The Black Book of Secrets

This week I read the Black Book of Secrets by F. E. Higgins. This book is kind of weird, but kind of fascinatingly strange at the same time. I don't even know why I read it, but I think I"m glad that I did. This book was about a boy growing up around some time and place that seemed semi-equivalent to medieval London, and was mistreated by his parents. He then flees from them into a smaller town with a pawnbroker who sells secrets. He badly wants to trust him, but doesn't know what to do about it, as does the rest of the town. This book was interesting, really short and a quick read, and not really my type of book. Overall, I wouldn't read this book again, it was only okay, and not the type of stuff that I would normally read, but if you think it sounds good. Overall, this book was okay, had a few graphic descriptions of violence, and would probably be good or even great to someone who reads these types of books just more often.

Cloaked

This week I read Cloaked by Alex Flinn. This was a really good, weird, book, with a really good lead that was exciting and hooked you right from the beginning. This was about just a normal guy, even if he was a little weird, working as a car mechanic. Suddenly, his world turns magical. This involves a series of unexpected events. I can't tell you much more without ruining this book, but it was overall just really good. This book was kind of weird though, and interesting in that way, with a lot of strange, interesting, unexpected plot twists. Overall, I would recommend this book to anybody, maybe more seventh and eighth graders, who like magical, fantastic books set in real life, with unexpected plot twists and many eccentric, real-life characters.

The Here and Now

This week I read The Here and Now by Ann Brashares. This was a really good book-if kind of weird. The book starts with a girl named Prenna being sent back in time. Back in the future she leaves her family; her two siblings, one of them dead, and her mom, dad, and family-friend/aunt. The mosquitoes in the future have spread a disease; Prenna's own little brother died of it. She travels to the year around 2020, and tries to reverse history. She lives in a little colony, where there are very strict rules, some of the most important being to never develop friendships with people outside the future-colony, who all come from the same place that she does; never tell anybody about the future, and certainly don't fall in love. But when Prenna comes to the past, traveling back in time, she meets Ethan, and quickly gets involved in a relationship. Prenna loves Ethan more than anything, but is under strict pressure from her colony leaders, always watching her, from breaking the rules. As Prenna Learns more about the time period, she has to come to a couple of stunning realizations-including that people might know more about the disease-ridden future that they have then they think- and comes to see that she might be able to save everyone in the future; if she's willing to give up the one thing she loves more then everything else, Ethan.

This book ROCKED! It was slightly strange with the time travel and the beginning- but you have to give her a chance everything suddenly makes sense by the end and it's so sad and amazing and really awesome. There are lots of amazing plot twists and you definitely get very strong feelings about some of the characters, whether you like them, don't, or in between. It's so sad, and I love the plotline in particular. It is slightly inappropriate but not that bad. Overall, if you want a book that you actually care about, read this book. You will be glad that you did.

PS both boys and girls, eighth, seventh, and possibly sixth graders would probably like it.

Savvy

This week I read Savvy,  by Ingrid Law. This book is kind of like a coming of age book. Mibs is about to turn thirteen, and lives as part of a family called the Beaumonts, who are harboring a strange secret; when they turn thirteen, each of them gets a special knowledge, called a savvy. Mibs has two older brothers, one named Rocket (who controls electricity) and Fish (who controls the water), as well as a younger brother and sister, a grandpa, and a mom and dad. It's generally pretty hard for the Beaumonts to make friends; everybody can sense something is different about them, that they don't fit in, and playdates are not allowed because of the weirdness of their house, with tons of kids with different savvys, still learning how to control them, and sometimes things going wrong. The day before Mib's 13th birthday, when she gets her savvy, her dad gets in a car crash. Her mom, Grandpa, and oldest brother Rocket all leave in order to take care of him, and try to wake him up from the coma that he's in. They leave the kids under the care of Mrs. Rosemary, and her 16-year-old daughter Bobbi and son Will, who is Mib's age. Mibs wakes up on her 13th birthday, and realizes something-her savvy might be crucial to saving her dad's life. Through a series of events, Mibs, Fish, Bobbi, Will, and her younger brother Sampson hitchhike in the back of a bus, hoping to get to Mib's dad, and meet some pretty cool people along the way.
This book is AMAZING, but don't read it if you are too old. I think that this book would be great for the sixth graders in our class, especially the girls. It's an awesome book, probably the best coming-of-age novel I've read so far, that has Mibs dealing with growing up, boys, and a lot of other things. Also, it's so imaginative, and it relates to something I think that we've all imagined about, running away with our friends. The characters are AMAZING, and it's just so funny and so relatable.
Overall, I wish that I had read this book sooner, as a sixth or maybe seventh grader. It's really amazing though; I would totally recommend reading it, especially for girls but for boys too, if you want a funny, relatable, coming of age book that is not inappropriate at all. Overall, This was a really good realistic fiction book, even if it was a little too young for me (totally read it sixth grader girls)!

