Spotlight on Books

Book Review on CLASSIC “The Lord of the Rings” Trilogy

By Kaathryn Best

The trilogy is three books written by J.R.R. Tolkien consisting of “The Fellowship of the Ring”, “The Two Towers”, and “The Return of the King”. The books are the stories of nine characters that are on a journey to save their home of “Middle Earth”. Tolkien wrote the books as one large novel, but it was split into three, and follows the groups’ journeys separately through six “books” that are actually just the dividing points from one set of character’s tale to another set’s tale. The first novel is the hardest to read because it begins slowly with introductions and history. However action picks up by the end of the novel and flows directly into the following novels, giving the other two a much faster pace and making them easier to read. The action is nonstop in the final novels and the separation of the stories makes the reader eager to find out what has happened to the other characters. If you have seen the movies then you know the story, but the great thing about the novels is the information that wasn’t put into the movies that you learn and the in-depth relationships you develop with characters. I recommend everyone should read these novels because of their CLASSIC nature but anyone who loves the movies, or loves fantasy novels like the “Harry Potter” series or the “Eragon” series, would probably enjoy this series. However, if you are not a strong reader or have a short attention span, you might have a harder time with this series.

The first novel is the introduction of the “Ring”, the evil “Sauron”, and the nine “Walkers” of the fellowship. The nine walkers are Frodo Baggins (the Hobbit ring bearer), Samwise Gamgee (the Hobbit gardener of Frodo), Meriadoc Brandybuck (Hobbit), Peregrin Took (Hobbit), Gimli (Dwarf), Gandalf (Wizard), Legolas (Elf), Aragorn (Ranger), and Boromir (Man from Gondor). The first novel is of their beginning journey towards Mordor to destroy the evil Ring of Sauron.

The second novel, Two Towers, is the separate journeys of Frodo and Sam heading towards Mordor and Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli trying to save Merry and Pippin from the Orcs of Saruman, an evil wizard. At the beginning of this novel the group is separated by an attack from the Orcs. The novel introduces the character of Gollum to Frodo and Sam to help them on their path to Mount Doom, the volcano in Mordor, where they must destroy the ring. The other characters path leads them to Rohan, the horse country, where they meet King Theoden, his nephew Eomer, and niece Eowyn. Group helps Theoden and Rohan in the battle against Saruman’s Orcs at Helms Deep, Rohan’s Fortress. Merry and Pippin are introduced to Treebeard, an “Ent” or ‘tree herder”, who gathers all the Ents to march on Saruman’s tower of Isengard.

The third novel, Return, brings all the walkers back together except for Frodo and Sam who are still on their way to Mordor with Gollum. The rest of the fellowship gathers with Rohan and travels to Gondor, another country in Middle Earth, to help save the city from Sauron’s attack. The group then joins Rohan and Gondor together to march on the Black Gates of Mordor. All the time the fellowship has no idea what is happening with Sam and Frodo and are hopeful that the pair has found a way to Mount Doom. Sam and Frodo face their own perils on their journey including a monstrous arachnid named Shelob. If Frodo and Sam fail in destroying the ring, all of Middle Earth will be under Sauron’s control and will be destroyed.

Watership Down

By: Hannah Chatham

Richard Adam’s Watership Down is a classic novel and worldwide bestseller for over 40 years.  It is a stirring tale of adventure, courage, and survival amongst a band of bunnies.  Don’t be fooled by the seemingly childish topic.  This is an anthropomorphic story, an attribution of human characteristics to animals, much like Animal Farm or Aesop’s Fables.  Originally intended as a children’s book, it has become seen as more of an adult-themed novel.

In this book, a band of young male rabbits set out to find a place of freedom when a clairvoyant rabbit, Fiver, predicts catastrophe.  He and his brother, Hazel, set out to gather more rabbits from their warren who are willing to flee.  Together, they embark on a perilous journey where they face all kinds of enemies.  These include a rabbit community who has given up freedom for the illusion of security, a ferocious dictator, and numerous species that tower over them in the food chain.  Along their journey, they adopt ideas from different warrens and put them to use at their newfound warren on Watership Down.  They also begin to reach out to other species for help. This tale is full of social allegory and thought-provoking proverbs.  Not only does it make you look at society from a different angle, but it also makes you appreciate nature.  You begin to see from their perspective as the natural world around them is being torn apart by man.  Throughout all of these hardships, the value of each individual becomes more apparent, and you realize that their world is not unlike our own.

