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 **Title: If I Stay** **Author: Gayle Forman** **Reviewed By: Morgen Owen**

What would you do if you had to choose between staying on Earth and living, or dying with hopes of seeing your family again? This is easily one of the most difficult decisions anyone could be faced with, especially for Mia, your average everyday seventeen year old girl. Mia had everything going for her, a loving family, an adoring boyfriend, and a future full of music and choices. It’s scary to think that all of this can be taken away in a split second. Mia had the most loving, quirky family, consisting of her mom, dad, and little brother Teddy. Then one day a family drive turned completely fatal to all but Mia, who is left standing over her own body, while her family lie around her. She finds herself in a weird stage where she can hear and touch, but can’t feel anything. Watching over her body in the hospital, Mia thinks back to memories of her family and friends. Living through these memories with her helps the reader get to know Mia better. Over the course of a day, Mia is visited by many friends and family members. She also takes quite a few trips to the emergency room. Faced with the hardest decision of her life, she realizes what she has lost and what the future may hold.

As I read page after page of //If I Stay//, I continued to be more and more impressed with Gayle Forman’s ability to write a book so vividly. Forman was inspired to write //If I Stay// when Mia “came to her,” cello and all. This book was different for Forman because a good majority of it talks about music, which isn’t her forte’. Knowing nothing about music, besides from her college days, Forman brought Mia to life in everyone’s eyes. Because she has small children of her own, Forman understands family and love, which is exactly what this book is centered around. She did an awesome job bringing these characters to life.

Many would say this book falls into the sad category and I couldn’t agree more, but there are light-hearted times with a type of funny feel. The fact that this book switched moods and genres constantly forced me to pay more attention and take my time reading. The more time I spent reading, the more emotionally involved with Mia’s troubles I became. The funny parts occur in the beginning and within her memories, but there is a main feeling of sadness after the accident, though. Forman does a nice job emotionally connecting Mia to the reader.

//If I Stay// is a beautifully written novel centered on love, loss, friendship, and strength. I loved the book cover to cover because I could relate to Mia and she drew me into the story with her. It felt as if I couldn’t make a decision until she made hers. I definitely recommend this book, mostly to teens, but any age group would enjoy it. I say teens because it is told from the point-of-view of a seventeen year old, and they are more likely to relate. Forman does a remarkable job, and after reading, you can’t help but ask yourself, what would I do if I had to choose?

“If I Die Young” – The Band Perry


 * Looking for Alaska by John Green **
 * reviewed by Brad Burton **

Miles, the main character, is a teenager who is very unhappy with the way things are at home in Florida. He has no friends and his parents aren’t really aware of is problems. He asks to go to boarding School in Alabama to seek the Great Perhaps. Miles goes to Alabama to start over again and he has many decisions to make and lots of obstacles to face. He makes friends with his roommate Chip, and Alaska and the three of them become really good friends. They do everything together such as pranks, smoke, and hangout. The struggle in this book is how the three of them try and find the solution to “getting out of the labyrinth of suffering.” While they search and search there is no solution to the quote. Alaska being the moody, stubborn, but very smart and determined person she is finds the only answer to it.

John Green wrote the book “Looking for Alaska” in 2005. He was inspired by his visit at Indian Springs School. Also he wanted to make is girlfriend regret dumping him and that really shows in this book. This book was banned do to graphic, language, and sexual content and it also won the Paper Towns award.

The book was written for young adults. This book really shows young adults some of the things they will face when they leave home for the first time. Once you move out your all alone and you have to make your own decisions. Miles moves into a tiny dorm and is faced with the decision of who to become friends with. His mom warned him about “the bad kids”, but still Miles chooses them as his friends. That is one of the decisions young adults will have once they go to college. The wrong people can lead you down the wrong path.

I liked this book a lot because it showed me the things I might face when I go off to college and how to go about it. I couldn’t put the book down because it was actually funny and you couldn’t tell what might happen next. I don’t like reading but this book I really enjoyed. If you don’t like reading, this book will really change your mind. I recommend this book to high school juniors and seniors who plan on leaving their nest.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">Theme song for novel- You're Beautiful by James Blunt

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">**Frankenstein** <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">**By Mary Shelley** <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">**Reviewed by Jordan Sanford** <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">What is it about our way of life that is a set pattern? We’re born, we reproduce, and we die. What happens when you’re reborn? Well Victor Frankenstein has altered the pattern of life with a creation of his own. Victor Frankenstein was a philosophy student at Ingolstadt University. When Victor is off on his schooling, he learns a secret trait to the way of life. For over 2 years Victor tries to make a creation of his own, and he finally succeeds. With his creation, he creates a monster. The 8 foot hideously ugly monster that does nothing but ruin everything around him, including his life, Victor’s, and everyone else’s. The monster is nothing but a wrong doing and an eyesore to society. Victor makes it a dying creed to keep his creation a secret, but dangerous knowledge and secrecy can bring nothing but horror, paranoia, and tragedy.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">The book was finished in May of 1817, and published January 1st, of 1818. Different references between Shelley and the characters occur throughout this book, including the death of each other’s mothers. Shelley’s creation of the story was an accident in its own, a contest between her and her writer colleagues to see who could come up with the best horror story. Alas, the story of //Frankenstein// was born.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">The book is a classic and original Horror/Science Fiction story. The book being about the creation of a monster proves to be a horror story for the people it ruins. The monster does everything in its power to hold up the genre of this book.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">As I began reading the story, I found that the book was challenging me and made me wonder about life. All of the different aspects of it and why it’s special. I also realized the true consequences of keeping something so significant a secret, for so long. The book is a classic and has been altered into movies and plays and I encourage everyone to pick this book up and read it.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">Theme Song: Frankenstein – Edgar Winter Group

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">Dylan Thomas was considered a literary genius of the twenty first century for his famous works of poetry. His book, “//The Poems of Dylan Thomas”//, is a collection of his greatest works, from the very first poems he ever wrote to his last writings before his death. This collection of work depicts everything from love to hate in the darkest ways possible. Each poem is constructed with such emotion and reality as the main theme of his work seems to revolve around death. “You have offended, periodic heart; you I shall drown unreasonably, leave you in me to be found darker than ever. (Thomas 7)” The unique way he words his poems is what makes his books so interesting to read. Each simple word is elegantly placed in such a way that even with a dark meaning and a confusing sound, its beauty is still so apparent to the literate eye.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">The Poems of Dylan Thomas **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">Dylan Thomas **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">Reviewed by Jennifer Rosiere **

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">Dylan Thomas’s work has always revolved around his life. Some of his books are even a timeline of his life. Though he was a literate genius from a young age, his life was all too cold and real for him. A lot of his time was spent drinking his depression away. A lot of his poetry came to him during the worst times in his life while his thoughts were darker than normal. The result of such actions created his works. His constant depression kept him writing constantly dark material, but that doesn’t mean that it wasn’t still art. When this collection of his poetry was gathered, it was placed in a specific order to depict his life. Its clear where his darkest days were and where his brighter days were. It’s as if his poetry became a roller coaster along with his emotions. Though his work confusing and dark with such a deep origin behind it, his work is still that of amazing skill and can only be properly judged within the reality of it all.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">This work is fresh off the shelves. It wasn’t too long ago that we had lost our literary artist. Dylan Thomas had a lot of literary works to inspire him. Some of his favorites were Shakespeare, Edgar Allen Poe and plenty others of the twenty first century. His love of literature came from his love of words that he constantly read or heard from his idols. Even when his life took a turn for the worst, his love for words never dimmed. Dylan put his love into effect and began to create art from words themselves. Needless to say that Dylan Thomas’s poetry is modern day art, even if it was created years ago.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">In my opinion, Dylan Thomas’s work is a fantastic read. It not only keeps you thinking, but the words themselves get your imaginations flowing. The reality of his work separates him from post modern poets. Such deep emotion can only be appreciated by those who understand the feeling that words give us. If you love to think and feel what you read, then Dylan Thomas’s work is right for you. This is a good recommendation for all poetry lovers and literature freaks. Dylan Thomas’s poetry collection is one of the greatest collections of literature of the twenty first century.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">Theme song-- Zombie by Jay Brannen

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">**Title: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland** <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">**Author: Lewis Carroll** <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">**Reviewed By: Delaine Lewis** <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">As Alice sits under a large tree with her sister when a very peculiar instance happens a fluffy white rabbit runs by wearing a rather lavish waist coat. This being a very odd occurrence Alice follows the creature until she finds herself falling down a rabbit whole. Where she lands, well not even she knew. Through a small door she sees a beautiful garden but she is to big to get through, but with the help of potions, cupcakes, and mushrooms her size begins to manipulate until she manages to finally get to the garden. With the help of some rather mad creatures will she find her way back?

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">Charles Lutwidge Dodgson known better as Lewis Carroll wrote Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland during a carriage ride with three young girls Alice Liddell, Lorina Liddell, and Edith Liddell, where he told a grand tale of a bored little girl. The young girls were so delighted by the story they asked Carroll to write it down for them, and three years later he published the magical tale.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland falls under the genre of fantasy. With a land filled with talking animals that get offended very easily of her cat named Dihna, along with the angry Queen of Hearts using flamingos and hedgehogs to play croquet I can’t see how this book would fall under anything else.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">This book to me wasn’t all that interesting. With all the hype and the movies I was expecting a story of grander proportions. My favorite characters seemed to have little importance with two of them being left out completely. I would recommend this for people who don’t mind dealing with a lot of nonsense, but with all that nonsense it gets a little confusing. Overall the book was good I was just expecting a lot more.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">Strange By Tokio Hotel

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%; vertical-align: top;"> <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%; vertical-align: top;">**The Gospel According To Larry** <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%; vertical-align: top;">**By: Janet Tashjian** <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%; vertical-align: top;">**Reviewed by: Alec Berardi** <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%; vertical-align: top;">Josh Swensen is unlike any other 17 year old teenager; he doesn’t like to be outside playing sports, because he would rather be inside solving math equations and puzzles. Josh also has this dream of changing the world because he believes that our world is corrupt by advertisements, commercials, and name brand sales. So Josh in his attempt to change the world creates a website under the domain name of Larry, and he preaches about everything he believes in, things he doesn’t believe in, and events that are happening around him. Even though Josh is unlike any other teenager, which is proved by the website he created, but he still goes to school which he is in his senior year. He doesn’t have many friends besides his one best friend whom he has been in love with the since 6th grade and her name is Beth. At first his website didn’t get many hits, but of course it caught Beth’s attention, and many kids at his school. Then it just exploded getting millions of hits a day even before he had left for school, fan clubs had started popping up like crazy, and of course Beth asked him to start their own fan club for “Larry” who in coincidence is Josh, starting his own fan club. "Joining anything was not my usual thing- by a long shot... I don't know about you, but if 50 million people are doing something, I want to be doing something else- big time." Josh, Part 1, page 15. This is the opposite of what Larry/ Josh wanted to do. One of the main controversies is that no one knows who “Larry” is and some people are fine with it but other people demand to know who he or she is. Larry only has 75 positions and he randomly posts pictures of his items up on the website letting people try and guess who he is. What will happen to Larry or his website? Will someone find out his true identity? If so, what will happen to Josh?

