The Bookshelf

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...

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...

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...