Update: "Maus I..." by Art Spiegelman

Maus I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History is a book chronicling the true story of the author's father's life during the Nazi occupation of Poland and the Holocaust during World War II.

I love this book so far. I really can't wait to read the next on, and I'm sad that I'm almost done with this one. The art is so detailed and enthralling, and the story is so real. The illustrations make obvious symbols that somehow don't make the story as disturbing, but still holds that terrible truths behind it.

For example, the clear "cat and mouse" illustrations represent the way the Nazi's came after the pretty much helpless Jews. They played with them when they were around them like a cat plays with it's prey. This symbol, and others like it, make the story have a deeper meaning, but also, in my opinion, make the book slightly less disturbing for younger readers who may not be comfortable with the Holocaust in detail.

The animals playing the parts of humans also make the book easier to read and follow for younger readers like me, and engaging. Though I think I would be able to understand the plot okay, the physical change in appearance helps me distinguish and label characters in the story.

I would like to know why the other nationalities and ethnicities are represented as such. Like why are the Poles pigs? Was there any specific reasoning, like with the cats and Nazi's and Jewish people as mice (or rats, I can't really tell). I also thought I saw a frog and a lizard in a scene where a party was happening. Maybe more animals will be featured in the next book, or at the end of this one. Until then, read on!

"Anya's Ghost" by Vera Brosgol

**Lots of Spoilers!**

Anya's Ghost, by Vera Brosgol is a graphic novel about a girl named Anya. Anya is ashamed about standing out in her little New England town, which includes hiding her hard to pronounce Russian last name and keeping the secret that she used to have a weird accent in kindergarten before she went to ESL, let alone dieting to keep off her muffin top. When Anya falls down an old well to discover a 98-year old body of a young woman, she's scared, yeah. But what's scarier is that the ghost of this certain corpse, named Emily Reilly, starts following Anya around...

This is the first graphic novel I read this year, and I'm insanely happy with this book. The story and artistic design of the book was awesome and really entertaining to read. It was dark, but not dark enough to give me nightmares. It also had a nice neat message to all us teenage girls in there. I especially connected with Anya.

The book starts off with Anya being really self-conscious, and not a very nice person. She wants to be accepted by the "cool" crowds at school, and does stuff she doesn't want to do, like smoking or dieting so she can work towards that. She is so embarrassed about her family and heritage, which is a giant part of who someone is, that she lies about her last name.

When Emily's character comes in, this pushes Anya to become the person she wants to be, because now she basically knows everything she could hope to. She has her own personal spy. But this also shows Anya the bad side of the "cool" kids. Sure, Anya may not be popular, but she doesn't cheat on her boyfriend like Sean, Anya's crush, did to his girlfriend Elizabeth. Anya has people she can trust. There's a bad side to everything, and you can't want one part of it and not the whole package.

a little preview of the art style :)

This is what makes Emily's character the antagonist in the end (or the past? I don't know). She can't accept that she can't have what she wants, like Anya did after the party at Matt's house, so Emily snapped. She killed her crush and his girlfriend then died, kind of in the spirit of karma. When she tries to live her life through Anya and that doesn't go the way she wanted it to either, she snaps again, and returns to violence as an answer. Only when Anya explains that you have to be happy with what you have and that you can't have everything you want is when Emily realizes all she's done and leaves the Earth.

Elizabeth, queen bee at Anya's high school, almost did the opposite of Emily, she found out Sean's unfaithfulness and that she couldn't get him the way she wanted, but instead of snapping, she bent so she could still "have" Sean and the image that came with him. She sits idly by while Sean hooks up with other girls. Elizabeth bent so far she broke in a different sense.

 I love the illustration too, because it's simple, but descriptive and clear. The color palate is awesome, matches the story perfectly.

Overall, this was a AMAZING book, with an excellent message. You have to be happy with what you have, and make the best of it. I recommend this book to Neil Gaiman and Hellboy fans and anyone (especially girls) who like a good, dark comic book.

"Out of Sight, Out of Time" by Ally Carter

**Spoilers!!**

Out of Sight, Out of Time, by Ally Carter, is the fifth book in the Gallagher Girls book series. In the last book, Cammie made her decision to leave Gallagher Academy, in hopes to find answers to why the secretive Circle of Cavan wants her, and to protect those around her. The book begins with Cammie waking up in a nunnery in the Alps with no memory of her summer, and her whole appearance changed. Cammie has to figure out what she found out over the summer to lead her there, and how to get back to her home and her old self.

Okay, as I said in the last post, GIRLY BOOK! However, though with a jokey premise and general characterizations for each character (the smart one, the tough/sexy one, the invisible one, the fashionable one), these books continue to amaze and impress me.

The best part of this book was Cammie's character development. She goes through the stage that every character in a series, in my opinion, goes through, her break. After years of being comfortable with herself and her position, she continues to leave her "invisible" shell that she started to exit in the last book, and has to reassure herself. The confirmed loss of her father, her memory loss, and the attitude towards her from her friends all shake Cammie really deeply. She has to reestablish herself as a character. Breaks like this happen in the end of the Hunger Games, Twilight, Percy Jackson, Lord of the Rings, and all other strong series that have been very popular. This gives the reader a refreshing take on the character and doesn't bore them with the same thing in every book.

Cammie's development in this book also has to do with identity and finding herself, as the last book did. Her memory loss makes her lose the idea of who she is, mostly because of the things she doesn't know she did. She ends up knowing how to assemble a rifle, having torture scars, and just being a more emotionally fragile person. The affect this has on her friends and her general sanity makes her have to start from scratch again with her personality. The death of her father also makes her reassess her life. She was content with just not knowing where her father was and assuming he was dead, but not wanting to confirm it. The change in her lifestyle made her break further. The affect it had on her sanity and her friends was really intense and interesting to read.

The more mature and dark content of this book also makes me very happy with this series. Percy Jackson, another book made for kids (also published by Disney-Hyperion), starts out very kid-like, but matures as the series and characters do. You think that Carter would have dealt with this sooner, but death is large part of the books, due to the situation with Cam's father, and in spies life. Cammie kills men, loses friends, almost commits suicide (though through hypnotism), loses herself and deals with her dad's death in this book.

