Heir Apparent by Vivian Vande Velde

We’re all nerds on the inside. Yeah, I see you Mr. hardcore jock who also holds a secret love for star wars or something of the like, I know your secret. Have you ever spent hours playing video games? Losing a weekend of rest and relaxation to a weekend of dungeons,dragons, and quests? If you answered yes to those questions, then the book for you is Heir Apparent by Vivian Vande Velde.

In this sci-fi/fantasy/thriller, we hop into the future and the world of  fourteen year old protagonist Giannine. It begins on her birthday, and an ill begotten gift of a certificate to the future world’s favorite attraction, a virtual video gaming center. She decides to go out on a limb and break through lines of protesting parents to turn in the gaming certificate on a game called Heir Apparent, in which Giannine’s character, Janine de St. Jehan, is informed she is the rightful heir to the throne, and must now go and prove her worth to the country. With multiple ways to die, the game restarts when you come to an end, just like any normal game.

However, when the violent protesters decide to break into the shop, they rattle the machine, trapping her in the machine and endangering her life. Now Giannine has to not only find the endgame, but win or die. The stakes are high, and it’s literally life or death for our heroine.

I, the biggest nerd in history, thought this was the best book for me, especially gearing up to go nerd out at the Hobbit this week! The imagery was amazing, and it gave an immersiveness to the story that a lot of books are missing. This book isn’t just a story, but an experience, and I can’t do it justice with my words now. Go on your own quest, a quest of discovery, and pick up Heir Apparent this weekend! 

Whether we want to admit it or not, we have all had an awkward crush sometime in our lives. Whether it was on our childhood friend or a random stranger in a grocery store, having unexpressed feelings for someone from afar usually fades. This is the case in John Green’s novel Paper Towns. Quentin Jacobsen, Florida teen and nerd extraordinaire, has spent his entire life loving Margo Roth Spiegelman-- neighbor, wild child, and childhood friend --from across their yards. Margo and Quentin had been close as children but they drifted steadily apart as they matured. They ultimately chose different friends, different paths, and different philosophies on life.

When Margo appears ninja-style in Quentin’s room one hot summer night after years of silence, he’s rightfully shocked, Margo wanted an adventure, and she had a plan. Her plan was revenge, and almost everyone was a target. Subtle shades of breaking and entering, a few destroyed friendships, and a swim through a moat later, a soaked Margo and Quentin behold the beauty of a sleeping city beginning to wake, and an unexpected fire begins sparking in between them. However; after the all-night adventure comes to an uneventful ending and the new day begins, Quentin is shocked when he spends a day of studying and looking for Margo. Certainly he didn’t expect her to fall in love with him. But shouldn’t she at least have shown up? Much to Quentin’s dismay, and much to her parents’, hours of her disappearance turned into days, days to weeks and weeks to a month.

Frustrated that the investigation is getting nowhere, Quentin decides to take matters into his own hands and sets out on a great adventure with his friends Ben and Radar-- the quest to find the always enigmatic Margo. As they unturn clue after clue, time moves forward, but the clues lead in circles. Maybe Margo didn’t run away and maybe she was hurt and maybe it was too late. As months turned into almost a year, Ben and Radar lost hope but Quentin never gave up. His search seemed to get more pointless by the day, until an unturned clue about a map and a city that doesn’t exist becomes clear. Then it’s a race against time to find Margo before the clock strikes 12. Unfortunately, the clock strikes 12 on their graduation day, and it appears that Quentin won’t be able to get the girl. Hoping to save their friend from this crushing loss, his friends go out on a limb with him and they set out again for a cross-country adventure, a quest to find Margo the Great.

With friendship, criminal antics, a classic road trip, mystery, and John Green’s signature heart-wrenching scenes, it’s no surprise Paper Towns is his next choice for a big screen movie! The thought-provoking questions, the race against time and the enigma that is Margo Roth Spiegelman, Paper Towns is easily classified as one of Green’s best and most underrated novels. To me, this book was a thriller. Often, I sat back and wondered “Is she even alive anymore?” Also, the novel was thought-provoking without being a terribly difficult read. Some of the questions about what it means to live and to have a great life really made me consider where I want to take my own personal life. The underlying message of self-discovery is one that can be beneficial and applicable to all teens and even some adults. So make Paper Towns your next destination on the road map of reading, make plans for your own great adventures, or just plans to see the movie. Happy reading!

