Kids Books - Literature

Pip, a young orphan living with his older sister and her husband, longs for a better life, one that would make him eligible for marrying the woman of his dreams, Estella. After he is finally given a chance to become a true gentleman, Pip learns important lessons regarding the influence of money and how it can change a person, for the better or for the worse….Great Expectations begins with seven-year-old Pip, a young orphan boy living with his ill-tempered sister and her kind husband, Joe. An aspiring blacksmith apprentice under Joe, Pip yearns for the moment when he and Joe can work in the forge together. But his dreams are quickly erased upon being introduced to Miss Havisham. An eccentric individual who hopes for nothing more than ruining the lives of men as her life was ruined by a man, Miss Havisham invites Pip to her home. Curiously enough, all Miss Havisham wants to watch Pip play with Miss Havisham’s beautiful adopted daughter, Estella. Estella, despite her beauty and charisma, is spoiled and crass much like Miss Havisham. However, despite her poor treatment toward Pip and her undeniable dislike for him, Pip is immediately taken by her beauty and dreams of marrying her. Unfortunately for Pip, he knows that such dreams are far out of reach unless his circumstances change and he becomes an honorable man. An opportunity comes when Mr. Jagger, a lawyer from London, reports to Pip that an anonymous benefactor has given him a large sum of money and hopes for him to create a good life for himself in London. The only conditions are that, one, Pip always is referred to as “Pip”, and two, the identity of the benefactor must remain a secret. Agreeing to the terms, Pip sets out to London for a better life. In London, Pip immediately adapts nicely into his new living conditions. Pip enjoys the pleasures of wealth and the respect and honor that comes along with the large allowance. Unfortunately, Pip, becoming too used to his life and forgetting to live within his means, falls into exponential debt. His wild and expensive life seems to be unraveling as quickly as it began until the arrival of Abel Magwitch. Magwitch, an old convict that once forced Pip to steal as a young boy, is Pip’s generous benefactor. It soon becomes clear, nevertheless, that Magwitch is in severe trouble and must leave London before authorities are notified. Now, Pip must think of a plan that will allow for Magwitch to escape while still keeping Pip’s name clear of any association with the former convict. Along with the predicament involving Magwitch, Pip’s notion that all he had to do to get Estella’s affection was to become a gentleman, is quickly foiled upon meeting Estella once again in London. Engaged to be married and looking at Pip as no more than a chauffeur, Pip realizes that any chance he might have had with Estella have vanished. The book concludes with Estella and Pip meeting once again after about eleven years. Estella, humbled but still exuding beauty and grace, admits to Pip that she threw away his love for her because of her ignorance and pride. The book ends emotionally with the two walking with the shadow of Miss Havisham behind them. Through this story, applications for our lives include the importance of keeping money in check but not an idol and the importance of not thinking ourselves better than others because of our fortunate circumstances. Pip realizes that “Miss Havisham and Estella, their riches and refinement, has changed me permanently!”. The importance of money and the consequences of making it an item for worship is clearly illustrated in this book and warnings are pronounced evidently. Not thinking ourselves higher than other people is also a clear lesson from this story. Estella, seemingly well-to-do and beautiful, had a repulsive attitude towards those she deemed below her. However, at the end of the book, the reader is able to see that, through the challenges of life, Estella had a change in perspective and was humbled. She stated towards the end of the book that “My suffering all these years has come to be a stronger teacher to me than all other teachers. I have been bent and broken, but I hope into a better shape." Her honest and moving words are perhaps the hallmark of this entire book. With its many twists and turns, I would strongly encourage one to not write off this book as an old, non-relevant to modern times story, as I did before I read it. Despite being written in the 1860s, however, Charles Dickens masterfully captures a timeless issue in today’s society: money. Although perhaps not as exciting as a twenty-first century novel, this book has stood the test of time and after reading it, it will become clear why. With that being said, Great Expectations is most definitely a must read because of its important lessons and creative characters. Happy reading!

I think that this is an amazing series. I highly recommend this book to any manga fans that love emotional stories. Tohru Honda discovers the Sohma family, a family that is possessed by chinese zodiac spirits. Feeling sad for them, she tries to break the curse! But, Akito, the head of the family or "God" doesn't like the idea of this! This book has powerful characters and amazing backstories from the characters.

i have Smile, Sisters and Guts and Ghosts i love them so much i can't put them down no matter what. Thank you Raina telgmier for making these AMAZING books and making my graphic novel world BIGGER

I thought this book shows how was a capricious girl become more like study and have a new good friend. I really the character Claire, she made Massie become more good, when Massie is Impolite for her, she doesn't angry, and want be friend with Massie, I thought this book is great.

