The Serpent's Shadow by Rick Riordan

Dear Readers,

So since I have graduated and summer has officially started I am indulging my guilty pleasure. Teen Fantasy Books. The binge started with Rick Riordan's Serpent's Shadow. I personally love Rick Riordan's books. Many people do not. They find his writing annoying, but for some reason his books are some of my favorites. He is the writer of the amazing Percy Jackson series and the equally amazing Lost Heroes Series. He also wrote the Kane Chronicles, and the Serpent's Shadow is the third and finally book in this series.
Many of his books center around ancient gods in modern day. The Kane Chronicles is all about Egyptian lore. Before starting these books I knew about Ra the sun god; otherwise all of the names were very unfamiliar. As the series goes on you are not only entertained by the happenings of the Kane family, you learn many of the Egyptian gods.
The books follow the adventures of Sadie and Carter Kane. As teenagers they find that they are magicians and that their family is one of the most important magical families. Quickly after finding out that they're magicians they are forced to help save the world from eminent destruction. The first two books cover the first doomsday, the defeat of the god of evil, the release of Chaos, and the resurrection of the sun god. Of course more happens than that, but that is just a brief over view. The first two books also contain hilarious side comments, love interests, interesting gods, new friends, and action packed battles.
I can't really explain the plot of the third book without giving away the first two books, so just read the whole series! You will not be disappointed! Of course these books are very very very  fictitious. They are definitely fantasy books, so if you don't like that genre don't even try to pick them up. However, if you are looking for an escape from the world you may end up reading the books cover to cover in three days. They are excellent for making you forget what is going on in the real world.
If you want to be entertained, engaged, and enlightened these might be the books for you. So keep reading and enjoying!
Lindsey  

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

Dear Readers,

I finally finished another book! For some reason I have been reading but not finishing books. I will start one and them someone will hand me another book to read. My locker buddy Jacob handed me this book and told me I had to read it. I was up for it so I took and started it that. It took me a little longer then I would have liked, but the book was amazing. If you have not read Ender's Game you must!! This book beats out so many other books I have read. It has a sort of Lord of the Flies fell because it explores the depths of the human mind and what humans are willing to do for their own survival. But it is so much better then Lord of the Flies.
The genre is Science-Fiction. If you have not read a Science-Fiction this is the one you should start with. It is futuristic, but easy to relate to. There are aliens, spaceships, other worlds, and futuristic weapons. But there is so much more to the book. So much more meaning then just defeating an alien race of buggers.
The book starts out by introducing the main character Ender Wiggin. Ender is an unusual little boy. He has had a monitor on the back of his neck from birth. His every move has been monitored since birth. Not only is he monitored is third child in a time when a family is only allowed two children. Ender is continually taunted by the boys at school and by his older brother Peter. All he wants to do is get away. Finally his answer comes in an invitation to come to Battle School.
Battle School is a place where the take the best and brightest kids from earth to train them to fight the Buggers. Buggers are an alien race the 70 years before attacked the earth. The humans are still angry and ready to get back at the buggers. Ender was raised to believe that buggers are evil and they must die. In Battle School Ender learns much more then just how to fight buggers.
I will not tell you more of the plot because I absolutely do not want to spoil to ending for you. It is an amazing ending. I may dare say one of the best I have read.
The other reason I love this book besides the riveting plot I mentioned earlier. Maybe I am reading to much into it, but I found tons of meaning in this book. The book starts when Ender is 6 and follows him to age until about age 11. What Ender does at a such a young age is almost scary. Peter and Valentine his siblings are almost as horrifying. The Wiggin family defies the stereotypical view of age. As children they accomplish much more then some people accomplish in a lifetime. Not everything the accomplish is exactly good. Peter is made out to be the evil sibling, Valentine the kind, sweet, and sensible sibling, and Ender the in between. But as you see the world threw Ender's eyes you wonder if he tips to one side of the scale. The comparison between good evil is very blatant. As Ender is pushed to his extreme, the reader is able to see what a human is capable of at even such a young age.
At the end all I could say was wow. I loved it, and so will you. So just read it. I can not guarantee that I will read the rest of the books that Orson Scott Card has written about Ender, but I am glad that I read this one.
Read On!!
Lindsey