Reilly Venino
12/5/2017 05:17:26 am
I recently have finished House Arrest, by K.A Holt. This novel in verse was a great read with a lot of emotion and conflict. The story was about a boy named Timothy and how he loved his little brother so much, he would steal for him. Levi, Timothy’s brother, has a disease, and has to breath through a hole in his throat. Sometimes, the hole gets clogged, and they have to help him breathe and fix him up when he throws up or gags or isn’t able to breath. His mother is always working, trying to make more money, which is something they do not have much of, and they constantly have a nurse in and out, supervising Levi and Timothy. Timothy’s dad also disappeared-right when Levi was born.
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Charlene Melinsky
12/20/2017 02:14:11 pm
The historical fiction Prisoner B-3087 written by Alan Gratz was an intense read. I typically like historical fiction novels, and I thought this one was great. Reading about different points of views and experiences through various events in history is amazing, and this story was very strong with the event. The main character Jakob and his family live in Krakow. Jakob is looking forward to his bar mitzvah until the Nazis take over. There are knocks on the door, and Germans asking for all their jewelry and possessions. Jakob’s family noticed “two big gray military trucks pulled up, and Jews from [the] apartment building and all the buildings around [them] were herded into them by German soldiers” (Gratz 30). They decide to live on the roof in a chicken coop. They wanted to be unnoticed by the Germans, or they would be taken away. Eventually, they are discovered, and taken away into concentration camps where Jews are starved, beaten, or forced into gas chambers to be left in ashes. Worry and fright surrounds Jakob as he clings on to his family before they slip away from him. Jakob is no longer Jakob. He is now Prisoner B-3087. The theme of this story is to be brave or don’t be afraid to speak out because there are many parts in the story where he needed to speak up and stand up for himself, or he could’ve dies.
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Valentina Gomez
1/1/2018 05:43:41 pm
The book The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne was an amazing read. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas takes place during an awful era which is the Holocaust. The main character is Bruno. Bruno is 8 years old and is a very curious boy. Bruno's family and him had to move to the "Out-With" because Bruno's father was a commander for Adolf Hitler and was offered a job down at the "Out-With" so they all had to move there. When Bruno and his family moved from his big mansion in Berlin to, " the new house, [that] stood all on its own in an empty, desolate place," in the "Out- With" Bruno has been very curious about his new house and area they are living in. (Boyne 11). Later along in the book, Bruno meets another young boy named Shmuel. Shmuel's life is very different from Bruno's because Shmuel lives behind a fence dividing "The Opposites" from the Jews. Shmuel is a Jew who lives by the rules of a terrible man called Adolf Hitler who would collect all the Jews to work for him until they die. The conflict of the book is that Bruno is trying to figure out what the "Out-With" is all about and he tries to help out Shmuel with his struggles which you will find out in the book. The theme of this novel is that friendship is the most powerful thing in the world, no matter who or what gets in the way.
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Kiley Langan
1/8/2018 02:35:38 pm
The book, The War That Saved My Life, by the author, Kimberly Brubaker Bradley, was a unique and moving story. The War That Saved My Life is a historical fiction novel about a young girl named Ada, who has a clubfoot and has a brother named Jamie. During the day, while Jamie is out playing with his friends in the fields and Ada’s mother is in the pub, Ada is forced to stay in her room. Ada always “dreaded being alone. [In] [their] flat [which] was one room on the third floor above the pub…”(Bradley 4). Her mother forces Ada to stay in her room because her mother thought of Ada as “a disgrace… [and] a monster, with [her] ugly foot.”(Bradley 4). Ada hated being in her room alone, and she wanted to get away from her mother who abused her. Then the war came, causing families to send their children away from the war. Ada’s mother said that Jamie would go, but Ada would stay, even though the bombs were coming. Instead of staying, Ada and Jamie left their mother, early in the morning, and went to the train station where the other evacuees were. From their, they went to a building where families came and chose which evacuees they would want to take care of until it was safe to bring them back to their houses. When no more children were being picked, Ada and Jamie realized that they were the “only ones not chosen”, mostly because Ada won’t let anyone take Jamie unless they take her as well(Bradley 32). But, since Ada has her clubfoot, no one wants her. Since no one picked them, they were then brought to a lady’s house named Miss.Smith who they also call Susan. As they continued to live with Miss. Smith, Jamie gets used to her, but Ada believes that she shouldn’t get used to living with Miss. Smith and being treated so nicely because she thought it was all temporary. Ada believed that everything that she has now will be taken away once she has to go home and live with her mother.
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Shani Lynch
1/11/2018 02:59:48 pm
I read the book Wolf Hollow by Lauren Wolk, which was truly an amazing novel. It was pact with adventure, conflicts, and suspense. I would hate to stop because I always wanted to keep reading. Wolf Hollow takes place right when World War 1 ended. This novel is wrote in the point of view of a girl named Annabelle from Ohio. Annabelle’s life was perfect with her family until one day a new student named Betty showed up. Betty instantly picked on Annabelle and made her feel scared, which she never felt. Betty threatened Annabelle if she didn’t do what she wanted, and then would threaten her family. Everytime Annabelle left the house “[Betty] was ready for [Annabelle] at a time when [she] was not ready for her. And [Betty] had chosen a more brutal weapon than before” (Wolk 49). Betty made Annabelle’s life miserable. Annabelle started to develop a friendship with a World War 1 veteran named Toby. Then Toby, became the target of Betty’s attacks. Then one day, Betty suddenly goes missing and leaves the town shocked. While others see Toby as strange and untrustworthy, Annabelle believes that he is sweet and harmless.