Of course, there are  aspects of the series that will be silly and unrealistic, and there will always be. I cannot stress enough that this is a book for tweenage girls. But by far, this book impressed me the most in the series so far. The action and pacing stay AMAZING, and the characters still hold their intensity and snarky-ness, with believable with problems and reactions that you can relate to. Five Stars!

"Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover" by Ally Carter

**Spoilers!**

In Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover, the third of the Gallagher Girls series by Ally Carter, Cammie and Macey are subjects of a kidnapping attempt over the summer break between their sophomore and junior years. Shaken up more than they have ever been, even for girls who go to a top secret book for aspiring female covert operatives, Cammie has to deal with the trauma and try to protect Macey as best as she can from the same danger as Macey's family goes on campaign for Macey's father's presidency, while trying not to break to many rules.

I know, this book is kind of cheesy and a little lame. THEY'RE MY LITTLE SECRET. I think these books are really fun to read, and though they do not lack in the cheese sometimes, they are well written and always have more than just action and female-empowering main characters.

For one thing, the theme of "fitting in" has a lot to do with this installment of the book. Even the title, Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover, is talking about how people put on facades for other people. Everyone acts differently around people sometimes, whether you're trying to impress your friends or trying to fit in. The characters in books obviously use covers, mostly as spies, but with example like Macey, she uses them to make her family proud and to do what they want her to do.

The book also deals with losing control of your "cover." An example of this is Cammie is feeling less and less like her trade marked Chameleon nickname, and has to deal with what it's like to stand out, even if it's for a good reason. Macey also deals with fitting in. Even though she has friends, she's two years behind them academically, and as mentioned in the last part of the book, only went to Gallagher Academy because she was a descendant of Gilly Gallagher, and she starts to lose her "cool girl" personality when she shows her real emotions.

I think this book is great example of how not only super-serious books can have great meaning. The characters are believable and fun to follow along, and the series builds up mystery and tension as you read along. I liked this book especially because of the amount of action in it. I love books with good fighting scenes! Can't wait to read the next one.

"Cinder" by Marissa Meyer

**Slight Spoilers!**

Cinder, by Marissa Meyer, is a futuristic sci-fi retelling of the classic fairy tale Cinderella. Cinder is a cyborg mechanic in New Beijing far in the future. Adopted by her current family from Europe when she was eleven, Cinder has been forced to work for her stay since her adoptive father died fromt the fatal disease lemutosis, or the blue fever. Lemutosis has reached epidemic outbreak levels in the Eastern Commonwealth.  Cinder, with her natural affinity for technology, has risen to become the best mechanic in New Beijing, even with her second class citizen position as a cyborg. When the handsome and charming crown prince Kai comes to her shop with an android containing mysterious intel, she begins to learn that not everything is as it seems about her past.

I LOVED this book so much. For one thing, I love spins on stories. Creative retelling is something I like. It adds a new level to the story. I find that it's also just really fun to read and point out the little reference to the story. I also like spin-off books for this reason. Meyer creates a vivid world that I just want to know more about. Even stuff in real life I wouldn't really be interested in I want to know, like details about the history of each country (all 7 of them), where their borders end, their full relationship with the Lunars, and whether they colonized any other planets. I really liked the characters in this book as well. Cinder is strong as a character, but also has normal wishes and wants. Because she's a cyborg, it makes you want to root for her even more.

The book, because mainly of the cyborg issue, deals with discrimination as well. I would think that people who were part-mechanical (cyborg), though they would be strange, would be accepted. Cinder says in the book all cyborgs were basically just the way they were because of a nearly fatal accident. I would think that because they're not using their condition for their personal advancement, no one would have a problem. This is a little like the discrimination after the Civil Rights Act was passed. The African Americans were still treated badly, though now, legally, they could do whatever white people in American could. I guess even in the future, people are afraid of what they don't understand.

Just a note, I love that the author was a Sailor Moon fan fiction writer before she even published this book, which is her first book. I love the subtle Sailor Moon references too... people with "magical" powers who live on the moon... have a lost princess who lives on Earth... it's awesome.

The next books are equally as exciting as this one. Though, since it's a new series, I have to wait for them to come out (which is the problem with reading new series), they're supposed to be about Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, then Snow White. I'm getting pumped just thinking about it...

I can't wait for Scarlet, the next book in the Lunar Chronicles, to come out in February 2013. I already pre-ordered it, but I'm dying without knowing what happens. I have literally read the first chapter preview twenty times. I recommend this to fans of Wither, Hunger Games, and other futuristic books that follow that pattern... except this one has better characters and background.

"The Statistical Probability of Falling in Love at First Sight" by Jennifer E. Smith

**Slight Spoilers!**

I thought the book The Statistical Probability of Falling in Love at First Sight was a cute book. It had enough emotions and development that it was realistic and that you could relate to the characters, but I wouldn't call it my favorite book.

First of all, it was only set over a day, which is okay, I guess, but it just made the book go by faster for me. It's not like it had timeline issues, but it was just really a quick read for me.

It was a fairly straightforward book too, and didn't have a lot of deep symbols, and didn't deal with issues that are hard to wrap my mind around. I did like that Smith did include issues in the book, like Hadley dealing with her parent's divorce and her father's remarriage, and Oliver's issues with his parents. It wasn't just a random love story with no point.

I predicted almost of all that was going to happen, but was slightly surprised at her losing Oliver after she arrived at Heathrow, which was nice. I mean, obviously, they end up together at the end, or else why would they be kissing on the cover (besides the little airport make-out)? I recommend this to people who want a quick, cute read about true love. Sarah Dessen fans??

Essay: Child Soliders, Perpetrators of Victims?

“As the nature of armed conflict has changed in recent years, the practice of using children--defined under international law as those under age 18--as soldiers has become far more common and widespread. As many as 300,000 child 17 and under now serve worldwide as combatants,” says P.W. Singer in his book Children at War. The use of child soldiers has become more and more frequent in recent years. Often working for rebel groups in developing countries, child soldiers can be girls, boys, fighters, messenger. Child soldiers is a topic that is very controversial. These are still, as stated, children, but they kill people, a lot of the time innocent people. Some people may argue that child soldiers are perpetrators in their crimes. But I believe that child soldiers are victims. 

