IA Reads

Tuesday, November 28, 2017

The Forgetting by Sharon Cameron - student book review by Alyssa


The premise behind The Forgetting is something that, to me, is insanely fascinating. It follows the idea of a society where, every twelve years, every citizen loses all of their memory. The citizens must write their true life story down in books, which they carry with them at all times, so they can read them and know who they are after the “forgetting”. The book does a fantastic job of exploring the possibilities for corruption in the society, such as what happens when a person’s book is lost, or if a person never forgets, both of which happen to the main protagonist, Nadia.
The Forgetting originally appeared to me as similar to a novel in the dystopian fiction genre, as it features a small, idyllic city with a different society from ours and with a seemingly corrupted government. I went into the book expecting the general dystopian YA plot - a love interest, overthrowing the people in power, etc, all of which were indeed present; however, I was caught completely off guard and found myself very pleased with the science-fiction rout the book ended up taking. It managed to explain a lot about some seemingly fantastic and unrealistic aspects of the setting, even giving an intriguing scientific explanation for the Forgetting itself.

In general, the book covers themes such as corruption, truth, love, memory, and family. It should also be noted that the book is definitely YA and up, due to the descriptive imagery in the romantic scenes and descriptions of the anarchy and death that occur in the days before the Forgetting. The Forgetting would be a good book for free reading or book clubs, due to both the general aspect of enjoyment and character development, as well as the deep themes which would be fascinating to discuss. Although I found the beginning to be a slight bit slow, once the science fiction aspect dropped in around halfway I was completely captivated and could not put it down!

Author's website:
http://www.sharoncameronbooks.com/index2.html

Extraordinary Means by Robyn Schneider student book review by Nicole

Rating: 4Q4P
Highly Recommended
Once diagnosed with the drug-resistant form of Tuberculosis (TB), Lane moves to the Latham house in order to promote health and wellness until a cure is discovered. The once star student on his way to Stanford has his eyes focused only on keeping up with his education rather than his health; this only has a negative effect on his overall well being and is forced to remove himself from all that he lived for before TB.
Finally discovering his way throughout Latham house, Lane meets a past summer camp acquaintance, Sadie. After a rough start marred by camp memories, the two discover that they are the best of friends, perfect for eachother in the mess of Latham. From sneaking into the nearby town to late night parties the two fall in love- Latham becomes their sick version of paradise.
Once life starts to fall into place, everything starts to go wrong, from tragedies regarding their close friends to the discovery of a cure, life starts to change. Although the news of the cure is amazing, Sadie and Lane are devastated to be separated. Through a culmination of events brought by these changes, Sadie is injured to the point close to death three weeks away from the delivery of the cure. Trying an experimental version of the cure, Sadie ultimately meets her demise through the drug rather than TB or the injuries themselves.
Still affected both by his time at Latham and relationship with Sadie, Lane leaves the sanatorium recognising that life needs to be lived to the fullest in the present rather than just focusing on the future.
This book Extraordinary Means by Robyyn Schneider was a great read and I would love to read it again. Similar to the themes of The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, this novel follows two sick young adults through their time recovering and growing up.
I enjoyed the fiction intertwined with the truth of the real disease. No, there is no TB that is completely drug resistant but the idea of an epidemic such as that is extremely interesting. Also, basing the plot around the patients and their experiences at a sanatorium is another modern way to look at the experiences of those during the major epidemics of TB in the 19th century. Schneider did not just focus on the impacts to the patients, but the extended impacts on the society surrounding and the caretakers within. This created a feeling that this epidemic could truly occur and measures should be taken to account for everyone’s health and safety. Furthermore, I feel that it is extremely beneficial that the author studied medical ethics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. This provided an added sense of reality intertwined with the clear fiction of the disease.
Despite the amazing plot there are a few mature scenes that a reader should be aware about before reading this novel. To start, drinking and excessive drug usage is highly prevalent throughout the culture of the kids at the Latham House. Furthermore, the relationships formed throughout the sanatorium tend to end in hooking up in the forest. Regarding relationships, the mini love triangle between Sadie, Lane, and Nick was not executed as best as it could have been. It was between existing and not; I feel that Schneider should have chosen between the two rather than having it fluctuate.  

