Literate Girl in an Illiterate World

The Help By Kathyrn Stockett Queer, There, and Everywhere By Sarah Prager It's Not Like It's a Secret By Misa Sugiura Let's Talk about Love By Claire Kahn The Poet X By Elizabeth Acevado Turtles All the Way Down By John Green Paper Towns By John Green All American Boys By Jason Reynolds American Street By Izi Zoboi Simon v. the Homo Sapiens Agenda By Becky Albertalli (reread) Leah on the Offbeat By Becky Albertalli Our Own Private Universe By Robin Talley Love, Hate, and Other Filters By Samira Ahmed The Sun is Also a Star By Nicola Yoon Piecing Me Together By Reneé Watson (reread) Bad Feminist By Roxanne Gay A None's Story By Corinna Nicolau Between the World and Me By Ta-Nehsi Coates Fire and Fury By Micheal Wolff When They Call You a Terroist By Patrisse Khan-Cullors The Awakening By Kate Chopin The Underground Railroad By Colson Whitehead Homegoing By Yaa Gyasi Kaleidoscope Song By Fox Benwell Jesus and the Chur...

I hate everyone but you By Gaby Dunn and Allison Raskin Bad Feminist By Roxanne Gay Fun Home By Alison Bechdel Dear Martin By Nic Stone The Hate U Give By Angie Thomas

for the historical nerd  1. The Lies We Tell Ourselves By Robin Talley  2. Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo By Hayden Herrera  3. Queer, There, and Everywhere: 23 People Who Changed the World By Sarah Prager   for the romantic 1. Everything Leads to You By Nina La Cour  2. You Know Me Well By Nina La Cour and David Levithan  3. The Upside of Unrequited By Becky Albertalli  for those who like sadness, drama, and cute characters  1. None of the Above By E. W. Gregorio 2. What We Left Behind By  Robin Talley  3. George By Alex Gino  4. Ariostotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe By Benjamin Alire Sáenz 5. Simon v. Homo Sapiens Agenda By Becky Albertalli  6. We are Okay By Nina La Cour 

Born Digital: How Children Grow Up in a Digital Age By John Palfrey and Urs Gasser Anna Karenina By Leo Tolstoy Nectar in a Sieve By Kamala Markandaya The Outsiders By S.E. Hinton The Gentlemen's Guide to Vice + Virtue By Mackenzi Lee Ramona Blue By Julie Murphy The Improbable Theory of Ana + Zak By Brian Katcher

Books that will make you think Belzhar By Meg Wolitzer We are Okay By Nina LaCour This song will save your life By Leila Sales Before I Fall By Lauren Oliver None of the Above By I. W. Gregorio The DUFF By Kody Keplinger Books that will bring a smile to your face Simon v. the homo sapiens agenda By Becky Albertalli Wonder By R.J. Palacio Beauty Queens By Libba Bray You Know Me Well By Nina LaCour and David Levithan Hold me Closer By David Levithan Every Last Word By Tamara Ireland Stone Books that will make you swoon Fangirl By Rainbow Rowell The Unexpected Everything By Morgan Matson Everything Leads to You By Nina LaCour Books that will keep you turning the pages George By Alex Gino The Wrath + the Dawn By Reneé Ahdieh Holding up the Universe By Jennifer Niven Between Shades of Grey By Ruta Sepetys

This book did a lot, both plot and character-wise and just for me personally. It covered so much plot, theme, and character growth for just 250 pages. The writing made this book go by fast, in a way that hid how much the characters were changing and how much you were learning and questioning as an individual due to the plot. When I set the book down, just comprehending what I had just read, my mind was blown that THIS WHOLE AMAZING, WELL-ROUNDED STORY took place only in one week. The writing was seamless, despite that fact that it was written in alternating perspectives and by two different authors. Hiding and denying and being afraid is no way to treat love. Love demands bravery. No matter the occasion, love expects us to rise. - p. 243 The theme of this book was so beautifully subtle, but also struck so close to home. The theme tells you not to plan because life is supposed to surprise you really makes you rethink your life. However, that wasn't it; the plot also ...

Nectar in a Sieve By Kamala Markandaya Made You Up By Francesca Zappia Hold Me Closer By David Levithan The DUFF By Kody Keplinger Mosquitoland By David Arnold #girlboss By Sophia Amoruso Anna Karenina By Leo Tolstoy How to Be Bad By E. Lockhart, Lauren Myracle, and Sarah Mlynowski Nick + Norah's Infinite Playlist By David Levithan and Rachel Cohn Looking For Alaska By John Green Love me some good beach reads.

