If You Come Softly by Jacqueline Woodson

Thought I might as well do a review on this book since I finished it last week..

This book is about a 15 year old boy, Jeremiah(Miah) Roselind and 15 year old girl, Elisha(Ellie) Eisen. Miah is black. Ellie is white. That caused a few problems for them.

Jeremiah Roselind is the son of the famous Norman Roselind. He hates being known as that, and he just wants people to see him as 'Jeremiah Roselind. The boy'. One day he meets Elisha; the white girl. They meet in the school hallway when Miah accidentally knocks Ellie's books out of her hands. It's really cute because they stare into each others eyes for a while and they kind of feel a sudden attraction between each other. Instantly they fall in love .

Miah and Ellie want to be together for the rest of their lives, even though they are being criticised for being together. I hated it when they were walking together acting all lovey dovey, and these old ladies saw them and asked Ellie if she was okay. As if to say 'Is the BLACK guy hurting you?'. I really hate how stereotypical the outsiders were being and I really wanted to yell at them.

Ellie tells her sister about the relationship, and suprisingly(you'll know why its suprising if you read it) she also thought it was a bad idea(Ellie dating a black guy).. I don't see why two people with different skin colours can't be together without having the whole world put them down.

Ellie and Miah learn to overcome the comments and just be with each other; which I think is the moral of the story. Just when the story is going well; the unthinkable happens :o ..

I will give this story a 9.5/10 because it made me cry and also because it was realistic and inspiring. I think it's a good book for anyone even if they don't like romance.

*There is another story after this one which I have not yet finished (it's 2 books in one) called 'Behind You'.. I shall give a review about that soon..

~ :D

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick

This book was recommended to me the last time we were in the library, but I didn’t start reading it till the evening. And from the moment I picked it up I couldn’t put it down. I finished the book the night I started, it was that interesting!
The set up for this book is unlike any other that I’ve read in my life and I’ve read a few books (that is when I feel like reading a lot). Well there are 526 pages in this book and 284 pages are told through pictures. Before I begin the story; the automaton man in this story is a “toy” so to speak as it is a little plastic man who sits a table and can write and draw things.

The story starts off by showing a dark sky and then progresses to show the city of Paris in all its beauty at night. After this we slowly learn about the main character Hugo Cabret, he is a young boy around the age of 12 or 13 who “invisibly” keeps all the clocks in a train station in Paris working. He lives by himself in the abandon rooms in the walls of the station where he works on the clocks as his uncle who is supposed to be looking after him, showed him before he disappeared.
His father was killed in a fire in the museum he worked at one night while he was trying to fix the automaton man he found there that Hugo liked. Around the time after the death of his father Hugo found the automaton man and from the drawings given to him in a book by his father; Hugo while living and working secretly at the train station tries to fix it in the hope that his father has left a message for him in it. Then after getting the book taken of him by the toy shop keeper in the station, Hugo with the help of the shop keeper’s grand-daughter continues to build the mechanical man and through a cryptic drawing, a stolen key, the mechanical man, and a hidden message finds out the answers to both their pasts.
This book is amazing like I said at the start of the review and I would recommend it to anyone who is into a story that is fast moving with a lot of twists and turns that will keep you at the end of your seat for the whole ride and leave you stunned by the end. I give this book a 10/10.

The Hunger Games 'Mockingjay'

The Hunger Games one the best series of book i ever read!!!!! seriously!!!!

Well the main story of the series is the government forcing people from the poor, controlled districts to enter an arena where they have to kill each other to survive. Katniss Everdeen a young teenager from district 12 takes the place of her younger sister and enters the hunger games. After she survives the first hunger games she then is pulled again to the arena in the quarter quell anniversary (where all the winners of the past hunger games are chosen to enter the hunger games once again). And surprisingly she and a couple of other tributes are rescued by the rebels (a group of people who are in district13 a district that is suppose to be destroyed by capitol for rebelling).

