# data[].attributes.body
The Glass Castle is written from the point of view of Jeannette Walls, particularly from her childhood and upbringing.  The memoir begins with a story from Walls’s childhood, which details Jeannette accidentally setting herself on fire when she was two years old.  After the incident, Jeannette’s parents let her continue to do the activity that set her on fire in the first place in an attempt to show her to never be afraid and to be self-sufficient.  The novel then recounts various instances from her upbringing in the American southwest, which often includes instances of her parents abruptly moving houses in order to avoid paying bills.  Walls recounts that her time in the desert was full of wonder and curiosity, imagination and play.  She tells of her alcoholic father, who loved Jeannette, and her peculiar mother, who showed less affection towards Jeanette than her father.  Eventually, after a period of neglect and abuse, the Walls family moves to a small Appalachian town to live with her father’s parents.  While in the mountains, she and her siblings experience abuse at the hands of their father’s relatives, especially their grandmother Erma.  The family moves into their own home, but it soon falls into disrepair and the children are forced to dig for scraps at school.  Because of this, they are bullied by the other students.  After several years, however, Jeannette works her way to become a respected photographer and editor for the school newspaper.  After a long period of her father being gone at bars and getting drunk, Jeannette’s older sister, Lori, decides to save up money and go to live in New York City.  Jeannette and her brother Brian help Lori, and she eventually makes her way to New York.  Jeannette follows suit, as does Brian and their youngest sister, Maureen.  In New York, Jeannette finds a job and eventually gets her own apartment.  Much to her chagrin, her parents moved to New York themselves and live in a run-down, abandoned apartment.  Several years pass, and Jeannette finally feels reconciled with her parents.  One day, she is called to her parents apartment, where she learns that her father is about to die.  He passes while in the hospital, and the Walls family goes their separate ways.  Many more years later, Jeannette, Brian, and Lori all have families, and they have a Thanksgiving dinner at Jeannette’s house with their mother.  Jeannette’s husband, after hearing stories of Jeannette’s father, declares a toast in his name, to which the novel ends.

While reading the memoir, there were several moments where I had to stop and collect my thoughts.  One of which was when Jeannette, now in college, tells her professor that some people choose to be poor.  Her professor disagrees and attempts to debate with her, but Jeannette retreats in order to escape attention.  This brought up that one can never truly know the extent of another person’s own experience and past sufferings.  There was also a moment where Jeannette is bullied by a black girl from school, but after helping out another child the girl befriends Jeannette.  Several years later, the girl is arrested for stabbing her stepfather to death, who is implied to have raped the young girl.  This brought up the overall theme of child poverty and abuse, and the effect it can have on children.  I enjoyed the book, and it opened my eyes to the issue of poverty and its prevalence in America.  I would recommend this novel to anyone who wants to read about poverty, or just anyone looking for a good book to sit down and read before bed.

# data[].attributes.body
Avalanche Pass

The book Avalanche Pass by John Flanagan takes place in Utah at a ski resort in the middle of nowhere. After recovering from a serious injury the previous ski season, Jessie, the main character, is back and ready to ski. One morning while Jessie was out skiing, the resort and roughly 100 guests and employees were taken hostage by an unknown terror group. Jessie, being an undercover cop, discovered the terrorists were holding the guests hostage at the resort when he saw a bus full of many guests leaving the resort and a charge set off by the terrorists buried the bus by an avalanche. He went to his car to get his gun and phone. He devised a plan to try to defeat the terrorists which included sneaking inside and speaking to a hostage who happened to be an ex-marine. Jessie called the police and warned them about what was happening at the resort. He told them not to come or all the guests would be killed because the terrorists had machine guns and missiles. They surrounded the resort at a distance and attempted negotiating with the terrorists but that did not work. At the same time, two of the hostages overtook a few of the terrorists, grabbed their guns and barricaded themselves in the gym. This distracted the other terrorists and created a perfect time for the police and marines to storm the building and defeat the terrorists.

I enjoyed this book because it was full of action and seemed like a more realistic hostage situation because not everyone lived. By having a person on the inside helping Jessie to defeat the terrorists, this made the story more exciting.

I recommend this book to people who enjoy action, danger and the unexpected

# data[].attributes.body
In the book Lost by Zachary Chastain, there are many survival tips and skills that could save your life if you are endangered. The book covers topics like staying warm, navigation, and health and how to do so depending where you are. Gary Benton talks about his experience fighting cold bitter weather on page 28 and what he did was dig a small hole the size of his body and insulated it to keep from getting hypothermia.  Another tip Chastain talks about, on page 79, that tree branches can be used to make a shelter if you are lost in the woods. Also on page 81, Chastain talks about when you’re lost you should stop and build a fire.

I really enjoyed the narration because it was easy for me to understand; I also really liked the context because it was written in such a way that I didn’t want to stop reading. I would recommend this book to people that like to spend their time outdoors and in the wilderness.

# data[].attributes.body
In the book Woods Runner by Gary Paulsen there is a lot of adventure.  There is a family living in a small community with two parents and a very enthusiastic boy, Samuel. The boy is deep in the woods one day hunting for his family and enjoying the wildlife. When he reaches the top of a hill he notices that there is smoke in the air, he knew his mom was going to be cooking over the fire, but there was too much smoke for that small of a fire. He runs as fast as he can to get home only to find that the hole community’s was burnt to the ground, and bodies on the ground, but he couldn’t find his parents. After he looks everywhere, he finds footprints leading to the next village. He gets on their trail, and he suddenly finds the next village burnt like his was with only 1 man alive. He gets on the trail again, and after a long walk he finds the group sitting around a fire as he is looking he sees his parents locked up in a cage. Out of nowhere her heard gunshots, so he got behind a tree, only to find two of the bad guys he raised his gun and shot one, but the other one knocked him out cold. He woke up in a camp with others. He noticed they were good, but he was no longer by his parents. He ate and traveled with the group for a little bit, then eventually he left to get back on the trail to his parents. As he is on the trail he finds a girl alone and he will protect her. She tells him that his parents are in New York City, so that’s where they head. After long travels they make it into New York and with a little help they get Samuel’s parents to safety, and at the end of the book the family adopts the little girl. They are all happily living together back in a save home at the end of the book.

I recommend the book Woods Runner to anyone that likes to be outdoors and that enjoys adventure. I thought this book was very entertaining and always excited to see what would happen next.

# data[].attributes.body
This book is about a town in the middle of nowhere, and these people found a town with a bunch of dead people. Then they send a van with a bunch of equipment in it to go investigate,  Then the two people in the van disappeared (Crichton 13). Then the people go and search through to find that the dead people’s blood dried up inside them, and they found a baby that was still alive with an old man. Then after all that there was this vehicle called a Phantom (Crichton 244), that crashed and there was some weird things happening to it. The pilot of the aircraft said “my rubber air hose is dissolving” (Crichton 241), as his last words before he crashed. Then they go to look at the crash and find that it is just bits and pieces.

I thought the book was interesting because it creates a suspense on what is actually going on in that town. I would recommend this book for people who like a story that is kinda creepy.

