The Ghosts of Tupelo Landing

Author: Sheila Turnage
Genre: Mystery
Setting: Tupelo Landing, NC
Summary: Mo LoBeau washed up in Tupelo Landing in a hurricane when she was a baby. Now she lives with the Colonel and Miss Lana. Miss Lana ends up buying the old Tupelo Inn at an auction. It turns out that the inn is being haunted by a ghost. Mo and her friend Dale have to interview someone old for a history project. There's extra credit for the student who interviews the oldest person, so they decide to interview the ghost. There are a couple problems. One is, they aren't exactly sure that the ghost is real. Miss Lana and Grandmother Miss Lacy Thornton are spending a lot of money to fix up the inn. Then there are problems with Red Baker. There's also a new kid in town, who's name is Crenshaw, Harm Crenshaw. (Like Bond, James Bond.) There are so many problems. They don't know just how connected everything is.

This book is actually the sequel to Three Times Lucky, which is a 2013 Newbery Honor book. I think it would be okay to read this one first, but Three Times Lucky is better at introducing the characters. I thought this was really fun to read. In the middle, it seemed like the problems were fixed, but they weren't really.

Floors

Author: Patrick Carman
Genre: Mystery (sort of)
Setting: Whippet Hotel, New York, present day
Summary: The Whippet Hotel is known for being the weirdest building ever. With Merganzer Whippet (the owner of the hotel) gone and endless problems with the hotel, things are not looking good. When four mysterious boxes appear, it becomes clearer to Leo Fillmore, the janitor's son, that he needs to save the Whippet Hotel. He must go strange floors and solve puzzles with the help of a duck and a new friend. What's really going on?

This book has so many wacky things in it. There are half floors, crazy guests, and unusual things everywhere. It has some action but it doesn't really seem like the extremely dangerous kind of action.

The Sisters Grimm

Author: Michael Buckley
Genre: Fantasy
Setting: Ferryport Landing, probably present day
Summary: Sabrina and Daphne Grimm are not new to the concept of running away. They managed to escape several crazy foster homes since their parents disappeared.They are sent to live with their grandmother, who they thought was dead! She tells them that their ancestors are the Brothers Grimm, and that their fairy tales are real. They must become fairy tale detectives, like all of the Grimms before them. Their first mission is to stop a giant from destroying Ferryport Landing.

The Sisters Grimm is such a great book. It's a good book for people who like books with magical creatures and mystery. I had a lot of fun reading it and I couldn't wait to read the next one in the series.

Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer

Author: John Grisham
Genre: Mystery
Setting: Strattenburg (fictional town in the US), present day
Summary: Theodore Boone dreams of being a lawyer or a judge. Both of his parents are lawyers. His mother is a divorce lawyer and his father is a real estate lawyer. Theo is excited to watch the first murder trial in quite a while. Pete Duffy is suspected of killing his wife. Theo thinks that Mr. Duffy is guilty, but the State doesn't have any good evidence. Until he meets a kid at school who's cousin has some valuable information. The cousin doesn't want anyone else to find out that he's an illegal immigrant. Theo is confused about who he can trust with his secrets. He doesn't want anyone to get in trouble, but he also wants the trial to be fair. What will he do?

I thought this book was very suspenseful. It would recommend this to people who like mysteries, especially when a kid is the one who finds out who probably committed the crime. I hope you read it!!

Saffy's Angel

Author: Hilary McKay

Genre: Realistic fiction

Setting: Sienna, Italy, and a couple places in the United Kingdom.

Summary: When Saffron's mother died, she was adopted by Bill and Eve Casson, her aunt and uncle. She didn't find out about her adoption until she was twelve years old. She sets out with her best friend Sarah to find her birth dad. The Casson's grandfather dies. In his will, he leaves Saffron's adoptive siblings different things. A note attached to the will says For Saffron, her angel in the garden. Now she has two things to find. Who is her birth father? Where is the angel?

This book was so good. In it are the kind of characters that make you feel like they are real. It's the kind of book that makes you think, "Really? It's over already?" The good news is, there are five other books in the Casson family series.

Pi in the Sky

Second book: Pi in the Sky!

Author: Wendy Mass
Genre: Fantasy
Setting: The Realms
Summary: To Joss, being the seventh son of the supreme overlord of the universe does not seem particularly supreme. All he does is deliver pies to the Powers that Be headquarters while his brothers get all of the cool jobs. Other than delivering pies, he just has to go to school. Everything changes when a human from Earth manages to see The Realms through a telescope. The Powers that Be have to pull Earth out of time, as though it never existed. The problem is, Joss's best friend's parents were on Earth when it disappeared, and his friend went away too. The only person left is the one who caught a glimpse of The Realms in the first place : a twelve year old girl named Annika. Joss decides to rebuild the solar system (you can do that in The Realms.) But it turns out that there's more going on that even the supreme overlord and the Powers  that Be don't know about. You can find out by reading Pi in the Sky!

This book was really imaginative. It makes it hard to think that there is so much in outer space. It didn't have a lot of action, but it was still kind of a page turner. I would recommend this book to people who like fantasy and/or are just looking for something interesting to read.

Divergent

The first book on this blog is Divergent!

Author: Veronica Roth
Genre: Dystopian fiction
Setting: Futuristic Chicago
Summary: Beatrice Prior's Society is split up into five factions. At the age of sixteen, each person will have to choose a faction to be in for the rest of their lives. There are the Amity (peacful), the Candor (honest), Abnegation (selfless), the Erudite (knowledge), and the Dauntless (brave). Will Beatrice stay with her family in Abnegation where she doesn't feel selfless enough or will she join another faction? According to the aptitude test, which tells you which faction you should be in, Beatrice could be in Erudite, Abnegation, or Dauntless. Her test giver tells her not to tell anyone about the test because she is Divergent. What does it mean to be divergent? Why is it so dangerous if anyone finds out? Read the book to find out!

I really enjoyed the book. I thought it was suspenseful and it was also descriptive about Beatrice's feelings. At so many places in the book, I just wanted to know what would happen next. You won't really know exactly why everything is happening until the last section. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who likes lots of action and futuristic time settings.

Feel free to comment on the book!