Now Katniss Everdeen was rescued to be the rebels Mockingjay. A key leader to catch the hearts of the people from the remaining districts. So they can support district13 (rebels) to completely destroy the capitol and their dictator 'president snow'. The rebels whose home base is in district thirteen (an underground facility as the capitol destroyed their ground infrastructure) have now have enough supplies and technology to support the other districts from capitol attacks and nuclear power for attacking the capitol itself. But does it really sound that easy!!!!
(I'm not going to write any more cause i don't want to ruin it)

In my opinion i really think this is one of the best series I've ever read. Not only because I'm a guy who likes a book with action but this is the first series I've read that has an unique and interesting storyline. I really liked how the author portrayed Katniss in the first two books as a strong willed, dynamic girl. Sadly the author didnt do the same in the last book as she made Katniss look weaker for example a girl who is blinded by love. This made the story Mockingjay a bit boring for me and it wasn't as good as i thought it would be. i was really disappointed as the author didn't end the book with a strong or even a good finish. To me i thought it was as if she just didn't know what else to write so she just thought 'oh i think ill kill some people and wallah!!! that's the end'. GOODNESS GRACIOUS! what a beautiful ending!!!! YEAH RIGHT!!! that was terrible.
However i credit the author for creating a unique set of characters each so believable you think they're real. For example Gale, Peeta, Plutarch, President Snow, Joanna and many more. My favourites though were Boggs, Betee and Finick. Who was shown as Katniss's cheeky, smart and tough friends whom she trusted.

Now the end of my review i totally recommend these series of books to anyone above thirteen and who likes a story you just cant put it down for a second without thinking of it immediately.
trust me!!!!!!!! it took three weeks for me to finish these books each(i know I'm a slow reader) but if your a fast reader i bet you it will take a day!!! its thaaaaaaaat good.
So my overall rating for the book 8/10 (Mockingjay alone)
overall rating for series 10/10 (The Hunger Games)

PS trust me these series of books are meeeeeean!!! i really,really really recommend them!!!

This girl isn't shy, shes SPECTACULAR by Nina Beck

This book is really cool :D .. At first I thought it was some girly book that I wouldn't really like but in the end it turned out to prove me wrong and I ended up liking the book ..

First of all, Riley was one of my favourite characters because she was the one that helped D and Samantha succeed in completing their 'list of things to do'..

D is the cool bad boy that likes to party all night, make out with girls and just have a nice cold beer. He has his own apartment, pretty much everything a kid would dream of; but yet he is still not happy. While he tries to get his act together, he realizes that he is falling for Sam. He knows that she's a good girl and he might ruin her image, but he can't seem to keep away.

Samantha is the good girl; perfect grades and everything. But when she gets a letter back from her favourite author saying that she needs to have more excitement in her life, she decides to change her attitude. She wants to be adventurous and take risks rather than obey the rules. Now the good girl is sneaking out of the house to go to the bar and dating guys. She is also falling for D, but he keeps distancing himself which gives her the wrong idea.

I really enjoyed this book because it was funny, easy to follow and of course, about ROMANCE :3 .. I loved the way D and Sam contratsed each other which made them distance each other. In my opinion I think that it doesn't matter how different you are from someone you like. Though if they had gotten together at the beginning of the book, the storyline would've been different and I probably wouldn't be giving the same review that I am now.

Overall I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone looking for a good read. I would give it a 9/10 :D PEEEACE!

PITCH BLACK by Melody Carlson

Soooo .. this book is written in first person and told by a girl named Morgan. Morgans life is horrible and something terrible happens which makes things worse.

Morgan is a seventeen year old girl whose life is anything but perfect. Her mum meets a man 20 years younger then her and decides to run off to Vegas to get married. Meanwhile, Morgans older brother is addicted to drugs and hasn't been seen in a very long time.
Morgan hates her life but then she finds out that her best friend Jason commits suicide. This comes as a total shock, not only to Morgan, but to many people . Jason's life is completely different from Morgans. His family is 'normal', he has two older siblings that have gone to university and he has a strong faith in God (Morgan, on the other hand, turned away from God when her life started going down hill).
Losing her best friend, the person that was there for her, the person that listened to her problems and helped her out, had taken his own life and left her alone. Morgan wonders why he would do such a thing when his life 'seemed' perfect. She tries to piece together clues that might explain her friend's suicide. Morgan, and other friends, decide to make a 'suicidal pact' to join Jason, wherever he is.
After everyone finding out about this pact, Morgan turns 'back' to God, with the help of some friends and family. Students from her school hear about this 'pact' and want to join. This becomes a huge problem for Morgan, she started this 'pact' and feels like it is her responsibility to end it.
Then one day Morgan finds out the truth about what happened on the night of Jason's suicide.