# data[].attributes.body
Summary: Feed takes place in a futuristic, dystopian version of the United States where approximately 70% of the population has something called the “feed” implanted into their brains. The feed allows them to do many things such as access information online and communicate with others, all using their minds. The book begins with a field trip to the moon, featuring the narrator Titus and many of his other friends. Titus meets the character Violet at a nightclub on the moon, and immediately develops a crush on her. Titus and his group of friends take Violet to a new club, where their feeds get hacked. Afterwards, Titus and Violet wake up in a hospital and begin bonding and eventually dating. Over the course of the book, Titus becomes very close to Violet, until one day he is awoken by her because Violet’s feed is not working correctly. For the rest of the book, Violet’s malfunctioning feed becomes a central issue, resulting in the two breaking up. It is eventually revealed that Violet’s feed was implanted when she was 7 rather than at birth, resulting in all these malfunctions. The book ends tragically, with Titus accompanying Violet and teaching her before her feed crashes, resulting in her inevitable death.

Evaluation: The novel Feed was a good book in my opinion. It had a really great and original plot, and the main characters were very unique. The pacing was also pretty good. This book is also a good representation of futuristic society and the average American’s dependency on technology. I also enjoyed the futuristic dialect that many of the characters used, because it made the book feel more modern. There weren’t many flaws in Feed, but if I were to define one, it would be that it this book was hard to get into at the beginning and took a while before anything extremely interesting happened. While it has its flaws, Feed remains a solid novel that I thoroughly enjoyed.

Recommendation: I feel that Feed is a book that would appeal to many readers. The book takes place in a dystopian society, so fans of The Giver and Divergent would enjoy this read. The book also has its fair share of romance, so people interested in stories involving romance should give it a try. Themes of satire and the impact of technology on society are also present. Finally, I would also recommend this book to any fan of sci-fi or futuristic novels. However, this book is rather explicit and tragic, so I would not recommend Feed to anybody who is not interested in any of the qualities outlined above. Overall, I would recommend the novel to any matured reader with an interest in explicit, satirical, or romantic books.

# data[].attributes.body
This book is about war tactics and the creation of the Tiger Tank. It teaches readers how the Tiger Tank came to be and what Conflicts the Germans and Russians had to undergo to get the tank up to speed and into the face of war.

# data[].attributes.body
The book Lord of the Flies written by William Golding was about a group of English boys on a stranded island after their plane was shot down in the middle of an ongoing war. The boys who survive the crash need to survive on their own with little resources and only the ones they can find with no parental care or guardian to protect them. The boys elect Ralph as their leader to guide them to their journey. Ralph properly represents what a good leader should be like in a time of crisis and help. He is decently intelligent and uses common sense above all and has Piggy who is his friend and Ralph’s right hand man. Ralph demonstrates proper leadership skills by telling everyone what they should do to get rescued and survive. For example he tells the boys they need to hold a meeting, make a fire in case anyone is near for rescue and make shelters in order for the boys to survive. In any case Piggy is the brain of the bunch as he provides the boys with ideas on how to survive and to live on. As the story progresses many of the boys follow a leader who leads many of the boys eventually to their doom. Jack the leader of the choir group of boys is very militant. Jack likes to do many things his way and his way only as he later defies Ralph’s orders and goes against Ralph’s group of boys makes his own savage group. As Ralph wants to survive and be rescued, Jack is the opposite as he wants to hunt and be a dictator to his companions. When many of the boys were in the island they had only one thing to fear: The Beast. Many of the boys were scared besides Simon who was the visionary of the bunch. He was courageous enough to investigate “The Beast” but in the near end was murdered by Jack’s group while investigating in the island. In the end there was a divide and war between the two groups and both were fighting to be best but also surviving. As the boys were contemplating on their roles in Simon’s death, Jack’s group attacked Ralph’s group which ends up with Piggy dying after a rock was thrown at him by the vicious Roger who was known to be scarier than Jack for his violent actions. As Ralph later was getting chased by Jack’s group a Naval Officer spots the smoke created by Jack and confronts Ralph who claims he was the leader. As the conversation progresses Ralph’s emotion lets loose and weeps as he thinks that his best friends who stood by him died because of Ralph’s poor leadership.

This book without a doubt was one of my favorite reads as it has many qualities that I enjoy in a book. It includes action, mystery and just a good story in general. The author's pace in writing this book definitely did not feel rushed or was slow. It had a good pace in when things should’ve happened and when things shouldn't have. The narration was third person omniscient and I really enjoyed how I got to know what and how everyone was feeling and what their thoughts were in certain scenes. As the book progresses I realized how easy it was for someone to be manipulated and mistrusted. I felt as I would’ve sided with Ralph and tried to do anything in my power to being rescued. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys action, adventure and mystery as this book really gets to what you would do in certain situations. At first when I picked this book I was hesitant as I was told this book was not a good read. My feelings toward this book or anything in general changed as I should try something before I judge it.

# data[].attributes.body
This book was narrated in the third person point of view. Unlike first person, telling this story in third person allows the author to focus on points of views of multiple characters rather then just being in the body of one. Style wise, the author's voice was uplifting, but also suspenseful throughout the book. The idea of going from being a 15 year old surviving on his own to rowing in the olympics, shows that no matter the situation, there's always a light at the end of the tunnel if you're willing to work hard. Whenever the team won a big match, they would go right back to rowing poorly which left readers in suspense because of the inconsistency in their performance. I thoroughly enjoyed this book because prior to reading, I had no idea how difficult the sport of rowing really is. From Al Urbicksons grueling practices, to the work required just to make the freshman team, it was amazing to see how hard individuals had to work to receive a spot on the boat.The book kept me in suspense from start to finish, even though I knew the final result of the olympic race I was oblivious to the preparation leading up to the race and the stories behind the rowers. I would recommend this book to anyone, from rowing experts to people like me who have never thought about the sport. Regardless of your interest in sports, the story of nine boys who shocked the world in the 1936 Olympic games is an inspiration for anyone.

# data[].attributes.body
This book, Killing England, by Bill O’Reilly, takes place before and during the revolutionary war, told through the eyes of American Generals, British Generals, and politicians on boths sides. Killing England also showcases the help the French provided, with training and the use of a fleet of the best ships they had. The books shows many important battles, such as Saratoga, New York, and Yorktown, as well as the treason of Benedict Arnold. Killing England shows the highlights and the hardships of the war, and the fierce diplomacy to end it.  Fun fact, Ben Franklin was able to negotiate fishing in Canadian waters during the negotiations.

I found this book to be very enjoyable. The author displayed the brutal fighting conditions of the war, and how little the Americans had compared to the British. The author did a wonderful job showing the view of the war from both sides of the conflict. I would have liked the author to focus a little more on the implications the war had on the British, but the book was very well written and put together.

I recommend this book for history lovers, or someone trying to learn more about American history. This also a book to be enjoyed by fans of Bill O’Reilly’s Killing series.

