Ghost Soldier by Elaine Marie Alphin

Reading Level: 4-6 grades

(4 out of 5)

Young Hoosier Award winner Ghost Soldier is a ghost story with historical twist. Dealing with the fact that his mother walked out on him and his father three years ago, Alexander, age 13, still hopes for her return. So when his father plans a vacation to North Carolina to visit a widow and her children, Alex is upset. While the group is touring a Civil War battlefield, Alex’s gift of seeing ghosts of events long past reappears.

Richard Francis Chamblee cannot rest in peace until he finds out what became of his family after the war. Reluctantly Alex agrees to help Rich discover the fate of his family whose homestead was in the path of Sherman’s march. Through Rich, Alexander learns some history of the Civil War, from the south’s point of view and finds answers to questions over one hundred years old.
Rich also helps Alex accept his mother’s exit from his life and his father’s need to move on.

Ghost Soldier is a book of mystery, paranormal and history. It was the Young Hoosier Award winner for the school year 2003 – 2004 selected by students in the intermediate grades. The author, Elaine Marie Alphin is an Indiana author.

M. Churley

City of Bones and City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare

Reading Level: Young Adult
(4 out of 5)

Sometimes you can't go by what a book review says about a book. The review I read about this series almost made me not read it. I think it said something about the story getting bogged down by lengthy explanations but I didn't get that impression when I read the books. I really enjoyed them and I am anxiously awaiting the third book called City of Glass. It comes out in March of 2009. Just keep in mind that just because so in so doesn't like it doesn't mean you won't. You can miss out on a lot of good reading that way.

The main character is Clary. She is fifteen and her best friend is Simon. When they go to a club one night Clary sees three teenagers sporting tattoo's and weapons and they are about to kill another teenager. Clary goes to stop them and the three teens are in shock that Clary can see them. They are Shadow Hunters and they hunt demons. The teen about to be killed is a demon disguising himself as a boy.

Clary doesn't understand what is going on but she soon finds out that her mother has been hiding a terrible secret and she is kidnapped. Clary must trust the Shadow Hunters (Jace, Alec, and Isabelle) because they know things that could help get her mother back. Ms. Clare has created an intriguing world full of vampires, werewolves, Fae, and people that were born to fight the evil in the world. Clary is one of those people. Once you read the first book you have to get your hands on the second one.

Just when Clary and Jace may have feelings for each other they find out they may be brother and sister. Clary's father whom she thought was dead is alive and evil. Everything normal in her world is falling apart. If you are into fantasy then you should read these books.

Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer

Reading Level: Young Adult
(4 out of 5)









Well this was it. The last book in the Twilight series that has taken the world by storm. I think it sold over a million books on it's first day out. Amazing! I'm a little jealous of Stephenie Meyer right now. She has created some wonderful fiction that I will enjoy reading over and over again. I can't say that about many other books that I have read. I was excited to read this book but at the same time a little sad. I knew that Bella and Edward's adventure was coming to a close. I just hope that Mrs. Meyer decides to continue writing stories that incorporate some of the other characters from the Twilight series. I would enjoy that.


Breaking Dawn blew me away. It was nothing like what I expected it to be. Every page I read continued to keep me on my toes and some of it thoroughly shocked me. I thought this last book would be about whether or not Bella went through with the wedding and the vampire change. I figured it would take the whole book. Boy was I wrong. If I was the betting type I would have lost big time. I think why I liked the book so much was because it was so different from what I imagined. If only I could been a fly on the wall when Mrs. Meyer wrote this so maybe I could understand why she took the book in the direction she did. If I ever get to meet her I'm going to thank her for not making the book predictable. I had no idea how it was going to end and I like that in a book. I'm not really going to give much detail about this last book because I don't want to spoil it for anyone. I stayed away from reviews and the Internet while reading this book because I didn't want any spoilers.


Let me know what you thought of this book. I would love to get your opinions.