Response on Fallout

            In the interesting novel Fallout by Ellen Hopkins there are three main characters. The three main characters are Hunter, Autumn, and Summer. They have no idea about each other but they have one very important thing that is common between them. That is their mother. Each of them has the same mother, whose name is Kristina. Their lives are broken up one way or another. Kristina, their mother, started taking crystal meth and it broke up all of their lives.

            Hunter, Autumn, and Summer have different problems. None of them want to follow their mother footsteps but they follow in one way or another. At the end they all plan on meeting each other. They know nothing about each other except that they all have the same mother. They found out that they were siblings right before they were about to meet each other. They all want happiness but when they see their mother all they see is themselves.  

Response on "Burned"

I just finished the really interesting book Burned by Ellen Hopkins. This was a really good book. Some times it did get a little boring but that was in very few parts through out the book. I would recommend this book to anyone. The way the author writes this book is amazing. The main character Pattyn has many problems but you could summarize this into one big problem. I don’t want to give it away to those who want to read this book but there are many stages in this book with different problems.

At first Pattyn trusts the wrong person. She trusts Derek and thinks that he actually loved her but he was just using her. This led to another problem. She started to misbehave with her parents. After Derek left her when her dad found out she started yelling at her parents and behaving very badly in school. Being with Derek affected her a lot. She didn’t care about being good anymore she reacted like she wanted to.

When she moved to her aunt’s house she found Ethan who actually loved her and showed her how the world was like. She discovered the world outside of her father’s harsh rules. She lived the way she wanted and actually controlled herself. In the end her father and community ruined her life but I won’t give that away. It was a really good book and I think girls should read because I think that it teaches a really good lesson. It shows you that you shouldn’t really trust everyone.

Response on "The Bean Trees"

I just finished the marvelous novel The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver. This was a really interesting book even though it doesn't look like it from the cover. (Never judge a book by its cover). In the beginning, it's about two different people in two different places. Between the beginning and the middle, they become a family and the story just becomes one. This book is about Taylor Greer (whose actual name was Marietta) and Lou Ann Ruiz and Taylor's daughter Turtle (whose actual name is April Turtle Greer) and Lou Ann's son Dwayne Ray. Taylor and Lou Ann have many hardships that they help each other to solve.

Taylor has the most problems in my opinion. Some lady came up to Taylor's car and gave her Turtle saying that it was her dead sister's daughter. Taylor didn't want to take her but the woman forced her too. When she took Turtle to the doctor later on in the book, the doctor said that Turtle was closer to three, had fractures, and that she may have been molested. Over the time Taylor was taking Turtle to the therapist, it had come to the attention of the Child Protection Services Division of the Department of Economic Security that Taylor had no legal claim on Turtle. Taylor didn't even have any legal papers or know anyone from Turtle's real family. She went out in the search of the family.

Lou Ann Ruiz doesn't have that many problems. She just has problems with her husband. Her husband left her and she can't seem to go on. He comes back once in a while and gives checks but she still loves him. He even says he wants a divorce but Lou Ann can't go on. She can't even get herself to tell her mother that she and him aren't living together anymore. She just sulks around and takes care of Dwayne Ray. When she gets a job she finally takes her mind off of him and moves on in a way. I really liked this book and I would recommend it to anyone. Just don't judge it by its cover.

Response on "The Star Fisher"

I just finished the book The Star Fisher which I probably read for like the 5^th time. I really liked this book. It’s about a Chinese family moving from Ohio to West Virginia. They move to the town Clarksburg and try to fit in. The problem is that Clarksburg has never had any Chinese immigrants settle there before.

The main character of the story is Joan Lee. She’s American and speaks English fluently but everyone judges her from the outside. When they see her, they recognize her as a Chinese foreigner. Her family also gets treated badly. Many people destroy their home and yell at the family to go back to their country. Joan Lee’s money tries to fit in by learning English from their neighbor who treats them with a lot of respect.

Joan Lee becomes to be friends with Bernice and starts to fit in with the other girls too. The mother baked for a pie auction and people in the neighborhood started to know her much better. The family was known as friends to some and neighbors to others but no longer foreigners.

Response on "Abhorsen"

I recently finished the book Abhorsen by Garth Nix. It is about a girl named Lirael who is the daughter of the Clayr, Remembrancer, and the Abhorsen in waiting. She has to destroy Orannis the destroyer before he destroys all life. She uses the help of her companions that were on the journey with her from the previous book Lirael. She has to go through many dangerous scenes before reaching her destination to even destroy Orannis. She has to go into death as a Remembrancer to find out what she needs in order to destroy Orannis. Through all of this they face some very scary things.