# data[].attributes.body
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1402FB2ZO4_yTt63nZzPSOG_5oRrV_W0m2JUY0yUK26Ihttps://docs.google.com/document/d/1402FB2ZO4_yTt63nZzPSOG_5oRrV_W0m2JUY0yUK26I

# data[].attributes.headline
What Happened by Hillary Rodham Clinton 

# data[].attributes.subject
What Happened by Hillary Rodham Clinton 

# data[].attributes.body
The enrapturing book What Happened by Hillary Rodham Clinton tells the intricate stories and happenings of the 2016 presidential election. Certainly, this was one of the most controversial and terrifying elections for both political parties within the United States, and Clinton explained each aspect of her campaign team, controversies, strengths, and the policies she would have enforced if elected president. Of course, in this book she also displays her fears and frustrations with the country which has been characterized as an act of liberation on Clinton’s part. In addition, it chronicles how difficult it was to run as a female candidate for a major-partywhich certainly includes that a rather large part of her loss was both the internalized and externalized misogyny that is ingrained into the US. As proven by the endless questions from journalists about her ability to take office, and if she believes being a woman would disable her in any way. One major struggle was the media focusing on the embroilments of the adversarial candidate instead of the policies that should have been discussed. Clinton states several times within this book that if the media had focused their examinations on the future of the United States, she would have won the election. This book was captivating as the reader experiences the 2016 election all over again, except through the eyes of the woman who fought for the rights of all, Hillary Clinton.

Hillary Clinton has an interesting writing style and deep content that would interest any political activist. Of course, this book was an act of catharsis and carries a relatable writing style. Clearly, one can sense her frustrations with America and herself as well as the worries she has for the United States. Certainly, within the pages one will find what policies Clinton wanted to put in place as well as her personal beliefs on human rights and other topics relating to such things. Personally, I enjoyed both of these aspects of her writing. I would recommend this book to any political activist who needs inspiration or Liberal that needs peace of mind. In addition, I would recommend this book to any conservative that wants a better understanding of the democratic agenda. This book is a wonderful documentation of Hillary Clinton’s thoughts and beliefs.

# data[].attributes.body
I read The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. This novel was about a group of adventurers, consisting of 13 dwarves, a wizard, and a hobbit. The main character, a hobbit named Bilbo Baggins, lived a life of comfort in his hobbit hole, was convinced to join the adventure mostly by the wizard, a wise old man named Gandalf. The company journeys through lands of darkness and enemies, eventually coming to the castle where Smaug has made his lair. They fail to slay the dragon, but an archer named Bard slays it, ending the threat that has been in his people’s lands for decades.

This book was enjoyable to read because of the creativity and originality of the author, and the fast paced adventure which the author depicted. Tolkien’s ability to create an entire language and world was mind blowing to me, and I think it testaments to how much effort and thought he put into writing this masterpiece. The fast pace of the novel made it both exciting and tense, depending on how the author timed events throughout the story. One example of this was when the company was hiding in the castle from Smaug, the dragon who took control of the castle and the hoard of treasure which he hid within it, ravages the land around the castle in search of the company. Both the pace and originality of this novel made it unable for me to put down, as well as the skill with which the author sets the mood, and leaves the reader wanting more with each page. I think readers who are almost teenagers or teenagers would greatly enjoy this book, because I as a child of that age felt a love of adventure, and I think Tolkien really brings that element of excitement and adventure to the fore in this wonder of a book. I think anyone who feels at all interested in fiction, adventure, or a thrilling story should read this book, because this novel is one of the best of each of those categories in my opinion, and others should experience the wonder, excitement, and thrilling adventure of this book just as I did.

# data[].attributes.body
The Hunt for the Red October by Tom Clancy is a good book about a Soviet submarine captain that is defecting to the United States and is taking his submarine with him.  His crew is unaware of this and were told that they were going to Cuba. The Americans find out that the submarine was trying to defect, and then have to try to help him defect.  Throughout the story there are various problems that arise such as the Soviets trying to find the defector and either capture the submarine or sink it.  This results in the Soviets mobilizing most of their navy to find it.  The whole story is made even more tense because of the Cold War and the tension already between the United States and the U.S.S.R.  During the book both sides are careful to avoid starting World War III.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes tense stories.  That is why the hunt for the Red October is a good book.

# data[].attributes.body
Main Characters:   Jesse - Routt county deputy

Lee - Routt county sheriff

Setting:   Modern day - Ski Resort - Routt Co. Colorado

Jesse Parker, a Denver police detective, returns home to Steamboat Springs, Colorado, to relieve stress by working the ski hills for the winter.  His plans change however, when a skier is found dead on the ski lift.  Throughout the book he works with his old partner, and town sheriff, Lee Torrens to catch this killer.  He soon finds that he has been dragged back into the world of murder and crime that he thought he had left behind.  The killer is found to be using a “jigger” as his weapon, after he drops it off the lift after an attempted murder.  The jigger is a spring loaded blade in a metal cylinder housing.  When the trigger is hit, the spring shoots the blade forward going through anything in its path.  He killed 4 people with the jigger before he lost it.  After rumors went around about the killing spree at the resort, both the people and the resort crew were much more hesitant.  The way he would kill is to wait for one person to get on the lift by themselves and at the last second, ski up and ride up with them.  After a while, the staff only let groups of 1 or 3 on the lifts.  No two people could go together unless they knew each other.  He figured out this rule pretty fast.  He followed a resort employee home one night and killed him in his house.  He then stole his uniform and showed up on the hills as an “employee”.  No one ever thought twice about letting a worker ride up with one other person on the lift.  As for his killings, there was no obvious motive for Lee and Jesse to follow.  There was no pattern whatsoever in his killings.  They were simply random.  Once the press found out about it the first reporter to cover it was Jesse’s ex-wife.  She gave a positive report saying they had it under control, which made the killer mad since he had them totally confused.  After that, his next target was now Abby, the reporter and Jesse’s ex-wife.  She was headed to the airport for her flight home. He picked her up in a “taxi” and kidnapped her.  By this time Jesse and Lee had figured this out and were on the trail.  He took her up to the top of the mountain on a snowmobile, trying to outrun the deputy.  At the top of the mountain, he almost has Jesse beat, Jesse being stuck and the killer having a gun to his head.  Lee finally catches up with them and saves both Jesse and Abby.  Jesse’s brains and Lee’s ability to get stuff done saved the ski resort from total chaos.  I recommend this book to anyone who likes detective and action books.

# data[].attributes.body
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

Could wizards, witches, and magic be real like the people today? If you believe so then you’ll love this. Even though Harry Potter lived with the aunt and uncle he hated, and fought through 6 hard years of going to Wizarding school at Hogwarts, and being made fun of by his guardians, he stuck through it all and became a very powerful wizard at a young age. The book starts out at this house on Private Drive late in the night where he has fallen asleep waiting for Dumbledore to come pick him up. Later on, Harry finds out that he will be having private lessons with Dumbledore and soon finds out that he will not be able to pursue his dreams of being an Auror..or will he? As time goes on, Christmas comes around and he finds that one of his friends have been cursed and will not return for a long time. To wrap it up, Dumbledore and Harry go on a journey to find at Horcrux and when they do they fly back to the castle to find there is a battle going on, and that Draco Malfoy has let Death Eaters into the castle to kill Dumbledore, and they do succeed on killing him and getting away, and it turned out that the Horcrux was a fake (Rowling 1-652).

