Campo Cougs Recommend...
Mr. Duffy recommends Garcia by Blair Jackson
Ms. Morgan recommends Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver
|
Mr. Chugh recommends Oh the Places You'll Go by Dr. Seuss
Mr. Seligman recommends The Road by Cormac McCarthy
|
Mr. Walker recommends Undaunted Courage by Stephen E. Ambrose
Mr. Willy recommends All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy
|
Mrs. Herzig recommends The Monster at the End of This Book and the Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
Mrs. Henson recommends Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
|
Professional Book Reviews
Literature Resource Center (from our Gale Database)
Scribner Writers Series (e-books from Gale)
New York Times Book Reviews (Newspaper)
Proquest Literature (from our Proquest Database)
Horn Book (all about books)
Kirkus (click on the Book Review tab)
Book Reviews by our students:
|
Title: Echo Mountain
Author: Lauren Wolk Published: 2020 Summary: Ellie and her family lose everything when the Great Depression hits, so they are forced to move away from all they have ever known to a cabin on a mountain Ellie dubs “Echo Mountain”, where their only neighbors are people who have suffered as they have. However, their suffering does not end there; when a tragedy leaves Ellie’s father in a coma, Ellie must find a way to provide for her mother and siblings, along with taking the blame for her father’s accident. Hope is rekindled when Ellie meets “the hag”— a woman who is gravely injured and is the key to awakening Ellie’s father. Ellie soon learns that everything and everyone on the mountain is connected and that she will have to unravel the secrets the mountain holds in order to save those she loves. Told from the perspective of a courageous and empathetic girl, this story will show readers that all it takes is one resilient mind to make things right. Fans of historical fiction and tales of perseverance through tragedy are sure to love this book too. Echo Mountain was full of heart and grit, making it impossible for me to put down this page-turner of a book until I reached the satisfying ending. Title: Crunch Time
Author: Mariah Fredricks Publication 2010 Leo, Jane, Max and Daisy don't know each other at all, but as soon as they are all stuck together in a SAT prep class, they find that they enjoy each others company, and get closer to their surprise. Each teen struggling with their own problems, they come together to do the one thing they hate the most. They create a group to study for the SAT's together. Much to everyone's surprise, someone has cheated on the SAT's and now no one is safe. Friends are turning on friends, and it has even torn apart the group that had once been close. Who is the student endangering the entire class, and ruining the chance for everyone to get into college? Who is the student willing to jeopardize their future? Title: Go Set a Watchman
Author: Harper Lee Publication Date: 2015 Watchman is set in the Southern town of Maycomb, Alabama, and is complete with the whole Mockingbird cast minus Jem (who is only present in recollection) and with the addition of Henry Clinton, grown Scout’s boyfriend. The novel opens with Scout returning home from New York, where she attended college and has started a Northern life for herself. She returns feeling nostalgic about her hometown but is unhappy to find much is unchanged in terms of racial equality, and that other changes in the community are negative ones, such as the conversion of neighborhood areas into commercial property. As the story progresses Scout discovers her father’s racist tendencies, a discovery she can’t bear. She visits her old black nurse, Calpurnia, who she expects to act motherly toward her, but is also disappointed there; Cal is cold to her, indifferent. Shaken, Scout turns to her uncle to piece together the logic of the changes. In the end she decides her father isn’t singularly good and neither is Calpurnia, and most monumentally that the idealization of her father’s conscience was a hurdle she had to cast aside in order to see people for what they are: amalgams and not blocks of any singular quality. She realizes she “confused [her] father with God.” Title: The Horse And His Boy
Author: C.S. Lewis Publisher: Geoffrey Bles Publication Date: September 6, 1954 The third book of The Chronicles of Narnia is about a boy named Shasta and his talking horse Bree. Shasta was a baby that was found and raised by Arsheesh, a Calormene fisherman. And Bree was a noble's man stallion. Bree was captured as a foal in Narnia. One day Shasta finds out that Arsheesh was going to sell Shasta to a nobleman. Bree who was the nobleman's stallion, told Shasta that the nobleman was going to treat Shasta very cruel. So they both came up with the plan to flee north to Narnia. Along the way the two of them meets a girl name Aravis and her talking horse Hwin. The four now must travel across Calormen and Archenland to get to Narnia where High King Peter, Queen Susan, King Edmund, and Queen Lucy Pevenise reign. They will help save Archenland from a Calormen's attack and will soon reign the land of Archenland as King and Queen.
