Gathering BLUE (lowry lois)

        The story "Gathering Blue" is about a teenage girl named Kira, born with a defective leg, who should therefore be dead, according her culture's norms. She lived a life of pure lies and where the authority controlled everything; people couldn't express themselves, or learn, or give opinions. Despite that Kira overcame everything and found the truth. She lived with her mother, but after her mother died of illness, she stayed on her own. No one in the village wanted her to stay because she was "worthless" and couldn't do anything and Kira had to defend herself against the merciless villagers. Luckily, the Council of Guardians have heard of Kira's skill with the thread, and spared her life so that she will work on the Singer's robe, a great honor.
Kira's new existence became very different; it was full of luxury and wealth. She began to learn things that made her suspect everything was not as she has been told. Kira was determined to find the truth. Read to find out.

A Tree Grows In Brooklyn By Betty Smith

                   "The Tree Grows in Brooklyn" is a story of a little girl, named Francie, who lives in Brooklyn with her family. Her father, Johnny, has is an alchoholic and has no regular job, but occasionally gets a singer-waiter jobs at the bars and one-night places. The person who brings the main income to the house is Francie's mother, Katie, who works as a janitor of their appartment building. She always tries to save money for the future, but it is really difficult to provide even basic food for the family. Neely is Francie's younger brother and her best friend at the same time; they spend time together collecting junk for money, reading books every night, and playing with each other. Even though they are very poor, their lives seem happy and warm. Francie loves reading any kinds of books that she can find and loves going to school to learn something new. Even though the situation at home is getting worse as her father’s health is getting worse and worse, Francie tries to stay positive and devotes herself to education. However, when her father, Johnny, passes away because of acute pneumonia and leaves his youngest child, Laurie, behind, Francie becomes a head of household without enough time for drowning her grief. Like her mother she works very hard and even gives up going to high school. Meanwhile, she meets a guy named, Lee who is a soldier and falls in love with him for the first time of her life. Will she finally be happy? Read to find out.

Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell

“Island of the Blue Dolphins”, written by Scott O’ Dell, is a story about a 12 year old Indian girl, named Karana, whose father is chief of their tribe. They lived on a small island in the Pacific, 20 leagues off of the Santa Barbara Coast. They lived here peacefully with no war against anyone. Until one day, an Aleut ship was noticed in the distant sea. Coming from Russia, Captain Orlov and his men went to the island to hunt for otter. After spending time there, and trying to leave without giving his part to the Ghalas-at people, a battle broke out, wounding and killing many Ghalas-at people, including the chief himself. With many dead, and a new chief in charge, things changed. The new chief went to mainland California and sent back a ship to take the Ghalas-at people to live in California. When the ship was leaving, Karana’s brother, Ramo, ran back to get the spear he had forgotten, and Karana ran back for him. Because there was a storm building up, the captain of the ship had no choice but to leave the 2 stranded kids on the island and to fend for themselves. One day when, Ramo went fishing, he was attacked by wild dogs, and suffered severe injuries leaving Karana all alone. Will she be able to survive on the island as the only human habitant? Will she survive and grow old on the island, or will she give up all hope? Read and find out for yourself.

I recommend this book anyone looking for an adventures book; it is guarantied to grab your attention, and hold it until the end.

