The Haunting of Sunshine Girl by Paige McKenzie

Sunshine Griffith lived a normal life in Austin,Texas but shortly after her 16th birthday, her and her mother moved north to Ridgemont, Washington. They moved in order for her mom to be closer to her new nursing job. While keeping up with school, Nolan, and bonding time with her mother, Sunshine must discover what/who is making her house paranormal. I absolutely loved this book and I recommend it to anyone who loves a good horror book.

Reviewed by Emily ~ 6th Grade

Lexile 790

Anya's Ghost by Vera Brosgol

Anya's Ghost is a good book. I love it -There is a girl name Anya and she is going to her new school in Russia. She likes this boy, but the boy has a girlfriend. She thought the boy was waving to her, but he was not and she was shy. The boy was waving to his girlfriend and a nerd was waving to her! She has a friend that is a boy and he says that she is his girlfriend, but she is not. She hates it! She gets mad at him so she went to the park that no one goes to. She was mad that people were telling her what to do and say. Anya was not watching where she was going and she fell in a big hole when she was walking. There she meets a friend (a ghost friend)! Read the book to learn more.

Reviewed by Yoselin ~ 6th Grade

Lexile 300

Mary: The Summoning by Hillary Monahan

There are four girls and one of them suggest summoning Bloody Mary in her friend's basement. They summon her but first they have to put a salt line so Mary won't attack them. Two of the girls start to freak out and they say to their friend to tell Mary to go away. Jess which is the one who summoned her tells Mary to go away. Jess then later summons Mary with the girls but this time puts the salt line a little further away from the mirror and they start to summon her but this time they start to hear Mary, they are confused because the last time they summoned her Mary didn't say anything. Mary then starts to come out of the mirror and grabs Shauna (You are seeing the story in her point of view) and Mary got Shauna's blood. 

[SPOILER ALERT]

When Mary has smelled your blood she comes after you and starts to haunt you. Jess then tells Shauna to go to a girl's house because she was haunted from Mary when her (dead) friends and her summoned Mary. Shauna then goes to Cody's house and Cody tells her to stay away from shiny objects and that she is cursed and Mary is coming after her but Mary isn't going after Cody because when the girls did the summoning that the curse transferred to Shauna when Mary smelled her blood. And that because of the curse Cody's friends died. 

During reading I kept wanting to read what was going to happen next. I recommend this book to people who like horror/mystery stories.

Reviewed by Aileen ~ 6th Grade

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

This book is about an Indian boy named Arnold Spirit Jr. He was born with too much cerebral spinal fluid inside his skull. This caused him to have a big head. He also lost his vision and needed several surgeries. And he was poor.  He had to go to a different school so he wouldn't get beaten to death! So now he is trying to fit in to a nice school and be an average teenagers. And if you want to find out more please read The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian!

Reviewed by Jade ~ 6th Grade

Lexile 600

The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan (Series bk. 1)

This book is about an infection spreading throughout the whole world and there are villages with fences to keep the "unconsecrated" (unconsecrated are the zombies that if you get bitten you "Return" and turn into one.) out. No one knows if there are other villages, if there are more survivors. 

In the first book the main character is Mary and her father died or got bitten and her mother kind of went crazy. Her mom waits at the fence every day waiting for her husband to come back perfectly fine, but he never does. 

[SPOILER] 

So one day Mary is down by a river with her old friend Harry (who loves her, but she doesn't like him that way) and while she is down there her mom is by the fence and the alarm goes off. (The alarm only goes off if someone is bitten or a unconsecrated brakes loose and is in the village.) Mary runs to her mom and she is too late. 

If you love fast pace books this is defiantly that! This is also a little bit of romance. Mary loves Harry 's brother Travis. Harry Loves Mary. Travis starts to fall for Mary but is already named to his wife Cass, Mary's best friend. 

So I won't tell you anymore about the first book but let me tell you it's amazing so fast paced and the author rips your heart apart and puts it all back but still missing pieces. 

