Letting Ana Go by Anonymous

From Goodreads,

"In the tradition of Go Ask Alice and Lucy in the Sky, a harrowing account of anorexia and addiction.

She was a good girl from a good family, with everything she could want or need. But below the surface, she felt like she could never be good enough. Like she could never live up to the expectations that surrounded her. Like she couldn’t do anything to make a change.

But there was one thing she could control completely: how much she ate. The less she ate, the better—stronger—she felt.

But it’s a dangerous game, and there is such a thing as going too far…

Her innermost thoughts and feelings are chronicled in the diary she left behind."

Goodreads - Letting Ana Go

After reading Go Ask Alice I purchased the rest of the books in this series.  Out of all of them I was looking forward to reading Letting Ana Go the most.  I knew that I would have a connection with this book because it focuses on a girl struggling with her weight.  I have always been self conscious and have struggled to get the pounds off.  This book definitely had an impact on me, a very negative impact.

This book follows the unnamed girl who I will refer to Ana, as she unexpectedly embarks on a weight loss journey.  Ana is a high school student who is very active and fit.  Her cross country coach tells the team they have to start keeping food journals to ensure they are eating enough and not developing an eating disorder.  At first Ana keeps her health in check, but soon she starts obsessing over her weight and how much she is eating.  One of her friends starts to encourage her to eat less and workout more.  Tragedy strikes when Ana passes out at a cross country meet.  At that point it is discovered that she has anorexia.  For the rest of the book Ana, her family, and friends struggle to help her overcome this disease in hopes they can save her.

As I was reading this, Ana made it seem so easy to not eat and to just lose the weight.  She constantly saw herself as being fat, even though she was nowhere near that.  The longer I read this book, the more I realized I was unhappy with myself.  I kept thinking that I needed to start working out again and counting calories.  By the end of the book I had texted my boyfriend and said I was going to start working out again.  And then it hit me.  I had been sucked into the twisted obsession over my size.  I thought about how I didn't look how society says I should look.  It was at this point that I realized this book is very dangerous, especially if a young girl was to read this.  I have the self control to not go to the extreme that Ana went to in the book.  However, if a young teenage girl read this, I think she could easily get pulled into the book and start doing exactly what Ana did.  This book is completely dangerous because it glamorizes anorexia and makes it seem "fun" because you'll look amazing in the end.

This book really affected me because I felt like it preyed upon my insecurities and made me even more self conscious than I already am.  This book is completely dangerous and makes it seem so easy to lose the weight.  It lays it out how to easily drop the pounds and what to do to cover your tracks.  I give this book 1 star out of 5.  I don't recommend this book to anyone.

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

From Goodreads,

"In the year 2044, reality is an ugly place. The only time teenage Wade Watts really feels alive is when he's jacked into the virtual utopia known as the  OASIS. Wade's devoted his life to studying the puzzles hidden within this world's digital confines, puzzles that are based on their creator's obsession with the pop culture of decades past and that promise massive power and fortune to whoever can unlock them. When Wade stumbles upon the first clue, he finds himself beset by players willing to kill to take this ultimate prize. The race is on, and if Wade's going to survive, he'll have to win—and confront the real world he's always been so desperate to escape."

Goodreads - Ready Player One

Awards:

• Prometheus Award for Best Novel (2012)
• ALA Alex Award (2012)
• Mary Shelley Award for Outstanding Fictional Work (2016)

This isn't a book I would typically pick up and read.  My boyfriend and I had a conversation about our favorite books.  He's more of a gamer than a reader, so it definitely surprised me when he informed me he had a couple favorite books.  One was 1984, which I have yet to read, and the other was Ready Player One.  I picked up 1984 at Target because the book was on sale, but I was having trouble finding Ready Player One.  I ended up going to Austin, Texas to visit my best friend.  We went to a bookstore called The Book People and it was absolutely heaven for a book nerd like me.  I ended up finding the book.  It was the last copy.  And it was signed.  The author, Ernest Cline, lives in Austin and often frequents the bookstore.  I was ecstatic.  I texted him once I had checked out and he was pretty jealous of the fact that I found a signed edition of the book.  As I read the book I kept my boyfriend well updated on where I was at in the book and my overall thoughts.  Needless to say, I was not disappointed.