|
Title: Thirteen Reasons Why
Author: Jay Asher
Published: 2007
Thirteen Reasons Why is a novel about a high school girl, Hannah Baker, who committed suicide. In the novel, Clay receives a set of cassette tapes at his door step. Without knowing what was on them, he listens to them only to find out that it was Hannah's reasons why she killed herself. If you had received the tapes, you were one of the reasons. Clay, devastated for losing someone so close to him, listens to her voice as she tells him what was going on through her mind and how every single event impacted her. He travels throughout their town as he listens to her speak and sees everything in her eyes. This novel will change your perspective on others and make you realize the effects of your actions. Thirteen Reasons Why changed my life..
Author: Jay Asher
Published: 2007
Thirteen Reasons Why is a novel about a high school girl, Hannah Baker, who committed suicide. In the novel, Clay receives a set of cassette tapes at his door step. Without knowing what was on them, he listens to them only to find out that it was Hannah's reasons why she killed herself. If you had received the tapes, you were one of the reasons. Clay, devastated for losing someone so close to him, listens to her voice as she tells him what was going on through her mind and how every single event impacted her. He travels throughout their town as he listens to her speak and sees everything in her eyes. This novel will change your perspective on others and make you realize the effects of your actions. Thirteen Reasons Why changed my life..
Title: The Fault In Our Stars
Author: John Green
Publisher: Dutton Books
Publication Date: January , 10 2012
The fault in our stars is about and girl named Hazel Grace who has thyroid cancer, her parents make her join a support group for " sick " kids and at the support group she meets Augustus Waters who previously had osteosarcoma, because of this disease he had his leg amputated. They start hanging out because of their mutual friend Isaac. They start talking about books and start hanging out and eventually take a trip to Alaska, they fall in love and by the time they come back Augustus tells hazel his cancer has come back. Augustus ends up dying. At the end Hazel comes to terms with his death and read the letters Gus wrote to her.
Author: John Green
Publisher: Dutton Books
Publication Date: January , 10 2012
The fault in our stars is about and girl named Hazel Grace who has thyroid cancer, her parents make her join a support group for " sick " kids and at the support group she meets Augustus Waters who previously had osteosarcoma, because of this disease he had his leg amputated. They start hanging out because of their mutual friend Isaac. They start talking about books and start hanging out and eventually take a trip to Alaska, they fall in love and by the time they come back Augustus tells hazel his cancer has come back. Augustus ends up dying. At the end Hazel comes to terms with his death and read the letters Gus wrote to her.
Title- Not Without Hope
Author- Nick Schuyler and Jere longman Publisher-William Morrow Paperbacks; Softcover Ed edition Publication date- Dec 28, 2010 |
On February 28, 2009, Nick Schuyler, a twenty-four-year-old personal trainer, left for a deep-sea fishing trip with three friends: NFL players Marquis Cooper and Corey Smith, and Will Bleakley, his best friend, who once played football for the University of South Florida.
