Book Review #12: The Help by: Kathryn Stockett

Pages: 444

In the 1960’s where black people are considered dirty and full of diseases, where they can’t even share a toilet with they’re white bosses. In Jackson Mississippi Aibileen, Minny, and Skeeter, have an idea to expose the white women in their town. Miss Skeeter seems to be the only white woman who sees the awfulness of the way the black maids are treated, and she wants to do something about it. It has to be anonymous though because in the 1960’s anything Civil Rights could get you killed. The only way to do this anonymously is to write a book of interviews from the Help.

When I first read this book I was amazed at how wonderful it was. It seemed very realistic because no human can make such humiliating things such at not being about to use a toilet used by a white person. I know there has been a lot of such about how “it was written by a white person so she can’t know what it was like…” blah, blah, blah. This book was written by a white woman as a tribute to her black maid!

Since its set in Mississippi you have to read with a southern accent, which just makes it more fun! It’s a funny book at points, sometimes it’s kind of sad, but over all it’s a really, really good book. I really enjoyed reading it. It only took me a few days to read. It was an easy read.

I’m very happy I had the opportunity to read this book. At times I wanted to scream at my book, at other times I wanted to cheer. I felt like I didn’t want the book to end but at the same time I wanted to know what happened. This book will make you feel a lot of things at the same time. I’m glad I read this book.

I loved the recent movie they made of this book! It followed the book really, really well, they got the maids personalities very well and the movie made you feel about the same way as you did in the book only you could see the events going on right in front of you, so you could feel angrier or whatever other emotion ten times worse then when you were reading the book.

I rated this book 5 out of 5, because it was a really good book to read on a rainy Sunday night. It was easy but taught an awesome lesson. It was also written very well. Thanks for reading!

Book Review #11: Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

Pages: 448
Tally Youngblood is ugly. In her world she is hideous, she is completely horrible, but in our world she is totally normal. Tally lives in the future, in this future when you are sixteen you go through an operation, and you are pretty and you live in "Prettyville". Tally is only one month away from turning sixteen when she meets Shay. Shay tells Tally a secret, and that secret is that there is a place out in the wild waiting to take uglies in so they don't have to get the operation. A couple days before they are both sixteen Shay runs away to this place, and tells Tally not to tell anyone where she went. When Tally goes to get her operation she is not aloud to. Dr. Cable from Special Circumstances sends her on a mission to find Shay so that Shay may receive her operation too. When Tally finally does find Shay she realizes that convince Shay to come back isn't as hard as convincing herself, especially when she finds out the secret of the Pretty operation.

The first time I tried reading this book it was quite confusing because I didn't understand that they were in the future. The second time I actually finished it and I fell in love with it. Now I have quotes from it written in notebooks and paper taped to my walls. If you gave up Uglies I urge you to give it a change it's a really great book.

I'm very happy I gave it a chance because it's really interesting to see how people see themselves and how they think they need an operation to be pretty, just like people these days do. In a part of the book Shay and Tally were looking at magazines from our time saying that the models and stars had "That Disease" meaning anorexia or bulimia. I thought that that was really interesting because it's frowned upon in their time and it seems like a way to get skinny in our time.

I rated this book four and a half out of five, because you really have to persevere through the first few parts before you can fully appreciate it. I'm glad I did because if I didn't I wouldn't have been able to enjoy this great book.   

Book Review #10: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Pages: 378

All Mrs. Bennet has ever wanted for her daughters are to get them married to good men with connections and money. When a handsome rich bachelor, Mr. Bingley moves in to Netherfield, she sees her opportunity to marry off one of her daughters. Our heroine Elizabeth Bennet, the second daughter in the Bennet family, meets Mr. Bingley’s oldest and closest friend, Mr. Darcy, she can’t help but loathe him. Mr. Darcy is proud and seems to feel he is above her family and friends, so Elizabeth can’t help but hate him. Who cares if he makes ten thousand a year? He is too proud and rude for her. But when Elizabeth’s sister visits Mr. Bingley’s sisters and gets sick Elizabeth walks all the way to Netherfield , Mr. Darcy’s can’t help but see that her eyes are quite brightened by exercise. Thus begins the greatest love story in all history.

