Book+Reviews+4B+2013

__Whale Talk by: Chris Crutcher__ Ben Cherry Whale talk is a book about a teenager named TJ. TJ gathers a group of misfits and makes swim team. The school Cutter High School does not have a pool. TJ wears a varsity letterman jacket in order to try to fit in because he realizes that it is hard to get. The swim team becomes friends, and the book is about their struggle and strategies to fit in. I recommend this book to people who enjoy books about high school, and like to relate books to real life. This book is very upbeat because of TJ's attitude, but down beat because of the reality of his high school career. 9.5/10

Emma Schilp In this post-apocalyptic zombie fiction, Mary’s life is about to change after the gates closed.Mary's mother has been infected, she is taken, turned and then banished into the Forest of Hands and Feet. The only way out of the village and into the forest was through the gate. The Sisterhood and Guardians will do anything and everything to keep the citizens safe and inside. Mary is taken into the Sisterhood where she is forced to choose between love, a life she wants to live and the decision of leaving the village. I loved this book! it was gripping, well written and a very interesting story board. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants an interesting read. Rate: 11/10
 * __The forest of hands and feet Carrie Ryan__**

__Deception by Lee Nicholas__ Emma Schilp This is the first of three books in the ‘Haunting Emma’ series by Lee Nicholas. Emma’s parents go missing on a business trip and she is left on her own. She is soon ‘rescued’ from her home in Thatcher and is taken to New England by her older bother’s best friend, Bennett. After arriving, she finds new friends and begins to adapt to her new lifestyle. Soon however, she being to have unexplainable memories of when she was in Thatcher, these bring a shocking secret about Emma into light as Bennett explains Emma’s unknown gifts. I was not vey fond of this book as it was very slow moving. The characters were rather dull and cliché. The relationships between them could have been seen from a mile away, the girl falls in love with the boy and the boy isn’t sure how he feels about the situation. The book is not a spine-chiller, but it can hold a reader’s interest in some areas and in others you may want to shut the book and walk away. I would not suggest this book to people with any strong support behind the recommendation. Rate: 3/10

Noam Baharav A book about the complicated relationship between a mother and daughter, the book alternates between the daughter’s Sidda, and mother’s, Vivi’s, lives. Sidda, a forty-year old award winning stage director needing some inspiration for her new play, asks her mother for some Ya-Ya memories, the name her mother’s group of life long friends. Her mother sends her a scrapbook full of pictures, letters, and memories from her life. As Sidda explores the book, through her perspective and Vivi’s we learn about Vivi’s life in Louisiana. Through the alternating narraraters and storylines, we learn about the complex, abusive, and loving relationships Sidda had with Vivi, and Vivi had with her own mother. The book is well written, and has a lot of good imagery and descriptions. I think the story is very good, and gives you a mental image of what’s happening in every chapter. The story teaches about overcoming the past, and the love between mothers and daughters and friends.
 * The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood – Rebecca Wells**
 * 9/10**

__The House of Scorpions__ By Kristina O' Donnelly So Min Cho This book may be a thick book, so many of you might not want to read, however this book is full of very enthusiastic and I am sure that after you read few of the first chapters, you could hardly quit reading it. The main character of "The House of Scorpions" is Matt and he is the clone of El Patron. A lot of people dislikes Matt, since he is artificially made and only El Patron and Celia treats him as human. Matt is one of the member of the wealthy family (which everyone wishes to be a part of) and the other members of the family are trying to abandon Matt. However, they can't get ride of him since El Patron who is one of the most powerful person in the family treats Matt as his own son. This story shows a lot of dark sides of the wealthy family. Life was kind of good for Matt until El Patron founds out that he doesn't have a long time to live and things starts to change.... I rate this book 10/10 because the story was really interesting and good to me.

__Mo Mo__ By Micheal Ende So Min Cho This book is about this girl Mo Mo who has a special ability (to listen to other peoples' words) help save people from the gray gentlemen. This book tells you the importance of time and the story shows you how people change after they meet the gray gentlemen. Mo Mo finds a turtle that has a shell that can show letters and follows the turtle away from her town, and this made her miss out what happened to the town while she was gone. After she comes back to her town she figures out that people are not the same anymore especially the adults and children comes and tell the significance about it. So Mo Mo goes on a journey to solve this problem... I rate this book 9/10, this book is easier than "The House of Scorpions" and it is a great adventure story so I recommend this book to people about age 12 to age 17.

__Eragon__ By Christopher Paolini So Min Cho “Eragon” is about a dragon rider named Eragon’s journey with his dragon Saphira. The journey all happens when Eragon finds the egg of Saphira, which he didn’t notice that it was a dragon egg. Eragon finds out that he will die when Saphira dies and so they have to protect each other from danger. However, Durza hunts after the dragon and Eragon loses his uncle and he feels like he lost everything and plans to revenge on those who were related to his uncles death... At the end they finally meet again...Would I rate this book 9/10 because the book was a little bit long for me, however the book was very amusing and I recommend this to people who enjoys adventure stories.

The phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux So Min Cho This book is about a sad love story and Christine and Erik are the main characters. Christine is a soprano who sings the chorus in the Paris Opera house, and Erik is a guy who is known as the Phantom or the Opera ghost. Erik falls in love in love with Christine. One day Erik kidnaps Christine and she sees Erik’s face, since she couldn’t see before because he alway’s hide his face with a mask. After this event, Christine starts to get interested on Erik...However, Raoul, Christine’s childhood friend who also has a crush in Christine tries to get back Christine from Erik....I rate this book 8/10 since this book’s ending was not the type I really wanted, however it was kind of lovely to know that appearance doesn’t matter in love.

Kira Kira By Cynthia Kadohata So Min Cho “Kira Kira” is about a sad family loving story. Katie the main character of this book learned the word “Kira kira”, from her sister, Lynn when she was young and she used that word on everything she liked. One day Katie’s parents tells that Lynn is just struggling a little because of anemia, however day by day Lynn got weaker and weaker. Finally Katie finds out that Lynn was actually suffering from lymphoma and she was apparently dying out. Katie tries hard to make Lynn feel good, but as harder she tries, it just makes Lynn get more annoyed. One day Katie quarrels with her sister and runs out of the house and when she comes back, she realize that her sister’s gone forever... The story shows Katie’s longing towards her sister and tells what Lynn actually thinks about by showing Lynn’s diary. I rate this book 9/10 because this book made me think back again about how I should treat my sister and I should be thankful that my sister is actually alive and we can make good memories like Katie and Lynn.

Spirit Walker By Michelle Paver So Min Cho Torak, the main character sees one of his clan members trying to kill the clan members and suicide and he believes that it is a sickness that was caused by the renegade shamans called as the “Soul eaters”. Torak travels to Raven camp and find out that this child named “Tokoroth” was the one who was doing all the things Soul eaters ordered. He meets Renn a female protagonist and Tenris a shaman. Tenris tells Torak that there is a cure plant that could solve this sickness, however it is very rare and dangerous to get the plant. However, Renn finds out that Tenris has somewhat related to the Soul eaters... I rate this book 7/10 because this book is known as the second story of the “Wolf brothers”, and since I haven’t read the book, some parts were confusing for me to understand.

Holes by Louis Sachar So Min Cho “Holes” is a story about a very unfortunate boy named “Stanley” and this unfortunate things happening to him was passed down from his great great grandfather. One day a pair of shoes fell from the sky and Stanley believes that it was faith. However, he gets caught by the police saying that he stoled a famous base ball player’s shoes. So he was sent to a place called “Camp Green Lake” which was actually a desert since the water all dried away. After when Stanley was sent to the lake he had to dig holes everyday. One day Stanley meets a boy named Zero in the lake and helps him how to read. When Stanley gets into a fight with some guys who are doing the same work, Zero tries to escape away from the lake. It is known that you can’t survive when you try to get out of the lake and Stanley felt bad that he couldn’t stop Zero from running away. However, Stanley starts to think that Zero could be alive and so he decides to go search for Zero...I rate this book 7/10 since the story’s ending was an open ending and for this story I would rather have the author wrap up the story.

Shabanu, Daughter of the wind by Suzanne Fisher Staples So Min Cho “Shabanu” is a daughter of a camel breeding family. She lived with her grandpa, fahter, mother and her older sister Phulan and she was planning to marry Shabanu’s fianc’s(Murad) brother named “Hamir”. One day Shabanu insults a wealthy landlord named “Mohammad” since he affronted her sister Phulan. However, since Mohammad had a lot of power, he told that Shabanu’s family and Murad’s family would not get water, and since they all lived in the desert, Shabanu goes to apologize to Mohammad of herself, mistreating him. When Hamir finds out that Mohmmad had insulted his fiancé, he tries to fight with him, however, he gets shot by Mohmmad and Mohmmad accepts her apology after killing Hamir. So since Phulan’s fianc died, she had no choice but to marry Murad. Shabanu’s father believed that her older sister should get married first. One day this old guy named ”Rahim-sahib” wants Shabanu to be her fourth wife and she was in a situation that she had to marry him...... I rate this book 6/10 because it wasn’t very interesting to me, but I felt sad about the traditions that they have, such as they have to marry who the parents pick and who had a lot of power.

Hachlet by Gary Paulsen So Min Cho “Brian Robeson” the main character rides a plane to visit his father, however the pilot gets a heart attack and crash-lands up on a lake inside a forest, and the only think he have is his hatchet. This book shows a lot of things that Brian do to survive from the harsh situations; he meets a tornado, he gets injured, he gets attacked by wild animals. Brain tries his best to survive and he gains several types of living skills and he starts to get use to the environment. One day Brain realizes that there was a survival pack inside the crushed plane and he heads back to the plane.... I rate this book 8/10 because the story seemed very similar to Gulliver’s travel and it was fun for me to compare the things did to survive.

__Book: The Chocolate War__ Author: Robert Cormier Review by **Cody Messick** The book “The Chocolate War” by Robert Cormier is a realistic fiction book about mob bullying in schools. The setting takes place in a private school in united states around modern time. In this school an underground organization has taken root and in reality the kids run the school. This organization of kids is what causes the problem of the story. One of the main characters tries to defy this organization and that is the conflict of the story. The author chooses to use a third person point of view to demonstrate the story from many different narrators and characters. The author clearly illustrates and builds the character traits to help you understand them better. This also does a good job of creating sympathy as the tragic events unfold in the book. I would rate this book a 9/10 because I really enjoyed it and it was a good short read.

__Book: The Tale of Two Cities__ Author: Charles Dickens Review by **Cody Messick** The book “The Tale of Two Cities” by Charles Dickens is a classic historical fiction novel that takes place during the French revolution. It is a book about a group of characters that all get sucked into the ferocity and the force of the French revolution in the 1700’s. It describes the hardships as well as the extreme patriotism of the French during this time, and adds suspense and fear for this group of characters who are all hanging in the balance of the chaos. The author tells the story through a third person point of view and is able to play out the story and events through different narrators. This book is a classic and is written in an old English that is perhaps a little hard to understand at first. However, once you get past the tedious beginning, the rest of the book is quite understandable and exciting. I would rate it a 9/10.

__Book: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button__ Author: F. Scott Fitzgerald Review by **Cody Messick** The book “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” is a short story fiction book about a man who is born in the body of a 70 year old. The setting is set in 1800-1900’s in Baltimore, where a baby is born and is anxiously awaited by the father. However what the father sees is a 70-year-old man! The curious case of Benjamin Button is that the age cycle is reversed and he gets younger over time. As you read about Benjamin’s life you will find it both entertaining as well as sad. This book was quite interesting and a good short read with only 50-60 pages in it. I would rate it a 9/10 and suggest it as a good book if you need a quick read.

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury Steven Kim This book takes place in the future and has a very interesting viewpoint about the future world. In the future world they live in, everything is modern. They have installed radio in their ear, and wall sized televisions. But, one unusual thing about this world is that people never read books. In this future world, firemen do not take out fire, but sets fire to books. This happened because when actual books existed, whenever a book was published, minorities were offended and conflicts arose. And as books were written, they mostly became the same and more and more people were getting offended. So, as a solution, people started to burn books and concentrate on modern or digital media. But this protagonist of the book named Guy Montag which is a fireman, starts to doubt his job and finds interest to books. So, he sneaks out the books that are about to get burnt and reads them. Then tragic accidents happen…..AND YOU'RE GOING TO FIND OUT YOURSELF. I really liked this novel because it partially showed the situation our society is in right now. For most cases, right ideas or thoughts are covered with conspiracies and coverage now days also. From this, I thought about my society that I'm in and what part I belong to. The beginning of the book is very uneventful but interesting because of the features the future has. But as it goes to the climax, you won't be able to stop reading the book. I really like this book and I would recommend this to everyone.

Rating: 9.7/10

Cell by Stephen King Steven Kim

This is a horrifying book. DON'T READ IT. I was kind of scared for three days reading this. Well if you like gore and violence I guess you can give it a try but I was kind of scared… ANYWAYS. Cell by Stephen King takes place in a modern world and is mainly about cell phones just like how the title says it. The genre is definitely horror and is mainly about a zombie apocalypse that is transmitted in a pretty interesting way. The story starts out with chaos right away and paces up really fast. This disease brainwashes people and erases humanity out of them, and is transmitted from a call receive on a cellphone. I really liked the fresh topic of the story, but I honestly didn't know this book would be this brutal and violent. I'm still kind of scared.

Rating: 7.5/10

Forged By Fire by Sharon M. Draper Steven Kim

hahahhahahah…This is a really depressing book so if you feel moody you should read this. Just saying. OKAY. So, this book takes place in a city in Ohio which is called Cincinnati. Also, the time period is predicted to be in the 1990's. The story is mainly about this boy called Gerald. He is born and raised by an alcoholic and abusive mother. Then, one day, Gerald loses control and sets fire to his apartment. Due to this, his mother gets sent to jail. And since he had nowhere else to live, he had to get sent to his aunts house. She was very kind and took good care of Gerald until she died. And during that time, Gerald's mother got out and met another man and got a sister for Gerald. Her name was Angel. But it turned out that Gerald's new father was abusive also and sometimes sexually harassed Angel. And Gerald realized he should do something about it so he goes to his friend's dad for help. Andy's dad helps fill out paper work for Gerald and sues his dad. His dad is found guilty and is sent to jail for six years. Then something unbelievable happens at the end…. BUT FIND OUT YOURSELF. I really liked this book because it had numerous climaxes and inciting incidents. I also liked the way the author wrote out this story because it felt very realistic. It felt like this was happening somewhere around the world right now - which might be possible.

