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.

Philomena reviewed To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

To Kill a Mocking Bird takes place during the 1930s and is told from a main character Scout's point of view. During the summer, Dill usually moves into the neighbourhood to stay with his aunt and befriends Scout and Jem. Jem and Scout are siblings. Their mom died when Scout was only two years of age. Their father is Atticus Finch, a well known lawyer in the town of Maycomb. Jem and Scout also live with their housekeeper Calpurnia who is a negro (negroes did not fit in, in the town of maycomb where racism was a strong factor). Through out the book, Calpurnia becomes a mother figure for Jem and Scout and teaches them some life lessons along with discipline and respect. During Dill's summer stays, Dill, Scout, and Jem wonder about their strange neighbour Boo Radley and the strange stories they've heard about him. One day, Atticus Finch is given a case defending a black man who is accused of raping a girl named Mayella Ewell, daughter of Bob Ewell. When Atticus takes on the Tom Robinson case, him and his family become very frowned up in thier town. As the story unfolds, Scout and Jem are faced with the challenges of growing up in  a racist town that deals with people in a prejudice manner. Calpurnia and Atticus raise Jem and Scout with discipline and respect which gives the characters some strong morals. Jem, Scout and Dill learn how unfortunate and cruel people can be aswell as how aweful life can be for people who do not fit in. While reading the book, I saw how the characters matured and how the children in the story almost had their innocence drawn away from them.

Bill reviewed Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly

Wow. This book has got to be one of the most touching books I've ever read. The protagonist, Andi, comes from a battered family, her brother Truman is dead, her mother, unable to cope with Truman's death, paints all day, and her father left them for science. She is suicidal, depressed, and can't cope with her emotions (sadness and anger), bottled up inside her since her brother's death. Thus, she becomes harsh, and lashes out at anyone who tries to help her.
Despite being a guitar genius, she is failing school, and refuses to apply to colleges or even complete her senior thesis, which is required to graduate. Consequently, her dad finds out what's been happening. He put Andi's mom in a mental hospital, and takes Andi to Paris with him, while he is working on a project to find a heart which belongs to the lost king of France, Louis XVII, who died at the age of 10. Through a series of events, Andi is forced to work on her senior thesis, while her dad and his partner, G, a French historian, travel to Belgium for work. She stays at G's house, and eventually finds a diary which belongs to a girl named Alex, who lived during the French Revolution. The diary chronicles her life, and I got to see her move from being a poor girl, to a servant of the royal family, and then to a thief and criminal, due to her "motherly"  love for Louis-Charles, (Louis XVII), with whom she served/entertained for a number of years. What did she do? She fired rockets into the sky, because Louis-Charles likes them. Why is that a crime? The new rulers implemented the idea of liberty, equality and fraternity, but apparen'tly those ideas don't extend to a 10-year-old boy.
Many, many events occur in this book, and we find out Andi is connected to Alex, and she is taken on a time wrap back to the times of the Revolution, meets Amade Malherbeau (famous musician), and continues her work. After some time, she dies from a bullet wound, and comes back to the present. But before that, she learned to love.
In conclusion, it's a REALLY interesting book. In fact, it's a mix between romance, history, horror, and personal struggles.
If you want a good, uplifting read, read this book!!!