The inhabitants of Village welcome the downtrodden and the weary, giving them food, shelter, clothing and education. The newcomers are eventually made citizens. A man called Leader (Jonas from the Giver) eventually gives each his or her true name, whether it is Stock Tender, Seer or Messenger just to name a few. 

But something is amiss in Village. In horrible and small ways, people are changing, especially Mentor, the  schoolteacher. He once loved all children, especially the new arrivals who needed him most. But now he is leading the charge to close the dystopia borders, saying that he wants to keep new arrivals out to preserve Village for the villagers. But will closing the borders save Village? Is there danger ahead for the inhabitants of Lowry's utopia?

Throughout the book, Lowry asks us to consider what it means to be human and what our moral values are. Is it the love of knowledge or the love of things? Should we welcome the weak or protect what we have? What is the balance between the needs of citizens and the needs of oppressed people from outside a nation's border? 

I rate Messenger 4 out of 5 stars. Messenger is one of those books that you have to some experience with the topic to truly enjoy, you have to have had your moral compass tested before just like the people of the villages moral compass are being tested in Messenger. What I am trying to say is that if you've read this book when you were younger, re-read it, you'll most likely have stronger emotions while reading then before.

      In The Blind Side, we see the not so amazing side of Michael.  The book begins by explaining how Michael would come to basketball after school, every day wearing the same pair of shorts.  So the basketball coach, Sean Tuohy, finds out about Michael’s location, and tells his wife Le Anne about the situation, and where Michael can be found.  Le Anne finds him and asks if he has a place to stay, and he replies “no.”  From there on, Michael is adopted into the Touhy family, and gains two new siblings, Collins and S.J. Touhy.  From here on out, Michael rewrites his life.  He attends school for the first time, gets into football, and best of all has a family that truly loves him and supports him.  However, he has choices to make.  First of all, he has to decide where he will go to college, something very important for Michael to do if he wishes to have a successful football career.  However, this may be difficult because in order to receive a football scholarship that is both large in its amount, and is valid to the University he wants to go to, he has to retain high grades, something he struggles with in the beginning of the book.  Finally, when Michael finds himself in a situation which could potentially ruin his future football career, he has to use everything he has learned about family support, and trust to get out of it.  In the end, this story teaches you a great quantity of lessons about love, family support, and opportunities in this world.

       While this book is at a reading level the majority of readers can understand, because of the language used throughout this story, I caution everyone to know that when reading this book, inappropriate language is used somewhat frequently.  In addition, remember that this  book does include football references, however, that doesn’t mean you have to be a pro football player in order to be able to read it, as the references are one, not used on every page of the book, and two, the references are either explained thoroughly, are self-explanatory, or can be easily looked up and researched online.    Now, I must admit that The Blind Side definitely messes with my emotions.  While I can’t recall this book making me cry, there certainly were parts throughout the story that made me realize simply how lucky I am to have a loving family, an education, and a roof over my head, and it made me realize that some of the world’s greatest people grew up simply trying to survive day by day, without having an education, parents who are able to take care of you, or something as simple as an extra change of clothes.  The feeling I had when I realized this, can only be described as a heavy weight resting on my heart, slowly dragging my heart down to my stomach.  

       To conclude this book review, I would like to validate this book, explain the resources it has to offer, explain changes I would make to this book, and give the book a final. rating.  Now as you know, there are many books and movies based off of true stories, and some of the content provided is not necessarily true, which means that some of the content provided could potentially be false.  So I went onto some websites, however all the websites only fact checked the movie that was based in the book.  So I looked at the movie fact check, and all the events in the movie the website claimed to be invalid claimed, were recorded correctly in the book.  So after validating this story, I can conclude all the content provided in The Blind Side is factual.  Moving on, one part of the book I truly loved were the pictures that were included throughout the story.  While it wasn’t a full on picture book, there were some parts in the story that included actual footage of Michael Oher from the event presented in the story.  I found it quite helpful, as I got to see what some of the events from the story looked like in Michael Oher’s real life, without having to put in the effort of making a picture or movie in my head.  Now, I am sure that by this point in your life someone has asked you “if you could go back and change one thing from your past life, what would it be?” which makes me begin to think about what I would have changed about The Blind Side, if I had been the author.  While I did love the lessons and truth this book had to offer, if I was the author I would have unquestionably made this book into a series.  When I say this, I don’t mean I would continue on with Michael Oher’s story alone, as the book  basically covered all of Oher’s story.  Instead, I would have made sequels that tell the stories of other football players who struggled at some point in their lives physically, emotionally, or mentally, such as Tyrann Mathieu, Knowshon Moreno, and Dez Bryant.  Finally, if I could rate this book from one to five stars, with one star meaning I hate the book, and five stars meaning I loved the book and glad I read it, I give this book five stars, not only because I loved the themes it presented, but because it completely changed my perspective on the opportunities this world has to offer, and what can happen if you take them.  Overall, if you love reading a book that will teach you about love, opportunity and family support, will tug on your heartstrings, and will leave you wanting a sequel, then The Blind Side by Michael Lewis is a great book choice for you!

This is a Fiction book. This book has multiple points of view, so there is more than 1 main character.These main characters are Tennyson, Brewster, and Bronte.The first main character Tennyson is Bronte’s little brother. He is very protective of his sister,and also can be a bit mean. I can identify with this character because we are both very protective of  our friends and family.Another main character is Bronte is Tennyson’s sister, and Brewster’s girlfriend. She is a caring person who just wants to help people in need. I can identify with this character because she wants to protect the people she cares about, and be kind to people.Another main character is Brewster,Brewster is Bronte’s boyfriend. He is kind,but has a short temper.He comes from a bad home,and has a lot of problems and grief to deal with. I can identify with this character because we both have problems just like everyone else in the world

This story takes place in a town. This setting is not very exciting but is needed for parts of the story.This book showed me that everyone has problems and if we push through them we can make it through life.

