Below are summaries of books 1-3 with SPOILERS!

Amulet: The Stonekeeper by Kazu Kibuishi 

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Our story begins with two siblings Emily and Navin and their mother and father. On the family’s way home, they get into a tragic accident and their father dies. After a two-year time jump and the disappearance of their grandpa, our characters move to their grandpa’s strange large house. Our protagonist Emily puts her hand on a scanner and it reveals an amulet on a necklace. The mother gets taken by a monster which leads the siblings to chase and end up at a strange house that feels alive. On their way, they meet with an elve that tries to attack Emily but with her amulet and her new powers, she defends herself. A robot takes them across a river to the new house known as the Charnon House. They meet many robots that seem to be taking care of their grandpa while he is on his deathbed. Grandpa Charnon gives some wise advice to Emily right before passing away. After that, through the use of advanced technology and aircraft, they catch the monster that has taken Emily and Navin’s mother. Emily uses her new powers to eliminate the monster but ends up crashing the aircraft into a deep and unknown forest. Our characters regroup and feel safe until they meet the elf that attacked them. With his stone, he quickly rips the monster and two and frees their mother. He grabs ahold of Emily and tells her to join him in defeating The Elf King. Emily breaks free from his grip and he runs away and once again our characters regroup at the Charnon House. With the help of the robots, their mother is starting to feel better. The house turns out to be a giant robot that can move. THE END.

Amulet: The Stonekeeper’s Curse by Kazu Kibuishi 

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Our story begins when the Elf King orders Luger, who is an experienced stone keeper, to join the elf prince in his quest to find the stone keeper (Emily). Our protagonists have just arrived at the city of Kanalis with their robot house. Our main characters start looking for a doctor because it seems that Emily and Navin’s mother has gotten a severe disease from the monster that took her. On their way, they find a fox bounty hunter that seems suspicious but later proves that he is trustworthy. Leon (Fox Bounty Hunter), Emily, and Miskit (Rabbit Robot) together get split up with the rest of the group after being attacked. Emily and Leon defeat all the elves in their ways. Emily and Leon take the subway and find the underground resistance that leads them towards the tree of fruit that can save Emily’s mother from her disease. Meanwhile, Navin and his robots sneak back into their house and deceive the elves. Then Leon tells the story of the storekeepers that lost control. He tells Emily that the stone keepers turned into colossal beasts because the stones took control of the body. Fortunately, the resistance was able to destroy the power-hungry stone keeper except for one. He was a lonely elf and the elders were able to separate him from his stone and they locked him. He blew up the prison and that was the day the elf king was born. The elf prince gets captured after going rogue. Luger finds Emily and Leon in the forest of gadoba trees and attacks him and the elf prince saves Emily in the nick of time. Luger turns into a colossal beast and he rips both arms off their robot house. Emily gains control of the robot house using the amulet and defeats Luger controlling the house and faints because she used too much power. She woke up days later and recovered and her mother has healed as well. The End.

Amulet: The Cloud Searchers by Kazu Kibuishi 

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Our story begins with Prince Trellis finding Luger hiding in a cave destroying his amulet. They get orders from the king to return to the base immediately but they are worried that they will get killed when they return. The Elf King sends out an assassin in order to kill the stonekeeper, Prince Trellis, and Luger. According to Leon, the only way to stay low is without traveling with the robot house. After a bar fight breaks out between Emily and Trellis against the elf guards, Enzo the bartender takes them into his ship and escapes the fight. Enzo and Rico, the pilots of our ship, believe that the lost city of ceilis can be found. While flying towards Ceilis Enzo warns the crew that thunderheads (flying drakes) will take you out unless you are inside. Foolishly, Miskit and Cogsley get taken and Emily wants to go back but Enzo tells them that the only way is to move forward. Our characters arrive at a gas station for ships and they plan to stay until morning. The assassin that the Elf King sent is lurking around ready to pounce. In the meantime, Prince Trellis tells Emily about his father, the Elf King. He explains how the Elf King is dead and the only thing that is keeping him alive is his stone. He explains that the key to bringing peace for the elf nation is to destroy the Elf King’s stone. In the morning while the crew is distracted setting up their ship the assassin sneaks his way into the ship. After Emily and Prince Trellis defeat the assassin, Max Griffin, a stonekeeper , arrives and tells them to board his ship and they will be safe under his command. Max has the location of Ceilis and can assure that no elves will be able to find them. THE END

-Summaries provided by Teen Volunteer, 9/18/22

To submit a review of your own, email the YA Services Librarian at [email protected] for our review submission form.

