Book Review: Interview with a Vampire

The Interview with the Vampire 
by Anne Rice

• Publisher: Ballantine Books (March 18, 1997)
• ISBN-10: 0345409647
• ISBN-13: 978-0345409645

Review by Kendall L. 

*This book is Adult Fiction

This book is about a vampire named Louis. He decides to tell his life story to a man. So he tells this guy his life before and after he became a vampire. He faces a lot of obstacles during his vampire life and loses a lot of people he loves because of it. He travels, fights, falls in love, and betrays his creator.

There's not a whole lot to say about this book. He is basically telling about his life story. There's a lot of description and really gets into what life was like back in the 18th and 19th centuries. But of course it's a fictional story, so not everything is true.

I thought the book was okay. It got interesting at some parts, and made me want keep reading without stopping; other times it was just going on with the same subjects and I didn't read it for days. The book was also long to read. I'm a slow reader so it took me a long time to finish it and it seemed to go on forever. But if you like they historical fiction/ sci-fi stuff then it's perfect for you.

Book Review: The Help

The Help

by Kathryn Stockett

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
• Publisher: Berkeley Trade; Mti Rei edition (June 28, 2011)
• ISBN-10: 0425245136
• ISBN-13: 978-0425245132

Review By: Kendall L.  
The Help is a story about Jackson Mississippi in the 1960s. During that time there was still segregation so there was a lot of feelings towards races, black and white. There's 3 main characters, Skeeter ( or Eugenia), Aiblieen, and Minny. 
 
Skeeter, a white woman, just got a degree in English, and was in the hopes of getting a job in New York City in the publishing industry, but was turned down due to lack of experience. Aiblieen is a black maid and works for Skeeter's friend Elizabeth. Minny is also a black maid and Minny's best friend. She has 5 kids and an abusive husband. Minny has a major "sass-mouth" and doesn't know when to keep quiet or stop!
 
These 3 women come to a weird friendship and decided to make a book together , but the laws during the time of the 1960s strained their friendship and forced them to keep quiet about the whole thing, in fear of being tormented or going to jail. People get kicked, beat to death, put to prison, and all in between in this book, but it shows what it was like back then so it makes it really interesting. 
 
This book isn't like your average book with chapters, but each chapter is different perspectives of each of the 3 characters I described above. It shows the struggle for everyday life or just some drama, but it's a really awesome book!!!

Manga Review: Fairy Tail Vol 1

Fairy Tail: Volume 1

By: Hiro Mashima

• Reading level: Ages 13 and up
• Publisher: Kodansha Comics (August 28, 2012)
• ISBN-10: 1612622763
• ISBN-13: 978-1612622767

Review by Kendall L. 

 

Lucy is a normal celestial wizard just passing through a normal town when she finds another wizard named Salamander. At first she thinks she has found a powerful wizard, and starts to fall in love with him, but all the sudden some kid named Natsu and his cat Happy interrupted their connection, and found that Salamander was using a spell on her. To show her appreciation to Natsu and his cat, she treats them to lunch, not knowing that Natsu is also a wizard. Besides that, Lucy has always dreamed of joining a wizard guild (a "clan" of wizards that come together through thick and thin and look for assignments to do), and the one she wants to join desperately is a guild called Fairy Tail. When she is fantasizing about joining aloud, Salamander hears this, and uses it to his advantage. He said if Lucy went to him to a party on his yacht that he would let her become part of the Fairy Tail guild, because he was part of it. Now knowing this information, Lucy sucks up her rage for now and agrees to go to the party with him, finally getting to enter the Fairy Tail guild!

 

However, things turn for the worst at the party on the yacht just a few hours later accepting the invite. Lucy figures out that Salamander isn't really who he says he is, and brings women on his yacht to sell them as slaves. She tries to use her celestial keys, but "Salamander" takes them from her and throws them in the ocean. Now defenseless, there's nothing she can do. When all seems lost, a familiar face comes to save her... and it's the real Salamander! So what will happen to Lucy and the real Salamander? Will Lucy join Fairy Tail? You got to read to find out!