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Jackson Hyman
1/12/2018 08:39:41 pm
I had recently just read a book call Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers, which had been one of the best books I have ever read. It was an action packed, suspenseful book. I could almost never put the book down because of how much I felt apart of the story. Fallen Angels takes place in Vietnam and during the Vietnam war. This novel is written in a point of view Richard Perry who is a seventeen year old boy that lives in Harlem, New York. He had just graduated from high school and couldn't afford college and the streets were just too tough. So, Perry had ended up joining the army to soon be deployed to Vietnam. He had then gotten to Vietnam and said that maybe things weren't going to be so bad after all, but he was very wrong. Once he had his time in the main base in Vietnam, Perry was moved to Chu Lai for some action in the war. There he had met his best friends that would bond with him during the tough times of the war. These friends were Jenkins, Lobel, Monacho, Johnson, Captain Stewart, and Peewee. I would say that the main conflict of the story is that Perry and the squad needed to overcome the challenges they were faced with everyday. These conflicts led to me understanding that war is horrible and it almost never turns out for the better. I would say that a challenge that Perry had to overcome everyday was death because death was all around him, for example in the first 50 pages of the book the squad goes out on a patrol mission and on the way back to their base, Jenkins steps on a mine and “ There was a shard of metal protruding from Jenkins chest”(Myers 41). That is just one of the many examples of someone dying in the book. Well the book is overall about the squad overcoming new challenges everyday and how they are affected by these situation and what they do to solve them. I think that the theme of this book is open your eyes and look around. I think that this is the theme of the story because sometimes Perry needs to realize what is going on around him and act in the moment. Like many times in the book the characters need to just realize what situation they are in.
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Fiona Kelly
1/13/2018 11:19:15 am
The book, Paper Hearts by Meg Wiviott is a truly devastating and moving novel. This book follows the point of views of two Jewish girls in their hard journey through surviving concentration camps during World War II. The first girl is Zlatka who starts off telling her story in her village in Poland and all the horrible events that have happened when the Germans took it over. She eventually is sent to a concentration camp where she is separated from most of her family and left with her sister Necha. The other point of view is Fania who tells the story of her struggles also as a Jew and her and her family trying to survive in Poland. But one day, Fania goes into the streets trying to act like a non jew without wearing the yellow patch symbolizing a Jew and she is captured and taken to a concentration camp. This is the part where the two girls meet each other and their story connects. They immediately bond and have a lasting friendship. As work gets harder in the horrible concentration camps with little food and necessities for life and Necha is separated from their group, it only makes the girls mentally stronger as they help each other get through everything. After years in concentration camps, they had lost all hope of seeing their family again, but when Fania’s birthday approached, Zlatka got a group of girls to write little notes to Fania on her birthday in the form of little paper hearts. The kind of notes they had written had said something like “my beautiful Fania a lot of luck and freedom” (Wiviott 254). When Fania had been given this gift on her twentieth birthday, it gave not only Fania hope, but a lot of the girls had been given the hope of freedom. A theme that is demonstrated in this novel is that love is stronger than pain because this message helps the girls push through the obstacles.
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Emily Juco
1/15/2018 09:41:54 am
The novel Turtles all the Way Down by John Green is full with interesting characters that struggle to overcome inner and outer conflicts happening in their lives. Written in the point of view of sixteen year old Aza never meant to start and investigation with her best friend Daisy on the disappearance of billionaire Russell Pickett. Nevertheless, when there’s a hundred thousand dollar reward at stake for finding him Daisy is eager to get her hands on the money. Aza on the other hand is trying her best to be a good student, a good daughter, a good friend, all while trying from spiraling into her own thoughts and going insane. In the process of trying to figure out the investigation of Russell Pickett leads Aza back to her childhood friend Davis Pickett. At the part of the book when Aza and Davis finally meet after not seeing each other for years Aza is surprised to see how they almost instantly clicked. Aza and Davis have a very unordinary relationship and an interesting point of view of the world Aza thinks one night, “ Anyone can look at you. It’s quite rare to to find someone who sees the world the same as you”(John Green 9). All taking place in her hometown. Throughout the book characters realize things about themselves and others that make them question their friendships and even relationships. The theme of the novel is that there aren’t always happy endings.