This book is about a girl who faces a tragedy in her life and the thing that helps her out of this is family, friends and God, the three things in life we can always count on. I know that sometimes life can feel like its getting nowhere and it might as well end, but you should never end a life, yours or anyone else. This book helped me understand the pain felt after losing someone close to you and ways to overcome it. Out of 10 ...... maybe 6/10 . Was good but not exciting. Would recommend to those 13 and over.

Where the truth lies by Jessica Warman

Goosebumps.......I looooved this book and everything about it accept the characters and her 'bad boy' boyfriend.

This tale is about a girl named Emily Meckler who's experiencing the highs and LOWS of high school just like the rest of us.Her imperfections are her constant nightmares which meanings are revealed later on in the book. She is an all-round good girl and is living the perfect life which involves her three best friends who are also her roommates and her adoring parents; her dad who is also the headmaster of the school she is boarding at. Her picturesque world is suddenly corrupted by a new boy at the school named Del Sugar.....

he is the new mysterious bad boy (hottie) who has all the girls smitten. This Del sugar is COMPLETELY different from anyone she or any other girl has ever met, he weirdly enough likes her......the headmasters daughter, daddy's good girl.

She tries to stay away from Del Sugar at first, mostly because her best friend and one of her roommates, Stephanie, thinks she has a shot with him. But of course, as time goes on, Del pays more and more attention to her.They begin to date, and continue in secret after her father puts his foot down. After a few months, Emily discovers that she is pregnant with Del's child...... WTH? That's just stupid, in my opinion, what was she thinking!!!!! she had only known the guy for a month or were they weeks...? ugh! I felt like slapping her. This is when I just couldn't stand her...... I mean she was so naive, I mean you would think that she would use protection but noooo. She was too much of an idiot not to? more than once? She was like...stupid beyond stupid.

She tells Del about the baby soon before he is snapped for using drugs and expelled. In the summer she goes to New York with her friend Renee who is the only other person who knows about the pregnancy ( I loved her!! she was the only sane person I read about in this book!!). Yea, like someone's parents are going to let their daughter run off to New York and not even notice she's pregnant? How unrealistic is that? I also had a hard time figuring out why in the world Stephanie (Emily's Best Friend) was so...obsessed with her twin brother. It actually sickened me how weird this character was. I kind of understood her but still...weird! I thought this book was really good accept for the characters who were complete rubbish (moo!!) =D

When Del leaves she finds a new boyfriend Ethan who is the exact opposite of Del. Del.... Who was another character I hated. He was just PLAIN creepy and like Emily, I couldn't stand him either. I mean what right did he have stalking her and coming to the school and claiming HER as his soul mate?? telling Ethan (Stephanies' twin) to back of and making threats?? NONE. ohhh I fell in-love with Ethan's character...he was such a good listener, caring, funny and understanding! but with also the right amount of stupid! ummm EMILY I mean cooommmeee ooonnn!!

I really was annoyed with her parents in this book and how they did NOT tell her the truth about her not being their biological daughter? I could never live with that big a lie!! and her 'mum' stood by her in all those psychiatry sessions knowing the truth behind her agony? wow!!

I think this review has enough spoilers! 10.3! so wont tell anymore! Even though I HATED the characters....I guess it just made me want to read it more and I luurrvveed this book. You may love the characters like my best friend did but still its worth your time. And I would recommend it to 13+ it was a 7 out of 10 for me.
=D

Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer

I choose to read books for a challenge. Breaking dawn is quite a big book (750 pages). I also read this book because it concludes the twilight saga, and as I have been reading the saga I needed to finish it. This book is really good if you imagine your own characters not Taylor Lautner, Robert Patterson or Kristen Stewart.
The book is divided into 3 books first from Bella's point of view then Jacobs and then Bella's again.

