Happy Monday everyone! For some reason, I was on a reading kick this week so I read four YA books and one middle-grade book.
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
The Book Thief follows a girl named Liesel who is growing up in the mix of WW2 Germany. She finds love for books after the death of her brother and eventually begins stealing them giving her the name “the book thief”. This book was something I was nervous to read because of all the hype around it. I did not want it to fall short for me and it did not. The book is told through the eyes of death which I thought was so cool and unique. This marks off “Read a work of historical fiction” on my bingo card.
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
This book follows Junior who is living within his reservation. With this comes him getting bullied for multiple reasons. One day, his teacher tells him to leave the rez and hope for a better life. With that, Junior goes to an all-white school off the rez. As you can imagine, this was a change for Junior. Not only is he surrounded by all new people, but he is also being shamed by some of his fellow Indians for leaving the reservation school. This book blew me away because it had a wonderful writing style that was so easy to get through. It was such a good story that I finished it in one day. This marks off “Read a YA book by a Native American author” on my bingo card.
Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick
This book follows Leonard Peacock who is planning on having the “best” birthday ever…by killing his ex-best friend and himself. I do not want to spoil too many things because I loved this book so much but there is a lot of sensitive topics that are addressed in this book so keep that in mind if you want to pick this up! The unique thing about this book is it has footnotes at the bottom of a lot of the pages that are more facts about what exactly is going on. I would highly recommend reading them along with the book but I also do not think they are required as part of the story.
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
I finally got to read this book! The Hate U Give follows Starr whose whole world is turned upside down because of her friend getting shot by a white police officer after doing nothing wrong. The rest of the story follows Starr through the grieving process and the media attention that the case is getting. I did not expect there to be an actual case in court but I am glad that it was included. I am very pleased with this book. Although I did not enjoy parts of the book, I feel like they were very realistic. It is refreshing to see a book that covers some relevant issues about police brutality so I would recommend this book. This marks off “Read a finalist for the Morris Award” on my bingo card.
The Indian in the Cupboard by Lynne Reid Banks
The Indian in the Cupboard is about a young boy who has the power to bring his toys to life by his magic cupboard. This is a pretty well-known book and for me, it was a reread and I hardly remembered anything about it. It was really fun to reread something and not remember the small events that make it enjoyable. Overall, it was a nice break from YA and I understand why this book is still talked about today.
Those are all the books I read for this past week. On my bingo card, I only have two squares left so I am hoping to get them crossed off before next Monday! Have a great week!
Rachel's Mind 