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Peyton McGuire
1/15/2018 01:27:57 pm
I recently finished the novel, The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton. I think this book was very powerful as it tells the suspenseful story of a 14 year old boy named Ponyboy Curtis. Ponyboy is a part of a group called the Greasers. He has many friends that are a part of this same group. The Greasers suffer because they have no money and constantly have to deal with the bullying of another group in their area called the Socs. The Socs are mean, cruel rich guys who beat up the Greasers. Ponyboy has two older brothers named Darry and Sodapop. Darry is very strict because he is technically the dad of the family after their parents were killed. He has to take care of his younger brothers to make sure they are safe and get good grades in school. Sodapop, on the other hand, is more like a friend to Ponyboy and does not tell him what to do. Soda dropped out of school and has a job. Ponyboy has a best friend in the Greaser group named Johnny. They do everything together and are very loyal friends. Johnny is a quiet kid who tries to do the right thing. One day, Ponyboy and Johnny were at a movie and they were walking home very late at night, which they knew was dangerous given the fighting between the Greasers and the Socs. When Ponyboy got home, Darry was furious with his decision to walk home. Ponyboy tried to explain, and Soda tried to stand up for him, but Darry started to yell at Soda. Ponyboy got really upset because Darry yelled at Soda and Ponyboy yelled back ‘“ You don’t yell at him’”(Hinton 50). Darry got really angry and “slapped [Ponyboy] so hard that it knocked [him] against the door”(Hinton 50). Ponyboy realizes that Darry is mad at him, so he runs away. Ponyboy asks Johnny, his best friend, to come with him. The boys start to walk toward the park and they come upon a group of Socs. The Socs start to beat them up, and they drag Ponyboy to the fountain of the park. One of the Soc’s tried to drown Pony by sticking his head in the water. Johnny realized that his friend was dying, so he took out his knife and killed the Soc that tried to drown Pony. The boys realized that they had to get away fast. They asked an older Greaser name Dally to help them escape. Ponyboy and Johnny traveled far from home to avoid being arrested. They reached a church in a town called Windrixville and stayed there for a couple of nights. Johnny and Ponyboy remain inside the church and read from Gone With the Wind to pass time. The two boys cut their hair and Pony bleaches his to look less like Greasers and disguise themselves. Dallas comes to check on the boys and all three of them took a ride up to a local fast food restaurant, and then they came back to the church. As they pull up, they see that the church is on fire. There were many other people surrounding the church because there was a school picnic for little kids. A women by the church realized that some of the kids were missing. Ponyboy, and Johnny ran inside the church to save the children. The boys rescued the children, but Johnny and Pony were hurt in the process. When they were at the hospital they realized that Johnny had a broken back and may not not survive. Ponyboy left the hospital because he only had minor injuries, and returned home with his older brothers. The next day there was a big fight between the Socs and the Greasers. Ponyboy and Dally made it in time to be a part of it. Pony gets banged up, but the Greasers win the fight. Ponyboy and Dally went over to the hospital to tell Johnny that they won the fight. Johnny still remains in horrible condition, and Dally gets really upset. Dally ran away and he robs and grocery store. The police start to chase him. Dally told the rest of his gang to pick him up in the empty lot with nobody around. The police found him and Dally was shot. With all of the bad things going on, Ponyboy gets really upset and starts to fail in school. Pony’s teacher directs him to write an essay in order to get his grades up. Ponyboy had to write about something that was important to him. He chooses to write the story about what happened to him and his friends over the past two weeks.
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Tyler Buchenberger
1/16/2018 01:25:15 pm
The Boy In The Striped Pajamas, a moving and eye opening novel written by John Boyne, is a great read. This story consists of a few characters, but the main one is a boy named Bruno who you travel with from his old home back in Berlin to his new one. His dad is a Nazi and runs a very big concentration camp, the only thing is Bruno has no idea. As Bruno moves closer to the fence, and the people behind it, he becomes more curious and urges to find out what they are doing there. One day his curiosity takes him to a new place. In this place he meets a new person. This place is the fence, and that person is the Shmuel a Jewish boy. Bruno decides to go to the fence to see Shmuel everyday, and even sometimes brings him food. Bruno and Shmuel talk everyday that they can. Along the way Bruno sees how many people that are Jewish are treated differently, mainly in a bad way than him. He sooner realizes that those people on the fence are Jewish, but that doesn’t change the way he feels about Shmuel. Throughout the story you can see that although Bruno is young he still is curious to learn. All Bruno can hope for is to play with Shmuel one time without the fence separating them. One day Bruno’s curiosity may just take him to far. In the text it states, “‘Why are there so many people on that side of the fence?’ Bruno asked, ‘And what are you all doing there?’”(Boyne 115). This is just some evidence to show how Bruno is very curious about what is around him. He is very young though and that is why he really doesn’t know much. If he was older then he probably would have had more knowledge about the area surrounding, and he would probably be taught to stay away from these Jewish people. This book really gets you thinking about what the conditions were like during that time, and what many challenges people had to face.
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Dylan Hyman
1/16/2018 03:22:26 pm
My mom recommended that I read My side of the mountain and at first I was sceptical but after the first chapter I really didn't want to stop It is about a kid named Sam who decides that he is going to live of the land at his great grandparents property in the catskill mountains. When he sets off from home, his first priority was finding a Peregrine falcon baby and train it. In the beginning, it starts out rough and he’s barely finding enough food for himself and the baby falcon he captured named frightful. He figures out that once the falcon is old enough he can use it to hunt for food. He makes a house inside of a big tree and even makes a little fireplace. He begins to figure out that he can use traps to capture large animals such as deer and he realizes that he can use the deer skin to make extra clothes. His life becomes more and more convenient from inventions that he has made and he begins to limit himself from conveniences in favor of a simple life. In this book the conflict is very spread out not having to much of a climax but having it all spread out which I liked because there were no boring parts of this book but the main conflict was that he was afraid of people finding him, because newspapers were talking about the “wild boy” that lived in the mountains.
