After finding the answer, the fans were rewarded by securing a place in the Beta testing of J.K. Rowling’s new website, Pottermore. Pottermore is an interactive reading experience for the Harry Potter series which allows fans a place for discussions, fan art and more. Pottermore will open for public registration at the end of October.

Pottermore users are swept into the stories all over again on this interactive site. They start with Harry on the day he arrived at Number 4 Privet Drive and journey with him through all of his magical experiences at Hogwarts.

After buying supplies at Diagon Alley, users receive their own personalized wand. Since “the wand chooses the wizard,” fans take a quiz to discover their own personal wand type. Fans also purchase an owl, a cat or even a toad on Diagon Alley to serve as their pet and user icon.

Next, users arrive at Hogwarts for the Beginning of Term Feast. They participate in one of the most anticipated activities of the site: the Sorting Ceremony. J.K. Rowling designed this activity to accurately sort fans into their houses at Hogwarts.

The ceremony is a quiz that changes questions for each user. These questions can be as simple as “What are you most afraid of?” or as abstract as “left or right?” In the end, each user is sorted into their correct house of either Hufflepuff, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw or Slytherin.

Senior Katarina Klask said, “I’m a Ravenclaw of course! When I finished the quiz and the screen turned blue I literally screamed because I was so happy. But was I surprised? Not at all!
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Because many fans wish to be in Gryffindor due to the fact that it is the house of Harry Potter himself, J.K. Rowling came up with an ingenious idea to make users content with the results of their sorting. If sorted into a house other than Gryffindor, users will receive exclusive new content about their specific house such as the décor of their common room and notable house alumni.

The most exciting part about this site is that fans are also given access to new content from J.K. Rowling about characters, places and events. These “ghost plots” have never before been revealed until now. Fans can learn new content about all their old favorites such as Professor McGonagall or The Hogwarts Express.

“My favorite part of Pottermore would have to be all of JK Rowling’s behind the scene details. I loved reading about poor Professor McGonagall and the Dursleys,” said Katarina Klask.

Pottermore also gives fans a way to communicate with other Potter lovers all over the world. Discussion walls are available on each page of the book, in the Great Hall and in the house common rooms. Additionally, fan art can be shared on any of these pages, allowing users a way to share their visions of characters, places and events.

And for those competitive fans out there, never fear! Pottermore invites users to earn house points to help win the House Cup. By dueling other houses, brewing potions and collecting items throughout the story, users can either earn or lose points for their house.

The final treat J.K. Rowling has for her fans on the site is the first release of the digital copies of the books. In the first half of 2012, fans will be given the option to buy ebooks for their Kindles, Nooks and IPads so they can take the magic everywhere.

Right now, only Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone is available for exploration on the site. Pottermore is staggering access to the books so that the experience will last longer. But Harry Potter fans are not daunted by the wait; they have waited a long time for the books and movies, and they are willing to wait a bit longer for the site.

Although the Harry Potter books and movies have finished, the magic still lives on through Pottermore. Pottermore is a great ending to this touching series. Ironically, both the snitch from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and Pottermore have something in common: “I open at the close.”

Battle Royale, Koushun Takami

I would not recommend this book to the faint of heart. For those equipped with a strong stomach and no predisposition to nightmares (something I quickly learned mattered), this book is a page-turner with a mind of its own. The story focuses on 42 third-year high school students and their journey through the most harrowing experience ever, which is designed to end with most of them dead.

Their class is selected to compete in “The Program,” an elaborate set up where a class is placed on an island and told to kill each other until only one survives. The protagonist, Shuya Nanahara, is tolerable at best in the beginning, but as his character develops alongside those of his teammates, he becomes extremely relatable in the way that he wants to live through the game without killing, but eventually does to save his friends.

All the students have something I recognized of myself or a friend in them, something that contributes to how real the book seems. Books like this tend to lend a personal element to the story, making you place yourself in that situation with people you care about. Although that might be terrifying for some, it’s interesting once you start reading. I guarantee, if you make it through the first few chapters, you won’t be able to put it down.

