Stay Strong: Simple Life Lessons for Teens

The book I am reading is called “Stay Strong” written by Terrie Williams. I chose to read this book because; it’s a life guide for teens. Stay strong has a very great introduction by Terrie Williams, the author. Terrie was fit to write this book because she has been through the things that young people are going through today.

In this book Terrie explains to us how to get through life’s struggles. Terrie has sat down and interviewed young people that have been through many horrible things to tell their story. She relates what she has been through in her childhood growing up to what young people are going through today such as peer pressure, drugs, sex, gangs, and I can name many other things as well.

I would highly recommend this book to every young person out there trying to achieve their goals and that have such a great imagination and that has so much ambition in life but somehow people manage to step in their way. It has good life lessons for teens on how to make it through their trials and tribulations. A lot of young people have reflected on their life’s from reading this book says Terrie. And thanks to Terrie, young people all over haven taken the high road in life and aren’t afraid to stand up for what’s right.

Book Review by Cassandra B.

Mockingjay

This book is titled Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins. Collins is the author of The Hunger Games and Catching Fire, both books that came before this one in the Hunger Games series. The theme of the book in my opinion is that sometimes, big objectives take big sacrifice. Katniss Everdeen had just heard the news that her home town was bombed by the Capitol. Now she must decide what her role will be in rebellion against the Capitol.

               

The citizens of the Districts are at war with the Capitol. They want freedom from their rule and don’t want to be forced into the Hunger Games anymore. After the Quarter Quell, the second Hunger Games Katniss has struggled through; she goes to her new home, District 13, after her old one, District 12, had been completely destroyed by the Capitol. Katniss decides to become the Mockingjay, the symbol of the rebellion. Her friend Peeta is in the hands of the Capitol, and she wants to get him back. President Coin is the leader of District 13, of the rebellion. She appoints Katniss with a new weapon and apparel. Katniss must survive the war and get Peeta back. The rebels must win the war and kill Snow, the president of the Capitol. “I want everyone watching – whether you're on the Capitol or the rebel side – to stop for just a moment and think about what this war could mean. For human beings. We almost went extinct fighting one another before. Now our numbers are even fewer. Our conditions more tenuous. Is this really what we want to do? Kill ourselves off completely? In the hopes that – what? Some decent species will inherit the smoking remains of the earth?”(Collins 25-26). In this quote, Peeta is talking to both the rebels and the citizens of the Capitol. He asks for both sides to stop fighting for the sake of humanity. I thought this quote was interesting because it is the only time in the book anyone asks for the war to end.

               

I thought this book was really good considering it was the first one in the Hunger Games series to not actually have a Hunger Games in it. I liked it because it was intense, interesting, and a good change from the other books. This book is for readers who like Science/Adventure Fiction and liked the books before this one in the series. 

Book Review by Greg E.

The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid

You may have fun, but you will never have as much fun as this kid. The Life And Times Of TheThunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson tells of his childhood’s finest memories. This is one of Bill Bryson’s many books. I have not read his other work but I look forward to do so.

Born and raised in Iowa, Bill Bryson, the “thunderbolt kid” was the one to set the stereotype of kids in the fifties with the things he had done such as swimming in dirty waters, playing sports completely wrong and wrong just to make it fun, and even building a bomb to set off in the yard of callanan middle school! Most kids would be jealous from all the things that are prohibited nowadays, if he was here, he would say that we are creating a generation of soft, wimpy, spoiled brats. With all the dumb things they had done, they got some good experiences out of it, such as to never play football around a pile of sharp rocks or if you see a herd of hillbillies and they demand a sacrifice, give them the kid who feels no fear or pain. And even if you breathe a cloud of harmful DDT gas, you can cough up colorful dust for months on end

The book is tied together with news articles, people, events, and places, which some of all of these things are just truly dreadful yet exciting. Readers develop an attachment to a character quite fast after they are introduced. The story isn’t focused on anything other than making for a few laughs, life lessons, and comparing childhood today to child hood of the fifties. He also makes the point that the fifties were great but they were not that great for black people, women, and lgbt.

I would recommend this book for kids and young adults as well as older people willing to relive the fifties and sixties. The book is suited to impress those who value autobiographies.

Book Review by John P.

Sophie's World

Sophie’s World is a novel by Jostein Gaarder. Other books by Jostein Gaarder are The Frog Castle, The Solitaire Mystery, and Maya. Although I have no idea what these books are about and how they relate to Sophie’s World. This book is a mix between a mystery tale and a documentary about the history of philosophy. A girl named Sophie starts taking a philosophy course with a strange man she’s never met. But then strange things start to happen, and Sophie must use the philosophy she’s learning to figure out what’s going on. The theme of this book is, basically, to think outside the box. This means that everyone should try and unravel all the mysteries of life using their own senses instead of just sticking with what they’ve learned and been raised to think.

Sophie’s World is about when a 14-year old Norwegian girl named Sophie Amundsen finds a letter with two questions on it: “Who are you?” and “Where does the world come from?” These questions are just an introduction to a letter by letter course about the history of philosophy. The philosophy starts to intrigue Sophie and make her think about things a lot more. Her mom and her friend Joanna start to notice this, because it does start effecting Sophie’s legitimate normal behavior. At first, the unknown teacher is only sending letters. But eventually the teacher, who’s name is Alberto Knox, and Sophie start meeting each other in person to continue the course. But things start to get weird when Sophie asks Alberto about letters she’s receiving that are actually supposed to go to another girl named Hilde Moller Knag from her father. At first, this is just perceived as a weird mistake by whoever is sending the letters. But when Sophie uses the philosophy she’s learning, she finds out the letters are no mistake and the truth behind everything she knows is a lot different than she or anyone else would expect.

