Ask My Mood Ring How I Feel by Diana López

This is my 100th blog post, and what a perfect way to celebrate by reviewing a great middle grade book that I have read nearly 100 times! Erica's mom is diagnosed with breast cancer, and she doesn't know what to do. She makes a promesa to God in exchange for help for her mom, but it is harder than she thought.

On top of the pressure of cancer, her genius sister is skipping two grades, and won't stop counting everything in sight. Erica has so many emotions that she uses a mood ring to keep them straight. When she falls extremely behind in school, she must face the fact that sometimes it is okay to ask for help.

I have read this book so many times, and it is great every time! The book has many different story lines, and I thought that the author balanced them very well.

Ask My Mood Ring How I Feel is very inspirational. Erica is a very hard worker and motivated to save her mom. She takes responsibility for everything. The book shows elements of family, friendship and leadership, as well as teaching that asking for help is not a bad thing. Erica does not get good grades in math, and I liked how she stepped up.

I liked the determination in Erica. I admired how she handled herself. When Erica got sad or upset sometimes, she wrote in her diary, which is a good way of coping. A character that I liked is Gumwad. He is so nice and sweet, even when Erica did not realize it. He was a good friend, and friends are important to her.

I recommend that you read this incredible book!

Title: Ask My Mood Ring How I Feel
Author: Diana López
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Pages: 352
Series: No
Rating: 5 Stars
Goodreads

Fight for Power (The Rule of Three Book 2) by Eric Walters

Fight for Power is the second book in the YA dystopian trilogy, Rule of Three. Adam is a changed person. Flying an airplane in battle zones and seeing dead people have changed him, and he doesn't like it. When he sees other people, especially kids, he tries to help. When there are attacks in the outside world, the community is left with hard choices. Adam wants to be nice and trust people, but sooner or later he is going to have to learn the hard way to be careful about who you trust- especially when the real enemy is actually inside your walls.

I feel bad for Adam in Fight for Power. He is having a really hard time in this book. He is being underestimated by Herb and the other people. He wants to continue being human and help people every chance he gets. He has to decide if it's worth harming others to be safe. Unfortunately, he doesn't get that say.

This book is definitely more sad than the first one, but I sort of liked that, as the mood fit the situation. I did enjoy the plot and the pace. It flowed perfectly and I liked that this book was more about surviving. Survival is complicated, and it was a very suspenseful story.

However, I did want them to try to investigate more about the cause of the electromagnetic pulse and how to get everything back to normal. They just were fixating on fighting and preparing for the rest of the future. Well, if they fixed the power problem, then they wouldn't have to worry so much about the future! I thought that the characters had no hope for things returning to normal. I also thought there was too much fighting.

I did not like this book as much as the first book, but I do recommend reading it, and I look forward to reading the final book, Will to Survive.

Read my review of the first book, The Rule of Three.

Title: Fight for Power (The Rule of Three Book 2)
Author: Eric Walters
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
Pages: 352
Series: Yes, Book 2
Rating: 3 Stars
Goodreads

SYLO by D.J. MacHale

SYLO is the first book in the YA science fiction series, The SYLO Chronicles. Tucker Pierce likes his life on Pemberwick Island, Maine. He likes being on the bench as a backup player on the high school football team. Life is calm and normal in his little town until the starting player, Marty Wiggins, drops dead after a game because he overdosed on a crystal called the Ruby, which makes you stronger and faster.

Not soon after, SYLO, claiming to be part of the U.S. military, shows up and quarantines and cuts off the island from the rest of the world, saying that a deadly virus is going around. But there is more to the story, and Tucker, Tori, and Quinn have seen mysterious things, and seen the SYLO hurt people trying to leave. Their parents aren't telling the whole truth, either. The three teens must discover why they are really here, and what they can do to rescue their island and possibly the whole world from SYLO.

I enjoyed the mystery in this book. It was a very suspenseful book with a lot of things you didn't see coming. SYLO had a huge range of characters and personalities. The "heroes" are just teenagers, the curious and suspicious ones on the island who pay attention to detail. It was funny how many coincidences there were, especially the way they were brought together. 

I also liked the little things, like how the TV just turned on randomly. It is these little details that put the book together. I liked the ending, and how much of a cliffhanger it was. Every chapter was a cliffhanger, which was good. The cover art is also amazing. It screams to me, "Read this book!" 

I highly recommend this book, and I cannot wait to read the next book, Storm.

Title: SYLO

Author: D.J. MacHale

Publisher: Razorbill

Pages: 407

Series: Yes, Book 1

Rating: 5 Stars

Goodreads

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books We Enjoyed That Have Under 2000 Ratings On Goodreads

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by the Broke and the Bookish blog, and any blog can participate. For information on how to participate, click here. This is my first time participating, and I am excited to connect with other book bloggers.

While looking on Goodreads for books with less than 2,000 ratings, I saw that most of the YA and middle grade books I have read with low numbers of ratings are realistic fiction. This list is organized in order of least ratings to most ratings. I enjoyed all of these books and recommend them. Be sure to read the fourth book in my absolute favorite middle grade series, Keeper of the Lost Cities.

