Shortly after entering the club and dancing alongside her virtuoso, anime-loving best friend, Simon, Clary caught sight of the bizarre boy she saw earlier being lured into a custodial closet by an odd, yet beautiful girl wearing a long-sleeved dress. Curiosity and fascination kept Clary looking after them when two boys dressed in black slipped into the closet behind them carrying a knife.

Astonished that no one else noticed the boys with the weapon, Clary sent Simon after the bouncers while she hurried toward the oddly dressed trio and the green-eyed boy in hopes of preventing a crime. Clary instead finds herself a witness to a murder that thrusts her into the perilous world of the young Shadowhunters Isabelle, Alec and Jace, part human, part angel warriors dedicated to ridding the world of demons and keeping Downworlders, such as vampires and werewolves in line.

But why Clary could see the three young Shadowhunters was perplexing. Only those with the Sight can see Shadowhunters when they do not wish to be seen and how Clary suddenly obtains it is a mystery.

The numerous twists and countless scenes of nail-biting suspense kept me reading until I couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer. The snarky, sarcastic comedy that was weaved effortlessly into the action-packed story of butt-kicking Shadowhunters also contributed towards my love for “The City of Bones.”

In her quest to save her mother who was abducted by her infamous Shadowhunter father, Valentine, Clary finds herself falling in love with the young and handsome Jace. Before the book ends with Valentine escaping through a magic portal, Clary and Jace discovered something that would change their relationship completely. They are brother and sister.

Far from the cliché of happy conclusions, the ending of “The City of Bones” was brilliantly dark and satisfying. I would recommend this book to any science fiction lovers like myself. Bravo, Cassandra Clare.

Imagine a tyrannical, corrupt government that hoards the city’s supplies and leaves the citizens hungry and destitute.

Now imagine you’ve never known anything besides this city, and then one day you stumble across instructions that tell you how to escape to the world above.

Lina Mayfleet, the main protagonist in Jeanne DuPrau’s The City of Ember, has lived her entire life in Ember. She, like everyone else in the city, has never known daylight, moonlight, or any kind of light besides the dim electrical lamps that line the streets. The city’s electric generator, powered by the nearby river, is falling apart, resulting in frequent blackouts that leave citizens fearful and powerless.

Even worse, corruption is rife within Ember. Line and her friend Doon Harrow discover the mayor stealing from the city’s supply room, leaving citizens without enough food to feed their families. Though many remain blind to the city’s troubles, Lina and Doon know the truth: if something is not done quickly, life as they know it is about to end.

DuPrau weaves a classic kids’ tale of adventure and bravery in the face of danger. I found myself reading into the wee hours of the morning, unable to put the book down. Is it weird that I’m 18 years old and still thoroughly enthralled by a book written for elementary school children?

The plot is riveting. With plot twists at every turn, DuPrau never left me disappointed or unsatisfied. She does an excellent job of connecting to the reader—I felt like I was living the book rather than reading it. My emotions went along with those of Lina and Doon, and I could almost feel the damp, cold city through DuPrau’s lovely imagery.

I don’t care if this book is for young children, or if I’m a little slow on the uptake (apparently, everyone and their dog has read The City of Ember besides me). I can’t wait to start reading the sequel.

12lmarcotte@usd489.com

Now back with a different twist, the Muppet gang embarks on a journey to save their legendary, original Muppet theatre from the greedy Tex Richman who plans to destroy the set and drill for the oil found underneath. The Muppets’ biggest fan, Walter comes up with the idea to get The Muppets back together and put on a telethon as a last resort to save the theatre.

I’ll be honest and say that I didn’t expect to enjoy The Muppets nearly as much as I did. The best, and most surprising, part of the movie would be the updated humor. I had expected to see outdates jokes that have been recycled; I was dead wrong. It was thoroughly enjoyable and entertaining with both heartfelt and hilarious moments.

