Book Trailer

https://animoto.com/play/Ihl2ix5XisZKl8cQiE7HUg

All We Have Left

All We Have Left, by Wendy Mills, is a story about two girls: Jesse, and Alia. However, it tells their stories 15 years apart, and their stories are connected by one person; Travis. Travis died in the 9/11 attack, but before he died he tried helping Alia, a muslim teenager, to escape. Alia was in the building to see her father. She dreamt of going to college and becoming an artist but her parents didn't support her. She got caught caught holding a joint, so they grounded her. She tried persuading her mother that it wasn't hers but she wouldn't listen. She went to talk to her father in hopes he'd listen to her.  We don't know yet if Alia ends up making it out alive or not, although we know Travis did not make it. Travis is Jesse's older brother.  Jesse struggles with her brothers death, and ever since, her home has been filled with grief and anger because of her father. I feel like her father doesn't really know how to handle the situation.  Jesse gets involved with the wrong crowd and she ends up getting in trouble for graffitiing "terrorists go home" on an islamic peace center. I was surprised when she did this. It appears Jesse is looking for someone to blame.  She has so much anger built inside her she doesn't really know what to do. So far I've found this story really interesting. There's not many novels out there where you get to see two different stories in one book. I think it's really creative how the two stories are connected as well. 

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

I really enjoyed this book. I thought it was an interesting read. It follows two boys, Dante and Ari. Dante is more open with himself and knows what it is he wants. While Ari on the other hand is more soft spoken, and isn't sure how to feel sometimes. Ari's character really caught my attention. He's more complex than Dante, and you have a lot to learn about him throughout the book. It's more realistic the more complicated a character is. I liked how the relationship between the two came about. They found out secrets about themselves they didn't know before. Dante is open with his sexuality and Ari doesn't seem so comfortable with it at first. He doesn't stop Dante from doing anything, he just kind of lets it happen. I believe this is when he starts to realize who he really is. I feel like this story can be relatable for many people. It has many realistic factors and events that happen throughout the book, that can happen to everyday people.
When Ari saved Dante, I was really shocked that whole scene happened. It was such a selfless move on Ari's part, and it goes to show you how much Ari really does care about Dante. Although Ari doesn't want any praise from it, what he did was really brave. Dante ends up moving to Chicago, and they write letters to each other. Dante writes the majority of the letters. I can relate to this aspect of the story in the sense of having a relationship with someone who's far away. It can be hard and difficult at times. Overall I thought this novel was a good read, and I'd recommend it to anyone who likes a good story.

Finishing American Born Chinese

I found this book to be one of my favorite reads so far! It was easy to follow, and it wasn't hard to fit all the reading in for the week. I even wanted to read father than the required length. In the beginning I was hesitant since it was a comic book, but I ended up enjoying it a lot. For it being my first comic book, I'd say it was a success. There were a few moments where I was confused with what was going on however. The ending was completely surprising. I didn't expect that crazy of an ending. It was interesting to see how everything tied together in the end. Chin-Kee and Danny become their true forms. Chin-Kee becomes the Monkey King, while Danny becomes Jin Wang. And Wei-Chen is the Monkey King's son. This comic book is a story about wanting to fit in. Although the author shows it in a drastic form, it's realistic. I was confused in the beginning as to how these stories were going to tie together, but I am happy with how the book ended. It's an interesting way to view this topic rather than reading a standard novel. And it goes to show you to embrace who you are, and don't try to hide it. Everyone is unique in their own way. You can try to be someone you aren't but you can't change who you are. It's a very realistic topic that many people seem to struggle with. I liked how the meaning behind these crazy stories is actually relevant. Throughout the book, it seemed like every seen had an importance to the bigger story.

American Born Chinese

In the beginning of this book, I was disappointed to see it was a comic book. I've never read a comic book before so I assumed I wouldn't like it. But as I read further I found it interesting and easy to follow for the most part. The book follows a few different characters. This includes a Monkey King, a teenage boy names Jin Wang, and the third is another teenage boy named Danny. I find the Monkey King to be the most interesting character. He's a monkey that masters kung-fu and other things in many forms. He seemed like an everyday, nice monkey until one night he goes out and everything changes. He loves to go to dinner parties until one day he is not allowed inside because he doesn't have shoes. He gets extremely angry and freaks out. When he gets home to his mountain, he then goes into isolation to master other arts. This includes: invulnerably to fire, invulnerably to drowning, invulnerably to cold, and invulnerably to wounds. He wants everyone to view him as a god. He goes off to show off his powers to everyone. The story also follows a young male named Danny. His life is going fine until his cousin comes into town. Danny has changed schools every year since 8th grade. This is because his cousin visits once a year and ruins everything when he does. Jin Wang meets a new kid, Wei-Chen Sun who tries to become friends with Jin. Jin is reluctant but eventually they become best friends. Wei-Chen is thankful for Jin because he showed him the American ways and taught him a lot. He said without him, he doesn't know what things would have been like. So far I've enjoyed this comic book and I'm excited to finish it up!

Finishing Brown Girl Dreaming

I liked Brown Girl Dreaming overall. However, I still prefer the traditional style of writing but the free verse was interesting and easy to follow. The stories she told were intriguing, and at times I could feel like I was really there. Jackie moves around with her siblings for a while until they finally meet their mother in New York. I found Jackie's mother to be an interesting character. I could relate in the fact that she seems strict and some of her rules are too much in the sense that my mom was that way growing up. However, the mother had reasoning for acting the way she did, and she just wanted the best for her children.  Jackie begins to write and writes a story on butterflies. Other people didn't understand how she could write about something so small and something that only lives a short lifespan. But to her, nothing died on paper, on paper butterflies could live forever. I found that thought really interesting because that's not something usually thought about. Her teacher acknowledges the fact that Jackie is a talented writer and mentions it to her. I think that definitely meant a lot for Jackie to her, especially coming from her teacher. I feel like that inspired her to write more. In the beginning of the book I had a hard time seeing the events come together, everything seemed like a separate story. But as I read further into the book, I felt more like I was reading one story and the events began to come together more. As the story goes on, Jackie's grandfather dies. She was close to her grandfather so this was a tragic event for the whole family. I felt bad for them. I feel like this was definitely a turning point for Jackie, and it seems like that was when she really started to realize things.

Brown Girl Dreaming

We started a book called Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson. The book is written more in the form of poetry rather than a standard novel text. I don't think I like this way of writing as much as I like the other way. It's easy to follow, it's just not as capturing I guess. I find it kind of boring. The poems are interesting in the sense that this actually happened to someone and this is her story, but I don't see much of a story yet. It just seems like bits and pieces of her life. It doesn't seem to flow very well, almost every page is a different topic. Aside from the writing style, the deeper meaning of the words she writes are incredibly captivating. It's so different than how things are now. Jacqueline was born on a Tuesday in Columbus, Ohio in 1963. Jacqueline, her mom, and her two older siblings moved to South Carolina, however her mom doesn't plan on making that permanent. They stay with her grandparents.You don't read too much about her dad. Jacqueline's mom appears to have raised them rather strictly and 'properly'. I was surprised when Jacqueline's brother was whipped for saying "ain't". That isn't something that would happen today. Usually a parent would just scold their child or something, but then again times have changed and people look at the "right" ways to discipline your children differently. Jacqueline's relationship with her grandparents seems to be a loving and caring relationship. There's multiple scenes when she explains times they were treated unfairly because of the color of their skin. She said when they would walk to the store, people would watch them the whole time they were shopping. I'm curious to see if more of these events line up and if more of a story will grow.