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Nate Richards
1/17/2018 06:51:43 am
Recently I read the novel Warcross by Marie Lu. This novel is centered around a teenage girl named Emika Chen who is barely making ends meet by hunting down criminals in her home city of New York. Emika is also an amazing hacker, which helps her get her job done. The criminals that Emika hunts are typically people who bet on the game Warcross illegally. But Warcross isn’t just some run of the mill game, however. The game is so popular that it has just under one billion fans! And one of those fans is Emika herself. She watches and plays the game a lot and gets really excited for the official games that are coming up soon. So when she starts watching, she tries to hack a valuable item out of someone’s inventory, and she accidentally “glitched [herself] into the tournament” (Lu 45). This does not go unnoticed, and the press is all over Emika the next day. As all of this is going on, the creator of the game, Hideo Tanaka, sends a car to pick up Emika and bring her to the Warcross headquarters. Emika is stunned by this and happily obliged to go to Tokyo, where the headquarters is located. Emika is further surprised when Hideo asks for her to hunt down a hacker who is planning a terrorist attack during the Warcross official games. Emika accepts this offer, and is slotted into a wild card spot during team drafting. But she is not alone. There are other competitors in her midst, hunting down the same hacker as she.
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Abby Mannnix
1/18/2018 11:48:50 am
The book, The War that Saved my Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley, is a fascinating novel that tells the story of a young girl living in a tiny flat in London at the time of World War Two. Ada, the main character, lives with her younger brother, Jamie, and her abusive mother, who Ada refers to as “Mam”. Adas right foot has been crooked since birth so she has never been able to walk, Mam whips and punishes Ada constantly because of her “ugly foot” and is always telling her she is disgusting. So everyday when Mam leaves to go to work while Jamie goes to school and plays with the other young boys, Ada has been stuck inside looking out the window. But she has a secret, Ada has been secretly learning how to walk, “ [she] could stand, of course. [she] could hop, one footed, if [she] wished to. But [she] was far faster on [her] hands and knees, and [her family's] flat was so small that [she] didn't even bother to stand straight very often”(Bradley 8). So when news spreads of children leaving London on a train to go to the country and avoid the bombs, Ada sneaks off and surprises Jamie by walking to the train. Once they arrive they end up with Ms. Smith, their new caretaker. At Ms. Susan's Ada discovers the horse behind the fence that smells like Butter. But with the looming threat of Adas mom and The War. Jamie and Ada have no idea what's in store for them in the novel, The War that Saved my Life.
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Sophie Thorne
1/18/2018 12:08:25 pm
The novel Far From You by Tess Sharpe truly is an amazing book. It takes place in a place where an accident occurs. This story consists of a few main characters, Sophie Winters (the main character) and her best friend Mina. Sophie is your averaged teen who has made some mistakes with drugs but has been clean for over three months. She is sadly faced with two accidents, one with her friend Mina's brother who gets her and Mina in a car accident leaving Sophie with an injured leg and a bunch of surgery's. The second time, "There is no hospital. There are no scars. Their is only blood. It's everywhere. [Sophie] [pressed] hard against Mina's chest, but[Sophie's] [jacket] [is] already soaked through" (Sharpe 2,3). Sophie is left knocked out after with drugs in her pocket that are not hers. Remember she has been clean for months. Her parents send her away and she is left with the anger of her dead best friend who was a little more than a friend, and questions of who the murderer is who killed Mina and why they had to do such a thing. Sophie is at Seaside Heights pondering on what she should do on Mina's murder. This book is full of the past and presents of Sophie Winter's tragic and fun memories
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Chace Spitale
1/18/2018 12:29:59 pm
I am reading the novel Divergent by Veronica Roth, this book is about a girl named Tris who lives in a dystopian future where humans have five branches to choose from Abnegation, Erudite, Dauntless, Amity, and Candor. However Tris is a rare exception which is called divergent and she has no choice in which to choose from, because the test she did only limit two categories and she has to choose from those. Her parents are abnegation, but on choosing day she actually chose Dauntless. Now Tris has to face many challenges to pass as a Dauntless or she will live like the sad factionless, which no one ever wants to be. " Beatrice your results were incloclusive. " typically each one of the stages eliminates one faction, but in your case they only ruled out two." My review of this book for now is that this is a great book but there is only a small bit of conflict where she has to pass a competition to become a dauntless, but whoever gets eliminated becomes factionless, but I know the real conflict is coming soon. Overall, this book is great.
