Ready Player One is an amazing Sci-Fi book with the protagonist being Wade Watts. The Year is 2045 and us humans have used almost all of our fossil fuel and are keeping worse care of our planet. Thankfully technology has further developed and there is a Virtual reality called the OASIS (Ontologically Anthropocentric Sensory Immersive Simulation) created by James Halliday. The OASIS is accessible to anyone in the world, aside from the wondrous video game aspect from it there is an entire school system embedded in the code. Although Halliday died in 2040 his legacy lived on. Halliday created a challenge for any OASIS users, before he died he proposed a contest. Halliday hid secrets within the code and if you could figure them out you could inherit his fortune (half of a trillion dollars) along with control of the OASIS itself. Even after 5 years though no one had come even close to solving his riddle,
“The Copper Key awaits explorers
In a tomb filled with horrors
But you have much to learn
If you hope to earn
A place among the high scorers” (Ernest Cline, Ready Player One)
But one day, Wade was attending school and it hit him like a monster truck he knew how to solve the riddle.

Ready Player One is a truly fascinating novel. I would recommend it to anyone 14+. If you have an interest in highly developed characters, a futuristic dystopian world, 1980’s pop culture, and video games this will be a book that’s hard to put down. Wade Watts is of course the most advanced character since he is the main protagonist. Ernest does a wonderful job at explaining Wade’s backstory and how it is affecting him in the present. And the way that the world is now so messed up in the book and how Ernest depicted how it would be is amazing. Wade lives in a place called the stacks, an old field that has multiple RVs stacked on top of each other. Also people who were born in the late 1960’s or early 1970’s will get a kick as they remember their teen years in the 1980’s and understand the references. And of course if you love video games you will hear yourself cheering on Wade as he has to defeat bosses and figure out the riddles. Overall, I think that Ready Player One should be a book that most teens and young adults should read because I genuinely think that you will love this book as much as I did.

This story follows the main perspective of Jonas. Jonas lives in an alleged utopian society. They feel no pain, see no colors, feel no love, and hear no music. At the age of 12 every child is given an assignment based on their abilities and what they excel in. Jonas was living a perfect life until his cycle was broken. When Jonas turned 12 he was decided to be the receiver of memory, the highest role in the community. Now everything that Jonas once thought was true and right all come crashing down leaving him with a reality of the community that he can no longer stand for.

The giver is an amazing book full of surprising twists and just a spectacular over all plot. Lois Lowry did an excellent job of not only creating a completely fascinating story, but also leaving you wondering once you finish the read. A main theme of the giver could be the significance of memories to all life. The giver is a dystopian novel as the citizens are living in an extremely censored version of life. I did not particularly enjoy some of the more disturbing memories of death and war that Jonas receives but it is important that they are present so that Jonas will make the final decision. The giver is an amazing book that all would enjoy!

Do you like very short stories that close the curtain before you fully know the resolution? Do you like real-life mundane events rendered slightly haunting? Do you like that odd pit in your stomach when something slightly horrifying is delivered in a naive and innocent voice? I think you'll like Silvina Ocampo's translated short stories anthology Forgotten Journey.
The stories are from another time (late 19th and early 20th century) and place (Argentina?) and the characters generally reflect that. I feel as though I got a (distorted) glimpse into the lives of a variety of characters -- well-off and poor, urbane and rural, altruistic and self-serving -- sometimes a mix of all of these from one scene to the next. I particularly enjoyed the creative and evocative descriptions -- one that sometimes evokes the banalest of objects or environments into a fantastically peculiar observer of the eccentricities of people.
Anyway, I'm grateful that PPLD has books like these, and I plan to explore more of Ocampo's and her contemporaries' oeuvre.

A fast-paced caper (288 pages) with enough twists and turns to thoroughly entertain makes Kirsten Chen’s third novel well worth your time. But it is the Singapore native’s cutting commentary about the stereotype of model minorities, materialism and the American Dream that makes this work resonate after completion and a good book club selection.
The story centers on two Asian Americans – a mysterious woman knee deep in the illegal counterfeit handbag trade and a new mother and model minority stereotype who finds herself sucked into a shiny world where, as Chen writes “Money can’t buy you happiness … but it can get you a decent fake.”