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">Janet Tashjian talks about Thoreau a couple times throughout the book, also in uses a quote from him. So I believe that she probably has read and likes to read or even write like he did, or about some topics that he has written about. Larry and Janet are a little alike because they both do yoga and both belief that ordinary people can change the world. Larry and his mom were both big fans of U2, shockingly so is the author Janet.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">The theme or genre in the book is aimed toward young adults, and it is suspense thriller that keeps you reading. Once you start reading this book you won’t want to put it down, because you don’t know what’s going to happen next. So you keep reading to find out what happens and before you know it you’re half way through the book. Most teenagers can relate to the whole book or even just parts of it, and that also helps to show who the book is aimed towards.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">Overall I really liked this book because I could relate to it, which kept me reading it because I wanted to see what happened, and why it happened. I would recommend this book to almost any teenager or even someone that does want to change the world. I would recommend this book because it does give deep detail about real life situations that people sometimes have to go through, and it gives ideas on what to do and what not to do. So I believe that this was a good book to just sit down and read especially if you can relate to it.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">Theme song- Bad by U2

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">**Call of the Wild by Jack London** <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">**Reviewed by Clayton "The Led" Ledbetter**

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">Buck was a rare mixture. His mother, a Scotch Shepherd and his father was a St. Bernard. His life was one a leisure and laziness. His owner was a very wealthy judge with two kids and servants that loved him. An unexpected betrayal changed everything for him all at once. He was taken north on a train where he was starved and neglected for days. When he arrived at his destination he was taught not to disobey a man with a club. He was quickly sold to the Canadian government because of his size and his perfect coat. The men who bought him delivered important messages by dog sled. Buck was soon introduced to a totally new lifestyle as he realized that nobody around him would treat him with the same affection he had with the judge. Many of the other dogs that Buck meets are angry and savage. Few of them become friends with Buck and soon he would like it that way. After witnessing the savage attack upon Curly, one of the friendly dogs, that ended up killing her, he promised never to end up in that situation himself. Many treacherous events go on throughout Bucks time with the two Canadians, Francois and Perrault. This includes a fight to the death with his hated lead dog Spitz. One run after the fight buck is sold again but this time to less experienced people. “… Hal, was about twenty years old. He wore a belt with a hunting knife, a Colt revolver, and a large quantity of cartridges spaced around it. This belt advertised how important he believed himself to be, but it actually advertised how immature he was.” The new owners are very unorganized and poor leaders. Buck was soon rescued by John Thornton, a trail wise stranger to the new owners. With this man Buck will find peace and a good life.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">Jack London is known for his more radical writings. The time period that he did most of his writing was during the gold rush. He did many things throughout his life and had a tendency to write using the emotions and feelings he had or witnessed. He partook in the gold rush himself which is why he Wrote //Call of the Wild// as well as //White Fang// and //The Sea Wolf//. Jack London has been a sailor, a writer, a gold prospector, and a rancher.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">//Call of the Wild// is not for the light hearted. I would consider this book for young adults. Maturity is definitely a necessity while reading the hard life of Buck. There is plenty of fighting and inhuman, unfair treatment. However, I recommend that everybody reads this book at least once in there life.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">In my opinion this book has a couple of messages between the lines. Buck goes through so much after being pampered his whole life. Throughout all his hardships, he never gives up and he never backs down. If he hadn’t stuck to it he never would have found the perfect peaceful life with John Thornton. Not only does this book tell us we should never quit but it also shows that things can change in an instant. Satisfaction should never be reached. If you are ever satisfied with yourself you’ll never know what else you can truly accomplish.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">Theme song: No Giving Up by Crossfade

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">**The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver** <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">**Reviewed by Courtney Duffield**

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">Taylor Greer, a.k.a. Missy, lives in a small town in Kentucky. She has lived here all her life and works at the hospital, which she absolutely loves. Taylor’s life is put into perspective one day when someone she grew up around comes into the hospital on a stretcher, dead. She needs to get out of Kentucky and start living. So she sets out on a country-wide road trip to find who she really is and where she belongs. Along the way, she stops in Oklahoma where a young Indian child is put in her possession. Taylor faces difficulties with communication among her new roommate, her mother, and her new “child.” She meets many people along her journey, each one having a completely different affect on her life, helping her to understand herself and change her ways for the better.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">Barbara Kingsolver wrote //The Bean Trees// when she was in Tucson, AZ which is where Taylor ends up settling down. Kingsolver was born in a rural area of Kentucky and went to Arizona when she was older. She has traveled to many different places, much like Taylor. Taylor’s life story closely resembles Kingsolver’s life when she moved from Kentucky to live in Arizona for many years.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">//The Bean Trees// fits under adventure. Taylor is a girl in her twenties that faces many different events that she normally wouldn’t have if she would’ve stayed in Kentucky. She has many adventures when she meets new people as she is trying to find a place to live and she is also given an unexpected challenge, raising a child. She is exposed to the difficulties of immigration when she meets Estevan and Esperanza. Arizona opened Taylor’s eyes in ways Kentucky never could.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">I liked this book overall. It puts you right into the emotions Taylor feels as she is trying to make decisions for where she wants to take her life. You can sense how Turtle clings on to anything in her reach by Kingsolver’s realistic descriptions. Jack Butler from //The New York Times// said this about //The Bean Trees//: “It is one thing to create a vivid and realistic scene, and it is quite another to handle the harmonics of many such scenes, to cause all the images and implications to work together.” Kingsolver really does put you right into the action of the story. I liked all of the positive characters that are all looking for some way to improve their life. I would recommend this novel to anyone that likes to read books with a little bit of adventure and some self-growth along the way. //The Bean Trees// shows you the characters’ struggles and how they overcome them.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">“I Get By With a Little Help From My Friends” by The Beatles

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 14px;">**//World War// Z by Max Brooks** <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 14px;">**Reviewed by Sam Flynn** <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">They are the survivors of the zombie war. An unnamed author works for the United Nation’s Postwar Commission Report after the apocalypse. His initial work, a collection of interviews from first hand witnesses, was deemed “unprofessional” for exploring the “human factor” brought about by the war. While he argues that the “human factor” is the only thing separating us from the evil that almost brought about our extinction, the government won’t hear of it. Determined not to let their stories die, he keeps their voices alive by keeping them in the contents of a book he calls //World War Z//. Through these interviews, which are presented from earliest, to most recent, the unnamed author shows how dark humanity can be, and how resilient of a species we are. This isn’t a book about a protagonist going around saving the day while he battles hordes of the undead. This is a book about the survivors; their trails, frustrations, fears, which can be found in all of us. It is their book.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">Max Brooks has only written two books, //The Zombie Survival Guide,// and //World War Z//. In case you can’t tell, he has an unnatural zombie fetish. It’s not that he is entranced by the thought of zombies, it’s actually the opposite; he is deeply afraid of them. According to an interview with Publishers Weekly “It's the mindlessness behind it that is the core of [Brooks’s] terror”. Brooks stated to Time Magazine that this all started with Y2K. At that time, there were so many survival guides, and, as a reader, he went out looking for one about zombies. He couldn’t find one. So he thought “ I'm into zombies, I'm OCD and I have a lot of free time. Using //The Zombie Survival Guide//, he wrote //World War Z// as a way to show how his own tips and guidelines would work in a real-case scenario. To accomplish this, he did a large amount of research, stating that everything in his book is “either taken from reality or 100% real…well, except the zombies.” It might have paid off, as //World War Z// spent 4 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, won an Audie Award, and is being made into a major motion picture.

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">Anybody picking this book up, expecting a cheap tale of zombies eating people, will exclaim to themselves “Wait, this book isn’t just about zombies?!” after the first chapter. The unnamed author presents us a book not just about the living dead, but of a drama unraveled by the apocalypse. It entranced me by the horrors described, not just by the walking dead, but also by humanity. It’s a frightening story that you can’t put down.

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">The entire time I was reading //World War Z//; I couldn’t help but imagine how I would react in the same situation. I realized how horrifying it would be. The trail that each of characters had to go through was something that I wouldn’t be able to endure. So I would keep reading to see how they handled it. And reading, and reading. This book was terrifyingly awesome. This isn’t a book for just zombie enthusiasts; it’s a book for anyone interested in a fearsome novel, or someone looking for a new book to be addicted to. The only way someone would not have enjoyed //World War Z// is if they were one of the zombies.

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">Theme song: Down with the Sickness by Disturbed

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">**After** <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">**By Amy Efaw** <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">**Reviewed by: Tristan Kelly**

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">You cannot see straight and everything is a haze. There are people talking in the background, but you cannot seem to focus on what is being said. This is how the story //After// by Amy Efaw begins with Devon, the main character. In the distance, police enter the house and walk towards her. Before she knows it her blanket, her security, is gone. She has been discovered and they now know that she is the mother of the baby that was found in the dumpster behind their house. The days following go by in a blur. She goes to the hospital to get examined, which did not go very well. She is so guarded and protective, shutting everyone out. The day at court was the most confusing for her. They were not sure whether to try her as a juvenile or as an adult. She had not comprehended what she was being tried for or why she even needed a lawyer. So, until the trial to decide whether she would be judged as a juvenile or adult, Devon went to the holding block. She feels even lonelier, and feels that she does not belong among the real “criminals”. She meets up with her new lawyer who starts to break down Devon’s barriers by being pushy. Devon begins to become more comfortable with herself and choices that she has made.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">Amy Efaw is the proud mother of five children herself. Having that much of a family, she could not imagine anyone doing that to their own baby. She was inspired to write this novel after her husband, who is a lawyer, took a specific case named the “dumpster baby” case. There had been many news reports of babies being left in the dumpster before, but this one was close to home for her, since her husband was involved. When asked what this novel should teach others, she said “Don’t sit when your friends withdraw into themselves or change.” This shows her heart. She felt saddened by the people who had this happen to them. This novel appears on the Abe Lincoln master list and was nominated for the Garden State Teen book. <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">This is would be considered a Young Adult novel. It is about a subject that, let’s face it, every teen girl wonders about at some point in their life. It also could fit the genre Realistic Fiction, because even though the story itself is made up, it has happened to many people before.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">Personally, I liked the novel. It was about a subject that I, at one time or another, have thought about. The writing style used a lot of details, which made you feel like you were in the facility or in the courtroom. I would say that this would be a good novel for a teen girl to read. It makes you think about what you would do if you were in her situation. If a teenage couple was experiencing a pregnancy, and if the boy wanted to understand some of the confusion that girlfriend was undergoing, then this would be a good novel to do so. There are some details that some might find disturbing, but they are vital details to add to Devon’s story. They aren’t such gory details, just disturbing to think about someone doing that. If you can get over that, then I recommend that you read this novel. <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">Theme song: What I’ve done by Linkin Park

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">**Title: Bog Child** <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">**Author: Siobhan Dowd** <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">**Reviewed By: Jasmine Bruns**

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">As if being an eighteen year old isn’t stressful enough, Fergus, is in a world of chaos. Growing up in the middle of a war isn’t something most kids do, but most kids don’t find the body of a dead child in a bog, either, hence the name //Bog Child//. It doesn’t help that his older brother, Joe, is in jail and most of the prisoners are going on a hunger strike. Fergus has to worry about his brother, his final exams are coming up, and he has people hassling him to join in the fights. To top all that off, he has to deal with falling in love. And the only thing to keep all this off his mind is running up the mountain because as the author explains, “Up here on the mountain the Troubles didn’t seem to count” (41).

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">The author, Siobahn Dowd, died in August of 2007 at the age of 47. Though she died at a young age, she lived a very full life. She was brought up in London, which is also where she attended a Catholic grammar school. From there, she got her Bachelor’s degree in Classics from Oxford University and her Masters in Gender and Ethnic Studies from Greenwich University. After that, she joined many writing organizations, where she wrote pieces over human rights. In a way, //Bog Child// is a human rights piece. She talks about how the prisoners have their own right to strike, but it’s also wrong not to agree to a compromise that will end their starvation. Dowd has written many books including: //A Swift Pure Cry//, //The London Eye Mystery, Bog Child,// and her most recent, //Solace of the Road.//

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">//Bog Child// belongs in the genre of historical fiction. This is because the book is set up during the 1980s, when Ireland was in the middle of a war with Britain. What the Irish wanted was to be free of Britain’s command, and almost everyone was fighting against them. This book tells a story of a family during these times and includes actual historical significance, but all the characters are fictional, and so the book itself is fiction.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">I really enjoyed this novel. I loved the plot and how it jumps straight into the action; it doesn’t make you wait fifty pages like some books. I loved how there was never a dull spot in the book because there was always something interesting happening. Dowd’s writing style is one that keeps you reading until the end with a little bit of mystery on every page. I would highly recommend it to an eighth grade or a high school aged student; this is just because the characters are from Ireland, so they speak with terms commonly found in Ireland, which someone younger may not understand. All in all, this was a really good book with variety of different plot thickeners. <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">** I Don't Want To Be A Soldier- John Lennon **

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">//**Wrecked**// <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">**By E.R. Frank** <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">**Reviewed by Miranda Yepsen**

