The Dear America: The Fences Between Us Review

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(More customer reviews)I've just finished reading Kirby Larson's The Fences Between Us and learned more about what our Japanese American citizens had to endure during WWII than I ever learned from a history class. We re-live this tragic era in our history through the eyes of teen Piper Davis, whose father, a pastor for a Japanese Baptist church, decides to follow his congregants when they're sent to an incarceraton camp, bringing Piper with him. Larson's incredible artistry and skill is on full display as she creates a world that immerses you in the period and creates characters you don't want to say goodbye to, at the same time grounding her story in primary source details. I highly recommend this book to both middle grade students and teachers for use in history/social studies curriculum. Nothing draws students into history more powerfully than a beautifully told story!

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The Secret Identity of Devon Delaney Review

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(More customer reviews)Fans of Lauren Barnholdt will love her newest teen book. It's all about Devon 'Devi' Delaney and her lies.
Devon went away for the summer to get away from things at home and befriended Lexi. She told Lexi a bunch of lies about how back home she's really popular and her boyfriend is Jared, the most popular guy in school. It turns out, Devon is basically a social outcast and now Lexi moves into her town and is going to her school. What's a girl to do? Lie some more to cover up lies already told. Needless to say, things get pretty messy.
It was a very cute book for all teens and I can't wait to read her next book.

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Mom says karma always comes around to get you, and I guess it's true. Because last summer I was a total liar, and now, right in the middle of Mr. Pritchard's third-period math class, my whole world is about to come crashing down. That's because while Devon was living with her grandmother for the summer, she told her "summer friend," Lexi, that she was really popular back home and dating Jared Bentley, only the most popular guy at school. Harmless lies, right? Wrong. Not when Lexi is standing at the front of Devon's class, having just moved to Devon's town. Uh-oh. Devon knows there's only one way to handle this -- she'll just have to become popular! But how is Devon supposed to accomplish that when she's never even talked to Jared, much less dated him?! And it seems the more Devon tries to keep up her "image," the more things go wrong. Her family thinks she's nuts, her best friend won't speak to her, and, as if it's not all complicated enough, Jared starts crushing on Lexi and Devon starts crushing on Jared's best friend, Luke. It all has Devon wondering -- who is the real Devon Delaney?

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Devon Delaney Should Totally Know Better Review

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(More customer reviews)I was so glad for a sequel to the first Devon book. I loved DDSTKB and Lauren Barnholdt's writing is hilarious. Devon's voice is distinctive and she's funny, sassy and an original character. Her angst over boys (and getting a cell phone) is so real and like Barnholdt's other books, this is a must read.

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Devon Delaney cannot believe she's lying again. But the thing is, she couldn't help it. Her new boyfriend, Luke, is talking to his (gorgeous) ex-girlfriend, Bailey Barelli (!!!), every single day in mock trial. Devon couldn't just stand by and let him find out that she'd never dated anyone else before. Could she? Oopsie. Too late now.To show how totally unaffected she is by Bailey's obvious Luke hang-up, Devon invents a fake ex-boyfriend of her own: Greg. Fab! What could go wrong? But it isn't long before Devon finds herself in the middle of another supergigantic lie. Can Devon come clean in time to keep the guy? Or will she lose everything due to another lie?

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Rooftops of Tehran: A Novel Review

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(More customer reviews)This was a lovely lovely book. I will say right off that I think that the pinkish cover featuring a red rose (though thematically appropriate) might turn off some men, and I do think that it's the kind of novel that would appeal equally to men and women.
The story follows two teenage boys through a year of their lives in Iran in the 70's. The characterization of adolescence is perfect -- first loves, first independent stands, hellos, goodbyes.
The language is beautiful, and the suspense comes in because parts of the story are told in flashbacks as the reader is brought closer and closer to the crisis event. What happened and why?
When that crisis is revealed, the end of the novel continues in a suspenseful vein, as the reader yearns to find out what is going to happen.
The comparisons to The Kite Runner are inevitable -- although they are set in different countries, they both deal with events that precipitate a coming of age, set in the backdrop of a totalitarian regime. The Kite Runner is a wonderful book, but I think that Rooftops of Tehran has more heart, more range (since in addition to being touched, I laughed aloud a time or two), and is overall a better story.
A wonderful literary page-turner -- my favorite kind of read.
4.5 stars