Walk Two Moons by Creech, Sharon

“Walk Two Moons” is a Newbery award winning book that tells the reader a story of a Native American girl, whose name is Salamanca Tree Hiddle. Her parents named her after the tribe to which her Gramp (grandfather) supposedly belonged. Everybody called her Sal though. Sal used to live in a small town in Kentucky until her mother left them. As it turned out the reason why mother left them so abruptly, was because she suffered a miscarriage and was told that she would never have kids again. She became extremely depressed, and one day left to Idaho to get away, promising to return “before the tulips bloomed”.  Sal’s dad waited for his wife for a long time, but eventually decided that it was very hard to live in a place where everything reminded him of her. So, one day Sal’s father packed up all of their belongings and moved the family to Ohio to start a new life. Sal hated the fact that they had to move; she loved her home where everything reminded her of her mother. But in Ohio things were different and foreign. So, to trace the path of her missing mother, Sal decided to travel to Idaho with her grandparents; she was convinced that that she would find her right before her mom’s birthday. Since the trip to Idaho was very long, Sal entertained her grandparents with the stories of her friend, Phoebe Winterbottom (whom her grandma called Peeby). Phoebe’s story was a lot like Sal’s; her mom disappeared one day and left a note that she would return. So, Phoebe and Sal were determined to find her. Acting like little detectives they were able to locate Mrs. Winterbottoms and bring her back home, but what about Sal's mother? Did she find her mother too? Read to find out.

The Giver By Lois Lowry

I discovered “The Giver” for the first time just a week ago. I absolutely loved the book and I wish I read it earlier. The main character of the story, Jonas, lives in a perfectly peaceful futuristic world called the “Sameness”. Jonas lives with his mom, dad a little sister, Lily, who is 8 years old. Jonas’s mom works as an employee at the Department of Justice while his dad’s occupation is called “the Nurturer”. In Jonas society, everything is seemingly perfect: there is no pain, no war, no fear, no justice, no hunger, no color, and no choice. Everything in people’s lives is regulated by the community: the weather, the names, the clothes, even the dreams.
At the age of 12 every person in the community is assigned a special role that he or she is going to perform for the rest of their lives. Therefore, after 12, age in the world of sameness is not considered important anymore, because the kids start training for their future roles. Some of the roles or assignments include: Assistant Director of Recreation, Birth Giver, Nurturer, Lawyer, Caretaker, etc.  But one of the most important roles in the community is the job of the Giver. The Giver holds the memories of the whole world before the world turned to “Sameness” and he passes his memories to the Receiver, who is chosen by the community for being special and having extraordinary abilities. At the Ceremony of Twelve Jonas becomes a Receiver. He is warned that receiving memories would be a very painful process and he would have to prepare himself for loneliness and challenges of the life that lies ahead. But nothing could prepare Jonas for what he is about to discover. When Jonas starts receiving the memories, he begins to experience colors; he learns the feelings of excitement, joy, warmth and love. But he also experiences the most difficult memories such as pain, hunger, suffering, war and despair.  The most disturbing event of his life happens when he witnesses his father “releasing” unwanted twin baby to “Elsewhere”. He realizes that “releasing” means simply killing a human being by giving a lethal injection. That is when he learns that everything he was taught up until this point of his life is a lie.

Number The Stars

“Number the Stars” is another Newbery Medal Award winning book by Lois Lowry in the genre of historical fiction. This historical fiction novel helps the children experience the past and enter the world if despair of those people who lived through the suffering, pain and uncertainty during WWII and the Nazis regime. The story takes place in Denmark, occupied by Nazis during WWII.  The Germans invaded the country and are persecuting the Jews. The main characters of the story Annemarie Johansen and Ellen Rosen are best friends. Since Ellen and her family are is Jewish, they become the victims of German persecution. To protect the Rosen's family, the Johansen's take Ellen into their family and plan their escape. Since it is not safe to hide all of them in their house, they temporarily hide only Ellen and pretend that she is Annemarie’s older sister, Lisa (who died a few years ago). When things become more and more dangerous, Mrs. Johansen takes the girls back to where she used to live when she was little. There, her brother Henrik and other brave Danes from the Resistance movement help the Rosens and other Jewish families flee to Sweden. Before they are able to complete their mission of smuggling their Jewish friends, a chain of complicated events takes place and Annemarie comes face-to-face with danger and fears not only for her own life but the lives of her loved ones. Can she conquer her fears and overcome her horror when facing the Nazis? You will have to read to find out.