I highly recommend this book to everyone, especially teens and young adults.  It makes you ponder society and appreciate nature. The characters are well defined and easy to relate to.  The plot is full of action and suspense.  This classic novel is definitely one of my personal favorites.

Clockwork Prince

By Cassandra Clare

             In Victorian London, Tessa Gray has at last found safety with the Shadowhunters, which are the Nephilim who kill demons and keep peace between the warlocks, werewolves, and vampires. But that safety proves fleeting when rogue forces in the Clave plot to see her protector, Charlotte, replaced as head of the Institute. If Charlotte loses her position, Tessa will be out on the street and easy prey for the mysterious Magister, who wants to use Tessa’s powers for his own dark ends. In the first book, Clockwork Angel, Tessa just found out that she is a type of warlocks, she can shape shift into any person, if she has an object from that person. With the help of Will and Jem, Tessa discovers that the Magister’s war on the Shadowhunters is deeply personal. He blames them for a long-ago tragedy that shattered his life. To unravel the secrets of the past, the trio journeys from mist-shrouded Yorkshire to a manor house that holds untold horrors, from the slums of London to an enchanted ballroom where Tessa discovers that the truth of her parentage is more sinister than she had imagined. When they encounter a clockwork demon bearing a warning for Will, they realize that the Magister himself knows their every move; one of their closest friends betrayed them. Tessa finds her heart drawn more and more to Jem, but her longing for Will, despite his dark moods, continues to unsettle her. As their dangerous search for the Magister and the truth leads the friends into peril, Tessa learns that when love and lies are mixed, they can corrupt even the purest heart.

By Haley Dill

Crank

By Ellen Hopkins

Crank is an addictive book by Ellen Hopkins, no pun intended. Kristina is a 16 year old girl, who was very smart, never got in trouble, or hasn’t even dated yet. Until she went to visit her father one summer and from then on, everything went for the worst. While visiting her father, she met a boy named Adam. He introduced her to the very addictive drunk “CRANK”.  After weeks of doing the drug, it was time for her to return home to her mother. Her mother then notices later on that she wasn’t the same from when she left. I highly recommend this book to any teen, boy or girl.

By Keaundra Farris

1984 by George Orwell

Book Review by Brett Lee Walton

Winston Smith is a low-ranking member of the ruling Party in London, in the nation of Oceania. Everywhere Winston goes, even in his own home, the Party watches him through telescreens; everywhere he looks he sees the face of the Party’s seemingly omniscient leader, a figure known only as Big Brother. The Party controls everything in Oceania, even the people’s history and language. Currently, the Party is forcing the implementation of an invented language called Newspeak, which attempts to prevent political rebellion by eliminating all words related to it. Even thinking rebellious thoughts is illegal. Such thought-crime is, in fact, the worst of all crimes.

As the novel opens, Winston feels frustrated by the oppression and rigid control of the Party, which prohibits free thought, sex, and any expression of individuality. Winston dislikes the party and has illegally purchased a diary in which to write his criminal thoughts. He has also become fixated on a powerful Party member named O’Brien, whom Winston believes is a secret member of the Brotherhood—the mysterious, legendary group that works to overthrow the Party.

Winston works in the Ministry of Truth, where he alters historical records to fit the needs of the Party. He notices a coworker, a beautiful dark-haired girl, staring at him, and worries that she is an informant who will turn him in for his thought-crime. He is troubled by the Party’s control of history: the Party claims that Oceania has always been allied with Eastasia in a war against Eurasia, but Winston seems to recall a time when this was not true. The Party also claims that Emmanuel Goldstein, the alleged leader of the Brotherhood, is the most dangerous man alive, but this does not seem plausible to Winston. Winston spends his evenings wandering through the poorest neighborhoods in London, where the proletarians, or proles, live squalid lives, relatively free of Party monitoring.

One day, Winston receives a note from the dark-haired girl that reads “I love you.” She tells him her name, Julia, and they begin a covert affair, always on the lookout for signs of Party monitoring. Eventually they rent a room above the secondhand store in the prole district where Winston bought the diary. This relationship lasts for some time. Winston is sure that they will be caught and punished sooner or later (the fatalistic Winston knows that he has been doomed since he wrote his first diary entry), while Julia is more pragmatic and optimistic. As Winston’s affair with Julia progresses, his hatred for the Party grows more and more intense. At last, he receives the message that he has been waiting for: O’Brien wants to see him.