Tiny Sunbirds, Far Away, Christie Watson

There are very few debut novels that you like so much that you can’t put them down. Tiny Sunbirds is definitely one of those. The story begins in a well-off area of the Niger Delta, when the protagonist, Blessing, and her family discover that her father is sleeping with another woman and has left them for her. Blessing’s mother is quickly fired once her superiors realize that she is now unmarried. They move back to the village where her mother was born to live with Blessing’s grandparents. The village is—no surprise–very different from the large city where Blessing and her sickly older brother, Ezikiel, grew up.

Upon reaching the village, their mother spends long hours at work, leaving Blessing with her grandmother as her brother goes to school. Blessing quickly learns the art of midwifery from her grandmother, learning to delight herself in the task of delivering new life into the world. Eventually, her life is turned upside down by several sudden twists of fate, and Blessing has to pick up the pieces of her family.

Clockwork Angel, Cassandra Clare

This book opens by jumping straight into the story, a decision that made it one of the best things I’ve read all summer. The protagonist, Tessa Gray, is kidnapped by the Dark Sisters, who teach her to Change, or transform into another person, while secretly preparing for her marriage to The Magister.

She is rescued by the dashing hero, Will Herondale, and is helped with her escape by his friends. Tessa wakes up again in the Institute, a place where “Downworlders” are schooled, and learns a lot about her heritage and how to use her powers for good. The threat of the Dark Sisters to kill her brother upon her escape still haunts her, and, as such, she asks Will and his friends to search for Nate, sending them on a long and arduous journey involving betrayal, addictions and romance, until all the characters are irrevocably tied together. And then, as if that already wasn’t enough, they’re thrown into a large life altering battle which they realize, is against Nate, not to save him. The book was extremely well-written, and I’m excited to read the rest of the series.

Where the Jane Eyre movie is spoken in Victorian English with British accents and cadences of a different era and country, Their Eyes Were Watching God displays the southern dialect of rural Florida. The Catwoman and X-Men star Halle Berry plays  the independent and free-spirited Janie Crawford who, unlucky in marriage, has to bury three husbands to truly find love and life.

The TV movie directed by Darnell Martin has a certain vibrancy and life about it, creating the rural Florida of the 1930s, where discrimination and sexism is still rife amongst the thinking of people. The talent as an actress that Berry displays in her work is reflected in her role as Janie who goes through so  many stages of life, changing her outward and inward behavior constantly. Berry can go from being the naive 16-year-old Janie to the proper wife of Mayor Joe Starks, to the carefree lovestruck mid-30s woman and finally to the weary and broken-hearted widow come home. The level of drama between Janie and her husbands is really played upon in the movie. Everything is more dramatic and confrontational than the book with Janie having a bigger voice onscreen than what she says in the book. Many main characters of the book like Nunkie, Mrs. Turner and her brother, Nanny and Janie’s mother are either briefly shown or not at all. The movie really focuses on Janie’s relationships with her husbands, not on her internal growth towards finding herself.

Michael Ealy plays Janie’s third husband and love Tea Cake and he sure is a handsome fellow. Their relationship in the movie clings to the one in the book because the couple have a carefree existence, going where they want to as long as they have each other but there is one flaw with it that really drives me crazy. In the book they get married but in the movie they do not and its annoying.  Anyway, entertainment wise Their Eyes were Watching God has the charm that only movies  presented in the 1920s can have that up-dated and fancy new cameras cannot catch. The essence of just filming a movie not in documentary style nor run around crazy but in good old steady camera concentration gives it a powerful yet carefree effect. Berry’s narration is good too because it explains the movie without sounding boring or drawn out like in the Twilight narrations. The movie skips over plenty of important details and characters from the book but the plot line is still the same and the movie by itself is dramatic  and commanding without the nitty gritty details of the book.

Romeo and Juliet
While Shakespeare isn’t often a favorite among students, his famous Romeo and Juliet, read in 9B, usually is.  This tale of star-crossed teenage love is easy to relate to, and the tragic deaths of the protagonists (we really hope we didn’t just ruin the ending for anyone) make the ending really exciting.

There have been a ton of adaptations of this movie, but our English department rotates between two–the 1968 Zeffirelli classic and Baz Lurhman’s sensory-overload extravaganza, which updates the setting to modern-day, gang-infested LA while keeping the language the same.

