The Giver by Lois Lowry

April 26, 2008

“The Giver is written by the amazing, wonderful, incredible Lois Lowry and tells the unique story of Jonas, a young boy living in a Utopian society. Everyone is the same in this society, they all have the same color skin, though none of them can see color anyways, so that doesn’t matter. There is no such thing as love in this society, as it is an emotion that complicates things. In fact, emotions in general are non-existent in this society. When Jonas is selected to be the next Receiver of Memory, the most prestigious assignment in the entire society, he is shocked and somewhat angry to have been singled out in a world of sameness, though intrigued to learn that through The Giver, he can experience feelings, emotions, and the concept of colors in a manner never before experienced by a resident of the society. What Jonas must decide is whether or not he wants to participate in what the society is making its citizens go through or if he wants to remain within his new found perspective of life’s opportunities.”

Thank you to deliciously Clean reads for this summary

Uglies is set in a futuristic world where there are separated ages of people littlies, uglies, pretties, and crumblies. Almost every Ugly, includng Tally, awaits their 16th Birthday when they receive an operation that makes them a “pretty” . But while awaiting the operation she meets another ugly,Shay, who has no interest in becoming a pretty. Shay decides to run away to a little town, the smoke, which is made up of people who never had the operation and live in the wild; however, Tally refuses to go. She leaves Tally a note of clues on how to get to the smoke. When Tally’s Birthday arrives she is told she can only be a pretty if she finds Shay and the smoke. Tally sets out to find the smoke and when she finally arrives she is told that the operation not only changes your appearance but also your mind. Tally makes the decision to stay hidden in the smoke, but she doesn’t stay hidden long before the specials (government) find her and destroy the smoke.(don’t worry it has a great ending but you will have to read it to find out)

this series includes seven amazing books: among the hidden, among the impostors, among the betrayed, among the barons, among the brave, among the enemies and among the free. These books are complete page turners, I finished three in one day (I am not joking)

In a futuristic world every family is allowed only two children. This law is enforced by the population police. In the first book we meet a shadow child who breaks the law simply by living. Luke thinks he is alone, but when rich barons move in he learns he is not the only shadow child, and not all the shadow children want to stay hidden.

In the second book Luke obtains a fake ID and attends a school under the name of Lee Garner, Lee was once one of the richest barons who died. Luke realizes that many shadow children like him are hiding in the school, who have formed secret groups. Yet not everyone in these groups turns out to be trustworthy.

The third book is told from Nina, who is another third child we meet in the 2nd book. She has been caught by the population police and is given two choices get three children to admit they are shadow children or die.

Among the Barons (my personal favorite) is told from Luke’s point of view. Lee (Luke) meets Smits (the original Lee’s brother) and after a series of events he is sent to live with his “parents”(who are Barons the highest social class). In this house he is caught in a complicated set of lies and doesn’t know who he can trust. A party is thrown for his return a just about everything goes wrong.

This is told from Luke’s friend Trey’s point of view. Trey finds himself in the population police headquarters and must sneak around to find out the police’s plan to destroy all the shadow children.

Among the Enemy is another one of my favorites it is told from Matthias’s point of view. Matthias is also a shadow child; however, he ends up saving a population police. As a “reward” for saving him he becomes a population police, and is expected to work to destroy the shadow children, even though secretly he is one.

Among the free is the perfect ending to a great series. (That is all I an say without totally ruining it)

This is my favorite series and I hope you read it soon. The shadow children books are better then I could ever summarize. These books should be read in order.

Bethany is a twelve-year old girl who is whisked away in the middle of the night by her parents. She is taken to live with an aunt she never knew existed. Bethany’s thirteenth birthday is only a few days away, and she is in store for more than a cake with thirteen candles on it. When she trys to reach her parents the number doesn’t work. Strange things countinue to happen, sometimes her aunt will start comparing her to someone else then stop mid sentance before saying a name. Then one day she overhears her aunt talking about Elizabeth, whom she has never heard of.

It has such a cool surprise you will have to read it because I don’t want to spoil the ending!

Like many fantasy books this begins with a “normal” kid. Percy has ADHD and is switched to school after school because of the trouble he causes. After a series of unusual events at the last shool Percy’s mom and friend bring him to camp half blood. Along the way to the camp he fights and kills a minator, but not before it crushes his mother and hurts his friend Grover. When he finaly arrives at the camp he finds out it isn’t just a summer camp, but a safehaven for half children of the greek gods. He also fnds out he is the son of neptune, one of the most powerful gods.  Zues’s lighting bolt has gone missing, and he is blamed. With Grover and Anabeth he sets out to find the bolt and return it, within a week ,to prevent the gods to start a war. Secretly he also wishes to rescue his mother from the under world. He meets many mythologcal monsters and gods along the way to mount Olympus. 

 This book is very enjoyable and easy to read. It makes it even better if you know Roman or greek mythology. I would suggest it to eleven and up.

I hope you enjoyed my first summary I will try to do lots more! Please comment and tell me your opinion of the book. :)

Hello everyone!

April 14, 2008

hey this is my first blog ever! I have decided to review and give a summary about good young adult and some childrens books. I hope everyon enjoys this!