The Reading Nook

Today we had another official meeting of Literary Lab…Mrs. Feldman brought cookies so it was well worth it.

Deven started out by discussing the book “The Thirteenth Child.” The book is about the girl who’s the thirteenth child of her family (what a surprise). The girl’s family supposedly has to move to avoid “magical beasts” like mammoths and steam dragons…the girl feels like everything is her fault b/c she’s the 13th. Her proffesor, Jeffrey, tells her she’s the seventh daughter so she’s actually pretty lucky. The book’s about how you choose your own fate. it’s pretty boring. Wait, no, apparently these things called grubs get under the magic barrier and eat all their crops…and the family moves to a settlements of Rationalists who hate magic…who have something to do with the grubs…I’m not doing a very good job of paying attention…Deven says the book is like “Twilight.” One-tenth of it is actually action and nine tenths of it is plot. Not recommended.

James shared a creepy, creepy book named “Legend of the Seeker” which is part of a series. Interesting how the title reveals absolutely nothing…Mrs Feldman says that it is “very inappropriate.” James tells us how he practically stole it from the library. Apparently Ben Ginsberg’s brother forbade this book. Mrs Feldman: If you get past all the perverted sexual stuff, it’s actually pretty good. Mrs Feldman tells us how Dan Brown is a really bad writer, he’s just good at plot. Apparently being a novelist is really easy if you are an idiot. I probably shouldn’t write this down. Excerpt (paraphrased) from “Stone of Tears” (2nd of the Legend of the Seeker series by Goodkind.)
He howled with laughter.

He laughed with a howl.

His howl sounded like a mocking laugh. This is all in 1 page of the book, I kid you not.

We discuss watching Legend of the Seeker on Hulu. Ben: I’ll quit the club if we watch that.  They’re good books but you might not like the style. Leighton: I haven’t read this book. Grant: Me neither. Mack: Me neither. We are all really confused.

Mrs Feldman (continued:) The writing is like, He was angry and stepped angrily into the room!!! THE BOOK IS TERRIBLE! *calm* Now I’d like to discuss the book Shiver.

Ben: It’s a very good book. It took my 3 days to read it and usually it only takes 2 hours. Some parts were boring..it was like, “I love you. x100″ There was too much loving. It’s about a girl tProxy-Connection: keep-alive
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t gets mauled by werewolves and a werewolf saves her and they become lovers. Everyone else: ….what the ….? Mrs. Feldman: Grant, stop stealing Mack’s stuff while he’s writing things down…I shouldn’t have wrProxy-Connection: keep-alive
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e that….

Mack: I’d like to review a thing I wrote…

Everyone: zzzz…..

Mack: I wrote this thing, it’s like horror short story…you all should read it…I’ll email it you. NO ONE CARES..

Mrs. Feldman: I’m reading this book called Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld. It’s about hybrid animal machines which don’t pollute the earth. There’s this gigantic Leviathan which is an airship. It was made from the life-threads of a whale and millions of smaller creatures. (There’s this totally awesome picture of a pimped-out whale/machine/hybrid thing.) The plot is that the Archduke of Austria and his wife were assassinated and the prince of Austria is being escorted away from the enemies. There’s another story with a girl disguised as a boy so she can be an airship pilot. It’s a lot of fun to read and there’s a lot of technical details. It’s cool…Boys and girls would like it.

Now…I read you a ghost story…..

Mrs feldman read us a ghost story. Which was really spooky. It’s from “A Banquet for Hungry Ghosts” which is food-themed and makes your bones rattle. (Not my words)

For my Young Adult literature assignment, I read the book Friction by E.R. Frank. There are many of factors in this book that make it qualify to be “Young Adult”. The main character, Alex, is a teenage girl. She tells the story from her point of view and the problems she faces relate to some things that a teenager might face. Alex is sensitive enough to realize what is going on in the story, and she is also mature as well. The book is short, being 193 pages long. Alex realizes the main problem in the book, dealing with sexuality, and takes it into her own hands. She is in a situation where she believes that her teacher, Simon, is not dealing with her nicely (in a sexual manner), and she has to deal with a new student who constantly lies, although she does not know it at the time and she is currently uncomfortable around her. Teenage colloquialisms are sparsely used during the book, and the author did not use a wide range of slang throughout the book. Frank limited his use exclusively to two or three different words. Because of the situation Alex faces in the book, I felt more uncomfortable than I did happy during the time I read it. By the time the book ends, Alex has matured during the book by realizing what had happened to her the year before, and because of it she decides to transfer to a new school in the area. Alex matures in Friction and she faces many different young adult situations in the book.

I thought this book was very well written and I liked it a lot. I thought the book related to many situations that could be difficult for young adults. Alex was able to face and eventually solve these problems in a good way, and the epilogue includes her writing a very long apology/thank you/”I really learned something from the situation we faced” that officially shows her maturity. Out of five stars, I would give this book four stars. It wasn’t the greatest book that I have ever read, but it was a quick and easy read and it truly introduced me to Young Adult fiction. I would recommend this book to all young adults, especially those that face a sexual problem in life and they need to find a solution.

Recently I read the book Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi. This book definitely has many of the qualities that qualify it as a young adult book. The main character, for starters, is a teenager. The book deals with many adult themes that are too mature for younger readers. The book is told by the main teenagers point of view, but in an interesting graphic novel style that keeps the reader into the story. The main teenager is also very smart and mature. It was also a short book, only a couple hundred pages of the graphic novel style. There are MANY social and political issues in the book, something that would not be in a book aimed at younger audiences. The book also deals with death and political injustice. This is why Persepolis definitely qualifies as a book for young adults, and not quite a book for children, or adults. The themes and views are sophisticated for children but the graphic novel and child-like style is too silly for adults. That is why this book is a young adult book.
Let me just start by saying, I liked this book A LOT. I very much liked the way the book was presented, the characters were very likable, it was able to make the reader sad one moment and laughing the next, it was a great read. One of the main thing I liked, was how just like in The Boy With the Striped Pajamas, the book took a very adult issue into it and told it from the view of a child. I felt that this made it so the graphic novel style really fit. The plot was very good too, and it offered a lot of twists and turns that left me surprised. The language (like the book) felt like it really WAS written by someone that age. The writing was great, but the dialog of the main character was definitely that of a child. It was a great read, and I hope to find more books like it!

Born Confused by Tanuja Desai Hidier is about an Indian girl named Dimple who lives in New Jersey and goes through multiple problems. I believe this book is a YA book because Dimple goes through common problems that most teenagers do such as not being as close with her best friend anymore. She also goes through uncommon problems like how her parents are trying to set her up with someone. While it is not written in a diary form, it is in first person and from Dimple’s point of view. Dimple also feels inferior to her best friend, to which many kids can relate. She also has relationship problems. Break ups, blind dates and matchmaking are all parts of the romance aspect of the book. Many teenagers go through breakups and do not get over it easily, like Dimple. Dimple also struggles with her family’s beliefs and traditions.  Dimple’s complicated problems are difficult to solve, but cannot tell her parents because they would not understand or would interfere. Dimple learns a lot by the end of the book and not only is her life different, but she has changed herself. This book has romance, friendship and maturing in it.
I liked this book for many reasons. One reason is because characters are relatable in it. Since Dimple is described as having many flaws and since the book is from her perspective you can connect with her. The characters also have different and interesting personalities. Also, some of the things Dimple thinks can be humorous, which also adds appeal to the book. One con, though, is that a lot of Indian language is included and often not described. While this is not a problem for me, others who read it may be a bit lost. While the author describes some of the important words she uses, she does not describe others. The plot is interesting, and starts off as one thing and turns into another. Overall, this was a good book and I would recommend it to others.

12/18/08

Boy Meets Boy, a novel by David Levithan, is a book that deals with relationships and life as a teenager. The narrator is Paul, a sophomore at a high school where being gay is normal, and being heterosexual is equally normal. In the beginning, the book introduces you to Paul and his friends, and almost immediately after flipping the first page, the reader is sucked in to a situation in which Paul finds another boy cute, which is a classic example of a situation you would have in a YA book. The narration contains a plethora of relatable “teenager terms” or as you might say, slang terms. One of the main reasons Boy Meets Boy falls so easily into the YA category is because it is most relatable to teenagers and tweens. The novel keeps you turning its pages, each new scene acting as a new juicy piece of gossip, something a young adult always loves. But Boy Meets Boy also handles serious YA concepts. Like many other YA books, Boy Meets Boy’s protagonist deals with the concept of coming out of his comfort zone. Paul overcame his fear of getting rejected by the boy he liked, and went on to pursue the boy despite his fear. Paul also needs to come out of his comfort zone when telling his ex-boyfriend Kyle that he doesn’t like him anymore. By stepping away from his comfort zone, Paul matures throughout Boy Meets Boy.

I loved this book for various reasons. Because of Paul’s situation and personality, this book is very humorous. I learned so much from this book, but the biggest idea and concept I learned from it was acceptance. This high school defied the mainstream way of life, which was heterosexuality, and was unique. Every person at that school accepted people for what they were, and I think everyone could use a little more acceptance and a little less judgments. Overall, I would recommend this book to any young adult because it deals with everyday concepts, it is humorous, and it has good morals.

~David Waltcher
Class of ‘14

P.S. to Ms. Feldman: I didn’t know how to underline the title of the book on this site, so I didn’t.

Jack Shaevitz

12/15

English A
In You Don’t Know Me by David Klass there are many elements that make it a young adult book. The book is written in first person which is one of the elements. The main character of this book is John who is a teenager that has many problems in his life. Many of his problems are typical problems of a teenager. For example, he likes a girl, but she does not like him back. Another problem some teenagers go through is abuse. John is abused by his father which is not most teenagers have to go through, but there are definitely some that are abused. John also becomes much more mature by the end of the book. At the beginning of the book he did not care about his academics. At the end of the book he tried much harder in school. Also in this book there are themes that make it qualify as a young adult. One theme is alienation. John throughout the book is a outcast and he does not fit in. The other theme in the book is abuse. John’s father abuses John. This is a major theme in this book. You Don’t Know Me has many themes and elements that make it a young adult book.

