Reviewers: Tween Book Club

A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park

4.75 out of 5 stars

Other review sources: Good Reads [4.16 out of 5 stars]

Based on a true story, this book follows a young boy in Sudan in 1985 named Salva, who is in search of his family after violence and was in his village forced him to flee. In parallel, the reader is introduced to Nya, a young girl in Sudan in 2008, who must walk eight hours every day to fetch water for her village.

Some of the comments:

• Best book I ever read. Actually - the only book I ever read. I would recommend this book for every age.
• It was a really good book. I think it displayed the life of a person across the world.
• I really liked the book. I found it very interesting and moving on how some people would have to live.
• I really liked the book and I thought it gave a good lesson how that Salva survived through so much.
• This is the first book I actually loved reading. I recommend other people to read this book. It touched my heart.
• This book was great - I could also turn the book into a movie in my head. But I think the readers might not know that the author of this book is a Korean!

Reviewers: Parent-Child Book Club

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin

4.5 out of 5 stars

Other review sources: Good Reads [4.04 out of 5] and Amazon [4.5 out of 5]

A Newberry Medal winner in 1979, this story is a murder mystery which retains its popularity more than 30 years later.The story follows sixteen people who are invited to the reading of Samuel W. Westing's will. They have the chance to become millionaires-as long as they play the Westing game right.

Some of the comments:

• I thought the book was a page-turner, very exciting and well written. The characters were well-developed and the plot was clever. I highly recommend this book.
• Ellen Raskin made a very easy to follow storyline that a person could really attach to. She displays an amazing image of haunting clues that you need to concentrate on. In the end, you have no favorite characters - you like them all.
• Its a book with lots of surprises.
• A good, complex mystery book, but the ending is not as good as the other parts. A little unrealistic - too perfect.
• A good novel. It is mystery in the beginning, but got a little confusing and complicated to understand by children.
• I like the book because it has a surprise ending.