Paulsen's The River takes readers on a coming-of-age journey

Gary Paulsen, a 1986, ‘88, and ‘90 John Newbery Medal award winner, with notable books such as the Hatchet series and Dogsong, grew up with a single mom. With  his dad being stationed in the Philippines during WW II, Paulson did not see his dad till the age of seven.When he got back to the states, he spent most of his time at his grandma's in minnesota; she was a major influence in his life.

Paulsen has many award-winning novels such as the Hatchet series and Dogsong. Dogsong being the best known book that Paulsen has written. Dogsong is a coming-of-age story of two teenage Inuits in the wilderness of  Upper Canada. Most of Paulsen's books are coming-of-age stories mostly in the wilderness.

We begin the story with a young Brian Robertson, only two years after his miraculous survival in the wooded lakes of canada for 54 days with no food and only a small hatchet to use a weapon and a gathering tool.The Canadian government wants him to go back to the woods with a psychologist named Derrick. Derrick choose the perfect lake, brought all the supplies, but when tragedy strikes and the unforeseen happens only Brian can save his and someone else’s life in the lakes and woods of Canada.

I would recommend the book to any young reader older than ten years old, I would also recommend for any age. This is a very good book in the Hatchet series. I would also recommend Hatchet the first book in the Hatchet series of books, This book will take the reader on a journey of spirituality, an uplifting ride, and of a teen becoming a man.  

Coraline provides a spooky look at courage

Children stories are loved by many, but Neil Gaiman can write a tale that's loved by all. Gaiman was born November 10, 1960 in Portchester, England. He's written many stories throughout his life, such as the Sandman comics, Miraclemen, Good Omens, and many more. His first professional story was published in 1984 and his latest in 2013. However Coraline is the only book that was animated (2009). He's also contributed to the production of Princess Mononoke, Beowulf, and the series Neverwhere.

The list of books Gaiman has written is a long one, and Coraline isn't the only popular tale. The Graveyard series was published in 2008 and is yet another well-written tale by Gaiman. This eccentric tale stars Bod from when he was just a toddler to 15 years old. In between all of that we get 3D and dynamic characters, life lessons, and adventures of every sort.

Even though Coraline's intended audience is pre-teen, people of every age should read this book. It starts off with Coraline, a young girl, living a normal and boring life. However things don't stay this way for long. It starts off with a door, which is a normal enough object except it’s not normal in this case. Its locked and when opened there is nothing but a brick wall on the other side. Until one day and instead of a wall it’s another flat that appears to look exactly like her own. Same parents, same neighbors, same cat. Except the parents are everything she’s ever wanted them to be, the neighbors are magnificent, and the cat can talk. There is also something small that puts her off a bit, everyone in the different world has buttons for eyes. At first, Coraline couldn't be happier about her discovery, but as her excitement starts disappear so does the magic of the different world.

This book targets a young audience, so the serious tone came to a surprise to me. Gaiman takes silly things, like a mouse circus, and gives them an evil twist.  But this novel isn't all horror. There is a very good reason why this book is directed towards such a young audience. Every book is built off of something, an idea, and this book was built off of bravery. Coraline conquers dangerous foes and saves the day. Which offers a good description of what courage looks like.

Any child who doesn't get scared easily would love this book. Although this story could be advertised to any age group, it is most adored by pre-teens. However the fact that it’s a children's story shouldn't stop you from cracking this book open and taking a peek inside.

Junior Melina enjoys being awkward.

Stephen King's Pet Sematery still a classic

Stephen King is a prominent figure in the horror and fantasy genres, and is a New York Times’ bestselling novelist. Some of his most popular works include The Shining, Carrie, and IT, and many of these works have been adapted into movies. King was born in Portland, Maine on September 21, 1947. He studied at the University of Maine, and later became a teacher while he began to establish himself as a writer. He has sold more than 350 million copies of his books worldwide, and has had them adapted into many successful movies.

King’s first novel, Carrie, was released in 1973 and became a huge success one year after being published. The novel tells the story of a teenaged girl who gets revenge on her peers. Another well known novel that King released was The Shining which was adapted into a movie in 1980 that stars Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall. In the novel the protagonist, Jack Torrance, and his family are trapped in a hotel that brings Jack to insanity from the dark past and isolated location of the hotel.

