What it is: The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry is a story of a boy who travels from his own planet around the world, seeing all the wonderful and terrible things that exist and comparing what it means to be a child vs. an adult. It’s half magical realism, half universal truths. What I liked…
What it is: The Ordinary Princess by M.M. Kaye is a fairytale filled with princesses, animal friends, spells, and whimsy. It tells the story of Amy, whose gift from her fairy godmother is to be ordinary, instead of extremely beautiful or charming or graceful like her sisters. When no prince wants to marry her, she runs away…
What it is: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline is a dystopia/sci-fi novel set in the 2040s. The world has become a complete wasteland due to human overconsumption, and people stay sane by escaping to the virtual reality world of the OASIS, created by a man named James Halliday who releases a quest after his death…
What it is: Homeless Bird by Gloria Whelan is set in India, where 13-year-old Koly must prepare for her arranged marriage. Her husband turns out to be quite sickly, and soon after the wedding leaves her a widow. According to Indian culture, she doesn’t have a future without him. Koly has to learn to survive–and…
What it is: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz is the story of a Dominican family with a curse that dooms them to tragedy and ill-fated love. Oscar, our overweight, nerdy protagonist, never seems capable of winning, either in his dreams of writing the next great sci-fi novel or in having his first…
What it is: My Name is Seepeetza by Shirley Sterling is a semi-autobiographical book about a young aboriginal girl who is sent to Kalamak Indian Residential School as part of the government’s attempts to assimilate native children into white culture. The book takes a diary format and follows Seepeetza’s time at school and on her family’s ranch.…
1. The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz, to satisfy the “read a Pulitzer Prize winner” assignment for the Read Harder Challenge (note: this was also on my Summer TBR, but I never got around to it!) 2. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, to satisfy the “read a sci-fi book” assignment…
What it is: Don Quixote de La Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes is considered to be one of the greatest and most influential works of fiction, especially among Spanish literature. The title character, dubbed Don Quixote, becomes obsessed with reading about knights errant and their chivalric adventures. He goes insane, and attempts to bring these fictitious books to life with…
What it is: Order of Seven by Beth Teliho is a young adult novel that combines supernatural and realistic elements to tell the story of Devi Bennett, who must discover her roots to figure out a family secret. What I liked about it: Teliho’s writing is excellent, and she draws the reader in with a voice that feels human but still…
What it is: Blue is the Warmest Color by Julie Maroh is the story of Clementine, a high school student, and Emma, a college student, who begin a romantic/sexual relationship. Emma guides Clementine to understand and come to terms with her sexuality, but ultimately tragedy tears the two apart. What I liked about it: The art is fantastic. I have…
Victim to Charm 