Vengeance Road by Erin Bowman

Reviewed by Ben F.
Grade 12

Kate Thompson arrived home one evening to find her home burnt to the ground, her every possession destroyed, and her father hanging in the front lawn, a bloody rose carved into his forehead. The villainous Rose Riders killed him for a single book, a journal Kate finds is her only clue to the circumstances behind her pa’s murder, holding old secrets and whispers of gold.

Fueled only by the desire for revenge, Kate tracks the Rose Riders down under disguise, slaughtering them one by one with her inherited pistol, but her hatred has blinded her caution; a quick way to die on the brutal Western plains. Reluctantly enlisting the aid of some old family friends, Kate and company set off to end the Rider’s reign of terror, avoiding devious traps, savage Indians, and struggling to outwit the crafty gang. As the group becomes a family, Kate begins to question her motives; How far can this vengeance road take her?
I picked this book up as part of the Winter Park Public Library’s ‘Pitch Perfect’ collection, in which a book is assigned a theme song that sums up the overall plot. The cooperative song was Imagine Dragon’s anthem hit “Demons”, a piece that elegantly sums up the inner turmoil inside our heroine, as she finds her heart shifted by the handsome ranch hand whose help she so hesitatingly accepted.

The book itself is extremely well written, and the Western frontier has never felt more gritty, hard, and alive. While many of the stories elements may seem predictable to those familiar with the traditional Western novel (a rowdy barfight, or an Indian ambush), the plot remains elusive, and the final twist was refreshingly intriguing.

As a Young Adult book, and due to its theme of bloody murder and justice, Vengeance Road is recommended to more mature teens over 13. Fans of western dramas, renegade heroes, Westworld, or cowboy shootouts will particularly enjoy this in-your-face justice run.

How Lunchbox Jones Saved Me From Robots, Traitors and Missy the Cruel by Jennifer Brown

Reviewed by Amal P.
Grade 6

Luke's school is the most losing-est school in history. Luke really does not care about this. He would rather be playing video games with Randy, and ignoring his big brother Rob. Then Luke is forced to join the robotics team.

The people in the robotics team were Mikayla, Jacob and Jacob, Stuart, and Missy the Cruel. Mikayla does everything with her toes. Jacob and Jacob are not twins, but they do everything together. Stuart is the person who loves sunflower seeds. Missy the Cruel is Luke's bully since when they were both 6 years old. There is also Lunchbox Jones. He stays hidden every day during robotics class, but when everyone heard the news that Missy the Cruel was going to another school, all the people in robotics said they quit the team except for Luke and Lunchbox Jones. All of a sudden Luke makes a speech in front everyone saying that we shouldn't quit the robotics team, and we should continue the robotics team. Then the next robotics class, he saw Lunchbox working on the computer and testing the program on the robot. Luke then asked him why he was there. Lunchbox Jones replied that he decided he would take a shot at robotics, because of Luke's speech. Mr.Terry the coach of the robotics team came in, and saw Lunchbox Jones working with Luke on the robot. After more weeks it finally comes to the last day before the competition. The other people joined the robotics team after they saw that the robot could do a lot of stuff. Then everyone started changing the program, and ruined the perfectly built program. Luke got so mad, because Lunchbox wasn't here, and their teammates ruined the whole program. Soon it is time for the final part. Could Luke correct the program and win the competition, or lose the competition by making errors?

My opinion on the setting, conflict, and characters would be that the setting most of the time repeats, so I don't like that part about the book. Most of the time setting will be Forest Shade Middle School My opinion on the characters on this book would be that the characters have interesting talents. For example, Mikayla does everything with her toes. These talents are really weird which makes the book seem funny. There wasn't much conflict in this book, but they argued over what to name the robot.

I would recommend this book to others, because this story has great humor and creative parts in the story. Also this book has a theme, and it is to be scared of no one. If Luke hadn't made his big speech Forest Shade would have lost a lot of money for the robotics team. Overall this is a great book, and I recommend this book to others.