The Giver by Lois Lowry

 Jonas lives in a community where life is simple. The government gives you your soulmate, your children, and assigns you a job. Everyone's the same, except Jonas. When Jonas receives his job, he is assigned a special job. He is assigned to be the receiver of memory which allows him to break rules and request anything and he will receive it. When Jonas starts his training for his job, he receives his training from the old receiver now named the Giver. Jonas learns that as the receiver of memory he will have to endure the pain of keeping the memory of how life was before. The book gets very interesting when he learns about how life used to be, as he realizes he doesn’t have the freedom his ancestors had. He and the Giver then try to change his community’s life.

I give this book a 4.5 stars out of 5 because the story is interesting but the book ends in a cliffhanger. One interesting thing was when Jonas experiences seeing color. This is interesting because before he became the receiver, his world is only black and white. All of his shirts look the same, an orange is the same color as an apple, and everyone’s skin and hair is the same color. 

This book is the first in the series. The other books are Gathering Blue, Messenger, and Son. The Giver has won the Newbery Award and is written by Lois Lowry.--Reviewed by Kashvi R.

 

The Eighth Day by Dianne K. Salerni

 On his birthday, Jax wakes up in a world where electronics don’t work and the people are gone.  But then, the next morning, everything is back to normal again and he thinks he’s going crazy. And there’s also Ms. Unger’s ghost, who lives with her, moving her things, eating her food, and asking for library books every once in a while. But things are going to change, and fast.

The author of the Eighth Day, Dianne K. Salerni, uses a lot of descriptive words to show the reader how things looked or felt. She switches perspectives with ease and each perspective matches up with the other one. She has intricate characters in which some are mysterious and unknown while others are open and caring. The author gives her characters a whole new look.

This book is a guaranteed five star because of its power to keep the reader reading and explaining old myths and legends in a fun and engaging way. If you liked Percy Jackson or Harry Potter or just any other book that deals with myths and legends, then you’re bound to love The Eighth Day too! - Reviewed by Terrian S.

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

 

The book starts off with a young boy named Pip, who is an orphan. During one of his visits to his mother and father’s graveyard, he meets a convict named Magwitch and they become friends. Then, Ms. Havisham, a strange lady, asks Pip to come visit her house multiple times. Here, Pip meets Ms. Havisham’s adopted daughter named, Estella. He soon realizes that he likes Estella, but she doesn't like him back. When Pip grows up, he gets loads of money from an unknown person to go to London for an education. Pip meets Magwitch in London, and realizes that Magwitch was the one who sent him money. Magwitch soon asks Pip to keep him from getting caught again, which would lead to a great danger. Pip doesn’t know if he needs to go back home and reunite with Estella or keep on completing this risky quest in London.

All in all, I absolutely loved “Great Expectations” by Charles Dickens! It has an extremely realistic touch in the book as if it could happen right now. It is also very dramatic and shocking because of the situations the character encounters. This book is a total page turner because there are twists and turns in the story. It was impossible to put this book down. I highly recommend the book to anyone who loves unpredictable events. -- Review by Jinny P.