The Hate U Give

The Hate U Give
By Angie Thomas
Reviewed by Claire



I read the book, “The Hate You Give,” by Angie Thomas. It was one of the best books I have ever read. It was very well written. The book had lots of emotions and feelings. It is a long book, but it is so worth reading. I would recommend this book to anyone who is over the age of 12.

The book is about a black girl, Star who goes through lots of emotional states. She saw one of her best friends get shot, by a white police officer. She was the only one who saw it happen. The police officer claims many things about that night and they were not true. She doesn’t go to school in her neighborhood so that she would get a better education. She also is one of the two black kids in her grade, which of course makes everything hard. Her boyfriend is white, Chris, which makes her dad very mad. It also makes Star question if she should be with him. Star goes through many ups and downs and hard times in her life. Read the book to find out everything that happens to her.

The book is excellent and I would even read it again. Sadly the book is inappropriate and shouldn’t be read by anyone under twelve, but it is an amazing book and everyone should read it. It hits you in the heart and makes you really think about what these characters are going through. It is a sad, heartfelt, emotional book, full of twists and turns.

I would give this book a 5 out of 5 stars. It is very recommended from me. I think even non-readers could read this book and love it. It is sad, happy, and plain out amazing! If you haven’t read it go now and get it fast.

Speak

Speak
by Laurie Halse Anderson
Reviewed by Jayla



Melinda Sordino is a very quiet 9th-grade freshman at Merryweather High School in Central New York. She was once a popular girl with lots of friends, but now she is an outcast. At an end of the summer party, she calls the cops and they bust the place after she is attacked by IT, now no one talks to her, or even is willing to listen to her side of the story. This year IT is back and continues to taunt her, which makes her afraid and her will to speak lessens. Her only friend was the talkative new girl from Ohio, you would think that with her having a chatty friend it would encourage her to speak up more often, but as time goes by Melinda becomes more and more quiet, practically to the point of silence.

One reason I like this book is because of how effortlessly funny it is. Even though it doesn't directly tell a joke, it’s still humous because of the situations that occur. For instance, in one part of the book, it says that she was invited by Heather (the new girl from Ohio), to go to her house. Melinda, who doesn't have many friends and doesn't want to lose this one agrees to come over. While she is their Heather is going on and on about the new club she had joined (the Martha’s) and Melinda was sitting there picking lint balls off her shirt. Melinda says that when she is talking to heather all she has to do is say “that's not fair”, “I totally can relate” even when she can't and occasionally nod her head. It’s funny to me that the friend, in this case, is totally oblivious to the fact that Melinda is not listening to her and could care less about her situation.

Another thing I like about the book is that it teaches people to always speak up for yourself, especially when something as traumatizing as what happened to Melinda is going on. In the book and even the movie, I think it's a great example of how things are when she didn't talk about her problem. In the book and movie, they show Melinda as a very quiet girl who basically is excluded from the joy that should be experienced in someone's freshman year. I also would like to say that I think the movie is a good representation of the book, and that Kristen Stewart did a great job portraying Melinda’s part.

This book is written in a way that is suspenseful in a sense. In the book, you don't know what Melinda called the cops for until the end and then you understand why she was so scared of IT. In my opinion, it's like a mystery. The way that it has layers and explains why Melinda is so distant, and not your ordinary teen. The way it's layered is backward, what I mean by this is that it firsts talks about how things are after the summer, instead of talking about what caused her to change so abruptly. Then, towards the end, it tells more about the party and what occurred that led up to her calling the cop.

