Word Out 2011

Blog down your fines posts! See what other teens are reading.

Earn $2 in library bucks towards your fines when you share your favourite reads.

Moska reviewed The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis

This book is about a determined 11-yer-old afghani girl named Parvana, who has to take on the family responsibilty of being The BreadWInner" for her family after some unfortunate events. It all starts with the seize of power in Kabul City, the heart and capital of Afghanistan, by the Taliban, a group of Muslim Extremists, even though the word Taliban means "religious scholars". The Taliban had taken control in Parvana's home in September 1996, and it has now been a year since she and her older sister Nooria have attended school. Her mother, Fatana, a writer for the Kabul radio station, had been kicked out of her job for a the same time too. The Taliban enforced strict rules and one of the most important was that women and girls were forbidden to leave the house without wearing a burqa, an arabic word used to describe a veil covering its wearer from head-to-toe, an even then, they would have to be accompanied by their brother, father, or other male family member. These conditions have left her one-legged aging father to have the family pressure. However, when the Taliban break into their broken one room-apartment and arreast her father, Parvana is given his responsibility. To earn money for her mother, two sisters, and baby brother to survive. Her family devises a plan, with the help o Mrs. Weera, a family neighbour. So after a haircut and a change of clothes, Parvana is transformed into a boy. Using her disguise she works in the hot streets of Kabul, selling items and performing litereture services for the illiterate, which there happen to be a lot of in Afghanistan.
Through brave struggles andhard work, this young Afghani girl helps to support her family until her father's return, a true act of determination and courage, just like the legendary Afghani warrior Malali she one day envisions to become. This book is an empowering book for teens to read, showing that anything is possible when you set your mind to it. I highly recommend it to be read, especially for girls who need motivation in their lives.

Sara reviewed Forensic Science by Christopher Cooper

This is a magnificent non-fiction book for those interested in science, detective work and just knowledge! This book will take you far away from your home to crime scenes, labotories and much more. Forsenic Science is the Science in which you examine fingerprints, how people died, and anallyies clues. I like how in the book they give out some crime enigmas and tell you how they were solved. That's great practice for the in real life. Anyway, in the book they described in what position a person was by looking at there blood. If it is all smeared then the victim might've been trying to get away. There are much more examples, but you're going to have to read it yourself!
This book is a bit long, but it's worth it. It teaches you what forsenic scientists were at crime scenes, how they re-make the face of a skull etc. I learned alot from this book and I might use that sometime in my life, for others and myself.  I recommend this to everyone, except theives.

Ty reviewed This Bitter Earth by Bernice McFadden

This Bitter Earth is a novel written by Bernice L. McFadden. This Bitter Earth is the 2nd book in a series, the first being Sugar. It continues the story of Sugar Lacey, and ex-prostitute with a troubled past. The book deals with difficult themes, including rape, murder, prostitution, and drug addiction, however McFadden's eloquence and poetic style of writing created compelling characters that you're drawn to read about even when the going gets tough. Despite the darker themes, McFadden manages to fill the book with unforgettable images, slightly tinged with hints of supernatural.
The book begins with Sugar traveling to her childhood home with the intention of suicide by freezing to death. Although quickening the unnatural, early demise of the Lacey sisters, the women who raised her, she eventually leaves her childhood home to search for figures of her past. Mary, an older woman whom she had worked for, then Joe, a man she recently discovered to be her farther, and is haunted along the way by the murder of her half-sister Jude as well as her own assault.
Many characters are introduced along the way, possibly even too many. I think McFadden's biggest problem in writing seems to be jamming her books with so many interesting characters that some are not fleshed out enough. In this book, the casualty seems to be Mercy, Mary's drug-addict grand-daughter. While Mercy is an intriguing character, and some detail is given about her relationship with her grandmother through a flashback of her mother's murder, Mercy's story is left so unresolved. Throughout reading, I often found myself wondering why Mercy turned to drugs, and was eager to learn more about the character.
Another, but smaller, issue is that the author assumes that the reader has already read the preceding book, Sugar. The beginning of the book sometimes becomes more strenuous to follow because of the many clarifying details not mentioned.
Ultimately, McFadden's book is slightly unsatisfying, but still very fascinating. The characters are so packed with life that the reader yearns to learn more about them, though the journey into their souls is painful.

Winyen reviewed Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini

Starcrossed is about a 16 year old girl named Helen, who after having weird dreams and meeting a new strange family, finds out she's a Scion, as in, descended from ancient Greek gods. The new family she meets, the Deloses, teach her about her history, and she meets Lucas Delos, who she hates at first sight for some reason. They find out they are destined to repeat roles in a tragedy that repeats in history. Helen, after a twist of events, turns out to fall in love with Lucas but they are forbidden to be together, of course. This book is really good, although at times it reminds me a bit of Twilight just because of the roles the characters play. There's a lot of Greek mythology in this book, which I found really interesting but I'm not sure if all the facts are correct. The book is long (487 pgs) and a lot happens, but it is still a very interesting book. There's romance and suspense and fantasy, so if you're into those kind of books, read this!