Rating: 9.3/10

I Am Number Four Steven Kim

I really enjoyed this book and I couldn't put my book down most parts of the book. The book was separated in different paces which made the reader follow along very easily. This also had a very interesting topic that was never seen anywhere else also. The main plot is about the adventures and survival of nine teenagers that are from the planet Lorien. The planet that they came from was taken over by Mogadorians so nine teenagers that were originally from Lorien were sent to Earth to hide. But, the nine are protected by this spell that they can only be killed by numerical order. The protagonist, which is John Smith is number four. What I really liked about this book was the action it had in the climax. The climax got me hooked to the book to the end of the whole story. I would recommend this to people that are into fiction books with fresh topics.

Rating: 8.4/10

The Time Machine by Herbert George Wells Steven Kim

This book has a great storyline and great imagery for the reader throughout the whole book. I really liked this book because it was very detailed and realistic even though it was science fiction. The story starts out with the narrator and a group of people listening to a time traveler. The time traveler explains the theory and explanation on now time is four-dimensional. Later on, the narrator and the group of people has a session with the time travelers again. Then the time traveler says the time machine is finished and and sends the narrator and the group of people into the year of 802,701. They look around and they find small creatures that look like humans. They were really kind and served them things to eat. Later on, they returned back to the place and noticed the time machine vanished. After this inciting incident, the adventurous story begins. And to find out the rest, I recommend you reading this book yourself.

Rating: 9.5/10

The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins Steven Kim

The Hunger Games

This is the first book of The Hunger Games Trilogy. This book has the base setting and mood of the whole series. The genre of this book is mainly adventure and action and its main audience would be young adults like us. This book takes place in a world called Panem, and the book is mainly concentrated on a teenage girl named Katniss Everdeen and a teenage boy called Peeta Mallark. They both attend this competition called the "Hunger Games" that comes annually (They attended the 74th one). The Hunger Games is a competition between boys and girls that are in the age range of 12 to 18. The objective of the game is to kill everyone else and remain as the only one left. And when this brutal and violent games start, it gets broadcasted to the people of Panem. Throughout the games, Peeta and Katniss stay together to stay alive until they were the only ones alive. And it leaves the reader a question about who's going to win. If you haven't read this yet, you would find out the answer to that question if you read it. In my opinion, I thought the first few chapters were very weak and boring. But as I read on till the end, it had great action and adventure. I would recommend this to anyone who hasn't read it yet.

Rating: 8.7/10

Catching Fire

This is the second book of The Hunger Gamers Trilogy. This books has the same remaining setting from book one which is //The Hunger Games.// It also has a continuous plot so I would recommend reading the first book before reading //Catching Fire//. The book still has the same protagonists which are Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mallark. The book starts out with the victory of the two from the 74th Annual Hunger Games. But, Snow, which is the president of Panem, threatens Katniss that he would make sure that her family and her friend Gale would get hurt if she breaks the rules again. This happened because at the last book, which was //The Hunger Games//, Katniss decided to commit suicide with Peeta which was against the rule saying that only one should be alive. Then the next Hunger Games came and this year it was Quarter Quell so Katniss and Peeta had to participate in the inhumane games again. And I guess you'll need to read the book to find out what happens. In my opinion, I thought //Catching Fire// lacked storyline compared to the first book. I also thought it was very unrealistic and made no sense at times. I would still recommend this to someone else, but not as strongly as the first book.

Rating: 7.9/10

Mocking Jay

This is the last book of The Hunger Games Trilogy. The setting and characters stay the same. The plot is continuous so I prefer reading the first and second book before starting //Mocking Jay.// During the book, Katniss gets rescued by the rebels and starts the become the "Mocking Jay" which was a symbol of rebellion and conflict against the capitol. She demands that she would kill President Snow herself. Also later on, Peeta and others are rescued by the rebels also. But, Peeta has been indoctrinated by the capitol to kill Katniss and hate her. Then President Snow flees but Katniss finds him and puts him in trial. Then President Snow is found guilty and gets sent away. But President Snow tells Katniss that President Coin ordered the killing of Primrose - which is her sister. And when Snow is about to get executed, Katniss stops it and replaces Snow with Coin. Then Snow is killed anyways because of the rebel. Peeta recovers and 20 years later, she marries him. In my opinion, I did not like this book at all because it mainly had no action or adventure the two previous books had. Although there was revenge, it wasn't written and expressed that well. If this book was better, and had a more interesting storyline to finish the trilogy, I would recommend this book to others. But since it isn't better, I do not recommend this to anyone else.

Rating: 6.5/10


 * A Walk to Remember - Nicholas Sparks **

Kaitlin Crawford All Nicholas Sparks' books contain epic love stories that never have the happy ending your hoping for. This book is not different from that pattern at all. Although this one is shorter, it is still amazing. It is written from Landon's point of view as he slowly falls in love with Jamie. Jamie is a Christian girl who everyone makes fun of, she wears the same outfits all of the time, and carries her bible. Most guys don't consider her any option to date especially because her dad is a minister. However, after Landon takes her to prom in need of a date, and they work together for the school play he slowly starts to fall in love with her. The story is very cute and heartwarming and girly. I loved it and made me tear up a bit at the end. 9/10

Kaitlin Crawford Hercule Poirot finds himself in the midst of a murder mystery that he hadn't originally planned on working on. He takes the Orient Express train on his way to London to work on a different case, however while the train is stopped due to snow a murder is committed. Poirot works with the directer of the train as well as the doctor who investigated the body. The man was stabbed 12 times and in his room there lies some curious clues that send the detective in circles as to who committed the crime. The reader has a feeling that Poirot in fact knows who the murderer is however he only gives little hints or clues to his coworkers. The murder mystery is intense and amazingly mind-bogling. The reader has no clue who the murderer is until the last chapter of the book. The whole book leads you to believe the possibility of there having been two murderers however, when all is revealed, it's completely shocking. I would recommend this book to anyone who reads Agatha Christie books and who likes insane mystery. Rating: 9/10
 * Murder on the Orient Express - Agatha Christie**

Noam Baharav Lily Owens is a young girl growing up on a peach farm in South Carolina, during segregation. She lives with the memory of her accidentally shooting her mother as a toddler, while being abused by her father. When Lilly’s black nanny (basically Lilly’s mom) Rosaleen, goes to register to vote in the nearby town, she upsets one of the most racist men there, is beaten, and thrown in jail. Lilly decides that she must free Rosaleen, and escape with her. She flees to Tiburon South Carolina, where she hopes to find out more about her mother, keep Rosaleen safe, and free herself from her father. From there unfolds the Lilly’s story as she slowly meets new people who become her family, learns about her mother’s life, and herself. A heartwarming and beautiful story, full of imagery and detail filled descriptions is both sad and uplifting, and teaches about the themes of dealing with your past, finding yourself. I definitely recommend it to everyone.
 * The Secret Life of Bees – Sue Monk Kidd**
 * 10/10**

Noam Baharav Set in Ithaca California, The Human Comedy, is the story of Homer MacCauley, a fourteen year old telegraph messenger during WWI. Coming from a poor family, with no dad, an older brother in the war, and two other siblings, Homer is the main supporter of his family while attending high school. The interweaving stories in short chapters, tell both Homer’s story, along with the stories of many others. Each chapter leaves the reader with a small message of kindness and decency, and a feeling that there is always a way forward, and a need to be kind. This is a short story that is sometimes sad, sometimes sweet, and has good imagery and descriptions. I thought sometimes it could get a bit slow, but not distractingly. I think this is a great book, and recommend it for those who are looking for one of those books that make you feel like being a better person.
 * The Human Comedy – William Saroyan**
 * 9.5/10**

Noam Baharav Of Mice and Men is the story of two men, George and Lennie, working their way through California farms in an attempt to achieve their dream: to own a small farm of their own. George is the smaller and smarter one of the pair and is always taking care of Lennie who is constantly and unwittingly getting into trouble. Lennie is a giant, good-natured, yet not smart individual, whom, being so strong, and not quite understanding what happens around him, is always accidentally killing animals he’s petting. And so fleeing from another of Lennie’s petting escapades gone wrong, Lennie and George arrive at another farm. There, they make some friends, but a more powerful enemy. While George is trying to raise enough money to make their dream come true, Lennie has been given a puppy to take care of. When things go terribly wrong, and George is forced to join a manhunt after Lennie, his bonds of friendship and loyalty are put to the test. This is a very sad story, as you are left wondering if George’s actions, broke his friendship and loyalty to Lennie, or rather showed they were strong. This book has beautiful imagery, and its characters are complex and varied, so it an interesting read, however it was a little slow around the middle.
 * Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck**
 * 9.5/10**

By: Scott Fitzgerald Kaitlin Crawford The Great Gatsby is written about Nick Carraway and how he comes to know Jay Gatsby. Nick moves to West Egg, Long Island New York and becomes neighbors with Gatsby. Nick, unlike most of his neighbors, is educated and has friends in the East Egg. Relationships begin between Nick and his cousin’s friend, as well as with Gatsby and an unexpected character form. We come to find out that everyone knows Gatsby for his elaborate parties, however no one knows him personally. There are hints dropped along that leads you to think that Gatsby works with some illegal things, and that is how he has so much money. The reader comes to love Gatsby and sees how nice he seems, however when the plot turns some truth about him is revealed. I enjoyed the book, at first I thought it started off a bit slow, but once the plot was becoming clearer I had more of an interest. Although the book is written to be during 1922, the style of writing is not old-fashioned. Rating: 6.5/10
 * The Great Gatsby**

By: Agatha Christie Kaitlin Crawford I am a fan of Agatha Christie and the murderer is never revealed until the last possible page of the book. This book is written in the view of Mr. Ackroyd’s friend, Dr. Sheppard as he tries to help detective Poirot solve the mystery. Previous Mr. Ackroyd’s death was the suicide of Mrs. Ferrars. After Roger’s death Ralph Paton, Roger’s adopted nephew, runs away which leads detective Poirot to believe him as the murderer. Poirot had previously retired and moved out to King Abbots in hopes of living a peaceful life, but he finds himself in one final case where there seems to be no answer. However the identity of the murderer is shocking and not revealed until Poirot’s big reveal at the end of the book. I loved the book and found the ending so shocking I just sat staring at the book for five minutes after reading. I recommend it to anyone who likes mystery! Rating: 9/10
 * The Murder of Roger Ackroyd**

By: Sue Monk Kidd Kaitlin Crawford Lily Owens is a young girl growing up during the time of segregation. Her father beats on her, and has her black nanny, Roseleen, stands in as a mother figure in her life. She lives her life thinking that she had murdered her mom when she was little, she then does everything in her power to get closer to her mom and find more about her. After running away, Lily and Rosaleen stumble upon the calendar bee-keeper sisters, August, May, June. With some major plot twists along the way that keep the audience interested, Lily begins to find herself and be accustomed to a life where people love her. She learns that people can become family and theres always a chance for redemption and leading a new life. The book is very heartwarming and entertaining to the audience. However, I had seen the movie before I read the book which ruined it for me. I loved the story! 7/10
 * The Secret Life of Bee’s**

Jonathan Han
 * The Education of a Little Tree by Forrest Carter**

The Education of a Little Tree is a story of an orphaned child. This child’s name is “Little Tree” and he is young Indian boy. After his parents’ death, Little Tree went to live with his Cherokee grandparents. Little Tree learns how to respect and conserve nature from his grandfather. He also learns how to survive and hunt without disturbing the nature. The part that I remember from the book is when Little Tree’s grandfather taught Little Tree about the word “kin”. “Kin” meant ‘to understand’, grandfather explained that if you understand the nature’s rule, you will get benefits from it. The nature’s rule was very fascinating yet it made sense. Also, grandfather said that Little Tree must listen to people’s tone when talking, that way he can listen people’s true feelings. At the end of the book, Little Tree’s grandparents both die. Before grandmother’s death, she said that grandfather and she would always be on Little Tree’s side. They said that Little Tree just had to listen to nature and feel their support. This book teaches valuable lessons to readers so it very interesting, and it is also pretty depressing when Little Tree’s parents and grandparents die. However, this depression helped the reader to get better attention on this book. Rate: 9/10

Jonathan Han
 * Funny Business by Leonard S. Marcus**

“Funny Business” includes different stories from famous book writers of comedy. Leonard Marcus interviews Judy Blume, Norton Juster, Beverly Cleary, Sharon Creech, Christopher Paul Curtis, Anne Fine, Daniel Handler, Carl Hiaasen, Daniel Pinkwater, Louis Sachar, and Jon Scieska. Leonard Marcus discusses with these famous comedy book writers about their childhood experiences, their motivation on writing comedy books and their works. Leonard Marcus collected information from these writers because he enjoys reading their books and he likes funny things. “Laughter is one of my favorite things” is what Leonard Marcus said in the beginning of this book. Through the interviewing process, Leonard Marcus learns many techniques on how to create humor in the story. Then, Leonard Marcus provides good advices on writing humorous story in this book. Therefore, this book will be very helpful to young authors in creating funny stories. As a reader, I am very interested in Louis Sachar’s book, “Holes”. I was convinced from Leonard Marcus’s description on the book, “Holes” and from the interview. I am now reading the book, “Holes” by Louis Sachar. Therefore, I believe this book is also very persuasive. This book is different from other story books, however it provides many author’s story and their relationship with humor. Rate: 8/10

Emma Schilp The scene is set in England and France during the 1910s and 1920s; before, during and after the First World War The book opens to a private investigator investigating a very cliché situation: Christopher Davenham accusing his wife of cheating on him. He hires Maisie to prove his theory or give evidence as to why she is not. She follows Mrs. Davenham to a cemetery where she finds an answer to Christopher’s question and the pain of once again encountering the pain she had tried to forget many years ago. At the cemetery she recalls the loss and pain that the First World War had brought her and went to go and visit her family and close friends in her hometown. Maisie revisits her home in the hopes of helping those who love her and resolve their remaining issues war caused. This heroine is faced with painful memories, deaths, reunions and a mystery. This is a very good, easy book to read. It has historical aspects and information while holding the reader interested. In contrast to other books about times during the First World War, this book is told through a nurse’s point of view, adding a new depth to the war they we you have never seen. I would strongly recommend this book to anyone who asked for an intriguing, interesting read. Rate 9/10
 * __ Maisie Dobbs __ by Jacqueline Winspear **