Many child soldiers are taken advantage of in conflicts situations. In the article, “Armed & Underaged” by Jeffrey Gettleman, he says, “Few adults want to have anything to do with these rebel commanders, so manipulating and abducting children becomes the best way to sustain their organized banditry.” Many children are in fact kidnapped, or as Ishmael Beah says in his interview with Katie Couric on CBS, “forcefully recruited” into the military or as a soldier in their organization. They don’t even have a choice in the matter. It’s comply or be killed. Many children are even given drugs so they follow commands and don’t object to orders. Their addiction slowly grows so they depend on drugs as well. “It is less an army than a drugged-out street gang with military grade weapons,” says Jeffrey Gettleman in “Armed and Underaged”. Even worse, some children are even sold by their own parents into these situations.

For those child soldiers where their decision to join a military group was voluntary, it was most likely out of survival. According to the United Nations on their “Special Concern” website page, child soldiers are most likely to be children who are from “impoverished and marginalized backgrounds, or separated from their families.” Ishmael Beah attempted to go to the military for help, and was forced to be recruited. Many other children may have just seen the opportunity for survival and taken it. These children have very few options, and turn to the life that they don’t necessarily want to participate in. There are very few resources in the countries where conditions like this are occurring, and the chance you’ll be saved by a charity right away is slim.

Children don’t want to kill either. As I said above, children do this for survival, not out of enjoyment. Jeffrey Gettleman says in “Armed & Underaged”, “‘Child soldiers are ideal,’ a military commander from Chad told Human Rights Watch. ‘They don’t complain, they don’t expect to be paid--and when you tell them to kill, they kill.’” Children don’t have an incentive besides to live to join these armies. Children are often traumatized when they first have to kill. P.W. Singer says in Children at War, “‘They trained us to fight,’ the boy continues. ‘The first time I killed someone, I got so sick, I thought I was going to die. But I got better...’” The children may be desensitized to the violence after a while, but it doesn’t mean they ever wanted to kill. Children are even traumatized for other reasons than the horrible killing, coming out of their time serving as child soldiers with drug addiction or trauma from rape or sexual abuse. 

Child soldiers are victims, through and through. They are taken advantage of and abused when they’re in situations where they need help, and when they’re not, they become child soldiers to survive, no because they want to, or because they enjoy killing. Children are being left as orphans, then join the very causes that killed their families. Kids are being convinced to become suicide bombers for terrorist organizations without knowing anything about why they’re doing it. There are so many charities and programs, like the military-run detainment facility “Camp Iguana”, trying to help these boys and girls, but they can’t help every child, which is sad. Some ex-child soldiers, even after war, just wandering to find more work as soldiers. It’s the only thing they know how to do. Until renegade, selfish groups that use innocent children for their dirty work is stopped, this will still be a problem. I think it might always be a problem. There are always people who have skewed versions of what is acceptable. These people might not even necessarily want to do this, they might just think it’s needed. But it’s not, and it should never be.

"The Faults in Our Stars" by John Green

**Spoilers!!**

I recently finished The Faults in Our Stars by John Green. This book is about Hazel Grace, a sixteen-year old cancer patient who knows she might not live until her next birthday. She meets the charismatic, attractive Augustus Waters at a cancer support group, and her life is changed forever.

I really loved this book. I loved the narration style and the characters voices, and the ending especially. It was really touching and sad, but really hopeful too.I though it was following Hazel's character that she wouldn't be blubbering over Gus for weeks. She would be sad, but strong and now that he was in terrible pain before, and he wasn't anymore. But she also knew that he would much rather be alive than dead.

I thought a symbol for life in the book was Mr. Van Houten. He was what Hazel was looking forwards to, and thought that he was the best thing that ever happened to her. She ended up seeing that he was often terrible and not fair. For example, Hazel thought he would be smart and kind and a wise, good person. Just by reading his books, she assumed this about him. In reality, he was a kind of crazy messed up old man who didn't know how to handle grief.

This is corresponding with the moment in life Hazel found out she had cancer. She, as a child, was looking forward to life and all it had, but she soon realized that life isn't fair, and most of the time tragic.  Following Hazel's attitude towards cancer, she doesn't give up on or to Mr. Van Houten, she stand up to him, and just does what makes her happy. She doesn't pretend as if it doesn't hurt her that Van Houten ended up being annoying and sad, but she knows that she can't change him.

Van Houten represents the main events of Hazel's life in one three-day trip. At the end of the book, after Augustus dies, Van Houten shows that he (or life) is disappointing for reasons, and that it can always redeem itself. The near-redemption of Van Houten is representing Hazel meeting Augustus.

Again, this book is amazing. Really, just amazing, and it's just so... AMAZING. I recommend to fans of books like 13 Reasons Why and definitely any other John Green books. Also, just saying, I was right with my prediction from the last post.

Update: "The Faults in Our Stars" by John Green

**Kind of Spoilers...**

I love The Faults in Our Stars so far. The characters are unique and strong, realistic and lovable. I've liked all of John Green that I have read so far, and I realized something while reading Faults in Our Stars (hereby referred to as Faults). Green uses the same basic theme and building blocks for all his stories. It sure works too, as Paper Towns and Looking for Alaska are big hits.

The "John Green format" is as follows:

1) The Quirky Characters-- the main characters of his books are usually ironic and cynical, kind at heart and down to earth, who have a lower social status. Their counterparts and free-spirited, quirky dreamers who don't care about what others think, who are popular or attractive. The chemistry between these two is so hot you could be physically be burned by them. And guess what- they fall in love!

2) The Adventure- there is always a manic adventure in Green's stories, usually, a search for someone. In Looking for Alaska, it was not necessarily a person, but the journey part still applies. This is maybe the bulk of the story, and often the most fast-paced part of the story.

3) The Loss- there is always a loss or disappointment at the end of Green's stories. It makes the story possibly even more quirky, veering away from the "happily ever after" story. It happened (kind of) in Looking for Alaska, and definitely in Paper Towns.

Don't get me wrong, I write this all out of pure admiration and love, because John Green is really talented young adult writer, and I love his stories. It works, and big enough change in characters and situations can still make the story fresh. It makes for a great read.

The format above is what leads me to believe that there will be a tragedy at the end of Faults. The whole story rotates around patients of cancer, and loss is a normal thing in their lives. They always know they're living on the edge of death and life. Because of Hazel, the main character's, situation, I believe that she will die at the end. Or, possibly, Augustus' cancer will return. This is a morbid theory, but I think it to be true.

