" A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini

“A Thousand Splendid Suns” is a novel written by Khaled Hosseini. When I  read “The Kite Runner” Hossaini’s first book, I fell in love with his work. So, reading his other book was a must for me. Although, “A Thousand Splendid Suns” is not as easy to follow as “ The Kite Runner”, due to the structure of the plot, it is just as powerful and heartbreaking as the first book. The book is divided into four parts. Part one was dedicated to Miriam, one of the main characters of the story, a girl who was born an illegitimate child to a very wealthy man married to tree other wives, and a poor maid, who lived in the outskirts of Herat. By the age of fifteen Mirriam, was forced to marry a man, who was 30 years her senior. She was just a child then and even the thought of marrying a man so much older than her was terrifying. But what choice did she have? Her mother hung herself from the fear of being deserted by her daughter and her father did not want her. Mirriam’s husband, Rasheed, turned out to be a very abusive and cruel man who did everything in his power to put his wife down. The only thing he ever wanted from her was that she gave him a son. Unfortunately, every time  Mirriam became pregnant, she lost a child, and that drove Rasheed into a rage. He abused her physically and mentally, and there was nothing she could do to escape it.
The second and the forth parts of the book were dedicated to Leila, a stunningly beautiful girl born to a very liberal and educated family, that perished during the bombing of Kabul by the Russian air forces, leaving Miriam all alone to struggle for survival. That was how she found herself marring Rasheed. Rasheed obviously was flattered to have such a young and beautiful wife, and at first he treated her a lot better than Miriam. But shortly after she gave birth to a little girl, he became suspicious of Leila and started abusing her as well.
The third part of the book was dedicated to both main characters, who had to live under the same roof, learn to accept each other, and eventually sacrifice their own lives to save one another from the brutality of their husband. I fell in love with these women because despite their unbearable lives, they managed to stay strong and prevail despite all odds. I would highly recommend this book to the high school students ages, 16 and up, because it will give them a new perspective on life in general, and women in particular, in a country like Afghanistan, where human rights do not exist and religion in the hands of extremists  becomes a weapon in treating women as inferior creatures.

"Al Capone Does My Shirts"

“Al Capone Does My Shirts” is a wonderfully written novel about a teen age boy, Matthew Flannigen, aka “Moose”, and his autistic sister Natalie, who happened to live on the Alcatraz Island near the San Francisco Bay. The island was famous for housing the most unforgiving, maximum security prison at the time, called the Alcatraz. In the 1930’s only the most infamously dangerous of the convicts ended up there, because nobody was ever able to escape from Alcatraz. Ironically, though, the island was considered one of the safest places around, even safer that San Francisco city, because of the maximum security (3 guards per one prisoner). The reason Mathew and his family ended up on the island was because his dad had gotten a job as an electrician/guard and that promised to support the family’s constant financial needs to provide for Natalie’s disability. In 1935 people did not know much about autism, so most people simply considered Natalie crazy. The only hope Natalie’s parents had for her was to put her to the Esther Marinoff’s School, where she could learn to cope with her situation and lead a more or less normal life. The problem was that no school wanted to keep Natalie for a long time because of her constant tantrums and crying. In fact, she failed the admission at the Esther Marinoff’s School as well. Consequently, Moose had to babysit his older sister, so his parents could go to work to save the money for Natalie’s treatment.
Throughout the book the reader gets to experience not only the lives of the families and children living on the Alcatraz Island, but also the personal struggles that Moose and family have while trying to raise Natalie.

Flipped by Wendelyn Van Draanen

The novel “Flipped” by Wendelyn Van Draanen targets the teenage audience, grades 6-9. It is truly a lovely romance story about two neighborhood kids, Juliana Baker and Bryce Loski. The moment Bryce moved to the neighborhood, Juliana fell head over heels with the boy and followed his every step. Bryce felt overwhelmed by such attention and like any second grader all he wanted was for Juli Baker to leave him alone. By the eighth grade things started to change, and the kids started seeing each other differently; things sort of flipped. Juli reevaluated her feelings for Bryce and the things he’d done to her for the past years and started ignoring Bryce for his childish and immature behavior. Bryce, on the other hand, started noticing Juli’s uniqueness and individuality, and couldn’t stop thinking about her. The interesting thing about this novel is that the reader is able to experience the same events and situations from the points of views of both characters. Throughout the story both characters learn to cope with difficult situations, to overcome peer pressure, and most importantly stand up for what they believe in. I enjoyed the book despite the fact that it was meant for the younger audience. I think that it would be great romance for my high-low readers for it has a great plot and a wonderful message of discovering what is really important in life.

