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 :)