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">In //Wrecked,// Anna, a junior in high school, has the normal problems of a teenager. She doesn’t get along with her father, she thinks her mother just sits there and watches her father attack her mentally, and then there is her senior brother, Jack, who likes to keep to himself. Although her and her brother started to get closer when he began his first real relationship with Cameron Polk, the popular girl at school, they were still quite distant. Anna’s best friend, Ellen, is defiantly a partier. She didn’t think Anna could handle her sometimes, one night though Anna decided she was going to prove Ellen wrong and actually went to a party with her. Ellen was completely wasted but Anna made sure she sobered up enough to drive home. On the drive home, all Anna can remember is Ellen, bloody in her lap, a glass ponytail in her eye, and the screaming and screaming, then the screaming stops. When she wakes up in the hospital, Ellen’s leg was broken and her lungs collapsed and in a coma, but she was still alive. Anna went to see Ellen and all she could say was “I killed Cameron Polk” (29). Anna is now surrounded by a whole different category of problems no high school student or anyone in general, should encounter. Jack can barley even look at Anna anymore, her mother keeps telling her she needs therapy, and her father thinks otherwise. Confused with what she should do, and having “heart attacks” and nightmares that wake her up in a cold sweat every night, she decides to see the therapist.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">E.R. Frank was not only and author but also a social worker and a psychotherapist. She is also the author of //Life is Funny, America, and Friction.// Having worked in many prisons and having many troubled adolescents pass her way, she uses her personal experiences with them to write her books. In //Wrecked,// she not only uses her personal experience with a troubled teen but she also includes her work as a therapist into the mix. She does mention that all her characters are fiction; she just uses the story of others for inspiration. Frank liked to write things that made you think and that gave you that image of being there.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">//Wrecked// is a novel that is targeted for the young adult genre. You know this because any teenage kid can relate to most of what is going on in Anna’s life; the fighting with her parents, her older brother not wanting her around, and trying to fit in with your friends. This novel gives the reader a chance to experience another teen life that takes a major turn. It makes you think about what she is going through and how you would feel if you were in her shoes. It makes you take a second look at life.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good book about tragedy. This would be a book for someone who is tired of the mystery or romance novels. I liked this book because it made me think about what I do. It gave me that visual of being there with Anna and Ellen. It made me realize that things do happen that are out of your control and sometimes it can change who you are as a person. It can leave you wrecked.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">**Untitled – Simple Plan**

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">**Title: //The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde//** <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">**Author: Robert Louis Stevenson** <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">**Revieewed by: Ellie Ford**

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">Victorian London is often portrayed as a dark and dismal place, and perhaps never more so than in Robert Louis Stevenson’s //The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde//. The story begins with the protagonist, Gabriel Utterson, taking a stroll with his cousin. His cousin tells him a story of a man so malevolent that he trampled an innocent young girl in the street. Mr. Utterson begs that he tell him the name of this man, and so he learns of the misdeeds of Edward Hyde. When he then notices that Mr. hyde is the sole beneficiary of his good friend Henry Jekyll’s fortune, he becomes concerned. Why would an upright man like Dr. Jekyll bequeath his fortune to such a miscreant? Dr. Utterson takes it upon himself to attempt to understand why such a bond was formed. Along the way, however, he may find he is in a bit over his head.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">Robert Louis Stevenson has written many classics. //The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde// is certainly one his more macabre tales, although he wrote many short suspense and horror stories. Originally, it was published as just //Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde//, but now is more commonly referred to as //The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde// or simply //Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde//. Some of his other well-known works include //Treasure Island// and //Kidnapped//.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">Most would place //The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde// in the “horror” genre. Although it does not boast gore or monsters aplenty, it creates a rather frightening situation. After all, Mr. Hyde could be, and sometimes is, described as a “monster”. It could also be classified as a mystery, because Mr. Utterson tries to find the real truth throughout.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">//The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde// is a spectacular book. I thoroughly enjoyed it and would recommend it to any who are interested in classic horror. Stevenson’s London is dark and mysterious and really draws you into the story. I believe it is a classic because it asks important questions about human nature. Does every person have two distinct sides to their personality? Or are certain personality traits simply buried by society? It is a really clever story and I highly suggest it.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">Song: "The Scientist" by Coldplay


 * <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Identical **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">By Ellen Hopkins **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Reviewed by Kenzie Wall **

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Kaeleigh and Raeanne may be identical twins, but if you take a close look, they couldn’t be different. Their mom is running for election, so she is never home; they are left at home with their dad, who couldn’t be more twisted in the head. Kaeleigh and Raeanne go through a maze of emotions trying to figure out what made their father the man he is today. The girls are also going through their own set of personal problems that have to do with love. Raeanne seeks affection and love but seems to never get enough of it, while Kaeleigh won’t allow herself to know what love is because she is scared she will never be good enough. Eventually, the twins need to set aside their own drama to save each other. But who will be saving who?

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">According to her website, Ellen Hopkins isn’t afraid to cross that invisible line of writing about inappropriate situations. In her books, //Identical,// //Crank, Burned, Glass//, and //Impulse// she brings a lot of teenage problems to the surface. Hopkins feels the need to “give these children a voice” because sometimes they just aren’t strong enough to have a voice on their own. She is capable of not censoring the truth of what happens to these two sisters Raeanne and Kaeleigh. Hopkins also does a fantastic job of maintaining seriousness throughout the book. The twins went through a lot while living with their crazy dad and had to undergo many obstacles just to fight the urge to not want to end their existence on earth. I was always kept on the edge of my chair, waiting for the next traumatic event to occur because I always knew something was going to happen to make things take a turn for the worst. I was always rooting for Raeanne and Kaeleigh to come out on top in the end.

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">The genre of //Identical// is young adult because there is a lot of explicit information being told about one of the girls, specifically Kaeleigh because she gets sexually abused. The book also has curse words throughout the story, so you need to be a young adult in order to be mature enough to read this novel.

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">I simply loved this book. I like how Ellen Hopkins wasn’t scared to go into detail and talk about situations that are usually ignored. She truly did give a voice to those who are too weak to do so, and she said it with an exclamation point. I am a sucker for books that make you feel sorry for the main characters, and give you the sense of being in the situation. The entire time I found myself harboring hatred for the twins’ father after discovering the awful things that he had done. There was also a little mystery thrown in when Kaeleigh and Raeanne were trying to figure out why their father was a dark and scary person. They had to go back through their family tree to find out some information. Overall, this book was a great read, and I’m honored to have read a book that held such detail and twists.

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Theme Song for //Identical//: <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Split Personality by Pink

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Count Dracula has walked the earth for centuries, feeding on the blood of humans and creating more of his kind. Over time his power has been growing, along with his knowledge and cunning. For all of his previous existence, Transylvania has been his hunting ground. Now, he has discovered a way to gain access to an even larger supply of food and Jonathan Harker is his ticket. On business, Jonathan travels to Castle Dracula in order to assist him in the purchase of property in the center of London, England. However, what starts out as a business arrangement turns into a struggle for his very life. In Transylvania, superstition and myth come to life, and Jonathan soon discovers that the creatures that inhabit this place are trying to claim him as their next victim. Only a few hours before Jonathan’s predicted death, he attempts one final time to escape, and succeeds. Now the horror is behind him and Jonathan returns home to marry his fiancé, swearing never to speak of his experience to anyone. What Jonathan doesn’t realize though is that Dracula will stop at nothing to turn those close to him, including his wife, into the very creatures he thought he had escaped. Dracula preys on the innocent, but he cannot attack those who do not want him to. He seduces his victims before performing the act that will turn them into a being just like him, a being with no soul that occupies the bodies of his victims and makes it impossible for them to find their eternal resting place. In a time when a woman’s virtue is the most important thing to her and a man is only allowed to think of his wife, vampires prey on the darkest thoughts and un-spoken desires of humanity. Now, the only way for Jonathan and his band of friends to save the lives (and souls) of those they love from an eternity as the Un-Dead, is to rid the earth of Count Dracula forever.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Dracula **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">By Bram Stoker **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Reviewed by Olivia Funderburk **

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Abraham ‘Bram’ Stoker was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1847. As a child, the author of //Dracula// was bed-ridden up until the age of seven when he started school. To keep him entertained, Stoker’s mother would tell him ancient horror stories. In early adulthood, Stoker became friends with Henry Irving and got involved in the theatre which helped to inspire him to begin writing novels such as //The Snake’s Pass//, //The Lady of the Shroud//, and //The Lair of the White Worm//. Before writing //Dracula//, Stoker spent several years researching stories of vampires and European folklore. That, and a family vacation to Whitby, a setting in parts of the novel, helped to inspire his work. Stoker’s past as a writer for the newspaper helped him to create a collection of diary entries, newspaper articles, and letters that combine to tell the story of //Dracula//.

//<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Dracula //<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;"> definitely fits into the genre of horror and is the basis for the Bram Stoker Award which is given by the Horror Writers Association for superior achievement in horror writing. Stoker’s method of writing adds a realistic quality to the novel and aids the theme of innocence and promiscuity that is stated in the introduction, “Dracula is the symptom of a wish, largely sexual, that we wish we did not have.” Like all horrors, //Dracula// is filled with gruesome images of blood and gore. Stoker created a classic monster, a creature of pure evil that claims the lives of those closest to the main character.

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">From the second I started reading, I could not put this book down. I found myself getting lost in a world where myth comes to life, but also hoping that the main characters would triumph in their fight against that world. This is a book for anyone who loves a good fast paced horror with good guys fighting against evil in order to save the innocent ladies they love. //Dracula// has all of the classic characters; heroes, villains, and damsels in distress, but with a twist. Bram Stoker’s //Dracula// truly, “gives form to a universal fantasy,” (Encyclopedia of World Biography) and creates a thrilling world of horror that the reader can really get lost in.

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Theme Song for //Dracula//: Eyes on Fire by Blue Foundation


 * <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">By Ken Kesey **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Reviewed by Whitney Walker **

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Imagine yourself in 1950’s Oregon; better yet, imagine yourself in a mental institution in 1950’s Oregon. That’s exactly where Chief Bromden is. Chief is a patient, and is pretty much the eyes and ears of this institution. Everybody thinks he is deaf and dumb, when in all reality, Chief is very smart; he just chooses not to talk. The horrible Nurse Ratched is the head nurse on Chief’s ward, and she has her floor running a tight ship. When a new patient comes on to the ward, they are put in what is called the “Combine,” and this refers to the mechanical way that the patients are manipulated; they take it because they are all too afraid of the repercussions of rebelling. The arrival of one man turns everything upside down, and his name is McHenry. He is at the institution because he faked insanity to get out of the work farm. McHenry takes Chief and all the other patients on the ward for the ride of a lifetime while showing them that the world outside of the ward isn’t a scary place.

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Ken Kesey, is known mostly for writing //One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest//, and like the setting of this book, he grew up in Oregon. Ken found inspiration for this book while working part- time at Palo Alto Menlo Park Veteran’s Hospital and while being a part of experimental research on how LSD affects the human body. The LSD caused Kesey to have hallucinations at work, and he always said he saw a Native- American man mopping the hallways, which gave him the inspiration for Chief Bromden. When //One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest// was made into a movie, it won many Academy Awards. A few years after the success of Ken’s novel, he was taken into custody for possession of drugs.

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">//One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest// is a protest novel against oppression, and being silenced by fear or hate. Every patient in the ward keeps silent and doesn’t speak out for because they are afraid of what Nurse Ratched will do to them.

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">I enjoyed this book, even though it starts off somewhat slow. If you can get through the first 20 pages, you will be hooked. It really made you feel like you were there watching life in this ward go on, from Nurse Ratched’s power trip, to McHenry’s stands against her, this is a definite page- turner. I would recommend this book to anybody because it is simply a classic, and a very interesting read. Overall, //One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest// is a timeless book that will keep you guessing until the very end.

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Theme Song for //One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest//: <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Welcome Home (Sanitarium) by Metallica


 * <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Crank **


 * <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">By Ellen Hopkins **


 * <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Reviewed by Karlie Pulliam **

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">This is the crazy tale of Kristina Georgia Snow and her alternate ego Bree and their struggle to come clean from the deadly monster. The difference between the two? Kristina is a bright normal academic teenage lady while Bree is a feisty crazy girl who loves her drugs. The summer is wearing old for Kristina who has nothing better to do than go to the pool when she realizes that she is flirting with the lifeguards and showing them her new infected tattoo, She then discover bree a more daring side of herself. During the crazy two week period Kristina stays with her father she is more vulnerable than ever before because Bree starts becoming better known. So it wouldn’t be any shocker that Bree accepts the attention from the boy next door Adam, Kristina notices that Adams habits are just as bad as her father’s but Bree takes on the challenge and has fun with the idea of a new type of guy. Adam started a bad never-ending cycle the time he introduced the good girl Kristina to the “monster” and Bree has been craving it ever since. On her way home to see her mother Kristina is in a haze of thoughts. She is noticing that she can’t go one day without the monster in her reach, available for her. Her mom and stepdad better be prepared to get the full affect of their new daughter – Bree. Good girl Kristina tries tackling school and everyday issues on the monster. Days go by and her mother starts realizing her money is going missing and Kristina is sleeping all the time and getting sick. Trying to have some fun Bree meets up with Brendan, one of the lifeguards at the pool. Brendan also shares Bree’s love for the addicting “monster” He supplies her with drugs and rapes her. She is pregnant with Brendan’s baby, how will she find her way out of this mess and try to clean up her drug habit?