You don’t know Me by David Klass is a book that I would only rate as only being OK. The main character, John, was very hard for me to relate to because he seemed a little bit ‘weird.’ For example, he was very bad at playing his tuba and made up a tall tale involving a unhappy frog and a princess. He also has many different nicknames for his teachers. For Ms. Gabriel he calls her Ms. Garlic Breath or Ms. Moonface. He also calls his school the anti-school and his math class anti-math. This was one of the reasons why I did not like the book. Another reason was the themes in this book One theme was abuse. I could not relate to this at all which made me dislike this book. John also had a very uncaring mother who was not involved in his life. My mother on the other hand cares a lot about my life. The last reason I disliked the book is that John does not fit in at school. I fit in and have many friends unlike John. I could not relate to the main character and that is why I disliked this book.

I’d Tell You I Love You But Then I’d Have To Kill You, by Ally Carter, is both fictional and young adult. It is about a girl who goes to a school for spies, and is faced with a boy who can never know her secret. Cammie is a teenager and goes through multiple problems with having a relationship, which is in many young adult books. All of the events have to do with being a teenager, even though she goes to a very sophisticated school. Cammie also faces the problem of her dead father, and also finds out that her friend’s father might have been killed also. The main teenage character is very intelligent and thoughtful when she is faced with the many surprising twists of complications that are thrown at her when it comes to saving the school’s secretive identity. Also, the whole book is in the first-person, and really expresses her emotions with Cammie’s experiences. Cammie only talks about her occurrences with the boy with her friends, instead of telling an adult. Finally, at the end of the book, she matures and learns to let go of him instead of risking the academy.

Overall, I thought this was an interesting read. “Young adult” is painted right in front of you, but there are so many more genres mixed in. It is very suspenseful and has surprises hidden around every corner. The idea of a spy school is very unique, and when it is mixed with a boy who slowly begins to learn who she truly is, the book is fascinating. Also, it is very humorous so it is not slow and dull. I’d Tell You I Love You But Then I’d Have To Kill You is a little long for a young adult book, with 284 pages. It is perfectly paced, and very gripping. Overall, I honestly give it 5 stars and I am glad there is a sequel.

I read Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. Speak is about a girl (Melinda Sordino) who gets raped by someone she barely knew at a party, and she is so traumatized that she decides not to talk. After she was raped, she called the cops to break up the party, so the whole school (even her friends) makes her an outcast. Speak is a YA book because; it is told in first person, and the protagonist is a teenager. Melinda tries to take the matter in her own hands, because she thinks she is independent enough to be able to deal with it. By the end of the book, Melinda becomes more aware of her self, and she starts to make the right choices, like going to all of her classes and telling her class mates the real reason she called the cops. She also realizes that the fact she got raped can not be ignored, so instead of shunning the memory, she is able to say that it was in the past and nothing could have changed what happened.

I liked Speak because instead of having a lot of dialogue, you really got a sense of how Melinda thought, and how hard it was for her to cope. This book made me more aware of what some people have to go through, and how traumatizing rape could be. I found it kind of funny that the school mascot changed 5 times over the course of the year, because the school board found something bad about each one. Overall I thought that Speak was a great YA book, and it made me want to read more from this author.

I read The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon. From the moment I opened the book, to the time I closed it, I knew I was a Young Adult book. It is about a 15-year-old autistic boy named Christopher who discovers a dog with a pitchfork in him. He wants to find out who did it. Also, Christopher lives with his dad since his mom died of a heart attack. For most of the book, Christopher is trying to solve the mystery of the dog because he wants to be like his favorite character, Sherlock Holmes. Being autistic for has its ups and downs for him. A down part is when anyone, except for his parents, touches him; he starts to have a temper tantrum. An up part is that he is very good at math. To calm himself down, he counts powers of 2. Also his record for powers of 2 was 2 to the 45th. The author wrote the book as if it was Christopher writing it. Christopher was talking towards the reader for most of the book. Instead of this 240-page Young Adult book just being written by Mark Haddon, it was also a murder mystery novel by Christopher. This novel’s chapters were unlike others because they were all prime numbers. It was like that because Christopher thinks that prime numbers are very logical, like life. In all, this book just book says Young Adult all over.

I really enjoyed The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime because it has a very clever storyline and the reader gets to know the character. It feels like you know the characters since you were born. Also, the murder that happens makes the reader want to think who did it. In addition, I enjoyed the prime number chapters because it is unique. I read this book in two days. One reason why was because it had a great climax. The other reason was that the chapters don’t start on a new page, they start anywhere on the page. If I would have to rate this book in total, it would be 9 out of 10. I would definitely recommend this book to both boys and girls.

The Taker, by J.M. Steele, is a novel written in the first person. The protagonist, Carly Biels, is a teenager trying to be accepted into Princeton. But, she botches the SAT, causing her to have to retake it. The events in this story are very much similar to the events that we young adults face in the real world. The book made me worry about my future, but also made me content with the present. The dialogue is at times racy and uses swear words. I feel like this was a good thing, though, because it helped me understand that swear words, if used in the right context, can be proper. Carly is very smart, popular, mature, and independent. She is a model for a nice and caring young adult, but who still lives a life of luxury and fun. Although the novel is 350 pages, I still think it qualifies as young adult fiction. Carly is very independent and she resolves her own conflicts, sometimes with the help of others. Carly matured so much over the course of the book. In the beginning of the novel, she was a superficial popular girl who mainly cared about her boyfriend and personal gain. But, as the book progressed, she became a much more affable and nice protagonist. She really become much more responsible as the book went on, as she ignored her luxurious and wonderful life to study for the SAT, amongst other responsibilities she took. This story certainly made me uncomfortable because it really made me ponder my own past, current, and future problems. A lot of the themes in this book also related to popular young adult problems. Carly faced extreme challenges (passing the SAT). She is peer pressured by her friends to ditch her studying and to hang out with them. Her boyfriend pressures her to have sex with him, something she wants but cannot afford to do. At the end of the book, she really understands people better and treats them for who they are on the inside. Overall, this novel is an ideal young adult fiction book.

I really liked this book a lot because I could really relate to the characters and the problems they faced. The characters all had something about them that I could connect with. Every character is brought to life, and I felt like I was there, watching everything unfold. The fact that it was set in modern times was really helpful to me, because I understood what things were like and what was “cool” (or not cool). The plot was great because the climax didn’t take place until very near to the end of the book. I couldn’t put it down because I always saying to myself, “Oh, I’ll find this out in the next chapter,” and things like that. Of course, I was always wrong. The authors (J.M. Steele is a pseudonym for two people) are very good writers, and the words they chose brought the characters to life. Overall, this is a fantastic book and a good example of young adult fiction.

For my Young Adult assignment, I read Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. Twilight is a story about a teenage girl who meets the boy that she is intrigued by though she later finds out he is not complete human. This story falls under the category of Young Adult because most young adults can relate some how to the protagonist and can understand what she is going through. It deals with teenagers and the relationships that they go through. It deals with the self consciousness of adolescents and it shows the growth of the main character. Because the story is descriptive and lengthy, it makes the reader feel very uncomfortable and puts us in the shoes of the characters. The first person narration qualifies Twilight even more as a Young Adult novel. The themes of dealing with death and sexuality comes up a lot in Twilight. Throughout Twilight, Bella matures greatly. Twilight is without a doubt a Young Adult book.
I really liked Twilight because it was very exciting and had an abundant amount of surprises that I could have never predicted. Twilight got me to like books a lot more. It taught me how difficult setting priorities can really be and how easy it is to get distracted. But it also shows the other side of how easy setting priorities can be because if you want something bad enough, you will do anything to have it. I learned how hard it is to live a perfect life with so many complications which is what all young adults have. Twilight gave me an insight on what teenager life is like. Because Twilight was so descriptive, it gave me a good picture of what Stephenie Meyer is trying to tell. I really enjoyed Twilight because of its surprises and its reality. Twilight was my favorite young adult book that I have read throughout my lifetime.

I am so sorry but I thought I had posted this earlier, but then when I went to look at other peoples post I couldn’t find mine. I am so sorry again!

Arianna Mastro
Naomi and Ely’s No Kiss List
by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan

Naomi and Ely’s No Kiss List, written by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan is most diffidently a YA book. The story is about the friendship between Naomi and Ely, and how quickly it collapsed based on one kiss. Ely, who is homosexual, kissed Bruce the Second, even though, Bruce is Naomi’s boyfriend. This makes Naomi very mad, because not only did Ely kiss her boyfriend, but Naomi realized that she loved Ely and could never have him. So they stop talking to each other and got in a very public fight, meanwhile Ely and Bruce’s relationship start to build. Because major themes in the story are friendship, homosexuality, different problems happening within families, and how quickly relationship can build and fall; I would classify the story as a YA book. Another interesting aspect of the book is that each chapter is told by a different main character’s point of view on what is happening, what they are doing to try to stop the madness, and their own problems. To me this story screams that it is a YA book, for it touches upon many subjects that a teenager may have to deal with.

David  Levithan is one of my favorite authors so it was no surprise for me to find that I loved Naomi and Ely’s No Kiss List. I really loved Naomi and Ely’s No Kiss List because it was funny, interesting, and pulled you in right away. From the very beginning I felt as though I was watching the friendship of the two slip away. Though at times having the perspective of the story change points of view got confusing In the end I really enjoyed reading it. Having it take place in New York also added to the story because I could picture where they were. In the end I really recommend this story to who ever likes YA books.

