Bubble World by Carol Snow

From Goodreads,

"Freesia's life is perfect. She lives on the beautiful tropical island of Agalinas, surrounded by idyllic weather, fancy dress shops, and peacocks who sing her favorite song to wake her up in the morning. She has so many outfits she could wear a different one every day for a year and not run out.

Lately things on the island may have been a bit flippy: sudden blackouts, students disappearing, even Freesia's reflection looking slightly . . . off. But in Freesia's experience, it's better not to think about things like that too much.

Unfortunately for her, these signs are more than random blips in the universe. In Bubble World by Carol Snow, Freesia's perfect bubble is about to pop."

Goodreads - Bubble World

Freesia lives in a world where everything is perfect.  She looks perfect, her friends are perfect, the island she lives on has perfect weather.  Freesia lives in Bubble World, a place where she goes to cultural immersion class and goes to her make up classes.  Everything is exactly as it should be until blackouts start happening and she suddenly wakes up.  She soon realizes she has been living in a virtual reality world and she is nowhere near being perfect.  Slowly Freesia realizes the truth behind everything and she is left with the decision to choose between the two worlds.

When I started this book I was sure it was going to be awful.  Bubble World had a language of its own and it made all the characters seem annoying, immature, and shallow.  I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to make it through the book.  After a few chapters I really started to getting into the book and continued to wonder where it was headed.  I really enjoyed the utopian setting with this book.  It seems that a lot of books written these days are more dystopian themed.  This book was set in a perfect world where everything was exactly as it should be.  The weather, the water, the food and drinks, the clothes, and even the people were... perfect.  While perfect gets old, it was interesting to read a book that wasn't about the world ending or about how the government has destroyed us.

Even though I enjoyed the utopian setting, this book had lots of downfalls.  There was a lot of potential for this book to address some big issues, but all the messages kind of fizzled out.  First on my list of problems is Freesia and her parents.  I just want to know what kind of parents are okay with signing their child up to participate in a virtual reality school.  Freesia sounded like she was a difficult kid who was awkward and found it hard to make friends.  (We later find out that her best friend betrayed her to be friends with another girl.)  I felt like Freesia's parents enrolled her in Bubble World so they wouldn't have to put up with her emotional, friendless state.  In the book they stated that they enrolled her because they thought it was best for her, but I feel like they enrolled her because they were tired of dealing with her.  I feel like it would have been easier to homeschool her than sign her up for an education program where you really didn't know what your child was seeing, doing, or learning.  I just felt like the whole, "signing my kid up for a virtual reality world" was kind of far fetched.

This leads to my next point concerning the message that big corporations are corrupt.  Part of the reason Freesia's parents agreed to Bubble World was because Freesia's mother would get a job out of the whole deal by posting vlogs about Freesia in Bubble World.  Todd, the creator of Bubble World, convinced Freesia's parents to support Bubble World.  As the book progressed we find out that Todd wasn't really in the business to create geniuses, but to really just make money (shocking).  I definitely felt like there was a message about corporations being corrupt and that we should stop buying into them.  But the message never really progressed or turned into a big turning point in the book.  Freesia's parents still allowed her to go back to Bubble World even though the corporation was obviously corrupt.

This book was definitely different than any other book I've read.  I recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a book that has the virtual reality technology theme.  I give this book 4 out of 5 stars.

What We Saw by Aaron Hartzler

From Goodreads,

"Kate Weston can piece together most of the bash at John Doone’s house: shots with Stacey Stallard, Ben Cody taking her keys and getting her home early—the feeling that maybe he’s becoming more than just the guy she’s known since they were kids.

But when a picture of Stacey passed out over Deacon Mills’s shoulder appears online the next morning, Kate suspects she doesn’t have all the details. When Stacey levels charges against four of Kate’s classmates, the whole town erupts into controversy. Facts that can’t be ignored begin to surface, and every answer Kate finds leads back to the same question: Where was Ben when a terrible crime was committed?

This story—inspired by real events—from debut novelist Aaron Hartzler takes an unflinching look at silence as a form of complicity. It’s a book about the high stakes of speaking up, and the razor thin line between guilt and innocence that so often gets blurred, one hundred and forty characters at a time."

