Book Club
Book Club #1: My first book club was "Where the Heart Is". It is a novel by Billie Letts. Novalee is the main character, she starts off pregnant and deserted at a Wal-mart in Sequoyah, Oklahoma. She is really scared and spends a few months living in the Wal-mart. Over those few months she meets plenty of nice people, including a librarian, Forny. One night when she goes into labor alone at the Wal-mart, Forny breaks in and helps her with her baby and takes her to the hospital. Soon she becomes known and her baby is called the "Wal-mart baby". Once she is let out she stays with a friend she met while in OK. Then her and Forny fall in love and throughout all the ups and downs Novalee deals with in Sequoyah she ends up happy and content and is probably glad to have ended up there. I additionally saw this movie and they were both good. it was nice reading the book after because it would help with the visualization.
Book Club #2: The second book club I read was "Touching Spirit Bear" by Ben Mikaelsen. It is about an angry boy, Cole, who beats up an innocent boy, Peter, and is sentenced to either jail or a year of Circle Justice. Cole chooses Circle Justice. So he must go to an island in Alaska by himself and learn to get over all his anger and "heal". After he gets rid of his supplies and shelter he get attacked in the ones by the special white bear! Once he recovers he is sent back and learns his lessons. I didn't mind this book, it wasn't fantastic, but it wasn't awful.
Book Club #3: The third book club book i read was "I am a Taxi" by Deborah Ellis. It is about a young, twelve year-old boy, Diego, who lives in a prison with his mother and younger sister, while his father is in a near by prison. Even though they are in there for false accusations, they make the most of it and Diego works hard to earn money so that they can eat and pay for the rent for their cell. One day, after a fight with his mother, Diego decides to take up a working job with his friend. Diego ends up suffering in the jungle where he gets rescued by a farm family. This book was alright, it was an easy read.
Book Club #4: The third book club book i read was "Tree Girl" by Ben Mikaelsen. It is about a girl, Gabi, who is known for being great at climbing trees. Although one day when she comes back to her village and finds there is no one left alive, including her father and the rest of her siblings, she travels around the jungle in Guatemala. She is left with only her little sister and a baby that she rescues after the mother dies giving birth. In the end Gabi, her sister and the baby stay at a refugee camp that helps women like her.
In Class Books:
House On Mango Street: House on Mango Street, a book filled with short vignettes, by Sandra Cisneros is about a young girl, Esperanza, who in the beginning of the book, is very immature and complains a lot. She is from a poor family and does not live in a good neighborhood. Sometimes she would talk about her friends and how their lifes ende up. In the end Esperanza grows up and is determined to come back for the people in her neighborhood that cannot help themselves.
Odyssey: The Odyssey is a novel written by Homer. It is about Odysseus, a Greek warrior who after fighting in the war is trying to return to his wife and son, in Ithica, who think he is dead. But along the way Odysseus encounters a lot of trouble because of his past actions.
Dear Zoe: Dear Zoe is a novel by Phillip Beard. It is about a young girl, Tess, who struggles with depression because of the death of her little sister, Zoe, who was killed because she was hit by a car on Spetember 11th, 2001. Although she was killed on 9/11, the accident had nothing to do with 9/11. Over the course of the book Tess tells the story of how her depression has affected her and one day she finally tells her boyfriend and she is able to come out of her depression.
Romeo and Juliet: Written by William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet is a beautiful novel about two "star-crossed" lovers, Romeo and Juliet, whose families are at odds. So therefore they must keep their love a secret. They decdide to get married but because of a law being broken under Romeo's fault, Romeo must flee so he is not killed. Therefore Romeo and Juliet cannot see eachother and they become depressed. To make matters worse, Juliet is foreced to marry a man she does not love, so she fakes her death. Unfortunately, the letter informing Romeo of the plan does not reach him in time and he goes to see Juliet and plans to poison himself so he can be with her. The second he dies, Juliet wakes up and sees Romeo dead, and takes his dagger and kills herself.
Of Mice and Men: Of Mice and Men, written by John Steinbeck, is about two friends, Lennie and George. George, short and stubborn, takes care of Lennie, who is big and slow but hard working and they go around looking for work and they find work on a plantation. Unfortunately, one day Lennie accidentally kills Curley's wife and George has to kill Lennie, because if not, they would of either had to leave again and it would probably happen again or Curley would find him and kill him.
The Alchemist: The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho, is, on a whole, about Personal Legends and the steps to fufilling or failing them. But the novel is about a boy, Santiago, who travels to find his treasure and meets many people along the way who help him to grow and who are examples of what he could become if he did not follow his dream.