Anton Kliot
Young Adult Assignment
Karp English A
That Was Then and This is Now, by S.E. Hinton

I read That Was Then and This is Now, by S.E. Hinton. It is a young adult book, that is in the series of The Outsiders, although it is not a sequel. It is about Bryon, the main character, and his best friends who he considers his brother, Mark. When Mark was younger, his parents died so he went to go live with Bryon. Bryon has a mother, but no father. Their mother is sick for most of the book, so they are going through a rough financial period. Although the book does not center around this for most of the book, it ends up leading to the main conflict. The boys slowly are slowly drifting apart throughout the book, and it is the drug dealing that leads to their ultimate fallout. The boys take matters into their own hands, and get money to pay for rent and food. Bryon gets a job, and as you find out, Mark deals drugs. The fact that they take things into their own hands is one of the themes that defines it as a young adult book. This book has many of the elements and themes of a young adult book. It is told from the point of view of Bryon, a 16 year old living in Oklahoma. Many of the problems he and his friends Mark face would have been common problems among kids of their class during this time period. It is a very short novel, at 159 pages but in that short amount of time, S.E. Hinton says a lot about teens and their problems. Bryon and Mark, the main characters, are both smart individuals, and seem a bit separated from other kids, although they have many friends. Although they are not really outcast, the two of them seem much more involved with themselves and each other than with their other friends.
That Was the and This is Now was a very good book in my opinion. I really enjoyed reading it, so much, in fact, that I read the entire thing in one day. One of my favorite aspects of it, was that their was not one over-arching conflict for most of the book, so instead the book followed different sub-conflicts and just generally wandered through the lives of the two boys. The ending of this book is kind of frustrating, as the ending is not at all happy. After Bryon figures out that Mark has been dealing drugs, for various reasons he calls the police. Mark is arrested and brought to prison. The book ends at the prison, where Mark tells Bryon that the reason he wanted Bryon to visit was to make sure he hated Bryon. He says he does. This is the extent of the closure at the end of the book. It was frustrating, but at the same time the only fitting end to the book, which centered around their drifting apart. In response to a reader telling S.E. Hinton that they wanted to throw the book against the wall after reading it, S.E. Hinton replied, “Good, you got it. The Outsider made you feel. That Was Then and This is Now will make you think.” I loved this book, and would strongly recommend it to anyone, especially anyone who likes S.E. Hinton or young adult literature. For following young adult themes, I rate it 10 out of 10. For my preference, I rate it 9 out of 10.

My Heartbeat by Garret Freymann-Weyr qualifies as a fictional YA book which is based around the life of a fourteen year old girl named Ellen. The book is told from the young protagonist’s perspective, provoking a very realistic sense of her highly pubescent situation. She is put in a scenario where she has an epiphany of her older brother and his best friend, who she is in love with, being homosexual. Ellen is forced to deal with many of these awkward comprehensions, which definitely helps determine the book’s genre as being young adult. As a pariah in her New York City high school, the story explains most of her independent and intriguing thoughts in which she holds as an adolescent. The book is brief—154 pages—and enough to deliberate the significant points raised in sexual, psychological and humiliating circumstances. From the beginning to end, Ellen matures greatly as a young adult; she is more aware of others and their emotions, thus showing the increase of both her sensibility and perhaps even the reader’s.

I enjoyed reading this book very much. It was interesting to study about a young girl around my age having to deal with surprising sexual differences and uncomfortable family conflicts. Amid the difficult and serious affairs, I was glad to find My Heartbeat as both perceptively and humorously written. The plot line was excellent, and the characters were definitely relatable. I was excited about the New York City setting; however, I honestly felt as if the book was set in the countryside, rather than a big city. The author chose to write the book rather simply, without much perplexing vocabulary—although this made the book seem less sophisticated, it made the story more easily readable and comprehensible. The plot showed a great understanding of others’ personal societies and feelings, which definitely kept me captivated. I was delighted to find this book to be surprisingly realistic, especially on a high emotional level. My Heartbeat was well written, unique, and page-turning. I would certainly recommend this to book both boys and girls.

I read the book Black and White by Paul Volponi. The book is most completely a Young Adult book. Both of the main characters are teenagers. That is one of the biggest factors in a Young Adult book. The main characters, Eddie and Marcus are very different from one another. Eddie is white, he has a younger sibling and he has a father. Marcus is black and lives alone with his mother. But they have a few things in common. They are both getting scholarships to play college basketball and they both have loving guardians or guardian. Eddie’s parents care for him and so does Marcus’ mother. But when they want more spending money because they are basketball stars, they do the stupid thing. They don’t ask their parents, they rob people. Eddie takes his grandfathers gun for intimidation. Eddie doesn’t think it’s loaded but Marcus shoots it by accident and he hits a man in the ear. That fits a Young Adult book perfectly because of the violence. And then Marcus gets arrested for the robbing and the shooting and Eddie doesn’t. That shows stereotypes and racism which make a Young Adult book.

I liked this book a lot. The characters fit perfectly with the story, but what makes this book interesting for me is the basketball. The sports aspect of the book makes the book readable for sports addicts, people who love to read and people who read about racism. The dialogue in the book is mostly slang. The reason for that is that all the characters speak like, “Yo dog,” or some other made up words. This also makes the book recognizable to people who talk like that. But, in the end, the best part of the book is the plot. It makes sense, like it really could happen. The setting also helps out. It takes place in recent times in New York City. That helps me understand how desperate some people in this world, even the city where I live can be. Overall, I give this book a 9/10. The only problem with the book was the ending. It was very depressing how everyone was guilty but only the black person went to jail. It was very unfair, and very racist. But the sad thing is, it could happen and, it probably has.

Hard Love is a touching book, and it really displays the essential elements of a young adult book. John (aka Gio) is a high school student, and narrates the story. He tends to take matters into his own hands, rather than relying on adults. The story is a little over 200 pages, and is very well written. Ellen Wittlinger does a great job of telling the story as a teenage boy, using colorful vocabulary, to say the least. Another key theme in the book is that John matures, and realizes certain things that he did not at the beginning of the book. John seems like an outcast at the beginning of the book, but as his life continues, he develops into quite a popular young man. There is also a lot of sexuality featured in this book, which holds true to the young adult genre.
I really enjoyed this book, because it deals with themes that all 7th graders will face in the coming years of school. Being in love with a lesbian as a boy is interesting to read about, and it makes you think about what it would feel like. It is very interesting to think about a problem you have not yet dealt with yourself. The only issue I have with the book is that it focuses a little too much on homosexuality. Many books that have homosexuality have the same problem, where every time you look, there is another gay or lesbian person. It is not a terrible downside, but can get irritating at times. Overall, I give the book a 7/10. I am glad a read it, because it may mean more to me in future years than it did now.

For my Y/A assignment, I decided to do a comparison on what really makes a Y/A book a Y/A book. I read two novels, Weetzie Bat by Francesca Lia Block, and Eagle Strike by Anthony Horowitz. Although both of the books I read had teen protagonists, they each had very different content that would decide if a younger child could read it vs. an older, more mature teenager. This would decide if it was Y/A or not.

Eagle Strike is a long, winding, and surprising novel written by Anthony Horowitz that I liked very much. This book is about a young, british, 14-year-old boy named Alex Rider. Alex, like many kids reading the novel seems to his friends as an average teen with an average english life, but in reality, he is working as a secret agent for MI6, one of the United Kingdom’s most popular agencies. This secret personality really helped me to be engaged within the story. Alex had learned to grow up under the influence of his mysterious uncle (also a secret agent) who has died along with Alex’s parents, which is an unlikely trait of maturity that Alex has developed from the lack of a father figure in his life. As Alex is getting older, he is facing decisions and problems with one of his best friends, Sabina, and many more not mentioned by Horowitz that come with being a teenager. They, Alex and Sabina, have a minor romance, and finally kiss on a vacation in the south of France. Alex finds out later on that vacation about a superstar singer Damian Cray, and he thinks that Cray has one of Alex’s enemies working for him. Back and forth, Alex finds himself in trouble with Cray, the man that so many people around the world love, and he is forced to try and prove that he is hiding something, something that could change the world. He feels alone in the story, for MI6 has let him down and does not believe him. In this way, teens can relate to how he feels. The story changes, and the unexpected seems to crawl out from behind each of the character’s personalities. I liked the secret agent part of the book very much, but I was not able to relate to the characters as much as a Y/A book should let the reader be, as the reader should be able to when reading a Y/A book. Although Alex, Sabina, and their friends are teenagers and have some teen issues, the problems are minor and Anthony Horowitz does not express them enough to the reader, and they, the different stages, are not the most important part of the story, making it definitely suitable for a young, engaged, reader. Alex does not go through any significant changes other than maturity from all of the treacherous things he has faced, and thus, this novel would not be able to be classified as a Y/A book.

On the other hand, Weetzie Bat, a short novel is about a troubled, but yet happy and courageous girl named Weetzie. Living in Los Angeles with Slinkster Dog, she finds herself as one among few who actually take advantage of the wonderful place they live in. Her best friend and the hottest guy at school, Dirk, is facing one of the hardest problems that young adults face around the world: being gay. This is obviously something that young children could not comprehend, and something that many confused gay teens can relate to, making it an element that would normally be found in a Y/A book. They hang out and try new things, until Weetzie meets a genie, and is granted three wishes. They are reckless and careless teenager-like wishes, although they all come true in many different ways. Weetzie faces wishful thinking and meets My Secret Agent Lover Man, and that is actually his name, as is the same for Duck, Dirk’s new boyfriend. They all hang out, and finally, Weetzie decides that she wants a baby. My Secret Agent Lover Man does not want one, and then, Weetzie goes to Dirk and Duck for help. They reluctantly decide to have it with her, and this is a decision made by Weetzie that shows that she can take care of her own life, and that she doesn’t need help anymore. Although I felt uncomfortable reading about this, it was interesting and it made me think about the possibility that many teens do the same thing. They finally have a baby together, although they do not know who the father is. Pregnancy is a very strong issue among teens, and is a very big thing growing up, something that a crowd of young readers could not handle. Gradually, Weetzie grows and faces many problems that her friends and herself have throughout the novel, and learns that “love is the most beautiful and dangerous angel of all.” Weetzie Bat takes a mature mind to read, making it a definite choice for a Y/A project. Read it!