When I picked up this book I wanted a real challenge, old English literature. I got exactly what I wanted. But after I really got into the book I began to understand. When I got really into this book I couldn’t put it down. I read late into the night, I would keep turning the pages even after eleven. I felt so happy when I finally finished it because it was the first classic that I had read, and now I love reading classics.

I would only recommend this book to people who know that they can handle the difficult old English language. When you can understand the language it is easier then trying to figure out what their saying. Cliff notes will help as well.

This book is very light and happy, it is full of humor. The simple things they said back then are simply hilarious nowadays. I found myself laughing hysterically over the simplest things because of the things they said that would not be acceptable now. The way they insulted each other in a very subtle way made me laugh.

While I was reading this I could feel myself getting smarter, so if your looking for something to raise your IQ this book is perfect. I wouldn’t suggest it as light reading because you’ll get sucked in before you know it.

I rated this five out of five. It was a lovely happy book that made me laugh. I’m very happy I read this because I feel smarter and I know that I can read any classic I want now. Thanks for reading!  

Book Review #9: The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale

Pages: 400

Ani has always been an odd sort of princess according to the people of her country, Kildenree, so when her mother tells her that she will be traveling to Kildenree’s neighboring country to marry an unknown prince to make peace will them, she accepts hoping to finally find her place. But after several weeks traveling in the forest Ani’s lady in waiting, Selia, and half of Ani’s guard betrays her and attempts to kill her so that Selia can be the princess. Ani flees and finds her self in the foreign country with a job as the palace goose girl, determined to get her name back and make Selia face her crimes.

In fifth grade my teacher read this story to us and I totally fell in love with this story, so much that when we hit a cliffhanger just as the bell rang I screamed! I fell completely in love with the book. On my list of favorite books this one is definitely number two. This book is perfect for everyone; it has action and gore for the guys, and love and princesses for the ladies.

I love this book, it’s a perfect book; princess fairytale, deception, betrayal, action, magic, and of course a little romance! I would recommend this book to anyone, even guys! It’s a perfect, it’s appropriate for all ages, the thickness might make some others not want to read it but it’s totally worth it, there are no boring parts, you’re always wondering what is going to happen to Ani, and what Selia is going to do next.

I feel bad for those publishers who turned down Shannon Hale because they thought her book wasn’t good enough, they really are missing out on a lot of money from those people like me who buy her books! I love Shannon Hale’s books!

I rated this book happily a five out of five! It is an awesome book and a great one to re-read over and over again!

Book Review #8: Evermore by Alyson Noel

Pages: 320
Her family is dead, she is psychic, she can see peoples auras AND read people's minds, and to top it all off there's a hot new guy at her school. This girl's name is Ever Bloom. Ever has two best friends, Miles, and Haven. They are the out casts of the school, so when the hot new guy comes to sit at their out cast table they can't control themselves. But Ever doesn't look at Damen's hot face, or flawless self, she notices that he doesn't have an  aura. After running into him  many times after she starts to fall in love with him. But Damen has a secret. A secret he's kept for six hundred years.

This book was very much like Twilight. Yet it was written much much much better. I loved it! It was strangely addictive though. If your not in the mood to think about a book for a long long time or obsessively look for the next book in the series. The romance wasn't as cheesy as most cheesy books about such things. I'm so happy I read it though. The books got better as the series went on.

I loved this so much. I loved waiting for the moment when something so epic happened in the book. I couldn't put it down. I know I say this a lot in my book reviews but I can't help it. I loved this book.
I rated this book a five out of five. Because I felt so very happy when I read it. I couldn't believe how good it was, I had heard that it was much like Twilight and it kind of made me cautious but it was SOOO much better. I would recommend this to girls and ONLY girls. Boys wouldn't like this book at all. I really think that it is a chick flick book. It was a really good book!

Book Review #7: Flipped by Wendelin Van Draanen

I wrote this book review for my school news paper. Here you go!

Pages: 224

Have you ever been a new student? Bryce Loski has: he moved into a new town and immediately met Julianna Baker. She couldn’t control herself; she had a crush on him. Poor Bryce went to a new school and to make matters worse, Juli was in his class. Bryce went through a whole new torture; a girl had a crush on him. The kids in his second grade would sing, “Bryce and Juli sittin’ in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G!” But our friend Juli had a whole different story. She needed a friend, someone besides her brothers, someone her age. When Bryce moved in, she lost herself in his eyes.

