Hate List

Written by Jennifer Brown

Reviewed by Vanessa Culpepper, BCCHS student

I stumbled across this book one cold Monday morning, I believe, and was almost immediately enthralled. These pages told the story of the ultimate case of bullying that lead to a high school shooting, but not in the way you might expect. Unlike most other books pertaining to this subject, we never truly see the shooters path to this horrid act. Instead we get to know and understand his girlfriend, Valerie. She had survived that fateful day in the Commons and lived to tell the story and become the anew outcast of Garvin high school. Despite being shot in the leg and being constantly called a hero and a monster at the same time, she goes back to her old high school to patch back the shattered remains of fond memories.

When Valerie met our murderer, Nick, she was fascinated by his chill demeanor and adopted it. She fell in love with him and never thought she would have to hit the ground. To Valerie, Nick was never a monster. In fact, Valerie felt she had never met the Nick that took the hopes, lives and sanities of an entire population of students. She had only ever known the human in Nick. Together they braved the storm as the odd ones out and ignored the bullies that favored them as their prey.

Then came the hate list. She was broken apart as she watched what was at first a helpful way of venting take a monstrous form and even more horrible impact on her life. She watched her broken family become tight-knit, with her as the monster they had to protect the world from, and then watched them fall apart. She endured her mother’s frantic mistrust and her father’s hardened coldness. She also had to suffer her own thoughts. With the aid of a psychiatrist, an unlikely friend, touching memories, and maybe even the horses and paint, she learns to shape a brand new life out of the wreckage created by The Hate List.

Keysha's Drama

By Earl Sewell

Reviewed by Ashley D., BCCHS student

Have you ever felt the need to run away from something that was so negative in your life? What about asking yourself if it's worth living? Keysha had this problem, and there was even more to it. Everyone may have problems, but there are always other people who have worse problems than you do.

Keysha and her mom had been living together while her father was like most, and wasn't around while she was growing up. While her mom was out running the streets and doing anything for money, Keysha was going to school; she'd rather be at school than at home where it was so empty. Finding out that her mother and grandmother had been in so much trouble in the past, she wanted to be different going into the future. Later, Keysha is taken away, and put in a place to live, but with whom?

Keysha barely has any friends to tell her problems to, her family members are never around, and she hasn't met her father until now. If you took a walk in Keysha's shoes, what would you do? You need to know the whole story to make the right choice!

I liked this book because it made me be thankful for the things I have, and accept the things that cannot be changed. It really showed me how to love your family, even if there are ups and downs. It may be especially moving to a reader coming from an African American background.

Tips on Having a Gay (ex) Boyfriend

Book by Carrie Jones

Reviewed by Erykah Hudgens, BCCHS student

Tips on Having a Gay (ex) Boyfriend is about a girl, Belle, who is in a long-term relationship with a guy named Dylan. She thinks they are in love and he means everything to her. They spend so much time together in school and out of school. As a senior, everything is going perfectly for Belle. One day, Dylan has a dark secret to tell Belle.

The title of this book is what caught my eye and as I started to read it made me love it more and more. This book has a lot of emotions in it: anger, frustration, guilt. Belle’s life is changed in a second with just a couple of words: “I’m gay.” This quote from the story means everything. Dylan expresses how he loves Belle, but he is just not in love with her or her gender.


The writing style of this book is suspenseful. There is a build up to everything. When Belle is told that Dylan is gay, she gets depressed thinking that everything they did was a lie, a scam; she felt used, like all this time she was just his experiment. Later on in the book, she finds a new guy that she is content with. Belle and Dylan remain friends.

Slaugherhouse-Five

Written by Kurt Vonnegut


Reviewed by Bryan H., BCCHS student

Summary

Slaughterhouse Five is the story of Billy Pilgram, a man who is able to travel back and forth in time, seeing his birth, death and the rest of his life out of order. The author himself is also included in the novel as he describes the troubles he had with writing the story. Billy goes through many dilemmas in his life; however, in the beginning, he was a common man in New York going to the Ilium School of Optometry until he was drafted to the war to fight in the Battle of the Bulge. All of these incidents happen out of order in the novel and occur at different times as the memories come back.


