TEMPLE GRANDIN: " How The Girl Loved Cows Embraced Autism And Changed The World"
                                                      
by Sy Montgomory
 

 

Autism  definition is impairment and social interaction with others, but it was told to Temple's mom it is type of Schizophrenia . It was very new condition at the early 1950 , and the people misunderstood this disorder at that time. Her father started to bullying her and calling her "retarded" and he wanted to put her in special mental hospital. However, her wonderful mom believed to her and tried to sent her to private school as other normal kids. Temple was so lucky that her parent could afford her all needed such as specialist and psychologist  to get better. Then she went to college,  so she did not get the only Bachelor's ,and also Master's degree and PhD. Finally Temple is a professor of animal science at Colorado State University. 

               This successful story published by Montgomery  this  biographical book tells about how you can achieve your limited ability ,and get the successful life ,and never give up.Also this great book  enlightens the people to better understanding of Autism disorder ,so gives a window into Autism. Furthermore , very informative about the animal care. This great woman is a very good model for children with Autism.  The book is very clear and easy to read. Animal background on each page with the photos makes much more interesting to read. I really like this book, and I can say that I inspired by this strong woman's biography.

Temple Grandin Trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpkN0JdXRpM

Freaks Like Us by Susan Vaught

It's not very often that you find a book with a devastating disorder like schizophrenia. Even less common is when the story does not revolve around the disorder.

Jason is a high school student who suffers from schizophrenia. He and his two close friends, Derrick with ADHD and Sunshine with selective mutism, have bonded since the first grade over their shared ostracism and image as freaks and have formed their own supportive family.

When Sunshine goes missing, however, Jason is the prime suspect in her disappearance. As Jason strives to solve the mystery of his missing best friend, everyone suspects that Jason had something to do with it, including Jason himself. Due to the confusion and distraction of all the voices in his head, Jason cannot be sure that he is innocent, so he needs to find out if there are memories that his mind is not letting him remember. This story is one of friendship and loyalty, as well as one of bravery and overcoming personal limitations.

As a practicing psychologist, Susan Vaught is very familiar with the struggles of schizophrenic patients and seeing the face of the person beyond the disorder.  Jason's disorder plays a constant role in his narration throughout the story. When his mind is jumbled and reality is crashing down on him, the sentences run into each other and the stream-of-consciousness narration becomes chaotic.  Despite having a disorder that many may classify as "crazy," Jason is persistently likable and witty, a character who is more than his mental illness.  He Vaught's portrayal of Jason and his struggles is very genuine and realistic while making his issues understandable to an uninformed reader.

This book is a quick read in that you can get sucked into it and finish it in one sitting if you have the time.  That does not mean that it is a particularly light read - this is not a happy book. The mystery is interesting and exciting, however. This book could shed some light on the lives of teens with mental illness as it shows them going to school and functioning with everyone else.  If you are interested, this novel is worth your time.

Burning Blue  by Paul Griffin

Nicole is the most beautiful , smart and  a  rich girl in the high school. Being the most popular in high school  put her in hard situation ,so other girls were jealous of her. Nicole did not have any problem with her life until one student splashed acid to her face. She  felt  so bad and life was getting harder and harder ,but nobody knows who did this and why. She start to go to the  therapy to get help. One day she met Jay  at the schooling counseling's private  office.  Jay  was a almost professional hacker ,and when he learned the story he decided to help her. The police officer could not find any information or anyone to solve the this case, so Jay wants to use his all skills to find the person. They were getting close  friends day by day and, Jay  was falling love with her ,but he did not know that she has the same feeling. Extremely romantic ,emotional  and powerful story between a hacker and  a traumatic girl . I really like this book ,and I would like to read again.

Please Read (if at all possible): The Girl Project by Kate Engelbrecht 

Being  a teenage girls is tremendously  hard in this  century. Your life is much more harder  than everyone , 

and nobody understands your problems and only the friends are the best ."The Girl Project" is very good example book of these girls lives.The author try to give us some ideas about the girls's lives. One-Hundred and sixty-four (13-18 years old )teenage girls are selected  to finish this project and they sent their pictures to show their lives with  disposable camera.Then they answered a thirteen question survey . The survey is about  what they like and what the plan for future. If you look at the book you can see very nice pictures of the girls and flowers .The author  put the all thirteen answers by their original handwriting , and no name with the pictures were mentioned. The most essential part of this book is original handwriting with misspelling words in all parts. Also it was sent extremely good  poems ,and short stories by that girls. These issues are explained that how these girls are strong ,ambitious and they make you think that they can reach to their all goals. The funniest part to me in this book is  most of them want to be photographer in their future. I really liked this book and I think  the adults can be much more open-minded for their teens . If you did not have the book yet,you can visit this website:

 http://blog.urbanoutfitters.com/features/the_girl_project

A Friendship That Changed the World by Penny Coleman

In a world where so many young girls are "against feminism" without thinking of just how priviledged they are because of feminist movements, this book is an important reminder.

I've done my own fair share of research on these two women and their fight for women's suffrage, and the story of their friendship and struggles is inspiring and something young girls everywhere should know about. We have all heard a little something here and there in grade school about Susan B. Anthony, but Elizabeth Cady Stanton is just as important a contributor.

