Great Reads for this Summer

Following April’s Great Reads for this Spring, I have decided to share with you, the readers of The Bookshelf, a few awesome, inspiring, and thrilling books that will help you start your summer off right. 

Below is a list of award-winning and accolade-garnished books. I have read a few of these books, but not all of them. A great part of summer reading is discovering new books, so I thought it seemed fit that I include some books that I have yet to read, but I may read later during the summer. Sound cool? [nod your head] Here they are:

• I’ll Be There by Holly Goldberg Sloan: I own, but have not yet read, this contemporary novel. This book, which has received nearly all perfect reviews, follows the lives of two brothers, Sam and Riddle, and their days in an unstable household. Living with a sketchy father and always moving from place-to-place, Sam does not completely understand how different his life is than others’, until he meets a kind, church-going girl, named Emily. Ultimately faced with two different paths to choose from, living his old life or embarking on a new chapter, bringing Riddle, his little brother, along. This book is said to be a beautiful story about how one person can make a difference and a change.

• The Name of this Book is Secret by Pseudonymous Bosch: Oh, where to start with this witty book? The first in a five book series, this book, whose title I will shorten to Secret, is a wonderful, often humorous story about two best friends, Cass and Max-Ernest, and dysfunctional families; quests to discover big mysteries; nefarious villains; evil chefs; antique stores; little, ugly, friendly creatures; and the Terces (backwards: Secret) society. Sprinkled with quirky illustrations, Secret is a funny and engaging read.

• Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs: (Yet another book with a long title.) I desperately want to read this book, but my local bookstore never has it in stock. Sixteen-year-old Jacob grew up hearing tales from his grandfather about a place where kids with special abilities live. Now that his grandfather has passed away, Jacob finds old pictures of children from this home; kids that can float, kids that can see the dead, kids that can read minds. Determined, Jacob finds this home and is surprised at what he finds: the exact children from his grandfather’s photographs. However, not all is well in this home. A terrible monster is lurking around, a monster only Jacob can see. This book comes complete with the actual photographs owned by Jacob’s grandfather.

• Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce: Last week I finished reading this spectacular retelling of Little Red Riding Hood. In this adaption of the original, there are two sisters, Scarlett and Rosie (both shades of red). After a deadly encounter with a Fenris, a werewolf type thingy, Scarlett is left with a missing eye and scars all over her body. Scarlett fought against the Fenris and was able to save her sister but not her grandmother. Seven years following the incident, Scarlett and Rosie are a Fenris-fighting duo, killing the wolves in attempt to save innocent people around the world. However, when Silas, Scarlett’s old fighting partner returns from an extended vacation away from fighting, Rosie finds herself often wanting to do something other than killing the Fenris. She wants to keep hunting, but she does not want it to be her life. But Rosie feels like she would be betraying Scarlett, who saved her life from a Fenris, if she were to stop hunting. A great tale of sisterhood, friendship, guilt, danger, and fulfillment, Sisters Red should be on the top of everyone’s to-read list. 

There it is! Continue reading The Bookshelf during the summer to discover even more great books of all genres!

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Poll #7: Summer Reading, Revisited

About a year and a month ago, I created the first poll for The Bookshelf, titled Summer Reading. Today, June 21st, is the first day of summer, so I thought it seemed fit to have another summer reading poll on The Bookshelf – a clone of the original. That's right; I'm republishing last year's post with the same question and the same answer options. Some may call this idea lazy, others may call it genius; a brilliant way to see the growth and development of a blog and its readers over a time period of one year. I prefer the latter opinion.    

With that being said, Poll #7 is up and ready to receive precious votes! Remember that we are trying to create a record number of votes on a single poll for The Bookshelf! The current record is taken by Poll #5: Books into Movies, with seventeen votes. We can do better than that! Even if we only make to eighteen votes, we will still have accomplished something. FYI, if the record is broken, a special results post will be posted. It will be like the Guinness Book of World Records, only ten times greater.

