Chinese Cinderella
By: Adeline Yen Mah

*Summary*
Adeline Yen Mah is born into a rich and privileged family, but she is considered to be bad luck due to the death of her mother during complications in giving birth to her. As a result, she is neglected by her father, Joseph Yen, a successful businessman and her four siblings. When her father remarries, her Eurasian stepmother, Jeanne Prosperi (whom the children called "Niang", which means Mother)treats her and her siblings coldly while spoiling her own children and soon Jun-ling's older sister, who was their leader. (Jun-ling's half-brother and half-sister) " Adeline Yen Mah was born in Tianjin, China. Her mother died two weeks after her birth and Adeline was considered to be a source of bad luck by her family. Her father remarried a beautiful Eurasian woman one year later. She was half French and half Chinese and divided the Yen family into two different classes. Adeline's father, aunt, grandfather, stepmother and her two children were the upper class, where as Adeline and the four other step-children by the first wife were considered second class." Niang was described as a stunningly beautiful woman, who had a French father and a Chinese mother. To show this, she wore beautiful and expensive jewelery and clothing made in France. She is depicted as a cruel and manipulative woman. She married Joseph Yen, Adeline's father, when she was 17 years old. In marrying him, she also gained five Chinese stepchildren. She gave each of them (including Adeline) their European names: Her Big Sister, Jun-pei became Lydia, Her Three Brothers, Zi-jie, Zi-lin and Zi-jun were called Gregory, Edgar and James. Later her Step-mother gave birth to two children called Franklin and Susan ( Jun-qing ) Her two children of her own: Franklin and Susan which are spoiled rotten while Adeline is treated terribly. Jun-ling struggles for her father's attention and affection. She comes top of her class every week, bringing home a badge or a certificate. It works but it also makes her siblings turn on her as she starts getting most of the very little attention that her father gave to the children from his first marriage. Adeline makes friends, but due to her parent's strict rules, cannot invite them over, or go over to their house. She is sent to many boarding schools around China, but she is never visited by her parents. When she lives at home, Aunt Baba, her beloved aunt, and Ye Ye, her grandfather, treat her kindly. However, she is separated from them by Niang. Eventually she is sent to live at a boarding school in Hong Kong, where she finds much happiness. Her friends become suspicious when no-one ever visits her or brings her gifts. She wears the same, small outfits. Adeline is very intelligent and enters a writing contest. Surprisingly to her, she won and gained her father's acknowledgment. At her desperate pleading, her father agreed to send her to college, but not for what she would like to do,writing,but for medical school instead. She does not really care, because it is a way out. The book ends here. In her real life, she is reunited with her brothers in London and eventually finds love and settles down and has two kids.



*Non-Fiction*

1.) How has reading this book changed your opinion of a certain person or topic?

Yes. I do not view Chinese like many other people have tried to persuade me to think of them. Most of them do not have a choice of becoming what they are. Most of what they do is not by choice nor because they think they are better than other people so they have to continue shoving eduction down their throat. Chinese children are like other children. They want to have fun. they want to be kids. The old traditions kick in and they have to grow up at a young age to carry a strong family name and bring honor to their family.





2.) What did you find surprising about the facts introduced in this book?

This book really opened my eyes to the things going on in China. this book was very interesting because it was not an ordinary autobiography. This book kept my attention because it started off as a story and as it progressed it continued to be very shocking so I continued to think it was a story. I thought that there was no way a child could through so many cruel punishments and then the way her parents treated her was astonishing. They wanted her to be a true Chinese daughter and over in china that is a big deal. I was surprised at the fact that majority of the households treated their children like that, especially the daughters.

MY LIKES ABOUT THIS BOOK WOULD HAVE TO BE THE FACT THAT EVEN THOUGH IT WAS AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY, IT WAS NOT BORING. THE AUTHOR DIDN'T ADD ANY ADDITIONAL INFORMATION THAT MADE HER STORY ABOUT HER LIFE DRAG ON. FROM ONE MOMENT TO THE NEXT, I COULD NEVER PREDICT WHAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN NEXT. I ALSO LIKED THAT THE AUTHOR STILL HAD HER LANGUAGE IN THE BOOK. SHE WOULD SAY A WORD IN CHINESE FIRST AND THEN TELL YOU WHAT IT MEANT IN ENGLISH. THE AUTHOR ALSO HAD THE SYMBOL FOR THE NUMBERS 1-100.

