Lisa's Library

Title: Anne Frank. The Diary of A Young Girl 

Author: Anne Frank

no. of pages: 341

Rating: 9/10

I'm sure everyone knows the story of this book.  Anne Frank was a Jew in hiding during World War Two. She got a diary for her thirteenth birthday and starts writting from then. She goes into hiding with her mother, father, sister Margot and another family, Mr and Mrs van Daan and their son Peter. They hide over Annes fathers warehouse were he works. This is the story of how Anne feels when she is in hiding. She tells us of her dreams and fears, of her thoughts and feelings. Everything is made more real because we know that Anne wrote this herself and every word is true. She lives in constant fear of the Nazis and of them being found. They hear of their friends being taken to concentration camps and they fear it will be them next. Anne tells us what it is like to live for two whole years never stepping outside and talking to the same people. Annes diary starts in June 1942 and ends in August 1944 three days before she was captured.

I was very impressed by this book. It is a must-read. If this book had been fictional it wouldn't have the same debth as it does. It mightn't be the most intresting book in the world but it certainly is the most moving. Everything in it is Annes point of view. Anne is only twelve when she goes into hiding and is fourteen comming out. She only lives to fifteen. Out of the eight people in hiding only one survives the concentration camps. That is very sad and makes the book more meaning full.

We get to know Anne very well in this book. We are privy to her every thought over the course of two years and we get to see how he matures and devlopes. In the begining she didn't pay much thought to things but when she goes into hiding we see her pay more detail to things. Anne wasn't anything special. She was just a ordinary teenage girl like me or like you (were) but she lead an extraordinary life and we get to see the stark difference between our lives now and her life then.

The themes in this book are family, friendship, love, war and secrecy.

I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone. The only reason I didn't give this book a 10/10 is because this book wouldn't have been this good if it wasn't real. As you read this book you realise that Anne Frank was going through this and thinking this. SHE wrote this. It is how SHE thought and felt. This is why I thought this book was very good. 

Title: The Dangerous Days Of Daniel X

Author: James Patterson (and Michael Ledwidge)

No. of pages: 285 (writing is big though and chapters small)

Rating: 9/10

This book is about a boy called Daniel. His parents were murdered when he was three and now he has got the job of his parents. His parents were alien hunters and now Daniel has to work his way through the list of wanted aliens on Earth. Daniel has powers inherited from his parents as well as the list. He can create anything he need, he's also strong and fast (he need to be). Daniels ultimate aim is to get revenge against number one on his list, the alien who murdered his parents. Before he does that though he has to take out number 6, a brutal alien called Ergent Seth who wishes to recolonize earth with aliens from his own planet and only Daniel can stop him. Daniel doesn't fully realise how powerful Seth is and he doesn't realise what he got himself into when going after him. Seth tricks Daniel and captures him. He locks Daniel up and brings him into space. How will Daniel get out of this one...?

The characters in this book are very well created and each has a different personality. My favourite would be Daniel as he knows almost nothing about his family but is determined to continue the list despite the dangers. He is dedicated to getting revenge one number one and he is clever and quick thinking in danger.

I know you might think this book is far-fetched and sounds unbelievable but that's what makes it so good. James Patterson is a gifted writer and he really makes this book come alive. I couldn't put it down! I started it on friday and finished it on friday! This book is so real and vivid that you really think that these things are happening. I have read the Maximum Ride books and they were brilliant! James Patterson wrote them also. I am planning on reading more of his books and I would say to everyone to read this book ( and maximun ride). It was great!

Title: The Recuit

Author: Robert Munchamore

No of pages: Around 200

rating: 9/10

This book is about a boy called James. His mother is a small time crook and then she dies and James and his sister, Lauren are put in a home. One day James is thrown into the back of a car. They bring him to CHERUB, a top secret organisation run by the government. They train kids between the ages of 10 and 17 to do under-cover work for the cops. The reason this organisation exists is because kids have one major advantage which is that criminals never suspect that children are spying on them! CHERUB accept James and start training him immedietly. All cherubs are intelligent and they teach him high level subjects. They also teach him how to defend himself if it comes to that on a mission. James starts basic training which main purpous is to make trainees as miserable as possibe so that they can hold out on a mission. James completes his training and is soon sent out on his first mission. James has to make friends with a terrorists children. He has to bug her house, snoop around the files and copy the computer hard drive. Has he got what it takes to stop the largest terrosist massacre in British history?

I really enjoyed this book. It makes you think that anything is possible. The themes in this book are family, friends, adventure and terrorism. I thought it would be a brilliant book for anyone and it gives you a great sence of adventure and there is action in it.

My favourite my character would be Terry, James's friend. She shows great determination basic training even though she failed it before and she and James make a great team. I also lke the fact that she is so good at fighting!

I thought this book was a great, quick read!

Title: Romeo and Juliet

Author: William Shakespeare

Rating: 9/10

I'm sure everyone knows the plot of Romeo and Juliet as it is a well known play but I'll tell you anyway. This play is about a pair of lovers who are ruled by faith. They do everything they can to be together but faith takes a hand and the play ends in tragedy. In Verona there is a feud between Romeo's and Juliet's families, the Capulet's and the Montague's. Anyone who fight on the streets of Verona will be executed. At a party Romeo and Juliet meet and fall in love. They arrange to get married in secret. The next day they get married. Only two people, along with themselves, know of the wedding. They are Juliet's Nurse and Friar Laurence. Later that day rash Tybalt, Juliet's cousin, spots Romeo in Verona. Romeo refuse to fight but Tybalt then slays Romeos friend. Romeo is mad with rage and then fights Tybalt. Tybalt is killed. As punishment Romeo is banished from Verona. Juliet's father then informs her that she will marry the County Paris. Juliet declares to the Friar, the only one that she can trust, that she would sooner die than marry Paris. The Friar devises a plan. He will give Juliet a potion to make her seem dead and come rescue her from her tomb when the potion wears off. The Friar sends a messenger to Romeo where he is in Mantua of the plan. The messenger doesn't get to Romeo and he find out from another, who thinks Juliet is dead, that Juliet has died. Romeo would prefer die than live without Juliet so he purchases a poison and goes to Verona to die beside his wife. Paris is at the tomb when Romeo is and sees Romeo opening the tomb. Paris attacks Romeo and Romeo has no choice but to kill him. Romeo takes the potion and dies beside his wife. Within a couple of seconds after Romeo has died Juliet comes awake and the Friar is there. When she sees her husband dead before her she sees no point of living and stabs herself in the chest. She dies also. The Friar tells the Prince what has conspired. Only through the deaths of their children do the two families see that there is no point in fighting.