One thing in Faults that bothers me so far is the way the characters deal with the tragedy in their lives. This is a really sensitive subject, and I have no experience in terminal illness, so I don't have any evidence. But I think that even though Hazel has been struggling with cancer for a couple years, I don't think she would be so oblivious of it. It changes you life forever, I know that much, and the way Green handles it, with wit and humor, though it makes for a good story, I don't think it accurately shows the pain and horrible things these people have to go through every day so they can survive. But I don't really know. I suppose it's different for everyone, but someone with as bad of a case as Hazel, I think that even in the beginning of the book, where she is for the most part stable, she would have a harder time handling it.

I really can't wait to finish this book, and I love the smart wit that Green sticks every where... Can't wait until they go to Amsterdam!

"The Fox Inhertitance" by Mary E. Pearson

**Spoilers!!**

Today I finished The Fox Inheritance, by Mary E. Pearson, a sequel to The Adoration of Jenna Fox. The book is set 260 years in the future from where The Adoration of Jenna Fox was set. This was one of the factors that originally made me intrigued by the book. The new book came with a new panel of characters, and a new setting set even further in the future than the original. Sadly, I was really only disappointed by the book. I liked that the book did use new characters, and those who had experienced all of what Jenna Fox hadn't. It was almost a, "What if..." story. I did like the new setting and words and  whole new culture introduced. It made it more interesting to read the book.

The setting also was one of the down falls however. I don't really know how far in the future the original book was set, but they clearly didn't have any of the Bots, Non-pacts, cloning or the Network that they have in the first book. Pearson just kind of glides over this, and thought it's explained to Locke, you stay guessing (in a bad way) a lot of the time because of the generality of all the descriptions.

The story was really predictable. That was one of the things that I loved about The Adoration of Jenna Fox, it was new and fresh and dealt with issues in a new way. This book, while still dealing with issues like survivors guilt, teenage angst, and biotechnology, puts a lot of this stuff to the side, and when the author does bring this up, it's the same note that Locke hits over and over again. The plot was really easy to figure out. I kept guessing with Jenna Fox, and it had an air of mystery around it. With The Fox Inheritance, I pretty much knew from the beginning: Kara is now crazy, Locke is in love with Jenna, and Kara will end up killing herself. Whilst speaking of the death scene, I can't begin to tell you how painfully shallow it was. It was basically Kara saying the same things we had already figured out, and then pulling Dr. Gatsbro off a cliff. I mean, it was sad, but Locke barely reacted, and they all went on with their lives like nothing happened.

I found myself almost skipping through pages in the "epic traveling adventure" part of the book, where Locke is trying to get from Boston to California. It's just not epic, action or emotion packed enough to be added in as an "epic traveling adventure" sequence.

The characters felt so transparent to what they were in the first book. Jenna barely responded to Locke returning, and when she did, it was only one huge blast of crying then it was over. Wouldn't she have more questions? Even if she is extremely old now, and has experience with loss, she would still try to defend herself, wouldn't she?

Overall, it was an okay book, not living up to the first book however. I'll still read the second book, just so I finish off the story line. Speaking of finishing series, I have to get to reading all the "Time Quintet's" spin-offs... Arm of the Starfish, House of Lotus, Meet the Austins... etc.

"The Adoration of Jenna Fox" by Mary E. Pearson

**Spoilers! Small Spoiler for the Fox Inheritance**

I just finished The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E Pearson. The book was about how Jenna Fox, a teenage girl who just woke up from a year long coma after a terrible accident, tries to find the mystery surrounding her "old" life, the tense and strange activities of her family, and why exactly so suddenly she moved away from the only life she ever knew. Exactly how much happened to Jenna so she could survive from the critical condition she was in at the hospital?

I loved this book! It was full of mystery, and had a lot of amazing story telling and world building in it too. That's one of my favorite things about books or TV shows, imagining the world the characters live in and trying to establish a whole history for it. The futuristic world Jenna Fox lives in is really interesting too, as Pearson incorporates modern issue now and evolves them, not just making up random issues. She also completely immerses you into the world, not trying to tell readers what happened, but show them, and let them draw their own conclusions.

One thing I didn't like about this book was the ending. Sure, it was a good ending to the story itself, but I feel like that the epilogue was kind of just written off. It's a pet peeve of mine when a story has a non-suspenseful ending, or just a ending that kind of ends on a flat note. It's okay if the ending it happy, but I want it to make sense with the characters. It kind of just skipped to "Now it's 260 years later!!" Maybe if it was longer, or I don't know, less Jenna just talking directly to the reader and talking about how her and Ethan marry, have kids, and her life story, and more her implying all these things as Pearson did so well before, would have made me happier.

I do know that this is a series, and I am already reading the second book, The Fox Inheritance. It hasn't lived up to the first book yet, but I do like Locke as a character, and like Kara as a parallel to Locke. Kind of spoiling the second book, but I'm pretty sure that's in the blurb.

All in all, this was a pretty great book, and recommend it to the fans of books like Hunger Games, Wither, and The Uglies trilogy.

Update: "The Adoration of Jenna Fox" by Mary E. Pearson

**Spoilers!**

I'm currently reading The Adoration of Jenna Fox, by Mary E. Pearson. Unfortunately, I was not correct with my clone theory. It makes me a little sad, but the alternative I guess, though not as much as a plot twist as Jenna being a clone, makes more sense.

I noticed I was partly right though. Jenna's whole body is basically a clone of herself, and her brain and body has been changed to be more perfect, like how someone could change a clone to perfection.

The conflict that this presents to Jenna is really interesting, and I love watching Jenna grow. Though personally, I don't see anything wrong with her, Jenna first found herself disgusting, and can't trust her own body. Finally, when she comes to accept this and when she was in a state where she could just live her life safely and legally from then on, she lets Allys discover her secret. I know, it's not like Jenna told Allys, but she knew she couldn't hide it, and didn't do anything about it. I don't really understand why Jenna did this. I think it was the fact that Jenna knew that she had to move on from the "perfect" world if she wanted to move on with her life. She couldn't live under her mother and father forever, because they would treat her like a piece of fine art, just put her away and admire her. They wouldn't want her to be used in real life.

