dcampbell

Eragon by Christopher Paolini

Hi, I am Advik. I am eleven years old and am an avid reader; it is one of my favorite things to do. Something I also love doing is playing video games, especially Minecraft. I also love to play basketball and go swimming.

“Eragon” is the first of the four books in “The Inheritance Cycle” by Christopher Paolini. The story is centered around, a farm boy, Eragon, his newly hatched dragon, Saphira, and his mentor, Brom. The story is a narrative of how Eragon’s simple life thrusts into a new world of magic, and power, which he gracefully uses to overcome challenges. The story chronicles Eragon’s quest to dethrone bloodthirsty king Galbatorix, who ruthlessly eliminates everything that stands in his way. 

In my opinion, “Eragon” is a very captivating book. The way the author makes the story flow from one part to the next, is done exceptionally well. He does this so well, I feel as if I am watching the story instead of reading.  The way Paolini incorporated the concept of dragons is admirable. Paolini meticulously creates a wonderful world and portrays unique and charismatic characters. I really enjoyed Brom’s character when he narrates the history of Alagaësia.

The only weak point I could think of was the narration of Saphira’s egg transportation to Eragon. I think it was far-too elaborative. I was also amazed by how well Eragon applied his training to put mind barriers, intelligence, reflexes and swordsmanship in conjunction to win over much more powerful Shade, Durza. Overall, this has turned out to be one of my favorite books. I encourage all the fantasy-lovers out there to read this book.

Find it in print, ebook, eaudiobook, DVD and CD here.

Ashes of Roses by MJ Auch

My name is Lucy, I am in the ninth grade. I like to play hockey, ski, and rock climb.

When Margaret Rose Nolan and her family traveled to America from Ireland their troubles started right at Ellis Island. They struggled to find places to live in the new country, as the people who they were planning on staying with weren’t as they expected.

The sisters struggled to make money and get hired for jobs. When they found a new apartment, the daughter of the owner recommended that they apply for a job at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory. Both of the daughters were accepted. They sewed all day in harsh conditions, but during this time they also made friends with people who came from similar backgrounds.

Soon a tragedy strikes and the girls’ entire world is turned upside down.

This book changes how you think about America, and educates you on some of the harsher realities. We can find parts of us all in Margaret Rose; She is resilient and still has fun even through tougher conditions. She is still a 16 year old girl, even though she has responsibilities of someone much older. I thought this book was shocking, and it definitely made me think about my life more. This book was written very well, especially regarding the fire. It felt like you were really there, stuck in the factory as it went down in flames. Later, I could feel the grief and apprehension as they searched for their friends. If there was any book that I would choose to read for the first time again, it would be this one.

Find it in through InterLibrary loan here.

Me (Moth) by Amber McBride

Hi, I am Sarah. I am fourteen years old and an avid reader; it is one of my favorite things to do. Inspired by authors’ creations of magnificent places and surprising havens built by simple letters, I aspire to be an author and, meanwhile, nurture the love to write.

At first glance, this is a story about falling in love on winding roads. A YA, romance/road-trip novel-in-verse—but don’t be afraid to look deeper, because Me (Moth) is not your run-of-the-mill story. It is so much more. 

The story unfolds to reveal Moth, a seventeen-year-old girl who is isolated, afraid to spread her dusty wings, afraid to live too big. Moth has been severed from her roots, severed from her family in a car crash, and subsequently severed from the things that make her feel alive.

Moth crosses paths with Sani, a boy who is similarly depressed, probing for his own roots. He has left his dad behind in the Navajo nation, but he is not happy here in Virginia. So when both of their adults fail them, Sani and Moth decide to leave, hoping to heal through connection with the ghosts of their Black and Native American ancestry. 

Spun through the limited words is enough meaning to fill a thousand moonlit nights and more, moths of creative wisdom scattered through its beam. McBride has crafted a novel that is tough, thoughtful, and intricate. In it, she encompasses the whole of her characters and their journeys, sprinkled through with ancestry, prayer, pain, and hope. 

Me (Moth) ranks among my favorite books not because I tend to love every book I touch, but because, unlike every book I touch, it filled me too full, until I could barely breathe through its inexplicable appeal that you could only know if you read it too. 

Find it in print here.

