Great Expectations

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
This was a good book, I enjoyed reading it. The basic plot is following the life of an orphan boy. He is being raised by his sister and her blacksmith husband. His name is Pip he runs into a convict one day and helps him out. Pip is invited to a house to play with a girl named Estella. He falls in love. A few years pass Estella leaves to study abroad. A lawyer named Jaggers tells Pip that he has a benefactor and is to become a gentleman in London. Pip meets a man named Herbert and they become good friends. Then Pips secret benefactor is revealed. I can’t tell you anymore or else it will spoil the ending.

Troy, Freshman

How It’s Done

How Its Done
By Christine Kole Maclean

How its done is about this girl, Grace is eighteen, who wants to be like every teenage girl, she wants to be able to break free from home and her parents, to become independent from her overbearing, strict father, and coy mother. She feels imprisoned in her suburban home that looks like every other house in her neighborhood and each house is laid out the same. She has a best friend, Liv, who decides to check out Corbin College.

She meets a charming college professor Michael. He is the one giving the lecture at Corbin College. He’s not much older than she is. He uses a very broad and bold vocabulary and he’s so much more mature that high school boys. Grace gets all caught up in her love for him.

What she had anticipated to be an exciting ride, quickly turned into complication, and twisted lies to her father. She doesn’t want to stay home anymore, she wants to be free, but she’s having problems with Michael. Blinded by her love for him, she’s not sure what to do. Will she choose to leave her fathers side or leave Michael?

The Lovely Bones

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

Susie Salmon is a young girl growing up in a small town until fate takes toll. The story tells of Susie’s father’s need of revenge, her mother’s fear of being restricted to the role of a mother, and her younger sister’s growth into adulthood that Susie cold never experience herself. Susie’s tragic end is only the beginning of this eye-opening story.

Marena, Sophomore

Stray Dog by Kathe Koja

Our first book review comes from Guy T., Grade 9. Thanks, Guy!

 If you like a book about animals and some suspense, StrayDog is the book for you.
This girl named Rachel has a hard time at school and does not fit in. After school she goes to work at the animal shelter. She asks her dad for a dog and her dad said no. Her parents thinks shes not responsible enough to own any pets.
When she’s at work, a stray dog comes in and she likes it a lot. She also wants it really badly.
She writes a paper called “A Dogs Life” and her teacher likes it so much that she asked Rachel to be in the writing finals.
Will she go to state finals?
Will she win and publish a book?
Will her dad let her get a dog?

Westbrook High School Library owns this book, so if you want to read it, come into the library to check it out.