Book one: Bella
Bella is going to get married to Edward. She is so happy when Jacob comes home for the wedding. Then Bella goes with Edward on her honey moon and they have a great time but it is cut short when Bella realises that she is pregnant with Edwards’s child. Carlisle and Edward want to kill the child before it kills Bella they know what it will do to her. Bella knows this so she calls on the help of the only other person who understands how much she wants it. Rosalie.

Book two: Jacobs’s point of view
The pack is about saving human lives. Sam (the alpha) decides that they need to kill the child before it can harm anyone –this might even mean to kill the carrier-Bella. Jacob doesn’t want to do that so he rebukes what Sam has said. Jacob then breaks away from the pack and becomes the alpha of a new pack with siblings Leah and Seth. He desperately tries to reason with Bella but it is no good even though he and Edward hate this thing so much Bella loves it. At the end of this book Bella gives ‘birth’ to Renesmee her baby girl but to be saved she must be turned to a vampire and that is what Edward does to her. Jacob is utterly heartbroken because Bella is dying and becoming immortal. Jacob imprints on Renesmee.

Book three: back to Bella
Bella suffers while the pain of the venom spreads. When she awakes she is introduced to being a vampire. Bella has amazing self control over herself and when she hunts she is able to not kill a human. Bella loves Renesmee and is horrified when she finds out that Jacob has imprinted on her. Nessie grows so fast and is very smart. One day Irina a vampire sees Nessie and thinks she is an immortal child. Then she goes to the Volturi and tells them so the Volturi decide to come to visit in one month’s time. Alice and Jasper leave and no one knows why. Carlisle and Edward come up with a plan to get witnesses to make the Volturi pause and listen. All awhile there is training and tactics planned Bella sneaks off to make plans for Jacob and Renesmee to leave during the fight if the have to.
When the Volturi come they do listen but when they make a decision Jane and Alec try to attack but it doesn’t work. Bella has a special gift of a shield and uses that to protect them. And then Alice comes back with Jasper to save the day with another child like Nessie. Nahual. The Volturi think that it will be safe for Nessie to live.

So overall I quite like this book because it’s interesting and the plot takes twists you don’t imagine. Sorry if I told the end but I figured if you wanted to read it you would’ve already so yeh. I give this book a 7and a half out of ten it was really fun to read and Renesmee seems so cute. Everyone you should read this book.

Jacqui:)

Evil Star by Anthony Horowitz

This is the second book of the series The Power Of Five. This is about a boy, Matt Freeman, who is one of 5 chosen children, whose job it is to protect the world from the 'Chosen Ones'. In Evil Star, Matt is readjusting to normal life in a new school, with Richard Cole as his guardian. While at school he gets angry at a bully, Gavin Taylor, and uses his powers to destroy a chandelier above and hurdle all the broken glass towards Gavin. The Nexus try to persuade Matt to retrieve a book. Meanwhile, Matt's aunt Gwenda is being brainwashed to try kill Matt, which leads to her demise. Matt now has to fly to Peru to find and prevent the second gate from opening. While on their way to the rendezvous, Richard is kidnapped. Matt escapes with the help from a local, Pedro, who turns out to be one of the Five. One of my favourite parts is when Matt has the prediction of the petrol tanker, that aunt Gwenda had stolen, blowing up in the school instantly disintegrating many children right in front of his face. Seeing all those innocent children go up in flames, awesome. the story ends with the gate being opened, and the King of the Old Ones appearing .He challenges Matt. The King flees with the other Old Ones and Matt falls into a coma.
I think that his book is a great read for those who enjoy fantasy and adventure novels. But before you read this book, read Ravens Gate the first of the series. Happy Reading...