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by Victoria “V.E.” Schwab

Hi, I am Sarah. I am fourteen years old and an avid reader; it is one of my favorite things to do. Inspired by authors’ creations of magnificent places and surprising havens built by simple letters, I aspire to be an author and, meanwhile, nurture the love to write.

What if you were fated to live an endless life of liberty, as much time as you could desire and the freedom to do what you truly liked with it? If you had the choice, would you take it?

            That’s the story of Adeline LaRue, born in 1691 and destined to the short and depressingly drab life of a woman in a small, Catholic, French town in the seventeenth century. So she prays and prays for freedom, and eventually, someone—an old god, a powerful being of darkness—answers and grants her wish.

But it is not who she asked for, and it is not granted in the way she imagined. 

Fated to live a life as long as she likes but one no one will remember. Unable to say her own name or make any sort of mark upon the world, Addie LaRue begins a long, lonely existence. She takes it day by day, year by year, until it is 2014, in New York City. She happens upon a little bookstore where someone—unthinkably, impossibly, finally—remembers her. 

The premise alone is enough to draw me into this story, but the way it is written is remarkable. The picture painted of the centuries of time and humanity and art that Addie experiences is rich and exquisite. Hers is a life of pain, of desperate loneliness, but it is, in a way, the life she asked for and she is determined not to waste it. Adeline is determined to experience life, even though she cannot influence it. And that is what she does. 

The format, the characters, the plot, and the gorgeous prose are all reasons to pick up this book and devour it. However, it does contain mature content and is shelved in adult fiction. 

Find it in print, ebook, eaudiobook and CD here.

The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green

Hi, I am Sarah. I am fourteen years old and an avid reader; it is one of my favorite things to do. Inspired by authors’ creations of magnificent places and surprising havens built by simple letters, I aspire to be an author and, meanwhile, nurture the love to write.

Humans are strange and domineering creatures. In some ways, we are far more advanced than any other creature on the planet. In others, we are perhaps far more primitive. However, there is no question about our influence. Whether it be the extensive impact of global warming, our vast and sprawling populous, or simply the fact that there are 18,710 different locations of McDonald’s on every continent except Antarctica, the visibility of our impact cannot be ignored.

In The Anthropocene Reviewed, John Green, a former book reviewer, sets out to review various elements of the anthropocene, or the current geologic age in which humans exist. This collection of essays, rated on a five-star scale, are on topics ranging from plague, to the internet, to monopoly. These essays are funny, insightful, detailed, and intricate. Above all, these writings seek to understand our human-centric earth, explore the paradox of humanity, and find the earnestness within it. As Green put it, “you cannot see the beauty which is enough unless you make yourself vulnerable to it.”

This book is filled with quotes and insights that are original, thoughtful, and collective. But one of my favorites proceeds the knowledge that humans, however much we like to separate ourselves from our planet, are made of the same atoms and the same chemical elements as the Earth. In a sense, we are Earth. And so, simply and beautifully, the author surmises, “What a blessing to be Earth loving Earth.” 

What a blessing, indeed.

Find it in print and eaudiobook here.

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

Hi, I am Sarah. I am fourteen years old and an avid reader; it is one of my favorite things to do. Inspired by authors’ creations of magnificent places and surprising havens built by simple letters, I aspire to be an author and, meanwhile, nurture the love to write.

Cora is enslaved, like her mother was before her. Generations of her family lived and died in bondage. Cora is enslaved and she doesn’t want to be, because no one wants to live like that: three-fifths human with none of the rights, living under unbound suppression. Cora wants out, but she was born into a white man’s world. Even if she runs, she has nowhere to go. The path to the fabled free North is impassable for someone who looks like her.

            But finally, the shackles of plantation life pull too hard so Cora runs, and she finds the mercy of the Underground Railroad; a system that shuffles enslaved people from the chains of Georgia and climbs through the South. It is not perfect. Fear grips every move. There is no one to trust here. Kin betrays kin in a relentless, sickening war waged against Africans. But Cora will prevail. Cora wants to be free, even if she’s never known what freedom means. And so she runs.

            This book for adults is hard to read, but necessary. This book does not gloss over the hateful and ugly roots of our nation, but it is truthful. This book is the story of Cora, and it is the story of the millions of enslaved people in America: those in bondage, those who died there, and those who searched to be free of a racist world. Because eventually, Cora must stop running. She, like any other human on this planet, was never property. 

Find it in print, ebook, and eaudiobook and CD here.