Quarter 1 SSR Book Review

The Fault in Our Stars

The book I read for the first quarter was the Fault in Our Stars by John Green that consisted of 313 pages. The main character of the book, Hazel Grace was very relatable and inspiring to me. Hazel Grace has Stage IV Thyroid cancer with metastasis forming in her lungs, and is a funny and intelligent teenager. Hazel Grace is relatable because she is moody at times, can be anti-social, and feels misunderstood. I think every teenager can relate to having these traits or characteristics so it connected with me personally. Hazel Grace also experiences romance in this novel. Hazel Grace first meets her future boyfriend, Augustus Waters, at a support group for teenagers with severe medical conditions. She instantly noticed him and he instantly noticed her too. Hazel never thought that she would meet a boy she was interested in, yet alone interested in her, while she had her medical condition. Augustus waters brought adventure and change in Hazel's life and it frightened and delighted her at the same time. Hazel pushed him away for a little while because she thought it was too good to be true and believed that the relationship wouldn't end up well. The writing of the novel was simplistic and beautiful at times. The novel was written from Hazel's point of view and showed her struggles and way of thinking. The character Augustus Waters was definitely dynamic. Augustus was always full of energy, ideas, and always had a positive attitude, which was one of the reasons Hazel liked him. I liked this book because it showed the life of a smart girl with a severe medical condition throughout her daily life. This book constantly had me coming back to read more because of the bustling romance and intriguing struggles of Hazel's life. This book is full of surprises but I can't disclose any major parts because it would spoil the story! 

First Quarter SSR Book

     For my first quarter SSR book I decided to read the first book of Darren Smiths book called Zom-B. This book is considered a Horror Fiction novel centering the amazing, confusing, and exciting story of the main character, B. B is a young tomboy who’s journey you follow through the entire novel, dealing with an abusive, alcoholic, racist father throughout her story while also trying to be herself. B must protect her mother and herself from her father while also living life under conver, not agreeing with her fathers view points but having to play the party and go along with it anyways. Dealing with a racist father while also having different raced children as friends B’s father becomes suspicisok of her actions, putting her friends and her life in danger. This internal struggle of her trying to be herself while also dealing with her father and conditions of school is displayed in a interesting, but exciting version throughout the novel.That is until her life changes when the growing zombie apocalypse hits her home town in Ireland. When the apocalypse hits her town while B is In school, B must gather her friends and herself to try and escape the confusion. Trying to survive the apocalypse as best as they can. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of zombie/ zombie apocalypse story lines. This book is just the first within a long lasting series in this wild, leaking readers like us with a long lasting but interesting story. The beginning of the novel starts off slow, focusing mainly on B’s life. However, the author is still able to make these parts of the novel interesting. Throwing in dramatic and confusing scenes and questions to the reader, keeping them interested and ready for more. I enjoyed this book very much and highly recommend it to anyone who is willing to read it.

1st Quarter SSR Book

For my first quarter SSR book, I read Dress Codes for Towns written by Courtney Stevens.  It consists of 352 pages and categorized as a young adult fiction novel, about a teenage girl finding her identity in a town where everyone is expected to fit the stereotype placed upon them.  The main character’s name is Billie McCaffrey, who is the daughter of the town’s preacher, expected to follow all the rules and to fall in love with a boy. However, she and her group of friends, they call the hexagon, are an interesting group of teens that plan many schemes.  In this group of friends, Billie has to deal with her feelings of love as she may mess up the dynamic of the hexagon. Overall, we see Billie question the grey areas of life and struggle to deal with the pressure of the town’s people watching her.

One thing to love about this book is the amount of support her friends have for one another.  In life it is difficult to find the right people that will have your back or someone that will give you space to bloom, so I can appreciate the dynamic of the hexagon.  I can relate this to my life as I have finally found two of my bestest friends in the world, that similarly are respecting, and loving as them. As a teenage girl, like Billie who is supposed to be a good role model as the whole town is watching her, I find that I also feel the same pressure she does, since my father is also well respected in the church.  However, one problem I had with the book was that there were many main characters, which I constantly confused together, or forget their names entirely. On the other hand, the many characters allows the possibility for each friend to teach Billie a different lesson, and be there for her.