Sucked In by John Parker

I don't think I have read any of John Parker's books before and I thought by the cover and title that this book might be humorous, so I decided to read it, unfortunately it had only a slight bit of humour if none at all. This book was short (took me about one hour to read) and was very predictive and luckily it was short enough for me to finish it because if it was any longer I would have fell asleep.
It was about a very short teenager boy named Zainey who saw an ad in a comic book advertising an eye, despersate to get taller he decided to sell his bbeloved bike just to buy it. The story was told through his best friends point of view who was reluctant to support Zaineys idea and thought it was a hoax. Around 70 percent of the book was just about the eye bouncing around getting lost and being found again, the eye is attracted to bloood and would permanently stick to wounds. It ended up that the eye would stick to their teacher after all the hasle looking and searching for the eye.
All in all it was an less than average book and had a straightforward predictive storyline. Because it was a short book, less depth in the storyline was expected but this book really was boring. I would give this book a 5 out of ten and I don't recommend it :(.

The Rule Of Claw by John Brindley

I just borrowed this book from the Onehunga library, it caught my eye cuz of the fantasy logo on the spine. and the font on the spine. as per usual :B i'm quite happy with picking this book up, it's EPIC.

So the story's about a girl named Ash, who lives in an isolated camp by the sea with other sixteen year olds who were left there by their parents at a young age. Their camp is only protected by a wire fence, and beyond it, is the infamous forest. No one has ever gone into it and come out alive. The story quickly picks up pace as Ash gets kidnapped one night while a new era starts at the camp. She later finds out, from a rather strange character she meets, that she was kidnapped by Raptors - huge, bloodthirsty, carnivorous and mutated creatures which inhabit the island. But what do they want her for ? Why do the Raptors' arms and torsos look like those of human's ? What are the secrets behind everything she's ever really known ?

I really did love this book, although it had a pretty slow start. But once you start getting into it and reading into like the middle of it, honestly, it is EPIC. The way that the events unfold through the author's words made it so pacy and action-packed. There are also a lot of unexpected twists in the story which completely changes how you think the story would've gone on. The story actually gets to the issue of, "just because you can, should you ?" and "how far is too far ?". I loved that part of the book where it gets all biological and philosophical. And i loved the way that the setting was explained, it was so surreal and vivid. Not that i'd want to go there. Too many carnivorous plants and angry birds and hissing reptiles and bloodsucking leeches ._.

I'd recommend this to anyone interested in a fantasy novel, with a lot of unexpected twists heart-poundingly intriguing bits. Or just anyone interested in reading something slightly different. Really, i found it so hard to put this book down, it was JUST. THAT. EPIC. So yeah i'd give this book a 8/10.


Here's to me and my fetish for fantasy books. churr (:

Raven's Gate by Anthony Horowitz

Raven's Gate is the first book in a series of books called The Power of Five. It is a fantasy novel written by a British author named Anthony Horowitz. The series is about is about the Five Gatekeepers who's destiny is to destroy the "Old Ones", evil creatures who wishes to rule mankind. I really liked the book because of the 'fantasy in modern time' (e.g. Percy Jackson), which is a type of plot which I enjoy reading. Kind of like 'Lord of the Rings', as the author stated, but set in a 'real world' environment.

The book centers around Matthew Freeman, a 14-year-old boy who's parents died in a car crash and had to live in Ipswich with his aunt. After getting into trouble with the police, Matthew, or  better known as 'Matt', is then fostered to a village called Lesser Malling in Yorkshire due to L.E.A.F. (Liberty and Education Achieved through Fostering), a recent project by the government as an alternative to getting locked up in an institute of corrections. He was then fostered by a strange, elderly woman named Jayne Deverill. When his foster parent Mrs. Deverill gives him an errand to go to a nearby village, strange things start to happen. He discovers things about the village and horrible things start to occur, he tries, but can't escape from the sinister happenings in Hive Hall. An ancient doom is about to be unleashed and Matt soon finds out everything and that all the things that are happening are all tied to one thing... an evil  place known as The Raven's Gate.

The book was very enjoyable though it was rather slow in pace at some parts. It has lots of suspense and some action in some chapters.The story was well written and had a very nice plot. I'll give it a 7.5 out of 10 because I found it very interesting and I enjoyed reading it.

Cookie By Jacqueline Wilson

I came across this book and just decided to read it because it looked interesting and there wasn't much time left for me to pick one. I liked this book and would give it a 6/10. It has some realistic everyday life problems, and a -believable- happy ending.

