Jall's Blog

The Dog Encyclopedia By Tammy Gagne I think everyone had something they were obsessed with in elementary school. Maybe it was a book, hobby, sport or collecting something. For me, it was memorizing all the dog breeds in The Dog Encyclopedia for Kids, a book with over 150 dog breeds and fun facts about them. I brought this book to every free reading day in 3rd grade, studying the personalities, random facts, and countries of origin for each dog. By 4th grade, I had memorized all 150 dog breeds and their facts, although I’ve probably forgotten most of them now.  I still enjoy going through the book and quizzing myself on the breeds, even though I forgot most of the information. My favorite page has to be 77 because it’s all about Bob (my dog), a very adorable Coton de Tulear. Bob is playful, funny, great with kids, and very smart, and hypoallergenic (I got that from the book:). The Dog Encyclopedia for Kids is packed with information about dogs’ appearances, training tips, and healt...

TW: suicide—this post discusses topics of suicide and death as they appear in the book A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder. No spoilers beyond what’s given in the first few chapters, however I picked up A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson expecting a simple mystery, but I was struck by how it handled heavy, real–world topics. In hindsight, with what I’ve heard about it online, and also the fact it was featured last year in the banned/challenged books project in Mrs. Rodems’s class should’ve alluded to the tough subjects throughout, but I digress. I still believe this book would be a valuable read, but it is worth discussing the balance of presenting sensitive topics like suicide honestly and not making the reader too uncomfortable. AGGGTM in my opinion manages to responsibly maintain this balance. For context, the first part of the story hinges on a town’s belief that a character named Sal Singh murdered his girlfriend Andie Bell. After becoming the main suspect, it is said that h...

            Last summer, I won a free book from the Champaign Public Library. I was able to choose from a large selection of books that were locked away behind a glass bookcase. After looking through my choices of books, I quickly realized that it would hard decision to only choose one. The librarian saw me holding a book as I was reading the blurb on the back cover and asked whether it was the one I chose. I decided that I wanted to read more mystery books and since the librarian needed to lock the case back up, I quickly grabbed the first mystery book I saw in the display, which was The Summer She Went Missing by Chelsea Ichaso.     The Summer She Went Missing begins as 16-year-old Paige Redmond arrives at Clearwater Ridge, for her family and the Covington's annual summer tradition. She meets her best friend Audrey Covington, and they spend the beginning of their summer having fun in the water and hanging out together.      W...

       I chose to write a review on Thirteen Reasons Why because I read it last year for ELA, and I found it really interesting and intriguing. It was one of those books that stuck with me even after I finished it. FIRST, I want to say that this book covers a lot of difficult and sensitive topics, including mental health, bullying, peer pressure, and suicide. Some of these topics will also be mentioned in my review.       The story is about a boy named Clay Jensen who receives a mysterious package in the mail one day. Inside the package are thirteen cassette tapes, each recorded by Hannah Baker (a girl from Clay’s school who he has a crush on, and who recently died by suicide). The tapes are a kind of audio diary, but with a very specific purpose. Each tape reveals a different reason why Hannah decided to end her life. Each side focuses on a specific person and event that made up the 13 reasons. These are people who, in one way or another, hurt he...