Pretty Dead by Francesca Lia Block

Reviewed by Mercedes Adame

    This fiction book was published by HarperTeen and the date of publication is 2009. This is an easy reading book because it has 195 pages. The main character of this story is Charlotte. She is a vampire who is five feet ten, blond; blue eyed, and has large eyes. She also has the characteristics of being thin, have naturally pink lips, and broad, bony shoulders. Charlotte is creative and artistic. Or was when she was mortal. A passage from the book read, “I spent my days in the meadows with an easel and canvas, painting the wildflowers and the sky that Charles loved.” This quote shows that Charlotte was artistic in painting wildflowers and the sky. She is also a person who is calm because when her parents dead she took the situation as if nothing had happened.

    This story takes place in Malibu, although later it changes to Los Angeles. Therefore, the setting still stays in California. The story begins with Charlotte. She says that teenage girls are powerful creatures and wonders if children of the night aren’t different. What makes her wonder about herself and normal teenage girls is her loneliness. That’s when her troubles start. Charlotte makes a friend named Elizabeth who was said to have dead of suicide. Now Charlotte is left alone with Elizabeth’s boyfriend, Jared, to keep her company.

    However, later in the story, Charlotte discovers that not only does she have to deal with the death of her friend but also the surprise of her life. Charlotte is realizing she is gaining back some of her humanity. She realizes that her nails can break, she can feel worried or feel sensations, that she can cry, and has started her menstrual again. Though, another surprise arrives. That surprise is that her creator has come back for her! How can she be able to confront her creator when she is falling in love with Elizabeth’s boyfriend?

    Finally, Charlotte is told by her creator, William, that she is no longer an immortal. This brings her joy since its all she has ever wanted. Now she can live her life by having children and everything she had envious humans. But this happiness does not last long. It is the fact that her creator has chosen another woman as his partner that made her shiver and the decision of her creator is breath-taking! This event can ruin all those things that Charlotte has wished for as a human.

    I really liked this book because it contains a lot of action and breath taking thrills. Some examples would be Elizabeth’s death, when Charlotte and Jared get together, when Charlotte’s creator arrives, and lastly, when you discover the ending.  I recommend this book to those who like dark moods, epic thrills, and great endings. I recommend this book to those people because if you don’t like dark moods, epic thrills, and great endings you won’t like the story as much or understand it.

Faerie Wars by Herbie Brennan

Faerie Wars is a book of humor and suspense:a story about a parallel world diffrent to ours,Faerie world ;this is the story of a boy named Henry who ,like any other teenager, has family problems,to take his mind off of those problems Henry goes to do work for an old man named Fogarty who believes in UFO's,while he was cleaning his shed ,Hodge the tomcat caught a butterfly but when henry looked at it, it was a faerie prince ,his name is Prince Pygrus malvae faerie of house iris and succesor to the throne ,his story goes when his portal got sabatoged and sent him to where he is now little did he know his uncle injected poison into him when he didnt notice now Henry has to help Pygrus get his way home and warn them about the evil plot his uncle has ,but his uncle isnt the only one who is after the throne but also Beleth ,prince of darkness and ruler of Hael must avoid all these problems. If you want to find out the ending read this book

                                                                                                                                 -Ariana Ylanan-

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

The Kite Runner is a beutifully profound book that touches the hearts of many. This book has very realistic scenes that would make a person cry or leave them in awe. The atoganists Amir is who narrates the story which is his memories of his past.  He tells the stroy of his old days spent with his old friend Hassan,  and how much mischeif they used to get into, but Amir also tells of his many hardships he had to pass through. Even though most of the hardships include death of a close one and painful memories he keeps to himself, he gives the details of his memories. From a boy to a teen to an adult Amir gives exceptional life experinces that hook a reader.  We the readers of The Kite Runner get to experience the life of people in Afghanistan and whats it like to be in terrible places. Recomended with honesty and scencerity read this book.
                                                      -Maria Pasasin

