Peter and the Starcatchers by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson

Peter and the Starcatchers is an interesting prequel to the original play Peter Pan. The story explains the beginning of Neverland, how the characters come to end up on the island, and the beginning of the rivalry between Peter and James Hook.

I had high hopes for this book due to Dave Barry's reputation however I didn't find it extremely funny. It took me a while to finish I started several months ago and couldn't finish, it just moved to slow. I picked it up again in November and was able to finish it. The last half of the book was much better and held my interest. I may eventually get to the sequel but not any time soon.

The Battle for the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan

The Battle for the Labyrinth is another hit in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. In Battle for the Labyrinth Percy and his every present crew of misfits travel into the infamous Labyrinth. The questers are searching for Daedalus, the creator, to find a way to stop the armies of Kronos from using the ancient maze to invade Camp Half-Blood and any other place they so choose.

Battle for the Labyrinth is a great continuation in the series about young demigods.

Brisingr by Christopher Paolini

In Brinsingr, the third book in the Inheritance Cycle, Eragon takes time to fulfill some of the promises that he has made in the earlier books. The books starts with Eragon and Roran searching Helgrind (the Ra'zak's fortress) for Katrina. The book soon delves into the moving forward with the war against Galbatorix. The Varden pushes forward making small raids; enlisting the Dwarves' help; and striving to work under the rule of Nasuada. Eragon grows greatly in his knowledge and confidence. The book sets the stage for the final book.

The much awaited sequel to Eldest, wasn't quite worth the wait, (the wait was really long). The book was far better than Eldest having more things happening than just learning the ways of the Riders. The characters evolved and it was nice to see Eragon and Roran be a little less dependent on other characters.

A Giant Problem Beyond the Spiderwick Chronicles by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi

As a sequel to The Nixie's Song, A Giant Problem comes out with a bang. The small problems with Giants get bigger and more people are involved. Beyond the Spiderwick Chronicles is a bit more edgy than the regular but they are as just as action packed as the others. A definite must read some struggling readers.

The Willoughbys by Lois Lowry

Unlike Lois Lowry's more popular books;The Giver, Messenger and Gathering Blue. The Willoughby's is a more light-hearted book. The book is about four children Tim, Barnaby A, Barnaby B (Twins) and their sister Jane who dream of becoming orphans. Their parents would love nothing more as well. The children have incredibly odd opinions and ideas of what is ideal and proper. It has a very old English feel to it, with many references to other books with children in similar situations. I have heard it compared to Series of Unfortunate Events I wouldn't do that there are similarities but this has a uniqueness to it. As far as recommendations I can't say that I loved it but it was a fun and quick read.

Eggs by Jerry Spinelli

Now I am slightly biased being a big Spinelli fan. Eggs was just OK for me. It was one of those feel good stories about two orphaned or almost orphaned youth. However the characters did go through some changes which is, to me, always important.
David a nine-year old boy who recently lost his mother has come to the conclusion that following every rule and doing everything right will bring his mother back. Primrose a hippy teenager is trying to cope with a mother who is more like a daughter than a mother. Through some strange circumstances the two meet and become friends, but who seem to act more like brother and sister or mother and son. Through their hardheadness that make some head way, no pun intended, in the form of growth and maturity.
All in all an OK book.

Twilight by Stephanie Meyer

Since the Twilight series has had such a huge hype, with mostly female readers, I decided I would have to find out what was so amazing. Well I finished which took me a little while due to the break I took when the story got slow. Now that doesn't mean I didn't like it. The book was very cleverly written and did have enough suspense for me to finish the book. My main set back was the wordiness not even the mushy stuff because that was part of the story, but coming from a reader who reads every word I found myself skipping paragraphs to get to the more relevant sections of the book. The love story was fine I could look past it and I now understand why women and teenage girls, especially, love it. However my overall consensus is that they books could be shorter and still have as large a following. This is often the case for longer books though, look at Harry Potter 5.