Party of One: The Loners’ Manifesto

Party of One: The loners’ Manifesto, talks about how, where, and why “loners” are mistreated in the human society. Each chapter tells about a different aspect, religion, childhood, sanity, film, art, etc. Each chapter shows how, through out time, “loners” have been misunderstood and shamed. The author, Anneli Rufus, also describes herself as a loner and weaves in her own personal stories within the book. Although she exaggerates on some of the mistreatment a bit, most, if not all, of the things she says is true.

One thing I learned from this book was how shallow the human race really is. I’ve always know that people were somewhat self-centered, but this book puts it into a whole new light. One of the actions that I see “nonloners”, as Rufus puts them, exhibit is that they can’t be left out. People have labeled me many things all because they want to get “inside” of me, so to speak. The fact that I don’t let most people in, and that I prefer to be alone confuses them so they think I’m “weird”. Because I lack their same tastes and that I actually have others, confuses them. The list goes on and on.
One thing I learned about parents from this book, is that they want us to be popular. They keep on telling us that we don’t need to be popular, but yet, they pressure us to spend more time with friends, even if we bluntly refuse. They want us to have so many friends so that they can boast about us. They don’t see how some of us would rather be alone. When they do see that, be immediately think something is wrong. They think something is wrong with our mentality and send us off to therapy. My mom has tried.
Something I really liked about this book was that Rufus made sure that whoever was reading this book, knew the difference between being a loner and being an outcast. Many times, loners are outcast, but not all outcasts are loners. People tend to use those words interchangeably, and that is not correct. Many outcast are lonely, that is the exact opposite of a loner. Loners like being alone. They cannot get lonely.

When I was reading “Party of One”, I took a closer look around me and those who I associate with, and I realized that they were just that, associates, nothing more, nothing less. They were just there so I wouldn’t stand out so much, and that’s want all loners try to avoid, standing out. Reading the book, Rufus states that the whole human society has something against loners, there are constant implements that loners are crazy and should be changed, examples are Christmas cards that say that being alone is wrong, ads that imply that you can’t have a good time if you’re alone. Reading this book, I looked closer at my habits and surroundings and realized that allot of the time, Rufus was exactly right, with the ads, how I would react to somethings, even sometimes, why I react that way. Once again, there are some things, mainly the way other “nonloners” act, that she just slightly overemphasizes, but overall, she does a really good job on recording all of her observations like she did in this book.

-Tiffany P.

Beka Cooper

Beka Cooper is obviously about Beka Cooper. This story takes 200 years prior to Tamora Pierce’s quartet Song of the Lioness. Beka Cooper is a girl who is currently a Puppy, a Dog trainee. Dogs are the current police force of that time. They take care of robbers, murderers, and thugs. During this period, there is someone who is called the Shadow Snake. They demand that a person give over some type of valuable (it differs person to person) and if they don’t the Shadow Snake kidnaps one of that person’s children. They are then given another week to hand over the item. If they do not, the child is killed. There is also another case going on at the same time. There have been several secret murders that have been happening. Beka finds this out by her pigeons. The pigeons carry the ghost of the dead. All of those who have been murdered were miners for Crookshank. They were mining for stones called fire opals, rare and highly valued stones, after a certain period of time, Crookshank would have them killed. Beka has to figure out both of these cases before more are captured and then killed. But with all the unexpected twists, (what exactly is with that two-faced baker?), this will not be easy. This book is beautifully written and the ending is not one you will see…

As always, Tamora Pierce has written an absolutely amazing book. One reason why I loved this book was how well-rounded Beka Cooper was made. She has her talents and flaws. Beka is strong willed, loyal, and stubborn. She is also quick-tempered and has a great fear of speaking in front of people. Her stubbornness could also be counted as a flaw as well as a talent. While Beka does posses a bit of magic, Piece makes sure as to still make Cooper still naive. Her shyness is also a huge flaw as being that shy could potentially burden her once she becomes a Dog. The amount of twists is also quite interesting. As I said before, the ending is not something you expect. Something I like best about this book though, is that there was little to no romance. There was much action in the book, even if it did get a little slow at times, but it would always pick up.

