Off Balance (not the beam, ok?)

Alright. First off, I’m gonna tell you just a tiny bit about myself. I’m obsessed with gymnastics. Like, crazily. I watch movies, shop for gymnastics themed things, look at pictures, and read books. I usually read biographies, and this is one of my favorite ones yet. This book is called Off Balance. It is all about the good times and the struggles that 1996 Olympian, Dominique Moceanu.
This book is really good. This girl starts as just another outcast that finds joy in only one thing: gymnastics. Then. in a matter of weeks, she begins training with a different coach; one that is so much better than her old one, and all of a sudden, her life changes DRASTICALLY. She then begins training with Bela Karolyi, one of the most known gymnastics coaches in gymnastics history. This is when she begins preparing for the Olympics alongside (the one and only) Kerri Strug.
Now, I’ll tell you about the main character/author, Dominique. She has a very unique work ethic that I admire very much. She is so focused on making her family proud and gets such little support from her mother and father or even from her coaches. This has a big effect on the book because it gives you a taste of what it would be like to be under this much pressure.
This author has a very particular voice in this story. She often writes as though she is talking to the reader, but, in other times, it is almost as though she is unaware that there is anyone reading what she’s writing in this book. This reminds me a lot of the personality she has in this auto-biography. She is often ignored and has a lot of time to think and be all alone. When she talks to people as dialogue in the book, she is funny and will usually accidentally say something and then be embarrassed. This is just one of her character traits, and it shines through very clearly in the way she writes this novel.
Next, the setting of this book, which also has a large impact on the way this book is read (at least in my opinion). I think that this book is juxtaposed slightly because of the way Dominique’s life goes. She starts out with an average-level coach at a regular gym. Then, she goes to the LaFleur’s gym, with very good coaches and good equipment. Lastly, she trains with the best coach of all, and has horrible equipment. “The gym floor was old and worn under my feet and had little bounce. It didn’t have the familiar feel of the floors at my other gyms.” (Moceanu 79). I thought that this was odd, because you would think that the best coach in the world would have reasonably good equipment, or at least a floor that had a bounce to it.

The one thing that I thought had a large impact on the way I interpreted this book was the tone and the words that the author used. This tone (in my opinion) was kind of firm and strict against something rebellious; like pushing on something that’s hard enough that it won’t budge. This doesn’t seem like a tone, but, if you really think about it, think this: think of that feeling you get when you really want two things and you have to pick one. That is the tone of this book.

I think that anyone would like this book because everyone, even people not in gymnastics, has experienced the feeling that you get when you do sports. The feeling you get when you have something you really want to do, and either you quit because you’re too lazy to work to get it, or, you work your butt off to get what you want, just like famous gymnast Dominique Moceanu, youngest gymnast on the 1996 gold-winning Olympic team for the USA. This book is very easy to relate to.

Personally, I relate to this because I face many difficulties in gymnastics. Since, I’m so tall, it’s a lot harder for me to get the skills than it is for shorter people. Dominique experienced this also, but it didn’t have anything to do with her skills. It was all about the fact that she was growing up and she was so young. She was almost our age when she went to the Olympics. THE OLYMPICS. That’s big. What if someone just plucked you out of you life and told you you were going to the Olympics? It isn’t fair, not for her, or for anyone.

Anyway, I think that everyone should read this book, especially Emily M. and Vivienne because I know that they are both seriously involved in a sport. Thank you!

-Emma Daugherty
P.S. Emily, Viv, keep rocking! Love you guys. :P

Facing the World

I just recently finished North of Beautiful. This book was an amazing compare and contrast of opinions, which I personally enjoyed.

Terra Cooper has always been different. That in itself is obvious enough. There's no need for thinking about it. The port-wine stain birthmark stretching across her cheek is like an automatic signal. Terra is a simple person, but has always wanted to get the birthmark removed. After many and more laser surgeries, she's given up.

Terra is a very round character. She has a very simply constructed past that was based all around her birthmark. Going from one laser surgery to the next is extremely crazy, even if they are years apart, they all seem to be described about the same way: a surgery that didn't work. This seems like a real put-down for Terra, as it would be for any of us if we were in her situation.

The theme of this book is adversity and accepting yourself. This is a very common theme among young adult novels, and it is one of my favorites. 😝 I think that this book also adds some personality to this common theme: for example, adding romance in to go along with the original problem.

One of my favorite parts of the way this book was written is the problem. The first impression the reader gets is that the problem is her birthmark, but, in my opinion, the real problem is that Terra isn't accepting the way she was born, and that that is the way she is, and that's what makes her HER.

I think that all of the characters in this book are round. I think so because this book is all about dwelling on the past, and that kind of goes hand in hand with the fact that characters are round. The only person who is flat in this book is Terra's ex-boyfriend, Erik. You really don't know much about him, but I think that that goes along with the fact that Terra doesn't really know him as we'll as she thinks.

I think that anyone would enjoy this book because it isn't based all around girl and boy books, it's a book for everyone. ENJOY.

Maxfield School or Maxfield Prison?

