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4 stars for Red Queen

I When I first started reading the Red Queen it started off really slow, but when the story started going I couldn’t set the book down. It was full of twists and turns that held my attention towards the end. They left us a little surprise at the end.

I think they did really good when describing the powers different people and I love how they showed the effects that the Silvers had on the Reds. This is a great book to hand out to students, friends, and family.

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A Dog’s Purpose made me look at my dog differently. I am constantly thinking from my dog’s perspective now; wondering what he is thinking and feeling and trying to figure it out. I  absolutely love how this story is told from the dog’s perspective and the way the author writes is so realistic. The hard part about this book getting attached to the dog, so couldn’t help myself from crying when the dog died. But, at the end of each life the dog is reincarnated and returns as a different dog with the memories of his past lives. This book is different from other dog books though because throughout each life the dog always asked himself “Why am I here?” and “What is my purpose?” which is something we as humans also wonder.

Sydney Hardy
Hour: 1

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This is really complex book that relates to racism towards young african american boys. It also deals with maybe an even bigger problem, Police brutality. But not just regular, police brutality towards a different race. It gives you a point of view from a innocent african american boy named rashad. He was getting some snacks for a party and tripped over a woman and the clerk thought he was stealing and then a police officer nearby pulled rashad outside and accused him of resisting, he beat him out side the store brutality, it made me sick to my stomach just reading about it. He was initally brought to the police station but then he was wheeled off to a hospital.

the book explains modern day struggles of the african american lifestyle. But it also shows the perspective of a school peer, Quinn. Not only does it provide an alternate outlook but and alternate storyline, quinn was family friends with the police officer who disgusting brutalized rashad. Quinn view added what it  was likeat school after, what it was like on the basketball team, but the biggest impact quinn had was that he saw rashad get abused, he witnessed the innocent school buddy get totally accused and beat on the sidewalk, the hate in the officers eyes, there ws no justice and the story is a truly astonishing tale, i would recommend it to people who struggle with racism or even discrimination, it really gives you a different view on life, it made me appreciate all that i had and at times i was even uncomfortable reading it, it is a amazing book, 5 star recommendation.

Jayden Kelly-Gilchrist
First Hour

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A book i loved that i’ve read is Wonder by R.J. Palacio. It’s the type of book that will make you want to think twice on the type of things you say and what person you want to be when it comes to sticking up in a situation. Wonder will give you give mixed emotions while reading it. It will make you laugh, smile, and cry. At the end of reading this book you will have and endless amount of hope.

August is the main character in this book and he has an abnormal face. For 2 years Auggie wore an astronaut helmet so that no one would be able to see his face. It's not like kind of face that only a mother could love, in fact it's the kind of face that everyone loves. Auggie is a very special personal and someone that many people should look up to.

Auggie was never enrolled in a regular school due to all the times he needed surgery on his face to correct his differences. Auggie was homeschooled by his mother until Auggie was supposed to go into Middle School. His parents thought at this time, it would be easy for Auggie to transition into school since he won't be the only new kid in school. Auggie agreed to go to school, but he knew that he would be the odd man out.

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I loved reading The Living. To me it was a great book and constantly kept me on my toes. The author talks about their romantic lives, but doesn’t go to in depth with it. Shy, the main character, changes dramatically throughout the book. He starts off being a shy, quiet kid that only has a couple of friends. But when the tsunami strikes he becomes a leader and saves as many people on the ship that he could.
I thought it was very interesting how this company made a vaccine for a disease and then made the actual disease, which led for a great plot twist.
This book has great imagery which really helps because I can picture the whole thing in my head. Overall this is a great book that I would recommend to many young adults.

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I read the lord of the Flies in 8th grade I thought it was a pretty good book from the standpoint of its genre I am not much of a fiction guy but as I read on I started to like it more it had comedy and serious moments. Anyways the Lord of the flies takes place on an island at the brink of World War 2 a bunch of kids got stranded on this Island and the kids had to fend for themselves as the book went on the kids tried to construct order with them but it went wrong and the kids separated into 2 “Gangs” and they started to fight each other while trying to survive group 1 was called the conch because they hunted pigs and used a conch to group them up. The other group hunted the others. They would try and hurt the conchs. In the end of the book 2 kids died and they were all rescued by a passing naval boat.

What I did not like: I did not like some other characters because of the they started it and developed.

I would definitely recommend this book to ages 10-14 because if you like fictional adventure you will like this book.

