I liked how short this book was, it was very clear in its message, even early on. The book overviews a farm in which the animals overturn the humans and attempt to govern themselves. The book shows perfectly the dangers of greed and hunger for power, showing how anyone is susceptible to this, to the point of even animals. The book goes into a slow spiral from equality and fairness to injustice and discrimination. I really liked how the farm progressed slowly into a totalitarian-style government.
Restart by Gordan Korman is a realistic fiction novel that is centered around Chase, who has just lost his memory by falling out of a window. Chase Ambrose is your typical popular kid that does sports, everyone knows him, albeit sometimes for bad reasons. Chase was not exactly the nicest kid and definitely bullied some kids. However, this all changes when he falls out of a window one day and loses his memory.
Sharp Objects features Camille Preaker, a writer for the newspaper Daily Post in Chicago, who has been given a difficult assignment to investigate the death of two girls who had died in her hometown. Aside from a troubling past, Camille will have to confront her eerie mother and a half sister that she barely knows. With the help of Richard, a confident detective from Kansas City, Camille digs deeper in order to figure out what happened to the girls and to get a statement for her newspaper.
The book revolves around the life of a young man in Saint Petersburg Russia in the 1860s named Rodya Raskolnikov. He is studying law in the city and is poor. His mother and sister live in a small village and send him money, but it wasn't enough and he ended his studies early. Raskolnikov starts to pawn his possessions to get money, the pawnbroker is old, cruel, and unforgettable for Raskolnikov, who is rich. He becomes upset with her, how could someone like her have so much money?
K-Pop Revolution serves as a sequel to K-Pop Confidential and is written by Stephan Lee. The story follows the same character as the first installment in this series, Candace Park. Candance has now debuted and is adjusting to her new life as a rookie idol. She now has to deal with having her actions in the public spotlight. Her and her love interest, who she met while training, YoungBae are now together and her debut with THE GIRLS is slated to become a record breaking one.
K-pop Confidential is a novel written by Stephan Lee that is centered around Candace Park. Candace is a shy girl who for most of her childhood has been fitting into the role of a standard Asian upbringing with her Korean parents. She takes hard classes at school and plays an instrument. However, she secretly is obsessed with SLK, who is the biggest boyband in K-pop.
The Boxcar Children is a novel by Gertrude Chandler Warner. This is one of my favorite books of all time and one of my comfort reads. The book is centered around four children, Henry, Jessie, Violet and Benny, all of whom are orphans. Although they have their grandfather, they do not wish to live with him as they think he is cold hearted. Instead, they venture out in hopes of finding a place to live.
Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library is a novel by Chris Grabenstein that follows twelve year old Kyle Keeley. Kyle and his friends love playing games created by Luigi Lemoncello. Upon learning about an essay writing contest where the prize is the first to visit a grand new library opened by none other than Lemoncello himself, Kyle decides to join despite his distaste for books and writing. After emailing Lemoncello himself to send his essay in, Kyle is announced as one of the winners that get to visit the library.
Othello is a Shakespearean play that is set in Cyprus. The play is about a tragedy where Othello, the protagonist through manipulation by the story’s antagonist, Iago, kills his wife. For some context, Iago is Othello’s assistant and vows to seek revenge against Othello after being passed up for a promotion. He does this by spreading rumors and lies that Othello’s wife, Desdemona is being unfaithful. This jealousy breaks Othello where he finally kills Desdemona, then himself.
The House on Mango Street written by Sandra Cisneros, is a collection of vignettes that follows the life of a girl named Esperanza. Esperanza lives in a Latino neighborhood in Chicago, and throughout the book describes the struggles as well as joys of life. With each vignette telling a different story, Esperanza’s character growth is one to note as she starts off timid and shy and throughout the book journeys to find who she really is.