This story is about a girl named Bronte is going out with a guy named brewster. There is a rumor about Brewster going around their school that Brewster is a criminal. Tennyson doesn’t trust him at first. When tennyson sees the scars on Brewster’s back he get’s suspicious. Tennyson and Bronte later learn that there is something special about brewster that explains his scars. After this they do everything they can to try to help and understand Brewster. They struggle but eventually find a calm point in life. I think this book was good because it gave a sense of curiosity to me, and also made me feel like I was in the book. 

I think the author wanted readers to know that even if you have bad things going on in your life, others could be having the same problems or worse ones. This is a story about caring, selflessness, and friendship. 

Something I would change was that I feel more could have happened in the story. The story is not very confusing and is quite easy to follow. The story was not very predictable to me but everyone has a different mind so it might be for others. In my opinion the ending was good, and had a lot of emotions.

The book “An Abundance of Katherines” is a teen’s - adult’s book written by John Green. It starts off when the main character named Colin Singleton goes on a road trip to a small town in Ohio. Colin has a crushes on certain girls named Katherine. This book is about romance, friendship, and planning your future so that you don’t mess up your life. 

Colin is a child prodigy, and he has $10,000 for being on a brain game show. Colin doesn’t know how to interact with people, and sometimes he cries in front of them. So his his friend Hakeem goes along with him on the trip. They see many places and things. When I read this book, I didn’t have many friends at chinook. Now I’m basically friends with everybody because this book told me to get out in the world and meet new people. This book also told me not to limit myself to a certain circle of friends, but to expand that circle. This can apply to anybody’s life because if you are lonely and depressed, friends will heal you. There are friends for any type of person, whether you are small or big, fat or skinny, positive or pessimistic. 

Colin never really used his potential other than to impress people, which he never wanted to do anyway. He graduated highschool and never applied to to go to a college or university. When I read this book, I was shocked that a smart person such as Colin had never went to finish his education career. Instead Colin went on a road trip and left his parents at home to take care of the house. He never got along with his parents, which is sad. But I can relate to Colin’s problems too. Sometimes my mom and I get into fights and arguments. I know that we both hate it and we know that sooner or later we have to forgive each other and SAY SORRY!!

Also,make sure to finish high school and get into a college that you want. My parents never went to college and are teaching me to do my best in school.

I bet, that in middle school, we’ve all had a crush on someone. I’ve had one. All my friends have had one. But Colin has had 19 different crushes on girls, and all their names were “Katherine”. Colin found out that love is not a feeling. Love is an action. Colin met a girl in the small town in Ohio named Lindsay Wells and he did not have any feelings like butterflies in the stomach, but he wanted to help her and comfort her. One quote I heard about love is “ No matter how messy they see you are, the problems they see in you, or how hard it is to handle you, they still want you in their life” -Anonymous. 

TITLE:  The Rithmatist

AUTHOR:  Brandon Sanderson

GENRE:  Fantasy

On the island of Nebrask, there’s a war with the soldiers and Rithmatists on one side and the wild chalkings on the other side. The wild chalkings are two dimensional chalk creatures that will kill anything it can find. The Rithmatists can create chalklings they can control and tell to fight. The Rithmatists and the soldiers have to keep the wild chalklings contained in a giant chalk circle on the island of Nebrask. If the wild chalklings manage to destroy the circle, they will escape to the other islands and kill everyone.

The main character in the book is Joel who more than anything wants to be a Rithmatist, but isn’t. Every year there is a ceremony where a few lucky eight year olds get chosen to become Rithmatists. Joel wasn’t one of the lucky ones. Nevertheless, Joel was very knowledgeable about Rithmatics. When students from Joel’s school start going missing, leaving nothing behind except a trail of blood, Joel helps Mr. Fitch(one of his teachers that he is assisting) find out who is behind it.

The message of the story is that not everything is as it first seems. Joel, Mr. Fitch, and the principal all think that there is something weird about the new teacher, Nalizar, who appeared around the time the kidnappings started. It turns out that the kidnapper was actually one of the policemen, Officer Harding, who were working on the case and Nalizar came to the school because he suspected something was wrong. BUT WAIT! In the end, it turns out that that Officer Harding was just Nalizar’s Puppet and Nalizar was behind it after all! This is why I think the message is not to judge a book by it’s cover.

Olly lives next door to Madeline, and their relationship started off through messaging each other through the window, soon growing to email. Olly lives with his abusive alcoholic father and family, but even though his father affects Olly, it isn’t a pity story or something that is hard for Olly to deal with, a component of the story that is quite well written, and that intertwines well with the plot. Olly and Madeline quickly fall in love through email and a few in person meetups.

Normally, you might think that falling in love that quickly is pretty unrealistic, but you have to understand that they have both grown up in pretty extreme, isolating circumstances.

The catch that makes this relationship interesting is that Madeline's worrying, overprotective mother isn’t aware of their relationship. Madeline’s mother, Mrs.Whittier, is very protective, especially because of how Madeline’s brother and father had died in a car crash. This changes when Madeline hears Olly’s father threatening and hurting his family worse than ever before. Madeline runs into the outside world for the first time in seventeen years to try to stop what’s going on. 

Madeline soon learns this wasn’t the smartest decision, and I certainly don’t think it was. Surprise! Madeline doesn’t die!- but her mom realizes that she has this relationship with Olly, and Madeline gets grounded, and Madeline’s bond with her mom weakens.The thing that doesn’t change is Olly and Madeline’s relationship, and because of this, Madeline makes the brave decision to risk her life and she jets off to Hawaii with Olly without telling her mother. You’ll have to read the book to see what happens.

