2018-2019 Waltham Hawks Honors Freshman Book Reviews

Anja Brooks The Hate U Give Angie Thomas "The first shot rings in my head. The second. The third.”(Thomas 23) In The Hate You Give by Angie Thomas, the main character Starr Carter lives in a bad neighborhood called Garden Heights. Starr goes to a big spring party and she sees her best friend from childhood, Khalil. As they were catching up they heard gunshots so they ran and got into Khalil’s car and drove away. As they were driving home they get pulled over. They do what Starr’s dad told them to do when they get pulled over: put your hands on the dashboard, don’t make any sudden moves, and do not talk unless told to talk. The cop said that their tail light was broken and then he pulled Khalil out of the car and patted him down 3 times. Then he went to go and check his license and regression and told Khalil to stay still. Khalil looked through the window to see if Starr was okay. Next 3 shots went out. POW!! POW!! POW!! Khalil was on the ground dead. As Starr is going ...

    Alexa Vongsy Infinite In Between                    By Carolyn Mackler    “Expect to be accepted for who you are.”   The book Infinite in Between by Carolyn Mackler is about 5 teenagers who start the life of High School together. New opportunities, drama, first love, and first heartbreak. Gregor, Whitney, Zoe, Jake and Mia all meet at freshman orientation. As part of their ice breaker activity, they decide to write letters to their senior selves and promise to open them together during graduation. But during the years new people come into their lives and many old friends exit them. New problems come up and old ones are solved. Infinite In Between fully captures the essence of high school, from the nervous butterflies before the first day of freshman year, all the ups and downs in between, to the sad goodbyes in the last days of senior year.       I enjoyed the book because I thought i...

Kat and Meg Conquer the World Author: Anna Priemeza A new school, a new friend, and a video game that ties it all together. Kat and Meg are two neurodivergent tenth graders going to high school in Alberta, Canada. While Kat has severe anxiety-- “I have panic attacks”-- Meg has ADHD-- “I’m pretty sure it wasn’t just my ADHD that made me bored out of my mind.”. They meet when they end up partners for a year-long science project, and when Meg goes to Kat’s house to work on it, they realize they both love the video game Legends of the Stone (LotS). Meg prefers to watch Youtubers play it though, and Kat actually does play it. They play around for a while with ideas about the topic for the science project until deciding to measure reaction time with sugar and without, using speed runs on LotS. From then on they eat lunch together, sometimes walking outside or going to the library. In their family life, they each aren’t happy. Meg’s parents are divorced, and she hasn’t talked to her...

Rylie Warren Speak Laurie Halse Anderson Do you ever think of one’s background or past experiences before judging them for one little thing based on their appearance, hobbies, or socialness? In the novel, Speak, written by Laurie Halse Anderson, Melinda, the main character and narrator of the novel, is just entering high school. She feels out of place when seeing all of her old friends reconnect, while she stands alone as an outcast during the time where she needs some friends the most. In the beginning of the book, she labels herself: “I am an outcast” (4). Students ignore Melinda and laugh at her, and she is a target for many of the boys and girls around her. She is considered a “mute” because she refuses to speak to anyone including her parents. One day while she is on the bus going home from school, she thinks, “The kids behind me laugh so loud I know they’re laughing at me” (4). Melinda seems to always keep to herself let these things go, even though deep down inside her...

Diego Horta Taken By Erin Bowman Imagine being taken away from all of your family for just being a man once you turn 18 for seemly no reason. What would you do? Would you try to stop it? Gray Weathersby has to face just that while in living in Claysoot. In Claysoot, all men suddenly disappear once they turn 18. This event of sudden disappearance has come to be called the heist by the townspeople. In this mysterious town, there is a wall surrounding it entirely and no one really knows why. All they know is not to go over them because everyone that has tried has never come back.  His brother, Blaine is taken by the heist which sparks questions for Gray about the truth about his town and the heist. With all the questions Gray has, he also discovers a secret between his mother and his brother that was never told to him that pushes him to the edge and makes him try going over the walls around Claysoot. Based on what I read, I’ve really enjoyed reading Taken. I l...