I also think Allys, though having a point in her argument against significant biological enhancement, is angry about her own situation. Allys believe that it's unfair that some people should have more than she does. She needed more than limbs, but she couldn't get them, and is dying because of it. She doesn't think anyone should have more than what she did. I do agree that one person, like Jenna, shouldn't be enhanced, and that death should be expected almost as much as life. People can't avoid death forever, and Allys knows that. What Jenna's parents did was wrong, sure, but I think if someone's life is in the balance, and you can pretty much restore them to normal by giving them organs they need, you shouldn't need to consider how many "points" they have to do it.

Allys knew she was dying, and I do believe that she believed what she thought, but I think Allys shouldn't have told her parents that Jenna was illegal just to make her life harder, and that her view points were clouded by her anger towards her own disease and the way it was handled.

Update: "The Adoration of Jenna Fox", by Mary E. Pearson

**Slight Spoilers!**

I'm currently reading The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson. So far, I love this book. It's very detail oriented and poetic. It's sci-fi, but has the emotional levels of the realistic fiction book. I love the almost child-like view of the world by Jenna too. It makes the book more and more interesting to read with a character who has a blank slate, and is literally developing before your eyes.

One thing I find really intriguing is the mystery surrounding Jenna Fox's past. Her family refuses to tell her anything, she abruptly relocated right after the accident, was seemingly in a medically induced coma most of her coma, and was awakened at a specific time. This makes the book another level to me, because besides having an interesting premise and being futuristic, it has mystery.

One theory I have about the secrecy about Jenna's past is that the Jenna Fox who is narrating the story is a clone saved at last minute after the accident. The original Jenna is dead, and her brain has been put into the new cloned Jenna (to keep personality), being sustained by using BioGel.

The first thing that led me to this is that on page 31 of the book, Jenna's mother starts to talk about miracles. She says as speaking to her mother, Lily, "Stop! You of all people should understand. If it wasn't for invitro, I wouldn't be here. You always called me your miracle. Why can't I have one too? When do you get to decide when the miracles end?" Though I'm not sure what "invitro" is, I think we can assume it's some technological or medical breakthrough for saving lives in the future, as it saved Jenna's mother's, Claire's, life. Lily continues to say that Jenna is "Not natural." Now why would a grandmother say this about her granddaughter unless she thought she was altered in some way that made her radically different from everyone else? Like cloning.

Also, Lily often talks about how she accepts when she will die around Jenna, something she never says around her daughter, Claire, meaning that she thought Claire should accept losses, possibly of Jenna. At first, I just interpreted this as Jenna losing so much as her life, and not remembering anything, and the random ominous conversation because Lily was kind of random, but as I read on, I saw more and more odd evidence, leaving me to the cloning conclusion.

For instance, the present-day Jenna doesn't have a scar, as she saw in the video of her as a ten year old. A large and obvious scar would at least be slightly visible only ten years later. If a cloned body was made of Jenna, without all her injuries, the scar wouldn't be present. Another reason why I think this is that none of Jenna's friends have tried to contact her. This shows that in the very least, her Claire and Lily, almost abducted Jenna away from her old life in Boston, cutting all connections. Even if this explanation was true, this would raise more questions. If her friends believed her to be dead, then they wouldn't try to find her, or talk to her, right?

Also, when Allys is talking about the control of the school, she leads to the "Federal Science Ethics Board." Through the conversation, she clearly states human cloning was attempted and succeeded. She also expresses her disstress over how far human preservation will go, and how it at one point just becomes too unnatural, which shows some people share a view with Lily. The thing that interested me most was that human brains are the most taboo and expensive organ to be transplanted.

Allys says that "Only biodigital enhancement up to forty-nine percent is allowed to restore some lost function and that's it." This would explain why Jenna lost much of her personality, and all of her memories. On how her family got the permission to take the brain from old-Jenna's body, her father invented BioGel. Lily stated that Jenna's family was "filthy rich", which would probably cover the brain, and be enough to pay to get Jenna cloned and her brain to be put "on ice", so to speak, with BioGel. Who knows, Jenna could even be experimental, which would explain the man at the church spying and photographing her when she was with Ethan.

All this compiled just make me more and more confident that Jenna is some sort of clone. This book makes me excited to read it, and I can't wait to finish it and see what really happened, and see if I got it right.

"Wintergirls" by Laurie Halse Anderson

**Spoilers!!**

I recently finished Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson. Wintergirls tells the story of Lia, a girl whose best friend recently just died. Lia struggles with dealing with the sudden and strange absence in her life, while having to deal with her own problems.

I thought this book was beautiful, and very poetic. It was a lot like Speak, also by Laurie Halse Anderson, but also completely different. This was almost the complete opposite of Speak in writing style, as Speak was mostly in the future, never looking back, straight forwards. Wintergirls led the reader through Lia's whole mind before we can get to her real problems and guilt. Halse Anderson's style still shines through. In some ways, I enjoyed this book more than Speak, for many reasons.

I thought the word wintergirls by itself was amazing. It wrapped up the book in a tight little ribbon. I was really confused about the title at first, but pretty soon I understood way too well.

This book is morbid, and sad, and hopeful, and scary. It broke my heart when Elijah left Lia by herself in the hotel room. He knew what had happened there. He knew she was on the edge of death. He knew she was seeing things, and she lied to him about being "okay." I imagined what it would be like if Lia went with Elijah, because Cassie wouldn't haunt her. I realized that she would probably have gotten better. But Elijah did the right thing. Lia loved her family too much to leave them behind, and she might not have gotten better it she was out on the road, not being able to come to terms with Cassie's death.

Another thing I liked was the strong character voice in the book. In the beginning, Lia shows no remorse. No regret. She wants to be skinny. Halse Anderson doesn't write it from a person free from eating disorders, she writes like she had one. Lia's character never gives herself some slack, or even thinks about stopping while she's at her worst, in the middle of the book.

I really loved this book so much, and recommend it to fans of Speak and 13 Reasons Why. I hope the next book I read lives up to Wintergirls.

Update: "Wintergirls" by Laurie Halse Anderson

I think so far Wintergirls is a really great book. Like Speak, it deals with really current and modern issues tactfully, but is still truthful, and doesn't sugar-coat them.

