City Life Books

The Clique Summer Collection #5: Claire (Clique Series)

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Courtesy of Teens Read Too 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Sadly, this is the last book in the fabulous CLIQUE SUMMER COLLECTION series. It really ends with a bang, however!

Claire is back in Florida with her old best friends, and then Massie shows up. How can Claire handle having a group of friends that are not as popular as she is now, and Massie (who makes Westchester look like a snob town) in the same place?

And on top of all that, Claire is asked to judge a competition that she grew up wanting to be a contestant in. The same one in which all four of her friends are going to be a part of. How do you pick a winner?

Claire is very much herself in this novel, and even though this was not my favorite of the series, it had a fabulous ending and wrapped up the summer excellently.

Reviewed by: Taylor Rector

Editorial Review:

Will Claire's Florida BFFs become former BFFs? Back in Orlando for the summer, Claire is reunited with her Florida best friends, Sarah, Sari, and Mandy, after a long year apart. Her FBFs haven't changed at all. Too bad they think Claire has . . . and not for the better. Claire sets out to prove her loyalty by entering Kissimmee's Miss Kiss pageant. But when a very special visitor shows up and vows to win the crown, Claire finds herself torn between Keds and couture. Will Claire finally kiss-immee her past goodbye-once and for all?

The Snowy Day

Ezra Jack Keats

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 81 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

The Snowy Day, a 1963 Caldecott Medal winner, is the simple tale of a boy waking up to discover that snow has fallen during the night. Keats's illustrations, using cut-outs, watercolors, and collage, are strikingly beautiful in their understated color and composition. The tranquil story mirrors the calm presence of the paintings, and both exude the silence of a freshly snow-covered landscape. The little boy celebrates the snow-draped city with a day of humble adventures--experimenting with footprints, knocking snow from a tree, creating snow angels, and trying to save a snowball for the next day. Awakening to a winter wonderland is an ageless, ever-magical experience, and one made nearly visceral by Keats's gentle tribute.

The book is notable not only for its lovely artwork and tone, but also for its importance as a trailblazer. According to Horn Book magazine, The Snowy Day was "the very first full-color picture book to feature a small black hero"--yet another reason to add this classic to your shelves. It's as unique and special as a snowflake.

City of Ashes (Mortal Instruments)

Cassandra Clare

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 39 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Clary Fray just wishes that her life would go back to normal. But what's normal when you're a demon-slaying Shadowhunter, your mother is in a magically induced coma, and you can suddenly see Downworlders like werewolves, vampires, and faeries? If Clary left the world of the Shadowhunters behind, it would mean more time with her best friend, Simon, who's becoming more than a friend. But the Shadowhunting world isn't ready to let her go -- especially her handsome, infuriating, newfound brother, Jace. And Clary's only chance to help her mother is to track down rogue Shadowhunter Valentine, who is probably insane, certainly evil -- and also her father.

To complicate matters, someone in New York City is murdering Downworlder children. Is Valentine behind the killings -- and if he is, what is he trying to do? When the second of the Mortal Instruments, the Soul-Sword, is stolen, the terrifying Inquisitor arrives to investigate and zooms right in on Jace. How can Clary stop Valentine if Jace is willing to betray everything he believes in to help their father?

In this breathtaking sequel to City of Bones, Cassandra Clare lures her readers back into the dark grip of New York City's Downworld, where love is never safe and power becomes the deadliest temptation.

Busy, Busy Town (Giant Little Golden Book)

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 24 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Great, Great Book! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This book is a perfect example of the kind of publication that has made Richard Scary a favorite of families for generations. The illustrations are action-packed, and kids are immediately drawn in to all the activity of the town, learning about all the characters on the way to work!

From toddlers to pre-schoolers, this is a book to be absolutely cherished!

FUN! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

THis was one of my favorite books as a kid.. Every kid I know loves this book. Hours of fun!

Editorial Review:

Welcome to Busytown where everyone is on their way to work. The Busytown grocers stock and sell fresh food; the bankers keep the money safe; the doctors and nurses make sure everyone is healthy; the postal workers collect and deliver letters; the sanitation workers collect trash and recyclables; the lumber workers chop trees to make furniture and houses; and the workers at the docks, railroads and airports help transport people and freight. But it takes even more careers and professions than that to keep this busy town running.

