what to read... what to read.

Hey guys! Okay, so, I'm thinking about maybe re-reading Romeo and Juliet. I feel like we didn't really get to just read it on our own, we always had to read in class and have our English teacher read it to us. So, I think I’m going to re-read it. I liked what we read in class, but I believe I would like it better if I read it on my own.

I’m also thinking about a few other books check out my goodreads page to see what I’ve marked as "to-read" and tell me if what I’ve marked is good! Please give me recommendations if you would like!

https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/23469655-kit-k?shelf=to-read

Happy reading!

if i tell by Janet Gurtler

if i tell by Janet Gurtler is a book about a girl named Jasmine, or Jaz for short. Jaz is the only girl at Tadita High-school that is bi-racial. And she hates that.  She hates that she is half white-half black, and everyone else is either black, or white. She hates that since fifth grade, her skin-color makes her "dirty". She hates that she can’t be normal.  Jasmine has a job at Grinds, the local knock-off Starbucks, at this job, she meets a classmate who works at Grids part-time, Jackson. Jackson is your average ex-drug dealer bad boy. At least, that's what he is on the outside. But on the inside, he likes Neil Diamond's music, and he likes Jaz when everyone else at high-school doesn’t.

 In this book, there are basically two plots intertwined. One plot is about Jasmine's mom and her mom's boyfriend. Her mom is pregnant, and her boyfriend is really excited, but little does he know that Jaz knows what he did. With another girl. This girl just happens to be Jasmine’s best- friend... well, ex best friend now.  The other plot is her relationship with Jackson and her school life.

 

I loved this book a lot, and I’m so sad that it’s over. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes romance, and anyone who just likes a simple book about someone normal, not those “perfect” people in the “perfect” world. This book is real- life seeming. This book is realistic fiction and the author really makes the characters come alive in a way where you actually think you know them. The author makes a connection to the real world and real teenage issues (which we can all relate to), like crushes and bullying and drama. But there is also some issues not known to everyone, like Jasmines dad leaving her mom before she was born because he wasn’t ready for a baby.

 

Jasmine needs to keep the secret from her mom, but can she take the pressure?  Jaz also needs to mend a few friendships and make some new ones. Will a fight with someone she loves ruin her relationship?

 

Don’t ask me! Read  if i tell by Janet Gurtler.
Happy reading!!!!!

...

At the moment, I am not reading a book. I’m what you would call afraid. I’m afraid to start a new book, in fear that it won’t be as good as the book I last read called Willow by Julia Hoban. It was great, inspiring, romantic, and all in all, just sad and adorably flirty.

 I’m afraid to start a new book because I know that nothing can top Willow, but I’ve been checking out goodreads, and some of the books I found that sounded interesting were: Scars by Cheryl Rainfield, a book about a 15-year old girl struggling with life. She was abused when she was younger, but by who? She doesn’t remember.  Another one I found was Clean by Amy Reed: About a group of young adults all who have struggled with addiction. I thought both of these books looked really good, so I think I might go home and check 'em out.

Happy Reading!!

Willow

Yay! I finished it!

This book is really, really sad. I loved it though. Willow ends up becoming really close to Guy, and they end up talking to each other all the time. Guy will come to the library just to see Willow, and Willow will wait outside after school just to see Guy. This book is really cute and sweet, but also sad and kind of... dark maybe?

 At the beginning...

 Guy: a teenage boy just trying to get through high-school.

 Willow: a teenage girl trying to get through the day.

 At the end...

 Guy: a sweet guy just trying to help a broken girl.

 Willow: a broken girl just trying her hardest to kick a bad-habit.

 Willow and Guy both go to the same high-school. Willow and guy both enjoy the same literature. Willow and Guy both have the same friends. Willow and Guy are polar opposites. Willow and Guy can’t help but fall in love with each other

Yet ANOTHER update on Before I Fall...

Before you say “wow, she must never read...” well, that is partially true, but only because I am a busy person, with softball, football practices (not mine, my little brother) and homework, I never really get time to pleasure read. And on top of all of the practices and extracurricular, I have to be social. Ya know?    Anyway, there are a lot of surprises in this one.