I liked both books very much not only for their content, but for their different styles of writing, which I liked to read. I loved Eagle strike overall because I always looked forward to reading more pages, and I took my time, wanting to enjoy every page. The style of reading was easy for me, and it could keep me going at night until I went to sleep. I almost never put it down. Although, it was not Y/A, because the major point of the book were Alex’s adventures, and not his various issues. I did not like Weetzie bat that much because there were so many abstract problems that I could not really understand, and most people would not too. It was crazy, with all the unexpected events and weird names which I did not like as much. It was also awkward at points, and really made me secretly want to change the decisions of the characters. Though, it was short, convenient, fun, and most of all, I could relate to it in many ways, as it was Y/A, a new type of read, of which I will get to understand more and more as I grow up. In a comparison between the two novels, they only really have one thing in common, a teenage main character. In truth, Eagle Strike is an action adventure, and Weetzie Bat is a true Y/A read.

The Old Man and the Sea is a book that would go under the genre of realistic fiction. It is short (127 pages long) and is about an old man that goes fishing alone far away from his home. He struggles to capture a massive eighteen foot long marlin and bring it back home safely, where he could sell it for money. However, he manages to capture the marlin. Unfortunately, on the way back sharks devour most of the marlin and the old man suffers both physically and psychologically (his cuts on his hands, the cramp in his back, and the meaning of sin).

I enjoyed the book very much even though it was depressing and not the “happy” type of book because it was simple, short, but contained a lot of lessons and messages. After the old man kills the massive marlin, he thinks of the definition of sin and wonders whether it is a sin to kill “brothers.” The old man thinks of the marlin as a brother that is strong and brave even though he kills it. The old man respects the marlin even after it is just a carcass attached to his ship. He shows this by protecting him from sharks until he could not any longer. The author places many abstract messages throughout the book. One of these abstract messages is that of the fisherman’s luck in capturing the marlin. The old fisherman wonders whether he could buy luck and whether he payed days in order to receive luck. Throughout the book the fisherman wishes many things and most importantly wishes that he stayed home. This shows his mixed feelings over his capture of the merlin. He feels as if it was a waste because the sharks destroy the merlin’s dignity and honor by eating him, which the fisherman apologizes for. He blames everything on himself for going out too far from his home, showing that he is a good, kind, old fisherman.

When I first picked up the book, I thought that it was one of those books that bring you to sleep in boredom, however I was tricked. The author described each day with many details and managed to turn days in the middle of the sea into something quite interesting. Ernest Hemingway also has a style of writing that I like very much; simplicity and short sentences that give a strong visual image of the scene.

I strongly recommend this book to all readers that can accept simple writing and depressing endings. If I were to rate this from a scale of one to ten, I would not hesitate to give this simple read a ten.

-Morris Reeves

For my YA assignment, I read Breathing Underwater by Alex Flinn. The novel is an average length of 263 pages. The novel is in the main character’s point of view and his name is Nick. The plot is related to teenagers because it is about how a boy and a girl like each other but then they run into some problems. The main character is entirely in love with this one girl but he has some anger management problems. He treats his girlfriend very poorly sometimes when he is mad with her. Nick ends up in court for slapping her across the face. The judge makes a restraining order between Nick and his girlfriend. Nick is devastated and he is always trying to get with his girlfriend when nobody is there. He needs to talk to her. This novel is all about how Nick is moving on in his life with a restraining order between him and his girlfriend. There is also a little bit of sexual content. The sexual content would probably make a reader feel a little bit uncomfortable.

Nick has a problems to go through but sometimes it gets worse. Death would happen thanks to the work of drugs and sometimes his father (his mother is not mentioned) would treat him very badly. Nick tries to take some things into his own hands.

I would recommend this book to people in my grade a lot because it has the struggles of a teenage boy. From a scale from 1-10, I would give it a 9 to its plot. The reason why I would not give it a perfect score is it might make some readers feel uncomfortable. I personally like this book because it is a never-put-downer. It is really hard to put down that book. I like that the main character is intelligent, popular and wealthy and I think that kind of person makes a good book. Again, from a scale from 1-10 I would give it a 10 for its intensity. So overall I would give it a 9.5 and I really recommend it.

For our YA assignment, I read Speak. Speak is a very good example of a YA book because it has a teen protagonist dealing with problems. First off, she doesn’t have many friends. The year before the book is placed, she was happy with many friends. But you find out that she called the police during a summer party and no one ever liked her. This book is very intriguing because we do not find out the reason for the call until the end of the book. The book is told by Malinda, a girl around 15 years of age. She is very intelligent and learns a lot of things. One subject that she gets to express herself in is art class. At the beginning of the year, she has an assignment to draw a tree. It may look like drawing a tree is easy but for Malinda it is hard. The tree resembles her life in high school. It took a long time to make it perfect. She worked on it everyday and really learned a lot about being careful on what she does. She does talk in some slang and does curse occasionally. Malinda is an outsider, and learns to deal with what has happened in her life. In the book, she starts to be very sad about her life and starts to not talk very much. Everyone gets very concerned about her and this makes her confused. The book is a good YA book but may only be for people of older age. It doesn’t get boring, and is very good.

Speak, is a great book for people my age. There are many things to think about when you read it. You think about your friends and family and how powerful a voice can be. While not speaking, Malinda manages to concern her parents and realize what her life has turned into. She takes the lead and tries to get her old friends back, but has a hardship through it. Speak is an amazing book, and I really enjoyed it. It is very interesting because she always finds a way through things and really learns to love herself the way she is. She is also very comical, smart, and entertaining throughout the whole book. I loved this book and I know you will love it too. Read it!

For my Young Adult (“YA”) book I read “The Year of Secret Assignments” by Jaclyn Moriarty. The book is about three girls named Cassie, Emily and Lydia who have to take part in a pen pal project with their rival school. During the project two of the girls meet up with two boys that they like. However things go wrong when one of the girls starts writing to a psychopath at the rival school. I think that this book is a Young Adult book because it seems to be designed for teenagers. The main characters are teenagers and the problems are ones that only teenagers would have. There is some sexual content meaning that it is not for younger kids as well. Not to mention that after one of the kids gets bullied, the main characters take it into their hands to solve the problem also making it a YA book. Finally the book is a short read and is in the 250 page margin.

I really liked this book for many reasons. First, I like the way that the characters have to deal with events and sort them out in their own way. I also like how both the boys help the girls and visa versa. I think it was also neat the way that the book was told mainly through letters. It was a cool twist the way that the writer was able to tell a story this way and not make it seem like you were just reading a bunch of letters. I really did not like some of the smaller plots. They were weak and didn’t go to well with the main plot. Over all, I think that the book was enjoyable and was a fast read.

For my Young Adult book, I chose to read Chinese Handcuffs, a story told about two teenagers, Dillon and Jennifer, who have suffered of horrendous pain throughout their lives and need each other to stay strong. The story classifies as a YA book because the main characters are two teens and the plot deals with suicide and rape. The book is told through 207 pages of Dillon’s letters to his dead brother, conversations and stories from the past. Jennifer has been sexually abused by both her father and stepfather. The only one who understands and cares about her is her grandfather, who passed away years ago. Now she is left with nobody to help her escape and finally stop the horrible nights she must face with her stepfather. Dillon’s brother recently committed suicide in front of him. Dillon’s mother has left the family with his sister, and leaves Dillon alone with his father. Dillon is not able to share his pain with anybody. He is also can not explain to anybody what exactly happened on the night of his brothers death. Dillon and Jennifer are both serious athletes. Jennifer is a warrior on the basketball court, while Dillon is a triathlon prodigy. They meet and are able to share each others’ pain. They help each other get over the fear of telling others the important secrets of the terrible events in their lives. Together, with the help of their coach, they are able to fix the major problems that stop them from living normal, teenage lives.

Chinese Handcuffs is a fabulous read that I personally enjoyed greatly. The book was incredible because there were problems that you thought could never be fixed, but by working together Jennifer and Dillon can help each other out of awful situations. They are able to help each other get over the fears of telling adults their problems. Although the book deals with less common problems, along the way the book deals with typical teenage problems like dating and parents. Sadly the book eventually comes to an end, although the ending was sweet and happy. Chinese Handcuffs was amazing, and a great read for anybody.

For my young adult book, I chose to read True Believer by Virginia Euwer Wolff. This book definitely classifies as a young adult book because it is told by a teenage girl and is about all of the problems she is facing. LaVaughn, the narrator, is a fifteen year old girl living in a poor neighborhood who is trying to get into college, and has to deal many typical teenage problems like boys, friends, and schoolwork. This book is 264 pages long, but the words only take up about half the page because this book is written in a poetic way. It is not a giant poem, but the sentences are placed in a certain way so the story just flows. I could very easily picture this story happening because it is very realistic because of the events which surround LaVaughn, how she deals with her problems and communicates with her friends and mother, and how she thinks. That makes it a young adult book.

I really enjoyed this book. Although I generally like books with more action, this book was great because it never got boring. Since the reader really gets to know LaVaughn, you understand her actions. At first, I was a bit apprehensive to choosing this book because I usually do not go for the books written like a diary, like a poem, or something like that. I decided to try it, and I got used to it and really liked it. This book was not really poem, it was just LaVaughn’s thoughts and just flowed. It didn’t even seem like this book was formatted in a different way. LaVaughn is a well rounded character because she has many different sides to her personality. There is always something going on in this story, and I really liked it! I highly recommend this book to someone who wants a quick, great read!

Jenna Borenstein

I read Black And White, by Paul Volponi. This book is a 185 page novel about two boys who grew up as best friends and they share the name Black and White. They have this name because Eddie is white and Marcus is black. They do everything together and have no problems until they start doing stickups and getting into trouble. The stickups cause issues that are hard for Eddie and Marcus to go through. Black and White is definitely a young adult genre because the protagonists who are Eddie and Marcus both tell the story from each of their perspectives, the main characters are teenagers, and the teenagers use curse words. Another element that make this book young adult is that the main characters do not tell their parents about the stickups, so they try to resolve their problems independently. The main characters mature by the end of the novel because they realize that committing stickups is wrong leading them to become self aware of their actions. Black and White do not have any racial problems until the middle of the book and the characters have to learn to deal with the situation. Paul Volponi’s writing drew me into the story and the lessons touched me.

