Speak Review

I recently finished reading Speak by Laura Halse Anderson. I liked this book a lot, but I don’t really understand all the fanfare it got. While it is a good book about an important topic that affects many teens, I’m not sure why it is used in so many schools to teach the topic. PLEASE READ BOTTOM PARAGRAH FOR FURTHER EXPLANATION, SPOILER ALERT

This book is about Miranda, a girl who is raped at a party where most of her peers from high school are partying, complete with beer, drugs, the whole nine yards. She tries to call the cops to report the rape, but can’t speak. Because the line was left open, police track it and come to the party, breaking it up and arresting several people for underage drinking. Back at school, she is now ostracized from all the groups she used to hang out with for calling the cops and ending the party. Miranda doesn’t speak when it isn’t absolutely necessary because of trauma from the rape, and still hasn’t confided in anyone the fact that she was raped, not even the police.

I liked the characters in this book. I was able to relate some of them even to people I know. It was fairly easy to identify with Miranda, because, even though hers was much more severe, everyone has felt left out at one time or another. The characters were fairly well developed and you got to know most of them, even if once you got to know them, you were made to hate them.

I would recommend this book to teens age 13 and up. It does deal with a very mature issue, rape, and there are some disturbing parts that might disturb younger readers. In parts of the book, Miranda contemplates suicide, she cuts her wrists, and other things along those lines happen. While younger readers have heard of these, I would not recommend dwelling on them that young.

This book is very similar to Hate List by Jennifer Brown. They are both about high school girls now outcast due to a crime committed that involved them as main characters.

Overall, Speak by Laura Halse Anderson is a good book.

SPIOLER ALERT!!!
While eventually Miranda does stop the boy who raped her from doing it again and finds out many people at her school hate him, she still never really tells the cops or even her parents. The only person she actually says that she was raped to was her art teacher, in the very last line of the book. I think if schools are going to use a book to teach people to speak out about rape and other crimes, they should use a book that has the main character tell the authorities promptly, not wait for nearly a year.

Locomotion Book Review

Let me begin by saying the the book Locomotion by: Jacqueline Woodson, is not a very well written book, nor do I view it as a book with a good story.

The main character of this book is a young boy, named Lonnie, who's parent's died in a fire before the book. Though this is really as far as the story went, only developing in some small segments. Also the way the story is told is done with poor execution, never feeling all that great. What I mean by the story being told poorly is the fact that it is done through poems, I like this concept, but it has been done much better in books such as The Surrender Tree, or All The Broken Pieces. Also there is never really any character development throughout the entire story.

I would not recommend this book to many people, but if I had to I would recommend it to people looking for a short, cheap, story.

So over all I thought the book had bland story, underdeveloped characters, no real emotions, and overall was very poor in execution and writing.

Elephant Run

****************************Warning spoiler Alert!!!!!!!!!!!***********************
Elephant Run by Roland Smith, This book is about a boy that goes to Burma during WWII. Somethings that I liked was that it kept you wondering in some places. I also liked was that most of the characters were around the age of middle schoolers. somethings that I didn't like was that in some places it was it was really slow and boring. Another thing that I did like was that they wold discribe things in deatil to a point where you thought you were in the story itself. Some of the people that I would recomend this book to are people that like history and people that like war and camps of differnt sorts. I would recomend this to someone that likes history is because it has a lot of historicial events that they talk about. The people that like war because of the POW camps. POW camps are camps that they kept people that were captured by the enimy during time of war. I could not relate this book to anything because I personally have not read many history books, or books that have to do with WWII.
*This book is a really good book I would recomend it to anyone that has not read it.*
~Kaitlin=)

Trouble by Gary Schmidt

When Henry’s brother gets hit by a car, driven by a Cambodian immigrant, he if furious. He doesn’t know how to cope with his anger and sadness. His sister and father have shut themselves in their rooms. The only thing that keeps Henry going is his dog, Black Dog, and his goal to climb the mountain that his brother, Franklin, said he never could. It was an amazing journey for Henry, the main character. He realized how harsh people can be, racism, and he learned to trust himself. It had some unexpected twists.

This was a very good book. I expected I would dislike it because I don’t like the author that much.