Goodreads - What We Saw

This book starts off with a flashback to when Kate Weston was just a kid playing soccer.  We soon realie her love for soccer and her best friend Ben Cody.  Then we quickly return to the present and find out that Kate is now in her bedroom with a killer hangover.  She starts to piece the night back together and finds that she didn't drive her truck home (thankfully), but that her great man friend Ben took care of her and brought her home.  As the day progresses so do things between Kate and Ben (more on that later).  At school on Monday the cops show up and arrest some of the star basketball players because they have been accused of raping a girl at the party.  Kate starts to piece things together and realizes that things aren't what they seem.

While I was reading this book I had to continually remind myself that this was based on true events from the Steubenville, Ohio case.  We live in a world where we hear about cases of rape, but we are only exposed to what the media shares with us.  This book really shares the real details and not just the media's take on things.  I like how this was from the perspective of a girl who was at the party and was also intoxicated.  She really struggled to put the pieces together and do the right thing by reporting what she knew.  It was definitely a struggle of doing what was right and doing what everyone wanted her to do.  Kate also states multiple times that she was drunk too and it could have been her in that situation instead of Stacey.  I think this is an important message because anyone can end up in a similar situation.  This book also addressed consent.  It stated that just because she was drunk and unconscious doesn't mean she gave consent.  Consent is where it seems all rape cases lead back to.  This book really addressed the big issues of making the right decision, consent, and blaming the victim.

I really hated Kate and her relationship with Ben throughout this book.  The book starts out with us finding out that Kate and Ben were once best friends who played soccer together.  Kate accidentally injured Ben and left a long scar behind his ear.  They ended up falling out of touch.  They reconnected a year before the book takes place because they were in the same geology class.  At this point they seem to be just civil friends who say hi in the hall... nothing more.  The next thing we know Kate is leaving the party drunk and wakes up the next morning absolutely swooning over Ben.  Their friendship went from zero to 100 overnight all because he took care of her when she was drunk.  As the book progresses we see Kate doing whatever Ben wants because she is "in love" with him.  I just feel like Kate and Ben's relationship was very unrealistic.  Their relationship just progressed very quickly and I hated that.  I felt like Kate and Ben's cheesy high school relationship started to overshadow the bigger topic here of consent and victim blaming.  I just wish that the book hadn't incorporated the relationship as much as it did as a part of the storyline.

This book does have a trigger warning for rape, however I think more women need to read this, especially teenagers.  This book is based on a real event that happened.  This isn't a work of fiction.  It isn't something that someone made up to make some money.  This really happened.  I think that young girls need to be aware of rape culture and what consent means.  I would recommend this to high school students or young adults.  This was a tough book to read because of the content of the book.  I give this 4 out of 5 stars.

All The Answers by Kate Messner

From Goodreads,

"What if your pencil had all the answers? Would you ace every test? Would you know what your teachers were thinking? When Ava Anderson finds a scratched up pencil she doodles like she would with any other pencil. But when she writes a question in the margin of her math quiz, she hears a clear answer in a voice no one else seems to hear.

With the help of her friend Sophie, Ava figures out that the pencil will answer factual questions only – those with definite right or wrong answers – but won’t predict the future. Ava and Sophie discover all kinds of uses for the pencil, and Ava's confidence grows with each answer. But it's getting shorter with every sharpening, and when the pencil reveals a scary truth about Ava's family, she realizes that sometimes the bravest people are the ones who live without all the answers..."

Goodreads - All The Answers

This book begins with Ava Anderson grabbing a pencil out of a drawer the morning of her math test.  Once she makes it to school, she starts the test, only to realize she doesn't know the answer.  She writes down the question in hopes that it will jog her memory.  Instead, a voice tells her the answer.  Eventually, Ava finds that this pencil will tell her the answer to factual questions only.  The book continues as Ava tries to get answers to burning questions and manage her anxiety, but in turn has to deal with some of the answers to those questions.

