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Baer v. Bushnell

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Who created the video game? What is a “video game,” precisely? Define a “game” that works on your cathode-ray-tube TV set. How does one control the game? What does it look like? How is it manufactured to be cheaper? The graphic novel, Easy to Learn, Difficult to Master, answers these questions. The answers today may seem like a given, but just around six decades ago, only one person came up with that answer: Ralph Baer. Or was it? He had a rival: Nolan Bushnell. The novel, Easy to Learn, Difficult to Master starts with a ping-pong table in the center of a coliseum. The two contestants are, of course, Ralph Baer and Nolan Bushnell. As the novel progresses, the competition increasingly heats up, and the rules change drastically, so much so that the game itself changes. As the two fathers of the video game are fighting, they tell both sides of the story—the story of the birth of the video game. Born in Rodalben, Germany in 1922, Ralph Baer was living in a dangerous time, espe...
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Etiquette & Espionage

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 Hi,      Over Spring Break, I read Etiquette & Espionage by Gail Carriger. This book is full of action, and it's a great read for people who love mystery. There are several reasons why this book is appealing and fun to read, but first, I will quickly summarize the book.  This book takes place in the early 20th century/late 19th century, and it revolves around a girl Sophronia Temminick. She is a rebellious child who gives her conservative mother a hard time by not following any of the societal standards expected of her. The story begins with Sophronia spying on a friend of her mother’s in a dumbwaiter. She gets caught, and ends up getting sent away to a finishing school, which is like a boarding school that trains girls how to behave in high-class society. At first, Sophronia drags her feet and doesn’t want to go. She wants to stay at her home, annoy her mother and sisters, and mess around with her brothers. But her mother is adamant, and Sophronia...
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The One and Only Bob by Katherine Applegate

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Hello! I'm Sloane, and I am reviewing The One and Only Bob  by Katherine Applegate. This book is the sequel to The One and Only Ivan , which I reviewed a few months ago. I really enjoyed both of these books, especially since they are kind of written in verse, as I mentioned in my post about The One and Only Ivan . *Small spoilers for The One and Only Ivan  (the first book)* In The One and Only Bob , our main character is a dog named Bob. He has been relocated to a home with Julia and her father after living on his own in a shopping mall for so long. One day, Bob visits Ivan, a gorilla, and Ruby, an elephant, at the sanctuary they have been moved to after living in the shopping mall with Bob. A storm looms on the horizon, and a tornado hits the sanctuary. Bob is separated from Julia and her father, lost in an animal enclosure. Then, while everyone is already scrambling, a hurricane strikes. Bob begins a search for his long lost sister, while along the way working with Ivan and ...
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“‘Because you are a girl’ is never a reason for anything. Ever.”

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Please note that since I listened to the audiobook of this book I do not have page numbers for all of my quotes. Recently, when I was looking for a book to read, I stumbled upon Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions written by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. I thought this would be a perfect book to read since it included writing by Adichie, author of Purple Hibiscus , and it is a manifesto, which is a writing form we covered in class. Dear Ijeawele is a letter that Adichie wrote to her friend after being asked how her friend could raise her newborn daughter as a feminist. Throughout fifteen thoughtfully written pieces of advice Adichie underlines what it means to be and raise a feminist in our twenty-first century society. Although I cannot relate to the latter, I still think this book is a thought provoking piece of literature that addresses serious issues in our society. I personally really enjoyed this book. From the opening lines Adichie sets the stage for a dis...
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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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