Pet Sematary begins with a family who moves to a house that is next to a highway frequented by speeding trucks. Louis Creed, the father and doctor, becomes good friends with his neighbor Jud Crandall and his wife. Jud takes Louis’ family on a hike to the town’s pet cemetery one day, which triggers bad memories and heated arguments between Louis and his wife, Rachel. After Louis has a traumatic experience with a patient in the hospital he begins to have nightmares about the cemetery. When his daughter’s favorite cat, Church, gets hit by a truck on the highway, Jud takes Louis to an ancient Micmac burial ground to bury him. The burial ground begins to bring horrors into his lives when they use the burial ground’s powers for the wrong reasons.

King uses a very consistent writing style that is present in all of his works. He describes the natural world in disturbing ways with things like “Dead fields under a November sky, scattered rose petals brown and turning up at the edges, empty pools scummed with algae, rot, decomposition, dust...” He also uses many existential themes in his books to add to the horror of what is already happening in the story and asks things like “...the most terrifying question of all may be just how much horror the human mind can stand and still maintain a wakeful, staring, unrelenting sanity.” In Pet Sematary one major theme is the acceptance of death, especially in Louis’ daughter Ellie, “Death was a vague idea; the Pet Sematary was real. In the texture of those rude markers were truths which even a child’s hands could feel.”

Anyone who is a fan of horror novels should consider reading this book. The book is dark and disturbing and full of the topic of death if you’re into that. Anyone who is a fan of other Stephen King novels should definitely consider reading this book as well, because it is similar to his other books.

Senior Codi likes his cat and reading.

King's Wolves of the Calla mashes gunslinging and sci-fi time travel

Stephen Edwin King was raised by his mother in Portland, Maine. He studied to be a teacher and ended up being a very successful writer.

King is an author of 54 outstanding novels, many of which are closely entwined with one another and more than a few have been adapted into movies and comic books(Carrie and Salem’s Lot). He has an extensive writing career with fiction and nonfiction. He has written several bestselling books Salem’s lot and Firestarter. The book we are going to talk about today, Wolves of the Calla, has a Bram Stoker Award and is the 5th book in the series.

I’m not sure if King knew what he was getting into when he started writing the first book in the Dark Tower series. Starting as a western and ending as a post-apocalyptic time traveling sci fi extravaganza, this entry of the series is brilliant. Midworld has seen its handful of bad days, but when the thiney started slowly creeping closer to the border towns, and the lobstrosities that inhabit it’s oceans start romping through the beaches, Mid World, and all words, need a savior of light. Roland and his Ka-Tet wake in an unknown world, to come across the town Calla Bryn Sturgis that has been raided by The Wolves every generation for half a pair of twins. The gunslingers boldly walk into the face of terror, with only what's on their back to their name. To save the town of Calla Bryn Sturgis is to save the dark tower, that will save humanity and the dimension that it lives in, time.

I loved the book. Granted it’s the least plot progressive book in the series. The entire story takes place in Calla Bryn Sturgis and the few doors to New York. Only two major characters are introduced, one being a man named Peer Callahan and another called Mia. I’m a little disappointed that half of the last two books have been storytelling(This one being the story of Peer Callahan, and the last one being the story of Roland and his Ka-Tet of young). They are good additions to the story nonetheless. It’s pretty easy to get lost at this point in the series; the last four books have been filled plenty with very interesting plot and amazing conspiracies.

I recommend this book to anybody looking for a good read. Mainly teens who love the intensity of a gunslinger and the fantasy of  time traveling. Start with the first book and you'll fall in love with it for a different reason you're in love with it when you start the 5th.

A senior, Caleb enjoys reading, and writing, and wondering about his future.

Pullman reads like Clockwork

Philip Pullman was born October 19, 1946 in Norwich, United Kingdom. He is a British writer. He is an author of several bestselling books. He is also a fiction type of writer. He was named one of the 50 greatest British writers since 1945. He is a very passionate believer in the democracy of reading. As an author, he does not think that the task of an author is to tell the readers what the books means. He says that, “the meaning of a story emerges in the meeting between the words on the page and the thoughts that are in the reader's mind as they progress through the book they are reading.”

Philip Pullman has written a ton of books since he became an author. Some examples of the books he has written are, The Ruby in the Smoke, The Tiger in the Well, The Firework-Maker's Daughter, and also The Broken Bridge. As you can see, he has written various types of books in his time. His genre of books that he seems to be most interested is fantasy. For the most part he is a fictional writer with his most notable book, His Dark Materials. The reading level that he suggested for his books is eight years old and up.