Sam is starting to get the point of re-living this day over and over again: to fix what she did wrong, to fix all of the things she ever screwed up. Each chapter starts out the same: the alarm. Then it goes on to the rest of Sam’s day, leading up to her death.

  Do you remember me talking about Juliet Skyes? No? Oh, yeah, that’s because I NEVER thought she would be this important of a character.  Juliet is a girl in Sam's grade that in my last post, the quote I had, it was describing her, her pale skin, and white hair, reminds you maybe of a snowflake. Ring a bell?  Juliet is Sam's number one key to helping her survive. If you read this book, you need to pay more attention to her at the beginning; also, you have to pay more attention to Kent.

Kent is also a big help in the story, but he wouldn’t need to be there if it wasn’t for Juliet.  He hosts the party at his house, and I don’t think many people take mind to him when they start reading. They think of him as a by-stander maybe. But he is definitely a dynamic character. He and Sam might even share a kiss... ooooh.  

“’Kent? I said okay. I mean, I’d like to stay. If you don’t mind.’… ‘You’re tired,’ he says, and his voice is soft again. ’it’s been a long day,’ I say. ‘come on.’ He reaches out his hand and without thinking I take it. Its warm and dry, and as he leads me deeper into the house, away from the music, I close my eyes and remember how he used to slip his hand into mine and whisper, Don’t listen to them. Just keep walking. Keep your head up. It almost feels like no time has passed. It doesn’t feel crazy that im holding hands with Kent McFuller and I’m letting him lead me somewhere- it feels normal’”

I want to tell you guys so much, but at the same time I really can’t give anything away, that’s part of the reason I share so little textual evidence. I’m afraid it might give things away.

Still loving this book, and still loving reading; nothing new really. The point of this post is to never brush off the small seemingly unimportant characters, because you never know who will show up later on in the story. I think I actually learned a lesson this time! 

Thanks for checking out my blog, Happy Reading!!!!

Willow (do not read if you are a judgemental person)

Willow. Willow. Sounds beautiful, doesn’t it? What do you think of when you hear the word Willow? Do you think of a tree? Do you think of a girl? Do you think of a dog? I'll bet the last thing you think of is a girl who self-harms. I bet when I say she killed her parents, you won’t think awe, it must have been an accident. You probably think whoa, isn’t that illegal?, or she is a horrible person!. No. just no, guys.

Willow is a young girl I would guess around the age of 16 or 17. she ACCIDENTLY killed her parents in a car crash after her parents had a little too much to drink and asked her to drive them home. It was raining and she only had her temps. She swerved off of the road and crashed the car, her father’s blood soaking her own hair. Now, she prefers her own blood, covering her body. Desperately trying to ridden the memory of that night. Covering up the scars is just one complication. Keeping this secret from her brother, David, his wife, and their young daughter? That’s a whole different story.

Willow has a part time job at the university her brother works act’s library. Here, she spends her time dealing with tough customers and college kids looking for a good read. One day a boy named Guy comes and needs a copy of one of her father’s favorite books. This book is kept upstairs in the part of the library no one visits. Here, Guy and Willow start talking and become acquaintances.

Eventually, Guy finds out about her self-harm issue, and he doesn’t seem to get it.

"Willow lunges for her stash, but it’s too late. Guy is there first. His hand closes around her supplies. He stands up and starts to give them to her, along with a couple of pens, some gum, and the rest of her belongings." 

This is the page where Guy finds out; he finds her razor and says 'hey, I use this brand.'  However, he didn’t mean to cut, he meant to shave. He uses that brand of razor to shave, then he realizes, and he doesn’t really understand.

Crazy thing is, all of this action happened in the first 50 pages. i got all of this detail in the first 50 pages! that is how much detail is included in this text.