I loved Black and White because it is a story about teenagers who get themselves into trouble but at the end, they realized that they did the wrong thing. I enjoyed reading Black and White because when the book was not talking about the character’s problems, it was talking about basketball and teenage situations at school. I highly recommend this book for all types of readers because it has sad parts, happy parts, sport related parts, and regular teen issues mixed in!

Julia Rosenheim

Gingerbread, a fairly short YA novel by Rachel Cohn, is told in first person by an independent, trouble making, and funny teenage girl named Cyd Charisse. Gingerbread is a YA book because it is told in first person by a teenager who overcomes teen issues and who struggles with problems such as boyfriends, pregnancy, and family. Throughout the book she is constantly dealing with secrets about her and her family’s past. She travels to New York for the summer to visit with her dad, bringing only one memory that she has of him. The memory consists of him buying her a doll in an airport when she was young that she named Gingerbread. The doll has not left her side since, hence the significance and title of the book. Not only does the main character think and speak in teenage slang, but she faces teenage situations that are hard to deal with in real life. I think that Gingerbread is also a YA book because it deals with the issue of teen pregnancy and abortion as one of it’s hidden themes. Cyd Charisse slowly uncovers throughout the story the truth behind her father and her mother’s relationship and why they separated when she was a baby. The recurring theme of the importance of family is strong as well and is a characteristic of a YA book in this case because she matures throughout the book going from a person who did not appreciate her family, to a person who valued and respected it.

Gingerbread was an extremely well written and intriguing book that constantly kept me interested and entertained. The reason why I thought that it was so interesting was because although the main character went through a lot in her childhood and teenage years, she was independent and found a way to be strong. It was somewhat inspiring in that way, and it made the reader love the main character. Her humor was entertaining and the plot kept flowing and was never boring. The characters were all fully developed by the end of the book, including the main character who seemed like I knew very well. It was an enjoyable read in which the characters, themes, and plot were all characteristics of a well written YA book.

The Earth, My Butt, and other Big Round Things, by Carolyn Mackler, is a book targeted at teenagers with many issues, including family, school stress, and fitting in. The genre of the story is young adult. It qualifies as a young adult book because it involves a teenage girl, Virginia Shreeves, who feels that she does not fit in at school and with her picture perfect family, because she is overweight. It is also a young adult book because it is told in first person, by the protagonist. Virginia thinks that she is born into the wrong family because both her parents and siblings are very smart and have the ideal image in her society. She feels the same way at school because she is made fun of because of her weight. This book is also a young adult book because the protagonist is going through family issues. Her role model brother was suspended from college. As life whirlwinds around Virginia Shreeves, she must learn to not worry about her body, be herself, and that her family is not perfect after all.

The Earth, My Butt, and other Big Round Things, by Carolyn Mackler, was not my favorite book. This is because there was some inappropriate language and the story often made me feel uncomfortable, which are common things in young adult books. However, there are some aspects of the story that did interest me. At many points in the story, I felt like I was living exactly what each of the characters were experiencing at the time when I was reading. The characters were complex and I got to know them very well. The plot of the story is hard to figure out while reading it. I liked this because after I finished, I was able to work the story out in my head and it made complete sense. The story is a quick read and it holds your attention. This book also taught me a lot about how to deal with family issues. The story always revealed the other side of the argument and I learned to that you should always consider what the other person is feeling. I recommend this story more for girls than for boys because everything is from a girl’s point of view, or for people who are looking for a light read with complex characters. It is also for people who do not mind some uncomfortable events during the course of the book. Overall, I enjoyed watching Virginia Shreeves mature and become a confident and content character.

Jonathan Kasdin
12/15/08
English A

Nothing but the Truth
The book Nothing but the Truth by Avi is a Young Adult novel. In the book, the main character is a teenager. The book is not written in the first person point of view, which is usually the case in Young Adult novels, but that does not matter because seeing the other people’s perspective is vital to the story. The book is also a Young Adult book because it deals with some problems related to teenagers. The whole book starts because of animosity between a student and a teacher. This is something that teens go through. In the book, the main character has to find a way to cope with the struggle of being a teen. He has to deal with things like not making it onto the track team and failing classes. He goes from being an average kid to being more knowledgeable about the world. This book definitely qualifies as a Young Adult novel.

I like this book because it has an interesting plot and it was also political. The plot is very tense and kept me wondering what was going to happen next. As the tension built I could feel my mind racing, thinking about all the possible outcomes. Near the climax of the story, I could not put the book down. I also like the book because it has political aspects to it. I like that it questions what is the line between patriotism and creating a disturbance. The book forced me to think about who was truly right in the situation. The book has a good plot, is intellectually challenging, and is a fun read. I really enjoyed the book.

My Heartbeat is about a girl who is fourteen years old and is trying to open up herself and her family to what their identities really are. This book is a well composed, interesting, relatable young adult book. My Heartbeat qualifies as a young adult novel in many ways. First of all, the main character is a fourteen-year -old girl with two other teenage boys in her life. Then, everything is told from this fourteen-year-old girl’s point of view, and the problems in her life relate to not only her but her family and friends as well. There is a little amount of bad language, but it does not effect the story in any drastic measurements. The main character is intelligent, mature, and quite independent. My Heartbeat is a story that consists of one hundred and fifty-four well thought out pages. The main teenagers are mature and old enough to be assertive and only with a little help from their parents, finally manage to deal with matters themselves, and overcoming them. The main characters, particularly the fourteen-year-old girl have all matured greatly by the time it gets to the end of the book. Garret Freymann-weyr wrote a book that makes the reader somewhat uncomfortable, rather than having a perfectly happy and cheerful ending, that’s puts the reader in a good mood. The elements of My Heartbeat are so vast, but the main ones effect the story greatly in the good plot that it has.

My Heartbeat brings a lot of themes into the picture that comes into mind while reading this book. The main fourteen-year-old character is a huge outsider in her new school. She known no one except for her brother and his best friend who is practically family to her. She has trouble making friends regularly, but that does not even begin to describe the difficulties in her life. There are a numerous amount of family issues, and some concerns about AIDS and pregnancy. There is a huge having to deal with sex and sexuality in My Heartbeat. The whole book is practically about finding your sexuality around other people. There is tons of maturity, and a better understanding of people in different lives. There are a lot of themes in this book that make it a very good one hundred and fifty-four pages to read.

My Heartbeat is a book that I myself enjoyed very much for a nice read. This is because it has a good plot, and it is very easy to relate to the main characters because I am close to the same age as them. Also, the main character, like myself, is a girl; this makes it even more relatable. Although, there are some things that only older kids would do or act like, but overall it was easy to fathom what was happening. The language was perfect for me because most of the words were easy, but there were a few unknown words for me which is always good in a book. The style of My Heartbeat is a very good young adult book. It has elements of teenage characters, maturity, and all the things teenagers do and think about. It is true that this book has a plot that gets stretched out a little too far and for too long, so the author might wanted to have a more general plot than sticking to one specific thing. There were a lot of important parts, like talks with parents and things that the teenagers do, so sometimes it is a little bit hard to follow. Although, overall this book was an excellent choice for me to read, and I am really glad that I got to experience reading a very well-written young adult book.

Witch Baby, by Francesca Lia Block is about Witch Baby, a teenage girl living in Los Angeles, who has grown up being the pariah in her family and searches to find her identity. Witch Baby is a young adult book for several reasons; because of the theme and because it is short. Witch Baby is very independent and can take care of herself - since she has no friends other than her family, she learns how to amuse herself. This 103-page novel therefore has a main character that is trying to solve her own troubles and problems… she’s no longer a child. Some people may argue that Witch Baby is not a young adult novel, as the story is told in the 3rd person and does not contain teenage dialogue. Also, Witch Baby sometimes sounds like a little kid, and other times she sounds like Luna Lovegood from The Harry Potter Series (she seems a little crazy!). For example, she likes to go around saying bad things about people and telling all of their secrets. In the end though, this novel is a young adult book because of the emotional journey that Witch Baby makes. In addition to being independent, throughout the book she becomes more mature, self aware and responsible. She makes up for everything that she has done wrong.

Witch Baby is so exciting that I couldn’t put it down. It is an easy read, written in simple language that even a younger kid could understand. The characters, including Witch Baby, are very interesting because they all have unique names and are complicated people. One of the main themes in this book is that Witch Baby has to struggle as an outcast – she is very unusual and feels misunderstood. I like this book because even though Witch Baby is different from anyone I have ever met, I liked her. Particularly, I enjoyed learning about how she solved her own problems. Like many teenagers, she feels her family doesn’t understand her. Even though she may not know it, her family still loves her and tries to pay attention to her. This made me read the book with a huge smile. Out of all the genre books I have read so far, Witch Baby was by far my favorite.