Ready Player One follows Wade Watts, also known as Parzival in the OASIS, as he journeys to find the ultimate prize.  The creator of the OASIS has passed away and has released a video stating that he has hidden clues in the OASIS that will lead to the egg that holds all the power.  The ultimate prize is ownership of the OASIS and all of his wealth.  Wade/Parzival decides to try to figure it out and ends up being the first to find the first clue.  From there Wade/Parzival must fight to find the rest of the clues and find the prize and he must fight to survive.

In the book, Wade/Parzival attended school through the OASIS.  Of course he was also trying to find the ultimate prize of Halliday's Easter Egg Hunt.  One of the things that I loved about this book was how it was centered around the virtual reality technology.  I think that Cline did an excellent job of describing the technology and how this virtual reality was utilized.  His inclusion of this advanced technology made the book even more realistic because this kind of technology is becoming more and more advanced and becoming more accessible to people.  The school that I work at received two virtual reality systems and they ended up purchasing two more.  I underwent training so that I would be able to utilize these in my classroom and it was absolutely amazing.  There are so many teaching opportunities with the virtual reality systems.  We can virtually explore different locations or things that will help further aid my student's understanding of the concept being taught.  The possibilities are endless with virtual reality being in a classroom.  I feel like our world is moving closer and closer to a world that Wade/Parzival lives in.  And while it is exciting to see where this technology can take us, it's also a little scary to think that I could one day be replaced by a virtual teacher.

I had only two downfalls for this book.  One of the downfalls was the amount of references that were made to games, movies, songs, quotes, etc. and the obscurity of some of those things.  A lot of the references would be considered obscure to normal folks like myself.  I'm not a gamer and I'm not nearly as familiar with gaming as my boyfriend is.  He warned me ahead of time that I might not understand all of the references and that it may affect how I interpreted the book.  I did not understand all of the references and that bothered me.  If I'm reading a book I want to at least somewhat understand what I'm reading or be able to visualize it in my head.  Some of the things referenced in the book were obscure enough that I had to choose to not understand it or to go look it up.  For me it was a pain to have to stop reading just to research what the characters were talking about in the book.  There was one incident near the end of the book where a game was being played and they were describing what it was like.  I could not, for the life of me, visualize this game.  I ended up having to stop reading and go research the game just so I could understand what they were talking about.  For me, it's okay to have to do this for a word or two in a book, but when it's a lot that you're stopping to Google, then it becomes a hassle.  I definitely didn't have to look up all the references, but I think overall it helped me better understand and enjoy the book even more.

The other thing that I wasn't happy about in this book was content at a very specific point in the book.  Parzival ends up with some money, finds that he is lonely, and purchases a brand new set up along with an adult doll that can be used for adult things.  When I got to this point in the book I was highly disappointed.  As I was reading I was excited to buy another copy of the book to put into my classroom library.  There were kids that I knew would love this book because of the gaming aspect.  But unfortunately, due to content, I didn't feel comfortable putting this in my library and definitely not comfortable recommending this to a student.

Overall, I have to give this book 5 stars even though I had to research some of the references and I wasn't happy with the adult content.  I highly recommend this book to any gamers and definitely think that high school students would enjoy this.  I'm looking forward to the release of the movie in March 2018.  Once I've seen it I'll come back and post my thoughts on how the movie compares with the book.  

Booked by Kwame Alexander

From Goodreads,

"Like lightning/you strike/fast and free/legs zoom/down field/eyes fixed/on the checkered ball/on the goal/ten yards to go/can’t nobody stop you/
can’t nobody cop you…
In this follow-up to the Newbery-winning novel THE CROSSOVER,  soccer, family, love, and friendship, take center stage as twelve-year-old Nick learns the power of words as he wrestles with problems at home, stands up to a bully, and tries to impress the girl of his dreams. Helping him along are his best friend and sometimes teammate Coby, and The Mac, a rapping librarian who gives Nick inspiring books to read.  
This electric and heartfelt novel-in-verse by poet Kwame Alexander bends and breaks as it captures all the thrills and setbacks, action and emotion of a World Cup match!"

Goodreads - Booked

Favorite quote from Booked, 

Books are fun, Nicholas, he says,

they're like

amusement parks

for readers.