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Jackie Rogers
1/18/2018 12:30:20 pm
The book A Night Divided, written by Jennifer A. Nielsen, is a historical fiction novel. Taking place as the Berlin War was put up, the characters are often scared and don’t know how they are going to stay alive. In this book, the story of a family torn apart by the wall is told. The main character, Gerta, and her mother and brother are stuck on one side of the wall. Her father and her other brother, crossing into West Berlin a few days before, are now stationed on the other side. Gerta’s father has been sending her messages and, after a while, she realizes that she is able to dig under the wall. With the Stasi swarming her town, and her friends turning against her, Gerta will have to keep her project secret. While the tunnel project becomes more promising, her brother is being drafted into the army, as he has almost reached his 18th birthday. But when the Stasi turn onto their trail, Getra and her brother find themselves in a race against time. A Night Divided has a theme of ‘never give up on your family.’ This is shown through the way that Getra battles with herself on the fact that her father might not have been trying to tell her to dig. Gerta and her brother, while digging the tunnel, are always facing a fear that they will be caught and killed. Or worse. One of the officers that poses the worst threat is Officer Mϋller. As his suspicions aroused, he fuels nightmares in Gerta’s mind. She knows that she can’t be caught.
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Sydney Choff
1/18/2018 12:50:25 pm
The book Call Me Hope by Gretchen Olson, was a moving and very real novel. It is from the daughter, Hope's perspective. It is about Hope, her mother and her brother. Everything is normal in her life, except for the fact that her mother has been verbally abusing her all her life. In the novel, it tells you the story of Hope and her own Journey to make things better with her mom, school, and bullies. But, one day her mother hurt Hope so bad that she needed to do something about it. So, she made a point system. It was when her mother was mean to her, Hope would get points for that. Everyday she would get a number of points because of how badly she was treated by her mother. When she made the point system she explained it as "a great idea, a great distraction" (Olson 57) to how bad her days would be without the point system. I would say the theme of this novel is to always go through your tough times because they will always be solved in the end! I would rate this book a 9/10. This is because in some parts I just lost interest, but throughout the rest of the book it was absolutely amazing. Also, I would recommend this novel to people who enjoy realistic and sad but uprising novels!
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robert
1/18/2018 01:06:46 pm
The book The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne was short but sustaining. Its a new take on the countless holocaust books from the perspective of a child with Nazi parents. Our main character Bruno loves adventuring and sliding down the banister and many other things about his home, but when he is forced to move all these things are lost. He hates his new home (The Out With). He doesn't have any friends to play with, he is not near his family, and most of all there is no banister.
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Johnny Soucheck
1/18/2018 01:17:19 pm
I read a while back the book Wonder Struck by Brian Selznick. The story is about an eleven year old boy that is deaf in one ear, Ben. After his mother died, he moved into the cabin with Robbie. But, when he goes back into his dead mother's cabin, the phone rings, and he picks it up. Lightning strikes the cabin and he goes fully deaf. He also discovered a few personal items of his dad that he never seen. He heads to New York City and he learns more to who and what ever happened to his dad. Meanwhile this is happening, it goes back and forth seeing a deaf girl named Rose. The theme of the story is perseverance can lead into success, even if it's difficult. The setting of the book is in Gunflint Lake, Minnesota, Hoboken, New Jersey, and New York City, New York. The book is written to be in third person and we never know who the narrator is.
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Janey Wright
1/18/2018 01:27:31 pm
The book, The Storm written by Virginia Bergin was a thrilling novel. This book is the sequel to the book, H20. This book is from the perspective of Ruby who has already been through so much. She’s lost all of her family, her mom, brother, and step dad. But still holds on to a little hope that her real dad is still alive. As Ruby searches for her dad, she finds her friend. They plan to take a car and find Ruby’s dad, but on the way they get distracted. They come upon a house having a party, they go inside the party and for the first time after the rain started, Ruby pretends that there’s no such thing as the rain, that it was a dream. The next morning Ruby finally wakes up from the party, she’s still in the house with her friend. As they’re leaving the party, Ruby’s friend steps in a puddle. Her leg is slowly becoming infected when she yells for Ruby to cut her leg off. Ruby can’t do it so someone else from the party does. Ruby desperately tries to save her friend and just keeps driving until she sees some people, they have guns. As she gets out of the car she sees that it's the army. They take them to the army base where Ruby sees more of her friends. But the happiness soon dies when they get news that Ruby’s friend has died. Ruby doesn't believe it and doesn’t know how that's possible. She thinks that she should just give up and that her life is over. She wants all of this to end. “This is not really happening...go back to sleep...this is happening” (Bergin 66). She doesn’t want to go through with this anymore, but she can’t lose hope, hope has kept Ruby alive.
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Patrick McGagh
1/18/2018 03:13:51 pm
The novel, Wolf Hollow, by Lauren Wolk was a great read. First of all, this book is written in first person, in the perspective of a young girl, Annabelle. Annabelle is a very nice and caring twelve year old girl, but another girl named Betty that recently joined Annabelle’s school, wants her to act the complete opposite. When Betty starts going to Annabelle’s school, she starts to act very mean to Annabelle and bullies her. One day while Annabelle took a path into the woods at recess, Betty hit Annabelle with a stick once, and then Betty “[swung] the stick again” (Wolk 35). This is not the only time when Betty did incredibly mean things to Annabelle. Other times Betty would mess around with Annabelle and say very mean things to her, and other times, Betty will also bully Annabelle’s close friends. Another tough time that Annabelle goes through in this book is losing her long time friend, Ruth. Ruth has to move somewhere else, and it is very hard for Annabelle to take it all in. Throughout this novel, Annabelle comes upon many conflicts such as Betty bullying her, her good friend leaving, having to discuss any problems with Betty’s family, and many more. Annabelle has to overcome all of these conflicts by showing her true identity. Even towards the end of the novel when the bully passes away, Annabelle states, “‘I wish we’d got to her sooner’” (Wolk 241). This shows how Annabelle always cares about people, no matter what they do. Throughout this novel, Annabelle has to show her true identity, even when she is being bullied by Betty.