[SPOILER] 

The second book to the series is The Dead Tossed Waves it's about what Mary's life is like after she leaves the Village except you don't know who she is because the main character is different. But you eventually find out and all the pieces fit together. The last book ties all the series together you have to read them because if I start really getting into them then you wouldn't even have to read them!

Reviewed by Hannah ~ 6th Grade

Lexile 900

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (book 1) by Ransom Riggs

Jacob Portman believed he had a normal life until a great tragedy happens. He then has to go to Wales to discover his grandfather's hidden past. Little does he know that the stories he was told as a kid were real the whole time. A mysterious orphanage that serves as the home for many peculiar children. Children who can levitate or control fire with their hands. 

Once he arrives at the island he learns that the orphanage is destroyed due to the bomb attacks during the holocaust. Then during one of his search missions into the house he finds proof that the kids that used to live in the house might still be alive. Thrust into a world full of wonder, he must decide whether he stays with the peculiar children or return to his "normal" life back home. 

This book is well written and full of mystery. It constantly kept me on my seat asking what would happen next. The book is full of creepy, but amazing vintage pictures. The one thing that I felt disappointed about was the lack of scary moments. The book took more of a whimsical and fun turn then I had expected. I still think this book is good due to the fact that the author wove a story out of a bunch of random pictures. I found this to be really creative and new. I recommend this book to anyone whose interested in fantasy and mystery books.

Reviewed by Daniel ~ 8th Grade

Lexile 890

Famous Last Words by Katie Alender

This book grabbed my attention with the front cover. A girl is lying on a bed looking at the reflection of the ghost that haunts her house. In this story, a girl named Willa moves in with her stepfather Jonathan, a famous movie director. Willa’s mom and him got married and moved to Los Angeles. The night they moved in Jonathan tells Willa and her mom about the Hollywood Killer that’s terrorizing their town. The Killer reenacts murder scenes from famous movies. But he does not just murder anyone, he murders actresses – and all his victims so far were the same age as Willa. In this murder mystery Willa meets Wyatt a super-smart guy that does not like her. When she ends up with his personal notebook, she finds out a big secret. Along with all this, she has to deal with the ghost that was murdered in her new house. When Willa is in danger she has to confront the ghost. Her best friend Marnie goes missing, and Willa finds the most important information, which puts her at a huge risk of being the next victim. In Famous Last Words, Willa can’t trust anyone but herself and Wyatt, who she soon befriends. If you love murder books or suspense books, then you’ll love Famous Last Words. The genre is mystery and suspense.

Reviewed by Amy ~ 6th Grade

Lexile 660

Goosebumps HorrorLand: Help! We Have Strange Powers! by R. L. Stine

Goosebumps Help? We Have Strange Powers

Jillian and Jackson are twins, yet they're quite different. Jillian is an athlete, while Jackson hates any kind of exercise. In one way they're alike: they despise the new kids at school. Nina and Artie Lerner are also twins, but they're bumbling, clueless, and just plain difficult to be around. So Jillian and Jackson are not exactly pleased when Nina and Artie show up at the movies, joining them and managing not only to ruin Jackson's new sweater but to get all four kids thrown out of the movie theater. And Jillian and Jackson don't even get to see the superhero movie they've been dying to catch.

Both Jillian and Jackson are in foul moods after they are ousted from the theater. But they perk up when they see a fortune teller's booth with a wooden fortune teller inside. They can't resist. They put a quarter in the slot, but the old fortune teller's hand doesn't reach the opening in the booth. So Jackson reaches way deep inside the booth, while Jillian pushes on his shoulders to extend his stretch. And that's when they get zapped with electricity --- so hard that Jillian actually bites her tongue. When they finally manage to recover, they read the fortune teller's card: "Welcome to HorrorLand."