I absolutely loved this book.  The idea of having a pencil that could tell you answers is so amazing.  While I was reading this I was constantly asking myself what questions I would ask the pencil.  There would be the ever popular questions about religion or about relationships.  I would of course ask questions like, "Who shot JFK?" or "Who killed Jon Benet Ramsey?"  But eventually, just like in the book, the pencil would grow shorter and shorter.  I'm not sure if the pencil would make me more or less anxious.  I struggle with wanting to control and know the future.  I really connected with Ava in that aspect.  Ava clearly struggled with anxiety in the book and I could see so much of myself in this character.

I have no complaints about this book.  I loved every word on every page.  It was well written and very thought out.  I would give this book 6 stars, but my scale only goes to 5, so 5 stars it is.  I would recommend this book to anyone 4th grade and up.

Fallout by Todd Strasser

From Goodreads,

"What if the bomb had actually been dropped? What if your family was the only one with a shelter?

In the summer of 1962, the possibility of nuclear war is all anyone talks about. But Scott’s dad is the only one in the neighborhood who actually prepares for the worst. As the neighbors scoff, he builds a bomb shelter to hold his family and stocks it with just enough supplies to keep the four of them alive for two critical weeks. In the middle of the night in late October, when the unthinkable happens, those same neighbors force their way into the shelter before Scott’s dad can shut the door. With not enough room, not enough food, and not enough air, life inside the shelter is filthy, physically draining, and emotionally fraught. But even worse is the question of what will -- and won’t -- remain when the door is opened again. Internationally best-selling author Todd Strasser has written his most impressive and personal novel to date, ruthlessly yet sensitively exploring the terrifying what-ifs of one of the most explosive moments in human history."

Goodreads - Fallout

This book is told by Scott whose father decides to build a bomb shelter just in case something happens.  The neighbors all think he is crazy and overreacting.  They all think this until the sirens go off and they too are in need of a shelter.  As Scott and his family try to get in the shelter and seal the door, people start forcing their way in.  By the time the door is sealed someone is seriously injured, parts of families are left outside the shelter, and too many people are locked inside the shelter.

This book was both phenomenal and horrible at the same time.  Starting with the great things in this book is an easy task.  There are a lot of historical references in this book, which I enjoyed from a teacher's perspective, especially since I've never been a history buff.  I loved the whole suspense of a fictional bomb being dropped in the United States and families having to seek shelter.  This was something that was a real fear back in the early 60s, and I think it is great that Strasser took his childhood fears and twisted them into a book.  I think even today, this is becoming more of a fear that someone will get angry at the United States and will bomb us.  That made it a more plausible and realistic book.

The entire time I was reading this, (which I read in just a few short hours), I was hanging on the edge waiting to see what would happen with everyone locked in the shelter.  I was secretly hoping that everyone had just been overacting and that a bomb hadn't been dropped at all, but indeed I was wrong.  I'm a big over thinker and a huge fan of "what ifs" and this book kept me saying, "Well, what if this happened now?" and "What if this happened back in the 60s, how would life be different now?"  I love to play out the possibilities of what could have been and what could still be, and this book definitely allowed me to do that.

On the flip side of this book being great in the historical fiction sense, it had some content that I was very unhappy with.  When I purchase books from Scholastic I always hope that I'll be able to put them into my classroom library so that students can read it and we can discuss it.  Unfortunately, this book had some VERY inappropriate content.  The children in this book are just 11 or 12 years old, but they were very aware of adult content and happenings.  For example, one of the father's allowed Scott to have some wine (more than once) at their house, where on one occasion he got drunk.  Scott and his friend also talked about Playboys and looking at women, both of which I do NOT condone.  I was so disappointed in this content, because I know that some of my students would have absolutely loved this book.

Also, I felt like all the characters were poorly developed in this book.  I didn't feel like I really learned anything about any of the characters on a deep, emotional level.  They were all trapped in the shelter and I feel that in that situation they would have had a deeper connection and emotional state than what they all did.  Nobody really spoke to each other, unless they were yelling about what they should do.  I honestly feel that people would have talked to each other just to have something to do.  Just like the characters, the ending was poorly written.  The book ended quickly and didn't give any comment as to what happened months or years after the incident.  I would have liked some kind of closure to conclude the book and let me know that everyone was okay who was in the shelter.