I haven’t read much, only about 60 pages, so I will definitely keep you posted,

Before I Fall

The predictions I made about this book in my last post were almost spot on. Remember how I thought she died in a car crash on her way home from school? I was really close, she actually died on the way home from a party that a boy in her school, Kent, invited her to. The car crash happened when Sam's friend Lindsay dropped her cigarette on her seat of her car. Also, Lindsay should not have been driving, she was high and drunk. I am now on page 94, and I love this book. So far, Sam has started to take a good shape in my mind. She seems like she would be a great friend if she were real. In the beginning, her qualities were Care-free, kind of trampy, rebellious, flirty, and maybe even kind of smart. Now, however, a third of the way in, she is kind of now more worried about how to fix what happened. She is becoming more known to what is going on around her. She is beginning to get smarter, and she is rebelling a lot less. 

The author, Lauren Oliver, is really impressing me with the architecture of this character. Even her amount of detail astounds me:

"I watch her drifting through the cafeteria. Her hair is down and concealing her face: fuzzy, soft hair, so white it reminds me of snow. That's what she looks like, actually-like a snowflake being buffeted around in the wind, twisting and turning on currents of air. She doesn't even glance in our direction, and I wonder if even now she's planning it, planning to follow us tonight and embarrass us in front of everybody. It doesn’t seem like she would have it in her." (Oliver, 93)

I really like this book, and it is kind of hard to get me to like a book, especially after reading Breathe by Elena Dillon (which is a 600 page book I read 3 times in a week). But this book is different, it is the kind of genre like (realistic-Fiction), and it has the kind of plot that I like. I like repetition; it always seems to catch my attention. This is one of the reasons I love this book. It has loads of repetition. And it is longer, so I don’t find myself finishing it and missing having that same text to read.  

I will be sure to keep you updated on Sam’s adventures and miss-haps, Happy reading!

13 Reasons Why

Wow. I do did not predict anything right for this book... whoops. It still really was good though. I made predictions that were incorrect, but so does everyone right?

 

 

 

i liked the ending of this book, but it was different than I expected SPOILER ALERT: I did not expect Clay to not be the 13 tape. I believe he was the 7th.

 

 

 

I cried so much while reading this book, because I feel like it is relatable to a lot of people. If you have ever lost anybody... a friend, a family member, a loved one... you should definitely read this book, because it voices your feelings and helps you to put it in to words. Although this book is fiction, I feel like it is real. Like it actually happened because it is so realistic.

Sky on Fire

I read the 2nd Monument 14 book! It was really good, but i wish it would have ended differently. :(

In this book, there are 2 points of view, Alex, and Dean. Alex is out with Niko and the others, and Dean is with Chloe, Henry and Caroline, and Astrid in the Greenway. It was a really good book, and I would definitely recommend it.

Happy Reading!

Reading Skills

A book that I recently started is called Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver. I am only about 20 pages into the book and I already love it.  Some questions I have had are ' how does she die?'  In the book it mentions something about a crash, so I am predicting that she dies in a car crash on her way home from school. According to Goodreads.com, this is what the book is about:

 "What if you only had one day to live? What would you do? Who would you kiss? And how far would you go to save your own life?

 Samantha Kingston has it all: looks, popularity, the perfect boyfriend. Friday, February 12, should be just another day in her charmed life. Instead, it turns out to be her last.

 The catch: Samantha still wakes up the next morning. Living the last day of her life seven times during one miraculous week, she will untangle the mystery surrounding her death—and discover the true value of everything she is in danger of losing.".

 I would tell you my own summary, but I am not far enough to know much about the book yet.

A prediction I made is that she will die a virgin because in the book it has some foreshadowing.  One of Samantha’s best friends says ' I don’t want you to die a virgin!’ This is definitely foreshadowing in my opinion.

 I will make sure to keep you updated! Happy reading!

 

 

Book Recomendations

    The book I would like to recommend to you guys is called 13 Reasons Why, by Jay Asher I would give it 5 stars.  I loved this book, I just completed it yesterday. One of the reasons I love it so much is the way it is written. I have read a lot of reviews saying that it is a fun book to listen to, because they say that you can hear Hannah's voice.  You would like this book if you like a little bit of suspense. You would also like this book if you want to know what it’s like to lose a classmate or family member to suicide.