What I liked about Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince is that it has a variety of ways that things could work out for you or change in an instant like in real life and that the way it is written will make you want to read the whole series in just a week.

I would recommend it for people who like to read fiction books or sci-fi books because it really stands out for me and I love to read fiction books.

# data[].attributes.body
Evan Weister

Quarter 2 SSR Project

Ms. Mahoney

1-12-18

Hit Squad

James Heneghan

In the novel, Hit Squad by James Heneghan, the setting takes place at Grandview High School.  Grandview High is more of a wealthier school; however, there are kids from Creekside High School who are starting to transfer to Grandview.  The kids from Creekside are not as wealthy and popular as Grandview kids.  Mickey is the main character who switched from Creekside to attend Grandview High.  Since there is a difference in the popularity and wealth from the two different schools, there is also a huge bullying problem at Grandview High.  Another main character, Birgit, proposed a solution to the bullying conflict.  She proposed that a group of students start a “hit squad.”  This group of kids would go after the kids that were bullying others.  Throughout the novel, the members of the hit squad go on adventurous missions in order to eliminate bullying at their school.

The narration of this novel is 3rd person singular.  The only instances where “I” is used, is in the direct quotes from the characters.  This novel is a fast paced, adventurous story.  I really liked how there was so much action and suspense associated with the story.  For example, the author, James Heneghan, creates many suspenseful situations in a quick amount of time with smooth transitions.  Students that enjoy action/adventure and suspense will definitely enjoy reading this novel and I strongly encourage them to give this novel a try.

# data[].attributes.body
In the book Tangerine by Edward Bloor the Fisher family moves to Tangerine, Florida, because the father has a new job there. But Paul(the main character) soon learns about some unusual occurrences in Tangerine. Paul is soon unhappy, because his mother tells the school that he has IEP (he basically can't see). Even though Paul thinks that he can see better than the average foe, Paul has been told that he has to wear thick glasses because years ago he supposedly looked at an eclipse too long. Paul tries out for the soccer team and made the team. However, because he's listed as having IEP, he isn't allowed to play. Paul soon has to move to a new school without IEP now, so he plays backup goalie for the team. But, there are about three big twists in the book, they all make you rethink everything in the book.

In short, it's a great book for people who like Sport Stories.  Also, if you like fiction and crazy events that really make you think or try to guess what is going to happen next.  I personally liked Tangerine because I love soccer and sports, and this book is so unpredictable and a fun read because so many out of the ordinary things occur.

# data[].attributes.body
1. The book I was reading is called Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell. It is this story about 2 teenagers who try to fulfill the stereotype of ‘star crossed lovers.’ They first meet each other on the first day of school on the school bus, a rude girl by the name of, Tina, wouldn’t let Eleanor sit in the back empty seats. The bus was completely full, but the back seats were empty. Eleanor had no choice but to sit with the ‘Asian kid’ on the bus, his name was Parker, but went by Park. Both Eleanor and Park were into reading comic books, so they gradually, as the days, weeks, and months went by, became friends. They even grew a bond. It was inseparable. Park eventually asked Eleanor to be his girlfriend because Park fell in love with Eleanor, and that’s what began their journey to fulfilling the “star crossed lovers” stereotype. Park comes from a homelife where it’s nice, beautiful house, kind parents, financially stable. Park has it all in his family. On the other hand, Eleanor’s home life is nothing but stress, emotionally exhausting, mean abusive stepfather, afraid mother, have no money, and Eleanor’s hard past of bullying.

2. Overall, the book was great to read. The story itself gave me many emotions. Sad, happy, angry, and everything you can imagine to be honest. This book is a true emotional rollercoaster. I definitely enjoyed reading this book. I choose this book because I find love stories to be very cute. Especially young love stories, they give me a feeling of satisfaction when I read these type of stories, and I don’t really know why. I was kinda in the same situation as both Eleanor and Park. I guess I could say the only issue I had with the book, was that some of the parts were very unrealistic, but I would kinda imagine that from a love story book.

3. I don’t recommend this book to all audiences, because I understand some people wouldn’t enjoy this book. But for people who are looking for romantic love story books, then I highly recommend this book. Especially if your looking for young love romantic books, this is definitely one to go find. Overall, this book was very cute to read. I loved it.

# data[].attributes.body
Justin had a older brother Kyle he was a military canine specialist. Kyle died one night during battle and his dog was still alive, so kyle's dog was put into the military pound and other specialists thought that Max had ptsd and wouldn’t be the same anymore. So Justin’s family tried to get Max and have him as a pet. After fighting and going through paperwork they final could get him. So now that max is home it is now justin's responsibility to take care of max. At first Justin didn't like him but over time on and Justin liked him a little bit more and more. Max knew his commands like sit lay speak so justin didn't have to teach him anything. Max  always like to follow justin on his bike. Justin and Max go through the woods and through the city all the time together. Justin's friends thought Max was the Air Jordan of dogs. After that Justin started to get into trouble with these men and Max was their to help fight back against the guys. When the men started to attack Justin Max jumped in and bite one guy and wounded the other by jumping on him that gave max enough time to get away but their was other guys with two pit bulls so they let the pit bulls go so max killed one dog and broke the other dogs leg. After running through the woods going on top of high spots climbing in trees they got onto a train bridge. So Justin's dad was trying to find Justin and his dad had a guy to possible kill these guys if they had problems. So Justin was on the bridge and one guy came on one side of the bridge and the other guy came on the other side. So Justin was in the middle. His dad was on top of the mountain and saw this so he shot one guy killed him and max push the guy off the bridge. Max ended up breaking his leg from impact and left the guy bleeding out. So Max Justin and Justin's dad had to find the way out of the woods and they did in about an hour. They all lived justin was scared and had Max sleep by him every night and his dad checked on him every night.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I do think Max was a great book to read. It was filled with factual places in the special forces and had a protective guard dog. If your looking for something filled with action some facts and very good plot this book is great. The book is in Justin's view so the outsiders seeing this happen won't be acknowledged

# data[].attributes.body
The book Last Man Out is about a teenage boy who is deeply in love with football.  His dad dies in a fire, and he becomes the man of the house. Nothing seems to be going right and whenever something does ten more things go wrong. He is getting flagged every important play in his football games. His sister runs away. But when his team goes all the way, he shows up big just like he always does. But not just on the field he, helped rebuild his family and make them stronger than ever.

Anybody who likes sports books should definitely read this book.It has good mix of story and stats which is really interesting. I really liked this book because it incorporated other sports I didn’t know much about. I also enjoyed it because it was always action packed.

