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I read the book, Love That Dog, by Sharon Creech. The book is about a boy named Jack, who starts writing poetry because he is doing a poetry unit in his class at school. He doesn’t like reading or writing poetry because he doesn’t understand it, and he thinks it’s for girls. The book is interesting because it’s written in poetry format, from the perspective of Jack, but Jack and his teacher, Miss Stretchberry, write back and forth to each other about the poems that Jack begins to write.

On a Clear Day by Walter Dean Myers is a dystopian novel that tells the story of Dahlia, a sixteen year old who lives in the Bronx in the year 2035. Her society is divided into classes based on wealth. At the top are the big corporations that control much of the world’s access to essential resources. Meanwhile, the people at the other classes have no hope of moving up the social ladder. While Dahlia doesn’t have the courage to work to dismantle the social structure at first, she is eventually contacted by a secret American group that aims to free the world from corporate hegemony.

We Were Liars is an amazing fictional story written by E. Lockhart. The book takes place in Massachusetts with the main protagonist who is a seventeen-year-old teenage girl. Her grandfather owns a private island where her whole extended family always spends the summers away from everything. Cadence has been going there since she was a little kid and has a very close bond with three others there. She even ends up falling in love with a friend of her cousin who recently started going there with her.

Zero Tolerance by Claudia Mills tells the story of fictional character Sierra Shepard, a seventh-grader who accidentally brings a plastic knife to school. This occurs when she takes the wrong lunch bag to school (her mom’s instead of her own). Her school clings to a zero tolerance policy and she is still expelled even though she turns in the knife as soon as she finds it. Her father protests the policy by researching the background of her defendant and presenting what he has found at Sierra’s hearing. Sierra eventually wins the case, allowing her to stay at the school.

Endurance, Young Readers Edition: My Year in Space and How I Got There by Scott Kelly tells the story of Scott Kelly’s own life in space. In the book, Kelly details the conditions he had to make do with on board the International Space Station. While he was sent on the mission as part of a study that wanted to determine the impact of space on aging bodies, he made good use of his time aboard the space shuttle. For example, he helped grow the first plants in space and chatted with top-ranking officials on his experiences, which was invaluable to the legacy he would create for himself.

River of Dreams by Jan Nash tells the story of a teenage protagonist who tries to save the life of her brother, who falls into a paranormal induced coma. When the protagonist’s brother mysteriously wakes up one morning seemingly unalive, the protagonist puts herself on a mission to figure out the truth about what has happened, whatever it might take. Eventually she discovers that she is a dreamwalker, which means she has a duty to help others who are suffering from bad dreams.

VIRAL: The Fight Against AIDS in America by Ann Bausum tells the story of the decades-long struggle for AIDS recognition in America. The AIDS pandemic started in the mid-1970s, mostly among gay men. As the pandemic became more widespread, individuals realized the devastating nature of the disease. Individuals who were once healthy would be reduced to skin and bones in a matter of months, if not weeks. The federal government offered little to no help; federal funding was not allocated to AIDS research.

Malcolm X: Fighting for Human Rights by Jeff Burlingame tells the life story of Malcolm X, an African-American whose family was frequently harassed by the Ku Klux Klan during his childhood. Malcolm knew this harassment was unfair and began to channel his anger and resentment into systematic activism. His father was killed in 1931, so Malcolm had to quit school to help his family. Eventually, he was able to live in Boston with the help of his sister, but he spent a significant amount of time in prison for street crime.

Only Mostly Devastated by Sophie Gonzalez tells the story of Ollie, the protagonist of the novel, who experiences a family emergency and thus has to move from sunny California to North Carolina. When Ollie is in North Carolina, he meets a person named Will and often hangs out with him over the summer. But, when school begins, he finds out that Will is a different person. The likable fellow he previously knew is now a jock, basketball player, and Ollie is unsure how to act around him.

Milo is going crazy for a world record set by him and he has trouble finding it. He is failing in school and has a nemesis puckering him with jokes. Milo is going around the states to compete for one from poison to dogs. Will he ever get a record and will it change his life around more than ever?

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Review by Eric D.

Captured: An American Prisoner of War in North Vietnam by Alvin Townley tells the story of Jeremiah Denton, an United States Prisoner-of-War in a North Vietnamese prison. While on a mission to drop bombs in North Vietnam, the plane that Jeremiah Denton was piloting exploded, giving Denton no choice but to eject from his plane. While on the ground, he was spotted by North Vietnamese soldiers, who accused him of relaying secrets to the enemy. He was placed in solitary confinement and refused to provide any identifying information even though his oppressors frequently tortured him.

Call of Duty: Vince Zampella, Grant Collier, and Jason West by Jennifer Culp tells the story of the Call of Duty Video Game franchise. Vince Zampella, Grant Collier, and Jason West wanted to revolutionize the video game industry through high-quality graphics, realistic characters, and in-depth plots. They succeeded in their mission, but left a legal mess in their wake. The legal mess resulted from the creators’ decision to operate under Activision but determination to work on their own.

Something in Between by Melissa de la Cruz tells the story of Jasmine, an overachieving young individual with dreams of obtaining the National Scholarship; when this becomes a reality, however, she finds out that her parents are undocumented immigrants (illegal, so to speak). Jasmine realizes that all her hard work was for nothing, and her parents, who regret not having told her earlier, are already packing their bags for the event that they get deported.

Pythagoras: Mathematician and Mystic by Dimitra Karamanides and Louis C. Coakley tells the life story of Pythagoras, an Ancient Greek philosopher most known for his Pythagorean Theorem. He was born on the wealthy island of Samos but traveled far and wide in order to acquire the knowledge of numerous ancient civilizations. When he returned to Greece, he wanted to set up a school there, but many people resisted his ideas. As a result, he traveled to Croton to set up a school. The school was shrouded in mystery and obtained more influence over time on the local government.

Breaking Free: True Stories of Girls Who Escaped Modern Slavery by Abby Sher is divided into three sections. Each of these sections tells the tale of an individual who escaped modern slavery, also known as human trafficking. Each person’s story is different, but there are some startling similarities. For one, the victims were those who had low self-confidence and were willing to accept strangers’ words as true, no matter how sketchy they may have sounded. Or they may have been undocumented immigrants running the fear of deportation.