**Rainmaker by: Don Pinnock** Ben Cherry Rainmaker is a book about Ky, a young gangster who has wounded a mafia leader in a desperate attempt to save his friends. This book uncovers the terrors of the ghetto’s of South Africa and the torture that the children of these ghetto’s are put through. When Ky quickly realizes he has become a serious gang member and is heading to a war, he changes the course of his life and heads for different land. He finds himself nearly killed from illness, and deep in mountain ranges on his quest to become a Rainmaker. He must pass the tests of his ancestors to become a Rainmaker, and possess the necessary hidden powers. The book is constantly making you think wether Ky is really a Rainmaker, or if he is just a gangster trying to get away from the violence. The book decides for you in the end. I recommend this book to people who are interested in violence, and books with warfare. This is book takes you on a journey through the underside or ghetto of South Africa, and through the adventure of a young boy trying to get away from it all. 9.5/10

Noam Baharav __The Outsiders__ takes place in a poor southern neighborhood, where poor teenage gangs battle with each other, and with the rich kid gangs called the Socs or “Socials”. Ponyboy, the youngest of three sibling orphans is a sensitive thoughtful and smart sixteen year old growing up supported by his two brothers in their gang. When a battle with the Socs goes awfully wrong, Pony must run away with another gang member. The story examines the bonds of friendship and belonging and finding your place in the world, and that you can always change your future. I thought the message and overall story was great, and enjoyed it. I however thought the writing style wasn’t very sophisticated or interesting. I thought the characters were a bit shallow, and all seemed the same. The dialogue especially didn’t seem realistic, like they weren’t actually kids growing up in a rough neighborhood. 6/10
 * The Outsiders- SE Hinton**

Noam Baharav Tina Fey’s autobiography __Bossypants__ Tina talks about growing up as a frumpy kid, why having a strong father figure is important, how youth theatre companies are a great place for teenage girls to meet their gay best friends, emerging as an actress, being a working mother, and everything else in between. Filled with funny stories, cultural references, and helpful tips that aren’t really helpful at all, Tina Fey’s book is funny and entertaining. If you like very intellectual books where the meaning of life is revealed, this is probably not the best book for you. If you like funny stories, and have a bit of background information on basic things such as Saturday Night Live, and carpet cleaning, you will probably enjoy this book. Complete with pictures of Tina Fey throughout her life, and helpful charts of stress levels, you end up realizing that even superstars like Tina Fey lead pretty normal, awkward lives.
 * Bossypants – Tina Fey**
 * 8/10**

Noam Baharav This short story tells the tale of a Kino, a pearl diver’s family. One morning, a scorpion bites Coyotito, Kino’s baby son. After refusing to treat the baby without being paid, Kino sets out to dive for pearls in order to pay the doctor. Kino finds a huge pearl “The Pearl of the World,” and suddenly has everyone’s admiration. He however cannot sell it, as he no longer just wants to pay for his son’s treatment, but ensure his family’s future wealth. Attempting to cheat Kino the pearl buyers offer him a much lower price than deserved for the pearl, and Kino sets out to find a buyer for the right price. The story examines how greed and the hope of wealth brings out evil in people, and ultimately tries to prove the saying “a bird in the hand.” I think the story has a good theme, however I thought it was a slow read, and not the most interesting book.
 * The Pearl – John Steinbeck**
 * 8/10**

Ben Cherry The Weight of Water is a story about a girl Kasienk, from Norway who moves to London, England. Kasienk quickly learns that she does not fit in just because she is foreign. The story line immediately pulls you in almost in the shoes of the main character. The story is about her how she learned the system of popularity and how she fit in. She bounces back and forth from in, and out of the “popular crowd”. The author does a great job of showing the point of view of the unpopular, new girl. Sarah Crossan the author makes it easy to relate to the main character, as if it is real life. At points in the story you become very sad, because of the way Kasienk is treated, but she says it in such a bold manner as if she doesn’t understand. This book is very good at getting you involved and feeling for the main character. I strongly enjoyed this book. I recommend it for anyone that enjoys a quick easy book to read. 8.5/10
 * The Weight of Water: Sarah Crossan**

Noam Baharav This book tells the story of the youngest of three sisters, Tita De La Garza on a Mexican Ranch. The youngest sister Tita is never allowed to marry, and forced to take care of her mother until the day she dies. Her mother is very cold and harsh to her, and so Tita spends most of her time in the kitchen cooking. She falls in love however, and the story follows her along her journey to independence from her strict family rules and finally, finding love. The book is told in twelve monthly chapters, each revolving around a recipe being created by Tita. The events of that plot usually involve the magical affect the foods have on whomever eats them. This book has great imagery, and is very nicely written. I liked the story, and thought that it had a creative and engaging plot.
 * Like Water For Chocolate – Laura Esquivel**

__Unwind by Neil Shusterman__ Emma Schilp Unwind by Neal Shusterman is a fictional book about living in a world right after the second Civil war where your parents are forced to have you and then when you have reached the ages of 13-18, they have the ability to have you taken away forever. Never to be seen again. Connor’s life is about to be forever changed when he finds out that is parents have ordered for him to be unwound. He is scared, angry and confused. He decides to go AWOL and flees. On the way to ‘freedom’ he meets Rita, a talented orphan pianist who is also scheduled to be unwound. And Lev. A rich boy from a family of 12 who believes that he is being a part of a religious ceremony called ‘tithing.’ They find each other and make their way to the Graveyard, and here their lives will change forever. This is a very thought provoking and disturbing, but well written book. We can feel and pain and sorrow that the characters are, as well as an immense amount of sympathy fro the characters. I would highly recommend this book to anyone. Rate 10/10
 * 8/10**

__Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck__ Emma Schilp This very short, but memorable book is about two men named Lennie and George and the strength of their friendship. They have been friends for years, George is tall, smart and attractive, while Lennie on the other hand, is quite the opposite due to his childlike mentality and odd obsession with petting things. In their journey to find new jobs in the farms of Northern California, George questions his friendship with Lennie, They do however, share the same dream of having their own farm, this though is developed though out the entire book, up until the end. Their loyalty to each other is shown through the entire book. This story should be read by everyone as it shows what a true friendship is in this very sad but memorable book. Rate: 9/10

__The 5 People You Meet in Heaven By Mitch Albom__ Emma Schilp This book opens to the daily life of 83-year-old Eddie, a man that was born and raised on Ruby Peer. On the peer the children know him as ‘Eddie Maintenance’. He begins by starting his average day, watching the hundreds of people enjoy their day on the rides, playing the games and eating the sea salt taffy. One of the rides has a technical problem and Eddie is called in for repairs. There is a plot-twisting event that shapes the entire book, creating its depth and learning opportunities. The people that Eddie encounter on his journey help him to find an answer and peace. This is a very interesting book with many life lessons on how the smallest things can affect the life of those around you. I would recommend this book to anybody that is looking for a short, but yet interesting read. Rate: 9/10


 * Gods and Generals**
 * Jeffrey Shaara**
 * Report Written: Cody Messick**

Recently I have read the historical fiction novel “Gods and Generals” by Jeff Shaara. The book is based on events that transpired to start the civil war and as well as the beginning part of the war all the way to before the battle of Gettysburg (Which is mentioned in the next book “The Killing Angels”).

It tells the story from four different peoples point of view, half are in the north side and half in the south. One of the characters on the south side is the well-known General Lee. Later when the four characters face each other in a heated and bloody battle, the reader does not know whom to support.

I would recommend this book to those who are interested in the civil war and interested in understanding it at a deeper level. There is some violence involved and some disturbing scenes, but nothing too bad. I would rate it a 9/10.

498 pages


 * The Five People You Meet in Heaven**


 * Mitch Albom**


 * Report Written: Cody Messick**

The fiction book “The Five People You Meet in Heaven” by Mitch Albom is quite a unique book. This book describes the interesting idea that when you die, you go through steps in heaven to make sense of your life. On the first stage, you must talk with and learn from five different people whose lives were interrelated with yours. They may at first seem random but as they tell you their story you will understand what it is that you need to know. This story is told from an old mans point of view and starts out the book on the same day that the man dies. In a sense the beginning is the end of his life. He then goes to heaven and meets his five people.

This book is quite interesting and is a reasonably short read. I would suggest it to everybody and is a book worth reading. I would give it a 8/10.


 * The Screwtape Letters**


 * C.S Lewis**


 * Report Written: Cody Messick**

The fiction book “The Screwtape Letters” by C.S. Lewis (same author for “Narnia” series) is a book that includes letters that a devil (screwtape) sends to his nephew who is tempting people on earth. In his letters Screwtape directs his nephew on the best ways to tempt people into achieving eternal damnation. The nephew’s patient (human) is a Christian and uncle Screwtape begins explaining ways on how to lead him off the path. This book has been quite interesting for me because as a Christian, I am normally told advice from the other point of view. However, the advice that the Devil gives to his Nephew is also quite good to learn from if you flip it around. Screwtape writes thirty seven letters to his nephew, each about two to three pages long. Even though this book may be a short read of 200-300 pages, the content can be quite confusing and uninteresting to some readers. However, I read through the book and would give it a 7/10. I feel like an adult would appreciate this book more.

Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby Ben Cherry Fever Pitch is a book about a person who loves football/soccer. Throughout the book they show him as a child, adolescent and as a man. Through each of these stages they show his struggles and how football/soccer helps him through his hard times. Throughout the book the main character who is also the narrater remains unnamed. Although I assume it is the life of the author Nick Hornby. Soccer/football helped him get through tone divorce of his parents at age 11, and it keeps him close to his father. Throughout the book he is comparing his life to his favourite team, Arsenal. He shows in the story how this sport and this team has related to his life in positive and negative ways, and how his life would be lost without it. 8/10

__And Then There Were None By Agatha Christie__ Emma Schilp In the very beginning of the book, there is a poem with no name written by Frank Green in 1869. This poem is initially the story line of the book. The book opens with all of the main characters being taken form the train station to a mysterious, unknown island called Soldier Island. All of the guests have made the journey as they all received a letter of invitation from a Mr. or Mrs. U.N. Owen, or a Mrs. Constance Culmington. They all slowly begin to die off one by one, oddly enough in the way that the poem had described. The police are stumped as to who could have killed them as there was nobody else on the island. In the end there is an extremely dramatic plot twist. I personally loved this book. It was a non-stop mystery from the moment that I picked it up to the last page, it is a must read. Rate: 9/10

__ Looking for Alaska by John Green __ Emma Schilp Looing for Alaska is a book about a boy’s journey through a very powerful time in his life. Miles Halter has just left his home in Florida to attend Culver Creek in Alabama. There, he meets his new, but odd assortment of friends, Colonel, Takumi and Alaska. He soon earns the new nickname of ‘Pudge’ and quickly grows very close to his newfound friends. Alaska is the ultimate rule breaker as she is the supply for all alcohol and cigarettes; she has the tendency to drink too much, pull ridiculous pranks and obsess over her beloved boyfriend Jake. He soon realizes that he has more feelings towards Alaska despite the fact that she already has a //Weekday Warrior// boyfriend. There is a drastic and intense twist in the middle of the book that will change Miles forever. This is a very good read; it does however have some very vulgar language and references. A good book for older high school students, I would highly recommend this book for anyone who might be interested in a high school drama/suspense. Rate: 8/10

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka Jonathan Han Gregor Samsa is intelligent traveling salesman who works for his family, parents and his little sister (Grete). One morning, Gregor wakes up and finds out that he was turning into a bug-like creature. However, Gregor stays calm and do whatever he can to get off from the bed because he was worried about his work, unfortunately he gets injured when he fell down from the bed and he feels pain and sore. The family could not realize what was happening because Gregor's room door was locked. Later on, his family starts worrying about Gregor because he was late for work and also when Gregor's office manager came. Gregor opens the door and that is when everyone panicked. Gregor starts to hide more so that he gives fewer burdens to his family, he eats leftover food that Grete gave. Gregor often listens to Grete's violin melody and he likes it very much. Gregor always wanted to send Grete to music school for her to study violin. One day, Gregor finds out that his father's appearance turned clean and nice-looking, as he got a job, bank attendant. One day, Gregor's family starts believing that the bug-like creature is not Gregor. Grete said that if the bug-like creature is Gregor, he had left long time ago for his family's peace, so she said that Gregor must be abandoned. Gregor already knew that his family is better off without him. But still, Gregor felt terrible that his sister lost trust in him. At dawn, Gregor feels relaxed and soon, he dies. The theme of this book is unreasonableness, the book show how unfair Gregor's life is. This book shows that Gregor's parents treat Gregor as a working machine. Before transformation, Gregor's parents thought that it was normal for Gregor to work hard for his family and they did not give attention to Gregor but to his money that he earned. They did not care how hard the Gregor's work is. When Gregor transformed, his parents worried about his family's finance instead of concerning about Gregor. The author of this story probably tried to show the unreasonableness of the world today by showing an example about greediness towards money. Rate: 10/10!!!

