A character that I can’t get out of my mind is Ellie from the book Starfish by Lisa Flipp because she taught me we deserve to be heard, to speak, to be noticed, and to not let what people think about us bring us down. In the beginning of the book, Ellie is bullied because of her weight. She cared what people thought of her and she was called names. Not only the people at her school but also her own mom and her brother judged her about her weight. Her mom thinks she’s overweight and wants her to get weight loss surgery. She does not want to get surgery and instead she tries her best to ignore what others say and find a way to cope. Ellie goes out to her pool and floats because it makes her feel weightless. This helps her cope when people are teasing her and she needs to take her mind off things. I connect to her problem because I have struggled with what people have said to me as well when I was younger, but have learned to overcome it just like Ellie. Ellie learned to be proud of who she is and she should accept herself. She learned this by the help of her therapist, her dad, and her friend Catalina. She finally sees herself as a loveable and beautiful person. I hope you like Starfish by Lisa Fipps and can learn that you should be proud of who you are and ignore what people think of you. 

During the 2022 school year I have improved a lot by reading 32 books. Out of those 32 books my favorite is Small Spaces by Katherine Arden. This was my favorite book because scary books are one of my favorite types of books and this book was both horrifying and appealing. The plot line kept me hooked because when Ollie (the main character) gets a book from a strange lady that was trying to get rid of it. The book had a daunting story and she needed to figure it out straight away. Ollie also wanted to figure out what her odd bus driver’s words meant. “Best get moving. At nightfall they’ll come for the rest of you.” Before Ollie could  understand his alarming words he had one more piece of advice, “Avoid large places. Keep to small.” There are unexpected turns and it makes chills go down your spine. On top of that, the chapters always leave on some sort of cliffhanger and I always want to know what happens next. People should read this book because it gives you a thrilling and fun adventure along with a creepy feeling. Furthermore, this book stuck with me after I finished it because it keeps you guessing until the end and as the story goes on the more suspense it builds. For example, when Ollie gets an unexpected text on her watch telling her to RUN from the bus never knowing why. I would definitely recommend this book to everyone who loves a thrilling and suspenseful adventure. 

After reading many thrilling books, I have some reading goals to make my reading more successful this year.  To start, some genres I would like to start reading more are to read more tragedy/sad books and adventure books this year. From reading small spaces adventure it made me want to read more of these types of books. The last goal I have is by reading during my winter and summer breaks because I don’t normally read during breaks. This way I can reach my goal of reading at least around 50-60 books to improve my reading skills.

Protest, Podcast, Discrimination. These are the events the main character Molly Frost in Dress Coded by Carrie Firestone faces during her middle school year at the Fisher Middle school. The book begins when Molly comes across an unfair dress code at her school because their school thinks it’s a distraction when their skin, shoulder, or belly button is showing. Molly can’t find shorts longer than her fingertips, her friend Liza got dress-coded even though Liza and Molly were wearing the same outfit. Jessica got dress coded and had to miss class and her teacher gave her an F on her math quiz. The vice principal always has a reason to dress code them even if it’s the smallest things. That’s why they gave her the name of fingertips. Molly is fed up and has had enough of this dress code and seeing her friends getting dress coded at least once a day. Molly decides to start a podcast with her friends talking about how unfair the dress code is and their experiences with the dress code. It’s been getting listened to by lots of people, but that wasn’t enough for them to get the attention of the school board to change the rules so Molly starts to take things into her own hands. She decides to make posters with the help of her friends and hangs them up on the school walls, but gets caught while doing so and gets detention. The poster may have not worked out but Molly Frost is still determined to change the dress code because why would their skin showing be more important than her education? Now she is figuring out new ways she will approach the dress code. Will Molly be able to change the dress code? How will she change the dress code? Will the podcast get noticed by the school board? To find out, read Dress Coded by Carrie Firestone. 

One scene that was incredibly impactful in Dress Coded by Carrie Firestone was when Molly was recording a podcast with her friend Mary Kate. During this scene Molly was saying how they could now go to school comfortably without getting dress coded or someone saying you were being distracting with a small piece of skin showing. Molly states, “…you can go to school and sit in class without somebody accusing you of being distracted by a shoulder or a collar bone or leg.” (p. 301). I connected to this quote because it made me realize that school dress codes could be really strict and unfair and I should appreciate our school because we don’t have to face all the challenges Molly has had with her school. Having a dress code at schools could help so the teachers don’t need to worry about what their students are wearing and if it’s distracting. However, if we did have a strict dress code, what we wear could become more important than our education. Also, we should be able to wear what we are comfortable in and what helps us to show our personalities.

