The Secret Life Of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

This book is about a fourteen year old girl, Lily, who lives with her father, T-Ray, and a black housekeeper, Rosaleen in South Carolina. Her mother, Deborah, died when she was four and she thinks she shot her when her parents were fighting. She runs away with Rosaleen
to find answers about her mother, Deborah.
When I finished reading this i didn't really understand what the social justice. All I got is it is about black rights in America back in the day.

Forged in the Fire by Ann Turnbull

Uhm. yeah. just picked this book out from the pile that Miss got for us. it was alright really ~

It's an epic love story. The story's set in 1665, London, and is about Susanna and Will - a couple very much in love and very eager to get married. it starts off with a letter from Will to Susanna that he's cool with getting married, but somehow Will gets jailed and gets infected by the plague - the Black Death. she doesn't know at first if he's even still alive, but travels to London once she finds out that Will is there. they then get married in a meeting of Quakers - Christians. another large disaster then happens after, making their relationship so much harder, but they eventually prevail in the end.

The social justice issue in this book is the persecution and discrimination against the Christian religion, and is quite evident during the whole book. especially at the start, where, in Susanna's point of view, she talks about how it's illegal to get married to Will as a 'Quaker', but she goes ahead with it anyway.

I did like this book, it's so hard not to feel sorry for Will and Susanna, since they hadn't seen each other for so long and met again, only to meet such disasters. it's a heartwarming story, but i think it could've been more tragic and gripping. i like how the author used appropriate langage throughout the book though, like "thee", "thy", "mayhap".

 i'd give it a 6 and a half out of 10. it's a good read but probably not the most HOMGSH THIS IS AMAAAZINGGG BOOK I'VE EVER READ kinda book.

yeah. :3

Chinese Cinderella by Adeline Yen Mah

So I was going to Christchurch one year ago and my flight was delayed. Jetstar. Gosh. Anyway so I bought a book at whitcoulls in the airport. I had been recommended it by many friends and so I deemed it suitable to get. I read for roughly 2 hours waiting for my flight. I was in love with Chinese Cinderella.

This is a real story about a real girl how was oppressed because she survived but not her mother.

Yen Jun-ling lived her whole life being told she was bad luck and feeling unwanted only because her mother died when giving birth to Jun-ling. She was one when her father remarried to a young European, Niang. Her name was then changed to Adeline.

Aunt Baba looked after Adeline for as long as she could protect her from the loneliness and from feeling unwanted. Adeline always knew it was her fault mama was dead but being in constant reminder that she was gone by Lydia (her elder sister) and her brothers made life hard. She was used like a servant being given nothing in comparison to her siblings and especially her half brother and sister. Niang's children.

So pretty much the story goes like this: Adeline was in primary at St. Josephs and she was very good. She never told anyone about what her life was like at home. She was told to keep up the façade of the perfect family. One day her friend invites her to a birthday party and everything is broken. She is disgraced in front of her friends and her parents don’t care they well endorse this type of injustice. They move away and life gets harder. Outsiders see what they want to see and even though they know they sit with it. It’s sick. Adeline stood up for her half sister and was punished no one ever stood her. One day a friend brings ducklings and all the children get one. Adeline’s is called precious little thing. Plt for short. She loves her duckling and it’s her only friend. One day her father says their dog is doing well in obedience classes and they should test it out with a duckling. Her older brother chooses Plt because he knows if anything happens to Plt it will not be at fault. Plt was attacked and soon died.

There was some sort of war going on. I’m not really sure but Adeline was left in a convent school all alone, forgotten in the heart of it. Luckily her aunt remembered and she was taken back to her family. Even though this sounds like a happy ending it wasn’t. Adeline was still shunned and was treated like an outcast.

This is a heart touching story and for anyone who reads it will feel the pain that Adeline felt. I give this book a 10/10 because it was so amazing, the pain comes alive and you feel like you are with her being treated unjustly. At this time many children were also left in convents because they were simply worth nothing to their parents.   Amazing absolutely amazing just the horrific unjustness people gave because of superstition and belief that wasn’t even justified.

