The Secret Life of Bees (Presley Gregory)

Title of Book: The Secret Life of Bees

Author: Sue Monk Kidd

# of Pages 302

Star Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆ 

 Why This Book has Value:

The Secret Life of Bees is a heartwarming story about a girl named Lily. Lily’s entire life has been shaped around the very faint memory of the day her mother died. Her father T. Ray picked out an African American woman from his peach farm to act as her stand-in mother. After Rosaleen insults three of the biggest racists in town she and Lily head out of town. What Rosaleen didn’t know was that Lily was on the search to find answers about her mother in a nearby town. Lily and Rosaleen are taken in by three African American beekeeping sisters and are introduced into the captivating world of honey. This is an amazing book on forgiveness and female power.

Setting: 

The beginning of this book takes place in Sylvan, South Carolina. As Lily said, “T.Ray and I lived just outside of Sylvan, South Carolina, population 3,100.” (Kidd 8). Once Rosaleen and Lily take off on their journey they end up in Tiburon, South Carolina. This book takes place in the time period of 1964. “All people ever talked about after church were the negros and whether they’d get their civil rights.” (Kidd 20-21). In the period of 1964, African Americans were granted the right to vote through the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Author:  

Sue Monk Kidd is from Sylvester, Georgia. She graduated from Texas Christian University with a nursing degree. In her 20s she was influenced by the writings of Thomas Merton to find her inner self. So in her 30s, she started taking writing classes at Emory University. Her first published piece was a personal essay from her writing class published by Guideposts. This gave her a job as a contributing editor at Guidepost. She has gone on to write many more great pieces and is still writing today.

Subject Matter:

 This book has a serious topic matter. Racism. It is the main conflict in this book. 

“Well, look what we got coming here,” he called out. “Where’re you going, nigger? Firecrackers made a spattering sound in the distance. “Keep walking,” I whispered. “Don’t pay any attention.” But Rosaleen, who had less sense than I’d dreamed, said in this tone like she was explaining something real hard to a kindergarten student, “I’m going to register my name so I can vote, that’s what.” 

Rosaleen going to vote causes fury in the men and leads to a brawl. The three men against Rosaleen. Rosaleen is later taken to jail where the officer lets the men in her cell to continue beating her. This is all because she wanted to vote.

Theme:

There are a ton of different themes throughout the book. The one I decided to choose to focus on was Forgiveness. “Every person on the face of the earth makes mistakes, Lily. Every last one. We’re all so human. Your mother made a terrible mistake, but she tried to fix it.” August had said. (Kidd ch.12).

Lily has had to learn to forgive throughout this book, “Drifting off to sleep, I thought about her. How nobody is perfect. How you just have to close your eyes and breathe out and let the puzzle of the human heart be what it is.” (Kidd ch.14). The author is trying to convey that we need to forgive to heal.

“The Hunger Games” Book Review

Title: The Hunger Games

Author: Suzanne Collins

Number of Pages: 358

Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆

Why this book has value:

The Hunger Games written by Suzanne Collins takes the perspective of Katniss Everdeen, a 16-year-old girl in District 12 of Panem. The book starts off on the day of The Reaping, a day that 1 boy and 1 girl from the ages 12-18 from each district are chosen to fight in the Hunger Games. The Hunger Games happen once every year where the contestants chose must fight to the death till there is only one person remaining. Katniss’s sister, Primrose, has her name drawn, and Katniss volunteers to take her place. 

Development of Characters

The characters that formed bonds throughout the book, helped push the characters to begin thinking or behaving a new way. The most important and noticeable bond I believe is Peeta and Katniss. We can see the change in Peeta’s behavior in these two quotes. “He hasn’t accepted his death. He is already fighting hard to stay alive. Which also means that kind Peeta Mellark, the boy who gave me the bread, is fighting hard to kill me.” (pg 56) is the realization that Katniss comes to when they begin their training together. “Listen,” he says pulling me to my feet. “We both know they have to have a victor. It can only be one of us. Please, take it. For me.” And he goes on about how he loves me, what life would be without me” (pg 329). I believe that these two quotes show the drastic change of how the bond that he and Katniss have changed Peeta. 

Effectively Targets a Very Specific Audience Group

Suzanne Collins targeted the audience of teens and young adults because she wanted to extend her opinions to a more impressionable group that might be going through these issues. One of those beliefs could be considered anti-establishment based on how she takes the offensive what writing about the government in "The Hunger Games” book. “Gale’s voice is in my head. His ravings against the Capitol no longer pointless, no longer to be ignored.” (pg224) Another belief might be anti-rich based on how she writes about the Capitol citizens. “the shiny cars that roll down the wide paved streets, the oddly dressed people with bizarre hair and painted faces who have never missed a meal.” (pg56) These quotes show the distaste that the author has for people in power or in a place where they don’t really have to worry about what others suffer through based on the lack of money they have. 