The only thing I didn’t like about this book was that it didn’t really talk about the war in Vietnam even though that was the time period and context.

I really can’t compare this book to any other book I’ve read. I haven’t read books in the Vietnam War era.

I’d recommend this to anyone who has enjoyed books by the author, Gary Schmidt.

The Final Touch

~~~~~~~~SPOILERS~~~~~~~~~~~~This book was amazingg!!I absolutely loved it. It is by a Christian author,and it is mind blowing. There is this girl maned Shaley and her mom is a rock star. Minutes before her mom and Greg were supposed to be married, Shaley was kiddnapped. All of this happened in 2 chapters. Again, every other chapter is from Shaleys point of view, and others from her parents. Later in the book when the SWAT team gets involved, there is another point of view that jumps into the story. Its from Reynolds, a SWAT team member. This story was VERY high paced, and I loved it. In the midst of all this tragedies, Shaley discovers that this monster that has kidnapped her, was her stalker from 2 years ago. This man was arrested, but he escaped. Unfortunately, when Shaley is delivered to a cabin in Nevada with this man, she learns about him. He is doing all of this in the name of God. He claims to be a "prophet" and has named himself "Joshua"after the man in the Bible. "Joshua" informs Shaley that later in the week, she would be marring him. (Let me inform you that Shaley is 14 and "Joshua" is 55). She was scared out of her wits, and in the middle of all of these horrific happenings, Shaley calls apon God to save her. She parents are praying and worrying for her and asking God why he did this. Shaley, (being the 14 year old she is) called 9-1-1 when Joshua was in the bathroom. Sadly, she didnt get to finish her call before he was done. The operator got enough info to come after her. Joshua discovers that Shaley called, and beats her and drags her somewhere else. They break into a car maroon SUV, Shaley crawls into the back seat floorboard, and they ride to Peace Montana close to the Canadian border. (Notice they traveled from Georgia to Montana). They break into another cabin, and turn on the radio. They hear on the news that people have seen her in a Montanan gas station and are coming for her. But after hearing this Joshua is furious. They hear a bullhorn, sirens, and copters up ahead. I am not going to give away anything else. You need to read the book!!! I would recomend this to anyone who isnt easy to scare or shake. My sister (11) started reading this and she had to stop because it gave her night mares.

~~Abs :)

Hate List Review

A few weeks ago, I finished Hate List by Jennifer Brown. I really enjoyed the book and thought the story was wonderfully evoked, but it wasn’t really all that challenging of a read. However, the book was great! I finished it in about a day and a half, and have thought about the issues in it lots since.

In the story, Valerie was the victim of a mass shooting carried out by her boyfriend. Nick, the boyfriend, targeted people on the “hate list” of people that annoyed Valerie and him. Valerie has to go back to school and face people who think that the shooting was her fault, deal with her family’s problems, and try to sort out her own feelings about the incident.

I really liked the plot and how the author related to things that are important to teenagers today. The plot moved at a good pace and there were always twists that kept you reading, like when Valerie discovers an art studio or befriends a former enemy. Brown mentions mp3 players and cell phones, things synonymous today with being a teenager. This book is reminiscent of the Columbine shooting, so it is relates to things that really have happened, and to me this makes it a much more interesting read.

I didn’t really like the level at which this book was written. It was a pretty easy read, so even though the topics in the book were fairly profound, I didn’t feel extremely challenged while reading it. The vocabulary was decent in most of the book, but not of the caliber that I think should be expected of young adults.

I would recommend this book to any age teenager. There is some language and under-age drinking, but this is something most teens know about already. The book, I don’t believe, contains anything that teens haven’t heard about before.

This book reminded me a lot of Speak by Laura Halse Anderson. They are both about teenage girls struggling to cope with a traumatic incident that has alienated them from their peers. Both are good reads.

Code Orange

Code Orange was about a student named Mitty who slacks off on all of his school work. In science, they were given a project to choose and research a disease. Mitty chose Smallpox. Olivia, his crush, persuades him to do research and to take his time. Mitty finds smallpox scabs in an old book of his parents’. He touches the scabs and becomes convinced the he is going to get smallpox. After sending out many emails about the scabs, he runs away, only to be kidnapped by terrorists. They want to release the disease on all of New York, where he lives. He uses his knowledge, that he didn’t know he had, to outsmart them. Pretending to have smallpox, he gains control of his captors.