This book keeps with Kwame Alexander's writing style of verse.  This follows the story of a young kid named Nick who loves playing soccer.  His mom is very involved in his life and enjoys challenging him in soccer.  Nick's best friend also plays soccer and is always encouraging him to ask out the girl of his dreams.  As the book progresses we realize that not everything is perfect in Nick's world thanks to bullies and his parents splitting.  The book climaxes at the perfect time and leaves the reader hanging on every word at the end.

A student recommended The Crossover to me a while back.  I enjoyed it because it was written in verse and it made for a very quick read.  I figured I would also enjoy Booked by Kwame Alexander because it was written in the same format.  I was able to finish this book in just a few short hours.  I really love that Alexander writes books in verse.  I find it difficult to locate books in verse that also have topics students would be interested in.  Students love these types of books because they say that they are fast to read because they don't have a full page of words.  I always recommend verse novels to students who hate reading because I can tell them the pages are even full pages of words!  I do think that many of my students would connect more with The Crossover than Booked, simply because basketball is a bigger sport than soccer in the town I live in.  If there was a book about football then I can almost guarantee that all of my students would be reading it!  I definitely hope that he continues his writing style and eventually comes out with more books with more sports topics and hopefully some female lead characters.

This book wasn't nearly as captivating as The Crossover.  I didn't feel like I connected with any of the characters in this book.  One thing that really bothered me was the interaction between Nicholas, Coby, and the twins who were bullies.  There seemed to be a lot of potential for the bullying aspect, but there were only a couple encounters that happened.  I just felt like if Alexander was going to use the bullying card in this book that he should probably have written the twins in with a more important role and they should have been bullying more than they actually were.  Of course I'm not condoning bullying, but I feel like there was an opportunity for the bullies to do something severe and for Nick to take action on what happened.  I also don't feel like Nick should have just handled the bullying situation on his own.  I would have preferred that he had told an adult so that it could have been handled properly.  As a teacher we are constantly telling students to report things like this.  But then we have books where the main character isn't reporting anything happening.  This in turn puts it into students' heads that they don't need to report bullying or anything else because they can just take care of it themselves.  Alexander really dropped the ball on the bullying situation in my opinion.  He had a huge opportunity for the bullies to be real bullies who were constantly and consistently picking on Nick and there was the opportunity for Nick to handle it by telling an adult.

This book was not nearly as good as The Crossover was.  I was disappointed because I was hoping this book would be even better.  I didn't feel like I ever connected with any of the characters in this book.  For that I have to give the book 3 stars.  I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys soccer or anyone who has struggled with their parents splitting.

I Was Here by Gayle Forman

From Goodreads,

"When her best friend Meg drinks a bottle of industrial-strength cleaner alone in a motel room, Cody is understandably shocked and devastated. She and Meg shared everything—so how was there no warning? But when Cody travels to Meg’s college town to pack up the belongings left behind, she discovers that there’s a lot that Meg never told her. About her old roommates, the sort of people Cody never would have met in her dead-end small town in Washington. About Ben McAllister, the boy with a guitar and a sneer, who broke Meg’s heart. And about an encrypted computer file that Cody can’t open—until she does, and suddenly everything Cody thought she knew about her best friend’s death gets thrown into question.

I Was Here is Gayle Forman at her finest, a taut, emotional, and ultimately redemptive story about redefining the meaning of family and finding a way to move forward even in the face of unspeakable loss."

Goodreads - I Was Here

I had a conversation a while back with a friend about what types of books we like to read and the themes we tend to gravitate to.  I've come to realize that I tend to gravitate to books that have cancer or suicide themes.  I'm not sure why, but I do.  Death and dying absolutely terrifies me.  It's easily my number one fear.  Maybe I'm just trying to get over my fear of dying by reading about it.

In this book we are introduced to Cody who is coming to terms to the fact that Meg has committed suicide.  She is asked to travel to town where Meg was going to college and clean out her room.  Once she gets to the university she finds that there is a lot she didn't know about her best friend and she makes it her goal to figure out what happened.