This would be a good book for high school kids or anyone looking for a historical fiction novel.  I would have given this book 5 stars if it hadn't had the adult content, but because of that I'm dropping my rating to a 3.5.

Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai

From Goodreads,

"For all the ten years of her life, Hà has only known Saigon: the thrills of its markets, the joy of its traditions, and the warmth of her friends close by. But now the Vietnam War has reached her home. Hà and her family are forced to flee as Saigon falls, and they board a ship headed toward hope. In America, Hà discovers the foreign world of Alabama: the coldness of its strangers, the dullness of its food . . . and the strength of her very own family."

Goodreads - Inside Out & Back Again


Awards:

• National Book Award for Young People's Literature (2011)
• Newberry Honor (2012)

This book is about Hà and her life in Saigon during the Vietnam War.  Her father has been gone for years and every year they pray that he will return or is somewhere safe.  As the war progresses Hà and her family decide to flee Saigon and board a boat in hopes of finding a new and better life for them all.  After moving, Hà has to learn how to fit in while staying true to who she is. 

I read this book in hopes that it would be a good fit for my 4th graders and the book club they wanted to start.  This was a very quick read being that it is written in verse.  I really liked how real Hà was.  Her feelings about moving and about living in a new and foreign place was so genuine and raw.  I felt like a lot of kids could connect with her if they had moved around the world or even across the country.  A lot of kids know what it is like to be that "new kid" and Hà embodied the "new kid" character well.  Her character also gave me some insight into what it is like to be the "new kid", especially since that was something I never experienced while in elementary, middle, or high school.  

Something that left me a little unsettled was when the teacher called on Hà to read the alphabet and she did so successfully.  The teacher had the class clap and commend her for being able to say the alphabet.  I have very mixed feelings about this.  Some will think that the teacher underestimated the child and some will say that she was mocking the child by having the class clap.  No teacher sets out to humiliate or mock a child.  I don't think the clapping was called for, but I also have to remember that this was a totally different time period than now.  This part in the book is the prime reason teachers should evaluate and assess a child before having them do any work on a board or reading orally.  You don't want to humiliate the child if they can't read, but you don't want to underestimate their abilities either.  

I enjoyed this book and how short it was.  While it was an excellent book, my 4th graders will not be reading it for book club.  I feel like many of the students would lose interest in the book and they would find it boring and the wording difficult.  I give this 5 stars and recommend it to anyone looking for a quick read with some historical ties in it.

The Edge by Roland Smith

From Goodreads,

"Fifteen-year-old Peak Marcello hasn’t climbed since intentionally failing to reach the summit of Mount Everest. He’s been enjoying life at sea level, spending his time with the Two Peas—his younger twin sisters—and being a regular, law-abiding teenager. But then his old climbing buddies, JR, Will, and Jack, show up with an offer Peak may not be able to refuse: the International Peace Ascent. The billionaire Sebastian Plank is recruiting a global team of young climbers to make an inspiring, world-uniting documentary. Peak’s been chosen as the U.S. representative. A part of him wants to stay home and out of the spotlight. But another part is itching to get back out there. In the end, the itch has got to be scratched, and Peak, along with his mom, is helicoptered in to a remote base camp in the Hindu Kush Mountains.

But the trip quickly goes from good time to nightmare. Attacked by an unknown and unseen enemy, some of the climbers are kidnapped—including Peak’s mom.

Peak has no choice but to go after them."

Goodreads - The Edge

This book is a sequel to the book Peak.  In this book Peak has returned home and is trying to return to a normal life by spending lots of time with his sisters the Peas.  Peak returns to his mother's shop and finds the film crew who followed him on Everest.  He talks with them and quickly realizes he has been recruited to be a part of a Peace Summit.  He is very reluctant to join, but eventually decides to.  His mom tags along and they embark on a journey to Afghanistan.  Peak finds that Zopa is the climb master and that Zopa has an off feeling about the entire trip.  Things go awry and Peak and his friends must fight to survive the Peace Summit.