I thought the characters in this play were interesting as they were all different and had their faults. I also liked the characters as there were no good people or bad people which is like real life. My favourite character would be Juliet because she is so young yet shows the maturity of somebody much older. She faces some of her greatest fears just to be with Romeo. She is very devoted to him as she is afraid to marry Paris for fear of not being a good wife to Romeo. Peoples view of women at this time are proven wrong by Juliet. They saw women the weaker sex. This is true physically but Juliet is a lot stronger than Romeo mentally. We know this when Juliet takes the potion. She is prepared to abandon her family just to be with Romeo. She is also prepared to wake up in a tomb with the dead body of her cousin beside her, putting full faith in Romeo to rescue her. She shows us what it's like to be brave.

My least favourite character is Friar Laurence. I thought well of him up until the last scene where he abandons Juliet. He knows a lot about potions and tries to put his skills into helping Romeo and Juliet. He believes they love each other but he doesn't marry them because of that. He only does it because he hopes it will end the feud. This hints that he wants to be praised for being the one who stopped the feud therefore raising his standing in society. He might want fame and glory. What he does does stop the feud in the end but not in the way that was intended! He helps Juliet with giving her the potion. It was a far-fetched plan with little chance of success and it wasn't fully thought out but his heart was in the right place. He proved himself to be a coward when he said he would put Juliet in a nunnery. He just says that so that he can hide her away and everyone can forget about her therefore saving his own neck. In the end he is caught fleeing and he tells the whole story. His is only pardoned because he is a holy man, which I think is unfair. He didn't do anything wrong but this shows that even if he did do something wrong he is punished less than other men.

This play ended very suddenly but I thought it was good this way as events happen that quickly in reality. I doubt that the feud will be ended for long as even in the last few sentences the two men are in competition with each other. Verona is just too small for two big families like the Montagues and the Capulets. They will never forget that their hatred caused the death of their children so I think that will keep the feud under control in the future.

The themes were good as there wasn't too much love. That would have been too soppy and wouldn't have held the attention of the audience. I like the theme of betrayal to Juliet in the end because she was truly alone and it helped develop a close bond to her which made her death all the sadder. I liked the devotion in the play. It showed that love and full devotion can be both a gift and a curse. A gift because they know that they always have each other no matter what, well except death maybe. A curse because their love a friendship can pull families and friends apart and they are forced to chose and if one dies then the other will have absolutely nobody to love or be loved by.There was a bit too much death but I suppose that is why it is a tragedy play. Five people die within the space of a couple of days which adds to the effect of the tragedy.

The play was good but it wasn't good to be reading it from a book I think you would get a better feel for it if you saw it preformed. You couldn't get the true idea of their love and the sadness of their death. Shakespeare had a great gift for describing things. He uses the most unusual way to describe what the characters and uses the way you can only see what is happening through their speech to his advantage. He was good at keeping the audiences' attention by getting straight into the action at the start and by not keeping the play all doom and gloom. He also show great passage of time as you can feel they days go by. Shakespeare didn't pay great attention to detail. He added in things that seem like they as just an afterthought. I didn't like the way the people in the play speak as nobody could say a sonnet in their normal speech though it did add effect to Act 3 Scene 5 when Romeo and Juliet speak in a sonnet to each other. I didn't like the idea that so much evolved around faith. Yes, I can see the way it was faith that their love would end in tragedy because of the feud, but love a first sight. I don't believe in that. Also they got married the day after they met, a bit far-fetched don't you think?

I thought the play was well worth reading but I would sooner watch it on stage than read it.  

"For never was a story of more woe, Than this of Juliet and her Romeo"

Title: Hacker

Author: Malorie Blackman

No. of pages: 200

Rating: 8/10

This is about a girl called Vicky. Her father is accused of robbing the bank where he works. Vicky knows her father didn't do it but how can she prove that to the bank. Her father thought her lots of things about computering as that was his job in the bank. She knows his password to get into the banks system. What's stopping her? Maybe she'l find something that the bank missed. With the help of her brother, Gib, she tries to find out who set up her dad. As she descovers more clues on the computer she finds out that only someone who works in the bank could have taken the money. But why put it into her dads account? When her dad was arrested they shut down the progamme stopping hackers. They must have wanted to get Vickey's dads progamme out of the way. When Vickey finds out who did it she can't believe it. She's in deep danger because they know that she's on to them. Can Vickey and Gib find proof of who took the money before they get away with it?

I thought this book was good. IT had a good plot and you wanted to find out what really happened. There are quite a few twists and turns which is good also. You find yourself guessing who behind it all which wakes the truth quite a suprise! What I didn't like about it was that it had to much to do with computers and was hard to follow that way as I didn't know how she got the information she got.

My favourite character is GIb because even though he knows little to do with computers he is still determined todo wat ever it takes to clear his fathers name.

 The themes in this book are family, computers, money and friendships

This book is ok, a small quick read.