The Zeffirelli version is much more traditional and creates a wonderful world of 14th century Italy.  The young actors who play Romeo and Juliet are ridiculously good looking and you can’t help rooting for them.  Maybe the only jarring part of the movie is the actor who plays Tybalt, whose voice has such a low pitch that you can’t help but laugh every time he opens his mouth.

In contrast, the Luhrman version, featuring Americans Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes in the title roles, is a huge, loud, colorful film that never stops moving.  It’s fun to imagine what the world would be like today if everything had evolved except the language.  The actors are faithful to Shakespeare’s words, but it’s strange hearing them spoken in an American accent.  Still, the story–which turns the Montague/Capulet feud into a city-wide Mafia-style war–makes the language easy to understand and shows that the play’s themes remain true today.  Teachers may roll their eyes at this version, but students always love it.
The Laramie Project

On the outskirts of a small town in Laramie, Wyoming in October 1998, a 21-year-old gay student at the University of Wyoming named Matthew Shepard was brutally beaten, tortured and left for dead tied to a fence. The Laramie Project was originally a play written by Moises Kaufman and the members of the Tectonic Theater Project.  It’s focus was on the aftermath of what happened to Mathew Shepard that October night and how it affected not just Laramie but the whole country.

    The movie version of the play uses a variety of different filming techniques; sometimes the scenes would be diary clips from the members of the Tectonic Theater Project, describing what it was like for them to interview the people of Laramie. Other scenes were shot like a chronological movie narrating what happened that night from witnesses’ points of view.
    During the movie the company members interviewed people that were friends with Matthew, people that did not know him personally but who gave their opinions on why they thought Mathew was killed and others that were infuriatingly cold towards what happened to Mathew, saying that he was asking for what he got.
    The town itself had a shell shocked view of the matter because many could not wrap their heads around what had happened in their town by their own people. The motto of Laramie is “Live and Let Live” and during the movie that phrase was repeated again and again mostly by the citizens who were trying to from my view point, blame Matthew for being a known gay and for what they thought was flaunting his sexuality to others.
    Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson were the two men who tortured and killed Matthew received life sentences even though many wanted them to receive the death penalty. Many emotions and controversial issues are addressed in The Laramie Project, especially pertaining to hate crimes especially targeted towards homosexuals and what legislation there is to prevent cases like Matthew Shepard’s from happening again. It brings to light the reality that you can not just hope that crimes like this will go away, that to prevent this people have to know and The Laramie Project demands you to know and be aware that this is real and not just a random case of violence towards another human being.

Welsh songstress Adele has found success again with her sophomore album. She may sound familiar to you from her first album 19, released back in 2008 with chart topping hits like “Hometown Glory,” and “Chasing Pavements.”

Her new album, 21, keeps her flame burning strong with passionate ballads like “Rolling in the Deep,” a song that she describes as her “musical equivalent to saying things in the heat of the moment and word vomiting” and as an angry reaction to being told that she was “only boring, lonely and rubbish and a weak person for not staying in a relationship.”

The overarching theme of the album of forgiveness and acceptance mirrors Adele’s own growth in her personal life and relationships. Tracks like “Rumor Has It” sear with sass, “Don’t You Remember” reminisces and humbles the heart and “I’ll Be Waiting” lifts you up.

Adele’s versatility and vocals have survived the sophomore slump, grabbing your heart with her soulful jazz and pop sound that sets her apart from her competition. I would recommend this album for those who are fans of her past works.

Palo Alto by James Franco

“Hmmmmmmmm, let me guessss,” said the elderly man behind the counter of Borders in the middle of the afternoon as I approached the register, “another James Franco book!”

“Yes,” I admitted, laughing lightly but avoiding eye contact, setting Palo Alto: Stories by James Franco for Gary of Borders to ring up for me. Apparently I fit the part of a cliché teenage girl enamored with James Franco. Maybe if I had some Voltaire or Shakespeare in my hands I would earn his seal of approval, but not that day.

That day I wanted to find out for myself if the Oscar-nominated actor, handsome, charming, hilarious and local Franco of Palo Alto, California, had any skill after years of studying English.

