Freshman Voices, 2019-2020: Waltham Hawks Write

November 8, 2019  Amanda Silva  Far From You Tess Sharpe When I read the synopsis was intrigued by how I have personally never read a book that talked about drug addiction and its consequences. This book is eye opening, sad, and even heartwarming.  There was this girl Sophie Winters, she hasn’t had the easiest time in the past few months. Her best friend Mina was murdered in what is believed to be a drug deal that went very wrong. She took out her frustration and pain with pills and drugs. She quickly became addicted and couldn’t imagine a life without drugs. Her family saw that the problem escalated quickly. She is receiving the help she needs, but it isn’t an easy journey; she has her ups and downs. She was in a facility to give her treatment and guide her to recovery in Oregon. Once she leaves the rehabilitation center she has a very hard time with withdrawals and how to handle them. She fights against her family to prove to them she needs the drugs to make...

Detective Stories by Philip Pullman Review Ron Bajrami You like murders and mystery? This book is for you.  It’s really interesting and always keeps you thinking and guessing what's going to happen next.  A murder happens, and next thing you know these intelligent detectives start solving them and finding details that no one would think of. This happens in every chapter. We see different detectives as the story goes on, how they solve the case and try to keep people safe. Young mystery fans will be enthralled by this compelling volume of classic detective fiction. The author is Philip Pullman, and he does an amazing job in explaining the scenes, and when you read it it’s almost like you’re there. I personally picked this book because I saw Sherlock Holmes and he's considered a big character in the blockbuster series. Some of the chapters that I read were “The speckled band” and “The adventure of the Egyptian Tomb”. They both share in common one thing and It’s ...

Always Running by Luis J. Rodriguez Review by Aidan Sacco When I saw this book I knew that it was going to be interesting read just by reading the overview of the book. A family that had just moved into The United States is trying to fit in with everyone stuck in a poor Latino neighborhood. Getting into trouble and living a very rough and dangerous life, the family does whatever they can to get the best for themselves. The author creates an action filled plot for the reader, making it so hard to put the book down. The story begins with a regular family in Mexico that is just moving into the U.S. The main character Luis lives with his two sisters, his older brother named Rano, his dad Alfonso and mother, Maria. Growing up in L.A is quite hard for Luis, as he is very poor, mocked for his lack in English and is living in a precarious neighborhood. At an early age Luis starts to turn to gangs and violence and creates his own small gang with a friend because of the protection ...

Scythe By: Neal Shusterman Book Review by: Cody Eaton Ordinary teens in a futuristic society are transformed into harbingers of death. In the book Scythe, humans become immortal and created the Scythedom, an organization of scythes which are people trained to  kill others permanently to control the population growth. The scythes are basically promoted by their leader and are chosen randomly. Scythe Faraday was  the leader: he chose two candidates named Rowan and Citra. Rowan was a great choice, he was apprenticed under both Scythe Faraday and Scythe Goddard, giving him the skills that made him a Scythe. Citra was also a good choice; she is horrified when Scythe Faraday shows up on her family's doorstep and invites himself for dinner. She and her parents are terrified that he's going to glean them, and Citra angrily snaps at him. He admits he's here to glean their neighbor.  He told her about the position and she fully decided yes because her family would not b...

The Death Cure By: James Dashner Reviewed by: Cole Metallides Have you ever wondered what the world would be like if a disease has wiped out most of the population? In the fiction Novel, The Death Cure , which is part of a series of novels consisting of The Maze Runner and The Scorch Trial, by James Dashner, the main character Thomas and many of his friends are trapped in a skyscraper created by a company by the name of the WICKED. WICKED’s goal is to find a cure for the Flare, a serious disease that has killed most of the human population. Their way of finding the cure is very inhumane and involves human testing. I will be summarizing the first quarter of the book. In the beginning of the novel, the kids are put through many strenuous and painful tests that most of the time just seem completely unnecessary. Many of the boys find themselves in rooms that are nothing but white and plain. They haven’t been able to shower for many days and are very confused about why they are there....

