All This & More by Peng Shepherd

45-year-old Marsh is the lucky contender on the third season of All This and More, a reality television show that uses quantum technology to change reality, enabling them to change their past and future. Marsh never followed her dreams of becoming a lawyer, traveling, lacks a romantic relationship and was recently fired (ouch). She's given the opportunity over the course of the television season to see these alternate reality options and keep perfecting them until ultimately, she would have to pick the reality to become real in the season finale. But, is everything really in her control? It seems like other forces are impacting the choices she makes, and over the course of the episodes it becomes apparent to Marsh that something is definitely wrong, and it's up to her to figure out what before everyone she cares about's lives are changed forever.

If you could go back or forward in time and change the choices you made over the course of your life, would you? Maybe you'd get the degree you always wanted, or move to a certain place, or spend more time with a loved one before they were gone. Even temporarily to live in those realities for a small amount of time for the experience of it. Marsh has the opportunity to change and change and keep changing to make everything "perfect". The endless seeking of perfection comes with its own problems, and each reality option in the effort to fix one thing leads to unwanted consequences in something else. The saying, "too good to be true" couldn't be more accurate. There's also some interesting ethics issues on changing the lives of other people connected to Marsh without their input and awareness that would have been interesting to further explore. I'm surprised that there was no government oversight on it. That would be another interesting (and necessary, I think), aspect to add if there was a sequel.

Beyond the topic of the book itself, I initially loved the format where you choose how the story ends and the choices that Marsh makes in The Bubble (what they call the technology that lets you change reality). Each choice for something else to be changed are not entirely distinct chapters with elements and sometimes exact phrases mixed in from previous choices the reader had made before. This allows the mystery to occur, the suspicious feeling that something is not quite right with how details get mushed together. I can only imagine how difficult it must have been to write this type of book and get multiple storylines to make sense, and be consistent with clues in the overall mystery. I also will say that it was a fitting format for the plot to help with reader engagement and connecting with Marsh where you are making choices while Marsh also makes choices. However, loving the premise of getting to choose what happens next leads to some unique issues. 

 If you don't keep track of your choices, you end up often right back where you started reading the same thing that you did before, almost like being stuck in a time loop. What would have been very helpful was to have something like a mind map that illustrates visually what leads to what to help if you basically get lost. It is difficult to retrace your steps if you wanted to go back and read a certain section over again. It seemed like almost all of the major mystery-solving revelations occurred in this one specific section that I then could not remember where it was to read again. Honestly, I'm not entirely sure what the point was in making it a choose-your-own-adventure format if the reader ends up going in circles and selecting every other choice anyway to get out. The premise and idea was excellent, but the execution lacking.The mystery itself was fairly well-written and the core revelations were foreshadowed just enough to not spoiler it but still make the truth shocking. Shepherd's talent likely lies in her mystery writing, and I likely would have enjoyed the book more without the choices as a full-blown mystery novel.

Are there other choose-your-own-adventure books you'd recommend?

Title: All This & More
Author: Peng Shepherd

Publisher: William Morrow
Pages: 469
Series: No
Rating: 3 Stars
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The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is a science biography book for adults that was given to me by one of my favorite teachers. Henrietta Lacks grew up on a poor tobacco farm in Virginia, and had her first child at the age of 14 with several more over the course of her life. Her family eventually moved to Baltimore, Maryland, where she was diagnosed with cervical cancer at Johns Hopkins. Her doctor took samples of her cancerous cells without Henrietta's consent, and she soon died at the age of 31 in 1951. These cells are the foundation for the field of virology and human genetics fields as we know it today. No human cell line can replicate like hers or share similar immortality, because of how her HPV-induced cancer resulted in genetic mutations. Her family had no idea until over 20 years later, with her 22 descendants incredibly poor and locked out of the billions being profited off buying and selling her cells for research. Today, her family has been suing research and pharmaceutical companies for share of profit.

