Book: The Red Umbrella

Author: Christina Diaz Gonzalez

Genre: Historical Fiction

Page Count: 284

Lucía Álvarez is fleeing Cuba with her brother, (because of the communist revolution) leaving her parents, schoolmates, and best friend behind. She doesn’t know when she’ll be back, only that it will be soon. And even that assurance is beginning to fade.

This book was very interesting and I learned a lot about what it was like for people living in Cuba, and people who escaped to the U.S. However, it didn’t have much of a storyline and was a little boring, which is not what I want from a novel such as this.

The end of the book seemed to be too perfect. It had too much of a Happily Ever After, without a full explanation as to how it got there. It also didn’t to give any hints whatsoever as to what might come next for the main characters.

If you like historical fiction books that teach more than entertain, you should read this book.

Book: Romeo and Juliet

Author: William Shakespeare

Genre: Theatre

Page Count: ???

The only other Shakespeare I’ve read is The Tempest, and in comparison, I thought this read a lot smoother. I knew what was going on (most of the time) and the storyline was simply better.

Although it was entertaining, people made a lot of stupid choices I don’t think they would ever make in real life. Not just the famous deaths (all of them), but many of the decisions that led there. One primary example is Friar Lawrence; He thought it was a good idea to have Juliet fake her death, and then try to tell Romeo the plan by mail instead of telling him in person. :/

In addition to reading Romeo and Juliet, I also watched two different renditions of the tale: Romeo+Juliet, and West Side Story. They were both very good, but I enjoyed West Side Story more. Another additional side-project was reading Romeo and/or Juliet, by Ryan North. This is a choose your own adventure book. The only thing that I’ve read by Ryan North is the Squirrel Girl Comics (awesome btw) so this was vastly different. It was a lot of fun.

Book: The Green Glass Sea

Author: Ellen Klages

Genre: Historical Fiction

Page Count: 324

Dewey Kerrigan is moving to where her father is working: Los Alamos, New Mexico. Suze Gordon lives with her mother and father in a temporary town in Los Alamos, New Mexico. Her parents are rarely home and her life is anything but normal. But when the two girls meet, the world turned upside down once again.

While the main character of this book was probably Dewey, I felt like it was just as much Suze’s book. It was really interesting to see the two girls sort of grow around one another like a spiral slowly growing closer.

This book was about the Manhattan Project, but it was really about the hidden city and the people who lived there, not the project itself. It was really interesting to learn about what life was like for them, especially from the perspectives of two children.

I really liked this book and you should read it!!!