The Running Dream By Wendelin Van Draanen

In honour of cross country season starting I thought I would reread my favorite book ever.

WARNING: THIS BOOK MAY CAUSE YOU TO CRY.

This book is probably one of my favorites because the girl is a runner. But that's not really why I like it. I like this book because the main character, Jessica, is faced with a tragic accident that forces her to stop running forever, but she uses that accident to make new friends, and inspire people to look past their mistakes, because anything is possible.

Jessica is a track and field runner, one of the best in her region. She gets a new PR,( for those of you who aren't runners, that means personal record) , and that same evening her track bus crashes. One of her teammates dies, and she is forced to amputate her leg.

She must learn at first how to reuse her leg all together, but then she must learn how to use a prosthetic leg. She's so used to running, And it's going to be hard for her, knowing that she used to run a quarter mile in top notch times, and now can't even walk.

During part of the book, school begins. Jessica is in a wheelchair at the time, and must take the wheelchair ramps all over the building. While doing so; she makes a new friend, named Rosa. Rosa is a young high school girl around the same age as Jessica, but Rosa however will forever be in a wheelchair, whereas Jessica will be able to leave hers in a few weeks. Rosa has a condition known as Cerebral Palsy, which causes a loss of use in her legs.

Rosa once told Jessica in the book, that she wanted to run, and as impossible as it seems, both girls make it work.

This story is truly inspiring. It shows you how you can live through something tough, but make it work. It also shows you that after losing something you love, you can, in the end, find it.


I love this book so much, and I would recommend it to anyone who may be going through a tough time, it's definitely inspiring and heartwarming.<3

Heaven is For Real by Todd Burpo

I absolutely love this book. This book is a non-fiction book, about a first hand experience of a small boy who went to heaven. The book is written by the little boy's father.

This boy was an almost 4 year old boy, son of a preacher, who was admitted into the hospital with complaints of appendix troubles. While he was undergoing surgery in the hospital his soul left his small body, and ascended into heaven.

His parents, not knowing about this were surprised when he told them about all the angels, the people, and even Jesus Christ himself.

This is a good book for anyone who would have any questions as to what Heaven was like. It's a wonderful book, and it surely answered all of the questions I had, had.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone, young or old!!

Insatiable by Eve Eliot

The definition of Insatiable, is something impossible to satisfy, such as a want or need, that's the connection made to this book.

This book, is quite a sad book. It's the story of four girls, each having a different eating disorder, and how they live their daily lives.

Now I don't have an eating disorder, but I CAN relate to these girls. I have self image issues, but don't we all really have something we hate about ourselves? It's something we all can connect with, it's just that the girls in this book decide to deal with it in unhealthy ways, that are going to negatively effect and change their lives.

This book shows the four girls, and the consequences they have from their disorders. Eating disorders are not something to take lightly... They can ruin your lives. I think this book shows us that, and it also shows us that we should be happy with ourselves, because there is no better You, that you could be.

I would recommend this book to anyone who feels that they aren't good enough, or to anyone with a low self esteem, it will make you change your mind about that. I know it really changed my outlook on things. : )

The Brain Full of Holes

At a recent trip to the local library, I decided to pick out a book... Now our library is a pretty good size, but it doesn't have very many books. I picked out a random book and thought it sounded pretty good, and this is the book I chose.

This book is a mystery teen novel. The detective in this story is actually a teen himself. The detective, "The brain," must figure out why the holes from his cheese are missing. At the same time he must find the father of a young woman whom his brother has become smitten with.

So as this is a mystery novel, there is also a little romance brewing.

There are several parts to this large mystery, the missing holes in the cheese, the girl's missing father, a butler with two heads, and many odd goings ons. After quite a bit of investigation, it is believed that somehow the government could be involved.

Are the cause of these goings ons a government investigation gone awry? Or rather just some strange happenings?

Here's a hint, you can find out by reading this wonderful book!! ; )

A prodigy has passed.

I am very sorry to announce that the world renowned author Ray Bradbury has passed away. If you're not familiar with his works, you really should be. He wrote such books as, Fahrenheit 451, The Illustrated Man, and Farewell To Summer. Mr. Bradbury wrote mostly science fiction, and futuristic things. He however, also wrote plays and short stories as well.

Mr. Bradbury once said, "Don't think. Thinking is the enemy of creativity. It's self-conscious, and anything self-conscious is lousy. You can't try to do things. You simply must do things." So as you can see, he was quite the intelligent, creative man, and even though he's passed, his many EVENTFUL writings will live on forever.

SLOB by Ellen Potter

This book is the first book that our local book club decided to take on. It is a hartwarming story about how you should NOT judge a book by its cover, because you never know the places it's been.

Throughout the book we follow a young, somewhat overweight boy, named Owen. Now as we find out Owen is quite the genius. So smart even, that he isn't allowed to tell other people his IQ for his mother's fear that they'll feel stupid. Owen hasn't ever been one to have friends, he's sort of a loner at school. People always make fun of Owen, and sort of downgrade him because of his size. However, Owen has one happy moment each day, one moment of bliss where he can just smile and say, this is nice; That one moment is where he eats his three Oreo cookies every day at lunch. Soon after he starts eating his cookies... the begin to dissapear. It is up to Owen to find some way to catch the person stealing his cookies.