It was supposed to be a day of fun and relaxation aboard Cooper's twenty-one-foot boat, which anchored seventy miles west of Tampa, Florida, in the Gulf of Mexico. The friends were out to catch some amberjack and grouper and maybe a few sharks. They planned to drink a few beers, have some laughs, and get home before an approaching cold front hit. As the seas began to swell and the winds picked up in the late afternoon, they packed their gear and decided to head to shore. One problem. The anchor was stuck. Inexperienced boaters, they made what would become a fatal mistake, tying the anchor rope to the stern of the boat and hitting the throttle. The anchor did not yank free. Instead, the stern sank and filled with water, and the boat capsized. And so the nightmare began. The men had to forage for life jackets beneath the boat. They had no emergency beacon to alert authorities, and their cell phones didn't work so far out in the Gulf. With no food or water, the men clung to the overturned hull through the night as the seas roughened and the cloudy sky became inky black. They were continuously tossed from the boat by brutal waves, and sometimes found each other only by swimming toward their friends' voices. During the rare lull, they would pray and talk about the ones they loved, what they would've done differently with their lives, and what they would do once they returned home. As the hours passed, the four friends, who had grown up as athletes, worked as a team in their desperate bid to survive. They battled hypothermia, hallucinations, hunger, dehydration, and huge waves. A witness to incredible heroism and unspeakable tragedy, Nick remained at sea for more than forty hours, holding on, hoping against hope and clinging to the thought that he couldn't bear to have his mother attend his funeral. |
Title: The Prince
Author: Niccolo Machiavelli Publisher(original): Antonio Blado d'Asola Publication Date(original): 1532 |
"It's better to be feared than loved"
Niccolò Machiavelli was born on May 3, 1469 in Florence, Italy and died on June 21, 1527. Machiavelli was a writer; The Prince was one of his most famous works. The Prince was about how to rule. In it he gave his opinion on how he thought a leader should take charge of his country. One of his most interpreted concepts is that you do what you have to do in order to get the job done. Whether you were generous and help out the poor or ruthless and slaughter thousands, as long as you were able to do your job and finish it, you were a successful leader. Many gangsters used this concept to do their work but they misinterpreted it and used it as an excuse to act savagely. This concept of doing what you had to do to be a successful leader was later termed Machiavellian. With his book The Prince, Machiavelli was called 'the father of modern political theory'. His quote "It's better to be feared than loved" to me is an important thing to remember in life when I become a successful leader. When you are loved, you can be taken advantage of. People will have expectations for you and if you don't reach their expectations you will no longer be seen under a positive light, which, in a leaders case is extremely horrible because 1.) You'll lose support of your people and 2.) your people will begin to rebel against you. But, when you are feared, you are intimidating enough to keep your people's support and there is no rebellion. You are feared to the point were your people will trust you with your decisions and will not challenge you. Machiavelli had a similar mind set to mine when it comes to leadership. I believe that if he would have been a leader in the 15th or 16th centuries, he would have been the greatest of them all. |
Title: Bless Me Ultima
Author: Rudolfo Anaya
Bless Me Ultima is a story about a young boy named Tony and his grandma, Ultima. Because she had no where to go, Ultima moved in with Tony's family. With her moving came a lot of tension with the townspeople because they accused her of being a witch but really she is curandera(a healer)
The plot continues to grow when Tenorio's three daughters curse Tony's older brother. Ultima, being the wise woman she is, knew the curse was work of witchcraft. Together, Tony and Ultima save his brother and return the curse to the three daughters which caused one of them to die.
Infuriated with the death of his daughter Tenorio continues to accuse Ultima of being a witch
Author: Rudolfo Anaya
Bless Me Ultima is a story about a young boy named Tony and his grandma, Ultima. Because she had no where to go, Ultima moved in with Tony's family. With her moving came a lot of tension with the townspeople because they accused her of being a witch but really she is curandera(a healer)
The plot continues to grow when Tenorio's three daughters curse Tony's older brother. Ultima, being the wise woman she is, knew the curse was work of witchcraft. Together, Tony and Ultima save his brother and return the curse to the three daughters which caused one of them to die.
