger (a game where books are hidden in cities all over the country and clues to find them are revealed through puzzles). Upon her arrival, however, Emily learns that Griswold has been attacked and is now in a coma, and no one knows anything about the epic new game he had been poised to launch. Then Emily and her new friend James discover an odd book, which they come to believe is from Griswold himself, and might contain the only copy of his mysterious new game. 
Racing against time, Emily and James rush from clue to clue, desperate to figure out the secret at the heart of Griswold's new game—before those who attacked Griswold come after them too.

Reviewed by Olivia

Rating: High Five!
Who I'd Recommend to: Fans of Rick Riordan, Chasing Vermeer, and other action-packed mysteries.
Synopsis (from Amazon):
When someone takes aim at Rhonda Rhino, FunJungle’s pregnant (and endangered) Asian greater one-horned rhinoceros, the zoo steps up security measures in order to protect this rare animal and her baby.

But the extra security isn’t enough—someone is still getting too close for comfort. Teddy and company start to suspect that whoever is after Rhonda is really after her horn, which is worth a lot of money on the black market.

For the first time ever, the head of the zoo enlists Teddy for help—for once, he doesn’t have to sneak around in order to investigate—and the results are even more wacky, and even more dangerous, than ever before.

Reviewed by Olivia

Rating: High Four
Who I'd Recommend to: Fans of Confessions of a So-Called Middle Child, Rick Riordan, and overall just those books that make you want to read forever...
Synopsis (from Amazon): 
During a spy school game of Capture the Flag, twelve-year-old Ben Ripley somehow accidentally shoots a live mortar into the principal’s office—and immediately gets himself expelled. Not long after going back to the boring old real world, Ben gets recruited by evil crime organization SPYDER.

And he accepts.

As a new student in SPYDER’s evil spy school, which trains kids to become bad guys with classes likeCounter Counterespionage and Laying Low 101, Ben does some secret spying of his own. He’s acting as unofficial undercover agent, and it becomes quickly apparent that SPYDER is planning something very big—and very evil.

Ben can tell he’s a key part of the plan, but he’s not quite sure what the plan is. Can Ben figure out what SPYDER is up to—and get word to the good guys without getting caught—before it’s too late?

Reviewed by Olivia (but my mom just started reading it, because I got her excited about it!)


Rating: High Four 1/2 
Who I'd Recommend to: Fans of Elise Broach's Masterpiece; if you're an adult, the Da Vinci Code (I don't think most kids my age have read it); and page-turning, amazing, suspenseful, creative mysteries.
Synopsis (from amazon):
When a book of unexplainable occurences brings Petra and Calder together, strange things start to happen: Seemingly unrelated events connect; an eccentric old woman seeks their company; an invaluable Vermeer painting disappears. Before they know it, the two find themselves at the center of an international art scandal, where no one is spared from suspicion. As Petra and Calder are drawn clue by clue into a mysterious labyrinth, they must draw on their powers of intuition, their problem solving skills, and their knowledge of Vermeer. Can they decipher a crime that has stumped even the FBI?

Reviewed by Olivia


Rating: High Four
Who I'd Recommend to: Fans of Peter Pan (obviously), the Land of Stories (I know, I often refer to the same books in this section), Doctor Doolittle, and old favorites like Black Beauty.
Synopsis (from Amazon):
Don't even think of starting this book unless you're sitting in a comfortable chair and have lots of time. A fast-paced, impossible-to-put-down adventure awaits as the young orphan Peter and his mates are dispatched to an island ruled by the evil King Zarboff. They set sail aboard the Never Land, a ship carrying a precious and mysterious trunk inits cargo hold, and the journey quickly becomes fraught with excitement and danger. 

Reviewed by Olivia


Rating: High Four 1/2
Who I'd Recommend to: Fans of Divergent, the Land of Stories, and possibly Percy Jackson (I pretty much always include that recommendation)
Synopsis (from Amazon, as always :):
Cinder is back and trying to break out of prison--even though she'll be the Commonwealth's most wanted fugitive if she does--in this second installment from Marissa Meyer.

Halfway around the world, Scarlet Benoit's grandmother is missing. It turns out there are many things Scarlet doesn't know about her grandmother, or the grave danger she has lived in her whole life. When Scarlet encounters Wolf, a street fighter who may have information as to her grandmother's whereabouts, she is loath to trust this stranger, but is inexplicably drawn to him, and he to her. As Scarlet and Wolf unravel one mystery, they encounter another when they meet Cinder. Now, all of them must stay one step ahead of the vicious Lunar Queen Levana.