Through My Eyes by Tim Tebow and Nathan Whitaker

Last week was Thanksgiving: Turkey Day, Foodie Paradise, and of course some of the biggest football games of the year. Around this time three years ago, you most likely would have heard about Tim Tebow, the superstar quarterback of the Denver Broncos.  Tebow gained his wild popularity not only for his skills on the field, but for his Christian attitude and, of course, the infamous "tebowing.”

As most sports fans know, Tebow and his personal writer Nathan Whitaker wrote an immensely popular autobiography of Tebow's life, Through My Eyes, during his peak of fame. Family, faith, friendship and football are some of the core themes that drive the story, and in turn, his life.

Almost every sports fan knows Tim Tebow the football player. They may even know how many times he was sacked, how many touchdown passes he threw, and his season records.  But is that enough? Is there more to this man that we all idolized than football statistics? Of course the answer is yes. Like our favorite transformers, there’s always more than meets the eye to a person. This is especially true in the case of Tim Tebow.

Tim has been aweing people even from birth. Tim's parents, devout missionaries, had been serving in the Philippines when his mother Pamela came down with a case of dysentery and fell into a coma. It’s very common for missionaries to come down with infectious diseases, but the family was unaware that she was pregnant and in response the doctors used very harmful drugs to treat her. Upon discovering that she was with child, they warned her about the high chances for a stillbirth and encouraged her to abort for her own safety. The Tebow family decided against it, citing their strong faith, and Tim was miraculously born a bouncing bubbly baby boy, on August 14, 1987 in Manila.

The youngest of five children, Tebow spends a lot of time talking about what it's like to grow up in a big family with older siblings. He discusses how he was constantly around and playing sports with his siblings, no matter where they went, or how rambunctious him and his two older brothers became. He also talks about how he came to play football in high school, even though he was homeschooled. Before Tim, homeschool children could not play sports for high schools. Of course there was always city leagues, but not for football. So, due to extensive petitioning by his parents and the parents of other prospective athletes, Tim was able to play football in high school, college, and ultimately in the NFL.

This book was definitely an exciting read, even for someone who isn't a die-hard sports fan in general, like myself. However, I think that everyone can gain from reading something about a superstar athlete and seeing their journey and how inspiring it is. It was especially intriguing to learn about Tim Tebow, because no matter what life threw at him, even from the time of his birth, he clung to his core beliefs and kept improving every day. As all athletes know, our coaches are constantly pushing us to be better-- not just better than others but better than we started.       

The story of Tim Tebow and how sports shaped not only his personality but his life is especially important for me to remember in the tougher times of sports. Every time we experienced a hard loss or conditioning week reared its ugly head, I found myself thinking like Tim. I asked myself what my competitor might be doing that I need to be doing better to compete with them on the same level. Certainly all of us aspire to greatness and we all could use some motivation when the middle of the season lull hits. Those are the times when I think like Tebow. I think like Tebow when our rival scores one point more than us in the final seconds. I think like Tebow when you suffer a brutal season of close calls. I think like Tebow when I need to reflect on what I can do to better myself and my team.

When you think of Abraham Lincoln, what do you think of? His signature top hat? Pennies? Honesty? The Civil War? While you may think of all of these things, you often forget or are not educated about the rest of the story. The story of Lincoln and John Wilkes-Booth intertwined long before that fateful day at the theatre.

The book begins with the vivid battle scenes of the Civil War. The author did not tip toe around the grotesque imagery, but instead embraced the violence and death and loss to create a realistic idea of what the time in history was actually like. He told the story through the eyes of the soldiers themselves and wrote in present tense with very short chapters, giving the reader the opportunity to immerse themselves in the book.

