Tag Archives: 10th grade LA

Student Review: Julie M: The Lives We Lost by

Author Megan Crewe 

Published: February 12, 2013

Publisher: Disney Hyperion

10 Reasons You Should Read The Lives We Lost

1. The cover gives a great description of the setting of the book. In this book it is the middle of winter and most people have died from this rapidly spreading virus.

2. Surreal. Imagine that everyone you know is suddenly dying from this terrible disease and there is no cure and you can’t do anything about it. It would lead you to do some bizarre things in order to stay alive and save your loved ones.

3. Kaelyn and Gav. These two teens have been dating for about a year and their love for each other intensifies during the outbreak of the disease. They stick together and through out the story you can see how much they really care about each other. It keeps them together during the tough times they go through.  When Gav suddenly becomes sick with the disease Kaelyn loses all hope and there is nothing else she can do except watch her love die.

4. Kaelyn and Leo. They were best friends even before the disease broke out. They have a strong connection and they even kiss each other while Kaelyn is still dating Gav. Gav never finds out but through out the book Leo and Kaelyn have moments of connection and they truly do care about each other. Kaelyn becomes conflicted because Gav gets sick and she has feelings for Leo at the same time.

5. It makes you think. You never know, a disease could break out and kill millions of people. It really makes you think about what you would do in this situation if you were a survivor. The group or survivors in this book break into peoples houses and steal their cars, clothes, beds, and food. They even end up killing people.

6It leaves you hanging. They are trying to find someone who can help them duplicate the vaccine to help save people. They have traveled to many places and have had many false hopes. The book ends with them deciding to go to Atlanta and Gav barley hanging onto life.

7. The Wardens. Not all of the people left in the world are trying to help other people like Kaelyn and her friends are. The Wardens are a group of people who are only looking out for themselves and are hunting Kaelyn and her friends. They constantly have to be on the look out for the and it keeps the readers on their toes.

8. Adventure. Kaelyn, Gav, Leo, Tessa, and Meredith all once lived on an island. It became so infected with the disease that the military starts blowing it up in order to kill all of the sick people. In order to survive, they have to walk all the way to Ottawa in the middle of the winter with limited supplies.

9. The Fallen World Trilogy.  The Lives We Lost is just the second book in a trilogy of suspenseful books. The action continues once they reach Atlanta.

10. Anika. She used to be apart of The Wardens until Kaelyn and he friends decide to let her into their group. But the real question is if the can trust her or not.

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Student Review: Lauren L: Graceling by Kristen Cashore


Graceling by Kristen Cashore

Copyright © 2008 Harcourt. Fantasy.

This is the first of three books in the Graceling Realm Series, and precedes  Fire and Bitterblue

Summary (Back Cover): Katsa has been able to kill a man with her bare hands since she was eight- she’s a Graceling, one of the rare people in her land born with an extreme skill. As the niece of the king, she should be able to live a life of privilege, but Graced as she is with killing, she is forced to work as the king’s thug.

When she first meets Prince Po, Graced with combat skills, Katsa has no hint of how her life is about to change.
She never expects to become Po’s friend.
She never expects to learn a new truth about her own Grace- or about a terrible secret that lies hidden far away…

Review: I was lucky enough to find this book at Barnes and Noble at noon a few weeks ago, and I finished it by 6:30 pm that night. This book is rather lengthy (471 pages), but I didn’t finish it quickly because it was an easy read, I finished it in record time because I couldn’t put it down. Personally, I love reading fantasy books that include kingdoms, strategy and conspiracies, and Graceling was the perfect combination of the three. Kristin Cashore did a fantastic job of  filling her book to the brim with creativity from the names of the characters to the plot. I became a little too emotionally attached to the main characters, Katsa and Po, but that made the book that much more enjoyable for me. This novel is not written at a third grade level, but its non-threatening text allows for a wide variety of people to read it, and I highly recommend it to anybody that is intrigued by castles and fantasy.

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