West Ranch Library Science Book
Reviews
2008-2009
Zorro
By Isabel Allende
This book is all about how the masked Latin American hero became famous during his youth. During the eighteenth century, he was born in San Gabriel mission, southern California where there is crime and danger coming ashore. His father is an aristocratic Spanish military man and his mother is a Shoshone warrior that taught him how to fence and branding. While he’s growing up, his hometown is attacked by European settlers known as pirates. As the pirates come to bring injustices to his people, he becomes a masked warrior and defends the poor and powerless from their villainous lust and chaos. Zorro contains all of the action, adventure, and drama that make the greatest masked hero in history exiting and full of amazement.
(Review by K. Price, Library Science I, 2009)
Mission Girl
By Norma Fox Mader
The Missing Girl is a book that dives into the mind of a predator. He watches the girls, studies them and keeps on watching them. Beauty, Autumn, Stevie, Mim and Fancy Herbert are five sisters with very different personalities. They all share secrets, they all fight amongst themselves and all care for each other. When their parents chooses to send one of them away, the girls’ world turns upside down. Lonely and upset, Autumn takes a walk and somehow loses her way home. That’s when he steps in, thinking how lucky he is to have gotten his favorite of the girls alone. He lures her into his house with the promise of a map to help her get home and keeps her with him. The novel dives into a terrifying reality for Autumn and shows how scary such a thing can be.
(Review by L. Godinez, Library Science I, 2009)
Genocide: Modern Crimes Against Humanity
By Brenden January
Genocide is a planned extermination to physically destroy a targeted group based on their nationality, religious beliefs, ethnicity, or racial background. This book clarifies the past examples of this awful crime against humanity of where it all began in Armenia with over 1 million Armenian deaths as the result of a political dispute and religious discrimination amongst the Ottoman Empire to the mass killings of Jews during the Holocaust to the evil Tutsis in Rwanda and to the most recent in Darfur. The photographs of the deceased and the slaughtered that are laid out on the ground are just too much to bear to look at. Those innocent people do not deserve it. Stop Genocide.
(Review by D. Mandap, Library Science I, 2009)
Geek Speak
Geek Speak By Graham Tattersall Geek Speak is all about how things work in a scientific matter, which is very awkward. He tells about the differences between the theory of today’s culture and ecosystem. He even tells of the physics between humans and objects through the artistic experiments in his mind. He most of all understand that sounding like a genius doesn’t make you a total geek, just make you intelligent and have a taste to study things and would like to experiment with it. This book is all about the language and how stuff works in a scientific way that it’ll take a very long time to understand it all in your brain.
(Review by K. Price, Library Science I, 2009)
This extraordinary book contains over 50 remarkable, awe-inspiring miracles from the most horrific and sorrowful times during the Holocaust. It saddens you inside to hear about their awful scenario, but towards the end of every story, it makes you want to jump up and down in immediate excitement. This novel of short stories is just too hard to put down, it is a must-read…trust me.
(Review by D. Mandap, Library Science I, 2009)
Miranda is a sixteen year old student living in a small town. Life is always constant and simple for her. She may have a few fights with her brother and mother from time to time, or perhaps a few arguments with her two friends, but it’s never nothing serious. She is constantly in touch with her older Matt, who’s away at college and with her divorced father and her newly impregnated stepmother, Lisa. She attends a high school that has teachers giving out homework assignments for the moon. See, there’s a comet heading for the moon. All the astronomers say it’ll be a big moment, and when it finally comes, she and her family set out chairs in the front lawn to watch the impact. Nobody was sure what to expect, but no one would have dreamed of having the moon brought closer to Earth. The next day is mad frenzy and chaos. It all sets a course for drastic change. At first life is fairly easy, with only a few sacrifices to be made. However, the moon’s gravitational pull causes plenty of change, and when winter comes and all the crops die, it’s a fight for survival.