The question, same as last year's, Do you plan to read this summer? Following the question are four answer options, also the same as last year's. GO VOTE! If you can only do one thing on this blog, that one thing should be voting on this poll (And, you know, you should appreciate books and their book review counterparts, too...). As always, the poll is located on the right side of the page, above the "about me" section. The poll closes on Thursday, July 7th, so make sure to have your voice heard before time runs out!

The time for summer is here, as is the time for summer reading!

– Jacob

P.S: You may have noticed that this post is shorter than some of my more recent ones (i.e. all posts from this year). This is because, after reading the original, short Poll #1: Summer Reading post, I realized that their can be beauty in simplistic, yet meaningful posts. However, do not expect this to happen often.

Hey! You, yeah, you! Stop reading this postscript and go VOTE! (please.)

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Enclave: Life After Disaster

Dystopian, apocalyptic, post-apocalyptic. Whatever you want to call it, the genre of books about life after monumental and earth-shattering disasters is continuously growing. Enclave, by Ann Aguirre, the first in a new trilogy, has become an official member of this thriving genre.

In a world where you receive your job and your name at age fifteen, Deuce’s, the main character’s, society, known as the College Enclave, is very limited. The College Enclave, or just simply referred to as the Enclave, is an underground establishment that was built to be a safe house after some great disaster that left the rest of the world destroyed and desolate. Because they are living underground with limited resources, the majority of the people in the Enclave only live to be about twenty years old. Citizens of the Enclave live without ever seeing the sun or feeling the grass or experiencing the rain. Everyone in the Enclave stays in the Enclave, underground. Only occasionally do people leave the Enclave, and even then, they are forced out because they broke one of the Enclave’s rules. All people forced out of the Enclave must live Topside, where the world once existed.

Enclave, the book, begins on Deuce’s birthday, the day she scraped off her birth name, Girl15, and received her job, known as an assignment: to be a Huntress. In the Enclave there are three different assignments from which you can be selected from: the Breeders, the Builders, or the Hunters. Newly named Deuce was ecstatic on her birthday to discover that she had earned the title of Huntress, a status she had coveted for years. Hunters leave the Enclave, but without leaving the underground, to scavenge food from traps set up in the many different underground passageways. In addition to hauling back food to the Enclave, Hunters also have the nasty job of patrolling: killing any half human/half monster creatures that try to enter the Enclave. These creatures are known as “Freaks”, and they are hungry, carnivorous beasts that have been battling the Enclave for years.

Like all Hunters, Deuce was marked with six scars on her arms and received her hunting and patrolling partner, a boy named Fade. Fade had always been a mystery in the Enclave. He was the only member of the Enclave to not be born in the Enclave. He was found a few years before he was old enough to receive an assignment, and he claimed he had survived four years in the tunnels of the underground. Strong and quiet, Fade was always detached from the other Hunters and everyone else in the Enclave. Deuce, unsure what to think of him, was wary of him being her partner. But after a turn of events, a few shocking discoveries, and a vow of trust, Deuce realizes that it is the leaders of the Enclave, who tell lies about the outside world, that are not to be trusted. 

Without revealing the rest of the book, and some major spoilers, Deuce discovers from Fade more about the world outside of them and above them. Pulling key elements from other dystopian books such as The City of Ember (living underground), The Hunger Games (strong warrior female character), The Giver and Divergent (assignments/factions), and The Forest of Hands and Teeth (zombie-esque, man-eating creatures), Enclave makes for one powerful and gruesome novel. However, do not misunderstand me; Enclave does not copy these great works of fictions – it builds upon pre-established concepts and creates a world, a life, and a story of its own. Fast-paced, addicting, and gritty, Enclave is a must-read for anyone. 