Until this point, all of the story and plot has happened in Madeline’s house, but as Madeline’s life broadens, so does where the story takes place. Olly and Madeline’s trip to Hawaii is one of the first new settings in the story, and soon there are more as a result of the trip to Hawaii.

Some morals to this story are that love sometimes has to override other challenges, and never giving up, as wells as some themes of love, courage and isolation. This is a story about growing up, and there are so many lessons that both the main character and the reader will learn.

You might think this is just another dying teen girl story, or just a romance story, and let my me tell you: it’s not.

Still, anyone looking for one of those books will be incredibly pleased by the way Everything, Everything works the two main plots together. My favorite part would have to be the ending, and the amazing, amazing plot twist that I can’t tell you about.

This book isn’t just another sick teen novel, it’s the engaging journey of a dying girl risking it all to truly live. This book is one that you should read.

Yael, is a 18 year old girl who was part of an experiment called the Melanin Manipulation, an experiment that changed her life forever. A survivor of painful human experimentation, Yael has the power to skinshift and must complete her mission by impersonating last year’s only female victor, Adele Wolfe. This deception becomes more difficult when Felix, Adele’s twin brother, and Luka, her former love interest, enter the race and watch Yael’s every move. But as Yael begins to get closer to the other competitors, can she bring herself to be as ruthless as she needs to be to avoid discovery and complete her mission?

The message of this book was clear. When everything is not in your favor, there is always a chance to rise up. Although the heartless soldiers stood out to me, the heartless prisoners stood out even more. For example, in one part of the book, a boy, or young man killed his own father over a piece of bread, so animal was his desire for food. I think the author wants you to learn about how harshly the Jews were treated during this time period, and the sheer viciousness of the Holocaust. 

 This book definitely held my interest. There were no slow parts, and although it was not an extremely difficult read, it was very thought provoking and very engrossing. I would recommend it to almost anyone. Whether they like action or history or complex characters or anything else, this book will probably have it. I think anyone can enjoy, and more importantly learn from Wolf By Wolf.

 

 Imagine being a teenage boy who’s only way of communicating to people is through writing. You have a hobby of skipping school to visit hotels. One day, you meet a mysterious girl, who claims to be older than she looks, during one of your hotel visits. She is willing to give you a great deal of money that she wants to spend together, with the time she has. The thing is, her time is very limited. Once she receives a specific phone call, she plans to commit suicide by jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge. Parker and Zelda’s story of finding the meaning of life unfold in the busy city of San Francisco. How would you react to this situation? 

 

 It all starts when Zelda leaves without her purse at the hotel restaurant. Parker finds a fairly fat stack of money inside her purse and right when he’s about to leave with it, he has to go back because he left behind his only way of communication, his journal. When he comes back he finds that silver haired girl reading his journal! They make a deal involving Parker spending all her money with her, in exchange for him applying to college, which he has no interest in doing. She wants him to “treat her like a teenager” and he does exactly that. This is just the beginning of their journey together where they learn why life is worth living for. 

 Zelda, quite experienced in life herself, shows Parker the joy of being young and how to live life to the fullest. Alana calls Zelda a miracle worker for doing so. “Last night was the first time I’ve seen him out since the beginning of high school. It’s like he actively hates being around other human beings…” (Wallach). He goes to a party with Zelda, which is a new experience for him. This party includes some pretty crazy things that he’s never done before he’s met Zelda such as drinking and going skinny dipping. When Zelda meets Parker’s mother, they get into a pretty deep conversation and when things start to get kind of gloomy, she lightens up the mood by encouraging them all to dance with her.  When Parker’s mother says, “I’m too old for dancing,” she makes a comment on what she said being nonsense. I learned from this moment that no matter how old you are, there can still be joy in living life to the fullest and having fun. 

 At one point of the book, Zelda talks about how she’s immortal and why exactly she plans to commit suicide. This I will not tell you. You will just have to read the book to find out. She tells him about her multiple marriages. She’s been going through the pain of seeing her loved ones pass away for 246 years! Parker continues to try to convince her why life is still worth living for, no matter what. She has become a very important part of his life. She has changed his life. “Okay, immortal girl, I wrote, you say you’re tired out with life, right? Well, I’m going to untire you. I’m going to make you want to live,” (Wallach). This is coming from a guy who used to have no interest in his future. A lot of us say that we would love to live forever, but if you think about it, would it really be that great? 

 

 This brings us to the quote at the beginning of this review. “Love is the only exception to the law of diminishing returns.” The reason I used this quote to introduce the book is because it’s one of my most favorite quotes and it has failed to erase itself from my mind. There’s many things in life that are worth living for, but if you think about it, things can get tiring and stressful sometimes when you have to keep repeating it. That is what the “law of diminishing returns” means. Love is a feeling you can have your whole life, and not get bored of giving or receiving.

 Parker’s mother might think that Zelda is just another teenager, but she’s not and she also doesn’t act like one.  After a dramatic fight, Zelda comes home with Parker and discusses with his mother about what had just happened. When Parker’s mother get’s into the topic of their family’s loss, her husband, and how Parker has been screwing up constantly, Zelda isn’t afraid to voice her thoughts and tell her the truth. “For this show you’re putting on. For the perpetual pity party you appear to be throwing yourself. Can’t you see what a terrible example you’re providing?” (Wallach). Their home is filled with pictures that have memories captured in them of Parker’s father. This doesn’t do any good when trying to quit grieving and move on with their own lives. Later in the book, Zelda and Parker takes all the cracked pictures and diaries of him and throws them away at the same exact place he had died on the freeway. Parker has stopped talking ever since and has also been going to speech therapy. Zelda did do Parker and his mom a favor by speaking up because it did make it easier to move forward with their lives. 

