• The Monster Variations

    Overall Rating: ★ Rating:68 Fullstar:3 Star Piece:0.4 Fraction:3.4★ Rating:68 Fullstar:3 Star Piece:0.4 Fraction:3.4★ Rating:68 Fullstar:3 Star Piece:0.4 Fraction:3.4½ Rating:68 Star Piece:0.4 Fraction:3.4☆ Rating:68 Fraction:3.468%
    The Monster Variations
    Daniel Kraus
    Delacorte Books for Young Readers, 2009
    Fiction
    ISBN: 0385737335
    Pages

    Synopsis

    It’s probably the final summer that James, Willie, and Reggie will be able to hang out as best friends. Willie has been struck by a truck and loses an arm, causing him to struggle to keep up with his two friends. Also, another boy is hit with a car and killed and a curfew is enacted to keep boys safe. The story winds it way through the summer, moving from boy to boy and sometimes showing them together. Giving an expose into each young man’s life, it’s apparent that all three of them have different difficult circumstances they must overcome, not to mention that they may be caught sneaking out after the curfew to go on summer adventures. The story delves into the journey between boy and manhood and the inner demons that each of us face as we grow older.

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    The Space Between Our Footsteps

    Overall Rating: ★ Rating:90 Fullstar:4 Star Piece:0.5 Fraction:4.5★ Rating:90 Fullstar:4 Star Piece:0.5 Fraction:4.5★ Rating:90 Fullstar:4 Star Piece:0.5 Fraction:4.5★ Rating:90 Fullstar:4 Star Piece:0.5 Fraction:4.5½ Rating:90 Star Piece:0.5 Fraction:4.590%
    The Space Between Our Footsteps
    Compiler: Naomi Shihab Nye
    Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing, 1998
    Poetry
    ISBN:0689812337
    144 pages

    Synopsis

    In the attempt to dispel the myth that everything about Muslim culture and the Middle East is violent, dangerous, and cultureless, Nye has compiled a collection of Middle Eastern and Islamic poetry and art largely created throughout the 20th century. In her forward, she notes that because of the news, Americans have a very disparaging view of the Middle East and Muslims.

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