Voyager Book Club

God Is In the Pancakes, by Robin Epstein

2011-10-03T10:53:00.000-07:00

Grace Manning, 15, gets her first job at a local nursing home as a candy striper. She starts to enjoy her job when she meets Frank Sands, a resident with Lou Gehrig's disease. He teaches her to play poker, and is a surrogate for her father, who recently walked out on her family. Their relationship builds, and they have fun together in spite of their surroundings. And Frank asks a favor of her—"to help him die." Her inner struggle about this request is played out against her everyday concerns of school and relationships with her sister, mother, and male best friend who is slowly becoming something more. This is a great story that asks difficult questions and doesn't shy away from direct answers, or the reality that answers may not exist.

Th1rteen R3asons Why

2011-03-18T05:21:00.000-07:00

Hey guys! This is Zeb here. I'm this year's Voyager president, and from time to time, I'll be posting reviews of books I dig. A book I've been reading lately is Th1rteen R3asons Why, by Jay Asher.

Th1rteen R3asons Why, by Jay Asher, is a fictional novel about a teenage boy dealig with the recent suicide of his friend, Hannah Baker. Hannah records thirteen cassettes, and they act as a suicide note to specific people in Hannah's life. On her tapes, Hannah explains the exact details as to why she chose to end her life. She refers to the series of events as a "snowball effect", because each incident occurs because of the previous.

Her stories are about everything from "peeping toms" to crimes she witnessed, but didn't report to the police. In her notes, Hannah explains how every event exacerbated the situation, and why she chose certain events to talk about. In Asher's novel, the reader follows along as Clay listens to these tapes, and listens to his thoughts, feelings, and actions as he struggles to cope with what he's listening to.

The reader may ask, "Why would Clay listen to the tapes if he can't cope with it? And why do the tapes continue if the stories are that bad?"The answers to these questions are explained in depth within the novel. In short, however, Clay continues to listen to Hannah's tapes because he wants the change to truly understand the reasons why a girl he thought he'd never be able to hear speak again decided living life wasn't good enough. The tapes continue to be passed around the list because Hannah threatens the listeners with a second set of tapes if they stop listening to her tapes. This second set of tapes contains information which could incriminate several people on her list.

Overall, Th1rteen R3asons Why is, in my humble opinion, one of the most well written and entertaining books ever nominated for a Georgia Peach Award. Without a doubt, this is one of the best books I've read in quite some time. I can safely say that you'll want to read it several times over to get the full effect of this book.

Zeb Ott, over and out!

Evermore by Allison Noel

2009-09-09T11:01:00.000-07:00

hello again!!! C.R. here to tell you that Allison Noel has done it again. She has yet again written a book to be loved by teens and adults alike. Evermore is about a teen girl named Ever who has recently been orphanized. Though, sadly, things like that happen all the time, she is a little different. she not only lost her parents that fatal day she gained the ability to read mind and see peoples auras. this book gets an even better twist when a mysterious and very good looking guy shows up, he has no aura!! This book is AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Unwind by Neal Shusterman

2009-09-02T11:53:00.000-07:00

hello Bloggers!!! C.R. here again to tell you of a HAVE TO READ book. The book Unwind by Neal Shusterman is a fantastic read and one for anyone, whatever you enjoy. this book is set the future of the world where if your parents choose they can have you unwound. this process is something of nightmares but you will have to read to find out why. I am a bookworm to the highest extent and this book was so good i read it twice. So look it up and enjoy. :)

Oh.My.Gods by Tera Lynn Childs

2009-09-02T11:26:00.000-07:00

Hello Bremen High School!!! C.R. here to tell you about a wonderful book that I read. The book is Oh.My.Gods by Tera Childs. This book is very good but very girly. The young teenage girl in the story faces a sudden upheaval when her mother remarries to a Greek man. Her mother forces her to move to Greece with her (at the start of her senior year no less). From there she learns of the interesting truth of the island and of herself. This book is an easy read and one worth reading.

2009-09-02T11:25:00.000-07:00

Deadline, by Chris Crutcher

2009-08-27T07:39:00.000-07:00

This year Deadline was chosen as one of the Georgia Peach
Award books. The back of the book says…

Just before his senior year, Ben Wolf is diagnosed with a rare, incurable leukemia. At 18, he has legal rights to keep the news to himself until he’s ready to reveal it. With only his doctor and therapist in on the secret, Ben sets out to live an entire lifetime in a year.

While reading this book you can’t help but ask yourself, ” if I had one year to live, what would I do?” If you do not like sad endings you may want to skip this book! Even though you knew what was going to happen, it is still a sad ending. This book teaches us to live every day as if it was our last. It is a quick read but its full of surprises. Overall I recommend this book!