It's time for Nikki Maxwell to kick back and relax! It's the month of July, which is supposed to be the height of summer, and she's canceled an all-expenses-paid Paris trip to go on the Bad Boyz tour with her friends, who are also her bandmates. Nikki's ready to have Actually, I'm Not Really Sure Yet go viral and have fun in the sun! But everything changes when the overseer of the tour, Trevor Chase, hires MacKenzie Hollister as the band's social media publicity manager. Yes, MacKenzie Hollister, mean girl extraordinaire and the fake in lipstick - remember her? Suddenly, Nikki's prospects for a lighthearted, time-of-their-lives tour goes down the drain. MacKenzie does absolutely nothing to help the tour, is Nikki's roommate, and worst, manipulates behind the scenes to 1) shatter Nikki and Brandon's relationship, 2) close down Fuzzy Friends, and 3) blackmail Nikki into letting her perform for the Bad Boyz! The dream tour soon turns into a nightmare. The Bad Boyz are fighting amongst themselves, too. Can Nikki and her band save the show?

Nikki is planning a giant party with Chloe and Zoey. They plan a giant Luau themed Birthday party with over one hundred of Nikki's friends including Chloe and Zoey and her crush Brandon. She does eventually invite Mackenzie Hollister to her party. They need at least 250$ to rent the pool and at least 200$ to get their luau themed decorations, but Nikki has only 8.73$ and that is not close enough to their budget. She shows the plans to her mother hoping that her mother would pay for her birthday party, but Mrs. Maxwell is planning something else. Mrs. Maxwell wants to cut the budget to 100$ and even worse wants to have belly dancers to do the dancing for the party and have their party in the backyard. She starts to panic and she gives the invitations to Chloe to keep and decided that the party was canceled. The invitations get accidentally mailed out and it is an adventure to find them. Then one day when Nikki still was really sad about the invitations being lost, she has to take care of her little sister Brianna. She is watching TV when she was taking care of Brianna. Brianna goes to the bark and sells her delicious bark bites and gets a lot of money. She eventually runs out of Bark Bites and Nikki announces that the business is closed permanently, but then Brianna screams fill out these order forms or check out my website which will be coming soon. Brianna makes a deal to Nikki and said that if Nikki helps with the website than she would have half the money the earned. When Nikki added up the money it was 970$. This means that if they split it in half they would get more than 400$ each. Nikki helped with the bark bites and got the 400$. She Chloe and Zoey get all the supplies and they have a great party!

2 stars-- I tried. I actually tried to like this poorly written, overrated "classic", but to be honest...I HATED EVERY PAGE. Anne of Green Gables made me want to scream and punch a pillow. By page 100, I was half-dead with boredom, and my eyes hurt from rolling them so much. Okay, I know what you're probably thinking: "But this book is a CLASSIC. Why don't YOU try to write a novel before criticizing the work of L.M. Montgomery?" Well, guess what? I'm allowed to have an opinion! But what exactly made me hate Anne of Green Gables so much? THE CHARACTERS. I strongly disliked EVERY. SINGLE. CHARACTER in this book, especially Anne Shirley. Anne is too talkative, dumb, annoying, superficial, insensitive...the list goes on. She has a "big imagination", which is just her excuse for acting like someone who drinks too much caffeine for breakfast. And did I mention her really, really short temper? I mean, she held a grudge for YEARS on this guy in her class named Gilbert, because he--gasp!--called her "carrots", making fun of her red hair. OMG, he called her "carrots"? That's SUCH a horrible thing to say! It's DEFINITELY a good reason to stop talking to him, even though he repeatedly apologized and even SAVED ANNE FROM DROWNING ONE TIME! Yeah, Gilbert's the bad guy here. (In case you couldn't tell, I'm being very sarcastic). Also, Anne is super insensitive. She always impulsively says and does whatever she wants to say and do, without realizing that she might be hurting people's feelings. She has a big imagination...and a big mouth. The other characters in the book were not much better than Anne. Her best friend Diana doesn't seem to have a personality--she's one of those characters who exists solely because she's pretty. She just does whatever Anne does. Anne's friend Ruby is superficial and boy-crazy, and her other friend Jane is boring. Gilbert's alright, I guess--but his crush on Anne is SO OBVIOUS. Marilla and Mathew, Anne's adoptive parents, are the only characters I don't completely hate, as they undergo some character development. I might have actually liked Anne of Green Gables if it weren't for the characters. The world-building and plot are okay, and storyline is interesting. This would've been a good book if the characters were more relatable, realistic, and developed. I know I'm expressing an unpopular opinion, but this is how I truly feel about Anne of Green Gables.