# data[].attributes.body
Charlotte Brontë’s 1847 novel, Jane Eyre, takes the reader on a journey of Jane’s life from her young orphaned time to her later love life.  Jane started as an orphan that was treated extremely bad by both her cousins and her aunt.  Jane was eventually sent to a girls institution because her aunt did not like her.  Jane eventually became a teacher at the institute once she became 18.  She was later offered a job as a nanny.  Throughout her time as a nanny, she fell in love with her “boss”, Mr. Rochester. Their love was destined from the start, however Mr. Rochester was supposed to get married to another lady.  After Mr. Rochester realizes that Jane is the better option between the two, he decides to ask Jane to be his wife. Jane soon finds out a huge secret that he has been hiding the whole time; Mr. Rochester had been married to a different woman the whole time.

One reason why I loved this book was how simple yet interesting it was.  The book contained different aspects of different genres.  There was mystery involved with Mr. Rochester’s secrets, comedy with everyone’s witty comments, and romance with Jane and Mr. Rochester’s relationship.  I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in variety and likes plot twists.

# data[].attributes.body
In the story Free-Wrench by Joseph R. Lallo, the island Caldara is the home to the main character, Amanita Graus. The rest of the world is covered by a toxic fog which makes everywhere uninhabitable except for mountains and the skies. The main way of transportation is in giant airships that are like hot air balloons, but instead of a basket they use a boat hull. Life has since been hard as only the most ruthless and crafty are able to survive. To survive in this morbid world the Calderans built an arsenal of guns to fend off the airships of the mainland. They isolated themselves from the dangers of the world and choose to focus on art and creativity instead. Nita's mother who is most famous artist on the island of Caldera has lost her ability to paint, and soon she will also lose her life to a terrible disease. Nita decides to leave home and go with a group of outsiders to find a cure for her mother’s disease. For a price, the crew of an airship called The Wind Breaker are willing to take her to a place called Rim to meet with someone that can give her the cure. On her trip she helps the crew with fixing their boiler that keeps the ship running and makes friends with the crew. When she gets the cure, she brings it back to her mother and makes her drink the mixture. After a minute her symptoms go away and she’s back to normal. However, instead of staying home with her mother Nita decides to get clothes and tools from her island and go back to the ship. They set their course and leave once again.

I liked the creativity of the author and way the world is different than in the real world. The main part of the story is on an airship which is my favorite part of the book. Lallo thought of something that isn’t invented yet and put it into his story as a main piece. Also I liked how he changed the world so that people couldn’t live on the ground because of the fog. Instead of picking something like a zombie apocalypse he made the story better by choosing a different story line. People who like steampunk would really enjoy this book because of the flying ships.

# data[].attributes.headline
Princess of the Silver Woods by Jessica Day George

# data[].attributes.subject
Princess of the Silver Woods by Jessica Day George

# data[].attributes.body
The book starts out with Harry at the Dursley’s trying to get permission to go to the Quidditch world cup. The Dursley’s do not easily say yes, but with a little deal between them, they eventually make a compromise and Harry goes with the Weasleys to the World Cup. Bulgaria tops Ireland with a catch of the snitch by Viktor Krum. After the World Cup, there is a Death Eater signal that goes and and sends everyone into a panic. The house elf Winky is accused and eventually released from her job, but later she becomes an unlikely candidate.

When the kids get to Hogwarts, they find out about the Tri-Wizarding tournament, and everyone is excited.. Until they find out that you have to be 17 years of age to be accepted. Fred and George Weasley try to get past this with an aging potion but their attempts are throttled and they become much older than anticipated. When the names are eventually announced from each school it is Cedric Diggory, Viktor Krum, Fleur Delacour, and…. Harry Potter? Everyone accuses him of cheating and putting it in there himself but then they come to the conclusion that someone is trying to hurt him and he will not let that happen.

Harry starts preparing for the competition, and Hagrid invites him on a walk, which turns into a secret sneak peek of the first task. Dragons. Harry starts preparing a summoning spell to get his broomstick once the competition starts, THE SPELL ACTUALLY WORKS! Harry Starts the competition ahead, tied with Krum in points.

Hermione, throughout, has been working on right for elves, naming her club S.P.E.W. This gets Harry and Ron another way to pick on her, but she’s very committed to getting these house elves their rights.

To prepare for the second task, Harry was given a clue in the form of a giant golden egg. Cedric gives him a hint to listen to the screams it emits in the bath, and gives him permission to use the prefect restroom to do so. When Harry listens to it, it says a poem and he figured out that he needs to find merpeople in the lake outside of Hogwarts. He receives a gillyweed which, when eaten, gives him gills that let him breathe underwater. When he gets to the bottom of the lake, Ron, Hermione, and Cho Chang are down there waiting to be saved. Harry hesitates for a long time deciding who to save and how to save them, even though his only responsibility was to save Ron. Even though he finished slightly out of the time limit, he still received a good amount of points and is still in the lead.

After the briefing of the third task, Harry went for a walk with Krum, where Krum asked him if he and Hermione were a thing at all. Harry responded no, and it was over from there. Until, they saw Crouch and asked him what was up because he seemed to be acting weird. He talked normally to a tree but once they tried to talk to him he would stutter and ramble about how it was his fault and he needed dumbledore. The professors responded accordingly.

That’s through page 599.

# data[].attributes.headline
Cherub. Mission 8: Mad dogs by Robert Muchamore

# data[].attributes.subject
Cherub. Mission 8: Mad dogs by Robert Muchamore

# data[].attributes.body
James Adams isn’t your average teen. He never knew his father, his mother was a criminal mastermind who die when he was ten. Cherub, part of the british government, recruited james and trained him soon after his mother died. Now james is on his eighth good mission trying to take down a cocaine dealer who lives in the heart of England. *spoiler warning* Earlier in the series james took down the original CEO of this group, but now James has to deal with them again. Over this book james fights gang members, steals from the rich, drives cool cars, and Robs the British National Airport.

I would recommend this book for most people, but if your not into action, adventure, and government agents don’t read this.  Overall it was a fast read that was addictive and never had a dull moment.

# data[].attributes.body
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy written by Douglas Adams takes place throughout the galaxy after Earth is destroyed to build a “hyperspace bypass”.  The two true main characters of the book are Arthur Dent and his companion Ford Prefect that helps Arthur make his way through the galaxy after his home is destroyed.  Arthur Dent’s main conflict within the book is the fact that he has to deal with his house as well as the Earth have been destroyed.  Through Arthur and Ford’s adventure they search for the true question of life and it’s meaning. The novel is a very science fiction styled book in which aliens are all the sudden real and very common as well as make humans look very primitive.  Although it’s a great sci-fi story, the narration throughout the book may become confusing for some readers since it tends to jump around between multiple characters.  I personally prefer the novel over other sci-fi stories and would recommend that other readers that enjoy science fiction and wild stories should read this intriguing book.

# data[].attributes.body
The Rifle

In The Rifle by Gary Paulsen there is a lot of suspense. It starts off when a gunsmith named Cornish McManis started making a special rifle. He then realizes how accurate it is and realizes the value of it.  This rifle is the most accurate at this time period. Then a guy named John Byam wants the gun very bad because of its accuracy. They then agree that John Byam will trade him a years worth of pelts for the gun. Later in the story John finds himself in a rebel with the British which later led the American Revolution. Since the gun is so accurate he ends up defeating off British officers and becomes a legend. He then later dies and his rifle is gave to a woman named Sarah who has no clue what value the rifle holds. She stored it in her attic for decades until a gun collector named Tim Harrow buys the gun from her at a gun show.  Tim Harrow then trades it to a man named Harv Kline where is stays hung above his fireplace for the rest of the guns life. This is a very interesting book if you like guns, war, and constant action of not knowing what’s going to happen next.

