Summer Reading Responses (8/16/2014)
The Skin I'm In
Sharon G. Flake
This book is about a girl named Maleeka Madison. She is always getting bullied by people in her school because she is black. Ever since her dad died her and her mother are poor. Her mother can’t afford her any clothes so she always makes her clothes hand made, but Maleeka doesn’t like them so she met this girl named Cher that isn’t really Maleeka’s friend but Cher always lends her normal clothes from stores to wear at school. But since Cher isn’t the type of person who does nice things for people so she told Maleeka she always has to do her dirty work. One day she goes into class and she see’s a new teacher named Miss Saunders. Since the first day maleeka didn’t like Miss Saunders. Miss Saunder was very different than all the rest of the teachers because she always defended Maleeka when she would get bullied. Maleeka always wanted for her to stay out of her business but she would just keep coming at her. Even though Maleeka thought that Miss Saunders was really annoying she realized that Miss Saunders was a really great help at knowing how to stand up for herself.
Aloha! The third book I read this summer was Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech, throughout this whole novel the main character Salamanca Tree Hiddle, a 13 year old girl is struggling with the disappearance of her mother. Sal, throughout the whole story is in a car telling a story to her grandparents about her friendship with Phoebe. Through telling these stories, Phoebe notices how alike both her and Phoebe are, this comforts Phoebe and she seems to forget about all her troubles. While driving to Idaho Sal’s grandmother was bitten by a snake and hospitalized, soon after leaving the hospital and became gravely ill. Sal was then forced to go through the last leg of the journey alone and drives to the grave. She reaches the spot where her mom died and was then picked up by the police. I rate this book a 1 out of 5, this book was absolutely terrible, the story was moving way too slowly and the grandparents were such weak characters that irritated me deeply.
A Long Walk to Water
Linda Sue Park
This book had two stories in which the author adjoined to make the book end in an interesting way. The first story was about a girl named Nya whose sister had gotten sick from drinking unclean water. But the main story was about a boy named Salva who was in school when he heard fighting outside in his village. He had no other choice but to walk away from the fighting and his family. While walking without anyone of whom he knew by his side, Salva was unwanted by any group of nomads. When he found a group to keep his company, they gradually became aloof and eventually left him. Until he found his uncle. Even though he could not be with his uncle for a long time, Salva found somewhere stable for a decent period of time.
After traveling for years, Salva finally found his true calling. In this book of war, death, and years of despondency, this book ends on a happy yet aghast note.
I would rate this book a four out of five because I don’t think that the first story was that good. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to read a short page turner with an interesting story.
VT
The Skin I'm In
Sharon Flake
This book was about an African American girl named Maleeka. Maleeka’s Complexion was described to be very dark which she was teased for. Not only was she struggling to accept herself but she was hanging around the wrong crowd of people. Until Ms. Saunders came and set the record straight. She could see that Maleeka was a bright student headed down the wrong path. Ms. Saunders got Maleeka an office job to keep her out of trouble because she had already been in enough of it. even though it took maleeka some time to adjust to the right path, she finally learned to accept herself and disregard her peers opinions of her.
I would rate this book a five out of five because I felt that this book had a good story and good writing. I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a quick read or to anyone who enjoys coming of age stories.
VT
Close to Famous
Joan Bauer
This book was about a girl named Foster and her mother. Her mother was in an abusive relationship with an Elvis Impersonator when she decided to flee town and materialize in Culpepper, VA. In this small town Foster has many things to do. She must share her love for baking, make a documentary about prison, learn to read, and continue dealing with her mother’s abusive ex- boyfriend. Dealing with all this stress, baking helped her cope with everything going on. This book is a quick, fun, and comedic read for all ages. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys baking because they may be able to relate to Foster.
VT
Chains
Laurie Halse Anderson
This book is about a girl named Isabel and her little sister who were supposed to be granted freedom from slavery in the will of their previous owner. But the lawyer never showed up and they were taken away and sold to a loyalist couple. The woman became abusive to Isabel and occasionally treated Ruth negligently. Even though they had only been there for a short period of time, Isabel was sick of the maltreatment. So when Curzon, a slave to Mr. Bellington of the rebel party proposed an offer to her that could help her gain her freedom, the answer was basically clear. Though Isabel was conflicted at first she decided to go with the obvious choice was to take the offer and spy on her masters. This book was very emotional because I felt the pain that Isabel felt in certain parts of this book. I heard that this book was the mandatory read of the summer I automatically thought I was going to loathe it. After reading this I have to admit that it was a pretty good book. I would recommend it to anyone that is interested in reading about the time period of slavery.
Feathers
Sharon G. Flake
This book is about a girl named Maleeka Madison. She is always getting bullied by people in her school because she is black. Ever since her dad died her and her mother are poor. Her mother can’t afford her any clothes so she always makes her clothes hand made, but Maleeka doesn’t like them so she met this girl named Cher that isn’t really Maleeka’s friend but Cher always lends her normal clothes from stores to wear at school. But since Cher isn’t the type of person who does nice things for people so she told Maleeka she always has to do her dirty work. One day she goes into class and she see’s a new teacher named Miss Saunders. Since the first day maleeka didn’t like Miss Saunders. Miss Saunder was very different than all the rest of the teachers because she always defended Maleeka when she would get bullied. Maleeka always wanted for her to stay out of her business but she would just keep coming at her. Even though Maleeka thought that Miss Saunders was really annoying she realized that Miss Saunders was a really great help at knowing how to stand up for herself.