1 quarter SSR

The book I chose for 1st quarter was War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy. It has a little more than 1000 pages and is considered a historical fiction novel. The story takes place during the Napoleonic Era and spans the many wars of the coalitions including the empires of Austria, Russia, and England, who try to defeat Napoleon’s seemingly unstoppable army. The majority of the novel takes place in the city of Saint Petersburg but sometimes travels to the battlefields of Austria or the city of Moscow as they follow the main families, the Rostovs, the Bezukovs, the Bolkonskys, the Kuragins, and the Drubetskoys. The story begins in a salon run by Anna Pavlona who is one of he attendants to the empress and at this salon a majority of the inner court drama and machinations take place. You meet many of the counts and ladies but this is also where you meet Pierre the illegitimate son of Count Bezukhov. Pierre is the main character of the story and when he first arrives he is relatively new to he Court having just returned to Saint Petersburg from education in a foreign country. You soon after meeting Pierre realize that he is very anti-social and prefers to stray away from the spotlight however after the death of his father with no legitimate heirs he is forced back into he spotlight a the most likely candidate for the Bezukhov inheritance. Pierre also differs clearly from the other Russians in that he views Napoleon as the hero compared to the rest of the nobility who view him as a villain which only crushes him when his friend Prince Andrea Rostovs leaves him to fight in the battlefields of Austria. Pierre then has to learn and adapt to the Russian court as he has suddenly become the most desirable bachelor among the nobility. I would recommend this book for anyone who loves a challenge since in the beginning it may be a little bit of a struggle to understand but it’s a fantastic read and you begin to understand the characters especially Pierre ad can relate to his inner struggle as the outcast.

1st Quarter Book Review

The book I read for this quarter was the first book of the Divergent series which was Divergent of course, written by Veronica Roth. It's a science fiction book that revolves around the story of a girl named Beatrice. In this dystopia-like world, adolescents get to choose their factions or houses, like in the Harry Potter series, but they have to takes tests in order to know which faction they are best suited for. Beatrice takes the test and ends up getting three results, which is unacceptable to them. Having more than one result of the test is resulted in what's known as divergence. Beatrice ultimately chooses her faction which is Dauntless who focuses on bravery and selflessness, a complete opposite to her old faction, Abnegation that strives for altruism. Beatrice changes her name to Tris to give herself a fresh new start at her faction but excitement turns to fear and anger when she faces extreme tasks that turns to death defying stunts and self sacrifices. But, in her new faction, Tris still makes new friends despite one of them being in a faction Abnegation is in war with. Tris also finds herself in a romantic relationship with her trainer, Four, who was also in Abnegation three years before her and the son of their leader, Marcus. When everything seemed fine for Tris and her friends after passing their tests, Erudite, a faction known for intelligence, injects serums to Dauntless people making them mindless zombies willing to follow any order but Tris is not affected due to her divergence. Erudite then uses the Dauntless guards to fight a bloody war with Abnegation to turn the other factions against them and Tris' mother ends up getting killed in the process. Tris then meets up with Four and Christina and the rest of the living Abnegation's to fight against Erudite and to retake back their old factions. It's a really great book and there are a lot of plot twists and revelations. If you haven't yet, ya'll should read it.

First Quarter Book Review

The book I chose was The Third Twin, Even Twins Have Secrets by CJ Omololu that had 326 wonderful pages. So, there are these twins Ava and Alexa who look exactly alike. Ava is more interested in boys and appearance while Alexa is focusing all her energy to get into Stanford. There was a thing that started as a joke when they were little; they made up a third twin. When something would break they blame this imaginary twin Alicia. The girls are now seniors and went as far as getting a fake ID for Alicia and to use her as a cover to date boys and act in way they normally wouldn't, who they'd never go out with in real life. Suddenly the recent boy Alexa has dated Casey turns up murdered. As Alexa becomes a suspect she wonders if she could be the murderer or is the imaginary twin not so imaginary after all because DNA evidence and surveillance photos points to only one suspect -Alicia. I felt connected to this book because this is how high school is. People pretend to be something they aren't and a unexpected twist can come in as a result. This book was absolutely amazing and I recommend reading it because I was always left with wanting to read more. It was very interesting and didn't leave me bored for a second. I wouldn't change anything about it!