I like this book, but not in the same way I like other books. Usually in terms of entertainment, I like books with fantasized worlds, completely made up stories, and lots of action. That’s not the way Sophie’s World is. Although it’s classified as a mystery novel and has some fantasized elements, it’s more of a book about learning and becoming smarter. Like I said before, it’s the theme of this book is to think outside of the box that is your world that you were raised in. It makes you ask questions about the universe and life, because after all that’s what philosophy is. I like this book because it made me much smarter and more appreciative of how I can use my own mind. If you just feel like reading a book that follows the same fantasized story formula of other typical books, movies, and video games, then don’t read this. But if you want to read a story that will teach you things and help you have better thinking skills, than don’t even consider not reading this.

Book Review by Alex O.

Spy School

The book “Spy School” was written by the author Stuart Gibbs. This book is telling how Benjamin Ripley is taken to spy school, and works with his new friends, and the staff of the School to overcome a very untimely betrayal. Other characters include Alexander and Erica Hale (Father and Daughter), Chip Schacter, Murray Hill, Zoe (does not tell last name), Greg Hauser, and Warren (again, no last name given). Benjamin has to fight his way to the truth while still learning espionage.

           

Benjamin Ripley is pulled from regular school and took to spy school (which everyone else thinks it’s a college for science), and he finds out about a traitor (or as they call it, a mole), and is forced to use spy techniques he hasn’t learned yet. He meets the other characters (the ones listed above, and more), and they help him by shoeing what to do, and how to do it. “ I ran. I went straight down the aisle between seats, thinking that this school was even crazier than I could have ever imagined, praying that this was merely another fake-out, that they wouldn’t ever really hurt a student…. Something whistled through the air behind me. I turned to find a nunchuck quickly closing the gap between the ninja who threw it, and my forehead. This was followed by an incredible amount of pain. And then everything went black.” (Gibbs, page 100).

           

This book was great in my opinion. The plot, characters, and much more were all great. I highly recommend this book. I had a lot fun reading it.  This book WAS NOT a waste of time. It was attention grabbing, I didn’t want to put it down, EVER, and it had a solid plot.

Book Review by Isaac G.

Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13

Lost moon is the epic story of the disaster aboard Apollo 13. Jim Lovell and Jeffrey Kluger co-author this memoir. They bring the story to life with vivid detail of the disaster. Jim Lovell and the actions of his crew made this flight one of NASA's best moments.  It is an inspiring story of dedication and perseverance in overcoming huge obstacles and succeeding. This is the only book written by Jim Lovell.

               

Apollo 13 launched in April of 1970 headed for the moon. This was the 5th mission to the moon by American astronauts. Only 55 hours after their launch, there was an explosion on the ship. As the instruments failed one by one, the fuel and oxygen started draining out of the ship. Shortly after the explosion, the crew, forced to evacuate the ship, had to cram into a small two man craft to survive. The small craft was only meant to keep two men alive for two days at most.  This was yet another obstacle they had to endure. There was three men having to survive in the craft and they were four days away from earth. The point of view changes between the craft and NASA mission control throughout the disaster. In order to survive they were faced with the reality of either perfectly positioning the module through the atmosphere or dieing.  The astronauts were able to safely crash down in the ocean and were never able to succeed their mission to walk on the moon.

               

I highly recommend this book. Lost Moon is an excellent book with great details about the disaster of Apollo 13. This was the first time the details of the mission were shared in such great depth. The movie which was seen by so many people, just gives an outline of the troubles the crew endured. The memoir provides in depth details that makes the reader feel as though they are on the mission with the crew. The reader also develops a connection with the crew and their families, which keep the reader hoping for a positive outcome in what could have been a tragic event.

Book Review by Nick T.

Openly Straight

Openly Straight is a book by Bill Konigsberg. Bill Konigsberg is an award-winning writer. He’s known best for his book Out of thePocket, which won the 2008 Lambda Literary Award in the LGBT Children's/Young Adult category. Openly Straight is his newest novel. Before he began writing fiction he was a sports writer. As a sports writer and editor for The Associated Press from 2005 to 2008, he covered the New York Mets and his weekly fantasy baseball column appeared in newspapers across the U.S.

In spring of 2001, while working for ESPN, he came out as gay on the front page of their website in an article called “Sports World Still a Struggle for Gays”. That article won him a GLAAD Media Award the year after the article was published. Openly Straight is book about a gay teen named Rafe. Rafe is out of the closet and has been since eighth grade.  Yet as you read you find he has decided that at his new school to “put off his sexuality” as he calls it. He isn’t hiding his sexuality but instead just not mentioning it. Now, to the average person this would still be in the closet.

For Rafe it isn’t though. You see at his old school he was out of the closet and part of many LGBT activities around where he lived. He feels like his sexuality defined him too much at his old school so he decided to just not mention it at the new school. As the story progresses this becomes harder and harder to do, though.

This is a terrific novel. It made me giggle, laugh and even cry a little. It takes a lot for a book to do that to make want to finish in two days. It is achingly honest and full of true emotion. I love how the writer separates the past and present by having Rafe himself tell you and his teacher why he decided to “put off his sexuality” and about his past, of course. Then in the present chapters, the imagery is terrific how he describes everything that happens and how he feels over these situations.  This book is LGBT/teen writing at almost it’s best.

Book Review by Ivy W.