OVER A THOUSAND HILLS I WALK WITH YOU by Hanna Jansen

Hutus killing Tutsis in Rwanda. The Rwandan genocide. Two different tribes, both from Rwanda, turn against each other.
When Belgians went over to Rwanda they chose those with better features and named them the Tutsis (12%) who were 'upper class' with the Hutus(82%) being 'lower class'. Hutus were looked down on and they (not all) wanted to wipe out the Tutsis.


.. This book is about an 8 year old girl named Jeanne, who survives the Rwandan genocide and is the only one in her family that survived..

Jeanne 'aka' Dede, and her family - Florence (mother), Ananie (father), older brother Jando (11) and younger sister Teya (6) - are Tutsis.
Like many Tutsis, they are wealthy and live a good life.
After news breaks out that the president of Rwandas plane was shot down by Tutsi rebels on the journey to sign a peace treaty with them, hell slowly breaks loose.
Hutus then start hunting down Tutsis. They are on the run along with many other Tutsis, and start seeking safety.
Not knowing exactly what was happening, Dede grabs everything she can and leaves with her family.

There isn't a destination in mind but anywhere away from the war is where they are heading, and that happens to be the community center where other Tutsis are staying. Soldiers attack the center and Dede looses every member of her family, one by one. Firstly is her mother, who is taken away by soldiers. Second is her father who she doesn't see after he locks the children into a room and leaves to look for help. Little Teya gets trapped in a building that gets blown up and Dede watches Jando get beaten to death.
She watches people die in front of her, running in every direction. She hears people yelling, crying, calling for loved ones, explosions and guns being fired, but mourning for her loss is the last thing on her mind, all she wants to do is escape.

During this slow and painful journey Dede has to adapt to a new way of living. Coming by food or anything edible was a blessing, having a shower with a cloth and bucket was how you were cleaned (if you got lucky) and realising that every man was for himself.

The author Hanna Jansen took Dede in after the Rwandan genocide. Dede helped Hanna write the book which to me, makes it more real. In the beginning of every chapter Hanna includes a few paragraphs about Dede after the war.. eg ..
'For days you've been wandering sleepless all night, you say. Because of horrible pictures from your memory that assault you in your dreams.
You don't want them. You resist. You weep. You sink ever deeper while you try to survive the night. The next day. While you try to act as if nothing were wrong.
Today, finally, you called me.
You should call me. Always, whenever things get to this point again'

Before I read this book I had no information on the Rwandan genocide. Now I feel like I know to much. I was taken on a journey with Dede and it was like an inside view of the genocide. Not only was Dede effected by this event, but many more were and weren't as lucky to be able to get back on their feet.

Would recommend this book to those who are interested in the Rwandan genocide or those who want to learn more. Would give this book an 8/10 :)

Out of Bounds by Beverley Naidoo

This book doesn't contain one, but seven short stories of people living during and after the apartheid. The seven stories are in chronological order from 1948-2000, one story in each decade. They are seperate stories from one another but each are told in a young persons point of view on a traumatising moment in ther life during or after the apartheid. The main social justice issue in all of the stories is the racism and segregation towards the black people in Africa, for example how the boy's family in the second story 'The Noose' were forced to move far away from Johanesburg to Coronationville because the Boers wanted the city to be 'all whites'. The issues oppressed the black people to live seperate lives from the whites and the coloureds just because of skin colour and race. There was a timeline at the back of the book which summarises the apartheid and which I enjoyed very much because I don't really know much about the apartheid. The stories made me feel quite sad but the characters made me feel more determined to seek social justice and peace. The authors purpose in writing the stories is to inform young readers about the lives of people in Africa and what they suffered. I enjoyed this book very much because I learned a lot about the apartheid, South Africa and because it made me think about young people who are less fortunate than me. I would give this book an eight out of ten and would recommend it to an age level but especially teenagers.

