Reviews

The Lord of Opium, by Nancy Farmer is the long-awaited sequel to The House of
the Scorpion. (Please see my review) I would highly recommend that you read these
two books in order. I would categorize this sequel as sci-fi fantasy for grade 7 and up.
The year is 2137. Matteo “Matt” Alacran is the 14 year old clone of a powerful
drug lord named El Patron. El Patron ruled Opium, a strip of land between the USA and
Aztlan, formerly Mexico. Opium was created when El Patron made a deal with the USA
and Aztlan. The agreement was that El Patron would prevent illegal immigrants from
entering the USA and would not sell his opium to the Americans. Instead, El Patron
would sell his drugs overseas. In exchange, he was awarded a strip of land between
both countries called Opium. All of the illegal immigrants trying to enter the USA were
captured by El Patron. He turned each person into a zombie-like worker by injecting
them with a needle which took away their intelligence.

The House of the Scorpion, written by Nancy Farmer was published in 2002 and
is an award winner. It is a futuristic, sci-fi fantasy novel that takes place in a dystopian
world. The setting is a strip of land between the USA and Aztlan (formerly Mexico)
called Opium. Opium is a no man's land ruled by a drug lord named El Patron. It
consists of several drug-producing farms. El Patron’s estate produces opium from
poppies.

We Are Okay by Nina LaCour is a story about Marin and her past best friend Mabel. After Marin loses her grandfather, she decides that the memories she has of life in San Francisco are too painful to let her continue to live there. She runs away to New York, where she begins university classes and lives with her roommate, Hannah. The book begins at Christmastime,  when all of the students have gone home to be with their families.

Sometimes as a Canadian teenager, people say things to us such as “why do you care about American politics anyway?” or “it doesn’t affect you, so why pay attention?”. In my opinion, as we live in an increasingly globalized world, being knowledgeable about world affairs is key.

When I finally had the chance to read Michelle Obama’s memoir, I had very high expectations for the book. Amazingly, Becoming did not disappoint. This book gave tremendous insight to life inside the White House from 2008 until 2016.

Captain America: The First Avenger is set during the second world war. Steve Rogers is a skinny kid racked with every single condition that keeps him from enlisting in the military. He is chosen for an experiment which turns him into a super soldier, giving him muscles, incredible endurance, and speed. He goes off to fight a Nazi organization called HYDRA and succeeds.

Captain America: The First Avenger is set during the second world war. Steve Rogers is a skinny kid racked with every single condition that keeps him from enlisting in the military. He is chosen for an experiment which turns him into a super soldier, giving him muscles, incredible endurance, and speed. He goes off to fight a Nazi organization called HYDRA and succeeds.

Lord of the Flies tells the story of a group of boys who try to survive on an island long enough until someone can rescue them. The boys quickly establish rules and pick Ralph as their leader. The former choir kids become hunters and slowly descend into savagery, singing chants, and becoming obsessed with killing. They soon split off into their own separate tribe and they try to either kill or recruit the remaining boys.

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins is the fourth book to be released in the Hunger Games series. It acts as a prequel to the other three books, taking place more than a half-century before. It details the life and struggles of a then young President Snow of Panem. This book was highly anticipated by many readers, including myself.

Theodore Finch meets Violet Markey in the strangest way. Theodore, more commonly called Finch, suffers from periods of depression and bipolar disorder, and is intrigued with finding ways to die. He is called a freak at school, and is known for his history of crazy antics. On the other hand, Violet is struggling with the death of her sister, the result of a freak car accident that happened the night of a party that the two sisters attended. The two teenagers meet when both decide to climb the bell tower, planning to jump off. When Finch sees Violet, the seemingly popular girl at school, he talks her down. When they both return to school, everyone assumes that Violet was the one who saved Finch, and he allows everyone to believe that, wanting to spare Violet from the embarrassment.