Month: January 2026

For most of her life, Christine believes that returning to Japan will finally make her feel whole instead of just “half”. Since she was born in Tokyo, she assumes that living there again will help her reconnect with a part of herself that feels missing, However, once she arrives, the reality is very different from what she imagined. Instead of fitting in, she feels like an outsider all over again. The language barriers, social expectations, and cultural differences make her feel even more isolated. This made her realize that belonging is not guaranteed just because you share a background with a place. 

One of the most important parts of this memoir is how Mari uses the graphic format o show emotion. The muted colors, repeated images of crowded places, and Christine’s body language all emphasize her loneliness and anxiety. Even when surrounded by people, she often appears small and disconnected, this reinforced the idea that feeling “half” is more emotional than physical. The visuals help the reader understand her inner struggle without needing long explanations.
By the end of the memoir, Christine begins to realize that being “half” does not mean being incomplete. Instead of choosing one identity over the other, she learns that it is okay to exist in between. Halfway There ultimately shows that self-acceptance comes from understanding yourself, not from trying to fit perfectly into a single culture. Mari’s story is relatable, thoughtful, and comforting for anyone who has ever felt like they did not fully belong.

This book is telling the story of a team that is rescuing people in dangerous conditions. The characters are feeling fear, are making mistakes, and are facing difficult choices. Even so, they are trusting each other and are moving forward together. The story is showing the importance of courage and teamwork in a simple way.

In my opinion, it’s a good book. I liked it. I like history and stories, so I enjoyed this book.I liked the storytelling in this book, for example, the way it was told as if it were a real event, and how it described what the characters were feeling.The main character is facing his fears and is learning to trust himself, and I think it is a good choice.The main character is a young rescue trainee who is inexperienced but determined. He faces fear and pressure during difficult missions. As the story goes on, he learns to trust himself and understands the importance of teamwork.

I think anyone who loves history and stories will love this book.

“I don’t think I believed it until I wrote about a teenage girl that I just felt so much love for, who was messy and a little loud like my teenage self, and who didn’t necessarily make the best decisions, but was so deserving of love and care and grace.” -Hannah V. Sawyerr

Truth Is is about a 17 year old aspiring poet, Truth, who finds out she is pregnant and decides to get abortion. Her decision about her abortion becomes everyone’s business when she recites a poem about it during an open mic night. Truth navigates through complicated family dynamics, friendships, a rough relationship with her ex, and a pregnancy. 

This novel is so relevant, and that is why I loved it. It is raw and authentic in its characters and their flaws. It is written in verse, but there are text messages, emails, and Truth’s own poetry. I really enjoyed the writing because I thought it captured Truth’s situation very well. The story held my attention so well, and I think that it is a book that everyone should read. Even though the novel is written in verse, you can trace Truth’s character development, and it lets the reader understand her brain and the way she makes her decisions. This novel is so important because there is so much empathy needed in our world regarding the topic of abortion, and there are characters with conflicting views in it. By the end of the book, even if they are not on the same page, they can understand each other which is so crucial. The book addresses the strict abortion policies relating to the access of abortions in the US, but Truth is presented as a talented and strong character. She is inspiring to readers and her growth mindset is so humanizing. 

Everyone should read this book, but I recommend it to people who are interested in learning more about teen pregnancy and abortions, as well as anyone who enjoys poetry. 

By Calvin Wicks

1. Harry Potter 1 (JK Rowling)

I enjoyed reading this one. So I read the second one, then the third one, then the fourth one, all the way until the end of the series. It was the first “real” book I can remember reading, along with the next 7, which were second, third, fourth, and so on and so forth. I was hooked on it because it was mysterious, and there never seemed to be a good place to stop. I don’t have the best reading stamina, but if I hadn’t read those books, I probably would not be in this class. To this day, some of the Harry Potter books are among the longest I’ve read, at over 700 pages. If I didn’t read the first one, I wouldn’t have been able to read the others, and would not have gotten through over 700 pages in a single book. It essentially made me able to get through a paragraph without losing my spot and having to read it again. 

2. Lord of the Fles

I read this one for school in middle school. I hated it. However, I reread it a few months later, and it was, to my surprise, much better because I didn’t have to read it. It made me feel a little less hostile toward “old person books.” It led me to read more “old person books” because it was the first one I read, and it basically showed me that they aren’t as bad as they seemed because of the psychology of them not being required when they aren’t. I also found it relatable, even though I’ve never been trapped on an island. 