Matt Cohen
English A
12/17/08

“Son of the Mob”, by Gordan Korman, definitely qualifies as a great YA book. The main character of the book is Vincent (he is normally called Vince) Luca, and the book is told from his perspective. He is a teenager who is having problems with his family, and it is effecting his whole life. Though his problems are more serious than the problems of an average teenager, the concept is the same. People are getting on his nerves and corrupting him, and instead of seeking help, Vince decides to take things into his own hands. He tries to save two of his dad’s customers from being put out of business for good, while dealing with problems in school and with his girl friend. On top of this, he is dealing with the constant stress of his dad’s “vending machine business” (thats their code name for his real job, the leader/head of the mob). In the beginning of the book, Vince seems very mature and intelligent, but as the book went on. he seemed to lose some of his poise. The odd thing was that he ended up in a better position than he started in. Everything in his life was better, and he had just stood up to his dad for real. He takes control of his life and strays even farther away from his family and his family business. Even though his dad was the head of the mob, Vince lived a reasonably average teenage life: friends, challenging relationships, and, most of all, problems. This book without a doubt meets the requirements of a YA book, and it happens to be an amazing one.
I really enjoyed “Son of the Mob” because it was funny, it had a great plot/story-line, and I could relate to it, while at the same time I couldn’t imagine being in his position. The idea of the story was great, and the author used it as best he could. Though it wasn’t a scary book, and it wasn’t much of a mystery, I was still on the edge of my seat, wanting to read more. The book also had a bit of irony which I enjoyed. Almost any kid whose dad ran the mob would turn out bad and like his dad, but Vince was the exact opposite. He tries to live a life without the mob involved and fails. That is one of the funnier concepts. It also turns out that the one girl he really likes and who really likes him is the daughter of the FBI agent whose goal in life is to put Vince’s dad in jail. This was a very easy-read book. It was written in the language a teenager would use, and I really liked that. “Son of the Mob” was very enjoyable, thrilling, and humorous, and I would give it a 9.75 out of 10 (not ten because I have read slightly better books).

Matt Cohen
English A
12/17/08

“Son of the Mob”, by Gordan Korman, definitely qualifies as a great YA book. The main character of the book is Vincent (he is normally called Vince) Luca, and the book is told from his perspective. He is a teenager who is having problems with his family, and it is effecting his whole life. Though his problems are more serious than the problems of an average teenager, the concept is the same. People are getting on his nerves and corrupting him, and instead of seeking help, Vince decides to take things into his own hands. He tries to save two of his dad’s customers from being put out of business for good, while dealing with problems in school and with his girl friend. On top of this, he is dealing with the constant stress of his dad’s “vending machine business” (thats their code name for his real job, the leader/head of the mob). In the beginning of the book, Vince seems very mature and intelligent, but as the book went on. he seemed to lose some of his poise. The odd thing was that he ended up in a better position than he started in. Everything in his life was better, and he had just stood up to his dad for real. He takes control of his life and strays even farther away from his family and his family business. Even though his dad was the head of the mob, Vince lived a reasonably average teenage life: friends, challenging relationships, and, most of all, problems. This book without a doubt meets the requirements of a YA book, and it happens to be an amazing one.
I really enjoyed “Son of the Mob” because it was funny, it had a great plot/story-line, and I could relate to it, while at the same time I couldn’t imagine being in his position. The idea of the story was great, and the author used it as best he could. Though it wasn’t a scary book, and it wasn’t much of a mystery, I was still on the edge of my seat, wanting to read more. The book also had a bit of irony which I enjoyed. Almost any kid whose dad ran the mob would turn out bad and like his dad, but Vince was the exact opposite. He tries to live a life without the mob involved and fails. That is one of the funnier concepts. It also turns out that the one girl he really likes and who really likes him is the daughter of the FBI agent whose goal in life is to put Vince’s dad in jail. This was a very easy-read book. It was written in the language a teenager would use, and I really liked that. “Son of the Mob” was very enjoyable, thrilling, and humorous, and I would give it a 9.75 out of 10 (not ten because I have read slightly better books).

Maya Lockman-Fine
English C
Young Adult Assignment

Go Ask Alice is definitely a young adult book. Most young adults can relate to the main character, Alice, and understand what she is going through and feeling. Alice is 14 at the beginning of the story and 19 at the end. She tells her story in the first person, using modern and slang language. She curses frequently and uses nicknames for the drugs she takes. She is a very independent person. She likes to do things alone, and this can get her into trouble. One example of this is how she does not tell her parents about her drug problem, but rather attempts to deal with it alone; in the end, this is what kills her. However, Alice is also incredibly sensitive. She has a big heart and loves every member of her family. When her grandfather dies, she is incredibly affected. At the beginning of Go Ask Alice, Alice is just a typical girl who wishes for excitement. She does not realize that drugs are bad, and that her family is precious. However, by the end she has matured significantly. She is more careful, and more self-knowing. Young adults will find it easy to relate to Alice’s feelings, experiences, and the changes she goes through.
Another thing that makes this story a young adult book is how personal it is. Alice could be any girl who suffers from drugs; in fact, she was. The subject of this story was a real girl, and the book is her diary. She died of drug abuse a few weeks after the book ends. Therefore, the book is painfully truthful. Some of the things said are extremely shocking and horrifying. Alice tells many stories about people she knows, and how awful their lives are. Alice meets girls who have been abused, girls who have been raped, and girls who are younger than ten and addicted to drugs. The fact that all of the people she mentions are real, and all suffering still, makes the reader want to cry. This story is so personal that every young adult can relate to how Alice feels sometimes. Therefore, Go Ask Alice is definitely a young adult book.
I really enjoyed Go Ask Alice. It had a very interesting plot, and I wanted to keep reading page after page. I sympathized with Alice, and her personality made the story interesting. Another thing I loved about this book was how honest Alice was. Many people, even when writing diaries, cover up some of the truth because they do not want to remember it. However, Alice writes down everything, from her best moments to her worst ones. She later mentions looking back at them, and feeling horrified. However, she still writes them down. I would recommend this book to all teenagers, especially people who do not just want a light read. Go Ask Alice is an amazing book that most young adults will love.

Staying Fat For Sarah Byrnes, by Chris Crutcher, is a 295-page book about a girl with physical problem. She was burned as a toddler, and nobody has liked her since. It is a depressing book, because it tells the story of the life of a chubby kid who gets made fun off, and a burned girl who gets laughed at and avoided. It tells the life of two outcasts who are in fact hated by most everyone. This story take place in their senior year when they are looking for colleges. The narrator of this book is named Eric Calhoune, but many of his unusual friends and his swimming coach. Swimming had become a big part of Eric’s life. Throughout the book, Eric swims so much that his frame slims but he feels he has to stay with Sarah. So he tries to stay fat for her while trying to promote himself as a collegiate swimmer and a friend. This story is definitely a YA book because Eric has to deal with many adolescent issues. He is looking for a girlfriend, and one day he finally goes out with his dream girl. But after he finds out of something important that had happened in her life, he had never felt more confused. The narration goes into great detail, and makes you want to flip through the pages. His humor in things that are so serious make me see it through other people’s perspectives. Like many other YA books, Eric finds out what is most important in a twisty-turvy life: friends and the truth.

I liked this book a lot because it reflects on real life, and real teen trouble. It talks about sex, sex before marriage and other major important things in real life such as abortion. I see the power of sexual intercourse, and now I understand the power of one or two bad choices. I like Eric’s approach to life, how everyday is a new day for everyone, no matter what they did. Eric even finds out that not all people are bad, but they just want something extra in their life. Eric figures out that family and friends are very important in life. What I learned from this book was that you should choose what you do carefully, and that friendship goes above else. What I liked about the book is that everything was so unexpected. I thought about it all day, and for the next few days as well . I really liked the plot of this book, and I enjoyed it, even after I looked through my head the next few days. That’s how powerful this book was.
By, Tyler

I read Go Ask Alice, by a mysterious author, and definitely qualifies as a Young Adult book. Throughout the whole book, a teenage daughter has to deal with a drug addiction she gets over the summer. This book is told in a diary format; therefor first person, and has many words for all the different types of drugs. This book was short, and throughout the book the protagonist keeps the job of stopping her addiction for herself. She never tells her parents, and as the book continues it becomes more uncomfortable to continue reading. This book also deals with the problems she must face at school, and how, when she is trying to quit, all the drug addicts she knew try to give her drugs at school, by disguising it in candy or other things. It deals with her alienation from the normal kids throughout the book, which she never quite conquers, and her psychological battle; how she eventually finds a way to tell herself to stop. It dealt with sex, and much political injustice too, as many times in the book she is raped while high, without even knowing it until she finally stops being high. Throughout Go Ask Alice she matures immensely and is very independent. She is also able to run away twice and start a shop when she leaves. This book is definitely a Young Adult book.

I liked Go Ask Alice because it really taught me about drugs, which I will now NEVER try. It taught me a lot about the underground world of drugs, which no-one sees but the addicts themselves. This book can be very disturbing at times, but is also exciting, with a surprise around every corner. This book also contained uncomfortableness throughout, so it is definitely not an easy read. Once I got past the uncomfortableness, though, this book is extremely exciting and surprising. I learned about how hard it is to deal with drugs, and how this girl has to deal with her family, friends, school, and addiction. I liked Go Ask Alice for it’s adventure and excitement, but first you must get past an unusually high comfort level.

I read the book Uglies by Scott Westerfeld, which was a great example of Young Adult (YA) fiction. First, the protagonist is an almost sixteen year-old girl (a teenager) named Tally and most good YA books have a teenage as a main character. Second, she faces segregation issues, but not segregation like we know it today, because in her world, people segregate between the Pretties (people 16 years old and over) and the Uglies (people between 12 and their 16th birthday). When the people turn 16 in this story, they get an operation that turns them pretty. Tally contemplates these segregation issues while trying to make the most important decision of her lifetime. Third, the story revolves around coming of age—coming to the age of 16 when everybody turns pretty (at least in this book), the most amazing part of anyone’s life. Lastly, the conflict of the story has to do with Tally meeting a challenge–whether she wants to never become pretty (stay ugly) to save her friends, or if she wants to betray all of her friends and the secret of a special place which is unknown to the outside world just to become pretty. The reader experiences her debate up to the decision throughout the book and realizes how she feels about maturing and facing a life changing decision. Through the book, I can see the real theme, which is maturing into a Pretty (or maybe deciding that staying ugly is best), and through this, I encounter many different aspects of a good Young Adult fiction story.