NL
Walk Two Moons
Sharon Creech
MS
Linda Sue Park
This book had two stories in which the author adjoined to make the book end in an interesting way. The first story was about a girl named Nya whose sister had gotten sick from drinking unclean water. But the main story was about a boy named Salva who was in school when he heard fighting outside in his village. He had no other choice but to walk away from the fighting and his family. While walking without anyone of whom he knew by his side, Salva was unwanted by any group of nomads. When he found a group to keep his company, they gradually became aloof and eventually left him. Until he found his uncle. Even though he could not be with his uncle for a long time, Salva found somewhere stable for a decent period of time.
After traveling for years, Salva finally found his true calling. In this book of war, death, and years of despondency, this book ends on a happy yet aghast note.
I would rate this book a four out of five because I don’t think that the first story was that good. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to read a short page turner with an interesting story.
VT
The Skin I'm In
Sharon Flake
This book was about an African American girl named Maleeka. Maleeka’s Complexion was described to be very dark which she was teased for. Not only was she struggling to accept herself but she was hanging around the wrong crowd of people. Until Ms. Saunders came and set the record straight. She could see that Maleeka was a bright student headed down the wrong path. Ms. Saunders got Maleeka an office job to keep her out of trouble because she had already been in enough of it. even though it took maleeka some time to adjust to the right path, she finally learned to accept herself and disregard her peers opinions of her.
I would rate this book a five out of five because I felt that this book had a good story and good writing. I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a quick read or to anyone who enjoys coming of age stories.
VT
Close to Famous
Joan Bauer
This book was about a girl named Foster and her mother. Her mother was in an abusive relationship with an Elvis Impersonator when she decided to flee town and materialize in Culpepper, VA. In this small town Foster has many things to do. She must share her love for baking, make a documentary about prison, learn to read, and continue dealing with her mother’s abusive ex- boyfriend. Dealing with all this stress, baking helped her cope with everything going on. This book is a quick, fun, and comedic read for all ages. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys baking because they may be able to relate to Foster.
VT
Chains
Laurie Halse Anderson
This book is about a girl named Isabel and her little sister who were supposed to be granted freedom from slavery in the will of their previous owner. But the lawyer never showed up and they were taken away and sold to a loyalist couple. The woman became abusive to Isabel and occasionally treated Ruth negligently. Even though they had only been there for a short period of time, Isabel was sick of the maltreatment. So when Curzon, a slave to Mr. Bellington of the rebel party proposed an offer to her that could help her gain her freedom, the answer was basically clear. Though Isabel was conflicted at first she decided to go with the obvious choice was to take the offer and spy on her masters. This book was very emotional because I felt the pain that Isabel felt in certain parts of this book. I heard that this book was the mandatory read of the summer I automatically thought I was going to loathe it. After reading this I have to admit that it was a pretty good book. I would recommend it to anyone that is interested in reading about the time period of slavery.
VT
Jacqueline Woodson
“Hope” is the thing with feathers -
That perches in the soul -
And sings the tune without the words -
And never stops - at all
The main character is Frannie, a sixth-grader living in the 70’s in a very segregated neighborhood. She goes to Price, a primarily african-american school on the primarily african-american part of the neighborhood. The book starts when one day, a strange white boy arrives at Price. He rarely talks, and he says his name is Jesus. Her friend Samantha, who is really religious, starts to think he might actually be Jesus, come back to earth. Frannie have a bunch of discussions about this. Frannie also believes in God, but isn’t as enthusiastic as Samantha. Meanwhile, The “Jesus” boy is constantly getting bullied for being white kid in the school. “Jesus” ends up getting into a fight, proving that he can’t be Jesus like Samantha thought, but is just a regular kid.
This is the second time I’ve read this book, and I definitely liked it, even more than I liked it the first time. I think it is definitely a book that should be on the summer reading list again.
“Hope” is the thing with feathers -
That perches in the soul -
And sings the tune without the words -
And never stops - at all
The main character is Frannie, a sixth-grader living in the 70’s in a very segregated neighborhood. She goes to Price, a primarily african-american school on the primarily african-american part of the neighborhood. The book starts when one day, a strange white boy arrives at Price. He rarely talks, and he says his name is Jesus. Her friend Samantha, who is really religious, starts to think he might actually be Jesus, come back to earth. Frannie have a bunch of discussions about this. Frannie also believes in God, but isn’t as enthusiastic as Samantha. Meanwhile, The “Jesus” boy is constantly getting bullied for being white kid in the school. “Jesus” ends up getting into a fight, proving that he can’t be Jesus like Samantha thought, but is just a regular kid.
This is the second time I’ve read this book, and I definitely liked it, even more than I liked it the first time. I think it is definitely a book that should be on the summer reading list again.
TN