This book is about a young girl named Patricia Yi-Phen Ho, who is half-white and half-Asian. At the beginning of this book, Patricia hates that she is half Asian and wishes to be all white. Even worse is that her worst enemy is picking on her in the worst of ways and her ultra-strict Asian mom is sending her to math camp.

Patricia, who is totally against going, tries to talk her mother out of it. But sadly, none of her ploys work. Soon after Patricia arrives at math camp, she meets a new friend whose name is Jasmine and teaches Patricia that being half Asian isn't all that bad. While at math camp, Patricia finds her true self, romance, and a shocking family secret.

This book is about two brothers, a pretty girl, and a red horse. Gavin, the elder of the two brothers, is supposed to marry Ellie, the beautiful maiden. William, the younger brother, not only has the best warhorse in England, but also has Ellie's undivided attention. The King calls for a crusade to the Holy Land, which carries the brothers far from home. Along the way the boys are tested with trials and tribulations that they have never imagined. Only with the help of God and Hosanna, William's horse, can the boys face their enemies at war and make it back to Ellie.

I believe that Grant is publishing a very well written book that teenagers will enjoy reading. The storyline captured my interest because of the unorthodox way the author is able to weave three different stories into one novel without confusing people. Just when you get bored with one character, the author switches to another one. Young men will enjoy the war aspect of the book, whereas young ladies will appreciate the love story portion. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys adventure and doesn't faint at the mention of blood.

When the alchemist Master Thorston falls over dead while creating an immortality spell, it leaves his servant Sybil and his pet, a talking parrot named Odo, to wonder why. Before Thorston died, he murmured something about a book, a book without words. He said that for someone to read it they must have green eyes. So Sybil puts out word that they need a green-eyed person to help find gold. When the apprentice at the town apothecary and an orphaned street urchin show up to help, and it turns into an adventure for their life. But is Master Thorston truly dead?

Although the book was well written and the plot was excellent, it's hard to pick out the plot at the beginning. The book has some of the most vividly described characters I've read. Overall, it was excellent and I would recommend it for all ages.

The Cry of the Icemark is an epic fantasy novel about a kingdom fighting for survival. Thirrin, the king of Icemark, dies in battle, and his 14-year-old daughter takes the throne. She has to make alliances with mysterious creatures and travel to frightening lands to help her country survive.

I was very surprised at how much I enjoyed this book. It was a great fantasy novel, and I just couldn't put it down. It was unique and interesting, and the only downside was that it was a tad childish. The book was also too long for a recommended age group of 9-12. I also would have enjoyed a touch more romance. 

This book is about a black slave girl named Emma, who is the caretaker of two little white children on a plantation in Georgia. Her master has generated many gambling debts and has to sell his "property." Master decides to hold the biggest slave auction in American history. He has promised Emma's parents that he will not sell her at the auction, even though he will take her along to watch over the children. But an older woman has a keen eye for Emma at the auction. She offers Master so much money for Emma that he cannot resist selling her. Emma's world is torn apart when the only life she has ever known is ripped from her hands. All she has left is Joe, a friend from the plantation; memories; a dream to be free; and the will to pursue that dream.

I did not enjoy reading Day of Tears. I give it a rating of two stars out of five. Lester conveys his story through dialogue. When you believe someone is saying something, they are really thinking it. He does not thoroughly describe the setting, so you cannot imagine a clear picture of the children's surroundings. This book is supposed to be for children ranging in age from nine to thirteen, but I do not agree. It has a lot of unnecessary crude language. I did find one good aspect of the book: it tells its reader that you should look at a person's heart and not at their skin color. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading confusing books about heartache and sorrow.

The book starts out with the introduction of five warrior monks who live in a secret temple called Cangzhen. Each of the monks is named after the fighting technique they use. Fu (tiger) is the main character of the book, and he has four brothers: Malao (monkey), She (snake), Hok (crane), and Long (dragon). The temple is under attack by an ex-monk who is angry at the Grandmaster of the temple. The brothers escape from Cangzhen and all go in different directions. Fu takes the dragon technique scroll because it is the strongest form of fighting. The ex-monk turned major, Ying, which means eagle, wants these scrolls to learn dragon style so he can destroy all the monks.

While rescuing a tiger cub that is being attacked by poachers, Fu injures a young boy who is later found out to be the Governor's son. When Fu goes to apologize to the boy, he is thrown in prison. The Governor sends for Ying to come and retrieve the scrolls and the monks. Major Ying sends his first and second in command to retrieve them. On their way back to Ying's camp, the caravan is attacked by Malao, who helps Fu escape from captivity. While they're escaping, they're attacked by Ying and find that he has captured Hok. Malao and Fu fight Ying and the three of them escape. Now, Fu, Malao, and Hok have a decision to make: find their older brothers and return to the temple or hide in fear for the rest of their lives.

I feel that this book has many great qualities, but also has some down sides. Its good qualities were that it had well-built environments and well-developed characters. One of its not so great qualities was that it was sometimes difficult to tell which character was talking. I would recommend this book for an age group of 14 to 21, and to people who are interested in fantasy based on truth with fictional characters.

Silas Heap finds a baby girl in the snow. When he takes her to his home, he finds his wife, Sarah, crying over their child that was born and taken away while he was gone. So they keep and raise the baby girl and name it Jenna. Marcia Overstrand, the ExtraOrdinary Wizard, tells Sarah and Silas that she needs to take Jenna away. When an assassin looking for Silas arrives at Marcia's room, they must all escape. They sail to Aunt Zelda's cottage in fear of being pursued. The Hunter follows them and brings DomDaniel, the sinister former ExtraOrdinary Wizard, and all of them are trying to kill Jenna. Now DomDaniel's apprentice claims to be Septimus Heap. Everyone is trying to stop DomDaniel for the sake of the Castle and figure out who they truly are.

I rate this as four stars: a pretty good book. It has complex and realistic characters, which actions suitable to the setting. The description was enough to be understandable, but not superfluous. The book has some suspense and a nice fast-paced plot. After reading this fantasy genre book, the reader might be compelled to look into upcoming novels by this author. 

This book is about Lila Gefelty and her friends Jasper Dash and Katie Mulligan. They must stop an evil guy named Larry, who is half-whale and half-man, from taking over the world with his whale army. In order to make his plans work, Larry equipped these whales with stilts for walking, eye lasers for destruction, and mind-controlling caps. It seems, though, that Lily, Jasper, and Katie will find a way to stop Larry's evil plans for world domination.

I thought this book was pretty interesting. It showed that even young people can save the world from evildoers. The author stayed on the subject and gave some information the characters, such as Larry, Jasper, and Katie.

There are also negative comments I had to give this book. First, the book is too easy for children ten and up, because most of the chapters are only about four pages long and the size of the print is too large. I would mainly recommend this book for eight to nine-year-olds. The idea of an evil man wanting to take over the world with whales sounds too bizarre; the book would be more interesting if it was about an evil scientist trying to take over the world with robots. The book mainly needed a better ending. That's why I give this book three out of five stars.