One thing I find interesting is the contrast in the eating disorders of Lia and Cassie. Lia doesn't eat at all, and Cassie goes through the cycle of binging and purging. I would think that these two types of eating disorders would depend on the type of person, and that Lia would be grossed out by Cassie. She seems like a neater, secretive person, and her self-infliction shows she's very internal and secretive.

Cassie, on the other hand, seemed more like a wild girl in her character in general, and ate a lot, especially around Lia.

Just their personalities alone shouldn't be really that compatible, but they were still sisters in eating disorder. I don't think they met because of their disorders, but it made them closer. Another thing I'm asking every word I read of this book is how could best friends let each other go through that?

I mean, the drama girl that screamed at Lia before the wake was right in a way. Lia didn't try to help. Of course, the drama girl didn't know that Lia was Cassie's weight loss partner, but didn't they both know it was wrong and unhealthy what they were doing? I mean, Lia is trying to hard in the book to lie about getting better, but she's already incredibly thin for her age. I don't think she's short either, so for her height, she's skinnier than a lot of models.

I think the use of the crossing out words is really effective as well, because it shows that Lia does want to be normal, her subconscious just can't convince her 'skinny side' of it. It delivers emotional lines without the compromising, "I think...", which in my opinion, always brought me out of the scene in the book.

I can't wait to finish Wintergirls really, even though I've barely given time to read it. I really want to see if Halse Anderson is coming out with any other realistic fiction books, or has previously. 

"Speak", by Laurie Halse Anderson

I think one symbol in Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson is Melinda's lips. They represent Melinda's inability to speak about her traumatic experience, and physically represent the raw and hurt feelings she has towards them.

For instance, when Melinda is still repressing her acceptance that she was raped, her lips are a large part of the book. She always notes people commenting on them, how they're scabbed and chapped. She picks them and bites with them, making it worse by delayed healing. This represents Melinda delaying her healing from her rape by not taking initiative to heal her internal wounds. This makes Melinda's trauma worse, and she wasn't helping herself by avoiding it.

Towards the end of the book, Melinda has almost no thoughts about her lips. The scabbing is not even mentioned, and doesn't bite them anymore. This is also a time where Melinda accepts her experience, and wants to help herself. She starts the healing of her lips and her trauma from her assault. This also makes Melinda more confident and able to cope better, and become part of the society at her high school again.

This also symbolizes Melinda's character development physically, where you can see it if you pay close enough attention.

Speak is an amazing book. It represents a difficult topic well, and that's one of the reasons it became so popular. I loved the book, and really appreciate Halse Anderson's other work. I think that the book is so wittily written, harshly true and really just sad. It's a really strong story of redemption and healing, and shows that when you experience something traumatic it can haunt you forever.

Every should really read this book, and though it's a girl narrator, it's a really easily relatable character in general. I loved it!

Update: "The Reckoning" by Kelley Armstrong

I think one of the reasons Derek is so difficult in letting anyone close to him and showing it is that he's afraid he'll hurt them.

His experiences with hurting the boys at his old high school still haunts Derek, shown through his constant guilt. He's afraid he'll physically jeopardize his friends and "team", because he feels like he's a freak or some kind of mutant. When he paralyzed the bullies at his bully it made him appear tough and made others fear him. This was almost the opposite of what he wanted, as Derek just wants to be accepted, like many teens do.

When his dad ran away, Derek lost one of the only people who accepted him fully, and he was able to be himself around. He already believed Simon thought he was a monster of some kind because of his attack on the boys who bullied Simon, even though Derek still loved his brother, and Simon loved him. Derek seemed to have lost a lot of his confidence and became an even more guarded and quiet person. This also caused him to be a more protective of his loved ones, which made him even more aggressive appearing towards others.

This is what made him so unapproachable to Chloe, and any other people his age (besides Simon). Though he doesn't want to be, he's seen as a big, unsocial creep. It's what made Simon seem so annoying to Chloe.

Chloe is also what changes this in Derek. She's able to stand up to him, which makes him feel less of a "bully", a monster, and an intimidating force. She helps him reestablish his self-esteem and makes him want to come out of his shell.

The character change is also caused from the change in Derek's situation. Him moving around and constantly running, needing to depend on others for help and teamwork, makes him change in his solidarity as well.

I can't wait to finish The Reckoning... so excited. It's really great, and love to

"The Awakening" by Kelley Armstrong

The book "The Awakening" by Kelley Armstrong is about a group of young supernaturals that are on the run from the dangerous Edison Group, a group hunting them down for their enhanced supernatural abilities, supposedly potentially dangerous.

I thought this book was a great addition to the series, and a pretty good sequel. I think, though, the each book is missing key points that make a story really unbearable.

The book has great elements, a nice writing style, and very interesting mythology. The characters are unique and not exactly falling into the common mold for the YA-fiction-with-female-lead archetypes, but coming pretty close. I mean, that character type draws people in, so the book is interpreted easily in people who like that kind of book (like myself), and people who like a deeper story and background as well (like myself).

Some things I didn't like about it was that the story was missing climactic moments. I will admit that the story had me following it very closely, excited, but I never had a, "wow" moment. I always felt like either the book should have been longer or added to another book. I guess that author knew that this was a series when she wrote it.

Books like this aren't necessarily a bad thing, but are worse in my opinion when the books are made so to impress the publisher or reader, so they demand a second, third or fourth. This isn't always the case obviously, but it feels like it sometimes.

The books also hit many of the same danger moments, or conflicts. Sure, there's character development and internal conflicts, but between this book and the first, no major changes were made. Even the physical conflicts were the same, being chased. It's the main conflict, but no really new additions were made besides discoveries in the background, which was interesting.

I'm in the midst of reading the third book now, and it's almost the same deal. I love it, and really hope to see how the two series intertwine in the third book of the Darkness Rising series. I also am hopefully anticipating a mash-up of the two in the future... very excited. :)

"Perks of Being a Wallflower" by Stephen Chbosky

I recently read Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky, a book about an anonymous boy, dubbed "Charlie" in the letters he sends to a friends friends. The story tells of the boys first year in high school.