Winston and Julia travel to O’Brien’s luxurious apartment. As a member of the powerful Inner Party (Winston belongs to the Outer Party), O’Brien leads a life of luxury that Winston can only imagine. O’Brien confirms to Winston and Julia that, like them, he hates the Party, and says that he works against it as a member of the Brotherhood. He indoctrinates Winston and Julia into the Brotherhood, and gives Winston a copy of Emmanuel Goldstein’s book, the manifesto of the Brotherhood. Winston reads the book—an amalgam of several forms of class-based twentieth-century social theory—to Julia in the room above the store. Suddenly, soldiers barge in and seize them. Mr. Charrington, the proprietor of the store, is revealed as having been a member of the Thought Police all along.

Torn away from Julia and taken to a place called the Ministry of Love, Winston finds that O’Brien, too, is a Party spy who simply pretended to be a member of the Brotherhood in order to trap Winston into committing an open act of rebellion against the Party. O’Brien spends months torturing and brainwashing Winston, who struggles to resist. At last, O’Brien sends him to the dreaded Room 101, the final destination for anyone who opposes the Party. Here, O’Brien tells Winston that he will be forced to confront his worst fear. Throughout the novel, Winston has had recurring nightmares about rats; O’Brien now straps a cage full of rats onto Winston’s head and prepares to allow the rats to eat his face. Winston snaps, pleading with O’Brien to do it to Julia, not to him.

Giving up Julia is what O’Brien wanted from Winston all along. His spirit broken, Winston is released to the outside world. He meets Julia but no longer feels anything for her. He has accepted the Party entirely and has learned to love Big Brother.-Sparknotes

After reading this book, I would strongly suggest it to anyone who is interested in having their mind blown open and introduced to radical new ideas; the fearsome actuality of the possibility of this reality coming true is what makes this book so relevant. Not only is this novel an extremely effective use of political criticism, but it is also a very compelling read. This book is widely known and discussed as one the most classic examples of the dangers of Totalitarianism and the powers of psychological manipulation. Though 1984 may not be your average teenage book about vampires, wizards, or relationship, it is one of the best books I have ever read and is a required read in many college classes.

PS. There are several free copies of this book available in the library if you would like to own one!

Burn by Ellen Hopkins

The life of a Mormon girl..

Pattyn Scarlet Von Stratten. Pattyn is tired of the Mormon lifestyle and rebels against her family and the rules of her home and church. Her father spends most of the time drunk and angry and her mother has a whole household to take care of. After Pattyn gets in a fight and breaks glass, her family has had enough of her rebelling so they send her to live with her Aunt, out in the middle of nowhere, for the summer, so she can no longer get in trouble. It turns out that she has fun on her stay with her aunt, she learns how to drive and ride a horse, and meets the love of her life. She fell in love with Ethan, the son of her aunts friend. He is not Mormon and her father would kill the both of them if they were together. After returning home things start to go bad again. She mouths off to her father and gets beaten. She takes the rap for something her sister does, and gets beaten to save her life. She also learns that she will have Ethan’s baby.

By These Ten Bones

by: Clare B. Dunkle

If you like werewolves, and fantasy, this is a must read!

A mysterious young man has come to a small Highland town. His talent for wood carving soon wins him work at the castle and the admiration of the weaver’s daughter Maddie. Fascinated by the silent carver, she sets out to gain his trust, only to find herself drawn into a terrifying secret that threatens everything she loves.

There is an evil presence in the woodcarver’s life that cannot be controlled, and Maddie watches her town fall under a shadow. One by one, people begin to die. Caught in the middle, Maddie must decide what matters most to her—and what price she is willing to pay to keep it.

Someone Like You by Sarah Dessen

Halley and Scarlett have been best friends for years, sharing secrets, clothes, and crushes. People know Scarlett as the popular, flamboyant one; Halley’s just her quiet sidekick. Then, at the beginning of their junior year, the balance shifts. First, Scarlett’s boyfriend Michael is killed in a freak accident; soon afterward, she learns that she is carrying his baby. For the first time, Scarlett really needs Halley. Their friendship may bend under the weight, but it’ll never break–because a true friendship is a promise you keep forever. Sarah Dessen’s poignant, funny voice has earned her raves and legions of teenaged fans.