__The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway__ Emma Schilp The old man and the sea is a very intriguing story about an old man named Santiago and his battle with the greatest catch of his life. An old fisherman has set out to sea after eighty-four days of returning home empty-handed he returns to the sea convinced that his luck would change. On the eighty-fifth day he hooks a gigantic marlin, the fish pulls him deeper and deeper into the endless sea. The marlin pulls the boat fro two days and two nights until on the third day, the fish tires and kills it with a harpoon. The marlin’s blood attracts sharks that Santiago is able to kill the majority of, but upon his arrival to the island, the fish was nothing more than a head, tail and bones. He then drags his old, frail, tired body to his small shack and goes to sleep. Manolin, Santiago’s young friend finds him and brings him coffee and the daily newspaper with the baseball scores. The old man sleeps and dreams his normal dream of lions playing on the beaches of Africa. I would highly recommend this book to anyone as it teaches us so much about ourselves. We can put ourselves in Santiago’s position and ask ‘what would we do to prove ourselves?’ It may not be as drastic at to allow a marlin to drag us out to sea, but it would force us to wonder what we would do if we were given a great challenged and how we would over come it. Rate: 9/10

__Girls by Lori Lansens__ Emma Schilp This is Lori Lansens’ second written novel. Rose and Ruby are twenty-nine year old conjoined twins connected at the head. After they were born, their mother left them as they were being taken form the clinic to the hospital in hopes of being able to spate the girls. Their Aunt Lovely and her husband Uncle Stash then raise them. Even though the girls are conjoined twins, they could not be more different. As the book develops, we can see Rose’s clear passion for writing, she begins to write her own autobiography of her life hoping that Ruby will want to share her view of their extremely rare and interesting lifestyle and experiences. Ruby however, is extremely fond of ‘trash TV’ as Rose refers to it, as well as a very keen interest in the local history. They are known as the town’s ‘freaks’ and outcasts. This is a very slow moving and some what boring book. The beginning was interesting as we were learning about the character’s states and getting to ‘know’ them. However, the middle of the book and the end lags on, with very boring and drab detailing. I would only recommend this book to very patient readers. Rate: 4/10

Beyond Belief by: Josh Hamilton Ben Cherry Beyond Belief is a book written by a famous baseball player named Josh Hamilton. I found this book quite boring because all he does is talk about how he got to the MLB. I found that this book dragged on most of the time and the writing wasn’t very good. I do not recommend this book to anyone because it was boring, and it was all about baseball facts. If you are not interested in baseball I recommend you stay away from this book. At the beginning of the book he talks about his backstory and how he grew up around baseball. He talked about how he was always better than anyone else no matter how much older they were than him. To me this is not interesting at all. Towards the middle of the book he talks about joining the MLB and becoming an MLB superstar, this to me was more exciting but not yet very interesting. The end of the book was quite boring as he just talked about the present time of what is happening in baseball, and in his life. I do not recommend this book to anyone in our class. 6/10

Athletic Shorts by Chris Crutcher Jonathan Han Chris Crutcher's story "A Brief Moment in the Life of Angus Bethune" is a teenager’s short story about a boy athlete who struggles in his high school. Angus is an overweight teenager who has homosexual parents, he gets teased by other students about that. Also, Angus got voted as king for the Winter Ball king as a joke. However, it is a little cool how his dream girl, Melissa LeFevre becomes the girl he will be dancing with in the Winter Ball. I think Angus must have a very hard time in his high school life. He get humiliated about his family, his name and his body image, if it was me, I would get extremely depressing. In the story, Angus tries hard to be like a normal friend and he beats humiliation when he got confidence. Theme of this story is confidence, Angus overcame several conflicts throughout the story and his solution to that was to become more confident towards his friends, family and towards his life. The author does a great job foreshadowing from the beginning by showing all the problems Angus struggles with. However, I think the author could have done better by making the transition from one important event to another smoother, it is because I could not understand well when the book suddenly changed the story from the previous one. Later on, the story made sense but it could be better if the storyline flowed smoothly. Rate:8/10

Game by Walter Dean Myers Jonathan Han High-school senior, Drew Lawson is a talented basketball player in James Baldwin Academy and lives in Harlem where he witnesses drug, crime and poverty. Young teenagers like Drew are often arrested, injured or killed from crime incidents during a time in Harlem. Drew's supportive parents and younger sister help Drew to develop his dreams, to achieve basketball scholarship to go to university, to get his team a championship and to look out for NBA (National Basketball Association). Also, Drew knows that if he do well and win the championship, many colleges will scout him. However, there were two new players in the team this season and one of them, Thomas was skillful, and got the attention from the basketball coach. That is why Drew got annoyed and he had to play better. Drew depended on basketball skills because he knew that his grades would not send him to college. At the end of the season, Drew starts getting eager in basketball games because he knew that colleges would not scout if he doesn’t play well, and in one game, he scored a goal by jumping over a strong opponent at the last moment, which leads to the success of his dream. Drew becomes a star basketball player in his college. I really liked this character, Drew Lawson because he overcame many conflicts for his passion and love towards basketball. There were many parts in the book, where I thought, "If I were you, I would gave up", this shows his hard works did not end. I believe determination is the theme of this book, because there were many parts when Drew had to choose between important things. For example, one of the main determinations he had, was the determination between grades and basketball, where he had to consider well for his better future. The weakness of this book was lack of description of basketball games for people who don’t play basketball. I could not understand many basketball related words as a reader. However, this book includes many themes and lessons for the readers to learn, also this book is a nice example of how to overcome obstacles in life. Rate: 9/10

Delirium by Lauren Oliver Kaitlin Crawford Lena lives in a different world, one where love is considered to be a disease. At the age of sixteen everyone has a surgery to remove this disease. In having this surgery you also remove feelings like anger, regret, longing, and love. Lena grew up in fear of love and the thing she wants most is to have the cure and be free of these feelings…that is, until she meets Alex. Alex causes Lena to rethink everything and no longer be sure of what the future holds for her. This book is entertaining and keeps the reader interested. At times the story feels slightly dragged out however this only creates more suspense in the reader. It’s a very entertaining story, and is the first in the trilogy. Rate: 8/10

City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare Kaitlin Crawford The second in the series, City of Ashes is about Clary and Jace trying to defeat their father, Valentine, before he can use the mortal instruments to summon the deadliest of demons out there. This fantasy book includes vampires, werewolves, demons, faeries, and shadow hunters. While Jace and Clary deal with having found out they are brother and sister, they try to take down Valentine while using the help of some downworlders. There is never a dull moment in this book and Cassandra Clare does an excellent job of creating a very entertaining while suspenseful story. Rate: 9/10

City of Glass by Cassandra Clare Kaitlin Crawford

The third book in series, The Mortal Instruments, is a very intense and creative addition to the series. Valentine has gain so much power by acquiring the mortal instruments and is threatening a war against the shadow hunters that do not follow him. This book continues to show the lengths at which Jace and Clary will go to defend their people. Throughout the book the characters find out more about themselves and develop their abilities to fight. This is the most exciting book in the series so far and has a complete story line that keeps the reader interested the whole time. Rate: 9/10

__Gerald’s Game__ by Stephen King Hana Eldessouky About a full year ago, I discovered the joy that was Stephen King, described by some as an eerie genius and by most as horrifically gruesome. Ever since first reading __The Green Mile__, he has undoubtedly been one of the authors I respect the most. This is why summarizing one of his books without rambling will prove to be a challenge. __Gerald’s Game__ is a tale starting with one evening when Jessie ended up being chained to a king-sized bed after an unfortunate accident resulting in her husband’s death at the foot of this bed. With tremendous will power and the help of different voices disguised as old acquaintances in heard, Jessie manages to first do simple tasks such as inching a glass of water next to her within reach, to using her own blood in order to slip out of her restrains and dragging the bed towards the telephone. However, one night, cramped, sweaty, and incredibly thirsty, Jessie wakes up to find a shadowy figure watching over her, with arms dangling all the way to its knees, silently vigilant. Even if Jessie escapes, she knows she will be haunted by this mysterious figure in her waking and sleeping moments. Although this book was difficult to read, due to scenes that I feel should be given warning before hand to the reader, it’s physically impossible to put down… as in, the muscles of your hands and arms refuse to let go of this paperback novel. Rating: 9/ 10

__Christine__ by Stephen King Hana Eldessouky There have been numerous villains and “bad guys” in the extensive amount of novels Stephen King has written so far; a psychotic clown, an undead cat, vampires, universal forces, a fat lady too much in love with an author, an electric chair, and many more. However, I admit it took me by surprise when I found the main antagonist, Christine, to be a car. When Arnie Cunningham, a mellow, humorous boy whom often gets bullied at school, commands his friend Dennis to pull over in order to buy the most decrepit, ancient car he has ever seen, all hell breaks loose. Arnie works every night to restore Christine, eventually distancing himself from Dennis, his parents, and his high school sweetheart Leigh. It doesn’t stop there, though. He soon becomes possessed by the ghost of Christine’s previous owner, which results in Christine going out to murder a number of people in the night. Christine does it. Without Arnie. And she can’t be stopped. Although I’ve never imagined a car to be as menacing as a psychotic clown or a zombie cat, King has done it again. The classic “good vs. bad” teams are formed in this story, yet a happy ending isn’t something to be expected when it comes to Christine… shh! She might be listening… Rating: 8.5/10

__The Chocolate War__ by Robert Cormier Hana Eldessouky Realistic. That’s the first word that comes to mind when I think of this small paperback novel. It’s most likely the first book on high school or school life that I’ve read that does not involve some form of gossip, girls, or “teen stress”, as the modern-day authors put it. The novel switches between the stories and perspectives of numerous children- sorry, adolescents- that are all linked through the chocolate wars, a massive sale hosted annually of, well, chocolates. It all goes wrong, though, when the normally smooth and successful flow is stopped by Jerry Renault, a perfectly ordinary rebel. Although this novel isn’t the sort of thing I read daily, I couldn’t help but be interested in violent male high school life. The themes of power, obedience, and social structure were ever constant, a flowing tide around Jerry. He, however, is a very ordinary boy, with quiet interests and a quiet life. The idea of such a person being rebellious, with the power to start a full-scale student revolution as in the novel, is quite compelling. Apart from all of these qualities, however, I personally feel that the novel is too widespread and separated in the beginning, allowing the reader to lose focus and not be as concentrated as they could be for the ending. Rating: 7.5/10

__The Innocent__ by Harlan Coben Hana Eldessouky Most of Coben’s books are similar in plot- normally a mystery involving hidden secrets and murder, with a heroic yet unlucky main character who almost always ends up with a girl. Although this case was no different, __The Innocent__ was undoubtedly one of the best he’s ever written. The main character, a man who’s been in jail for the accidental murder in his teenage years, is Matt Hunter. He eventually gets involved in his wife Olivia’s past, when certain people start hunting her down for a secret video tape that may lead to their destruction. Matt is the typical good guy, with a determination to stay away from all crime so as to avoid being in jail once again. I found the book fast-paced and lively, allowing me to pick it up and start reading from where I left off and immediately regain my interest. There is, in my opinion, no faults to it in regards to writing style, yet the characters could have been slightly more contrasting and diverse. Although I can’t imagine anything exciting like this happening in my life, I could still surprisingly relate to the extensive human emotions found throughout the novel, even from the “villain” at the end. Rating: 9/10

__The Girl Who Played with Fire__ by Stieg Larsson Hana Eldessouky The main character in this series, an unsocial yet astoundingly talented girl, is one of my most favorite heroines out of all books I have read. __The Girl Who Played with Fire__ is the second out of a three-book trilogy, and in my opinion it is the most exciting of all. Lisbeth Salander, a queer girl with a traumatized childhood and a set of incredible mathematical and computer hacking skills, is hunted down by her father. One of her few allies, a journalist named Mikael Blomkvist, tries to get in contact with her after a year of sudden silence. Salander spends a year traveling around the world on her own, only to come back to me accused of murdering Blomkvist’s two friends. Salander, though innocent, is hunted down both by the police and by giants who don’t feel pain sent by her father. She finally goes to kill both her father and his accomplice on her own as revenge for past childhood experience. This book relies on the overall theme of crime and reasons in history behind these recent crimes. Although Lisbeth Salander is as different a person from me as can be- a hidden genius, extremely self-sufficient, gutsy and analytical- seeing her go out on brave journeys by herself without a twinge of fear always gives me a thrill. Larsson tells this story in a way that both explains the history and underlying organizations of the story and captivating the reader at the same time. Rating: 9/10

__The Hammer of Eden__ by Ken Follet Hana Eldessouky The title of this novel is the name that a certain terrorist group call themselves. They didn’t start out as terrorists- in fact, they had formed a peace-loving community that lived in meditation and humble wine-making. When their beloved land is taken from them by the government of California, however, they are desperate to take any measures. They soon become dangerous due to their informally appointed leader, a man they all call Priest. It started out as an idea to cause earthquakes in order to threaten authorities- turns out, things like these are possible. The situation escalates to include murders, harming of innocent people, and FBI agent Judy Maddox hunting them down. But in the end, will it be the excelling and quick Judy or the dangerous and reckless Priest who wins? Their paths finally meet in an old pickup truck. This novel is the kind to sit back and pass time with- it’s engaging, entertaining, and a suspenseful story. However, the fact that the author names the title of the book the same as the main subject, the very steadily growing plot, and the extremely complete with a “happily ever after” ending (cliffhangers at the ending personally signify a more unique writing style) are indicators that either Ken Follet or this book is not the best that can be found. Rating: 8.5/10

__The Thirteenth Tale__by Diane Setterfield Hana Eldessouky Although I’m a bit cautious in giving my review of this book because it was Ms. Kemsley’s recommendation, I’ll try my best. __The Thirteenth Tale__ is incredibly suspenseful in plot. It’s incredibly difficult to conjure a story such as Dian Setterfield did, about two savage twins with no parents growing up in a household with a gardener and a housekeeper. Almost ten years later, a famous author name Vida Winter calls upon an ordinary, secluded girl to write her biography. This Winter claims she is one of the twins, but Margaret thinks otherwise, and she discovers the truth of everything, including the identity of a child now grown, and the child murderer of the faithful old gardener. Margaret is able to do this due to the fact that she is a twin as well- yet the only twin in her family. However, Winter is dying, and she races to finish telling her story before she passes from the world. I have a suspicion that this subject on twins is personal to Setterfield, but it hasn't been confirmed. I enjoyed ideas and phrasings that Setterfield put into Margaret’s perspective- some were personal and seemed to define my nature as a reader as well. The book constantly signifies the importance of a twin, and the almost physical bond that connects two individuals together, regardless of gender or personality. Although at first the plot was slow-paced, the ending was exciting enough to make up for anything. I would recommend this to anyone who is looking for a long, slow, enjoyable way to fill up time. Rating: 8.5/10

__Desperation__ by Stephen King Hana Eldessouky Although __Desperation__ is not my personal favorite, it is one of the novels that contains King’s most personal touches and darkest ideas in a twisted plot. Four different groups, nine people in total, or driving on the road when they are stopped by a hulking giant of a cop. This police officer seems friendly at first, but quickly becomes stranger as the victims are driven to the town where all go to die: Desperation. David Carver, a ten year old boy who’s seen his sister and his mother killed, is the only one with the power to save the remaining five people. The power of prayer. But perhaps David’s god isn’t enough to fight the force of Tak, with the ability to possess bodies and control any being. Will David’s God and his powers of prayer help the group to escape the deserted hell pit that is Desperation? This novel requires concentration and an ability to grasp King’s intricate and mysterious concepts of good vs. evil. Although the plot is told in a chillingly gruesome and satisfying manner, important ideas such as the resurrection of a certain author, Johnny Marinville, and his role in saving the others, are only implied and told in hints. This uneven style of writing, rather than taking away from the story, adds to it in texture and style. Overall, __Desperation__ is a book that clearly represents the author’s style in a long line of books to a reader. Rating: 8.5/10