Something that annoys me is that this is told in first-person point of view. Although Pierce does this beautifully, I’ve never really liked books in first person. There are many details that I would’ve liked to have known, but because of the first-person point of view I was not able to. Obviously, it was probably not important to the story is Pierce did not include it, but they intrigue me non the less. At the same time, Piece does a wonderful job on conveying Cooper’s thoughts onto paper and making it seem realistic. Page 524 is one page that I liked the most. Half the page is just a big inkspot. I like that because it shows some realism there, as spilling something (not just ink) could, would, and has happen.

-Tiffany

The sledding hill

“The sledding hill” by Chris Crutcher, is a book about coping with the loss of a loved one. In the book, the main character, Billy Bartholomew, is killed by a falling stack of sheet rock that he kicks out of anger for an untold reason. His best friend Eddie Profit, finds him, laying on the floor, under the sheet rock, spine crushed, only an hour after he found his dad dead in his repair shop, he died from and exsploding truck tier. Now, Eddie being the scensable kid he is, rides out to the hot spring as fast as he can and sits neck high in the warm mud the rest of the day. About a month later school starts and Eddie gets placed into the really modern literature class or R.M.L. for short. The deal with this class is that you can only read books by authors that are still alive, like J.K. Rowling or Scott Westerfield, no classics like to kill a mocking bird or grapes of wrath. Eddie likes this class because there reading a book called Warren Peace by Chris Crutcher. Yes, it sounds the same as war and peace but it’s a lot different. There are a few different main characters in it and they’re all trying to deal with their own problems. One of the characters is gay and he’s trying to figure out where he should tell everyone or just keep it to himself. One of the characters in “The sledding hill” is also gay, he read’s the book and decides to open up about it, he’s in the Christian youth group at school so, as Cruther says, it’s like being a member of the KKK and discovering your biological father is Jewish because in the youth group they preach that being gay is a sin even though but just by luck, 10% of america is gay. The book, because of it’s “questionable” language, is challenged for removal from the school library by the school board. There are 3 or 4 members of the Red Brick Church on the school board and they feel it has bad morels and is unfit to be read by the children in public school. From there the bookie takes a few unexpected turns so you’ll have to read it to find out for yourself.

I like this book because it takes a lot of unexpected turns and keeps you hooked, it starts out good and stays strong all the way to the end unlike some other books that have bad endings or begins that take 70 or more pages to get you into the story. I enjoy how the story is told by a dead kid so you get to see every angle of the story through the eyes of a dead kid who can travel at the speed of imagination, compared to light speed it’s like a nascar vs. the creation of the grand canyon, the race care being the speed of imagination and the light speed being the speed of the G.C.

One of the discussions that the characters mad was probably the stupidest discussions he’s ever made in his life and I’m not talking about billy kicking the sheet rock imminently causing his death, I’m talking about when Eddie climbed up on to the stained glass windows at church and proclaimed he was Jesus. Now, on a list of stupid things to do in a church that would probably be the top one. I mean, with all the people in there that think there’s a higher power and that you need to pry to him or her plus all the other things that go along with church the last thing you want to do is proclaim that you are Jesus in front of a whole congregation, it’s just not a good idea. I would however recommend this book to anyone looking for a good book that’s a fast read.