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Nicholas Sullivan
1/18/2018 04:05:30 pm
The story Left for Dead, by Beck Weathers is an astonishing read, both intense and suspenseful. It is based off the true story of the severe storm during the famous Everest expedition in May of 1996. The most well known climbers are Beck Weathers, Mike Groom, Andy Harris, Doug Hansen, Yasuko Namba, Sardar Ange Dorje, and the leader, Rob Hall. Climbing Everest sounds questionable, but these people, along with many others have a very strong passion and are full of determination. Everybody acts as an inspiration to the next, and they push each other through everything. The journey begins when they take off on a plane in Dallas to Kathmandu, Nepal, and helicopters bring them to the first station at 9,200 feet in the air. Compared to here in New Jersey that is a crazy height, but the climbers are used to this kind of altitude. From there the escalade starts, and the hikers make their way to each camp one by one, along with some fun as well. Although everyone may have experience as they gradually get higher and the air becomes more thin, making it harder to breathe, it starts to cause trouble. Getting terrible stomach bugs, feeling dehydrated, and even coughing up blood are things that happen often to the climbers. “Only the strong survive” is true in this situation, and many people that suffer too bad have to be brought down to safety, whether they like it or not. When the top climbers finally reach the last camp, at roughly 29,540 feet in the air, the weather becomes slightly more dangerous, and the trip gets quite hectic. It comes time to make the last trip up to the top of the mountain, and though it is tough, climbers conquer it. They celebrate for a moment, leave something valuable of themselves on the mountain, and slowly make their way down. But for those people and the others that are still traveling upward, there is something coming and they have no idea. Lots are beginning to struggle, including Beck who cannot properly see, and possibly the worst storm the mountain has ever seen hits. The skies become black, they go from vacant to cloudy and filled with rage, the snow gets thrown in the air by the 80 mph winds. No one can see or hear anything, and it is up to them to retreat to the camp safely, where even people there are in danger. Getting to the top of Everest is still a priority of most, but they know that getting to safety is the most important thing to do right now.. But unfortunately, this isn’t possible for everyone. During the storm that lasted for hours, lives were lost, and people were injured. Andy Harris, Doug Hanson, Scott Fisher, Yasuko Namba, Tsewang Samanla, Dorje Morup, Tsewang Paljor, and Rob Hall are the lives lost during the blizzard. However, others were strong and lucky enough to make it out. The author, Beck Weathers is one of them, yet he struggles worse than some that were lost. He became beyond weak, and as he fought to keep his eyes open “[he] sank into a profound coma on the South Col, where [his] fellow climbers eventually would leave [him] for dead. Peach received the news by telephone at 7:30 A.M. at [their] home in Dallas” (Weathers 33). His wife was heartbroken, but “then, a miracle occured at 26,000 feet. [He] opened his eyes” (Weathers 33). Beck Weathers somehow got himself up from the coma, and managed to make it back safely to the camp. The storm was mostly over by that point, and his whole body that wasn't under clothes was practically frozen. Him and his family were relieved, and as he sat down in boiling water to heat himself up, he let out a big sie of relief, along with his family at home. For those who were at the camp, it was time to go home, but those who laid on the mountain dead, will always be remembered for everything they did. Although Beck had won the war, he lost some troops, his nose and a few fingers. Everest will always hold a special place in Weathers’ heart, including the good and bad memories.
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Jack Murphy
1/18/2018 04:31:52 pm
The novel Touching Spirit Bear, by Ben Mikaelsen starts off by the main character, Cole Matthews bashing Peter Driscal's head into a sidewalk. This reveals a lot about his character and who he is. This later leads to him in court facing a major decision, jail, or a Justice Circle. Cole doesn't know what a Justice Circle is and obviously decides to spend his time there, learning to control his anger and finding himself. He is mad and people make stupid decisions when their mad. Garvey, his sponsor sends him there with supplies. Garvey was there a long time ago, he faced jail time and now wants to help kids heal like he did. Cole doesn't want to learn, he wants to go home and live his own life. He always has gotten away with stealing and beating kids up but not this time, every weak Peter's parents, Lawyer, Cole's mom, abusive dad, and others gather around to talk. Cole confronts his dad of hitting him and hates his dad and wants him in jail. He burns down his hut in Alaska (Where the island is) and try to swim in freezing water. Cole encounters majestic white bear that mauls him, biting into him like a hamburger. He is a terrible kid and can’t seem to learn anything. The spirit bear teaches him though, it kind of changes him, Cole is forced off the island and into a hospital where he is taken care of and watched. He now hase to face jail, he couln’t seem to learn so he faces the consequences. But his sponsors, Edwin and Garvey believe that he can be different. They give him a final chance in ALaska where he gets nothing and has to build his own hut. Cole finds himself there and realized that “ [He] won’t ever get over his anger unless [he] quits blaming others for everything” (Mikaelsen 167) He now wants to be a new person that lives life to the fullest and experience joy and happiness. Later on he has another realization that the bear played a big role in himself, he wan’t angry at the bear for almost killing him, he was glad.