I recommend The Rifle to anyone that likes guns or gunsmithing. This book had a lot of suspense and always kept me wondering what will happen next.

# data[].attributes.headline
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

# data[].attributes.subject
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

# data[].attributes.body
In the book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, Arnold Spirit (Junior) tells his story through his teen years in the form of a diary. Junior explained what it is like to grow up on an Indian reservation and the struggle that the Indians face and the problems they overcome. Junior also tells about the great friendships along the way with his Indian friend on the reservation, Rowdy, and his friends from Reardan (a rich white school that Junior transferred to) Penelope, Roger, and Gordy. Junior desired to transfer schools because a teacher on the reservation brought light to the fact that the Indians are raised that they are going to fail in life and that if Junior wants to succeed he is going to have to get of the reservation. This book also depicts conflicts between Junior and society, friends, himself, and family. This book is very well written and fun to read.

I liked this book very much. The content of the book was perfect for the story of a struggling teenager growing up. The first person narration of the book makes the story better. I liked this book because of the comedy aspect of the story. I also liked it because of the story that is being told. The types of readers who would like this book are the ones who are looking for a laugh and the ones who enjoyed The Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. This is a truly great story.  By Jake Larson

# data[].attributes.body
To begin in the novel Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling, Harry once again starts at the Dursleys house on 4 Privet Drive, and Vernon Dursley locking all of Harry Potter’s wizard gear like his cauldron, wand, and his Nimbus 2000.  About the end of the summer the Dursley’s have company come over, and Harry is told to stay quiet and in his room for the rest of the night, and he will get the leftovers. When Harry went to his room, he found a very strange creature inside his room. Turns out it is a house elf names dobby.  Dobby is telling Harry Potter that he should not go back to Hogwarts because there is a great evil there. Harry refuses to not go back to Hogwarts, for Dobby keeps hurting himself because his master is Lucius Malfoy and Dobby is going outside of his rules to help Harry from getting into danger, and Dobby believes if he breaks the rules, he must inflict self harm. Mr. and Mrs. Mason's from downstairs and the Dursleys can hear Dobby banging his head on the wardrobe, so Uncle Vernon warns Harry if he steps out of line one more time he will be locked up. After this Dobby and Harry continue to talk. Dobby brings up the fact that all of Harry’s friends have been “Ignoring him”, but this isn't the case because Dobby has been intercepting all of his letters. So Harry wouldn’t want to go back to Hogwarts because he will think he has no friends.  Harry tries to take the letters from Dobby, but Dobby runs away from him outside of his room, downstairs. Dobby begins to run into the kitchen lifting up a cake that is sitting nicely on a plate. Dobby lifts it up and drops it on Mrs. Mason's head which makes Uncle Vernon furious and has to quickly think of a reason Harry exists. His explanation is he is their cousin that is scared of new people. The next day Uncle Vernon locks Harry in his room by putting bars on his window and a door with many locks and a food door.  That night Harry hears a car driving in the distance, and what he never would of expect it to be was a flying car with Ron Weasley, one of Harry’s best friends, here to save him! Ron used the car to burst open the barred window and yelled for Harry to get in. Harry loaded his trunk as fast as possible and  jumped into the car. Ron’s twin brothers sped out of there back to the Weasley residency.  Many months have passed and Harry, Hermione, and Ron have started school again, but many strange occurrences have been happening, like Harry and Draco Malfoy were dueling and Draco summoned a snake, and Harry started talking to it which is called Parseltongue (Language of Serpents). This made everyone scared because the only other person who is a Parselmouth is He-Who-Should-Not-Be-Named or Lord Voldemort. Then Argus Filch’s cat has been petrified and blood was written on the wall quoting “The chamber of secrets has been opened, enemies of the heir…..beware.” As Harry always is at the wrong place at the wrong time, everyone comes down the hallway with Harry standing there. Argus Filch and Snape immediately think that Harry did it, but Dumbledore quickly declines this thought by saying this is only powered by dark magic. This happens one more time within the month. After this there are many other mysteries that lead Harry into the Chamber of Secrets, for example when Harry finds Tom Riddle’s journal which brings him back in time to exactly 50 years ago when the Chamber of Secrets has first been opened, as a cause Myrtle Warren which died in the females restroom. Hagrid was thought to have opened it which resulted in an immediate expulsion of Hagrid of Hogwarts. A while later Harry and Ron find out that Ron’s first year sister Ginny Weasley has been taken into the Chamber of Secrets to die. Harry, Ron, and Mr Lockhart pinpoint the location of the Chamber and Harry opens it by speaking parseltongue. Once they are done Mr. Lockhart tries to whip their minds by using a spell with Ron’s wand, but in the beginning of the year Ron and Harry couldn’t make it on the train, so they had to use Ron’s Parents flying car, which they had crashed into a Whomping Willow. The spell backfires and Mr. Lockhart mind is completely wiped. The impact of the spells backfire makes the roof to collapse leading Harry to be all alone. Harry makes his way into the main room to see Ginny Weasley on the ground. Once he is by her Harry sees Tom Riddle walk up to him. Tom Riddle explains his real identity is Voldemort and he was controlling Ginny to do all of these horrific events like the texts on the walls.  Once they are done talking Dumbledore’s Phoenix drops Harry a random wizard hat, and the basilisk comes into the room through the mouth of the face in the water. Harry quickly runs away from it. To his rescue the Phoenix comes back ripping the basilisk’s eyes out so it can’t see. A sword appears within the hat, but it isn’t any sword it’s the Sword of Gryffindor. Harry kills the basilisk and kills the figure of Tom Riddle by stabbing his journal with a basilisk tooth which is highly poisonous. Unfortunately Harry has also been stabbed with a basilisk tooth, and he knows he is going to die. Once again the Phoenix flies to Harry's rescue and cries on his wound because Phoenix tears heal. Finally everyone flies out of the Chamber of Secrets and that concludes the book Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K Rowling.

I would say if you like long fiction book that you can read for a long time and not get bored of it I would recommend this book, and if you like a 7 part series and a very interesting story line I recommend this book. I would recommend this book to people that would like to learn a lot of new words and like to read for many hours on end. Also if you like mystery fiction style books I would recommend Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K Rowling.

