Breathing Underwater

Breathing Underwater, by Alex Flinn, is a book about a young teenager named Nick, who is under a restraining order from his ex-girlfriend. The book follows Nick as he looks back on his abusive relationship, and as he goes through Family Violence class. In the process he goes from wanting his girlfriend back, to accepting his mistakes and working to change them.

Breathing Underwater is most defiantly not suited for anyone under high school age. It deals with some more mature themes and subjects, ranging from abuse to violence. It does tell a good story though, and the mature parts do not get in the way of the great plot line. Alex Flinn crafted Nick to be a well rounded character, and the growth that he experiences from beginning to end of the novel is great. I think that the way that Alex Flinn portrays the conflicts between the characters brings a lot of life to the novel, as well as make the novel the much more personal.

Even though Breathing Underwater does have a lot of conflict and mature themes, the wonderful story gives these conflicts a much different light. Alex Flinn's novel Breathing Underwater is a great book for High School students and adults alike, and is a great quick read for those looking for a novel with a great story.

Loser

Loser, by Jerry Spinelli, is about boy named Zinkoff. He is the odd one out on the playground, at school, and around the neighborhood. He laughs at the wrong things, answers the wrong questions, and looks the wrong way. Most everyone has a name for him, Zinkoff is just too busy to hear it. The book follows Zinkoff from first through 6th grade as he is the butt of jokes and scorn. Eventually though, Zinkoff has his moment to shine, and performs admirably, as the old names transform into a new name, "hero".

This is another book that I have not read in awhile. Though I know the basic story line, I am not sure how well the book affected me when I first read it. I think that it is a good story, a little scrambled in some parts, but overall a good book. When I was reading it, I remember feeling lost during some events of the book, but it never got to the point where I could not pick up the story as it continued. The overall implications of the story are deep, so younger readers may have more trouble grasping the deeper meaning of the story.

I am going to recommend this book as a book for reading with a child. This way they can understand the story, as well as the deeper meaning, and with an aid of an adult, they can get much more out of the book.

Dillon Dillon

Dillon Dillon, by Kate Banks, is the story of a young boy named Dillon Dillon who is trying to find himself during a summer trip by a lake. When his parents give him a red rowboat for his birthday with his name painted on it, he asks them a fateful question. "Why did you name me Dillon Dillon?" With the answer to that question comes a truth that Dillon is not ready to accept. He escapes to the lake in his rowboat, he discovers and island and meets a pair of loons through which he discovers his true identity.

I read Dillon Dillon a while ago. When I read it then I do not think that I understood the book in its fullest sense. Whether this was a lack of knowledge or wisdom, I do not know, but when I have read the book again I have gleaned deeper and deeper meaning from its pages. This is something that occurs often with my books, but something that I noticed more than usual with Dillon Dillon. It is not a very long book, and the underlying story is very strong, which allowed me to read the book at a younger age. However, I think that it takes a more mature person to understand the book on a deeper and more meaningful level.

For this reason, I recommend Dillon Dillon as a book for children, but also as a book for high school students and adults. The older ones are the people that may get the most out of the book, but the story can satisfy younger readers also.

A Tale of Two Cities

A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens, is set in France during the time of the French Revolution. It follows Lucile Mannete and her father and husband. The book tells of the bloody events that led up to the French Revolution, as well as the executions of the royal family and other nobles. A Tale of Two Cities is another book that I read this year and school, which took away some of the enjoyment that I think I would have found from reading this book.

I felt that the book was well written, but the writing style of Charles Dickens made it hard to follow the story. In this regard, reading it with a class was very helpful. However, reading it with a class made the book less enjoyable because it took away some of the personal meaning that I think I could have taken away from it. A Tale of Two Cities is a very deep book, which can be interpreted in many different ways, but when read with a class, some of the more abstract interpretations are set aside.

I think that A Tale of Two Cities is a good classic, but as classics go, some of the other ones that I have read have given me more meaningful stories. But, I am not sure whether this is because of the book, or because I read it with a class. I would suggest that A Tale of Two Cities be left in the classroom, due to the fact that it has very hard language, but if you want to glean deeper meaning from the book, then it might be better to read it on your own.

The Rule of Four

The Rule of Four, by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason, is a book about four students, and good friends, at Princeton. The story takes place towards the end of the school year as one of the four friends is hard at work on his term paper about the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili (unpronoucable, I know). When a diary is discovered that is thought to be the missing piece to the puzzle, another student of the book is found dead. The four friends must work together to solve the mystery of the book once and for all.

I found The Rule of Four to be slightly predictable. It has been compared to the DaVinci Code, and is similar in the fact that in both books people are trying to uncover mysteries that are much bigger than themselves. Unlike the DaVinci Code, I felt that The Rule of Four lost some of its momentum as it reached its climax. I thought that it was slowly building up to a great finish, and then it lost alot of its steam. Even though there was a surprise ending, I thought that it came too late to make much of a difference to the story, almost as if it were added as an afterthought.

So if you loved the DaVinci code, and you are looking for another fairly suspenseful novel, then The Rule of Four is a good read, otherwise you might want to pick up another book.

Of Mice and Men

Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, is a book about human nature and companionship. The book follows two men George and Lennie as they work towards their dream of owning an acre of land. George is a quick and shrewd man of which Lennie, a man of tremendous size and the mind of a child, is a polar opposite. They have traveled far together and George always looks after his companion. When they land a job on a ranch, they meet others who become part of their dream to own land, but Lennie's loyal obedience to the things that George has taught him makes trouble for the pair.

This too was a book that was required reading at my high school, but one that I did not enjoy as much as To Kill A Mockingbird. Even though it was a well written story, I felt that I could not connect to any of the characters, which made it hard to dive into the book in the way that I normally do. Even though I can see how this book is a good choice for High School discussion, I do not think that it would be something that I would have read outside of school. It did work well as a discussion piece, and the somewhat controversial nature of the ending led to some great debates and discussions which is something that I do not see come out of all books.

So even though it may not have been my first choice as a personal read, Of Mice and Men is still a good High School or Book Club read because it offers great topics for discussion and debate.

To Kill a Mockingbird

To Kill A Mockingbird , by Harper Lee, is one of the great American anti-racist novels. It is told from the perspective of Scout, a young girl who lives in Maycomb, Alabama. She and her brother face many challenges as their father defends and African-American in a case against a white woman. Scout and Jem try to separate right from wrong in an area where there is a very fine line between the two. As the case escalates Scout and Jem have to face increasingly difficult challenges to choose the right path.

I read To Kill A Mockingbird for school, and found it surprisingly enjoyable. Harper Lee brings life to the little town of Maycomb in a way that has given this book international acclaim. I really enjoyed this story of moral conflict because it gave a perspective on rural life in the south that many people do not see. The racial nature of this book did not diminish its message, and I did not feel that at any point it came across as though it was "preaching". It did however bring to light the racial segregation of the south and the way that blacks were treated. I felt that this is good for high school students and adults alike.

I feel that To Kill a Mockingbird is a great read for high school students, and I agree that it is a good choice for high school literature.