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Stop Pretending: What Happened When My Big Sister Went Crazy Review

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(More customer reviews)I really liked Stop Pretending, even though I had to wait all afternoon for my mom to finish it. She kept saying "Oh, this is good! This is GOOD!" and then took the longest time to say she was done. Well, it was worth the wait because it WAS very good. The girl in the book sounded so real to me and she wrote all about her feelings which no one in her family really understood because they were so worried about their own feelings. No matter what, she loved her sister, and this is what made me really love the book. She never made what was happening to her sister sound easy and I know it's hard to admit how aful it is when someone in your family is sick, because you start to feel selfish if you do. When my brother was hit by a mailman he was in the hospital for a long time and my mom and dad spent all their time with him. Then he came home in a body cast for six months and he took up a lot of my parents time then too. I completley understood, but no one really understands how worried the other kids are too. I know that's different, but the worry is the same because you don't know whats happening and everyone sort of forgets to tell you. Anyway, this book is really, really good and I hate the word "crazy" because no one is really crazy, they're just sick. It's more ok to be sick in other ways than to be sick mentally. At least that's what a lot of kids think. Maybe grown ups too. I also liked the way this book was written because it was so pretty, even though the subject wasn't very pretty. I think a lot of kids should read this book because they will like the character a lot and it is about stuff they don't read about all the time. I'm going to do a book report on it as soon as Amazon sends me my copy.
Thank you for writing this book, Sonya Sones. I hope you write more books for kids like me that love to read!
Annie Hendershott age 14

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Clicking Beat on the Brink of Nada Review

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(More customer reviews)From all the reviews I had read and the buzz I had heard, Clicking Beat on the Brink of Nada was presented as a classic gay coming-of-age novel. And it is, indeed. Well-drawn and well-rounded characters, wonderfully penned text that brings the people and locales to life, and a story that, in the end, is beautiful, tender and, sadly, heartbreaking. Like all great coming-of-age novels, this one is authentic, true-to-life and honest. No gimmicks nor dramatic license. I really connected with the lead character, the teen boy with the humorous--and foretelling--name Trotsky. His trials with coming out, first love, and how his mother's political views affect him and his family are written with great care. I loved this book, indeed one of the best coming-of-age tales you will ever find.

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By turns funny, romantic, erotic, and sad, this evocative novel brilliantly recreates the landscape of late adolescence, when friendships seem eternal and loves reincarnate.Set in Arkansas but first published in The Netherlands, Clicking Beat on the Brink of Nada quickly won praise from reviewers and readers across Europe and North America.The back cover blurb written by William S. Burroughs reads: "A haunting vision of young friendship shattered by an outrageously cruel world.Keith Hale's novel aches with adolescent first loves.It is tender, funny, and true."