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Ellen Hopkins the author of this novel and its twin novel //Glass// is a very brave woman. Ellen is actually the mother of the out of control “monster seeking” teen Kristina who she writes about in this book. According to Wondrous Reads,” Reading //Crank// is like reading a painstakingly honest diary, complete with thoughts, confessions and firsthand accounts that never get sugarcoated”. Ellen wrote this novel to let people understand her battle with her daughter and meth, and also to help other struggling addicts. //Crank// is something that is worth everyone’s time and reading it could help many drug addicts overcome their lifestyle and become a brand new person.

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">The novel Crank is in the young adult genre and I would also say it was a drama genre as well because it showed in Kristina and brees struggle with meth. This is a real story about a real drug user so of course there is going to be a crazy amount of drug use in the novel. There is some conflict with this book being in school libraries because many think it is to mature for some viewers.

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">This is an awesome book to read; it’s captivating and keeps you sucked into the action. It’s the type that you won’t set down until you finish every word. //Crank// is so interesting, it makes you feel like you as well are stuck with this addiction and you want to keep reading because it’s the only thing you want to do. I recommend this wonderful novel to people who would never think of reading a book like this, and see if they enjoyed it afterwards. It’s always nice to have a change. If you enjoy a story of a twisted life of an addicted teen who tries to get better, you’ll fall head over heels for this novel.

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Theme Song for //Crank//:
 * <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Rehab by Amy Whinehouse **


 * <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">A Briefer History of Time **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">By Stephen Hawking **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Reviewed by Will Parr **

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">It has been said many times that Stephen Hawking has a brilliant mind trapped inside a useless body; his brilliance shows in his book //A Briefer History of Time//. //A briefer history of time// is a shortened version of his book called //a brief history of time,// but just because it is shortened does not mean it has less of a message. Hawking starts off the book by talking about the basics of the universe, such as scientific findings that show that the earth is not flat and that the universe doesn’t revolve around the earth. He also points out that some people are still stuck in their old ways: “What you have told us is rubbish. The world is really a flat plate supported on the back of a giant turtle.’ The scientist gave a superior smile before replying, ‘What is the turtle standing on?’ ‘You’re very clever, young man, very clever,’ said the old lady. ‘But it’s turtles all the way down!’ ”(3) Once Hawking is done explaining the basics, he starts to get into more complex science such as relativity, light travel, curved space, and the expanding universe. All of the topics that Hawking talks about are very complex so he only scratches the surface of the scientific findings. Hawking ends the book with a very interesting subject: time travel and wormholes. You will have to read the book yourself in order to grasp this concept he is portraying to us.

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Stephen is a professor and author that published //A Briefer History of Time// in 2005 and has since sold 9 million copies worldwide of this book alone. He felt that a lot of people were truly ignorant in their view of science and what it has come to be so he decided to write many books, including //A Briefer History of Time,// to help educate the population. Although some of Stephen’s writings are highly debated even in the scientific realm, such as the Imaginary Time theory, he still has a good heart and good intentions to what he is trying to do. He is strong willed and he isn’t letting a disability to stop what he wants to accomplish.

//<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">A Briefer History of Time //<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;"> is the genre of popular science. This is quite evident in the first few sentences of the book which say, “We live in a strange and wonderful universe. Its age, size, violence, and beauty require extraordinary imagination to appreciate. The place we humans hold within this vast cosmos can seem pretty insignificant. And so we try to make sense of it all and to see how we fit in.” (1) Don’t let the genre ‘popular science’ make you turn away from this book. It is very easy to read and it does not require much former knowledge of physics.

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">I like this book for a few reasons. For one, it is very easy to read because everything was explained very well and the words weren’t that big. Another reason I like this book is that even if you are having trouble understanding what Stephen is saying, he provides simple illustrations showing what he is trying to explain. One drawback I found about this book is that there is a flaw in this book. This flaw is in chapter 10 which talks about time travel. Stephen says that if we had the technology today, we would build a space craft and then have it go to the speed of light and we would find that time traveled a lot faster on earth than what it did for us. While I agree with that (because Einstein’s time dilation discovery) that goes against what Stephen believes in starlight. He doesn’t talk about it in this book, but Stephen believes that Starlight from 1 billion light years away would take 1 billion years to reach earth. This is a flaw because he forgets that time dilation is also in effect for light as well, therefore Stephen contradicts himself when he talks about time travel because it would take dramatically less time for the light to reach earth. With that said, I would recommend this book to only certain individuals: People interested in science and people with an open mind. Even though this book is easy to read, it will bore people who don’t have at least a slight interest in science. Overall this is a very interesting read and I would suggest reading A //Briefer History of Time//.

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Theme Song for //A Briefer history of time//: <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Weird Science by Oingo Boingo

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">**Reviewed by Ryan Ragain**
 * <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">The Red Badge of Courage **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">By Stephen Crane **

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">The book begins when Henry, who is the main character, starts to get these fantasy notions about how awesome it would be to fight in the war. He is torn between going to fight for his country or staying at home with his mother because she needs all the help she can get on their farm. After weeks of pondering he finally chooses to enlist in the army, once he tells his mother he is baffled because he expects her to beg him to stay; but instead of begging him to stay she just tells him to be smart and not get killed “Young fellers in the army get awful careless in their ways, Henry”. After having heard the word “killed” come out of his mother’s mouth he really starts to question whether he can be valiant in battle like he had dreamed of. The first couple chapters of the book start off very slowly, mostly because the troops are just sitting around waiting for a battle to break out, but it never does. Then, out of nowhere, a volley of shots rings out which awakens all the troops and causes a mad scramble for weapons and ammunition; once the troops get all geared up they climb over the hill and see a small scuffle of men fighting. His unit jumps in, and before he could realize what was going on Henry found himself shooting and reloading as fast as he could until the remaining enemy troops retreated back to their encampment. The problem for Henry is realized when the enemy returns for another battle and some of his fellow soldiers drop their weapons and run into the woods, he unknowingly finds himself running away with them and subsequently begins to question himself on if he is brave enough to fight in this war. While in retreat from the battle he stumbles over a dead soldier’s body, which was pretty far decayed. For Henry this was his first encounter of a dead body, so naturally it startles him so severely that he takes off running again until he meets up with a group of men returning from battle. In the next battle he observes troops retreating which makes him feel better about running away from the second battle, but when he tried to stop a soldier and ask him what happened the friendly soldier bashed him on the head with the butt of his rifle, and left him bleeding and unconscious. He awakens to find a stranger leading him back to his regiment, and when he arrives there everyone treats him with respect because they assume that he got that wound in battle. In actuality all the attention just makes him feel worse; because he knows that it was caused by his cowardice. The whole subject of the book is whether or not Henry can take charge of his emotions and become the valiant battle hardened man he dreamed of.

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Stephen Crane had always been interested in war since he was a young child and was given the opportunity to become a war correspondent in the Spanish-American war. During his time as a correspondent he began to piece together an idea of what emotions and hardships were endured during a full time war. It was this ability to perceive emotions coupled with his interests in war that allowed him to write //The Red Badge of Courage// in such a realistic way that gained the fame of people all over. Cranes’ works are defined by his vivid intensity, his distinctive language, and also his irony.

//<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">The Red Badge of Courage //<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">fits into the action/adventure genre because of its highly intense fights scenes and also the amount of experiences the main character encounters. “Ye’d better take ‘im outa th’ road, pardner. There’s a batt’ry comin’ helitywhoop down th’ road an’ he’ll git runned over. He’s a goner anyhow in about five minutes-yeh kin see that. Ye’d better take ‘im outa th’ road. Where th’ blazes does he git his stren’th from!” This quote shows how Crane used his language to create a scene of panic and disorder, and to also set up the action scene that occurs after.

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">All in all I liked the book but I found it hard to read on account of the southern-slang language that he uses for the quotations, such as the one above. I liked the book because there was a ton of action and drama scenes in the book; which really gave an in depth look at the emotions a soldier goes through. I would recommend the book mostly to people who like to read about violence in war, otherwise you will find this book repulsive and utterly disgusting. In conclusion, this book is a great choice for people who enjoy the whole war experience. If you are not one of those people the book be seen as a dumb and barbaric book by those who are softer hearted.

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Theme <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Song for //The Red Badge of Courage:// Bad company by Five Finger Death Punch

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">. Elinor is mostly sense; she is the one who likes to be discreet and believes in making people happy that it is okay to tell a lie once and awhile to make everything okay. Marianne is the outgoing one, the one with the most sensibility, and is completely honest about everything; she speaks her mind no matter the situation. These two sisters throughout the whole book are looking for the perfect men for them with their two different beliefs on love. The sisters and their mother, Mrs. Dashwood, and their younger sister Margret have to move out of their estate when their older half-brother, John, and his wife Fanny take it after their father dies; they get introduced to the funny Mrs. Jennings, who is married to the Dashwood’s family landlord. She is the biggest gossip queen around; she finds out about everything about everyone. Both of the girls’ beliefs of love are tested when Elinor meets Edward Ferrars when he comes to visit his sister Fanny, the Dashwoods sister-in-law, and Marianne runs into John Willougby. Each girl has a problem that seems to stop them from getting their happy ending and they believe they won’t. Willoughby abandons Marianne and Elinor finds out that Edward has been engaged to the conniving Lucy Steele. They both stay by each other when they can’t seem to get men they are falling in love with. How they both reacted to their experiences with romance and heartbreak, the lessons that they learn, and the contrast between the two are resolved by their happy endings.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Sense and Sensibility **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">By Jane Austen **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Reviewed by Kassi Belfield **

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">This is not the first book Jane Austen wrote, but it is the first one to be published. Jane Austen writes about marriage and the ideal love. She writes of women’s’ ideas on love in the 1800s .She is well known for her realism, biting social commentary, and masterful use of free indirect speech, burlesque, and irony into her books. In //Sense and Sensibility// the two sisters have different ideas on love and how it show go and are faced with problems dealing with love and overcoming it. <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">The Dashwood sisters Elinor and Marianne are trying to find the men of their dreams and getting married. They have different ideas on love and the criteria for love. The girl’s struggles make you anxious and wanting to find out if everything works out how they hoped it would.

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">This novel for me kept me wondering what was going to happen and hoping that love would eventually find the Elinor and Marianne. With all of the difficulties they kept running into made me wonder how they would keep going and who they would find to keep them happy. If you like stories of love and marriage and happy endings with kind of a twist then you should read //Sense and Sensibility//.

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Theme Song for //Sense and Sensibility:// <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">She’s In Love with the Boy by Trisha Yearwood


 * <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Delirium **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">By Lauren Oliver **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Reviewed by Allie Rupp **

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Based in the future when love is considered a disease (amor deliria nervosa), Lena a seventeen year old girl is months from getting put through the procedure everyone is required to go through by the government that will cure her for a life free of the disease. Cure from the disease is something everyone in society looks forward to, it frees you from the pain in life and makes everyday predictable and rational. That is until Lena is exposed to opinions that there are other options in life and different views of how to look at society. She begins to second guess love and what has been taught to her; that love is bad, and she gets stuck between the path she wants to take, and the path she has to take.

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Since the release of Lauren Oliver’s first book //Before I Fall//, she became a talked about author, so when //Delirium// hit the shelves it made a big splash into the reading world. Lauren talks on her website about how most of her books are based mostly from real life experiences, because most of her high school life experiences defined who she is today. //Delirium// she says was inspired by a trip to the gym where she overheard people speaking of how the best books feature suspense and romance, so that’s just what she wrote about in this book.