Universal Human Experiences

This book connects to the universal experience of survival. The book is all about surviving these horrific games and being able to make it back home to their families. At the end of the day, all humans are tasked with surviving day-to-day and the book reflects that, but through a dystopian filter. 

Connection to Contemporary or "Real World" Issues

This book connects to the real-world problem of starvation and world hunger. Hunger is one of the most prominent issues in the book. Katniss has to work hard to feed her family once her father passes away in an accident and in a flashback recalls when she almost died due to starvation. “It was too much. I was too sick and weak and tired, oh, so tired. Let them call the Peacekeepers and take us to the community home, I thought. Or better yet, let me die right here in the rain.” (pg28) This connects to real life because people all across the world die from starvation or suffer from hunger. 

The Fault In Our Stars (Jaime Antuna)

Title of Book: The Fault In Our Stars
Author:John Green
# of Pages: 313
Star Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆
 Why This Book has Value:

The Fault in Our Stars is a book about a teenage couple that falls in love. They both have been diagnosed with cancer. Since they have cancer, they have a support group where they met. They get to know each other really well throughout the book. Hazel reads a book called An Imperial Affliction. She really liked the book that she wanted to meet the author so that she could ask him questions about the ending of the book. Since she really liked the book, she recommends it to Augustus who also liked the book. Augustus uses his wish to take Hazel, her mom and him to Amsterdam for a chance to meet the author. When they're in Amsterdam many things happen. Some good and some bad.One of them is that they have found out that Augustus cancer has started to spread throughout his body. I don't want to spoil it so i will leave it up to you to read the ending.
This book is an important book that I believe everyone should read. One of the reasons is that it shows real life problems. For example cancer. This book shows us what a cancer patient has to go through. Many people today have this illness. But their example can help others overcome other obstacles in life that are not big as cancer. “Hazel is such an inspiration to me; she really is. She just keeps fighting the battle, waking up every morning and going to war without complaint. She’s so strong. She’s so much stronger than I am. I just wish I had her strength.” This quote from the book shows us that their example can motivate others. This book also has other real life examples. One of them would be bullying. Hazel says, “I shut down the computer and got up, but I couldn’t get the wall post out of my mind, and for some reason it made me nervous and unhungry” This quotation is important because it can be a text to world quote. I say this because Hazel was looking at posts people had made. After looking at them, she was nervous and unhungry. I think this can relate to the world because people can read a lot of stuff online, sometimes mean stuff, and this can make them nervous or unhungry like hazel. 
I believe that everyone should read this book because it can give us some life advice. Mostly to young teenagers because we may believe that “ the world was a wish-granting factory.” But this is not the case in the world today.  Although we can't get everything we want, this book shows us that we should live to the fullest and not let other stuff control our lives. “I didn’t think it was Gus at first, because it didn’t sound anything like the low rumble of his speaking, but then I heard a voice that was definitely a twisted version of his say, “BECAUSE IT IS MY LIFE, MOM. IT BELONGS TO ME.”

John Green did a really good job making this book because it can teach us very good life lessons which is why it was a bestseller book. I encourage you to read the book, especially teen, because it's a really good and important book.

Title of Book: The Outsiders Author: S.E. Hinton # of Pages 192 Star Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆ Why This Book has Value:

“Stay gold PonyBoy”  This is the most well known quote from the Outsiders.  The meaning within this quote goes far deeper than what might be portrayed.  This quote breaks the surface during a difficult time for Pony and Johnny.  When these boys end up hiding in a barn away from their family, Ponyboy recites a poem to Johnny watching the sunset.  One line in the poem says “nothing gold can stay” meaning that all good things will eventually come to an end.  When Johnny is laying in the hospital bed dying he faintly says “stay gold Ponyboy”.  Throughout the whole book there are many messages that are trying to be portrayed.  The message that you will be able to attain from this quote is the possibility of all things staying good.  By this I mean that when something good, or gold, happens in life the chance of this good thing remaining is not necessarily high, but it is there.  