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Cate McVeety
1/18/2018 05:44:20 pm
The book, Just Fly Away, by Andrew McCarthy was a great book full of, family drama, romance, adventure, and growing relationships. Just Fly Away is a realistic fiction novel about a fifteen year old girl named, Lucy Willows. Lucy’s family goes through a rough time when she discovers that her father has another child named Thomas, who lives in the same town as them and is only eight. Lucy doesn't seem to understand why her mother didn't get a divorce with her father, and why her younger sister wasn't taking it as serious as she was. Lucy takes her father's secret and turns it into her own problem, by isolating herself from her friends and family, and only her boyfriend, Simon seems to understand. Lucy then runs off to Maine to visit her Grandfather that she's only meet once in her life, and has missed him ever since, although she never hears about him. Lucy left without a cell phone and only $50. She had a rough time getting to main from New Jersey, for at first she went to “‘New York, young lady?’ he asked peasantly.
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Maddy Reppert
1/18/2018 05:45:47 pm
Some people may look different, or talk different than others, but that’s not bad. In the novel Counting by 7’s by Holly Goldberg Sloan, the character Willow is native american, and adopted by two “very white” people, as she likes to think. Willow is a little different, and is super gifted. She got a perfect score on her first day of school test, and the principal thought that she was cheating. She was then placed in guidance counseling. While out to ice cream with her “misfit group” she thinks that “[She’s] right now someone that other people might find interesting to observe” (Sloan 2). Using inner thoughts, Holly Goldberg Sloan shows that Willow knows she looks different, and acts different than many other people. She has even learned to accept it, and embrace being herself. Sloan uses many inner thoughts throughout the beginning of the novel to develop the theme that differences are what make people special. This novel takes place mainly at the school that Willow goes to, and her house. When at her house, she can always be found in her garden. It is the one thing that she loves to do.
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Tristan Molinari
1/18/2018 05:47:07 pm
The novel ungifted is both encouraging and suspenseful. The story takes place when Donovan Curtis and his friends are doing their usual bad deeds to the school, vandalizing things and breaking stuff. But now he has definitely done his worst. He picks up a branch in front of his school, and bangs it against the atlas statue right next to him. For a split second he could feel the rush inside of him telling that was a good idea, but when the giant ball on top starts to roll off, he might have changed his mind. The ball kept on rolling and rolling down the steep hill. If thing couldn't get any worse, the giant ball was headed towards the cars parked in the lot. The only thing they could think of to stop it was trying to redirect it and push it to a safe place. So, they ran as fast as they could and kicked it to another direction. They were relieved for a second but it shortly ended when they saw it heading towards the gym where a basketball game was in progress. It was going way too high of a speed to stop it now. After a good two seconds, the ball had crashed into the door of the basketball game and put a giant gaping hole smack in the middle of the gym. Looking at the way it “pulverized the glass doors, sending up like a blizzard of shards that obscured the entrance” made him look like a monster. As, soon as I was done gazing at the whole thing, I saw the principle of the school chase after my. There was only one option and that was to run. But it didn't last long because as soon as I stated him grab me, right by the shattered glass doors outside of the school. He dragged be all the way to his office nd had a little chat. All he did was keep on telling me that i’m in big trouble, and asked me why I did it. All of a sudden his assistant came in and told him he is needed by the fire department and told me I could go for now, but he will call me tomorrow to finish our discussion. I think the theme of the novel is that, regret is not something to hold onto.
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Alexa Kiernan
1/18/2018 06:14:29 pm
Recently, I read the novel Kalahari by Jessica Khoury. Kalahari by Jessica Khoury is a book about five teenagers who find themselves stranded in the middle of the Kalahari Desert after being separated from their tour group on a a school field trip. They battle dehydration, starvation, and the constant fear of being attacked by wild and ferocious animals. Just as their fate seems uncertain, an unlikely hero steps up to lead the pack. Sarah, the daughter of two famed zoologists, soon reveals all that she knows about surviving in the wild, and she succeeds in helping the group until a lion attack becomes a terrifying, near-death experience for all of the members in the group. Faced with even more obstacles like a deadly infectious virus and the harsh weather conditions that are to come soon. Sarah, before she dies, is a symbol of hope and inspiration for the group, she tells them that "[we] are like stars, but it's stories that turn us into constellations. If we don't tell our stories, we [will] burn alone in the dark", (Khoury 379). This line shows that without each other, the members could have all been a lion's dinner. Sarah taught the group many things like teamwork and survival skills.
