John Green on Banning Books

John Green's book Looking for Alaska has stirred up some controversy, even in his hometown. In this vlog (video-blog), he responds to the criticism.

Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen

Sarah Dessen is known for her truthful and very relatable writing. Some of her other works you may want to check out are The Truth About Forever, Someone Like You, Just Listen, This Lullaby, and How to Deal.

Lock and Key is about a down to earth typical teenager named Ruby. Her mother left her to live on her own when she was only 16. She is left to fend for herself until she is finally discovered and is forced to go live with her older sister Cora and her husband Jaime. There she discovers a whole new life. She leaves behind her past of alcohol and drugs and learns to be taken care of and finds love. She meets the boy of her dreams Nate, although she won’t admit she likes him at first. Nate has a secret though that jeopardizes their relationship.

The aspect that kept me reading this book was wondering whether Ruby would make it through her senior year and how things would play out with Nate. The character Ruby was very easy to relate to because she is a senior like myself trying to figure out what to do with her life and analyzing the most important aspects she has in her life to hold onto. There were some suspenseful moments especially with the character Nate. I would recommend this book to any girl in high school particularly a junior or senior. It is a pretty easy and relatable read. I would definitely recommend it if you have some spare time. So, the question is Will Ruby be able to help Nate and herself through this time of dramatic change before they go off to college? You will have to read to find out! ~ Aria, class of 2010

Book Club Meeting

After school, several students and teachers met to talk about great books we had read over the summer and had brought to swap. Here are some that were recommended:

Catching Fire, Prayer for the Assassin, The Ominvore's Dilemma, In Defense of Food, Batman: the Killing Joke, the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher, Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane, Pride & Predjudice & Zombies, Wicked Lovely, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Twilight, The Death Collector, The Book Thief, The Last Olympian, The Lovely Bones, Rich Like Them, The Middle Place, Christopher Killer, An Abundance of Katherines, It's Kind of a Funny Story, City of Glass, The View from Saturday, Shakespeare's Secret, Water Tales, The Host, and Walk Two Moons.

Virgil's The Aeneid

Although his major works include The Eclogues and The Georgics, Virgil is best known for The Aeneid, which was written in the late first century BC. After the fall of Troy, Aeneas and the remaining Trojans excape the city and set sail for a new land, a place where they would be able to live happily and hopefully in pease. The Greco-Roman gods have deemed that the last of the Trojans end up in Tuscan land; however, vengeful Juno is determined to make sure that the Trojans, especially Aeneas, don't get their way. This is a captivating read full of Greco-Roman mythology and war. Virgil's writing style is extremely enjoyable to read due to his generous use of imagery and extended metaphors, both of which create vivid pictures in the reader's mind. The specific battle events are succinctly described, yet this conciseness is exactly what packs such a punch with the reader. You won't read paragraphs upon paragraphs about how bloody/gory/painful a certain injury was; instead, Virgil will write a single line about that injury and leave an image in your head about it as he quickly moves onto a different topic. The only characters the reader will get to know really well and feel any sort of emotion for are Aeneas (which is a good thing, considering the fact that he is the main character), Juno, and Turnus (once he is introduced halfway through the book). I found myself reacting to a few other characters, too, but not as deeply (i.e. Dido, Anchises, Hecuba, Evander and his son Pallas, Latinus). There are so many other characters in this work of classic literature that Virgil simply can't devote much time to them. The Aeneid is stuffed with action; I don't think I became bored at all while reading it, which is saying something since I normally find my eyes glazing over while reading classic literature. For me, the Aeneid was a pleasant surprise. If you are sensitive to blood and gore, then I suggest you find a different book to read since war is a central theme in this novel. I am pretty sure that guys would enjoy this novel more than girls would because of the constant action and viscious battles, but I still found myself liking the book even though I am female. If you love Greco-Roman mythology, this is the perfect book to pick up and read; it's full of encounters with Harpies and Furies and nymphs and all sorts of other mythological creatures. Will the Trojans finally reach the land destined for them by the gods, or will the furious Juno destroy them all before they even have a chance to step foot on Italy? - Ashley, class of 2010