As a clearly well researched and written novel, any teenage student would love to read this book. For a teacher, literary analysis is plentiful; whether it be determining plot points such as debating where the climax rests, the character development of Lane regarding his personal values such as education vs. school life, or the influence of technology or nature on daily life, anyone could find anything to track throughout this novel. This book easily fits within a high school library. If a librarian would like to feature it on a themed shelf, I would recommend placing it with books such as The Fault in Our Stars or Wonder.

Monday, November 13, 2017

Darkstalker by Tui T. Sutherland - student book review by Arav


Overall, I do think this book is criminally good. The plot of the book is revolves around the villain dragon DarkStar, and the events which lead to his slumber almost two thousand years before the main series of Wings of Fire. The setting revolves around intelligent personified dragons, divided into many tribes based off of race with each having magic special to them. For example, the “Nightwing” race have members which can read minds, predict the future, or both. Now, the setting might put new readers to this series off, but I would suggest sticking around, as Sutherland shows off an incredible case study in how all villains might not be strictly evil, but simply misguided beings whose power let them embrace their character faults.

The story itself is shown through three lenses, each rotating for a role to narrate the story whenever Sutherland sees fit: DarkStalker, Fathom, and ClearSight. DarkStalker, as the titular protagonist, gives the reader a clear view as to how his thoughts turn from seeking justice and what is right to using his power of magic for evil. ClearSight, gifted with the vast ability of future-sight, gives us both an interesting glimpse as to how confusing such a power can be, while also acting as the checks and balances to DarkStalkers antics, so that when certain key elements of the plot are revealed, we understand how hard it can be to fully see a being’s transition to madness without going into the mind of that individual itself. Lastly Fathom, the eldest of the trio, has a rather uplifting story, one which, for the sake of preventing too many spoilers, I will not discuss.

 All three have a rich interplay which makes the transitions neither seem jarring nor forced - in fact, I did not even notice that the chapter headings indicated which dragon was speaking at the time, as I could simply tell from the characters’ internal monologues and conflicts. However, this book is not for the faint of heart, as it does include descriptive violence among dragons, including a disembowelment. These scenes, however, are crucial to the plot, weaving together big character moments with big plot points. In terms of giving this book to students, I would love to analyse all the themes that this book tries to portray. Overall, it provides a pretty satisfying analysis of what the words “good” and “bad” really mean to our ears, especially as people can tend to both given their mood and whatnot. Each character underscores different ideas regarding good and evil from Arctic, DarkStalker’s Father, underscoring the need to think through your decisions, to Whiteout, DarkStalker’s sister, underscoring the need to keep your individuality to maintain sanity. The magical powers of each dragonkind are also well-thought, with the various thoughts concerning ClearSight’s future-prediction abilities akin to time travel, such as causal loops and multiverse theory. There is also a lot about power structures and the way power is distributed in societies that is good to reflect on, from how hereditary power can cause even the most level headed to go mad with power to how easily can people let the past define the possibilities of the future. Lastly, the style of the book is simply marvelous. While I had no knowledge of the book’s setting or who the characters might be, the book both managed to convey necessary plot details in a way that respected the intelligence of the reader, from giving subtle hints about a certain dragon’s imprisonment early onwards, while still making the actual plot fun to read.

I had a blast between the character interaction scenes, where characters went back and forth about certain thematic issues. Each was chock-full of both witty remarks and sarcasm that I honestly felt like I could hear the stuff in my head. Altogether, then, the book was incredibly vivid. It has the ability to spark a lot of conversation on it, though the setting might turn some off. My only real complaint is that I want more of this story to read, so my next task will be to read the rest of the series to see what it has in store for me!