"The Underneath" by Kathi Appelt

"The Underneath" is a Newbery Award winning book that tells a story of human cruelty and animal sacrificing love for each other. I found the story itself to be believable, because the author, Kathy Appelt paid careful attention to the details of the setting and character description; she gave her animal characters the ability to think, feel, suffer, cry-all those traits are human. We, as readers, are able to feel what is would be like to be them.
When it comes to the plot of the story, I felt that it was a little confusing because it had three parts, that only tied together at the end of the story. I found the constant shift of focus from one story line to the next to be distracting.
What I really liked in the story is the part that was dedicated to the calico cat and the old hound, Ranger, who were portrayed almost as if they were humans, because throughout the story they became best friends and taught the reader how to love, care and protect each other.
Ranger, an old hound, was once a hunting dog, who got accidentally shot by his owner, Gar Face. Since that accident, Gar Face, who was extremely cruel, unhappy and lonely man, chained his dog to the back porch of his house. When calico cat came along and gave birth to the kittens Puck and Sabine, under the porch of Gar Face’s house (called ”the underneath”), the animals became a family. Ranger and the calico cat raised her kittens in the underneath and felt very happy and safe for a while, until one day Puck ran straight into the terrible hands of Gar Face. Kathy Appelt managed to merge an almost entirely separate folktale of a miserable, snake, Grandmother Mocassin, into the story. The snake was trapped in a clay jar made by her own daughter for over a thousand years. Finally, the third part of the story was dedicated to a giant king alligator, who became an object of nightmares and desires of Gar Face. How did these three stories fit together into the same book? Well, you’ll have to read it yourself to find out.

"The Hatchet" by Gary Paulsen

“Hatchet” is a Newbery Award Wining book about a thirteen-year-old boy, Brian Robinson, who traveled to Canada to spend summer with his dad. Brian’s parents got divorced and that broke Brian’s heart.   Right before Brian boarded the small plane, his mother gave him a gift, a hatchet, which he stuck behind his belt.
During the flight, the unimaginable happened; the pilot of the plane suffered a heart attack, and since Brian was the only passenger on the plane, he had to figure out the way to land the plane if he wanted to stay alive. Obviously, his mission was nearly impossible, but somehow he managed to land the plane on the lake in an inhabited area of the Canadian wilderness. When Brian realized that he made it alive, he found himself alone, without any food, clothes or shelter. Brian did not want to panic; he thought that he would soon be found; that his parents would be looking for him. All he had to do was to learn how to use his intelligence and skills to find a way to survive, to last just a few more days. But how could he do that without any tools? Suddenly, he remembered about the hatchet, his mother’s gift. With the help of the hatchet and the essential life skills he learned (during the course of time spent in the wilderness), Brian was able to build a shelter and hunting tools, gather woods, start the fire and scare off the wild animals. He found a new appreciation for nature and its power. More importantly though, those experiences turned Brian into a different person; he learned to be patient, courageous, and strong.
 The descriptive details made me feel as if I were there with Brian, experiencing his fears, his loneliness, his hunger and his despair. The book held my attention the entire time. Must read!

“Freak the Mighty" by Rodman Philbrick

The story was told from the point of view of Max, a giant kid with learning disability (LD), who was used to believing that he was not very smart, because everybody around him called him stupid. So, Max learned to be alone and lived in the basement of his house, away from everybody, including his grandparents, who raised him. When Max met Kevin for the first time in the kindergarten, he thought of him as a Freak, because Kevin looked like he was trapped in a tiny body; yet he had a big head and most intelligent mind. Freak’s birth defect, as Max later learned, caused his inner organs to grow, while his outside frame stayed the same. Despite that, Kevin was a little genius with the phenomenal brain, and mental abilities; he was practically a walking dictionary.
The boys didn’t meet again until Kevin moved in Max’s neighborhood and went to the same school as Max. It turned out that Kevin’s and Max’s mothers were once friends too, but we learned that Max’s father, Killer Kane, murdered his wife in front of Max, when he was only a four-year-old boy. When Freak and Max got together and became friends, Max, the spitting image of his father, stopped being so afraid of neighborhood bullies, and became more confident about himself, his intellect and his family heritage. Kevin, on the other hand, loved the fact that he had a friend he was able to share his life with; not everybody wanted to be friends with the “dwarf”. Even though kids at school and in the neighborhood constantly teased the boys and called them names, together Kevin and Max became unstoppable; they became “Freak the Mighty”.
I think this book brings to the reader’s attention a few very important issues such as: bullying, overcoming adversity, growing up with disability, friendship, etc. Bullying is a problem that affects millions of students across the country and the world. Kids that are abused by their peers usually suffer from low self-esteem, stress, and depression. If the problem goes unnoticed, those fears and anxieties can lead them to suicide. Max and Kevin were lucky to find each other, because together they were able to stand up to the crowd; they were able to leave their insecurities behind and have fun, be adventurous and happy. Their friendship conquered their fears, and helped them feel normal for once in their life. Other kids might not be so lucky. I think that after reading this book, some kids might look at their handicapped peers differently, with more respect and tolerance.