 Zelda hasn’t been the only person changing people’s lives in this story. Parker writes creative short stories in the journal that he carries around with him. Considering the fact that Zelda has a lot going on with her that we don’t know about and that she’s planning to commit suicide, life sounds hard for her at the moment. The least Parker could do is to lighten things up for her. He went to that crazy party, which is usually something he would never do. He also let’s Zelda read the stories he writes and he uses her as inspiration for some of these stories. Zelda encourages him to go to college for creative writing, which means that his stories have made a positive impact on her. She learns things about herself that she even didn’t know about herself through these stories. 

 Thanks for the Trouble is my most favorite book at the moment. Ever since I read it, the name has been stuck in my mind. I think it’s because of how deep and meaningful this book was to me and also because I could relate to the main character. Just like Parker, I am still young and finding my way through the obstacles in life. There are many, many things that I still have to experience in my lifetime. I also liked how this book was unpredictable and unique. It’s never as fun when reading a book that you already have an idea of what’s going to happen because of how predictable it is. Overall, I would rate this book a 9.5/10.

 You're probably wondering by now if Zelda really does end up committing suicide or if Parker eventually starts speaking again after all that has happened. Things may not end up the way you expect for it to. I guess you’ll just have to read the book to find out!

future event of the San Andreas fault line shifting. Although it doesn’t say the time directly, I predict that the time is between the years 2010-2015 because of the technology that is referenced in the book.

The Living is the survival story of a hispanic boy named Shy.

 Shy’s family is pretty poor. Throughout most of the book, it is mostly present time. But there are some parts where there is a flashback.

Shy goes on a cruise ship that becomes a shipwreck due to the tsunami that was caused by the San Andreas fault lines shifting. The next dozen of chapters is about how shy is fighting for his life. The end of the book continues to the the next book The Hunted.

All the characters in the book seems very real. The plot is very exciting and it has very descriptive details. This book is available in the library along with the next book.

Liz Emerson wanted to die. She had enough of life. Perhaps, maybe not enough, but it is the only way for her to stop everything that she has ever done, and have set in motion from continuing, which is to die, right? Because Newton’s first law of motions says that, “A body at rest will remain at rest, and a body in motion will remain in motion with a constant velocity, unless acted upon by a force (Zhang).” She is the force that started everything, and it (the things that she had started) won’t end, and will continue to go on, and build up over time, until-unless another force comes along to stop it, and that force she has decided is going to be herself. She, the person, the force that had started it all is going to be the person, the force that is going to end it all.

… Is there another way?

 Liz Emerson knows that life is precious, so she gave herself exactly a week to find the beauty of it again. However, she couldn’t find any until now, when she lies at the bottom of the hill, dying, wanting to live life again, and at that moment she notices how blue the sky can be again. This story is about a girl who finds it hard to love herself because of the things she had done in the past, and the lack of care she’d received as a child, though part of it is her fault, too-but how is it a child’s fault also, if they lack of love from their parent? That’s a great question and it’s a question you can find the answer to in this book. 

Everything in this book, ‘falls into place,’ which will be leading to Liz’s decision in the end, whether to continue living, or not. Which will she choose? It all depends on her, and it’s up to you find out. 

This story has taught me many things, and some of which is to value life, and during hard times, having someone who you can confide in, and talk to really helps. For an example, Liz was afraid to reach out, and tell anyone, anything at all, so it swallowed her up whole, tearing her apart, and yet she still holds it in, refusing to tell anyone. Though she did give small clues and hints here and there, hoping to find a reason to continue living, but she couldn’t find it until she was dying, at the bottom of the hill. Until then she had never experienced death, and grasp the meaning of life. “Life was precious (Zhang 105).” 

Life is Precious. Liz realized this. However which will she choose? To continue living, or to put an end to it all? 

Another lesson that this book had taught me is don’t do something without thinking about the future and how it can affect you and the people around you. For an example, in the book on pages 78-79, Liz Emerson, and her two best friends, Kennie, and Julia decided to try something that they’d been warned not to do for it has serious consequences. Drugs. Curiosity took over, and forgetting the warning, they stole a bag of white powder and sniffed it. Julia peer pressured, took the risk, too. Since then, it had been tearing her life apart. “Liz knew. Liz had always known that the drug was tearing Julia’s life apart. She knew that it was her fault. She knew that the ziplock bags made Julia lonely, but she didn’t know how to help (Zhang 82).”

“It started after their homecoming game. They were sitting behind the bleachers with an innocuous bag of white powder, which Liz had seen peeking out of a stranger’s pocket. Naturally, she had stolen it so they could try it. Just a little bit each. Kennie was excited, because she was Kennie and new things, no matter how stupid, made her bounce. Liz was rather indifferent to it all. She was only doing it because she was Liz Emerson. 

But, Julia-Julia was skeptical on the outside and so, so scared on the inside. Her hands were shaking as she watched Liz inhale, as Kennie tried and choked and got it in her eyes. Her hands shook as she took the bag and opened it, and they shook when she hesitated. 

Liz laughed. 

Julia did it because of the way Liz stared at her, daring her to take the risk for once. So she did. She took the risk while Liz and Kennie forgot everything their middle-school health teacher had ever taught them-assuming that they had actually listened in the first place. That you could get addicted on the first try (Zhang 79).” 

Years later… 

“Two days before Liz crashed her car, Julia decided that she’d had enough. Her grades were slipping, and sometimes she couldn’t breath. Her father had just lost some money on the stock market and was still paying ridiculous amounts of alimony, and her “borrowed” drug allowance and wouldn’t go unnoticed for much longer… 

… I didn’t ruin my life Liz. You did (Zhang 80).” 

