As the second book of the widely famous trilogy, The Hunger Games, Catching Fire has got to be one of the best books I have ever read. Katniss Everdeen, now 17 years old, finds herself relieved after surviving and winning the 74th Hunger Games, a competition where 24 kids, one boy and one girl from each of the 12 districts, fight to the death on national television.
In the fictional town of Lost, Alaska there were two best friends named Kyra and Corey. When Corey has to move as Kyra is diagnosed with bipolar, she makes Kyra promise to stay strong in a town that does not accept her. When Corey gets the news that Kyra drowned in an icy lake, she is shattered. The book follows Corey’s journey of finding out what happened in Lost after she left, and why the town says her death was “meant to be”.
I rated The Hate U Give a 5 out of 5 for a few reasons. This book follows Starr Carter and her journey as she has two different personalities, she lives in a poor neighborhood but goes to a white school with rich people. The book is also about how she fights for justice for her friend Khalil who gets shot by a police officer unjustly. At first, she is afraid of speaking out but then she realizes that she must stand up for her friend as he would have done the same for her.
Nine Liars, Maureen Johnson’s newest entry in the Truly Devious series, is a weak companion to the books that came before it, yet still managed to retain some of the charm of its predecessors. The novel takes place between two time periods: one being the 1990s in England, following a group of nine friends in a rural house, and the other being a modern-day continuation of the lives of Stevie Bell and her friends.
At its best, Stephen Chbosky’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a poignant, bittersweet portrayal of a teenage boy’s coming of age. Throughout most of the novel, however, it reads as a loosely connected web of teenage trauma that’s held together by an empty shell of a protagonist. The book follows Charlie, a shy, fifteen-year-old boy who recounts his life in letters to a never[1]identified friend.
This Delicious Death by Kayla Cottingham offers an interesting premise but falls entirely flat in its execution. The novel takes place after a sort of zombie apocalypse called “The Hollowing” that turned a small part of the population into “ghouls”, feral creatures who crave human flesh.
Things We Know by Heart by Jessi Kirby follows Quinn, a high school senior who is coping with the death of her boyfriend Trent. After Trent dies, his organs are donated to many people in need, one being Colton Thomas. Quinn’s sorrow encourages her to find the last remnants of Trent, so she tracks down Colton’s shop near the beach. Without revealing her true intentions for meeting Colton, Quinn and Colton become good friends. As they become closer to each other, Quinn finds it harder to keep her secret.
Better Than the Movies by Lynn Painter is a rom com about Liz Buxbaum who is certain the guy she’s going to end up with is Michael, who was the person she’s had a crush on since she was a little girl. Michael never noticed Liz before he moved away. Now that he’s back Liz will do anything to get his attention. Even becoming friends with Wes, her annoying next-door neighbor who bugs her every time he sees her since they were kids.
The Little Prince is a juvenile fiction novel following the story of a young boy dealing with loneliness and struggles with understanding how to grow up, as well as what it truly means to be a child. The unnamed little boy leaves his tiny planet whose only other inhabitant is a singular rose whom he had befriended. He leaves in search of finding out what it means to love.
The Scarlet Letter is a novel that takes place in the 1600s in Boston, Massachusetts. It follows the story of a young woman named Hester Prynne who is being shunned and condemned by the community for committing adultery and has gotten pregnant. An onlooker who had just arrived named Roger Chillingworth asks who Hester is and why she's being publicly shamed, we later learn that it was her husband disguised. The book has much suspense as it follows Hester and how she deals with these hardships with her daughter Pearl.
