A Young Girl's Travels from Russia to America

Letters from Rifka by Karen Hesse

     This book is written about the author's great-great-aunt's flight from Russia to America.  This book is written in the form of letters Rifka writes to her cousin in the black pages in a book of poetry.  Rifka is a poor Jewish girl who is fleeing with her family because of discrimination for her faith.  It is a long and complicated journey filled with sickness and heartbreaking choices.  In her writings, Rifka is crushingly honest and open with how she is feeling and speaks with both the innocence of youth, and the worldliness forced on a girl who had to grow up faster than she ought to have.
     Although this small book is simply written and the suggested age range is eight to twelve, I still go back to this book of my youth and reread it.  Each chapter or "letter" is started with a small sample of poetry by Alexander Pushkin.  The poetry adds a touch of subtle foreshadowing and sets the mood for each letter.
     Following the journey Rifka goes through you will find yourself forming an understanding of Rifka and will feel a bond grow between yourself and this figure pouring her soul out in a book.

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

     Yes,this is another Scott Westerfeld novel.  He is such a fabulous novelist I felt I had to include this.  As a side note: Scott Westerfeld mainly writes dystopian future type books.  If you find you are into that kind of liturature, I strongly suggest checking out his stuff.  Dystopian literature is basically the opposite of Utopian.  It depicts an undesirable future. 
     The future world being described is a world of ultimate cold cruel beauty.  When a youth, or an Ugly, reaches the age of sixteen, he/she will have a complete remodeling of the body plastic surgery and will be turned into a Pretty.  Pretties are given supermodel good looks and are encouraged to party, enjoy themselves, and not ask questions.  Tally, an Ugly, is desperately looking forward to her birthday, but she meets a girl, Shay, who doesn't want to become a "pretty".  Because of Shay, Tally is trust into a resistance group against the "pretty" operation.  Tally is forced to decide between two things that mean so much to her: her new-found friends in the resistance group, and becoming a pretty. 
     This book is an entertaining and thought provoking read.  Anyone who has ever felt self-conscious of their looks can relate to this story and also leave with new ideas about why someone would consider surgery to get looks they desire.  It also makes the reader think about the future and what kind of morals should be dominate.

Peeps by Scott Westerfeld

In the recent vampire craze taking place in books, movies, and T.V. shows, I would like to state this book was published before that started. It also presents a widely different view of vampires.
Imagine one day you find out all of your ex-boyfriends/girlfriends went crazy. Not just silly in the head crazy, but actual break everything in the apartment scream, shout, and become violent crazy. Scary huh? That's the point of view of the main character in this book. Cal Thompson finds himself in this position then is thrust into the world of 'peeps'. Parasite Positives. That's what they're called. The street term is vampire, but that's such a misconstrued word that they stick with peeps. This craziness comes from being infected with parasites. It acts like an STD on steroids. You can get it through a kiss or sweat or basically anything like that. Cal just happens to be a carrier for this disease. He does not get the bad side effects like go crazy and sensitive to light, but he gets the strength, agility, affection for rare meats, and he can spread the disease.
This book is a refreshing view on vampires and is very enjoyable. Even if vampires aren't your thing its a great read. Between every chapter of the story Westerfeld has written a short segment on common parasites in the world. At the very least you will find your self wondering about these kinds of things. The way Westerfeld approached this topic and wrote about it is in a very convincing manor. It is written in a way that makes you think, "Could that really happen?"
It is an entertaining read. I suggest it to anyone who has a little bit of adventure in them.

Poems by Emily Dickenson

     I must confess this is the only book of poetry I own.  I do not read it as if it were a traditional novel, because it isn't.  This book is a collection of all the poetry of Emily Dickinson.  I often will open the book to a random page or leaf through until something catches my eye, and I will read that poem.
     Dickinson still to this day receives criticism on her structure, or lack there of in many of her poems.  Her subject matter ranges from spiritual to emotion to that of nature.  Though many call her poetry morbidly depressing I see it as a window into a hurting soul.  For the last several years of her life, Emily Dickinson was a recluse.  I do not pretend to know her emotions and how she felt about certain things, but her writing reveals a great progression in her thoughts.  Since this is a book of individual poems and not a novel written in prose I cannot summarize it.  I can only say that, to me, she is an inspirational poet and will always be the one who sparked my love for good poetry.
     I found a beautiful tribute song to her by a man named John Salazar.  It really is a wonderful song to listen to while looking at pictures from Emily's life and home.