3. Drumming at the Edge of Magic

This one not only changed me as a reader, but as a person. Mickey Hart, the drummer for the Grateful Dead, shared his experiences with studying the different histories and myths about drums around the world. He talks about everything from African hand drumming to gongs. He tells about how he spent several months keeping up a constant groove on a rotation with other drummers. I found it interesting and was led to read more about it. It resonated with me because he noted that the experience made him a better musician, even though it was not very focused on playing, and I wondered how. 

4. Hatchet

This one is about a kid who survived a plane crash and lived in the woods with his mom’s hatchet. It changed me because it was the first realistic (albeit unlikely) fiction that I enjoyed reading, and I didn’t have to drag myself through every word. They just sort of flowed. It opened me up to a world of realistic fiction. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a really bad genre because it has the worst of both worlds of fiction (not very educational) and nonfiction (engagement is limited by reality), but this book showed me it served a niche purpose, so I was a bit less hostile toward it. 

5. The Lord of the Rings 2: The Two Towers

This book pushed me to read more critically. I stopped wanting just “happy endings and started looking for more stories with real death and complicated characters. Another thing that surprised me was the depth of this book, in that the author created full languages just for this series. It introduced me to a whole genre that was completely new to me: Epic fantasy, where so much is at stake, you just have to see what’s on the next page. Without this book, I’d never have known about this genre. 

Crafting For Sinners, writen by Jenny Kiefer is about a couple named Ruth and Abigail who live in a small town of Kill devil Kentucky, a town that has been over run by religion and bigotry. Abigail wants to leave the town while Ruth wants to save their money and then leave, and not having a lot of options Ruth decides to do commissions for crotche, the book follows ruth going to get more yarn for her crafts-only to get stuck in the arts and crafts store by the workers, who are apart of a religious “cult” that has infected the town, dose ruth have the power to leave the store or even the town with the woman of her dreams?

I absolutely loved this book! i love stories that have LGBTQ+ characters in them, especially characters that i can connect too, Ruth is a very connectable character-with her being apart of the LGBTQ community like i am, and also having a love for crotche which i do too, but it also shows how people in these environment react, like Abigail-she’s a character who has heavy Anxiety, is paranoid about her neighbours seeing the both of them together, which in my opinion is writen so well, and it also shows that Ruth-while agreeing with Abigail, believes that they are fine since nothing has happen to the both of them yet, and their writen in a way that you can agree with both sides of this conversation-which i love so much. I recomend this book to anyone who loves a bit of horror, and strong LGBTQ characters.

“I’ve never had a brother. But if I did, I’d want him to be just like Lawson. He’s my ride or die, though preferably without the dying. Plus Lawson always pays for gas”

When We Ride is a novel written in verse by Rex Ogle. It is about a high school senior, Benny, whose life is focused on getting into college. His life becomes chaotic when his best friend Lawson starts dealing drugs and constantly asks for rides from Benny. This puts Benny’s future on the line and he has to learn lessons of confrontation when Lawson starts using and selling harder substances. 

I chose this book because it was written in verse, and I love books written in verse because of the economy of words the writer has to have. I also wanted a book that would really keep me engaged and this did. There is not much about the setting in this book which I actually really enjoyed because it allows the reader to use their imagination more and fill in the gaps. All of the characters had little description as well, which I never actually noticed until I started thinking about what I liked about the book. The reader can easily see the character development, but you do not know basic things about the characters like what they look like. I really enjoyed how realistic the plot was because there were so many different relevant themes and plots. There are themes of loyalty, poverty, addiction, violence, and the fragility of dreams. The writing in verse makes the story move fast which adds to the emotional depth and narrative. I think this book develops a lot of empathy for the characters and people in similar situations to Lawson and Benny. Reading a book about a deep male friendship was so refreshing as well. 

I recommend this book to anyone who likes writing in verse and is looking for a fast paced book that is engaging. It is a super short read, and it has a lot of emotional density, but there are parts of it that are very fun as well. 

One of the novel’s strengths is its use of two timelines, switching between the past and the present. This keeps the story interesting and slowly reveals important clues. Stevie is a relatable main character who struggles with anxiety and fitting in, which makes her feel realistic and easy to connect with. The setting of Ellingham Academy adds to the suspense, with its isolated location and secretive atmosphere.

Although the mystery is engaging, the book does not fully solve the case by the end since it is the first in a series. Overall, Truly Devious is an exiting and well-written YA mystery that would really appeal to readers who enjoy suspense, mysteries, and crime stories.

The two girls are quickly horrified to witness the untimely death of the matriarch of the gathered families, Ursula Hegemony, resulting in the revelation that all the people gathered that night were witches, capable of magic completely unbeknownst to the girls. They also realize that the woman who paid for their presences that night had disappeared completely, seemingly without a trace.

