"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.)