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Perfect You Review

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(More customer reviews)Kate's life has never been perfect, but it used to be fairly okay: She grew up with a best friend, Anna, who knew everything about her, and vice-versa. She had a roof over her head, two parents with stable jobs, and no big conflicts with her older brother. She got decent grades in school and had a decent freshman year.
But now she's a sophomore, and Kate's life is so far from perfect that it's in another state. When Anna came back from her summer vacation, she looked like a different person. Newly thin and blonde, Anna starts hanging out with the popular crowd at school and stops speaking to Kate. Kate's father abruptly quit his job to sell Perfect You infomercial vitamins in a booth at the local mall. Kate is expected to work there after school, and she doesn't get paid for it. In fact, sometimes, she's the only person manning the booth, as her father is prone to wander off to play video games or solicit customers from other stores. Due to her less-than-stellar driving tests, Kate isn't allowed to get a car yet, so she has to rely on her family members to cart her around. Her brother obtained a college degree, then moved back home. Instead of actually getting a job, he sits on the couch and decides he wants to be an actor. Of course, he changes his dream job as often as he changes his socks, so Kate doubts he's serious. To top it all off, a guy at school named Will with a reputation for flirting and leading girls on keeps bugging her.
Kate is conflicted, to say the least. Her first-person narration relates her ups-and-downs with Will, Anna, and her family members. She doesn't want to admit that she likes Will and she certainly doesn't want to get hurt, but she starts to see him anyway. She restricts their time together to mall breaks, not wanting people at school to know about them, and she refuses to let things become serious. She doesn't even know if Will honestly likes her or is just using her like he's used all of the other girls, and she pretends as though she doesn't care either way. She desperately wants to repair her friendship with Anna but isn't sure what it will take to do that. Kate is mortified by her father's antics at the mall, but she suffers these little indignities quietly, not wanting to stir up trouble. She can sense that her parents' relationship, once fun-loving, is starting to get strained. Kate's maternal grandmother comes to visit and ends up staying indefinitely. After taking a second job to make ends meet, Kate's mother is stressed enough, and the addition of her own mother to the household only causes more problems.
Sometimes, all it takes is a good or bad conversation, even one that's ten seconds long, to change your mind and your feelings. Elizabeth Scott (Bloom) writes dialogue that sounds very true to life and very true to teens - remarkably, with minimal swearing and slang. A quick exchange of words with Anna and Kate thinks they are friends again, then a blatant snub in the hallway makes her heart sink. It's hard to have a friend "outgrow" you or otherwise leave you behind. I like that they drifted apart due to their own changes (well, Anna wanting something more and changing herself) rather than being torn apart by some devastating, earth-shattering event. Nevertheless, it still felt devastating to Kate.
By the end of the book, things in Kate's home have changed yet again, and her relationships with Anna and Will are totally different than they were at the beginning of the school year. Kate has to decide whether to hang on or move on.

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Kate Brown's life has gone downhill fast. Her father has quit his job to sell vitamins at the mall, and Kate is forced to work with him. Her best friend has become popular, and now she acts like Kate's invisible. And then there's Will. Gorgeous, unattainable Will, whom Kate acts like she can't stand even though she can't stop thinking about him. When Will starts acting interested, Kate hates herself for wanting him when she's sure she's just his latest conquest. Kate figures that the only way things will ever stop hurting so much is if she keeps to herself and stops caring about anyone or anything. What she doesn't realize is that while life may not always be perfect, good things can happen -- but only if she lets them....

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The Book of Bright Ideas Review

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(More customer reviews)I have been reading a plethora of genres for 40+ years, and every once in a wonderful while I stumble across a masterpiece that fortifies my love of prose. "The Book of Bright Ideas" is a precious gem among the junk jewelry of average reads. Button, narrator, gifts a summer to remember as her new best friend, Winnalee, blows into town in a beat-up pick-up driven by her sister, Freeda. Fierce, fearless, and opinionated, 10 year old Winnalee is bound to stir up Button's quietly sad childhood. Through their myriad of adventures, planned and NOT SO PLANNED, life lessons are earned. So many life lessons that Winnalee and Button strive to savor them in "A Book of Bright Ideas," which will quarentee their happiness in the future. Oh, that it could be true!Kring has a gift of vivid description, rich dialogue, nearly ethereal insight and flavorful charm. Like Harper Lee, Sue Kidd Monk, Kaye Gibbons, and other greats, her work demands and receives your full attention and your deepest respect.
This is brilliant writing at it's finest....read this book and remember why you ever started reading in the first place.

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Wisconsin, 1961. Evelyn "Button" Peters is nine the summer Winnalee and her fiery-spirited older sister, Freeda, blow into her small town–and from the moment she sees them, Button knows this will be a summer unlike any other.Much to her mother's dismay, Button is fascinated by the Malone sisters, especially Winnalee, a feisty scrap of a thing who carries around a shiny silver urn containing her mother's ashes and a tome she calls "The Book of Bright Ideas." It is here, Winnalee tells Button, that she records everything she learns: her answers to themysteries of life. But sometimes those mysteries conceal a truth better left buried. And when a devastating secret is suddenly revealed, dividing loyalties and uprooting lives, no one–from Winnalee and her sister to Button and her family–will ever be the same.

