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The Borrowers

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Some people might know the story of Arrietty from the Studio Ghibli film, The Secret World of Arrietty. This is based (very faithfully) on a 1950s novel from Mary Norton, The Borrowers, a story told as a frame narrative recounting a nine-year-old boy who discovers the existence of a family of tiny people, the Borrowers. The “Clock” family live under the floorboards beneath a grandfather clock in a big Edwardian house (Pod the father, Homily the mother, and Arrietty the teenage daughter). I found this novel interesting for a number of reasons. One, the novel makes us think about the importance of scale and the struggles of tiny people. The scale of everything is unimaginably big: a safety pin is the size of a broom, a small book is a pain to carry, and a cat is the most dangerous predator, besides a human (at least, that’s what the Borrowers think). Two, resources are to so difficult to obtain, especially when “borrowing” (taking leftover things that humans would not notice have...
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Disney's Twisted Tales

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A couple of weeks ago, I began reading a series called Disney’s Twisted Tales. So far, I have read and enjoyed Reflection , What Once was Mine , Straight on Till Morning , and So This is Love , as well as a collection of Disney's Twisted Tales short stories . This series is for anyone who is a fan of any famous Disney movie or just likes reading fairy tales in general.  Each Disney Twisted Tale book takes a Disney movie and gives it a different plot, sometimes having different endings or even new characters. For example, What Once Was Mine twists Tangled. The book’s subtitle is: What is Rapunzel’s mother drinking from the wrong flower? In the book, instead of having magical healing powers from the sundrop flower, the queen accidentally ingests the moondrop flower instead, which gives Rapunzel the power to kill, change, transform, and heal. I found this really fun and interesting to read, as readers get another perspective of the story and overall theme. Currently, I am reading...
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Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhhá Lai

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Hello! I'm Sloane, and I am reviewing Inside Out and Back Again  by Thanhhá Lai. I read this book a few years ago, and I really liked it. Inside Out and Back Again  is about a girl named Há living in Saigon, Vietnam during the Vietnam War. The book begins on Tết, the first day of the lunar calendar. Every day, Há gets more news of the war getting closer to Saigon. Há and her family must be prepared to leave their home any day. One day, the war reaches Saigon, and they have to leave everything behind and board a ship to the United States before the Fall of Saigon. After a long journey, they make it to the United States, and fly to Alabama. Há must heal from having to leave her home behind and also experience her new life in the United States, persevering through harsh bullying and hardships. This is a book in verse, and the descriptions and phrasing of the poetry helps bring the narrative together, and helps convey the intense emotions of Há throughout the story. I like Há...
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Powerless writing and and an unoriginal plot

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“For every girl who has ever felt powerless”   is it bad to say the dedication was my favorite part of this book... Hi, I am back again with another novel that I did not particularly enjoy.  *Minor spoilers, but no major plot spoilers” Powerless written by Lauren Roberts is about a girl named Paedyn who lives in the slums as a thief in the Kingdom of Ilya ruled by “Elites” who possess fantastical powers. Anyone who does not have powers, “Ordinary’s” are hunted down and killed if they are found living in the Kingdom. The main character is one of these Ordinary's, using her skills of reading peoples body language to pose as a Psychic and hide among the Elites. However, after she unknowingly saves one of the princes of Ilya, Kai, she is picked to participate in a game that demonstrates the Elites powers called the Purging Trials. Paedyn spends the rest of the book trying to survive the trials and hide her identity as an Ordinary, while also uncovering secrets about her Kingdom a...
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The Buried Life - Reading Poe's Short Stories

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I’d like to share a few things about Edgar Allan Poe’s style of writing and why I think he is such an interesting American voice. This is my first time reading his short stories, but I now have a good sense of his favorite themes and types of characters. His stories are told using first person narration, usually by a character who seems insane. However, the seemingly-insane narrator walks us through his hyper-logical process of carrying out a horrible deed, whether against others or himself. The narrations explore the pathological thoughts of people doing and thinking terrible, unacceptable, taboo thoughts, usually about harming for no good reason. This is what makes the thinking pattern so perverse. More disturbingly, the narrators show delight in committing perverse acts against innocent victims, but they can’t explain exactly why. However, in the end of these stories, the narrator feels overwhelming disgust for his crimes. Although these stories sound like deathbed confess...
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Final Thoughts on This Golden State

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     In my last blog post, I was still reading This Golden State , and I wrote about what I thought of the book so far. Now, I have finished the book, and I will give a summary of the entire story and my thoughts on the book overall.  As I mentioned before, Poppy is the main character. She has a little sister named Emma, a mom, and a dad. Her family has been on the run for as long as Poppy can remember. Every time they move to a new place, she does her best not to make too many friends or get too attached. Poppy has spent her entire life giving up things that she loves. Often, the reader glimpses at the internal struggle Poppy goes through; she really wants to have a normal life (have a phone, finish a year at one school, drive a car) but at the same time, she’s frightened at what would happen if she was recognized. She doesn’t know for sure, but every time she does something against her family’s rules of staying hidden, police cars arrive and they have to move away....
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Top Story by Kelly Yang

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Hello! I'm Sloane, and I'm reviewing Top Story  by Kelly Yang. This is the fifth book in the Front Desk  series. I read the other books in the series a while ago, and then realized there was a fifth book, so I read it recently! In the first  Front Desk  book, the main character, Mia, moves from China to America, and her parents get jobs at the Calivista motel. The motel is owned by Mr. Yao, who overworks Mia's parents and treats them badly, while Mr. Yao's son, Jason, bullies Mia at school for helping at the motel. Mia and her parents help immigrants stay in the motel, which they have to keep a secret from Mr. Yao. Mia has to navigate her new life and pursue her dream of being a writer. *Spoilers for the Front Desk series (books 1-4)* In Top Story , Mia is in Chinatown during winter break with her mom and her friend Lupe, while her dad stays in Anaheim, California to run the Calivista motel. Mia is going to a journalism camp, while Lupe is going to the stat...
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“I am the somebody” A Daisy Jones and The Six Review:

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          “Men often think they deserve a sticker for treating women like people.” Page 29 Taylor Jenkins Reid is the master of writing riveting stories with complex characters and profound passages, this book was no exception. Daisy Jones and The Six is an enigmatic novel about a band's rise to fame during the mid sixties - late seventies. This book goes through how Daisy Jones and The Six became one of the most famous bands in the world before suddenly splitting in 1977. The story is told in a very unique way, through a “transcript of interviews” where readers get to learn first hand accounts of the band from bandmembers, friends, and family.  The book starts with someone interviewing people involved with Daisy Jones and The Six. Daisy Jones is described as a solo artist, while at the same time, a small band called the Dunne Brothers were trying to earn their big break. Over a series of events the aspiring rock artists meet and eventually form th...
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