For those who do not know, the successful film star has studied English with a concentration on creative writing at UCLA, taken Columbia’s MFA writing program, attended NYU’s Tich School of the Arts for filmmaking, went to Brooklyn College for fictional writing, commuted occasionally to Warren Wilson College for poetry and is currently a Ph.D. student in English at Yale with plans to go to Rhode Island School of Design. All of this has happened within just 6 years. Wow is right. Franco is not the slacker he came off as at the Oscars this month or in his many roles in movies as slobs, stoners, or rich kids.

“He’s a very education-minded person. We used to laugh because in between takes he’d be reading The Iliad on set. We still haven’t read The Iliad. It was a very difficult book. With him, it was always James Joyce or something,” said Judd Apatow, who directed Franco in Pineapple Express back in 2008.

So has all of Franco’s hard work paid off?

Yes and No.

Yes, Franco’s style is made apparent with his strong imagery describing teenage life, set in his hometown of Palo Alto around the 90s, and bits of humor peppered into depression. The characters, which drop in and out of 11 short stories in 196 pages are apathetic to the law and consequences of their actions, but not in a pillow fluffed way. Car accidents, drugs, vandalism, and fights slip into the pages with details that make film for the mind and shake you out of your comfort zone.

        A warning, however: those who like to read stories about good people or people who change for the better will be unsatisfied with the vast majority of these stories. And this book is not for the faint of heart–graphic descriptions are rife while vulgar language and slang abound.

        Franco does not hold back in making his characters unlikeable.  As I teenager, I’m happy to see someone highlighting the evil of teenagers in a modern setting that does not have some romanticized or fantasized element in the plot. The characters are quite unforgivable at times and often pathetic by even the most average standards.

        This is all that can be said generally about the characters because their actions and dialogue are pretty much what defines them in our minds. Their appearance, thoughts and reactions are either not present or very weakly established.

         What I enjoyed the most of the book however were the plots of each story that caught my attention for their unique storyline and perfect length that neither bored me nor frustrated me.

         My favorites include Lockheed, the story of the reluctant math genius daughter of a Silicon Valley engineer who experiences her first love and party the summer she does a student program at Lockheed Martin, and April: Part II, Wasting where a smart boy named Teddy who is doing everything in his family and social life wrong finds that he can do something good.

         I would definitely recommend this book to those who are looking to be surprised by something new and even disturbing. I would not list it as one of the best books I’ve read, but one that I know I could not put down for a day and was thrilled by and found enjoyment in. I certainly look forward to seeing Franco’s style to improve and grow in the future.

The writing style of Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games is simple and addicting. The Hunger Games transported me into the post-apocalyptic world of Katniss Everdeen, a resident of a extremely poor mining town called District 12 of Panem. Panem is the country that rose out of the ashes of what used to be North America. It has a dictatorial government, located in the ominously named Capitol that makes all the decisions for the twelve districts (there used to be a thirteenth but it was obliterated by the Capitol for revolting).

To commemorate the Capitol’s supreme power over of the districts, the hunger games are held annually. A boy and girl are picked randomly in a lottery from each of the twelve districts, and the 24 candidates are thrown into an arena that holds unknown dangers and obstacles that they must face. Oh and by the way, it’s a death match: only one can survive.

Katniss Everdeen is the stubborn and resilient 16-year-old female protagonist who has supported her mother and younger sister since her father’s death when she was 12 years old. She has watched the hunger games all her life but she never imagined the way she would be dragged into them when her sister Prim is chosen in the lottery. Katniss instantly volunteers to take her place. At the same time a love triangle brews between Katniss and her best friend/hunting partner Gale and the other District 12 contestant, naïve bread boy Peeta Mellark.