# data[].attributes.headline
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling

# data[].attributes.subject
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling

# data[].attributes.body
In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, we first find Harry at his Uncle Vernon’s house, the most despicable place in the world in Harry’s eyes. Harry spends the summers there, but this summer he is especially upset at the lack of communication between him and his friends. In the wizarding world, an owl can be sent at any time to convey a message, and Harry’s friends Ron and Hermione both promised to write him over the summer, to no avail. Harry worries that something has happened and this is not helped by the fact that the most powerful dark wizard ever, Voldemort, has just recently returned to power, with a goal of murdering Harry Potter. Harry has been watching the news, and reading newspapers in case anything having to do with Voldemort is shown. When Harry is out with his cousin Dudley, he is attacked by two dark, hooded, and ominous figures known to him as Dementors. Dementors are very dangerous so Harry casts a spell to fend off the Dementors from attacking Dudley. Dudley is nearly defenseless as he can’t see the Dementors because he is not a wizard like Harry. Harry is caught in this act by the Ministry of Magic, as using magic outside of schools is a crime that Harry has broken before on accident. Harry is banned from his school Hogwarts until his trial, and this only worsens his mood. After this incident, Harry is alone in his Uncle’s house one day, and hears a great commotion downstairs. When he goes to investigate he is greeted with some new and some familiar faces of elder wizards and witches. These people explain that they belong to the “Order of the Phoenix”, a secret service of sorts formed to fight Lord Voldemort and his followers. This group escorts Harry to their headquarters to induct him into their operations, as Harry has a history with their opponent Voldemort. When he was just a child, Voldemort had attempted and failed to kill young Harry Potter, leaving Potter with a scar on his forehead. When Harry arrives at the Headquarters he is greeted by his godfather Sirius Black. Sirius is wanted, and famous for being falsely persecuted for the murder of 12 people. Harry finds that his friends are here, and that the reason they couldn’t write him was because Harry couldn’t know about the Order, and Harry is very displeased that the head man, Dumbledore, wouldn’t inform Harry on the actions of the Order. To add to the commotion, the scar on Harry’s head is hurting more frequently. When Harry has his trial for using magic outside of school, Dumbledore walks in by surprise to give Harry’s defense and convinces the judges to let Harry off, as he was really innocent because the spell was in defense. Dumbledore still does not say a word to Harry however and he is extremely bothered by this. Soon after, the school year at Hogwarts is nearing its kickoff, and Ron and Hermione find out that they are Prefects, also known as, the top student’s of their class. Harry is not fond of this, as he believes he has done more to help than Ron has. When the group heads to Hogwarts again, most of the Order comes with to assure their safety, even the wanted Sirius, in the form of a dog now. The friends add Ginny, Ron’s sister, to their entourage, and embark on the train ride. On the ride there, they meet Luna Lovegood in their train cabin. Luna is a very interesting person that most of them are not fond of, but they more or less befriend her anyway. At school, the teacher of Defense of the Dark Arts, has changed every year since Harry had started school, because of new complications each time. This year, the teacher is a member from the Ministry of Magic, who are all not too fond of Harry because of his court case, and his claims of Voldemort returning. This teacher, Professor Dolores, has a very blatant grudge against Harry Potter and continually takes points from him and issues detentions without remorse. Another key detail of hers, is that when she grabs Harry’s arm during a detention, the scar on his forehead sears with pain, just like it does when Voldemort is near him. Hermione decides to start a seperate Defense of the Dark Arts class, as they don’t get to actually perform spells in Dolores’ class. She suggest Harry run it, and they have a first meeting at a sketchy tavern. To everyone’s surprise, twenty-five students showed up. The consensus is made that the class will continue, and this, just as Professor Dolores and her suspicion, will progress throughout the story.

Eval: So far, I’ve enjoyed reading this book for the plot and detail. Although at some points it’s not really a page turner, the plot and character development is apparent and intriguing. Seeing how Harry develops in his thinking makes the book more fun to read as it continues. Giving context outside of just the one book, Order of the Phoenix ties a lot of things into, and sets up many plot points for past and future books in the series. So many key events give reason to why this book is so crucial to the series, even if it may seem excessive in length. I would recommend this book to anyone continuing in the Harry Potter series, but would strongly discourage anyone to read this book first, or outside of the series.

# data[].attributes.body
The book Surviving the Extremes written by the extreme medicine doctor Kenneth Kalmer, is a collection of his journaled practices and experiences in six different harsh environments. Of course, for medicine to be practiced someone must be hurt or in danger of getting hurt in one way or another, whether that be preventing nitrogen bubbles from taking over the bloodstream of scuba divers or stitching up a life threatening wound in the middle of the Amazon.  Kalmer journals his experiences, research and natives’ advice for each extreme biome he visits.  In each environment that he visits he is the designated doctor for the professional climbers, scuba divers, astronauts, and hikers.

The style of this novel is very intriguing because it is six adventures (the jungle, high seas, Sahara Desert, Mt. Everest, Deep Waters and Outer Space) and each chapter is a new biome with a collection of survivors of extreme accidents in these harsh environments, along with his personal experience. The content of this book is very scientific and goes into gory detail with each operation or struggle of survival. Personally this book helped me out for some of my other  medical type classes because it talks about the body systems and how they are affected during fight or flight situations, but along with that it is was also very interesting to read and  left me wondering  if I could have survived in these situations. I would recommend this book to someone that doesn’t mind reading gory details, and is interested in either medicine, adventuring, or the human body and how it responds under extreme pressure.

# data[].attributes.body
The book Greasy Rider is narrated by the main character and author of the book Greg Melville.  This book was written about his own experience of him and his college friend Iggy while on a road trip.  The book begins in Vermont and continues westward through multiple states traveling across the United States to hopefully make it to California. This makes for a long, tiring, and uneventful trip. The overall theme of this book is to prove that a vegetable oil powered car can travel across the country while making pit stops along the way to find other ways to stay green. One pit stop they made along the way was visiting Al Gore at his environment friendly mansion which turned out not be so friendly. While on their trip Greg and Iggy are constantly trying to find the next place to fill their gas tank with used restaurant oil, and staying clear of franchises the best they can.

This book was written by a environmentalist for the environmentalists, and is very laser focused on how to make, in his opinion the world an environmentally a better place. Personally I believe Mr. Melville’s writing seemed closed off and targeting only one specific audience which is nature lovers. It felt as though he was not open to other people’s ways or views and very critical towards people who were not near the same “save the world” level. This book had a unique style to it.  It was almost like a autobiography graphy but only a portion of Mr. Melville’s life but also very informational throughout it all. I would recommend this book to readers who are interested in figuring out new ways to preserve the environment, and are interested in having a vegetable oil run car.

# data[].attributes.body
The Black Death, by John Hatcher, follows the life of a priest living through and after the Great Plague. The novel starts in Walsham, a small but bustling village in 14th century England. The novel mainly stays in village and rarely strays from it as the plague unfolds, but wanders very slightly following the plague. Divided into three distinct sections, each section presents a new set of challenges for Master John, the diligent and conscientious parish priest. The first part of the novel entails the calm before the storm and eventual histeria into which Walsham descends as the pestilence nears Walsham. During this time, Master John faces only the questions of how to best prepare for the oncoming plague and the difficulties of tending to the spiritual needs of his frightened parishioners. However, matters become much more difficult for Master John when the plague does hit because he must provide proper Christian rites to the scores of the dying even as the living beseech him for guidance. In the third and final part of the novel, Master John must deal with the aftermath of the plague. As the few surviving parishioners look around them, Master John finds he must try to cow them back into submission and religious grace, for these parishioners now refuse to work for the customary wages, undermine the pattern of land acquisition, and believe that a merciless God left them to suffer. Unfortunately for Master John, who does his best to overcome every obstacle he faces, the reward for his labor is a death from old age that leads the novel to a close.

