Anthem by Ayn Rand

Anthem, written by Ayn Rand, is an exemplary work of fiction with a clear message about the necessity of individualism. the plot centers around a lone individual living within a near hive-mind society. In this society, every physical or mental difference is frowned upon, everyone is expected to be  of the same intelligence, and grow at the same rate. even the use of the pronoun “I” is forbidden on pain of death. eventually, the individual, (who is unnamed until the end) breaks away from the collective, and renames himself Prometheus. I found the book to be brilliant in terms of writing style and philosophy, the harsh depictions of the collective versus the optimism in Prometheus is a magnificent display of Man Vs. Society as well as a great way to depict a first person point of view. Rand is able to depict prometheus as both a brilliant maverick, who’s advancing faster than the entire society, as well as a lost child, who is unable to grasp why his society does not want to move forward with him. as complex as the book is, it is not a difficult read, so I recommend It for 9th graders and up.
I give it 5 out of 5 stars

Marty, 10th grade

We own Anthem! Check the catalog to see if it is available.

Love You, Hate You, Miss You by Elizabeth Scott

Amy thinks she murdered her best friend.

So does everyone around her, except her parents and councilor. She has a major drinking problem and was forced to go to a “crazy house” after the accident. No one understand Amy, she feels like she is alone in the world and only alcohol is the solution, it makes everything better, it has the power to make her forget everything that has happened around her.

She hates her parents because their so in love with each other, which is absolutely not normal and it makes her almost invisible around them. Amy hates her shrink, although she makes Amy realize that its not her fault, people make choices and some of them are not always good.

Love You, Hate You, Miss You is about dealing with the past. Walking around school, people staring, whispering and thinking murderer, Amy feels like dying and never coming back to school again. Maybe some people and make her feel like she can still go on and not blame everything on herself for the rest of her life.

Age Recommendation: grades 10+
Release Date: 2009
Publisher: Harper Collins
Rating: 4 stars

Daria, Sophomore

Love You, Hate You, Miss You is in the WHS Library, along with several other Elizabeth Scott books.

The It Girl

The It Girl created by Cecily Von Ziegesar

A sophomore names Jenny Humphrey gets sent to boarding school because she got kicked out of her private school in New York. She isn’t one of the rich kids at boarding school and so she has to try her best to fit in. Also she changes herself from the timid old Jenny to the new daring outgoing Jenny. At boarding school she gets roomed with two cool junior girls and does everything she can to become cool and popular. She steals one of the girls boyfriends and at a pep rally she amazes everyone by doing a totally embarassing cheer that the girls set up to be a prank on her but she over did them. The two girls used to be best friends with a girl that used to go to Waverly, the boarding school but she got kicked out. A little ways into this school year she comes back and does not like Jenny. This girl names Tinsley is beautiful and very mean, she gets what she wants and rules everyone. Since Jenny stole Callie’s boyfriend, one of her roommates, Tinsley and Callie plan to get Jenny kicked out of this school too.

Emily, Freshman

Private

Private by Kate Brian

Reed Brennan is a 15 year old sophomore who does not want to attend her boring high school, Cronton High like last year. She leaves her pill poping mom with her Dad who she loves more than anyone, to attend Easton Acadamy, a private and rich bording school (She is on full scholarship). Reed has always kept to herself but when she arrives at Easton she realizes this will all change. Wanting to be in the top social class, the Billing Girls who are the most brilliant and beautiful girls on campus,to her so called nice senior boyfriend, Thomas. Reed soon finds out that being with the rich and famous can lead to dangerous encounters, and even the beautiful Billing Girls and not to mention Thomas have secrets of their own.

McKenzie, Freshman

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

Kite Runner

Kite Runner By Khaled Hosseini

In a powerful and exhilarating novel Khaled Hosseini tells the story of a young boy’s journey to find himself through the struggles of growing up in Afghanistan. Torn between the best friend he loves and the father he can’t impress Amir must chose, and the decision will change his entire life. Stricken with guilt and in danger of the invading Russian forces, Amir and his father flee to America where Amir grows into a man. As he tries to be happy in his new life he is constantly haunted by the memories of his childhood and the very minutes that changed his life forever. What Amir doesn’t know is that he will soon be thrown back into a very much changed Afghanistan on a mission that begins as saving a life but turns into a new struggle to redeem his boyhood mistakes and find a way to be good again.

Kathryn V., 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?

Dark Woods

Dark Woods by Jay Kumar

Who knew that one afternoon hunt could lead them to scramble for their lives. Deputy Frank Vaughn is going back out in the woods to find out what he had shot before because he lives by the hunter’s code of honor: Never leave an animal to a lingering death. The footprints and evidence was so great that not only he could ignore it but also the government couldn’t let it go! The real question is are they hunting the thing? or is the thing hunting them?

Scott, Freshman

Exit Here

Exit Here by Jason Myers

This book is about a college student who always had everything together. When he goes on a trip to Hawaii, he doesn’t end up coming home for five months. He comes home expecting everything to be the same, but everything has changed now, including him. He has dark secrets from Hawaii. He quit college and now he lives with his parents. He’s hooked on cocaine and partys every night with his friends. As he starts flashing back to Hawaii, he wants to change, but it’s easier said then done.

Sarah, Freshman

The Clocks

The Clocks by Agatha Christie

The late British author Agatha Christie has once again managed to pull off an amazing, thrilling murder mystery. In this novel, a blind woman named Miss Pebmarsh calls the Cavendish Secretarial and Typewriting Bureau and requests a lady named Sheila Webb. Sheila is told by her boss, Miss Martindale, to enter the house if Miss Pebmarsh has not yet arrived home. Sheila does as she’s told, but encounters a surprise when she enters the room: the corpse of a well-to-do man surrounded by four clocks that were set to the wrong time. When discovered by Miss Pebmarsh, Sheila runs out of the house, screaming, and straight into Sergeant Colin Lamb’s arms. Lamb calls his friend, Detective Inspector Hardcastle, to investigate the crime. The two interrogate the typists, the neighbors, and everyone in between, but they discover no clues, and no one can identify this man! Once again, Detective Hercule Poirot to solve this baffling mystery using his favorite equation: C=S, or Complex=Simple. An amazing book for mystery lovers of all types, and a must-read for those who like to solve mysteries!

Stephanie, Freshman