Jerry Spinelli

I LOVE Spinelli's Stargirl series.

I recommend this book to anybody; especially young girls. Stargirl is a teenage girl who truly loves on people, and genuinely cares about others. She lives a life that is unlike anybody in her town; and the world for that matter. She always puts others before herself. She is the opposite of selfishness, pride, and greed.

I love these books. They're easy to read and understand. Through Stargirl, you're challenged to re-evaluate your love of material things. Stargirl is a good example of integrity, kindness, courage, humility, and a person who lives life one day at a time. When she starts going to public high school, she is faced with a high degree of opposition. At first, everybody wants to be her friend, but later when they realize that she is "uncool", everybody turns their back on her. And she's forced to decide if she's going to conform to everybody else, or live by her own convictions at the price of being liked.

the five people you meet in heaven by Mitch Albom

My 2007 fall semester at NSC, I saw a table labeled "FREE BOOKS" and you know that's enough to get my attention. They were all the same book; "the five people you meet in heaven" by Mitch Albom.
I thought, "Okay? I might never read this, but it's free, so what the heck."

It's 2 years later, and I finally read it! It turns out this book's a lot more popular than I first thought. But then again, if they're giving out free copies of it at a community college in Nevada, it must be popular (or horrible).


What I liked about this book:
1. Easy read!
2. Short!
3. Interesting!
4. It doesn't promote, or degrade, after-life beliefs. This book is more about the life of an old man named Eddie, and how people in your life who at the time seem insignificant, can actually turn out to have played a crucial role in your life.

This novel was cute. It was cool how everything unfolded; very creative.

Night by Elie Weisel

I first heard about this book in Hist 102 last year when it was recommended by my history professor during our WWII lecture.

At our student ministries Garage Sale, when we were cleaning up, I found a copy! I got to take it home for free! Score!

Everybody that knew I was reading it said things along the lines of:
'I love that book'
'I read that book in high school'
'It's such a good book'

and I really is a great book.
It's definitely worth reading.

What shook me the most was his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech at the very end:

"As long as one dissident is in prison, our freedom will not be true. As long as one child is hungry, our life will be filled with anguish and shame. What all these victims need above all is to know that they are not alone; that we are not forgetting them, that when their voices are stifled we shall lend them ours, that while their freedom depends on ours, the quality of our freedom depends on theirs.
Our lives no longer belong to us alone; they belong to all those who need us desperately."

All I can think of when I read that last sentence is:
"My life no longer belongs to me; it belongs to the One I need desperately."