__Night Watch__ by Terry Pratchett Hana Eldessouky Out of all the male authors I’ve read so far, Terry Pratchett is my least favorite. Most likely this is a rash decision that is slightly too harsh for the moment, but I personally don’t find in his writing style the same connection that makes me want to check out more and more of his books. __Night Watch__ follows the story of Sam Vines, a powerful and successful man in the Nigh Watch. This group is a secret organization that connects the magical world with the mortal city. When Vines is chasing one of the most notorious and insane criminals by the name of Carcer, he is caught in a time warp that send him back twenty years. After interacting with Young Vimes (himself) and re-meeting his old/new friends, he manages to catch Carcer and thus stop a possibly bloody marauder of the entire city that he knows and loves, no matter what time frame he is in. Personally, I couldn’t find anything particularly special about the main character that I could relate to emotionally, and the plot itself was too irregular in pacing. The theme itself, although with plenty of opportunity to be spectacular, is in my opinion bought down by Pratchett’s blunt and non-descriptive words. Rating: 6/10

__Jane Eyre__ by Charlotte Bronte Hana Eldessouky I don’t normally lead romance novels. Or any story that is centered around love. Still, when I heard how big of a classic __Jane Eyre__ is, the astounding reviews and my search for a new book made me try it out. I was not disappointed. Jane Eyre was a misfortunate child, raised in her aunt’s house after her parents passed away. With no relations or friends, Jane grew up in a household with three other wealthier children, treated with utmost care compared to her. She grew to hate them, though it wasn’t her fault that she was punished constantly. Her repetitive life of ten years was changed when she was sent to a strict yet enjoyable boarding school. Eight years later, she begins to work as a governess in a high-class mansion of six and a half individuals. This “half”, so to speak, is the master whom seldom comes to visit; Edward Rochester. She first comes across this great hulking mass of man by chance. Little did she know this was the soul whom she would fall in love with, and he with her. However on their wedding day, it is revealed that the master already has a living wife, although insane and locked up in the house’s attic. Jane flees the house, its inhabitants, and all that she knows the next morning. Although I can’t say that I wasn’t unsure of reading this work at first, I can sincerely say that all 592 pages contained perhaps the most entertaining and heart-wrenching words I have ever read. Jane is everything you would want in a relatable main character; a small, slight figure, with a brain and personality that stands her out from anyone else. Bronte writes with a ladylike fluency and emotional tone that compels me to keep reading, wherever I am or whatever it is that I’m doing at the moment. Although it’s not something I’ll broadcast, I’ll admit that for the first time, I sympathized, grieved, and became excited along with all the characters in a romance novel. Rating: 10/10

__ Dear John __ by Nicholas Sparks // I found Dear John an amazing book that was beautiful as well as sad. This book starts by introducing the character from which we get the main point of view, John. John grew up with his single dad and has never really been able to connect with him, and ended up having troubled teen years. He has a wakeup call when he is 21, and decides to join the army. On one of his leaves, he meets Savannah. Savannah is a beautiful, religious, caring, and kind woman in town to build a house for the needy. For John and Savannah, it is love at first sight. They try to nurture their relationship in the few weeks they have until John has to return from leave. Though they try to stay together until John’s time in the army, but it seems the fates are against them. The ending of this book is a little unexpected, but there was something sadly beautiful about it. I would suggest this book to anyone who likes romance. // // Rating:9/10 //
 * Ella Dodd **

__ The Lucky One __ by Nicholas Sparks // The Lucky One is a book about a man, Logan Thibault, who finds a photo while on his tour in Iraq of a beautiful woman. When he returns to Colorado, in despair over the death of a friend, he decides he wants to find the woman in the photo. After trekking across the country i arrives in Hampton County and finds the woman he has been looking for, Elizabeth. He applies for a job at Elizabeth’s dog training business, soon he begins to get close to Elizabeth and her son as well as her Nana. Unfortunately, Elizabeth’s ex-husband, Keith Clayton, has some separation issues, and is determined for keep Elizabeth single, and begins to meddle in her and Logan’s relationship. With Keith working his hardest to use his town influence against the two, Logan and Elizabeth have some problems. The ending is great, it’s a great story, I would recommend it to anyone. It talks a lot about fait and is a little gushy, so maybe some people wouldn’t like it, but I like romance. // // Rating:10/10 //
 * Ella Dodd **

__Perks of Being a Wallflower__ by Stephen Chbosky //The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a book about a boy named Charlie who is dealing with the suicide of his friend. To cope, Charlie begins to send letters to an anonymous stranger. After returning to school, Charlie meets Patrick and his stepsister Sam. Patrick and Sam begin to introduce Charlie to Rock and Roll and the other aspects of being a teenager. This is a great ‘coming of age’ book about the teenage years and the struggle of one boy who has gone through tragedy over his friends death. I thought this was an awesome book, be warned, it has some illegal things in it, but it made the book better. I would recommend it to most people, and I// //can’t wait to watch the movie//. Rating: 9/10
 * Ella Dodd**

__Eat, Pray, Love__ by Elizabeth Gilbert //Eat, Pray, Love is a true story about Elizabeth Gilbert who leaves everything behind, to travel the world and learn more about herself. She travels to three countries, each with a specified sense she plans to enrich. She travels to Italy and enjoys the cuisine, India where she learns to be religious, and to Bali and meets the local people. This is a great story about finding yourself. It is beautifully written, and has a great ending. I didn’t realize it was a real story until I actually started reading the book, but it worked out well. I was very impressed that someone would be able to leave their life behind to travel the world. I really enjoyed it and recommend it to most people.// Rating: 7/10
 * Ella Dodd**

__Of Mice and Men__ by John Steinbeck //Of Mice and Men is a story about two men named George and Lennie who are in California to work. George is a short handsome man and Lennie is almost the opposite. Throughout the book we learn that Lennie may have a mental disability, this causes Lennie to often accidentally hurt the animals he plays with even though he loves them a lot. Though both Lennie and George care deeply for each other, George has a hard time caring for Lennie and trying to keep him safe. George and Lennie run into a lot of trouble and the book has a sad ending. This book is a great example of friendship and the lengths you take to get there. I found this book sad but powerful.// Rating: 7/10
 * Ella Dodd**

__The Secret Life of Bees__ by Sue Monk Kidd //The Secret Life of Bees is a book surrounding the life of Lily. Lily is a fourteen year old white girl, who is troubled by her part in her mothers death. In attempt to escape the racism in her home town, Lily takes her nanny Rosaleen to Tiburon, South Carolina. In Tiburon, Lily meets August and her sisters, a family of black beekeepers in town. Soon Lily begins to feel right at home in August’s, she begins to love August as a mother, and develops a crush on Zach. Zach is a black helper on the bee farm, and feels for Lily in the same way. Overtime, Lily discovers that her mother spent time at August’s house. Tragedy begins to happen throughout the house and things begin to fall apart. The ending is great, as well as the rest of the book. I loved it, it was beautiful in it’s own way. I would recommend this book to anyone.// Rating: 10/10
 * Ella Dodd**

__ My Memory Keeper’s Daughter __ by Kim Edwards //My Memory Keeper’s Daughter starts with Dr. David Henry and his very pregnant wife, Norah, in a blizzard in Kentucky. Norah goes into labor and Dr. Henry is forced to deliver his son, as well as his son’s surprise twin sister. Dr. Henry’s little boy is beautiful, perfect child, but his sister has Downs Syndrome. David grew up with a sister with Downs Syndrome, and decides he doesn’t want him and his wife to go through what his mother went through. He gives his newborn daughter to the nurse helping with delivery, Caroline, to take to an institution, and tells his wife that their daughter died. But Caroline makes a split decision and decides to raise the child as her own, and names her Phoebe. Caroline fights time after time to get Phoebe everything she needs, while David, Norah, and Paul’s family begins to disintegrate. Pain and Sadness envelopes them, and they each turn to different things to get them through. Over-all, life is a struggle for both families. I thought the book was sad but beautiful. The ending was a little predictable, but it was good.// Rating: 9/10
 * Ella Dodd **

__ Lord of the Flies __ by William Golding //Lord of the Flies starts out when a group of schoolboys are being evacuated in the midst of a war. The plane gets attacked over a deserted island and the plane crashes. The boys elect Ralph as the group leader in the absence of adults. Ralph splits the boys into two teams and puts Jack in charge of the hunters. Ralph then decides it would be good to start a fire to signal passing ships, but the boys mess around and the fire spreads to the forest. One of the boys disappears in the commotion and is never seen again. While the other boys continue to mess around, Ralph keeps saying that they should be making shelter and another signal fire. And when a ship actually does pass by, the fire is out, to everyone’s dismay. Soon, the younger boys begin to have nightmares about a beast on the island that hides in the ocean during the day, and everyone is scared. Later, a dead parachuter lands on the island and the children assume it’s the beast. Everyone is thrown into violent, crazy, homicidal chaos. This book was good, just pretty scary/violent, it was ok though. The ending was good, overall I would recommend this book to people who can handle it.// Rating: 6/10
 * Ella Dodd **

**__Animal Farm__ By: George Orwell** **Oran Rahamim** Animal Farm is a book that was written during the russian revolution. This book is set at a farm run by Mr. Jones, a person. When the animals get tired of people taking their taking advantage of their meat, eggs, and milk, they decide to rebel against the people. Luckily they win the rebellion and take over a the farm. They rename the farm to be called animal farm, which is run strictly by animals only. They establish some sort of government and a kind of feudalism system that makes the farm seem like a country. This is a great book that really demonstrates the meaning of power and how it can change a person, or in this case, an animal. Its a brilliant book which also uses animals to represent some of the humans that lived in the time that this book was written in. This is a great book and I would recommend it to everyone. Rating: 9/10

**The Old Man and the Sea By: Earnest Hemingway** **Oran Rahamim** This is a book about an old man who takes a journey to the sea on a fishing trip. He comes across a stubborn fish that brings him miles across the sea and since he is stubborn as well, this ends up lasting for 3 days. This book is full of symbolism. However, I feel that this book is meant to be studied. I didn’t enjoy it as much because it’s really detailed and since he goes out to sea alone, there is not much dialogue or interactions with other people. The main source of suspense is whether or not he will win and catch the fish or give up or die in some way. I personally didn’t enjoy it as much, and I would recommend it to people who really want to study it or people who like books about the sea since it really shows other sea animal’s behaviors. Rating: 5/10

__The Book Thief__ by Markus Zusak Michael Chang I was initially reluctant to read another book about the Holocaust and WWII Germany. But about halfway through __The Book Thief__, I began to realize this was Nazi Germany told from a perspective I've never seen before. __The Book Thief__ is narrated by the Grim Reaper, also known as the physical embodiment of Death, as he recounts his memory of a girl in Nazi Germany named Liesel Meminger. Death tells the story of Liesel and her foster family and their various struggles in Nazi Germany, including harboring a Jew and avoiding the wrath of the Nazi Party. Zusak's writing style is extremely poetic and he uses images and metaphors to create amazing scenes. The beginning was a bit slow paced and it was a lengthy read, but later parts involving the Jew and the ending in particular were very emotional and touching, and many parts regarding death and fear were very profound. I wouldn't recommend this for a quick read, but if you want a really emotional and poetic book and a new perspective on the Holocaust, __The Book Thief__ is a must-read.

Rating: 9/10

__Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone__ by J.K.Rowling Kyle McGinley Growing up as a kid I have always been exposed to people reading harry potter. I have never bothered to read it mylself because it sounded like a boring book that I didn't really have time to read. I was wrong, this first book of the Harry Potter series was a fantastic book. Harry's adventures around hogwarts with his friends Ron and Hermione are incredibly intersting to read about. Along with it's twisted storyline that intrigues the reader, the book also has hints of comedy here and there. In this first book of the Harry Potter series, Harry leaves his home with the dursleys and goes to hogwarts to be accepted as a wizard. The book gets interesting at the end as harry starts to get more and more involved with the mystrey of the sourcers stone. In the end he faces voldemort himself and escapes his clutches for the second time in his life.

Rating 11/10

__Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets__ by J.K. Rowling Kyle McGinley In the summer before Harry's second year at hogwarts. A mysterious elf pays Harry Potter a visit. He tells potter not to come to Hogwarts because it will mean death. Potter goes anyways despite the many obsticales that the wood-elf put up for him. In the meantime strange things have been happening to the school and rumors are going around that the chamber of secrets has been opened. The chamber purdges anyone in the school who is from a muggle (non-wizzard) family and therefore is extremely dangerous to the school. The only person who can open this chamber is the heir of slitherin. Harry figures out that it was in fact Tom Riddle who opened the chamber and how Tom served lord voldemort. They get into an epic battle at the end and Harry ends up surviving another encounter with the infmaous Lord Voldemort.