I connected with Cody and Meg in this book because I saw some of my own friendships in these two characters.  Meg was obviously suffering from depression, but she always put on a good face.  She always made it seem like everything was okay and that life was great, while behind closed doors she was drowning.  I think that a lot of people my age will admit that they have felt like they were honestly drowning in life before.  I had a conversation with a friend one day and we talked about college and the struggles we had dealt with.  We both realized we had faced different battles, but yet we both had faced some things that put us in depressed states.  Neither of us ever had the courage or the will to reach out to the other and say "Hey.  I'm struggling with life right now and I need help."  But somehow we both were able to get through what was going on.  This same friend actually told me that she had considered taking her own life because she couldn't handle it all anymore.  I was devastated that she didn't feel comfortable coming to me for help or talking to me about what was going on.  I had no idea that she had had those thoughts.  Depression is a serious issue in today's society, but many people in their 20s don't seek the help they need.  There is so much pressure to maintain a social life and a job and get an education and get plenty of sleep and be healthy and so on.  Gayle Forman addressed depression and I love that she tied it back to one of the main reasons that Meg took her life.  Society needs to be exposed to the fact that depression can lead to suicide and that not everyone exhibits typical depression symptoms.

Something I absolutely hated in this book was the attempt at romance between Cody and Ben.  Ben happens to be a guy who knew and dated Meg.  After Meg dies and Cody goes to clean out the room, Ben turns his attention to her.  It was one of the most bothersome things I've ever encountered in a book with a best friend committing suicide.  Spoiler alert: Cody ends up with Ben.  All girls know that you don't hook up with your best friends ex.  I just felt like Cody wasn't respecting her dead best friend.  I somewhat understand that Forman wrote it in so that the reader would understand how Meg fell for Ben, but at the same time I feel like Forman could have given Cody the strength and ability to resist Ben.  There would have been a better storyline if Cody had insisted that she respect Meg and moved on.  I'm a HUGE fan of friendship in books.  I feel like thanks to this romance storyline, the friendship that Meg and Cody had was completely thrown out the window.

Overall, I have to give this book 4 stars.  It was better than I expected.  The only downfall was the romance storyline between Cody and Ben.  This is a topic sensitive book and I recommend this only to mature readers who can handle the content included.  I can see this book being on shelves in high schools and being read by twenty somethings.

Worthy by Donna Cooner

From Goodreads,

"Download the app. Be the judge.

Everyone at Linden's high school is obsessed with Worthy. It's this new app that posts pictures of couples, and asks: Is the girl worthy of the guy? 

Suddenly, relationships implode as the votes climb and the comments get real ugly real fast. 

At first, Linden is focused on other things. Like cute Alex Rivera. Prom committee. Her writing. But soon she's intrigued by Worthy. Who's posting the pictures? Who's voting? And what will happen when the spotlight turns... on Linden?"

Goodreads - Worthy

This book follows Linden, a student in high school who falls under the scrutiny of an app called Worthy.  Worthy is an app that lets the public decide if the girl is worthy of the guy she is dating.  But not only does it let the people vote, it allows them to make comments about the couple.  Couples in the school are critiqued on Worthy, but the true question is will the relationships and friendships be able to withstand the public judging them?

This book is very relevant in today's world.  We are a society that is centered and focused on our phones.  I think that in this aspect this book would be very popular with young adults.  I really enjoyed how the book was separated by what was being posted on the app.  As the couples were being judged there was information or comments that were included that separated the book up.  There were also things that were posted by the app moderator that helped create a more immersive experience that made it feel like I was experiencing the app.  I feel like that was a nice touch to help better incorporate the reader into the story.

This book had the potential to have a big message about cyberbullying, but it didn't.  Cooner really missed the opportunity on this.  We live in a world where everyone is glued to their phones, and instead of students being mean face to face, most do it through a computer or phone screen.  I think that Cooner should have really tried harder to incorporate an anti-cyberbullying message into this book.  Most students have experienced some form of cyberbullying, and I think this book would have been more relatable if she had taken this route.  I'm a teacher and we all preach that bullying of any kind is not tolerated.  But then we have books like this where cyberbullying is happening, the app was published in the school newspaper, but yet nobody did anything to investigate or stop what was happening.  It's books like this that give teachers a bad reputation.  A parent or teacher could have and should have found out about the app and put a stop to it.  There should have also been a consequence for the student who created the app, or at least given us the satisfaction that someone punched him because he was causing drama in their relationship.  He gave students the perfect outlet to critique, judge, and comment on others and tell why they were or were not worthy of the person they were dating.  I just find it a very unbelievable situation that no adults knew about the app and that there wasn't any kind of consequence for the student who started all of this.  Cooner missed opportunities for this book to have a huge message and make a huge impact.