//<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Delirium //<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;"> fits into the young adult genre and also the romance genre of literature. The book is targeted at young adult readers because the main character Lena is faced with decisions that most young adults relate to in one way or another. The book really gets you thinking what decision you would make if you were put into her place. When Lena’s eyes are opened to the other side of society by Alex she dives into what everyone in the society she lives fears, love. She goes on second guessing herself on whether what she is doing is the right choice or whether she should follow suit of what she is being told and fit in with everyone else.

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">This book opened up my eyes to thinking of what if life was truly like this book; what if society was so bland and strict that everyone was living life numb, and free from feeling. I recommend this book to any young adult who is looking for a great read that keeps you guessing and a little twist of romance. Lena’s thoughts truly showed her emotional journey throughout the novel; the rational side and her own “wild” side and how her mind changes throughout the journey. It shows how love can change a life and make you eel something so unexplainable that words can’t sum it up and make decisions you never thought you would. The mystery and eerie feeling of the setting and how people function plus the twist of thoughts and feelings from the characters kept me on the edge of my seat. The forbidden romance between Lena and Alex keeps you from putting down the book. This whole novel was a great read it definitely keeps you intrigued and entertained all the way to the very last page.

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Theme Song for //Delirium//: <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">The Resistance by Muse


 * <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">As I Lay Dying **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">By: William Faulkner **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Reviewed by: Quincy Merritt **

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Addie Bundren, a stubborn and hard-working farm wife, flirts with death as if it were a starving animal. She is expected to go any day now, and her family just sits and waits for her to disappear from this horrible place they call life. Her sons try to keep busy and stay away, and pretend that she is going to get better and pull through this whole mess, all the while knowing that it is inevitable. With each day she grows thinner, paler, and weaker. She is constantly surrounded by the reminders that she can’t escape this terrible fate. Her children lurk around like a thick fog; fanning her for comfort, taking odd jobs for more money, and even building her eternal resting place (her coffin). Her dying wish was that she be laid to rest in her home town where she spent her childhood. Her family knows that she will not live long enough to make this trip and will have to travel with her corpse, only adding to the difficulty of the trip. As if the situation weren’t bad enough, severe weather conditions lead to complications during the journey.

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">From herding cattle to writing award winning novels such as __The Reivers__, author William Faulkner’s career flourished. Nobel Prize for Literature winner William Faulkner brings out the crazy; yet true inner workings of families to life in the book, __As I Lay Dying__. He uses the first person point of view from almost every character in the book to show the outrageous workings that the Bundren family has made as the base of their lives. Faulkner gets his old time southern theme from his past, as he did grow up on a farm in Mississippi.

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">This book to me is a dark comedy. It has a weird and twisted sense of humor behind its cover that only a skilled reader would be able to unveil. One piece of evidence of this dark humor is when the Bundrens try to cross the river but their raft falls apart and the coffin containing the body of Addie Bundren falls into the river and floats downstream.

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">This book is not an easy read. It is most definitely an upper level, challenging book. Faulkner’s method of telling the story from every character’s point of view becomes confusing, and adds in a southern dialect for a little more of a challenge. You need to be a contextual reader to follow along in this roller-coaster of a book to truly understand the crazy lives of the Bundren family. However, if you like crazy dysfunctional families, this dark humorous book is right up your alley.

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Theme Song for //As I Lay Dying:// <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">I Will Remember You by Sarah McLachlan

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">In the town of Jackson, Mississippi, everything was happening as it usually did. The African Americans and whites were segregated, and the black people had to take the jobs that the white people didn’t want to do, such as housekeeping and gardening. There may have been black people who didn’t like how everything was, but they never spoke up and voiced their opinion because there would be consequences to pay. Little did everyone in town know, there would be a young woman who decided to help people voice their opinions. This young woman is named Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan. Unlike her friends, she was unable to find a husband while she was at college, because she wasn’t very attractive. Her friends dropped out of college to get married while Skeeter went on to graduate. She had a dream of becoming a writer. Against all of her friends’ beliefs, and her own beliefs at one time, she wrote a very controversial book. That book was about life through the maids’ eyes. The women that told their stories sure had a lot to say, whether it was good or bad. Rumors started flying once the book was published because a lot of secrets were revealed.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">The Help **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">By Kathryn Stockett **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Reviewed by Kristin Hoyle **

//<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">The Help //<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">was the first novel that Kathryn Stockett had ever written, and it was published in 2009. The main character of her novel, Eugenia Phelan, reminds me a lot of the author. Kathryn was born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi. In lieu of her absentee mother, she was raised by a maid. She also knew that she wanted to be a writer, and she later graduated from college with a degree in English and creative writing. Just like in //The Help,// Kathryn wrote a book that was considered controversial. After the book was published, she was sued by a maid, Ablene Cooper, who use to work for her brother because there was a character in the book, Aibileen Clark, which strongly resembled her appearance and personality traits. Ms. Cooper did not win the case since the character wasn’t exactly like her. Kathryn Stockett wrote this book to let people know what it was like to live in Mississippi in the 1960’s. She also wanted to explain the “affection between a black person and white person in the unequal world of segregation,” which was grossly stereotyped in American History.

//<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">The Help //<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">best fits into the genre of drama. Throughout the book, there was drama with every single character at one point in the story or another. Skeeter, for example, had to be very secretive about her new beliefs on segregation, otherwise, the book she was writing would be revealed and the maids that told their stories would have been punished severely by the white families that they worked for. Skeeter also had some drama with her boyfriend, Stuart. On their first date, he didn’t even care she was there. He later came back and apologized, and then they got to know each other and eventually fell in love. Stuart wouldn’t tell Skeeter about his previous fiancé, so she confronted him about her which caused him to ask for “space.” They eventually got back together again, and then he proposed to her. Before Skeeter told him yes, she decided that she had to tell him the truth about the book. He broke up with her again at that point because she had lied to him all that time and it turned out that she wasn’t the girl he thought she was. Soon after that, Skeeter’s book became a best seller, which enabled her to get a job in New York City. There were many other characters in the book, but that was the drama of only one character’s life. So I would agree that //The Help// certainly fits into the drama genre.

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">I really enjoyed reading this novel. At times, it was really rather hard to put down the book and stop reading. The way the book is set up just adds more suspense and drama to the novel because you will be reading about something from one character’s point of view and then switch to another character’s point of view of the same event. Seeing how things happened through numerous character’s makes //The Help// unique. Most books have only one main character describing what is happening, so having several main characters makes Kathryn’s book fun to read. If you enjoy reading about the dramatic secret lives of women, then this book would be good for you to read.

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Theme song for //The Help:// <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Blacking out the Friction by Death Cab for Cutie


 * <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Ghosts of War **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">By Ryan Smithson **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Reviewed by Avery Jordan **

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Ryan Smithson, a 17 year old boy whom just witnessed a terrible sight happen on September 11, 2001, one of the worst days in history or the worst day ever in history of the United States of America. Ryan is all for his country, once he saw the Twin Towers fall that morning, he knew he wanted to do something about it. After school that day he calls an Army recruiter, explains why he wants to be in the armed forces. He has the recruiter come over to talk to his parents about the military. While his parents want him to go to college, he is thinking military. The best bet for the recruiter to do was sign him up to the reserves, so Ryan can go to college and serves his country at the same time. Smithson knew what he had to do to make this all happen so he has to get ready for the biggest steps into making it into the military which is the ASVAB (Armed Forces Vocational Aptitude Battery), a test much like the ACT but this one is for military usage, MEPS (Military Entrance Processing Station), which is a department where determine your job for the military; Smithson became a 21E, which is a Heavy Construction Equipment Operator, his job is to move bulldozers, cranes, scoop loaders, dumb trucks, and any other construction vehicle he needed to move around. On his way to boot camp, his mind was going all over the place, he kept asking himself, “ Will there be screaming sergeants?”, “Will I be able to handle myself?”, or “Is everyone as nervous as I am?”. As he is riding in the bus which has no windows, only little holes so other soldiers don’t get claustrophobic. When the bus comes to a halt and the back door opens the first thing coming to Ryan’s head is “They are going to yell”, you know what those drill sergeants did?, they yelled nasty stuff, they didn’t care if it was about your mom, aunt, grandma, girlfriend, grandpa, they said it. What else could go wrong to Ryan Smithson now?

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Ryan Smithson has written one book, //“Ghosts of War”//, it’s a book that describes his story in Iraq. Ryan Smithson isn’t like most authors who have written tons of books, he has only written one, it will most likely be that way too. He has his Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice at Hudson Valley Community College. Ryan is a brave and heartwarming American. When he witnessed the Twin Towers come down, it crushed his sole and heart. That’s why he decided to go to the Army to fight for his country and make sure no terriosts would come back damaging what’s ours and not theirs. He has tried connecting us to another country and telling us what went on in his point of view as a soldier.

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">The genre of //“Ghosts of War”// is a non-fiction history book. The events in this story are so real and very frightening to be told. Being a young adult in this book and describing what is going on in Iraq, even when you’re signed up as a reservist is unusual. Smithson talks a lot about living up for your country and never letting go A lot of us that are going to the military could use his words to an advantage through boot camp, or even through an actual war.

//<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">“Ghosts of War” //<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;"> is a one of the best books I have ever read. It kept me on the edge of my seat reading it. If you love war books, reading about a true hero, or even about a friend you lost who was going to be a hero, then this book is for you. I recommend any high school student or above to read this, I promise you ”it will change the way you feel about what It means to be an American”

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Theme Song for //Ghosts of War// <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">“Far From Home” by Five Finger Death Punch


 * <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Lord of the Rings the Fellowship of the Ring **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">By J.R.R Tolkien **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Reviewed by Jake Hines **

//<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">One Ring to find them all //<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;"> //and, One Ring to rule them all.// It was, on his Thirty-Third Birthday, upon which he received this Beautiful, Golden, Elven-made ring from none other than Bilbo. But who you ask? Why, Frodo Baggins was his name. The giver of the ring went by the name of Bilbo Baggins the uncle of said Frodo But, was it for the better or for the worse yet alas, let us not get confused, for it was also Bilbo’s Eleventy-first birthday as well, so that was very significant to be so old for Old Took himself lived to be one-hundred and thirty. Who was the father of all the hobbits. We mustn’t dawdle on all the small details, but once the Festivities were done with Bilbo goes out and does some soul searching, without the mystical One Ring.

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">J.r.r Tolkien was born in Africa in the year of 1892, until his death in 1973, through those years he walked this Earth, he wrote three Lord of The Rings books, but he died before he could publish those fine books. So his son, which Tolkien got his inspiration from, was creating bedtime stories to get his son to fall into a deep slumber in beddy-bye land. So he thought that these wild stories of heroes and warriors should be tamed by writing them down. But the stories, showed early signs of trouble, because the stories came up to a dead end, until he had a debate with one of his fellow college professors, after the debate he finally found an end to his books. But shortly afterwards died of natural causes. So his book went unpublished until his son published them on September, 15, 1999.

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Fantasy, Sci-Fi, are just some of the few Genres that LOTR (Lord of the Rings), I know this much because it speaks of Middle Earth a place that takes place in the year around 3434-3500. Where there is much fighting and much strife. It also speaks of Wizards, Dwarfs, and Orcs, and the occasional Dragons. Where the time period resembles much of the medieval time period.

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">I think that this is such a hard read and, I wouldn’t recommend this for the faint of heart. I would also have you ask yourself who is Frodo not what is a Frodo. Used in this conversation don’t get short with me Frodo…..my sister then said “what’s a Frodo?” What! Are you Kidding me! He’s not a what, he’s a who. Because unless you want to become the laughing stock of the dork guild, you’re trying to get accepted to you need to know these basic yet so important facts.

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Theme Song for Lord of the Rings <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Bring me to life by Evanescence

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">In the beginning of //November Blues//, November Nelson (16) finds out she is pregnant with her dead boyfriend’s baby. Throughout this book, once she told her mom about her pregnancy, her life has changed completely. Josh Prescott is dead because of an terrible incident that The Warriors of Distinction did. November Nelson told Jericho, Josh’s cousin, about her being pregnant with Josh’s kid and since Josh is dead, Jericho promised November being there every step of the way. When she went to school, the news spread quickly all the way up to Josh’s parents Mr. and Mrs. Brock Prescott. November gets papers that Josh’s parents want her to give her unborn child up to them, but when she came to the meeting, she said she’ll think about it whether or not she wants to keep her child. <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">The author Sharon M. Draper had readers write to her asking what happened to Jericho and the remaining members of the Warriors of Distinction and their girlfriends. So, she mainly focused on josh’s girlfriend, November. She knew that teenagers living in a stressful and confusing world and the decisions that they make out in the real world.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">November Blues **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">By Sharon M. Draper **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Reviewed by Sarah M. DeMotte **

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">The elements that fit into this book is teen genre. It talks about a Junior who is-soon-to-be a Senior next year in the book being pregnant. Once she has the baby, her life will be turned upside down, she won’t able to attend to the things that she would love to do. She’ll have to sit home and take care of her kid.