Beautiful Darkness

By: Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

Ethan Wate used to think of Gatlin, the small Southern town he had always called home, as a place where nothing ever changed. Then he met a mysterious newcomer Lena Duchannes,

who revealed a secret world that had been hidden in plain sight all along. A Gatlin, which harbored ancient secrets beneath its moss-covered oaks and cracked sidewalks is where the curse that has marked Lena’s family of powerful super naturals for generations. A Gatlin is where impossible, magical, life-altering events happen. Sometimes events that’s even life-ending. Together they can face anything Gatlin throws at them, but after suffering a tragic loss, Lena starts to pull away, keeping secrets that test their relationship. And now that Ethan’s eyes have been opened to the darker side of Gatlin, there’s no going back. Haunted by strange visions only he can see, Ethan is pulled deeper into his town’s tangled history and finds himself caught up in the dangerous network of underground passageways endlessly crisscrossing the South, where nothing is as it seems.

One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies

By Sonya Sones

A heartwarming book, highly recommended.

What’s this book about?
Why don’t I let Ruby tell you?

My name is Ruby. This book is about me. It tells the deeply hideous story of what happens when my mother dies and I’m dragged three thousand miles away from my gorgeous boyfriend, Ray, to live in L.A. with my father, who I’ve never even met because he’s such a scumbag that h e divorced my mom before I was born. The only way I’ve ever even seen him is in the movies, since he’s this mega-famous actor who’s been way too busy trying to win Oscars to even visit me once in fifteen years.  Everyone loves my father. Everyone but me.

Don’t Look Behind You

By Lois Duncan

This is a suspenseful thriller about 17-year-old teenager named April Corrigan. April’s comfortable life is turned upside down when her family has to enter witness protection and move to Florida from their home in Norwood, VA in order to protect the family. April is unhappy that she has had to leave behind everything she cares about in Norwood, VA. She stubbornly insists on communicating with her boyfriend back home and behaving in ways endangers her safety.
This is a great suspenseful thriller for teens that enjoy reading fiction with characters they can easily relate to and sympathize with. Teens can learn a lot from April’s irresponsible behavior and lack of awareness.

A must read!

Spy Goddess: Live and Let Shop

By Michael P. Spradlin

Like combat, martial arts type stuff? This is a good book for you then.

Rachel Buchanan is not a delinquent, or so she says. She thinks she is misunderstood. Of course, the judge didn’t see it that way. She gave a choice: Juvenile Detention or Boarding

School in Pennsylvania, of all places. That’s how Rachel wound up at freaky Blackthorn Academy. This school is clearly hiding some major secrets. The classes are weird, the headmaster Mr.

Kim knows just a little too much, and she has to study Martial Arts. That’s like gym.

Rachel Buchanan doesn’t do gym very well. Though, the secrets at this school are driving

her insane, she must know what’s going on. When the headmaster Mr. Kim goes missing, Rachel Buchanan is to the rescue.

You Don’t Know Me by David Klass

Have you ever thought your life was bad?

Bet this guy has it worse!

Every day, 14-year-old John wonders if he will be alive by the next sunrise.
On the surface, John is just like most teens: he goes to high school every day, where he has several good friends and drools over the most popular girl. However, no one knows that every evening John is abused by his soon-to-be-stepfather.  John is convinced no one knows or cares about him. He’s sure his teachers’ own lives are so unhappy that they want to make others miserable too. He thinks nothing of leaving his best friend when he’s in big trouble, knowing that his friend would do the same to him. And, because we know his secret, he is convinced that we, the readers, are the worst people of all. No one has rescued him yet. Everyone, even his own mother, has let John continue to live in fear. Why should he have faith in anyone? John finally does get help — and he lucks out. Help comes without him ever having to speak up. In reality, victims of abuse almost always need to take the terrifying step of telling someone before they get help.

Hard Love by Ellen Wittlinger

Love is hard isn’t it?

Well this boy probably has it a lot worse!

John is having problems with his mom since his parents had divorced. It’s like she doesn’t even want to look at him. She won’t hug him, or even bump into him as she passes by. He is untouchable. To escape the stress, he turns to writing personal and homemade magazines. He takes a stack of his magazines to a small store that lets people take them and read them. John runs across a magazine written by a girl named Marisol. He arranged to meet with her and talk about their magazines together. John had never found himself attracted to a girl before, never had a crush in his life, but when he meets Marisol… He falls in love. Loving Marisol wouldn’t be easy for John, saying that she is attracted to girls. Finally, he gets up the courage to ask her to his school dance. Will she come? Will their friendship parish because of John’s attraction for her? Read, and find out.

Between Mom and Jo by Julie Ann Peters

Ever thought something was going good, and ended up discouraged?

Ever felt pulled in two different directions?

Well this boy is going through the same thing.

Read it and find out if he has a better ending!

