We ask questions of our community of partners, young authors, parents, teachers and students on issues that matter to them.
This issue’s question: Recommend us a book you have read recently and tell us briefly why you love it!
Siew Jing Cheng, Student of UEC Setiawalk, Malaysia
Name of the Book: The Ice Monster
Author: David Walliams
Running out of books to read? I recommend you this book, The Ice Monster, written by David Walliams, an ex-judge for Britain’s Got Talent. This book is about a girl named Elsie, a homeless orphan that lived in streets of London. There was Dotty, the cleaning lady, and a huge mammoth that came to life in the middle of the story. I won’t spoil it for you, so figure out the rest of the characters yourself.
This story, to me, is really interesting and sometimes funny. Its storyline is easy to understand and not very complicated. This is a book for 8-10 year olds, and I hope you will buy this book and read it. If you do think of buying it, happy reading!
Name of the Book: Matilda
Author: Roald Dahl
I would like to share some details on a recent story book that I had read. The name of the book is MATILDA by Roald Dahl. This story revolves around a young girl who is both very intelligent and brave. It illustrates how Matilda overcame her fear of her principal and mean family members. She loves to read despite being discouraged by her parents. When she went to school, she discovered her special powers which enables her to move objects with her eyes. Using her powers, she protected her friends and also got rid of the mean principle, Mrs Trunchbull. Throughout the story, the reader
will be kept engaged and mesmerized by Matilda’s intelligence and courage to stand up against those who treated her badly. I truly enjoyed the story and hope that I can exhibit some of Matilda’s boldness and confidence when facing challenges in life.
Rishikaa Saravanan, Student of UEC Setiawalk, Malaysia
Yasmin Linley, Student of UEC Setiawalk, Malaysia
Name of the Book: Out of My Mind
Author: Sharon M Draper
This book is about a girl who has cerebral palsy. Her name is Melody. She can’t walk, talk, feed herself, or do anything. But she doesn’t limit herself. With the help of her neighbour, she went to a school. This book is about drama and it is very heartwarming. This is one of my favorite books.
My favorite character is Melody. She never gave up. That is why I like her.
I would recommend this book because it is important for children to understand that you might never be perfect but you can always accomplish something big in your life. I think lots of children will get inspired by this book just like I did. I chose to write about this book because it shows a very important lesson. To NEVER GIVE UP! kids need to know that. It is very important to follow it. Just like Melody did in this story. I hope you guys enjoyed the book as much as I did. ENJOY!!!
Name of the Book: Party Games
Author: R.L Stine
I recently have been reading a horror book entitled Party Games by R.L. Stine. The book is about a girl who was named Rachel who was thrilled to be invited to a birthday party hosted by a boy named Brendan Fear on Fear Island. It was said that Fear Island had to be cursed. When Rachel arrived on Fear Island, she was escorted to a room by Brendan Fear’s servants and also with a game of scavenger hunt. Some weird and horrific thing started happening while they were scavenging for the objects. In order to escape, Rachel had to fight to survive the deadliest game of all. The game of murder.
Tan Zee Ying, Student of UEC Setiawalk, Malaysia
Destiny Pimentel, Winner of Philippines Young Author Awards, Student of Our Lady of Perpetual Succor College
Name of the Book: Bridge to Terabithia
Author: Katherine Paterson
One of the most memorable books I’ve read is Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson since in the story, they used their imagination to create their own world. When I read the book when I was a child, it inspired me to use my imagination and create my own world through writing.
Name of the Book: Little Women
Author: Louisa May Alcott
I simply cannot stress enough about how much I love this story. A tale of four sisters who are individually trying to search for themselves and wondering what they can contribute to the world, while living in a society and at a time where women were being looked down upon.
Janel Glori, Winner of Philippines Young Author Awards, Student of The Seed Montessori
Shania Matris, Winner of Philippines Young Author Awards, Student of Madre Maria Pia Notari School
Name of the Book: El Filibusterismo
Author: Dr. Jose Rizal
It saddens me that this book shows how power and money can ruin one’s life and country. Don Crisostomo Ibarra, now hiding his identity as “Simon” to start an uprising with Basilio in order to bring justice in the country. Aside from that, Simon’s goal is to reunite with Maria Clara after 15 years of being “dead”. The ending of the story took a horrible turn. Not all the stories we read have happy endings.