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">I like this book because it’s talking about teenage pregnancy and it’s against teenage pregnancy at a certain age. This isn’t a role model book for teenage girls that end up getting pregnant, telling their parents or parent, dropping out of sports (if the girls is in sports), if the baby’s daddy leaves, you’re on your own, get a job, etc. I would recommend this book to young girls ages 13-17 years of age. <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Theme song for //November Blues// <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Papa Don’t Preach by Madonna


 * <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">The Bridges of Madison County **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">By Robert James Waller **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Reviewed by Chelsea Hartman **

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Francesca Johnson has everything. She has a husband, two talented children, and beautiful farm on the outskirts of a small Iowan town. But something in her life is missing. Something has been missing in her life now for a very long time, and she has never quite been able to put her finger on it. After meeting National Geographic photographer Robert Kincaid, Francesca realizes what has been missing in her life, passion. Francesca, once a young bride from Italy, thought she had found her love when she married Richard Johnson, a young man in serving overseas in the army. But as they settled into their farm and began building a family, Francesca began feeling something was lacking in her life. She felt as if she was meant to do more than just tend to the farm and prepare meals. When Francesca first meets Robert when he comes to her farm lost asking for directions, she feels an instant attraction to him. Robert is intelligent and good looking. Francesca and Roberts talks are always interesting, of places they’ve been and seen, or dreams they have. After only knowing Robert for three days, Francesca is positive that she loves him, and Robert is positive he loves her. At the time Robert and Francesca meet, Richard and the kids are momentarily in Illinois at a cattle judging show. Francesca is faced with the tough decision of running off with Robert a man she has a true connection with and knows she will be forever happy with, or stay in Iowa with Richard and the children keeping the same routine being there at their convenience, making them happy.

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Author of nine other books, Robert James Waller is also a photographer and musician. In 1964 he received his Masters degree from Iowa State Teachers College; now know as University of Northern Iowa. Out of Waller’s nine other novels, //The Bridges of Madison County// was probably his most successful. Seven of his books have been featured on the New York Times best-seller list, including //The Bridges of Madison County//, being his top best-seller in 1993. Common themes in Waller’s books include love and intuition.

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Other than being a on the New York Times best-seller list in 1993, //The Bridges of Madison County// has won no awards. In 1995, the book was turned into a movie starring Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep. Robert Waller’s story is full of suspense and excitement as you try to predict what will happen next.

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Personally, I enjoyed reading //The Bridges of Madison County//. It was exciting and suspenseful, making me wonder what was going to happy next as the tension between Francesca and Robert rose. Although I enjoyed reading //The Bridges of Madison County//, and it was a good book, I think the story told by Robert Waller is geared more towards an adult crowd, just by the way the story was written. At times the book could be a little dull. I would recommend the book, but not necessarily to a young adult.

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Theme Song for //The Bridges of Madison County//: <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Best I Ever Had by Gary Allan


 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','serif';">After by Amy Efaw **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','serif';">Reviewed by Hannah Wall **

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','serif';">At first sight, you would think that Devon Davenport is your typical teenage girl. She gets “straight A’s” in all of her classes, including her honor classes, and does exceedingly well in soccer. But little did anyone know, Devon has been keeping a secret for the past nine months. This secret has made Devon feel ashamed of herself and made her feel like she was turning into the one person she never wanted to be like, her mother. Her mother hasn’t been the greatest role model for her because she brings home different men at any hour of the night, and Devon has no other family members that she has meet or can rely on for guidance. After constant denial that she is pregnant, Devon has pulled away from everything that is important to her, her best friend, Kait, and the love of her life, soccer. Then the day finally comes; she doesn’t know what to do. She is home alone, and gives birth to IT. After not really excepting IT as a human being, so does the only thing she can think of and throws the baby in a trash can in the alley. The days go by and Devon has constant flashbacks of what had happened that day and finally puts the pieces together to realize what she has done. She realizes that even though people know the things that she did, they still know that she is a good person and would always still be there for her.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','serif';">Amy Efaw had first heard about a story of a “dumpster baby” on the radio. She had never written anything very big before and hearing about the story just intrigued her. She went home and researched “dumpster baby” and soon discovered that there have been many other people who have done the same thing. Amy wants to try and show the struggles that many women have gone through with having unplanned pregnancies. Her book //After// has received the Abraham Lincoln Award for 2011.

//<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','serif';">After //<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','serif';"> would fall under the young adult genre. It talks about a typical teenage girl and all her internal struggles that she has to face. Amy tries to show that although Devon hasn’t had the best life growing up, she was able to achieve things on her own and that in the end, even if you seem to do something so terrible, you will figure out the right thing to do.

//<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','serif';">After //<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','serif';"> is a well written novel which Amy Efaw does a wonderful job of showing you the challenges that Devon has faced and will have to face. She makes you feel sorrow to know that Devon was so ashamed in things she has done that she feels like she can trust no one with what may have been the biggest secret in her life.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','serif';">“Perfect” by Pink


 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','serif';">Inexcuseable by Chris Lynch **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','serif';">Reviewed by James Norris **

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','serif';">Keir Sarafian is a senior in high school when his entire world gets put on its back. The novel starts off where Keir is trying to convince the readers that he truly is a nice guy. The reason is because Keir is accused of inexcusable actions. His friend Gigi Boudakian is the one he loves, and also the one he crossed the lines with. Keep in mind he is a regular kid, with two sisters, and a widowed father who is a fan of drinking. When Keir is brought to light about these accusations, he asks himself over and over, “good guys don’t do bad things right?” One day Keir had a football game; he is usually the kicker for the team. But Keir is a little more talented than just a kicker; he also had talent as a cornerback, and a decent one at that. In the game Keir gets a huge hit that gets recorded, and it ends up paralyzing the other kid. In this game Kier is given the nickname killer from the quarterback on his team. After that tackle Keir is transformed into a different person.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','serif';">Chris lynch is an author with several bestsellers and many prestigious awards like the National Book Award and the Printz Honor Award. Lynch is known for his genre about kids who hate the system, or kids with athletic abilities. He also has a line of short stories and ALA recommended books for adolescent readers. It is said by lynch himself that as a writer he wasn’t a reader and he never read a novel not assigned to him until issued a book in his university. If you know most writers are avid readers well not lynch he developed into his talent extremely late to write books that receive awards.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','serif';">I would say that his genre is one of a young adult because most of his books are written about of for young adults. His books are read in schools everywhere, maybe even stopping kids from doing what happens in his novels. If it was meant for younger children much of the language and events would not be in his novels. There are also those few stories for children, but those aren’t as popular. When put up against each other his novels are more down to earth and realistic then his short stories.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','serif';">I have to be completely honest when I say at first I didn’t care for this novel at all. In order to enjoy it you really have to absorb all the conflicts and depict them through the entire novel. When you want to read a book that has a mystery about what’s happening this would be the book for you. I only recommend this book if read completely because at the beginning it is confusing and strange. Only meant for young adults, kids would not know what is going on at all.


 * __ Immortal Technique- Dance with the Devil __**


 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','serif';">The Lost Art by Simon Morden **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','serif';">Reviewd by Eric Herren **

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','serif';">The world is on the edge of a perpetual dark age, and one man must return to where his people once lived. Benzamir Michael Mahmood returns to his ancestor’s home, Earth, in search of enemies from the furthest reaches of space. Benzamir is no ordinary man, as the people he meets will find out for themselves. On the opposite side of the world, a dedicated monk finds his monastery burned down, his brothers dead and a terrible truth. The monastery of Saint Samuil of Arkady held books that hold the knowledge of a great civilization that once lived on planet Earth, locked away to prevent a new Armageddon. Va, the only survivor of the monastery of Saint Samuil of Arkady, is determined to return the stolen books no matter what the cost. Va is a man of God, and he relies on God for his strength and determination to return the books and prevent a new Armageddon. Both will meet new friends along their journeys, and seek out what is right for the world and its people, but only with the help of their friends they meet along the way will they accomplish their missions to save the world from a perpetual dark age.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','serif';">Simon Morden, author of //The Lost Art// is a bona fide rocket scientist. He has degrees in geology and planetary geophysics. His background in science helped him write //The Lost Art//, the aspects of technology that the ancient people had in their possession, along with the technology Benzamir Mahmood brings to his ancient home, planet Earth. His knowledge brings the book possible aspects of what the future could be like for us, for our planet, seven centuries in the future.

//<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','serif';">The Lost Art //<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','serif';"> is a science fiction book, but it’s not like what you would expect. It brings real life aspects into the book as well as the imagination of Simon Morden. But although it’s categorized as a science fiction book, it also brings in elements of an action/adventure book, simply by the journeys taken by the main characters and what they come to face. The intelligent space ships and light bugs really give away the science fiction aspect of //The Lost Art//, as well as the books hidden by the church which are basically video books.

//<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','serif';">The Lost Art //<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','serif';"> was a great book, the adventure and hardships faced by the characters was one of the great things about the book. I really enjoyed //The Lost Art// simply because it wasn’t what I expected at all from a science fiction book; it brought in real life aspects and pure imagination that really made this book interesting and along with the characters and the journeys they take with the friends that they make. Friendship is a big part in this book, the friends Benzamir Michael Mahmood makes are the definition of true friends, and it really shows in the novel. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for an exciting, mysterious, action packed book. It is a book that anyone can read and anyone will enjoy no matter what kind of books they like. //The Lost Art// is a book that makes you think about the world today and its current state, and what the world could be like in the future.

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','serif';">Song: Disparity By Design By Rise Against

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','serif';">You have a car, a home, friends, a job, and everything is going great. Your life is pretty steady and yet something just isn’t right. So you turn to drugs, you blow almost all your money away with this girl you knew from high school on drugs, and you lose all connections with your family and friends. But this isn’t the first time; no this is only one of the many relapses. Nic Sheff takes you through two years of his life, telling of how it all started and how it kept going. As an addict he couldn’t stay away from heroin, meth, speed, and many others, even experimenting with crack. But when everything looked like he was doomed to die on the floor from detox, he decided it was time for a change. He gets his life back on track for a time, earning back his money and friends. But a new factor comes to play, just when everything seems like it’s turning around, Zelda comes into the picture. After Zelda comes into Nick’s life, he goes spiraling back down into the world of drugs. And all this was right after he reconnected with his family, just when everything looked up it went straight back down.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','serif';">Tweak by Nic Sheff **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','serif';">Reviewed by Jessica Daniels **

<span style="font-family: 'palatino linotype','serif';">Nic Sheff isn’t only our main character, but he is also our author. Nic’s been around drinking and smoking for the most of his life, which attributes to his addictions. His parents divorced when he was very young and the custody went to his father. Nic’s father was also a writer and often went to parties with his friends, taking his young son with him. At these parties Nic was exposed to drugs and drinking, seeing all his father’s friends getting high, it started to sink in that it was ok. Nic tells of a time where his family and family friends went to a ski lodge. But as soon as the adults left, the Nic and his friend drank until they were drunk and sick. He was only eleven at the time. Nic has had his ups though, going into rehab and coming out sober for a time. When he was sober he often wrote reviews on movies and sent them into news articles to be published. He is a very talented writer and truly smart person, when he isn’t tampering with drugs.

<span style="font-family: 'palatino linotype','serif';">The genre for //Tweak// would definitely have to be young adult. The main theme of this book is about drugs and getting high. I wouldn’t think that this book would be appropriate for younger readers, especially when there is talk about sex included. Not that this book is completely inappropriate, it’s just not suitable for younger readers.