I thought Code Orange was interesting. The plot wasn’t like anything else I’d ever read (although, I don’t read a lot of books about diseases…), but I didn’t like it.

I didn’t think it was realistic in any way. The scabs were a stretch to believe, but when Mitty gets kidnapped, it lost all realism it had. It also lacked depth. I didn’t get to know any of the characters.

I would compare Code Orange to The Rock and the River because I both, the main character does things behind their parents’ backs. In The Rock and the River, Sam helps the Black Panthers without telling his father, while in Code Orange, Mitty doesn’t tell his parents about the scabs until he writes a letter telling them he is contemplating committing suicide then runs away. And, in each, the main character’s crush persuades them to do the right thing.

I would recommend this to anyone who isn’t a big reader but is into science.

The Rock and the River

The Rock and the River:

During the time of Martin Luther King Jr. protests, Sam wants to follow his famous father, Roland Childs, another leader in the peaceful protest world. But, whenever he sees a police officer beating a black person for nothing or other unfair racial treatment, he finds it hard to peacefully protest. When his brother, Stick, joins the Black Panthers, a group that takes action (non-violent and sometimes violent) to help victims of these crimes, Sam feels torn. His brother tells him, “You can’t be the rock and the river,” meaning that you can’t stay still like the rock and move ahead like the river. Will he ever understand what the Black Panthers is about?

I liked this book; it was really well written. I haven’t read something about the Martin Luther King Jr. speeches before. I think it’s a good first-hand look at what it was like during the 1960’s. It shows the two sides of wanting to get somewhere but not knowing how to get there. Although
I could tell the emotion in this book, it didn’t hit me as hard as it could have. But I still didn’t want to put down The Rock and the River, but it also took motivation to pick it back up.

My book comparison might be a bit strange. I think it is like Someone Named Eva because both books are about something that is not often written about. Plus, the main character each don’t know which path to take; for Sam, it’s peaceful or joining the Black Panthers, and for Milada it’s going along with what is happening or fighting back and trying to keep her identity.
I really liked it though. I wanted to urge Sam to do something.
I recommend this to young adults who like to read things about history or that like to read things about indecision and growing up.

Code Orange

Mitty is a teenage boy who likes to enjoy life. He doesn't care about homework at all, but he is pressured to finish an assignment because his crush is in his class. His assignment is about deadly diseases. He chooses smallpox because he found some smallpox scabs in a book he read. He touches the scabs and inhales the dust. Little does he know that when the scab was fresh it had Virola Major- a deadly virus. It has no personality. It's only task is to take over the cells of the other creatures and spread. It has the power to kill everyone. Mitty's life becomes at risk along with everybody he is in contact with.
I really liked the information in the book. It entertained me and taught me about smallpox. The only thing I didn't like is that it was very easy to read. I would have enjoyed more of a challenge.
I would recommend this book to people who don't usually read. This book would capture all their attention. I would also recommend this book to people like me. Drama with a little bit of romance, but not to crazy.
I would compare Code Orange to the book any book that includes diseases. I personally haven't read a book that I can compare this to.

The Surrender Tree

The Surrender Tree was such a good book. It was a book with a lot of little short stories made into poems. It was so neat how they made a little poem into a story about Rosa and her life. I liked it but it was a little confusing at the beginning but the more I got into it the more I understood. I would reccomend this book to a person who likes poetry. I am not a big fan of poetry but I liked this book. It reminds me of either Locomotion or All the Broken Peices. This book is awesome.

Molly Fyde

Molly Fyde was an okay book. It was about this girl who gets expelled from a Navy flying school. She goes to normal school for a while but then gets into a huge adventure. Her dad's old ship was found. She goes with her crush Cole to find the ship and then have epic adventures through space, the final frontier.
In the book I really hated the first 4 chapters because it was so confusing! I didn't understand it at all! After those chapters i enjoyed how Cole and Molly escaped from the Glemots.