It's a good book.

Pachinko is a critical darling and bestselling epic that is a must read for historical fiction fans wishing to learn about Korea and Japan from the early 1900s to recent times.
What makes Min Jin Lee’s second novel (2017, 496 pages) stand out is the well-developed characters who battle the tides of history and the message showing how cruel life can be for second-class citizens in a war-torn country.
There are strong women throughout, notably Sunja, the naive daughter of a Korean fisherman who is seduced by a wealthy, married businessman, becomes pregnant by him but rejects becoming his mistress to marry a sickly Japan-bound minister which kicks off a dramatic saga that resonates through the next four generations.
This epic provides a window into life from Japan’s best universities to the criminal underworld and everywhere in between while displaying how these stubborn, devoted women find the strength to maintain family bonds against forces that could destroy them.

"A Study In Charlotte" follows Jamie Watson and Charlotte Holmes, the descendents of the famed duo themselves. While the Watsons have lived relatively normal lives, the Holmes have kept up their prestigious reputation and penchant for mysteries. Jamie has been wishing for a friendship with Charlotte all his life, which makes it all the worse when they start off on a bad first impression. However, when the both of them become suspects in a murder, they have to work together to find the real culprit. Along the way they form a touching friendship that might be leading to something more.

Before I continue, this book features a main character who has been sexually assaulted. If this is a trigger for you, do not read this book.

The highlight of this book is the relationship between Jamie and Charlotte. It's built up naturally and is extremely heartwarming. It does fall into a common trap of romance books though, in that I didn't really care about any of their other connections. The mystery is perfectly serviceable, though nothing standout. The humor in this book is above average, especially in regards to Charlotte's eccentricities and Jamie's reactions. The way they handled the Holmes mythos was similarly interesting, though not mind blowing in any capacity.

Overall this is a solid read with some standout elements that I would definitely recommend.

Through the eyes of a soul who hasn't left for an afterlife or complete darkness, Ellie Walker traces the days before her suicide, the day of her suicide, and the more indelible days that built her person and childhood. Chapters are written as epistolary entries, which the intended recipients—Momma, Father August, Life, and Dreams—will never get to read, as it was suppressed beneath the devastating end of a soul that didn't speak all truths while alive. She awoke with her mind, dazed and chipped of fundamental segments—abuse, friendship, love, the love of a mother, an advancing future, and more—that once conjoined her memories with coherence. The lament after death was her hand on the clock that struck a new hour as she accepted time's shadow that crept over her and swallowed, despite any interjections she could only attempt to make. Too late, Ellie Walker meandered through the gallery of her memories and realized all they meant to her and all she could become from them.

Anna, 10th Grade

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is about a French girl who did not want to get married and prayed to a dangerous higher being made a deal. The deal makes Addie cursed to live until she gets tired of living and not being able to remember as she lives. Throughout the novel Addie is alone for 300 years her only company this higher being who enjoys to mock her. Finally after 300 years someone remembers her.
The novel is written in a bit of a slow pace, but it slowly builds up as it goes on. The novel switches between the past of characters lives and the present. The ending is a little surprising. The book is worth the read.
Reviewer Grade: 9

Holes by Louis Sachar is a piece of young adult fiction that weaves together elements of mystery, adventure, and coming-of-age themes. The novel's plot centers around Stanley Yelnats, a young boy who is sent to a juvenile detention camp after being falsely accused of stealing a pair of shoes. At Camp Green Lake, Stanley is forced to dig holes in the desert as part of a rehabilitation program, leading him to uncover a mystery that has haunted the camp for generations. Sachar's portrayal of Stanley and the other boys at Camp Green Lake is one of the novel's strongest qualities. Through their interactions and experiences, Sachar explores themes of friendship, loyalty, and the importance of perseverance in the face of adversity. Stanley's transformation from a timid and isolated boy to a confident and capable young man is both inspiring and heartwarming. This novel is very appealing due to is humor, unexpected backstory, and suspense that kept me hooked throughout. The novel's themes of friendship, perseverance, and the importance of doing what is right resonate with readers of all ages and make it a true gem of young adult literature, I'd recommend it to all!

Reviewer Grade: 11.