After I read Peak, I got excited after finding there was a second book.  I promptly found the book on Amazon and had it shipped as soon as possible.  I really expected this book to be about Peak making a second attempt at Everest.  It ended up that a Peace Summit is taking place and Peak has been recruited, along with his mother.  I really liked that this book forged more of a relationship between Peak and his mother, especially since Peak was with his father primarily in the first book.  We didn't see or hear a lot about Peak's mother, and it was good to have her truly incorporated into this book.  I really enjoyed that Peak and his mother went on this climb and encountered an enemy who was out to hurt them.  I felt like the enemy really created more of a bond between Peak and his mom.  I also loved the irony of the Peace Summit, but there was no peace on this climb.

A few parts of this book were very thrilling and exciting, but at others it was very dull.  I felt like this book lacked the pizazz that Peak did.  The book was very dull and boring at the beginning.  There was absolutely nothing exciting happening except for everyone meeting for the climb.  I found it hard to adjust from reading about snow capped mountains to reading about Peak climbing in the desert.  I felt like the most exciting part was when Peak and Ethan realized that people had been murdered.  The rest of this book was very dull and lacked any sort of enthusiasm.  I didn't feel like this sequel did the first book justice, and I wish that Peak had been a stand alone book.

I give this book 3 stars out of 5.  I would recommend this to anyone that has read the first book.  My brother in law is currently reading this book, so I'm excited to talk to him about his thoughts on the book.

Zero Day by Jan Gangsei

From Goodreads,

"Eight years ago, Addie Webster was the victim of the most notorious kidnapping of the decade. Addie vanished—and her high-profile parents were forced to move on.

Mark Webster is now president of the United States, fighting to keep the Oval Office after a tumultuous first term. Then, the unthinkable happens: the president’s daughter resurfaces. Addie is brought back into her family’s fold…but who is this sixteen-year-old girl with a quiet, burning intelligence now living in the White House? There are those in the administration who find her timely return suspicious.

When a national security advisor approaches Darrow Fergusson, Addie’s childhood best friend and the son of the president’s chief of staff, he doesn’t know what to think. How could the girl he’s missed for all these years be a threat to the United States? Still, at the risk of having his own secrets exposed, Darrow agrees to spy on Addie.

He soon realizes that his old friend is much more than the traumatized victim of a political fringe group. Addie has come with a mission…but will she choose to complete it?"

Goodreads - Zero Day

Addie was kidnapped as a young child, but returns eight years later.  Her return comes as a shock to her family and the media, especially since her father is the president preparing to run for a second term.  Everyone tries to adjust to Addie being home and Addie tries to adjust to life back in the spotlight.  While everyone is focused on helping Addie get better, Addie is focused on something and someone else entirely, which proves to be a risk to herself and those around her.

This book was so realistic and in sync with what is happening in today's world.  I feel like there is constantly an attack happening on someone, somewhere.  On top of the attacks, there seems to always be a group who is taking credit for what happened.  This book stayed aligned with the idea of a group plotting and carrying out attacks.  There were multiple terrorist groups that were in the book, which really stays true to what is happening in today's world.  I felt like this suspense of who would make the next move kept me turning the pages and reading.  I was constantly trying to piece everything together to figure out what Addie had in connection with Cerberus.  This realistic aspect and the suspense kept me moving forward to solve the mystery before the book ended.

I didn't care for the ending of the book or the way the chapters were written.  I really wish that the chapters had been labeled with who was "writing" the chapter and telling that particular part of the story.  It would have been a much easier way to keep up with characters in the book than having to remember and recall everybody's story and place in the bigger picture.  As for the ending of the book it ended so abruptly that I didn't know what happened to the "bad guys".  I was so frustrated that I didn't get a good closing with them.  The book was definitely written as a stand alone, but was also left with an open ending that could allow for a second book to be written.

This book was tough to read at the beginning.  I really had to push myself to power through the first third of the book.  Once I got past a certain point it really started to take off and get interesting.  The cliffhanger ending really dropped my rating.  I give this book 3.5 stars out of 5.  I would recommend this to anyone wanting a political suspense book.