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.

Bill reviewed Violence 101 by Denis Wright

This is a book about Hamish Graham, a 14 year old criminal, genius and madman. He has been sent to several juvenile detention centres for violent behaviours, including animal violence, manslaughter and assault. At first glance, he is confident, intelligent and extremely cool-headed, but he is much more complicated than that. The book's chapters alternate between Hamish's journal and staff meetings from his detention centre. As readers progressed through the book, they will find out that he's not exactly . . . crazy. Actually, he's pretty sane. He has reasons for all his actions, and the genesis of his actions lies with society. For example, where is the moral distinction between Hamish's experiments on animals and those done by medical researchers? And how, Hamish asks, would his hero Alexander the Great, who "was probably responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths"  be thought of today? Or how about Qin Shi Huang, who was responsible for the first unification of China? They were remembered positively, of course. Hamish argues. In fact, he argues that violence is normal and blames society for its failure to deal with kids like him, who probably would've been heroes if they were born in warrior societies. This isn't a very comfortable book to read, but a very attention-grabbing one.

Ayesha reviewed Life of Pi by Yann Martel

It is easy to see why Yann Martel's novel, Life of Pi, has far been not only the most awe-inspiring, but also the weirdest, yet the coolest book that I've had a chance to read. Martel tells a story both striking and unique, the life story of Piscine Patel. When he was growing up in India as the son of a zookeeper, Piscine was teased unmercifully for his name, so he shortened it to Pi, as in the mathematical symbol. This change is only the first of several fascinating changes Pi experiences. Some are more or less under his control, like his pursuit of truth by simultaneously studying Christianity, Hinduism, and Islam. Some, like his father's decision to move the family to Canada, are not under Pi's control, especially when the ship carrying the Patel family sinks and Pi is stranded in a lifeboat with only a zebra, a hyena, an orang-utan, and a 450-pound tiger for company.
The bulk of this fascinating, colourful novel focuses on Pi's struggles to survive and to make sense of hi s dehumanizing condition in which he finds himself. Every setting, from India to the lifeboat and on to Mexico once Pi is rescued, is vividly rendered. Martel has an eye for vivid details and piles them on, making this novel a joy to read and supremely easy to imagine!

Akhila reviewed Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

I read this book named Frankenstein by Mary Shelly. It was a science fiction and a very tragic story. The story is about a genius alchemist from Geneva named Victor Frankenstein. He attempts to play God and create a fully functioning human being, but ends up creating a hideous looking creature. Victor is disgusted by his creation and runs away from it. The poor creature without any guidance, wanders off into the forest. The creature confronts many people on its way. The people are prejudiced by the creature's appearance and they ill treat the creature. The creature finally settles down in a shed beside a poor family named the De Laceys. There the creature learns the read, write and speak by observation. Sometimes, he also helped the family with their chores unnoticed by the family. Oh, there's an old blind man in the family whose name is De Lacey. One day the creature visits De Lacey (when everyone the family were out) and pretends to be a traveler looking for a temporary shelter. The creature receives some food and the old man talks to the creature with kindness. Note that the old man could not be prejudiced towards the creature because he was blind. When the rest of the De Lacey's return, they freak out and beat the creature up. The creature is now angry but, it does not react because it was thankful to them for indirectly teaching it how to live. The De Laceys then evacuate the place. The creature takes its anger out on the evacuated hut by burning it. The creature finds out the name of its creator and seeks revenge towards Victor for creating and abandoning it. Will the creature find Victor? What will Victor do if comes across the creature? If Victor refuses the help the creature, how would the creature react? Find out, by reading this book!

Gail reviewed The Lost Crown by Sarah Elizabeth Miller

Well this book is completely different to what i normally read.  In fact, this is a book about the family of the Tsar Nicholas II and the final moments of their lives leading up to their execution.  At first, i thought the book was fiction so i was quite surprised that they have a section, at the front, dedicated to all the people in the book and their nick names.  They also had a list of common russian words or phrases and an explanation of the difference in dates. This already seemed like much more then any normal fictional book would have.  Well this book is not like any other fictional book.  The book is told in different perspectives between the four sisters, Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia.  Each chapter is told by someone else and is dated, sort of like journal entries.  the journal entries start from June 1914 up to their execution.  The story is told very vivadly and you really get the feelings that the Tsar's family was having in regards to their sudden departure from their home and eventual end.  I'll be honest, I'm not entirely sure if this is purely non-fiction or if there is some small amounts of fiction tied in to the story line to make it flow.  What i can say though is Sarah Miller really put in the time and effort to make this as historically accurate as possible.  At the end of the book, there is a works citied page and there are a lot of sources, ranging from media components to books and periodicals.  This was definitely a powerful story and although historical fiction or non-fiction in fact, may not be for everyone, you can give this a try and soon you'll be grabbed by the sad story of Imperial Russia.

Bill reviewed The Little Prince by Joann Sfar and Antoine de Saint-Exupery

This is an uplifting story about a lonely little prince who falls to earth, in search of friends. (it's a comic book, but has some deep implications). He is on a journey to find friends, and so far has no luck. Some grown-ups he met along the way includes the absolute monarch (who demands absolute obedience), the drunkard (who drinks to forget being ashamed of drinking), the businessman, and more odd  adults too wrapped up in their own concerns to be the little prince's friend. But then he meets a very special kind of grown-up when he lands on planet earth, Antoine de Saint-Exupery who has crash landed his plane. They don't have very long together, as they both have to go home. Before they go their own way, they share stories, and learn to enjoy the simple pleasures of life such as drinking water when you're really thirsty or looking at a flower. This book can be interpreted two ways, one is a straight-forward story, or you can dig deeper into the story and find something new. It's a really short book, it takes around 20-30 minutes to finish. (Now you have no excuse not to read it).