Marin hasn’t spoken to anyone from her old life since the day she left everything behind. No one knows the truth about those final weeks. Not even her best friend, Mabel. But even thousands of miles away from the California coast, at college in New York, Marin still feels the pull of the life and tragedy she’s tried to outrun. Now, months later, alone in an emptied dorm for winter break, Marin waits. Mabel is coming to visit, and Marin will be forced to face everything that’s been left unsaid and finally confront the loneliness that has made a home in her heart.   I want to preface this review by saying: I have read a book by Nina LaCour before and it absolutely blew me away. I walked into this book with extremely high expectations. Those expectations were not only met, but they have been blown away. How I rave about this book with the utmost sincerity is because I truly loved this book to pieces. WOW. Just wow. It's been quite awhile since a book pleaded with ...

george  // by alex gino slight spoilers? kind of? idk just read the book. wait no, read the first paragraph of this review and then read the book.  I love love love this book so much. this book is so sweet and innocent and i just love it so much. i really liked the characters in this book. they were all very raw, but also very good people. all of the people in this book are very accepting after they come to understand what the other people are going through and who they are. kelly, the MC's best friend was literally the sweetest person ever. she didn't judge her best friend, was supportive of her identity and was so damn strong for an elementary student. i also really liked how kelly's passion for photography was written. it was beautiful and also interesting to see such passion in such a young child. i felt that the book was the perfect balance of raw and sugar coated material. the bullies that Melissa faced made her journey realistic, but i also...

holding up the universe // jennifer niven  since i haven't finished a book that i wasn't reading for school since august of 2016, finishing this book today felt like being welcomed back home. i love lazy saturdays and i love good books.  i want to preface this review by just stating this: i read this book awkwardly so this will be an awkward review. i read this book in three sitting over the course of two months. so... yeah, i don't remember the actual begining of the book too well, but i do remember how i felt when reading it. (like that quote!) i remember feeling an immense happiness and just sheer joy when reading this book. i would fly through literally hundreds of pages in such a short amount of time. i remember being obsessed with the plot and in love with the book.  i also really, really, really liked libby. libby was extremely smart, kind, funny, and strong. i loved how down to earth she was and how she got mad and did stupid things and...

Journaling is fun and is proven (by me and some scientific studies that I am too lazy to look up) to improve your mental health. So you should do it more! And today, I am gonna make it easier for you to be mentally healthier.  1. INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE PAGE 2. write about where you want to be in 5 years... GOALS!!! 3. letter to your future self 4. collage random papers you have 5. write a poem about your feelings at the moment 6. playlists for random feelings you have 7. write about your day 8. write about a book/movie/podcast/song you have been LOVING recently 9. write out all the lyrics to your favorite song in an artsy way to please thy aesthetic. 10. plan something you wanna do 11. research something that interests you (or something that makes you REALLY bored that you have to do for school) and take notes on it 12. write a to-do list because you lost all other paper 13. write about politics so you get it out and don't end up offending your great aunt berth...

I never watched iCarly as a kid, but most of my friends did. I always felt a bit out a place when people would not only talk but rave about iCarly and how it impacted them as a child, even if that just be by inspiring them to not just go with the flow. Recently, I started watching iCarly for the first time. I have made it all the way through season 1 and halfway through season two in about a week. Why have I watched so much iCarly in so little time? First of all, it is very addictive and hysterically funny. But, I have a deeper reason for the recent obsession that "It's really, really good." I feel a weird sense of nostalgia when watching iCarly, even though I never watched iCarly as a kid. I guess I feel a sense of nostalgia for the content and the messages that iCarly does send. I would have realized that I can be myself and be creative and have friends all at the same faster. I also feel a certain warmness and feeling of home when watching iCarly, like the cont...

In January, I don't remember doing too much this month. However, I was supposed to go on the Pro-Life trip, and then ended up not going. I also went though some major changes with my group of friends. In February, I was accepted into the school that I currently attend. This was a big deal for me at the time because I was so excited to leave my old school. I also started playing lacrosse and learned how to knit. In March, I started journaling and just had a lot of fun. In April, I was in my school's production of Peter Pan . I also went to finals for my speech team. I was also confirmed in April! In May, I graduated!! I was so excited to leave behind my old school and start new things. I also started a group journal with some of my best friends from my old school so we can still keep in touch well despite going to different schools now. I honestly cannot say enough how much that journal and those friends have changed my life. In June, I took a summer class at my ...

this Friday will be rough. the only  reason i am not crying is because i know people help make positive changes when they don't like something or when they are uncomfortable. the new president of the united states will make me uncomfortable to live in the USA. i don't like the idea of him as president. i know that love trumps hate. that doesn't mean that i will protest his presidency or instigate arguments with people i know over politics. no, it means that we all need to come together, not just as Americans, but as people. we need to recognize that we are all people, and a new leader wont change that. we cant let a new leader make us angry and rash and judgmental. WE NEED TO UNITE AGAINST A COMMON ENEMY (not donald trump, but): HATRED AND THE DARK DECISIONS WE MAKE WHEN WE ARE FEARFUL AND ANGRY. i am not telling you to look on the bright side and i am not saying that i like the president-elect. what i am saying is that i want us to use this united passion to create g...