I thought this was a great book. I loved the realistic tone and style of the authors writing, which for a professional author, must have been kind of frustrating to not include commas, not very vivid words or using run on sentences. It made the book so much more realistic when the boy is struggling with things that all teens are learning at his age. I think that's one of the things that made the book so popular, how relatable it was.

One other thing that I think made the book relatable, as well as awesome, is the main character, Charlie. He's pretty much a normal kid who has gone through some awful things, but he gets over them for the most part with help from his friends and trying to fix himself. It's really the combined elements of the story that make it great. The tragedy of dealing with a traumatic event, and begin a loner at school. So many kids are all alone like Charlie was, with no friends for some reason or another. The book teaches that you can pull out of tough situations if you really try and have people who support you along the way. All those kids who feel really lonely should know that there is always someone there who cares about you.

Recent events, like the Amanda Todd suicide makes me doubt how far the kindness of people could go, however. Amanda made one mistake and was haunted by it her whole life. I think that though Charlie's situation is different in cause, the main difference is that everyone judged Amanda Todd, yet Charlie had people to support him.

It delivers a message to kids having a hard time out there, and gives them hope, even if their situation isn't as bad as Charlie's, or even worse. The anonymity of Charlie's character (his common name) also kind of lets the reader put them into Charlie's shoes.

Other things that were interesting in the book was Charlie's constant crying. This sometimes made me feel pushed back and alienated from the story, but it speaks to kids who do things that are awkward, and don't know why.

One thing I noticed in the movie is that they took away some of Charlie's idiosyncrasies, probably to make him less "weird", and so the characters will be more appealing to the general audience to make money, which still makes it a good story, but also saddens me slightly that they're taking away from the beautiful story.

Overall, this was a great and book, and I recommend it to anyone looking for a good and touching book. It's a difficult book to read, sometimes even estranging, but it's totally worth it. The movie was good too, so I definitely recommend that to anyone who wants to view a good movie that's out now.

"Am I Blue?" By Bruce Coville

In the short story, Am I Blue?, by Bruce Coville, the main character, Vince, is dealing with homosexuality and his possible homosexuality. A theme in this story is growing up. By growing up, Coville shows how Vince matures internally and learns to accept himself.

At the beginning of the story Vince is very ashamed of possibly being gay. He's reluctant to be openly associated with someone who is gay. For example, when Melvin, his "fairy godfather", winks a college student, Coville writes as Vince, "'Will you stop that!' I hiss. 'What, afraid of guilt by association?' 'No, I'm afraid that he'll come over here and beat us up...'" Another example that shows Vince is afraid of being associated with gay people is when Melvin starts walking "So swishy", Vince is blushing, and embarrassed by Melvin's actions.

In the middle of the story, Vince begins to accept his possibly homosexuality and think more maturely about homosexuality. An example of this is when asked for a wish, Vince could have asked for anything, but he asked for "Gay Fantasy Number 3", which is to make everyone who is gay blue. This shows that Vince is maturing because one of Vince's biggest fear is being found out by everyone as being gay. By wishing for this, even when he's putting himself in physical and emotional danger, he's showing he's being more and more mature.

At the end of the story, Vince is fully accepting his homosexuality. This is shown by the final lines of the story, which are, "And my third wish? I'm going to save it for when I really need it- like when I meet the girl of my dreams. Or prince charming. Whichever." This shows that Vince is fully accepting his sexuality. He makes this statement and it clearly shows that he has matured and now accepts himself as a whole person.

In conclusion, growing up is shown as a theme in the story is that Coville gives us three distinct stages of internal development in Vince, which shows him maturing and growing up. The story shows that growing up isn't only physical, but internal, and to fully accept yourself, you might want to do some growing up. I remember when I was really little, I wanted to be like everyone else, actors, singers, my role models. But now, usually I feel like I want to make my own mark on the world- by just being myself. I know that I'm still not done growing, but I hope I'll be able to totally accept myself for who I am, and will able to accept all of myself because I'm grown inside.

"The Drummer Boy of Shiloh" by Ray Bradbury

The Drummer Boy of Shiloh, by Ray Bradbury, is a short story about a young drummer-boy, named Joby, the night before the Battle of Shiloh during the Civil War. It describes his nervousness and anxiety over fighting in a war at his age of fourteen, and how a general helps him overcome his fear. I think one of the themes in the short story is that often we, people, or armies, are usually more alike than different.

           

One example of the theme in the story is that people are usually more alike than different is that that Ray Bradbury never gives the protagonist, Joby, a side in the Civil War. The author talks about the soldiers and all their nervousness, hopefulness and feelings, but no one ever even briefly mentions the North or South. The author did this intentionally, as this lets us, the reader, a clear view of the emotions of both sides of the War without letting our personal opinions of the motives of either sides. The story is not a judgment of the North of the South, but just telling the story of a boy at war. This is one reason a theme in this short story is that we are more alike than different.

           

Another example the theme in the story is how people are more alike than different is that the author describes the soldiers in the same way. For instance, the general relates the soldiers, saying that, “I fear it will be full of boys again…”, representing each side as only boys, also showing the innocence in both sides in the Civil War. The general also says, “Counting both sides, there’s a hundred thousand men- give of take a thousand- out there tonight, not one as can spot a sparrow off a tree, or knows a horse clod from a Minie ball.” The author is trying to relate the sides further by using their innocence, again, and their inexperience.

           

In conclusion, one of the major themes of The Drummer Boy of Shiloh, by Ray Bradbury, is we are more alike than we are more alike than we are different. This is clearly represented in the story as referring to two sides of a battle, or two armies, but this can also apply to everyday life. People of different religions, morals or lifestyles are probably more alike than they think. I think that this feeds into a really important lesson in tolerance. Even when you’re ‘at war’ with someone, literally shown in the short story, you can still be quite a lot alike. If people can find common ground with each other, they can build up tolerance for all the things they have different. I don’t exactly know if that was a lesson the Bradbury was trying to teach, but it’s really helpful lesson to take out of the story.

           

I can really relate with this story. I argue a lot with my brothers, and when I try to calm down and look at the argument in a more responsible and calm way, I have to thin about how they could just be expressing their opinion, just like I am. I have to find common ground, either to base a further argument on or to stop the argument all together. When I get angry with someone for something, I have to think about why they did it. I could have the same idiosyncrasies that they have, and can be awkward or annoying in the same way. I just don’t realize it because I’m myself. We all have to find common ground with people so we can get along. That’s how we all build relationships and friendships.

