The 39 Clues By Rick Riordan

The 39 Clues:1 Maze of Bones on PhotoPeach

1984 by George Orwell

Why I Fight

WHY I FIGHT on PhotoPeach

The battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan

Chinese Cinderella by Adeline Yen Mah

Killing Mr. Griffin by Lois Duncan

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Chinese Cinderella

    Before I began reading this book, I had been recommended to read it by others and I actually gave it a try before; but, I gave up reading it soon because it didn’t catch my full attention. Recently, my library teacher has recommended this book and I just decided to read it again doubtfully. I would regret someday for sure if I didn’t try to read the story again to finish it. Here is the story that made me almost cry and thank my mother for being alive. There was a Chinese girl named Jun-Ling Yen; two words are enough to describe her and her life at the same time: “Unwanted Child.” Because her mother died when she gave birth to her, she was treated as a “bad luck” at home. There was no one who stood by her side or looked after her except Aunt Baba and her grandpa, Ye-Ye. As time passed, her stepmother, Niang discriminated between her biological children and stepchildren in public and there was no one who could stop her, even her father. Of course, the worst victim was Jun-Ling; she was mistreated both physically and mentally by Niang and her siblings day after day. Under her family’s cold treatment, she mistreated herself as “unworthy person” and it was getting worse. Whenever she had hard time, her aunt Baba and grandfather Ye-Ye encouraged her to have hope for her future as treating her special. With their support, she devoted herself to studying harder and harder; she devoted her time to reading books as much as she could in order to escape from the real world at the same time. As she grew up, her desire to continue her education and become an independent person grew up as well. However, it was really difficult to achieve her dream just because she was a girl. In China, people value a boy more than a girl and it was much worse back then, around 1950s. Like a miracle, an opportunity to show her father her possibility was given one day. Could she prove her ability to her father who didn’t have any interest in her? Could she get an opportunity to have a better life other than just remain as “unwanted child” or “unworthy person”? I strongly recommend people who think that the world is so tough for them and want to give up without a try and people who don’t realize how lucky they are. I hope you learn something from her story like I did.

A step from Heaven

A Step From Heaven

A Step From Heaven is a story of a Korean girl named Young Ju Park who immigrated to the U.S. at the age of four with her father (Apa in Korean) and her mother (Uhmma). Before her family came to the U.S., Young Ju believed that America would be heaven because her grandma (Halmoni) once told her that Heaven was far away from Korea like the U.S. In addition to this, she liked the word, Mi Gook (America) that made her parents smile overspread their faces. However, her hope and expectation ended in disappointment when she realized that the U.S. was not a heaven. In fact, the life in the U.S. got worse than Korea. Her parents, especially her Apa, had to work multiple jobs to make a living, and her Apa’s violence against her Uhmma got worse and worse as time passed. Meanwhile, Young Ju was having tough time at school because she couldn’t understand English at all. Not long after, her younger brother, Joon was born; as a girl, Young Ju felt jealous toward her brother, Joon who became her Apa’s dream just because he was a boy. (In Korea, a boy is valued more than a girl because the boy can carry on a family line and can have more opportunities to become a great person in the world.) After years passed, Young Ju’s English skill was improved remarkably as she studied hard for her future. After her Apa learned that his mother, Halmoni died in Korea, her Apa began using violence against his family, even against Young Ju and her younger brother. They began to lean on each other all the time. Apa had been causing difficulties for his family; he was caught by police driving drunk, he did not come home for days, he was violent, and he cheated on his wife. Finally, Young Ju decided to report her Apa to 911, to tell that her Apa had been violent against her family. She wanted to save her Uhmma from Apa. After she reported her Apa, the life of her family changed totally. How? If you want to know the ending of the story, then go to library and grab this book now! I enjoyed reading this book to hear the story. This book is special to me as a Korean because hear the Korean words and feel Korean culture that I had experienced in my life before and makes me miss my home country, too. So, I want to recommend this book to people who are children of immigrant family because they would connect their lives to Young Ju’s life as understanding her better than any others. As you read this book, you will know how Young Ju overcame difficulties that made her stopped every moment and you will grow your hope in your heart at last.

1984 by George Orwell

First of all, let me start saying that 1984 is a very interesting book to read because of its unique plot devised by George Orwell. Secondly, this book has many complex ideas of psychology and government which can relate to today’s society or to other forms of government throughout history.

The story is about a man named Winston Smith, who lives in a world without freedom in which we would fear to live in. The regions of Winston’s world are divided among Oceana, East Asia, and Eurasia. Winston resides in London which is part of the Oceana region of the government. The totalitarian government bears the name “Big Brother”, and controls the Oceana and East Asia regions of the planet. Winston experiences the horrors of this meticulous form of government in the story. Secretly placed microphones and cameras surround London, so any rebellious or threatening activities seen or heard by the Thought Police will end in punishment and torture. Winston, thin and frail, endures thinking about rebellious activities to avoid torture. Winston lives in a Prole populated area and works as a historian for the Party. His job is to erase and create documents to change the course of history in which the government wants it to. That means history is controlled by the Party and Winston and the people do not even realize what is real and what is not. Newspeak is a program created by the Party to decrease knowledge to the masses such as Winston, by limiting their vocabulary and misinforming them with lies to easily brainwash their undeveloped brains. Winston already commits his first “Thought Crime’ in the book by writing a diary. Owning a diary is a crime to the government and it is punishable. Because of that, Winston dreams to take the government down and meets people along the way that are either rebels who had enough with the Party, or members of the Thought Police ready to arrest and torture Winston.

Killing Mr. Griffin

The story killing Mr. Griffin by Lois Duncan focuses on a classroom with a group of students who don’t want to work for their grade. Mr. Griffin is a very strict teacher with many expectations like turning in assignments on time, speaking only once spoken to, and good is never enough for him. His students dislike him for being a strict teacher and not giving second opportunities for missing assignments. Students often gather during lunch and complain on how some received a lower grade than others. They also mentioned a former student named Mark that had to plead Mr. Griffin to re-write the assignment, but this was not the end of it. Mark always hated Mr. Griffin and now that he feels humiliated he has plans against Mr. Griffin. Mark gathered a group of classmates Betsy, David, and Sue and mentioned his plan on taking Mr. Griffin hostage and makes him plead for his freedom. Little did they know that there plan will come with a surprise. Would this help shape up Mr. Griffins attitude toward his students? Or what kind of surprise will these students receive? I would recommend this book for those students who are interested in mysterious stories. I myself did not enjoy this book for the reason that it took a long amount of time to get to the main parts. In the beginning there is introduction on all the students and how Mr. Griffin’s class functioned. I disagreed with the plan against Griffin because I personally believe teachers ought to be strict. The ending was not delightful and it left me with the thought if the students ever spoke about what had truly happened. Therefore, this book is for students who like to be left with a ambiguous ending.