Ryan Kleber 1st Hour Bannon

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Wow, I don’t even know where to start with this book, in my opinion, it was absolutely amazing. The fault in our stars is about a 16 year old girl named Hazel Grace Lancaster who has taken on the burden of stage four terminal lung cancer. Hazel meets a cancer survivor named Augustus waters at a support group and makes an instant connection. Augustus soon becomes a big part of hazels life and the two of them take on a roller coaster of ups and downs that will make them both laugh and cry.

The thing I love about this book the most is the characters. Right away, I fell in love with both Hazel and Augustus, and I felt a connection on a deeper more vulnerable level. The two have similar personalities, so they understand and relate to each other very well and I think that really makes the book!

The fault in our stars is heartbreaking, inspiring, amazing, breathtaking, and an overall incredible book. It is very well written so its not choppy and confusing like some books. If i’m being completely honest, it is the best book i've ever read and would not recommend any other book for someone who is looking for a good read.

- Gracie Asanovich
hour:2
rate: *****

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Wonder is a book that it filled with complex characters and is really a nailbiter. It really hooks the reader, it is filled with suspense, humor, lots of amusement too, but it can get emotional at some times. It is written brilliantly and the author made the story flow perfectly in pace and with plot structure, making sure the events are spread out well leading to the climax and following the climax. The theme of the story, “Who we are”,  is powerful and is easy to understand. In the story often times Auggie gets ignored and bullied because his face is deformed and looks different. But the few that look at Auggie’s heart instead of his face know that Auggie is just like them on the inside, funny and smart. The theme of “Who we are” is showing that everyone is the same and just because you look different from everyone doesn’t mean you are.

This book takes is a non-fiction attention grabbing story taking place in the real world in present time. The setting is laid out so perfectly and vividly that you can make a movie out of it in your head, and the author uses descriptive yet colorful words to piece everything together brilliantly. The author of Wonder, R.J. Palacio, draws the readers into the setting by making Auggie, the main character, be affected by his surroundings and making the setting have a main position throughout the story.

Character development in Wonder is amazing, it really takes you inside everyone's lives and shows their personality strongly throughout the story. Auggie, the main character and protagonist, faces a lot of bullying his first year of going to real school because of his facial deformities. Auggie is a likeable and funny kid that connects great with other when they actually associate with him. Auggie was personally my favorite character because of his bravery and strength he has throughout the story facing all of the issues that come across him, especially when he gets bullied by Julian. Julian was the antagonist of the story, he would out Auggie down every day, but in real life Julian does not have a very good family life. His parents are extremely strict and try to raise him to be perfect, but Julian gets very stressed and takes it out on Auggie to make himself feel better.

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Plot: Imagine that you are a 13 year old child, whose parents just divorced, and you’re in a plane to visit your father. the pilot has a heart attack and dies. What do you do? Try to steer the wheel? But you have no idea how to fly an airplane. So you crash into the wilderness. With no one with you. Just you and yourself. This is what Brian Robeson had to go through in the first few pages. For the rest of the book we watch how he survives and becomes a different person.

Thoughts: I always loved books and movies about survival. They interest me and keep me hooked. This books is no exception. From the first few pages the end of the book I loved this book. Even though is got repetitive at times. The book still kept me hooked all the way. I enjoyed how it taught the reader things about life during the book.

Recommandations: I would recommend this book for all genders who is interested in the survival aspect. Around kids in the age group of 9-14 years old. Would recommend!

Ryan Sajulga
Hr. 2

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The Secret Life of Bees is a great story. The main character Lily is very hard to interpret because she says that she wants to tell the truth but she keeps lying. I really liked that because it kept me guessing throughout the story.

I feel like the book starts out slow, like every book, and then it really picks up. I usually don’t read books a lot out of school but I did for this book. I think anyone over 7th grade would love the book because lots of people can connect. There is some racism and older people experienced that more and there is also some romance in it as well so younger people could like it as well.

If you read alice sebold's books then you should love this book because they have the same writing style.

The last thing I have to say about the book is that it is overall a great book because it flows really nicely and the timing of when certain events makes the book really fun to read.

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All American Boys (Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely)

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All American Boys (Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely)

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The book “All American Boys” by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely is a great story told from two perspectives. The first perspective is from a boy named Rashad Butler who is brutally beaten by a cop outside of a convenience store because he is black. The second is from another boy named Quinn Collins who witnessed the beating from outside of the convenience store and realized that the police man is a family friend of his.

A great thing that Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely did is create an interesting realistic fiction with references to the real world. For example, near the end, they talk about people who were unarmed and killed by police “This is a roll call...RAMARLEY GRAHAM!” She paused, and at that point the rest of us knew exactly what to do. “Absent again today!”...“MICHAEL BROWN!” “Absent again today!” “TAMIR RICE!” “Absent again today!”...“Absent again today!” And Spoony kept feeding Berry the papers, one after another, as she continued to read down the list of unarmed black people killed by the police.” One thing that could have been improved (There isn’t many) is how it feels like there are some unnecessary characters in the story who can confuse the plot for readers.