My Father, the Angel of Death by Ray Villareal

The story “My Father, the Angel of Death” is written in a contemporary realistic fiction genre. The language of the book is simple; therefore, it would be appropriate for the reluctant readers. I think that the boys would like this book even more than the girls, due to the fact that the main character of the story is a seventh-grade boy, named Jesse, whose dad is a wrestling world champion, Mark Baron, also known as the Angel of Death. Jesse describes the events from his point of view and that makes the story more personal and appealing.
At the beginning of the book we get to know that Jesse just started a new school year in yet another new school in San Antonio, Texas. Due to the fact that Jesse’s dad was travelling all year long while participating in different competitions, Jesse had to constantly change schools; this was his 10th school since he started in Kindergarten and he hated that. He was dreading the fact that his peers would soon find out who his dad was and their reaction to it would most likely be the same as it was everywhere he went; they would want to be his friends. The thing was though Jesse was not sure if they wanted to be his friends because of him, or because they were obsessed with his dad. In fact, wherever Jesse’s family went; they were always surrounded by fans and that gave them very little privacy. Most classmates thought that Jesse was the luckiest guy in the world, because his dad was so famous. Jesse didn’t think that way. In fact, his life was pretty miserable and his parents’ relationship was falling apart, because his dad was rarely home.
At school Jesse had to deal with a lot of issues as well. Once everybody found out that Jesse’s dad was a celebrity, one of Jesse’s teachers, decided to use her power to blackmail Jesse to get his father to make a public appearance in school. She threatened to give Jesse an F, if his dad did not come to school, but if he did show up, she promised to automatically change it to an A. Another issue that Jesse had to face was his inability to make friends; he didn’t trust people, because he had a fear of being used by them. In addition, Jesse had some unpleasant encounters with three school bullies Manuel, Chester Leonard, and Hugo Sanchez, who kept intimidating kids in school and pushing them around. On one of the occasions, Jesse rescued Sarah Young, the girl he had a crush on. Even though Jesse really liked Sarah, he wouldn’t admit it to her, because he was not sure if she liked him back.
all in all, I enjoyed reading this book. The setting and the characters in the story faced problems and possibilities that are within the range of what is actually possible in real life. The issues that were brought up in the book such as finding friends, parents relationships, having a crush on somebody, have a special appeal to the young adult readers.

The Last Book In the Universe by Rodman Philbrick

I found this book to be a little hard to follow. You literally have to learn the vocabulary of this futuristic world in order to understand what is going on.
The story was set in the future (a thousand years from now), in the city called the Urb. The Earth had been through the major earthquake and that completely changed the world, turning it into a dark place full of gangs, poverty, hunger and drugs (called mindprobes). The people that lived in the Urb city were called "normals". The city was run by gang lords, who enforced their rules on the population. If you weren’t a part of a gang, you might as well be dead. To be able to escape the pain of the reality and experience the world that once existed, people stuck the needle in their brain and let it rip. Mindprobes replaced all real experiences that the humans were once exposed to: books, TV, video games, etc.
On the other side of the world in the city of Eden lived genetically improved humans called “proovs”, who had everything that the humans should have. The thing was though, that "proovs" could never mix with “normals”, and “normals” could never live in Eden.
Spaz, the main character of the story, who was abandoned by his adoptive parents, set off to find his little foster sister, Bean. He wanted to visit her even if it was the last time. Would he be able to find her? What would his journey be like? Was he going to survive? Read the book to find out.
I thought it was a good example of a science-fiction book; it had all the attributes of the genre: the futuristic society, a major disaster, special vocabulary, etc. It had an unusual plot and some interesting themes. Some of the themes include: environment, reading, prejudice and human nature, tolerance, drugs and violence. One theme that was brought up in the book was the theme of judging others based on their looks or their socioeconomic situation. The characters through their journey learned that despite their differences, they happen to have a lot of similarities, desires and hopes. If I were to compare this book to “The Giver” by L. Laury, I would say that it was not nearly as good; “the Giver” for me was the masterpiece in that genre