1st Quarter Book Review

For the first quarter book, I chose Crossed by Allie Condie, which is a sequel to Matched and also the second book of the trilogy. This is a young adult, dystopian novel. It has 367 pages. In this book, Cassia has been relocated to an all girls working camp, away from her friends and family, and also the life she knew so well. She's on a mission: to find her lost love, Ky, after he's been banished to the Outer Provinces for being an Aberration. Both are traveling, hoping the other is still alive; hoping they'd find each other again. Their longing for one another eventually leads them to parallel canyons that lead them to each other. Told from the viewpoints of Cassia and Ky, I think that Crossed is a really interesting novel, but I also feel that it would be way more interesting to new readers if they read the first novel, Matched. I really liked this book. The adventure and suspense thrilled me. The constant question of "Will they ever really find each other again?" had me captivated the entire time I read it. I also liked this book because I see values of passion and rebellion in the characters. They go against the Society to not only date each other, but to find something that's much more greater than their individual rebellions: The Rising. Plans to take down a over-controlling government that has too many secrets to be exploited? Count me in! I would definitely recommend this book (a trilogy) to some who enjoys Sci-Fi, but also romance :)

Quater 1 SSR Review

The book I read throughout the first quarter was Divergent by Veronica Roth, its genre is Sci-Fi/dystopia and it includes 487 pages. This book was about a teenager named Tris who has to decide whether she wants to stay with her family in Abnegation, the selfless faction, or Dauntless, the brave, fearless faction. She's constantly conflicted because she knows she doesn't only have one adjective, she's has many traits which is the thing that puts her in most danger. People that are divergent, fit in many factions, are often killed because they are seen as an enemy to their strict society. This leaves Tris in a state of fear and pressure to be the best in her faction, now Dauntless, so she isn't persecuted, her lover Tobias who's also divergent helps her to adapt and stay safe. Tris goes through her trials and tribulations in Dauntless but eventually comes out superior and begins to enjoy her new life with her new family. However that's when the crisis arises and now that her whole livelihood and everything she loves is at stake Tris knows it's her time to take action and save her city.
I really like this book especially how we see a teenager contemplating and discovering her identity, it's relatable in a way. Many times we're told we can only be this way or be like this, we're constantly put in a box when it comes to our identity so I like that the author portrays Tris as having many different personality traits and is better because of it. There isn't anything I don't like about this book it was very interesting and fun to read. I would say that a couple of the plots were predictable but not the biggest one, that one surprised me which I enjoyed. The writing is a mix between poetic and simplistic at times the book would get deep but then at other times the main ideas were very clear and there would be casual writing. The characters that are dynamic are Tris and Tobias because it's mainly focused on them and since they are divergent they have much more personality than the other characters who are subject to their one faction, personality trait. Tris is a conflicted girl who is actually very intelligent and wise, she's constantly underestimated but that only makes her stronger, she's portrayed as a kind but brave girl. Also a reoccurring theme in this book is the complexity of identity, the author executes this theme very well by showing a young, insecure girl bloom into a determined, fearless woman. There's nothing I would change about this book. 

