This book by Renée Watson is about a girl named Jade who believes she must leave her poor neighborhood in order to succeed in her education, so when she moves to a new school, she joins a club called “Woman to Woman” where she has a mentor named Maxine. Even though joining the club was a good idea at first, it makes her feel even more judged. The first day of Woman to Woman, Maxine doesn’t even show up which leaves Jade devastated. Another time, the Woman to Women club went out to a museum but Maxine had to take a really “important” call from her ex boyfriend, Jon. Jade is now unsure of whether to quit Woman to Woman. Though Maxine has good intentions, she comes from a wealthy family and Jade feels pitied.
Jade always gives Maxine a second chance whenever Maxine messes up, but sometimes Jade gets frustrated and agitated.
Today I will be reviewing the book Wait Till Helen Comes. This is a classic horror book and was published in 1986 and has been read by many adults when they were a child.
This book is about a girl named Molly who has to move with her family (including her stepsister, Heather who has made Molly and her brother, Michael’s life miserable, and her stepdad, Dave) to a house that used to be a church with a cemetery in the backyard. Heather starts talking to a ghost named Helen and warning Michael and Molly that Helen is coming for them. Even when Molly tries helping Heather, reassuring her that Helen is not real, Heather twists things around getting Molly into trouble.
This book made my spine shiver in goosebumps, and my heart beat rapidly. This was definitely a bone chilling read. The author used such descriptive words that made me feel as if I were Molly. The setting in each scene was described really well with the 5 senses.
My favorite character was Michael because he reminded me of my own brother! Michael was deeply interested in the graves and the specific details about them. He doesn’t trust his sister about the ghost, Helen.
This book was then created into a movie which was published in 2016. I’m looking forward to watching it soon! Here is the trailer. Doesn’t it look terrifying?
I would highly recommend reading this book before Halloween as it would it would bring you into the spirit of Halloween!
This book by Jasmine Warga is about a girl named Jude who has to leave Syria with her mother and fly to Cincinnati, leaving her beloved father and brother behind. They stay at Jude’s uncle’s house where Jude meets her cousin Sarah. Sarah seemed nice at first, but in school she can be different. Jude was the best in her English class when she lived in Syria, but when she moved to Cincinnati, she has to take ESL (english as a second language), where she also has to deal with questions about her hijab. She is labelled as being from the ‘Middle East’ which causes some questions too. Her cousin Sarah knows little Arabic, so it’s very hard for them to communicate with each other. making things difficult. When Mrs. Bloom( their Drama teacher) says that there school will be performing a play, Jude is ecstatic and that is where she met Layla. Layla understands what Jude is going through and can help her but, when an argument occurs between them, Jude is not sure she wants to take part anymore.
What this book teaches us:
This book’s overall message was to show children to be brave and to not give up. In the book Jude says “I am bold and fearless and do not care what other people think.”
In another part of the book Jude says is “And that’s when I realize I don’t have a choice. I’m going to have to learn how to be brave.”
One of my favorite characters would probably be Miles because he always is positive even when things are going down. He also is very supportive and helpful to Jude when she’s not feeling very well.
My favorite parts of the book:
I really liked Jude and her brother, Issa’s bond together. “He squeezes my hand again. It feels like some sort of promise, an assurance that he won’t leave me all alone.”
I absolutely loved Jasmine Warga’s style of writing. It wasn’t like many author’s where they have 12 lined paragraphs. Warga’s paragraphs were 3-4 lines which is quiet unique.
This book by Alex Gino is about Jilly P.’s younger sister, Emma, who is born deaf. Jilly needs to learn how to cope with her sister as she grows up.
In the book, Jilly then makes a connection with Derek, who is an American Sign Language user. So now she has someone she can go to for help but she never knows when it’s the right time to ask for it. She makes some mistakes and encounters minor frustration with Derek and her family members.
During the course of time certain events allow Jilly P to learn how to support other people and not just focus her attention on her little sister. When she finds out that a girl in her school, who is black, got shot she soon realizes that she needs to start supporting other people.
What I Liked About This book:
I liked how the book taught us about modern racism and police violation in the United States. Alex Gino said that this book was aimed especially at white people to help them not be very judgmental about blacks.
What I also liked about this book is that Alex Gino’s writing style was perfect. It wasn’t overly descriptive, so that I would get lost, and it wasn’t too concise that I would not be interested in it. Jilly also told me how to make a perfect PB&J sandwich which was so interesting to read and it made the book way more interactive. My favourite character is Derek because he was very friendly to Jilly even if she didn’t know how to ask for help.
About the characters:
Jilly P is a sweet and lovely girl. She is very eager to learn sign language and she is very determined to help her baby sister. However she wants tips and tricks from Derek she sometimes not know the best way to ask him.
Derek (aka, profoundinoaktown which is his name on an online chat called Vidalia) is a very cool and inspiring character. He is very patient with Jilly and teaches her how to cope with deaf people since he is deaf himself.
Have you read any books by Alex Gino? What did you think?
RBG’s real name is Ruth Bader Ginsburg but people call her RBG. People call and name her after Notorious BIG, the famous rapper who died in 1997. RBG also wrote some of her own books such as My Own Words, Text, Cases, and more. She was also referred to as”the smartest person on the East Coast.” Although, she had lost her older sister and mother it didn’t interfere with RBG’s achievements.
A famous quote RBG stated was “Fight for things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you.”
Furthermore, she isn’t just strong on the inside, she is also strong on the outside! In the book, it told us what she did for her workout to stay fit, which was really interesting to read!
Pros
I learnt a lot of interesting facts about RBG
It was packed with information
This book was very inspirational
Cons
The story moved a little slowly and it took me a while to get through it
Here is a video clip that I enjoyed watching with my dad that casts Steven Colbert and RBG. The clips shows her workout!
This book by Paul Mosier is about a twelve-year-old girl whose name is Laughter, but she likes to be called El instead. She has a very positive attitude and has no trouble making friends in school. Everything is working out fantastic for her, but soon something miserable happens. El’s younger sister, Echo, is diagnosed with a terrible illness. With a world like this El feels lost, scared and powerless. Over time, she befriends Octavius, the only friend who knows what El is going through.
The Miscalculations of Lighting Girl by Stacy McAnulty is about a girl named Lucy Callahan who was unfortunately struck by lightning at the age of 8. That lightning zap gave her amazing math and genius skills! Ever since that dangerous zap of lightning struck her she had been home schooled.
She has an obsessive compulsive disorder, where without a specific routine the numbers of pi start to swarm around in her head like a bee. Now at the age of 12 she’s ready for college! That’s how great of a genius she is!!
I picked up this book as soon as my brother told me “Zoha you should read this book. It’s fantastic!” So I set off reading the book and believe it or not my brother was right! (He usually isn’t!) This book was so good, I was glued to it constantly!
This book, 
Zoha Flips a Page 