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Such a Pretty Girl Review

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(More customer reviews)I almost passed this book by. The topic was an awful one, and I have had to witness the effects of abuse on children. I didn't think such a topic could be pulled off at all well. But something on the back matter made me pick Pretty Girl up, made me read the first couple of pages and then buy it.
I'm glad I did. Not only did the author convey the reality of the child's suffering, she gave us the effects on the community, the relatives and others. She has portrayed a very bad situation and shown us characters who are damaged and isolated by their experience, and shown us how some of them make it through the damage and out the other side. She shows us how some do not, or can only heal part way. It's about coping. And it was done beautifully.
This is one of those books that can effect a profound change on the reader.

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Aphrodite the Beauty (Goddess Girls) Review

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(More customer reviews)Best goddess-girlfriends Aphrodite, Athena, Artemis, and Persephone were all busy cracking the scrolls at the illustrious MOA, Mount Olympus Academy. With the exception of Beauty-ology, Aphrodite had little interest in scrolls, but when it came to godboys and love she was all eyes and ears. If you counted the matchmaking, you could count her in as nose-y. She was pretty good at it except for the time one of her "fatally flawed" ideas for matching up Paris and Helen caused a war. She was the "goddessgirl of love and beauty," but she'd have to leave the brains to Athena. Naturally all the godboys went wild over her, so one little mistake wasn't that big of a deal. After a while all the attention Aphrodite was getting made her a bit "fed up with godboys," but braniac Athena looked like she would enjoy a bit of attention now and then. Mmmmmm
Aphrodite, or "Bubbles" as nasty Medusa nicknamed her, "loved stirring up romance for others." She pored over "Teen Scrollazine" getting new ideas for Athena's makeover, a makeover that was so successful even Poseidon, "Fishface," exclaimed, "Wow, Athena . . . you look really different." Unfortunately when blond haired, blue-eyed heartthrob, Ares began eying Athena and calling her "Theeny," Aphrodite felt twangs of jealousy. When the skinniest godboy wimp, Hephaestus, began crushing on her, she was totally humiliated. She really had to concentrate on matching up mortal Hippomenes with Atalanta and had to forget about the whole fiasco. If he didn't beat Atalanta in a race he would die, but this whole mess with Athena was going to kill her instead. These days she couldn't stir up a cosmetic recipe with a spoon, let alone stir up a romance for herself. How did she get into such a mess?
Aphrodite, MOA's irresistibly vain goddessgirl of love, will simply charm the reader with her matchmaking foibles. This marvelous series is a lot of fun and just as irresistibly charming as its main characters. The reader will roll her eyes when she learns that Aphrodite has an "automatic reflex" to peer inside every mirror she passes and contrarily, will feel sorry for her when "tears brimmed in her eyes" when she was humiliated. In addition to a bubbly tale, the reader will have a learning experience even without giving a thought to Greek mythology (or cracking a scroll). This series is proving to be a hit with all the goddessgirls, godboys, and mortals out there and with the introduction of each new character, it's getting harder to pick a favorite and soooo . . . I'll just have to say I love `em all

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Sure Aphrodite is beautiful, but it's not always easy being the goddess of love and beauty!

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I Like You Review

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(More customer reviews)I was given this book when I graduated high school, and I kept it with me all through college. I would sometimes read it aloud to friends in my dorm and when it came time for college graduation, I got an amazing surprise. My best friend "stole" the book from my room, and armed with a video camera, videotaped people who were special to me each reading a passage from the book and relating memories of our college years. That was almost 10 years ago. My best friend is now about to have a baby, and I am going to make sure it is the first book my little "niece" or "nephew" gets. It is a simple, unsappy, silly, and timeless reminder that friends are to be cherished, and the person who is willing to be a "goofus on the roofus" with you is a special pal indeed.