1st Quarter SSR Book

The book I read the first quarter is called Bruiser, by Neal Shusterman, which had 328 pages.  It starts off by introducing 2 of the main characters, Tennyson and Bronte.  They are 2 twins, a boy and a girl, who have family problems, with their parents on the verge of divorce and them always fighting.  One day, though, Bronte brings up that she is going out with a new guy, Brewster (who everybody calls Bruiser).  Tennyson instantly doesn't like it and tries to stop it by attempting to scare off Bruiser by showing up to Bronte and Bruiser's first date and intimidating him.  It ends up not working and they keep dating.  Bronte starts noticing weird things though, like how she twisted her ankle really bad and when Brewster massaged it, it went away instantly, but she noticed that he then had a limp.  Eventually she and her brother, Tennyson, figure out that Bruiser takes away any pain, wounds, illness, or disease that someone who he cares for has.  For example, if his brother is getting beaten by his uncle, which he does, the brother won't feel anything, but Bruiser will.  Tennyson, who eventually befriends Bruiser, starts trying to take advantage of him, by making him come to his house to take away the bad feelings between his parents.  Bronte then gets mad at him and goes outside to blow off steam by going to swim at the school pool, which was closed so she sneaked in.  She swam a couple laps, but then got out and slipped and hit her head, causing her to fall into the pool and almost die.  Luckily, Tennyson and Bruiser hadn't been too far behind and began looking for Bronte, when they got to the pool, Bruiser immediately took the pain away from the drowning Bronte and he goes unconscious.  Bronte then tries to take her pain back and succeeds in taking back some pain by wanting pain.  She discovers then that Bruiser takes anything that a person doesn't want and effects him.  Although she took back a little pain, Bruiser was still out cold, so they rushed him to the hospital and he got better.  This event caused Tennyson and Bronte to realize they can't let someone bear all the pain and suffering that is meant for them, that it is mean and stubborn, so they come to this realization and face the reality of their problems.  I liked this book overall, but there was one thing I didn't, and that was how Bruiser was represented as bad in the beginning, but he was just misunderstood. I liked this book because teenage lives were displayed and their problems were shown, allowing me to relate to some and in the characters resolving them, helped me resolve some of mine.

1st Quarter Book Review- "The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer"

         This quarter I had the pleasure of reading The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin with a lengthy total of 456 pages. Throughout the novel, the main character, Mara, tries to find out if all the tragedies that had happened to her since the incident that killed her best friend Rachel, her boyfriend Jude, and his sister Claire, but left her alive were all connected somehow. She tries to identify the reason why she is being haunted by her past and wonders if she was perhaps responsible for her friends' deaths and everything after it. Following the incident, Mara and her family move to a new city, in Florida, where she starts to attend a prestigious private school  and try and start over but no matter where she goes, she can't seem to stop hallucinating Jude, or so she thought  and having blackouts that often leave her with the sense of lost time. Mara soon falls for Noah, a mysteriously handsome guy who does not quite fit in with the rest of the posh school she now attends. As the story goes by, secrets get revealed that only bring them closer together and uncover the truth of what really happened that night and also, how Noah is somehow connected to her and to it all!
In my personal opinion, I loved the way Hodkin displayed the main character, Mara, all the details on her personality and the way she emphasized her character change as the novel comes to an end and how she found a way to describe Mara as a unique yet super relatable teenage girl. Overall, I would say that this novel provided a poetic tone to it because of how Hodkin emphasized every detail of the characters' personalities and physical traits even. Along with that, Hodkin made sure that her words sucked the reader into the story with all the mixed genres: suspense, fantasy, romance, paranormal and all the good stuff that makes up a great book. As I mentioned before, Mara's character defiantly changes by the end of the novel because she becomes stronger in order to face the truth of the darkness following her. Noah is also a dynamic character because it shows how he goes from being cold and laid back teenage boy to a strong persistent man that wants to help Mara with whatever he is able to, along with the fact that there is much more information given about the character and his background as the story progresses. Other than the two, the rest of the characters are pretty flat, there is no doubt that they are very important to the plot of the story but their characters don't change at all, at least not in this book (it is the first of a trilogy).  
I would not change a thing from this novel, every detail and every moment adds up to make a great piece of literature that many will enjoy reading. From beginning to end, this novel keeps you at the edge of your seat, eager to see what's on the next page. I would not do anything but highly recommend it to anyone who appreciates a great book!

P.S. This book would totally make a great movie as well!

         

1st Quarter Book Review

For the first quarter, I chose to read Bad Girls With Perfect Faces by Lynn Weingarten. This is a thriller and a young adult fiction book that contains 320 intriguing pages. The main character and one of the narrators of the story, Sasha, is suspicious of her best friend's relationship. Xavier, Sasha's best friend, has just gotten back together with his ex-girlfriend, even though she has cheated on him. Sasha is convinced that his ex-girlfriend, Ivy, deep down is not a good person and is manipulating and controlling Xavier. Sasha believes it is her responsibility to protect her best friend. She pretends to be a guy on instagram (social media) to lure Ivy away from Xavier. However, Sasha's plan goes so terribly wrong, and she learns to be careful of who you pretend to be because you will be shocked of who you had become...I really enjoyed reading this book because unlike other suspenseful books I have read before, the plot twists had me speechless. I can always predict what might happen next when reading a book, but for this particular one, I cannot say how tremendous a plot twist effects everything else in the story. The plot twists in the book actually flows smoothly with the main plot, so you don't have to worry about the plot being all mixed up and all over the place. A book's simplistic writing is something I would usually like to change in a book. To make a fair point, without simplistic writing, the story would have been more difficult to understand, considering the multiple plot twists. So if you love unpredictable endings, Bad Girls With Perfect Faces would be a 10/10 for you. 😊