I give this book 2 stars.  This book was very much a teenage book with high school drama.  There were plenty of opportunities for this book to have an important message, but unfortunately it didn't.  I would recommend this to junior high or high school students.

This Life I Live: One Man's Extraordinary Ordinary Life and the Woman Who Changed It Forever by Rory Feek

From Goodreads,

"The Love Story that Captured a Nation’s Heart

Joey and Rory Feek were enjoying a steadily growing fan base in country music when Joey was diagnosed unexpectedly with a rapidly spreading cancer. This vibrant and beautiful young woman would soon be on a unique journey for which no one is ever fully prepared. Her husband, Rory, and children, Heidi, Hopie, and Indiana, were beside her each step of the way. Rory, a prolific songwriter, entrepreneur, farmer, and overall tender man, has seen God bless his life in countless unexpected ways and had started a blog, thislifeilive.com, not really knowing its purpose other than he needed to write. That purpose soon became clearer when Joey’s cancer battle hit.

By inviting so many into the final months of Joey’s life, this astounding couple captured the hearts of millions with their powerful love story, the manner in which they were handling the diagnosis, and the inspiring simple way they had chosen to live their lives.

In this vulnerable book, Rory takes us into his own challenging life story and shows what can happen when God brings both his presence and the right companion into our lives. He also gives never-before-revealed details on what he calls “the long goodbye,” the blessing of being able to know that life is going to end and taking advantage of it. Feek shows how we all are actually there already and how we can learn to live that way every day. He then goes into detail toward the end of the book on what it’s like to try to move on with your life once you’ve “had it all.”"

Goodreads - This Life I Live

This book is the story of Joey and Rory Feek's love and how they both got to where they are in life.  It tells of the struggles that Rory faced and how he found Joey which turned his life around and gave him a whole new purpose.  All of the happy moments, and the sad, are chronicled in this book, and it gives the reader a new perspective on love and how life should be lived.

I remember watching Joey and Rory on Can You Duet?.  My mom absolutely fell in love with them.  She followed their music and their story.  She was absolutely excited when they announced they would have their own TV show, and even more excited when they announced they were expecting a baby.  At that point I joined in the fun and started following their story and their journey.  My mom and I were devastated when we found out that Joey had cancer.  I would update my mom when Rory posted on his blog.  We were both heartbroken when we heard the news of Joey's passing.  I remember where I was when I read the news article.  There was a lot of information shared of Joey and Rory's journey, but this book really gave all the details, good and bad.  I love how raw and real this book was.  Rory shared all the bad things that had happened to him, and how he wasn't the best person when he was younger.  He shared all of the troubles he and Joey faced, as well as all the love they shared.  I always saw Joey and Rory as a couple who had a perfect life with no troubles or heartaches.  I now understand that just like everyone else, they had their own battles they were facing or had faced.  This book really has helped me in my own relationship to understand that neither of us are perfect, our relationship isn't perfect, life isn't perfect, and that is absolutely okay.  Joey and Rory loved unconditionally, even through the bad times.  They worked their problems out instead of throwing in the towel and calling it quits.  I took a lot away from Joey and Rory's relationship with each other, but I honestly wish there was a separate book that focused just on their relationship with each other instead of having all the back story of Rory's life.

I only had two complaints about this book.  The first was that the chapters were very, very short.  The chapters were so short it was hard to keep me hooked.  I would read a couple chapters, feel like I hadn't read very much, get discouraged, and not pick up the book for a couple weeks.  It took me three months to read this book.  My other complaint, as I mentioned above, was that in this book was there was a LOT of back story on Rory, as in I felt like there was more back story than there was story of Joey and Rory.  I understand that Rory had to set the scene for how he was with relationships in his past.  This was very crucial because it showed how Joey had changed and transformed him into something amazing.  But at the same time, I was wanting more stories of Joey and Rory.  I was wanting to read the funny stories of them together or the sad moments they shared.  I felt like it was very quick at the end.  They got married, they disagreed on babies, they had a baby, she got cancer, the end.  I really wanted more on their relationship and their story.  What was shared in this book really spoke to me about my relationships with my boyfriend, friends, and family.  I would love to see another book that is really focused on their relationship together and how they relied on each other and helped each other grow.  I just need more than what was given to me in this book.