The message that I was able to connect to most naturally is the loyalty and love within the family this group of greasers have created.  The bond that is cherished so deeply between these teens is unbreakable.  The reason that this connection lies so deep in my heart is for the simple reason of what family means to me.  I will always be there for my family and closest friends as they will always be there for me.  I hold deep the love, care, and compassion we show for each other as the family in the Outsiders does.  I believe one of the biggest messages being shown in this book is loyalty and  respect.  For me the biggest moment in the book that this bond and connection is represented is when Darry and Soda show up at the hospital after the fire.  The glow and pure joy on Pony's face after not being able to see his brothers for 5 days was heartwarming.  The unbreakable bond between the brothers is amazing and unreal.

In the end this book aims to teach the youth of today what really matters in life.  Not the fights, not winning, but love, loyalty, and life itself.  S.E. Hinton ties this idea into the story when Randy meets with Pony about the upcoming rumble.  Randy says “Greasers will still be greasers and socs will still be socs…”  Randy says this to Ponyboy in the car just before the rumble.  He spoke of how he might run away and that he would not be fighting in the rumble.  Why? “It is useless; greasers will still be greasers and socs will still be socs.”  This demonstrates the uselessness of fighting.  It shows you how even someone who lived to fight his whole life can change his mind set due to one tragic event. 

At the end of the day the lesson would lie as follows; not all fights are won with fists and knives.  

Title of Book: The Road Author: Cormac McCarthy # of Pages: 287 Star Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆ Why This Book has Value:

The Road is a melancholic novel about a father and his young son that take a journey across post-apocalyptic America. The land is covered with ash and the atmosphere is full of smoke. The whole world is grey and dying. The boy's mother was pregnant with him at the time of the near world ending disaster, she ended up committing suicide before the story begins. The boy and his father realize they cannot survive the winter so the man and the boy migrate by foot towards to the south in hopes to find warmth and escape the cannibalistic gangs. Food, water, clothing and resources are extremely scarce most likely because the few people left on earth already took them and most of everything is destroyed. Houses and buildings have turned into rubble, no electricity, plumbing, running water, no heat, no showers or baths. They just walk and walk and walk in the frigid cold in hopes of surviving until they can no longer go on together anymore and it's time to to accept a new life.

Themes:
One noticeable theme in The Road is the theme of death. Most living creatures and plants have not survived the disaster that destroyed civilization. For example, cows are extinct, and the boy has never seen birds or fish. As the story goes on, we become more aware that the man is dying. "In the night he woke in the cold dark coughing and he coughed till his chest was raw.... He knelt there wheezing softly, his hands on his knees. I am going to die, he said. Tell me how I am to do that" (148).

Another theme in The Road is the theme of love and taking NOTHING for granted. Today, drinking a can of Coke is no big deal and for some it's not even considered a treat it's just a regular thing. In the novel, their discovery of one coke can is a huge treat to the man and his son and they are very grateful for it. Imagine living in a world of luxury like you are right now and then losing everything, only to have the clothes on your back. A very important theme is to love strongly and appreciate everything while you have it because you could lose it at any moment.

Language and Vocabulary:
The language the author uses in The Road is immaculate to conveying the plot and to playing on readers emotions. “Once there were brook trout in the streams in the mountains. You could see them standing in the amber current where the white edges of their fins wimpled softly in the flow. They smelled of moss in your hand. Polished and muscular and torsional. On their backs were vermiculate patterns that were maps of the world in its becoming. Maps and mazes. Of a thing which could not be put back. Not be made right again. In the deep glens where they lived all things were older than man and they hummed of mystery.” This quote vividly allows the reader to picture a beautiful scenery of fish only to be never seen again because of the way he world has been destroyed. Fish are now a mystery to those living at this time. 
The language and poetic way McCarthy used his words touches you. “He walked out in the gray light and stood and he saw for a brief moment the absolute truth of the world. The cold relentless circling of the intestate earth. Darkness implacable. The blind dogs of the sun in their running. The crushing black vacuum of the universe. And somewhere two hunted animals trembling like ground-foxes in their cover. Borrowed time and borrowed world and borrowed eyes with which to sorrow it.”

Plot:
The novel is suspenseful in a way but also numb and mysterious. The man and his son experience many troubles surviving in this world and even stumble upon terrifying sights that will traumatize them for the rest of their time in the living world. At one point in the novel, the father finds a steel padlock blocking the entrance to a door. The son begs his father to leave, but he insists upon breaking open the door to see what is inside. They are so desperate for food in order to survive. Inside the room, the father finds a large group people, "naked people, male and female, all trying to hide, shielding their faces with their hands" (93). One man's legs have been amputated up to his hips, and the room reeks of death and decomposition. The naked and amputated people scream and beg the man for help to escape. The man and his son immediately panic. slam the door and begin running. Just then, across the field, the boy and his father see four men and two women approaching. They run away as quickly as possible, but the cannibals people are quite close. The father hands his son the pistol and tells him that, if necessary, he must commit suicide. "You know how to do it. You put it in your mouth and point it up. Do it quick and hard" (95).  Overall, the plot along with the intense vocabulary lead the reader to very emotional points.