Rating 10/10

__ **It’s Kind of a Funny Story** __ **Ned Vizzini** Liz Jiang __ It’s Kind of a Funny Story __ by Ned Vizzini is a book about a teenage boy named Craig Gilner who is clinically depressed. Ever since he aced his way into Manhattan’s Executive Pre-Professional High School, the most prestigious school around, he started sinking underneath all the pressure. One night, after months of not sleeping and eating, he nearly kills himself. He ends up in a mental hospital, where he meets many interesting characters who help him face his sources of anxiety. Ned Vizzini himself spent time in a psychiatric hospital, and has therefore created a thoroughly authentic story. He has the advantage over other authors who write about teen depression, attempted suicide, and psychiatry. Vizzini’s character Craig is insightful and easy to relate to; I sympathized with him throughout the whole book. This is a remarkable tale about the bumpy and unexpected road to happiness. It is such a touching story with a strong and important message. It reminds us that sometimes you have to fall all the way to the bottom before you can get back on top. Also, there's always a way back up. This book is witty and incisive; basically, it’s kind of a funny story. Rating: 9.5/10

__ **Paper Towns** __ **John Green** Liz Jiang This book was an extremely touching story of adventure and discovery between high school students. The main character, Quentin Jacobsen, or Q, lives a life of routine and predictability. It’s boring yet comforting. However, one night, his neighbor and lifelong love interest, Margo Roth Spiegelman, takes him on an epic midnight adventure. After their exciting all-nighter, Q discovers there’s more than meets the eye with the marvelous Margo Roth Spiegelman. She has become a mystery that Q is left to solve, following clues which he learns are meant for him. The closer he gets to learning the truth about Margo Roth Spiegelman, the more he learns about himself and the reality of life and the girl he once idealized. This thrilling novel keeps you on your toes, with a fast-paced plot and captivating characters. Green has created a meaningful and profound story full of life and truth. I’d definitely recommend this book for anyone our age. As usual, Green’s characters seek to understand life, so many of the thoughts and dialogue are very insightful. Rating: 9.7/10

__ **An Abundance of Katherines** __ **John Green** Liz Jiang __ An Abundance of Katherines __ by John Green is an entertaining and witty book about a high school guy named Colin Singleton. Colin is a child prodigy (//not// a genius.) who has a thing for girls named Katherine (not Catherine, not Katie, not Kathy). He’s dated and been dumped by 19 Katherines. A road trip brings Colin and his best friend to the middle of nowhere, where he questions how to make his mark in the world, the predictability of relationships, and the purpose of love. He embarks on a mission with his best friend and the fascinating Lindsey Lee Wells by his side to prove The Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability, which is supposed to predict the future of any relationship. An Abundance of Katherines has a little of everything: math, adventure, humor, discovery, and love. It’s a thoughtful and funny book that I strongly recommend. Even if you’re no good at math, Colin’s theorem is extremely interesting to read about. Also, you learn many historical facts from this prodigy. John Green has his readers on their toes throughout the book, rooting for Colin to finally win the girl and accomplish his theorem. Rating: 9.5/10

__ **You Against Me** __ **Jenny Downham** Liz Jiang When Mikey McKenzie’s sister claims she was sexually assaulted, he vows to seek revenge. Ellie Parker’s brother Tom is accused of the crime, and the Parkers will do anything to protect him. When Mikey and Ellie meet, there is an undeniable spark and pull. Ellie wants to believe her brother when he insists he didn’t commit the crime, but as the only witness she has been carrying a secret around with her for the whole time. You Against Me is a powerful story about family, loyalty, and trust; most importantly, it’s a story about. Downham has created a story so touching and tragically beautiful that I couldn’t stop reading it. I was rooting for both families from beginning to end. Unfortunately, the ending was not satisfying, as I wanted a perfect happily-ever-after. Either way, it was a mostly realistic story that invoked many emotions. I’d recommend this book for people our age; it’s a heavy topic but the author speaks of it respectfully and intelligently. Rating: 8.7/10

__ **The Perks of Being a Wallflower** __ Liz Jiang I saw the movie for this before I read the book, which was a huge mistake. I enjoyed the movie much more. This book was quite touching and interesting, and it was written entirely in letters from Charlie to an anonymous person. This format is supposed to make the reader able to sympathize with the main character, Charlie. Movie aside, The Perks of Being a Wallflower was a great story of Charlie’s high school experience-- family drama, friends, girls, and secrets. His letters provide insight to his thoughts, hopes, and fears. However, he is somewhat of an unreliable narrator because he is trying to remain anonymous to the person he writes letters to: “I will call people by different names or generic names because I don’t want you to find me” (page 1). Still, he is an interesting character, very observant, curious, and imaginative. He is also a genuine “good guy”. This book includes some heavy topics but it is easy to relate to Charlie because of the age similarity. This is a great adolescent novel that I definitely would recommend, despite my unmet high expectations. Rating: 8/10
 * Stephen Chbosky**

__ **A Walk to Remember** __ **Nicholas Sparks** Liz Jiang __ A Walk to Remember __ is narrated by a 58-year-old man named Landon Carter who thinks back to when he was 17, when his life changed forever. That was the year he met Jamie Sullivan, a minister’s daughter. Jamie Sullivan was different from the other kids-- she always carried a Bible around, she wore her hair in a tight bun everyday, and was constantly helping at the orphanage or raising money for some cause. Landon would never have even interacted with her had it not been for the theater class they shared. Somehow, though, Landon finds himself taking Jamie as his date for Homecoming and starring in a play with her. Jamie changes his life and teaches him about the depths of the human heart. This may sound like it'd be a boring love story, but it was far from that. Sure, this book was a sweet love story, but it was tragically beautiful and touching. The ending makes you want to cry, but it also makes you feel happy for Landon. This story was bittersweet, and it made me very emotional. Rating: 8.8/10

__ **The Fault in Our Stars** __ **John Green** Liz Jiang I have to admit that I cried once I finished this book. I guess that’s understandable because it was basically a book about cancer, and the characters were extremely sympathetic. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green is about a 16-year-old girl named Hazel Grace Lancaster who has terminal thyroid cancer who meets a boy named Augustus Waters in her Cancer Support Group. They fall in love, but Hazel is reluctant because she knows that her cancer will bring Augustus down as well. Hazel is an interesting character because she feels somewhat guilty for having cancer; she worries about her parents’ relationship and Augustus’s well being after her inevitable death. However, Augustus, who had his leg amputated due to his oseosarcoma disease, soon experiences some problems that he and Hazel must face together. This book was extremely sweet but not overly romantic. Their love story is beautiful although tragic. I absolutely loved Augustus Waters, and the ending was heartbreaking but seemed appropriate. I’d recommend this for anyone who enjoys a good love story. Rating: 10/10

__ **Requiem** __ **Lauren Oliver** Liz Jiang Requiem was the third book in the //Delirium// trilogy by Lauren Oliver. The first two were amazing, and they both ended with major cliffhangers. I was really excited to read this book, and it definitely hasn’t disappointed. The whole trilogy is about a society where love is a disease, and you are “cured” from it at a certain age. However, there are many resisters and people who refuse the cure. This book follows Lena’s story, and her life in the Wilds, the place people escape to when running away from cure. In the Wilds, people are free to love, free to choose their paths, et cetera. In the first book, Lena was separated from her true love, Alex. In the second book, she meets another guy named Julian. In this book, Alex comes back. Lena’s life becomes chaotic-- surviving in the woods, realizing the pain that comes with having choices, and trying to comprehend her true feelings. Requiem was a thrilling story, with romance, sympathetic characters, and truth about the reality of love and freewill. I honestly couldn’t put this book down-- there was lots of action and I couldn’t bear to skip over one word. I don’t think this trilogy is for everyone, because some might find it cheesy, but I absolutely loved it. Rating: 10/10

__ **The Boy in the Striped Pajamas** __ **John Boyne** Liz Jiang It’s really hard to write about the Holocaust, and I really like the way this book captured it. __ The Boy in the Striped Pajamas __ is told from the point of view of Bruno, the son of a German soldier, a nine-year-old boy who loves exploring. He befriends a Jewish boy his age named Shmuel who lives in Auschwitz, the camp that is in Bruno’s new house’s backyard. They sit on either sides of the fence and talk about nine-year-old boy stuff. Many of the references to the Holocaust are disguised because Bruno is a young narrator; he refers to ‘Auschwitz’ as ‘Out-With’ and Hitler the ‘[|Führer]’ as ‘the Fury’. These things make him seem more innocent and naive, which is exactly how he is. Bruno kind of drove me crazy, because he just understood absolutely nothing about the situation his new friend was in. He was constantly saying insensitive things to Shmuel. However, it made for a really cute story, allowing me to picture the world through a young boy’s eyes, in which being on the other side of the fence seemed more ideal than his big fancy house. The ending was a little strange and unsatisfying, but it was also terribly sad and realistic too. All in all, it was a powerful and moving story, told through an innocent child who just wanted to be an explorer. Rating: 8.7/10

__ **Of Mice and Men** __ **John Steinbeck** Liz Jiang __ Of Mice and Men __ is the story of two men, George Milton and Lennie Small, longtime friends who travel together. George is short and quite intelligent, while Lennie is a hefty man and very childlike. George and Lennie leave Weed, California for a job on a farm with several other men. They have a dream of owning their own farm, complete with animals, plants, and freedom. Lennie is a static character-- throughout the book he is naive, devoted to George, and physically strong. He is the true picture of innocence, but the flatness of the character bored me. I think Lennie’s innocence was supposed to prepare readers for his inevitable fate, but I never felt a strong connection to him. I felt more sympathy towards George, probably because I myself am more of a realist. __ Of Mice and Men __ was a very powerful story about friendship, the predatory complexion of the world, and dreams. I was very moved by it but didn’t enjoy it that much. Rating: 7.5/10

**Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling** Kyle McGinley In the third book of the harry potter series an escaped convict has broken out of azkaban and people are trying to find him. This escaped convict was trying to look for harry but didn't manage to find him until the end. The middle of the book goes on about quidditch maches, and the middle of the year stuff like hermoines studies, summaries of the classes, etc. Harry eventually finds this escaped convict and this convict turns out to be his godfather. Harry learns that the escaped convict is sirus black and is innocent. He then learns who the real killer and person responsible for his parents death is. Rating: 10/10

**Of Mice and Men By: John Steinbeck** **Oran Rahamim** This is a book about the friendship of two guys names George and Lennie. George is short, but yet a smart guy. Lennie is an extremely strong and tall guy, however, he has the personality and the mind of a kid. The book mostly set’s on a farm. It starts out with Lennie and George trying to get a job after escaping from their previous location, a place called Weed. Throughout the book Lennie gets in trouble various times and George always saves him. This leaves George questioning whether or not he should leave Lennie and begin a new life on his own. The two friends have a dream which they depict throughout the book. They try very hard to accomplish this dream of living on their own farm. This is a great book because there are some twists in the plot which make it interesting. The contrast between the two characters creates a lot of conflicts and suspense. I would recommend this book to everyone. Rating: 10/10

**Lost at Sea By: Jonathan Neale** **Oran Rahamim** This is a book about three kid’s who’s parents have divorced and are on vacation with their mom and her boyfriend, Skip. One day they decide to take a journey in Skip’s boat, and though the idea doesn’t appeal to everyone, they still decide to go. Everything is normal at first, but then, a storm hits and the family finds themselves lost at sea without Skip. With a mentally ill and depressed mom and no sailing experience, the kids: Orrie, Andy, and Jack, have to find a way to survive at sea by themselves. The book is written in two point of views, Orrie and Jack, which are the two older siblings. Since their mother is ill, the kids have to take responsibility for their actions and watch out for other. It’s kind of like a diary but it’s very organized and easy to follow. I think that it’s a great book full of suspense and interesting events. I would recommend this book to everyone. Rating: 9/10

__Monstrous Regiment__ by Terry Pratchett Michael Chang __Monstrous Regiment__ is an installment in Terry Pratchett's acclaimed Discworld fantasy series. The Discworld is inhabited by humans and many strange, fantastic creatures, which include trolls, dwarves, and a clan of master surgeons whose names are all "Igor". This particular book follows Polly Perks, a young lady living in the backwards country of Borogravia. The Borogravians are ruled by the god Nuggan, who spends much of his time creating "Abominations" - trivial things that the Borogravians must not tolerate, which unfortunately include children, cats, and the color blue. The Borogravians are constantly at war, and at the moment the Borogravians are losing very badly and desperately trying to keep information about their losses from the general public. Polly enlists to find her brother Paul despite the male-only rule in the army. As she fights and travels alongside her regiment, she gradually realizes almost everyone else in her regiment is a female pretending to be male. Pratchett uses surreal humor and wit to entertain, but at the same time raises many interesting questions and draws parallels to modern military policies such as DADT (Don't Ask Don't Tell) and gender equality. Pratchett's writing and humor are very on point, and I would greatly recommend any book in the Discworld series to a fan of fantasy. Rating: 9/10

__Furies of Calderon__ by Jim Butcher Michael Chang __ Furies of Calderon __ is the first installment in Jim Butcher's Codex Alera series. The Codex Alera series is also set in a fantasy environment, but is far more serious and realistic than Discworld. In the realm of Alera, citizens survive by harnessing furies, or nature elementals. People who can contact a fury are know as crafters, and the best crafters are enlisted for combat and named Knights. Fury elements include air, fire, water, earth, wood, and metal. Alera's use of titles and language is reminiscent of imperial Rome- there is a First Lord similar to an emperor, and military titles have Roman roots (Cursor, Patriserus, etc). Knights' elements are also classified by Latin roots- for example, aircrafter knights would be called Knights Aeris. Honestly, the world feels like a combination of Avatar: TLA and Ancient Rome- a very cool vibe overall. In the first book, a young Cursor (special agent) named Amara is betrayed by her teacher and sent on a mission to Calderon Valley by the First Lord Gaius, who suspects an attempt on his life or a possible invasion from the valley. In Calderon, she meets a boy named Tavi. Tavi lacks any furies, but is able to use his wits to match his opponents. They work together along with the Valley's steadholders to repel the incoming Marat invasion and uncover the plot against the First Lord. To anyone looking for a more serious fantasy series, especially anyone that enjoyed watching Avatar: The Last Airbender or The Legend of Korra, I would definitely recommend the Codex Alera series.

__Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire__ by J.K. Rowling Kyle McGinley The 4th book of Harry Potter is not as great as the past 3 books, but is still a great read. In the beggining of the story, the Weasleys visit the dursleys and give them a scare. They then proceed to go to the Quidditch world cup and watch the games there. After the world cup some people named death-eaters (servants of Voldemort) tortured some muggles and later Voldemort's symbol was flashed. Harry Potter starts his 4th year in hogwarts and the new defense of the dark arts teacher is called Mad eye moody. Also the triwizzard tournament starts in Hogwarts and later Harry is selected. The first task is about dragons and Harry completes it by flying past the dragon and taking it's egg. The yule ball approaches and harry and ron get dates with annoying twins, while hermone goes with viktor Krum. This angers Ron and he and hermoine get into a huge fight. Later harry looks at his Maruder's Map and finds Mr. Crouch in Snape's office, he drops his egg and the teachers come to his aid. When this happens Moody takes his maruder's map. Harry's second task is to recover something from the lake. He finds his friends tied up in a village in the lake, rescues them but waits for the others to come up before he does. This puts him in last place but he is commended for his bravery. Harry sees sirus black (transformed from his dog form) and Sirus tells harry that Mr. Crouch's son was convicted of a death eater and that it was strange that Mr. Crouch hasn't shown up for work. The four compeditors were taken into the forest to scout out their new task, Viktor Krum went to talk to Harry. Mr Crouch appeared and demanded to see Dumbledore. Harry went to go get him and when he came back Viktor had been stunned and Crouch fled. Harry goes to dumbledore's office and looks at the headmaster's memories of past trials. Dumbledore pulls him out of the memories and listens to his story. Dumbledore suspects Voldemort is getting stronger. In the third task, Harry and Cedric win the maze and touch the portkey together. As soon as they are teleported, Cedric dies and Harry gets tied up. At this place, Voldemort is summoned and he challenges Harry to a duel. They have the duel and at the end Harry disarms Voldemort just before he uses a nasty curse. Voldemort's past victims protect harry, and Harry grabs cedric's body and grabs the trophy. This teleported harry out of this place and returns him to hogwarts. When he gets back Moody admits he is a death eater and tries to kill Harry. Dumblebore stops it and reveals that moody is in fact Mr. Crouch's son. The villan admits he killed his father and tried to get harry to voldemort. Harry explains his story to dumbledore and dumbledore explains how both of their wands are made of the same pheonix feather. Dispite all of this happening, Fudge refuses to believe that Voldemort has regained power. Dumbledore gives a speech about how they should be close together at the tough times comming up. This book is very long, and can be a little tedious at the beggining but is still a good read and is nessicary to be read if you are reading the harry potter series.