Peter

The Lost Boy

I read the book The Lost Boy by Dave Pelzer. This is the sequel to A Child Called “It.” This book is just a continuation of the first book, now having the young boy grow up even more, getting through all of those little problems in his life. Dave, who writes about his life experiences as a little boy, tells the reader his difficult living. David moves from home to home, never staying somewhere for a long time. He learns to trust adults and hate others. His new nickname is F-Child, (Foster Child), according to his not trusting peers. He learns more about his Foster Care life, and loves his social services worker named Ms. Gold. She helps his through many experiences, helping him get through his feelings towards his life, and his mother. David learns what expectations he must accomplish. He also feels that he can’t be taken seriously so he must go above and beyond only because he is a Foster Child. He has to prove him self. How will David learn to live? Will he every find a real life, or will he just be left in the shadows?
I liked this book because it really got into depth about all of his life growing up form the age of 12 to his 18th birthday. The book talks about his expectations, and I felt that I could really relate to what he was being asked to do. Actually, he was asked nothing, but he did everything possible. This book added some memories that were touching and and other memories that would make someone smile. I really liked this book because it really shows the reader how much courage that this writer, Dave Pelzer, must have to share his whole life story. This book may be a total of 340 pages from cover to cover, but I practically read the whole thing in a week. This is not a really hard book, you just need to keep up reading it, and not put it aside for a month.
I didn’t really like this book because someone it seemed to unreal and over exaggerated. Some times I wondered if he was just showing off in some weird way. Other times, it seemed really long and boring; only knowing that works were there on the page in front of you. This book also got confusing from time to time, him telling the reader about all of his past experiences. Though I was confused with all the names and people he was talking about, I felt that Dave felt that way too. Over all answering this question about what is disliked about this book was hard. I found most of the book very good and straight forward. I would recommend that you read this book.

Nikki
Hour: 5
5/2/08

The Sweet Far Thing

Libba Bray’s 819 page novel, The Sweet Far Thing, is the third and final book in the Gemma Doyle Trilogy. In the first two books, A Great and Terrible Beauty, and Rebel Angels, we are introduced to the character Gemma who is living in India. She is at a market and temporarily leaves her mother to later find out that she has been killed. Gemma’s world is spun around and upside down as her father then sends her to England to attend Spence Academy for girls. There she discovers her power of visions and being able to enter a place called the realms, where anything can happen. She becomes great friends with Felicity, Pippa, and Anne, who help her on her adventures. (Pippa later on eats food from the realms, and then dies in the real world and stays to live in the realms.) The plot for this book then begins with Gemma trying to keep her back perfectly straight as Mrs. Nightwing tries to teach the girls how to become proper ladies. At the same time, some builders are renovating the East Wing, which burned down in a fire years ago because of Gemma’s mother and Circe. Gemma has bound all of the realm’s powers to herself, because Circe, the enemy to all of the realms, would have taken it. Now months later after the binding, Gemma finds that she can no longer enter the realms with her powers, and she is afraid that perhaps they have left her for good. Throughout the book, Gemma is getting ready for her debut, a time in the 1800’s when girls would look for potential husbands, but she is distracted by odd visions of a women in a purple dress who seems to be sending her messages. Once the East Wing is partially completed, Gemma finds a door in the foundations that allows herself to enter the realms once again. The realms don’t seem in danger, yet there is something peculiar about them. Creatures crowd around her trying to get a taste of magic, and she ends up giving alliances to tribes of the realms, when she doesn’t want to. It seems that everyone wants something from Gemma, and she doesn’t feel like she can trust anyone. Felicity wants the magic to ensure she will get her fortune from a relative, so that she will be able to live a free life in France, and Anne wishes to use the magic to get out of becoming a governess for her horrible cousins. Because of this, they urge Gemma not to give away the magic, but the tribes of the realms grow angrier by each chapter that Gemma doesn’t share the power. Soon, a new teacher comes to Spence by the name of Miss McCleethy, and the girls think she is Circe because her name spells out to be “I am Circe.” Felicity, Anne, and Gemma learn though that Miss McCleethy is actually part of the Order, and wants to get the magic back to the Order. Later on, as they continue to travel to the realms, they find their friend Pippa who was lost, living with a group of factory workers in a castle. Gemma isn’t sure that Pippa can be trusted either, once she starts getting magic of her own and her teeth become pointed… I won’t reveal to you the end of the book, but I will mention that Gemma is forced to make a decision that will affect the entire world. Mixed with emotions, and different facts from different people and things, this is a decision that might kill in the process.