After he is saved from the war and bombing hide-out, he goes back to the school he once attended, marries the daughter of the owner of the school, and becomes very rich with two children.


Billy is then kidnapped by aliens from a planet called Tralfamadore. He says they view time differently than humans do, and they see it all at once rather than in sequences as humans do, and all of this happens on the day of his daughter’s wedding. He says the reason for him not missing any time is because the aliens are able to travel through time and send him back so he didn’t miss anything or so no one else would notice. All this happens after he was in a zoo on their planet mating with an actress named Montana Wildhack.

Review

The story told by Kurt Vonnnegut is well written but very difficult to understand, as the story jumps from time period to time period. Many of the adventures he tells of for Billy are complicated and contain many twists. One aspect of his writing I did appreciate was his description of writing the story from his own perspective. I did enjoy reading the many different points of view of the characters on many of the things that happened to Billy. I, however, did not enjoy that the characters are too simple in personality, as you don’t really grow to like any of the main characters. The theme is a little difficult to figure out in the story as well, as it may be against wars or just a novel for fun. However it is a famous novel and there are many references to this story over time and in other novels, so I do advise reading it, and it can be a fun read as well.

Go Ask Alice

Written by "Anonymous"**

Reviewed by Marsail J.,  BCCHS student

My favorite book of all time might be yours too!

There’s a good book for everybody to read, but I chose to read Go Ask Alice; it is one of the best books in my opinion. It is a mix of every kind of drama, and teenagers would like this book a lot because it has things that kids need to know. This book changes your whole process of life and shows that you should not take advantage of it and live life to the fullest. From beginning to end, this book grabs the reader’s attention; no part of this book is boring.

This book is about a girl that lives a civilized life until she gets hooked on drugs. Drugs change her whole life and she can not get away from them. Her closest friends become her worst enemies when they make her take the drugs and she doesn’t know it. When she finds out about it she just thinks it is one of the best things that ever happened to her, but really, in truth, it will tear her life up and split her family apart. She loses her virginity and loses her family, friends and everything she ever had. She finally starts to get off the drugs but then her friends just keep on bringing them to her and she doesn’t have the strength to resist. She gets worse and worse until she is sent to a crazy hospital, and that still doesn’t do anything for her; she is still the same.

Alice’s story ends in tragedy, and they released this book a couple of years later to inform children and people about the dangerous things that drugs can do. All the stuff that happened in the book came directly from her diary; they just changed the people’s names and it became a great book. This is the best book I’ve read in a long time.

(**Note from Ms. Freeman:  Go to Snopes.com for the truth about who wrote this book!)

A Child Called It

Written by Dave Pelzer

Reviewed by Cynthia Kaye, BCCHS Student

A Child Called It by Dave Pelzer is a suspenseful and agitating book. It is about a very young boy and his struggle to survive the severe abuse of his alcoholic mother. This biography doesn’t leave out any detail and the way Dave describes everything makes you feel as if you were there watching the whole thing. The book consists of the horrible things his mother would do to him. From starving him almost to death to making him sleep in a cot in the cold garage, and even locking him in the bathroom with poisonous cleaning product fumes.

Dave had a good heart and did his best to stay positive throughout his horrible experiences. Even while being forced to endure the embarrassment of wearing the same dirty, torn up clothes to school everyday, Dave never let it get to him. He was a young boy full of hope. His prayers to God kept him sane. He was a smart boy who learned how to play the awful games his mother enjoyed so much--over exaggerating the pain of being beaten, stealing food to survive, and putting a wet cloth over his mouth while being suffocated by cleaning fumes.

"You are a nobody! An It! You are nonexistent! You are a bastard child! I hate you and I wish you were dead! Dead! Do you hear me? Dead!"  --Daves mother.

This quote shows just a part of her cruelty. Those are just words that don’t even compare to the evil and inhumane things this monster would do to her own child.

I have a lot of respect for the author. He let the whole world into his experience and I know it must have been hard to rethink the monstrous moments. Letting people read of his miseries and how he stayed strong sends out a great message to everyone. People take for granted the life they live. Reading this book has opened my eyes to realize the world isn’t always nice and easy. Reading this has made me appreciate my parents.