This is not simply a book about cellular biology, or the science of virology and cancer, nor just the ethical questions to how potentially groundbreaking research is conducted and communicated, or the treatment of black Americans by healthcare systems. This book tells the life of a woman who is "the mother of modern medicine" and her family's story, faced with significant challenges like poverty, hearing loss, abuse, and the lack of transparency in their mother's death. Readers become invested in the future of the real characters. For a nonfiction book, it sure reads like a fiction one for the amount of significant detail and imagery. This is even more impressive considering many of the people featured are no longer alive. I also enjoyed the passages in the present about Rebecca's interviews and the process of writing the story. The structure of the book flipping between the past and the present would be confusing if not for the lovely division of the each chapter stating what years it describes, and Skloot did a good job of balancing staying on topic but also including several other interesting points, like the history of Johns Hopkins and commercialization of medical research, which inevitably happened although seemingly not intentional.

I also appreciated that while the author did not shy away from scientific details of the research using her cells, Rebecca mostly condensed the information into a digestible amount for those not scientifically knowledgeable or have ever taken a biology class. As someone in this field, I found the contamination of her cells all over the world a fascinating biosecurity issue, and I would highly recommend this book to anyone who does cellular or tissue research or works in the medical field. It is a shame that this book is no longer required reading; it used to be in one of the 100 level biology courses, but not anymore and the books just sat collecting dust with all the other formerly used textbooks (which is an entirely separate issue on the impact of digital media on reading and learning).

Title: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Author: Rebecca Skloot

Publisher: Broadway Paperbacks

Pages: 382

Series: No

Rating: 5 Stars

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The Five Stages of Moria: "The Worst Refugee Camp on Earth" by Elika Ansari

Moria was the largest refugee camp in Europe before it burned down in 2020. Ansari was a humanitarian worker at the camp herself, and this book tells the stories of five refugees at the camp, based on true experiences Ansari witnessed and the people she met.

How is it fair, how is it acceptable for anyone with even a sliver of a conscience, to push someone when they are already down, to treat someone how they were treated in Moria after everything these people have already been through? Is it racism, implicit bias? A financial issue of greed from politicians? A symbolic threat to their perceived way of life from their culture, or employment? From what I can gather from research into the conditions at Samos and Mavrovouni camps that replaced Moria, conditions are just as bad. I'm not saying to build them all palaces and enshrine them like royalty, but to have decency! I appreciate how honest, sometimes brutally honest The Five Stages of Moria is. Ansari did not shy away from discussing difficult and traumatic topics.

These people have left their homes in fear for their lives, left oppression and death and corruption, and travel dangerously across hundreds or even thousands of miles, are faced with a nightmare reminiscent of their homes- Moria, often without water, food, electricity, or shelter other than a concrete floor or falling apart cot, living in inhumane filth. That, or foraging for yourself in a nearby jungle with nothing besides a subpar tent. After reading this book, you may not believe that there can be worse. The title is not stating that Moria is the worst refugee camp on Earth, but that it is perceived as so. Believe it or not, there are refugee camps worse in Africa and in the Middle East. The U.S. refugee camps in Texas, such as the one for displaced children at the Fort Bliss military base in El Paso, are frankly not even better. 

Yes, it is an extremely complicated situation, and I'm not claiming to know the answer of how to solve the immigrant crisis that will only escalate in the face of global warming and the Ukraine war, but something has to give. We have to do better, we have to be better. However embarrassing to say, I had never heard of Moria before. I knew the conditions of refugee camps in general from literature and classes like Cultural Geography, but the majority of people likely know even less than I do. The only difference between "them" and "us" is where we were born, and books like these further emphasize and enlighten to that. I especially loved the presence of raw emotion and honesty on depression and the impacts that the camp had on not only the people in it, but those who work around it. Humanitarian aid workers are largely unappreciated and invalidated. There is only one other book that I could find by googling and searching various websites on Moria, lots on refugee camps in general, but nothing like this.