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Athena the Brain (Goddess Girls) Review

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(More customer reviews)Athena The Brain is an adorable light take on Greek mythology. Athena has grown up as an orphan on Earth, living with her friend's family. She's always been different - smarter, better. Now she knows why - she's the daughter of Zeus! She is summoned to attend Mount Olympus Academy with all the other goddessgirls, godboys, and a few errant mortals.
Athena's story is relatable to any girl who has started a new school. She's scared and excited. Even though she's brilliant, Hero-ology, Beast-ology and other classes are new to her. Plus, there's all these new people. Nice girls like Aphrodite, handsome boys like Poseidon, strange girls like Pandora, and mean girls like Medusa. Plus Zeus, her dad, can be just as difficult as he can be charming.
This was such a fun book. It takes all the elements of Greek mythology that we all learn in school and turns it into a cute, fluffy story. I haven't studied Greek mythology since 6th grade and never really liked it that much, but I had no trouble keeping up with the characters and the stories. I especially loved Pandora, whose incessant curiosity made her a nosy yet loveable character.
I don't have any major problems with this book. It's meant for fun (and enjoyable education), so it's not exactly literary quality. But that doesn't make the book any less worthy. The only thing I wish had been done differently was a better depiction of Athena's life prior to going to Mount Olympus Academy. The beginning threw her into the plot too quickly. But such a preface probably would have just added unnecessary pages and plot set-up, so I'm not too troubled.
The story very loosely follows Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, two epic poems that I really liked in high school. The kids were playing with mortals in hero-ology and inadvertently create a huge conflict. It was fun to see how every little detail connected to Greek history and mythology. Learn the "real" idea behind the Trojan horse.
The first Goddess Girl is a quick, easy, light read. It's a must read for lovers of Greek mythology, but even people who have no particular affinity for it will find something to enjoy. I think it would be ideal as a co-read for students learning mythology in school.
Rating: 4 / 5


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The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey Review

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(More customer reviews)`Last Days' is the story of a ninety-one year old Black man named Ptolemy. He has dementia... of sorts. I'm sure most doctors would diagnose him as that, but I'm not as convinced. Seems to me this man had more life in his "last days" than most people do their seventy-one point seven years on this planet. Walter Mosley creates a beautiful story with some... provoking people. Ptolemy is a walking, dying encyclopedia of his Black experience. And many others as well. The man is dying, he knows he's dying, and he's OK with him dying. What hurts him most is that his mind is going away. His remaining family is like the rest of ours; some good, some bad, looking for a quick come up.
What happens, however, is what makes Walter Mosley one of the masters of this beloved craft. A mahogany colored beauty (Robyn) finds her way into the life of Ptolemy and she is one of the few bright lights to walk hand and hand with him in the end. While Robyn is his chaperone in "real life", the person that guides him is someone we never really meet. Leave it to Mr. Mosley to create a (ghost) character that is more powerful than the (live) characters. Coydog McCann is the character of whom I speak. He's a teacher, he's a guide, he's a mentor, and he's a friend. Together, Ptolemy and Coydog have a deep, deep friendship that borders on the strongest type of brotherly love. This bond grows stronger over the years and Coy needs Ptolemy to help him complete a mission of sorts when he dies, and Ptolemy needs Robyn to do the same.
To help with this Ptolemy chooses to be a guinea pig for an experimental drug that will help him be lucid his final days. In spite of his dementia, this man is far from crazy and the drug doesn't GIVE him clarity... it sharpens it. The name he gives to the doctor is classic. As with all of Mosley's novels the surrounding cast is splendid. Every single one. Even Alfred. This man can not miss. Thank you Walter for yet another.

