Book Review: Paper Towns by John Green

Paper Towns by John Green Reviewed by Tyler L.

Although Paper Towns was written by an author I highly respect, John Green, the novel ultimately concluded with a bad taste in my mouth. The novel follows a male senior in highschool, Quentin Jacobsen, as he embarks on a self discovering journey with his two best friends, Ben and Radar, to find his childhood crush, Margo Roth Spiegelman, who's gone on a mysterious hiatus from her average life. Throughout the clues and planning, Margo entrusts Quentin to find her before going through with a choice that will change her life forever. It deemed quite difficult to genuinely enjoy this novel through its uneventful plot and deceiving ending, however, if I must claim to have a favorite section of the novel, it would be near the ending when Quentin finally identified the location of Margo. This was the most standing out section of the novel because of how Quentin and his friends were tasked to create a well-thought out plan in less than a few minutes. Furthermore, the character Radar truly resonated with me because I can respect the way his mind works and how he's the brains behind the adventure, but it was only at this moment in the book that he was capable of showing the readers his capabilities in calculating and organization.

To faithful readers of John Green, I would recommend this book to his fanbase. However, as a reader of book of his, The Fault In Our Stars, I held this novel to a high expectation and was very disappointed. The novel had a bland and boring novel that required very little critical thinking. The book revolves mostly around mystery and problem solving, however, with the uneventful plot, it can be difficult to pay attention to the mystery itself. If mediocre mystery with a twist of teenage angst intrigues such readers, then this book is for you. John Green's other works are quite plentiful in literature, however most of his work are thought provoking and dense with analytical thinking, but with this book, it proves to be slightly different from his other books. It would be enjoyable to read this book if a fan of John Green wants a novel that is less complex and at a lower level of comprehension. The novel itself doesn't affect the reader's daily life in ways that his other work does; the novel is a plan story, nothing more, nothing less. Overall, Paper Towns by John Green was just another book on the shelve. The plot was boring, and the reader is bound to be unsatisfied with the ending of the book, not because of the decisions that Quentin makes, but because of how over analytical he was about the mystery. The book was simply held at a high expectation for me, and the expectation was not met. Perhaps it would've been a good if Paper Towns was the first book of John Green that I've read.

Book Review: Ghosts By Raina Telgemeier

*note: Raina Telgemeier is on the Banned Book List this year for her graphic novel Drama. Here is a book review of her graphic novel Ghosts.*

Ghosts By Raina Telgemeier
Genre Graphic Novel
Reviewed by Jabriana G.



My overall opinion of this book is that it’s a really interesting and wonderful book.The plot of this book is that Cat has a little sister named Maya, and they move to Bahia de la Luna because of Maya’s Cystic Fibrosis. They both meet a boy who tells them about the ghosts in the town.


My favorite part in this book is when Maya meets an eight-year-old ghost named Jose, and she tells him,”Jose, if I die, Cat will be all alone. She’s terrible at making friends.” This is my favorite part of this book because even though Maya knows she might die sooner than later it shows that she’s not afraid, but that she’s afraid of what might happen to her sister after she’s gone. I would recommend this book to people who like Graphic Novels, and possibly someone who is struggling from moving from somewhere old to somewhere new.This book is also really good to read if you like stories that involve Dia De Los Muertos or ghosts. I think that someone might enjoy this book as the weather gets colder and windier, so this is a book that’s perfect to read in Autumn, or during Halloween and Dia De Los Muertos.

Book Review - Milk & Honey

Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur

Reviewed by Zorely 

Milk and Honey is a book filled with a series of poems that I absolutely love, and you will too.

This is a book that is filled with meaningful poems that somehow get you inspired to write your very own. The book is divided into four chapters that have poems relating to the title. The Hurting, The Loving, The Breaking, and The Healing.

Rupi Kaur’s Milk and Honey is by far one of my favorite books that are dedicated to poems. There aren’t many books like that, and I adore them. I don’t have just one favorite poem, in fact I have four poems that I enjoyed and they all happen to be in the same chapter called “The Healing.” The first one is on page 157. It is about co-depending on people to fill the spots you think that are empty. This could mean that you’re lacking happiness, love, anything you think that you don’t have. The last part of it really makes you think deeply about where you stand in life. “Who tricked you into believing another person was meant to complete you when the most they can do is complement.” The second one is on page 167 and it talks about that one quote that is most famous from males who try to impress a woman by saying, “You’re not like most girls.” Some girls might like to hear that, but others don’t. For some it seems more of an insult to them than a compliment because as the poem states, “Something about the phrase-something about how I have to be unlike the women I call sisters in order to be wanted makes me want to spit your tongue out. Like I am supposed to be proud you picked me. As if I should be relieved you think I am better than them.” And lastly, my favorite poem is on page 190. It explains about fellow females joining together hand in hand to help each other. Whether it be emotional support, physical support, jobs, or even something as bold as standing up to women’s rights. In the poem it compares the need for feminism to  flowers needing spring.