Meet the Sky  by McCall Hoyle Review by Ashley Karish       Have you ever wondered why bad things happen to people? In this book a family tells a story about how things can really change in an instant.  In Meet the Sky by McCall Hoyle , Sophie and her family live on the outer coast of North Carolina. She lives with her sister, Mere, her mom, and her horses. About a year ago, there was a car accident which caused Sophie’s dad to walk out on them and rendered Mere barely able to walk. Before this, Mere had a whole life ahead of her, she was extremely smart and was going to get into a great college, but the accident left her mentally and physically scarred. She and her sister loved going on horse rides on the beach, but after the accident, Mere was never really up to it. Recently there had been stories on the news about upcoming storms that were headed their way. Sophie did not want to evacuate because that would mean they would have to...

The Birth of a Nation Dick Leher Valerie Charles This book talks about the racism and the inequality black people faced when the film “Birth of a Nation” hit the world. It focuses on the changes an individual made many years ago that impacts our world today. It could make you upset or angry or sad based on the serious issues it talks about. In The Birth of a Nation by Dick Leher, William Monroe Trotter, journalist and Harvard’s first black Phi Beta Kappa graduate and a leading newspaper editor speaks out against the film “Birth of a Nation” and how it may have been the best film for Caucasians but one of the worst films for black people. William fights against D.W Griffith, the filmmaker of “Birth of a Nation” and also reignites a protest that would soon lead up to the civil rights movement. Although this film may have made a handful of people happy and put a smile on their faces, there were also many people who got torn down and thought very little of themselves. This book m...

Turtles All the Way Down By John Green Review By Henry Merola The book honestly had promise to be good, but it slowly gets on your nerves. Turtles All the Way Down is about a girl named Ava and her friend, Daisy, looking for a crooked CEO of a company, Davis Pikett. Many flashbacks are revealed when Ava goes through her childhood while looking for information that will get her $100,000.  A main theme is childhood. It seems to flow quite well when they first do it. Unfortunately the second time, when Ava has reunited with Davis's son, Davis. You'd expect to read about how they interact, but she has a flashback to when she and Davis were kids and had a party, something that the book reiterated again, which was repetitive. Also, readers should she what they're doing in the present, we could care less about their past. I haven’t read the whole book, but what I have read isn’t that great. There are so many flashbacks, little description, and the pacing can go at a ...

Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire By J.K. Rowling Review By Taline Antoine Harry Potter lets your imagination run wild with great suspense and adventure! Just when you think the book can’t get any better there is another one waiting full of even more magical adventures. The book Harry Potter begins like this, there is a bad guy name Voldemort who is unliked by the whole wizard world. The Riddles are a family that died in their house for unknown reasons. Voldemort and his followers were in the Riddles’ house talking about killing Harry Potter. The Riddles’ were a previous family that lived in the house many years ago but they were found dead by their cook. The suspect was the Riddles’ gardener but he didn’t kill them. The gardener lives there and tends to the garden for any new family that moves in. One night, the gardener was in his cottage outside the main house and woke up to see light in the Riddles’ house but there was no one living there at that time. The light flickered li...

Every Day By David Levithan Reviewed by Sheila Butler Do you ever wonder what it would feel like to be in other people’s bodies? Well Every day, by David Levithan lets you in on what it feels like to switch bodies.  In the book, the main character who calls itself A, wakes up in a new body every morning. This allows him to experience life in a new person’s body. In different bodies he meets new people, but one of his experiences made him really experience something that made him feel love. He met this girl named Rhiannon, and in the day that he met her he was in the body of her boyfriend. Together they had the best day, and A couldn't stop thinking of Rhiannon after that day. From that day on, in different bodies, he would find a way to get to Rhiannon and talk to her. As the days went on, A finally tried to explain to her how he took on the body of her boyfriend and how he is always is a different body. So far I have enjoyed this book very much. I thought it was well written ...