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Broken for You Review

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(More customer reviews)My wife read this book in one gulp, so to speak, and said, 'You must read this. You may find it a little too "girly," but I think you'll really like it anyhow.' Well, she was certainly right about my liking it. And it wasn't too 'girly,' either; although the main characters are women, the interactions, the plot twists, the quirkiness of all the characters, and the unexpectedness of their inner lives made it all fascinating to me.
Stephanie Kallos, a first-time novelist, has a delightful sense of humor and a real facility with words. Although the main arc of the plot winds up being fairly predictable (and, I might add, extremely satisfying), there are enough unexpected incidents and revelations along the way to make this trip very enjoyable. And her characters are all credible people with vivid inner lives, past histories, present desires and hesitations. All are wounded in some way, but none is a victim in the usual sense. And underlying all this is a strong current of the will to survive and even triumph, especially in the context of a purpose-created community of eccentrics.
It would be a shame if this book is overlooked because it is by a new novelist whose name doesn't ring a bell. If Kallos keeps writing, her name WILL become much better known.
Recommended.
Scott Morrison

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Ten Things We Did (and Probably Shouldn't Have) Review

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(More customer reviews)It starts off in a The Hangover-like way when April is jolted awake by her police siren ringtone (her dad's) to find a guy (who is not her boyfriend) laying next to her, and a mess of a house (beer cans and chips everywhere) and two barely dressed guys (one wearing a tiara) sprawled and snoring on the couch. And her dad calls to say he's fifteen minutes away as a birthday surprise. Can you tell I was hooked from there? Because I could barely blink.
The writing was easy going and the characters were very likable and fun. I was slightly flinching throughout the whole book from how real everything seemed. I was not a huge fan of the time-hoping bits. April went back and forth between time-frames and it felt a bit disorienting from time to time, but it did fit with the plot quite well, I just felt transitions could have been slightly smoother and clearer. But it worked.
It was unbelievably fun to read. I would laugh out loud from time to time and slap my hand on my forehead on other times too. April made so many understandably stupid decisions, that you just want to reach out and shake her, while knowing you might have done that same thing. Sarah Mlynowski is a genius on realistic teenage portrayal.
Overall, a very sassy tale of things we shouldn't do that ironically make our lives that much enjoyable and cool. A book you should not miss if you love fun contemporary YA.

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2 girls + 3 guys + 1 house – parents = 10 things April and her friends did that they (definitely, maybe, probably) shouldn't have.

If given the opportunity, what sixteen-year-old wouldn't jump at the chance to move in with a friend and live parent-free? Although maybe "opportunity" isn't the right word, since April had to tell her dad a tiny little untruth to make it happen (see #1: "Lied to Our Parents"). But she and her housemate Vi are totally responsible and able to take care of themselves. How they ended up "Skipping School" (#3), "Throwing a Crazy Party" (#8), "Buying a Hot Tub" (#4), and, um, "Harboring a Fugitive" (#7) at all is kind of a mystery to them.

In this hilarious and bittersweet tale, Sarah Mlynowski mines the heart and mind of a girl on her own for the first time. To get through the year, April will have to juggle a love triangle, learn to do her own laundry, and accept that her carefully constructed world just might be falling apart . . . one thing-she-shouldn't-have-done at a time.

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Voices in the Park Review

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(More customer reviews)This brilliantly illustrated story is about four different characters, a bossy woman, a poor man, a lonely boy and a young girl, all apes. Each of the moods of the characters personality is reflected in different seasons and each in a different font. With each voice described you begin to understand the story and the events that are occurring in the park that day. One voice at a time you begin to see them all fit together. The little girls story at the end ties them all together.
I believe that with the story the author is suggesting that we open our eyes and see the big picture. Appreciate what is happening around you. I may not be hitting this right but I read this book over and over and I see a deeper meaning in this story then just to describe the occurrence in the park. I believe that the author wanted to show the simplicity in children's thoughts and show that they are so peaceful and appreciate and want to know everything and everyone without any prejudice or immediate assumptions. Also within the pictures there are so many hidden meanings that you wouldn't notice first off. The pictures display the emotions of the character. An example is one picture where Charles, a boy being reprimanded by his strict mother, meets smudge, a happy go lucky girl. His side of the picture is all gloomy skies and her side is happy and colorful.
There are beautiful paintings in this book that catch the eyes of any age. The creativity of using different fonts was wonderful; it keeps kids interested in what they are reading. I love this book and I feel that every time I pick it up I will find something that I had not noticed before and I love books like that.