I highly recommend this book! While the reading level is on point for a YA audience, adults can also learn from and appreciate this book. For a relatively short read, the impact can be far-reaching.

Title: The Five Stages of Moria
Author: Elika Ansari 
Publisher: Arkbound Publishing
Pages: 227
Series: No
Rating: 5 Stars
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Project Bold Life: The Proven Formula to Take on Challenges and Achieve Happiness and Success by Edward M. Kopko

Project Bold Life is a self-help guide to living a happier, more confident, and overall bolder life through their formula (a committed goal from the Bold Life Pillars (Pi), plus a stretch specific goal (S²) and an Action Plan (Ap). PBL=Pi+S²+Ap). Written by accomplished businessman and entrepreneur, Project Bold Life aims to help one transform their doubts and challenges into boldness and success. This book was sent to me by the company.

Self-help and motivational books are tricky when trying to be relatable and differentiating between lecturing, teaching, and simply giving advice. However, Project Bold Life did find a balance between this. Project Bold Life is broad enough for the messages to be relevant for almost all, but also specific enough so that they can be followed through. I also like how the advice and steps the book offered were explained in relatable, understandable parallels with Ted Talks, events in history, and songs. 

From word clouds to cartoons, the illustrations are both helpful, cute, and relevant. The cartoon to the right is a reference to how stress can be positive; diamonds cannot form without high stress and pressure. 

I enjoyed the empowering tone behind the Fall off the Horse Plan chapters, where one envisions what types of falls and issues they could have, with steps on how to get back on and people who will help them. Often, many books strive for positivity in goal setting and mindset, but fail to address what happens if something goes wrong. 

While this is a review of the book, I did look up the website, quizzes, and worksheets that the book mentioned. The worksheets are very specific in terms of goals for each day, each month, and each year; this provides a higher likelihood of it actually working. The website, projectboldlife.com, is more helpful than the book in my opinion in terms of helpful stories and precise steps. Project Bold Life certainly has some good ideas, but not most of what is in the book is not necessarily original.

I felt that the book spent too long explaining how and why it was/will teach the Bold Life Formula/steps and not enough time actually teaching it. I also wish that the features on people who completed the Bold Life Formula were longer and more detailed. I was unrealistically expecting a style similar to Chicken Soup's books. 

I do think this book and the website can help many people.

See this video on the project and the different pillars: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlmKgeQklUY

Title: Project Bold Life
Author: Edward M. Kopko
Publisher: Edward M. Kopko
Pages: 268
Series: No
Rating: 4 Stars
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Kitchen Privileges: A Memoir by Mary Higgins Clark

Kitchen Privileges is a memoir describing Mary Higgins Clark's life story and the factors that influenced her love of writing. From her poor beginnings with interesting tenants in her house to being an flight attendant, she always knew she wanted to write. But it wasn't until after she became a widow with five children to care for that she truly decided to follow her dreams.

I became anxious to read this book after learning of her passing on January 31. However I ended up being very disappointed. I am reluctant to criticize a dead person, but I must be honest- Kitchen Privileges felt rather boring and lacking in multiple areas, including figurative language and plot structure.

Clark has struggled in her life and gone through tremendous tragedy, however there was not an inspirational tone, but almost rather from a bragging standpoint of what she was able to overcome. Kitchen Privileges felt like a textbook, made of chronological facts. I cannot compare this to her other writing styles, however I can say that the story, if one can call it that, was very flat with a strong premise that ended up underdeveloped in a plain tone with a large lacking of figurative language. There was no "it" factor, nothing dramatic or suspenseful that Clark is known for.

I do not recommend this book. If you wish to learn Clark's story, just go to wikipedia- because that's what the book felt like.