Gail reviewed The Iron Daughter by Julie Kagawa

The Iron Daughter is the second book in the Iron Fey series.
The Iron Daughter starts off where Iron King ended, Meghan, the half-daughter of the Seelie court King Oberon, is stuck in the Unseelie court, prisoner to the Winter Queen Mab.  There she meets the other prince's of Winter, Rowan and Sage.  Ash, the youngest prince of Winter, had developed romantice feelings with Meghan but upon returning to his court, he became more distant and cold, practically avoiding her.  So when the scepter of seasons is stolen and the oldest Winter price killed in battle, Queen Mab is furious and refuses to listen to Meghan and her constant pleas that the Iron Fey were the ones involved.  Mab freezes Meghan but Ash rescuses her and the two escape.  Along the way, Meghan's best friend and summer fairy Puck joins them and together, the three once again embark on a journey to bring back the scepter of seasons.  But nothings ever as easy as it seems.  Along the way, they'll meet new friends and new foes and Meghan may have to battle her toughest opponent yet.
The more i read in to the Iron Fey series, the more i'm starting to really enjoy it.  I'm not a big fan of the Shakespearean fairy crossover tales.  In fact, i find that adding Shakespeare to the storyline takes away from the fairy aspect of it so i really enjoy this story that focuses on the feys.  The plot still remains relatively the same as the first novel, The Iron King.  Meghan has to battle the iron fey in order to save someone, in this case, to restore the balance between Winter and Summer and to potentially avoid a war between the two courts.  The romantic relationship between Meghan and Ash is taken to a new level as well.  The only problem i had with their relationship was (spolier alert) that when Ash decided to become an exile for Meghan, i was happy BUT i didn't understand why all of a sudden he decided that.  Throughout the entire story, he contemplates the moral of disobeying his court and i don't remember ever getting the feeling that he was going to but i guess love always prevails.  That's what makes it a happy ending.  The Iron Daughter was quite a page turner.  It starts slow but then picks up and then pretty soon you won't be able to put it down.  That's what happened to me and i'm so happy i had the sequel to this, The Iron Queen, with me too so i didn't have to wait in between.  Definitely read this if you're in to books about fairies or even if you're looking for a good book about adventure.  I guaren'tee that there are no other books that talk about iron fey (or at least no other books that i have found!) 

Gail reviewed The Iron Queen by Julie Kagawa

The Iron Queen is the third book in the iron fey series.
The Iron Queen takes off where the Iron Daugher stopped.  Meghan and Ash, after being exiled, are trying to find a place to stay.  In the end, they go back to Leanansidhe, the Queen of Exiles that they had met in the previous book, seeking a place to stay there.  At the quaint cottage, Leanansidhe lends them, Meghan trains with Ash and Puck in battle skills and soon learn from the two court envoys that the Seelie and Unseelie court have called a truce and have gone to war against the iron fey.  The envoys notify Meghan that they will release the exile status of Meghan, Ash and Puck (who was exiled when he decided to follow Meghan) if she would journey into the Iron Kingdom and kill the false king. (NOTE: the "false" king is the fey that replaced the previous king but is not the actual heir to the throne) So, Meghan travels in to the Iron kingdom with Ash and Puck and journeys to kill the false king.  Along the way, they face many troubles including acid rain and iron fey rebellion that refuses to let them pass. All of their troubles soon come to an end when the great war between iron and non-iron fey begins.
The Iron Queen was probably as exciting as the second book.  To me though, it's sort of the ending of Meghan's tale and the start of Ash's as the next book in the series (titled, the Iron Knight) has Ash as the narrator, not Meghan.  The plot is once again Meghan battling iron fey to save someone, this time the whole land of Nevernever (the fey world).  The plot twist that Julie Kagawa put in to this series though was really surprising.  There was foreshadow before this book but i didn't really give it a thought.  When it suddenly happened though, i was really shocked and also sad because the twist made it so that Ash and Meghan couldn't be together! But i know, Ash will find a way back to Meghan.   He has too…otherwise there won't be a happy ending!  I'm believe in happy endings but i guess i'll just have to keep reading to find out.  Give this book a try! i know i wasn't dissapointed when i decided to continue this series.

Jesse reviewed Dust City by Robert Paul Weston

The book 'Dust City' is a mystery and fantasy novel that is about animals that act like humans and FAIRY DUST. The main character in the story is Henry Whelp, a wolf whose dad was the murderer of Little Red Riding Hood and her Grandmother. Henry didn't know much about his dad or why he killed Little Red Riding Hood, but as the story continues, he goes through many adventures and he meets new people. He also finds out about why his dad killed Little Red Riding Hood and what happened to the Fairies that suddenly disappeared many years ago, when he was a little cub.
I recommend people to read this book because the writing is really detailed and you can easily visualize the scene and make yourself feel like you're in it. I personally enjoyed reading the book and I hope you people read it aswell