Small Steps
by Louis Sachar

Two years after being released from Camp Green Lake, Theodore Johnson "Armpit" is back to digging, but this time, he's digging trenches, for cash, in Austin, Texas. He's trying to turn his life around by studying harder in school, helping out his neighbor next door, Ginny, who has cerebral palsy (bleeding in the brain), and just staying out of trouble. He's even beginning to crush on a girl, Tatiana, and take hygiene more seriously! All is going well, until he meets up with one of his old friends from camp, Rex "X-ray," who has come up with another get-rich-quick scheme, involving tickets to the most famous teen sensation, Kaira DeLeon, and X-ray and Armpit are sent on the ride of their lives, from getting attacked at a concert to almost kissing Kaira DeLeon! While all that jazz is happening to Armpit and X-ray, Kaira is trying to get long in her rock-star life. Having people like her bodyguard "The Doofus" and her step-father "El Genius," sometimes makes it hard, but when she's got her two best (and only) friends by her side, nothing can bring her down. Together, everyone is taking small steps, and no one is left out of the adventures that lay ahead of them, day and night!

Most of the story took place in school and Ginny's house (Armpit's side of the story), and the tour bus and many different hotels (Kaira's side of the story). The time of day ranged from about 6:30 A.M. to midnight. They traveled around a lot, from Texas to California. The characters of this story were Theodore, Kiara, Rex, and Ginny. Theodore is a tall, chubby, 17-year-old boy, who always thinks long and hard before he acts, but not when he's around Kiara. Kiara is a spunky yet loving 17-year-old prima donna who dislikes having to spend all of her time around adults, and can't wait until she turns 18, so she can fire everyone and work alone. Rex is a sly, mysterious 17-year-old who always seems to have one thing on his mind: money. Ginny is a silly and loving 10-year-old girl who acts as if even though she is disabled, she isn't that bothered by it. In fact, she kind of likes the fact that she's a little bit different from everyone else!

Even though the characters seem sweet, the plot seems calm, and nothing that bad goes on, it's not what it seems. It is NOTHING like Holes in the way it's written. Holes was about the history of the town the camp site was built on and one kid's journey through the camp. Small Steps was about a boy's journey coming back home and smoothing over his rough life. I would recommend this story to people my age and up, due to violence and language.

Bird Springs

Bird Springs, published in 2007 in the U.S.A., is a heart-warming story of a young boy, Gregory, who moves from his house in the Navajo reservation at Bird Springs to a run-down motel in Tucson, Arizona. He deals with the pain of not having his father around to help his family, his mom working 24/7 cleaning a bank, and having to be the babysitter for his baby sister, Jeanine. He thinks he doesn't need any friends in the beginning, but ends up making one, a boy named Matt, who's a bit strange. Gregory also has an imaginary friend, Joey, who can be annoying sometimes. Through all this, he does have some fun while in art classes, where he falls in love with his art teacher, 20-year-old Ms. Daniels. The only questions are: will Gregory's father EVER come back? Will Gregory and his family ever see Bird Springs again? When will Gregory ever get rid of Joey, and will Gregory stay friends with Matt, who keeps making fun of his father? You'll have to read the book to find out!

This book takes place in the present, during all hours of the day. The areas where the characters mostly roam are: school, the motel and the underground tunnels.

This book really touched my emotions. I cried after reading every chapter. It was charming, dramatic, and just down-right cute, and even though some chapters were blurring my eyes too much to read, I loved every minute of it! I'd say the age restriction of this book would be for anyone about the ages of nine or ten and older due to the theme and language.

Piggy
by Mireille Geus

12-year-old Lizzy Bekell is a loner. She does not have any friends, and she is never asked to play with anyone. She tries not to let it get to her, but she can't help but feel a little left out when she stands by the lamppost and watches the kids play. All of a sudden, Lizzy notices another girl standing at a lamppost. Lizzy finds the courage to join the girl and they begin to grow close. They share goods from the bakeries, talk for a bit, and stand at each other's lampposts. Lizzy learns a lot about the girl. Her name is Margaret, but everybody calls her Piggy because she is overweight, she wants to be an actress, she loves things to be clean, and she loves to play the piano. But after Piggy does something way out-of-line, will Lizzy ever even think about Margaret? Will Margaret stop her outrageous behavior, or will she continue and get worse? And will the boys, who never let Lizzy play with them, give her a chance to play soccer? You'll have to read this book to find out.

This book is not a comedy. It is a tearjerking and slightly scary story. Even so, it is a good book, and it reminds me that if someone is picking on you or making you do things you don't want to do, are they really your friend? I would recommend this book at ages ten and up due to some scary scenes and language.

The UFO Phenomenon; Mysteries Of The Unknown
Time-Life Books

It was a little after Christmas in Texas, 1980. Two women and a little boy were driving along a deserted road, making their way back home from dinner when all of a sudden, they saw a blazing light before them. Curious, they drove closer, and they were surprised to see a diamond shaped aircraft, hovering, with blinking lights all around the outside, and flames shooting out of the bottom. As one lady, Betty Cash, stepped out of the car, intense heat struck her face and body. She stayed outside for only five minutes before her seven-year-old son yelled for her to come back inside. Just a few hours later, all three of the UFO witnesses developed sunburn-like blisters, nausea, and diarrhea. Betty Cash was the most sick out of all three passengers: she was hospitalized for two weeks as a burn victim. The doctors found out a few days later about the UFO incident, and from then on, investigators have been trying to solve the case. If you want to know, this is a real story, and there are many different stories like this one throughout the book.