Real world issues: 
The Road connects to readers by bringing awareness to the fact that something could change our world like this at any given moment. Today, we are using our resources unconsciously and we don't think twice before wasting food, water, electricity, etc. It really makes you look at things from a very different perspective knowing that the boy and his father in the novel would do anything to eat just one bag of chips again or have the luxury of drinking a can of Coke. I believe ungratefulness is an issue in this world today along with wastefulness. The novel helped connect me to these issues and look at things with a different lens and I think everyone needs to experience this realization.  

Title of Book: Someone Else's Summer Author: Rachel Bateman # of Pages 520 Star Rating:  5 stars
Why This Book has Value: The book I choose for this unit is called Someone Else's Summer By Rachel Bateman. In the beginning of the book you are introduced to two little girls named Anna and storm. Along with the pair of sisters is their next door neighbor, cam, who also happens to be best friends with the girls. The author starts the book at Storms high school graduation. In the book Anna says that after the sun went down graduation night, it became a straight down pour. That very night storm gets into a major car crash and is instantly killed. This ripped apart Anna’s family. A few weeks after the tragic event, Anna walked into her sisters bedroom, which happened to be set up the very same, since before storm left for graduation. Underneath her sisters pillow she finds a small journal and when she reads it, she realizes that its her sisters bucket list. Seeing this alone makes Anna want to complete the list, just to keep her sisters spirt alive. Through out the rest of the story Anna and cameron go on an adventure across the world together, completing storms list. They do crazy things like parasail, get a tattoo, cliff diving and many more. I enjoyed reading this book and these are the reasons I think everyone should read it. First, while reading the book i noticed that the characters had many personality traits that many other people do, which made it super easy to relate to the characters. For example, right here on page 143, Anna says “ my eyes fill with tears and my hands begin to shake viscously. “ i don't want to live like this!” I think this proves my point because it shows one of the characters being in a vulnerable position, and i think most of us have been through that enough to relate. The second reason I believe that people should read this book is because of the life lessons it can teach the readers. One main life lesson i found when reading this book was to live life to its fullest, and i think this shown just by all the risks taken by cam and Anna to complete the list. Another life lesson that might have been shown through out the book could be creating your own happiness can only benefit you. The main character Anna shows this the best because after storm dies, Anna realizes that she is extremely depressed, anxious, and doesn't really have any friends. At first she mopes around, but then she finds the list and over time works harder and harder to finish it. During that time it is visible through her actions and words that she is much happier from doing so.  I don't know too much about the author other than that this is her true story, but i believe that that fact makes up her creditability.  You wouldn't go to a five year old for advice on taxes, you would go to a tax advisor, someone who has gone through it before. Rachel batemen went through loosing her sister, and i think that makes her life lessons more real. In conclusion, relativity, important life lessons, and the background story, all summarize why you should read this book.

Title of Book:First Crossing Author:Donald R. Gallo # of Pages: 224 Star Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆



The book “First Crossing” by Donald R. Gallo is a book that expands on teens' experiences being immigrants. The story starts off with a boy named Marco. Marco notices his parents struggling to get through day by day so he decides to go to America with his dad (Papa). Throughout the story you understand the problems Marco lives with, he has to cross the border but has to risk his life and everyone else’s to do it. This story has value because it shows that if you put your mind to anything you can and will do it. It also shows the reader that people go through tough times and this left me impacted because it has made me a person who cherishes moments, big or small.  This book showed the struggle between each teen and some were worse than others but they all had one thing in common. They sought America for a new life and it was hard to adjust but they made it through.

Setting :

This book has many settings but the one that stood out to me the most in the story “My Favorite Chaperone” and it was when Maya was horse-playing with 2 other boys and her father drove up to see this. Maya’s father not knowing it is socially acceptable to, freaked out. They see this as Maya shaming their family. “Mama, it was just kids joking. Guys from the wrestling team pretending some of us were weights.” “I don’t know this weights!” (Gallo 66) This quote shows that Mama or Maya's mother doesn’t understand why they were fighting. She doesn’t understand what weights are and this shows the struggle it is for Maya. I choose this setting because Maya just wants to have fun with her friends but since they aren’t natives to America they do not understand that it's okay for students to mess around.

