Stand Tall by Joan Bauer

This book is about a boy named Tree, who is 6 foot 3 inches and a seventh grader. He always gets made fun of, and is having a hard time after his parents' recent divorce. His grandfather, has served in the Vietnam War has lost his foot and is learning how to walk without it, and he fails being an athlete. This book is kind of touching, and has a lot to do with friendship, and helping people. I didn't think this book was very good, but it is a quick read for anyone who wants to read a short book. It is a really easy read as well and doesn't really have any mature topics or language.
I think I will read a book called Sarah's Key over break but I don't really know what it is about, and I would also like to read Wintergirls. 

SOL- Snow Day

I wake up to my dog barking. I look at my alarm, which reads 7:00 AM. My eyes widen thinking my alarm didn't go off, but then I see a note on my nightstand from my mom. 'SNOW DAY!!!' the note says. Glancing over at my window, I see a white sky, and I run up to my window, where there is a bunch of snow, and a blizzard is going on. The trees, and the ground, and bushes are covered in snow. It's beautiful. I love winter, when it's snowing and I love being inside when it snows a lot. It's only November, and this is a bunch of snow for the month. I go outside, and enjoy the fresh air, knowing when I go inside warm hot chocolate will greet me.

Anne Frank- The Diary of a Young Girl

This book was the diary of Anne Frank, where she wrote about her feelings and what was happening in her life. It starts off on her thirteenth birthday, and she talk about what happened. Toward the beginning of the book, Anne Frank and her family must move into there hiding place, which is in Amsterdam, to escape the war and Holocaust. Anne Frank was a Jewish girl, who had at age 15 been put into a concentration camp where she died, but Anne does not mention anything about concentration camps in this book. 

This book was a pretty good book, I was very interested, although some parts weren't at interesting as others, and I was a little confused sometimes. I think that everyone should read this book, because it is a very important book, although I wasn't exactly the person to really enjoy it. It doesn't have many mature topics or language, but it is sad at some parts, and reflects a lot on who Anne Frank and her family were.

Love, Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli

Love, Stargirl is a sequel to the book Stargirl. It's about a girl named Stargirl who moved to Pennsylvania from Arizona because of her dad's job. She is a very unique 16 year old, and she is homeschooled. She then meets a little girl named Dootsie who becomes a pretty important character in the book. Stargirl and her friends who she meets along the way go on many adventures throughout the book, which become important in this book. This book is written as if she was writing letters to her previous boyfriend from Arizona, and will he ever receive these so called letters? I really liked this book, it is a fairly quick and easy book, with some funny and touching parts. There are no mature topics or language, and I think that anyone could read this and enjoy it. I would first recommend reading the first Stargirl because there are some characters that are from that book that she mentions in this book.
I would like to be in a realistic fiction book group next because it would be very interesting to discuss.

Poem

We go down the streets picking up trash. Looking at the community. I picture people going down the same sidewalk. People who live here. People who pick up trash too, who try to make a difference. Even the littlest difference can be seen. They help their community only to come back and see tomorrow that there is more trash. I know that even though we made a noticeable difference in the amount of trash, I know that won't last long. But we did good deed. And we know we could do more.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

This is a book about a man named Atticus Finch, a lawyer, defending an African American man who was framed to have raped a woman. His kids, Scout and Jem, who are always trying to get Boo Radley out of his house, because he is considered to be a scary man, who eats rats and sits locked up in that house. But they realize that may not be true. This is a book about adventures, and history. Its a really good book, although has some mature topics and language. Overall, I really liked this book although it was a little bit tough.

I am looking into some realistic fiction, lately that has been really interesting for me. If you have any recommendations, let me know!

