It’s Monday! What are you reading?

Totally awesome week of reading, friends!

Little Peach

Ever have that feeling of being alone, or like nothing you do will work? All out of options? Well, that’s how Michelle feels when she leaves her drug-addicted mom and winds up becoming a child prostitute. Not by her own measures of course, she is lured in by Devon, who names her “Little Peach”. She struggles to survive being a child prostitute.

This specific book reminded me of the book I previously read this month, “Sold” by Patricia McCormick. Little Peach is fast-paced and hard to put down! It’s a little hard to read at times for the fact that what she’s going through is difficult to read in its own way. I couldn’t personally connect with Michelle as a character, however, I did feel a lot of emotion while reading this. And i’m all about recommending books that drive out emotional responses! So definitely pick this one up and read it. Also, people who say human trafficking isn’t a thing should read this book because it takes place in New York City.

An Abundance of Katherines

I am a fan of John Green, and I have been a fan ever since I was in high school. Needless to say, I was really excited to sit back and enjoy reading out of a book I was comfortable with. My love for John Green started out like many others, with his best-selling novel The Fault in Our Stars. I became intrigued by this book because of its title. I mean really, an abundance of Katherines? This book was also awarded the Printz Award, so I figured it’d be pretty great. And I wasn’t wrong.

 

This book is all about heartbreak and equations. Colin, the main character, is only into dating girls by the name of Katherine. He’s dated NINETEEN of them, and not ONE of them has worked out. His last attempt at a relationship, leaves him feeling lost, lonely, and a little confused. This encourages him to venture out on a road trip (the only rational thing to do right?) Colin is also a child prodigy. This leaves him feeling like he will be able to find an equation that explains his life experiences with dating. His math equation is known as Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability if you ever run across it in your next math class!

I loved this book for its adventure. I felt like so many teens could connect to his heartbreak and what he does with that heartbreak. It also was really funny at times, which was a relief to me after reading Little Peach beforehand. Definitely recommend this book!

Ghost

This book is all about characters performing their best. Being perfect. Striving for success. Four kids are chosen for an elite middle school track team and Ghost is one of them. They all have to put their differences aside to perform at their best, but sometimes that’s difficult for Ghost to do. He’s not like the others because of his past. See, he doesn’t run for fun. He runs because sometimes it’s the only thing that saves him, so he has no choice but to be fast.

I loved Ghost! It’s written by the award-winning, African American author, Jason Reynolds. This is what he says about why he wrote Ghost: “I wrote Ghost for all the young people who feel like they’re suffocating, who feel like they’re gasping for breath, exhausted from running for their lives, and sometimes FROM their lives. It’s for both the traumatized and the triumphant.” That, my friends, is the definition of amazing. Because this book does just that for readers!

So there we have it. My amazing week of reading. Three for three. All hits. And all recommendations for you to read!

Happy Monday! And happy reading!

-A.