The Color Purple

Author: Alice Walker
Reviewer's Age: Grade 12

The Color Purple, by Alice Walker, is a fiction novel about a young girl, Celie, and the struggles she faces throughout her life. This book takes place in the early 1900's in Georgia. Celie is forced by her stepfather to marry Albert, a man she does not love and who treats her like a slave. Albert uses her, makes her clean, abuses her and he truly does not love her. Albert also has an affair with Shug Avery, a beautiful blues singer. At first, Shug and Celie are not close and Shug is rude to her. Eventually a strong relationship grows between Shug and Celie and they become best of friends. Shug teaches Celie to be strong, to stand up to Albert and to do whatever she wants. When Shug decides to move to Tennessee, Celie decides to go with her and leave her husband. In Tennessee, Celie starts her own pants business. When Celie returns to Georgia, she visits Albert and creates a better relationship with him. As a result, this shows that Celie was able to get the courage to leave her husband, Albert, and start her life again with a pants business and be independent and strong. This displays true female strength.

The Prince and the Pauper

Author: Mark Twain
Reviewer's Age: Grade 7

This book is about a prince and a pauper who meet at the gate of the palace. The pauper describes his life to the prince who seems to like it so the prince becomes the pauper; the pauper the prince. The trouble is they look alike so noone can tell them apart. The prince is cast away and tries to find his way back to being the King. The mock King tries to change some of England's cruelest laws.

Antigone

Author: Sophocles
Reviewer's Age: Grade 10

Antigone is one of the greatest tragedy books of all time. If you love books about women who fight back and defy a ruler then this is the book for you. It is a great tragedy for a number of reasons. First, the main character in the story kills herself in the end. Secondly, she is betrayed by her uncle and sentenced to death. The most horrible part is she strangles herself with her own shirt! It is a great piece of literature and I recommend it to all ages grade seven and up. If you like tragedies and bad endings, this is the book for you. It is filled with sadness and you will feel pity for the main character. That is what makes this such a great book.

Antigone

Author: Sophocles
Reviewer's Age: Grade 10

Antigone, by Sophocles, is one of my favorite plays. Its main character, Antigone, is a strong and determined girl, who is loyal to her family. She is put in a horrible situation in which there is no easy way out, and deals with it the best she can. Antigone is a great book and I think anybody would enjoy it. Antigone is a great tragedy. It is one of the best, because everyone can fear and pity almost everything in the story. The reader fears that they may end up in a position like Antigone where there is no way out. Antigone is pitied because she has to endure cruel punsihments just for respecting her brother. Antigone is one of the best books I have ever read. I think this book would entertain almost anybody. Antigone is a story of honor, pride, and punishments.

Romeo and Juliet

Author: William Shakespeare
Reviewer's Age: Grade 8

This book describes the love of two teenagers who belong to families at war with each other. Romeo and Juliet keep their love a secret from their families and eventually elope [but tragedy follows]. I loved this book because it presented so many important lessons in a well-written book full of irony. Not only does this book show how hate can cause such a tragedy, it envelops the reader in a love story with a quality you're not likely to find in modern romance novels.

The Catcher in the Rye

Author: J.D. Salinger
Reviewer's Age: Grade 12

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger illustrates the life of one sad boy, Holden, who struggles with the death of his brother. The loss of his little brother changed Holden's entire life; he believes that he was the one who should have died.... His lack of self-confidence leads him to not be able to do anything well, which makes him feel that he is the worthless human. There is no one that can help him, since his parents have not gotten over his brother's death, either. The one who is going to help him is his little sister who has experienced the same incident. She is going to teach him the basic principles of life. This is a little poignant, but a warm and beautiful story.

Where the Red Fern Grows

Author: Wilson Rawls
Reviewer's Age: Grade 10

The book, entitled Where the Red Fern Grows, is one of the best books I have ever read. It has excitement, action, mystery, and sadness all in one book. Everything is so unexpected in the book. It is about a boy who gets two hunting dogs. There is one night where all the dogs go out hunting, and whoever brings back the most wins. The ending of this book is very unpredictable, nobody knows what happens, and that is what makes this book so exciting. Once you start reading this book you do not want to stop until you are finished. This is the best book I have ever read, and I definitely recommend it for anybody who likes to read. It is a must read book. I am not the type of person who loves to read boring books, unless I am required to, but this book was so interesting that I didn't want to put it down.

Where The Red Fern Grows

Author: Wilson Rawls
Reviewer's Age: 12

Where The Red Fern Grows is about Billy, a boy who lives in Oklahoma in the Ozark mountains. He is "dog-sick" and is dreaming of having two coon hunting hounds. He works for two years trying to afford the fifty dollars that the two coon dogs are worth. It is a special day when he gets his dogs and immediately starts training them. The dogs bring great luck into Billy's life and are his best companions, until one fateful accident occurs, one that will change Billy's life forever. This book is one of my favorite books because it shows how if you really want something, you can't and won't give up until you have it. It shows how determination and hope can bring you a long ways.

Animal Farm

Author: George Orwell
Reviewer's Age: Grade 10

Animal Farm is a book written by George Orwell. This book is easily the most famous work of political allegory ever written. The animals take over a farm, and everything is wonderful for a while, until the pigs get out of hand. It is a brilliant description of what happens when a revolution goes astray. Allegory is hard to do gracefully, but Orwell manages it superbly. While true appreciation of Animal Farm requires an understanding of the history of the Russian revolution, those without it still get the point. Animal Farm can even be appreciated as a story by children with no understanding of the political message at all.

The Trial

Author: Franz Kafka
Reviewer's Age: Grade 12

Most people have heard the tern "Kafkaesque" used to describe a situation that is strange or nightmarish in a vague, surreal manner. It follows, then, that this strange quality permeates all of Kafka's work: The Trial is no exception. The book opens with the arrest of the protagonist, Josef K, by a strange Court that is bent on bringing him to trial even though he has apparently done nothing wrong. K is never told of what he is being accused of, nor is he detained in the way a normal criminal would be; instead, he is allowed to carry on his life in a seemingly normal way. However, we find out as the story progresses, the Court does in fact yield a potent destructive power over the defendants it persecutes.

The Trial is probably Kafka's most vague work, and considering that Kafka's stories are by any normal standard difficult to understand to begin with, The Trial is extremely hard to decipher. This is the kind of book you would want to read if you are willing to spend hours musing over its elusive meaning, re-reading key passages in an effort to find clues that would indicate what Kafka is really writing about. Yet in its ambiguity The Trial possesses a certain power, precisely because it can be analyzed at so many levels. One can interpret the story through many different lenses; you might examine it from a political point of view, or you might take a look at it from the Freudian perspective. In any case, this book has an extraordinary depth to it. I recommend it to all of those who like not only to read but also like to really dig in deep. However, if you're looking for something cut and clear and straightforward, stay away from this book.

A Tale of Two Cities

Author: Charles Dickens
Reviewer's Age: 16

A good historical reference to the French Revolution with a fascinating tale of people of the era.

Mansfield Park

Author: Jane Austen
Reviewer's Age: 16

This is a wonderfully romantic novel of early 19th century England aristocratic society in which conflicts and liaisons constantly twist the plot. The characters are filled with sensibility and interesting personality.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Author: Ken Kesey
Reviewer: Grade 12

One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest is about a group of mentally ill men in an asylum. It is told from the point of view of Chief Bromden, a.k.a. Chief Broom. He is a 7 foot tall half Indian who has pretended to be dumb and deaf for so long that everyone thinks he is. The asylum is run by the tyrannical Big Nurse and her “black boys”, her assistants. The book starts when R. P. McMurphy comes to the hospital after being deemed a psychopath by the courts. McMurphy is unlike any other patient that the hospital has ever seen. Right away he starts challenging the authority of Big Nurse, something that no one has ever dreamed of doing. The other acutes (short-term patients) are opposed and fearful at first of this plan, but soon are convinced by McMurphy and begin to wreck havoc on the asylum. They go on fishing trips with McMurphy’s prostitute girlfriends, wander around the hospital at night, and even sneak girls and booze into the asylum with a little help from the night guard. McMurphy and Bromden form a bond once he learns that Bromden is not actually deaf or dumb, and together fight the awesome power of The Combine and Big Nurse. In the end, it paid off, but not without a sacrifice. McMurphy was given a lobotomy, after Big Nurse decided that 7 consecutive treatments of shock therapy wasn’t effective. Even though she triumphed over McMurphy, it was too late to undo the damage. A few weeks after McMurphy’s lobotomy, almost all of the acutes checked out, and Chief Bromden managed to escape to Canada, leaving Big Nurse with a tarnished reputation and a destroyed empire.

One Flew over the Cuckoo Nest, by Ken Kesey, is an unforgettable masterpiece. Its deep and provocative plot raises questions about today’s society that would otherwise stay buried. Kesey makes you believe that it is an actual mentally ill man narrating the book, not an author’s interpretation of one. The thing that I most liked about this book was how real it was. Having spent most of my life with my nose submerged in science fiction, it was like a breath of fresh air. One Flew over the Cuckoo Nest is an essential part of any bookshelf and I strongly recommend it to anyone.

The Good Earth

Author: Pearl S. Buck
Reviewer: Grade 9

This book is about a peasant in China. When it starts he is poor and then he gets richer. Some parts are sad and others are funny. The 360 pages are so good I couldn’t stop reading it. Pearl S. Buck does a wonderful job with the plot and characters. It’s an excellent book.