1. Dead Batteries Tell No Tales by Ian Thomas Malone

This new book sets a record low with only two ratings, one of which is mine! (Can anyone top that?)

2. Where I Belong by Mary Downing Hahn

3. Losing It by Erin Fry

4. Losers Take All by David Klass

5. The Tragic Age by Stephen Metcalfe

6. Man Made Boy by Jon Skovron

7. Threatened by Eliot Schrefer

 

8. Adrift by Paul Griffin

9. Firebug by Lish Mcbribe

10. Neverseen (Keeper of the Lost Cities Book 4) by Shannon Messenger

How to Beat the Bully Without Really Trying by Scott Starkey

How to Beat the Bully Without Really Trying is an easy middle grade book that I have owned for many years since my fourth grade teacher gave it to me as a gift. Rodney Rathbone is scared of everything, and he freely admits that. He was bullied constantly in New York, and while he is excited to leave Rocco's bullying, he is scared of moving to Ohio. On his first day, Rodney encounters Ohio's version of Rocco- Josh.

However, luck is on his side. Just when Josh is going to beat him up, a baseball comes flying in and knocks out Josh. Everybody thinks that Rodney did it! Soon he is the most popular kid in school. He must try to live up to his new reputation.

One thing that I enjoyed was how funny the book was! All the random things that happened were very funny to read, as well as to see the reaction of the people he beat! However, I thought that Mrs. Lutzkraut's character was exaggerated. 

I also thought that there were a lot of coincidences that were surprising. There were a lot of twists and turns in the book, but it still flowed nicely and was still focused. I think that the approach to the bullying that was taken was more amusing than serious. I would advise readers to not approach handling bullying in the way that this was. I was disappointed that the adults in the book were not helpful in the situation.

I recommend that you read this book! The Call of the Bully is the sequel to this book, and Revenge of the Bully is a follow-up.

Title: How to Beat the Bully Without Really Trying

Author: Scott Starkey

Publisher: Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books

Pages: 272

Series: Yes, book 1 of 3

Rating: 4 Stars

Goodreads

Man Made Boy by Jon Skovron

Man Made Boy is a YA science fiction fantasy book about the son of Frankenstein's monster and the Bride. His name is Boy. He is 17 years old, and has never left home because he is a monster. It is tough to go out, since he would draw a lot of attention due to his appearance. Most of the other monsters that live with him call him a robot. That is sort of true, since he does have wires and gears in him. He interacts with the world through the internet, writing code. 

When a conflict arises at home, Boy runs away to live with humans. He gets a job and a home. His girlfriend, Liel, soon runs away with him. However, they encounter a strange problem. Boy is too good with code. A code that Boy wrote came to life, and can take control of any electronic device, and can also take control of humans! The code is a girl and is mad at Boy for ditching her. She wants Boy to be her girlfriend and wants to get rid of Liel. 

I really liked the code coming to life. It was funny to see his reaction to this, and it was interesting to watch the code take over technology. I loved the ending, and how he risked his life to try to save people he cared about. It was cool to see how he reacted to the new things in the human world, and how he got around the scenarios in hilarious ways.

However, I wish the author would have included background information about Frankenstein and the Bride, including who they are and how they made Boy. I was wondering about that for most of the book.

I recommend that you read this book! I will read the sequel, This Broken Wondrous World.

Title: Man Made Boy

Author: Jon Skovron

Publisher: Viking Penguin

Pages: 361

Series: Yes, Book 1 of 2

Rating: 4 Stars

Goodreads

Stronger Than You Know by Jolene Perry

Stronger Than You Know is an inspirational young adult book about overcoming your past. Joy, a fifteen-year-old girl, has finally escaped from the trailer she lived in with her mother and the abuse that came with it. She is now living with her cousins, aunt, and uncle, and feels like she will never belong. She is safe and far from danger, but her constant nightmares, panic attacks and her social anxiety disorder are just some of the things on her list of what she thinks makes her crazy. Joy must find the strength inside her to pull free from her past and live free in her new life before it takes her over.

I love how the book started! It started in the therapist's office, and I instantly got a taste of her personality and attitude. I also liked how her past was a cliffhanger throughout. She never just came out and said what she went through; you just learned pieces throughout the book. (For example, her nightmares.)

I enjoyed that everything felt so real. The author did a fantastic job of making the details come to life. I could easily imagine the story and the setting. I loved that I could connect with Joy, and I felt like I knew her personally. I love having connections to characters in the books. It makes them seem real, and Joy definitely was. The inspiration was about overcoming obstacles. She is an inspiration to all. She had to come out of a trailer and suddenly go into school and she was forced into a normal life. There is no question that Joy was sad, mad and afraid, but how she handled and controlled those feelings were impressive and inspiring. I loved how Joy came into her own, and I liked how she handled herself in certain situations. 

I absolutely recommend this book to all YA readers!