Who this book targets:

This book can be read by anyone. I think this book is more targeted to adults because of the realism inside of it. While reading this book I couldn’t help but feel sorry for everyone that has to go through this like some of these teens. I think this book would be a great book for an english class to read because maybe people can understand the social issues we have in this world today and I think it can help a lot of people understand that other people have it hard and that they should cherish any moment they have because some people don’t get to experience the things that most of us do. 

Theme:

There are a lot of themes within this book. I think the one that fits perfectly with this book is cultural misconceptions. I chose this as a theme because in the book a girl named Maya rough houses with some of her friends leaving her dad scared because he didn’t understand that it is socially acceptable to do that. This shows the misunderstanding of what their intentions were.

 

Title of Book: The Deepest Roots
Author: Miranda Asebedo
# of Pages: 320
Star Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆ 
 Why This Book has Value: The Deepest Roots does not give a year of when the story happens, but because of how modern and present the book is and is very close to the present day, I would say 2018 since that is when the book was published. It captures a time with modern-day issues and technology. The main location is in Cottonwood Hollow, Kansas during the late spring. An important topic overseen in the book would be the true struggle of poverty. The main character constantly deals with the struggle of her and her mom having barely any money to get by, and although the story goes along well with the issue, I think the book also shows how real and sad poverty can get and how people will give up literally anything so they have a place to live.
The book connects to the issues that almost everyone or most people can relate to. Each character has a different issue and the main issue of friendship and solving relationships and using that connection with your friends when times get super tough.  
I believe the author related to the text in some way, either to all the characters as a whole, related to one of the characters, or knew of friends or family who dealt with one or more of the issues. Although the author hasn’t really presented that they deeply connected to a plot or theme of the story, Miranda was raised in a small town in Kansas just like the characters in her book, which makes her connect somewhat to those characters and use their stories in a similar place to maybe relate to in real-life problems.
The characters learn to face their problems and use their close bond along the way to help each other and solve and overcome the issues they each have to face. They fall to their lows, but their friendship helps them bond even closer and find a way to grow from their situations and past.
Friendships can be the key to solving problems. The theme of friendship and how it got the characters through their struggles in their own lives and with their bond was a major theme.
The way the plot rises, the climax of the friendship and their struggles with each other and their own lives, and the spiraling but eventual solution of the falling actions were structured well to tell a magical and deep story.
In the book, the universal human experiences displayed are poverty, abuse (domestic and sexual), friendships, and responsibilities. Each character either has one or a couple of these issues and being able to see more about those issues in their lives helps the reader to understand how some of these issues can have a certain and major impact on an individual and how those in the real world deal with the situations too.
This book is its own story, the author has another book but has a completely different plot and set of characters. 
The book closely relates to older teenagers, between the ages 14 through 18 would probably fit the best. I think anyone older could read the book as well, but the main characters are teenagers and are getting close to adulthood, making the reading audience relate better to and strike older teenagers more.

Title of Book: Eye of Minds Author: James Dashner # of Pages: 380 Star Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆ Why This Book has Value:
Eye of Minds is a gripping novel. It showcases throughout the 3 books what dangers advanced VR has. 

The series follows Micheal, a 16 year old male, with his 2 friends, Sarah and Bryson.
The rather peaceful world of the VR world is shattered when the 3 friends are recruited to stop the evil villain.
The trip would show to be a rather hard trip as it turns to a trauma inducing ride.

Setting

Throughout the trip to this mysterious Path, they have the opportunity to visit different places such as the old person town (that is legit its name).
The town itself connects to the old days when the old wooden towns were a thing. The town has no power and lives just normally.
This I feel like is a reference of how much better life is now than it was decades ago.
“Where less mainstream affairs like digital tattoo parlors and pawn shops lined a cobblestone road,” (Dashner, 65).

Development of Characters

Dashner does a good job of developing his characters.
The characters are told in vivid detail that allows for pictures to be thought of what they look like.
Through the 3 books, the characters grow a lot. The first book is where most character development had taken place.
As the friends are all stuck, the VR world suddenly turns into a death game where the friends need to adapt to the sudden change.
“Things don’t have to be real to be real,” (Dashner, 28).

Importance of the author and his/her development as a writer

James Dashner is an important author to me. As the creator of the Maze Runner series, Dashner finished that series and wanted to make something totally different.
As he had interest in VR, he decided to make a story about VR. Dashner’s development throughout the book as a writer is quite similar to his Maze Runner series.
He can’t let go of having one of the main characters die in a horrible way. If you have read what happens in the Maze Runner series, then transfer
some of that writing style to the Eye of Minds series. His style changed when he wrote this series.

