Little Women is a classic realistic fiction novel. It is divided into two parts, both telling the story of four sisters, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy. The first part is set at the end of the Civil War, and relates the story of these four loving sisters and their mother waiting for their father to come home from the war. They each have different temptations and struggles, but ultimately they bond together to create a loving household filled with laughter and joy.
World War Z tells a story of the zombie war, a massive outbreak across the globe that turned humans into mindless, deadly creatures. The main character is tasked with creating a report about the entirety of the war. He does so, but finds that almost half of his work has been removed from the final draft, on the grounds of being too “intimate” and “emotional.” This book is a collection of what was removed from that report, published in the hopes that the horror and fear of this event should never happen again.
The School for Good and Evil is the first book in a series of the same name by Soman Chainani. This is a middle-grade fantasy novel that follows two girls in their early teens as they are taken from their hometown and thrust into a school to learn to become either good or evil. Although this is a middle-grade book, it has some more mature themes and insinuating moments in the dialogue.
In The Three Musketeers, a historical fiction novel, D’Artagnan, a young man from Gascon who is loyal to the king and queen, travels to Paris seeking to become a musketeer. There he discovers his future best friends, Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, and a plot by Cardinal Richelieu to steal the throne. The four friends go on many adventures in service of the queen and her reputation, but are often foiled by Milady, a beautiful, evil, and mysterious agent of the Cardinal.
Four is a collection of short stories, including the first four novellas of the Divergent series, by Veronica Roth. The first part of the book is made up of “The Transfer,” “The Initiate,” and “The Son” and focuses on expanding on Tobias’ past and events prior to Tris’ initiation. These three stories were pretty good, but the first, “The Transfer,” was the best of the group.
Following The Son, the fourth novella in Veronica Roth's Divergent series, The Traitor, is probably the best of the series’ first four novellas. This story is set during Tris' initiation, so a lot is unfolding, and we get to see Four's perceptions of and reactions to Tris.
Another novella in the Divergent series by Veronica Roth, The Son, expands on Four’s relationship with Evelyn and his rise in the Dauntless hierarchy. This story takes place after The Initiate and is not the most exciting or essential novella of the series.
Veronica Roth’s second novella in her Divergent series, The Initiate, takes place after The Transfer and follows Four as he navigates becoming and belonging with the Dauntless. This story didn’t add anything to Four’s character or introduce anything new about his background; he’s just in the process of becoming the Four that can be seen in Divergent.
Lord of the Flies by William Golding is definitely a classic. The book begins with a plane crash on an island, which left a group of boys stranded on their own. From then on, the decisions the boys make represent the formation of society. The protagonist, Ralph, creates an orderly society at the beginning of the novel, but the island turns to chaos as the boys begin to turn on him and create their own belief system of fear. Ralph then struggles to hide from the other boys as they become more chaotic.
The Transfer is a novella in Veronica Roth’s Divergent series. This novella highlights a different side of Tobias as Roth provides more insight into who he was before becoming Dauntless. While no new information about his past was presented, this story really emphasizes how much Tobias grew from the time he transferred from Abnegation to Divergent.
