Book Beat Reviews

House Rules by Jodi Picoult

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.

Jacob Hunt knows a lot about forensic science. He knows how to take a fingerprint from even the trickiest and most delicate surfaces; how to analyze a crime scene in order to retrace the steps of those involved; and, armed with a police scanner, has a habit of showing up on the scene and dispensing advice—which is typically spot-on. Jacob Hunt is brilliant, and he has Asberger’s syndrome, which means that he perceives and interacts with the world a bit differently.

When the horrific murder of his social worker rocks his small town, Jacob is a primary suspect. And under legal scrutiny, the object of Jacob’s brilliance, and the hallmarks of his condition—not making eye contact; tics, twitches, and poor social skills—spell something a lot like guilty.

Told with great care through the varying perspectives of parties involved, House Rules explores how our society is built for people who can communicate a certain way, and that our legal system—and society in general—is not kind to people who cannot. For me, this novel was a fascinating and complete look into how autism can affect a family, and the way “difference” is so unkindly ostracized. Picoult masterfully handles how each thread of the story affects everything else, and deftly weaves a poignant take on an incredibly complicated topic.

Find it in print, large print, and CD here.

Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer

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.

In 1992, Chris McCandless, a twenty-four-year-old idealistic young adventurer, walked into the Alaskan wilderness with little more than a .22 caliber rifle and a bag of rice, after donating $25,000 in savings and leaving behind all he knew.

Four months later, he was found by a couple of moose hunters, dead, in the back of an old bus.

At first glance, McCandless’s case is one like many others: an arrogant or naïve young man lost to the wilderness. But in Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer looks deeper than the surface story. He looks at the person Chris McCandless was, and the adventures he’d had in the two years leading up to his final journey. He looks at where Chris came from and how he grew up. He compares Chris to others with similar desires, similar integrity, and a similar affinity for wanderlust. Through this meticulous examination of a character who lived in this world, once, it is—at least to me—a bit of a wake-up call. Chris McCandless may have died, but before that, he lived to his very fullest. He had desires and dreams and opinions and thoughts; he was, perhaps, just like you or me. And for me, it’s a reminder that we all have a life we want to lead. Do we have the courage to break from whatever pressure binds us, and do it?

Find it in print, CD, and DVD here.

The Rise and Fall of Charles Lindbergh by Candance Fleming

I am Thijs. I enjoy reading (maybe a little too much) and being outdoors. I have a younger brother and my favorite dessert is root beer floats.

The Rise and Fall of Charles Lindbergh is a non-fiction book about the life of a true American Hero. Charles was complicated man; there is not a word to describe him. Even as a child, he stood out.  Growing up in a big house in a little town with woods just outside helped him become a thinker. His dad (C.A.) bought a Ford truck for Charles’ mom, but she was too afraid to drive. So, the little boy took it as his responsibility to drive them around. Charles rarely went to school and preferred to roam around the woods with his dog. He was shy and was always at his mother’s side. He claimed that animals where better than people.

When Charles discovered the plane, he fell in love with the idea of being able to fly. After completing many great feats in the flying world, he decided it was time to raise a family and turn to his passion of science. After his legendary flight across the Atlantic Ocean, he began to notice how much of a story the press would change. This was the beginning of his life-long hate of the press. In the science world he was fascinated by death and if he could somehow conquer it. But, in the time near his death Charles realized that dying was just part f life, it was the next step. How could this abnormal man fit into the world?

Check out this outstanding book at The Community Library to find out more on this fascinating person.  I hope you enjoy reading the book.

                                                                                                                                        

Find it through InterLibrary loan here.

Two Degrees by Alan Gratz

I am Thijs. I enjoy reading (maybe a little too much) and being outdoors. I have a younger brother and my favorite dessert is root beer floats.

Two Degrees is a historical fiction book about three young kids and how climate change has affected their lives and others. These three kids have to struggle to make it out of the natural disasters that happened due to the Earth’s rising temperature. So far, the Earth’s temperature as risen a whole Two Degrees. To make matters worse every year we burn more fossil fuels. All this pollution will turn into an economic disaster that some people have predicted will start during the year 2100 or sooner. If you want your kids and their kids to have a life with nature how we know it then we have to cut down almost all our usage of fossil fuel. This will be hard for everybody because we are used to a life with all we need at one little shop across the street. I found a funny joke a while back that said not only do I think that the economy is on its final legs but I also think that somebody just kicked it in the shins.