The book  Clockwork  compares the plot of the book to mechanical parks on clocks. This book is related to real life issues to parts on the clock, which actually makes a lot of sense when you read it. This is a very suspenseful book as you progress through it. Clockwork is about a master who puts a new part on the town clock every time someone learns and masters his skill. Then Fritz has written a novel and was presenting it, when all of a sudden, a figure pops out of nowhere and is weirdly similar to the character in his novel. The story just gets odder as the book goes on.

Philip Pullman's writing style is known as informal writing. In this book, he is very detailed about everything that has to do with the town clock and his novel. You would honestly learn quite a few things by reading this book. I think that readers like this book because for so little of pages there is a great storyline to it. Once you progress through this book, it pulls you in more and more, because it is suspenseful and you want to know what is going to happen next.

I think the kind of people this would attract would be teenagers. I think it would fit best with them because most teenagers don’t want to sit down and read a huge book. So since this book is so short and has a lot of detail along with a suspenseful story I think they would enjoy reading it.

Kendall, a senior, enjoys reading and writing.

Scif romance readers have found their Matched

Ally Condie is the author of the Matched Trilogy, a #1 New York Times and international bestseller. She received a degree in English teaching from Brigham University and spent a number of years teaching high school English in Utah and in upstate New York.  Condie’s inspiration for writing this fiction dystopian romance novel came from traveling to many different places and experiencing new cultures and areas.

There are two other books in the trilogy, Crossed and Reached. Her most recent book is called Atlantia, published October 28, 2014. This book is about an underwater city which is served by citizens who are essentially sacrificed to work on land to support the city. All of Condie’s books look very interesting and all of the illustrations on the covers  really catch they eye.

Matched begins on Cassia Reyes’s seventeenth birthday as she rides a train to her Match Banquet. In the futuristic world she lives in, the government decides who you marry, who you love, where you work, and when you die. Leaders called officials are responsible for matching boys and girls to their perfect partners to ensure a happy marriage and a genetically well-based offspring. At the banquet each match receives a micro card containing information about his or her spouse.

Cassia has always trusted the society’s choices, now she is faced with the impossible decision between Xander and Ky. Cassia has to choose between the only life she has known and a  path no one dares to follow...between perfect and passion. “ I know which life is my real one now, no matter what happens. It’s the one with you”. Condie’s writing style is very suspenseful and romantic; it makes you never want to stop reading.

I would recommend this book for a teenage girl, this book tends to catch the eye of  mature teen girls. Matched provides an intense romantic journey that leaves you wondering and want to know more. The amount of suspense and romance really ties this book all together.

Junior Natalie enjoys bodybuilding and reading.

Strayed's Wild read captures readers

Cheryl Strayed, the author of the nonfiction book Wild, writes about everything she had been through and becoming a new person by walking the Pacific Crest Trail. Strayed went to Syracuse University and graduated with a bachelor's degree in English with a focus on fiction writing. Yet in 1991 a devastating event happened when her mom died of cancer at only 45. After her mother's death, Strayed went into immense depression. To cope, she slept around with men and shot heroin. After divorcing her husband, she decided to change her life so she walked the Pacific Crest Trail from California to Washington.

Along with Wild, Strayed has also wrote a collection of essays and two other books. Torch, a fiction novel about a family who is crushed by the unexpected loss of the mother, was her first novel published. Strayed also wrote Tiny Beautiful things, which is a compilation of her advice column she had years before.

Wild is an adventurous book that starts out with a lost lady seeking to find hope. As she walks the one thousand plus miles on the Pacific Crest Trail, she leaves the death of her mother, her divorce and her whole past behind in California. Strayed walks out a new person when she reaches the end of the trail in Washington.

Strayed’s exciting thrill of a journey leaves the reader excited, yet intrigued by her life. As she crosses rivers and streams, encounters animals big and small on this wild trip on foot, she builds new relationships and comes to peace with herself. Strayed is introduced to the struggles of backpacking and what not to pack. She escapes herself while finding a new self.

This book would be great for someone who likes self counselling. For someone who wants to change the way they live by themselves. Someone who doesn’t need the help of others to feel better. Honestly, anyone would like to read this book because it’s a really interesting and grabbing novel. It teaches you that you can overcome, that you don’t need anyone to help you besides yourself.

Molly enjoys FFA, reading, and her family.

Sachar has no plot Holes

Louis Sachar was born in New York on March 20, 1954. His dad worked in the Empire State building. After high school, he attended the University of California, where he graduated with a degree in Economics. Before he graduated, he took a class at the University that made him a teacher’s aid. This class alone inspired him to write books that were intended for children. After graduating college, he went on to go to law school. He then became a part time lawyer and wrote at the end of his nights on the side. He is now retired, living in Texas working on his writing full time.

