I Am The Cheese by Robert Cormier

Walden Two

Walden Two is about a modern utopia where kids work for labor and
learning how to do work when they get older. It seems scary to me
that they’re doing this. They might get hurt like working in the
factories. They mostly do what they can do. They also have
classwork. They don’t get hard jobs. They’re mostly planting flowers
and cleaning rooms and things like that. They only work at age seven;
below those ages, they don’t work. Also, at age seven, they get to
eat at the cafeteria, where below those ages they have to eat in their
own rooms. It’s mandatory because they want them to be safe. It’s a
growing procedure for them. They can learn to grow up and be
responsible after that.

bridge to terabithia

this book is ok not the best thing it is pretty easy to read it hopefully gets more interesting

SCORPIA by Anthony Horowitz

Walden Two

For an assignment in psychology I had to read the book Walden Two by B.F. Skinner. In the first two chapters this book is about Two young men named Calvin and Steve who just returned from service during world war two.

Specials

I breezed through Specials, the conclusion to the trilogy that contains Uglies and Pretties. It was still mostly a quick, thrilling read. There wasn't too much to think about or to ponder. I did have to wonder why I kept reading, knowing that the main character would come out on top. I didn't think Westerberg would give the series an unhappy ending (and I was right). However, despite the fact that Tally is almost invincible in this book, and has better fighting technique and tools than any of her opponents, Westerberg still manages to provide believable twists that keep her struggling. For example, her opponents might have gained new weapons that give them an unexpected edge. She might uncover an unknown base of operations. Frequently, she and her teammates rush into unknown situations with a little too much bravado, almost setting themselves up for a struggle. Other times, I'm not sure how she will get out of the current jam. The plot could go down several different paths, so I keep reading to see whether she will get caught and have to deal with that, or whether she will escape and travel somewhere else.
I think there's also an element of satisfaction in watching her win. One dramatic escape is almost movie-like. The machine chasing her dies just before it catches her. On reflection, I suppose that's corny and predictable (isn't there a rule that killer machines cannot run out of gas or destruct until they are inches away from the hero?), but I also get a moment of relaxation when everything turns out okay. Maybe that's why I read books, because I know everything will be okay.
I appreciated the ending. Westerberg has written these books full of twists and turns, complications and developments, all mounting to an epic battle and a moral dilemma. It could be difficult to resolve the series, but not tie everything up too neatly. The ending has to reward all the struggle the characters and the reader have been through. Often times, the last chapter of a book like this is throw-away fluff that makes everything suddenly turn out great for everybody. Once the big battle is done, once the villain is defeated, how do you keep the reader engaged without a "happily ever after" ending? I'm glad to say that Westerberg found a very clever ending. It didn't pacify Tally's strong desires. It didn't leave everything perfect. It didn't defy the logic of the book's world. It was a brilliant way to both utilize Tally without changing her character and answer the question in the reader's mind. He found a way not to throw away everything he had built in the three books.
The only question now is, what happens in the next book? There is a fourth book, Extras. I'm not sure if that's a continuation of the story or a side story or material he couldn't fit in the first three books. There's no mention of any group of people called Extras. Maybe it's just like the special features on a DVD. Maybe it will be sketches, deleted scenes, early drafts, and an interview with the author.

Pretties

Pretties, by Scott Westerberg, appeared to be the sort of book I would hate. It's part of a wildly popular series (does nobody write single books that can stand alone anymore?), and the main characters are supermodel attractive. So I had to read it to see just how bad it was. It turns out to be a very gripping futuristic sci-fi book. Actually, the emphasis on physical attractiveness is portrayed negatively. It's a dystopic novel, meaning it imagines a future where advances in technology create a seemingly perfect world, but one where people are controlled and don't live full lives. It's the opposite of a utopia, where society's problems have been eliminated and everybody is happy. In a dystopia, as in this series, 1984 by George Orwell, or Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, society's problems have been eliminated, but the soul of life has been killed. However, Tally, the main character, only slowly realizes this.
These sorts of novels always raise a series of questions. What cost is worth resulting peace? Is an absence of strife the same as harmony and co-existence? If somebody engineers all this, for as we saw in Jurassic Park, it takes a lot of work to thwart nature and the natural impulses, how do those people live and carry out their orders? Most of the time, a dystopic society only succeeds because most of the people are blissfully unaware. However, somebody must be very aware of what is going on. Why do those people never revolt? What do human beings want? Would it be possible to satisfy everybody with one system? If people don't know what they are sacrificing, are they really missing out?