Infuriated with the death of his daughter Tenorio continues to accuse Ultima of being a witch
|
Title: Legend
Published: November 9, 2011 Author: Marie Lu In this book there is many characters you’ll come across. But most notable are June Iparis and Daniel Altan Wing, otherwise known as “Day”. The story takes place in a time where the earth itself has been shaped completely different due to the melting of the icecaps and flooding of continents. The eastern side of the United States has been flooded for many decades. Almost all of the east is gone. Then came the martial law in the western side of the United States. This was due to the massive immigration that had occur when people try to relocate from the east side to the west side. Soon the West blocked off the east. That’s when The Republic was formed on the West and the Colonies was formed on the east. The Colonies declared war on the Republic for closing off all the borders to them. Day was a boy teenager who was born into a poor family that had barely enough for themselves. And June was a girl teenager who was born into a rich family. Day is a con who is the most wanted criminal across the Republic for hindering the war effort. June on the other hand is an extraordinary girl who passed her exam with a complete perfect score 1500. One day Day finds out that his family is in danger with the plague. Worried, he breaks into a hospital and tries to steal a cure. All seemed to go so well until he is almost captured and he jumps out a building nearly three stories tall. He meets Metias, which is June’s brother. Quicken to take action he throws his knife at Metias shoulder which wounds him quickly and Day barely gets away with his life on a thread line. June later finds out that his brother has been murdered by a knife wound to the chest. Eager to find this Day who was the caused for her brother’s death she pursued him in secrecy. June finds Day and tags along with him for a journey. Day doesn’t know that June works for the Republic but he has been falling in a mixture of feelings for June. The same can be said about June. Finally one day, when Day goes to see his family and tracks him down to their house. June phones the Republic and soon they were there at his family’s place. The army quickly took Day’s family and killed his Mother. June with shame and regret for causing the deaths which she did not intended to, choose to help day escaped the prison and together they traveled to find Day’s littler brother Eden who was taken away when the army raided Day’s family. Also June has found out that the Republic has killed her family and her brother. And Day was innocent from the crimes of murder they said he had done. |
|
Title: The Last Battle
|
By:Manpreet K
Title: The Longest Ride
Author: Nicholas Sparks
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Publication date: Sept,17 2013
Summary:This book is about three people,Sophia Danko,the guy she loves Luke,and an older man named Ira who lost his wife Ruth,Sophia is a college student while Luke is a cowboy,she’s getting over a breakup with her ex boyfriend Brian when she meets Luke, the book also tells the story of a 90 year old man named Ira and how he gets in an accident and is trapped in his car,his late wife comes to him and shows him moments of their life and how they fell in love.Everyone should read this book because it portrays a very emotional journey and depicts the love story of people in today's generation and in the previous generation,and shows the differences and similarities between the two.
Title: The Longest Ride
Author: Nicholas Sparks
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Publication date: Sept,17 2013
Summary:This book is about three people,Sophia Danko,the guy she loves Luke,and an older man named Ira who lost his wife Ruth,Sophia is a college student while Luke is a cowboy,she’s getting over a breakup with her ex boyfriend Brian when she meets Luke, the book also tells the story of a 90 year old man named Ira and how he gets in an accident and is trapped in his car,his late wife comes to him and shows him moments of their life and how they fell in love.Everyone should read this book because it portrays a very emotional journey and depicts the love story of people in today's generation and in the previous generation,and shows the differences and similarities between the two.
|
Title: The Lovely Bones
Arthur: Alice Sebold Published: 2002 The Lovely Bones is a well written tragedy. A fourteen year old girl, much younger than those of us in high school, lost her life to a senseless man who took advantage of this young girl’s sense of belief in that all people are who they seem. It dates back to the day of her death after being raped by a neighbor her parents believed was simply 'another neighbor', to the current struggles her family faces after her death, as she watches from the heaven up above. From the first chapter, you cannot help, but continue to read. 'How does someone reach her inner peace after what she has gone through? She never had the chance to fix her mistake, because it was to late when she realized she should have just gone home'. With so many theories as to what happens in the afterlife, this book may as well add to the belief that there is such thing as a heaven. I highly recommend this book to anyone with an open mind and the ability to visualize the excruciating pains of this young girl. |