"The Rivals" by Daisy Whitney

**Spoilers!

First of all, I just want to say this was an amazing book. Besides the ending, which was fine, I just really wanted to Ms. Merritt, the oblivious and frustrating dean of the school, be forced to kick them out, possibly waking her up as well as all the doubters of the Mockingbirds. I really just like the whole mood of the series in general so far. For a seemingly silly topic (a book about a student vigilante group could have easily turned into a cheesy superhero-esque book), Daisy Whitney handled it really well, even with the introduction of a 'villain' organization. It deals with a lot of fresh and important issues for teens today too, like date-rape and academic drugs.

One thing I thought was really great in this book was it's conflict. The conflict tested the main character, Alex. She was a victim in her own case, so she immediately tried to help any other "victims", like Beat (who ended up being a terrible person), or Delaney, and later Theo. But then the supposed criminal was just like her- Theo was an aspiring artist- He loved dancing more than his life. It was his life. Alex could relate to this, as she loved piano. This made it harder for her to believe the terrible things being accused of him. This drove her to make silly mistakes- like not convicting her friend Maia, when she was suspected. I mean, I feel bad about saying this, as Maia was framed, but still, Alex was worrying about being respected as leader, right? She kept making stupid mistakes, and didn't function as a court should, even if it's just a really screwed up private boarding school. Thought this did all lead up to the right perpetrator, she still should have tried to be more professional if she wanted to be taken seriously.

That's one of the few things that annoyed me about the book. Alex messes up multiple times, but it all ends up well, with basically no consequences, and none of the characters care about it. The book is all about justice, but not much justice is done to right the wrongs that Alex did. Everything is just ending up dandy. The whole book is about how if adults were basically taken out of a kids world, how would they function? Even with adults in control of punishment, there is never a perfect ending. It's a disappointing change in a very harsh and realistic book that the book has a fairy-tale ending.

Of course, that is another thing that made the book more realistic, all the mistakes that the main character makes. It makes you relate more to the characters, and feel for them.

And on the note of themes (kind of), I want to talk about a theme in the book. The book really, I think, shows well what kids would do if they didn't have adults to control them. There would be the ones who just cause havoc, and bully, and cheat because they can get away with it. Then there were those that would rise up and try to fight. I kind of noticed this in the Hunger Games, but in a different way. When they didn't have a fit government, the people of Panem rose to the occasion, or specifically one entity/thing did (Distric 13/the separate districts), just like Alex's sister did when she created the Mockingbirds.

Overall, I thought this book was great, and I'm really excited to see if there's another one! (Though I doubt it.)

Update: "The Rivals", by Daisy Whitney

Right now I'm reading The Rivals, by Daisy Whitney, sequel to, The Mockingbirds. It's a great book, and I really love how Daisy Whitney stays strong with the events from the first book to the second.

**Slight spoilers
For one thing, the conflict in Alex's heart is so realistic, and painful to watch her go through. Just seeing her have the images and memories of Carter flash through the head of Alex whenever she's with Martin  is really hard, even for a reader with no experience in this issue. Alex's inner conflict of proving herself carries on to the second book with the same fears and basis, but a totally different goal, which is amazing. I really dislike it in books when former conflicts or problems that the character had are kind of throw out. For instance, the thing that drove Alex to prove herself in the first book was that she didn't want to be called a 'whore', or a 'slut' when she was date-raped. It still affected her when people didn't believe her, but she wanted to clear her name and serve justice to Carter for what he did. In the second book, so far, Alex wants to prove to her fellow Mockingbirds that though she was appointed because she was a former victim who worked with the Mockingbirds, she could hold her own as a leader because she had that experience, and can deal with others who feel victimized. Not just to people who doubt her (Parker), but to the people she knows she can trust as well (Martin, Amy).

The 'case' itself in the second book is very interesting because though Alex still wants to help, the case has no clear victim(s). Frankly, I think there was no better way of doing a sequel, because it would have been, though probably interesting, no where near as interesting as Alex's conflict now. She tries to investigate, but so far, she's continually frustrated because she's only relying on her previous feelings about her case with Carter. She's not taking in the whole picture, and being a little stupid sometimes because she trusts too much in the people who she thinks are victimized.

That's another thing I like about this book so far. Alex is wrong. I really don't like it when characters just guess everything right, or are wrong for stupid reasons, and refuse to believe anything else. Alex knows she's wrong, but she can't help it, like with her frustration with Parker accusing Maia. She let her personal attachment clear her judgement, making it easier to relate to her. It was kinda of frustrating for me seeing Alex make silly mistakes for no good reason, but it just shows that the book is good enough it can make you clearly react to the character's actions.

Overall, so far this book is really, really good, and I can't wait to finish it!

"The Future of Us", By Carolyn Mackler and Jay Asher

"The Future of Us", by Carolyn Mackler and Jay Asher, is about two high school students and ex-best friends who discover modern-day Facebook on an early internet browser in 1996. Personally, I thought this was  a great book that commented on the almost obsession teenagers have with social networking today. I thought that a theme in the book was that teens and kids shouldn't worry so much about the future, and live in today.

For instance, one of the main conflicts (or conflict starters? I don't know) in the book was that the character, Emma, is messing with the time stream, changing things about her life that she doesn't like, such as her husbands, her job, even small things like where she lives. She makes unwarranted assumptions about the future based on 420 characters or less wall posts. She experiments with the small changes, or 'ripples', in her time to the Facebook's future because she's insanely concerned about having a perfect life in the future. Now I don't know much about college applications, which I can assume are much more stressful than high school applications, but I can relate to stress over the future. So many kids in my grade and really riding on one specific high school they want to go to, or freaking out over hypothetically not getting into a high school (not saying that I'm not), and I think "The Future of Us" is trying to say that you can still have a happy life if not everything goes exactly the way you want it to.

The book also says something about spending too much time on the internet, which is pretty funny, because the book is set in 1996, and the problem is really massive in 2012. 

I think this book was great, and had a nice mix of romance and great concept, as so many seemingly cool books get lost in sappy love triangles and obsessive girlfriends these days. Jay Asher is the bomb, and I'm definitely more interested in checking out Carolyn Mackler's books.