I would recommend this book to people who are sci-fi fans because of the role in space. Also I would recommend this book to young adults over 12 because it has some language.
I haven't read a book like this before so I cant really compare this to anything.

Review on "Elsewhere" ;)

I LOVED THIS BOOK. Okay, so, now that that’s out.. LET THE REVIEW BEGIN! I recently finished “Elsewhere”! This book is about a girl named Liz (Elizabeth), who doesn’t exactly know where she is. In the first part of the book, she is on a ship, talking to Curtis Jest who was her favorite singer, that had died recently. For a while, she thought she was dreaming, until it became obvious that she was dead, and this was her after life. It wasn’t how most people think of being dead, the place was called “Elsewhere”, it had shops, friendly people, almost everything as Earth. She met her grandmother Betty that had died of Breast Cancer before she was born, so they had never met before hand. At first, Liz doesn’t like it there, then she meets people, and almost falls in love. Also, in Elsewhere you get younger, then when your back to being a baby, you get floated down the river to Earth, to be born all over again. I loved the style of her writing! It was almost like a diary, but not. Yet, that probably doesn’t make sense; it wasn’t a book you had to drag yourself into. There would be parts that it would take a few minutes, but then you’d be glued to the book! I can’t actually think of anything I didn’t like. The only thing might have been, how sometimes a chapter would start differently, but it would explain soon! I would recommend this book too probably girls. The reason for that is the whole love part, but that’s only a tiny part, and mostly near the end! Boys could get through this book, but they may not like it as much. The age would be 12+, because it does mention a few weird parts, but it’s not descriptive or anything, more like it’s just mentioned! I couldn’t compare this book to any other that I’ve read. It’s very cool and weird knowing that she’s dead in the story, but it makes so much sense, and makes it awesome! This book isn’t scary, by the way, I thought it would be at first, but it’s not .. AT ALL.

~ Baileyyyyy <3

Paint the Wind (Recommended by Dana :D

This book was a good read, but I am not a animal person... I enjoyed reading it, there was a lot of suspense which is something that I like, it was all fast and up in your face. The writing style was different it was like every other chapter was from the horses point of view. The story is about a herd of horses from a local ranch, that in the past escaped. It follows them and their new foal, on their journey in the wild. When a big tornado hits, Maya and the wild horse are left together. This story had multiple climaxes throughout the book. I would recommend this to a serious animal lover that likes real fast books. I enjoyed reading the exciting parts because I didn't want to put it down. Iw ould compare this book maybe to Saving Zasha because it has a climax and its about animals.

-Abby S.

Molly Fyde and the Fight for Peace Review

Molly Fyde and the Fight for Peace is another well-written book by Hugh Howey. In this book, Molly and Cole continue to, well, fight for peace. The Bern invasion is coming. Molly and Walter with the people of Lok and Captain Saunders (and his team) plan to fight Bern. Cole, in hyperspace, develops his own plan to conduct with Penny and Mortimor. Anlyn and Edison, who meet up with Molly, have a branch of her plan. Anlyn can’t wait. Together, they will fight the Bern, not knowing exactly who is doing what.

I loved it. Although parts of it were mind-bending and confusing, such as Cole’s plan, when he talks to the Bern Seer, and at the end with the Bern Seer, and how does hyperspace work? I can’t wait to know if there are more Molly Fyde-s!

I recommend it to any young adult who likes science fiction or that has read the three other Molly Fydes and liked the series.

Honestly, the only thing I can kind of compare it to is Artemis Fowl because of the creative made-up worlds along with cool futuristic technology, although it is a stretch. And if I had to choose which one is better, I’d have to say Molly Fyde :)

When you reach me review

I read when you reach me, it’s about a girl who has a friend that time travels to give her letters that end up telling her how to save her friends life.
I didn’t like how it changed times (that confused me) and I think the author could have made it more interesting and less dry. I liked how it challenged you to think about time travel, it made me sit down for a few minutes and try to understand time travel. I liked how it ended.
I would recommend this book to people who like easy reads, because this book was easy to read most of the time. I think 5th-7th grade would enjoy this book the best, but some adults would probably also enjoy it.
I don’t know of any books to compare it with, because I’ve never read a time travel book before.
Emily