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This book is about a girl, Maxine Moody, and her missing brother, Derek. He has been missing for ten months and no one knows why. Maxine’s parents are very sad and show no attention to Maxine, she feels forgotten. Maxine’s dad had identified Derek’s body and he had the same clothes as when he disappeared. He was now dead and not missing. But the weird thing was that Maxine had received a call from someone who called himself “Derek”, and she always felt someone was watching her. Maxine chose to not tell her mother, that should just make her crazy, what if it was not Derek and just some stupid kid joking? Maxine wishes that Derek was dead so her mother and father could pay some attention to her, something that they never had done in ten months. Derek was bullied in school, was that a reason that he disappeared? Or not?

Maxine was a girl that not had many friends. Her” friends sympathy had turned to annoyance at her behavior” (Page 21). Maxine’s teacher, Miss Ross, was the only one who understood Maxine and her feelings.  She was always there for her. Maxine did not spend so much time at school, which her parents were very disappointed, she spent more time thinking. Why did her parents avoided her? And why is her mother in her own bubble? Maxine had a lot to think about so the school was not her first priority.

The writer, Catherine MacPhail, is a Scottish writer. The thriller, called “Missing”, was written in 2000, she writes books for young people. Catherine has won many prices, it proves what a good writer she is. Her first book, 1994 – Run, Zan, Run, she received inspiration from her daughter who was bullied. Most of the books she has written, she got the inspiration from her home town. She describes very well, you can easily get a picture in your head. Here are two examples: “he was laughing as the photo was taken, his face was full of mischief” and “Mum’s eyes lingered on it, remembering too. Her mouth turned up at the corners, a faint hint of a smile”. (Page 27).

The reader will not want to stop reading the book because you always want to know more about what will happen. The chapter usually ends up with something exciting, which is good for you as a reader. The reader will find it easy to understand the story and will easily feel compassion for what is written.  The book is about an incident that you as a reader can relate to reality.

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Delerium By Lauren Oliver

 Delerium, the second part in a trilogy, is a story about forbidden love. It was first published in 2011. By then the first book had already been out for one year. Before I fall, as the first book is named, has been given 4 ½ stars by RT Book Reviews and they also nominated it for their 2010 ”Best Young Adult Paranormal/Fantasy Novel”. Since the release of Delerium it has received a lot of mixed response by the readers.

You can see why the feelings around the book are blended.  It is that kind of book you either love or hate. The idea of seeing love as a disease feels new and when Lena, the main character, falls in love with Alex in a city with zero tolerance of love, it makes you wonder how it possibly could end happily. The story of the book has a great contrast that makes you constantly torn between love and hate, happiness and sadness, tension and boredom.

Even though it seems impossible for the book to have a happy ending you can, through the whole book, feel an undertone of hope. The author also gives her descriptions weary beautifully. ”The butterflies are working their way up from my stomach into my head, making me feel dizzy, and I try to calm myself by imagining the ocean outside, its ragged breathing, the seagulls turning pinwheels in the sky.” (p. 17) is a perfect example of the poetic descriptions that is given to us.

Delirium is, as mentioned earlier, a part of a trilogy, but besides that there are also four midquels named Hana, Annabel, Raven and Alex. Those books are written so they are enacted in the same period of time as the original book. Since the character that has been given a book is such a big part of the trilogy it is fun to read more from a book you, hopefully, cannot put away once you have start reading it.

It is kind of funny how the people who are the closest to Lena tell her how life really should be, but in the end they never listened to their own opinions. Even though they have seen what the real disease is they chose to live their life as they have been told. That is what Lauren Oliver is trying to tell us with the book; sometimes we have to find our courage to break free and follow our heart to find happiness.

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Twilight is the first of four vampire-themed fantasy and romance novels by the American author Stephanie Mayer. Twilight was first published in 2005 and since the release, the book and its followers has become extremely popular and it has been sold in over 116 million copies worldwide.

The book took place in the small town Forks, Washington, and it is about Isabella Swan who moves to her dad in Forks to make it easier for her mom, when she has to travel around with her baseball playing boyfriend. She soon meets Edward Cullen, a mysterious but beautiful vampire, and it does not take long before they are deeply in love. But the fact that Edward and his family are vampires makes their love to each other hard and they have to face many difficulties.