If I were to say anything negative about the movie, it would be that there wasn’t enough of the supporting cast of Muppets. Sure, we get plenty of Miss Piggy and Kermit, but I wanted to hear about Animal and Gonzo. In fact, I almost got sick of hearing Kermit’s squeaky, nervous voice bellowing throughout the theater.

Overall, the plot was just right and the villain in the story had just enough menace to frighten the children and anger the adults. With stars like Amy Adams (Mary) and Jason Segel (Gary), this movie is both classically brilliant and yet modernly hilarious at the same time.

Most movies now-a-days aim to make the main character relatable to the viewers or at the very least tolerable, but this movie is a different story completely. After watching the trailer, I expected a good story with a classic moral and some relatively decent acting. Unfortunately, that was not the case at all. Cameron Diaz plays Elizabeth Halsey, a teacher whom was just dumped by her billionaire fiancé. When an attractive, new teacher named Scott Delacorte, played by Justin Timberlake, enters the story, Halsey discovers he has loads of money and makes it her goal to make enough money for a boob job so as to gain the attention of Mr. Delacorte.

Halsey does everything in her power to get the money needed for the surgical procedure, including cheating on the state assessment to be able to earn a big bonus. In the end, she gets away with all of the bad things she does, including lying, cheating, and pot-smoking. A story like this that shows very little character growth is painful to watch.

The only thing that seemed to go right in the story was the humor. To be able to truly appreciate it, you’d have to enjoy watching movies with dirty words and risky comments. I found myself laughing a few select times in the movie, but I was also bored. I don’t want to a watch a movie that forces me to laugh at the funny parts, but check my watch at everything in between.

Bad Teacher was one of those movies that I thought was going to be gut-busting funny and still have the same heart-warming relationships featured in the 2003 hit School of Rock, but about halfway through, I felt like the main punch line was the movie itself.

Uglies is an enthralling and entertaining book set 300 years in the future. There are hover cars, fantastic buildings, and most importantly, the ability to make every human pretty.

Tally Youngblood is 15, less than three months until her 16 birthday. She’s impatiently waiting for it. Not so she can drive, but to be pretty. She’s the youngest of her friends, the last to be left behind in Uglyville while her friends party away in New Pretty town just across the river. She’s bored of playing tricks, biding her time until she can join them and be pretty with them. Then she meets Shay.

Shay is different, crazy and best of all, the exact same age as Tally. Tally is excited to not leave her new friend behind when she has her surgery. But Shay has different plans.  She claims there are people out there, in the wild, and she wants to join them. When Shay runs away Tally is told she must make a choice: betray her friends and their wild community, or never become pretty.

This book is fun and action packed, full of twist and turns. The book has sudden changes and it’s almost impossible to predict the end. While the plot does have some romance, it’s not the main point.

The series is comprised of four books: Uglies, Pretties, Specials, and Extras. The last book Extra was just that, extra. It was unnecessary and unrelated to the first three books and Tally’s story. It even took place on a different continent.

All in all, it is definitely worth the effort to read and is unlike any book you’ve probably ever read.

12kkrug@usd489.com

Rachel is pushed and pulled every which way her best friend Darcy wishes. After going to college, she meets a guy whom she instantly feels a connection with. Unable to truly face her fears and show her true feelings to Dax, Rachel’s dream man ends up in the arms of Darcy. Sooner or later the truth comes out and the end result isn’t pretty.

In theory, this movie is pretty good. The execution, on the other hand, isn’t the best. I feel as though this movie could’ve been so good, but by the end of the movie, I didn’t know who I wanted Rachel to end up with. I also didn’t feel like a had a very good connection with the main character which is needed to be able to create a story with sustenance.

Although the moral of the story was to encourage people to take chances and do what they must to gain true happiness regardless of the consequences (at least that’s what I got out of it), I felt like the end of the story was extremely lacking. It was confusingly frustrating and finishes with a sloppy cliff-hanger.

