I'm going to go with what a lot of other reviewers are saying and tell you that the cover is kind of misleading. I was expecting a book that was mocking "High School Musical" and it's...well to me it's not. It's just a more perverse version. Did I enjoy the book? Yes, it's a quick read. But I found myself thinking that I must have been quite a prudish teenager, and that somewhere along the line I must have missed what guys "really talk like" because there was a LOT of sex talk. It definitely wasn't as graphic as it could have been, and I did like that not just the guys were sex hounds, but I don't remember acting anything like these kids until I was in college. But again, maybe I was just really really prudish.

MSBA nominee 2009-2010.

Still really good. Creech picks wonderful poetry to include, and I really enjoy the original pieces she writes. It's inspired me to try writing poetry again.

I picked up this book thinking that it would be like the Horrible Histories series, but for American history instead. It's not. It's worse. It's disjointed. I felt that the writing style was really choppy. There is a foreword where the author says that he was a former textbook author and there were all these stories that he had to leave out. Well, I felt like he took those stories, put them in chronological order, and BAM! We have this book. I stopped reading shortly after Sheinkin starts discussing the American Revolution, because there was a section where he said something along the lines of, "Our country's history isn't a fairy tale, every body makes mistakes, not every gets a happy ending, but hey, at least it's interesting, right?" This comes after he discusses Abigail Adams' attempt to get her husband to "remember the ladies" and the British commenting that "those who yelp loudest for liberty" and equality of man own slaves themselves. To me, he seemed to implying that, hey our country has this awful background, but at least it makes it interesting! Or is he implying that perhaps our country would have a boring history if we didn't have racist and sexist undertones? Maybe I am overreacting, but it definitely was the last straw for a book I was already frustrated with.

Another beautifully written book by Cashore. I don't really want to say anything about it, because I don't want to give anything away. After it's officially published, then I'll add to this.

I'll be honest. I have NO IDEA why I requested this book. I'm not very far in, but I was captured by the beginning. Will keep you posted.

I enjoyed it. I don't normally read "boy books". Each chapter is another year in Jimmy's life in West Virginia. It's a small railroad town. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys books about small town life, railroads, the South or typical boy books.

I actually liked this one a lot more than Wizner's second book. It had the same sort of boy raunchy humor that I'm not really used to, but there is also a sort of...I don't know...sweetness about him. I guess it reminded me of Michael Cera in Superbad.

Although, I don't know. Maybe I was a weird kid because I don't think I thought about sex, drugs and drinking as much as the kids do in both of his books. So that's still a little mystifying to me. Oh well.

This book is great! This is the story of a family that really enjoys each other's company. If you liked Anne of Green Gables or Little Women, I'm pretty sure you'll like this book. The Penderwicks has a bit of an old-fashioned feel to it.