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Aphrodite the Diva (Goddess Girls) Review

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(More customer reviews)Excuse me, a D in Hero-logy? Aphrodite deserved nothing better than an A in everything. Everyone A-dored her, A-dmired her, A-ccepted her . . . why even her name began with an A. Now she was going to be known as a dumb airhead at Mount Olympus Academy. It was Hero Day, the start of Hero Week at MOA and she'd have to work fast to convince Mr. Cyclops to raise her grade before anyone caught wind of her predicament. Aphrodite was positive that her best friends Persephone, Athena, and Artemis had to have done well in Hero-logy and if malicious Medusa heard about it, it would be all over the academy before a single snake on her head could even bat any of their ugly eyes. There was that "unfortunate incident" in which she started a war on earth, but perhaps Mr. Cyclops might be willing to overlook it. When Aphrodite brought up the possibility of raising her grade he simply told her to "Spend a little less time on being a diva and more time on your studies." What nerve! Looked like spending Hero Week on vacation with her friends was definitely out.
Athena was the one with the brains, but in a pinch Aphrodite could come up with a plan if she tried hard enough. She had to admit that trying to match up Paris with Helen was a flop, but her sixth diva sense told her that creating a Lonely Hearts Club might just be the ticket to raising her grades. It would be a club for mortals who wanted to "find love." After all, Aphrodite was the goddess of love and a matchmaker superior (or so she thought). The first thing to do was to make up excuses as to why she was staying at MOA during Hero Week and secondly she'd have to dispatch Pheme, the big mouth who "could spread news faster than a herald in a speeding chariot," to let the mortals know about her new club. In the meantime Zeus was so mad about that little war he was storming around MOA like a tornado in Kansas. Before long she overheard mortals talking about her. "Aphrodite is starting a Lonely Darts Club." Oh, no!" She soon got half a letter from some guy named Pyg and soon found herself being challenged from some "hoity-toity Egyptian goddess" who claimed SHE was the goddess of love. And then there were those strange riddlescrolls from someone who was obviously crushing on her (didn't everyone?). What is the world was going on? Was she barking up the wrong olive tree trying to raise her grade by starting a Lonely Hearts Club?
Adorable airhead, Aphrodite, will charm the sandals off everyone when she starts her Lonely Hearts Club for mortals. Aphrodite might be the beautiful goddessgirl, but she also might be the one that could use a bit more common sense. This storyline, as all those in the goddessgirl tales before it, kept me reading right along with high interest. No doubt the Goddess Girls series is an easy way to learn about Greek mythology, but now in "Aphrodite the Diva" we meet her Egyptian rival, Isis, and learn a bit about what goes on with another equally determined goddess and her admiring passel of mortals. I loved the humor and sentences like "Pinky swear was obviously a universal language" made me chuckle. In this book we meet a new pigheaded character named Pygmalion that everyone will fall in love with as much as they have with the many other godboys in this series. Aprhodite certainly meets her match with Isis, but I'm not going to tell you what happens with the rivalry because you'll just have to read the book. If you've read any of the series before you'll easily immerse yourself in this tale and if you haven't, you'll definitely want to check out the other goddessgirls!This book courtesy of the authors.

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In book 6, after a teeny misunderstanding in class, Aphrodite is failing Hero-ology. To raise her grade, she concocts a brilliant plan--an extra-credit project for matchmaking mortals. This brings her face-to-face with fierce competition--an Egyptian goddessgirl named Isis. Now the race is on to see which of them can matchmake Pygmalion--the most annoying boy ever! Will Aphrodite wind up making a passing grade after all? Or will she end up proving she's a diva with more beauty than brains?These classic myths from the Greek pantheon are given a modern twist that contemporary tweens can relate to, from dealing withbullies like Medusa to a first crush on an unlikely boy. Goddess Girlsfollows four goddesses-in-training - Athena, Persephone, Aphrodite, andArtemis - as they navigate the ins and outs of divine social life atMount Olympus Academy, where the most priviledged gods and goddesses ofthe Greek pantheon hone their mythical skills.

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