The story is about a girl called 'Beauty Cookson' who is, well... not very beautiful, she's plain and timid, and all the girls at school are super-confident and snooty. They think her name is ridiculous and she gets teased for it everyday. Beauty also has problems at home were her Dad gets really angry about something thats going wrong at work and takes it out on her and her Mom by constantly yelling at them.

Eventually it ends well... In my opinion it was kind of an unfinished ending. (Even though I liked the fact that its not totally over the top. Like about 'some girl' who went from being hated by everyone -so she had a drastic makeover- and suddenly became the most popular girl in school.) It could have been a little more exciting, or had some kind of twist.... but it was still a good book. I would recommend this book to anyone who doesn't mind always being able to guess what happens next, even before it happens, but someone who also likes a good storyline.

North of Beautiful by Justina Chen Headley

I originally stole this book from my sister because I had nothing else left to read, I'm actually really glad I did. This book sounds serious from the title but let me assure you, it's not.

The main character in the book is Tara. She is what you might think to be a 'perfect girl' at first glance. She's tall, thin, and has beautiful long blond hair, but her distinguishing feature is her port wine stain. If you don't know what a port wine stain is, it's a red birthmark. In Tara's case it covers most of her cheek on one side of her face. She has a boyfriend named Erik, he's alright but they don't really click. She is the youngest child in her family. Her older siblings have mostly all moved out and her father verbally attacks everyone in the house. Especially her mom.

Tara is really artistic, she wants to go to a college with an arts program but her dad won't let her. Later on in the book, Tara and her mom make some friends who they end up going to China with. Norah and Jacob. Norah helps Tara's mom gain more confidence and Tara and Jacob become more than friends really..

It's a good book. I didn't get bored once and the ending is unpredictable but still satisfying. You would like this book if you like Sarah Dessen or if you enjoyed the book 'If I have a wicked stepmother ... then where's my prince?' by Melissa Kantor.I give this book a 9/10 because it's a really sweet story about realizing your true beauty, and it's told in a totally non cheesy way.

You won't regret reading it for sure.

Banquo's Son BY T.K Roxborogh

After having trouble finding the right book in the library, I asked around if anyone knew a good book that I could read, that's when I came across this interesting book. It was the tittle that made me want to read it, but I found it quite confusing and to be honest many a time I wanted to stop reading it but as another twist or turn approached I found myself completely hooked again.
This story takes place in England and Scotland in the 9th century. So as you can guess, the language used in this book was probably that used at that time,in those places.So the story is about a young man named Fleance, who's father was the past Thane of Lochaber.At the start of the story he had just met the Love of his life, the one who he thinks he is meant to spend the rest of his life with. But slowly as the plot continues we learn that his parents, died brutally ten years earlier when he was eleven. And from then on he is plagued with the ghost of his father who is seeking revenge for his death. So just when his life starts to feel normal after so long of living/hiding out in England he has to pack up and move back to his home land of Scotland and finally deal with his forgotten past. This leads to a lot of twists and turns and by the end, this book I was in tears because I never saw the end coming and was completely frustrated by how things turned out for all the characters.
This book is amazing and I would recommend it to anyone as it deals with basically everything you can imagine; that is Fate, Love, Hope, Honour, Tragedy, (the affects/hard ships of) War and the confusing and unpredictable journey of life. I would give this book a 9/10.

The boy/friend by R.M. Corbet

I really liked this book and I must admit, the cover was what caught my eye(as usual) .. I would recommend it to any teenager looking for a good read. (by the way, if you haven't noticed; all my book reviews have something to do with romance) .. This book deserves a 8/10 ._.

Okay, so this book is basically about a girl named Maude and her best friend, Lou. They have been friends since they were young and like any other love story, they start developing some feelings for each other. At first, Maude doesn't realise it and keeps denying it but later on she starts getting stronger feelings for him. In my opinion a good love story should have arguments in it, and to tell you the truth, this book is full of arguments! . One minute, you think that Lou and Maude have finally gotten together, one of them ruins the moment and they're stuck at stage 1 ... AGAIN! Either way, I love this book. I love how it makes me laugh and how it actually seems realistic. If I were to say more stuff, the book would be ruined for the people that want to read it. Another thing a good book should have is... RIVALS! This book also has alot of that which make the book more interesting with all the misunderstandings everywhere.