There is never a specific mood that envelopes the whole book, simply because of the immense amount of plot changes. At one moment Anne is sad and crying about becoming a governess, and the next moment she is at a play watching her favorite American actress, Lily Trimble, laughing along. The book shows the emotions of love, happiness, joy, hate, fear, and utter panic. Though when in the realms I always felt a sense of something dark brooding about, and I could never really feel at ease when the girls made rocks turn into butterflies, or have little parties and dances at the castle, ignorant of danger. The creatures of the realms always appeared to be happy, beautiful, and lovely on the outside, but once Gemma realized their inner desires and true motives, they seemed sinister and gaunt-like in their hunger for magic showed.

I thought this book was WONDERFUL, even with such dark moods at times! The descriptions and characters were so involved and intricate, that I was never bored of a single sentence. The plot is very complex, and with this there are numerous plot twists and turns that I would have never expected. This is the type of book that once you pick it up, you can never put it down until you’re finished. But I must warn you NOT to read the last 75-50 pages in any public place or with anyone around, because it’s definitely a tear-jerker. I cried for quite some time and couldn’t stop thinking about it for almost week after I read it. Did this make me not enjoy the book as much? Perhaps I still wish that it would have ended differently, but it if had, it wouldn’t have been as powerful. This book is a love story that intertwined with adventure and mystery, that can have you confused at times. It was hard to tell who exactly to trust, such as Miss McCleethy who sometimes seemed like an angel or a demon. But in the end there is a great sense of comradeship that makes you proud of the characters joining together. Joining together in what, I will not say, but it involves a battle between two worlds!

Overall, I would consider this trilogy to be even greater than the Harry Potter series, a claim no other book could perhaps have. The deep love Gemma and Kartik have for each other is so sweet that it is sad this could only be a fictional tale. I would most definitely recommend this book to any person who wishes for a book about magic, adventure, and love.

Review by Nicole

Great and Terrible Beauty

Gemma Doyle, a teenage girl, is determined to leave India and return to London for an education and a proper upbringing, contradicting what her mother wants for her. On her sixteenth birthday, Gemma and her mother are walking through the Bombay market when the two encounter a man and his younger brother. The one of the men relays an unknown message to Gemma’s mother, who panics and demands that Gemma return home. Becoming angry at her mother’s secrecy, Gemma runs away, and has a vision of her mother committing suicide while yelling “Gemma”. She later becomes haunted with the images of her mother’s death.
With her mother dead and her father’s growing addiction to laudanum, Gemma is shipped off to a finishing school near London, Spence Academy for Young Ladies. At first, Gemma is an outcast at the school; however, she soon finds the most popular and influential girl in school, Felicity, in a compromising situation that would ruin Felicity’s reputation. Gemma agrees not to tell Felicity’s secret and the girls soon form a strong friendship, along with Gemma’s roommate Ann, and Felicity’s best friend, Pippa. But Gemma is still tormented with her visions and is warned by the young man from the market, Kartik, a member of an ancient group of men known as the Rakshana, dating all the way back to Charlemagne, that she must close her mind to these visions or something horrible will happen.
During one of her visions Gemma is led into the caves that border the school grounds. There, she finds a diary written 25 years earlier by a 16-year-old girl named Mary Dowd who also attended Spence Academy and seemed to suffer from the same visions as Gemma. While reading the diary, Gemma learns of an ancient group called the Order and becomes convinced that her visions are linked to it. Members of the Order could open a door between the human world and other realms, help spirits cross over into the afterlife, and also possessed the powers of prophecy, clairvoyance, and what was considered the greatest force of all, the ability to weave illusions. Gemma, Felicity, Pippa and Ann decide to create their own Order in the caves to escape from the monotone lives that they are expected to lead.
As the girls read further and further into the diary of Mary Dowd they realize that the actual Order existed at Spence Academy and that Mary was a part of it along with her best friend Sarah Reese-Toome and the original Headmistress Eugenia Spence, who all died in a fire at the school. Gemma tells her friends the truth about her powers and together they travel to the realms. There Gemma finds her mother alive and well and the girls find that they can achieve their hearts’ desires. Gemma wishes for self-knowledge, Felicity for power, Pippa for true love and Ann for beauty. The girls continue to sneak out to the caves in the middle of the night and visit the realms. However, Gemma’s mother warns them not to take the magic back into their own world, for if the magic leaves the realms, the evil sorceress Circe will be able to find Gemma and will kill her, leaving the realms unguarded.
The girls listen to Gemma’s mother, but after a time they are no longer content to only have power in the realms. The girls decide to take the magic back with them and have fun around the school with it, but find out that the magic is also evil. Then, Gemma learns that Mary Dowd’s best friend Sarah is actually Circe, and that the two of them had committed an unspeakable crime together: they killed Mother Elena – the gypsy’s – daughter Carolina. Shocked, Gemma also learns that Sarah never died in the fire. When she and her friends look for a photo of Sarah and Mary, Gemma finds the picture in the school behind the photo of the class of 1872, and is shocked to see her mother’s face with the name Mary Dowd under it. Gemma goes into the realms to find her mother and have her explain what happened all those years ago and why she did what she did. Muhahahahaha

