Delirium by Lauren Oliver
reviewed by Oumou
In this distopic world, love is a disease. The deliria consumes you and once it grasps hold of you completely, there is no escaping it, that is, until the scientists find a cure. At age 18, all citizens are required to be cured of love and delirium. Lena Holoway is looking forward to the day of her cure, when she could be pure, protected, and happy. But something unpredictable and life changing and possibly life threatening happens to her. She falls in love.
I have always been fond of speculative fiction and dystopias and utopias. The first time I read this book it was captivating. I loved the thrill and rebellious aspects of the main characters. I also loved the journey that the main characters went on and the story of a girl who needs to face the reality of her world and fight for those she loves. For those who like reading adventure and romance, this series is a great choice. I recommend Delirium to an audience of 13-17 year olds but it is still a wonderful read for those older. I enjoyed Delirium and have also enjoyed the continuations of the book, Pandemonium and Requiem and highly recommend those books too.
Librarian's note: the author.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky
reviewed by Sarah G
This book follows a troubled teen, Charlie, as he struggles through his first year of high school with a new group of friends after several traumatizing events, including his best friend's suicide and his aunt's death.
I loved this book because the author did and exceptional job at portraying Charlie's awkward, sweet personality by formatting the book in the form of letters written by Charlie. Also, I liked how the author was able to successfully show Charlie's dynamic among his friends and family even though the story is written in first person. However, I also thought that certain events in the story, like what happened with Charlie and his Aunt Helen, were a bit confusing and hard to understand as Chbosky did not explain them well. Also, some parts of the story seemed boring and uneventful, like when Charlie would simply describe what he has done throughout the day, which did not include any important events that are relevant to the story. Some of this story is unrealistic, as I doubt that that many bad things that were mentioned in this story can happen to a person.
I would recommend this book to anyone older than 14, as it mentions many mature things. Although I enjoyed reading this book, I think that the movie was better. The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a good book, but I would not read it again.
The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien
reviewed by Sarah
Bilbo Baggins is quite a simple average hobbit, or so he thinks. One day a large number of dwarves enter his home and destroy almost everything in it, but then they ask of his accompaniment on their journey to take back their home by the Misty Mountains and reclaim their gold from Smaug, the dragon who destroyed their home.
Bilbo is a crucial factor in this journey to slay the dragon, but is the gold reward enough to make him leave his cozy simple hobbit home? As the dwarves leave, Bilbo agrees to go with them and embarks on a mystical but perilous journey. I read this book a year ago but I can still remember most of the story because it was so memorable. This is the prequel to the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Librarian's note: A post on the rediscovered illustrations.
We do now have The Art of the Hobbit in the collection at 828.912 TOLKIEN
What Happens Next by Colleen Clayton
reviewed by Oumou
Can one school skiing trip change everything? Apparently to Cassidy " Sid " Murphy it can and it did. When she meets Dax Windsor at a ski resort, she wakes up the next morning in a strange bed with no memory of what happened last night except for sneaking out to meet Dax. She starts to get scared of what might have happened and starts to distance herself from her close friends and family.
The book What Happens Next by Colleen Clayton is an amazing story. It shows the battle a girl goes through fighting off her insecurities and finding a person who thinks she's perfect just the way she is. This is a great story, but then starts become boring and cliché. I recommend this story to teens who love to read about people who experienced tragedies in their life.
Watership Down by Richard Adams
reviewed by Sarah
A small gang of rabbits, Hazel, Fiver, Bigwig, Blackberry, Dandelion, Silver, Buckthorn, Holly, Strawberry, and a few others escape their original warren before the humans come to kill them and steal their land. Fiver, Hazel's younger brother, sees this all coming and he and other rabbits that believe in Fiver flee in search of a new warren. These rabbits are faced with many dangers and temptations along the way and will have to fight for their new home.
This classic personifies the rabbits to make them more human, therefore making reading a book about rabbits finding a new home a little more interesting. These rabbits have their own language, poetry, mythology, and other cultural aspects. Personally I never could really enjoy this book, but many others have. If you are the kind of person that could sit down and read a book about rabbits, heroic journeys and rabbit mythology and battle without being forced against your own will to read it for school, you may enjoy this book.
Interview with the author (at age 92) and the illustrator of a recent edition.
An earlier review of Watership Down written by Takoma Park student "...the absolute worst book I've ever read in my life..."
Librarian's Note: Some of us like it, even those who don't might enjoy Adams' other books such as Traveler and Plague Dogs. The author's own favorite is Shardik. Although he began writing by telling stories to his daughters, his books are not children's literature.
We have the Blackstone audio recording of Watership Down available on CD at the library, and as streaming audio for your pad or phone at Audiobookcloud.
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
reviewed by Lintaro
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline is a very intriguing novel that provides a speculative view about what our future will look like. The story focuses on a teenage boy named Wade, who lives in the year 2044, a year where people are unemployed, oil is a premium commodity, and life is a relative dystopia. Because of this, the world and Wade spends most of their time on a realistic simulation game called The OASIS where everything is plentiful and free. But this all changes when the game's creator dies and his entire $240 billion fortune is left to any OASIS player who can solve a complex scavenger hunt that he coded. Now with the possibility of becoming a billionaire in a second, Wade starts the long quest to solve the scavenger hunt.
This book is a very enthralling read full of thrills and excitement. The book becomes more exciting through its incredible realism and character development. However it is sometimes not very descriptive, which may confuse the reader. Overall, the book is a very interesting read.