I thought The Hunger Games would be a wacky science fiction book that was so out of this world that I would not be able to keep tabs on who was who. In the first few chapters the characters were quickly introduced and the suspense began that continued throughout the novel constantly keeping me on my toes. Collins’ writing style is for lack of a better word, addicting. Once you start, you feel compelled against your will to keep reading even if you have an English essay or math project. Each chapter throws a curve ball into Katniss’ survival strategies, forcing her to adapt, leaving you wondering if you could survive in her place. There are only three books in The Hunger Games trilogy, and I cannot wait to continue Katniss’ battle in the second installment Catching Fire and the final book Mockingjay. A-

Beastly

Tale as old as time, song as old as rhyme, beauty and the beast. The classic tale of Beauty and the Beast has had many adaptations made in both movies and books. Beastly by Alex Flinn is another version, but set in modern day cities of Manhattan and Brooklyn, New York. The Beast is Kyle Kingsbury. Kyle is a beautiful, blond, blue-eyed and heartless boy who is the son of a famous network newsman. He goes to the prestigious Rosewood Academy and treats everybody around him like they are nothing. He is a freshman when he is cursed by Kendra Hilferty, a witch that goes to his school. He decides to mess with her by pretending to take her to homecoming, but blowing her off in front of everybody. Kendra decides to change him into his “truer self” that is neither a wolf, lion, bear nor gorilla, but a beast. The curse can only be broken if he loves a girl and she loves him back and kisses him to prove it. The catch is that he only has two years to break the curse. If he does not get his true love kiss by then, he will remain a beast forever.

The Beauty is smart, freckled, red haired girl Linda “Lindy” Owens. She goes to Rosewood Academy with Kyle through the scholarship program. Her father is a drug addict who can barely function, let alone take care of Lindy. Because of her father’s condition she is a resourceful character. Kyle first meets Lindy at the homecoming dance before he is cursed. He gives her a white rose that his superficial date had asked for a purple orchid and would not take anything else.

When Kyle is cursed his cold and uncaring father tries fixing the horrific thing his song has become. Kyle and his father travel across the country meeting with doctors and plastic surgeons. Every time the diagnosis remains the same. No amount of surgery can fix him. To save his reputation, Kyle’s father forces him into seclusion where no one can see him. The house he buys is located in the Brooklyn suburbs with five stories and a backyard. Forced into a lonely existence with only his housekeeper Magda and blind tutor will, Kyle becomes obsessed with growing roses. Kyle builds a green house for his roses and spends his days reading and tending to his roses. He changes his name to Adrian or “dark one” and sulks in the house for a about seven months.

One night, a man breaks into the greenhouse and Adrian captures a druggie named Daniel Owens. To save himself, he offers up his daughter Lindy as compensation. Adrian accepts Daniel’s proposition to have Lindy come stay in his house. He knows that Lindy would be safer with him, than with her own father. Lindy arrives a week later and immediately locks herself in her rooms on the third floor . Adrian leaves her alone and she gradually adventures out and grows accustomed to Adrian’s beastly presence. The pair are home schooled by Will, the tutor and Lindy and Adrian spend their days reading literature and taking care of Adrian’s roses. But as time goes on, the question arises on whether Adrian’s curse will be broken or  if he is doomed to remain a beast forever.

Beastly introduces a modern day interpretation of a classic love story. Alex Flinn does a decent job in describing the setting and characters that aligns with the original Beauty and the Beast story. Beastly is the type of book you want to read when it is raining and want to venture into your childhood memories. Also, Beastly will be major motion picture March 18, 2011. The movie will star Alex Pettyfer as Kyle/Adrian with Vanessa Hudgens and Mary-Kate Olsen as Lindy and Kendra . B+

Nineteen Minutes

“In nineteen minutes, you can mow the front lawn, color your hair, walk a mile, order a pizza and get it delivered In nineteen minutes, you can get revenge.” The last one in particular is explored in Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult. Jodi Picoult writes a compelling story of the aftermath of a tragedy in a small town. 17-year-old Peter Houghton, after years of torment and abuse by his fellow classmates, takes matters into his own hands and on March 6, 2007, he murders ten classmates and injures countless others.

The residents of Sterling, New Hampshire are thrown into a raging tornado of fear and hate. Students who survived the violence are scarred for life and adults are fighting for retribution. Amidst all the hate, are the parents and friends of the killer. Everywhere they go people treat them like it was their fault that Peter became who he is. Peter’s parents especially suffer inner turmoil because they blame themselves for Peter and continually search the past for hints that they could have prevented the attack.