The Clique Summer Collection #1: Massie (Clique Series)

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 16 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

good books! 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I havent read this book but the ones i have read have been excellant keep writing and ill keep reading! i advise u 2 buy and read all these books i can guarantee you wont put them down!

Superficial but very entertaining!! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Really loved reading this book. As long as it isn't taken seriously, it should be ok for kids. It is also "clean" reading compared to some of the other teen books out there.

Great Summer Read! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

As a student, in school I would nomally not read these books (I save these for weekends, winter break, summer, spring break, et cetera). Although these books may not be mental enrichment, they're mental enrichment (in a relaxed sort of way). I read this in an hour over the course of the day (the day I got it)! Great read, reccomend it to anyone 11-14. I'm warning you though, these are mad easy!!! :D :D

Editorial Review:

Massie gets BE-yoo-tiful: After Massie Block gets kicked off her high horse and out of her ultra exclusive Westchester riding camp, her parents force her to do the unthinkable-find a summer job. Not one for dog-walking or brat-sitting, Massie comes up with the ah-bvious solution: She'll be a sales rep for the cosmetics brand Be Pretty. Massie fully hearts her new role as fairy gawdmother of makeup-until she discovers transforming LBRs into glam-girls takes more than a swish of her royal purple mascara wand.

The Clique Summer Collection #4:Kristen (Cli Series)

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

A wicked good time 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 6 people found this review helpful.

As a member of the exclusive Pretty Committee clique, Kristen Gregory is popular (times 10), stylish, snobby, fake-rich and insecure. But she has a secret that even her PC friends don't know. Her biggest secret is also her salvation and a source of joy. Kristen belongs to the Witty Committee, a group of intellectually gifted students who assemble via their PCs and role play as the gifted person they admire most. With her Witty Committee friends, whose motto is "BOB - brains over beauty," Kristen is smart, loyal, proud and confident.

While her PC friends have taken flight for the summer, Kristen stays in Westchester, New York, where she lands a job tutoring Ripple Baxter to earn eighth-grade wardrobe money. Kristen begins tutoring Ripple in math, but the nine-year-old has other plans. Ripple is enthralled with PC Alpha Massie Block and connives to use Kristen to teach her how to become an OCD-Diva and Massie clone. Ripple is so obsessed with Massie that she insists everyone call her "Rassie."

After Kristen catches on to Ripple's scam and realizes her tutoring job with Ripple is more babysitting than teaching math, she is ready to call it quits --- until she meets Dune, Ripple's 13-year-old brother, whose blond hair is "the color of Baked Lays." Kristen turns the tables and uses Ripple to find out how to impress Dune, but things don't go according to plan. When Kristen shows up at the Gray Acres Skate Park (GAS) dressed like a skater, Dune and his skater friends are the opposite of impressed. Then there's Skye Hamilton, the eighth-grade Alpha and member of the Westchester Country Club, who is also crushing on Dune.

When Kristen is caught trespassing at the Westchester Country Club, she gets in trouble --- big trouble. And after Dune crushes back on Skye rather than on her, Kristen becomes depressed in a way that makes "Victoria Beckham look cheerful."

To resolve her "crush conflict" Kristen (aka Cleopatra) contacts her role-playing Witty Committee friends for advice. Can Einstein (aka Layne), Bill Gates (aka Danh), Oprah (aka Rachel) and Shakespeare (aka Aimee) come up with a solution? Here's a hint: Are Bill Gates and Oprah rich?

KRISTEN is the fourth of five novellas about members of the Pretty Committee. Each book is a light-hearted and fun-to-read page-turner with sound advice for teenage girls. The message from KRISTEN, is, in her own words, "hold on to your pride and own who you are." No wonder Kristen is not only a member of the Pretty Committee but also of the Witty Committee.

--- Reviewed by Donna Volkenannt

Editorial Review:

Kristen sets sail on the Love Boat... With the rest of the Pretty Committee scattered across the globe, Kristen is stuck in summer school at OCD, making good on her scholarship commitments. No sleepover horse camp, no Hawaiian spa, no Spanish vacation, not even a trip to Orlando. But when Kristen scores a job looking after hang-ten hottie Dune Baxter's eight-year-old sister, Ripple, Westchester suddenly doesn't seem so bad. It looks like Kristin is about to ride the wave of first love. . . .