Theme

There are a few select themes for this one but I personally feel like it has to do with don’t take for granted what you are given.
I say this because some of the people thought that it was just a game. People took their own lives, thinking that they would be lifted back to the real world.

“Michael thought Tanya’s suicide had been bad, but this time he was barely able to pull himself out of the Coffin.”

People like Tanya just don’t know that if you remove the barrier, you die in real life as well. They take all of the VR for granted like a gift that they own.
When something bad happens, everyone freaks out. The author is trying to convey though this that people just panic whenever something bad happens.

Title of Book: Breakfast at Tiffany's
Author: Truman Capote
# of Pages: 88
Star Rating: ☆☆☆☆

Why This Book has Value:

Truman Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's takes us to the Upper East Side of New York City around 1938 to follow the life of a teenage escort, Miss Holiday Golightly. At age 14, a young girl became orphaned because of her parent's death from Tuberculosis. Lulame Barnes and her brother Fred had to run away from their wretched caretakers, arriving at Doc Golightly's farm in December 1938. After a series of events, Lulame abandoned her brother and supposed family in Tulip, Texas to find her own way in a place she'd always dreamed, New York City.

The book takes place somewhere between the years 1938-43, narrated by Paul who Holiday called Fred. He is a neighbor living in the Big Brownstone on the East Seventies on the Upper East Side. We follow Miss Holiday Golightly and her fabulous adventures surviving in the Big Apple. From Brothel settings and lavish parties to quick male visitors either in her apartment or powder room, of course, shopping sprees at Tiffany's are needed. Fred; a neighbor, writer, and friend of Holiday's tells the tales of this 19-year-old young lady and cannot help but be addicted to her misshaped lifestyle. From Hillbilly Oakey to upscale New York Escort with many messages to be carried in between, Holiday breezes through life aloof to make her way.

In the end, Miss Holiday finds herself caught up in a mobster mystery with characters such as Sally Tomato and Mr. O-Shaughnessy which could have her pinned in the middle of something that could impact her life forever. Her ability and quick witt to get herself out of this jam will seem impossible, but Miss Golightly has always looked out for herself, and always will.

Capote enjoyed traveling and writing. A lot of his favorite time is spent associating and partying with famous New York aristocrats. The book Breakfast at Tiffany's is a great representation of him and the lifestyle he chose.

The busy reader should make time for this book because just like Fred, you cannot help but become mesmerized when you lay eyes on their world. Whether it is a disaster or not, you cannot help but keep reading.

"They Both Die at The End" Review

Title of Book: They Both Die at The End
 Author: Adam Silvera
 # of Pages: 368
Star Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆
 Why This Book has Value:

Adam Silvera's They Both Die at The End allows readers to look into the life of 18 year old Mateo. He gets a call in the middle of the night from Death-Cast, telling him that he is going to meet and untimely death in the next 24 hours. After getting this news, hes in shock, worried and confused about what to do with his last bit of life. He's devastated at the thought of leaving his hospitalized father and best friend who just had a baby behind. Rufus is bust beating up phis ex-girlfriend's new boyfriend when he gets his Death-Cast call. Having lost his entire family, He is no stranger to Death-Cast and how it works.


Universal Human Experiences 
This book allows readers to understand the process of death, coping with it, and most importantly, the fear of it and coming to terms with it. Adam Silvera wrote the book based on his own fear of death and his anxiety around it. I feel like this is something that a lot of people can relate to. The loss of loved ones or perhaps being the lost loved one is a very large pill to swallow for many people. This book allows people to really get inside not only Rufus and Mateo's minds, but their own.

Effectively Targets Specific Audience
Adam Silvera uses his writing to reach teenagers across the globe that can truly relate to what he says and what his views of the world are. He allows his reading to get to some degree of philisophical,but  he also allows for some aspects that teenagers just can't get enough of. Other Young Adult books prove this; Such as Fault in Our Stars.

Development of Characters
The characters learned a lot about not only each other, but themselves during the story. Mateo started out scared and upset about his impending fate, while later in the story he finds ways to accept it. He allows himself to realize that while it is unfortunate, there's nothing he can do about what's going to happen to him. Rufus seems to feel the same way, but he doesn't express it the same way as Mateo. Rufus puts on a front that he is invincible and that nothing can phase him, but he too, seems scared of death and what happens after it.

Importance of Author and The Progress They Make in Their Writing
Adam Silvera is a young writer and has published more books than just They Both Die at The End. He really shines in this book, however, because he really shows his feelings and expresses his thought on death. His writing truly improves in this book because again, he really turns his fear of death into a writing piece/ story.