I would recommend this book to people who love poems as much as I do. This book is for the people who want to find their inner poet through the writing of another author.

If you feel like reading something that has multiple hidden messages or you just want to read something unlike most books, you’d absolutely enjoy this book.

Ms. Edmonds is reading: Gun, With Occasional Music

 

Ms. Edmonds is currently reading Gun, With Occasional Music by Jonathan Lethem.

How can you not love a book that says,"Tell him next time he wants to talk to me, don't send a marsupial," and means it literally? Gun, With Occasional Music is a dystopian detective story and whether you're in for the dsytopia or in it for the detective story (I am in it for the detective story), it's a great read. Conrad Metcalf is a detective who's last client ends up dead, and it's up to him to find out what really happened. Featuring, as mentioned before, a kangaroo named Joey Castle, a beautiful blonde named Celeste Stanhope and a freely available drugs with names like Forgettol, Acceptol and Regrettol.

 

 

 

Goodreads says:

Gumshoe Conrad Metcalf has problems-there's a rabbit in his waiting room and a trigger-happy kangaroo on his tail. Near-future Oakland is a brave new world where evolved animals are members of society, the police monitor citizens by their karma levels, and mind-numbing drugs such as Forgettol and Acceptol are all the rage.
Metcalf has been shadowing Celeste, the wife of an affluent doctor. Perhaps he's falling a little in love with her at the same time. When the doctor turns up dead, our amiable investigator finds himself caught in a crossfire between the boys from the Inquisitor's Office and gangsters who operate out of the back room of a bar called the Fickle Muse.
Mixing elements of sci-fi, noir, and mystery, this clever first novel from the author of Motherless Brooklyn is a wry, funny, and satiric look at all that the future may hold.

 

Mr. Singleton is Reading: If I Die in a Combat Zone, Box Me Up and Ship Me Home

In If I Die in a Combat Zone, Box Me Up and Ship Me Home, Tim O'Brien writes about his life as a U.S. combat soldier in Vietnam. The book shows how awful and mistaken the war was; how much suffering it caused the Vietnamese people, and how damaging it was for U.S. soldiers.

It's a good book to read in combination with Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse 5, and Ambrose Bierce's writing about the U.S. Civil War.

This kind of writing reminds me of what photographer Lisette Model said about her photographs of people: "The more specific you are, the more general you are." When we get to look in detail at one person's experiences, we can engage with a situation emotionally, and later, think about how that tragedy was repeated millions of times.

 GoodReads says:

Before writing his award-winning Going After Cacciato, Tim O'Brien gave us this intensely personal account of his year as a foot soldier in Vietnam. The author takes us with him to experience combat from behind an infantryman's rifle, to walk the minefields of My Lai, to crawl into the ghostly tunnels, and to explore the ambiguities of manhood and morality in a war gone terribly wrong. Beautifully written and searingly heartfelt, If I Die in a Combat Zone is a masterwork of its genre.

 

 

 

*quick note from Ms. D* If you liked The Things They Carried, try this book too. Also, read Slaughterhouse Five, it might change your world.

Ms. D is reading: Earthseed

Ms. D'Ambruoso is currently reading Octavia Butler's Earthseed duet: Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents.
Ms. D says:

This is such a good series! I've been meaning to read them for a while now, but just hadn't gotten around to it. I can't believe I've never read them before. I'm in love. I want more, but this is all she wrote in this set. Sower was published in 1993, but I'm convinced that Octavia Butler saw glimpses of the future. This future, dystopian, America that her main character, Lauren, lives in could easily happen under the right (or wrong!) circumstances. Some of the scenes are very uncomfortable to read, since Lauren's world is not a safe one. However, I highly recommend them both.

Goodreads says:

When unattended environmental and economic crises lead to social chaos, not even gated communities are safe. In a night of fire and death Lauren Olamina, a minister's young daughter, loses her family and home and ventures out into the unprotected American landscape. But what begins as a flight for survival soon leads to something much more: a startling vision of human destiny... and the birth of a new faith.

 

If you are interested in this book, come to the library and check it out. Don't forget that students can also write reviews and be published on the library website!