I think that people could read this book and learn something from it. It has a good lesson and outlook on tricky topics like police brutality. Would not recommend it for younger children.

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A book that i’ve never really understood to be so successful was Diary of a Wimpy Kid. For this review I’ll talking about the first book of the series. Diary of a Wimpy Kid is a story about Greg Heffley who lives a pretty rough life. He lives with two brothers and his parents. He is constantly getting harassed by his older brother and annoyed by his younger one. What I find to be “interesting” about the story was that it’s basically about anyone with siblings life. Meaning that almost anyone could write a story like this. It can also be a Pro too being that it can be relatable to a lot of the readers. Most of the time the Characters like Rowley Jefferson give off super cheesy jokes that only younger readers would laugh about if they weren’t young already. Given that the story doesn’t have a big age group making the only readers up to 12 years old.

I have to say though the story did have a good structure and made it easy to read and understand. The story also allowed readers to understand what date each page would be dated on given that the chapters were different dates. From the story I didn’t see a overall theme. If there was it wasn’t a good one. Greg Heffley constantly got into trouble with others, along with trying to get rid of his closest friend Rowley in exchange to be popular. Overall Diary of a Wimpy Kid and the whole series will never make total sense to me.

Anders Larsen

Bannon Hr 2

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The book Legend by Marie Lu is a strong and powerful story. As you read the story you fall in love with the characters and their backgrounds. While not over explaining, the author did an amazing job of giving detail about the characters and how they connect to each other in the plot. The story switches point of view between the two main characters every chapter so you can tell how they feel and what other characters think about them. This creates  a little bit of mystery and drama that makes it difficult to put the book down.

They story takes place in the United States years and years in what we would call our future. The story doesn’t include a Sci-Fi future but it does have many changes in how the country is ran. There is something new about each page that pull the whole story together at the end. One thing I didn't realize I love  about this book is you have no expectations about the end because you get so into the plot line.

I would recommend this book to people who want to fall in love with characters and also are okay with reading the second and third books. The book makes you want to continue so if you love series I definitely recommend this one. Many people I know have loved this book and both boy and girls can attach to the characters and want to keep reading more. Legend also  has every other chapter called June and Day after the two main characters so if you do not enjoy knowing what the main idea of each chapter will be about that is something to keep in mind. Also this story doesn’t pick up until chapter 2 or 3 so I would give up to chapter 5 or 6 a chance before deciding you do or don’t enjoy the story. Overall I highly recommend this book because of the emotional connection and the amount of tragic and happiness and confusion that occurs. I believe this book deserve five out of five stars because of the characters and intense plot line.

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This is where it ends By Marieke Nijkamp

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This is where it ends By Marieke Nijkamp

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This is where it ends was a good book overall. I didn’t get that engaged in it. It picked up right away but it was drawn out. The characters were very interesting but it is was hard to keep track of them because the story was told from multiple different points of view. There was little plots going on that were developed in the past that contributed to the main plot. If you like real life books this book is for you.

Emma Olson
Hr.3

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The Book The best of me By Nicholas Sparks is rated 4-5 stars, because it was most definitely a tear jerker but i just always feel cheated by the end of the book because he has such good romance novels but then at the end there is no happily ever after. I like how he always has amazing descriptions such as ““Being together isn’t about a honeymoon. It’s about the real you and me. I want to wake up with you beside me in the mornings, I want to spend my evenings looking at you across the dinner table. I want to share every mundane detail of my day with you and hear every detail of yours. I want to laugh with you and fall asleep with you in my arms. Because you aren’t just someone I loved back then. You were my best friend, my best self, and I can’t imagine giving that up again… You might not understand but I gave you the best of me, and after you left nothing was ever the same.. I know you’re afraid, and I’m afraid too. But if we let this go, if we pretend none of this ever happened, then I’m not sure we’ll ever get another chance. We’re still young. We still have time to make this right…We still have the rest of our lives.” this example just gives you some feelings, and you feel as if they could be true, or feel as if you were in the situation. So over all this is a really good book and i recommend you to read it, it ends resolved so in other words it aint a cliff hanger.
Prairie Prouty Hr. 2

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The book Legend by Marie Lu is a strong and powerful story. As you read the story you fall in love with the characters and their backgrounds. While not over explaining, the author did an amazing job of giving detail about the characters and how they connect to each other in the plot. The story switches point of view between the two main characters every chapter so you can tell how they feel and what other characters think about them. This creates  a little bit of mystery and drama that makes it difficult to put the book down.