Splatoon 2

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The game starts with choosing character which is a squid and you get to choose how the squid human looks like after that you are sent to a map for starter guide the game will teach you the controls how to play and how it works. After you finish the starter guide you are now sent to a city with other people after that the game tells you to go to the biggest tower in the map which is the place where you get too choose the game you want to play but since you are still a starter you will be chosen to play the game mode the regular battle which is tram battle and try to paint the most in that map you can paint on top of the enemy’s paint and sometimes get rid of the enemy with the paint shooter. When you get shot by the paint shooter and die you will respawn in about 3 seconds. While playing the game you can start to play other game modes such as ranked, story mode and more. You also can unlock new shooters, roller which is also a weapon, sniper and more. You will also level up while playing this game. You can also play with some other friends and have fun. You may also unlock new shirts, hats and shoes that gives you special ability such as reduce the amount of damage you take when hit by a paint or walk faster or refill ink faster you can get all of these kind of ability’s by buying clothes and such with coins. You also can reroll the abilities if you want a new one or you also can unlock new ability space which is up to 4. I would recommend this game a lot if you like colorful and bright and a relaxing game.

-Review by Teen Volunteer, 9/10/22

To submit a review of your own, email the YA Services Librarian at [email protected] for our review submission form.

Spy School Project X by Stuart Gibbs

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This book is a fairly good book – however, it definitely isn’t as good as some of the previous Spy School books. The plot basically revolves around Murray Hill – the nemesis of the main character, Ben Ripley – posting lies about Ben on the internet under the name Agent X (a mysterious top-level agent at the CIA) accusing him of being at the center of a conspiracy as well as putting a bounty of $20 million on Ben’s head to try and get him killed. And to make things worse, people are actually buying Murray’s lies, absurd as they seem, and even expanding on them! Not only do they believe Ben is part of a plot to overthrow the government; they also believe that Ben’s a lizard alien! Ben has to try to find Murray and get him to clear his name and remove the bounty before it’s too late. And it’s not just assassins that are hunting Ben down – so are Joshua Hallal, Ashley Sparks, and Warren Reeves – all former members of the evil organization SPYDER, which Ben helped destroy.

So most of the book is basically Ben trying to figure out where Murray is and running away from bad guys. This really makes the book a lot less interesting and suspenseful – there were no big plot twists unless you count when Ben realizes that Joshua is actually after Murray, not him. However, that’s nowhere near as big as the revelations Ben normally makes where he figures out Murray/SPYDER’s evil genius plot that I never saw coming. I didn’t really like the ending either – Erica and Ben get Murray to try to clear Ben’s name but him telling the truth only causes people to believe his original lies even more (people believe Agent X has been brainwashed and that Ben is behind the brainwashing). So, in the end, a lot of people still believe Ben is an alien trying to overthrow the government. Usually, Spy School endings leave some sort of obstacle/challenge still present for Ben but he also has some sort of victory. However, in this case, there doesn’t seem to be much of a victory, which I highly disliked. Okay, enough criticism of this book – it does deserve some praise! As with the other Spy School books, this book is told through Ben’s perspective so we get to see everything through the eyes of a 13 year old boy.

Stuart Gibbs does a great job of not making Ben seem too mature for his age and Ben’s hilarious humor does make me laugh! Also, Gibbs does a great job keeping the book light, even while there are so many people hunting Ben down, making it a lot less intense (I really do appreciate this).

Finally, there’s some aspects of this book that I’m not sure whether I like or dislike. First, Erica Hale was always depicted as doing everything spy-related perfectly in previous books but in this book, Erica actually starts to doubt herself when she fails Ben, which is so unlike her! This change definitely made her seem more human but Erica was always known for being so UNhuman that it just seems kind of weird. Also, Ben has had a crush on Erica this whole series, but Erica used to think that relationships were too messy for spies so they never actually became a thing. But, in the previous book, Spy School at Sea, Erica realized that she may have been wrong and agreed to try a relationship with Ben. So now Ben and Erica are a thing and on the one hand, I’m glad that Ben is with Erica now because he deserves it, but on the other hand, it’s another sign of Erica starting to change in a way that I’m not sure I like. Overall, this is not a terrible book but it just doesn’t have the same spark as the previous Spy School books.

-Review by Teen Volunteer, 9/08/22

To submit a review of your own, email the YA Services Librarian at [email protected] for our review submission form.

The Ravens by Kass Morgan and Danielle Paige

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Ever wondered what would happen if a sorority had magic and a mystery to solve?- this is your book.

The Ravens follows the narratives of two witches, Scarlett Winter and Vivi Devereaux, as they attempt to save their coven, the Ravens, from a mysterious past secret knocking at their door. Scarlett Winter is a powerful witch in her own right, despite always having to prove herself to her family, with a boyfriend, Mason, who after a summer of freedom does not want the same suburban life Scarlett has set out for them. Scarlett is set to become the president of the Ravens just as her sister and mother had been, but a dark secret threatens to take everything away from her. Vivi Devereaux on the other hand, has moved around her entire life with her kooky mother and has never had enough time to make friends or any sense of community for that matter. Vivi has no idea that she is a witch, but when she arrives on campus at Westerly College, she will discover her community and what she will do to protect it. 

