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The house on Mango Street
by Sandra Cisneros
"From the beloved author of The House on Mango Street: a richly illustrated compilation of true stories and nonfiction pieces that, taken together, form a jigsaw autobiography: an intimate album of a literary legend's life and career. From the Chicago neighborhoods where she grew up and set her groundbreaking The House on Mango Street to her abode in Mexico, in a region where "my ancestors lived for centuries," the places Sandra Cisneros has lived have provided inspiration for her now-classic works of fiction and poetry. But a house of her own, where she could truly take root, has eluded her. With this collection--spanning nearly three decades, and including never-before-published work--Cisneros has come home at last. Ranging from the private (her parents' loving and tempestuous marriage) to the political (a rallying cry for one woman's liberty in Sarajevo) to the literary (a tribute to Marguerite Duras), and written with her trademark sensitivity and honesty, these poignant, unforgettable pieces give us not only her most transformative memories but also a revelation of her artistic and intellectual influences. Here is an exuberant, deeply moving celebration of a life in writing lived to the fullest--an important milestone in a storied career"
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Jada - 9th Grade
A story of a Latin girl that lives in a bad neighborhood in Chicago and the story get deeper into the plot of the story. Very interesting and does make you think and changes your thoughts of how other people live.
This Mexican-American girl struggles with her life living in a Chicano and Puerto Rican Neighborhood. While the story talks about Esperanza and what she faces there is humor, sadness, and an assault. I recommend this book to all ages. It is a short story packed with excited and sadness.
I give it 5-star rating |
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The Amityville horror
by Jay Anson
Provides a chilling account of the four weeks of terror experienced by an Amityville, Long Island, family after moving into a house in which a particularly gruesome mass murder had once been committed
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Lexi - 9th GradeThis book is about a family that moved into a house that was previously owned by a family that was murdered bu their own relative. They suffer a series of events, some of which are waking up at 3 in the morning every night, people levitating in their sleep, chills and imaginary friends. Every night gets worse, and more dangerous, but the house won’t stop until they’re dead. I liked this book because I really enjoy horror books. And I already heard of this story before I read the book. It was proven to be a big hoax and just fiction. But I still find the book interesting because it’s really interesting if you’re into paranormal stories. I give this book a 4 out of 5 stars. |
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The kiss of deception
by Mary Pearson
A debut entry in a new trilogy by the author of the Jenna Fox Chronicles introduces Princess Lia, who flees an unwanted marriage and expectations about her supernatural legacy only to be pursued by her jilted fiancé and a ruthless assassin.
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Jada - 9th Grade
This book in fun and interesting with mystery but not too much mystery that keeps you interested. Lia is a likeable hero who is leaving a kingdom in a total mess for some future love is deny by her obvious innocence.
She is a runaway princess does not want to marry a prince she has never met before, seen in person but while she is on the run, she ends up meeting two guys. Love the mystery is who is who and the political strategies and romantic relationships keeps on your toes.
I like this book very much entertaining. I’ll give it 4 stars. |
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Carrie
by Stephen King
An introverted girl with remarkable powers of telekinesis faces the horrors of teenage life and unleashes a few horrors of her own when she attends the high school prom
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Lexi - 9th Grade “Carrie” is about a teenage girl that grew up extremely religious thanks to her practically psychotic mother. The twist is, she has telekinesis. She has a hard time figuring out her gift through out her life, she’e heavily bullied and feels trapped in life. After someone who feels guilty for participating in an act to humiliate carrie, she convinces her boyfriend to take out carrie to the prom, only to find out what else her bullies have in stock to humiliate and embarrass her, but they only meet their fate when she’s finally fed up. I liked the book because it shows in depth thinking through out all the characters, what they think about people, who they are and why they do things, so pretty much everyone is a round character. I give this book 5 stars. |
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After
by Anna Todd
"Book One of the After series--the Internet sensation with millions of readers. Tessa didn't plan on meeting Hardin during her freshman year of college. But now that she has, her life will never be the same. Tessa is a good girl with a sweet, reliable boyfriend back home. She's got direction, ambition, and a mother who's intent on keeping her that way. But she's barely moved into her freshman dorm when she runs into Hardin. With his tousled brown hair, cocky British accent, and tattoos, Hardin is cute and different from what she's used to. But he's also rude--to the point of cruelty, even. For all his attitude, Tessa should hate Hardin. And she does--until she finds herself alone with him in his room. Something about his dark mood grabs her, and when they kiss it ignites within her a passion she's never known before. He'll call her beautiful, then insist he isn't the one for her and disappear again and again. Despite the reckless way he treats her, Tessa is compelled to dig deeper and find the real Hardin beneath all his lies. He pushes her away again and again, yet every time she pushes back, he only pulls her in deeper. Tessa already has the perfect boyfriend. So why is she trying so hard to overcome her own hurt pride and Hardin's prejudice about nicegirls like her? Unless...could this be love?"