The Eighth Story. Nineteen Years Later. Based on an original new story by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany, a new play by Jack Thorne, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is the eighth story in the Harry Potter series and the first official Harry Potter story to be presented on stage. The play will receive its world premiere in London’s West End on July 30, 2016. It was always difficult being Harry Potter and it isn’t much easier now that he is an overworked employee of the Ministry of Magic, a husband and father of three school-age children. While Harry grapples with a past that refuses to stay where it belongs, his youngest son Albus must struggle with the weight of a family legacy he never wanted. As past and present fuse ominously, both father and son learn the uncomfortable truth: sometimes, darkness comes from unexpected places. brief synopsis taken from goodreads.com This is one of those books that after you read it, you just can't seem to stop ...

Do you journal daily? Or maybe do you journal every-other-daily? Or maybe do you even have no set schedule for journaling? Do you just journal when you feel in a journaly mood? Or maybe you journal when you need to empty your mind? Or when you need to find clarity? Or maybe when you just need to vent for whatever reason? I personally don't have a set schedule for journaling. I journal when I feel like it, when I need clarity, or when I am in a mood to write a lot. Or maybe I don't feel like writing a lot and I still journal, just more artistically than other days. I have noticed that how I journal varies dependent on my mood and what I feel like talking about. I talked about a few different types of journaling in my last post about journaling. I have recently noticed that when I am stressed out or I just can't find words for what I am feeling, I tend to do more artistic or collage journaling. When I want to get right to the point about what I am thinking, or feeli...

Do you have any passions? Everyone has something that they love more than anything else and are in pure nirvana while doing. We all have something that we excel at or at least really, really enjoy doing. Writing is my pure nirvana. However, I feel like I never have time to actually write. What about you? Do you ever feel like you have so many mundane things to do that you don't have time for your passions, the things that make you feel truly alive? I have always felt this to some extent, but never to the extent that I now feel. Recently, I have made an effort to try to write more, and sadly, I have failed to epic proportions. I have always wanted to write a book and had multiple ideas for one, but I have never actually sat down to write the book. In the past few weeks, I have tried to get to know some of the characters or plot the storyline for some of my ideas before summer rolls around and I actually have time to write a the whole first draft of a book. During the...

How does the formatting of a book affect your reading experience? I usually enjoy unique formatting in my books, but I recently read the first half of Illuminae before putting it down. I quit reading Illuminae because of the formatting. While the whole book being composed of lab reports, wikipedia articles, and IM messages was a cool concept, it made the story hard to follow. Many people enjoyed Illuminae because of the unique formatting, and others enjoyed it because they thought it had a good story. The formatting, for me made the story drag and I had no idea what was going on until about page 150. The only part I enjoyed was the interviews with some of our characters because it was only then that you really got to see the characters. I enjoy both books that have unique formatting and books that have traditional formatting. However, I think that if a book does have unique formatting, the formatting should add to the story, not take away from the story. When I was reading I...

The Siren By Kiera Cass How It Stacks Up.... //★★★★☆//90%//327 pages// So What's It About? Kahlen is a Siren, bound to serve the Ocean by luring humans to watery graves with her voice, which is deadly to any human who hears it. Akinli is human—a kind, handsome boy who's everything Kahlen ever dreamed of. Falling in love puts them both in danger . . . but Kahlen can't bear to stay away. Will she risk everything to follow her heart? My Thoughts First of all, I want to say that I have wanted to read this book ever since I read that she self published it in her author flap on the back of The Selection . I searched for it EVERYWHERE, but The Siren could not be found, even on amazon. So, I sadly waited (actually I completely forgot about it, but that's besides the point) until I heard that it was going to be published. Since I'm cheap and I didn't want to pay full price for the book (or any price), I didn't preorder it. Later, I found The...

Everything Leads to You By: Nina La Cour //★★★★★//100%//312 pages// So What's It About? Just out of high school, Emi Price is a talented young set designer already beginning to thrive in the L.A. film scene. But her artistic eye has failed her in one key area: helping her to design a love life that’s more than make-believe. Then she finds a mysterious letter at an estate sale, and it sends her chasing down the loose ends of a movie icon’s hidden life. And along the way, she finds Ava, and at long last, Emi’s own hidden life begins to bloom. My Thoughts All of the characters were very real, and you could tell that Nina had spent a lot of time fleshing out her characters, even before she began writing the story. I admire authors that do that because they really get to know every aspect of their character's personality, even things that aren't needed for the story, because it really shows when authors really know their characters, not just the tip of the...