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If you want to share a book with your fellow students, just fill in the form provided by your English teacher or bring your review to Mr. Trefler in the Library - Happy reading!
Adventure
A novel where exciting events predominate over characterizatiion and sometimes theme.
Title: Starship Troopers
Author: Robert A. Heinlien
Summary: A young army officer grows up in the midst of a futuristic war!
Suggested Reading Level: Intermediate
Reviewed by: Bianca
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Title: The Secret of Terror Castle
Author: Alfred Hitchcock
Summary: This book was about how there was this old deserted house/castle that was haunted.
Investigators go to this 'castle' and stay around to find out the mystery of this place. They
end up discovering the truth which turned out to be really surprising. This novel really keeps
you on the edge of your seat. The characters find a deadly scream at every turn in the haunted
'castle'.
Suggested Reading Level: Intermediate
Reviewed by: Krystal
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Title: Minutes to Burn
Author: Gregg Andrew Hurwitz
Summary: Due to elevated earthquakes caused by an “Initial event”, a scientist Dr. Williams sets out to the Galapagos
Islands to set up GPS units to monitor earth’s plates. When the team arrives they find a deadly mutated creature caused by a
virus. The mission is pushed away when they found themselves as bait to the creature.
Suggested Reading Level: Senior
Reviewed by: Kevin
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Animals/Nature
These books show the connection between people and the natural environment, illustrating the stuggle for both humans and nature to survive.
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Fantasy
Any novel that is disengaged from reality. Often such novels are set in nonexistent worlds, such as under the earth, in a fairyland, on the moon, etc. The characters are often something other than human or include nonhuman characters.
Title: Starship Troopers
Author: Robert A. Heinlien
Summary: A young army officer grows up in the midst of a futuristic war!
Suggested Reading Level: Intermediate
Reviewed by: Bianca
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Title: Alanna: The First Adventure
Author: Tamora Pierce
Summary: This is the first book of the 'song of the lioness' quartet in which a most memorable
character is introduced. Alanna of Trebond, a young noble girl who, against all the rules
and customs of the time (and maybe against common sense too), undergoes the training to attain
knighthood disguised as a boy. The book is action-packed, full of surprises, and the
story is one we can all relate to.
Suggested Reading Level: Junior
Reviewed by: Tina
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Gothic/Horror
A novel in which supernatural horrors and an atmosphere of unknown terror pervades tha action. The setting is often a dark, mysterious castle, where ghosts and sinister humans roam menacingly.
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Historical Fiction
A novel where fictional characters take part in actual historical events and interact with real people from the past.
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Author: Forbidden City
Summary: William Bell
Suggested Reading Level: This book is about a seventeen year old Canadian boy who goes to
Beijing to visit that city with his father but suddenly gets involved in the Chinese students' uprising
against the communist regime.
Suggested Reading Level: Intermediate
Reviewed by: Behdad
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Mystery/Detective
A novel whose driving characteristic is the element of suspense or mystery. Strange, unexplained events, vague threats or terrors, unknown forces or antagonists, all may appear in a mystery novel.
Title:Beloved
Author: Toni Morrison
Summary: It is a novel that talks about a black woman named Sethe. She escaped from Sweet
Home (where black slaves lived). She did not want to get caught so she killed her own children.
She only killed her own baby daughter who comes back to find her later. The story happens in the
year 1873.
Suggested Reading Level: Senior
Reviewed by: Nicole
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Science Fiction
A novel in which futuristic or otherwise altered scientific principles form the basis for adventures. Often the novel posits a set of rules or principles of facts and then traces their logical consequeces in some form. For example, given that a man discovers how to make himself invisible, what might happen?
Title: Starship Troopers
Author: Robert A. Heinlien
Summary: A young army officer grows up in the midst of a futuristic war!
Suggested Reading Level: Intermediate
Reviewed by: Bianca
Title: 1984
Author: George Orwell
Summary: Set in the futuristic province of Airstip One, 1984 is a
satirical novel about one man's battle for survival in a totalitarian system.
Suggested Reading Level: Senior
Reviewed by: Kyra
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Romance
An extended fictional prose narrative about improbable events involving characters that are quite different from ordinary people. Knights on a quest for a magic sword and aided by characters like fairies and trolls would be examples of things found in romance fiction. In popular use, the modern romance novel is a formulaic love story(boy meets girl, obstacles interfere, they overcome obstacles, they live happily ever after).
Title: Pride and Prejudice
Author: Jane Austen
Summary: The story is about the social behaviour of the mid-upper class of the 18th century.
Elizabeth Bennet initially has strong prejudice against the self-centered Mr. Darcy. But
eventually as Mr. Darcy saves the Bennets from disgrace, Elizabeth's feelings towards Darcy changes
from hatred to love. The two are able to overcome the many social barriers and can get together at
the end.
Suggested Reading Level: Intermediate
Reviewed by: Rhonda
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Young Adult/Contemporary
A type of novel where the protagonist is initiated into adulthood through the knowledge, experience, or both, often by a process of disillusionment. Understanding comes after the dropping of preconceptions, a destruction of a false sense of security, or in some way the loss of innocence.
Title: The Girls' Guide To Hunting And Fishing
Author: Melissa Bank
Summary: This is the story of Jane Rosenal's journey of self discovery. Life's lessons teach her how to love and fit in while still maintaining relationships with
her family and friends. She is an energetic and quick spirited girl who makes us laugh
and leaves us gratified in finding out about our own life.
Suggested Reading Level: Intermediate
Reviewed by: Mr. Trefler
Title: Circles of Silence
Author: Preeti Singh
Summary: Rattan Malhotra is born with a big, dark birthmark
on his right shoulder. Family friends have told his mother that this birthmark
has some terrible significance… but Rattan leads a happy life – first in Delhi,
India; then at Boston University. Upon his return from university, his family
arranges his hand in marriage to Tanvi. Soon tragedy occurs. Rattan, desperate
to forget the past, accepts a job in Cairo, Egypt. There Rattan meets and falls
in love with the daughter of the Indian Ambassador of India, Nalini.
When Nalini learns that Rattan’s past lies in a circle of silence, she must decide
where her heart lies.
Suggested Reading Level: Intermediate
Reviewed by: Kaveri Saini
Title: The Hours
Author: Michael Cunningham
Summary: Three stories are woven together beautifully which then tie together to reveal a gripping past.
A modern day New Yorker, a 1950’s housewife and Virginia Wolff embark on a journey of life, death and redemption.
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