It´s kind of a funny story                         Ned Vizzini

“It´s kind of a funny story” is an amazing book that pictures the idea of being depressed in a very deep and real way. It´s about a 16-year-old boy named Craig that struggles with depression and wants to commit suicide. He lives in New York City and he attends to Executive Pre-Professional High School. Craig wants to get into this summer business school because he believes that the summer school would help him get into a good university. One of the reasons why he is depressed is that life has not worked out like has planned to. He planned to get good grades so he can enter to a good school to have a good job so he can have a good life. Also His best friend Aaron is good at everything which really affects Craig because Aaron has it all the grades, the school, and the girl. Nia is Aaron´s girlfriend but Craig has been in love with her for a long time. One Sunday in the early morning he decides to jump off the Brooklyn Bridge but suddenly he starts thinking about his family and starts having second thoughts so he calls the suicide hotline which told him to go to the nearest hospital.  In the hospital, he gets admitted into the adult’s psychiatric department 3rd north. In there he meets Bobby, Noelle, Muqtada, George, Smitty, Humbler, Johnny, etc. At first, he didn´t feel like he belonged there because he was just depressed and there they were people with all kinds of problems but then he got passed all of that and started acknowledging the patients  by who they are, not their mental illness. At the end, he learned that “life can´t be cured but managed” and that 3 north really helped him realize what he wants.

What I like about this book is the respect that the characters showed towards mental illness and how the author writes about depression saying that you can´t control it. What I don’t like about the book is how slow it is.

I think everybody should read this book because it´s so real and special. 

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K Rowling

I liked this book because it has a little bit of action and adventure, I don’t read that much but when I do it’s because it’s a great book. This book is about a boy named Harry Potter that thinks he's an ordinary boy who lives with his uncle and aunt, but that is before he discovers that he is actually a wizard. His uncle and aunt dislike him because of the fact of him being a wizard and they don’t treat him fairly compared to their son which gets everything he wants. Hagrid was told by professor Albus Dumbledore to reintroduce Harry Potter to the wizard world and show Harry the fortune left for him by his parents.

 Harry potter later learns his own history and heads off to Hogwarts to learn witchcraft and wizardry. Harry  was placed in the Gryffindor team along with his new friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. Harry plays Quidditch, which is a very famous game in the world of wizardry and can be played for days if the Golden Snitch is not catched. Few weeks pass as he sets out to make a journey with his friends to find the Philosopher's Stone, this holds powers and cannot be taken by Lord Voldemort.

This book kept me entertained and not spaced out in the middle of a paragraph, the book was also very detailed and enthusiastic. I really liked this book so much that im willing to keep reading the series. In a number from 1-10 I would give it a 10 because of the interest it gave me, I loved the book especially because it’s fiction. 

Angelique Pimentel

Glass sword by: Victoria Aveyard

GLASS SWORD KNEEL OR BLEED

By:New York best selling author Victoria Aveyard

This book surrounds the main character Mare a girl born a red that came from poverty found herself working in the silver castle and after some time discovered her powerful magic that can destroy balance in both rules but she wasn't the only one to discover this about herself, she was declared the long lost princess by the silvers to try to control her very powerful and dangerous power even though she was a red, they married her off to a silver prince and she secretly begins working with some rebellious red guard that want to take over the silver rule and the after her efforts to make a big enough rebellion she gets what she wants and starts a war red against. And the rest is for the sequel to decide in my opinion i give this book a  6/10  I gave it a bit of a low number because the book did not catch me and pulled me in its one of those books with way to much details involved where there not needed and it just was hard to end without giving up on it.

A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS: THE BAD BEGINNING by Lemony Snicket

Three kids– Klaus, Sunny, and violet—find themselves orphans without warning. They must move to a close relative's house named Count Olaf but what they don't know is that this certain relative is only looking for an evil way to try and steal the family's fortune and make the kids do all the house work and chores and other things, like if they were slaves. With nowhere to go the kids suffer throughout the whole book. At the end they start realizing that Count Olaf is after their family´s money but they are always one step further than him and keep messing up his plans. And the rest is for the next book to decide. 

This book was very unique because the author had a very unique way of writing. At the beginning, instead of starting off with the simple "one day" or "once upon a time" and more, he started off with what he was achieving with this book and a warning for people that don't like unhappy ending books and that brings you to a BIG idea of what you are reading and helps you get more intrigued. Something that blocked me from getting really into the book was that sometimes the author would write long and thick descriptions in parts that where not needed. I give this book a 8/10.

