Homeless Bird by Gloria Whelan

I finish reading this book Homeless Bird.  It is about a young Indian girl forced into a tragic marriage with a terminally ill boy, through the experiences of widowhood, discovers the truth about who she is and what love is really means. Koly, the main character which is the young Indian girl who has just reached the age which tradition dictates she is eligible to be married. She will have a difficult life because it is not easy for her to take care of person who has tuberculosis. What I take out of this book is all about tradition and religious beliefs.  I have a great time reading this book and I hope all of people who read this book will enjoy as much as I did. Genre:
Linh Chieng
Grade 9

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

This book- which I am almost finished with- is way funny and true.  I really like Junior, the main character, and his funny/smart perspective on life.  He is something of a misfit, and I think since most teenagers feel that way at some point or another, this book holds a lot of wisdom and humor for kids who feel out of place within their own communities, schools, and skins.  The book starts by describing Junior's life on the Indian Reservation in Washington (the state, not the city) and how he was born with an enlarged brain.  Junior is small and skinny, so he gets beat up alot, but he has a best friend- Rowdy- who protects him.  However, because Junior decides to go to school in the "white" town outside of the reservation, his friendship with Rowdy is jeopardized.  In order to find out how it all turns out ok- you should read the book yourself.  Junior is an aspiring cartoonist, so the book also has his drawings interspersed throughout, which breaks up the reading and gives you a glimpse into his active imagination.  This book appeals to people who like to laugh while they are reading and want to identify with a protagonist who doesn't always have it so easy.  I HIGHLY recommend this book. Genre:
M. Crabtree

13 going on to 30 by Christa Roberts

My second independent reading book is called 13 going on to 30 by Christa Roberts. I am reading this book because it caught my attencion. It caught my attencion because of the title of it. In fact this book is a very interesting book. It is about a girl named Jenna and it was her 13 birthday and she invited the coolest people in her school and the coolest people in the school took advantage of it and told Jenna that they would go but they had to do a school project. So because Jenna really wanted them to go to her party she told them that she would do there school project so the cool kids took advantage of that. At the party they tricked Jenna and they left right after she gave them the school project Jenna felt really sad and disappointed and she kept on repeating i want to be thirty, flirty, and thriving then some of her wishing dust fell on top of her head and the next morning she was thirty and she was in shock and very confused. She went from being 13 to 30 in one day. Genre:
Marisol
Grade 9th

Killing Britney and A Child Called It

My first independent reading book was called, "Killing Britney", and my second book is called, "A Child Called It". These two books do not have much in common becauce Britney is dealing with a murder and solving crime scenes while David is getting abused by his mother. "Killing Britney" has to do more with mystery and murder than "A Child Called It" isn't really a mystery because you can see that he is being abused and know that how he feels and everything is straight forward; no mystreries. The one thing that these two books have in common is that they both have the same hatred for their mothers. It's pretty obvious that they feel that way because Britney's mother had never really shown affection and for sure David's mom doesn't show affection every now and then, in fact, rarley she shows any emotion except for hatred and annoyance towards David.

Genre:
H.Duong
Grade 9

Cirque Du Freak Lake of Souls by Darren Shan

The book Cirque Du Freak Lake of Souls by Darren Shan is book number 10 in the Cirque Du Freak series. In this book a character named Harkat Mulds  is having nightmares. Mr. Tiny appears and tells him to get rid of his nightmares he has to find out who he was before he became Harkat Mulds. Darren Shan, the main character goes with Harkat Mulds into a portal teleporting them to a gray world to start the journey into finding Harkat Muld's past indentity. They have to perform a bunch of tasks like fighting panthers, giant toads, and dragons. Darren and Harkat both get taken down by a dragon, but got rescued from a man named Spits. Spits joined their journey and helped them, but ends up betraying them and fails. Darren and Harkat finally completed all their tasks and they found out who Harkat was before he became a Little Person. He was... :O This is a horror,suspense, and a vampire book. I recommend it to people that like reading a book with a lot of actions, and twists and people that like killing,blood,and gore. I rate this book in a scale of 1-10 8.782 out of 10. Genre:
Johnny Vandal
Grade 9

Cirque Du Freak:The Vampire's Assistant by Darren Shan

 CIRQUE DU FREAK:THE VAMPIRE'S ASSISTANT by Darren Shan is about a boy named Darren, who gets bitten  by a vampire named Mr.Crepsley. Mr.Crepsly decides to become his mentor, and teaches him everything that he needs to know about being a vampire. He lives throughout all these new obstacles in life, and faces the most vicious man, Mr.Tiny. It's the dreaded battle between life or death, So now you ask yourself, what happens next?
Genre: Fantasy
Danniel Rosales Flores  Grade 9

Jesse by Gary Soto

Jesse by Gary Soto is where two Mexican-American workers named Abel and Jesse try to move out proverty by doing field works. Jesse leaves home and moves into an apartment with his older brother, Abel. Both Jesse and Abel have to balance out school work with field work. They try to find stuff in the dumpster and sell it in the flea markets. Jesse and Abel only make about sixteen dollars a weekend. Nixon's speech causes Jesse to stuff that breaks the law. Will Abel and Jesse go to college? Genre: Realisitic Fiction
D. Lum Grade 9