I rate this book five out of five. When I first started to read this book I couldn’t put it down. I read this whole book in one day, not putting it down for anything. I suggest this book to everyone and anyone who is mature enough to handle the disturbing and life-changing events this boy has to go through. If you have a queasy stomach, I don’t recommend reading this book, although this is definitely a book you have to read in your lifetime; you won’t want to miss out.

IT

By Stephen King

Reviewed by Alan Nguyen

Derry is a small town in which many strange and bizarre events take place, where an evil orb of light becomes every child’s worst nightmare. Seven kids of the town each have an encounter with the evil with no name. Twenty-seven years later, none of them can withstand the force that brings them back to Derry, and they each remember the monster that takes the form of a clown.

“George’s eyes rolled in the picture…[His] artificial say-cheese smile turned into a horrid leer… Bill threw the book across the room…The book struck the wall and fell to the floor, open. The pages turned…to that awful picture again…Blood began to flow from the picture.”

IT is one of Stephen King’s best. The book is excellent, addicting, a book to read if you enjoy horror.

Unwind

Book by Neal Shusterman
Review by Stacy V., BCCHS student

The book Unwind is based sometime in the future where a war has been fought between the pro-life and pro-choice armies. Their conclusion or result is the Bill of Life, which ends abortion but allows parents to choose to have their children "unwound" between the ages of 13 and 18. "Unwinding" is the transplanting of every part of the teens' bodies to some other adults that need it, but since every bit of their bodies is still technically "alive," they haven't been killed, right?

One of the main characters of the book is Connor, who discovers that his parents have signed an order for his unwinding, and as soon as he finds out he escapes. He eventually meets a girl named Risa, another escaping unwind who is very well educated and intelligent, also a boy named Lev, whose life has been tithed to the church and whose family has lied to him throughout his life. Connor becomes the leader of their little group and tries to keep them all one step ahead of the police that are after them. But Lev may have other ideas and could ruin their escape; that could lead them all to Unwinding.

This book is full of suspense and disbelief upon what is right and who is right. You will find the story exciting and thought-provoking. It raises issues that range from abortion, organ transplant, and euthanasia, to the rights of parents, children, and society. Neal Shusterman takes an idea and runs with it far beyond where most authors are willing to go.

Carrie

Book by Stephen King

Review by Alan N., BCCHS student

“It was time to teach them a lesson. Time to show them a thing or two. She giggled hysterically.”

A high school student who is harassed constantly, so that every moment the anger becomes worse and worse—Carrie White is not your ordinary 16-year-old girl. She is seen as a freak, somebody who does not belong in Chamberlain, Maine. Her mother sees her own daughter as a sinner, a witch, and Carrie soon realizes the gift she has, the power to move anything with her mind. As things get worse, she knows what she must do, punish those who did her wrong, the ones who underestimated her; she will make them suffer, let them know that Carrie White is one person not to bother, and she waits for her prom night, a night she will always cherish. In the book, she is described as a girl who has self-doubt, who is someone who will never find true love, or ever have a relationship.

The book, in my opinion, was able to demonstrate high school life and what certain people go through. What I really enjoy about the author is that Stephen King is able to blend a little of reality and fiction together, and come up with a story that is very interesting. Carrie is one of my favorite Stephen King books. It is well written, the suspense is unrelenting, and it is a fast-paced novel. Another good thing about it is that when a significant event occurs, the novel changes to another setting in which the characters describe the situation of the prom night, the night that no one will ever forget. The novel is a great book, and I hope the students that read it can enjoy it as much as I did. What I also liked from the book was that it is full of detail, and describes every little thing that is needed to understand the story.

I know this long review can be boring or stupid, the reason is because I’m doing an extra credit assignment for my English class, and I NEED THE POINTS! I hope the person that is reading this review can take their time to read the book, and I hope they will like it—Who wouldn’t like it, IT’S CARRIE EVERYONE, the story about the girl who has hate for everyone, including her own mother; but I don’t blame her, because her mom is crazy. Carrie is a short novel, 245 pages long, but once you read the very beginning, you won’t want to put the book down. I thank you for taking your time to read this very long review, and I hope you will read the book.