Rating: 4.75 out of 5 stars

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Anne Frank, the Graphic Biography: The Renowned Story in a Different Format

Entirely authorized and sponsored by The Anne Frank House, Anne Frank, the Graphic Biography is one of many adaptions of the beloved diary. This adaption comes in the form of a graphic biography, published to receive a larger audience of the readers of Anne’s diary. As I have mentioned in previous posts, the graphic novel is steadily becoming a popular form of literature and art. While I preferred the book, The Diary of a Young Girl, to this adaption, I was dumbfounded at the knowledge, research, and detail that were put into this book. Since I have already reviewed the book that inspired this graphic biography, I have decided to allow this review to focus more on how the illustrations and photographs conveyed the powerful message of Anne’s words. 

Inside pages

Illustrated and adapted for graphic biography form by Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colón, this adaption sticks close to the original in almost identical detail. Using photographs to set the scene, illustrations to communicate the surroundings, and words to tell the tale, Anne, those around her, and the annex building where they were living come to life. The photographs, which captured portraits of the people in hiding and the setting of Amsterdam, Holland, enforced the idea that this harrowing, yet powerful, story is true. The illustrations, beautifully drawn, were able to display the characteristics of Anne and the external hardships that she faced. The words, my favorite element of the biography, were both parts of the story and captions. Some words were Anne’s, taken from her diary and the original book, others were added to create a well thought graphic biography.

Anne Frank

Admittedly, I did not find Anne Frank, the Graphic Biography as excellent as The Diary of a Young Girl. However, it was still a top-of-the-line graphic novel with accurate descriptions and charming, realistic characters. I applaud Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colón for having the desire and perseverance to thoroughly research, adapt, and illustrate a new form of the diary, with its spectacular voice and inspiring vision of resilience and hope. I am happy that I read this adaption of Anne Frank’s story, her life. I believe that it has given me more insight to how difficult the events that occurred around Anne were, but how, with companionship and faith, she came out strong. Despite not surviving all her obstacles, she most definitely had a strong and influential ending. An ending, and beginning and middle, which needs to be told to all people.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.0 stars

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The Results Are In! (Poll #6)

The readers of The Bookshelf have voiced their opinions – the results for the sixth poll, the enjoyment/unenjoyment/neutrality of graphic novels, are in! Graphic novels, known as comic books to many, are stories that are told with pictures. They come in many different forms. There is the original comic book with panels and speech bubbles; manga, which is a Japanese variation of the comic book that reads back-to-front and right-to-left (con.fus.ing); the average novel, with black and white pictures interspersed within the text (examples would be Diary of a Wimpy Kid or Happyface, a book I have reviewed); and there’s the simple picture book. 

Manga

I typically prefer the words of a story over the illustrations. However, the graphic novel is an ever-growing form of literature, art, and fandom. Graphic novels have created new readers and art addicts alike. Due to all the hype and all the expansion of graphic novels, I decided to challenge myself by reading one this month. I chose a graphic novel that would be of interest to me: Anne Frank, the Graphic Biography. Earlier this month I reviewed the original heart-breaking and inspiring novel. I decided that I would like to experience the wonderful tale of willpower and resilience in a different format. A review of Anne Frank, the Graphic Biography will published later today.

On to the results!

The question: Do you like graphic novels? The answer options and results:

• Yes! They are the only books I read! 2 votes, 15%
• Yes, I enjoy both novels and graphic novels. 4 votes, 30%
• They’re OK. The pictures are nice, but I prefer the words. 5 votes 38%
• No, I don’t read books with pictures. 2 votes, 15%

A collection of comic book onomatopoeia

I’m happy to see that all answer options were voted for; a great sense of a variety of different readers is found on this blog. I’m also happy to see that the third option won because that is my views on graphic novels also! Thirteen votes were recorded for The Bookshelf’s sixth poll. Thirteen is the second highest amount of votes on any poll on The Bookshelf – only to be beat out by Poll #5: Books into Movies, with seventeen votes. Thank you, thank you (thank you) so much to everyone who voted, but I know we can do better! I’m offering an opportunity for us to make a record number of votes on the next poll. That’s right; on Tuesday Poll #7 will be published! It will be open until early/mid July – plenty of time for us to establish a new record for The Bookshelf!

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