Quarter 1 SSR Book Review

The 1st quarter book that I read was, "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel, a realistic fiction book that begins with our protagonist Pi Patel. There are 345 pages in the book and about two thirds of book is about Pi surviving on the lifeboat. Pi is a normal Indian boy who looks up to his father, the manager of a zookeeper. Fascinated by animals, Pi examines and studies them to become more knowledgeable of life itself. Forced to move to Canada, Pi's dad sells most of the animals and the zoo, only keeping a few on their long journey. However the travel was short lived as the torrent waves and the mighty storm buffeted the boat. Waking up Pi is confused and scared in the pitch black night, all he could hear was the yelling of men before being thrown onto a lifeboat. A new day, Pi wakes up to the soft breathing of animals, some harmless, others dangerous. But they all have one thing in common. The space on which they lived on. The lifeboat.  There are many things I liked about the book such as the plot, and how the author engages the reader, creates more suspense, and action. I love animals also so this was a book for me personally. Having to learn how to face animals for survival whether you were the prey, or you needed to prey on animals for survival was a interesting twist in the book. Having the character change through out the book engaged me and the many events that happened in the book kept the action and plot interesting. I overall thought the book was amazing a 10/10 would read again.😆👍📖

1st Quarter SSR Book Review

     The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a 213 page, growing of age novel, written by Stephen Chbosky. The main character, Charlie, is a young teenager who is going into his first year of high school. He has a hard time fitting in and making friends as he tends to get laughed at and bullied by others. Although, his high school experience changes when he meets his new friends, Patrick and Sam, who are seniors. They treat Charlie so differently from all the other kids and together they go through experiences that strengthen their friendship. Charlie begins to change into a more outgoing person and does things that he never would have done before meeting Patrick and Sam. Charlie, Patrick, and Sam all go through struggles throughout their friendship, but they seem to go back to normal before Patrick and Sam leave for college. Patrick and Sam leave for college and Charlie stays behind but he doesn’t seem to care much about if he is alone because he has all the memories that his friends gave him that year before.
     This book had very simplistic writing, as it was basically written as Charlie’s diary of his day to day life. In a way I did connect to it because as I saw some of Charlies’s daily struggles then I saw that those were some of the normal teenager problems that I and many others had. One of my favorite things in this book was the fact that although Charlie returned to the way he was the next year of high school in a way he didn’t because of how Patrick and Sam had changed his way of thinking before. Overall, I really enjoyed this book because of the relativity it has to young teens, and for its deep meaning about what a real friendship is.

1st Quarter SSR Book Review

The book I read this quarter was from the series called The Selection by Kiera Cass.  Having already read the first and second book of this particular series, I read the third installment of The Selection, The One.  The genre of the third installment is fiction.  To begin, the story revolves around a 17 year old girl named America who gets picked to be in the line up of other girls her age to be the Prince's wife.  All of the girls come from different castes, and America specifically is a Five, which is pretty close to the last caste, an Eight.  When she first meets Prince Maxon at the royal palace, they both hit it off almost immediately.  The plot of the story is very easy to follow and at some moments, unfortunately, scenes can be very predictable.  If you do not like stories that can be easily predictable, I would not really recommend this book for you.
In The One, America is one of four girls left, competing for Prince Maxon's heart.  All four girls are from different castes with the highest being a Two and the lowest being a Five.  Each of them have compelling charms that are unique to only themselves.  America is a stubborn girl and usually goes for what she wants earnestly.  Elise, a Four, is a quiet and respectful young lady who would go along with just about anything for the sake of her family.  As for Celeste, a Two, she is the exact opposite of Elise.  She can be very bratty and rude, and only cares for looks and money.  The last girl is Kriss, a Three.  Besides America, she is the other strong contender to be Prince Maxon's bride.  She has almost all the qualities the people want in their future Queen, but America has spunk that Prince Maxon also prefers.  Throughout all 323 pages in this novel, much drama and angst occurs.  Although there is the downside of predictable scenes, if you are fine with that, I would highly recommend this book.  I loved every second of reading The One by Kiera Cass despite the chaos of feelings it hurdled at me. 