As a historical novel, The Black Death does remarkably well in remaining true to the events that transpired in history as it is based off of surviving documents from the Walsham parish. Furthermore, it does well in engaging the reader during the first half of the novel as John Hatcher manages to transport the reader to a simpler time where voices outside one’s own community were rarely heard. By creating an atmosphere in which the world feels vast and uncharted, Hatcher amplifies the ominous nature of the pestilence and thus effectively crescendos the first half of the novel from bucolic tranquility to a fever pitch histeria right before the plague envelops Walsham. In fact, Hatcher even incorporates passages that dwell on the nature of mortality and the afterlife, as he juxtaposes the peace of a proper Christian burial, staffed by well-meaning relatives, at the start of the novel to the cold anonymity of mass graves during the height of the plague. However, even if the novel does excellently in developing a tense, rapid beginning, it disappointingly peters out during the last half. The same documentation that is the solid foundation of the piece is also part of its downfall. Due to a refusal (elaborated upon in the introduction) to stray from what is recorded in the sake of entertainment, the latter half of the novel reads more like bureaucratic paperwork, with pages and pages devoted to fines and titles, than a historical novel. Unfortunately, such dull reading is stretched for longer than it should be as Hatcher indulges in petty squabbles between lords over labor rather than in developing Master John’s character (and the quandaries he must have been left with after such a traumatic event) before mercifully killing him off.

If a recommendation were to be issued for this particular piece, it should be noted that while not engrossing in its entirety, the book certainly serves as an informative and somewhat entertaining read for those interested in learning about the Black Death. With ample annotations and illustrations meant to elaborate on the information presented, this book does well in presenting and introducing the reader to the Black Death. This alone has the potential to render the book as useful for scholars; however, because of its value as a novel, the book stands out as a piece of historical fiction to be read by those interested in the time period of the novel.

# data[].attributes.body
The Confessions of St. Augustine

St. Augustine was an early Christian who lived during the time of the Roman Empire. During his early years he followed pagan religions, but later in life he committed himself to Catholicism and became one of the greatest men in the history of the Christian Church. His book of confessions is an autobiography, in a sense because he goes through his entire life story, but it is a lot different than other autobiographies because the entire book is meant to be a confession to God.

My favorite aspect of the book is Augustine’s mother. She was a very devout Christian and always a steady rock for him. For his entire life, she literally never stopped praying for his conversion until her unceasing prayers were finally answered. She is an amazing symbol of steadfast love, devotion to God, and persistence.

The point of view that Augustine wrote the book in is unique since it is prayer. He writes directly to God using second person archaic pronouns constantly. This adds an effect of reverence, but also intimacy because one could make some parts his or her own prayer.

Main conflict of the book is Augustine versus his human nature. The whole plot is him finding truth. In the first book Augustine discusses how the sins he committed during his childhood were not working hard and not obeying his parents. Later he confesses his sins of lust during his teenage years and the sin of theft. He became a great scholar and studied rhetoric but did not honor God with his gift. He became enthralled with tragedies and gladiators. Eventually, however, he learned what really matters in life through many trials.

I like the book because it had good moral messages and was well written. I disliked how hard it was to read and that it was often tedious to understand. I would recommend it to someone with a high reading level, who likes old books, and is interested in Christianity.

# data[].attributes.body
The Glass Castle tells the story of life in the Walls’ family through the eyes of Jeanette Walls. Young Jeannette had a troublesome life in which she encountered many strange people, endured many illnesses and traumatic experiences, and never really found her true self until adulthood. When she was just a child, Jeannette was making herself a meal when she caught on fire; she was covered in burns and spent several days in the hospital recovering. But that was just one of the early incidents that separated Jeannette from others. Her family moved from place to place, running from all they ever knew. Moving  from Arizona to West Virginian and finally to New York, with many stops along the way, Jeannette did not have any say when her family did the “skedaddle”. Forced to adjust to living a life in poverty and on the move, Jeannette set her eyes on her future; what a bright future it would be. She and her sister began to plan a life on their own, where they could live freely without their parents. With many conflicting ideas that opposed how her parents were raising her and her siblings, Jeannette had many arguments with her father and her mother. From her perspective it seemed like everyone was going against her. With opposition by her parents being the main conflict throughout her life, Jeannette was forced to work hard. Finally, after many hard years of saving money, Jeannette and her siblings all moved to New York. Everything was going well for the Walls kids, but along came their parents, hoping to be a family again. Living a life on the streets was apparently good enough for her parents, but left Jeannette feeling uneasy. How could she be so comfortable, yet watch her parents dig through the garbage for belongings? Jeannette would soon find her true happiness, and figure out what she really loves. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls displays that true perseverance and determination will get you wherever it is that you want to go.

Jeannette Walls narrates in the first person, making the book more engaging and exciting for the reader. She also has a fast paced style of writing, which makes the story easy to follow and quick to read. I enjoyed reading The Glass Castle because it spreads a good message: that no matter what standing you may have, if you work hard you can accomplish your goals. The story line was easy to follow and very interesting.

I strongly recommend The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls to all readers, especially those who may be having a difficult time in life, and those who just enjoy a good story.

# data[].attributes.body
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green is a riveting story showcasing the lives of two persistent and cancer afflicted teenagers, known as Hazel Lancaster and Augustus Waters. Essentially, Hazel’s story takes place in Indianapolis, where she is made by her mother to attend a support group surrounded by people with similar conditions to hers. Hazel often seems to be pessimistic and frequently contemplates the meaning of human life, feeling as if it is difficult to believe life truly has a purpose as death is inevitable. Eventually, she meets Augustus Waters in her support group through one of her friends, Isaac. Augustus's understanding and kind persona, coupled with his similar and frequent contemplation of human life, soon leads to them becoming close friends. Due to their similar personalities and relatability in regards to their illnesses, Hazel and Augustus soon develop a sound relationship. In fact, after much hesitance on Hazel’s part, she offers to share her favorite book, An Imperial Affliction, with Augustus. Both of them bond over their love for the book, which highlights the hardships of a girl, Anna, with leukemia and seems to explain the reality of terminal illnesses in truly wonderful, understanding, and relatable ways to them. As a result, it is only a matter of time before Hazel and Augustus soon develop a romantic relationship. Unfortunately, and unluckily for Hazel, nothing has changed the fact that both her and Augustus have cancer and that death truly is inevitable, which is, no doubt, the main conflict in their lives.

Overall, John Green utilizes vivid imagery and complex word choice, along with rhetorical questions and phrases regarding life and its inherent fragility. In my opinion, this aids in bolstering the likability of the book, which, of course, I thoroughly enjoyed. In short, I believe that anyone who enjoys romance stories, and doesn’t mind a dash of angst here and there, would likely enjoy “The Fault in Our Stars” by John Green.