Ashley Marquez Life of Pi By Yann Martel  “Life is so beautiful that death has fallen in love with it, a jealous, possessive love that grabs at what it can”(Martel). In the book Life of Pi written by Yann Martel, a 16 year old survives a shipwreck leaving him alone with an orangutan, a hyena, a zebra, and the “beast” Richard Parker, the lion. Being stranded on an island alone away from his family he tries to survive the impossible where he remains close to his Hindu, Muslim, and Christian practices of religion. Growing up in Pondicherry, India, he was born a Hindu, and for majority of his life practiced Hindu religions, but then his curious mind begins to explore other religions and practices. He then begins to consider himself a Hindu, Muslim, and a Christian. He believes that all religions are correct and true, and there is more than one way to worship God/Gods. The adventure begins when Pi’s family decides to emigrate from India to Canada on a boat carrying live animals...

Thara Belony Born A Crime By Trevor Noah Imagine what your life would be like if your very existence was a crime, illegal, unconscionable. In the year of 1948, a set of laws were put in place in the country of South Africa. This series of unfair laws would play a large part in the life of all people living there. Blacks were the victims of these laws. They were forced to work without pay. They lived in extremely poor areas. They were oppressed and never thought of being able to leave their country or of one day living a better life. Apartheid was the name given to these laws that hurt people much more than they helped them. Apartheid was what Trevor Noah called, “...perfect racism”(19). It was a system built specifically to oppress blacks and keep them from ever achieving greatness. Noah’s very existence went against everything that apartheid meant and stood for. His mother was a black woman of the Xhosa tribe, and his father was a Swiss German. Due to this, apartheid and its e...

Kaleigh Walsh The Best Of Me  Nicholas Sparks “All this. Being here, seeing you. It makes me think back to a time when I still believed that all my dreams could come true. It’s been a long time since I’ve felt like that” (202). Dawson and Amanda come from two completely different lifestyles: Amanda has a good life and has a good future planned out for her. Dawson coming from a long line of criminals in the town they grow up doesn’t have a good life because he is abused at home and of his family history; no one likes him because they are worried he will turn out like his dad and brothers even though he is completely different then they are. Despite what their parents think and how different their lifestyles are, Dawson and Amanda find love and make each other happy. Dawson and Amanda first meet at a restaurant in their town and they talk and hang out. The next day Amanda's car is having trouble so Dawson helps fix it. Eventually, the two realize they both like each other...

Violet Forney Raiders Night Robert Lipsyte        Is it ever acceptable to witness a wrongdoing and not report it?        The story of Raiders Night explores the different approaches, ethical or not, that are taken by certain people when faced with this pressing question. After witnessing an extreme act of bullying and hazing towards one of the new players on his football team, the protagonist, Matt, struggles to decide whether or not he should tell someone. He knows that speaking about the incident would destroy the team and his own future opportunities, but he sees the effect that it has on the victim, Chris. Matt’s father, a former football star of the town who had his NFL dreams crushed by injury, attempts to keep him quiet for fear that the same thing will happen to his talented son. Matt lives a complicated double life before the incident between being the extremely popular captain of the football team who has a perfect life and b...

Bella Dagostino Shallow Graves Kali Wallace Have you ever been woken up by a man digging up your grave? Have you ever been hunted down by a human that can mutate into a beast? In the book Shallow Graves by Kali Wallace, all of these events take place. This book is sure to send chills down your spine when you read it. Breezy, a girl that got murdered by an unknown man wakes up from her grave and killed the man trying to dig up her grave. She and her family were murdered while they were eating dinner on what was supposed to be a peaceful night.  Breezy goes on the run to find the rest of her family and ends up at a gas station. She gets into a car with a murderer and knows that he is a murderer because of the black shadow. While driving with him he pulled off the highway onto a dirt road and tried to kill her. With a tug on his wrist, he slumped over the steering wheel and died.  She had to walk a mile to a Dunkin Donuts to get out of the rain. She meets a group of elderly...