They story takes place in the United States years and years in what we would call our future. The story doesn’t include a Sci-Fi future but it does have many changes in how the country is ran. There is something new about each page that pull the whole story together at the end. One thing I didn't realize I love  about this book is you have no expectations about the end because you get so into the plot line.

I would recommend this book to people who want to fall in love with characters and also are okay with reading the second and third books. The book makes you want to continue so if you love series I definitely recommend this one. Many people I know have loved this book and both boy and girls can attach to the characters and want to keep reading more. Legend also  has every other chapter called June and Day after the two main characters so if you do not enjoy knowing what the main idea of each chapter will be about that is something to keep in mind. Also this story doesn’t pick up until chapter 2 or 3 so I would give up to chapter 5 or 6 a chance before deciding you do or don’t enjoy the story. Overall I highly recommend this book because of the emotional connection and the amount of tragic and happiness and confusion that occurs. I believe this book deserve five out of five stars because of the characters and intense plot line.

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If you watched the movie and loved it or is just trying to find a good book in general, I definitely recommend this book for you! The movie and book has almost the exact storeline, maybe a few more or less details but overall it’s a similar story. Characters are the same and so is the setting, plot, and theme.

Genre: Young adult fiction. Plot: Everything Everything is a book about a girl who is too sick to leave home or else she would die. She does online school and loves reading books. Her dream was for only one whole day to visit the beach. As you read into it more there’s a boy who moves in next door with his family. His parents aren’t in such a good situation. Throughout the story both characters get closer and she decides to fly to hawaii with him. Things then start falling off cliff from that moment on.The rest is yours to find out!

Theme: There could honestly be many themes for this book, but in my opinion I think the theme is true love. Love wouldn’t be true if you didn’t risk your life to be with someone. The main character risked her life of dying to leave to hawaii with the one she loves. She knew he was worth her life and took the risk. I think that’s called true love.

Rate: 5/5

Lily Vang Hr.2

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Paper Towns by John Green:

When I read the reviews for the book, they were very mixed. Some people really liked the book and others found it slow and boring. I do have to agree some parts were slow and could use more action, however, overall I thought the book had a good message and plot. The beginning had good detail, but the third or fourth chapter started to get boring. Although it was boring, when I finished the book I realized it was crucial details you need.

Summary:

The main Character “Q” has a new      neighbor. Margo has just moved in. When they go and explore a dead body in the park, they are only kids. As the years go on, they drift apart and stop talking. When high school starts, Margo finds details out about her boyfriend. When she finds these things out, she knows she has to get revenge. She sneaks into Q’s bedroom window and asks for his help. The day they plan to get revenge, Margo goes missing. She leaves clues around to help people find her. Most of the book is Q and his friends trying to find her.

Characters:

Margo sometimes has a negative attitude and doesn't set a good example for teens who read this book. For example:
"It’s a paper town…all those paper people living in their paper houses, burning the future to stay warm…Everyone demented with the mania of owning things…I’ve lived here for eighteen years and I have never once in my life come across anyone who cares about anything that matters."

Margo (p.63)

Q is a good character and sets a good example for kids who read this book.For example:

“It is easy to forget how full the world is of people, full to bursting, and each of them imaginable and consistently misimagined.”

Quentin (p.257)

I think when kids read books, they look up to how the character act and sometimes they can influence someone and how they act.

This book is a lot like other John Green books, and sometimes his writing style can get boring. Overall the book was good and was interesting and had a good plot. The main theme of the book was unclear but one of the small lessons it talked about ways people can change and how you shouldn’t judge people as they appear.

Overall, I would give this book 3 stars.

Kendal Jones/ Hour 1

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I would definitely give this book a ***** ,I read this book last year but would never forget it. I am not a big reader but this book kept me reading everyday I would go home and we were supposed to read but it didn't even feel like homework because it was so good.

This book is about a boy who is born in the projects, which is a rough area and  the only way out is become a gang member or somehow get an education, then get a job, which is really hard. He is very smart, and he is smart enough to stay in school, but all of his friends choose the gang. He gets invited to a private school for smarter kids because the education at his school isn’t as good. With his family starving he has to decide school, or gang. This book goes through what it is like in those rougher areas, which made it even better.

Tyler Bjugan/1

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The Radius of Us (By: Marie F. Marquardt)

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The Radius of Us (By: Marie F. Marquardt)

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The Radius of US

By: Marie F. Marquardt

Realistic Fiction/YA

The Radius of Us is a compelling story of tragedy and rising above it, reincarnating, like a phoenix from the ashes.