Overall, I would give this book 4 out of 5 stars.  I think if I had sat down and read the book straight through I would have given it 5 stars, but I really lost interest while reading it.  I would recommend this book to anyone who has followed Joey and Rory, and to anyone who is looking for a good book that is based on relationships and faith.

Columbine by Dave Cullen

From Goodreads,

"The tragedies keep coming. As we reel from the latest horror . . . " So begins a new epilogue, illustrating how Columbine became the template for nearly two decades of "spectacle murders." It is a false script, seized upon by a generation of new killers. In the wake of Newtown, Aurora, and Virginia Tech, the imperative to understand the crime that sparked this plague grows more urgent every year.

What really happened April 20, 1999? The horror left an indelible stamp on the American psyche, but most of what we "know" is wrong. It wasn't about jocks, Goths, or the Trench Coat Mafia. Dave Cullen was one of the first reporters on scene, and spent ten years on this book-widely recognized as the definitive account. With a keen investigative eye and psychological acumen, he draws on mountains of evidence, insight from the world's leading forensic psychologists, and the killers' own words and drawings-several reproduced in a new appendix. Cullen paints raw portraits of two polar opposite killers. They contrast starkly with the flashes of resilience and redemption among the survivors.

Goodreads - Columbine

Awards:

• Audie Award Nominee for Best Nonfiction (2009)
• Los Angeles Times Book Prize Nominee for Current Interest (2009)
• Goodreads Choice Award for Nonfiction (2009)
• Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime (2010)
• Lincoln Award Nominee (2012)

Dave Cullen was one of the first reporters on the scene of the Columbine shooting.  He spent 10 years researching, studying, and examining the events, evidence, and people from Columbine High School.  This book is a work of nonfiction that gives an analysis of what happened before, during, and after the Columbine shooting.

It took me exactly two weeks to read this book.  This book had so much information about Columbine and there were times when I had to stop reading because the content was very heavy.  I loved that this book broke down the shooting from before, during, and the weeks, months, and years after.  There was a lot that happened in the walls of Columbine that was reported incorrectly.  Dave Cullen found the truth in what happened and the stories that were reported.  One of the things that I definitely recall being cleared up was the story of a girl saying yes she believed in God.  It was reported that Cassie Bernall was asked if she believed in God by one of the shooters.  Her response was yes, and then she was shot and killed.  However, the truth in this was that Valeen Schnurr received shrapnel from a shot and started praying.  One of the shooters turned around and asked her if she believed in God.  She said yes and he reloaded his gun, but he got distracted and walked away.  Another boy in the library, Craig Bernall heard this exchange and thought it was his sister.  From there the story was told by Craig that Cassie had said yes when asked if she believed in God.  Her mother wrote a book and the world was captivated by the story of the martyr.  Dave Cullen was sure to check all evidence, get the facts, and set the story straight.  Cullen also took the time to study the shooters to give the public a better understanding of what types of people they were.  He studied their journals and videos to try to find some kind of understanding as to why they did what they did.

The one thing that I didn't like about this book was there were absolutely no pictures in it.  I understand that Cullen didn't include pictures because he wanted people to read the facts and information instead of this being a book where you gawk at the pictures.  It did allow me to really process the information, but there were times when I needed to see photo evidence of what they were talking about.  I would then stop and go search for the photo so that I understood what Cullen was referencing or to understand the events better.  He did include some journal scans and diagrams, which was nice to have, but there were definitely times when photos were desired. 

As a teacher this book was interesting to read because this was a real shooting, and one of the first of its kind, and it allowed me to see what was done correctly and incorrectly, and even things to watch for in students.  I recommended this book to our school resource officer and he said it was a book he had been wanting to read for a while.  While this book didn't have pictures, it was still wonderfully written and was full of evidence, information, and the truth.  I give this book 5 out of 5 stars.