Name of the Book: Six of Crows
Author: Leigh Bardugo
In a bookstore, Six of Crows sits amongst a legion of YA novels all clamouring to be read, and if one frequents that section regularly, chances are most of the time you’ll end up mildly disappointed. Not this time. Leigh Bardugo’s novel blends a sort-of medieval fantasy Russia with London street gangs to create the heist tale that no one asked for, but sorely needed in a pool of medieval fantasies milking each other dry. Its worldbuilding is eccentric and colourful, blending into its deadly magic system, which actually takes centre-stage of the plot.
The heist itself is nothing short of epic, but unlike its cliched contemporaries, its sweeping narrative stands tall on its crazy-interesting, believable, fresh characters. To give you an idea – the eponymous six ‘Crows’ are led by ‘Kaz Brekker’, 17, who crawled his way out of the gutters of Ketterdam to run the Dregs with ruthless efficiency. But his uncanny maturity, born of a robbed childhood, is only one of many dark backstories readers will explore along the way, and experience in an expert weave of humour, action, and a dash of romance, that constantly surprises.
Lucas Kua, 20, Student of LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore
Ethan Kua E Jun, 18 , Singapore American School
Name of the Book: The Golden Compass
Author: Phillip Pullman
“The Northern Lights,” otherwise known as “The Golden Compass”, is the first of the trilogy of His Dark Materials, written by Phillip Pullman. The Golden Compass has just recently been made into a television series, a testament to the quality of Phillip Pullman’s works.
Readers who enjoy Fantasy,Science Fiction, and of Philosophy will find themselves indulging in worlds where the line blurs between magic and science. Follow Lyra Belacqua’s journey with her Daemon companion, a representation of her soul, uncover mysteries about the world they live in, as they build alliances, make enemies and find her Uncle, Lord Asriel who had just made a revolutionary discovery.
Upon reading the first entry, I was immersed into a new world, one so similar yet unique, it strikes shocking parallels to our own. The book also discusses religion, philosophy, and science, introducing young readers the concepts rarely seen in other novels making this a must read for any teen or young adult.
Name of the Book: The Thief Lord
Author: Cornelia Funke
The Thief Lord is a thrilling story of orphans as they evade capture from their aunts and uncles who wish to separate two brothers. The story has many well placed twists that will truly make you question who was right in the end. The story’s ending is extremely satisfying with the last chapter truly earning its name. The story is of course a children’s book and has some comedic elements in it. It is also a mystery book, so readers would enjoy putting together the puzzle pieces as to the motive and reasoning of people. This book is like an adventure book as well and has a lot of likable characters and last but not least, the book takes place in the River City of Venice.
Deaclan Kua E Xia, 13, Catholic High School, Singapore
Penny Chooi, Mother of Lucas, Ethan & Deaclan Kua
Name of the Book: Option B : Facing Adversity, Building Resilience and Finding Joy
Author: Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant
The co-author, Sheryl Sandberg is the Chief Operating Officer of Facebook. The other co-author, Adam Grant is a psychologist, Wharton’s top-rated professor.
This book talks about how Sandberg cope with the sudden death of her husband, Dave. A few weeks after Dave’s death, Sandberg didn’t know how to face the scheduled father-child activities arranged by the school. Her friend said: “Option A is not available. So let’s just kick the shit out of Option B.”
This book talks about life is not perfect, each of us lives in some form of option B. Even if the perfect option no longer exists, we can still embrace option B and start again bravely.
After Dave passed away unexpectedly, Sandberg felt that her son and daughter could no longer be happy. Her friend Adam Grant, a psychologist, presented research results that proved that people can overcome the negative effects of illness, unemployment, sexual assault, natural disasters, and war. The so-called resilience is not innate, but can be cultivated or exercised like muscles.
The book records Sandberg’s two years of grieving journey and also Adam’s professional advice. It is not only suitable for readers who have lost their partners, children, relatives or friends, but also for those who encounter difficulties in the workplace or life.
Tragedy or frustration will always happen. The problem is not when it happens, but we should all learn how to face the adversity.
I especially resonate with Sandberg’s view in the book. She said “We all need other people – and I do more than ever. But at the end of the day the only person who can move my life ahead, make me happy, and build a new life for my kids is me.”. and “Parenting was the most humbling job in the world – and now I had to learn how to do it alone.”
Reading the book, during which I shed tears several times and I just could not help myself. Perhaps only those who have experienced the ups and downs and deep pain can truly appreciate Sandberg’s feelings, and those who persist through the storm of life can understand the words resilience, sincerity, hope, joy and God’s love better.
