I'm Eating an Apple

Throughout the year, we have seen a variety of blog posts grace the pages of the Mitchell class blogs. However, there are certain types that people tend to gravitate towards more. Almost all posts can fit into at least one of these categories. Let’s take a look at five common types of blog posts I have noticed. The Book Review Easily the most common of the types of blog posts, book reviews are pretty straight forward. Reviews simply summarize the story (which may or may not include spoilers) and offer their recommendation and opinion at the end. Most of the book reviews I’ve read on our blogs have skewed positive, though I do see the occasional one where the author did not enjoy the book. Whether they have a positive or negative opinion, the author usually recommends it to people with certain interests at the end anyway. The Book versus Movie Comparison Another common blog post is the book versus movie comparison, a post I have done a couple of times myself. It feeds into the age-old...

 Michael Vey The Prisoner of Cell 25 by Richard Paul Evans revolves around this high schooler who gets bullied for his Tourettes but little do they know he has superpowers from a hospital experiment from when he was a kid. He keeps this a secret from everyone except his closest friend and his mother. And of course, this looner highschooler has to have a crush on only the most popular cheerleader, Taylor. Michael one day gets pushed too far by his bullies and shocks them to his fullest right in front of, you guessed it Taylor his crush. But then Taylor reveals she is also an electricity power superhero so she suddenly becomes interested in Michael and they hang out. The two along with Michael's closest friend Ostin they discover they are being hunted. As if someone was watching them Michael and Taylor receive scholarships to Elgin Acadamy, but Michaels's mothers panic, and at the same time get kidnapped, very fun times. I'll end my brief summary of the book there as the plot...

  This month, I read Caraval by Stephanie Garber. The book is named after a magical game called Caraval where players race to do tasks and find clues in a magical world, trying to be the first to achieve a goal and win a wish from the mastermind behind the game, Caraval Master Legend. The book is about Scarlet and Tella Dragna, two sisters who have grown up hearing stories about Caraval from their grandmother and dreaming of its magic. One year, Scarlet and Tella escape their cruel father to attend Caraval, only to be separated when arriving. The book is told from Scarlet’s perspective and it describes her adventures and magical experiences as she plays the game and tries to find her sister. I really liked this book. I have not read anything like it before and I think the concept of Caraval was very unique. I particularly loved the descriptions of the game Caraval which made it feel magical. For example, Caraval is set in a small town on an island with a beach covered in snow, al...

Trigger warning: Mentions of death, kidnapping, shooting, general violence What’s this? A simple book recommendation? Not an over-the-top analysis of one aspect of a book or a dictionary of fandom terms? From Emily? No, of course not. Run, Hide, Fight Back is one of April Henry’s most recent books, published in 2019. I’ve been reading Henry’s books since I was in sixth grade, but haven’t read one in about a year, so to read this was like being transported to my middle school self. It follows a similar narrative to all of Henry’s books, with teenagers trapped in terrifying situations that most of us have only entertained, such as being kidnapped, finding your best friend dead, or in this case, being trapped in a mall during a shooting. This book is a simple one--fast-paced, teen heroes, more of a turn-off-your-brain and get invested, one sitting read if anything. However, one thing stands out about this book, and that is its remarkable ability to perspective-switch without breaking flo...