Seedfolks (Joanna Colter Books)

Paul Fleischman

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 90 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Almost certain to make my best reads of the year list. 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

Paul Fleischman, Seedfolks (Harper Collins, 1997)

I've read a lot of books in the past few weeks, as I often do right around the new year for some reason. The best of them this year was Seedfolks, a kids' book about a community garden in Cleveland and how it came to be. (For the record, yahoo's map doesn't locate a Gibb Street anywhere in Cleveland; if this is based on a true story, Fleischman has masked the location of the garden in question.)

The story begins with Kim, a Vietnamese girl living in a Cleveland slum. In order to connect with a father she never knew, she plants a few lima beans in a junk-filled lot across the street from her tenement building. From this small act grows a community garden, complete with activist residents getting the city to come clean up the vacant lot, social workers using a plot to teach their charges about life, and, of course, a teacher who takes it upon herself to educate the entire surrounding community.

Sometimes, however, what makes a book great is not its overarching message, but how much latitude the author gives his characters in subverting that message. While the subject of the book is a good one, and it is presented in a novel way, where this book passes from the good to the great is when one of the gardeners notices the way the plots in the garden are panning out, and how everyone self-segregates. When fences start to go up around plots, he notes sadly that what was once Paradise is turning into Cleveland again. It's a passage that stands in direct contrast to the message of the rest of the book; Fleischman, who's been feeding us a steady stream of "wow, this garden has changed my life" stories, pulls the rug out from under us by subverting his own utopia. He doesn't do it again at any time in the book, though from this point on, we do get tougher stories about the various gardeners; still, that one moment of disillusionment colors the entire book, and makes it far deeper and more thought-provoking than it otherwise would be.

A wonderful, wonderful book. **** ½

Editorial Review:

Sometimes, even in the middle of ugliness and neglect, a little bit of beauty will bloom. Award-winning writer Paul Fleischman dazzles us with this truth in Seedfolks--a slim novel that bursts with hope. Wasting not a single word, Fleischman unfolds a story of a blighted neighborhood transformed when a young girl plants a few lima beans in an abandoned lot. Slowly, one by one, neighbors are touched and stirred to action as they see tendrils poke through the dirt. Hispanics, Haitians, Koreans, young, and old begin to turn the littered lot into a garden for the whole community. A gift for hearts of all ages, this gentle, timeless story will delight anyone in need of a sprig of inspiration.

The Clique Summer Collection #3: Alicia (Clique Series)

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

The Clique Summer Collection #3 Alicia Review 4 out of 5 stars.
2 of 3 people found this review helpful.

The 3rd book in the clique summer collection was an amazing book. It showed many hidden things that we didn't necessarily know already. It was a book that kept you on your toes and you never knew what was coming next. I can't wait for the next one.

I like Alicia a lot more now, but found the book a bit slow-moving 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I absolutely loved Massie's book, but found Dylan's a bit formulaic and dull, so I picked this one up with high hopes but low expectations. To me, this one hit right between Dylan's and Massie's books in pure fun factor - it was enjoyable to read, but I wasn't so into it that I raced to read it instead of doing something else.

Alicia goes to Spain to stay with her cousins and finds out that a hot pop sensation is shooting a music video. He needs to find a true Spanish beauty to star in it, and Alicia and her cousins are all sure they are each going to be that lady!

It was neat getting to see how Alicia's mind works and see her interact with her cousins. I enjoyed that insight and like Alicia a lot more after reading this book - she seems to be slightly more thoughtful in how she relates with others than some of The Clique are, which I appreciate, yet she was still catty and fun to read.

All in all, if you are a fan, read Massie first, skip Dylan, and read this one next. If you haven't read The Clique books yet, start with those - these summer books probably aren't going to win over new fans.

Editorial Review:

Alicia takes on Mission Spalfa: Spanish Alpha! Back in Spain to visit her relatives, Alicia discovers that Spain's newest pop sensation ¡Ignacio! is searching for a true Spanish beauty to star in his new hit-single video. She can't believe her luck! If Alicia is cast as a true Spanish beauty, Massie will never call her fake-Spanish again. The only trick: She'll have to beat her super-bonita cousins to win the coveted spot. Adios, bimbos!