This shows that Liz had decided to try something she know others have said to be harmful yet she still does it because of curiosity, and she'd influenced her two best friends to do it with her, thinking about the short term run but not the long one, and now it's ruining Julia's life, and Liz's regretting it but doesn't know how to help her best friend.This added on to her guilt, and built it up which gets bigger with every action she chose to do, the ones that had affected other people’s lives, ruining them. So, remember to think about the long term run next time you decide to do something!  Even if it's a small one. 

Then, the last message I will list that the author wants people to know (although there are definitely more), especially parents, is no matter how old a child is they still need love and care; Your child will always need you, even if they pushes you away. Having you care about them and that they can confide in you are great things because they know if they need help, you’re going to be there for them, the best that you could, and this could prevent them from feeling lonely like Liz had in the story, and tries to commit suicide. A burden to the people who loves you.

I really like this book because there’s a lot of things in which I can connect to because it’s very realistic, and because of that it allowed me to connect to the plot of the story, and the characters and their emotions more, making the story seem more interesting to me because I can visualize what is going on in the story, like if I were there, more vividly than if I can’t connect to it. However, one thing that I think would make this book even more interesting than it already is is if the events in the book counted down, in chronological order like a timeline, to the moment Liz decided to crash her car. That I think would make the readers less confused because for a little while I got confused, thinking that the events are lining up in order leading to the moment Liz decided to crash her car, ending up in the hospital. Then the story begins telling us why she decided to commit suicide, like in the book “13 reasons why,” by Jay Asher. In that book, the events that made the main character-also a girl who was named Hannah-wanted to committed suicide, was in a timeline order unlike the book, “Falling into place,” which the events that the characters recall relating to Liz jumps around randomly. But, for every book, like “Falling into Place,” by Amy Zhang for an example, I think the author have her purpose for choosing to write the book the way she did, and maybe that is what unique about this book, separating it from others. In, “Falling into Place,” the author (Amy Zhang) used techniques like stir of emotions so that the readers can have empathy for the characters, connecting the readers to the character, and the plot of the story as well. They give readers multiple perspectives of views from different characters, including the main character, using dialogues and inner thinking of those characters to give us a better background knowledge about the book. In overall I really like this book, and I think this would be a good book for anyone who are having a hard time loving themselves, to read. 

By William Osbourne

Realistic Fiction

    Both Otto and Leni are very relatable characters. Just like us, they are tasked with tough decisions. Sometimes they choose the right path, but others they choose to go a way that leads them into trouble. They also are very brave and courageous but still have a more scared side to them which makes them very easy to see as normal people.

Hitler’s Secret takes place in WWII Germany. As they move from city to city Osbourne is able to increase the intensity because they are never completely safe. This means that with every decision they make they are impacting directly how the war will change. This is important because they can never be completely sure with their decisions.

Hitler's Secret starts in London England with our two main characters who are known by their aliases Otto and Leni for most of the book. Otto and Leni are both living in challenging situations. But this starts to change when they are recruited by Admiral Macpherson. Otto and Leni are very eager and excited to start on this mission, but they quickly realize the importance of what they are doing. They are being trained for a mission that will put them behind enemy lines. They have to find a girl and smuggle her out of Germany. But not everyone agrees with this. The german government is trying to chase down Otto and Leni as they are trying to escape Germany with the girl. If you like action and books about WWII then this book is for you.

This story takes place in the beautiful city of Paris, in between of the 1930s. During that time, the US was in the Great Depression and Paris was getting ready for the World’s Fair. I think that the setting imposes as an obstacle for Hugo because it is such a big city and for an 12 year old child to be surviving by himself is very impressive.  A major theme in the book is that you should start what you finish, no matter what happens. This really highlights the moments where you could think that “No, I can’t do this. This is way too hard for me” when you are in the middle of a project and it shows how Hugo started the project with his father but despite of what happened with his father passed away, he still has courage for what he started with the automation because his father lead him into this. Which leads me to another point of where the book could have multiple themes which is Family and Friendship. Hugo loved his father, you cannot deny it and because he passed away in the middle of fixing the automaton, it gave him an other reason to keep on working on his project. The other part of the second theme is Friendship, Hugo made friends with Isabelle and Etienne (Through Isabelle). In the beginning of the book, Hugo didn’t have many friends, especially of his age. This book shows how friendship is important because Hugo met Isabelle because he lived in front of the toy booth but even though they had a rough start of a friendship, they still were friends in the long run. Because of Hugo met Isabelle, he met Etienne the person who would reveal the actual identity of Georges Méliès. What I learned from this is that friendship is very important and you should finish what you start at the beginning.

What I thought about the book was that it was very impressive and very engaging. The pictures in the book does say a million words because they have so much detail and they are just like an average page of it in writing or better. What I liked about the book was the plot of the book was precisely implemented in the book. There weren't any events in the plot that seemed out of place and another thing that I enjoyed about the book was the fact that they made this a historical fiction instead of a realistic fiction because you learn about other people at the same time enjoying the book itself. What I didn’t like about the book was that there weren't any information of other secondary characters such as Hugo’s Mother that isn’t mentioned at any time of the book. That's it for the things that I didn’t like about the book, everything else is perfect. The story was easy to believe and non-confusing because the book is not an fantasy or a science fiction because it is more complex and hard to understand.

Twelve-year-old Petrel is an outcast, the lowest of the low on an ancient icebreaker,a large ship that's made for breaking ice has been following the  same course for three hundred years. In that time, the ship's crew has forgotten its original purpose and has broken into three warring tribes, the Cooks, the Officers and the Engineers. Everyone has a tribe except Petrel, whose parents committed such a terrible crime that they were thrown overboard. They were thrown overboard for having an intertribal child. Their daughter Petrel was ostracised because of her parent's relationship. Petrel was a survivor. She lived in the dark corners of the ship, trusting no one, speaking to no one except two large grey rats, named Mister Smoke and Missus Slink. 