I really enjoyed reading this book. I think that it had a very well planed out plot and never got dull. The only thing that I did not like very much was that some of the times they switched back and forth between Spence and other time periods and not knowing that got me really confused some times. Another thing that I liked about the book was that there was not always only one problem. That sounds strange but I think that if there is more then one thing that the character has to deal with the more suspense and some times empathy you have for that character. One thing in the book that was a like unclear was the description that they gave of the characters. Some of them where very well described like Gemma and Pippa but others like Felicity and Anne, you did not really know what they looked like and never found out.

Some of the characters in the book are Gemma, Anne, Felicity, Pippa, and Kartik. Gemma as you may have already learned is a teenage girl maybe 16 or 17 that grew up in India with her mother. She is outspoken and has some very witty come backs. Anne is Gemma room mate I guess you could say. Anne is a very shy girl and the only reason that she came to Spence was because her parents died and she had no where else to go. She is a little bigger and does not have a lot of money since her parents are no longer alive and she has no siblings, the only money that she has is the amount that she made before she came to Spence. Felicity is a very popular girl and has gobs of money. She can be a little no a lot snippy sometimes, and thinks that she should always have her way. Little does anyone know she has had some very hard times at home uh-oh. Pippa is Felicity BFFL (best friend for life *lame*) she is a little quieter then Felicity but also has a lot of money. Her parents do not think that she should be able to chose her husband so they do is for her *british accent* he is dreadful and his last name is Bumble who would want to marry him?!. Kartik is well, strange. He is around 20 I think and is is a gypsy. Him and Gemma like each other a little but her is elusive.

The setting is in India in the begging and around page 25 Gemma goes to England. I believe that this is in the early 1900’s because the diary that she found was 30 years old and it was in the 1870’s. The main setting is Spence Academy, a finishing school for girl (waste of time in my opinion). I know that these are early times because the girls are still wearing corsets. Women stooped wearing them in the 1920’s after to many people died from suffocation. The setting influences the story a lot because being in a school means that if you got stoned or drunk down in the cave last night then everyone in French class is going to know when you come tottering in with blood shot eyes and slurred speech.

That is my review for A Great and Terrible Beauty. I give it a 9 out of 10 and can not wait to read the next 2 books in the series.

