A lockdown drill catches five grade 12 students by surprise and throws them together in the only unlocked room, which just so happens to be the boy’s bathroom. Told in five unique voices through conversation, poetry, text messages, journals, photographs, and homework assignments –each student reveals pieces of their true story as they wait for the drill to end. Alice is the introverted writer who has to take care of her autistic brother Noah. Isabelle is the smart and popular student council president. Hogan is an ex - football player who has had his fair share of trouble. Xander is the socially awkward yearbook photographer. However, things change for the group when it is realized the lockdown is not a drill and that one of them knows more about the shooter than they all realized. (excerpt: pages 52 - 54) FYI: this book is considered M for mature.
0 Comments
Drawing on his own experiences in WWI, Charles Yale Harrison tells the story of a young man sent to fight on the Western Front. It is an unimaginable harrowing journey for an eighteen year old from Canada. Harrison conveys the sense of horrors of life in the trenches. This is where soldiers fight and die, entombed in mud, surrounded by rats and lice, forced to survive on insufficient rations. This is a book for anyone who enjoys reading and learning about history. It is fast paced, full of action, and tells the real story of what it was like to serve in the trenches during WWI. (excerpt: pages 45 - 48) FYI: this book is considered M for mature. As a child, Amanda Lindhout escaped a violent household by paging through issues of National Geographic and imagining herself in its exotic locales. At the age of nineteen, working as a cocktail waitress in Calgary, Alberta, she began saving her tips so she could travel the globe. Aspiring to understand the world and live a significant life, she backpacked through Latin America, Laos, Bangladesh, and India, and emboldened by each adventure, went on to Sudan, Syria, and Pakistan. In war - ridden Afghanistan and Iraq she carved out a fledgling career as a television reporter. And then, in August 2008, she travelled to Somalia - "the most dangerous place on Earth." On her fourth day, she was abducted by a group of masked men along a dusty road. Held hostage for 460 days, A House in the Sky is Amanda Lindhout's story of survival. This book is powerful beyond words. Lindhout's journey is almost unimaginable. But what is truly remarkable is how she never gives up hope throughout her ordeal. Definitely a book you won't be able to put down. (excerpt: pages 104 - 105) FYI: this book is considered M for mature. "In world nearly destroyed by global warming, the Indigenous people of North America are being hunted for their bone marrow, which carries the key to recovering something the rest of the population has lost: the ability to dream. 16 year old Frenchie and his companions are struggling to survive. Yet, they don't know that one of them holds the secret to defeating the marrow thieves." (courtesy of the book back cover) The Marrow Thieves is classified as a dystopian novel (dystopia = an imagined place or state in which everything is unpleasant or bad). But it also incorporates history, as we learn how the world collapsed into the current state. This is a book written by a Metis Canadian author that has received praise and recognition around the world. (excerpt: pages 2 - 4) FYI: this book is considered M for mature. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
November 2019
Categories |