Ava Lourie Life as We Knew It By Susan Beth Pfeffer Have you ever had something happen in your life that completely changes it forever? In  Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer, 16-year-old Miranda’s life is turned upside down. The impact of a deadly asteroid on the moon causes the moon to come closer to Earth, which creates a number of natural disasters that entirely changes life for all. Miranda, her two brothers, her mom, and some neighborhood friends learn to live through the cold and dangerous air and ration the only food and resources available to them, which doesn’t last forever. Months after the horrible impact, Miranda’s family grows weak. Her brothers can barely walk up steps, and her mother has a sprained ankle which makes it difficult to care for her family. One by one another person dies in the world, including her best friend and her stepdad. Miranda is in such a horrible mindset that even the death of her next door neighbor and family friend doesn't make...

Catherine Perez Alone By Cyn Balog The following is a continuation of my first book review called “What Scares You?” Imagine having your worst fears come true. What comes next? After refusing to let the group of stranded teenagers stay at the mansion, Seda permits them to occupy the carriage house that is on the premises. Seda attempts to keep this from her mother but fails when Seda’s mom discovers Heath and Seda outside having a conversation. Seda’s mom finds herself apologizing for Seda's actions, only giving the teenagers the only option to stay in the carriage house and not the mansion. To celebrate Seda’s birthday, Seda’s mom decides to create a murder scavenger hunt. They follow the clues that are left behind for them, only to find what they would have never imagined. The plot of this book is very engaging, compelling you to continue reading to figure out what will happen next in the storyline. Suspense is a constant throughout this thriller which makes you wo...

Cole Gaynor A Clash Of Kings George R.R. Martin   “My father once told me that a lord never lets sentiment get in the way of ambition” (Martin 276). In the second installment of A Song of Ice and Fire , many kings with various different intentions take to the fields of battle, while countless more are pulling the strings from every corner of the kingdom. People’s morals are tested, loyalties tried and broken, and people must reconsider all that they know in times of great tumult. What one thinks they hold dear is trampled by Martin’s ruthless Clash of Kings that engulfs the world, the mad grab for power that underlies every word and reigns freely and heartlessly when swords are drawn.       A Clash of Kings picks up roughly where A Game of Thrones , the first book of the series, picks up, though from a different perspective and at a different place in the world. Arya Stark, who had escaped the overthrow by the Lannisters at King’s Landing, is found by Yo...

Siella Agostino One Day by David Nicholls “The trick of it, she told herself, is to be courageous and bold and make a difference. Not change the world exactly, but just the little bit around you” (Nicholls 12). The novel One Day , by David Nicholls, is a coming-of-age romance story that centers around two college graduates, Emma Morley and Dexter Mayhew, and their relationship. It shows how they find their way in the world over the span of almost 20 years by describing the events occurring in snapshots from each year on the same date, July 15. From what I have read about this book so far, it focuses on both their relationship as well as their individual experiences as they try to figure out what they are going to do with their lives, and how they will go about do that. Dexter and Emma meet at their graduation and spend one day together. They talk about their plans for the future and how Emma has her long-term all planned out, while Dexter cares more about the present and wants ...

Grace Scheufele Hello, Goodbye, and Everything In Between Jennifer E. Smith A relationship is something that’s very fragile. It can break in an instant if you’re not careful. The book Hello, Goodbye, and Everything In Between by Jennifer E. Smith explores a relationship on the verge of ending. The couple this book follows is Clare and Aiden. They’re both leaving for college on opposite coasts, and they don’t know if they should break up or stay together. They spend their last twelve hours together going to all the places that are significant to their relationship over the years. Over the course of the entire book they contemplate their future together. I can’t completely recommend this book. It isn’t terrible, but I found myself getting bored and frustrated while reading. The first thing that stopped me from completely recommending this book was that the topic was stretched out too far for my liking. They spend the majority of the book on one question. Even though it’s a pot...