Until one day she discovered a half-frozen boy on an iceberg and decides to send an anonymous message in Engineer code to through the pipes of the ship. No one knows where he has come from, and when he recovers consciousness he claims to have forgotten even his name. The tribes don't trust strangers; they haven't seen one for three hundred years, and many people are thinking about tossing back onto the ice. But Petrel decides saves him and hide him away in the forgotten corners of the ship, hoping he will be her friend.

This book teaches many life lessons for example selflessness. One example of this when the main character Petrel decides to help save the crew when Brother Thawn decides to attack the Oyster. She distracts him and his men with the glow of the silver captain so that the crew can make it up the ladder without being killed by the awaiting Devouts. Another example of this is when , Fin decides to help put out the fires after the fighting between the three tribes over custody of Petrel and himself, even though he isn't part of the ship's crew and was told to sink the ship and kill the sleeping captain.

Another life lesson this book teaches is helping others . One example of this is when Head cook Krill decides to help Fin by letting him stay in his cabin to heal from a severe case of boat fever even though the two other tribes and even some of his own men and women want him thrown overboard because he's the main suspect in Orcas murder.This is important because later in the book Officer Crab is proven guilty of Orcas. It's also important because Fin saves the Oyster by knocking out the leader of the Devouts Brother Thrawn with his steel spanner causing the Devouts to the retreat of the sides of the boat.Another example of helping others is when Squid, Krill's daughter decides to give Petrel two whole toothies which are large fish like salmon. Which Petrel gladly eats and shares with Fin which gives them The Energy to carry on through the day and Save themselves when Dolf attacks them on the Icy deck of the ship.This proves that helping someone can affect them positively and might even come around full circle to you.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

Author: Natasha Preston

Genre: Mystery/ Thriller

When Summer is walking around the woods, trying to find a friend, when a man approaches her, calling her “Lily,” but she isn’t Lily, she’s Summer! She repeats many times that her name is Summer and not what he had called her. The man, not listening, covers her mouth, knocks her unconscious, and brings her to his cellar where she meets three other women named Rose, Poppy, and Violet, all named after flowers. She finds that these women had been down there for over 2 years and the thought terrifies her. As the story unfolds in the setting of the cellar, you get to see from multiple characters perspectives, and learn why this man had taken Summer and why he named them all after flowers. 

Before this man had changed her life, Summer was just a 16 year old girl who led a normal life. She was part of a band, had supportive parents, and had a  boyfriend. She was just a normal teenager who was naive of the dangers of walking alone at night,  careless, and sensitive, but throughout the story she becomes a stronger and more confident person due to Clover (the man that had taken her). 

Before everything happened, Summer was about to perform at the local bar, her friend (a fellow bandmate) goes off with a boy and is unable to show. As mentioned before, Summer, who was worried went out into the woods by herself to find her. Instead she found a man who waited for her. He repeatedly called her “Lily” but despite her desperate pleas, he still took her away to his cellar where everything was spotless and “perfect”. Almost OCD-ish. This is where Summer meets the three other women were held captive by the strange man. Violet, Poppy, and Rose. 

Later on, when she was still adjusting, “Lily” (Summer) joined the man’s Clover’s“family”who included the 3 girls, his three precious flowers, she witnessed the murder of a stripper.  Throughout the story, he killed people mercilessly in front of Summer and the girls and this terrified her. The way Clover’s behavior changed from being sweet and kind to murderous struck Summer with confusion. This gave her so much questions about him but along with a lot of fear. 

She also found out that Clover would “rape them when he fell in love” (Preston 25). This terrified her and she questioned Rose about all the things that Clover did to them. When Rose described it as “not so bad,” Summer felt like the girls were crazy and she struggled to understand how the girls are grateful for Clover.  This slowly turnd into anger, and soon enough, she desperately tried to find a way to escape. This was a point where she became a stronger and more confident person. 

A few days later, Summer attempted to escape by grabbing Clover’s keys and running towards the door, but then fails, and is threatened by Clover that if she tried it one more time, he’d kill her. This only deepens her hatred for him.

After months and months of being held captive, Summer is terrified that she’ll never get out or found. So she came up with a plan, but did her roommates go with it or not? Did they ever get out? Read the book to find out! 

The Cellar is one my favorite books that and is one that has always stood out from all that I’ve read. I love the suspense and the mystery behind it and it always had me sitting at the edge of my seat. As I kept reading, there were always surprising events that happened, and it gave me that kind of “WHAT?!” feeling.

 I loved the character, Summer, because she’s the kind of person I want to strive to be. She never gave up, she had hope, and was not afraid to protect those that she loved. For example, the time when she stood up for Violet because Clover had accused Violet for not keeping the flowers alive. He had been holding a knife and kept screaming at her, and even though Summer had known she could’ve been killed, she still stood up for her. 

I especially liked the parts that were told from Clover’s perspective because he was the main mystery in the book and it was enjoyable to see what his thoughts were when he had done all those terrible things. 

The story consisted of all the characters perspectives and it was interesting because you could see from all angles of the story. This book showed many meaningful messages like “Face your fear” or “Take risks for the people you love. For this reason I would rate this book 4.5/5 stars. 

This book was a highly enjoyable book for me, and I hope that this made you curious whether Summer and the other girls ever made it out, because sometimes stories don’t always end up with a happily ever after, who knows? You’ll just have to read the book to find out! 

