LOTR The Fellowship of the Ring by J R.R. Tolkien

The Fellowship of the Ring by J R.R. Tolkien, the first book of the trilogy The Lord of the Rings, begins the tale of hobbit Frodo Baggins's journey to save middle earth and continues the story of the dark and powerful ring that began in The Hobbit.

Frodo Baggins--nephew of Bilbo Baggins, who was a bearer for many years of the one ring of power made by Sauron, dark lord of Mordor, to wield--is set on this quest which unfortunately fell in his lap when his Uncle decides to call it quits on his "peaceful" time in the shire on his one hundred and eleventh birthday, leaving all of his belongings including the ring to his nephew. Frodo's quest is to destroy that one ring. Sauron seeks to increase his already immense power by reclaiming that One Ring that he has lost. The wizard, Gandalf, warns Frodo that he should leave the shire and keep the ring out of Sauron's hands. Frodo must destroy the ring by throwing it in the fiery pits of mount doom in the very center of Sauron's dark kingdom and cease his only opportunity to enslave all of middle earth. However the chances of Frodo successfully ending the ring's existence seem slightly dim. Not only is Sauron building an army of Orcs, Trolls, Variags and so on to capture Frodo, the ring too has a weapon of its own. It has the power to reel in anyone who possesses it and ultimately drive them mad. This is a burden that Frodo is brave enough to take on but not without help; thus the fellowship is formed. The author does such a good job introducing you into this fantasy world of good and evil that you'll become invested from the first page. The characters are uniquely built and it'll be hard for you not to love them. Friendship, honor, loyalty, and sacrifice encompasses the entire book and it's simply an amazing experience; it is greatly recommended.

Rating: 5

Rose by Jeff Smith

Rose is a story of a battle between good and evil. The good people and the good dragon battle bad rat creatures and the bad dragons.

I liked how the illustrator, Charles Vass, showed how the world started. Jeff Smith should write a sequel.

Carlos Ortiz Melendez, 11 years old

Inkheart by Cornelia Funke

Mo can literally bring books to life. Objects and people come out of the books when he reads aloud. He hasn't read aloud in years because of his fear of his great power. For not only does Mo bring characters and objects out of books, but for every person or thing that comes out, something or someone from our world goes in.

Villains that he read out of a book (a book also titled Inkheart) catch up with him and kidnap him, his aunt-in-law, his daughter, and the author of Inkheart, and demand that Mo read treasure out of books for them.

People often talk about the vivid world of books, of being able to enter new worlds through books, of being "lost in a book." But what if the opposite were true, that book characters could become lost in our world? That villains could enter our world and work their nefarious deeds on this side of the page? Cornelia Funke explores this intriguing possibility and weaves a tale that is totally engrossing.

A movie was made of Inkheart (2008) starring Brendan Fraser, Helen Mirren, and Paul Bettany.