I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore

SUMMARY:


I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore is about a fifteen year old alien boy living in Ohio who comes from the planet Lorien.  He is being hunted by another alien race, the Mogadorians.  The Mogadorians first attacked Lorien about ten years before the beginning of the book.  They attacked Lorien in order to steal its resources because they had destroyed their own planet and used up all of its own resources.  When they attacked Lorien, nineteen people escaped the planet and went to earth.  Nine of these people were children who were part of the "Garde".  These children would develop powers which they call legacies.  The other people were their handlers, which are called Cepan, along with one pilot.  When the Gardes reached earth they all seperated in order to activate a protective charm.  This charm would insure that the Garde could only be killed in the order of their numbers.  If they come together on earth at any time it would deactivate the charm and they could all be killed at any time.  The main character in the book is Garde number four.  At the beginning of the story, the first three Garde have been killed already by the Mogadorians.  Now, Number Four is on the run.  His Cepan, named Henri, takes him to the middle of nowhere in Paradise, Ohio to hide.  He has to go to school and lead a normal life without sticking out.  He takes on the name John Smith but finds it hard to blend in.  His legacies begin to develop and the Mogadorians are getting closer.  As if that isn't enough, he has to deal with the school bully picking on him.  Eventually the Mogadorians find him but John now has a team of new friends to fight with him.  Included in this team is another Garde who has found John and comes to help even though it deactivated the protective charm.  This Garde is a girl named Number Six.  The book ends with the conclusion of the battle between John and his friends and the Mogadorians.  This is the first book in the series.  The next book is going to be The Power of Six and there is a sneak peek  about it at the end of this book.  You may know that they have made this book into a movie.


THINGS I LIKE ABOUT THE BOOK:


-It was well written
-It had a good plot
-It was exciting and suspenseful
-The character of Number Four was well developed
-I could relate to some of the problems that Number Four faced


THINGS THAT I DIDN'T LIKE ABOUT THE BOOK:

-There was kissing
-There was some cussing
-There was a scene of a party in which the bad kids were drinking and doing drugs
-There was a section in the back that had the Lorien horoscopes


I WOULD RECOMMEND THIS BOOK FOR:


-ages 12 and up
-those who like science fiction or alien books


A FEW THOUGHTS ON THE BOOK:


This is not a Christian book.  There are instances of profanity and talk about kissing.  Overall, though, I really liked this book.  It was very engaging.  For those Christian parents, I would recommend talking to your child about cussing, kissing, and drugs.  If you were really worried about it, you could go through the book first and mark out the cuss words. There really aren't that many throughout the book and most of them are all at the beginning of the book.  I would definitely tear out the horoscope section in the back.  It really has nothing to do with the story anyway.  In general, I think that this is a great book and I am looking forward to the next books in the series.  I would give it a 8 out of 10.

You can check out the website for the book here.


ON MY BOOKSHELF- UP NEXT FOR REVIEW:


Eleven by Patricia Reilly Giff