How would you feel if you were a foster child who never stayed in one house for more than two years? If you got the chance to go to a boarding school and leave all of that behind, would you go?
Benson Fisher actually gets this opportunity. This is the first opportunity he's gotten so far in his life.
So, he goes to this boarding school with a whole bunch of other kids. His first thought: this is a prison! And, frankly, he's right. No one is allowed past the walls past the garden. . .people have tried.
And failed.
And then, suddenly, he gets the feeling that Maxfield is his home. He has friends, he has a gang, and he has (almost) a girlfriend.

Well, he has a girlfriend until something goes horrible wrong.

Benson has never had a real family. And, that's what he really needs. He just wanted someone to care about him, and that's what Jane (his girlfriend) does. She cares for him.
And that's what Maxfield does. As everyone asks questions, while the Society, the largest gang, drags people away to detention. The dreaded place where people are supposedly killed.

Or worse.

There's only one person who wants to escape: Benson. His personality is fiery and he isn't the kind of person who can stand being cooped up (even in a large area) behind fences that you can see through. Fences that keep him where he doesn't want to be.
I think that staying in a locked up school like Benson was, I would go crazy. He thought he didn't have anyone who loved him, but he had t have friends that he left behind.

As Benson plans his escape, he discovers a shocking secret about the school. A secret that will change his life.

Secrets will be revealed as your thoughts about society are changed forever with Variant by Robison Wells.

Slant

Being adopted isn't easy. And for Korean-American adoptee, Lauren, life isn't quite easy either. Her mother has just died from an unexciting fall in her kitchen, and a hit on the head that costed her life. Lauren's father is overprotective and depressed, but he won't admit it. Lauren's also-adopted little sister, Maia, doesn't seem to care about anything but Barbie dolls and watching PBS kids. Lauren is the kind of person who puts other people's problems before her own, and the only person who will listen to Lauren's problems is her best friend, Julie. 

Lauren knows that she would be the happiest girl in the world if her major crush, Sean, would just notice her at school. And, if she had an extra wish to waste, she could do without the nicknames. 

Slant.

People call her "slant" because of her eye shape. Lauren is too shy to speak up, but Julie isn't. Julie tells her that she needs to do something about the nicknames. Something big and fast. But Julie doesn't expect that Lauren will go so far as operate on her eyes. 

Lauren's grandmother helps her set up an appointment to get her eyes operated on, but after a huge secret slips out, will Lauren go through with the operation?

Lauren doesn't speak up for herself because she doesn't have the self esteem. She can't seem to get any confidence or support from her father, who is too busy with his newest girlfriend, Shelley, and his Shakespeare performances. Lauren knows that she can't take any more of this teasing because it begins to get into her brain and her dreams. 

Slant.

Slant. 

Slant. 

Will Lauren have the courage to go behind her father's back and have the operation, or will the biggest secret that she can imagine stop her from doing something that will change her life forever, for good or for bad?

Slant by Laura E. Williams is a teen drama about expressing yourself, speaking up, and either accepting the way you are, or dealing with them and your unhappiness. 

Broken Strings of Pearls

She's so dead to us. He's so not worth it. All things that we would imagine as an uber-popular girl's line in a super cheesy Disney movie. Right? When I first picked up She's So Dead to Us by Kieran Scott, I was waiting for someone else to finish a different book that I wanted to read. It was Friday, reading day in English class, and, well, this book didn't seem quite "interesting," but, I figured what the heck. It turned out to be my favorite book. Like ever.

         What I loved about She's So Dead to Us, is that the author uses a typical and common theme, gives it a twist or two, and weaves one of the best stories that you could find. The characters are extremely round. Almost all of them have the slightest background story that drives you crazy as you try to figure it out throughout the book. The protagonist is Ally Ryan. Ally is in a pile of trouble so deep, that no matter how hard she tries, she'll have to go against her nature to get out of it. Her father cheated people in their hometown out of some money, and, two years back, she had to move. Since then, many things have happened. Her father left her mother and her, and now, suddenly, out of the blue, she's moving back to Orchard Hill. As she arrives in her hometown, all of her friends despise her, especially a particularly evil girl, Shannen Moore. Why? That's for you to find out.

           Ally tries to just avoid them, ignore them, but without any friends, and no idea where her dad is, Ally needs someone to lean on. Although Ally is a strong and independent person, she still can't just go through her life on her own. She needs someone to talk her through, someone who has been through almost the same thing.

I did say almost.

Annie is a girl who has lived in Orchard Hill for her whole life. One of Ally's former best friends has just recently (recently meaning a year ago) dumped her for the popular crowd. Annie is, well, you could say "different." Since Faith ditched her, she's learned not to trust anyone, and the only person she will accept is David Drake, her since-elementary-school best friend. But, can she learn to go through her shy, introverted, closed personality and trust Ally with a secret that never should be shared?

Ally isn't very good at reading people, but Annie is. While Annie can't speak up for herself, Ally can. The two have each other to lean on. But, can Ally take it when Shannen takes it much, much, much too far? And can Annie win the fight with herself and help Ally as she has the worst time of her life?

She's So Dead to Us is a story of drama, romance, and facing a little something that I like to call the truth.