In conclusion, I think that Speak is an amazing book. I think that it gives you a good look into someone else’s life, and their experience. Though the book's topic is a very sensitive one, Speak explains it in a way that helps the victim to overcome. In the end, everything turns out alright, she learned to accept what happened. “IT happened. There is no avoiding it, no forgetting. No running away, or flying, or burying, or hiding” 

The Selection

The Selection
By Kiera Cass
Reviewed by Amiya



16-year-old America lived in Illea where life was great. She and her family lived as artist and musicians ranked as 5. America secretly dated Aspen who was ranked a 6 even though her mother stressed her to marry a man of higher rank like her sister. At the end of every week, Aspen would meet America in her tree house in her backyard and talk about their week, when one day America surprised Aspen with a dinner she made using money she had saved up. Aspen got upset once he realized that he wouldn’t be able to care for and treat America the way she deserved so he broke up with her and encouraged her to enter The Selection which is a group of women 16-20 years old competing for Prince Maxon of Illea and the role of the princess.

 Even though mostly all the women in Illea enter to compete only 35 women will be drafted. As a surprise to America and her family, she is drafted. After a week of preparation for the palace went by America gathered at the town hall so that her town could wish her luck while there America spots Aspen holding another girl. Infuriated, America stormed off and got into the limo taking her to the palace when Aspen tried to stop her but he was too late. On the way to the palace, America meets friends like Marlee and Alice and automatic enemies like Celeste.

Once they arrived the competition began all the selected were getting makeovers manicures and pedicures and dyeing their hair and getting fitted for their dresses. When America's turn came she refused to let them cut or dye her natural red hair, put on any nail polish on and only agreed to lite mascara. Later that night America had a panic attack and ran to the royal garden when two guards stopped her until Prince Maxon demanded that the guards let her out from that moment on Maxon and America had a friendship. After hearing America's story Maxon agreed to let her stay until the last possible moment before he had to pick a princess so that her family will continue to get paid compensation. Maxon often picked America up from her room and took her on dates to discuss the other girls and their story to see if they are unfit and should be sent home or just to get to know her better.

 Over time Maxon began to gain feelings for America and one night while hanging out in America’s room he kissed her making her feel special until hearing gossip that he had kissed other girls as well, which made their friendship rocky. Once America finally feels like she has everything under control she finds out that Aspen her ex-boyfriend is a guard at the palace. Afraid to tell Maxon because of the threat he made to punish whoever hurt America she keeps his identity a secret. Not knowing the history between the two Maxon assigns Aspen to guard America’s door at night. A day later Aspen woke America up in the middle of the night and kissed her. Torn between Maxon and Aspen America must decide on who to chose and if she should leave the competition and be with her first love or stay and be with her new love to find out who America chooses read the book.

Strengths of this book are you never get tired of reading it because there's new drama luring you in. And it plays with your emotions making you hate certain characters but fall in love with other ones. I didn’t really feel like there was a weakness to this book but one may be the fact that there a lot of pages in the book and it’s the first book in a three book series and all the books have lots of pages.

In conclusion I think The Selection is a really good book and if you like romantic books or not you should read this book.

Ghost

Ghost
By Jason Reynolds
Reviewed by Shadow

Ghost is a new book by Jason Reynolds. I couldn’t stop reading it I was entranced within its pages, that’s how good it was. All kids that have been bullied, or made fun of, or just like to read. Jason Reynolds has wrote so many good books and they keep getting better. I hope you read this book.

This book is awesome it tells a story that is about a boy named Ghost that lives in a low class neighborhood with his mom trying to stay on the track team and no more altercations so no more trouble happens at school. Just going to school is a rough time for Ghost must be hard. Running for a track team competing with other runners and getting good grades at school, and staying out of trouble is work within itself. There is a character at the end that will leave you waiting for more. This is such a great book.

 Here are some the book’s strengths and weaknesses let me show you. The strengths are that the author paints a picture of what’s happening in the book. You can feel the emotions that Ghost is feeling with every page and the plot is so easy to find with a clear climax. The weaknesses of Ghost are that it has a cliffhanger at the end. The other weakness is that the book is not detailed enough.

So do you want to read this book I loved it I hope you do to. Ghost is cool and you will
love it. The author is keen when he writes a book it is awesome read it I promise it won’t let you
down you nose will be stuck in this book flip goes the pages. So are you going to read this book,
start reading now.