Reviews by Tag: family

Little Women is a wonderful movie about the March sisters, Jo, Amy, Meg, and Beth. Each of these four sisters are completely different, and want different things. They were raised with their mother, who only wanted the best for them. Their mother helped them to be independent and smart. This movie is about their childhood, and later cuts to the present time. It shows how each of the girls had changed over time, and shares with us the things that shaped them to be how they are.

The Penderwicks is a heartwarming story about friendship, sisterhood and loyalty by Jeanne Birdsall. It depicts the family's vacation to Arundel in the Berkshire mountains. Along the way, the sisters meet a boy named Jeffrey as he struggles to find his place among his ill-natured mother and her cruel boyfriend. The sisters form lifelong friendships, make countless memories, share adventures and of course find themselves in plenty of mishaps during what they thought would be an ordinary family vacation. 

Once and for All is a heartwarming and emotional book that revolves around love, family, and the loss of your loved ones. This book is about a girl named Louna who works at her mother's wedding planning business. After losing her first true love in an accident Louna believes that she will never fall in love again till she meets Ambrose a happy-go-lucky guy. In this novel, we follow the journey of Louna and how she navigates through the tough parts of life. 

The Rest of the Story is a beautiful romance book about a girl named Emma Saylor. Emma lost her mom when she was just a little girl so she does not remember much about her but one summer she is sent to her mother’s family. During her time there she meets friends and relatives that she has not seen since she was a little girl and she also learns about her mother and her new family. On this journey, Emma learns many new things and also falls in love. This is a captivating story that kept me on my toes the whole time.

L.M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables is a timeless classic that readers have enjoyed for over a century. The story follows the adventures of Anne Shirley, an intelligent and imaginative orphan girl who is mistakenly sent to live with siblings Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert on Prince Edward Island. Anne’s talkativeness and spirit grow on Matthew, who tells Marilla that he wants to keep her. Marilla hesitates at first, but after a trial period, she agrees to let Anne stay.

Through the eyes of Ponyboy Curtis, The Outsiders depicts the gritty lives of the “Greasers”, a group of poor teen friends caught up in a bitter class struggle between their rough neighborhood and the wealthy “Socs”. The Greasers want safety, respect, and to escape the hardships of their circumstances. However, they face terrible treatment, violence, and retaliation from the Socs. They then get pulled into a dangerous downward spiral of violent actions to protect their own.

I Am Malala is an autobiography written by Malala Yousafzai. She wrote about her experience in Pakistan and the effect that the Taliban had on her, her family, and the society. In this book she details her childhood in Swat Valley, her struggle for education and the threats she and other girls who were willing to study faced from Taliban. Malala refused to listen to the ultimatum, so she spoke up and refused to not be silent about how she felt.

Summary: Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan is a heartwarming novel that follows the story of Willow Chance, a 12-year-old genius with an unconventional worldview. After the sudden death of her adoptive parents, Willow finds herself navigating a world that seems chaotic and unfamiliar. The narrative combines together themes of grief, resilience, and the power of unexpected connections as Willow forms a unique and diverse makeshift family.

Wider Than the Sky was an emotional and enjoyable read, with the classic clashing of opposite sisters and the unexpected unity when they’re striving to achieve the same goal. With an emphasis on embracing the LGBTQIA+ community, Katherine Rothschild writes about the shocking experience of two sisters discovering that their late father died while hiding a significant part of his identity.

The book Half Brother is an engrossing novel based in Victoria, Canada, in the 1970s. Ben was a teenager whose father had gotten a job as a behavioral psychologist at a university. He was going to try to teach a chimpanzee how to communicate with humans using sign language. At first, Ben thought Zan, the baby chimpanzee that his parents brought home, was weird. How dare his parents have more time for some random animal than him? But soon, Zan grew on Ben and they became like brothers.