Title: Kitchen Privileges: A Memoir
Author: Mary Higgins Clark
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Pages: 208
Series: No
Rating: 2 Stars
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The Stranger by Albert Camus

The Stranger is a realistic fiction book that I recently read in my AP Literature and Composition class. Normally, I do not review books that I am required to read, however I have strong opinions regarding this book that I wish to voice. It follows the character Meursault, who committed a murder that issued him a death sentence and reflects upon the meaning of life and death. The Stranger is known for its foundations on existentialism.

For me, the most important factor in whether or not I enjoy a book is a realistic character with emotions that I can invest myself in. Meursault is perhaps the most emotionless main character I have ever read. Quite honestly, he is so apathetic that I would almost characterize him as a sociopath. All he cared about, if he cares about anything, is himself, and yet that is not even obvious as he does not have a care in the world during his trial and the death of his mother. I was not invested in his fate and by the end, I didn't exactly care about his execution. I understand that the writing of his detachment from the world around him was deliberate, however he was also detached from the audience and I was left disappointed by the lack of humanity in his soul. Now, I could still like the book if there were strong secondary characters, but even Marie felt distant and almost made of glass or shadows.

Yes, the execution was very unfair and there are good points about existentialism, but it could have been executed better. For instance, the targeted audience is confusing. It is at a seventh grade reading level, but yet full of mature concepts that are inappropriate for that audience. The Stranger was also bland and unsophisticated with a strangely simplistic sentences. There is a very narrow way of looking at life and his message at the end with life being meaningless is downplayed by Meursault’s lack of indifference and bleak, almost non-existent morals.

This book should be known for its ideas, but Camus is not a writer worth the amount of attention the book received. I was missing an "it" factor, something to excite me, but rather the book is narrated with such  monotone that it is perfect for only one task- a bedtime story.

I don't recommend this book.

Title: The Stranger
Author: Albert Camus
Publisher: Vintage International
Pages: 123
Series: No
Rating: 1 Star
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I Wish My Teacher Knew by Kyle Schwartz

I Wish My Teacher Knew is a nonfiction book about the movement that transpired when Mrs. Schwartz had her third-grade class answer the open-ended question on a post-it. She gets heartbreaking answers and forms connections with her students that goes viral worldwide. Mrs. Schwartz tells her story, the story of her students, and how she creates a feeling of safety and unity in her classroom.

I plan to be a teacher, and I will aspire to follow in her footsteps, learn from her mistakes, and use her strategies. In addition to just this fill-in-the-blank sentence, Schwartz goes through her own education and mistakes she's learned from. I particularly loved how she pointed out key phrases to say and others to avoid or change to promote inclusivity. Some of her tips and tricks I never would have thought of.

I Wish My Teacher Knew is not only aimed for educators, but this also has appeal for students because it teaches steps they can take to make new friends and help the classroom become safer. This book also clearly showcases how teachers are not perfect and shows how good intentions can easily backfire. I Wish My Teacher Knew helps students understand their teacher better. This book is also important for policymakers and politicians to read as Schwartz makes important points about poverty in schools and what systems should be in place to help them. I was shocked at how thorough the research was and I found the statistics startling.

I highly recommend this book and can't wait to read it again! I cannot wait to read her new book, I Wish For Change.

Title: I Wish My Teacher Knew
Author: Kyle Schwartz
Publisher: Da Capo Lifelong Books
Pages: 272
Series: No
Rating: 5 Stars
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Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Purple Hibiscus is a historical fiction book about the oppressed lifestyle of a Nigerian family that I found at my school library. Taking place in the 1960s during the Nigerian Civil War, Fifteen-year-old Kambili and her older brother Jaja live a sheltered life in a rich family. They are completely blocked off from the rest of their world, surrounded only by religion, fear, and pain. As the military coup begins to take over the county, the children are sent away to live with their Aunt, who introduces them to freedom, laughter, and happiness. As the country falls apart, her family does as well, and Kambili must hold her family together after a tragedy long enough to escape to America.