Bleach by Tite Kubo Fahim Sekamate Do you have to power to protect? Bleach is a story of a teenager named Ichigo Kurosaki who has a supernatural ability to see ghosts and communicate with them. Ichigo’s relationship with his father is more of a rivalry always getting into fights with him. He also has two sisters named Karin and Yuzu. Karin also has the ability to see ghosts as well but all she says is “I don't believe in ghost”. Ichigo goes to his room and a girl with a sword jumps into his room from the window, surprised to see her in his room she doesn't pay attention to Ichigo so he kicks her. The girl was surprised that a human could see her but Ichigo didn't care, he wanted to know what and why she was there to where the girl explains saying “I am a Soul Reaper” and that she came from a place called the soul society with her mission being to kill demons called Hollows from eating souls called Wholes. The soul reaper also explains what they do to wholes which is...

Jack Hazel Fake ID By Lamar Giles Imagine you are stuck in a new city after moving many times, forced to go to a different school and meet new people, and all of a sudden you discover your friend has been murdered. The protagonist, who is called Nick Pearson but whose real name is later revealed to be Tony Bordeaux, is put into this situation in the second half of the murder mystery novel, Fake ID by Lamar Giles. After the first half of the novel, when Nick and his family learn that they will no longer have the protection of the Witness Security Program if they have any more “slip-ups”, Nick finds his new friend Eli dead on the ground one day at school and leads the reader to suspect that he was murdered by Nick’s dad. Nick further investigates and learns new information about his city while learning more and more about Eli’s family while getting closer to Eli’s sister. During this Nick also learns a lot more about his own family and more about a lot of the people at his sc...

Kayla Konstantopoulos We Were Liars By E. Lockhart Being on an island with your best friends seems like it would be the time of your life until some unanticipated "accidents" happen. In the book, We Were Liars by E. Lockhart, a girl named Cadence explains how what was supposed to be a great getaway to an island every summer turns into what no one wanted it to be. Four kids, known as “The Liars”, go to their grandparent's island, Beechwood, every year. Johnny, Mirren, Cadence, and Johnny’s friend, Gat. In summer 14, Gat and Cadence got really close but he came back with a girlfriend the next summer. Gat broke up with his girlfriend to be with Cadence, they kissed and she thought they were in love until the unexpected happened. Cadence got into an accident in the ocean when she was alone, and she was in the hospital but Gat never called. She couldn’t remember anything and had so many questions, as she shows when she says, “I tack the pages to the wall above my bed. ...

Sylvie Budzinski Everything I Never Told You Celeste NG Imagine waking up one day to your favorite family member missing, and later finding out she has mysteriously died. In Everything I Never Told You, the author, Celeste NG, explores relationships and dynamics found in many families. The plot, flashbacks, and relatability make this novel a captivating read that leaves you always wanting more. The story begins when Lydia’s family awakens one morning and finds Lydia is missing, and there is no trace of her around the house. In the following days, her family desperately checks every resource possible, calling everyone they know to check if they have seen their daughter. Her siblings, Jack and Hannah, pay extra attention to the bad boy next door, Jack, and they think may have had something to do with Lydia's death as they say, “and Jack still ran wild” (17). As the story continues, more about Lydia’s life is revealed, and the reader discovers many secrets she kept and ...

Mohaned Aljundi Becoming Kareem: Growing Off And On The Court By: Kareem Abdul Jabbar              Harlem, NY, 1960’s. Racism is lurking in all parts of the city. Can an African American boy overcome his oppressed background and fulfill his lifelong dreams? In Becoming Kareem: Growing Up On and Off the Court by Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Kareem shares his thoughts and experiences as he lives in a segregated time where black people weren’t treated the same as others. This led Kareem to feel isolated, afraid, and very different among his classmates. Growing up as a black kid, Kareem had trouble finding who he was and what he wanted to do with his life. As he got older, he got picked on more and more because of people's “ Attitude” (Jabbar 55) towards him and his race. This made him very shy and he stopped wanting to stick out so he wouldn't get bullied. As he found out more about the horrible things that were being done to African Americans around the c...