Breaking Dawn- Stephenie Meyer
No need to summarize this, I'm sure. I thought it was pretty good, but it did lag. In my opinion, it was not as good as the others. It seemed that she was just trying to finish up the story. And, the whole book was working up to this big climax that didn't even happen. So, worth reading once, but I won't be reading it again.
The Invention of Hugo Cabret- Brian Selznick
This book is about a young boy in France in the '40's, I think. His father has recently died and his Uncle, who he is living with, has disappeared. Before his death, Hugo's father had found an old automatan (a machine that writes elaborate stories or draws pictures) and was trying to fix it. Hugo believes that the automatan holds a secret that will change his life, so he continues trying to fix it.
The book is about 500 pages, but almost 300 of those are drawings. Brian Selznick is actually an illustrator and he alternates telling the story with words and with pictures. I had never read anything like it and I really enjoyed the pictures. I would recommend it for any age.
The Tin Princess- Philip Pullman
This is the fourth in the Sally Lockhart series that starts with The Ruby in the Smoke. I have read the first three many times, but I had never read this one. It follows characters from the first three books, but Sally Lockhart is only in it for about five pages. The story follows a cockney girl that becomes princess and then queen of a made-up European country. It details her adventures with her friends to save the country's independence. It is a little far-fetched, but Pullman does a really good job of making it believable. I still like the first three books better, but I really enjoyed this book. I would recommend it for ages 10 and up.
Maus: A Survivor's Tale (two volumes)- Art Spiegelman
This is a set of two graphic novels about the Holocaust. I had never read a graphic novel before, basically they are really long comic books. Maus is a true story about Art Spiegelman's father and what he went through in the Holocaust. It also is a story about Art's relationship with his father. We see Art in the book interviewing his dad in order to be able to write the book, so we see the book coming together through the story. Some parts are a little graphic, but the comic book style of it makes it easier to handle. I found it to be a very interesting read. I have always been interested in WWII and the Holocaust and would recommend it to others that are interested as well. I would say ages 14 and up.
Go Ask Alice- Anonymous
Okay, this book basically terrified me. It is a real diary by a fifteen year old girl who gets into drugs. She starts of as a normal, happy teenager, but then she is introduced into the world of drugs and falls deeper and deeper into addiction. She gives great detail about her drug trips and how the drugs ruin her life. There is some heavy language and graphic descriptions. The fact that you can imagine a real girl writing this stuff makes it all the more frightening. The book is dubbed a young adult book, but I would never recommend it to anyone under the age of eighteen. Actually, I wouldn't really recommend it at all, but I understand that this kind of a book could be helpful for some. A woman in my Lit. class said that this book was the reason why she never tried drugs, but she read it when it came out in the 70's. It really depends on the individual whether this is a good book to read. I guess I am glad that I read it, but I would never ever read it again.