(Review by L. Godinez, Library Science I, 2009)
13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher
When Clay Jensen receives a mysterious package on his front door step, he admits to being excited about it. An anonymous package for him? How intriguing! The contents of the package were intriguing. They belonged to a girl who had recently committed suicide. Inside the shoe box were seven tapes, each labeled by a number with blue nail polish. Hannah Baker explained that whomever received the tapes had to listen to each one in it’s entirety. Only then would they understand why she decided to kill herself and only then would they realize that they were one of the many reasons why. The novel launches itself into a story with many side plots. Hannah’s tale becomes a quilt, with each person a square and each connection the thread that bind them all together. A story of high school angst, of rumors and reputation, the novel depicts how small stabs at a person can bring them down and tear the human spirit. It takes nine to eleven positive affirmations to do redo the damage of just one negative. Hannah Baker was set on giving up and she did just that. But she decided to let those who hurt her know, in hopes that perhaps they would suffer a little too, knowing how their words tore her world apart. Clay has to listen to the tapes helplessly, imagining the many ways he could have helped her or reached out. Though rather disheartening, the novel leaves the reader with hope that maybe a small gesture of some sort will help someone else going through a difficult time.
(Review by L. Godinez, Library Science I, 2009)
Ronald Reagan: A Graphic Biography by Andrew Hefler
This biography of Ronald Reagan provides us for the very first time an opportunity to explore his life in a black and white comic strip layout. The tasteful art and style of Steve Buccellato and Joe Staton will give you an insight of actually being there with him at the events. It was an easy read for it only contained 102 pages yet very educational in every way. Having read all about Mr. Reagan’s life made me realize what an honor it was to read about this well-liked hero and an inspiration to many. I would recommend this graphic novel to any student who is interested about the admired actor, who then became governor of California, and eventually took office in the White House at the age of 69.
(Review by D. Mandap, Library Science I, 2009)
Spanking Shakespeare By Jake Wizner
This book is about the author's life in high school and his struggles. He writes many memoirs and hilarious stories, which is somewhat very inappropriate. All he ever wants is to go to college and find his true love for a very close relationship. With the help of his sick and attitude friends and his weird teacher, he might make his goals come true. This book contains teenage humor and other stuff that you're is glad that you're not that person in the book.
(Review by K. Price, Library Science I, 2009)
Emeril! Inside the Amazing success of Today's most popular chef
By Marcia Layton Turner
This is an autobiography about one of the world's famous chef, Emeril Lagasse. Read all about the history of Emeril on how he became super famous. Learn all about how to become a great chef like Emeril. In addition, learn that is not all about the fame, its all about the joy of bringing and creating food for the people. Read the life of today's most popular chef.
Robinson Crusoe by Daniel
Defoe
Robinson Crusoe is one of the
most adventurous books of survival on a deserted island. Robinson and his
family were traveling on a ship to a new land for freedom. One day his ship
starts to sink and he gets stranded on a deserted island. Now he has to survive
in order to be rescued. This book contains drama and suspense as Robinson tries
to get off the island.
(Review by K. Price, Library Science I, 2008)
Singularity by William Sleator
This book is about twin boys
who get to stay at their dead great-uncle's house during vacation. They soon
find an old playhouse on the yard and went inside. As they stay inside the
playhouse longer, time goes faster inside than it is outside. One twin decides
to go inside and tries to become older than his other twin. This
science-fiction book shows the terror and supernatural of a playhouse that has
the power to age you to death.
(Review by K. Price, Library Science I, 2008)
Maus; a Survior’s Tale by Art Spiegelman
You should read the Maus; a Survior’s Tale
because it tells about the holocaust during World War II. It's about the author
interviewing his father about his father’s life before and after the Holocaust.
This graphic novel depicts the Jews as mice and the Nazis as cats. This book
shows the action, drama, and terror of the author's father and other prisoners
of the Holocaust. Everyone should read this book, so you can know more about
the Holocaust.
(Review by K. Price, Library Science I, 2008)
The Invention of Hugo Cabret by
Brian Selznick
The book is about an orphan
boy who lives in a train station and steals stuff from a toy store. He then
gets caught by the toymaker and has to work for him. As the orphan boy is works
for the toymaker, the boy starts to learn a deep secret about the toymaker. He
learns all about the thrills and drama of the toymaker's past. This book
contains creative and imaginative which makes dreams come true.
(Review by K. Price, Library Science I, 2008)