The twins have no idea what that means, so they just forget about it --- until much later. Meanwhile, life continues for the twins, but it's not exactly the same. For one thing, they can't help but notice that Jillian can read everyone's mind (which means she's answering questions people are just thinking). Jackson can suddenly levitate objects, such as a bottle of syrup during breakfast along with a waffle or two. He even makes one of the school cafeteria chairs float in the air. The twins decide they need to figure out more about their newly acquired powers, although Jackson can't resist freezing the clock to avoid a quiz in class.
HELP! WE HAVE STRANGE POWERS! is another enjoyably frightening installment in the ever-so-creepy Goosebumps HorrorLand series, topped off with the expected invite to the scariest amusement park on earth. R.L. Stine manages to twist the plot in a totally unforeseen way and to inject some laugh-out-loud moments, while continuing his tradition of terror-filled tales. Fans of the series will also be happy to catch up with the characters from the previous episodes as they all strive to survive the fear-provoking events in HorrorLand: "Where Nightmares Come to Life!"

Reviewed by Michael ~ 6th Grade

Lexile 390

Graveyard Plot by Jason Strange

The book I read was the Graveyard Plot. In the first part of the book they have to go to their grandfather's house to clean it out because he went to a nursing home. When they were cleaning the house they found a picture of the grandpa with his friend before he disappeared. When they brought it up to the grandpa he freaked out because he went on a treasure hunt and the kids had the map where he lost his friend. 

[SPOILER ALERT]

The grandpa was freaking out because he went on in and he luckily got away but he lost his best friend. The grandpa’s grandson’s friend took him on the hunt. When the got in the graveyard an old lady caught them and realized that he was the grandson. But they didn’t listen and the friend ended up disappearing with the other friend that also disappeared.

Reviewed by James ~ 6th Grade

Lexile 410

The Witches by Roald Dahl

The book I read was The Witches by Roald Dahl. This book is fiction. The problem of this story is the witches are getting rid of kids and they hate kids. I recommend this book to people who like fictional books and like the author Roald Dahl. Roald Dahl also had great books like The Twits, Matilda, The BFG and more he makes books so good once you read you will get attached to the book and you won't want to stop reading.

Reviewed by Megan ~ 6th Grade

Lexile 740

Skeleton Man by Joseph Bruchac

The book I'm presenting is called Skeleton Man. The author is Joseph Bruchac. The genre is horror. This book is about a mysterious disappearance of this girls parents named Molly, and she is forced to live with her so-called “uncle”. Her “uncle” has a very strange house and she always gets locked in her room at night. She starts to have these dreams about the skeleton man story that her dad use to tell her. She gets help from her teacher when she starts to get paranoid. But she doesn't tell the school about getting help from a rabbit that she saved in her dreams.

Every morning Molly is forced to eat breakfast that her “uncle” makes her. But every day that she eats she feels weird and falls asleep quickly. Most mornings she takes the food in a Tupperware and while she’s waiting for the school bus she dumps the food down the sewers. One day she got home from school and her uncle wasn't home and she went to her room but she saw her uncle's office room door open. He usually doesn't leave the door open but this time he did, so Molly went in and saw cameras that were hooked up on the front door, back door and her room door. That night she saw her uncle in his “tool shed” and she was going to run away but she went inside the tool shed.

You'll have to read the book to find out what's in the tool shed.

Reviewed by Chase ~ 6th Grade

Lexile 730

The Girl of Nightmares by Kendare Blake

The Girl of Nightmares by Kendare Blake is a mystery and horror book. Theseus Cassio Lowood is bothered by the feeling that Anna isn’t where she belongs. Throughout the book “Cas” sees Anna being tortured. Cas travels to London to get help from Gideon, one of his dad’s friends before he died.

[SPOILER ALERT]
A girl named Jestine was sent to replace Cas and take the knife that had been passed down to him. Jestine and Cas almost died saving Anna from the Obeahman. Cas released all of the ghosts within the Obeahman and Anna went to where she belonged. Cas then went to his body that was bleeding out on the floor. I recommend this book to people who like horror and mystery books.

Reviewed by Hailey ~ 6th Grade

Lexile 660

Coraline by Neil Gaiman

Coraline moves to an old house, she's bored and she feels abandoned by her parents. She finds a hidden door that's made of bricks and passage way are bricks. at night, she crosses the brick passage and finds a world where everybody has buttons instead of eyes, and In that world everyone is the opposite.