Sam, one of Lirael’s companions, was told that his parents were dead by a bomb.  Sam had try face that thought and try to continue his journey to try to destroy the Destroyer. He almost tried to give up because his parents were dead. His Aunt Lirael got him to continue and not give up because she knew there was a chance in defeating the destroyer. He then continued and when he was about to defeat the destroyer he found out that his parents were actually alive.

They fought many other scary things but if I tell you it would spoil the whole book for anyone who might want to read this book. This book is actually not my type but I actually enjoyed it because of all the suspense. I think if anyone is interested in like fantasy or possibly sci-fi they would enjoy this book.

Response on "Forever"

            I just finished the book Forever by Maggie Stiefvater which I figured out is actually a good book. From the cover and the blurb on the back I really didn’t think it was going to be a good book but it actually was. The main characters; Sam, Grace, Cole, Isabel, and Rachel; taught some very important lessons. Some people might think that this book is useless but it actually teaches a lesson.

Grace had everyone thinking that she had disappeared but she wasn’t. She just didn’t want everyone to know that she was a wolf and so was her boyfriend Sam. She didn’t even want to tell her parents. When Sam got taken in to be questioned about Grace’s disappearance, Grace said she wanted to tell the public that she was still alive and show them that she hadn’t left. Sam didn’t want her to tell everyone because then it might lead to everyone finding out that she was a wolf. Grace said that it’s better than Sam possibly going to jail for being accused of doing something to Grace. Grace was ready to give up her happiness to get someone to stay out of trouble and that should happen in this world too between people.

When Grace revealed to her friend, Rachel, that she is a wolf Rachel was first shocked and thought she was joking. She even said that if Grace is a wolf, she’s a zebra. That was her first reaction but later on she actually accepted. She didn’t stop talking to Grace or even avoid her; she accepted her and continued to be best friends with her. It just shows that is you’re friends with someone and know that they’re trustworthy, you should accept them however they are.

Sam was fighting with Shelby while they were both in wolf form, Cole sensed that Sam wouldn’t win and would go down. He shifted into a wolf, told Sam to leave with the rest of the pack, and fought Shelby. He knew Sam so well because he was friends with him and lived with him that he didn’t want him to die. He was ready to sacrifice his life for him. That’s how close their friendship was. It shows how if you really love someone, you should be ready to sacrifice something for them if not your life.

Isabel saw that Cole went down, while fighting Shelby in wolf form, because of people in helicopters shooting at him. She thought that he was dead and didn’t want it to happen to the rest of the wolves. She thought that since she couldn’t save Cole’s life she should save all the other wolf lives that were in danger because of the people, including her father, who were trying to wipe them out. She drove to the middle of the clearing where the people were shooting at from the helicopters and she looked up at the helicopter through her sunroof and looked up at the helicopter until they saw her. The shooting stopped and her father texted her to get out of there but she told him not until he did and stared at the helicopter until the wolves got out of the way. She risked her getting punished for other peoples’ (who turn into wolves) lives. This doesn’t happen that often in this world because people aren’t that close or they are too selfish.

These are very important lessons that are for people everywhere. They are shown through a book that people might think is useless it actually isn’t. It’s actually very interesting. I think that these lessons were what the author might have been trying to get through to the reader. I just really want to read the other books written by Maggie Stiefvater.

Response to Lirael

          I recently finished the book Lirael by Garth Nix. The book is about a daughter of the Clayr named Lirael. Lirael turns fourteen and is eager to get her Sight. Unfortunately, the Sight does not come to her. The Sight is very important to her because it is the Clayr’s birthright. To take her mind off of the concept of the Sight, the Clayr let Lirael work in the library. In the library Lirael finds out something that leads her to a risky journey. Throughout the whole journey she keeps up her act of braveness even though inside she’s only an innocent girl who wants the Sight.

          She acts very brave in many parts of the book. One example is at the end of the beginning where Lirael was exploring the older levels of the library. She was about to enter a room when she sensed free magic. Free magic is a very dangerous type of magic and is forbidden. She was very scared but she still entered and she found something that would lead to a sudden turn in events to her life. Another part where she acted brave was when she was on her journey with Prince Sameth. There was something dangerous that they were approaching and many people were dying. They figured out that free magic was involved. They were all scared but Lirael took the first step. She grabbed her sword and she went to approach and fight off the danger. There were several other moments where she acted really brave.

          Lirael kept up her act of braveness throughout the entire book. She acted brave to keep the people she knew safe and to fulfill the goals the Clayr gave her. Let’s see if she keeps up her braveness in the next book Abhorsen.