A Quaker woman who grew up in an environment where girls and boys were educated equally, Anthony soon found that the rest of the country didn't share this same view on equality. Educated, sharp, and intimidating, she could command attention in a room filled with men in power. Stanton grew up in a more conservative society, getting married and having kids, but she felt somewhat trapped by this predetermined lifestyle and had some (at the time) radical views on women's equality. Luckily, her husband supported her. While more controversial and opinionated than Anthony (as she wanted to fight for more than just voting right, Anthony reminded her that they need to go one step at a time to be heard), she experienced difficulty delivering her speeches while commanding respect with her docile appearance, much to her frustration.  Anthony doing the majority of the speaking worked well for their cause and Stanton's family obligations.

They made the perfect team, and it's fascinating to see it closely examined. They pushed each other further, and made each other better, their weaknesses and strengths fitting together wonderfully. One of biggest and earliest achievements of the feminist movement, women's suffrage was a long fight and this story is a shining example of progress in our country's history.  These two fought for more than just that, however, and paved the way for the next century's feminist movements.  They were also major supporters of civil rights.

My own feminist interests aside, this book provides some quality insight into the relationship and work of these two women. Having the story neatly gathered together in one book makes learning about them easier for teens, since there is minimal effort needed on their part. There are other books on these two, to be sure, but for this book to be on a list of nominees provides great incentive for us to read about them.  If you are at all interested, read it.  A bit of history can only be good for you.

34 Pieces Of You by Carmen Rodrigues

When Ellie dies of an overdose, she leaves her brother Jake, her best friend Sarah, and Sarah's sister Jessica to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives. Jake lived to protect his sister from anyone, but he failed. Sarah was Ellie's closest friend in their group of four with Jake and Tommy. She was there that very night, overdosing on those same purple pills, and she struggles to understand it herself how this could happen. Jessica, ever the thoughtful one, just wants answers - the truth from Ellie, for once.

The way this novel is written is intriguing. The chapters switch between three points of view, showing us the aftermath and numerous snippets and memories of before the accident. Each chapter starts with a cryptic note written by Ellie to unnamed loved ones. The truth is slowly revealed to the reader, piece by piece, until we have the whole story and an understanding of the eccentric, mysterious character of Ellie.

As you may guess from the summary, depression, self-harm and suicide are themes featured heavily in this novel. Between hopeless love triangles and abusive childhoods, these characters have their fair share of misery. The message of the book is not a morbid or negative one. The author pushes getting help as a realistic and successful solution, and we see how support, both professional and familial, can be so crucial to the future of a young person struggling with the will to survive and face life.  Scenes that could be disturbing or triggering are handled with grace; Rodrigues does not exploit heavy themes for shock value.

Many of the characters in this novel are selfish and not particularly likable, Jessica being one of the few exceptions. The foursome of Ellie, Sarah, Jake, and Tommy is a fairly self-destructive one, especially for Sarah given how it changed her. After the incident, many characters are focused on their own problems and act selfishly because of that. As they drown in their own self-pity, it's easy to stop caring. But you could say that is realistic. These characters don't exist to be liked. They tell a story.

The novel has its merits, and I would not dissuade anyone from reading it, but if you have other books on queue to read, go ahead and read them first if the idea of this book doesn't excite you. If you were interested and just wanted to check and see if its worth reading, then I'd say go for it.  That being said, if you or someone you know suffers from depression or suicidal thoughts, this book can be encouraging and enlightening.

The Night She Disappeared by April Henry

This book is great, perfect for those who like mystery, crime, and paranormal stories. This exciting story is about the kidnapping of a 17 year old girl named Kayla. In the story some of characters communicate their point of view, including the kidnapper's. Based of their descriptions we can experience how friends, family and the community deal with disappearance. This book kept me is suspense the entire time, I was so anxious to find out about what was going happen next, I could not put the book down.

I enjoyed the Author writing style, which was detailed enough but allows the readers to think for themselves and keep a fast story line. The writing of the book was really fast and consistent.   I've read some good books lately but nothing that kept me so addicted like this one. I usually don’t like reading but now can't stop thinking about how the story ended.



I would recommend this book to anyone who likes mystery novels. This one kept me entertained the entire time and moved up so much emotion it is definitely one of my favorite books so far. I am now a huge fan of the Author and definitely I will read more of her books.

Prodigy by Marie Lu

Prodigy by Marie Lu is the second book in the Legend series of novels for young adult reader set in a dystopian world where the ice over Anterctica has melted destabilizing the world causing strife around the globe and two successor states to rise out of the ruins of the former United States of America.

 The book itself begins after the events of Legend with Day and June on the run from the Republic and its thousands of troops trying to find the Patriots a rebel organization bent on reuniting the States. Unlike most novels set in a dystopian world the setting is just that a setting and while it does have a political point the characters and their development drive the story for its own end not to simply explore the world to a greater depth as most dystopian novels such as Huxley's Brave New World or Orwell's 1984 do. Furthermore in part because of these choices and several of the characters and plots within it make it resemble the cyberpunk genre more closely than the before mentioned dystopian genre although there is a large degree of overlap to be noticed both within the book as well as the literary styles.