Revenge and Real Friends Burn for Burn By Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian Review by Madelyn Buxton Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about. In the book Burn for Burn by Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian, many high school struggles are revealed throughout the group’s year on Jar Island. Realistic fiction is utilized to spread the authors’ messages. The story takes place on Jar Island, and it is told from three different points of view. The main characters Lillia, Kat, and Mary alternate narrating chapters. This component of the book is intriguing because it allows the reader to interpret the story from multiple perspectives. The story starts as the summer ends and the school year begins. The three girls hardly know each other at the beginning, however, as the year progresses, they find each other when they need each other most. Lillia, Kat, and Mary have many differences, but they all have one thing in common; they seek revenge. Each girl has been emotionally hurt by ...

Black Soldiers-The Unsung Heroes of WWII Christopher Paul Moore Review by Will Hunt          Does color on the outside of us really matter? Why do people judge others based off of our outside skin color?          In Black Soldiers-The Unsung Heroes of WWII you hear many intriguing decisions, for better or worse, made by white males with power in the army or government. These decisions were typically made on whether black or African-American soldiers should be used in combat during the war. Often they chose to use them, but they would be given less significant jobs solely for the fact they were African-American. These included cooking, cleaning and more chores, not fighting. An example of this was when USA started to send men down to Australia. Along with these men they would send big machinery, weaponry and goods to have the ability to set up a base. Australia was completely fine with this...as long as black soldiers didn’t come. An ...

M.I.A By Dean Hughes Reviewed By Edgar Kabunga The past can be hard to get over, but working with the present can help you deal with the past’s trouble.         Jay Thacker is a boy from Salt Lake City who is half Navajo. Jay has moved to Delta with his mom to live with his grandparents. His father is currently Missing in Action, hence the title of the book. He still believes his father is alive but everyone else around him has given up hope on that. The story starts off with Jay meeting a boy named Gordy and going to a park and playing baseball. Ken is another boy Jay meets when he works on his grandfather's farm. Ken happens to be a Japanese boy; tension starts off high due to the Pearl Harbor bombing, but as Jay gets to know more about him, his opinion starts changing. Ken and Gordy are about to be at the center of some big events that happen in Jay’s Delta life.         In my opinion I enjoyed this book. It wasn’t the ...

Out of Nowhere Maria Padian Review by Chris Ashjian I have played soccer for my whole life, so when we needed a book I knew I needed to find one about soccer. I saw Out of Nowhere , and as soon as I read the back I realized that I would love this book. I don’t think another book could be as relatable to me as this one is, and when I started to read it I was not mistaken. In the book Out of Nowhere by Maria Padian, the author conveys a story about the beautiful game of soccer. The main characters are Tom, Saeed and Donnie. It is a realistic fiction book that is about a foreign exchange student. The boys are all in high school and Tom and Saeed play soccer. Saeed is a boy that moved to Enniston (the town where the story takes place) from Africa. A lot of Somali’s had recently moved to Enniston because there were bad things going on where they used to live. Anyway, Tom (the captain of varsity) decides to invite Saeed and a few of his Somali friends to the soccer meeting that they...

Friday Night Lights By H.G. Bessinger Review by Nick George Have you ever heard of a town spending more money on their football program than their education? Well that was achieved by the town, Odessa. Friday Night Lights is a realistic fiction book written by H.G. Bessinger about a small town with a big heart. The town of Odessa was dedicated to football, they spent more money on their football program then schools and their education. The Odessa football program has been an unstoppable force for many years due to the dedication of kids and coaches working hard everyday. Every single year there was a strong showing at tryouts of at least fifty kids and most towns would be happy to get around thirty five. All the kids gave it their all and would not take a single minute off because of how much it men't to them to be on this team. James Miles, Mike Winchell, Brian Chavez, and Ivory Christian lead the team along with their coach Gary Gaines. Every game they would come out batt...