- SARAH

The Wizard Heir

The Wizard Heir

Joseph McCauley never really had a family, all he had was a foster mother, and a guardian that he had never really met. Joseph is also a wizard, untrained at that. Many bad things happen around Seph in the beginning of the book. Seph is at a party, where he meets another wizard like himself, but she gives him a drink that makes his power go wild. He burns that building down, along with it one of his close friends.
The authorities ask Seph to leave the city, so Seph so called guardian enrolls him in a private school in Maine. Seph, without trying to, revels that he is a wizard to the headmaster. The headmaster, Gregory Leicester approaches Seph, and tells him that he can help train him, but only if he absolutely committed. Leicester tries to force Seph to perform a ritual that will link them together joining their magic, and basically making Seph Leicester slave. Seph flat out refuses, and in doing so he has made many enemies at his new school.
The headmaster continually tortures Seph with horrible nightmares, day and night. When Seph is just about to crack, he meets another student very much like himself. Jason Haley. Jason like Seph refused to join with Leicester, and he and Seph become good friends. Jason teaches Seph how to control, and use his magic, but he also shows him how to in essence leave his body so that he can actually get some sleep. Leicester finds out that Jason is helping Seph, so he leaves. Leicester later tells Seph that he killed Jason. Seph finds a way to send a desperate e-mail out to people.
Linda Downey comes to get him, and charms the headmaster into letting them leave. Linda is an enchanter. She takes Seph to a place called Trinity, Ohio, which has been made a sanctuary where no black magic can be performed. Seph settles into a good life there, after all that he has been through.
Despite the sanctuary Seph is still being attacked by Leicester and his Alumni, his slaves in essence, whenever he leaves the sanctuary. On a sailboat outing with his friends, a storm over takes them and Seph, convinced its after him jumps overboard into a small raft. He floats to an island where he is again capture by Leicester.
What will happen to Seph? Will he make it out alive, or will he die in Leicester’s prison? Will he ever find out who his parents are, is it really true that they are dead? You will just have to read it to find out.

I really loved the book The Wizard Heir. It was a fantastic book, and I whipped right on through it, it’s the type of book that you can’t put down. Once you start it you have to finish it. The book, to me was really interesting because it is actually the second in a series, the first of which is The Warrior Heir. I recommend both books, but also you need to start with the first one to understand this one. I’m really into the wizardry thing, and warrior thing so that is why this book was really good for me. The book itself is kind of a action, mystery type plot, so if you are into that than you would probably like this book as well. This book, I think will appeal to many different varieties of readers as it includes many different themes, and genres that a lot of people are interested in.
There are many different characters in the book, and they all in one way or another have something in common, this could be the fact that almost all of the main characters in the book have magical powers, or it could just be that many of them have had similar experiences, tragedy, and loss, ect. You learn a lot about the characters and you feel as if you are really there experiencing what the characters are experiencing. It makes me feel like I can just jump right into the book and become one of the characters, because the author, Cinda Williams Chima, gives you such an insight into the characters life, and she makes the characters seem so much more real. So if you think that this book sounds good, I highly recommend that you read it, but I would advise you to start with the first book in to series that I mentioned earlier, because it gives you a lot of background information that you will need to know to have this book make any sense to you. I highly recommend that you read this book.
Review by: Abby

The People of Sparks

This story is a sequel to the book “The City of Ember”. The book “The people of Sparks is about a city who undergo different problems in their new life. The people of ember just came out from living underground where their city was destroyed. But have no idea how to survive on the surface. Wandering for days, exhausted and hungry, they come across the village of Sparks. The city takes in the city, knowing that they have too, but don’t really want to give up their food and shelter. They only agree to keep the people of Ember just long enough to teach them to survive on their own. But food is tight, the Emberites don’t seem to know anything, and the villagers soon begin to get mad and resent having to take care of them. Also mysterious acts of vandalism heightens the anger on both sides, until conflict seems inevitable. The people of Ember feel like they are slaves to the people of sparks. People fight, people leave and don’t come back, can the two cities put aside their differences, or will it become so terrible that their only choice is war.

I really liked this book. The first book, “The city of Ember” was really captivating and interesting. They had a really interesting plot that was different and interesting. The author was really descriptive to. The same goes for “The people of Sparks”. I felt I couldn’t put the book down. It always had a new problem or new conflict that needed to be resolved, so you never got board with the same thing. I felt she really connected with the characters too. You could always be really connected with the characters and feel like their feeling. I feel a lot of people will enjoy this book.