Jingle by Gordon Korman- a student book review by Arav


Out of the many, many Christmas tales that authors write nowadays, Jingle, by Gordan Korman is well written and articulate. Following with his usual formula for the Swindle series: a mystery, a plan or two, and a well-written climax that pulls most, if not all, concurrent plot threads, Korman manages to not only tell a good mystery, but add a nice Christmas twist the other books in the series needed. The plot is, in this manner, rather typical: an antique of over ten million dollars of value is stolen and Griffin and Co, due to their previous history of stealing, are suspected by the cops. In order to shift the blame off themselves, they implement one plan after another, with the story adding layers of difficulty as a result. Unlike other reviews, I do not really mind the fact that Korman did not include some of the new characters he introduced in the installment prior to this one - in fact, I think the book benefitted from the removal. As the subtitle states, the book is not a mainline Swindle tale but a so-called “Swindle Mystery”, focusing on another one of the group’s escapades as they try to uphold their sense of justice without getting yelled at by their parents or arrested by the police. It is meant to be a joyride with the beloved core characters of the series, and I think Jingle is, in that respect, a good book in the series.
        However, besides the well-written plot, Korman does stumble a bit in Jingle, though it is rather minimal in my opinion. Cigars, for instance, are referenced in the book a bit, especially with respect to Mr.Crenshaw, a biker-type character who debuts in this title. Additionally, the gang do end up going to a bar to “rescue” Luthor, their dog. Besides these references, which might make it unsuitable for a younger audience, the writing tends to make one character, Darren Vader, a little too caricatured. Unlike in the other installments, where Mr.Vader gets some character development, here he is nothing but one word: cruel. For example, he repeatedly kicks Ben Slovak during an elf rehearsal ( Did I mention that the group ended up landing jobs as Elves for a Christmas Spectacular? ), which just seems excessive after he spreads lies about the group to two other new characters - Tiffany and Russel. Besides these, admittedly minor, complaints, I have nothing else to say. Despite reading many, many mystery books in my time, I still get caught up by the way Korman manages to tie every plot thread together, from the dueling holidays at Ben Slovak’s house to Logan’s desire to land an acting job at a theatre troupe. In short, despite a few flubs, Korman manages to write up a book which can grip anyone, making it a really fun read.
     In terms of its usage among students, this book might be fun just as a simple Christmas tale. In an academic setting, it would be pretty fun to compare this tale with more traditional Christmas tales, especially with the interplay between the mystery aspects of the plot and the Christmas setting. The vocabulary, typical of a Korman novel, is descriptive but catered to a younger audience, allowing younger readers a chance to have fun reading a longer book without a great struggle. Additionally, the theme, following the classic Christmas message of selflessness, is well executed, as the group ends up helping one of their initial “suspects” with a dire financial situation and show their Christmas spirit.
    Altogether, the book is well-written and really engages the reader from beginning to end. While it might not be suitable for some audiences who are not familiar with the characters and/or are comfortable with the references to cigars in the book, it still is a very satisfying mystery that somehow manages to develop multiple subplots synchronously.

Tuesday, November 7, 2017

Factory Girl by Josanne La Valley - student book review by Isabella



Factory Girl chronicles the story of Roshen, a sixteen-year- old Uyghur girl from northern China. Roshen dreams of becoming a teacher and continuing to pass on her culture to the next generation, like those before her. However, all of this is interrupted when she is chosen to be sent to a Chinese factory in the south of China. The Chinese government does not approve of the Uyghur culture and wishes to force assimilation, particularly by sending their children to work in factories where they face deplorable conditions. Yet, Roshen is determined to not lose her identity and forms a close camaraderie with the other girls sent to the factory. However, whether they will be able to return to their homeland and families is something only time will tell. 

This novel was well-written and a pleasure to read. I found the character growth intriguing, particularly Roshen’s: she goes from being focused primarily on her own well-being to becoming a strong leader figure for the other Uyghurs. I found this to be a rather inspiring message because it implied that it is possible to find strength even in seemingly hopeless situations. Furthermore, I very much enjoyed learning about Uyghur culture because I had never been exposed to this culture before reading Factory Girls. Thus, I was shocked to learn of their plight and hope that this book may serve to educate others about the plight of Uyghurs, like it did for me. However, a weaker aspect of this novel was Roshen’s self-righteousness that at times translated into an unjustified prejudiced view towards girls, who did not observe the same exact cultural traditions as her. For example, she mistrusts the girls from the city immediately and does not try to get to know them before passing judgement. Furthermore, although probably accurate of the culture the author intended to represent, I was immensely frustrated by the patriarchal society that resulted in Roshen consistently feeling inferior to the male figures in her life. 

Overall, this book would be a good introduction to the culture of the Ugyhurs, a vulnerable minority group in China. Making students aware of the existence this group is incredibly important to assuring that their autonomy is protected. This book could be used in either a literature, history, or cultural studies class, as a case study of a minority culture.

Author Photos that inspired her story - http://www.josannelavalley.com/photo_essay.html
Authors Website: http://www.josannelavalley.com/index.html
Thoughts about the author from her friend.  Josanne La Valley passed away shortly after her book was published. http://smack-dab-in-the-middle.blogspot.com/2017/03/josanne-la-valley.html

Factory Girl book trailer