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Book Review: Over winter break, I saw something while at Target. A book called “After,” which bragged about being “a Wattpad novel” on the cover. It also depicted a conventionally attractive couple about two centimeters away from making out. At the top, it said, “now a major motion picture.” And that was when it hit me. I knew that title and those actors. I had seen this movie before. At that point, I had seen it about five times, each viewing worse than the last. It joined Netflix a few months prior and I knew that more gullible late-night Netflix browsers would be conned into thinking this was a passable movie, just as I had. The reason I had seen it so many times was that I couldn’t believe it was real. Along with the fact that laughing at horrible movies with friends has become one of my favorite past times. People made this and saw this in theatres. It had a 14 million dollar budget and grossed 67.2 million dollars worldwide. To my friends’ dismay, I bought the 20 dollar book and subsequently read it. Anyone who was friends with me during this time knew the absolute torment this book gave me as I could not stop talking about how bad it was and how much I hated it. Not to mention the book’s author, Anna Todd, didn’t write a short bad book, she had to write a long bad book, 593 pages long to be precise. This book is very, very bad. No doubt in my mind about that. But why is it so awful? Let’s reflect on one of the book’s many taglines: “A Wattpad novel.” To those unfamiliar, Wattpad is a website where you can read or write stories; the number one genre is fanfiction which is a style of writing where you take an established character, setting or universe and write an addition, alternative ending or anything else your mind can muster. Luckily, in my 17 years of life, I have never written fanfiction, but some aren’t so fortunate. Todd wrote the most famous story on Wattpad, gaining over 1.5 billion reads; all under the moniker of “Imaginator1D.” Last April, when this movie was released, it was given a ton of flack and pushback due to this book’s glamorization of abusive relationships involving a celebrity. Yes, a celebrity. “After” is a One Direction fanfiction, mostly a Harry Styles fanfiction though. One of the main character’s names is Hardin Scott like Harry Styles. Mind you, Todd started writing “After” in 2013 while Styles was about 19 and she was about 24. The story goes as follows: book-loving college freshman, Tessa Young falls in love with tattoo-having, lip and eyebrow ring-wearing, clothed in all black bad boy Hardin Scott despite her mother’s disapproval and her boyfriend back home. It is called “After” because Tessa’s life was never the same “after” him. Creative. And yes before you ask, there is a book called “Before.” Todd wrote five books based on that loose, predictable and extremely formulaic plot. A very basic and poorly-written story is the most read Wattpad series ever. And that makes me sad. In the past twenty-ish years, the young adult genre has gone through several iterations. To me, it largely began with “Twilight.” It introduced the idea that an inspiring author could add supernatural elements to their story, and millions would still love it. The next cycle began after E. L. James wrote “50 Shades of Grey,” which is “Twilight” fanfiction. She published her novels as Kindle books under the username “Snowqueens Icedragon.” You simply cannot make this up. Since that era, the whole Wattpad-to-theaters trend hasn’t gone away. If anything, it has gotten more popular. See also: Netflix’s “The Kissing Booth.” The young adult genre is no longer hallmarked by dystopian novels about a rebel girl fighting a government. It is hallmarked by way too cheesy and cliche romance stories that push gender roles and harmful ideologies. “After” is a byproduct of years and years of gullible teens clicking on this questionable content and Hollywood seeing that this is a market where plenty of money can be made. I am halfway through the sequel of “After” titled “After We Collided.” I know I am feeding into this as I am financially supporting Anna Todd through the two books I bought (and the three sequels I will eventually buy) and my movie ticket I will buy to see the sequel “After We Collided” that will be released later this year. Humans experience a phenomenon that I call the “roadkill effect:” when you continually give your attention and maybe even money to products that you think are bad or not worthy. This effect applies to me in the sense that I consume these atrocious pieces of media to remind myself that high-quality films and books exist and should be appreciated. This book and soon-to-be movie series are very bad. There truly isn’t another way of describing it other than bad. But will I follow this dumpster fire until the very last movie is released? Absolutely. Caroline- 11th grade |
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Gerald's game
by Stephen King
After rough sex between Jessie and Gerald Burlingame turns deadly, leaving Gerald dead and Jessie handcuffed to the bed, Jessie undergoes a terrifying and psychologically twisted twenty-eight hour ordeal