I Stink!

Kate Mcmullan

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 62 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

"I stink!" How can you not love such swagger and candor? And Kate and Jim McMullan's big-eyed, loudmouthed garbage truck really must stink--by its own admission, and given all those smelly bags it's been cramming into its huge back hopper.

Most kids already love garbage trucks on general principle, and one assumes that can only go double for a sass-mouthed, animated dumper like this one, out on its early-morning rounds: "See those bags? I SMELL BREAKFAST! Crew? Get me to the curb! Lights? Blink! Brakes? Squeal! Tail gate? SAY AH!" The many opportunities for loud, large-type sound effects should make for spirited readings, and a recipe for "alphabet soup" lets young readers practice their letters, working through the ABCs from apple cores to zipped-up ziti with zucchini.

The text to I Stink!, while fun, is nowhere near as clever as the art. But fortunately Jim McMullan's fun, fat drawings and type treatments more than make up the difference, loading Dumpsters full of personality into this grimacing, grinning, growling--even burping!--big rig. Kids will have a good time doing diesel-powered imitations, but even more importantly, they'll learn where they'd be without their neighborhood trash truck: on top of "Mount Trash-o-rama, baby." (Ages 4 to 8) --Paul Hughes

The Clique Summer Collection #2: Dylan (Clique Series)

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 12 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

good 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

the book was a good book because i play tennis and i thought it was good researched and the author used the right terms

More of the same... 3 out of 5 stars.
0 of 1 people found this review helpful.

My daughter loves these books- I think they do not qualify as a "good" book but they are pretty harmless as long as she reads other books in between.

this is an amazing book 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

this is the best book ever. if you enjoyed reading the clique, then you will love this book.

A delicious guilty pleasure 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Pretty Committee member Dylan Marvil accompanies her TV-host mother on a private jet to an extravagant spa and tennis club in Hawaii in hopes of making a fresh start. She wants to put the heartache of being dumped behind her, relax in the spa, lounge on the beach and feast on rich tropical desserts --- while her mom is busy preparing for the "interview of the season" with hot-tempered tennis superstar and bad-girl Svetlana Slootskyia.

After checking in to the luxurious resort, Dylan and her mother head for the resort's boutique to "go native" and pick out some new clothes to wear at the Aloha Open VIP Party. Dylan --- who favors dark colors, especially black, to flatter her size-four (make that size-six) figure --- is not pleased with the wardrobe selection. She tells her mom she feels like she's been dropped into a "floral-scented snow globe" because everything there is white, which is the customary color for anyone attending the tennis events.

While looking for an appropriate outfit, Dylan melts at the sight of tanned and handsome J.T. Daley, whose father owns the resort. When she actually meets him, Dylan can barely control her burping. J.T. is a tennis-obsessed "hawtie" who is immediately impressed when he finds out that Dylan's mom is going to be interviewing Svetlana.

At the VIP party, to impress J.T. even more, Dylan tells him she also loves tennis, which is about as true as her being a size four and not having a burping problem. After hearing this, J.T. invites her to his family's box seats at a tennis match that will be held three days later.

Dylan quickly realizes she has to learn how to master the game of tennis in three days, or J.T. will know she's lying. She tries to come up with a plan to get the hot-tempered Svetlana to teach her to play tennis well enough to impress J.T. Can Dylan convince Svetlana to help her become an ace, or will her quest to win over J.T. end up out of bounds?

DYLAN is the second of five books that shine a spotlight on the summers of the Pretty Committee members. It is a breezy and light-hearted novel with an important message about knowing ourselves and being comfortable with who we are.

--- Reviewed by Donna Volkenannt

Editorial Review:

Game, Set, Match... Dylan? Dylan and her TV-host mom are off to Hawaii's Aloha Tennis Open. While Merri-Lee interviews tennis's wild child Svetlana "Tennis the Menace" Slootskyia, Dylan lets the tropical sun melt away the memory of getting dumped by two guys at the end of seventh grade. But between avocado mud masks and poolside naps, she falls in love with a preppy, tennis- obsessed hawtie. Dylan soon realizes the only way to score a date with him is to master the game. Can she convince moody Svetlana to spill the secrets of her tennis success, or will she end up oh-for-three in summer love?