1st Quarter SSR Book

So for my book in the 1st quarter, I read a fictional book entitled, "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" by Ann Brashares, and it has around 280 pages. The story kicks off with the main character Carmen who buys a pair of pants from the thrift shop. The same pair of pants magically fit everyone in her group of friends which have different bodies. Carmen goes to South Carolina to spend the summer with her father, Lena goes to Greece with her sister, Effie, to spend the summer with their grandparents, and Bridget is going to the summer at soccer camp in Baja California, Mexico. Only Tibby will stay home in Bethesda, Maryland, to work at Wallman’s, a superstore. Before all of this happens, they have a bonding and vow to share the pants that they praise by sending it to one another during the summer. The pants are now what hold the group of friends together.
As the summer went on, the girls have their own stories to tell while they are apart, Tibby makes friends with someone who collapses at the store she works in, and eventually makes friends with her. The girl is 12 years old and has a history of Leukemia. Carmen along with her friends Lydia and Krista have conflict that arise due to Carmen's anger of the fitting of new clothing and finding out her father had done a celebration of some sort without Carmen. When Carmen found out, everything aroused and breaks her father's window. What happens after these conflicts? you will find out once you get started on reading these series of the "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants". I like the concept of this book and how it switches scenes from each person of the group of friends, but sometimes I feel like the book itself goes by too slow, the mid chapters start to slow down, but other than that I really like this book.

1st Quarter SSR

The book that I read for 1st quarter SSR IS White Out, by Robert Marcum. It is about a hunter and his clients, a father and daughter, the latter being a successful lawyer and the former a hotel business owner. It is about the hunter bringing out the pair to a secluded mountain ranges. In these mountains Raif Qanun, the hunter, teaches Terri, the daughter, to shoot and live in these areas. During these times there is a prime deer specimen that they kill and gut. While Raif is gutting the animal, Terri finds something that horrifies her, and makes her lose her lunch. This discovery leads to many assumptions of the reasons this thing could have happened. In the end it leads to Raif hinting down the man that started the whole fiasco. This book is a suspenseful fiction that keeps me at the edge of my seat, which may seem like the stereotypical answer for everyone when they read the book but it did. It was so intense in some places that I literally screamed and threw the book across the room because of something that happened, my family looked at me like I was crazy, but it was THAT good. Also it is the kind of book that keeps people involved while it is not 100% action, for example there is a bit of chemistry between 2 characters that developed into something more serious, so for all of you romance lovers there is that. Finally there is a slightly religious action and they mention Terri and her fathers religion and how respectable it was, which doesn't really impact the story but may deter some people from reading it.