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Lexi - 9th Grade Gerald’s game is about a woman who wants to please her husband, playing along with his game, which includes her getting tied up, and or handcuffed to the bed, but she was never into it. One day, Gerald handcuffed both of her hands to the bed. When she changes her mine about the whole situation, her husband refuses to let her go. When she was fighting and screaming, her husband had a heart attack, leaving him dead and the woman handcuffed to the bed. I liked this book because it showed a lot of mental trauma, how one’s mind could be the death of someone. It’s like a psychological novel, the woman has many voices in her head that tear her apart mentally. And I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. |
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TV Show ReviewDue to my school’s cancelation, I have been spending my last few days of isolation rewatching some of my favorite shows. One that I haven’t watched since Thanksgiving break is Euphoria. To be fair, “favorite” may be putting it too nicely. I rewatched it because I remember experiencing vague positive emotions towards it; sadly, my positive feelings shifted towards the negative on my second watch. Released June 16, 2019, Euphoria is an HBO teen melodrama that absolutely shattered expectations; from Zendaya and Jacob Elordi’s unforgettable performances to their eye-catching makeup looks that inspired the internet, Euphoria truly amazed audiences. When I first started seeing promotional material for the show, I desperately hoped it would be passable. I was hoping for something passable. Not amazing. Not spectacular. Not life-changing. Simply passable. Because, as a teenager, myself, shows aimed at and depicting teenagers are extremely hit or miss. And, frankly, we have been on a series of misses in my book. Everything Sucks. Riverdale. Thirteen Reasons Why. All have been released in the past 3 or so years and all have been awful, but each awful for different reasons. Everything Sucks? Lack of compelling characters and a meaningful story. Riverdale? Cringey writing and plain old incompetence. Thirteen Reasons Why? Well, that’s enough reasons to fill an entirely separate article. Yet, all of those shows have plenty of fans and more seasons coming, and except for Everything Sucks which thankfully got canceled after season one. So, when I began watching trailers and interviews teasing Euphoria I wanted something decent. And I somewhat got what I hoped for. Euphoria is something special, yes, but it could be much better. So much better. I appreciate it due to its unique storytelling methods, but not only that but in the stories, it chooses to tell. The story generally follows Rue Bennett (Zendaya), a seventeen-year-old who spent the summer before her junior year in rehab for opioid addiction. She meets and quickly befriends the new girl in town, Jules Vaughn (Hunter Schafer), a lively transgender girl who just moved to the suburbs from the city after her parents’ divorce. Their adorable and realistic dynamic is a huge part of why this show is considered towards the top of the list of teen dramas. It is so realistic. I love it so much. But, I’ll talk more about that later. Continuing on our character tour, Nate Jacobs (Jacob Elordi), who functionally serves as the villain of the show although his role is quite subjective. He is a jock who has anger issues that attempt to cover up his sexual frustration/insecurity. Meaning they gave into the age-old trope of having the constantly-punching-something jock be a closeted gay guy. His girlfriend, Maddy Perez (Alexa Demie), is a cheerleader who is fiery, to say the least. The two are in a very toxic relationship which serves as a major plot point throughout season one. One of her closest friends is a fellow cheerleader Cassie Howard (Sydney Sweeney) who is very attractive, so she often deals with problems related to low self-worth and boys. Her younger sister Lexi (Maude Apatow) is frequently overlooked by the rest of the characters, but her character is said to play a bigger role in season two. She has been friends with Rue since preschool, and that is basically all we know about her. A friend of Lexi’s is Kat Hernandez (Barbie Ferreira) who is overweight and learning to love and feel confident about her body. There are plenty more characters than just those I mentioned, and unlike most teen dramas, Euphoria doesn’t treat them all equally. They don’t all get equal screen time nor development which may initially sound like a negative but trust me, it’s a positive. There are eight one-hour episodes and each one begins with Rue’s detailed narration of a character; the episode that follows leans into a trait or storyline that we just learned about. This way of storytelling allows for depth in all of the characters. None of them are entirely good nor entirely bad. Our narrator Rue makes poor choices while our supposed villain Nate has some good moments. They are written as nuanced characters. They