UFO is short for Unidentified Flying Object. There have been many UFO sightings, but one of the most popular UFO sights is Area 51. Area 51 is a nickname for a military base in a southern area of Nevada. Even though many strange and unforgettable UFO encounters have occurred in that area, Area 51 is very heavily guarded, and trespassing over the land is illegal. So pictures of this interesting sight are as close as I'm going to get!

Not everyone saw the exact same UFO that others saw: for instance, one year, a group of people saw a football-shaped UFO in Kansas City, then the next year, in the same area, another group of people may see a dome-shaped UFO. Here is a list of some alleged UFOs: In Oklahoma, a popular UFO style is pot shaped. In Texas, a dome-shaped craft flew through the sky. In Mercyside (England), a helmet-shaped object was sighted. Here, in Illinois, a football-shaped UFO with yellow and red blinking lights was spotted.

Not everyone believes in UFOs and aliens, and that's okay. Skeptics are people that are in between—they don't quite fully believe in the phenomenon and they provide scientific explanations for the curious cases. Non-believers completely don't believe—they think that people who do believe in the curious cases are crazy. Believers completely believe in the curious cases and will not listen to any scientific explanation. Skeptics, non-believers, and believers are all Humans with the freedom to believe in whatever they want to believe in. Some people don't believe in UFOs and aliens but instead believe in an alternate shadow universe right outside our own. Others feel that there are smaller, farther away planets where strange creatures live. We may never know, but secrets make life more exciting than knowing everything. To read more about these secrets, pick up The UFO Phenomenon; Mysteries Of The Unknown. I would recommend this book to avid readers age nine and above due to some scary content.

The Iliad
by Homer

The Iliad is a long and epic poem written by Homer (not the one on TV). It is an extremely famous Greek myth, alongside The Odyssey, another one of Homer's greatest works. The difference between the two is simple: The Iliad is about the end of the Trojan War which all started because of a pretty girl and a jealous man. Many years ago, three women (Hera, Aphrodite, Athene) started fighting about a silly matter: who was better looking. Every single God did not decide for themselves, so the three girls went down to Earth to the small land of Troy. They looked around for someone to ask, and eventually they found a man named Paris (son of king of Troy). Once they approached him, they asked which of them appeared to be the most beautiful. He finally made his choice, Aphrodite, and she granted him the most beautiful woman in the world to be his wife. However, the choice turned out to be Helen of Sparta, whom was already married to another man, King Menelaus of Sparta. The first time they laid eyes on each other, they fell in love, and went to Troy to live together. When the King found out, he called upon his brother, Agamemnon, to help him get his wife back. Agamemnon then called upon the other Greeks to come and help get her back, and together they sailed to Troy. Soon after, the Trojan War began and lasted for a long time. As many of you know, the Greeks built a tall, hollow, wooden horse (Trojan Horse). Some of the people of Troy thought this was a gift to the gods, but many others thought it was a trap that led to no good. You will have to read this book to find the answer to this, and many other questions.

This epic poem was a long, tragic, and slightly romantic. Obviously, Homer was a very smart man born with a talent for writing and a lot of precious time on his hands. If he were alive today, I don't think he'd be doing any television watching or computer playing unless it was a video game special about Greek mythology! I would recommend this book to an extremely advanced reader or anyone at least twelve and up (unless you like a challenge!)

Hero Netherfield is starting the 6th grade, and that means another new school. As if last year wasn't bad enough, Hero has to put up with the rude remarks about her Shakesperean name and the fact that nobody wants to be her friend. All of a sudden, her life gets a little more interesting when she meets her neighbor, Mrs. Roth. She learns that somewhere hidden in her house, there's a diamond that's worth a million dollars.

This story takes place in Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C. The settings in this story are school, Mrs. Roth's house, Hero's house, and the police headquarters. The characters in this mysterious adventure story are Hero, who is nothing like her popular, beautiful sister, Danny, the most popular boy in the 8th grade, who has a secret crush on Hero, Hero's father, who is Shakespeare crazy, Hero's mother, who can be as embarrassing as her father at times, but always means well, Beatrice, Hero's sister, who is beautiful, popular, and always smiling, just like Danny Cordova.

Through her journey to find out more about the diamond and the people that owned the home last, she finally makes a friend, the most popular boy in the 8th grade, Danny Cordova. Will her and Danny find the diamond, or is it just a rumor? When will the name-calling come to an end? Can Hero finally learn to live up to her Shakespearean name? Most importantly, will Shakespeare's secret ever be solved? You'll have to read this book to find out. I though this book was a great mystery for kids. There was nothing gory, frightening or suspenseful, but it was still full of adventure, mystery, friendship and simply coming-of-age. I would recommend this book to children ages 9 and up due to language and the storyline itself.