We all know how this ends— one dead president and one actor-turned-murderer. However, this book also does an excellent job of showcasing the history and truth hidden behind Lincoln’s assassination. Booth had been following Lincoln since he was elected several years earlier. For example, I recall one scene placed shortly after the war. The whole city of Washington was engaged in revelry around the White House to celebrate the victory of the North. Lincoln was pushed to make a last minute speech. Booth and his fiance were in attendance, appearing to be just as celebratory as everyone else. In a completely unplanned attempt at murder, Booth lunged forward to grab Lincoln and was caught by one of the few guards around. The guard simply set him upright and thought nothing of it, assuming it was a drunken stumble. After that incident, Booth began planning one of the most infamous events in American history.

In the last few chapters, Booth’s plan is now coordinated and he has set up his accomplices to take out the entire government. Booth was the only successful assassinator, managing to murder one of the most regarded American Presidents in history. The book explains the details of his escape route and how he nearly evaded the entire expanse of Washington D.C. His broken legs were his only downfall. Perhaps if Booth had escaped Lincoln’s assassination unscathed, America would never have known who had killed one of their most beloved leading men. One of my favorite parts of this particular section is the map that shows the route that Booth is said to have taken to the shed they found him in.

The reason why I liked this book, and why I am pushing it on you, is that it is an exceptionally interesting yet educating read. We’ve all been told the most obvious parts of Lincoln and Booth’s story a thousand times, but never like this. The most interesting factor of the biography is the presentation of Booth’s side of the story, because usually we are told only the victim’s perception. This book does a fantastic job of balancing it out.

For the last fun fact regarding this amazing book, I have to let you in on a little secret I discovered when I was searching for this book. If you don’t read at a very high level, the author also wrote a version targeted towards our generation and below which contains a simpler vocabulary and presentation of the book’s themes.

So, much like Booth, I’ll have to say author Bill O’Reily killed it, and give this book a glowing review of 4.5 stars! It was much more than the prototypical biography. If you’re looking for a twist on a familiar story, or maybe if you are forced to read a biography for school purposes, why not read one that you will enjoy?

In this story, 16 year old Lucy Patterson and 17 year old Owen Buckley meet in a twist of fate as the lights of New York blink out, trapping them on the elevator. In close quarters, these two strangers discover that they aren’t so bad. They spend a night taking in the strange sight of the stars and reveling in the magnificence of the city at rest.  As their hearts get closer, they find their paths rocketing them in the other direction. The question becomes not, “Can we be together?”, but “Can we endure the distance?”

So, why read it? Well, to answer that question I think we have to first answer the question, why read? Anyone who’s ever been in an English class can spit out the answer, “To feel connected”, but what does that mean to you guys? Do you want to feel connected with the language? Do you want to feel connected with the plot? Do you want to be asked questions and have to think while you read? What do you connect with?

The type of books you will want to read will largely be determined by your answers to those questions, and through Shades of Read we will be exploring plenty of different types of books, and seeing which category they fit into. For example, if you want to think and question, this is not the book for you. The Geography of Me and You is the type of book that you connect with the plot and the language. It is told from both points of view, so it is not just for girls either! Although the book contains a few metaphors, they are not difficult to understand, and the language is far from challenging. Reading this book is like a vacation, relaxing, entertaining, and rejuvenating. However, it lacks depth and an examination of the challenging notions that surround our daily lives.

This book, although it is light and entertaining and provides one with a quench for their romantic thirst, does have a few flaws. The biggest problem is that the plot is completely lacking in anything but romance. While romance has earned its rightful place in literature, the plot does not contain an underlying issue, such as a social problem or serious personal struggle. All of the problems in this book have very simple solutions that the characters decide not to do. This facet of the novel may be frustrating for one who yearns for a more thought-provoking read, but for those who enjoy an occasional light read, it certainly meets its purpose. For example, it is a good read for those nights when your chocolates and romantic comedies need a break.

So for our first review in Shades of Read, I’ll give this book 3/5 stars, for the connectivity and fun air it carries with it. Who knows, it might even be someone’s new favorite. Happy reading!