<span style="font-family: 'palatino linotype','serif';">When you get down to it, I actually enjoyed reading this book. I can’t say that it didn’t get on my nerves though; I forget that addicts have a hard time controlling themselves and that it’s hard to break habits. But once you get passed that, it’s really a good book. I would honestly recommend this book to just about anyone. This is a book that I think should be read by a lot of people. Mainly because it lets you see how people struggle with drugs, and how big of a mistake it is to get mixed up in them. Reading this book, I was somewhat disgusted with how Nic lived his life, and as I usually do, I forgot that he was addicted and he really couldn’t help himself. He wasn’t exactly around the greatest crowd, so there was no one supporting him to get help. With all this being said though, it was interesting to read and I did like //Tweak.// //<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','serif';">Theme Song: Breaking the Habit by Linkin Park //


 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','serif';">Story of a Girl by Sara Zarr **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','serif';">Reviewed by Molly Stetler **

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','serif';">In the back of a car with the boy of her dreams, Deanna Lambert thinks she is on top of the world, but little does she know, everything is going to change. Unknown to Deanna, her father is outside of the car and he catches her with 19 year old Tommy Weber. It wouldn’t have been that big of a deal if Deanna wasn’t only 13 years old at the time. A couple years later, Deanna is now a sophomore in high school and everything has changed just because of that one embarrassing night. Her father virtually hates her and he can’t even stand to be around her. Not only does she face turmoil at home, but she has to put up with the constant rumors and stories at school about her and Tommy. After that night she was branded the school slut, a label that Deanna has to deal with every day. Living in the small town of Pacifica, she is constantly followed by the false stories of that night with Tommy, and the only solace she finds is in her friends Lee and Jason and her brother, Darren, his girlfriend, Stacy, and their baby, April. Trying to find a way out of her house, Deanna finds a job at a local pizza place, but she doesn’t know that Tommy works there too. After not talking to him since she was 13, she doesn’t know how to act and all of her old feelings for him start flooding back to her. Struggling with her feelings about Tommy and her feelings about who she really is, Deanna finds herself more confused than ever as she is faced with the decision to go back to her old ways or to become a new person.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','serif';">Sara Zarr, author of //Story of a Girl//, was born in Cleveland, Ohio, but was raised in San Francisco, California. She started writing at a young age and many of her books were not published. //Story of a Girl// was her first published novel, and it surprisingly was easier for her to write than most and she said, “The main character, Deanna Lambert, was one of those rare gifts writers dream of—she just walked onto the page, fully formed, in another book I was working on”. After the publishing //Story of a Girl//, Sara Zarr continues to write many Young Adult novels.

//<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','serif';">Story of a Girl //<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','serif';"> by Sara Zarr fits into the genre of Young Adult novels. Like many of Zarr’s other books, //Story of a Girl// illustrates one of the many things that teenagers experience in their lifetime. As a reader, you follow Deanna’s struggle to get past all the rumors and lies, and you see her journey to finding herself and who she really is. //Story of a Girl// was a 2007 National Book Award and Utah Book Award finalist, and it won awards for the ALA Best Book for Young Adults, ALA Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers, and the New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age.

//<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','serif';">Story of a Girl //<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','serif';"> put me in Deanna’s shoes. As I read, it seemed like I could feel every emotion that she was experiencing as she fought to ignore the rumors and she tried to put her family back together. I would recommend this novel to any teenager, as it talks about one of the many struggles that are faced by young adults. Not only do you read about the experience that Deanna goes through, but you realize how much words and lies can hurt other people. As a teenager, we all go through tough times, and even though you might not directly relate to Deanna’s situation, //Story of a Girl// demonstrates the feelings of helplessness and uselessness that many of us feel as a young adult.

//<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Breakaway //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> by Kelly Clarkson


 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','serif';">The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','serif';">Reviewed by Cody Cunningham **

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','serif';">Think of a time in your life where you felt out of place or rejected from society. This is exactly what Holden Caulfield, the narrator and main character, is experiencing in a struggle to figure out who he is and doesn’t really care what happens in life. The story starts out as Holden is overlooking a football game from afar and notes all of his “madman stuff” that has caused him to get the ax at his school, Pencey Prep. Holden getting the ax is a reoccurring theme in the book as he has gotten kicked out of four schools for failing and his “don’t care” attitude and his personality leaves him alienated from the rest of the world. He was given a notice that he would be sent back home, to New York, in three days. Instead of waiting and being surrounded by all the “phoniness” at Pencey Prep, he decided to leave that day to Manhattan and stay in a hotel. He tries to get a hold of people he used to go to school with, but doesn’t know who to call because everybody he knows are “morons.” Holden’s loneliness and want for a sexual encounter gets him into some trouble, and proves to himself that he is crazy by asking a girl he just met to run away with him from the city life. Of course he got rejected and is left to fight for any attention he can get.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','serif';">J.D. Salinger was known for his short stories that were firsthand accounts of his service in World War II, but strayed away from that in “The Catcher in the Rye.” He used, instead, his experience in Manhattan growing up to try and capture the attention of adolescent readers.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">Even though this book was written in 1951, it still resembles the choices and hardships that young adults go through during their maturation. Salinger built a character that can relate to this character in some way or another. Not only did Salinger receive the overwhelming attention of the adolescent, but of every age group as well, receiving the title as one of the most popularly band books of all time.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">My emotions towards Holden had swung in every direction by the time the book ended that I think it was safe to say that I was at a happy medium between loving and hating this kid. The beginning of the book made me resent this kid as he wanted people to feel sorry for him even though he set himself up for everything. Though I do not religiously read books, I couldn't put this book down. I strongly recommend this book for anyone, but only if you can handle a little graphic language.

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 90%;">Creep- Radiohead

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">**Carter Finally Gets It by Brent Crawford** <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">**Reviewed by Tyler Baugher** //<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','serif';">Carter Finally Gets //<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','serif';"> It is one of the closest books to Teenage life that I have ever seen. This is also one of the funniest, best books I have ever read. There are four basic things I learned about each falling into intense teeth grinding moments, and some making tears come to your eyes because you are laughing so hard. He has a problem with stuttering which seems to always happen at the worst time possible. He also is a huge typical freshman pervert and has a huge obsession with boobs and basically and part of a girl’s body that is showing skin. Him and his friends are always in trouble and he suffers from a bad case of attention deficit disorder, which often gets him in trouble. He is a virgin and is out to lose it to anyone just so he can basically loose it before his best friend E.J. He plays sports to get recognized and strives to make varsity in every sport which does not always happen. He gets busted at a party and finds a way to get out, and drives his first car… into a retaining wall. Needless to say he is going into high school with no clue and little advice.

<span style="font-family: 'palatino linotype','serif';">Brent Crawford’s books seem to be attracting the young teenage audience with the since of humor, and the fact that it is an easier more relaxed laid back novel to read. As I read about Brent Crawford, he says he is a laid back guy with a good since of humor which is why I can see him writing this novel. The best part is that many people can relate to this novel and as an author he said he was the exact same way when he came into high school.

<span style="font-family: 'palatino linotype','serif';">Carter finally get it would defiantly go under the genre of young adult. Brent Crawford hit the high school years perfectly. I think it hits the audience of grades 8-12. It has everything a typical high school student would do, or even say for that matter. Therefore making it realistic and many kids can relate to this book and maybe even apply it to their lives. It shows some of the bad mistakes you can make, but also some of the good ones you can make.

<span style="font-family: 'palatino linotype','serif';">I would recommend this book to high school students; this book is hands down the best book I have ever read. As it puts a huge smile on your face and fills you with laughter, it can also put some heart pounding moments and excitement in you. It describes a typical freshman year that all students can relate too. It’s a fun book and makes you not want to put it down. Describing jus little parts that has happened in this book has encouraged other people to pick it up and read it, and after saying it was their top pick hands down, and want to continue reading his novels.

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'palatino linotype','serif';">Theme Song- Headstrong by Trapt


 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','serif';">Traitor by Gudrun Pausewang **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','serif';">Reviewed by Shelby Seibold **

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','serif';">Anna, being only sixteen years old, has to make a decision that could end someone’s life, or possibly even her own. Now what could a sixteen year old girl possibly do that could have such horrible consequences? Anna lives in a small town called Stiegnitz located in Germany with her Mother, Grandmother, and brother who are not exactly Nazi supporters. Her brother, Felix, on the other hand completely adores Hitler. On a long winter day in 1944, Anna is walking home from school for the weekend and she happens to find some tracks in the snow. The tracks seem like boots, very large and torn up looking. Curious as to what they are, she follows the tracks. They lead her to a barn that her grandmother owns, but never uses. What she sees in the hayloft puts her in complete shock, a sleeping, ill looking, defenseless man who looks like a Russian. She assumes that he is an escapee from the mental institution not too far from where she lives, but he’s something more. He is one of the eight Russian POW’s that escaped in the area. Anna being the good person she is gets milk and dry clothes for the man. Anna is faced with the tough decision to either turn him in to the authorities, or help the poor man. If she turns him in, he’ll be shot. Anna can’t bring herself to cause another person’s death, but if she hides the Russian, she herself could possibly be shot.

<span style="font-family: 'palatino linotype','serif';">Gudrun Pausewang is one of Germany’s top authors for teenagers. She grew up in Nazi Germany and often deals with political issues in her books, along with environmental concerns and the Third World. There are quite a few political issues that Anna faces in //Traitor.// She doesn’t completely understand what all the hype is about Hitler; she sees him as a horrible man and is disgusted by her younger brother who adores him. Gudrun herself was not a very big Hitler supporter, just like Anna. She has written approximately eighty-six novels, all dealing with the same issues.

<span style="font-family: 'palatino linotype','serif';">//Traitor// is a tense, psychological novel that is full of suspense that makes it impossible to put the book down. Every time that Anna thinks she is found out, it creates so many different mixed feelings. It has one of those endings where it leaves you asking “why”? There is a lot of fear, sorrow, anger, hate, and gut wrenching moments in this book.

<span style="font-family: 'palatino linotype','serif';">If you decide to read //Traitor//, which I recommend you should, it will suck you right in to the story. Anna is a very relatable character and you almost become attached to her. You will feel everything Anna feels. You will be able to hear everything, taste everything, and have the same fear that she feels. You won’t want the book to end, but when it does you will feel anger because you weren’t ready for it to end. I don’t read very many books, but I can say this is one of the best I have ever read. Most books that take place in Germany are about Jews hiding from Nazis and waiting on good German people to help them, but this book is the exact opposite. This is a book that you will want to read over and over again. <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','serif';">“Do you what you feel is right, not what society thinks is right.”

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','serif';">Down in a Hole by Alice in Chains

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','serif';">At seventeen years old, Carlos Fuentes has experienced what most of us only hear about on the news. His father was shot when he was two years old as a result of a drug deal gone wrong; then he almost lost his older brother Alex the same way a year ago in Chicago. After only being in Mexico for a year, his mother is forcing him to move back to America to live with his brother at a university in Colorado. He not only is leaving his family behind him, but also his gang, the Guerreros del barrio. When Carlos arrives at his new home, he instantly feels resentment for his brother when he sees Alex’s new white girlfriend, Brittany, and the path that he’s chosen for himself instead of loyalty to his old gang, the Latino Blood. However, when he meets his peer guide, Kiara Westford, there’s an obvious attraction that both of them try so hard to deny. Every day, it’s a constant battle for the upper hand; Carlos tries almost too hard to be so mean to her in hopes that she’ll hate him, yet Kiara keeps killing him with kindness. However, the game changes when Carlos is framed with drugs in his locker at school and has to leave his brother’s apartment; so Alex forces Carlos to go live with the Westfords and enroll in the REACH reform program at school. At this point, Alex believes that Mr. Westford can influence Carlos to stop partying and being a crazy teenager and maybe start thinking about life after high school. But little does anyone know that Carlos is quickly reminded that he may have left Mexico, but the Guerreros haven’t left him. At war with himself, he finally accepts he’s falling hard and fast for the nerdy good girl, but is being forced to prove his loyalty to the gang.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','serif';">The Rules of Attraction by Simone Elkeles **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','serif';">Reviewed by Katy Dries **

<span style="font-family: 'palatino linotype','serif';">Simone Elkeles is a New York Times Bestselling author who has won several awards for her Perfect Chemistry novels. Her inspiration for these novels mostly came from the place where she actually grew up. There indeed were conflicts between the Latino and white communities where she lived. The fact that the kids she interviewed for these books have been through and seen more violence, drugs, and death than we can imagine was what really drove Elkeles to write not just one, but three of these colorful novels.

