Student Saturday: My Cousin's Keeper by Simon French

 

Sttudent Reviewer: Humberto G.

Genre: Middle Grade, Realistic Fiction

The characters in "My cousin's Keeper" are Benn,Kieran, Renee, and Gina The setting takes place at his home and school.

Kieran, and Ben are related. At the start of the school year a boy shows up, which is Kieran ' cousin he doesn't know. Ben is in a really bad conditiona at home and at school. There are people at school who bully him. Kieran wants to be in a popular group with teh popular kids. When seh found out that they were relatedhe feels embarassed because of the way Ben looks. At home Ben has a mom who doesn't take good care of him. Ben has long braids, a babyish hat, and has a funny voice. Ben has an only friend which is Julia who likes Kieran.

Things I would do in this situation would be stand up for family. As we know Kieran and Ben are relatives and Kieran feels embarrassed to be Ben's cousin. Kieran lets people bully his cousin. I I was in this situation I would stand up and not be embarrassed over family and the way they look. This story has a big meaning to it and would recommend it to people who dealt with this tough time. I would also recommend this book to people who love drama.

Student Saturday: Four Days of You and Me by Miranda Kenneally

 

Student Reviewer: Amati

Genre: Young Adult, Realistic Fiction (some mature themes)

Lulu and Alex are enemies I high school and at the end of each of their high school years they go to a big field trip. In their freshman year they go to a science museum. They get stuck together in a room. Do they work together to get out? In their sophomore year they go to Six Flags and Lulu falls in the water causing her top to come off  and Alex is the only one around. Does he help her or leaver her to save herself? I their junior year they have a choice to go watch a football game or go to an art museum. Lulu goes to the museum and Alex goes to watch the game. The game gets boring so he goes and talks to Lulu. They begin flirting. In their senior year London is their last trip and there is so much going on in both of their lives. Will this brin them closer or will they remain enemies.

Many decisions were made in the book. For example, Lulu was talking about how her ex-boyfriend had moved on so quickly and she said “how can he move on this easily? This quickly?” When she said that it made me wonder, how do people move on so quickly after things end so with the person they supposedly loved? I mean, if you really love someone, how would you be able to move on to a new person so quickly? When Lulu and Alex break up and get back together throughout the book, Lulu can’t get over the fact that he moves on fairly quickly while she is stuck, unable to move on from the heartbreak.

The book is similar to my life because just like Lulu, I learned that fallin in and out of love a a part of life. Not everyone’s perfect. Lulu learned to deal with her feelings for Alex and sometimes I’ve got to deal with my feelings too. Lulu got to travel a lot for school field trips and I’ve always thought that was pretty cool for students to do. I would like to travel as well. This book was similar to other books I’ve read because I enjoy reading enemies to lovers and love  the way the story ended.

Student Saturday: Divergent by Veronica Roth

Student Reviewer: Rim

I just finished reading Divergent.  Possibly the best book I've ever read! The main characters are: Beatrice (Tris), and Tobias (Four). Tris is the main character in this book. She is the one who chose Dauntless for her new faction. She is divergent (as the title says). Divergent in the book means she is more than one faction when she is supposed to be only one. The faction is basically what you are. First you grow up in a faction, then you find out what you really are, then you choose what faction you want to be at the age of sixteen. The factions are: Dauntless (brave), Amity (peaceful), Candor (honest), Erudite (intelligent), and Abnegation (selfless). Tobias is the trainer who helps Tris and all the other transfers become Dauntless ad goes with Tris and her adventures. He is eighteen and has a mysterious past. Jeanine who is the leader of Erudite wants to kill all divergent including Tris. The basic point of this book is that Tris is in Dauntless making friends and regrets and slowly discovering what Erudite really is. My connection with this book is that living your life normally while everyone is just feeding you lies until you understand  what the lies are. I love the concept in this book. The back stories, the surprises, just everything. The setting is in the Abnegation territory in the beginning ad the dauntless territory in the end. I would recommend this book to everyone!! If you can't read I will teach you how to because you ed to read this!!!!!