This book was amazing! I loved the parallels between the war in their county and the war inside their home. I found myself not only fascinated with Kambili's strength and heart, but also the culture and the history of the country. In addition, the aspect of religious conflict in their culture was massive, half the population sticking with native polytheistic values while the other half, including Kambili's father, assimilates into the Church. It's a whole different set of beliefs between her father and her aunt, and it was amazing to watch how both influenced and gave her strength to conquer the harsh, unforgiving days she had ahead.

Kambili doesn't understand what is wrong with her life, she has worshiped her father and always tried to please him. It was amazing watching her first laugh and the first time she ever smiled with her aunt and cousins. Her inner turmoil was powerful, and Kambili found herself trying to save her family at all costs. She is brave and magnificent.

The symbolism of the purple flower was incredible. In darkness and oppression, the Purple Hibiscus is defiance and freedom, representing the beauty that can shine if one allows themselves to never give up, and always keep fighting against brutality. This flower is their beacon of hope, and the only thing more powerful than fear is hope.

I highly recommend this book!

Title: Purple Hibiscus
Author: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Publisher: Algonquin Books
Pages: 307
Series: No
Rating: 5 Stars
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Room by Emma Donoghue

Room is a realistic fiction book about a five-year-old boy and his mother trapped in Room. When Jack's mom was 19, she was kidnapped outside of her college dorm, and held prisoner in Room, a converted shed. Eventually, she gave birth to a little boy. Told in the viewpoint of Jack, this story surrounds what happens when Ma reveals to him that there is a world outside of Room, and the two devise a plan to escape.

I love this book! Originally when I picked it up at my school library, I thought it'd be a fun, quick book to read. Boy, was I wrong! While the book is narrated by a five-year-old boy, being stuck in that room for five years his mom had lots of time to teach him advanced math, spelling, reading, and very big words. Yes, it is told in the viewpoint of of a little kid, but the ideas he was able to convey are huge. At this age he is able to articulate and notice that something is very wrong, and he is able to recognize his mother's depression. Jack is incredible. His love and protectiveness of his mother is enormous and heartwarming. He's a little superhero.

The author managed to voice a realistic child, somehow managing to make him seem his age, but also have critical thinking skills. I also loved his hilarious thinking patterns and rhetorical questions, about everything from baked beans to spiders. He is able to turn a serious, deadly situation funny, making the horrendous conditions light-hearted. There were so many times where you could tell that bad things were happening, but because it was told through the young eyes of Jack, they were easier to bear. It is quite intriguing to watch a little boy grasp the idea that the world is not this room. An ongoing theme was having Jack accept that (almost) everything on the TV was real! That's an extremely overwhelming situation, and even most adults cannot understand how big the world is. Room will leave you thinking for days!

I highly recommend this book, and I am excited to watch the movie adaptation!

Title: Room
Author: Emma Donoghue
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Pages: 321
Series: No
Rating: 5 Stars
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Ginny Moon by Benjamin Ludwig

Ginny Moon is an inspirational realistic fiction book about an autistic teenager trying to save her little sister from her birth mother. Ginny was placed in foster care four years ago, after police took her away from her abusive and neglectful mother. Now she is living with a family who loves her and supports her, but all she wants to do is escape and go back. Not because she misses her birth mother, Gloria, but her desire to protect her little sister and take care of her when Gloria cannot. This is the story of a girl trying to find her role in life and struggling to communicate and have a life without her past.

This book is classified as adult but I have no idea why, as this is perfect and relatable to teens everywhere, inspiring kindness and patience with kids of special needs. Ginny shows a lesson to everybody not to bully others and advocates empathy. The book shows the thinking and logic behind behavior that looks illogical on the outside. Every punishable thing she did was out of good intentions, and in this day in age it is especially important for kids to understand others.

On the other hand, it also shows adults how not to behave and interact. Every adult in the book has major flaws and were very misinformed of how to care for Ginny. While some see this as a negative, I see the silver lining in that this book teaches foster parents and teachers everywhere what not to do and how to be calm, patient, and understanding.