1st Quarter SSR Book Review: The Five People You Meet In Heaven

This quarter, I read the fictional book entitled The Five People You Meet In Heaven by Mitch Albom, as this captivating novel encompasses a total of 196 pages. The main character, Eddie, lives out the rest of his life on a day to day basis, working at the Ruby Pier amusement park as a lonely and elderly man. On his birthday, Eddie sacrifices his life after attempting to save a girl's life, pushing her small body out of the way of an descending and free falling roller coaster cart. He awakens, and realizes that he has died in the mortal world, ascending to a place neither Earth nor Heaven, but rather, in an intermediate stopping point. Eddie is soon whisked on a journey of encountering 5 lives he's both inadvertently and directly impacted; people whose lives were changed forever due to his choice of action in his past life. While on this journey, Eddie paves the way towards reflecting upon what he described as a meaningless and uneventful life, ultimately confronting who he was as a human through the 5 paths he had intertwined with.
In the novel, I appreciate how simplistic the book's writing was, as the novel never complicated the plot line with irrelevant information, convoluted descriptions, or fluff, getting straight to the point of Eddie's journey. The seemingly innocent and calm demeanor perpetuated in the novel was also an aspect of the writing that I liked, as the novel painted pictures of Eddie's experiences as a child, and ultimately tugged on my heartstrings through recollection of his old memories, both happy and sad. Though utilizing a simple yet captivating writing style, as a reader, I felt incredibly curious about all parts of Eddie's life, and was drawn into discovering the hidden histories behind the lives he converged with. I also loved how unpredictable the book could be, as characters of the 5 people he meets are seemingly the most random and out of the ordinary people. Yet, the novel is able to integrate their stories with Eddie's. All characters of the novel were dynamic as well, such as Eddie himself, confronting his demons throughout the duration of the novel. The book's introspective narrative allowed me to witness Eddie's evolution as an individual, page after page. Each character he meets had depth and reasoning behind their actions unbeknownst to Eddie, and caused me to question how big of an impact's created from my decisions, even if I consider them minute. I like how The Five People You Meet In Heaven emphasizes the idea of cause and effect, and allows me to reflect upon my own life through its heart wrenching plot. I truly recommend the book.

1st Quarter Reading Book Review

The Name of the Star

This book that I read this quarter was The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson. The genre of this book is a mystery and young adult with 372 suspenseful and intriguing pages. The Name of the Star, follows Rory Deveaux, an American teenager from Louisiana as she attends her senior year at a London boarding school. Her arrival in England coincides with the outset of a series of gruesome murders by what seems to be a Jack the Ripper copycat. As the bodies pile up, Rippermania spreads throughout England and Rory gets stuck in the middle of it all when she becomes a witness after seeing a mysterious man on school grounds. A man no one else has seen and who becomes the prime suspect of the crimes. As the plot and mystery unfolds, Rory finds herself in great danger and part of a group of people that are, apparently, the secret ghost police of London. The end is amazing, but you have to read it and this is the first book of Shades of  London. The main character was all confused, scared, and curious. The reasons why was she came into a different state, she was the only one able to see the murderer and she was the next target, and she was just curious to know and go to the crime scenes. I kinda felt connected because I see things like spirits or supposedly monsters, but no one sees them and calls me crazy, but I don't care. Anyways, the characters were all idiots, but I would do the same by taking all my friends to crime scenes and see what happened. This kinda help during the story, but can't say how because You NEED TO READ THIS! I wouldn't change this book at all.

1st Quarter Book Review

For my first quarter book, I chose Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, by J.K Rowling, Jack Thorne, and John Tiffany that is 321 pages long. Since the book is put 25-30 years into the future, Harry is no longer the very main character. His son, Albus Severus Potter, is the new main character. He is a good twist to the Harry Potter series because you can see how much he is like his father, but the very noticeable differences. I felt very connected to him because he is at my age throughout the play and I can see where he is coming from in some of the decisions he makes. The major plot points were not predictable, to me, because you never really know what's going to happen in the Harry Potter series. To find out that he thinks the way he thinks and the actions he does are very unpredictable and shocking to anyone that really cares about the Harry Potter series. The characters in this story were on both the calm and outgoing side. Albus's best friend, Scorpius, is the one that kept Albus in check and was the more calm one when it came to missions, while Albus was the one to immediately jump into it (like his father). It helped the story because it got the readers a bit of nostalgia while reading because it reminds us of the original Harry Potter. We get to see that he passed this onto his son and that there is still more adventure to be told. If I were to change anything about the book/script, is that I would make it into an actual book. I want it to go more into depth and see this new beginning of a new era of heroes. It doesn't have to be necessarily Ron, Hermoine, and Harrys offspring, but it could be more people. The best part of the Harry Potter books were that it went into depth about the characters and it showed us how we can learn to love characters through seven different books. It made readers think that they're in Hogwarts and that they truly lived the lives of these people. If this was to turn into a new era of series that goes into depth and goes through his years, book by book, I would love it much more. However, they will most likely not do that, yet I still truly recommend reading this if you are a Harry Potter fan. If you haven't read the books yet, then I believe you should.

