Troy High by Shana Norris

When our group first picked Troy High, we thought that it would be somewhat of an interesting read. The story is basically a mirror of homer’s epic poem the Iliad, except in High School form. The writer puts an interesting twist on the story were Helen who is called Elena, the head cheerleader and rival schools play football instead of fighting to the death for her. While reading, our group had several discrepancies with the book. The book is more geared towards middle school children and a lot of the language is very bland and uninteresting. Also, the author was not very in depth with the characters and it was hard to make connections with any except Cassie also known as, “Cassandra the seer,” who narrated and was the only character with any common sense. Overall, this book gets maybe a 4/10 for having an interesting twist to an old story. Otherwise, this book doesn’t have much going for it…- Josh H., class of 2012

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Cassie Prince is your typical high school loner. She doesn’t seem to fit in anywhere, unless she’s playing video games with Greg, her best friend from the rival high school. With summer starting, Cassie is forced to put her friendship with Greg on hold and once again become the loner that she is… or so she thought. Cassie finds herself in an unusual friendship with Elena, a transferring student from Lacede, adding fuel to the fire between rival schools, Troy and Lacede. Pranks between the two rivals start out from silly pranks to an all out “explosive” ending, testing Cassie’s loyalties between her older, football star brothers, her new “fake best friend” and her only true best friend. The plot is relatable to real high school rivalries, although the writing is aimed for lower-level readers. With a simple and relatable plot, Troy High by Shana Norris, is a quick and easy read, putting a modern twist on Greek mythology and the Trojan War. Katie S. & Sarah S., class of 2012