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The Chronicles of Narnia
reviewed by Yena Lee (6th grade)
The series “The Chronicles of Narnia” by C.S Lewis is one of the most popular fantasy series worldwide. It is about four siblings that transfer into a new magical world called “Narnia”. In book two, “The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe”, during the World War II bombings of London, four English siblings are sent to a country house where they will be safe. One day, Lucy (Georgie Henley) finds a wardrobe that leads to a magical world called Narnia. After coming back, she soon returns to Narnia with her brothers, Peter (William Moseley) and Edmund (Skandar Keynes), and her sister, Susan (Anna Popplewell). There they join the magical lion, Aslan (Liam Neeson), in the fight against the evil White Witch, Jadis (Tilda Swinton). Since “The Chronicles of Narnia” series are world popular, there is also a world popular movie. Reading and watching these series made me think about how brave I can be. I recommend these series to readers who love heartwarming stories.
Divergent
reviewed by Heesoo Kang (6th Grade)
If you are looking for more genres to read, I would quickly direct you to Dystopian. Why? Well, it has a little bit of everything- action, science fiction, and sometimes a little bit of romance, which makes it a good read for a lot of people.
Divergent is a book by Veronica Roth, which is the first book in the Divergent series. It is about the complicated new life of Beatrice Prior. She’s tested to see which of the five factions on the day of the Choosing Ceremony: Abegination, Dauntless, Erudite, Candor, and Amenity. The Abeginations motto is “the selfless”, the Dauntless motto is the brave, the Erudite motto is “the intelligent”, the Candor motto is “the honest”, and the Amenity motto is “the peaceful”. However, Beatrice, or “Stiff” (as nicknamed on her first day), got a different result-Divergent.
Divergent, as written by the Divergent Wiki page, is “the tendency to diverge from the norm which is, in this case, the mindset and way of thinking the factions are meant for,” hence the name, Divergent. They could choose to be in one of the factions, and pretend that they aren’t Divergent, or they might be factionless, which basically means that you are homeless. Most Divergents were originally from the Abnegation, but not everyone. The Factionless, or people that don’t belong to any of the five factions, are also mostly Divergent, as it is considered something that many people are. However, being divergent isn’t an open subject in any of the factions. They cannot even tell their families or their friends and instead have to hide from the factions and pretend to belong to their chosen faction.
Divergents show the never-ending struggle between them and society. It also shows how society treats other people that are different from their “normal”. Dystopian shows struggles that people today face in a different setting. It shows what the future could look like but with relatable problems and characters that make it easier to follow along with.
Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi, reviewed
by Simone Frueh
If you like futuristic fiction you might consider reading Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi. Shatter Me takes place in a Dystopian world after many years of climate change. Most of the animals are dead in Shatter Me but many of the humans have superpowers because of mutations. The main character Juliette has a lethal touch that can kill people. She is being held in a prison by Warner who is the leader of the totalitarian government called the Establishment. He wants to use Juliette’s powers to fight off any resistance to his rule.
Juliette's character is frightened and vulnerable because for most of her life she has been isolated from others and held in a cell. She is lonely and she hates herself because she once killed a toddler accidentally with her electrical powers. All of this changes when Juliette falls in love with Adam, a boy who helps her escape from Warner. With Adam’s love and support Juliette’s character changes into a confident and hopeful girl who begins to love herself and then has the courage to fight the Establishment.
I would rate this book a 5 out of 5. It is unimaginably suspenseful and the suspense will have you turning the pages quickly. Juliette’s character is rich with feelings and conflicts, and her character goes through many changes. At the beginning of the book, Juliette is terrified, and as the reader, so am I! These types of novels are also realistic because today we have climate change and we should question our future. Could something like this happen?
The best part for me is that Shatter Me continues with an entire series of books. After Shatter Me comes Unravel Me, then IgniteMe, Restore Me, Defy Me, and Imagine Me.
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