I really enjoyed the Uglies for a few main reasons. First, I enjoyed the setting– a town in the future, because I did not have to question why people were getting operations to be pretty at age 16 (although I know that some people get operations later in life to look young and more beautiful, I don’t think that anybody does it at 16). In the world today, some people are born pretty and others are not born pretty. But in the future, operations might be needed to become pretty at an early age instead of looking younger at an older age. So, I can understand the story without being confused about the purpose of operations to become pretty at such a young age. Second, I liked how Tally grew not only in age, but in what she felt was important throughout the book. For example, at first all she cares about is her upcoming 16th birthday where she will become pretty. But, later in the story, the perspective of what is important changes and now she cares more for her friends than her forthcoming birthday and her appearance. She learns that looks are not everything and that friends are what is important in life. Third, I liked how I felt like I was doing things with the characters. For instance, I could imagine I was flying next to the group of friends on a hoverboard just as the characters do in the story. Another example I could imagine was when the characters planned and carried out mischief; I really felt like I took part in it. Because of all these very important parts of the story, I highly enjoyed the Uglies. In short, it is about a character maturing and finding the important part of life, and I recommend it to anybody (probably more for girls than boys) who is interested in a somewhat realistic story, that contemplates important life decisions.

~ Olivia Katz

Little Brother, by Cory Doctorow, is an interesting, action packed, 365 page novel that is about a nerdy, funny, and unique boy named Marcus Yallow. At first the book seemed about a boy who was too nerdy, and was going to get into trouble for it. Then a bridge is bombed, and Marcus is questioned by the DHS about why he was out of school. He is allowed to leave, but he rebels against the rule of the system. Immediately, I realized this was a YA book. Even though it seems fantasy, this book is really told by Marcus, following his footsteps through the troubled times. Marcus is smarter then an average boy, and that makes this all the more interesting as he battles for his freedom. A few times the book made me feel awkward, but it also added little twists that caught my attention. Like every other YA book I have ever read, Marcus gets more mature of the course of the novel, and he learns how to fight and speak for himself.
This book was one of the best books I have ever read. Marcus is rebellious, and that made the book much more interesting. I loved how Marcus fights back, and I realized the power of teenagers, no matter how smart or how strong they are. Marcus is also a very unique person, and his girlfriend Ange is a smart girl who makes the book so much more interesting with her rude but funny jokes. Marcus fights a government with a computer, a lot of videos, and his brain. That is the kind of book I will read every day if I could. But what I liked the most is how the government watches everyone, and Marcus decides to watch back.
-Ben Ginzberg

True Believer can be considered a YA book for many reasons. The first is that LaVaughn, the main character, is a teenager (fifteen years old). Another reason is that LaVaughn has serious problems in her life. She lives in a slum area with her mother, and they are very poor. She is saving up for college, because she feels that that is her only hope to have a real life. She also has many conflicts with her two best friends because they joined a religious club that LaVaughn doesn’t want to join. The two girls are very close, but they are both drifting farther and farther away from LaVaughn. Another one of her friends was pregnant as a teenager twice, so she had to drop out of high school. LaVaughn sometimes has to help her out because her life is a huge wreck. One of the biggest problems for LaVaughn is that she finds out the boy she is in love with is actually gay. Finding this out sends her into a depression mode for part of the book, but eventually she finds a way to get over it. For these reasons, True Believer can be considered a YA book.

To be honest, I did not like this book that much. Firstly, this was a very depressing book. I am not saying that I only read books that have no sad parts at all, but this was a little over the edge. On the plus side, the book makes you feel like you’re really experiencing this, because it is in first person. Unfortunately, that means that you have to go through all of LaVaughn’s painfully depressing happenings for the whole book. True, the ending was happy. Still, the majority of the book was very sad. Second, the book was a little confusing. The format made it look like the whole book was a poem, and it sometimes I did not understand it very well. Overall, this book was good enough that I was motivated to read, but still not one of the best books I’ve read (6.5 out of 10).

American Born Chinese, by Gene Luen Yang, was an incredibly amusing YA comic book that was fun to read. It is classified under the YA genre because the characters are teenagers, the characters deal with racial issues, and the characters deal with dating. The book is complicated and is split between three perspectives: one of a monkey, one of Jin Wang, and one of Danny. The monkey’s perspective is an old Chinese fable and does not fall under the YA genre. Jin Wang, who is the only Chinese-American student at his school, falls in love with an American girl (who he dates) and is racially insulted occasionally in the book, making his story fall under the YA genre. Finally, Danny is a popular American boy that is in love with the same girl that Jin likes, but his cousin is a negative Chinese stereotype who visits him in the book, allowing his story to fall under the YA genre. Therefore, American Born Chinese is a YA book because of dating, racial issues, and teenagers.

I loved this comic book because it explains clearly that you can choose your own identity depending on your actions. The plot was well-planned and complicated, incorporating both racial issues and fables in one book. Some parts were very funny, while others were serious and gloomy. The author’s choice of making this a comic book instead of a normal book was smart because I do not think that words could explain the characters’ emotions as well as pictures. The book took place in both ancient China and a modern school in America, making the book even more interesting. I would suggest this book to any reader that likes comic books.

-Morris Reeves

I read Misfits, a compelling, realistic book, by James Howe, a fantastic and intuitive writer. Many themes in Misfits make this literary masterpiece a YA book. First, Bobby’s, the main character’s, friend Joe is gay and in love with someone at his school. Secondly, Addie, another friend, is a very diplomatic figure. She cares very much about obligations and is a rebel to society. Thirdly, Bobby’s friends campaign to stand up for geeks like themselves. This theme is YA because they stand up for themselves.The main character of this book is a teen, and he and his friends fight for what they think is right.

I think this book is going to be loved by anyone who is a tween or above. This book is very systematic, and anyone who likes a good rebellion would want to read this. The whole book is about standing up for yourself, and I think the book has a very good meaning. I absolutely could not stop reading this book. I would read this over and over again any time. Anyone who loves a fast-paced, diplomatic, literary work of art should read this amazing book.

In the Brooklyn Bridge, by Fred Berman; on a day in 1903, fourteen-year-old Joseph Michtom’s life changed drastically when his parents who were Russian immigrants, created the first teddy bear. No longer did the family gather together. Joseph couldn’t even play stickball with the guys. No longer were the children of the house able to get away from watching their 2 year old brother. When it was summer vacation, Joseph wanted to travel to Coney Island, but he had to work. So, he complained and fell in deep love, love at first sight. He wished that everything would go back to normal, not to be special in school, he hoped, he wished.

This book is a beautifully written YA book that will pull you into the story. Fred, Berman used a perfect Brooklyn and Yiddish language. It fulfills almost all the elements of a YA book but the protagonist at the beginning is an un-mature, dependent boy. The themes are; deeper understanding of society, social problems at home and with love, and finally alienation from his usual group. I loved this book very much and it pulled me in faster that styrofoam being sucked into a tornado. This book’s description was amazing and made me feel what he felt and see what Joseph saw. However, like all fine books, their are flaws. There are few flaws but I disliked the plot because there wasn’t a solid idea of what they were doing, there was no thrill of adventure compared to other YA books. This book seems to be written with lovers, and people who like calm, un-thrilling books. Although it was astounding in its descripive powers, I think that this book failed to suck me into the plot-line and life of the character.

For my young adult book I chose to read Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. This book qualifies for a YA book for many reasons. First the main character, Melinda Sordino, is a teenage protagonist. This 198 page book is told in first person which is something that most YA books do. Melinda is suffering from the many problems with her family and friends, a normal teenage issue. She is experiencing the effect of being an outcast as she called the cops at an end-of-summer party. This also qualifies for being a YA novel with the fact that Melinda gets more mature as the book goes on. By the end of the book she can speak up for herself and starts doing things she usually would never do.

Speak is definably a YA book that I recommend to teenagers that can relate to some of these issues. I enjoyed Speak, but it wasn’t one of my favorite books. I liked the book because it had a feeling of suspense. During the course of the book you find little clues about what happened at the end-of-summer party, but you don’t really know the story until the climax of the book. Another reason I liked this book is because of the format. I liked the way it was told in a sort of diary format, along with the fact that it had different topics and sections instead of chapters. I didn’t enjoy the book that much because it had a kind of slow approch. The writing was good, but the author didn’t build up on the character that much. It was kind of a dull book, but I still thought it qualified as a YA book.

For this assignment, I chose to read Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. This book can be categorized as young adult for several reasons. First and foremost, the story is told from the first-person perspective of the protagonist. The protagonist in this book is a 14/15 year old girl named Melinda Sordino, a typical age for YA. Melinda is an outcast at school, near friendless. This is the result of the fact that she called the police at an end of summer party for a secret reason, and is now hated by everyone. Being a misfit and an outcast is another theme of YA. This book also largely qualifies as YA because it examines the unspoken code between teenagers, and the results when someone breaks it. Melinda is a recepetive, intelligent young woman dealing with many things, not the least of which is her dysfunctional family. The fact that her parents are not there to help and support her is another common YA trademark. Melinda, haunted by the events at the party, stops speaking almost entirely. This is her way of dealing with her feelings of hurt and alienation. She also finds a safe haven in the art room- she learns to express and help herself through art. This is a theme of YA also- that the main character helps themselves, usually without the help of an adult. The book is also very realistic- all the character’s speech sounds almost familiar, and they are very plausible. This book is not a happy story- it is a very sad, heartbreaking story of a young girl’s pain and the way she deals with it. It may not be happy, but it can be hopeful- she matures and grows greatly, and the readers finds themselves being proud of her. Personally, I loved this book. I found the main character very lovable and relatable, and I love books like that. I also liked how real all the people and places seemed, and in certain cases scarily so. Speak is a wonderful book, but not for someone who is faint-hearted. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone under 6th grade. For anyone older though, I definetley would.