FANGIRL by Rainbow Rowell

Fangirl is not the type of book I read but I enjoyed it. Fangirl is about a girl called Cath that has a twin sister called wren. They are  both two girls from Omaha that go to college and stop talking as much of they used to. Cath has to deal with Levi her boyfriend, carry on a fanfiction she is writing, and her family issues. 

What I like about the book is that it is realistic fiction and I feel that a lot of people can relate to her problems. I like the book also because I feel that she describes what being a twin very accurate. I can relate to Cath because I am a lot like her and Rocio is a lot like Wren. Some of the things that had happened to her had happened to me.

What I don’t like about the book Is the Simon and Baz story; I get that she is a fangirl but it doesn’t mean that she has to add 2 pages of this story that it is just copyright of harry potter. 

This book is directed to teens and young adults because there are scenes that can be relatable to people in college.

GIRL ONLINE by Zoe Sugg

Girl online is a book that I can read over and over and find something new. Girl online is about a girl named Penny that lives in England. Penny has very bad luck and with a tragic accident that happened to her at school, her panic attacks, and her anxiety her life couldn´t get any worst. Her parents have a wedding planning company and because of it, they get to go to New York to plan a wedding. In New York, she meets Noah a "rock god" and they fall in love. When she goes back to England she found out that he is an internet sensation that´s cheating on her.

What I love about this book is that she struggles a lot which makes her not perfect and more realistic. I love that it is very unexpected. What I don’t like is that she has too much bad luck. 

I think everybody should read this book because it is amazing and it is embarrassing.

IF I STAY by Gayle Forman

I would describe this book in two words: "chick lit" because is based on a relationship between not only Mia's family and friends, but her boyfriend also. If i stay is about Mia the main character and her family (Teddy, mom and dad). One normal day they are in their lovely home, a day without class, it was snowing. Were they decide to go out as a family, turns out that a terrible tragedy happens. Her parents sadly ended up passing away and she and her brother are in critical condition. Mia enters a state where she's not dead. but she's not alive either. While she goes around and watches over as her body is being operated on, until she ends up in ICU (Intensive Care Unit). She witnesses as people come and go visiting her and talking to her. All through out the rest of the book she just reflects on her life, on what she has achieved, on what she has completed and just to answer the main and ultimate question, "Should I stay?"

My favorite character has definitely to be Mia's dad because I love how he left his passion which was being a rock star, just to commit and comply with his children and wife. Making huge sacrifices for the ones that he loves the most. The characters felt really real to me, I could literally picture them in my mind. I know this is a little bit cheesy, but my favorite part was when she summoned all her love, feelings and all her energy just to hold and hear Adam. I thought that was really beautiful. The book teared me up a little, not just because of the tragedy, but because of the book being so well written that i could basically feel their emotions, I was empathizing with them. Any way I just really like the book and that's weird because that's not usually my genre of reading. I would really recommend this actually to guys, especially teenagers who think romance and love are overrated, this can really change your point of view.

Bryan Cordero

8th Grade

1984 by George Orwell

This book is a very dark, real and honestly, someone afraid of the "end of the world" or the "apocalypse" should not read it because it’s exactly what it’s all about. 1984 takes place in what was at the time the future, the world is unrecognizable because of the incredible detail given to every single thing the government has done. The story is hard to explain so I'll try my best to summarize it: In the year 1984 the Oceania has been completely transformed by a man known only as BIG BROTHER, he is the current governor of Oceania and a man called Winston Smith knows his true nature. The reason that it's hard to explain is because the story doesn’t really kick off until a while into the book so I would be spoiling parts of it.

Out of everything in this book, my favorite thing was the future that George Orwell managed to create. This book was published in 1949 but the things he predicted are surprisingly accurate, it might not be accurate for the year it takes place but it got how the world is now perfectly. Something that people might like or dislike is that the book doesn’t bluntly explain everything, I personally like this because I can still get what everything means but other people might not.

In the end 1984 is a fantastic book and there was nothing that I disliked about the book that stood out. If you're the kind of person who likes to read books about the post-apocalyptic future then 1984 is the perfect book for you.

PERCY JACKSON. SEA OF MONSTERS by Rick Riordan

Percy Jackson is the 13 year old son of god of the sea, Poseidon. In this book Percy and Annabeth set on a journey to save their friend Grover and find the fleece that could save camp Half- blood. This book is filled with adventure and mystery, you never know what might happen next. I find it amusing how the author fitted Greek methodology into the book. Greek methodology is what interested me more in this book, getting to know all the powers of all the gods. They went to find a fleece that could reestablish the invisible barrier that protects all half- bloods from underground monsters. The barrier is a tree that Zeus planted when his daughter, Thalia died on her way to camp. The tree was poisoned in order to get in to camp and destroy it. Grover is best friends with Percy, Grover is a satyr, he has the upper body of a human and the legs and horns of a goat. No satyr has ever survived the mission that Grover encountered, now Percy and Annabeth have to go save him. Percy isin't only occupied with the mission but with the great prophecy that was predicted by the Oracle of Delphi that foretold the rise or fall of Olympus by a child of the big three, Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades.