Ginny is hurting a lot, and cannot always find ways to communicate effectively. She is extremely smart, but to others it appears not due to her behavior and the way she forms sentences. However, she is just a girl scared for her sister with a paternal instinct that she does not understand, PTSD scars, and autism to top it all off. I really feel for this girl. Ginny Moon is an extremely emotional, tense book with a protagonist that one will remember for a very long time.

I highly recommend that you read this book!

Title: Ginny Moon
Author: Benjamin Ludwig
Publisher: Park Row Books
Pages: 368
Series: No
Rating: 5 Stars
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The Light of the Fireflies by Paul Pen

I got The Light of the Fireflies for free on Amazon for World Book Day on April 28th. Only now did I finally read it. This story is quite interesting to say the least.

The book centers around the youngest boy of a family who is living in their basement and will not go upstairs, due to an "incident" involving his older, mentally ill brother. The boy, whose name is never provided, is growing quite suspicious of the family and the abuse of his sister. As he starts to understand some of the lies his family has been feeding him for years and years, he wants to leave.

My first complaint is how none of the characters have any names! So that made the story confusing at times. I also cannot agree at all with the themes or the ending, or the tone of the book, which felt sexist and absurd. The girl who is mature, selfless and sensible is abused by the family and blamed, all while the eldest son, who is awful and evil and a criminal is protected and loved? The story is completely backwards and sad.

In some parts of the world it is like this where women are treated like garbage but instead of acknowledging that it is wrong and giving a lesson, the main character reflects years later and defends his parents and says that family always comes first? The daughter (who deserves a name!) is family, and she deserves protection. Readers enjoy the main character, the youngest son, and expect him to become better than his family, but yet becomes poisoned by their thoughts and fails to get away when he has the chance.

There are essentially two points of view for this book. Either the importance of family goes above criminal actions, or doing the right thing is the most important, no matter how painful. However, both do show how our upbringing impacts how we view the world and the moral choices we make. The Light of the Fireflies is surprisingly very well written, and the mystery drew me in a lot. I also do think that the book was fascinating, and it was a very captivating read. While I dislike the main idea and theme, it was a decent book.

Even though I disagree with the main idea, I do sort of recommend this book.

Title: The Light of the Fireflies
Author: Paul Pen
Publisher: AmazonCrossing
Pages: 338
Series: No
Rating: 3 Stars
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All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

All the Light We Cannot See is a historical fiction novel about WWII from the perspective of two kids. I found this book at my school library. This is the tale of a blind French girl, Marie-Laure, and an orphan, Werner. He has a knack for engineering, which lands him a place in the brutal military academy, the Hitler Youth Group. Marie-Laure and her father must flee after the Nazis occupy Paris, carrying a jewel rumored to have protection powers. Her great-uncle owns a radio, and together they work with the resistance, broadcasting coded messages to end the war. Unbeknownst to them, they are in grave danger.

I wanted to love this book, I really did. It's the winner of the Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award finalist, and Goodreads choice awards winner in 2014! So, this has a really good reputation, and I had extremely high hopes. Unfortunately, it took all my strength to finish it. I never stop reading a book in order to accurately review it, and I always hope that it would get better at the end. All the Light We Cannot See did not.

All the characters were flat and I had no interest in them whatsoever. Quite frankly, I did not care if they ended up dead or alive. That's really harsh, I know, but there was nothing special about them that made me connect to them or stick with them. Maybe it would have helped if it was written in first person because the characters were so distant. They did not take any risks, they did not change at all. Werner and Marie didn't even meet until the last like 50 pages. The book is 500 pages long!!! It made me angry that he was just like a statue. Honestly, I'm not sure what the point was of the characters' existence.