The Princess Bride by William Goldman

     So, I may be cheating including this book on the list because it is much older than the rest and might technically belong to that of the Classics, but I will anyway.  The basic plot of this book is a tragic love story.  Buttercup is the most beautiful woman alive.  Westley is her lowly stable boy, handsome and valiant.  Prince Humperdinck is an evil and savage prince.  Count Rugen is the cruel swordsman, and servant of Humperdinck.  Vizzini is a mastermind villian keen on logic.  And Inigo Montoya the driven swordsmen bent on revenging his father's death.  This novel has a passionate love story interwoven with exciting adventure. 
     Goldman is an expert writer who writes the entire novel as though it is a translation and retelling of another man's work.  According to Goldman The Princess Bride was originally written by a man named S. Morgenstern.  At many parts in this book, Goldman breaks from the story on several occasions to mention how in the original manuscript, Morgenstern went on for some twenty pages to talk about the trees or the weather or the history of some such thing.  Goldman claims to be only abridging this loved classic by S. Morgenstern. This interesting stand makes for an enjoyable read of such a unique story.
     There was a movie made of The Princess Bride which is quite hilarious.  Made in the late 80's, it is not the best quality movie you will ever see, but it is definitely worth it to watch.  The movie can be found Here.  I encourage all interested to first read this exciting novel then to watch the movie.  It is a pretty good retelling of the story, but as with any book-to-movie story, it's always best to read the print.

     I hope you enjoy this great story; I always do!

Snow By Tracy Lynn

   Everyone has heard story of Snow White.  The pretty story with the cute animals and fake violence.  This novel takes the basic outline of the story of Snow White and places it in a realistic setting, adding more plot twists and background.  The seven dwarfs now become a pack of street-dwelling folk who have animal-like characteristics. (Instead of completely leaving out the magic of the original tale, Tracy Lynn warps magic into an almost scientific endeavor in this thrilling conversion.)  The evil step-mother stays the same, but now she is elderly and trying to produce a male heir.
  The main points of the story remain true to the original tale, yet Lynn also creates a new background and progression of events so that this book may stand on its own.  Whole sections are added to create more background and in-depth view of the characters.
   This novel is an interesting read.  Taking key points from the original, it is still a worth-while tale.  I recommend reading this if you enjoyed the traditional version of Snow White but also even if you did not.

Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale By Holly Black

 Do you believe in fairies?  And what if you do, do they look like Tinkerbelle?  What if they weren't the cute, cuddly things you think they are?  What if they are evil, merciless,....invisible?  But there are also good fairies.  The kind that smell like cherry blossoms and weave flowers into your hair.  Kaye has met these fairies, the nice ones.  As a child she would play with her little winged friends and they would tell her stories about their world.  The story begins as Kaye moves back into the house she was a child in.  Now she is sixteen and has seen more of the world than just that small town.  Not only is she older, but now she experiences the other side of the fairy kingdom, the darker side.  After meeting a mysterious knight, she is granted an answer to a question.  Little does she know this begins a journey of many new worlds and a quest to find who she truly is.

This story unique and thrilling.  Tithe is the first book in a series.  It has aspects of a teen romance novel, suspense, and fantasy all in one book.  I'd recommend this book to anyone and everyone who wants to read but doesn't know what genre to read, because this encompasses bits of so many genres.  Holly Black has done a great job at integrating realistic conversation and actions into this story and has created lovable heroes, hateful villains, and comical relief.  She paints a beautiful and at the same time terrifying world that you could believe was real.  This IS a must read for any teenage girl.

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan

Summary:  The story begins describing Nick and Norah. At the start of the story they are strangers to each other; they are thrown together trying to avoid talking to a girl Tris.  Tris is Nick's ex-girlfriend, and a sometimes friend of Norah's.  The two then set off on a nighttime exploration of New York City.  They use music to learn more about one another and about themselves.  In the span of only a few hours both of their lives are completely changed and to realize there is a whole new way to think and live.  This story is a true coming of age story.

Topics Brought Up:  Many controversial things are brought up in this book.  It approaches the subjects with a light attitude but still in a way that makes the reader think.  The story touches on unhealthy teenage relationships, friendships, underage alcohol and drug use, homosexuality, faith, and music to name only a few.  

Review:  This book has a unique edge over others of its kind.  The chapters go back and forth from the view points of Nick to Norah.  Rachel Cohn wrote the chapters from Norah's point of view as David Levithan wrote the chapters from Nick's.  In my opinion this provides a more life-like representation of the two personalities because, in fact, they were written by two personalities.  The authors also did not map out where they wanted to story to go as they wrote.  They each wrote a chapter at a time until the story ended.  Because of these unusual methods, I feel the book is truly unique.  Explicit language is used through out the book so those easily offended should take note.