<span style="font-family: 'palatino linotype','serif';">//Rules of Attraction// is a young adult romance novel that appeals to any reader that likes action and suspense twisted with a passionate relationship. Elkeles gives her audience a plot that is just a little on the cheesy side, but I personally have a soft spot for a good typical romance story with a happy ending.

<span style="font-family: 'palatino linotype','serif';">I would recommend not only //Rules of Attraction//, but also //Perfect Chemistry// (the first book in this series) and //Chain Reaction// (the last book in this series) to anybody who likes this genre. However, I will give the future reader warning of some provocative language; you will most likely be as surprised as I was very early on. All in all, with the short chapters and interesting story line, I’ll admit that I read this book in two days and couldn’t keep my nose out of it!

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','serif';">Theme Song: Super Massive Blackhole by Muse

<span style="color: #181818; font-family: 'book antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Pay it Forward <span style="color: #181818; font-family: 'book antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">By Catherine Ryan Hyde <span style="color: #181818; font-family: 'book antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Reviewed by Becca Cordle

<span style="color: #181818; font-family: 'book antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">It was Trevor McKinney’s first day of middle school, so naturally he was nervous. Like any other day of school, the class room was buzzing with excitement, until a mysterious man with a serious face abnormality walked into the classroom. The students almost immediately got silent, and they realized this not so friendly man was their teacher. Mr. St. Claire introduced himself and as a surprise to everyone he was not the mean and nasty old man that his face portrayed him to be. Although the class seemed to quickly warm up to him, but that suddenly changed when he announced the class’ first assignment. Mr. St. Claire announced that the extra credit assignment was going to last the entire school year, then of course moans and groans from the students were immediate. Mr. St. Claire explained that the project was to change the world for the better, he of course did not expect the students to actually change the world but it was more of an assignment to make them think. The next week the children present their ideas to the class; most of which include recycling or some way to stop bullying. Trevor, on the other hand, presents his idea as //Pay it Forward//. Trevor’s idea is to do a random act of kindness to three different people, but it has to be something they cannot do for themselves. Trevor draws a simple diagram explaining that if he helps three people and those three people help another group of three, and your numbers quickly multiply. Trevor’s classmates quickly dismiss his idea, they say that it will never work and it is too simple to ever work. Although his classmates have little faith in him, Mr. St. Claire thinks the idea is the best of the whole class. With much encouragement from his teacher, Trevor sets out to do his three good deeds. His first act of random kindness his to help an old lady in the neighborhood with her garden, but just days later she dies before she can pay it forward. Next Trevor decides to help a homeless man get clean, but he quickly relapses and he put in jail. Finally he decided to help his mother and Mr. St. Claire fell in love, but he soon realizes that you can’t make two people fall for each other. When all hope seems lost Trevor decides to try one more random act of kindness on one more person, it may the biggest favor he has ever given anyone. Although Trevor’s story takes a dramatic left turn, a reporter traces his Pay it Forward movement from all the way across the country, Trevor becomes an inspiration to many.

<span style="font-family: 'book antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">It’s quite obvious that Trevor’s world and story is almost perfect, perfect in the sense that perfectly random strangers are willing to help complete strangers. By writing //Pay it Forward// Catherine Ryan Hyde showed us that there is goodness in people and perhaps made us less cynical. Although Catherine probably won’t change the world, like Trevor did, she will however make her readers more positive thinkers about the goodness in other people. There’s no doubt that after reading Trevor’s story you will feel inspired to change the world, even in the smallest way.

<span style="color: #181818; font-family: 'book antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">The novel //Pay it Forward// has a general audience of young adults. The writing style is rather simple, although the story switches between narrators quite often it isn’t very hard to fallow along. The novel is very inspirational and teaches young adults that one person really can change the world, and displays that everyone does have their own voice.

<span style="color: #181818; font-family: 'book antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">I’m a sucker for tear-jerkers, and that is exactly what //Pay it Forward// was. Trevor’s journey to change the world has a heart breaking and unexpected ending, but I love how the story displays innocence and love from Trevor’s intentions. Seeing Trevor’s struggle to change the world you get to see the drive and inspiration from him, I was pulling for Trevor’s plan to work the entire time. I highly recommend //Pay it Forward// to anyone that loves a story that makes you laugh and cry at the same time. Trevor’s struggle to change the world was truly eye-opening story; it makes you wonder what people can do when they put their heart and mind to it. One person really can change the world, and Catherine Ryan Hyde really displayed that in her inspirational novel.

<span style="color: #181818; font-family: 'book antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Theme Song for //Pay it Forward// <span style="color: #181818; font-family: 'book antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">We are the World by Michael Jackson

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">To Kill a Mockingbird

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">By Harper Lee

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Reviewed by Chris Wolfe “Wolfey”

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">At age six Jean Louise Finch, more commonly known as her nickname “Scout” started a phase of growing out of her childhood. As we all know growing up is not something we are fond of. In //To Kill a Mockingbird// Scout, her close friend Dill, and her brother Jeremy are forced to grow up faster than normal. At the time period of this book takes place slaves were a thing of the past but racism was still strong. In the first part of the book it is kind of slow, but as it progresses more things fit into place it kicks up the pace. Atticus, Jean’s and Jeremey’s father, has a trial defending a black man, named Thomas Robinson, accused of rape. The whole town and even the family looks down upon them because of Atticus defending Thomas, and it even affects Jean and Jeremy because kids at their school will call their father names and bash on him. Also, throughout the entire story you hear of a mysterious guy named Boo Radley. Boo Radley is said to never come out of his house for mysterious reasons. The kids always try to figure out why he doesn’t come out, and when they finally see him it will be the only time. Anyways, back to the trial. Once Atticus’s trial is over and the verdict has been reached the family was threatened by another man. They pass it off as if nothing will happen, when he finally goes after Jean. It’s possible that Jean may die, or even escape, but the only way to know for sure is to read this book.

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">The world renowned book //To Kill a Mockingbird// was the only book written by Harper Lee. The reason for her not writing anymore is a mystery still, however this book has an assumed meaning to be written. //To Kill a Mockingbird// has been said to be framed after Harper’s childhood. Atticus is said to be like that of her own father who was a lawyer himself. In the book Atticus tells scout that “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view. . . until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” This quote describes the books interpretation quite well because one of this book’s many themes is that you should never judge a person solely on what they look like, or what you hear about them because they could be totally different, and there’s also the possibility that you were lied to. Harper Lee could have avoided writing more books, and even not giving any interviews because she did not want to be conceived as someone she is not. This would explain why she showed the characters as they were.

//<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">To Kill a Mockingbird //<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;"> has been considered one of the greatest books written for the many themes it represents. It has been added to the Reader’s Digest, and awarded with many awards. Scout’s story is one of many childhood memories of our own. We have all found someone to be strange and tried to find out why, and even imagined why they are. As you read this book in the view of Scout you get anticipation built up as the trial nears an end, and just when you think you know what will happen, it doesn’t.

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">In order to finish this book I had to devote my time to getting past the first part. It was very dry, and dull in my personal opinion. But I had to say once you open up to part two the whole tide changes, and it becomes an enjoyable book. In perspective it took me about two weeks of reading off and on, not very often, to get through the first half, but part two only took me a day to finish because I enjoyed it that much. It is full of new surprises around every corner and even has supsense built up into it. I would highly recommend reading this book, however I also recommend getting through the first part as fast as possible. Harper Lee really showed us a great read in //To Kill a Mockingbird//. If only she would have written more books.

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Theme Song for //To Kill a Mockingbird//:

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Good Riddance by Greenday

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">//Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter// <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">//by// Seth Grahame-Smith <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Reviewd by Brett Lowry

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">//__Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter__// is an alternate history book bringing to light what most dismiss as a conspiracy theory. The introduction begins with Seth Grahame-Smith in disbelief of what has been delivered to him. A strange man has left Smith with 10 leather-bound books, the secret diaries of Abraham Lincoln. In the books, Smith discovers that Lincoln was more than he had shown to the world, he actually lived a life hidden in secrecy and masked with wars and laws. Smith is asked to write a book about the diaries, and in the process, his life is left in ruins. <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Smith takes Lincoln’s timeline and tells us the story we never knew and what conspiracy theorists have been telling us since Lincoln’s death. The books begin in Abe’s childhood and moves into the hunter lifestyle that we would have never imagined. For example, at eleven years old Lincoln is told that vampires are real, and that his mom, Nancy Hanks Lincoln, was murdered by a vampire. The following year, Abe wants revenge and kills the vampire, his mother’s murderer, with a wooden stake. This is the start of Abraham’s secret life as a vampire hunter. <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">He does a good job of taking everything we know about history and Abraham Lincoln and turning it on itself, destroying what we know, or believe, as truth. Every rumor and myth about “Honest Abe” gets twisted. For example, what about Lincoln's beard? Legends say he grew it because Grace Bedell wrote that: “women love whiskers." But in this alternate timeline, the beard was groomed to hide the scar from Lincoln's vampire-fighting life. <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Smith also writes that Lincoln’s role in history as an abolitionist starts in a much different way than we’ve been told. Lincoln and a friend travel to New Orleans to sell stuff and happen to see a slave auction. They follow the slaves and their owner back to the owner’s plantation. There, Lincoln finds out that the buyer is a vampire, buying the slaves for food like we would buy groceries today. <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">I would recommend //__Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter__// to anyone who has yet to read this style or genre of books. It makes the reader think and question their beliefs on what Abraham Lincoln actually did and who he actually was. It’s a fun book to wrap your head around and think of the ridiculous concept of one of America’s most influential Presidents secretly fighting vampires. <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Theme Song: Heroes and Villains: Powerman 5000


 * <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Band of Brothers **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">By Stephen Ambrose **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Reviewed by Josh Wade **

//<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Band of Brothers //<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">is the Easy Company, 506th Regiment, 101st airborne and there travels through Europe during World War II. It tells there story from the time they joined the military or when they were drafted clear up until D-Day and there drop into Normandy. It has true stories told from the eyes of the men in the Easy Company along with a few facts in general about the war. The men in the Easy Company had to deal with very harsh weather conditions. Throughout all the difficulties these men faced they fought through and with there bravery made a difference in this war.

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Stephen Ambrose the author of many war books such as //Band of Brothers, D-Day, and The Wild Blue//. He does more than just write books he does investigations about the subject he is writing about and he gets personal accounts. Stephen writes his books to honor the men and women who fought for our countries freedom. He was also more than just a writer, he was a historian; a great one at that.

//<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Band of Brothers //<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">won the Galaxy British Book Awards. The Easy Companies missions through Europe is a drama filled war story meant to keep you on the edge of your seat.

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Stephen Ambrose’s //Band of Brothers// is a little bit of a difficult read but it kept me interested because it is all true stories told by real veterans from the Easy Company. If you like a good war story and your not afraid to read this is book for you.

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 13px;">No One Gets Left Behind by Five Finger Death Punch

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Love is the Higher Law

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">By David Levithan

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Reviewed by Richard Cotton

<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Claire is a high school student in school. The school is ten blocks away from the World Trade Center and tragedy happens. The students and Claire don’t know what is happening until the school secretary shows up so upset and she tells the teacher what happens. The Claire’s teacher tells the whole class what happened and a big panic happens. Also now she is worried about where her mom is. She tries to find her. The next person Jasper was sleeping and he missed the whole World Trade Center falling and stuff. He was planning on sleeping but he couldn’t because the phone kept ringing and ringing and he finally picked it up and it was his mom asking him if he was okay. He asked what for and she told him about what is going on. So that is how he came to find out what was going on that day when he slept through it. <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">David Levithan on 9/11 was experiencing what took place at the World Trade Center. He was twenty blocks away and trying to put down what he actually saw and what actually happened on 9/11. He wrote the book four years later after 9/11. The reason for that being is because he knows about what actually happened and for young adults and kids to know what happened. <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">David Levithan the author is making up these characters Claire, Jasper and other people that are in the book gathering other information from emails and taking people’s information and scrambling it up and making these characters look real. This is a real life fiction. <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Love is Higher Law is a very interesting book. I find the book to be very uncomfortable to kids under the age 14. The reason being is that they have profanity and sexually content within the book. I felt it was not necessary to put the profanity within the book. I would read this again just to get a little bit more knowledge from it. This book I would recommend it to a upper class men because I think it is fit for that category. <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Theme song for Love is Higher Law: <span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; font-size: 13px;">Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue by: Toby Keith.