The best witness for the case is Josie Cormier who witnessed Peter murder her boyfriend Matt Royston. The problem is, Josie cannot remember anything from that day. Josie Cormier is one of those girls in school who has everything on the outside, the looks, the perfect boyfriend, and the “right” type of friends. But deep inside she knows that her whole existence is a facade. Her biggest fear is that she will not be able to hold herself together forever and everyone will be able to see who she truly is. Her mother, Alex Cormier, is the sitting judge on Peter’s trial. The bond between mother and daughter thinned over the years but as the trial progresses, they learn to re-connect.

Peter Houghton’s family suffered tragedy once before when Peter’s older brother Joey was killed in a drunk driving accident. Because of this Peter was neglected by both of his parents who retreated into themselves, blinding themselves to Peter’s plight. Since childhood, Peter was different. He was not interested in playing in the mud or rough-housing with the boys. He preferred to spend his time with his best friend Josie and the two were inseparable. That all changed when Josie became friends with the popular people and began to treat Peter as an outcast.

Nineteen Minutes gives insight into the experiences and feelings that creates a killer. It reminds the reader that even murderers have people who love them. Because of the complexity of the issue and the constant stress that the characters were under, I thought that Nineteen Minutes took a lot to read. If you like thinking about controversial issues and reading about the justice system and psychological problems in youth, I would recommend Nineteen Minutes. B

The Bronx Masquerade:Nikki Grimes-

An excellent book, even for those of you out there who are not big fans of reading. A quick collection of poems written poetry-slam style and short narrations by the characters, it tells an excellent story of high school kids in hard situations opening up to show what lies beyond the masquerade. Something anyone could enjoy.

The Book Thief:Marcus Zusak-

A book about a book lover for book lovers. Fascinatingly narrated by “death” herself, this book centers on a young girl in WWII Germany, who, with the help of her foster father, steals books and secrets away illegal books to learn to read and then share with a runaway Jew her family shelters.

Uglies:Scott Westerfield-

An excellent and easy read about a future in which the old “Rusty” society has passed away. At sixteen the “Uglies” undergo an operation involving lots of plastic surgery to make them into “Pretties,” who live across the river in what they think is a utopia. Parties every night, freedom, the ability to change your appearance through a plastic surgery operation whenever you like… what more could you ask for? But when people discover that not only is the appearance being changed, but also the mind in the “Pretty” operations, they realize that this is not as much of a utopia as was thought.

Fantasy

Harry Potter: J. K. Rowling-

It’s a classic. And you’ll understand now when your friends reference it.

Lord of the Rings:J. R. R. Tolkien-

Long, yes, but a fantastic and well-written story. Know the story behind the movies! The movies were impressive, but as in almost all cases the book is still much better and definitely worth a read.

Alanna: the First Adventure: Tamora Pierce-

For those of you wishing to be whisked away into a alternate world of swords, sorcery, adventure, and a girl disguising herself a boy to train as a knight, this is the book for you. The first of a quartet, this is a great, quick and fun read.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe:C.S. Lewis-

If you liked the movie, you will like this book (or the whole series) even more. Get the whole story, not just the bits that Hollywood liked. Also a classic, and definitely worth a read.

Ender’s Game:Orson Scott Card-

This is the kind of book you read now and will still remember years later. Many years into the future of earth, Andrew “Ender” Wiggin is an amazing child genius who is drafted into Battle School in space, to fight a future invasion by an alien race. He and his cronies who play games in Battle School and his siblings back on earth are in a position to change the world. Definitely worth a read. And if you like this, author Orson Scott Card tells the rest of the story in the many sequels.

Biography

A Child Called“It”: Dave Pelzer-

If you’re looking for an intense read, this is it. It is written by the victim of one of the most severe child abuse cases in California history. He was beaten and starved, and many worse things, by his alcoholic and unstable mother. He didn’t even have a name: he was called “it.” Be prepared for an intense and evocative read, though very memorable and thought-provoking.

Science Fiction

The Host:Stephanie Meyer-

Hey all you Twilight fans: have you ever heard of this book by the same author? Technically written for adults rather than for teens, as Twilight was, this book delves into a world where the alien race of “souls” are taking over Earth by taking control of the minds and bodies of humans. But when one of the humans resists her “soul,” and forces her to search for her family, the alien “soul” is forced to learn and discover herself and reconsider whether she should be there.

