Heat, by Mike Lupica

Heat is a great book about a boy who loves to play baseball.

Yes, I know it sounds like it has "boys only" written all over it, but Heat is a book anyone will love.

Twelve-year-old Michael Arroyo has just come to the United States on a boat from Cuba with his brother, Carlos, and his father, who he calls Papi. After Papi has a tragically dies from a heart attack, Michael and Carlos go to live alone in an apartment in the Bronx, near the Yankee Stadium. But you are probably thinking, "A boy who loves baseball? This sounds more like a tragic situation!"

Don't worry. From the time he was seven, Michael has been an outstanding pitcher. Now, he's on a Little League all-star team called the Clippers. Not only is he their best pitcher, but their best catcher and pretty much "their best everything," or so his friend Manny says. But as he gets better at baseball, he draws more attention to himself. If Social Services finds out, then Michael and Carlos could be separated, or worse, sent back to Cuba. One day, the Clippers play the Westchester South team, and their star player is a particularly obnoxious kid named Justin, who practically throws a tantrum if he notices anyone's better than him. When he encounters Michael, he has such a fit that he tells his dad (who is his coach) that no twelve-year-old could ever pitch that good. They demand to see his birth certificate, but his father seemed to have left it in Cuba. Michael doesn't know what to do, and the fact that he has no birth certificate just draws even more attention to his situation.

Meanwhile, Michael is banned from the team until he can prove his age. Will he ever play baseball again? Will Carlos and Michael be separated by the foster-care system?
If you want to know more, read the book!

--L. S. E.

Find Heat in your local library

Visit Mike Lupica's website

Twilight Series, Stephenie Meyer

Twilight, which is a book many people have read, is filled with suspense and romance. After Twilight comes New Moon, in my opinion a severe disappointment after Twilight, which you shouldn't read if, at that moment, you want to feel happy. Eclipse is better than New Moon but not as good as Twilight. Breaking Dawn is by far the best.

Stephenie Meyer is also the author of The Host.

Find Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series in your local library

Visit "His Golden Eyes"--a popular Twilight Series website

Top 8, by Katie Finn

When Madison MacDonald goes to the Galapagos Islands for spring break, she has an awesome time. Little did she know, while she was away, and while she had no connection to the outside world at all (away from the Internet and her beloved computer!), her Friendverse profile was hacked. Now, everyone at school hates her!

How will Maddie find out who did this to her?

This was a really good book with a lot of twists.

Find Top 8 in your local library

Visit Katie Finn’s website

Hattie Big Sky, by Kirby Larson

This story starts out in Iowa. Then Hattie moves to Montana, to inherit a claim from her uncle. Montana has rolling skies, and a feeling of vastness that Hattie has never found anywhere else.

Hattie is a sixteen year old girl. She is an orphan, and has spent a good part of her life switching between family members. At the beginning of this story she is living with her strict Aunt and kind Uncle. She is eager to learn and is not good at knitting socks.

Soon after her friend Charlie enlists, Hattie is told by her Aunt that she is being sent to work at a boardinghouse and will not be able to finish high school. She is distressed at the idea.

But then she is thrilled and saddened to hear that her mother’s brother has passed away, leaving her some land in Montana. She packs her bags and her cat and boards the train to Montana.

In Montana, Perilee, a German woman, along with her family, help Hattie get settled in a shack. It is wintertime and Hattie has to work hard to survive the freezing winter, with the task of laying a lot of fence and ploughing and cultivating four acres of land looming ahead of her in the spring.

This book was long but definitely worth reading. It gave me a new view of the discrimination against the Germans during World War Two.

Find Hattie Big Sky in your local library

Visit the Hattie Big Sky website

Obernewtyn Chronicles

The Obernewtyn Chronicles by Isobelle Carmody is one of the best series I have ever read, right up there with Harry Potter, Twilight, and The Magic Tree House. :) The main character is alienized for her abilities unearthed by an atomic apocalypse. She and others like her are either killed or sent to work with radioactive materials. When she is sent to the mysterious Obernewtyn high in the hills she is surprised to find it not as terrible as everyone had said, that is, until she unearths a deadly plot to find the machines that caused the terrible apocalypse.

So far the books in the series include:

Obernewtyn: The Obernewtyn Chronicles 1

The Farseekers: The Obernewtyn Chronicles 2

Ashling: The Obernewtyn Chronicles 3

The Keeping Place: The Obernewtyn Chronicles 4

Wavesong: The Obernewtyn Chronicles 5

The Stone Key: The Obernewtyn Chronicles 6

Find the Obernewtyn Chronicles in your local library

Visit the Obernewtyn.net website

The Dragonfly Pool, by Eva Ibbotson

When you think of an English boarding school, you think of a place where teachers are often so strict they make children cry. But when eleven year old Tally gets a scholarship to Delderton,she finds it is not like a normal boarding school. Delderton is a simply lovely place in the English countryside where creativity is encouraged. It is 1939 and The Second World War is revving up its engine. Tally sees a film about the small European country of Bergania which stands up to Hitler, and she deeply longs to visit.

Coincidentally, the annual International Folk Dance Festival is being held in Bergania and Delderton is invited to go and perform a folk dance to represent England. Tally sets her heart on going.

This book is very exciting. I got completely absorbed in the plot. Eva Ibbotson has also written many other wonderful books including The Star of Kazan, Which Witch?, and Journey to the River Sea.

Find the The Dragonfly Pool in your local library

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Welcome to Teen Readers Write!

We are two teenage girls who love to read, and want to share our love of reading with you! We will try to publish at least two reviews every week, and feel free to comment on the books we write about. Check back often!