Sometimes you can face difficult challenges, but Wren, the main character in Violets Are Blue by Barbara Dee overcomes them by doing what she loves the most. The book begins when Wren’s life completely takes a turn. Her parents decide to get divorced and her Dad marries a woman named Vanessa and moves across the country. Wren spends most of her time doing what she loves, which is watching special effects makeup videos to take her mind off of her life. Wren lives with her mom, but often during school breaks takes a visit to see her Dad. She went to visit him for Christmas and got money from her dad. When she comes back her mom is very sensitive if she brings up anything about her dad so she keeps the money thing a secret. Later in the book when she’s at school she doesn’t have friends and her mom thinks it’s becoming a problem. So her mom takes her laptop away from her since all she does is watch special effects videos instead of making friends. At school, she finally makes a friend named Poppy. Poppy thinks her special effects makeup is cool and insists her to join the school production for the musical of Wicked, to do makeup on the cast. Wren takes it into consideration and joins the crew. Meanwhile, at home her mom is acting differently. She adds a lock on her door and doesn’t let her in and her mom just said it was because she doesnt want their dog on her bed, but Wren thinks that isn’t the problem. A couple days later she finds that her Christmas money is gone from underneath her bed and her mom thinks it was the cleaning lady, but the house is still a mess. Soon enough it’s the day of the show. Her mom doesn’t show up to both of her shows for Wicked. Wren was so confused about where she was and kind of furious at her mom for not showing up. Now Wren is trying to figure out why her mom is acting so differently. Will Wren find out why her mom is acting weird or will she fail her mission? To find out, read Violets Are Blue by Barbara Dee. 

If you are interested in Violets Are Blue by Barbara Dee you might also enjoy reading Blended by Sharon M. Draper. The characters in both books have divorced parents that are constantly in fights. They both feel like they are stuck in the middle. In Blended Isabella has to switch her identity between her mom’s house and her dad’s house since her dad is black and her mom is white. She feels divided and as if she has to be a totally different person at each house. She also gets a lot of questions like what race she truly is and she wonders that as well. Further into the book, there was a cell phone in her family’s car that was mistaken for a gun. Soon enough police come and shots are fired. How will she keep all the negative fights from her parents away? What happened during the incident and how did that impact her life? To find out, read Blended by Sharen M. Draper but don’t forget to read Violets Are Blue by Barbara Dee.

Have you ever been white water rafting and it went completely wrong? Well, that’s what happened to these five students in the book Wild River by Rodman Philbrick. It all started when Daniel got chosen to go white water rafting with four other students named Mia, Imani, Deke, and Tony along with two counselors. When the sun sets and the night falls everyone is asleep when suddenly the dam of the river breaks. Everyone was jolted awake by the force of the water of the river not being able to have control of themselves. Not only were they swept away, so were their tents and rafts. Somehow they managed to get a hold of one of the rafts while screaming and kicking through the violent water. Soon Daniel felt himself getting lifted onto the raft, Daniel couldn’t see anything from the water in his eyes, soon enough everything was over. They all made sure everyone was okay, but they quickly realized that the counselors weren’t with them or anywhere near them. Suddenly, they realized what happened. The counselors sacrificed themselves to to make sure all the kids are safe. Now the kids need to survive in the wildness with minimum food supplies and water. What makes it even harder is not all of them get along at all. They also face difficult challenges throughout the book and have no technology or any adult’s with them. Will Daniel and his four classmates make it out alive or will they never return home? To find out, read Wild River by Rodman Philbrick.

If you are interested in Wild River by Rodman Philibrick you might also enjoy reading Small Spaces by Katherine Arden. The characters in both books are trying to survive out in the open with no adults to help them and are trying to get home safely. In the beginning of Small Spaces, the main character Ollie is reading a book about someone named Beth that made a bet with a mysterious smiling man. She doesn’t know for sure if the smiling man is true but she becomes more consumed with the thoughts of the smiling man because she met someone by the river trying to get rid of the same books she has in her hands. Further into the book, Ollie and her classmates go on a field trip to a farm, but on the way home the bus breaks down in the middle of nowhere. Their odd bus driver told her to stay in small spaces or else when night arrives “it” will come for you. An old watch Ollie has told her to RUN. Ollie is trying to get home safely and save her classmates from the smiling man.  To find out, read Small Spaces by Katherine Arden, but don’t forget to also read Wild River by Rodman Philbrick