11/4/14
January First
Michael Schofield




In this memoir, author and narrator, Michael Schofield, gives us a view on the life of dealing with a schizophrenic daughter, January, better known as Janni. Janni is very violent, because the hallucinations inside of her head tell her to hit people, like her baby brother, Bodhi, or her golden retriever. She has difficulty staying concentrated and getting along with other children, and it is a constant struggle for Michael and Susan to keep her out of trouble, and take care of Bodhi at the same time. Throughout the whole story however, you can see that Michael never gives up on Janni, even when he doesn't know that she has schizophrenia yet. He believes that she is a special, unique child, and he never fails to make her feel better, when no one else will play with her.

To learn more about this book, click here!

He loves her unconditionally. That type of love, I believe, is something special reserved only for parents. They watch you grow up, learn, and make mistakes, yet nothing you do could ever stop them from loving you.

According to Dictionary.com, unconditional love is:

"affection with no limits or conditions; complete love."

This couldn't be more true, and this book is a perfect example of that phrase. Even before discovering that Janni had schizophrenia, when he thought that she just had imaginary friends (instead of hallucinations), he never gave up on her. When she told others about her imaginary friends, they would blow it off like she was a little kid, and she would get upset. Michael, however, played along with her. He would pretend to fix the broken leg of 400, the imaginary cat, even if it meant looking ridiculous, working over a patch of grass. He does the best for her at all times, even if it meant hurting himself in the process.

"Every instinct in my body tells me to get up and take Janni home. But if I do, nothing will change. I've tried to save Janni all her life and I can't. I'm not enough. She needs more."Call the cops," I say quietly." (Schofield, 210)

In this quote from the book, Michael realizes there is nothing more that he can do to help his daughter. And even though it kills him to do so, he lets the cops take her, so that she can finally get the help that she needs.

However, in no way is unconditional love limited to just blood relations. In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Denise and John Potter are the parents of five foster children. Though one of their children were shot and killed by two black men, it didn't affect the way they looked at people's skin color. They adopted another child soon after, believing that skin color had no affect on their love for the child.

"Our son, Nathan, was killed by two black young men, and it would be easy to become racist because of that one incident. When you bring home this child that is the same skin color, and you look at this gift from God that you are holding, you realize this is not something about color, and so in one small way, if we can affect one small child in the name of our son, that's one positive thing we can add." (John Potter)

To learn more about Denise and John's story, click here!

10/16/14

Delirium
Lauren Oliver

Prompt:  Are any characters in your book comparable to characters you’ve seen in other books, television shows, or movies?  Can you compare any characters to someone you know in real life?

The main character in this story Lena, lives in a perfect world, where everyone has a place, a job, a family. But this world is one where one thing is forbidden. LOVE :O

The government believes that love destroys people; it only makes them weak and vulnerable. And Lena has seen it in her own mother. After her husband died, she had gone slightly crazy, and had eventually thrown herself off a cliff. The government had invented a procedure, given to every citizen on their eighteenth birthday, that would get rid of the horrible disease, "love", forever. Lena can't wait to get the cure; she believes that it will save her.

However, a few months before her eighteenth birthday, she - you guessed it- falls in love. -_- He is a boy named Alex, and he is rebel. Someone who she would never associate with, someone who broke the rules, who defied the government. She was a goody two shoes, but I guess that's what love does to you..?

She begins to step out of the boundaries of her city, a place forbidden by the government, and there, she discovers a whole new world. There is a rebellion happening, and she has just joined it. 

Lena reminds me of every other generic, female hero- defiant, overconfident,  head strong. In other words, she constantly gets herself in trouble because she does things without ever thinking of the consequences first. That leads to her constantly putting herself in danger, and leaves it to some male figure to come and rescue her. How clique. 

Some examples of other female characters like this (in my opinion) would be :
Tris-Divergent
Cassia-Matched
America-The Selection
Bella-Twilight
Clary-The Mortal Instruments
Nora-Hush, Hush
Lucy-Fallen
Max-The Angel Experiment

Though I feel as if Lena isn't the smartest, and the plot of the book is very clique, I do think it has nice quotes that make you think deeper into the problems of life.

“Love: a single word, a wispy thing, a word no bigger or longer than an edge. That's what it is: an edge; a razor. It draws up through the center of your life, cutting everything in two. Before and after. The rest of the world falls away on either side.”

“Hate isn’t the most dangerous thing, he’d said. Indifference is.”

“I know that life isn't life if you just float through it. I know that the whole point- the only point- is to find the things that matter and hold onto them and fight for them and refuse to let them go.”

