The Bookshelf

Hello! I'm Sloane and I am reviewing The One and Only Ruby  by Katherine Applegate, which is the third book of The One and Only Ivan  series. I already reviewed the first and second book, but I'm going to talk about different aspects of the story in this post! I read this book recently after reviewing the second book, as I was looking for a book to read and was already reminded of this series. While the first two books are better, the third book is still a good read! *Some spoilers for books 1 and 2* The One and Only Ruby  is written from the perspective of Ruby, the elephant that Ivan and Bob met in the Big Top Mall and helped to get relocated to a sanctuary. Her life in the sanctuary has been safe and happy, spending time with her herd of elephants, as well as Ivan and Bob. Ruby's "Tuskday" is tomorrow, which is a ceremony that celebrates an elephant growing their tusks. Early in the book, Ruby reveals that she hates her tusks. Jabori, one of her old caretakers,...

*Mild spoilers but no major plot spoilers for this book * *There are spoilers for the basic plot of The Hunger Games, but since this is a review of a prequel that is unfortunately hard to avoid.* Note: Suzanne Collins books have long titles so I used some abbreviations in my writing. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (TBOSAS) Sunrise on the Reaping (SOTR) One of the first books that ever got me into reading was The Hunger Games by Suzzane Collins. The intense action paired with heartfelt moments always drew me into the story. Additionally, as I got older I learned to appreciate the social commentary Collins always adds in her novels. For all these reasons The Hunger Games has remained one of my favorite book series over the years. Therefore, when I learned that Suzzane Collins was writing another prequel to The Hunger Games I was super excited! After reading it a few weeks ago I can say it definitely lived up to my expectations.    Sunrise on the Reaping is a prequel...

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...

 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...

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 ...

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...

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...