Krystyna's Story By Halina Ogonowska-Coates

'As a child I loved my mother but she seemed different from other mothers. She didn't know how old she was. She couldn't remember where she was born. I wondered what had happened to her that she could have forgotten such important things. It had something to do with the Second World War...'


Krystyna is one of 732 Polish children who survived forced deportation to the Soviet Union. Her story begins in a peaceful Polish village and follows her family's journey to a labour camp in Siberia, one by one, Krystyna saw her family die around her (excluding her father who had already been set off to fight in the war).

This book took me into the reality of warfare. There were so many brutal events that took place , that it has made me realise how cruel some people can be, and how lucky we are to have the things we take for granted. Also i felt really sorry for Krystyna and how she had to face things alone. I don't think I could have survived what she went through. I got the impression her mother was going crazy, and she kind of abandoned her daughter. It was really heartbreaking to read how all she wanted was for her mother to hold her and tell her it would be okay, she always tried to please her and help her, but was always kept at a distance and shown no love.

I give this book a 7.5/10, i think it was a really well written book, but do not recommend it to anyone who does not like a sad book or something that might make them tear up.

Ties the Bind, Ties that Break by Lensey Namioka

This book was pretty good. At first I thought I wouldn't like it, because it wasn't about romance. And to be honest, I had no other better choices of books that had to do with social justice. I would give this a 7/10 because it was pretty good and kind of inspirational.

It is basically about a girl named Ailin who is in an upper-class Chinese family. The book starts when Ailin is around 5 years old and she still hasn't gotten her feet bound. At first I didn't get what it meant by 'bound feet' and I always had to refer back to the start to see if I forgot anything that made the story not make sense. Well anyway, 'bound feet' is like having white cloth bound around your feet(tightly) so it won't grow way to big. 'Bound feet' is what only GIRLS get because they are thought to be the ones to stay home, cook , clean and look after children. So Ailin rebels against it at age 5. Which only leads to bad consequences. Her marriage proposal to Hanwei is broken off by his family because of her 'unbound feet' but Hanwei actually likes Ailin which I find sad because the children have no say in anything. Ailin's only support is her Father ; who allows her to have 'unbound feet' and also lets her goes to a public school with the "Big Noses" (The foreign people) . But after her Father dies, her uncle is now the head of the family and he is the more strict one. He stops Ailin from going to the public school, which makes her sad. 'Big Uncle' annouces that his intentions are to give her to another family as the second son's concubine(his two wives have not given birth to a son). Ailin rejects this future and goes to work as a nanny for American missionaries. At the age of 16, she takes the missionarie's offer to take her to America with them to look after their children. On the way to America she meets a Chinese-American man who greatly admires her courage and independence. She marries him shortly after her arrival and they open a restaurant in Chinatown (A restaurant that succeeds partly due to the hard work she does while standing on her "two big feet"

This story strikes me as sexism. Mainly because females are the ones that have the most rules to follow, while the males just go to school, get a good job and get married. In my opinion I don't like how girls have to get their feet bound just because they're the ones that 'stay home'. Ailin is an inspirational character because she rebels against something she actually doesn't want to do and at such a young age which makes it even better and makes me feel like she's a strong minded girl. Ailin makes me think that I can go for what I believe in, even though I'm hated for it because one day I might be as strong as Ailin. I also don't like how the children's choice is totally neglected just because the girl's feet aren't 'bound' . I understand how it is culture and everything, but sometimes, culture can be very harsh and there will obviously be people that want to stand up for their rights; which is what Ailin did. I mean, what's wrong with having 'big feet'? . Many people have big feet, but they are great people today and I don't see what the big fuss is about. Please don't get me wrong. I respect what they have to say, but this is just my opinion. So NO HATE .

Yeah, I'd recommend this book to any around the ages 12-15 . Not a very big book, would probably be read in a few hours.