"May the odds be ever in your favor!" After a bloody war, twelve districts rose from the ashes of what was formerly known as North America, lead by a glorious Capitol. As revenge for the districts' betrayal in the war, the Capitol requires one young man and woman from each district to participate in an annual televised fight to the death, commonly known as the 'Hunger Games.' And when Primrose Everdeen, an innocent twelve-year-old from District 12 gets selected to participate in the Hunger Games, her sister, Katniss, is shell-shocked - and in a life-changing decision, volunteers to take her place. Her fellow tribute from her district is announced as one Peeta Mellark, who helped Katniss and her family in their time of need.. and there will only be one survivor. In order to survive, they are presented to the frivolous citizens of the Capitol as "star-crossed lovers", and must play the part to stay alive.. together. Prepare for an action-filled adventure of betrayals, poisonous berries, unexpected allies, bloody deaths, wildfires, heartbreak, and maybe even true love..? I highly recommend this book - please give it a try! This book fit right in the "dystopia" label, honestly - even though I completely fell for this book my first time reading it, I grew a little more critical the next few times around.. I felt like the "star-crossed lovers" cliché didn't exactly "fit" Katniss and Peeta - I felt like Katniss would be better off with her sister, Prim, even in the absolutely terrible conditions of District 12 - that would have been a "happy ending" for her. Instead, Katniss is stuck in a confusing love triangle between basically useless Peeta and her long-time friend, Gale, and I feel like even though the bloody Hunger Games is supposed to be the "main" storyline of the series, the whole overwhelming romance thing just pushes everything else aside. Aside from the cheesy "romance" side of this series, I absolutely loved some parts of the book - the sacrifice Katniss made for Prim felt so.. so heartbreaking, but I was absolutely devastated when a specific friend of Katniss died in her arms.. The emotional aspect of such an event was so well captured in this book, how heartbreaking it would be to lose your family or friends.. I could not stop sobbing. This outshone the "romance" storyline for me, and now, I am happy to say that I believe that Suzanne Collins wrote an absolutely breathtaking novel.. thank you.

In the world of Beatrice Prior- it's all rules and the enviornment is extrememly strict. Don't go beyond/outside the fence, don't look in the mirror, don't talk when an adult is talking, wait for the alpha to arrive before dinner, and especially.... be a stiff, talk like a stiff, forever a stiff- ABNEGATION.... is just ONE of FIVE FACTIONS. Abnegation- Stiff, but selfless Erudite- Smart, but cruel Amity- Friendly, but strict Candor- Truthful, but too honest Dauntless- FIERCE, but violent JOIN the world of Beatrice! Her brother, Caleb, has always been suspicious- always up to something- all day stuck in his room in the dark, doing something... turns out on the day, he betrays Abnegation!!! He dropped his blood- traitor blood into the filthy bowl of Erudite! I mean, yeah- she shouldn't be talking because she too is a traitor by going to Dauntless, but YIKES! I mean what?! Her very own brother chose WOW I mean, HOW Did he choose ERUDITE!?????? Well, Beatrice's parents defintly didn't talk to ANY of them anymore.................................. Well, after that, she ran and jogged with the Dauntless, and soon, they had to jump into a MOVING train!!! Someone fell, and that's how you end up factionless then, she is the first girl to jump in the building. She is famous now. Suddenly, a handsome boy with dark brown hair and dark eyes and a emotionless face watched her carefully as he asked, "Congratulations, your the first person to be dauntless, what's your name?" She said, "Tris. Tris Prior. I'm from Abnegat-" She started. BOUNCE! A tall boy with hazel- green eyes smirked at Tris and the boy- sneering, "You mean your a STIFF?" That's Peter. "I'm Four- your leader for you trainees- and I'm Four because I have four fears- and ONLY Four fears."

To be perfectly honest, this isn't a great book. Guys, it's romance, it's your typical romance book mixed in with some danger and a jealous other girl.This is set in dystopian America, after some war tore the country apart and rebuilt everything. New America has castes and royalty, castes determine where you live and your lifestyle. They're very important. Ones are the richest people, the kings and queens. The lowest caste is Eight, the poorest of the poor. America Singer (main character) is a Five, still poor but not to the extent of starving. She gets chosen for The Selection (basically The Bachelor) and competes with other girls for Prince Maxon's affection. This book really irritates me in many, many ways. The way America thinks irks me so much. Her character is sarcastic and bratty. I love sarcastic characters (ehem, Magnus Bane, Alec Lightwood, Percy Jackson...) and I really did try to love America too. She is somewhat a relatable character, she is "real", as in; She loves food, she isn't a total air-head, she fights for the lower castes. She's got a likeable side to her but her other side overbalances everything and i end up hating her. Okay, at the start, she's all homesick, she didn't even want to be in The Selection. She tries to get out of her room because it "was suffocating her" and into the gardens. She meets Prince Maxon on the way as she tries to break out, they have this super long conversation (not really) which ends up in her being really rude and kicking him where boys don't like to be kicked. Then he escorts her to the gardens and they have this super long and boring conversation of what she likes and fiwbfihgfiewbgv. After a few more days/weeks, she's seen as a "favourite" of Maxon's. When Maxon starts hanging out with the other girls in the competition, she starts getting jealous and feels as if the "special thing" they once had was "broken" and he didn't like her anymore. She forgets that she's not the only girl in The Selection and it makes me so mad on so many different levels. I hated the main character. And it's so hard to like a book if you hate the person it revolves around.