 

     13 Reasons Why is a book about a girl who committed suicide and recorded tapes of the 13 people (or reasons) she did it. These tapes are only passed around to the people who are included in the tapes, the 13 people. One of these people is Clay, and this book focuses in on his time with the tapes. The book includes everything on the tapes, and Clay's thoughts while listening to the tapes.  I would add a quote, but I feel like it would spoil the book.  Because literally, nothing in this story is unimportant. If you do read it, do not skim over anything.

A book that I read is Monument 14 by Emmy Laybourne.  One theme for this book is: When in danger, or Safety, stick together with the people you know. This is a theme for the book, because in the book, there is a hail storm that ruins everything. Houses, stores, hospitals, vehicles, almost everything is destroyed, except for the buildings with thick metal roofs, or the buildings underground.  In the book, there is a group of kids whose buses got ruined while they were riding to school in the hail storm, their bus driver, Mrs. Wooly, brought them to a Greenway, which is like a super Wal-Mart. This is what happened; “The bus reached the store. I thought she'd stop it outside and we'd walk in, but no, just as she had before, Mrs. Wooly drove it right through the hole where the glass doors had been and then we were inside the greenway, in a bus." At some point later on in the book, Mrs. Wooly leaves to go to the hospital, and doesn’t come back. Before she leaves, she puts Jake in charge. Jake is a senior. Once Mrs. Wooly left, there was a thick black cloud of smoke in the air. Once the cloud came in, the children learned that Jake may not be the best person to be in charge.  So they put Niko, a junior in high school, and a boy scout in charge. The cloud was full of chemicals that made people with different types of blood have different reactions. Because of this cloud, the kids had to close off all of the air supply from the outside. "'This is from NORAD: attention, residents of Colorado and neighboring states. at 8:26 a.m. today, Wednesday, September 8 2024, chemical Weapon storage facilities at the North American Aerospace Defense  Command Department have been breeched. Residents in a 500- mile radius of NORAD are urged to get indoors and seal all windows immediately.'" This is talking about the black cloud.

Once the doors and everything is sealed, the 14 kids, Chloe, Ulysses, Max, Caroline, Henry, Sahalia, Jake, Brayden, Astrid, Dean, Alex, Batiste, Josie, and Niko have to stick together to survive all of the catastrophes that happen. Including the cloud. They have to stay in the store for months, and they have to learn how to live like a family.

The book I read is called 'Don't Tell' by Mercy Amare.

I really liked this book, I loved the plot line, and the characters. The important characters in this book are: Lucy, Ian, Tess, and Charles, Lucy's Dad.
Lucy is  a very dynamic character, at the beginning of the book, she doesn't really trust anyone other than Tess, her best friend. In the book, she thinks to herself "The last thing I wanted was a boyfriend... It would just be one more person I would have to lie to." (Amare, 6).   Towards the end of the book, she starts to learn how to trust people, like Ian. Ian is a static character, because he does not undergo major change.   Tess is also a static character, because she doesnt undergo major change. although she does help to move Lucy along in the story.  Tess helps Lucy realize that maybe all she needed was a boyfriend.  Charles is a static character, he does not change at all through the book. Charles is Lucy's abusive father, who blames Lucy for her mom's death.  All of these characters help move Lucy towards the right path for herself, whether its helping her notice that she needs a safer place, or its giving her the self confidence she needs, they all help her throughout the book.

The book I read over the summer was Matched  by Ally Condie.

One theme in the book was 'The boss isn't always right.'. This is a theme, because in the book, Cassia is matched with Xander. SPOILER ALERT!!: Cassia doesn't end up with Xander!  so, in this case, society (or, the Boss) was wrong. Throughout the book, Cassia has a hard time making a decision between the known, and unknown. Cassia has known Xander all her life, but she's only known Ky for a short time. Who will she choose?

Cassia is a very dynamic character, throughout the book, she goes through major changes. At the beginning of the book, she was very obedient,  and always did what the officials told her. Towards the end of the book, she was very rebellious, and I would blame this on Ky. She wants to fight for what she believes in. The other characters did not really change.

The article is a review of the book.