Maximum Ride:James Patterson-

What would it be like to have wings and fly? Find out with Maximum Ride and her family, who were grown by an illegal scientist mixing bird and human genes. They escaped the brutal scientist, and now live running from him and struggling to have a normal life. A captivating read about an epic adventure.

In fact, any member of the student body can start a club, although there is a process one has to go through in order to make it official. If you have the drive and the determination, though, your dream club can indeed become a reality.

It turns out that about two to three new clubs are proposed each year, although only one or two actually go through the entire process. However, when people do go through the entire process, the club is almost always made official, according to Vice Principal Hernandez.

One club currently being proposed is the Reading Club, started by junior Mireille Habib.

The first step Mireille took towards making her club a reality was filling out a “Request to Organize” form. This form requires students to formalize their purpose or goal for the club, find a faculty member to moderate the club, and acquire the signatures of 15 students who would to join the club. Basically, it sets the foundation for the club, ensuring that there is both focus and interest.

For Mireille, filling out the form was not difficult. “I was able to get the fifteen signatures the first day; I really didn’t need to hunt around for people,” she said. “People seemed really into the idea.”

Once a student finishes with the form, the club is allowed to meet on a “trial-run” basis, to test the waters and see if it will work. It will also come up on the agenda at the last student council meeting, where the members of the student council will vote on whether to recommend the club to Mrs. Hernandez. If the student council votes in favor of the club, Mrs. Hernandez assigns it an official moderator and gives the club official status.

Of course, even once a club earns its official status it must meet certain requirements. All clubs must contain a community service component, although there is freedom in how a club can go about meeting that requirement. Some clubs choose to do something related to their theme, such as SEAS’ beach clean-up days, while others just go as a group to volunteer somewhere unrelated to them but still worthy.

Attendance is also an issue clubs must stay aware of. Attendance is kept track of by Mrs. Hernandez, whom club officers e-mail once a month with the attendance of their most recent meeting.

“If the club’s attendance ever drops below 15 members, I ask the club’s officers and moderator to evaluate whether or not the club should continue,” she said. “Sometimes clubs thrive for a while because a group of girls who are really passionate about that topic are here at Pres, but then the club dies out when they graduate, since no one else is interested.”

While earlier book clubs may have died out like these other special interest groups, now that interest has been returned, the book club may just make it through. Mireille Habib has filled out her form, and now she’s just waiting on the next step.

“At this point, I figure there’s not much else I can do except publicize,” she said.

This novel is a bit on the lengthy side, but it takes no time at all to plow through. It’s easy to get into, and will have you hooked by the first couple of pages. The gripping storyline includes love, betrayal, death, and, best of all, drama!

Not much for the Middle-Aged melodramas? Not to worry. Perhaps a more adventurous love story would strike your fancy. Give Annette Curtis Klause’s Blood and Chocolate a try. This is basically the exact opposite of Twilight, only strikingly similar at the same time. Instead of a male vampire falling in love with a useless mortal, Blood and Chocolate tells the story of a mysterious young werewolf who falls in love with a human boy intended to be her lunch. The two fall madly in love and face many challenges as their two worlds collide in an epic adventure. But take caution in opening up this work in the midst of finals week: you simply will not be able to put it down!

If you’d rather depart from the romance genre altogether, then Adriana Trigiani’s newest coming of age novel Viola will deliver the perfect dose of teenage angst, while at the same providing encouraging insights into the world of friendship and growing up. Shipped away from her beloved hometown of Brooklyn to a glum boarding school in the outskirts of an Indiana town, Viola is faced with a whole new world that she feels completely ill-equipped to handle. A talented film-maker, she gradually learns to stop seeing and living life through her screen and open herself up to the new experiences and friendships that await her.

If you find yourself in the mood for some classical delight, but cannot face diving into something quite as hefty as War and Peace, go for The Princess Bride. If you have seen the movie, then you know how entertaining the plot twists and character developments are. And Christmastime is always a little more enjoyable with a bit of Buttercup romance in the air. Another, perhaps heavier, romance is the newly-turned-motion-picture The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. This novel could certainly be considered more of a drama than William Goldman’s The Princess Bride, as it deals with the lessons of love and loss that a young couple encounters during their somewhat fated journey. A box of tissues might be a good idea if you pick this one up.