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Jonathan Cohen
1/18/2018 07:36:57 pm
A kid with a alcoholic abusive father, a criminal brother, a brother coming back from vietnam, a beautiful mother, a passion for drawing, and a coat from Joe Pepitone. This is the story of a boy named eighth grader, Doug Swieteck who is the main protagonists in the book Okay For Now by Gary D. Schmidt. The story takes place in the late 60s when there was much excitement about the moon launch. It tells the story of a kid and his family that moves from Long Island to Marysville New York. He is not fond of the new town and often referes to it as being stupid. There are many characters in this book, the most prodamanent are, Doug, Mr Powell, and Lil Spicer. Mr powell being the character that teaches Doug how to draw and Lil being his love interest. There are many conflicts in the book. The two main however is Doug’s father and how pages from the book from a famous artist that douges been modeling drawing are being sold. Doug’s father was abusive mentally and physically to Doug and his older brother. To give an example of how abusive he is, is when he made Doug get a tattoo on his body. After this being revealed in gym class, Doug explains to Mr. Ferris how his father “came home late on the night of [his] twelfth birthday” drunk, drove him to a tattoo parlor and forced him to get in permanent ink “Mama’s Baby” (Schmidt 146,147). For the book he set a goal that he would retrieve and return every lost painting that was sold. The theme was brought out because of these conflicts. The theme was that someone can rise above adversity to accomplish their goals. One example of this was Doug not being able to read and despite his teachers hatred of him because of his brother he was able to accomplish his goal.
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Jonathan Cohen
1/18/2018 07:38:12 pm
Note, there should be an indent before I think this was a great book
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Drew Gasperino
1/18/2018 07:58:38 pm
I recently read the book Wolf Hollow by Lauren Wolk. Although It was not my first choice when I was choosing my book, it should have been much farther up in my list to begin with. It was amazing novel pact with adventure, conflicts, and suspense. I hated to stop reading because I always wanted to keep reading to find out what is going to happen next. I would be so disappointed when I reached my stopping point for the section of reading. This novel is written in the point of view one of the primary characters, Annabelle. Wolf Hollow takes place around when when World War 1 ended. Annabelle’s life was as good as can be before new student named Betty moved into her school and town.Betty, right off the bat picked on Annabelle and some other people. She made Annabelle feel scared, which she never felt prior to this. Betty threatened Annabelle if she didn’t listen to her, she would do something to her family. Everytime Annabelle left the house “[Betty] was ready for [Annabelle] at a time when [she] was not ready for her. And [Betty] had chosen a more brutal weapon than before” (Wolk 49). Betty made Annabelle’s life miserable. Annabelle started to develop a major friendship with a veteran named Toby. Toby, became framed for one of Betty’s crimes. One day, Betty suddenly goes missing and leaves the whole town in shock and they all believe that Toby has kidnaped Betty for revenge. Annabelle knows that Toby is a harmless and nice guy even when her aunt calls him “monstrous”
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Kara Cocozza
1/18/2018 08:05:55 pm
In the novel, It Started With Goodbye, its shows all the struggles that someone can go through. But a not a normal struggle, a "I was accused of a bad crime" struggle. Tatum has to spend the majority of her summer with a step-mother that she completely despises, as a punishment for a crime she may or may not have committed. She wanted to find a way to fill her time so she did community service and working on her graphic design business att night. And to add to her boring life, her BFF has not said a word. Ever since that day. But,as day in and day out she is stuck with her step mother, she comes to find out that more then just herself in her house hides something. That something has to be off. If you like a book that has action, drama, and leaves you on the edge of you seat from time to time, you should read this. I would rate this a 9/10. It all around is a relatable, funny, teen book, that not just for girls, but boys can enjoy this too.
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Julia Molinari
1/19/2018 09:26:31 am
In the novel, The Selection, by Kiera Cass, America Singer is a teenage girl who is forced by her family to join the Selection. The selection is a competition to see who will be Prince Maxons wife. Royalty are ones. Americas family are fives. The lower the number, the wealthier you are. Five and below are usually lower class. If America marries Maxon, her and her family will become ones. Its every girls dream to be selected, except Americas. She doesn't want to change the way her life is, and she wants to marry Aspen, a boy she has known for a while, but he is a seven. She even said "[America] didn't want to be royalty. And I didn't want to be a One. I didn't even want to try." (Cass 12) So, she was pressured to join competition, thinking she would never get picked, but ended up being one of the girls who got selected. So, her and 35 other girls go to the palace until Maxon decides who he chooses. America is determined to dislike Maxon. After some time, she starts to become more fond to life as a one, and starts to fall in love with Maxon. She started to realize that the life she dreamed with Aspen, might not be her dream anymore.
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Aydan Lindie
1/30/2018 11:55:16 am
Recently I have read the novel Towers Falling by Jewel Parker Rhodes. I would give this book a 9/10 because I thought this book was great in Action and Dialogue to prove the evidence in the book. I thought the theme in this story was. I(f you keep waiting eventually something great will happen. I chose this because in the story Deja the main character had been living with her family in a homeless shelter for a long time now. And, in the middle of the book she had started to wonder why she was living in a homeless shelter and what got her to live like this. Well when she goes to school for the first time in a long while now. She meets her new friend Ben who then goes on a adventure to find out on how she had become this. She and Ben go on a journey to seek what happened at 9/11. She then when everyone is asleep goes into her fathers suitcase and finds everything that he loved like his friends and his basically the world to him. Then Deja and her father then pretty much bond about talking of this. She and her father are now happy and caring about each other. From now on Deja and her family live a happy life and caring for each other. This is much different from what Deja used to think about her family. Now she loves them and helps them through their troubles and lives much better than what she used to be.
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