The first part of this book follows a Japanese American girl and her newly made friend running through Morris fire that sparked in the Californian Sierra Nevada Mountain Range. Morris became the biggest mega fire in California at the time. A mega fire is when a forest fire burns a million acers of land. Alan Gratz leaves a cliffhanger at the end of every chapter so watch your clock to make sure you don’t stay up too long. Then the book moves all the way to Churchill, Canada and follows the journey of two boys once they are stranded over the Hudson Bay with a polar bear stalking them. Churchill is known widely for how many polar bears it has. Over the past few years, the great and mighty polar bears have gotten closer and closer to the town and people. Attacks have become more frequent as well. With all this the locals keep their houses and cars unlocked in the town in case someone needs to get away from one of these giant beasts. The last section of the book it tells the story of how a poor girl in Miami tries to survive the horrible Hurricane Rueben.

I thought this book was great. If you have read any of the other books that Alan has written and enjoyed it then I am sure you will like this one too. If you have never read one of his books before I would highly recommend them and this book. They have a wonderful collection of them at The Community Library. I hope you find this book as great as I did. 

                                                                                                                                        

Find it in print and ebook here.

The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown

I am Thijs. I enjoy reading (maybe a little too much) and being outdoors. I have a younger brother and my favorite dessert is root beer floats.

The Boys in the Boat is a classic about young men and their struggles, but how they overcome. Set mostly in Washington State, this book follows the University of Washington Crew team of 1937. The main character in the story is Joe. Joe had a hard life growing up. His mother died when he was young and he had a stepmother that never cared for him. His father struggled to find work and enough money to support the family. His father left when Joe was 15 to take care of himself. This was during the Great Depression when many people were struggling to support their families, keep their homes, and have enough food to eat.

Joe was an incredibly smart young man who found many ways to support himself. He eventually made it to the University of Washington and earned a spot on the Freshman Rowing Crew Team.  The story follows the Freshman Crew Team with their struggles to stay in college and have a seat on the competitive University of Washington Crew Team.

One of the reasons I connected so well with this book was that it is a true story.  The men in the book have incredible grit and never seemed to give up.  This would be a great book to read on a road trip as well. The book will allow you around 14 hours and 24 minutes to pass the time. I hope you go and check this book out at The Community Library, and have a great time reading!                                                                                                                                           

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

Money: The True Story of a Made-Up Thing by Jacob Goldstein

I am Thijs. I enjoy reading (maybe a little too much) and being outdoors. I have a younger brother and my favorite dessert is root beer floats.

Money, a seemingly simple concept that I have always taken for granted. But what really is it and how have we all agreed that it has value? This book explores the early origins of money through more complicated concepts like FIAT, Commercial paper, Bitcoin and many other forms of money that has always confused me. This book will help you understand better how our economy works, banks were originated, the first stocks ever made, and other financial concepts. I believe that every reader could learn at least a thing or two about money from this book.

One of the craziest things that I learned was that on June 5, 1933 the U.S. left the gold standard. The gold standard is when money is backed by gold so if you wanted to, you could trade in your money in for gold. This could cause a lot of problems because if people wanted their gold all at the same time there wouldn’t be enough gold to be distributed. This happened in 1929 and helped trigger the Great Depression. As a result of leaving the Gold Standard in 1933, today money is backed by nothing. This means that money is only worth something because we think it is. That means if we all stop believing it is worth something it will not be worth anything.

The book “Money A Real Story About a Made-Up Thing” goes into the depth of all this. It would be a great book for people from the age 18 and up who want to learn about this complicated thing that our whole life revolves around. It is what we give up our time for to earn and then spend for necessities, and what we value. I bet this book will teach you a lot. I recommended it to my dad, and he loved it. So have fun reading this wonderful book Money: The True Story of a Made-Up Thing.

Find it in print here.