Life On The Refrigerator Door

I read Life On The Refrigerator Door, by Alice Kuipers. In the novel, Claire is a fifteen year old girl who only lives with her mother. Both mother and daughter lead extremely busy lives and it leaves them to communicating by constantly writeing notes to eachother on the refridgerator door. So the story is ocmpletely notes from them. Throught these notes, a story developes on how Claire's mother developes breat cancer and how they carried on through the whole problem. I really liked the book because it was short and easy to read but it also had a meaning behind it. It turned out to be a really sad story, even though it was only through short notes. I really liked the way the author used the note strategy, because it made the story a lot more interesting.

The Jungle Book

I just finished reading The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling. In the novel, Mogli is saved from a tiger by wolves as a baby, and the wolves raise him. However the tiger that the wolves stole from wanted revenge, and he declared that he would one day prey on Mowgli. When Mowgli is about 11 years old, the leader of the wolf pack, Akela, becomes too weak to catch his meal. For the wolves this means that the leader has to die and then they choose a new leader from there. When this happens, Shere Khan-the tiger, steps in and tries to turn the wolves against Mowgli. He succeeds and Mowgli is sent out of the pack and into the village of people. I really liked the book because it was a story I sort of knew already, but I forgot it. Also, it talked a lot in old-style type words like art, thou, thee and all that. It was a little hard to understand but aftre you went over it a couple times it made sense.

Slumming

I read Slumming by Kristen D. Randle. In this book, Alicia, Nikki and Sam are all friends and decide they should all make friends with someone who they would not normally hang out with. They call these their 'projects'. Just when they all thought the project would be harmless, it starts to take them in directions they never thought were possible. Nikki choses a class A nerd, and is surprised that she actually has fun with him. Alicia chooses Morgan, a guy who belongs to a gang and has been arrested a number of times. And Sam chooses Tia, who has an interesting dark past of her own. In the end, the project turned out to be something that they would never forget. I really liked the book because it gave viewpoints from all three characters, and it was a pretty good plot. It also dealed with real problems that happen in highschool, which made it seem more realistic.

This Reminds Me Of...

"I let go of my breath. She does that terrible ironic laugh again. "I don't have a lot of time for friends," she says. And then she goes goes ahead and tells me the kinds of things that have gone on in that house, and when she is finished, I am shaking." Tia-the girl mentioned in the quote- reminds me of Precious from the movie, Precious. In my book, Tia is being abused by her stepfather in her own home. It isn't clear what kind of abuse, but it's likely physical and/or sexual. In the movie Precious, Precious is a character who is constantly being physically, verbaly, and sexually abused by both her parents. I connected these because they are both girls in similar situations- with the abuse happening by parents in their own home.

If I Stay

I read the book If I Stay by Gayle Forman. In the book Mia is going on a drive one day with her parents and her little brother Teddy, until a truck comes along and smashes their car to pieces. Her whole family is dead in the crash. Mia is in critical care while her spirit lingers outside of her body, deciding wether to live or die. The whole book is about her making the key decision and the steps leading up to her decision. If she stays, her whole family is gone. If she goes, she misses out on her friends, boyfriend and life. I personally thought it was a really good book because it was so descriptive and realistic.

Gravity Journal

     I read the novel Gravity Journal by Gail Sidonie Sobat. In the book, Anise-a teenage anorexic- is hospitalized for the third time for being an out of control anorexic/belimic/cutter. When she finds herself there for the third time, she realizes this is the time to get better for the last time. The book follows her road to recovery, through all of her darker times and the brighter ones too. It's a true modern story originated in Ontario, so it was really easy for me to imagine this girl and and her problems. She was mostly messed up because of her family, her parents who only cared about their money and her brother, the drug addict. It made me really feel for Anise, and all in all I really liked the book.