Manga Review: One Piece Vol 2

One Piece: Vol. 2 Buggy the Clown 

by: Eiichiro Oda

• • Publisher: VIZ Media LLC (November 19, 2003)
  • ISBN-10: 159116057X
  • ISBN-13: 978-1591160571

Review By: Kendall L. 

*This book is a manga and is rated "T" for teens.

After defeating Captain Morgan and successfully getting Zolo in his pirate crew, Luffy and Zolo went and sailed into the sea, where they find another village in desperate need. There they find a thief named Nami, who hates pirates. Luffy wants her to be on his crew but she refuses. While on another conflict a pirate named Captain Buggy the Clown has seized the village that Luffy was on, and he was destroying anything in his path.

A dog named Chou Chou however guarded a pet food store that his late master owned and would give anything to protect it. As Chou Chou was being beat up by a pirate this stuck with Luffy seeing that the dog was trying to protect the only thing he had left and came to the dog's aid. Nami saw this and thought maybe some pirates are good, but she still didn't like him. After defeating some more enemies Luffy finally came 1 on 1 with Captain Buggy and Buggy told him something that but his brain into shock...

The series keeps on getting better as I read on, and this one had a cliff hanger! So I don't know what's going to happen next (I wish I did know though) but I bet there's going to be lots of drama and fights!!!

Manga Review: One Piece vol 1

One Piece: Vol. 1 Romance Dawn 
story and art by Eiichiro Oda

• Publisher: VIZ Media LLC (July 23, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1569319014
• ISBN-13: 978-1569319017
• Review by Kendall L.
• 
  
• *This story is a manga book that's rated "T" for teens.
   
  Monkey D. Luffy is a little boy in the beginning of the book who inspires to be a great pirate one day. His older pirate friend, Captain "Red-Haired" Shanks, saves him from a bunch of mountain bandits and a sea monster and Luffy swears to be just like him one day, or greater. But there's a complication, Luffy doesn't know how to swim (which he was going to learn eventually) and then he accidently eats a devil fruit which gives him a special power but takes away the ability to swim. Despite this setback luffy left his home 10 years later in search of a crew to be the "king of pirates". 
   
  But his adventure at sea is cut short when he gets sucked into a huge whirlpool and ends up at a island which he finds other pirates on, and not the good kind. But he eventually gets off that island and travels onto another island, after getting another boat, where the Navy was stationed. Along with the Navy their was a strange vibe to Luffy about the villagers living there that they were scared, and Luffy wanted to find out what. Turns out a infamous swordsman who is also a pirate bounty hunter, named Roronoa Zolo, was being imprisoned there and a evil captain, Captain Morgan, was controlling the village and killing anyone who defied him. 
   
  I thought this was a very funny and action-packed book. It's almost like an anime Pirates of the Caribbean (but of course the adventures are different)!!! 

Book Review: Survivors: True Stories of Children in the Holocaust

Survivors: True Stories of Children in the Holocaust

by: Allan Zullo and Mara Bovsun

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
• Publisher: Scholastic Paperbacks (March 1, 2005)
• ISBN-10: 0439669960
• ISBN-13: 978-0439669962

Reviewed by: Kendall L.

*I recommend this book being read by ages 13 and up

 

Everyone has heard of World War II and of course the gruesome Holocaust. You learned about it in your world history class and how awful and tragic it was, but is it all true? Sure Holocaust survivors have told numerous people about their experience, but have they ever thought about the children who survived? It may seem hard to believe but just as adults have survived, children did too. This book goes through the life of 8 young children's lives before, during, and after this great tragedy. Moving from one depressing story to the next, then to rejoicing and happiness for the people in the book, it will open your eyes to the TRUE Holocaust.

 

Not to mention it's not all that much to read (just about 200 pages), it goes into depth what these children went through. Seeing people getting gassed in the chambers, starving to death from lack of food, suffering from lice and disease, these kids stuck through it all and which practically forced them to grow up pretty quick... or die young. I suppose you can call this a biography, but it's not a boring one that's for sure. It's a great view from the past and can teach you a lot about it. So check it out in your library if they have it or get it online, either way it'll be a great book!