Other than Holes, which is intended for 5th- 8th graders, Sachar has written mostly children’s books. These books are mostly for grades 3-5 and are comedic and humorous but also realistic fiction. These children books include: The Wayside Stories, Funny Mud, A Flying Birthday Cake, and also a Magic Crystal. Other than his children’s books, he has written a sequel to Holes and the Survival Guide to Camp Green Lake. All these books came throughout his long illustrious book writing career.

Holes is a fictional account of Stanley Yeltnats’ life. Sachar uses informal writing to draw attention from young adults. He does this by shortening his paragraph size and also using slang that us teenagers can relate with. “If you don’t bother them, they won’t bother you.” He uses these literary devices to explain Stanley’s situation and how he got to, and made it through, Camp Green Lake. It shows his friendships created, the harsh living conditions, and how he finally makes it out of that hell hole.

This book goes through a brief period in a young boy’s life. He is found guilty of a crime of wrong place, wrong time. He is then sent to Camp Green Lake as a punishment to where he faces cruel and harsh conditions and also very rough camp instructors. He befriends one of the other campmates, who is generally teased and disliked by the others. This relationship turns out to be very beneficial for the both of them as Stanley teaches Zero to read and write. Zero has an itch to get out of Camp Green Lake and Stanley is having a hard time in these harsh circumstances.

This book would appeal to anyone who has an interest in fictional stories. I would recommend it to any teachers because it is easier for us to relate to it as Stanley is also a teenager. This book takes you on an adventure with lots of mishaps and wrong turns. I’m sure that anyone that reads this will be very interested and wouldn’t want to put it down because they would have to know what comes next. A surprise around every corner!

Tristan, a senior, enjoys basketball and time with friends.

Riordan's Lightning Thief steals your hours

Rick Riordan is the author who wrote the adventurous, action-packed series of “Percy Jackson & the Olympians.” His books have been New York Times #1 best-selling series, and he was a middle school history/English teacher for 15 years. Riordan taught at both private and public schools in Texas and the San Francisco Bay Area. He lives in San Antonio, Texas with his wife, Becky Riordan, and their two sons, Patrick and Haley Riordan.

“Percy Jackson & the Olympians” isn’t the only mythologic, modern-day fantasy series Riordan has written, and it will certainly not be the last, but he hasn’t always written fiction. Before, he wrote the adult mystery series “Tres Navarre,” containing seven books about a fast-paced crime story with a talented and flawed hero, Jackson "Tres" Navarre, a 3rd generation Texan. He’s also written “The Kane Chronicles,” a Egyptian-mythology-based series about sibling magicians, Carter and Sadie Kane saving the world. Riordan also just began a series connected to the Percy Jackson series, focusing on Annabeth Chase’s, (a Greek demigoddess and close friend to Percy,) cousin and Norse demigod Magnus Chase. He named this series “Magnus Chase & the Gods of Asgard,” which has many similarities to Percy Jackson’s story.

Riordan mixes the present with the past in the very first installment of the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series, The Lightning Thief. Our protagonist, Percy Jackson, is a “troubled” kid who has been to six schools in the past six years. He lives in upstate New York, where his story begins. After troubling events and the lost mother, he finds that a certain god has had something stolen from him and the prime suspect is none other than Percy. So, Percy’s mentor sends him on a quest with dangers around every corner, and Percy, along with his friends Annabeth and Grover, set out to find the real thief and clear Percy’s name. They’ll meet new people, anger some gods, make some new enemies, and save the day. But, a greater evil is rising and the thief isn’t their biggest problem.

Riordan’s writing style is simple and easy to understand, since his books are intended for a younger audience. He adds humor with sarcasm, which is expected since he is writing from the perspective of a 12-year-old boy. But, his books do have a darker tone to them, especially as he continues writing Percy’s story down. An example of Riordan’s writing style would be when they were at the entrance to the Underworld, “‘How did you die?’ ‘We er….drowned in a bathtub.’ ‘All three of you?’ ‘It was a big bathtub.’”.

The intended audience, as stated previously, would certainly be a younger age group. But, it is a series you can grow up reading as you get older. Though, it does have some violence, like when a hellhound clawed up Percy, if you enjoy fiction, adventure, action, and/or mythology, then you will most likely enjoy Percy’s journey in Rick Riordan’s The Lightning Thief.

Catrina enjoys reading, writing  about television, and being awesome.