Title: Jackie and Me

Author: Dan Gutman

Genre: Fantasy and Realistic Fiction

Fantasy b/c he time travels. Realistic Fiction b/c he could be a real person

Main Character

Main Character: Joe Stoshack

Describe this Character: Joe is a middle school boy who has the ability to travel anywhere and anytime in the world by the power of baseball cards. He is an adventurous character who is up to any challenge. Oh, and by the way, he’s a sports addict. For example, in math class he used batting averages for multiplication and division, and addition and subtraction.

Identifying with the Character: I can identify with Joe because we have many of the same interests like sports addicts, very adventurous, and I also love baseball cards. 

Others Characters

Another Character: Joe’s Mom

Details: She is a very skiddish parent. Every time Joe wants to time travel she always brings up an excuse why he can’t go or something that she thinks that's going to happen. On the other hand, she is very supportive when he does decide to time travel.

Another Character: Joe’s Dad

Details: He is a very good father. He lets Joe go back in time to see the baseball players. For example, when Joe goes time traveling, he always gives him side quests to get autographs from other famous players.

Setting

Describe the time and place of the story: Joe and his family live in Louisville, Kentucky in the current day time, somewhere from 1989-2010, when Ken Griffey played. But when he time travels to see Jackie Robinson, he went back to Brooklyn, New York in 1947.

Comments about the setting (examples: setting makes story exciting, setting has an important effect on main character, setting is/is not exciting or new, setting increased my knowledge of something: The setting of the past time of 1947 made me excited because the lessons that they explain in this book show the struggles of African-American men trying to play sports and just trying to feel apart of the group in a big city.

Theme

What is the author trying to say in this story?: The author is trying to show/say that Jackie Robinson had many struggles throughout his baseball career and on the streets in Brooklyn, New York.

Is there a moral to this story?: The lesson is the same as what the author is trying to say.

This story is about…: Working hard because Jackie had to deal with discrimination in the time where the mlb was segregated as well with everything else in the US. 

This book showed me/I learned from this story: This showed me that to be thankful for what you have and not be greedy because someone could have less. 

Plot

Evaluation of the Book

What did you think of the book?Why?: I thought this book was a great book because it showed the struggles of the African-Americans at that time.

What did you like about the book?Why?: I liked that they showed the real life things that some people had to do when the segregation was in effect because I was not it that age.

What didn’t you like about the book?Why?: I didn’t like how they included racial interactions because this is a kid book and some kids may take it the wrong way plus, they don’t cuss so they wouldn’t understand.

Was the story confusing or hard to believe?Why?: No because this is an actual event and I know that this has happened so I know that it won’t be fake other than the bat boy thing but other than that it was real.

Was the story predictable?: Like I just said I knew this event was real so it didn’t surprise me.

Was the story believable?: Yes because it was a real event.

The ending was…: Good because the time travel paid off and he got an A on his assignment.

The first main thing that really impacts the characters is the hatred between Tennyson and Bruiser after Bronte decides to date Bruiser. After a little while, Bruiser and Bronte get together at a small picnic. Bronte twists her ankle at the picnic and Bruiser ‘magically’ sprains his ankle while Bronte’s pain goes away. Bruiser’s uncle gets mad at Bruiser and starts fighting. While in the fight, Bruiser’s uncle has a stroke. Because of this, Bruiser and his little brother can not stay at their uncle’s house anymore. Tennyson wants his parents to take Bruiser and his little brother in. It’s a hard decision for Tennyson’s parents.

In my opinion, the book was great. I read this one year ago and I still remember it. It was a just right read with slightly more challenge which made it perfect. I was shocked to find out all of  the secrets. Unlike other books or shows, when all the secrets got out there were still secrets hiding between the lines. Every time I put the book down there was a slight cliffhanger. I could connect to the characters as their own personalities developed because I was still developing friendships at the time. The author, Neal Shusterman, uses a lot of detail when explaining emotions of characters. He also makes sure that every character has their own dialogue instead of having the main character talk and tell the reader what others are talking about. The story is separated into sections, each individual section including one character’s perspective. 

I would recommend this to students in middle school. This book includes characters that show the level of maturity middle school students need to work up to.  I would give it 4 out of 5 stars because there is room for improvement. There aren’t enough details and too many time skips. It’s kind of hard to follow the story with all the perspectives. 

What would you give up for peace and order? Would you give up the ability to freely choose your partner or to have kids? Would you even lose your emotion? The Giver portrayed an utopian future where there is peace and order. The cost of this is not having any emotions and being assigned partners and kids. 

The main character, Jonas, challenges the idea of ignoring his stirrings by not taking pills; stirrings happens when a citizen begins the early stages of adolescence or puberty. When Jonas first begins his stirrings his parents tell him to take pills to ignore the stirrings and lose his emotion but when he becomes the next giver; the Giver is the person in the community who keeps all the memories that regular people like us would see he keeps the memories away from everybody else in the community because they're fragile minds can't handle it and it would corrupt them, he learns the truth about life and how you can't just put away all your feelings away and be like a zombie another thing he learns is that life it isn't all black and white. 

Lois Lowry strongly showed that the characters had no emotion, a good of example of this is, “‘I apologize to my classmates,’ Asher concluded. He smoothed his rumpled tunic and sat down.
‘We accept your apology, Asher.’ The class recited the standard response in unison.” when jonas receives the memories from the original giver he is told he can't take the pills that take away his stirrings and he can’t die because if he does all the memories he got as being the giver will be released in the the community and will cause chaos.

I would give this book 4 out of 5 stars because it's a good story but it's not amazing, the ending ended on a weird point but you get to learn more when you read the sequels. 

 This is what happened to Thomas in The Maze Runner by James Dashner. It is set in a post-apocalyptic future where some boys are sent to a mysterious place called the “Glade”. Some boys have been there much longer than others, but all of them still question why they were sent there or how they got there. The Glade is located in the center of a maze made of stone. In the maze, there are Grievers, robot-like machines that only come out at night. If they detect you, then you best get your butt out of there ASAP.