There are only a few flaws with this book to be spoken of but they still must be addressed to begin with the book will seem disjointed to new readers; the reason as noted before is that the book is a sequel to an earlier book and while many stories begin with the story in motion in this book it creates a bit of a problem. The problem is that during the fast paced early chapters the reader is on overload trying to find out what is going on and more importantly why they should care about these characters, neither question is truly addressed until the character meet the rebel forces far after the beginning of the story. The other issue is that Lu makes several choices that cause the reader to have to suspend their disbelief to be able to enjoy the story, for example while reading the story most will assume the characters are in their early twenties or very late teens Lu places them firmly in their early to mid teens, kids who revolt, fight police and soldiers and two governments and still come out on top. The age issue becomes even more curious when very adult relationships begin to form between several of the characters in this novel and while Lu keeps it age appropriate it can come off as a bit confusing and make the reader believe that the age was chosen arbitrarily for the character to increase sales.

One very interesting aspect of the book is it the parallels that can be drawn between one of the main characters Anden becomes the new leader of the Republic and the rise and fall of Gorbachev of the Soviet Union. To explain a bit farther Gorbachev tried to reform the Soviet Union but a coup by conservatives in the party to stop these changes in fact caused it to finally collapse; in the story Anden gains power after the death of his father leading to a near revolution in the country and reforms promised by him.

The book itself for all of its shortcomings is an excellent read for fans of the series and has gained many positive reviews, for newcomers to the series it can still be an enjoyable read if a bit disjointed at first and by the end of the book you the reader will be attached enough to the plot to seemingly fly through it to the conclusion.

A Friendship that Changed the World by Penny Coleman

                                                  

        
                                                              
     Remember when women could not vote and girls would get less education than men, and when women were made fun of when they wanted to give a speech in public. I wasn't born during this time, but I do remember learning about it in school. The prologue of "A Friendship that Changed the World" invited the reader to "imagine a time in America" when certain things happened and or took place.
    Penny Coleman, the author begins out by introducing the reader to two women, Elizabeth Cady and Susan Anthony. The two met on a street corner in New York during the spring of 1851 and has been attached at the hip every since. She starts off by telling about the childhood of the two women. They were both born into families that came from New England and the two valued education heavily. Susan's family owned a textile mill and Elizabeth's dad became a judge after studying law. The two together were out to reach a goal. They were both determined to create positive change for women's lives everywhere. Elizabeth worked to help fight slavery and Susan was involved with the temperance movement. They were basically fighting for rights that both men and women have today. Some things they were successful with and they failed at other things.    
     As the women were working hard towards reaching their goals, along the way they had negative energy coming their way. Peopled laughed and talked about them and their ideas. Also during this, they lost a lot of friends and they gained some as well. They didn't let anyone or anything get in their way, the two was not giving up.
     Although the two women were not alive during this year women was allowed the same rights as men, they still had a huge influence on the decision. I thought it was a good thing that they worked together and did not give up. The theme behind the story was if you want something bad enough you have to go and get it no matter how long the fight may be, don't give up. Throughout the story, I was getting a little bored because its a book with a lot of facts and not much interaction from the two women. I thought they were very inspiring women and that the book taught me a little more than I knew. Not only were Elizabeth and Susan fighting for women's right, but for the rights and freedom of slaves as well. I would say the book should be read by someone who is really interested in reading non fiction and books based on history. Coleman did a great job.

Looking for Alaska By John Green

Was there ever time in your life, when you felt emotionally empty inside? Did you ever fill that missing spot and had it empty once again? Miles Hunter felt that something was missing in his life and when on to search for what he called “The Great Perhaps”.

The story starts with Miles “Pudge” Halter, high school junior, originally from Florida. Pudge feel that something is missing in his life and decides that he wants to attend Culver Creek High School in Alabama.  One thing that makes Miles Halter special is that he is obsessed and can memorize the last words of famous people. In his first week at Culver Creek, Miles meet a unique and beautiful girl named Alaska. Alaska is known for being rebellious and spontaneous. As week passed, Miles becomes more attracted to Alaska. Miles finally thought that he had found that missing piece of his life, but a tragedy occurs that lives Miles even more confuse about his emotions and Alaska’s last thoughts.

Winner of the 2006 Michael Printz Award, John Green, is the author of this amazing novel.John Green has written several YA novels, including Paper Town, The Fault in Our Stars and many more. Besides being one of the most creative writers, he is also youtube Vlogger. I like how the author divide the book into two parts: the before and the after. It show the dramatic changes that Miles went through before meeting Alaska and after she was gone.

As of today, Looking For Alaska has been and is still being taught in many English High School classes. This novels presents the reader with various theme that could be explore in English class. I think many young reader could relate to the young love of Miles and Alaska. Though this novel contains more profanity language than Green's other novel, most high school student are mature enough to handle the language and sexual content in it.

Like Miles Halter, Green is also a big fan of last words of famous people. Here is short clip that proves his amazing ability:

Here is another short clip of Green's description of Looking For Alaska: