Drama

//- Maylynn Chen//
 * __Speak__** by **Laurie Halse Anderson**

Entering high school for the first time is usually hard enough, but for ninth grader Melinda Sordino, it is literally hell. Over the summer, she called the cops and busted an out-of-control party and now she has become a reject. People point at her and laugh in the halls and even her old friends have started pretending she doesn't exist. So Melinda has decided to stop speaking, but mostly because no one will listen to her. Even if they did, she probably wouldn't tell them. After all, rape is not an easy thing to talk about. Hurt and confused, Melinda struggles to continue her life as if nothing had happened. But she needs to realize the only thing that can free her from her pain is to call upon the courage to stand up and speak out.

This book, so heartbreaking but captivating at the same time, left me thinking for days. Melinda is someone each and every one of us can relate to, as she goes through some of the same struggles we do every day and her high school world is very much like ours. I think this story about a young girl finding her voice has much to teach us all.

.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................** Review by __Amy Yin__
 * Click** [|here] **to see Speak on Amazon. =)

Go [|here] to buy this Raisin Rodriguez book on amazon.com

.............................................................................................................................................................................. by gwen.
 * “The Secret Blog of Raisin Rodriguez” by Judy Goldshmidt**
 * Read: 202 pgs. out of a total of 202 pgs.**
 * Summary**
 * This book is about a 7th grade girl, Raisin, who moves to a new city and starts a new school. I’m not exactly sure if this book has a plot or climax.**
 * In the end of the book, Raisin accidentally leaves her blog on in school on one of the computers. One of her classmates prints out copies of it and the whole school reads it. In the process Raisin lost all of her “friends” except Jeremy, who was mad at first because Raisin wrote one of his secrets on her blog. But he forgave Raisin after she apologized. Shortly after, Raisin made new friends who liked the fact that she was bold and “much prefer alienation”.**
 * Everything that happens in this book is told through Raisin’s blog.**
 * My thoughts**
 * This blog is a twist on a diary-book (such as The Princess Diaries), because Raisin’s friends read the blog. They also post comments on it. However, it is similar because for both a diary and a blog the time and date are listed.**
 * I thought this book was okay……it wasn’t full of suspense and cliffhangers though. Also, it wasn’t extremely difficult to put down. What I learned is what it’s like to have a big sister. I don’t have one so this book taught me some new things.**
 * I have to say, this book got a bit boring/pointless during the part when Raisin tried to get into Fiona’s clique and be friends with the “popular” people. I thought Raisin was more than that.**
 * The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot**

This book is about the diary of Mia Thermopolis, who is a 14 year old living in Manhattan with her single mother, who is an artist. Her parents split up a long time ago, and her dad lives in Genovia. Mia's has a pet cat named Fat Louie who she got when she was just a little girl, and her best friend is Lilly Moscovitz, who has her own talk show, //Lilly Tells It Like It Is.// She goes to Albert Einstein High School (AEHS) and is in the ninth grade. In her diary, she talks about surviving high school, such as the insults she gets from mean, popular cheerleader Lana Weinberger. She talks about the different cliques at her school and her life at home. She is having adjusting to the fact that her mom is dating her algebra teacher, a subject she is currently flunking.

One day, Mia's mother tells her that her father and grandmere are in Manhattan and have something important to tell her. She visits her dad after school at the Plaza hotel, and he tells her that he has testicular cancer and cannot have anymore kids. She learns that her father is really the prince of Genovia, making her the next heir to the throne. Her real name isn't Mia Thermopolis. it's Amelia Mignonette Grimaldi Thermopolis Renaldo, Princess of Genovia. At first, she is very mad. She doesn't want to be a princess because she doesn't think she has what it takes to be a leader, and she's angry that her parents kept a secret so important from her for so long. Since she's the only heir left, she doesn't have a choice. Now, everyday after school, she has to have princess lessons from her grandmother. She grows to accept her responsibility to her small european nation of Genovia (populaton 50,000) as their princess, and compromises with her father to let her finish high school at AEHS before moving to Genovia.

I really enjoyed reading this book, I just couldn't put it down! I love how the author wrote it as a diary, and she wrote it like a real teen would. This book has been turned into a very popular disney movie starring Anne Hathaway and Julie Andrews. The movie was a lot different than the book though, and I don't know which one i like more. I guess they were both good. Although I think the chances of anyone finding out their a princess is highly unlikely, you never know.