Every chapter was a page, and it kept switching perspectives of so many characters that I couldn't keep track. By the end of the book, I sadly could not remember half of them. It's safe to say this book isn't very memorable. I'm not sure why people like it so much and gave it so many awards. Also, I wanted more of the war, the fighting. I understand the book is about innocence, but it was too innocent. They are working with the resistance, but they don't even know what they are resisting! Don't expect to learn about the war by reading this book. Okay, and the diamond? What in the world was the point? That little fairy tale had no impact on the plot at all.

I don't know, maybe adults would appreciate this book more, but I personally really didn't like it at all. I don't recommend this book.

Title: All the Light We Cannot See
Author: Anthony Doerr
Publisher: Scribner
Pages: 531
Series: No
Rating: 1 Star
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My Lost Brothers: The Untold Story of the Yarnell Hill Fire's Lone Survivor by Brendan McDonough with Stephan Talty

After watching the movie Only the Brave, I was eager to read My Lost Brothers, the memoir that inspired the documentary. Brendan McDonough was on lookout duty when the rest of the Granite Mountain Hotshots were burned alive on June 30, 2013. The Yarnell Hill Fire turned 180 degrees, cutting off their escape route. Their emergency fire shelters were no use against 3,000 degrees, and they all died in minutes. This was the greatest loss of firefighters since the 9/11 attack. My Lost Brothers is an inspirational memoir of how Brendan escaped the streets and turned his life around by joining the Granite Mountain Hotshots, and the day he lost the 19 men who saved him.

Before watching Only The Brave, I immediately went on the computer and read all about it, unaware that the crew was going to die. After realizing that Brendan wrote a book, I knew I just had to read it!

The majority of the book was in perfect unison with the documentary. This inspirational story teaches how to find one's purpose in life, and shows how millions of firefighters, police officers, and other first-responders put their lives on the line to save others. My Lost Brothers also teaches strength in the face of tragedy, and displays the importance of acceptance and moving on. This is a great book for someone who has faced death or PTSD, or knows someone who has. I learned a lot about the values of family and determination. I now also know more about firefighters than I ever did, and I have a stronger admiration for them. This book is heartbreaking and dramatic, and honors the men who died saving others.

Even though this book is intended for adults, it is perfectly suitable for teenagers as well. I highly recommend that you read this book and honor the sacrifice of these 19 brave men.

Title: My Lost Brothers: The Untold Story by the Yarnell Hill Fire's Lone Survivor
Author: Brendan McDonough, Stephan Talty
Publisher: Hachette Books
Pages: 288
Series: No
Rating: 5 Stars
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We Beat the Street: How a Friendship Pact Led to Success by Sampson Davis, George Jenkins, Rameck Hunt, Sharon M. Draper

I found this inspirational non-fiction book on a high school summer reading list for a school assignment about what it means to be an American. Sampson, George, and Rameck grew up in poor neighborhoods (ghettos) where many people ended up committing crimes (drugs and theft) and landed in juvenile detention. Goals there were focused on survival, not on grades.

When Sampson, George, and Rameck met in a magnet high school in Newark, New Jersey, they became friends. They all had a goal of being a doctor or dentist. They made a pact to stick together and go to college and medical school. Today, Sampson and Rameck are successful doctors, and George is a successful dentist.

At the end of each chapter, there would be a note from the doctor that was talking in that chapter. It would explain the importance of what was said and more background knowledge. I think that was a wise choice, and it was very useful. 

This book was very inspirational. The boys went through at lot of tough times and learned some valuable lessons. Sampson was my favorite character. He had the most internal conflicts, and really great lessons. Another thing that was important in this book was the environment. I loved how these three boys beat the odds, and I enjoyed watching them find other paths and other ways to do things without drugs or physical violence. 

I highly recommend this book!

Title: We Beat the Street: How a Friendship Pact Led to Success

Authors: Sampson Davis, George Jenkins, Rameck Hunt, Sharon M. Draper

Publisher: Dutton Children's Books

Pages: 128

Series: No

Rating: 5 Stars

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