1st Quarter SSR Book Review

The Chain Letter

One of the books I've read this quarter was The Chain Letter by Christopher Pike. The genre of the book is horror fiction and has 192 suspenseful pages. The book begins with a group of friends who have done something wrong and thought no one knew what happened that past summer expect for them. Later on one of the friends in the group, Fran received an anonymous letter saying that she has to obey as the person commands or else something bad will happen to her and they will leak what happen in the summer. The letter gets passed on to everyone in the group making them doing things that were their weakness; they thought only someone who knew them would know. The whole story is unpredictable as you think something is going to turn out something else is brought into the story. This book has you intrigued the whole entire time. The main character Alison is a dynamic she undergoes many things involving what happening with the anonymous person, the accident in the summer, school, relationships, enemies friends, and makes an impact on her she doesn't stay the same Alison throughout the story. You feel connected to the main character and understand what she feels and what she is going through. All the characters have to live in wonder not knowing if their even able to trust their best friend. The main plot of the book was figuring out who was the mysterious person behind the letter. Who was the one knowing all this information about them and what was their purpose in forcing the friends to do such harsh things? As you go more and more into the book it gets crazier and has a huge twist. I think the book was perfect I wouldn't have changed anything about it. What I liked about the book is that it has great suspense and keeps your mind working the whole entire time. I like how it isn't only focused on the actions of what the letter is telling the characters to do but also how the characters are feeling and who they are as a person. Which makes you in deep thought if it was someone in the group or somebody else that was behind all this chaos. Many different crazy events happen throughout the book involving different people besides the group of friends and it talks about what actually did happen that summer. How there was more to the story than the characters had thought. Sometimes things aren't that obvious as they seem.

The Tuscan Child Review

The Tuscan Child by Rhys Bowen is 336 page book covering the story of Joanna as she attempts to put together the truth of her fathers past.  Joanna is cleaning out her father's items from her old house when she finds a letter addressed to Sofia Bartoli in Italian.  This leaves Joanna confused as her father never mentioned anything of Sofia to her even after her mother died.  Joanna then travels to the town in Italy that her father mentions of to find out the truth.
The style that the Bowen writes this book is a simplistic form of writing, nothing to poetic or fancy.  However, Bowen shifts from writing from the view points of Joanna and the views of her father Hugo after his plane is shot down in Italy and is tended to by Sofia.  This is an interesting approach in that as the reader it leaves suspense as when the big action is coming, it is cut off when the chapter ends and the next chapter dives in to the other character's point of view.
Joanna reminds me a bit about myself as I read through her experiences.  She recalls of her quest to obtain knowledge and strive to be her best as a young child.  That was me when I was young where I cared about drinking in a plethora of knowledge whenever possible.  And her drive to be at her best 247 is something that I've always preached and it was pleasant to see that in her and it makes me feel like I'm a part of the story when the main character reminds me of myself.  Additionally, Joanna took matters into her ow hands when she chose to travel to Italy to find out her father's past.  she even took time to learn some Italian so that she could communicate with the citizens of Italy.  Even though she didn't speak a language she got around that learning the language to help her learn the past of her father.  And that spoke to me in that if you really show heart for something then no matter what the barrier is, it won't stop you.

[KC]: Quarter 1 SSR Book Review

Hi kids,

Here's your quarter 1 SSR assignment:

Step 1: Create a new POST in which you review the book that you read for the first quarter. If you read more than one book this quarter, you can choose any of them to review. n your review, be sure to clearly state the title, author, genre, and total page number of the book. Then, summarize a bit of the plot (but don't give away the major spoilers!) to give us some context. Next, discuss what you liked or didn't like about this book.
- Feel free to use these questions to help guide you, but don't feel tied to simply answering them:

• How was the main character? Did you feel connected? Were the major plot points predictable? How was the writing? Poetic? Simplistic? Were the characters dynamic or static? Did that hurt or help the story? If you were to change anything about the book, what would it be?

Step 2: Once other classmates have posted their reviews, COMMENT on two other reviews. (Be sure to read the comments on your review as well and engage in conversations as necessary.)

As always, your post should be around 250 words and your comments should be at least a few sentences.

Post DUE: Friday 11/15 by 11:22pm

Comments DUE: Saturday 11/16 by 11:13pm