UPDATE 6 years later. This is one of my favorite books of all time. I know I didn't exactly convey that in this review from 2016. I have reviewed nearly 430 books in these years, and Stronger than you Know is one of the most memorable books I have read. There are so many books that I would rate 5 stars, and love them at the time, but I can't remember what they were about... at all. I still remember almost every detail from this book, and I recently checked it out from my library to read many times again! This review could have been better, but I'm leaving it as is to preserve history :)

Title: Stronger Than You Know
Author: Jolene Perry
Publisher: Albert Whitman & Company
Pages: 248
Series: No
Rating: 5 Stars
Goodreads

We Beat the Street: How a Friendship Pact Led to Success by Sampson Davis, George Jenkins, Rameck Hunt, Sharon M. Draper

I found this inspirational non-fiction book on a high school summer reading list for a school assignment about what it means to be an American. Sampson, George, and Rameck grew up in poor neighborhoods (ghettos) where many people ended up committing crimes (drugs and theft) and landed in juvenile detention. Goals there were focused on survival, not on grades.

When Sampson, George, and Rameck met in a magnet high school in Newark, New Jersey, they became friends. They all had a goal of being a doctor or dentist. They made a pact to stick together and go to college and medical school. Today, Sampson and Rameck are successful doctors, and George is a successful dentist.

At the end of each chapter, there would be a note from the doctor that was talking in that chapter. It would explain the importance of what was said and more background knowledge. I think that was a wise choice, and it was very useful. 

This book was very inspirational. The boys went through at lot of tough times and learned some valuable lessons. Sampson was my favorite character. He had the most internal conflicts, and really great lessons. Another thing that was important in this book was the environment. I loved how these three boys beat the odds, and I enjoyed watching them find other paths and other ways to do things without drugs or physical violence. 

I highly recommend this book!

Title: We Beat the Street: How a Friendship Pact Led to Success

Authors: Sampson Davis, George Jenkins, Rameck Hunt, Sharon M. Draper

Publisher: Dutton Children's Books

Pages: 128

Series: No

Rating: 5 Stars

Goodreads

Kid Owner by Tim Green

Kid Owner is a realistic fiction sports book about football and leadership for middle grade readers. Ryan Zinna's parents are divorced, and his mom does not ever talk about his dad. In fact, "father" is viewed as another F-word in their family. However, when his father unexpectedly dies, Ryan learns that he was the owner of the Dallas Cowboys! Against his mother's wishes, in the will Ryan's father gave him ownership of the football team, despite the fact that he is 12! However, Ryan's horrible stepmother takes legal action to try to make her son, Dillon, the owner instead. He soon learns that the Cowboys are not the only thing he might lose.

Meanwhile, Ryan takes advantage of this new authority and connections to the players to convince his middle school football coach to change the plays to make them more suitable to him. He also gets to be quarterback!

I liked the irony of the situation. While Ryan is getting so much attention and could be one of the most famous people ever and owning the Cowboys, he is also almost completely ignored on his own team! Ryan is in two different situations, and I enjoyed how they came together in the end.

Furthermore, it was interesting how close their games were to the real game, and how much detail about football was put into Kid Owner. I learned a lot about how football works from reading the book. However, I would have preferred to know what the specific plays were. The book said what the play was called, not what it was. That left me a little bit clueless during the book when they played.

I recommend that you read this book!

Title: Kid Owner
Author: Tim Green
Publisher: HarperCollins
Pages: 336
Series: No
Rating: 4 Stars
Goodreads

Teardrop and Waterfall by Lauren Kate

Teardrop and Waterfall are young adult fantasy books about tears flooding the world and bringing back Atlantis. In Teardrop, ever since Eureka's mother drowned in an "accident," all she cares about is her friend Brooks, a locket, a mysterious stone, and an ancient book from her mom about a girl who cried an entire continent under the sea. What she doesn't know is that it is not a story. It's real. Ander, a seedbearer, tells her that she is a tearline girl. If she lets her tears touch the Earth, she would create the biggest flood in the world and bring back Atlantis, and its evil king.

In the sequel Waterfall, Eureka travels across the ocean with Cat, Ander and her family to stop Atlantis from rising and stop Atlas from making slaves out of the dead human's souls. On land, they head to find Solan, the only Seedbearer who knows how to stop Atlas. Eureka can save the world, but she will have to give up everything she has ever had to do so.

Eureka had very low self-esteem throughout both books. She was constantly depressed and doubts herself. She gained a little more confidence in Waterfall, but I feel that she was too negative. I also did not like that in both books, the important events were so simple and short and the unimportant ones were so long. I had to constantly go back and reread the text to make sure I understood fully what just happened.

I did enjoy Teardrop! It was very interesting and appealing to follow. Waterfall was different in the setting, introducing readers into a new world. Teardrop was better than Waterfall. I felt that there was an element of mystery in it and that Teardrop was more appealing. I think that Waterfall was busier and less interesting than the other one. I wish the ending to Waterfall was different, and I wish that the ending was longer and not so sudden.

I would recommend reading the two books.

Title: Teardrop and Waterfall
Author: Lauren Kate
Publisher: Ember
Pages: 480
Series: Yes
Rating: 3 Stars
Goodreads