Night by Elie Wiesel

 Night is the story of Elie Wiesel, a boy who survives the Holocaust, but loses everything he cares about in the process.

I read this novel for school and it was obviously very well written. Learning about the Holocaust from a textbook is one thing, but hearing someone's personal story is entirely different. It was both enlightening and horrifying to read all the details of despair and loss of humanity. The ending was hauntingly sad, but Wiesel has written more books about finding his way again.

I suggest this to people who would like to learn more about the Holocaust. If you have to read this for school, I assure you that you won't be bored out of your mind.

I rate it a 9/10

~Mushu

Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson

I really liked this book. It was different. We got it from some family friends that know the author or something like that.

This is a book about Hattie. Hattie no longer has any parents and has lived her entire life moving around from one distant relative to another when they decide they no longer want her. One day she receives a letter in the mail from her Uncle who she has never met before and has recently past. He has left his plot of land under her name and if she chooses, she may go and try to own up to his claim in the time left on the claim. She decides to go. Life in Montana is different and challenging but hey, it's Hattie's life and she gets to live it however she so chooses.

I really liked this story which is about a real girl named Hattie. The entire time I read this book I thought Hattie was pronounced Hay-tee not Hat-tee and I mentioned it to my sister and she laughed at me.. Anyways it's a good book. People who like really rich plots might not be as interested because it's good and it has a good plot but it's also about a real girl so it goes at real life pace rather than super fast like book drama always goes.  I would probably recommend this book to someone who likes historical books and realistic books.

I would rate this book an 8.5/10 because it was really good but like I've already mentioned, it was at real life pace with is kind of slow and it's about real life things so there weren't like 10 million different sub-plots. Although I did cry the last 3 or so chapters, just heads up...

-Flounder

Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond

This book is about the foundations of human history, specifically trying to answer this question: Why have the white people developed so much cargo, while the black people have so little of their own?
I believe the main theme, what the author believes as the answer, is that advantages are because of the geography, not due to race or intelligence.
Honestly, this book isn't exactly one you'd read for fun. It is very factual and at times really interesting, but  still boring- like reading a textbook.
This is typically a book which would be read for school or for academic purposes.
The overall book was factual and well written, but I didn't LIKE it, so I rate it a 5/10
~Mushu

Red Scarf Girl by Ji-li Jiang

I had to read this book for school. This is a true story about a girl living in China during the time of the Cultural Revolution, when Chairman Mao was leading the Chinese on with the great leap forward. Anyways, Ji li, the girl, is telling the story from her point of view about everything that happened because she came from a family with a black background. If a family has a black background then it means that one of the ancestors in the family had a not right job (this could be a spoiler for you, if you're anything like me but in ji li's case it was that her grandfather was a landlord which is bad because all landlords "exploit" people).

In my opinion the book was good. It could have been better, but it was still good. I love to read and write and I kept noticing little details that could be changed to make the book happier and maybe give it more plot. But now, looking back after I have read the book, I think that if any of those details had been changed the book would have to have been completely different and wouldn't have shown the realistic harshness of that time.

If you have to read a book for school about China during this time period, or even if you're given this book to read for school and you're doubting it a little bit I will tell you this: it's better than you may think. I didn't have a very high expectation for this book when I read it because usually books for school are boring. When I started to read the book there would be times where I had to read another chapter and times when I wanted to stop in the middle of a chapter. But when I got about halfway through the book I just didn't want to put it down.

I guess I would rate this book a 6/10. Also, I'll just let you know right now, I'm a sappy person and this book made me cry.

-Flounder

-Flounder

Chinese Cinderella by Adeline Yen Mah

I think Adeline Yen Mah wrote a couple of books with this title. The one I read was not fiction. And it wasn't Ancient china, but it was china so I'll put it under that lable. It's a good, but really sad story.
It can be for boys and girls, but if you can't handle how cruel people can be and stuff like that, don't read it.
I rate this book a 7/10
-Mushu