One other interesting character we meet in the book, is Owen's sister "Jeremy" whose actual name is Caitlin, but rather prefers to dress and ACT like a boy. As you see she is a member of the GWAB club, otherwise known as girls who are boys.

Early on in the book, Owen mentions a certain invention of his that he's been working on, it is called "Nemisis." It's not until later however, that we find out the mystery behind Nemisis, and what it does.

Another person throughout the book, that tends to get judged a lot, is the new kid at school. His name is Mason Ragg. He seems to be a scary, bully type of person who is very anti-social. But later on in the book, we find out that there is a different story to this Mason kid. He has his own stories to tell.

This book is a very good fictional book, and it teaches us all about judgement, and bullying. Both of which are very bad things. This book is also a quick read, it's just a short little book, and it's very easy to understand. This is actually the second time I have read this book, but it's still just as good as when I first checked it out!! :P

Guess who took a trip to Half Priced Books today?? : ) Oh and by the way... I have to put a halt on reading "The house of the scorpion." We started our local summer book club on Monday.. And I just can't concentrate on multiple books at once!! The book as well, was getting kind of slow... unfortunately, as badly as I wanted to enjoy the book, I just couldn't... : /

Making Progress

It's taking me quite a while to get into this second book, due to the business of summer, But slowly, and surely, I shall finish this book. The book I'm currently reading is "The House of The Scorpion" by Nancy Farmer. I'm nearly half way through, but I will eventually finish this thing.: )

So far this is yet another book, about strange DNA, and has a science fiction genre. In this book however, I see a deeper meaning. The main character, Matt, is a clone of a nearly 140 year old man. The book is showing how Matt grows up in a society that doesn't accept him. Clones are frowned upon in this society, because all other clones are injected pre-birth in order to kill all emotions. However Matt is different ... Matt has emotions, and he also has a brain. As he grows older we see that he attends school, and learns just like the rest of the kids, however he must be home schooled because people don't accept a clone.

The deeper meaning evident in this book, is judgement, people judge Matt because of who he is, and that's just wrong. I kind of understand where Matt's story is coming from however. Today's society tends to be the same way. We judge people based on who they are, what they look like, or what they wear. Those who are judged feel left out, just like Matt in the book. He feels left out, however he still manages to make friends, and eventually fall in love.

So far this book would be one I would recommend, especially if you like to read about other societies, and fictional circumstances, I quite enjoy it so far... So I guess I'll read on, and read more about Matt... And as always, Happy reading : )

The Virals by Kathy Reichs

I started reading this book, due to my addiction with this author, she lives a double life as a forensic anthropologist, and writes books and a show in her spare time, this one, being her first for young adults. I'd never read another book by her, however I watched her show that she writes, I'm sure you've seen it on Fox, it's called "Bones." It's about this forensic anthropologist who works with her everyday surroundings and just manages to live day in and day out, when she's madly in love with her coworker of an FBI agent.

But anyway, enough about the show, onto the book. This book is actually the beginning of a trilogy. I found that this book was a combination of several genres. It was a little bit sci-fi, and a little of a mystery. Now trying not to tell you the entire plot line, I'll tell you a little bit about what it's about.

The Virals is a book about four children who live on a deserted island. The main character, Tory Brennan, is fourteen years old. Tory has always been one for adventures, and with a Forensic
Anthropologist as an aunt, and a Marine Biologist as a father, I'm sure that's not too hard to find. Tory's mother died as she was a little girl. She then had to go live on Loggerhead Island with her father whom she's never known in her life. Loggerhead Island, is where she befriends three other children around the same age, who all happen to be major lovers of science and adventure; Which later on in the book, seems to get them in a little bit of trouble.

After making friends with a stray wolfdog, an animal crossbred as half wolfe, half dog, the children end up finding some things out that changed their lives forever. They steal the wolfdog from a secret lab, thinking the lab was going to do testing on it, however it was them they were protecting. The wolfdog contained a serious strand of parvovirus, that is very infectious to humans, and will change their DNA forever.

Along with this adventure, there's one more thing to add to this plot twist. The children find a dead body on a neighboring island, and choose to keep it quiet from the officials, now with the help of no one, they must solve this nearly 40 year old murder, and find the killer which may just be after them as well. The only thing they have going for them, is their dog like senses, which assist in finding evidence in the case, as well as the murderer.

This book is definitely one I would reccomend. It's a suspenseful story, with a little bit of a twist. The story as well, is one that keeps the reader engaged right from the get go. As the plot unwinds the reader may find his or herself dropping their chin from time to time, and maybe even feeling a little frightened because with the Virals, you never know what's going to happen at any given time. As for the author, she is well written, and definitely knows what she is talking about with a world full of crime around her. You can most certainly bet I'll be reading more from her in the future... Happy Reading : )

The beginning of a blog.

I guess I'd like to start off this blog by telling you what it's all about. My blog, Through the pages, is a blog where I read books, and sort of write reviews on them. This blog really started out as a way for me to occupy myself during this abnormally long summer break, but I hope I can extend it past summer, and maybe continue to blog later on as well. The books I will be reading can range in genre, anything from mystery, to horror, maybe even a little romance or non-fiction. Most books I read however, will generally be those for young adults. Anyway, I hope you enjoy my blog, and might find a few books that interest to your fancy...remember, you'll always make it through the pages, but you won't enjoy what you don't read. : )