how to save a life

Review of a book by Sara Zarr, a 2012 teen topten nominee:

another guest review

Another  review from a  member of  the Irvington High School  Literary Club:

 

Title:  Big In China

Author: Alan Paul

Age Group: 15 and above

Rating: 8 out of 10

Publication date: March 2011

Price: US $ 25.99

Publishing Company: HarperCollins, NY

Pages: 257

 

 

                        A Review on Big In China by Karthik Balakrishnan

 

This novel is a memoir written by Alan Paul. The novel dwells upon the idea of Alan Paul moving to China with his wife after she gets a job offer as China Bureau chief for the Wall Street Journal. He wants to get rid of his rather mundane suburban life in the United States, and wants to do something radical with his life in China. The story goes on to narrate his experience in Beijing, dealing with the ups and downs of taking care of three young children, and taking on a new persona. As the story progresses, Alan has to overcome some internal conflicts: he has to confront a new lifestyle since he has to stay home to care for the kids while his wife is out working, he has to adapt his lifestyle to a new environment–he has to find a new way to interact with the Chinese speaking community due to a language barrier, and accepting a new culture. The story goes on how Alan interacts with the Chinese people, and interacts with the expatriate community and achieves his dream of performing successfully with a band and the famous artist Woodie Alan with whom he recorded Beijing Blues, an award winning album that earned much acclaim from ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons.

 

This book is perfect for teenagers and adults as it shows the themes of love, determination and making the best out of a tough situation. Specifically high school students who are moving out for college or young adults who are starting a new life at a different country or town should read this book. The book has some inspirational ideas, which can be very helpful for people who want to know how to lead a life in China, or any other nation for that matter. The book also deals with the idea of “giving back to the community”, a very important aspect of life since one must strive to help his community as much as possible. Overall this is a very motivational book, and a very intriguing page-turner.

 

 

And it can be requested from  this link .

I know a few people that might enjoy this book.

Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

Book trailer for a teen top ten 2012 nominee:

closed today

Between Shades of Grey

Ruta Sepetys speaks about her novel, one of the Teen Top Ten Nominees:

Divergent by Veronica Roth

book trailer for another teen top ten nominee:

Cinder

Cinder  is  the third book  I’ve read from  the List of teen  nominees  for  the top ten  teen  book of 2012.  It is , as  you might  have guessed,based on  the story of Cinderella. But it takes place far in the future when  replacing lost  limbs with cybernetic  parts is almost  normal and there are people  living on  the moon.   This is  the first part in a  trilogy and I am looking forward to  the rest of it.  however,  the middle seemed a little  slow  to  me.  Mostly  because I  had  things  figured  out long before  the characters in  the story  did.   I  still found it  very  interesting.   Did  You  read  it  yet?   What  did  you  think?

Miss Peregine — again

I read this book in January , the brief review I did can be found here. really the cover should convince you to open it up .

ttyl

ttyl by Lauren Myracle is the story of three 10th grade friends told through IM. Though the use of IM is unusual, (this is the first novel to use IM), it is following the tradition of the earliest novels that used the epistolary style ( letters) to tell a story.
I picked this book up because a) it is popular, b)the entire series has been banned/censored enough to land on the ALA most challenged book list and c) Lauren Myracle is the author of one of this years teen top ten nominees.

The book is a very frank discussion between  three girls about  their  adventures in high school. The discussion includes boys, clothes, sex, drinking,boys, families,school,boys, popularity,other kids,work,religion,and boys.

Mryacle does a remarkable job at creating a smooth flowing story using the choppy style of IM. The three girls have distinct personalities and over all it is a well told story . It makes me more interested in reading Shine .

Recommended for ages 14+ , with a warning that there are some frank discussions about sex that not everyone wants to read.

Across the Universe by Beth Revis

An interview with the author:

another teen top ten