Ty reviewed Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is a piece of contemporary fiction written by Jonathan Safran Foer. An inspirational and compelling narrative soon to be turned into a movie, it is the story of Oskar Schell, a precocious, curious and sensitive nine year old and his journey to find closure after the death of his father in 9/11.
A number of interesting literary techniques are artfully employed throughout the novel, including variations in typography, arbitrarily spaced images, and alternating narration (by character) by chapter.
Although this book can become somewhat cliche, not to mention sentimentally manipulative at times, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is, among other things, a wonderful exploration of love, grief, and humanity. As Oskar Schell's journey to find the lock to match the key he finds in his father's room takes him around all the boroughs of New York City, he eventually makes sense of the loss of his father, not to mention pieces of other things that have been lost to time.
Interspersed throughout this novel are letters from an absent father to a son he never knew and letter from a grandmother searching to be something to someone. At the center of this, is Oskar's own tale.
Sentimentally and hearth-wrenching emotion aside, I found that this book teaches a profound lesson to its readers about the importance of words. It is impossible to ignore the burning curiosity and the over-analysation after seeing an entire page is seemingly wasted on something as randomly insignificant as a tennis player, or flock of birds. A picture is not worth a thousand words, after all. We need to exchange the words; we need communication. Loquaciousness, even, at times. Eventually Oskar comes to terms with what happened to his father. The story ends on a bittersweet note, and has managed to coax tears out of many a seasoned reader.
If you're looking for something relatively short, yet extremely captivating and at the same time incredibly profound, Jonathan Safran Foer's Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is the perfect back-to-school read.

Maleeha reviewed Only the Good Spy Young by Ally Carter

As the part four to the Gallagher Girls series, Only The Good Spy Young is  definitely a good read. Cammie (Cameron) Morgan, the central character, goes to a school for spies called Gallagher Academy. One day, on winter break, she found out that Mr. Joe Solomon, one of her teachers, was suspected of being a bad guy. That day, Mr.Solomon  told Cammie to promise him that no matter what happened- she must follow the pigeons. Cammie promised and,simultaneously, was taken aback because she didn't know what all of that had to do with her.
From then on, she realized that she was wanted by another spy organization but she still didn't no why. As the story goes, Cammie did her research and she found out that Mr. Solomon was part of the Circle, an bad origanization, and that is why he was probably wanted. Despite, the result, Cammie couldn't  process the information because Mr. Solomon had been her teacher for a really long time and there was no way that he could've been undercover all this time. 
Zazh, on of Cammie's friends, tells her to look for Mr. Solomon's journal because it will prove to her that he isn't actually a bad guy. It turns out that the journal is hidden in a cave in Blackthorne, a bording school for guy spies. This doesn't stop Cammie as she, her friends and her mom go in search of the journal. On the way, she finds out that, actually, Mr. Solomon, tried to stop the Circle and he wanted to withdraw but he couldn't.
In Conclusion, Mr. Solomon turns out to be innocent but Cammie still doesn't know why this other organization is hunting her down.
I really liked this book and you will too ( if you enjoy a good mystery). After this book, you can also try Don't Judge a Girl By Her Cover.
Enjoy!!

Galinna reviewed Tangled Threads: a Hmong girl's Story by Pegi Deitz Shea

This is a book that will help everyone understand more about  immigrants, what they have been through to be able to settle in your country or town and what they will continue to go through. It takes place in a refugee camp in Thailand where a young girl and her grandma go through many troubles and villages in order to land in the airport of America, in the city of Providence, Rhode Island. Even though they eventually move to a new location far away from their grueling life in Laos, Thailand, they still bring along their traditional pa' ndau, which is a thread and needle art they do on cloth. Their traditional craft could be compared to a pencil and paper because just like how a pencil can draw and write stories, the way they use a needle and thread, they can also create images together to write their own story.
As both family members try to setlle in Providence, her grandma realizes she cannot adapt to such an environment, as Mai realizes adapting to a school environment is not easy as well. Basically, this is a story about change. How it could affect much of your life and how it could also help it.
Through this intriguing novel, you will discover the life of a Hmong girl and how fortunate some of us are to be able to have regular opportunities, like school.

Sabryna reviewed Notes from the Blender by Trish Cook

Dec has always had a crush on Neilly. So when he learns from his dad that they're going to be step siblings he's thrilled that they're going to be living under the same roof. There are also mixed emotions about this marriage. He feels his dad is moving on too quickly from the death of his mom (which happened when Dec was 9) and that by getting married he's going to forget she ever existed. Neilly isn't too thrilled about this at all, she doesn't really know who Dec is. She meets Dec for the first time in a church (who Dec's Aunt Sarah works for) where she's crying her eyes out and what does Dec accidentally let out of the bag? Well the fact that Neilly's mom is also pregnant. While this is all going on Neilly feels as if her world is falling apart. Her boyfriend cheated on her with her best friend, and now wants her back and her dad is getting married to another man in a month so she'll get another half family on that side. Through out most of the book Neilly and Dec were complaining, then at one point they come up with a plan to break their paren'ts up, then the plan is never brought up again along with these 2 major problems it seemed like the kids acted more like adults then their paren'ts did. All in all, I wouldn't recommend this book.