Projekt 1065 by Alan Grantz

TiBook Review 

“Projekt 1065” by Alan Grantz

309 pages, 5star rating

I have read many World War II books, and this one turned out to be a good one.  It's the story of a 13 year old boy from Ireland, living in  Natzi Germany.  He joins the Natzi youth not to be one of them, but to be a spy for the allies.  His name is Michael O’Shauessey.  His parents are spies also.

Michael befriends another 13 year old boy named Fritz.  Both boys are in “training” to move up the ranks in the Natzi youth.  While Michael’s personality stays the same, Fritz changes from the training.  That was interesting to me to see how the evil training changed his character.  Fritz went from a sky, quiet, small boy to a boy who was tough and very cold.

The story gets exciting when the group of Hitler youth set out to find a British pilot whose plane had been shot down.  Michael finds him first and hides him in the family’s barn.  This pilot becomes very important to the story.

Another interesting part of this story is what Michael is trying to find to help the allies.  He finds “Projekt 1065” which ends up being in Fritz’s father’s study.  I don't want to spoil the story for you, so I won’t say what “Projekt 1065” is, how the British pilot ‘s role fits in the story, and the fate of Michael and his parents.  Read the book to find out!

This book engages the reader by using very descriptive words when talking about how brutal that period in history was.  The author talks about hating the Jews, book burning, the gestapo, and concentration camps.

The author also uses some German words, which i had heard before when studying WWII in history.

All in all, if you like history and World War II, you might enjoy this book.

tle of Book: Author: # of Pages Star Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆ Why This Book has Value:

Book Review

Title of Book: Author: The Story of Channon Rose 212# of Pages Star Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆ Why This Book has Value:  Channon Rose, a celebrity and youtube star explains all her mishaps and crazy stories in “The Life of Channon Rose.” This book is not like others because she has been through the bottoms of bottoms and gives us good life lessons she learned from her insane experiences.

The entertaining book discusses her childhood bipolar disorder.  Misdiagnosed and being on different medications, lead her to do some destructive things such as drugs and misbehaving at school and getting her kicked out ...4 times. Including one time when she beat a girl up almost to death in the bathroom because she had heard she slept with her boyfriend and her mind wasn’t in the right space. Crazy! She was in and out of mental asylums because of her “evil step mom” Missy who she speaks of a lot. She was mistreated and abused by Missy and that's only a few parts she speaks of in her book.

She ends every chapter of the book with a long lesson that she learned. She's very successful and happy now and I think her book really shows that you can always get yourself up no matter how low in life you get. It gives a lot of insight and makes you think a lot! It's a very vulnerable raw book that you will definitely get something out of.

"Into Thin Air" Book Review

Title of Book: Into Thin Air

Author: Jon Krakauer

# of pages: 279

Star Rating:

(There were some hard parts, but overall amazing book)

Oxygen deprived and fighting off frostbite, Jon Krakauer made it down Everest hours before a storm took the lives of several of his companions. His book Into Thin Air is an intense story describing the unfortunate events that unfolded on May 10th, 1996 at the top of the world. Jon joined the Adventure Consultants team and embarked on a journey to climb Mount Everest. He describes in great detail a first hand account of the friendships, hardships, terrors, regrets, and delights he experienced on his ultimate adventure.

The idea behind the story is very intriguing. A group of mountain climbers join together to tackle the largest obstacle in the world. Even if you have no mountain climbing experience, Jon writes in a way that takes you up on the perilous slopes with him. His writing is honest and includes such raw emotion as he reflects on the turmoils of those who did not make it back to basecamp alive. Much of the book is an emotional rollercoaster, while some of it is harder to absorb.

The faint of heart should think twice before reading Into Thin Air. I was not prepared for the gruesome recounts that Jon describes in full detail. These gory parts were necessary for the story to be fully told with honesty, but they left me queasy to my stomach. While reading there were times I was actually shaken so much that I had to put the book down and process the tragedy I had just read. Jon’s book is not only a story to entertain and remember the lives that were lost, it serves as a warning to thrill seekers that climbing Everest can be deadly, even for the experts.

Even so, most mature readers will enjoy this book. Adventure oozes out of every page and fascinating elements will leave you mind-boggled. You will be swept away in the climbing perils and frostbite accounts and in the end, be thankful you were able to experience it all on the comforts of your living room couch.

