dcampbell

The Giver by Lois Lowry

Victoria is 15 years old and an author of two books. She enjoys traveling, drawing, and surfing.

The Giver is, “a powerful and provocative novel,” quotes the New York Times. This book is very different from any other book you will read. Author, Lois Lowry, said it herself. “I was aware that this book was different from the many I had already written.”

In The Giver, Jonas is part of Sameness. This is a town where no one can see color, hear music, or have a choice in what they want to do. They do not know of any other way of life. When the Ceremony of Twelve starts creeping up on Jonas, he becomes curious about what his Assignment, his lifelong job chosen by the Elders, will be. Eventually, the day comes, and he is dubbed Receiver of Memory. The Chief Elder mentions to the crowd pain, hardships, and great honor. Is this good or bad? He comes to find out that it is both. He learns that with great wisdom, comes much pain.

As he goes forward in his training, he discovers that no one in the town has had or can have memories. He goes through joyful experiences, like boats on a lake, sunshine, and snow falling slowly on Christmas. He also feels unpleasant memories. Feelings like war, hunger, death, and extreme pain go through his body, all the while understanding that everyone in the community doesn’t have to undergo these. Then his trainer and the past Receiver of Memory, The Giver, comes up with a way that he can let everyone have a choice and change Sameness to freedom. It will need much boldness, sacrifice, and bravery though. Jonas agrees to do it.

Giving up so much to save his community and giving them so much more than they could ever imagine, Jonas is a hero to both the town and the reader. For tough subjects and emotionally difficult parts, I would recommend this book for 14-15+, depending on maturity.

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

Little Princes: One Man’s Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal by Conor Grennan

Victoria is 15 years old and an author of two books. She enjoys traveling, drawing, and surfing.

In the non-fiction book, Little Princes: One Man’s Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal, by Conor Grennan, Conor quits his boring job, takes his life’s savings, and decides to take a vacation around the world for one year. His friends and family tell him that this idea is selfish, so he volunteers at a children’s orphanage in Katmandu, Nepal. His plans: finish the three months of volunteering, show pictures of him helping orphans to his friends, and get on with his vacation. This sounds easy enough, except his feelings get in the way.

At the end of the three months, Grennan realizes that he loves these children. He remembers all of the games he played with Nuraji and Raju, which now mean so much to him. And the time that he had spent with them, waiting for 6 p.m., when the kids went to bed, he was actually going to miss it. Conor finally decides to finish his vacation and then return to the children.

When Conor returns, he learns that these children aren’t actually orphans, but are children rescued from a child trafficker who takes them from their families during the war going on in Nepal. He lies to families and guardians explaining that he will rescue the children from being drafted into war and will take them to a school, where they will learn to write, read, and have more food and clothes than they would ever be able to provide. The parents pay a lengthy sum to give their children the best life they can. When they wait for letters though, they receive none, and after some parents who had been waiting for fourteen years, they come to a conclusion that their children must have died.

Conor wanted to change this and reunite the families. His passion, adventurous spirit, and determination keeps you turning the page to find out if he makes it though the dangerous trek, if he does ever get a girlfriend, and if the children are finally saved and reunited. This true story is so inspiring and  I recommend this book for ages 13+ for some language and serious subjects.

Find it in print here.

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

My name is Rya. I am in middle school and I enjoy reading, writing, swimming, and backpacking.

Mr. Bilbo Baggins had never ventured far from his perfectly secure hobbit hole on the hill. His life was full of sleeping in, double breakfasts, leisurely strolls, and afternoon tea. That was, of course, until a swarm of dwarfs appeared at his doorstep, begging him to join them on an adventure. They claimed that he was a “burglar” who would ultimately steal back the dragon’s treasure. Although hesitant at first, Bilbo gains confidence as he ventures through forests, across hillsides, and into unknown lands. The thirteen dwarves, one wizard, Bilbo, the hobbit, battle spiders, goblins, wolves and other mysterious creatures. The hobbit finds himself becoming the hero of the story several times over. Although luck seems to be on his side, Bilbo often wishes for his cozy hobbit hole which he calls home. 