If you ever decide to get this book, I promise you won't regret it :D

Everafter

I read this book back in year 8 I think and I don't really remember how I got hold of it but from the first word I was hooked. This is an incredible book that once you start you won't want to put down. I would recommend this book to anyone as they would truly enjoy it especially girls and if they are like me will always remember it and hold this story in their heart.
The story starts of just after a young girl has died she can't remember anything from her life and is totally confused and lost. She is in a dark place and slowly starts to push her spirit around and suddenly she sees lights all around her. When she looks closer she realises these are her belongings she lost from her previous life; and as she reaches out to touch her things she gets dragged into them and goes back to the time and place she lost them. Through these events she learns about her life and in the end how she died.
This is a heartbreaking story that has stayed with me through these years and will always be with me I give this story a 10/10

Must Read: Booklist

#Top 10

Everafter
There's Before; And then there's After
Slave
Kiss
This Lullaby
Along for the Ride
The Graveyard Book
Banquo's Son
Twilight saga: New Moon
Twilight saga: Breaking Dawn

These books are all amazing in their own way and I couldn't get them in exactly the right order. So I decided to just put them up on my top 10 list because I love them all so make of it what you will.

The Best Book I've Read

The Graveyard Book is a fantasy novel by Neil Gaiman. I got this book by chance and I am glad that I did. The Graveyard Book is a story about a boy named Nobody Owens, or Bod for short. He would've been an ordinary boy if he wasn't raised by ghosts and lived in a graveyard. I liked how each chapter of the book is a short story in itself detailing events that occur as Bod grows up in the graveyard. I would totally give it a 10 out of 10 because I really enjoyed it and the plot was simply awesome.

One night, the mysterious man only known as "Jack" attempts to murder family. After violently killing the mother, father, and they're older child, the man Jack attempts to kill they're 2-year-old toddler. When he reaches the child's room, however, he was no longer there.The man Jack, whose silence and hunting skills seem not quite of this world, follows the scent of the boy and discovers that the toddler wandered into a nearby graveyard. 

When Jack arrived at the graveyard, the community of the dead decided to hide the boy from the killer, and the enigmatic Silas - who isn't quite alive, nor dead- takes the man Jack aside, escorts him calmly out of the graveyard and erases his memory. The community of ghosts decides to keep the boy, after realizing that the boy's life is endangered in the outside world. They named the child Nobody, or Bod for short. Bod is then adopted by the Victorian ghosts of Mr and Mrs Owens, and Silas appoints himself Bod's guardian, because he is the only one who can leave the graveyard and bring back food. For Silas knows that the man Jack will not rest in his hunt.. 

Among the dead are teachers, workers, wealthy prigs, romantics, pragmatists and even a few children - a community ready to raise a living child. And they do, ably led by Silas. Bod is given "the Freedom of the Graveyard", allowing him to learn nifty ghost tricks such as Night Vision, Fading and Dream walking. Bod has adventures, makes friends -both living and dead - and begins to learn about his past and consider his future. For his own safety, he's not allowed to leave the grounds, but there is plenty to explore in the graveyard. Along the way, he encounters hideous ghouls, a witch, middle school bullies and an otherworldly fraternal order that holds the secret to his family’s murder. When he grows older, things start to change, and the novel’s momentum and tension pick up as he learns why he’s been in the graveyard all this time and what he needs to do to leave. 

The overall story of The Graveyard Book is captivating and endearing.  Nobody is an easy to love character and at the end of the book, you almost wish you could follow the him to see where he might end up. Neil Gaiman opens the gates of our imagination to folklore and fables, dreams and nightmares which inhabit a world only a blink away from our own. The Graveyard Book is a delightful mix of fantasy and mystery that will entertain readers of all ages. 

The end of the book itself is filled with hope. This may sound odd for a book which takes place primarily among the dead, but it seems that having grown up with the dead gives Bod a special appreciation for actually living life to its fullest. The Graveyard Book is a book that I really enjoyed and I hope everyone would read it and enjoy it as much as I did, because for me, It's the best book I've read.

-Joseph Faundo