This story is also told through the alternating perspective of Auden Hegemony, the grandson of Ursula Hegemony, who is utterly shocked by his grandmother’s death. With this death, it is revealed that Ursula Hegemony magically set up a chain of events to occur after her death, keeping all the people present during the gathering locked into the confines of the manor and its grounds, unable to leave until everyone solves her murder and uncovers several magical relics.

I really enjoyed a lot of aspects of this book, I think that although the beginning was pretty slow in places, and the pacing was kind of all over the place, the story really picked up around halfway through, and I enjoyed the payoff it provided. However, despite how slow the beginning way, I felt like there wasn’t actually a lot of exposition, and I felt kind of detached from the main characters because I felt like I didn’t know them at all, which didn’t improve a whole lot as the story progressed. This story was definitely plot-driven, which I can usually get behind despite typically being more of a fan of character-driven works, and the plot was pretty interesting after getting past the introductions for the rather large cast. I think that perhaps due to the amount of characters, there wasn’t as much time spent developing each of their personalities and left the characters feeling rather flat.

I did like the humor in a lot of places, it made me laugh of loud a lot of times, particularly a scene where Auden and Ruby were just straight up eating peanut butter out of a jar for no apparent reason, and that made me crack up. I also enjoyed the general vibes of the story, and the dialogue between the two sisters was well written and fun to read, their dynamic felt the most fleshed-out and entertaining which was a saving grace when the dynamics between the other characters just didn’t feel as strong.

That brings me to my biggest complaint about this book: the romance. As a huge proponent of slow-burn relationships with lots of buildup and pining, this story’s romance didn’t excite or satisfy me in the slightest. It might be important to mention that this story takes place over the span of roughly three days, and the narrative is trying to convince me that these two characters, Ruby and Auden, are into each, and get together on day two, despite having just met and knowing virtually nothing about each other. I know it’s supposed to be light-hearted and fun, but one of my favorite thing about any media I’m consuming is the relationships between the characters, and if they have absolutely no chemistry, I just feel frustrated and confused and the emersion is broken. I really think the two would have been better as just friends, and feel like this is a big complaint I have with particularly the YA genre, it’s that it feels like authors are incapable of writing the female main character and male main character as purely platonic, even if it makes more sense for them to be so.

I think this book would be enjoyed most by fans of the romantasy genre, with quick-paced romance, and a unique magic system, as well as fans of murder-mystery with lots of buildup and tension.

This book answers what was the Great Wall of China and its characteristics. The Great Wall is a vast and breathtaking structure built by ancient Chinese dynasties to defend their borders and armies. Nonetheless, a few armies did break through the wall. What makes the Great Wall so valuable is that, long as it is and rugged as the terrain is upon which it was made, it was built with nearly flawless workmanship. Various emperors continued to build on, fortify and bell tower the wall along the era, each adding his mark to its great bulk. And rule emanates, he Turkic hordes and later the Mongol armies, into China. And yet it served the nation well for many years the Great Wall. It was also on a trading route, so it was significant for travel and control. Subsequently, some parts were torn down, but the reconstructed stretches are still visited today by many. The Great Wall has since been represented as a potent symbol of China’s historical and cultural identity.

I liked this book because it provides and teaches all the information about the Great Wall of China; and since I love history, I enjoyed this book. I think anyone who loves history will like this book.

In my opinion, this book can be read and enjoyed by anyone who studies history and is interested in Asian and Chinese history.

whalefall by Daniel Kraus follows the story of Jay Gardiner and his troubles with his father. after his fathers suicide Jay goes to the ocean and the exact coordinates where his father died to retrieve his bones thinking its the only way lift the weight of the guilt he has had since his fathers death. the dive ends up well enough however things go south fast.

i thought this book was really good. it has an interesting plot as Jay is underwater for mostly the whole story and I think that’s a cool element to the story. it also had flashbacks throughout the book to jays past trauma with his father and those chapters were really good adding background to why Jay and his father have a bad relationship. they varied in time also some were from early childhood and some were really recent such as 2022 or 2020 during the pandemic. I think that these chapters are really important to the plot itself and help tie in the whole story. I do think this story could have had a little more of a realistic ending however but besides that thee book was fantastic.

this book does have heavy topics. the topics can make some uncomfortable so if you are sensitive to either violence or death I would not recommend the book to you.

i would recommend this to anybody who likes suspense,and survival novels. I also think it would be a good read even if you don’t really enjoy those topics that much as its just a really great book.