For more of a science fiction thriller, give Inkheart a go. The popular first installment of the planned Inkworld Trilogy, takes the reader through the many adventures of twelve-year-old Meggie Folchart, whose father possesses a special power of turning stories he reads aloud into real life. Lucky Meggie gets to travel to exotic places she reads about in books, such as Italy and many parts of Europe. If you ever were a fan of the animated film The Page Master as a little kid, this is the book for you. Another novel with a similar feel, C.S. Lewis’s famous children’s adventure tale The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, takes the reader through the closet of four young orphans, and into a magical world caught in eternal winter. It becomes the mission of this brave lot to bring the world of Narnia back to its original enchanting existence.

Some historical fiction might be the way to go if you don’t feel up to the time travelling and mythical creatures. Ann Rinaldi’s Time Enough for Drums is the story of 13-year-old Jemima Emerson living in Revolutionary War America. She finds herself torn between just about every member of her family, each of whom seems to be supporting a different war party: Patriots, Whigs, British officer, militiaman, and Continental Army soldier. This is a good read for those suffering the typical holiday season family squabbles that are typical of the holiday season.

Several decades after Jemima, comes Old Derry, the chubby old man in Edward Lear’s A Book of Nonsense. This charming collection of children’s tales is actually a compilation of limerick’s published sequentially in early nineteenth century England. Do not let the “children’s tales” turn you away, because each of Lear’s snappy poems is packed with clever twists and allusions that a wide range of age groups can appreciate.

So, now that you have a good list of choices for some great holiday reads, hit up your local bookstore – or Christmas wish list – and wipe your brain clean of any finals residue. Happy holidays!

Dave Pelzer is a survivor of child abuse and lives to tell his story through his memoir, A Child Called “It.” This unforgettable book illustrates his journey from having a happy childhood to the brutal abuse by his emotionally unstable mother. In the story’s opening, Dave is rescued from his terrible situation and put in foster care, as school administrators uncover his home life. He flashes back to depict his life before abuse, living happily in Daly City, California as a “Brady Bunch” family. Pelzer’s mother begins having marital issues and consequently undergoes the cycle of alcoholism, which began the downward spiral into severe child abuse. It starts with her exiling Pelzer from the family, making him lose his sense of identity and belonging.

Later, the abuse escalates to her delivering extensive beatings and Pelzer experiencing starvation that left him nearly dead. His clothes were filthy and torn, and he was forced to eat spoiled leftovers that the dogs had finished. He lost all sense of purpose, and every former relationship disappeared, leaving him with no one to turn to. For no apparent reason, Pelzer is the black sheep of the family, and his siblings eventually catch on to his mother’s ways and treat him similarly. One particularly horrifying scene begins with Dave’s mother telling him, “You are a nobody! An It! You are nonexistent! You are a bastard child! I hate you and I wish you were dead!”

With enough mental strength to move mountains, he does not give up; he learns how to play his mother’s games and how to stay alive by the power of his dreams. He finds loopholes in her abuse and discovers ways to avoid further brutalization by stalling tactics and clever tricks. He convinces himself he has endless potential and will never treat others this way. The story concludes with a glimpse of the rescued Dave entering foster care, and readers are left wondering what happens in this part of his life. Answers can be found in Pelzer’s sequel, The Lost Boy.

Pelzer’s writing style makes it impossible to read this memoir without feeling compassion and an instinctive desire to help this child, and it truly opens readers’ eyes into the painful former world of Dave Pelzer. The writing style matures chronologically as Dave gets older, but it always remains child-like and simple, which leaves emotion seeping through the words. This life-changing story is deeply enthralling yet disturbing. It challenges us to believe in the capacity of the human spirit. A book such as A Child Called “It” is one of the rare, universally touching stories that leaves eternal footprints on the human heart and reminds us that we are capable of fighting for change and creating our own happiness.

Pelzer’s tale shows us that the future truly does belong to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams, as Eleanor Roosevelt once said. It will hold you at the edge of your seat from cover to cover, and you will find yourself cheering him on as he discovers a sense of determination that saves his life. This heart-wrenching, emotional account of Pelzer’s childhood promises to leave you wanting to take action and make positive change.