The main character, Waka, is a straight-A student from Kansas who is sent to Tokyo for five months to focus on her Kanji, when her parents suspect she can’t read nor write basic Japanese. She is forced to live with her strict grandmother, and has to say goodbye to her friends for the summer. While she’s in Japan, Waka gets made fun of by her classmates and struggles to make true friends.
“You are wanted. Big, small, tall, short, pretty, plain, friendly, shy. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise, not even yourself.”
Once famous for being “America’s Fattest Teen,” Libby Strout becomes the laughingstock of her high school. Struggling to get by, she unwantedly encounters Jack Masselin, getting them both tangled up in a mess of misunderstandings. However, when Jack uncovers to her that he has prosopagnosia, a condition in which he cannot recognize people’s faces, they are able to connect through embracing each other’s imperfections while also embracing their own.
Naila comes from an immigrant Pakistani family where she isn’t allowed to enjoy many of the privileges her friends are lucky enough to have, including a boyfriend. But right before she graduates high school, her parents discover that she has a secret boyfriend and decide to take a family vacation to Pakistan to reeducate Naila. Naila even starts to enjoy herself a little, but her new life takes a turn for the worse when her parents decide that they want her to get married, and have already found her a husband in Pakistan for her arranged marriage.
Cars 3 is more like the first Cars movie. The main character in this movie is Lightning McQueen and he is faced with a new challenge in the racetrack. A new generation of race cars have been built which are faster and better at performing extreme events on the track. Lightning McQueen is faced with two options. He has to win the next race he goes in or he has to retire.
Cars is my favorite Pixar movie. The movie is about a rookie race car who has a chance of winning the Piston Cup. He has two other competitors who he underestimates. Lighting McQueen is an overconfident car who does not like rusty cars. On his way to Florida, for his next race, he falls out of his truck and ends up in Radiator Springs. I liked how he meets new people and learns how he has been a jerk to almost everyone he meets.
Steve Harmon, a 16-year old African-American teenager, is put on trial for the murder of a shopkeeper during a robbery. The book revolves around Steve’s courtroom experience, which he records in his notebook in the shape of a movie script. Multiple people are called as witnesses in the court as the court tries to find out who was guilty of killing the man. Eventually, the court reaches a verdict after witnesses such as Steve’s theater teacher and other people involved in the robbery speak: Steve is not guilty, while the person who actually pulled the trigger, James King, is found guilty.
One of Us is Next, Karen M. McManus’s sequel to One of Us is Lying, begins when a mysterious person creates a game of Truth or Dare to reignite Simon’s gossip legacy. The goal of the game is to force Bayview High students to either complete a dangerous dare or face the exposure of one of their deep secrets.
Feelings are enigmatic yet vital to humans. Matt Wainwright narrates his erratic emotions in the book A Short History of the Girl Next Door by Jared Reck. Matt is a socially awkward athlete who is in love with his best friend. Juggling school, sports, his family and friends around, Matt overall seems like a normal teenager. Everything goes downhill when his best friend starts dating the most popular guy in school. After a bewildering incident, Matt’s emotions are at the peak.
Closer to Nowhere is an inspiring and eye-opening fiction novel by Ellen Hopkins. This book is about a boy named Cal, who has PTSD. When his mom died when he was nine, he moved in with his dad. His dad, who went to prison two times, abused Cal by hitting him and telling him to lie to the government on his behalf. When Cal’s dad went to prison again, he moved in with his aunt and uncle, and his cousin Hannah. Every so often he would run away for one reason or the other.
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, by Benjamin Alire Sáenz, is a realistic fiction novel about Aristotle “Ari” Mendoza. Aristotle is a lonely, angry teenager. He wants to learn more about his brother, who is in prison. And his father, who has become quiet and closed off after returning from war. Once he meets his best friend, Dante, he starts questioning more things than he ever had before.