Zombicorn by John Green

Set in a post apocolyptic world where corn rules every thing, one girl and her dog companion try to outlive the zombies. The zombies aren't really zombies they are people who have been affected by a corn virus, the virus makes you think that corn is the most important thing in the world. The zombies will protect the corn at all times, die for it, and will force corn into the mouths of anyone who hasn't been affected. Mia has gone through alot, "completing"-as they call killing zombies, up to a thousand zombies including her mom and dad. Throughout her past she has had alot of partners, her most recent caroline, and each has died. Mia is a fighter, I recomend this book to anyone and anyone, DFTBA. The link for free dowload is http://dft.ba/-zomgzs .

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

Blog by Daniel Diaz

The Lovely Bones is an exciting suspense book. From beginning to end you are captivated by the shocking and interesting details. The book tells a story about a young 14 year old girl that was murdered. Her name was Salmon Susie. She was murdered December 6, 1973. It was a chilly afternoon when Salmon decided to go through the corn fields to get home because she stayed late for school. When her neighbor came out of a hole and told her he had build a club house for the kids. He lours her to take a look inside, and once she is inside she gets a chilly filling. She tries to escape but it is too late and she is killed. The rest of the story tells about how her family suffers and how she meets all the other girls that were killed by the same man. This is one of the most interesting books i have read. I would recommend it for everyone.

The Freedom Writers By The Freedom Writers And Erin Gruwell

Reviewed by A. Maria
The Freedom Writers is a diary written by the English teacher and her students. She was determined to change her them and make them look at things differently. It was hard because it was a ghetto area where there were a lot of gangs, racial fights, and shoot outs. The students didn't believe she was trying to help them and looked at her as a teacher that was probably going to quit once she got tired of dealing with them .She tried getting the school to give them new books and looked for different strategies of teaching them so that they would be more interested in learning. She gave each one a diary to write in and instead of putting names they just put numbers so that their names would be kept confidental. The students wrote about their gang problems and stuff that was going on at home. If you want to find out what happened and if she was successful read the book.

"King Dork” by Frank Portman reviewed by Jimmy Can

“King Dork” by Frank Portman

Reviewed by Jimmy Can

King Dork is one of the first novels I’ve read this year. King Dork’s story follows Chi-mo(short for child molester) through his life in his High School, where he faces constant picking by school bullies, the vice principal, teachers(catcher cult) and various girls employing the make out-fake out. His life takes a turn for the better when he finds his Dad’s copy of Catcher in the Rye and various other books. He now has to unravel the mystery of “the dead bastard,” “Fiona,” and keep his band from breaking apart. This book is a fast paced one, and a must read.

"Sold” by Patricia McCormick

"Sold” by Patricia McCormick

    When I first heard about what kind of book “Sold” is, I was very hesitant about reading it. I heard it was a sad story, and I don’t usually read sad novels. The idea of an innocent 13yr old girl being forced into prostitution didn’t help with pursuing me into reading it either. But I’m REALLY glad that I decided to read this book! Yes it was sad and it made me cry, but overall, it was an amazing story. I didn’t want to put the book down!

“Homeless Bird” by Gloria Whelan reviewed by Mercedez

“Homeless Bird” by Gloria Whelan

   This is the latest book I’ve read and I have to admit its one of my favorites. This book has given me an insight about another culture and has left me wondering about the great things I have. This story takes place in India where Hindu people have believes that are way different from ours. Koly, the main character is forced to leave her family and marry at a young age with someone she doesn’t know. Though, in her country this is something very usual. Koly soon realizes that marrying the person she did has ruined her life forever. She sometimes wonders of fleeing back with her family but she knows that as a tradition she cannot do such a thing. Find out more about in this breath-taking story and Koly’s journey.

“Bad Girls don’t Die” by Katie Alander reviewed by Jasmin

“Bad Girls don’t Die” by Katie Alander.