 Thomas is a very curious boy. This trait can be both good and bad for him. He tends to put himself in danger throughout the book because his eagerness gets the best of him. His inquiring mind got him into spending a night in the Glade. It also led him into stabbing himself with the Griever’s needle. It led him to stabbing himself because he wanted to remember all the things he did in the past.

 A girl named Theresa was strangely sent from the box to their Glade. That was the first girl ever to be received from the box. In her hand, was a note. It said “She’s the last one, ever.” and from then on everything changed. The children in the glade are known as “The Gladers”. Their objective was to find a way out the Glade but strange things kept happening. For example, they received a girl in the box instead of a boy, they received a note saying she was the last one, and much more.

 My opinion on this book is that it’s a very intense and action-packed book. It will make you on the edge of your seat and the book has many cliffhangers leaving you wanting to read more. My favorite part was when they had a war between the Gladers and the Grievers. It was very exciting and it made me question what the outcome would be. Thomas is a caring character that I could relate to; he does risky things to save his friend’s life.

 This book would be great for students who like post-apocalyptic fiction or sci-fi novels. I would give this book a five out of five because unlike most books I’ve read or tried reading, this one made me want to read more. Thanks for reading and I hope you’d pick this book up on your next trip to the bookstore!

Plasma burst flies from your gun, the sound of explosions you hear in the distance. You are up against an enemy you can’t beat with raw force. What do you do? Do you give up? Or do you take this challenge? But here’s the catch, you can’t give up, because the fate of all humanity lies in your hand.

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card is a sci fi-fantasy book where a boy named Ender is spotted as the last hope of humanity. Every choice, every seconds he waits, he wastes those seconds before the end of humanity. Unless he can compose a strategy to defeat the enemy, before he runs out of time. Even though the book may seem kinda long and simple. It actually shows you how the character thinks, feels, and even put your imagination on the same plane as the character.

Ender (the main character) is a kind person deep down, but his brother Peter had an influence on him. Whenever he fights he fights like Peter( who was always quick to violence and wanted to kill the opponent). Every time Ender fights he always ends up injuring his opponent, but Ender is a kind person deep down because when he beats his opponent he understands why his opponent is fighting because in the book when he was sad but very mad at himself for acting like Peter (Ender’s to quick to violence older brother), he said a quote that I will never forget because it is one of the most important things for the plot of the book. Ender said, “In the moment when I truly understand my enemy, understand him well enough to defeat him, then in that very moment I also love him. I think it’s impossible to really understand somebody, what they want, what they believe, and not love them the way they love themselves. And then, in that very moment when I love them.... I destroy them.” At that moment Ender decided on what he was going to do. In order to make the choice to either save humanity or destroy it.

I think what the author's message is in this book is, to never give up on what you are doing no matter what others think of you and to always choose the right path. Like when Edner had almost killed (though he ends up know that he killed him much later), but after Ender harmed Bonzo he wanted to quit the International fleet because he did not want to harm anyone any more because he understands their reasons.Example, when Ender beat Bonzo he realized his only reason for trying to hurt Ender was out of jealousy. But after ender beats Bonzo he wanted to quit because he wanted to never get in someone's way ever again. I think this because Ender is always looked down on, but he still want to fulfill his goal and does not want to do it like Peter would. Peter was quick to violence and did not want to work with a group, This shows that Ender can pursue his goal and follow the right path.

When I was reading this book I actually was looking forward to reading the next chapter or section and even the next book. The Book interested me so much for the plot and the characters emotions and their differences just  hooked me into the book. I would recommend this book to someone who love sci fi-fantasy books where the fate of humanity rest on your shoulders. I Would rate this book 8/10. So you have to stay with the book. Even though this book has 324 pages it is still very interesting and can keep reading it over and over again.

The majority of this book covers Tris in Dauntless initiation, which is not at all as she suspected it would be. Dauntless initiation involves quite a lot of fighting, which at first Tris is not prepared for. Remember how the training in initiation was a factor for choosing your faction? Maybe this was not Tris’s best idea... This book contains a variety of different scenes, from combat, to romantic, to thriller. This book also has a large variety of characters, of which Tris has different kinds of relationships with. She meets friends like Christina and Will. She meets enemies like Peter, and Drew. She even befriends her initiation instructor Four! Some of her relationships with people change throughout, the book, but you’ll have to read it to find out more about that. Throughout initiation, Tris learns that some of her Abnegation qualities can help her through Dauntless initiation. For instance do you remember that the Abnegation believe in selflessness? Well, being selfless is putting yourself in harm’s way for someone else. Well being part of dauntless is risking your life to do things, and if you are selfless, you are already doing that when you help other people. But abnegation is not a very accepted faction, and a lot of people seem to lack the ability to accept an abnegation like Tris into their lives. How will it turn out? Will Tris convince her new faction mates to accept her? Read the book to find out more.

I would say that the main message in this book is that even if people try to make you be a certain way, and to abide a certain amount of rules, you can never be exactly what they want you to be, you will always be at least a little bit different from everybody else. This is the definition of the word ¨Divergent¨. The author does a very good job of sneaking in secret things like this into the book. I challenge you to look for words that you may not know the word of, and see if they have a definition that corresponds with something in the book.

I simply could not put this book down. I would get back from my early morning routine in the summer and just read this book for an hour or two. I would do that every day. It was a very fast paced storyline, and there was really no point in which I was bored while reading this book. I think that anybody could read this book and enjoy it immensely. I am most definitely not a fast reader, and yet I read this 487 page book in under a week. I simply could not stop reading Divergent By Veronica Roth, and I don't think you'll be able to either.