It is quite easy to understand Twilight’s excessive popularity. The mixture of mystery, romance and thrill is probably something we all cannot get enough of. And not only that, the book is written in an incredibly skillful manner and creates a sense of that you actually are the characters in the book. Stephanie captures the feelings into words in an extraordinary way and events like Edward and Isabella’s first meeting, her run for her life or something just as easy as their conversations, becomes so much stronger since it feels like it’s you who is feeling all those feelings.

Also, we often feel passionate for a person or a couple in books and we are tirelessly following that person’s journey. Exactly what it is that makes us so fixated is probably hard to put into words but Isabella and Edward undeniable have something that catches the most of us. That is another factor why the book has become so popular all over the world. From the moment Isabella comes to Forks and meets the mysterious vampire Edward people became like spellbound.

The book is so well done and if you have not read it yet you should definitely do it in a soon future. You will not regret it at all. The story is fantastic, and even thou Edward and his family are vampires the book and its story does not feel unreal at all. Stephanie puts in so much reality into the book, videlicet, problems and issues that we “normal” people can have and struggles with sometimes in our lives. In that way, many more can actually relate to the book and that it’s a thing that have contributed that the book feels so reliable. So, if you have not read it already, do it. But be careful. As soon you have opened the book, you won’t be able to put it away.

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Slumdog Millionaire By Vikos Swarup

Slumdog Millionaire is a book who is based on the film with the same name. The book was published in February 2009, a year after the film who won three Oscars. The book is set in India where also the writer comes from.

The book is about a boy who competes in India’s version of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire”, and to everyone’s surprise, he answer correctly on all the hard questions. He is being accused for cheating. What does a tea boy know exactly?? But then he explains how he knows all the questions. Behind all answers it is a story behind it, which he somehow has experienced through his remarkable life. It is not hard to feel for the boy who is called Ram Mohammed Thomas (in the film, his name is Jamal). He first loses his only parent (his mother) and from the age of four, Ram and his brother Jamal is set to fend for themselves. After a while his brother Jamal becomes criminal. Jamal wants Ram to join him and his criminal friends but Ram refuses. Ram is now all alone…

The book is very smart written and the book is really never losing its pace. It is a lot of twists and turns in the book. An example is when Armaan tricks the kids that have lost their parents…

Slumdog Millionaire is the story about the boy who became millionaire thanks to his life experiences. The book is for all ages and it is a book I recommend.

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The book The Boyfriend is a horror story and came out in October 1990. It was written by the American writer Robert Lawrence who is known as a good novelist.

You jump into Joanna’s confident teenage life, and you will pretty fast understand her joy to put other people in uncomfortable situations. Joanna’s stupid behavior to other people, especially her boyfriend, puts her best friend, Mary, in a very complicated position. Mary tries in many ways explaining to Joanna that she cannot behave like this if she wants to keep her boyfriend Dex. The truth is that Johanna does not care about Dex at all. Surprisingly the whole story turns upside down and Johanna’s life becomes more and more strange, that keep your attention up.

R.L’s way to write the book and how detailed her life describes makes it really easy and interesting to read. It does not take long until you are stuck and cannot stop reading. How Joanna behaves and how she thinks make you change your mind about her more than once. The book puts you in many situations when you nearly hold your breath of fear.  When you think that you have predicted the end of the book, there is a twist and everything changes. Joanna is a special girl and she think and acts differently in some situations than maybe you would. The surroundings are explained pretty well and it is not hard to paint up your own picture of environment. Smells and appearance are described very well too, and it makes the whole thing more realistic.

People sometimes say “Do not judge the book by its cover” and you should absolutely not do it to this book either. You can get the wrong impression and feeling of it that actually is a little sad. It is a book with a great message, and if you start reading the book you must read the whole thing. Otherwise it can be difficult to catch the writer’s message.  Shortly said, you can say that it is a book that catches your attention fast, and it is hard to stop reading once you begin.

Elev SA13

Picture from: http://fearstreet1.blogspot.se/2008/05/boyfriend.html