Smile By Raina Telgemeier

This book is about a girl named Raina, and she experiences a lot of problems from 6th grade to high school. The book starts out as Raina being in 6th grade, right when she has a girl scout meeting and on the way back she trips and falls flat on her face, her two from teeth getting knocked out. So she has to get two fake teeth, and throughout the book she gets braces, and you can see the whole process. She also has troubles socially with her group of friends, and emotionally. This is a graphic novel, and has no mature topics at all. I think that is was a pretty good book, because it was interesting and really short. I would recommend this to people who want an easy quick read, and anyone in general.

Find Me Unafraid by Jessica Posner and Kennedy Odede

This is a non-fiction book about a young American named Jessica (fun fact she actually went to Logan) and an African man named Kennedy. The book starts out as Kennedy remembering his life as a young boy, and how hard it was in Africa for him. The chapters switch off, so it is Kennedy for one chapter and then Jessica and her current life in the other. Kennedy talks about all the problems in Africa and what he wants to do about it, and how tough his life was especially when he was younger. As he grows up, he decides to start a school for little girls because they weren't very well educated. Jessica hears about this, and so she comes to Africa and helps Kennedy. Along the way they fall in love, and deal with all the problems about how a white person and African American isn't a good choice, and so on. This was a REALLY good book, and I would recommend it for anyone in the class. It has some mature topics like rape, and violence and some language but it isn't bad. Everyone should read this book if they like non-fiction books about a tough life, with some romance but not the bad kind :). Plus, it talks a little about Jessica living in Denver, and it is really cool that she went to Logan!

Four of a Kind by Valerie Frankel

This book is about four moms, Bess, Alicia, Carla and Robin, whose kids go to a school called Brooklyn Heights, and the moms are part of a Diversity Committee. They start by getting to know each other, and how they do that is by sharing secrets that no one else really knows. Over the course of the book, you really get to know the characters, and I can't really say too much without giving the book away. This is written in different perspective, each chapter has a character change, and it made me get confused. Overall, I didn't like this book, because it isn't for me. It has a lot of mature topics, and the summary on the back of the book is nothing like the book itself. I didn't see any symbolism in this book, it was very straightforward. I do not recommend this book for people like me who get confused when characters change and just when the story doesn't have a point at all.

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes Part 2

The second part of the book is about how Charlie is still getting tested and experimented on, and he gets a lot smarter than the scientists experimenting on him. He starts to understand what is really going on, and Algernon somehow does too. So basically Algernon tries to run away, and Charlie goes with him. Algernon suddenly seems to go crazy, and so will Charlie too? In this part of the book many events occur, especially when he tries new things. He has a lot of physical and social interactions with people, that changes him. This was a really good book, and it was really realistic. I feel like this book really made me think twice about what was going on, and I really got close to Charlie throughout this book. Since at first he couldn't spell and didn't have a good memory, we really got to know him and see how much he changes throughout the book. This book is sad, funny, and kind of intense at parts. It covers some mature topics like sexual interactment, and a little bit of drinking. But overall, I really liked this book. I would definitely recommend this for future book groups, because this is a really good book to think about and just to read. You really get a feel for this book, and it introduces you to a really good way of writing a story, instead of writing it in third person where you don't get as close to the character.

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

This is the book group book I am doing, so I am not done with it. It is about a man named Charlie, who has a really low IQ. So he became a part of an experiment to become smarter. Along with him, there is a mouse who is part of the experiment. The doctors see how he is developing, and it becomes a really quick development. This book is written in his perspective, meaning at first it has a bunch of misspellings, and that way it seems more realistic. Throughout the book, since he becomes a lot smarter, he learns a lot of new stuff, and that is not always a good thing. So far I have liked this book, I like the realistic feel to it and how it makes you think a lot. It has some mature topics, but overall I would recommend this to anyone.

Flora and Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo

This book is about a girl named Flora, who sees a squirrel get sucked up into a vacuum and turn into superhero squirrel. She doesn't know that yet, until she sees the squirrel fly and lift heavy things up. So she takes him home and names him Ulysses. Her mom isn't very fond of this, and Flora calls her the villain of story. Basically, this book talks about her life changes with Ulysses suddenly in her life, and how it effects others. To be honest, I didn't really like this book. It was a really easy read, but very unrealistic and I just didn't like how it was written and the moral of the book. If you want an easy, quick read, I would recommend this but not for a book that might be memorable. Some parts were okay, but this book was definitely meant for younger readers.

Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein Part 2

This is part two of Rose Under Fire. It basically was about Rose trying to escape the concentration camp she was in called Ravensbruck. She meets these prisoners who were experimented on, and tortured. There are many different, important events, but I won't spoil the book. I really liked this part, although it is confusing sometimes. Once again, I really liked this book, although it is a pretty tough read. It has some mature topics, but I really liked it. I would highly recommend it.
"I stared at the high concrete walls and miles of electric barbed wire, and I clung to my flight bag with its official Luftwaffe letter in it." This doesn't necessarily have a ton of detail, but you can get a hint of where she is. The author did a great job of making me imagine what was going on, because from that, I knew it was not a great place to be. If you haven't already, I would totally read this book.

TBR:
The Diary of Anne Frank
This One Summer
Unbroken
The Running Dream
Speak
Wintergirls

Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Weir Part 1

The first part of this book is about a pilot named Rose Justice, who is flying from Paris to England, and gets caught by the Nazis and is sent to a women concentration camp. So far the story is about her getting tortured and beat up by the Germans, and then meeting new people who have basically been experimented on. There are many strong characters in this book but one of them is Rose Justice. She was brave, and made a big impact to the story. No matter what, she always helped. She also wrote poems, which were really powerful. So far, I have really enjoyed this book, and it is a pretty tough read because some parts are really intense, but I definitely recommend it. I am looking forward to read the second part of this book. There are many mature topics and some language, but that is basically what this book is about. Even though I really enjoy this book, I feel like it just goes on. When I feel like I am at the end of the book, I am actually only half way through. But otherwise, this is a great book so far.

TBR;

The Diary of Anne Frank

This One Summer

Unbroken

The Running Dream

Speak

Wintergirls

Where She Went

Tell Me by Joan Bauer

Last week I read a book called Tell me by Joan Bauer. This is a book about a girl named Anna, who goes to her grandma's house for a little while while her parents are sorting out their relationship. Her grandma lives in Rosemont, where everyone is getting for the famous Flower Festival. The whole town seems to be safe, according to the unofficial motto, "Nothing bad happens here" until she sees a girl whom she thinks is in trouble. She tries to figure out what is going on, which leads to a huge background story. The first few introduction sentences were, 'I am in the mall dressed like a cranberry, feeling the emotion of the moment. What do I want to leave them with?' I think this was an interesting introduction, because it makes you want to know why she is in a cranberry suit and what it has to do with any part of the book, from reading description. I really liked this book because it was full of emotions, and it made me want to read more. It doesn't have any mature topics, and some parts are touching. Overall, I recommend this book for anyone, and it was really interesting.

TBR-
Diary of Anne Frank
This One Summer
Unbroken
The Running Dream
Speak
Where She Went

First Blog Post- One Summer by David Baldacci

One of the books I've read over the summer was One Summer by David Baldacci. It is about a man named Jack, whom is very sick and living in the hospital, hoping to get better for Christmas. He was expected to have a few days left in his life, and he tries to spend time with his wife Lizzie, and three kids and say goodbye to them. While trying to recover, a very tragic incident happens and the kids are separated between their grandparents. Miraculously Jack recover, and people all call him the "Miracle Man," while trying to get his family back together and live a life Jack didn't think he would ever live again. Overall this is a really good book, and I highly recommend it, although it has a few mature topics. This book has a little bit of romance, but a lot of action and some drama, and it is a times sad. I think this is a pretty realistic-fiction book, and it's a pretty quick read.

TBR-

*The Running Dream
*Speak
*See You at Harry's
*Before I Fall
*Where She Went