I would recommend this book to those who like having a strong female lead, a sappy love story, and thoughtful quotes. :)

10/15/14

Freeze Tag
Caroline B. Clooney

In this creepy, cold book, freeze tag isn't just a game. It's reality. :O

Meghan has the perfect life; a loving family, a perfect boyfriend, popularity. But there's one problem. Lannie. They've been childhood "friends" since she first moved into the neighborhood, but Lannie was always different. She had cold, piercing eyes, with an eternal far away look in them. And there was one more thing. She could freeze anyone, anytime, with just a touch of a finger. 

         "Even Lannie's words could freeze. Tuesday's leaping lungs and throbbing hear went to slow   motion, and her skipping mind fell. No. Recue teams cannot save them. Our mother and father cannot save them. That terrible little phrase 'froze to death' hung in front of all Tuesday's thoughts like an icicle hanging off a porch." (Clooney, 83)

There was nothing more that Lannie wanted than Meghan's boyfriend, West. She would do anything to have him for his own- even risking Meghan's life. She froze Meghan, and made West promise to love her best, forever. Fearing for her life, West agreed. Worst mistake of his life.

As they grew older, and Meghan and West began to plan the rest of their lives together, Lannie comes in, reminding them of the promise he made to her, all those years ago. West leaves Meghan, to protect her, but promises to keep meeting her in secret. 

But, he begins to change. Slowly, he begins to forget to meet her, to stop sitting with her at lunch, to stop inviting her over for dinner. And she notices that he, has become like Lannie. Cold, uncaring, unloving. But she still wants him.

His siblings, Tuesday and Brown, also hated Lannie. The two had devised a plan to get rid of Lannie forever, by giving her a taste of her own medicine. They would lock her in a car, in the middle ot a blizzard, so that she would freeze to death.

But as Meghan discovers this plan, she realizes what people they have all become. Though they never were frozen by Lannie, their thoughts were still cold, and all that was in their eyes, was coldness. So she walked out alone, into the stormy blizzard, and unlocked the door. 

          

         " This is what it means, thought Meghan Moore, to choose the lesser of two evils. Lannie is evil, but it would be more evil to stand aside and silently let her die..... 

                       "Come in my house where it's warm," said Meghan.

                         Lannie said nothing.

                         Perhaps she was too cold to speak.

                         Or perhaps..she had waited all her life to come in where it was warm." (Clooney, 166)

Though this book was short, I will never forget the haunting creativity the author had, or the vague message it sent. The ending line, as seen in the quote above, allows the reader to use their imagination, in the somewhat happy ending. 

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes creepy things, or to someone who is in search for something a little different.

9/11/14
The Revenge of Seven
By Pittacus Lore

Book five of the I Am Number Four series follows the remaining members of the Garde on their continuing adventure in defeating long-term enemy, Setrakus Ra, and his army of Mogadorians, in order to save planet Earth. After Five's shocking betrayal and Eight's death, no one is safe. John has just woken up from a coma with a new scar, indicating that another Garde member has died. He is far away from the other members of the Garde, and he has yet to discover who has met their untimely end. Meanwhile, Six, Nine, and Marina are in the swamps, desperately seeking Eight's body, which the Mogadorians have taken, in order to prevent them from taking Eight's powers. Ella, on the other hand, has just been captured by Setrakus Ra himself, and is wondering why he hasn't hurt her yet. It is later revealed that the "prison" they are keeping her in is in outer space, in order to prevent Ella from escaping, calling for help, or having the others find her. Sarah has left John in hopes of following a new lead, Ella is trapped in the hands of the Mogadorians, and the other three are in the middle of nowhere, trying not to get killed. Life is pretty rough.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

I chose this novel because I have been a big fan of this series ever since I discovered it a year ago. I finished the first four books in about three weeks, and have been anxiously waiting for the fifth book to be released. I love the world that Pittacus Lore has created in writing this book. Ten "aliens" from another planet, all taken to earth in hopes of saving it, all destined to die, one by one. Each of these members have different powers, and it's interesting to see how they use these powers for good, or for bad. For example, John has the ability to heal, lift things with his mind, and produce light from his hands, while Nine is able to control gravity, have super hearing, and talk to animals.

Since I am currently only on page 76 of this book, there is still a lot to discover within these science-fiction-filled pages. Later in this book, I predict that the Garde will meet up once again, and devise a complicated plan in hopes of keeping Setrakus Ra from destroying their planet. However, I also think that they will run into many challenges, as no good story is without its problems.  I hope that this story will continue to follow an interesting and surprising plot line, as that is what interested me the most, and what made me fall in love with this series.