For this assignment I chose to read the book Whirligig, by Paul Fleischman. This book contains many elements that that allow it to be categorized as a Young Adult story. For instance, the main character, Brent Bishop, is an adolescent boy who is trying to fit in at his new school. Most main characters in Young Adult books are teenagers who struggle to not be an outsider. In this book, Brent goes to a party. He thinks that he might find a way to fit in more during this event. At the party he is introduced to alcohol and drugs, which is another theme of a Young Adult book. Unfortunately he finds out that he did not follow the specific dress code. Later on he tries to talk to a girl he likes, but she suddenly screams that she doesn’t want to talk to him. Embarrassed, Brent leaves the party and tries to kill himself by crashing his car. This too, is a YA book theme, for it deals with depression, something that mainly occurs to teens. He crashed his car, but instead of killing himself he kills an innocent girl named Lea. This causes him to go into a deeper stage of depression. He wants to make it up to the victims parents, and they request that he goes to the four corners of the US: Washington, California, Florida, and Maine, and put up a whirligig of Lea there. Now he must undergo this adventure which he thinks may be the key to solving his personal issues. This book is clearly a YA book because it involves the struggle of a teen’s life, drugs, alcohol, death and depression.

I personally enjoyed this book. I found it interesting how sudden the changes in Brent’s mood were. The decrease in his confidence truly amazed me. I also liked how the author showed the effects Brent’s whirligigs had on the people who saw them. I really like this book, and I recommend it to others.

For my YA assignment I read SPEAK. This book is about a girl who like most kids of her age is having a tough time at school and her name is Melinda. The book is set in Syracuse, New York in the present time and up there it can get pretty cold. Snow has to do a lot with the book because their is a lot of it. You find out that the summer before school started she crashed a party and called the cops. When she goes back to school none of her friends are friends with her anymore. Throughout most of the book she is trying to make friends with them and have their click come back together. In her school throughout the year she loves art and the art teacher. At the beginning of the school year the students were all given different themes that they would work with throughout the year. Melinda happened to get TREE which at the beginning thought was very easy, but then finds out that it is so hard to the point that she can not draw a decent tree. This theme leads into another friendship with one of her old friends. At the of the book however you find out why she really crashed the party.

This book could be easily called a YA book. It is definitely directed toward people who are in their early to late teens, but for any younger than that it probably would be quite inappropriate. However, if a good reader one or two years younger than us would have picked it up and read it they would have understood what was happening.

This book deals with people not of the faint in heart. The ending is quite sudden, but happy as well as being quite complicated and slightly exciting. I started reading with quite high expectations because I had read a book previously by the same author called Whirligig. I ended the reading with my expectations were thoroughly fulfilled.

I read The First Part Last by Angela Johnson. It includes many ideas and themes that go into a book to allow it to be categorized as Young Adult. The book is mainly about teenagers around the age of eighteen, and there is a lot of dialogue that is written as if a teenager is saying it. The characters are faced with many challenging issues including teenage pregnancy and severe health problems. The main character is a young man who’s girlfriend has just had a baby, but she is in an irreversible coma so he has to take care of his child, Feather, alone. As a result of that, he is often seen as an outcast in his society. He has to realize that he is no longer a child and now has adult responsibilities.

I enjoyed this very much overall. It dealt with some very hard but real issues that made me aware of things other people may be going through. The writing was beautiful and descriptive and it deeply explored the consequences of having a baby too young. One thing that made it confusing was that the chapters switched back and forth from the present to what happened before the baby was born. That was hard to understand at first, but as it got clearer I enjoyed it very much. There was not a very developed plot, but I still loved it because it felt so real and I connected and sympathized with the characters very easily. I recommend this book to anyone who likes books that are about real life, and the crazy twists it holds.

Stuck In Neutral, by Terry Trueman is the book that I choose to read for the Y.A. assignment.  It is fairly short book told in first-person about a fourteen-year-old boy named Shawn McDaniel, who spends most of his time worrying about his death.  Shawn has Cerebral Palsy, s condition when a person does not have control of their muscles.  Shawn lives with his mother Lindy, brother Paul and his sister Cindy.  His father, Sydney E. McDaniel, is a character in the book who one does not know weather to like or dislike.  He left his family when Shawn was just four years old because it was too painful for him to see his son in this state.
Shawn’s life is a “…One of those ‘good news-bad news’ jokes.” (1)  In addition to not being able to move his body as he pleases, his brain works just fine.  He has an amazing memory and has the thought of an average teenage boy; girls, food and fun.  Everyone thinks that Shawn is just a “vegetable” and does not have the ability to think.  His father thinks that he is in pain, and wants to do something about it.  As the book progresses, the reader learns about a man named Earl Detraux.  A few years earlier Earl killed his two year old son, who he also thought was constantly in pain, and thought the right thing to do would be to stop it.  Shawn’s father is supporting this man, and Shawn does not know weather his father will try and ‘End his pain’ as well. By the end of the novel, Shawn, as scary as death may seem, decides that whatever decision his father makes will be the right one.
I really enjoyed this book because it dealt with a very serious problem, and made me think about my opinion on the matter.  I also like it because it seemed pretty realistic, and personally, I do not like to read about things that are impossible.  Even thought not many people have Cerebral Palsy, many children may feel ignored and feel like they cannot express themselves, like Shawn.  While reading this book, I started to get a sense of what it must feel like to have a disease like Cerebral Palsy, and, in return, I cried a fair amount during this book.  I recommend Stuck In Neutral for anyone who likes books with deep and interesting plot.

Lizzie Zelter

Cut, a novel by Patricia Mccormick, is the story of a fifteen year old girl named Callie. It is only a little more then one hundred pages, and is narrated from the view of Callie in the form of journal entries for her rehab center counselor. Callie suffers from the now too-common problem of cutting. She regularly cuts her skin with a blade in order to escape pain;as a result of this she is sent to a rehabilitation center named Sea Pines, but the girls who live there call it Sick Minds, as a sardonic reference to themselves. This is something many teenagers-depressed or not- can relate too. Mccormick presents Callie and her fellow inmates as very realistic and believable characters by having them speak and act as an average teenager would. They curse and joke around, and there are also very sublte sexual innuendos lurking in the girls’ words. The aspect of the story that labels it as a Young Adult book most obviously, besides the fact that Callie is a teenager, is the fact that Callie is a mature and perceptive character who is unable to believe that she is mature and perceptive. If this review were a TV station it would pause for a dramatic lack of self esteem in a teenager notification, flashed on the screen in huge yellow letters. It is later revealed that Callie began cutting herself after a tragedy of sorts occurred in her family, whcih she blames herself for although it was obviously not her fault. Callie also stops talking out of shame about this event. Her lack of speech and interaction makes it hard for her to feel like a part of her Sea Pines/Sick Minds group. She cannot bring herself to participate at all, and also realizes sadly that almost all of the girls have a will to get better, while Callie is not able to find the inner strength necessary to do so. Callie is both gifted and cursed by her detachment. It allows her to see other girls cheating on their recovery, like a bulimic girl she hears throwing up in the bathroom while others are too distracted to notice. Callie’s fear of human contact prevents her from telling anyone about this. When the bulimic girl’s condition deteriorates rapidly, Callie again blames herself. However, Callie gradually find the courage to make a connection with others, and to see what really happened the night her family was shattered. By the end of the story, Callie has made the momentous decision that labels Cut (underlined) as a Young Adult book and herself as a mature young woman: she realizes she wants to get better.

What I really enjoyed about this book was the vivid descriptions Patricia Mccormick uses. I am not talking about descriptions of the beautiful sea green color of the outside world, which is forbidden to the inmates. Whenever Callie cuts herself, the reader is forced to live through every single moment of the razor biting into her skin, and the chilling peace Callie feels from the pain. Perhaps the best moment of the book is when Callie first sees the arms of another ‘cutting’ patient. They are crisscrossed with angry red welts in strange, deliberate patterns, and have words cut out on them. These horrifying, gory images seared into my mind when I first read them. I also screamed in a high pitched voice and threw the book with all force against a wall. For me, this is the mark of very good and thought-provoking writing. The writing forced me to consider how awful it was to be sad enough to hurt yourself, and the descriptions gave me ten times more insights into the character’s mind then I had before.

-Leighton Braunstein

Go Ask Alice, a diary of an Anonymous girl, is about a teenager who has a very troubled life. It is very hard for her to make friends, and she eventually gets addicted to drugs. She writes in her diary as if she was speaking to a person, and writes as if her diary is her only friend. She tries very hard to get boyfriends, but most of them abuse her. She constantly tries to get off her addiction of drugs, but she always finds herself under the influence of drugs. Then, after both of her grandparents pass away, she starts to change. Near the end of the book, she shows a lot of improvement and nearly becomes a normal youth, and decides not to keep another diary. A note at the end of the book reveals that the author of the diary dies three days after this decision. This book fulfills all of the themes of a YA book, and most of the elements.

I enjoy how the author of the book seemed to be talking to the reader, which made me feel like I was watching her the whole time. I also liked how she made me feel sorry for her after every single mistake she makes, and because it is her actual diary, she reveals all of her thoughts in the book. I didn’t really like the first half of the book, because it is too slow paced and not much plot changes. It is a lot more interesting when she is more emotional, because you can feel exactly how she feels. You never know what is going to happen next; it seems that every step she takes causes another wall for her to jump over. This is a very mind-capturing book, and will capture any reader’s eye.

-Ethan Zhou

Morghan Williams

Library Assignment

For my library assignment, the book that I choose to read was Boy meets Boy, by David Levithan. I chose to read this book for my YA assignment because the cover stood out to me and the title was interesting. Boy meets Boy is about a boy named Paul who is gay and he has to decide between his boyfriend and his ex-boyfriend, deal with his crazy friends, and help his friends parents understand that being gay is not a bad thing. I liked this book because it showed how Paul deals with being gay, how he doesn’t care what people thought of him, and how he told himself that he is going to accept himself for who he is.

This book is a young adult book because it deals with teenage situations. Boy meets Boy deals with straight, gay, lesbian, and bisexual teenagers. This is a big topic in the book and it is something that older readers would understand more. Most of the characters are teenagers and readers can understand what type of things the characters are going through. The author, David Levithan, did a wonderful job of making this a book that some teenagers can relate to or that teenagers can understand when they are reading it.