I Finished My Second Batch of Books!

     Here are the books I have recently read:

     Here is how I rank them, going from the one I liked the least to the one I liked the best:

5. Divergent by Veronica Roth.  In a dystopian world, a young girl named Beatrice makes a life decision, all the while hiding a secret that could get her killed.  I will say more about this book in a future posting. 3 1/2 stars.

4. The Fifth Wave by Rick Yancey.  I have already talked about this book in a previous posting. In this book, three young people struggle to survive after an alien invasion. 4 stars.

3. Climbing the Stairs by Padma Venkatraman.  I have already posted about this book too, in which a young Indian girl must move in with her traditional family after an accident. Treated as a servant, she is forced to take care of the men in the household and fears that she may not get the chance to pursue a higher education. 4 1/2 stars.

2. House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer.  A young boy grows up on the estate of a powerful man called El Patrón. He is treated like an animal because he is a clone, and it is only as he gets older and El Patrón's health declines that the boy realizes why he was born in the first place. 5 stars.

1. Countdown by Deborah Wiles.  This is part fiction, part documentary. The fiction part tells the story of a young girl and her family growing up outside Washington, DC during the Cuban Missile Crisis. The narrative is interspersed with photos and text about the history of America at the beginning of the 1960s. 5 stars.

     I must confess that I had a really hard time deciding which book - Countdown or House of the Scorpion - to put in the Number One spot. Both were very well written and exciting to read. Ultimately I chose Countdown because of its originality. Calling this book "historical fiction" barely describes the fresh and visually pleasing way that it conveys information about the era. Although the narrative takes place during the Cuban Missile Crisis, it also includes additional historical information about the era, discussing topics such as the Civil Rights Movement and the election of John F. Kennedy. The author plans to turn Countdown into a trilogy, and I for one can't wait for the next installment!