The Hobbit, Or, There and Back Again is the first book of the beloved classic series The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. Although a portion of this book is slow going, it is a must-read book filled with the action of adventure, but also a sense of melancholy of adventures being over. Throughout the story, both Bilbo and I both learned a life lesson. Home is a comfortable place, but it only gains meaning when one returns after a long adventure. All in all, I did not absolutely admire this book, however, I think it is something everyone should read in their lifetime because it is a classic that teaches valuable life lessons.

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

Bloomability by Sharon Creech

Katie is an 8th grader living in Ketchum, Idaho. She loves skiing, reading, and doing anything outdoors related.

Bloomability, by Sharon Creech, is about a 13-year-old girl named Dinnie who has been forced to live in Switzerland with her Aunt and Uncle, who she barely knows. This “kidnapping” is entirely against Dinnie’s will and nobody seems to care about what she wants, which is just to be with her Mom, Dad, brother Crick, sister Stella, and Stella’s newborn baby. 

Dinnie knows change better than anyone else. Her family moves every six months or so in search of new “opportunities” that never work out in the way they envision. This newest change, however, might be more than Dinnie can handle. She will have to learn to speak a new language and go to a strange new international school in the small Swiss town of Lugano. She is faced with different kids from varying international backgrounds and cultures. Her old life seems so impossibly out of reach and Dinnie is trapped in her own personal bubble. The biggest challenge for her won’t be meeting new people or getting good grades, it will be learning to put her roots down and embrace all of her life’s new “bloomabilities”.

Bloomability is a fantastic story about different changes and possibilities that any person, no matter their age, can enjoy. This book is a great light read that you’ll be sure to love.

Find it in print here.

Lifeboat 12 by Susan Hood

My name is Rya. I am in middle school and I enjoy reading, writing, swimming, and backpacking.

Kenneth Sparks is nothing but a typical, mischievous thirteen-year-old boy living in London. But when air raids from Germany begin to threaten his city during World War II, he is one of the children between the ages of five and fifteen that receives the opportunity of a new, safe life in Canada. The children’s life aboard the SS City of Benarus, the ship taking the children across the vast Atlantic Ocean, is far more luxurious than they could have ever imagined. Unlimited food, dessert, and toys fill the ship and fulfill the children’s dreams. However, the children have to constantly perform lifeboat drill procedures, just in case of the unlikely event that the Benarus sinks.

A bang, a crash, splintering wood, panic, chaos, and confusion are what fill the night of September 18th, 1940. Ken knows all too well the procedure that he is to follow, get to Lifeboat 8 and not return for anything. But Ken must return to retrieve the expensive jacket that his stepmother, more than 600 miles away, bought for him. Because of this, Lifeboat 8 left him abandoned on the ship, and he is forced to board the already full Lifeboat 12. They only have seven days of water on the lifeboat, hardly enough for the fifty people crammed on the boat. 

Lifeboat 12 by the award-winning author Susan Hood is an incredible book based on a true story that is full of family, friendship, and miracles. I loved this quick-read that holds incredible meaning.

Find it in print, ebook and eaudiobook here.

Holes by Louis Sachar

My name is Rya. I am in middle school and I enjoy reading, writing, swimming, and backpacking.

Stanley Yelnats always seems to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. According to his father and grandfather, it is because of his “no good, dirty rotten, pig-stealing, great-great grandfather.” After that grandfather forgot an important promise, he and all of his descendants became cursed for eternity. One instance of Stanley unintentionally doing something wrong is when a pair of the famous baseball player, Clyde Livingston’s shoes fall from the sky onto Stanley’s head and he is accused of a crime he didn’t commit. As a punishment, Stanley is sent to Camp Green Lake. Everything there is the rusty color of dirt, and there is certainly no lake to relieve the boys of the hot sun. Each day, each boy is to dig one hole. Mr. Sir, Mr. Pandanski, the Warden, and the camp counselors, claim that the boys are digging holes to build character. But Stanley can’t shake the feeling that they are supposed to be looking for something. While at camp, Stanley befriends everyone in Group D, Squid, X-Ray, Armpit, Magnet, and Zigzag. Everyone except the outlaw, Zero.

Holes is an intriguing book by Louis Sacher, an author who is able to take a haphazard subject, and write an interesting story about it, as he did in Holes. The outline of the story seems frayed at the beginning of the book, but throughout it all of the ends are tied together, forming an amazing story that makes perfect sense.

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