Teen and Staff Reviews

Teen Review
The Crucible

The Crucible

By Arthur Miller
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by
Anonymous
Dec 10, 2023

The Crucible describes the town of Salem at a time when witchcraft was considered dangerous and was heavily feared by nearly all. Anyone suspected of witchcraft would face execution without much resistance. The story follows a multitude of characters, with a certain focus being on Abigail Williams. Abigail is a girl who was caught dancing in the night in a forest with other girls by a different member of Salem.

Teen Review
Chronicle of a Death Foretold

Chronicle of a Death Foretold

By Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Star Rating
★★★★

Rated by
Anonymous
Dec 10, 2023

The work by Márquez follows the death of Santiago Nasar, what preceded it, and what happened afterwards. The book begins by telling the reader that Nasar is to die. Then, it shifts back to the beginning of the story as to why Santiago Nasar was to be killed. The Vicario brothers, Pedro and Pablo, murdered Santiago Nasar due to him allegedly committing adultery with Angela Vicario before she married someone else. 

Teen Review
Reverie

Reverie

By Ryan LaSala
Star Rating
★★★

Rated by
Mahad Z.
Dec 10, 2023

Summary: Reverie by Ryan La Sala is a young adult fantasy novel that follows the story of Kane Montgomery, who wakes up in a hospital with no memory of how he got there or the recent events in his life. As he pieces together his memories, he discovers that he has the ability to manipulate reality through his dreams. Kane becomes entangled in a fantastical world called Reverie, where his creations come to life, and he must navigate a complex web of magic, danger, and his own identity.

Teen Review
A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry

A Raisin in the Sun

By Lorraine Hansberry
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by
Anonymous
Dec 10, 2023

The play by Hansberry considers the life of a household as they attempt to live an ideal life. The family faces discrimination and unfair treatment due to them being African Americans. Nonetheless, they aspire towards moving out of their current apartment and living in their own home. The family runs into trouble when Walter Lee Younger and his mother have a conflict of interest on whether they should buy a house with the money they have or attempt to begin a business opportunity. 

Teen Review
Enrique’s Journey

Enrique’s Journey

By Sonia Nazario
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by
Anonymous
Dec 10, 2023

Enrique’s Journey tells a story about the immigration of a young boy (Enrique) who was separated from his mother as she looked for job opportunities in the United States. After longing for his mother for years, he decides to make the journey to find his mother. Alongside the storyline, Nazario explains the difficulty many children like Enrique faced when attempting to immigrate to the U.S. and how they overcame them.

Teen Review
1984 book cover

1984

By George Orwell
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by
Anonymous
Dec 10, 2023

Winston Smith lives in a world where the government of Oceania is always watching him and his decisions. He works for the government’s Ministry of Truth, although he does not seem to believe that what they transmit is necessarily “truth” as it occurred. This novel sees Winston attempting to break out of the watch of “Big Brother” and find ways of life outside of strict governmental control. He becomes enchanted with a lady from his workplace and pursues her favor as he attempts to keep it under cover from the government.

Teen Review
All the Light We Cannot See book cover

All the Light We Cannot See

By Anthony Doerr
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by
Anonymous
Dec 8, 2023

Set during World War II, All the Light We Cannot See focuses on the lives of Marie-Laure LeBlanc and Werner Pfennig. Marie-Laure is a young girl from France who becomes blind early in her childhood. Werner is a boy in Germany who, raising his little sister, finds interest in radios after an encounter with one early in life. When Marie and Werner become older teenagers, World War II is on the brink. Marie-Laure’s father leaves and leaves his daughter with her uncle, Etienne.

Teen Review
Fake Accounts book cover

Fake Accounts

By Lauren Oyler
Star Rating
★★★

Rated by
Anonymous
Dec 8, 2023

In the current world, humans use social media as a way to break away from the real world to live in untrue experiences. The unnamed narrator of Fake Accounts plots to end her relationship with her boyfriend after a tame experience with him. The narrator, being a blogger for a website, realizes how she is stuck in a cycle where she has difficulty wanting to experience challenging activities.

Teen Review
Hatchet

Hatchet

By Gary Paulsen
Star Rating
★★★★

Rated by
Anonymous
Dec 8, 2023

Hatchet by Gary Paulsen tells the story of thirteen-year-old Brian who is stranded in the wilderness after a plane crash. The only tool he has is a hatchet, given to him by his mother. He must find a way to not only survive in the unknown but also accept the fact of his parents’ divorce. Read to find out if Brian can deal with these difficulties as he looks for ways to keep himself alive. 

Teen Review
Girl with a Pearl Earring

Girl with a Pearl Earring

By Tracy Chevalier
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by
Fathia Rahman
Dec 8, 2023

It was not a town where gossip stayed put but a town where gossip spread faster than wildfire. “It was not a house where secrets could be kept easily” but a house where very few could be trusted and ”he [Johanas Vermeer] had decided to trust [Griet].” A humble and modest girl, Griet, only 16 years old, is sent to the famous painter Johannes Vermeer’s home to serve as their faithful maid. Her father, a former master tile painter, was blinded by a factory accident and her younger brother Frans is sent off to an apprenticeship.

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