Trimester 1:
I choose this book as the easiest, because I felt that its plot was the most simple, making it easy to comprehend. This book was about a romance between a very ill girl and a boy that moved in next door, which was not only very realistic, but was also very fun to read. Along with this, it was overall a short book, which gave me the ability to read it in a relatively short amount of time. Each page had a good amount of text on it, but the font was larger, which shortened the time it took me to read each page. Also, many of the pages were filled with charts and pictures, which not only helped me understand the plot better, but made each chapter go quicker.
I chose this book as the second easiest, because although it was nonfiction, it was written in a way that made it really easy to follow. While reading it, I was taken on a journey throughout her struggles with her condition, which allowed me to glide through the pages, without being stopped because of needed clarification. In addition to the plot, this book was relatively short which meant that I could read a couple chapters each night, and still finish it in a timely manner. I choose this as the middle book, because although the plot was relatively simple, it had a very different setting from the other books I had read. This book was simply about a girl who had a very rough situation with her family, and met a boy at school whom she fell in love with. This book explained her life through her trying to navigate her family, her boyfriend, her friends, and the bullies at school. The difficult part about this book was that it took place in Scotland, and through dialogue, the author gave the other characters an accent. Many times in the book I found myself having to reread passages to try and decipher not only what the characters were saying, but their moods as well.
I choose to put this book towards the more challenging end of the scale, because although the plot was not too hard, the way it was written made it a bit confusing. Throughout the book, the author traveled through the mystery of a friend's death, while showing may flashbacks to memories that the main character had with her friend before she died. The flashbacks were interesting, but the also added to the complexity of the book because once you were finished with the flashback, it was hard to remember where the present story had left off. The main factor that contributed to the complexity of this book was the length. This book was over 400 pages, which made it hard to keep all of the different scenes apart by the end. This story was about a boy who was tracing the life of his dead grandfather, finding clues about him as he went to many important landmarks of his life. This itself was not super hard to follow, although it was more difficult than your typical romance plot because of the many different components it included. I choose this book as the hardest one I have read because of the topics that it covered as well as the length. This book talked about the issue of racism and police brutality, which are by far the most serious topics that I have read. In addition to this, the book was 400 pages, and all of them left me with questions about how this issue is impacting the United States today. Also, because this book is centered around the life of an African American girl, it gave me a different perspective on a life that I cannot relate to. Although it was more challenging than the other books I choose to read, it was very interesting, and overall one of my favorite books.
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Trimester 2:
I think that this book is the easiest one I read, mostly because of the way it was written and the length. When I found this book, it seemed vaguely familiar, although I don't remember reading it before. This as well as the length (it was only about 250 pages) made it less challenging, because I was able to read through it quickly, but still stay engaged in the story line and what was happening to the main characters. Finally, this book focused around two high school students who were volunteering in a class for adults with special needs, which is an experience that I can relate to, seeing as though I volunteer at High Point, a school for children and young adults with special needs.
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I ranked this book as the second easiest book that I read mostly because of the story line. I found this book very captivating which helped me get through it easier and quicker. The main premise of the book is that the main character's best friend died of cancer, and before she died, she created a sort of adventure that she sent the main character on. Through the book, there was also a variety of twists which made it more intriguing, and overall added to the excitement of the book. Although it was not one of the hardest books that I have read, I think that this was one of my favorite books that I have read this trimester, and I would definitely recommend it.
I chose to read this book in order to complete my goal of reading one non-fiction book. At first, I thought that it would be harder seeing as though I don't like non-fiction, but surprisingly, the writing style was more engaging than I thought it would be. Because this book was written by students that experienced it, it got a bit confusing at times (which is why I put it halfway down the ladder), but it also had a lot of pathos which I thought was very powerful. Overall, I am glad that I read this book, because it definitely gave me a different outlook on my experiences and life overall.
Overall, I placed this book on the ladder where I did because of the topic that it conveyed as well as the overall structure. This book told a story through two perspectives, one of a wealthy girl and one of a girl from a lower socioeconomic status. Throughout the story, they went back and forth from these two points of view, which was a bit confusing at times, and showed the purpose of not letting your wealth define you or how you view/treat others. In addition, I thought that the characters were more defined and complex, which added to the complexity of the book, but also made it a more interesting read.
Although this book was not to long, I still put it close to the top because of the structure of the writing. This book was written from three different perspectives, and also included little flashbacks on each character's loss. In order to follow the book, you had to keep close track of everyone's story and their families, which was what I found the most challenging. Sometimes I got a bit lost and had to re-read part of a perspective in order to figure out what was happening, which at times got a bit annoying. However, overall I thought that this book had a great message about how to overcome grief and hardships, and how friends can be the most important tool to do this.
For this level of my reading ladder, I chose to combine these two books. They are the first and second books of the series "Caraval", which I first found interesting when Mrs. Feliks did a book talk. These two books were more of a fantasy genre. which was different from the realistic fiction that I normally read, but I was really pleasantly surprised, and I really enjoyed both of them. These books had a very compelling story line, which kept me more engaged, and although they were not super hard (they were the hardest that I read this trimester), I think the complexity of the characters and the length of them made them more challenging.
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