Wendelin Van Draanen caught her readers in a way they can all connect. At some point or another everyone has had a crush on someone. Everyone could connect with Juli and everyone can connect with Bryce. Ms. Draanen knows how to touch her audience in a way that it would take other author years to perfect.

The way that Ms. Draanen described what Bryce and Juli saw in there day to day lives was just incredible. She could perfectly move between the personalities of Bryce and Juli in such a way that you’d think that the book was written by two authors, one male and one female. She made her audience feel for her characters.

Many of SJHS’s students have read this book. Samantha Carter, an eighth grader at SJHS, said, “I like the romance in it; it also reminds me of my friends.” Samantha read this book because it was recommended to her by Erika Frischknecht, an eighth grader at SJHS. According to Erika, she loves Flipped because it’s a cute love story, and she sees a lot of our school’s personalities in it.

This book is definitely a page turner. You want to know what crazy thing Juli is going to do next. You want to know how Bryce is going to handle it, and once you’ve read it all the way through you can’t stop thinking about it. It makes you realize that some people aren’t what they seem; it makes you stop and think about the way that you treat people, not just your friends but the people you don’t necessarily get along with.

Most girls fantasize about boys they like Ms. Draanen put it to words what how most girls feel about the boys they like, how they think about them and how they will do crazy things to get the boy’s attention. She also had the ability to show the girls how boys feel when a girl crushes them.

Recently in August, Flipped was made into a movie. When I watched it I was amazed at how accurate it was. Juli looked exactly how I had imagined her. Bryce, though he didn’t have blue eyes, still looked exactly how I had imagined him. There were things in the movie that were slightly different, because instead of modern day times it was set back in the fifties, so of course it wouldn’t be exactly like the book. Over all, all the characters, and key details were perfect. So if you have already read the book and not seen the movie, then I would definitely recommend this to you.

I rated this book a 5 out of 5 for the following reason: it makes you realize that some people aren’t always what they seem on the outside; it’s what on the inside that matters. People shouldn’t be judged by the way they dress or the way they act. It’s what is inside that matter the most. Flipped can be found in any public library, school library, classroom library, or any bookstore.

Book Review #6: The Hunger Games By Suzanne Collins

Pages: 384
In the future the USA is no longer call the USA, it's called Panem. There are no longer states, there are districts, 12 of them, the thirteenth destroyed. After a huge rebellion the officials decided to make an annual event to remind the rebels of what would happen if they were to rebel again. This event is called the Hunger Games. The Hunger Games is a "game" where each district will give two tributes from their district, one boy and one girl, to the Capitol to be put into an arena to fight to the death. Whoever is the last one standing wins and they get everlasting glory. But those other 23 tributes are dead and you have to live with that. Katniss Everdeen lives in District 12, she also lives in the worst part of District 12 called the Seam. On Reaping Day, (the day where the districts choose their tributes through a drawing) Katniss's sister Prim is called to go to be a tribute. Prim is the only person Katniss is sure she truly loves, so when Prim's name is called Katniss volunteers for her sister and she is thrown into the arena.

I couldn't put this book down. It was so good. I loved it! I borrowed this book from my English teacher and was drawn in. After the first chapter I felt completely out of my own world and in the world of Katniss Everdeen. I could see what Katniss saw and I felt what she felt.

I didn't want to put this book down. I didn't want to go to bed or pay attention in school while I read. I vanished into my book. And after finishing it I jumped right in the sequel, Catching Fire. I could connect with Katniss because of our sisters. I'm a dark haired, hard, mysterious person, and my sister is a blonde, soft, and sweet person. Just like Katniss and Prim.

In the arena it gets kind of gory and gross, so if you can't handle blood and such then I wouldn't recommend it to someone who gets queasy. However one of my friends who faints at just the sound of the word blood loved this book.

I rated this book a five out of five. Because it was written so very beautifully, Suzanne Collins is such a beautiful writer. The book was simply mesmerizing and a wonderful read. I sometimes will read my favorite parts in my spare times, just to feel the happiness I felt the first time I read it. I loved this book and I would recommend it to anyone who needs a book to read. It's such a wonderful book.