Rating: 8/10

**Breathless By: Pam Withers** **Oran Rahamim** This is a very interesting book about diving. The book is set in Hawaii. The book begins when Beverly, the protagonist, gets invited to her uncle’s diving shop in Hawaii to help him. Since she loves diving she agrees to go. However, Beverly has decided to lose 10 pounds by the end of the holiday, therefore, she refused to eat anything. Diving with an empty stomach is very dangerous since you need all of your strength incase of an accident. Throughout the book, Beverly faces a lot of struggles and dangers both in and out of water because of her eating disorder. This book shows how a person’s choice can impact another person, especially in diving. This book is short and I learned a lot about diving so I liked it. I would recommend it to everyone because it’s a good story while at the same time you get to learn about diving. Rating: 9/10

**Dawn By: Ellie Wiesel** **Oran Rahamim** This is the 2nd book of the Night trilogy. In this book, Ellie tells a fictional story about an 18 year old boy names Elisha who came to Israel after surviving the Holocaust without anything to lose. His whole family had died in the Holocaust. When he came to Israel the british were in charge. He finds a group of Jewish people, terrorists, who are trying to get rid of the British to make Israel the Jew’s land. Elisha, being mad at the world and having nothing to lose, decides to join them. On his first mission to murder a British officer, Elisha describes everything that has led him to this point. This book is very confusing at first as he depicts his journey to becoming murderer, everything that has affected him to make this decision, and the meaning of death. Though this book is confusing at first, you have to finish it in order to know what is going on. Its a good book for people who like murder stories. Rating: 8/10

Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix by J.K.Rowling Kyle McGinley This harry potter book starts out when Dudley and Harry get attacked by two dementors. Harry gets in trouble for fighting back and they have a trial to determine his fate at hogwarts. They decide he's allowed to go to hogwarts. This year at hogwarts a teacher called Umbridge from the ministry of magic takes the new job for the dark arts teacher. At this time the ministry is convinced voldemort is not returning and are trying to convince other people that this is true. Since last year voldemort did return the reader knows that the ministry is lying. Umbridge ends up pretty much taking over the school and firing any teacher that she didn't like, or any teacher that didn't do their job well. Umbridge is also cruel to the students, banning harry from quidditch and making him stay for detention constantly. Meanwhile since the students aren't actually learning any magic that will help them if they encounter any dark lords, Harry starts teaching students his knowledge of spells. Harry is later caught teaching students spells and the ministry blames dumbledore and dumbledore resigns as headmaster. This gives Umbridge the new position as headmaster. Harry has a vision of sirus and tries to save him, but is caught by Umbrigde. Harry and Hermoine lead Umbridge into the forest where a trap is set for umbridge to be taken away by centuars. Harry and the people he taught in the dark arts class go to find black and are surrounded by death eaters on arrival. The group fights off the death eaters but have a lot of help when people from the order of the pheonix arrive. The order of the pheonix is a secret group that fights off voldemort. While fighting Sirus's cousin, Lestrange, murder's sirus. Harry runs off to fight Lestrange but runs into voldemort shortly after. This book has a lot of emotional drama from harry and a lot of feelings. It is actually considered a little more boring than the other books. That, or I'm starting to get sick of harry potter. :D Rating 7/10

**A Mango Shaped Space By: Wendy Mass** **Oran Rahamim** This is a book about a girl called Mia who has a disorderwhere she can sees more colors than other people. For example, each letter of the alphabet is a different color, A is yellow and D is a hot purplish pink. This also come with sounds, for example when her alarm clock rings she sees purple spirals. After her incident in the 3rd grade (where all of her classmates laughed at her and thought she was crazy for seeing those colors) she has been keeping this a secret. One day she when she sees that she can’t keep it a secret any longer, she decides to tell her parents. Throughout the book, Mia learns to live with her disorder and discovers new things about it. It shows how people can cherish their differences or in this case how Mia cherishes her synesthesia. This book is both suspenseful and you learn about synesthesia which is a real disease. I thought that this was a very interesting and wonderful book which I would recommend to everyone. Rating: 10/10

**The Boy Who Ate Stars By: Kochka** **Oran Rahamim** __The Boy Who Ate Stars__ is a very interesting book about Autism. This year in English, I read a book where the protagonist is the one with Autism. In this book, the protagonist is discovering what Autism is. It all started in Paris. Lucy moves in to a new building and decides to get to know her whole building. One day, she hears noises from the apartment above. Being a very adventurous person, Lucy decides to go see whats wrong. That’s when she meets Matthew, a 4 year old boy who suffers from Autism. When she first met Matthew, Lucy had no idea what Autism was, so she decided to observe Matthew. Lucy and her friend Theo come up with a lot of imaginary ideas about Autism as they observe Matthew. Throughout the book, Matthew helps Lucy not only get to know more about Autism, but he also helps her get to know more about the world. This is a very touching book with an interesting plot which I would recommend to everybody. Rating: 9/10

fahrenheit 451, by ray bradbury alex gilbert- 5/13/13 fahrenheit 451 (the temperature at which paper is burnt into flames) is a short novel about a dystopian future of america (which at this point is approximately the present since the book was written about 60 years ago), where technology is extremely advanced, and the government controls its people by eliminating the value of knowledge, encouraging thoughtless entertainment, and burning all the books- along with the houses in which the books are stored. the story focusses on guy montag, employed as a firemen who is not meant to put out fires, but to start fires that destroy books and the houses in which they are stored. as the plot develops, montag begins to realize the consequences of his society- consequences which he plays a large part in creating- and the story follows him on his journey of enlightenment and later revolutionary determination as he tries to save his society. while america is obviously not in the same dystopian state as the society in the book, there are many fighting similarities, and that future doesn't seem so far away. in seeing this society, there were many lessons to be learned about what we should change today, with many insightful messages laid throughout the dialogue, and this is what i liked most about the book. although it was a bit confusing eat the beginning, by the end of the story the message was loud and clear, and it seems that this book is almost a necessary read today in the society where such lessons as it taught are of high relevance. rating: 9/10


 * Shipbreaker by Paolo Bacigalupi**
 * alex gilbert**

ship breaker, is a fictional novel about a dystopian society, where a select few live rich and fly across the sea on clipper sail boats, while more live in the ship yards, scavenging old parts from the ancient oil tankers wrecked on the shore, fighting for dinner each day. nailer, the main character, is a teenage boy working on 'light crew' in the oil tankers, who one day finds a wrecked clipper nearby his beach. on the ship, nailer finds a a girl though, much more valuable than the entire ship. from then on, nailer goes on an adventure across the oceans to save this girl and bring her back to her family.throughout this adventure, nailer learned about loyalty, something scarce in his society, and friendship, and was able to escape his poor past, and begin a new life. while i didn't relate too much to this book, as it was quite far fetched from our current society, it was quite a fun and entertaining read, that i thought had few weaknesses. 10/10

this book is a dramatization of a real event that occurred in a high school in palo alto, california. the even is an experiment, that a high school teacher, in the book named mr. ross, does with his senior history class, to teach them about the events of wwii. after he has first explained to them about this event of history, they ask how it could have been allowed to happen. in response he creates a clip called the wave, with striking similarities to the nazi party. unfortunately, this club begins to go too far, and so to end it and teach the kids their lesson of not following leaders blindly, he reveals the similarities of the clubs to the naxi party. although the consequences of the experiment were much harsher than intended, the lesson that the students learned was huge and important. when reading this book, i found many positive things, namely that it was quite entertaining, but also that i learned a very good lesson- the same lesson that the students learned from doing the experiment. at first the book was a bit confusing, but towards the end, the lesson and the meaning became quite clear. 9/10
 * The Wave by Todd Strasser**
 * alex gilbert**


 * Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck**
 * alex gilbert**

This short novel, by John Steinbeck, is a classic, about two field workers on the ranches california, and their friendship, and the adventures caused by the condition of one of the pair- Lennie. Lennie is big and a great worker, but has the mind of a small child, while george, his best friend and often his caretaker, is small and lean and quick of wit. together they roam through california, looking for work so that they can pay for a dream house and farm up in the hills. but unfortunately, Lennie can't help but accidentally get himself into trouble, and because of this, Lennie and George are constantly on the run. in this book, you see them try for a final time on one of their jobs, a final attempt at achieving their dream, and see the difficulties of which they face. by reading this book, i learned a lot about the theme of friendship, the power of this, and how it can affect two people: as George's constant loyalty to Lennie was able to get the two of them close to their dream. I really enjoyed this book, as it was entertaining and touching, though i found the ending quite sad and unsatisfying. overall i rate this book a: 9/10


 * Al Capone Does My Shirts**
 * alex gilbert**

Al Capone Does My Shirts, is a good book, about a 13 year old boy named "Moose" living around 1935, who moves with his family to the island of Alcatras in the San Francisco bay. this is the same island which was built to hold the most high security prison in the entire country. the book tells about Moose's adventures on the island, and how he and his family cope with both living on the island built to hold a jail, and with Moose's older sister, who has a mental disease which makes her act as if she is only 10 years old. throughout the story, moose learns about responsibilty, as he must take care of his sister and survive on alcatraz all at once. my favorite part of the book was the humor which the author inserted through moose's first person narration, though I disliked that the beginning of the book (part 1) was a bit unconnected from the end (part 2). 9/10

this book is a fictional tale about two children, brother and sister, from southern america, who get stranded in the australian outback after their plane crashes on the way to their uncle's house in adelaide. soon after the crash, they meet a aborigine boy on his walkabout, and he helps them survive in the beautiful desert, until ultimately they are able to reach another settlement of western people. this book is a touching tale of friendship and overcoming adversity, and the lesson that the three children learned, was one that i was able to relate to in a very small way, as living in china, i can experience the inability of communication that the children faced. the beautiful imagery and interesting story in this book made it quite an enjoyable read, and i would suggest it to any type of reader. 10/10
 * Walkabout by james vance marshall**
 * alex gilbert**

The house on mango street, is a book of a series of short chapters written in beautiful prose, which come together to tell the story of ezparanza's (the maine character's) childhood. ezparanza, is a latino girl growing up in a poorer neighborhood of chicago. in the book, she tells of her struggles as a child in a family of 6, and with overcoming the challenges of life that she faces in the neighborhood and economic level in which she lives. i really enjoyed the beautiful language used in the book, the stories she told were quite interesting. 9/10
 * The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisner**
 * alex gilbert**

__Fahrenheit 451__ by Ray Bradbury Michael Chang Many people have described Ray Bradbury as a visionary because of the predictions in society and technology he made in his stories. Thankfully, our modern society is nothing like the world Bradbury describes in the dystopian novel __Fahrenheit 451__. The novel follows Guy Montag, a "fireman" of the future. In this parallel universe, knowledge and information are simplified to the point of nonexistence due to public ignorance and censorship. Firemen have no "traditional" purpose since all houses have been fireproofed, so their new task is to burn books. This symbolizes the ultimate irony of the story- everything is flipped around, society is backwards. Firemen start fires instead of putting them out, and people become lazy and complacent. Montag begins to realize how twisted the world is when he steals a book from a fire and reads it, gaining insight and knowledge. Montag escapes his jaded life, leaving behind his wife to try and make a change in society. He meets Faber, a professor, and works against the censorship and ignorance present in society. Even though __Fahrenheit 451__ is over fifty years old, it still carries a frightening amount of relevance in today's society- especially when TV and technology are becoming increasingly common, and many people haven't read books for enjoyment in years. People would be wise to heed the warnings Bradbury puts forth, and read __Fahrenheit 451__ to guard themselves and their rights to knowledge. Rating: 9/10

Harry potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling Kyle McGinley In Harry's Sixth year, Voldemort has returned to power. At this time Snape makes an unbreakable vow to protect Malfoy while he carries out his mission. This basically means that Snape has chosen the side of Voldemort. DUmbledore picks up harry and they recruit someone called Horace Slughorn. Harry overhears malfoy and thinks that Malfoy is a death eater. Harry gets a textbook that says it is from someone called the Half-blood prince. Harry later learns a lot about Voldemorts past, because Dumbledore thinks that it will help him when he goes face to face with the dark lord. Harry also learns that Voldemort has scatered his soul into seven horcruxes. Harry finds two of them, Tom riddle's diary and Marvolo's ring. Time passes and eventually Harry and Dumbledore go to find another horcrux, a locket. They go through many tricks and traps and Dumbledore even has to drink a poison along the way. Harry and dumbledore get back to hogwarts but death eaters greet them. The group of death eaters consists of Malfoy, Snape and some others. Malfoy tries to kill dumbledore, but lowers his wand. Snape however comes in to finish the job and kills dumbledore. Harry chases after snape trying to avenge dumbledore's death but snape escapes. Snape also reveals that he is in fact the Half blood prince just before he leaves. Harry figures out that the horcrux is not in fact a horcrux and only contains something that says RAB. Harry says that he will not be returning to hogwarts next year and will go out to look for the horcruxes. Ron and Hermoine join him and the book ends. This book is action packed and is much better than harry potter 5. It is also a turning point in the series where what gets bad gets even worse. Rating 9/10

**Blue Moon By: Marilyn Halvorson** **Oran Rahamim** This book is about all about horses. When the protagonist, Bobbie Jo, finds herself in an auction paying $690 for a blue roan horse. Though this horse is much older and not at all the type of horse Bobbie Jo was hoping to get, throughout the book, Bobbie Jo learns a lot about the horse her amazing qualities. While Bobbie Jo and her friend Cole train the horse for the race she grows a lot closer to the horse. They discover that the horse very obnoxious and surprisingly fast despite her age. Throughout the training process, they don’t only discover her qualities but also find her a name, Blue Moon. This name is given to the horse because of her breed (blue roan) and because of a white mark on her head that is shaped like a crescent moon. This book has a good ending, however, I think that if it would have been longer it could have been a lot better. I would recommend this book to everyone, especially people who like horses. Rating: 8/10