I had an absolutely thrilling time with this story. I loved Scarlett and Vivi in all of their many flaws- what can I say, I love an enemies to friends storyline. The sorority initiation games were so much fun to read, though not so much for the characters, because it felt like I was watching the games from Monsters University- remember that move? The side characters were all well rounded with distinct voices and personalities. I especially loved when the story arrived at the magic system which is semi-based on tarot cards (which I purchased after reading this book in my own hopes of becoming a witch because my letter from Hogwarts never came) and the collective power of the witches performing magic together. There were several different plotlines happening at once which I enjoyed because it is realistic to real life in that sense that people are living their own lives, trying to figure things out, and then come together in the end with all of the information. The only thing that was not my favorite was the chapters ending on a cliffhanger but then switching narratives, so by the time the book got back to the plotline you had just been reading you’ve just ended on another cliffhanger and you’re not as interested as you were about what was happening before. Or the cliffhanger would just be resolved quickly with too perfect a bow. The ending though was also just [insert chef’s kiss here]; absolutely perfect for all of the characters.

-Review by Teen Advisory Board Member, 6/2/21

Girls Save the World in This One by Ash Parsons

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In my lifetime as a fellow bookworm 📚🐛 I haven’t read many survival YA books and basically close to zero books that have zombies in them. So, when I read the synopsis of the book, I knew I got to read it ASAP. I mean, there’s nothing more that I enjoy reading than strong female friendship groups, especially if the said friendship group has to save the entire world from an army of zombies when all hell breaks loose at the TV show convention they’re attending.

The thing that stood out to me in the book is the trio of friends (June, Siggy, and Imani) constantly supporting each other through the ups and downs. It was honestly a DELIGHT to read, and I was constantly rooting for them. Like, I want to have their type of friendship in my life, lol. #squadgoals

However, the thing I had issues with was the book’s writing style. Personally, I like my dialogue and actions to be pretty evenly balanced, but in this book, there was a bit too much of the characters “doing”. Honestly, it makes sense why this book had more “doing” because of all the action-packed events, but it was kinda a drag at some points. Also, there’s Hunter. To be frank, I think the romance in this book (June and Hunter) was completely unnecessary and took away from the actual book, which was a surprise to me because I love romance books…I guess it wasn’t my cup of tea in this case 🤷‍♀️

So, to sum it all up, this was a quick read with great MCs, but I didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I would. I definitely think that other people might really love this book…it just wasn’t for me since I think it could have wayyyy more potential. 

Rating: ⅗ stars

-Review by Teen Advisory Board Member, 4/18/21

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

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Okay, so when I heard that Suzanne Collins was coming out with a prequel to The Hunger Games series, I thought we were going to the drunk guy aka Haymitch’s backstory. BUT, nope. Instead, we got Coriolanus Snow. It’s low-key an understatement to say that I was disappointed. Nonetheless, I still read The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes because the title is beautiful, the cover is beautiful, and The Hunger Games series is beautiful. 

In a nutshell, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is the prequel to The Hunger Games trilogy, and it takes place during the 10th annual Hunger Games which follows a 18-year old Coriolanus Snow. This Hunger Games is unlike its predecessors because for the first time, the Games are having Capital students mentor the tributes, and Snow has been assigned to Lucy Gray, a girl from District 12. 

Now, I started to read this about six months after it came out, so most of the reviews I read were pretty bad…so I went into the book thinking maybe I wouldn’t like it as much. To my pleasant surprise, it’s actually a pretty solid book !! Sure, it’s not as good as the OGs, but then, can one really compare anything to them ??

Anyway, the thing that I LOVED about this book is that it isn’t a redemption book for Snow; he started off being in the grey area but slowly declined into the villain that we all love to hate in the trilogy (no gonna lie, but I thought his fall to the pits of evilness was quite fantastic). I think reading this really helped me understand why Snow was the way he was in The Hunger Games series and to view him as more human. Like, even at a young age, he’s all about control (and this can be seen with his relationship with Lucy), but it’s clear that his desire for power grows stronger over time, so he was maybe normal for a second or two. Also, speaking of Lucy, I didn’t love her character, but I liked her. I thought her singing/connection to music was AMAZING and that she really acted as a FOIL to Snow. She and Snow kinda had this romance thing going on, but it wasn’t the focus, though I still enjoyed it mainly because I will adore any romance there is in any book. 

Overall, I enjoyed this book because I got to learn SO much about the history of the Hunger Games, despite the pacing being a mess and the ending falling flat. Honestly, I think you should give this book a go if you enjoy The Hunger Games series, because you might not even know you needed this until you read it :)) 

Rating: ⅘ stars

-Review by Teen Advisory Board Member, 4/18/21