mimic real people in this way. It also allows for future development. We don’t know everything about every character, and we shouldn’t. Most shows beat themselves up trying to give motivations and backgrounds to every character, but Euphoria doesn’t. It gives the viewer just enough information to be not completely confused, but still manages to keep you guessing. Now, as promised, my breakdown of Rue and Jules’ relationship. The two characters are opposites; Rue is depressed while Jules is hopeful about her future. It even shows in the way they dress. Rue in mostly hoodies and Jules mostly in colorful, fashionable and typically more revealing clothing. Their dynamic is so adorable to watch because it is like watching a yin and a yang become friends. It is such a good idea, creatively, to have two people who aren’t at all similar be friends. It allows for myriad great stories to tell and conflict when necessary. Their method of character building is one of my praises for the show, but one of my gripes comes in the way they depict the relationship between sex and teenagers. The characters are all teens, save for an 18-year-old college freshman who I left out of my tour. They are all minors. So, it comes as troubling when Jules has sex with adult men on the reg. Likewise, when Kat cams on a porn site for adult men also on the reg. Or when in Maddy’s intro scene narrated by Rue, detailing how Maddy lost her virginity at 14 to a guy who was “like 40,” Rue continues: “which in retrospect, seems kinda rape-y and weird but honestly, she was the one in control.” All of those merit a WTF reaction. As they should. To reiterate, my gripe is how the show oversexualizes its minor characters, that is characters who are underaged, not unimportant characters. This hypersexualization gets even worse when you remember this show was marketed to teenagers, like myself. This, unfortunately, means that teen girls have watched this thinking it’s okay. I can’t tell if the writers do this to push the whole “female empowerment/liberation” idea (which is complete BS in this context) or if it’s for shock factor. I can’t decide which is worse. I wholeheartedly believe that Euphoria’s quality could be drastically improved if they make a few changes: 1) remove the gratuitous sex 2) chill it with the swearing every other word (like I am no stranger to cursing, but make it at least somwhat meaningful please) and finally 3) stop sexualizing your minor characters. This one was so avoidable; if Levinson wanted to keep the same character arcs and have it be less creepy why not set it in a college in the first place? Oh, I know why! Because of Hollywood’s unnerving fascination with American high schools, but that is an entirely different article topic. And what is even more sad is how normalized this is to a viewer of way too many teen dramas, like myself. Frankly, I raised my eyebrows at this during my first viewing. But alarms didn’t start going off in my head until my second. That is so incredibly sad. In shows like Elite, The End of the F***ing World, The Society and Riverdale, there are sex scenes that involve minors. And because I have watched those and other similar shows, I didn’t really question what I was watching, but entirely getting rid of sex and relationships in teen shows isn’t the answer. It would be like putting a band-aid over a gunshot wound: a temporary fix that doesn’t truly address the issue. I just wish it was more tasteful and purposeful. Again, this isn’t just a Euphoria issue, rather a genre-wide one. It’s no secret that the stars of these shows are attractive, so what’s to say a creepy adult couldn’t watch them and imagine themself in a relationship with a teenager. The more you think about it, the creepier it gets. Back to Euphoria, I generally like this show. The cinematography? Breathtaking. The coloring? Beautiful. The acting? Golden-globe worthy. The makeup? Iconic. The soundtrack? Filled with bops. But, those numerous aspects of hypersexualization of teen girls are too blatant to be ignored. And because of that, This show could help and educate so many people, especially on issues such as drug addiction or transphobia, but audience members have to be at a certain maturity level to even watch it. It hurts my heart thinking about how many people this show could have helped or educated, yet Levinson opted for more gratuitous sex scenes instead. I truly hope that Euphoria pulls it together in season two and finally turns it into a show that defines a generation. Caroline - 11th Grade |
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Gail Borden Public Library District
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Main Library - 270 N. Grove Ave., Elgin, IL 60120 - 847-742-2411
Rakow Branch - 2751 W. Bowes Rd., Elgin, IL 60124 - 847-531-7271
South Elgin Branch - 127 S. McLean Blvd., South Elgin, IL 60177 - 847-931-2090
http://www.gailborden.info/
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If a title in this list is not available in the format you prefer, please request it online.
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