MY DISLIKES ABOUT THIS BOOK WOULD HAVE TO BE THE FACT THAT IT WAS ALL TRUE. I DID NOT LIKE THAT SHE ACTUALLY WENT THROUGH ALL THAT TURMOIL. I ALSO DIDN'T LIKE THAT HER PARENTS NEVER APOLOGIZED FOR THE WAY THEY DID THINGS. THEY WERE HEARTLESS AND STAYED HEARTLESS EVEN UNTIL THEY DIED.

A True Test For Skye
By: Marsha Hubler

*Summary*
Skye Nicholson once was a rebellious juvenile delinquent. She’d been through more foster homes than she cared to remember. She trusted no one and had a hard time loving anyone, especially herself. She was a lot like Sooze Bodmer, her long-time friend and "partner in crime," before love found her inside the home of Tom and Eileen Chambers. Through a difficult turn of events in Sooze’s life, the Chambers once again open their home and Keystone Stables to another hard-edged teen. Now Skye is challenged to help someone that reminds her of herself. When an unexpected crisis occurs in Sooze’s life, both girls learn what it means to not only believe in God, but to trust him even when the future seems uncertain.

*Fiction*

1.) Do the characters seem real and believable? Can you relate to their predicaments? To what extent do they remind you of yourself or someone you know?

The characters seem very believable. They all have their problems and have to find ways to sort them out. their problems aren't excessive, but regular problems that most people, especially teenagers, go through now-a-days. I can some what relate to their predicaments. Skye's situation reminds me of what I went through a lot. I was a rebel in my younger years and to some extent, I still am. But before, I tried to change and when I was headed on the right track, I got stuck with this girl who was exactly the same as me just a little worse depending on some of the things she did. I tried to stay out of trouble, but I felt like it would have been my fault to let her go out and break the rules by herself and potentially get hurt because I was not there protecting her. We both would end up in trouble, but her life changed dramatically. We eventually became best friends and we made plans to grow up together and be famous dancers. Almost like the other character, she was given a death sentence. Cancer. It took her in less than a month because it had progressed so far in her brain. She changed for the better in that short period, but I did not turn out like the character Skye did. She accepted what happened and continued to stay on the right track. I back tracked and gave up on everything.


2.) How do characters change or evolve throughout the course of the story? What events trigger such changes?

Skye tries really hard to stay out of trouble because she was a juvenile delinquent prior to vowing to never doing the things she did before. She met the other character, Sooze, and she was exactly how Skye had been when she used to always get in trouble. Sooze was acting out because she was being rebellious against they way her parents were. Her mother was an alcoholic and her dad did not care about anything. Skye really tries to stay on the right track, but Sooze is hard headed and does not want to listen to anybody. After a while, Sooze's headaches get worse and she goes to the doctor and they tell her she has a tumor in her brain. She drastically did a major 360 for the better, but she died not too long after that. She turned her life around after she realized her life was about to end and she had done nothing really to live for except get in trouble.

I LIKED THIS BOOK BECAUSE THE CHARACTERS PREDICAMENTS ARE BELIEVABLE. THE AUTHOR REALLY UNDERSTOOD THAT IT TAKES A LOT OF KNOWLEDGE TO FIND A WAY TO KEEP THE READER INTERESTED BY GIVING THEM SOMETHING THEY DEAL WITH A LOT EVERYDAY. I ALSO LIKED IT BECAUSE THERE WAS AN ENORMOUS AMOUNT OF DESCRIPTION IN THIS BOOK. I ALWAYS FELT LIKE WHEN THE GIRLS WOULD SNEAK OUT, THAT I WOULD BE RIGHT THERE WITH THEM GETTING SCRATCHED BY THE BRANCHES WITH MY HEART RACING BECAUSE WE WOULD BE AFRAID TO GET CAUGHT.