Outliers

This week I read Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. This was a non-fiction book that examines outliers throughout history, including geniuses, professional athletes, and successful people like Bill Gates or Robert Oppenheimer. First of all, I do not enjoy non-fiction books AT ALL. Second, this book was awesome. It was really interesting to see the authors view on things in culture. I learned why January is the best birthday for hockey players, to why plane crashes are more likely to happen in Korea or Columbia then the USA. This was really interesting and really entertaining to read. My one piece of criticism for the book is sometimes it seemed a little bit over-analytical, it completely ruled out the factors of luck, talent, and hard work and replaced them with different factor around the people, which was kind of sad and pessimistic. So yeah, overall I would totally recommend this book to anybody, even if you don't especially enjoy non-fiction; I never do, and this books was great, and really interesting.

The Islands at the End of the World

This week I read The Islands at the End of the World by Austin Aslan. This was one of the best books I've read all year. This book is about a almost 17 girl who lives in Hawaii, called Leilani, who's half white and half Hawaiian. Because of this she has trouble fitting in, and is bullied by the other Hawaiian girls at her school. Another problem is that she is an epileptic, which makes it even harder to make some friends. Leilani and her dad leave the island of Hawaii to go to Maui for an experimental treatment for epilepsy, which will hopefully let her do the things she love like surfing, other stuff, and just get rid of her epilepsy. Suddenly, a global disaster hits. Nobody really knows what is going on, so Leilani and her dad don't panic at first. Eventually, they realize that the situation is way out of hand. Supplies are running out, the president warns them of a global disaster that nobody can really catch what it is, and people start to panic. Leilani and her dad start on a journey to make their way home to their family, but are surprised at the danger they have to go through. While they are trying to get back, Leilani and her dad start to realize that they might hold the key to stopping this event before it gets even any worse.
This book was great. The characters were really well imagined, and I found out later in the book that I actually really did care about them. The plot was exciting, suspenseful, and well paced, and I really enjoyed it. I would recommend this to probably all the people in our class. There was a little bit of violence, and just people going through horrible things and condition, but honestly not really any, just enough to keep the book going. This book was amazing, and if you like adventure/survival books with a bit of science fiction/dystopian, a bit of realistic fiction, and some magic in otherwise very normal places, things, and people, this book would definitely be for you.
Next few books:
Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock
Bird
Eleanor and Park
A New Book:
Looking For Alaska

Fangirl

This week I read Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell. I would call this book realistic fiction.   This book is about someone named Cather, or Cath, who's whole life is these books called Simon Snow, which is basically like Harry Potter. She writes fan-fiction with her sister, or always has until they go to college. Her twin-sister, Wren, starts to drift apart from Cath and fan-fiction. She refuses to be roommates and starts going out to parties, just ignoring Cath. Cath is left on her own without any friends, a hostile roommmate and no idea how anything at college works. Over time, she learns how college works, starts to involuntarily make friends, fall for her roommate's boyfriend, and has to figure out what to do with her and Wren.
This book was okay. There wasn't much of a plot line, honestly, but the writing was okay. Honestly, I hate fan fiction, so I wasn't able to relate to that part, but overall it was pretty good. The plot never really went anywhere though, so I wasn't really able to enjoy it as much as I wanted. Also, some of the characters I really liked, but some of the characters, like Cath, I didn't really honestly like for most of the book. Overall, this book was Okay, but not amazing.
Next 5 Books:
- The Islands at the End of the World
-   Bird (Recommended by Linda)
-The power of 7 ( I am #4 Series.)