For the book lover in me, this year has been wonderful. I have read some of the best books this year.
The year started on a good note with Wonder by R. J. Palacio. This is the kind of book that makes you want to stop people on the road and tell them about it. August (Auggie) Pullman, the ten-year-old hero of the book, wormed his way into my heart. Life is cruel for a boy born with a rare birth defect that plays havoc with his face. Even after several surgeries to correct the facial anomalies, Auggie is called cruel nicknames like Freak, Freddy Krueger, Gross-out and Lizard face. When August starts his fifth grade at Beecher Prep (he had been home-schooled earlier), most of the students act as though he carries an infectious disease. No one wants to touch him or sit with him. His face looks like it has been burnt because his features look like they have been melted. This book is about one boy’s survival in a cruel world where we are judged by our external appearance.
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Pandora the Curious , a Goddess Girls book written by Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams’ is the female version of the Percy Jackson series. The two authors have put an amazing and modern spin on Greek mythology. The book centres on Mount Olympus Academy where an entire army of privileged and pampered god boys and goddess girls study. Throw in a few mortals and there was enough sparkle and sizzle to light up a small city and also my dull day.
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Holes by Louis Sachar was a book I had heard a lot about. The book lived up to its reputation of being called a modern classic. Stanley Yelnats, the protagonist is unjustly sent to a boy’s detention center — Camp Green Lake. Here the boys are made to dig holes: five feet wide and five feet deep, every single day. The school authorities justify this digging of holes as a character building exercise. It’s up to Stanley to find the reason for this digging while carrying the burden of a family curse.
Girl power
Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate Dicamillo is about a girl called Opal and her preacher father who move to a trailer park in Naomi, Florida, the U. S. Opal goes to a grocery store for macaroni, cheese and other stuff and returns with a dog who wasn’t on her shopping list. To save the dog from the store manager who wants to send it to the pound, she brings it home claiming it as her own. She names it Winn-Dixie after the store she found it in. The mischievous dog helps the lonely girl settle into her new town and make a whole lot of interesting friends. The book, a hymn to dogs and friendship, has been made into a movie.
The Princess in the Opal Mask by Jenny Lundquist had me gasping in amazement. Written with two points of view: one of Princess Wilha who has been forced to wear a mask from the time of her birth, and the other of an orphan Elara who is in search of her parents and her true identity. I loved the way the two points of views converge and take the story forward. Strange things happen when the Princess meets the commoner and both get a chance to escape their claustrophobic lives.
There were many other books which I liked, but these will be special and close to my heart.==
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