"The Dead Zone"

I have recently gotten into Stephen King, and he is one of my favorite authors. He writes his books in such a way that captivates everyone, including me, and he uses so much description as well, it's like he is bringing his characters to life. This book is about a young boy named John that awakens from a deep coma. To his surprise, he has a special psychic detective ability that enables him to read someone's secrets. Another thing he realizes is that his colleague crush, Sarah Bracknell, has been married and had a child. He tells people about his ability to read the past, present and the future and eventually takes up a detective job from the sheriff. I'll stop talking about the summary for now, as amazing as it is. Just like all of the other books, this one has amazing characters. They are all so different from each other and they all contrast each other. John is a remarkable character, and the road that he follows plus the overall plot makes the read worth its while. As the mystery unfolds, the book continues to get better and better. There isn't that much that I can say about the book; it's better to read it and take in the charm and beauty it has to offer. Stephen King did a fantastic job with this book; I think this book is much better than Misery, this may even be his best book!

"Mockingjay" by Suzanne Collins

This book series is my personal favorite. It has everything that I could ask for: "An action-packed adventure, amazing characters, a fantastic plot based, at first, around saving your sister, but now from saving every district... so on and so forth." This series is so likable and is definitely one of the most popular series in America, and maybe even world wide. Mockingjay continues right where Catching Fire left off, but this book isn't about the actual hunger games. Katniss is helping the rebels from all districts by supporting them. However, in order for Katniss to help, she makes a deal with them. If Katniss helps them, the rebels have to get Peeta back for her. Katniss does in fact get Peeta back, but he is brainwashed by the Capitol. I would continue to go on with the summary, but that would reveal massive spoilers, and I could talk about the summary all day long. Honestly, I love the plot switch. Instead of entering another annual hunger games, Katniss has to deal with President Snow head on, except with a bunch of friends backing her up. However, the more she helps the rebels, the more friends she loses. This book is much, much more violent in comparison to the previous two books, which is very surprising since both of the books takes place in the Hunger Games where killing people is the goal. Katniss has really evolved as a character over the course of the books, and watching her develop is interesting. She's a very unique character, there are not many fictional characters like her. In fact, all of the characters are different. Ellie's hairstyle is so eccentric, I doubt anyone would do their hair like that! "Mockingjay" is a wonderful addition to the series and a great way to end the trilogy.

"Speak" by Laurie Halse Anderson

I knew that from the start of the second quarter I would have trouble meeting the requirements (Read one award winning book). Most award winning books don't please me, but "Speak" looked very promising, and it was a great read. Speak is about a young girl named Melinda who makes it seem like she has no friends and hates most of the people that go to her school because of the cliques that they are in. There is a clique for everyone, even for the people that aren't very popular. I love the characterization in this book. Melinda starts out as a insecure girl that is cold towards everyone. However, at the end of the book, she makes a few friends and becomes a much  better person, both on the inside and outside. At one point of the story, Melinda decides to hide a secret from everyone which causes everyone to leave her, but who can blame her? Melinda was raped at the party, and she doesn't know how to tell everyone about this; she doesn't know how to recover. Because of Melinda's character, it is difficult to not feel bad for her. She is being mistreated just because of the fact that she refuses to admit what happened at the party. Melinda isn't the only memorable character either. The art teacher is a personal favorite of mine, he encourages the class to think outside of the box and he seems to really like Melinda. In fact, the art teacher is the only person that was nice to her on the first day of school. Before I spoil anymore, I'll end the summary there. Laurie Halse Anderson did an outstanding job with creating this book. The plot, characterization and characters are unique and designed in such a way that the readers will not forget them. I recommend this book for everyone .