The Life of Pi

The Life of Pi  By Yann Martel

***** 5/5 stars  Fiction

On the back of this book, one of the critics says it is hilarious. Why does he call it hilarious? Being stuck in the middle of the ocean with a tiger in a tiny lifeboat is not even remotely funny to me. Pi Patel is the son of a zookeeper. When the zoo is in the process of being moved to North America on a cargo ship, the boat sinks and Pi ends up in a lifeboat with a 450 pound Bengal tiger, a wounded zebra, an orangutan, and a hyena. Soon it is just Pi and the tiger. If you think that is funny, you have a really bad sense of humor.

            On one level The Life of Pi is about a boy and a tiger. On another it is about adaptability. I've read other reviews about The Life of Pi and the reviewer said that The Life of Pi was about religion and how the tiger is God. That didn't really jump out at me. What jumped out at me was how Pi was able to survive on a lifeboat with a 450 pound tiger, how the meerkats were able to survive on the carnivorous island, and how the tiger adapted to live with Pi as a food supplier.

            The movie The Life of Pi is coming out tomorrow and I suggest that you read the book before you see the movie.

I'm not Esther

I'm not Esther by Fleur Beale

***** 5/5 stars  Non- Fiction

Kirby's mother, Ellen, has always told Kirby everything - except for one part of her life that she has kept buried for a very long time. Ellen has never told Kirby about her family and what happened before she ran away from them. However, Kirby finds out when her mother goes to help refugees in Africa, leaving Kirby with her uncle whom she has never met. Kirby's mom's side of the family are all part of a strict religion called The Children of the Faith. There are no televisions, radios, newspaper, storybooks, paintings, or mirrors. Even Kirby's name is changed. As time goes on, Kirby begins to question her own identity and seeks a way to be reunited with her mom.
What I really liked about this book was that Kirby didn't change throughout the whole book. She didn't end up liking to wear long skirts and sewing. She continued to act rebellious and continued to speak out when she didn't like a rule the Children of the Faith insisted that she had to follow. I could not put this book down until I had finished it. By New Zealand author, Fleur Beale, I'm not Esther is a must-read book.

Information is Beautiful

Information is Beautiful By David McCandless

***** 5/5 stars  Non-Fiction

How many of you have picked up an information book by accident and immediately put it back down thinking that it will definitely be dull? Books about information—pretty much any type—are almost always boring. Yes, you might say that you do come across the occasional interesting information book, but that’s one in a million.  This book must be one in a million then because it is one of the very few that is interesting.  What made this book much more entertaining then other information-books is that the information is presented in colorful graphs so the book isn’t boring black-and-white. What also made it interesting was the information itself. There were many subjects discussed in it. Among them are: what colors mean in different cultures, an internet viral video clips timeline, the predicted future, and theories for consciousness. This book of miscellany will appeal to nearly everyone.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time  By Mark Haddon

*****5/5 stars   Fiction

Christopher Boone can remember every moment of his life. He can’t understand other people, but he can do any type of math or science. Christopher lives with his dad and his mom is dead. When the neighbor’s dog is found killed, Christopher’s curiosity is stirred and he sets out to find the murderer. What will an autistic fifteen-year-old kid uncover?

          This book was unique because the author wrote it from Christopher’s point of view and it was interesting to see how he thought of things.  That was one of the reasons why I liked it. To have the book from Christopher’s view made dialogue seem a bit plain because he is autistic, but the writing was so good, you could still tell what a person was trying to convey through Christopher.

Criss Cross

Criss Cross By Lynne Rae Perkins

***** 5/5 stars Historical Fiction

Debbie’ neighborhood is full of people. Each person has his or her own story.  Hector’s life is changing. Debbie wants something interesting to happen.   Lenny used to like to read encyclopedias for fun, but now he’s changed. Dan thinks that he is better than he really is. And Mrs. Bruning is a retired old woman who doesn’t know what to do with her life.  This book shows how the characters’ lives criss and cross and how one character’s actions influence another’s.

The characters in this book remind me a lot of kids in everyday life. The author wrote it in a very casual way so the kids were kids, but there was a bit of seriousness and a touch of melancholy under the surface of the writing.  I also thought that the way the characters’ actions influenced each other was a lot like a theory called the Butterfly Effect. It is a theory that says that a butterfly flapping its wings in China could cause a thunderstorm in the other half of the world. There was something similar to that in the book.
I really liked the book because of the style of the writing and the narrative structure of the story. I do wish, however, that the book had a thicker plot.

This book will appeal to readers who like a fun read, but probably not so much to people who like action books.

Without Tess

Without Tess By Marcella Pixley

 ***** 5/5 stars Fiction

Some girls like to play pretend when they are little. Tess and Lizzie Cohen did as well. As time went on Lizzie let go of the fantasies and moved on while Tess still pretended at age twelve. Tess became more and more involved with her fantasies and eventually went insane. Lizzie began to realize that Tess’s belief in her pretend games was a serious matter when Tess starved herself, but fed chocolates to statues. Tess’s fantasies led to madness and madness led to her death. Fifteen years later, Lizzie is still not getting over her sister’s death. With the help of her sister’s Pegasus Journal and the school counselor, Lizzie learns to move on and accept Tess’s death.

Flowers for Algernon

Flowers for Algernon  By Daniel Keyes

***** 5/5 stars  Fiction

Charlie Gordon was born with an extremely low IQ. Even though he is thirty-two, he is unable to learn how to read and write. For a long time he has wanted to be smart. Now he has the chance. Some doctors have asked him if he wants to be part of an experiment to help people like him raise their IQ with surgery. The surgery has been done on the mouse Algernon, but Charlie will be the first human. Eventually Charlie's IQ goes higher than the doctors expected. Charlie begins to meet people outside the hospital and his everyday job. Charlie is just getting used to living in a world of science and mathematics when he realizes that the surgery that was done on him has a flaw.  After Charlie has just gotten used to having knowledge, will he lose it?