Fourteen year old Nick, a teen who was raised by two mothers, feels like his world is tearing apart when his parents separate. Yes Erin and Jo, Nick’s mothers, fight a lot, but all in all he thought they loved each other. One day Nick comes home to find his birth mother, Erin, sitting alone. Fear strikes him then, he knew what was wrong. Jo was gone, and he insisted on going with her, though Erin won’t allow it. As time progressed, he begun sneaking out to go see Jo, the woman he wished was his real mother. When Erin finds out things get ugly. If that wasn’t bad enough, he finds out his real mother, Erin, is sick. Will he ever get to see Jo again? Will his mother be okay? Will Nick get his happy ending?

Crunch Time by Mariah Fredericks

As students worry about their Grad Exam scores, these students are also worried about a big test! This is a great book for the student body; these students are having their everyday high school fears

.

Leo, Max, Jane, and Daisy come from different worlds and cliques, and does not have much

in common. Though, when they all blow off their SAT prep, they form their own study

group, and they actually begin to bond. It’s an amazing story about the worry of SATs test scores. They need perfect scores for their perfect future. Competition begins to form within the group,

and in the group then it’s revealed that someone has cheated on the SATs, and all eyes point to the study group.

Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson

Spectacular! It will keep you on edge!

High schooler Tyler Miller used to be the kind of guy who faded into the crowd as an average student, average looks, and average dysfunctional family. Though his life changed when he got busted for doing graffiti on the school walls, as a punishment he had to spend the summer doing outdoor work to pay for it. He stands out like you wouldn’t believe. His new physique attracts the attention of the high school queen bee Bethany Milbury, who just so happens to be the daughter of his father’s boss, and the sister of his biggest enemy. Tyler has a huge crush on this queen bee, that sets off a string of events and changes that have Tyler questioning his place in the school, in his family, and in the world.

This book is a must read!

Can’t Get There from Here by Todd Strasser

This is a fabulous book and a highly recommended read.

This book starts out with a girl known as “Maybe” who has a skin condition. She thinks that her skin condition is rare, and awkward, until she meets someone with the same condition. Maybe lives with a tribe of homeless teenagers, runaways, and throwaways. She lives on the streets with people who are unwanted and have no other place to go. The only family they have is one another. Abused, abandoned, and forgotten, they struggle against the cold, hunger, and constant danger. When it reaches January, a new runaway is admitted into this tribe. A little girl about the age of 12 called Tears. Tears ran away from home because her step father abused her and no one would listen, and Maybe will stop at nothing to get Tears off the street and into a safe environment. Along the way Maybe’s friend with the same skin condition lends her a hand. This book is a heartwarming adventure. “You cannot get there from here”, is a phrase used within this book, and probably used in everyday life. In this book, Maybe cannot seem to get “there” from “here”. There is referred to as a good life, and here as the streets she lives on. Whether she reaches “there” from where she is, you’ll have to read and find out.

Song of the Sparrow by Lisa Ann Sandell

This book is amazing!

If you like Sir Lancelot times, this is your kind of book.

Elaine had been raised by her mother to believe that a woman’s domain is in the home, not on the battlefront, but after the lose of her mother she has to go stay with her father and two brothers on the battle field. The people, she calls family, and she loves most could march off to battle today and never come back. Why would she want to be anywhere else? The only other woman at camp is Morgan, Arthur’s older sister, but she’s much too close to the king for Elaine to share her deepest secret with. She wants to tell someone her deep feelings for Sir Lancelot. Elaine and Lancelot grew up together, playing games and running along the riverbanks, but all that was long ago. Now when Lancelot looks at her, all he sees is a wonderful girl. He sees a gifted healer, a girl armed with milfoil and poultices to stanch the wounds of the soldiers. He sees her skill at mending clothing and chain mail. He sees her loyalty, her hard work and her vital job within the army. Though, he doesn’t see a woman, like she hoped he would have. When King Aurelius is poisoned by a Saxon spy, Arthur is the obvious replacement. Young, powerful, loyal, intelligent and already popular among the troops, Arthur would lead the retaliation attack. Days before they leave, a beautiful woman arrives at camp, to totally break Elaine. The man she loves is falling for this beautiful woman, and since Lancelot doesn’t yet see Elaine as a woman, who can blame him? Gwynivere, the king’s maiden, has drawn the attention of Sir Lancelot away, and to top that, the men who mean so much to her will soon march to battle, leaving her behind at the camps. With all that Elaine holds dear weighing in the balance; she must decide who she will be, what role she will play and how far she will go for love.