In some parts it described so well that you could feel that you were there but at the same time it confused you. I enjoyed this book because it is one of the few books I have read but above all that I enjoyed and loved, I certainly did not waste my time.

INVENTING ELLIOT by Graham Gardner

Elliot Sutton is a 14 year old who is very focused on reiventing himself in his new school, Holminster High. In his old school Elliot is beaten up by bullies, and because of his dad job he moved away from a lot of schools and lose a lot of friends. And when his dad got assaulted and almost killed, things got worst.

Elliot gets violent, angry and emotional inestable. He has a lot of nightmares and even wishes his dad would die. Now in his new school he is tried not te get noticed in the wrong way. He gets new clothes, new haircut and tries to act cool with his new peers at school. Surprisedly his plan worked. 

A secret association at school called ''The Guardians'' notices him and wants him to join them. This association runs the school terrorizing students.

Elliot's bestfriend is Ben, who is the guardian's favortie target. Now he likes a girl called Loise but he is hiding his past to her. Now he has to choose how to use his new power and find himself.

THE ABSOLUTELY TRUE DIARY OF A PART TIME INDIAN by Sherman Alexie

Arnold Spirit, also known as Junior is a Native American boy living in a reservation. Junior is really poor, has an alcoholic father, and a runaway sister. These series of unfortunate events takes him to a great journey that changes his life forever. Junior decides to transfer to a white people school called Reardan, and leave his reservation life in the past.

This book was very real to me, since this is a problem that many Native Americans face today. Also, the author captured the topic of having an alcoholic family member very well, since he explained what it is like and feels like. One of the things I loved about the book was how real it was, it really captured the Native American essence. When I read this book I could picture what the reservation looked like and I could feel what Junior was going through. My favorite part of the book was when Penelope found out Junior was poor. I like this part because Penelope completely accepted it, and loved him even more. This also leaves a very important message of acceptance and love in the story.

 One of the things I disliked about the book was the cliffhanger, because we don't know if Junior is going back to Reardan or staying in the reservation. Another thing I didn't like was how the people from Junior's old school picked on him and hurt him. This made me very sad because these people didn't give Junior a chance to explain why he had left the reservation. One of the things I disliked the most was when Junior's father was making feel guilty about leaving the reservation. This makes no sense, because his parents were very supportive of this idea. Even though Junior was a "part-time Indian" he learns more everyday than his parents ever did, which can help him a lot in the future.

At the end of this story, I learned a lot about Native American lives and how it is very hard for them to survive. Also, this teaches readers of all ages how white people and native americans live completely different lives. I really liked this book and the message of love and acceptance that it spread to the readers.  I would give this book a 5/5.

GONE WITH THE WIND by Margaret Mitchell

The O'Hara family owns a cotton plantation and a few black people. They have a beautiful daughter named Scarlett who lies, betrays and tricks people into getting what she wants. She is the most beautiful but vain girl ever, does things for herself and her benefit only. This is not only the most plot twisting book —since the timeline was around the civil war—but also the most shocking and emotionally draining.

It is amazingly disturbing as Scarlett and Rhett go through a series of circumstances that makes you think they are on a survival trial. I definitely recommend this book to people who love classic and "real" literature of these times, this is also awesomely tragic, racist and it leaves you wanting more. It takes a lot from an author to have her character being a selfish, spoiled, self absorbed and idiotic little brat but in a really weird way, amazingly lovable. I would never want to give a book 5 stars because I think that there is always something to improve, but it wouldn't be an honest review if I gave it any less. Honestly I couldn't have chosen a better book to read.

Welcome to the blog!

I adore reading. It is by far one of my favorite things to do, and I can honestly not imagine my life without books. Reading allows me to live many lives, expands my knowledge, my imagination and my vocabulary.

So it honestly breaks my heart when I hear kids say they hate reading. I think it´s mostly because they haven´t found the right books, the ones they can really connect to and that spark their curiosity and imagination. So I´m hoping this blog will help students share their recommendations and spread the joy of reading throughout the ASSD community, and beyond.

Thank you all for your future collaborations, I´m really looking forward to your input :-)