After watching the trailer, I was expecting a love story with a fun plot and a satisfying twist in the end, but I was left disappointed in the end. I don’t think I would recommend this movie to anyone, but if you’re looking to kill 112 minutes with pure mush, then “Something Borrowed” is definitely for you.

His poems are lofty, rhythmic and usually rhyme. Reading them, you can’t help but smile and laugh along with the beautifully drawn characters that depict his poems.

“Where the Sidewalk Ends” and “A Light in the Attic” are both collections of poems and cartoons. Both books are titled after poems found within each volume.

Some people automatically hear the word “poetry” and want to crawl up in a ball and die. They would rather rot away then torture themselves with reading something they don’t think they can comprehend.

But I’ve never heard of someone dying from reading a nursery rhyme, and to me, many of Silverstiens poems are just that. Light hearted and cute. Words that make your heart smile.

Yet on the other hand, some of his pieces have a darker undertone; a sinister and almost creepy feel. Even one of his more well-known poems “Where the Sidewalk Ends” can be interpreted to having a darker side.

I would recommend these books to anyone, young, old or in-between. With Silverstien’s wide variety of poems there is poem for everyone. Watch out, because you might just find a little inspiration from this great poet.

12estaab@usd489.com

As most people know, there’s a novel and a movie made, but there’s been large debate as to which is better. As a person who enjoys reading, I was surprised to find that I liked the movie better. I felt like I understood what the patients were feeling and I liked that I could put a face to the Big Nurse. There were minute descriptions found in the novel that were left out of the movie, but the absences made little difference.

In the end, I found that the movie stayed true to the book and the final result was just as satisfying to watch it as it was to read. Those who have not had the chance to read this book or watch this movie should definitely check it out.

This classic story is a mental game with twists and turns and a hopeful ending that I recommend every one read.

I was anticipating for “Priest” to be good, but not this good.  The movie had everything you could want from killing to a little love to tension between the main characters.  “Priest” includes several stars such as Paul Bettany, Karl Urban, Cam Gigandet and Maggie Q.

It starts out as a group of Priests exploring the catacombs of a vampire hideout, then all of a sudden the place is swarmed so the Priests must escape.  As the group is trying to escape, Black Hat (Karl Urban) trips and gets dragged back into the place.

Later on, the Priests niece gets kidnapped by a half vampire/half Priest who you find out later is Black Hat.  Sheriff Hicks (Gigandet) finds Priest and asks him to find the girl.  Priest asks the Counsel to go out and help, but Monsignor Orelas refuses to let him telling him that there are no vampires left and that disobeying the church is disobeying God, but what do you know?  He goes out to help anyway.

After a few other fight scenes and minutes of traveling hundreds of miles, the final face-off between Black Hat and Priest comes.

At the end Priest shows up to one of the church assemblies and throws a head at the counsel in which they say that there still is no threat.

The acting was good, the dialogue was clear, and the fight scenes were amazing.  I would definitely recommend spending the minimum of $8 to go see it.

“Soul Surfer” stars AnnaSophia Robb playing the part of Bethany Hamilton and other stars like Dennis Quaid, Helen Hunt and Carrie Underwood.

This movie was truly amazing and it gives some perspective. At a young age surfing for fun with friends, a 14-foot tiger shark attacked Hamilton and took her left arm. Just a month later, Hamilton was back in the water pursuing her dream of becoming a professional surfer.

The actors of this movie did a fantastic job of capturing the feeling and emotion of this life changing experience. They had the advantage of talking with the actual characters they were portraying while they were filming.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         It’s definitely a tear jerker and it forces you to think about how your life might not be as bad as you think.

In the movie, it shows while this seemed overwhelming to Hamilton at first, it was a great opportunity for her to inspire others. After growing up in the church her relationship with Christ evolved and is what helped get her through this experience. After her attack, Hamilton was able to reach and inspire many other teenagers.