The Fault In Our Stars - Megan Hazell

Title of Book: The Fault In Our Stars
Author: John Green
# of Pages: 313
Star Rating: ☆☆☆☆
Why This Book has Value:

The Fault In Our Stars is about a 16 year old girl named Hazel Grace Lancaster who is terminally ill with Thyroid cancer. She attends a cancer support group at a church, where she meets 17 year old Augustus Waters who also has dealt with cancer (osteosarcoma). They both are interested in the book 'An Imperial Affliction" and what happens to the characters after the book ends. Augustus uses his wish on taking himself and Hazel and her mom to Amsterdam when they find out they have a chance to meet the author. They face some hardships while in Amsterdam, one being the fact that Augustus' cancer has come back and spread through his body-and they begin to fall in love with each other. Throughout the book there is a lot of love and happiness, but also a lot of loss and suffering. It looks at the positive and negative aspects in life, and ultimately teaches us that one can't really exist without the other. This is shown in the quote, "Without pain, how could we know joy?" This book is also really easy for a lot of people to relate to in some aspect. One group of people it could help or inspire is others who are dealing with cancer. Cancer is extremely difficult to deal with, but this book offers a lot of helpful perspectives on dealing with it. It may also help anyone who has suffered from loss or heartbreak, or are trying to figure out who they are/what their place in this world is, etc. It offers strong insight while still being realistic, and I think anyone who reads this book will gain new perspectives. These are just a few among many reasons I think this book is valuable.

Title of Book:If I stay

Author:  Gayle Forman

# of Pages: 210

Star Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆

Why This Book has Value:

I think this book is valuable for teenagers as well as for other people because it teaches that how meeting someone so young doesn't always end bad and you can build a long term relationship with someone even though it can be difficult but it will all be worth it at the end, it teaches us that life is full of decisions sometimes difficult ones but we always end up making the right decisions. It also shows how important it is for parents and kids to trust and understand one each other, in the story it shows us how Adam shows Mia that people should love you for who you are and not for who they think you can change to, I think this is a very important message for teens so they can accept themselves for what they are. She is also an amazing big sister , she loves and cares about her little brother.

Summary of story:

If I stay is a novel that captures the life of  Mia Hall  17-year-old cellist with an amazing life. She has a loving rocker boyfriend named Adam , very cool and understanding parents, an adorable little brother, and a nearly assured acceptance to Julliard. When they were on their happiest moments on an unexpected snow day, something happened  and Mia's family is involved in a fatal car accident. Standing next to her  body, Mia realizes that she can see what's happening to her and her family  from an state of consciousness. She follows her body back to the hospital, where she discovers she was the only survivor out of all her family and in between the two days that she is deciding in between living or dying she has flashbacks to memorable times in her life , like learning the cello, having amazing reunions with her family and to falling in love with Adam, while all that is happening to Mia ,  Adam, Mia's grandparents, and her best friend, Kim , try to convince her to wake up, but it's a hard decision because  Mia must decide whether to fight and live with the love of her life and live without her family  or join her family in death.

Setting:  

The parts where it talks about her past is during her junior and senior years of high school, and  the present is divided by time that starts at 7:09 A.M. when they wake up in the snow day and ends at around 7:16 A.M. the next day when she wakes up. The place where everything takes place in the  past mostly focuses in  her high school and when it comes about her family it takes place in the house, while the present focuses more when all her family ar at the hospital Mia is staying, it's not the hospital in her hometown but a small local place that looks more like an old-age home than a medical center.

Theme:
The main theme in this book is the Power of Love and it occurs throughout the novel. In this novel, its amazing to see what love can motivate a person to do things that other people cannot ever imagine doing. Like Mia’s boyfriend, Adam, tries to visit his girlfriend, Mia, who is in comma, lying on the bed at ICU, but the nurses don't let Adam to enter the room where Mia is,because they think Adam is a stranger But then Adam tries to make a plan to see Mia.

       “We need to go upstairs to the ICU and then maybe someone could shout that Brooke Vega is here. That might do it. If it doesn’t, then sing. All we really want is to lure a couple of curious nurses out, and that grouchy head nurse after them. Once she comes out of the ICU and sees all of us in the hall, she’ll be too busy dealing with us to notice that Adam has slipped inside” (page 140 and paragraph 4). In this passage from the book, Adam makes a plan  to distract nurses and workers of hospital using  a famous punk singer, so that he can get into Mia’s  room and see her without interruptions. That's why Adam just for love calls the famous punk singer , and I think its crazy all the things he did during their relationship just because Mia was the love of his life , he even changed in many ways for her, but in a good way.

Characters:
In this story there is many characters , but the main one is Mia , all the other characters are people that are very close to her, many of the characters are very similar like Adam and Mia’s family are very alike because they all like rock music except from Mia which is very weird because she only likes the cello, her and her best friend are like the opposite but even though they are different they are like sisters.