~Bridget

A Child Called ‘It’

I recently read the book, “A Child Called ‘It’,” by Dave Pelzer. This book was about Dave’s childhood as a young boy trying to survive with his abusive and alcoholic mother. At first Dave says that things were not always bad, there was a time when his mother was nice and the whole family got along in a loving manner. When he had to retake first grade again was when things got really tough. Dave was treated like a slave, forced to do all the chores in a time limit. If he did not finish in time his punishment would be no food for days, server beatings, or whatever else his wicked mother could come up with as torture. Dave’s mother was cruel to him but Dave knew he could always turn to his father for help. After a beating his father would become furious and yelled at Dave’s mother. Though his father never won Dave still had hope in him. Dave had the most faith in his father because he thought that his father was the only person who really treated him as a real person and as part of the family. Dave had hard times at school as well as at home. Since he never was fed at home, he stole from the other students lunches before school. His mother soon learned of this and made him run to school so he had no time for stealing. Dave also struggled with having to be made fun of because he always smelly due to his clothes that he has to wear everyday, without being washed. David got some new ways of getting food while he was away so his mother forced him to throw it all up to make sure his stomach was empty. Dave’s father soon was almost never home from his job as a firefighter. When he did see his dad he was usually drunk and went to bed early, packing a night bag in the morning right before he left for the next 3 or so days. Dave knew that his parents were growing farther and farther apart he just did not know when would be the time he would be stranded with his mother with no savior or hero by his side. If you want to find out what ends up happen to Dave in the end I suggest you read this book.

I really liked this book because it made me realize how lucky I am. This book also showed how cruel people can be to one person but be super nice and sweet to another. Through out the book I felt as if I was actually part or the book, with my eyes glued to the pages. Personally I also had a bad feeling when I read the book like I was a witness and he was blaming me as he wrote the story and his experiences in life. Dave as a young boy is very sweet and nice which is easily described in the story but changes to an outcast but is still strong inside as the story progresses showing me that people don’t change people, but people change themselves.

I did some research when I was done reading the book, to find out that some of his family members don’t truly agree with all the things that he said. His oldest brother said that he was included in everything and was known to make things up because of his need for attention. Though I got the feeling that his all family had turned on him once he had turned about 12 years old, I was not too sure to believe the statement made about Dave. The overall mood of the story was sad and left an awful feeling in the pit of my stomach. I wanted to leave the book behind at times and move on, but at other times I never wanted to set it down because I wanted to be with Dave helping him overcome the beatings. The story’s end is at the book’s beginning with the rest of the book explaining the ending. It is kind of a cliff hanger but that must be why he wrote two more books as sequels. This book is very good and I would recommend it to any one who can deal with pain and know that this will hopefully never happen to you.

By: Nikki S.

The Skin I’m In (sample blog entry)

I recently read the book “The Skin I’m In” by Sharon Flake. I really liked this book. It was about a 7th grade girl,Maleeka, who has a lot of problems. She gets teased because her skin is darker than most people’s, there is a nosy teacher who is always trying to meddle in her life, she is bullied by some mean kids at school, her father died and her mother is not handling that loss well, and her friends are really just using her to do their homework.

But not everything is terrible for Maleeka. She has a friend, Sweets, and things start to go better with Caleb, a boy she likes. She remembers how very much her father loved her, and that nosy teacher, Ms. Saunders, is really just trying to help. Maleeka is super smart and she wants to do well in school. The book is the story of Maleeka learning how to stand up for herself, use her talents, and be the kind of person she wants to be.

The book was written from Maleeka’s point of view, so it is written the way she would actually talk. I liked that. It made it easy and fun to read. But I also liked that I could relate to some of the stuff Maleeka was going through. It gave me something to think about. If you like realistic stories about kids with problems, you’d like “The Skin I’m In.”