Bad girls don’t die is based on the main character Alexis where she is basically, an outcast at her high school. She hates cheerleaders, and is annoyed with her parents and her little sister. The only way out is to go to her dark room and reveal her photos. When everything seems as boring as ever, strange occurrences start to happen.  Weird sightings and her weird 12 year old doll obsessed sister, Kasey just gets even weirder. Things around Alexis get even more dangerous when her younger sister starts acting like someone else. I seriously enjoyed this book. I recommend reading it as soon as possible.

"Homecoming" reviewed by Anthony Sanchez

"IT'S STILL TRUE" that's the first thing James Tillerman says to his sister Dicey every morning. It's still true that their mother has abandoned the four Tillerman children somewhere in the middle of Connecticut.  Now they have to find their way to their only known family member their great aunt Cilla. But when they get there it’s not what they expect. Dicey tries to keep their family together, but when the person they went to for help to keep them together decides to separate them what will she do?

Welcome to the library blog spot!

This blog was created for the students to be able to share their love of reading. Here you will be able to post your thoughts about the books that you are most excited about. You can read  the posts of your fellow students and post your own review as well.
If you want to write a book review you have to type it in a word document and email it to me at lilia.abagi@lausd.net. I will review it for the appropriateness and post it in the library blog.
Your book review should include the plot of the story without giving away the end. Please, make sure to correct your grammar and spelling before submitting the work. I will not do it for you:)
Hope to hear from you soon!

Jamila

"A Time For Dancing" I'd have to say is on my list of top books to read. it was such a touching story about two best friends who steadily grew apart. Not because of differences, but because of cancer. Julie had cancer and even though through all the treatment she still didnt get better. When she first lost her hair thats when things took a turn. She didnt want to see anyone, not even her best friend Samantha. They were dancers and once they found out that Julie had cancer she couldnt dance anymore. But at the end of the story they danced together one more time before she was comfortable with the fact that she was going to die. She pasted but in spirit she was still there. Such a beautiful story that i cried, because my grandmother had past not too long before i read it of diabetes.

"Specials"

Cynthia
The book I read is called "Specials". It is the third sequel of the book called "Uglies". In the story, Tally Youngblood is forced to be a part of a secret police force called The Special Circumstances. She obeys every rule until she is asked to join the New Smoke. Tally also tries to save her boyfriend, Zane, from brain damage that was caused by the cure. She and her friend Shay try to sneak in the the city's armory room and it causes a war between Prettytown and Diego. At the end of the book, Tally injects the cure on a doctor and leader of Special Circumstances named Dr.Cable to return her mind back to normal and went out into the wild with her ugly friend name David and they start to form a new Special Circumstances. It's a really great book to read because when you read it, it actually feels like you are there in the story and there are a lot of things in the story that will surprise you. I would personally recommend this book because it has action, adventure, and science fiction. I also recommend to read the first book "Uglies" so that the reader will understand more of what is going on.

"Maniac Magee" by Jerry Spinelli Jeffrey

"Maniac Magee" by Jerry SpinelliJeffrey (Maniac) Lionel Magee was a runaway. Well not technically a runaway. He ran away from home because he couldnt stand that his aunt and uncle wouldnt talk to each other at all. So he decided that he wanted to leave... so he left. He ran and ran and ran. He ran for a year. But when he stopped he came to a town named Two Mills. This town was divided in two. On the East End lived the blacks. And on the West End lived the whites. Well to Maniac everyone was the same, everyone were just people to him. But to the people of Two Mills they were like two different species that weren't supposed to interact at all. But to Maniac people were people and for awhile he lived on the East End with the Beales, a black family.Well it seemed that wherever Maniac went trouble was surely behind him, because one day an old black man came out and told Maniac to go back to 'his' people. He didnt understand at first but realised that he was just causing harm to the Beales because their house had been written on with the words 'GO HOME FISHBELLY'. So he left and started running again. But evenually Jeffrey brought these people together... but that you'll have to find out... I wont be telling. :)