Reviewed by Kaylyn ~ 8th Grade

Lexile  740

Goosebumps: The Haunted Mask by R. L. Stine

Do you like scary or mystery books? If you do, then this is a good book for you. I think these books are very interesting or great books if you want a break from the world. These books bring you into all the scary and mysterious things that happen in them. This book is about a girl who wants to have the best Halloween mask to scare her friend who always scares her. She goes around to every store and then she finally finds the perfect mask. But! The guy who is working the store warns her, telling her that the mask will turn her into a mean person, but she still buys it. She puts on the mask and she starts to act differently, just like the man warned her. She talks back to her mom and says some really mean things to her--but she doesn't even mean it! But... she can’t help it! It’s the mask! She tries to take it off... but she can’t! WIll Carly act mean for the rest of her life? Will she be able to EVER get the mask off?! Read this book and find out what happens to her... if you dare!

Reviewed by Dina ~ 8th Grade

Lexile 580

Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake

Anna Dressed In Blood by Kendare Blake is the first of the series. This book is paranormal/horror, mystery, fiction, and romance. Cas is a boy who falls in love with a ghost who murdered many people. Her name is Anna. Known as Anna Dressed in Blood. I recommend this book to people who like ghost stories and are hopeless romantics, unlike myself. I also recommend this book to people who like mysteries and horror books. 

Reviewed by Hailey ~ 6th Grade

Lexile 690

Anya's Ghost by Vera Brosgol

This book is about a girl named Anya who was walking home one day and took the short cut to her house which was a small woods. She was walking when she fell in a hole that was on the ground. When she fell she saw a dead body and the ghost of the body got attached to Anya. She has been different since this had happened. 

[SPOILER ALERT]
The ghost turns out to be pretty friendly, and the two eventually become good friends as well as partners in crime. Anya uses her invisible buddy to cheat on another person’s test. THE GHOST IS NOT ANYA'S FRIEND! Read to find out what happens to Anya and the Ghost. 

Reviewed by Heidi ~ 7th Grade

Lexile 300

Beyond by Graham Mcnamee

Beyond is a book that is about a girl named Jane that is going through a tough situation. Her friend is helping her go through this so she isn’t alone. Jane’s mom thinks Jane is trying to have a death wish and her dad thinks something is wrong with her. This thing is making her do bad things to herself that she doesn’t want to do. It is really hurting her because she doesn’t know what to do about it. Until something really bad happens and it all stops. If you want to know what happens read to find out.

Reviewed by Kayla ~ 7th Grade

Lexile 600

Dracula by Bram Stoker

Dracula by Bram Stoker is a mysterious book with weird things that happen to people. It’s really interesting when you first started reading it. In this book there was a man that went into a castle that he didn’t know anything about. A vampire told him if you ever feel like sleeping go sleep in your room, because if you sleep in another room something bad might happen. When the man fell asleep in another room and then woke up, 3 ghosts with really red lips were going to bite him. The vampire came in the room and took the 3 ghosts out. That’s what happens if you don’t pay attention to what the vampires are telling you. It’s really interesting what happens to people when they don’t obey the rules of the castle. If you don’t obey the rules, you might be dead if you don’t pay attention around you. In this book there is a lot of mystery and ghosts and vampires!

Reviewed by Samantha ~ 7th Grade

Lexile 580

Acceleration by Graham Mcnamee

Acceleration by Graham Mcnamee is a mystery book. The main character, Duncan, finds a journal of an arsonist, animal abuser, and a possible killer. Duncan goes out of his way to save someone, hoping his nightmares go away. I recommend this book to everyone.

Reviewed by Hailey ~ 6th Grade

Lexile 670

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

If you read Miss Peregrines Home for Peculiar Children you will like City of Bones, City of Bones has magic, werewolves f aeries, demons and more if you like action and adventure this is your type of book. I don't want to give anything away but there is a vilan if you like the book Miss Peregrines Home for Peculiar Children this is your type of book.

Reviewed by Malaak ~ 7th Grade