Projekt 1065 by: Alan Gratz Review By: Will Curley If you like world history, I guarantee this book will be interesting for you. Michael, whose perspective this book is written in, is a spy from Ireland. He is trying to help his parents and bring back information to the allies. He has to go through some tough times that most kids don’t even come close to comparing with, but in the end he is a very different person. Michael O’Shaunessey the character whose perspective the book is in is a kid from Ireland that helps the allies during World War 2. The author Alan Gratz has created many well-reviewed, interesting books that have won some of the highest awards in the history genre. The kid’s parents first came here and covered up that they were spies, saying they were ambassadors from Ireland. He has a huge fear of heights and that leads to other points of the story. Michael joins the Hitler Youth so he can get some insider knowledge. This helps a lot in the end for the allie...

Better Than Running At Night Hilary Frank Mina Alkhafaji Imagine you had to start rebuilding yourself and adjusting to a new environment. This realistic fiction novel, Better Than Running At Night by Hillary Frank, tells a story of a girl named Ellie that finished high school and had just started her first year at the New England College of Arts and Design. Ellie tries to start fresh in the new school year, just like the rest of us. Her goal was to improve herself as a person and as an artist, but meeting a boy at her first party made it more difficult. This relationship had a tendency of holding her back from focusing on herself since she was so focused on the boy named Nate. She faces many obstacles with him, parents, and her new friends. Will she be able to get through them all? Personally, I’m not a huge book reader, but this book was something I couldn’t put down. I feel like it can really connect with high school students since most of us are dealing with at least one of...

American Street By Ibi Zoboi Review By Lori Tnkjian Fabiola, a 16 year old girl from Haiti, goes to Detroit with her mother, Manman, to see their cousins, or so they try to. When Fabiola and her Mother get to New Jersey, their final destination before reaching Detroit, Manman gets detained, and Fabiola does not understand why, but Manman told her to carry on with the journey and that she’ll see her soon. Once Fabiola arrived in Detroit, she asked anyone and everyone if they have seen her Mother, but everyone looked at her as if she was dumb. After a long while of waiting, Fabiolas cousins, Pri, Donna, and Chantel pick her up from the airport, shocked to see that her mother wasn’t there, but soon realize their mom, also known as Fabiolas Aunt, is doing everything she can to get Manman to Detroit and out of New Jersey. While Fabiola is living with her cousins, she is going to continue her Junior year in America. Fabiola’s first night in Detroit was cold, not only physically, but e...

Wonder By R.J. Palacio Taleena Anserlian Courage and Kindness When I realized they made a movie for an amazing book, I had to go and see it. Wonder is a very inspirational and emotional book to read. The book and movie both had some differences and many similarities, but overall they both were able to describe and show the importance of the book.  The beginning of the book starts off by meeting the main character, August Pullman. Other important characters in the book are Jack Will, Charlotte, and Julien. Children's literature was an appropriate genre for the author to choose because it could be easier for younger readers to understand. August was born with a deformation in his face and has been homeschooled his whole life. His family likes to say that August is just an ordinary kid, with an extraordinary face. He is in fifth grade, and his parents are starting to make some decisions that August is unsure about. All his family members call him Auggie instead of August...

Out of Reach Carrie Arcos Review by Emely Lopez They say people come and go. But what do you do when it’s someone you love? How do you know when someone is too far gone? Rachel spent 16 years living a normal life just like any other teenage girl—until it was anything but normal. Throughout the eleven chapters I have read, Rachel breaks up her life as before Micah and after Micah. Her childhood was just like any other. Rachel since a child had always looked up to her older brother, Micah. They were close in age, but also friendship wise. Unfortunately, Micah took a turn for the worst. Micah since his early years in highschool, struggles with addiction. Rachel is constantly trying to reason with herself, saying he’s okay—until one day he isn’t. Because of Micah, Rachel holds a tremendous amount of guilt with her. Time and time again she holds herself responsible for the downward spiral Micah is going through. But her problems become worse as time goes on. From one moment to another,...