**The Burning Time By: Carol Matas** **Oran Rahamim** This book is set in the Renaissance Period in about the year 1605. Rose, a typical village girl, is left speechless after her father’s sudden death. When her mother (a very skilled healer) has been given all his land, his family objects. Every since then, they have been very cruel to her and her mom. In fact, the whole town has been jealous that every guy is trying to propose to Rose and her mom. After a lot of rejections, it seems as if everyone the have once loved has become their enemy. One day, a mysterious man comes to town and claims that there are witches in their town. Being a marvelous healer which, now, a lot of enemies, Rose’s mom fears that they would accuse her of being a witch. Therefore, she decides to run away with Rose. Unfortunately, they get caught and Rose’s mom is forced to stay in a prison cell until her torturous interrogation is over. In the mean time, Rose has to find a way to rescue her mom while at the same time save herself from any danger. This book has a lot of references to the Renaissance period, since some women back then were actually accused of being witches. This left a lot of women to die of torture. Also, this book refers a lot to the bible. For example, the story of Adam and Eve, claiming that women are always tempted by something, in this case the Devil (the master of all witches). This is a great and thrilling book with a lot of suspense which I would recommend to everyone. Rating: 10/10

Tommio Codere M. Angels and Demons is part of the Trilogy Dan Brown wrote. The protagonist is Robert Langdon, a religious symbolist at Harvard. The story starts out with him in bed, unable to sleep. The phone rings, and he is forced to answer the phone. There, Langdon speaks to Maximillian Kohler, the head of a secret lab. He tells Langdon that he needs to meet him, and sends out a plane for him to catch. Langdon soon arrives at the plane, and heads towards the lab, with supersonic speed from Boston to Switzerland in under an hour. When Langdon arrives, he is informed that a man known as Leonardo Vetra has been murdered in his lab. He and his daughter Victoria have been working on a secret project called 'antimatter' which is described as being the most dangerous bomb. The anti matter is now missing, and the sign of the Illuminati has been carved on Vetra's body. The carving is the main reason why Langdon was brought to the lab, to investigate why and how the killers put this sign on Vetra's body. Most of the story after shows us Langdon and Victoria, searching for the Anti matter and the killers of Vetra. We soon learn that the killers are trying to destroy the Vatican city with the Anti Matter, making it even more difficult to find with the limited amount of hours left. The story is filled with amazing turning points and great conflicts. The reader is also able to learn so many new things about the Illuminati and the Catholic Religion. The story is told from many points of views, not always being on Langdon, making the book even more interesting. I would recommend this book to almost any person who likes action-packed thrillers. Rating: 10/10
 * Angels And Demons: Dan Brown**

Tommio Codere M. Of Mice and Men is a book about friendship between George and Lennie. George, a short yet intelligent guy who is always helping out Lennie, a tall yet not so smart guy. They both however, have the same dream in having a farm on their own. The two men at the beginning of the story talk about their previous job at the 'Weed', and how they were trying to escape from it. Now, they were able to find a new home/work place set in California. There, they were to work as farmers. However, the story is mostly based upon the relationships that happen throughout their time there, not really on the work they did. Because of this, George must always help Lennie, who seems to get in trouble a lot from animals or by disturbing people. I really enjoyed the book, with conflicts and suspense frequently happening throughout the book. Also, the setting did not confuse me as it was mostly set at one place most of the time. Rating: 9/10
 * Of Mice and Men: John Steinbeck**

Tommio Codere M. Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher is a story about T.J, The Tao Jones, who is one of the many people throughout his small city in Washington who is colored. T.J was adopted by a couple because of his mother leaving him due to heavy use of drugs. However, throughout the book, we learn that T.J. has many positive characteristics. He was qualified for the Junior Olympics when he was 13 (swimming), and he hates bullies. His english teacher, Mr Simet, soon starts recognizing T.J's talent and wants him to start a swimming team. T.J. agree's, but only recruits 'socially rejected' kids throughout the school. This includes, Andy Mott, a guy who has a prosthetic leg, Simon Delong, a 300 pound kid, and Tay-Roy, a body builder with no swimming experience. There are also three others who joined the team because of being rejected socially. Throughout most of the book, the team becomes more then friends, and they share their feelings all together. T.J. also explains to them the meaning of 'whale talk', which is a metaphor for saying how humans fail to explain their feelings. The main goal for T.J. was to be able to win the letter jackets, which is the best award for athletics to achieve. If they are able to earn this award, all the jocks and bullies will be able to be humiliated, showing how much these kids can really become in life. I really enjoyed this book, as I do have many connections I have similar to T.J. There were also amazing yet really surprising turning points throughout the books. I would recommend this book to anyone, as I'm sure they will enjoy it as much as I did. Rating: 9/10
 * Whale Talk: Chris Crutcher**

Kyle McGinley The final book of the Harry Potter series starts off at malfoy manner, where Snape tells Voldemort that Harry is being moved so he can get him while he is moving. There is a battle and Mad-eye moody dies. Objects from Dumbledore are given to the trio from dumbledore's death. The weasleys have a wedding and the wedding gets attacked by death eaters. The trio learn that RAB was snape's younger brother who was a servant of voldemort and that he was the owner of the fake locket. They talk to the house elf Kreacher who tells them everything they need to know about the locket. They folow a trail and discover that Dolores Umbridge actually has the real locket. The trio disguises themselves as people from the ministry and steal the locket from Dolores. Harry and his friends look for the sword of Gryffindor because they can't destroy the horcruxes withount it. At around this time Ron leaves the trio because he is mad that they aren't getting anything done. Next they enter a house with a woman who was friends with dumbledore hoping to get the sword. She turns out to be long dead and is actually Voldemorts snake in disguise. They escape but Harry's wand is broken. A patronus leads harry to the sword of gryffindor, but harry almost dies. Ron comes to save him and Ron also destroys the locket. After the trio learn about the deathly hallows, which consist of the elder wand, the cloak of invisibility, and the resuerection stone. They get captured by voldemort and Hermoine gets tortured to tell a death eater (Beatrix) where the sword of gryffindor is. They all escape and Harry destroys another horcrux. Then Harry finds dumbledore's brother who takes them to Nevil and Harry orders the DA (dumbledore's army) to look for horcruxes. Harry sees Voldemort murder snape and Harry takes snape's memories. Harry learns that Snape isin't all that bad and that he was completely wrong about him. It turns out that snape loved his mother and that Harry's father was very mean to him. Harry also learns that Voldemort will have to kill him before Voldemort can be defeated. Voldemort kills him and he wakes up in a white train station. He talks to dumbledore and gets sent back to earth to defeat voldemort. He wakes up to find someone talking to him about if draco malfoy was alive or not. Harry says yes and gets carried back to the school assumed to be dead. Nevile kills Voldemorts snake while Harry follows Voldemort under the cloak of invisibility. Harry and Voldemort go into a duel and Harry wins. Harry returns the elder wand to where it came from. 19 years later Harry brings his kids to the hogwarts train giving a meaningful ending to the series. This book was incredibly long, but the series was worth the length. I give this book and a the series a high rating because of it's joy to read. Rating: 10/10
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows** by J.K. Rowling

__Slaughterhouse Five__ by Kurt Vonnegut Michael Chang __ Slaughterhouse Five __ is considered by many to be one of the most influential and important books of the 20th century, and with good reason. Within, Vonnegut tells the story of a man named Billy Pilgrim who has become "unstuck in time" - travelling back and forth to random points in his life. Pilgrim's story centers around his experience as a prisoner of war during the firebombing of Dresden in WWII, but travels to many other poignant moments in his life as well. While the plot and premise will initially seem disjointed and confused, I quickly realized that despite its seemingly nonexistent organization, __Slaughterhouse Five__ was one of the most beautifully organized and powerful books I have ever read. Vonnegut links together moments years apart in Pilgrim's life and ties them together very well, expressing themes about the nature of life, fate, and war, among other things. Many areas of the book are surreal, such as Pilgrim's abduction by aliens from the planet Tralfamadore and his journeys through time. However, the finality and bluntness of Vonnegut's writing style feel very grounded in reality, and the style Vonnegut uses in this book is one of my favorites. Overall, __Slaughterhouse Five__ has it all- an alluring voice and writing style, an interesting (if not confusing) plotline, and deep themes regarding humanity. I would absolutely recommend this book to anyone looking for a deep read. Rating: 10/10

__I Am the Cheese__ by Robert Cormier Michael Chang I read yet another book with disjointed narration, this time __I Am the Cheese__ by Robert Cormier (this particular narration style is getting a bit old now.) __I Am the Cheese__ follows the young Adam Farmer as he searches for his father. The book grows more sinister and desperate throughout, and Adam gradually realizes that his life is not what he thought it was. The narration features alternating perspectives, interspersing Adam's journey with transcribed interview sessions between Adam and a psychiatrist/doctor. As Adam experiences revelations about his past, he finally concludes that he is "the cheese" - the one who is all alone, with nothing of his own to take. I would almost say this is a coming of age story- Adam realizes who he is and at the end finally accepts that he is alone in the world. The writing and ideas in this book are beautiful, and the plot is thrilling, but the story ends on a very dark note. I wouldn't recommend this to people looking for a happy read due to its grim ending and plot, but this is absolutely a great book to read. Rating: 9/10

__Catch-22__ by Joseph Heller Michael Chang I must have read at least ten books on WWII this year alone, and each novel has given me a very different view. __Catch-22__ by Joseph Heller was no exception, following Air Force Captain Yossarian and his fellow squadmates and their experiences as bomber pilots in WWII. The story of Yossarian and his fellow soldiers is told through a series of disjointed events that further develop each character and expand the plot, almost like a big puzzle full of rich, interesting, dark, and humorous stories. __Catch-22__ excels at developing its characters, with each having their own unique and interesting personality- cowardly Yossarian, impish Orr, the unsympathetic Doc Daneeka, and many other humorous and quirky characters add color and empathy to the story. The plot primarily centers around the paranoid Yossarian, his missions, and his increasingly desperate attempts to be grounded from active service. Like all other WWII books, __Catch-22__ features many themes about the nature of war and man, interspersed with dark humor and sarcasm. Many clever wordplays and devices are used to great effect, including the titular "Catch-22" that states any soldier sane enough to request suspension from duty due to insanity is sane enough to continue service, thus forcing all soldiers into continuous service for an indefinite period. This can often be applied on a thematic scale to the situations of many characters within the novel. __Catch-22__ is an extremely clever, dark, and witty book that offers a fresh perspective on war. I would highly recommend this to anyone looking for a humorous, advanced-level book. Rating: 9/10

__Animal Farm__ by George Orwell Michael Chang Since __Animal Farm__ was not covered in the layered curriculum we did for our second semester novel studies, I chose to do a report on it here instead. __Animal Farm__ is an allegorical novel detailing the "revolution" of farm animals, who subsequently form an autonomous system of governance on the farm that quickly devolves into a crude dictatorship. It was meant to mirror the Soviet Revolution in Russia and the formation of the Soviet Union, particularly satirizing the actions of Communist leader figures such as Stalin and Trotsky. The majority of farm animals are depicted as ignorant and unaware: the proletariat mass in the allegory. The more intelligent pigs gradually begin to act as dictators, giving themselves unfair benefits and misdirecting other animals. Through __Animal Farm__, Orwell warns readers not to become complacent or unquestioning, much like the figurative or literal "sheep" in the story. Much like other political and satirical novels from similarly turbulent time periods, __Animal Farm__ still finds relevance in the increasingly simplified and streamlined society of today. This novel is an absolute staple of satire and allegory, and a must-read for any student of literature, english, or even history. Rating: 10/10

__Breakfast of Champions__ by Kurt Vonnegut Michael Chang After reading Vonnegut's __Slaughterhouse Five__, I decided to read another Vonnegut novel to see if his writing was as consistently great as I thought. __Breakfast of Champions__ follows Kilgore Trout, a minor character in __Slaughterhouse Five__, and a seemingly normal but inwardly insane millionaire named Dwayne Hoover. Trout is an extremely obscure author of science fiction whose work inspires Hoover to go on a mad spree of violence, convinced that everyone around him is a robot. In this work, Vonnegut heavily satirizes American culture and the hedonistic and unrealistic American ideals are. Sarcasm and Vonnegut's trademark matter-of-fact writing voice are in full force throughout the novel, which is a welcome sight. Vonnegut also adds small illustrations to add to his points, which are often humorous or vulgar in nature. While I did not enjoy __Breakfast of Champions__ nearly as much as I did __Slaughterhouse Five__, I still enjoyed the characters of Trout and Hoover and the way Vonnegut wrote and developed their characters, as well as the satirical criticism of America, which I found spot-on. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoyed Vonnegut's previous works or is a fan of satirical/humorous writing. Rating: 9/10

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson Tommy Lee Treasure Island is a award winning book that can be called as my favorite book. This book is my favorite book because I like book that has sea-sailing adventure books. Jim is a young boy from england. He joins a crew of pirates to sail for treasure. After landing in a island, he runs into a guy called, " Ben". He was in the Flint's crew, but marooned long time ago. Jim has seen a sailor murdered because he refused to join mutiny. Jim finds ben's boat. Feared, he sails out alone on the boat. Luckily, he does not get caught. This book is fun to read. Its a book that I recommend.

Rating: 9/10

The Giver by Lois Lowry Tommy Lee This book is a about a teen boy who encounters a inevitable destiny. Jonas is a young boy that lives his teenage life with his family. There is a ceremony every year, called the Ceremony of Twelve. When the young citizens, turn twelve, they get a life long job assigned. When Jonas turns twelve, he turns twelve, he gets his job, called the Receiver. Receiver is a job who gets memories from the Giver. After the assigning of the Receiver, he looks out the world differently. He sees his dad kill a baby. In the world he have lived, he have decided to run off. This book is actually awesome. It is a easy book to read, so feel free to take a look when you're bored.

Rate: 9.8/10

A Step from Heaven by An Na Tommy Lee 7.7/10 This book is about a young girl Korean girl that has moved to the states when she was 5. A korean girl who struggles to fit in the American society. Life in America was not was she dreamed of. It was different. Her family, her father, her mother. Abuse. After her father's drinking increased because of his job problem, her father comes home, physically abuses her mother. She sees the bruises that her mother has, and she starts to stand up. This book is very soft and warm. This book made me rlly depressed after reading it. This book is really interesting because, nowadays, a lot of Korean kids move to a foreign country to study. They struggle to fit in, and they all end up missing their home country.

Rating: 7/10