Writing Structure

The book starts out rather slow and doesn’t really speed up much. Please don’t let that fool you because the journey is well worth it!

Character Development

Told from a parallel narrative, this story gives you an overall feeling of the characters. The main characters Gretchen and Phoenix, come from two different worlds.

There are things I liked about the book. For instance, Gretchen seems like a normal suburban girl, who’s lost her marbles. Phoenix seems like another asylum seeking immigrant. Then, you read further and want to kick yourself because you just judged two of the strongest people you’ll ever meet. As the story progresses, Gretchen and Phoenix learn how to trust again. This book takes you on an emotional journey that will leave you forever changed.

There are things I didn’t like about the book as well. The pace made it seem like it took longer to read, than it did. At times, Phoenix spoke Spanish without any context and I didn’t know what he was saying, so I had to look it up. As I wrote, the pace is slower and that makes it slightly less appealing to read.

Plot

There are some more mature topics in this book. It takes place in Georgia in modern time. I absolutely don’t think of immigrants as I wrote up there, that is how the neighbors in Phoenix neighborhood feel. Writing the setting in Georgia added a certain aspect of racism, but it was necessary to capture the unfortunate truth; Some people look down on other people of different races.

Recommendations

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes real, sad, honest, perseverance, and emotional books. The Radius of Us is similar to Holding Up The Universe by Jennifer Niven and Every Last Word by Tamara Ireland Stone.

Destiny Reuvers 1st Hour

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“Wild Embers” is full of beautiful poems mainly reflected towards young women and each of them talk about feeling confident and comfortable in your own skin, allowing yourself to heal and to embrace your differences and uniqueness with love. Some of Gill’s poems feature rewritten fairy tales including ‘Sleeping Beauty’, ‘Belle’, ‘Ariel’, ‘Snow White’, ‘Cinderella’, ‘Little Red Riding Hood’, and ‘Alice in Wonderland’. Other poems include wisdom from goddesses featuring, ‘Athena’, ‘Persephone’, ‘Hera’, and ‘Demeter’.
My personal favorite quote in this book is an excerpt from ‘Anger’; “If you hold it inside your ribcage too long, it will take your tongue prisoner when you least expect it

and terrorise everyone you love....channel it, find a way to let it out. Cry, dance, sing, build, create,

do everything you can to give it a way out. Take everything that tries to destroy you, curse you,and turn it  into something beautiful by incantation.”

This book does a beautiful way of giving advice of what not to do, but always finishing with what to do. If you did or even didn’t enjoy “Milk and Honey”, you WILL enjoy this book. “Wild Embers” focuses not on traumatic experiences, but on feminism and standing up for young women and how we should be equal to men. As far as grammar and vocabulary, Gill exceeded my expectations. There were many inquisitive words that intrigued me and made the topic she was talking about stand out more and be recognized more deeply.

The only thing that I disliked was how Gill’s talks about evolution and how the world and humans came to be. I strongly believe in Christianity and reading the first 15 pages, I was cautious, but it is really worth reading and doesn’t focus on evolution.

Emma Duzan/2nd Hour

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'The Start of Me and You' was a wonderful story revealing the journey between a girl and her struggle to fit in and face her fears. The story had amazing word choice as well as the theme and plot that fit together excellently. I was on my toes constantly trying to keep up with the characters that kept the book vivid and special. Paige’s adventure to try and face her fear of swimming that was caused by her ex-boyfriends death and balancing joining a new club with the new guy in school, is really exciting to read especially with the help of her friends and family guiding her along the way. You are able to see not only her grow, but all of her friends as well. In the beginning, one of Paige’s friends, Tessa is afraid to come out but throughout the story as Paige grows stronger, so does Tessa. The theme of the story was definitely one revolving around strength and you can certainly see the plot and theme work together, and it was written beautifully. I give this book a 4.5/5 stars because it was such a fun read that shows true strength and is beautiful with every word written. If you like books revolving around quirky moments and strength, this book is for you.
(Izzy Hohbein, Hour 2)

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I read this book in 8th grade and I absolutely loved it. Before I hated reading until my favorite teacher recommended this book and it has changed reading for me.

The Outsiders is about two social classes in the town of Tulsa Oklahoma. The socs live on the north side of the tracks. They are very privileged and always going after the greasers. The greasers are on the south side of the tracks and don’t have a steady income all the time. The two gangs are always clashing to keep their brothers close as well as fighting to figure out there place in the world is.

Jillian Bossert (hour 1)

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Make the book and author name your post title. Then copy and paste the review you wrote into this space! Finally, attach an image of the book cover.

YOUR NAME / HOUR (Be sure to add your name & hour at the end!)