MY DISLIKES ABOUT THIS BOOK WOULD HAVE TO BE THE WAY IT ENDED. I DID NOT LIKE THAT SOOZE DIED AND THAT HER PARENTS DID NOT EVEN VISIT HER WHEN SHE WAS IN THE HOSPITAL DYING. I ALSO DID NOT LIKE THAT THERE WAS AN INTERNAL CONFLICT WITH THE CHARACTERS THAT THE AUTHOR FAILED TO MENTION . SHE KEPT THE STORY ON ONE CHARACTER'S VIEW OF THE OTHER, SO YOU NEVER KNEW WHAT THE OTHER CHARACTER WAS THINKING

Even Now
Author:Karen Kingsbury

*Summary*

Shane and Lauren had fallen in love in grade school; now they are high-schoolers, and their feelings for each other have grown even stronger. They are certain they have fond their true love. However, their parents do not think so. Teenage emotions are unstable, everyone knows that. It's all puppy love. Shane and Lauren are allowed to date, but their feelings are not taken seriously by their families. Things get bad when Lauren become pregnant. Shane wants to marry her, and abortion is out of the question for both of them. All they want is to become a family, to have this child and raise it together. But they are only 17, and both sets of parents take decision-making into their hands.

The parents believe it would be best for the young couple to be separated. Each family sells their home and moves, Shane's to California and Lauren's to Illinois. Having no means of their own, Shane and Lauren are forced to follow. They promise to find each other as soon as they can. To seal this promise, Shane spends his savings to buy a ring for Lauren, on which he engraves the words “Even Now.” Even now, when things are so bad and they must separate, they love each other and want to be together.

Lauren has a baby girl, Emily. Since both sets of parents are doing their best to block any communication between Lauren and Shane, she cannot reach him to let him know. Angered, she takes all her money and the baby and sets out to drive to California. Little Emily gets very sick on the way, and Lauren is forced to return. The baby is taken to the hospital, and some time later Lauren is misinformed that the baby died. With nothing holding her in Illinois, Lauren moves to California. She starts a new life there, under a new last name to avoid being found by her parents, and still hoping to find Shane.

Years go by. Both Shane and Lauren continue to search for each other, but, due to different circumstances, they fail to meet. They become successful; Shane is a flight instructor, and Lauren writes for Time magazine. Both are still single, remembering their lost first love. Lauren has pretty much given up on the idea of ever getting married. Shane occasionally thinks about maybe letting it go and starting a family, but memories of Lauren are still strong.

Emily, their daughter, is now grown up. A talented college student, she wants to find her parents about whom she knows next to nothing. Her grandparents raised her, never sharing the story. But when Emily finds a box with her mother's writings and learns about the love story that had ended with her birth, she is determined to find her mom and dad more than ever.

1.) Do the characters seem real and believable? Can you relate to their predicaments? To what extent do they remind you of yourself or someone you know?

*These characters in this book are 100% believable to me. They each have their own background story and live in a daily scenario I see around me everyday. I can somewhat relate to the characters predicaments. The only part I can't relate to is being torn away from my lover because I got pregnant. I can relate to the fact that my parents do not believe that the love in my relationship is real. They think it's puppy love and that they know whats best for me, so they try tot keep us apart as much as possible. Both of our parents do not see how that hurts us more than it helps. In the end all they do is post pone the love they both had for each ohter because they never lose it.



2.) Did certain parts of the book make you uncomfortable? If so, why did you feel that way? Did this lead to a new understanding or awareness of some aspect of your life you might not have thought about before?

*The only part in this book that made me uncomfortable was that both sets of parents did not want them to keep the baby. They wanted it to be given up for adoption and they only cared about how it affected them and how other people would view them. They separated both of their children from each other and that hurt them really bad. I felt uncomfortable because they did not take into consideration what their kids wanted. They wanted to get on with their lives like nothing happened and forget about each other. This made me think of how my parents decisions would my life. They say they know what's best for me and that I am just a child, but why did their parents who claim to love them so much hurt them like that. They ended up together in the next book and all the did was send them through hell and back.

*I liked this book because I've had friends who went through a situation similar to this. This is so believable because it happens a lot in our day and time. I would recommend this book because it gives you a different view on love and how much love keeps them coming back for each other even though everybody is trying to pull them apart.

*I did not like this book because to find out how the story ends you have to read the sequel. This book was so good that I didn't even mind reading the sequel, either. This book kind of made me sad. I could feel the hurt and the pain of each character. It was so real to me. I hoped that the parents would realize that their children's relationship was not about them. They need not worry about how other people would think about them as parents, but on how they could help make the situation better. How does it make them look as parents if they rip their kids apart and the baby's daddy is off living his life outside of Lauren and the baby's life and Lauren is a single teenager with a baby and her child's father is nowhere to be found? I'd rather keep them together and see how they work out their relationship by their selves.