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The Help

by Kathryn Stockett (Goodreads Author)

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" David Hammond Jr. 5/14/18
St. Christopher ELA
The Help Book Review

The Help by Kathryn Stockett is a historical fiction novel about black maids working in white Southern homes in 1962 in Jackson, Mississippi, and of Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan, a graduate David Hammond Jr. 5/14/18
St. Christopher ELA
The Help Book Review

The Help by Kathryn Stockett is a historical fiction novel about black maids working in white Southern homes in 1962 in Jackson, Mississippi, and of Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan, a graduate from Ole Miss who returns to her family's cotton plantation to find that her beloved nanny, Constantine, has left and no one will give her the reason why. When Skeeter returns she starts to act like a traditional Southern lady. She plays bridge, an old card game, with the young married women, edits the newsletter for the Junior League, and attempts to endure her mother’s advice on how to find a husband and start a family. However, Skeeter would like to become a writer. Unfortunately, Skeeter can only find a job with writing about housekeeping. Skeeter knows little about housekeeping, so she turns to her friend's maid, Aibileen, for answers and finds out a lot more. Aibileen is a maid who works tirelessly raising her employer's child which is her seventh. She still manages to keep a tidy house with the death of her own son on her mind. Knowing Aibileen’s profession, Skeeter turns to her for help on writing a novel about 12 black maids.
They meet clandestinely at night in Aibileen's house to write the book together as the town's struggles with race heat up all around them. Aibileen brings in her best friend, Minny, a sassy maid who is repeatedly fired for speaking her mind, to tell her story, too. Hearing their stories, Skeeter has her eyes open to the true prejudices of her upbringing. Aibileen and Minny also develop a friendship with Skeeter that neither believed was possible. At this point in the novel the reader has seen the treatment of black maids and why they act the way that they do. The reader also gets a small taste of the treatment of all African Americans which starts to draw lines in the town. This novel alone provides African American maids with a voice to the readers, whether it was fiction or nonfiction. Skeeter then learns about what Constantine has left. She had a child out of wedlock that was too light to be black although both parents were black. The child was unaccepted by the black and white race and was given up for adoption when she was four. When the child grew up she was reunited with her mother at a party at Constantine's employers house. Once her employer learned who the child was she was kicked out and Constantine was fired. Constantine and her child then moved to Chicago where they currently live.
Skeeter eventually gets her novel published anonymously. It eventually becomes a national bestseller and, soon, the white women of Jackson begin recognizing themselves in the book's characters. Hilly Holbrook, one of Skeeter’s best friends growing up, is set on vengeance due to the details in the book. Hilly and Skeeter may have grown up best friends, but they now have very different views on race. Hilly, who leads the Junior League and bosses around the other white women in the town, reveals to Stuart, Skeeter's boyfriend, that she found a copy of the Jim Crow laws in Skeeter's purse, which further ostracizes Skeeter from their community. In the end, it is a secret about Hilly that Minny reveals in Skeeter's book that silences Hilly. The book becomes a powerful force in giving a voice to the black maids and causes the community of Jackson to reconsider the carefully drawn lines between white and black. I believe that in this novel Kathryn Stockett was trying to explain what she wanted her novel to do to the modern age. Skeeter’s novel spread around the town to let people know of the maids treatment causing a lot of people to change and recognize what needed to be changed. Kathryn Stockett most likely released her novel to inform the people of the modern age of what was happening down South back in the 60’s. Although the novel is fiction it provides the reader with an accurate description of people’s moods during the 60’s and how they acted towards the African Americans. I recommend this novel to many readers who like historical fiction. This novel will be good for anyone simply because they can learn about the treatment of African Americans and black maids during the 60’s. ...more "

May 13, 2018 10:56AM · see review

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No Way Out (Shadow House, #3)

by Dan Poblocki (Goodreads Author)

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David Hammond Jr. 4/3/18

St. Christopher ELA

Book Review

Shadow House, No Way Out is a thrilling fantasy book written by Dan Poblocki. This book was the end of a horrifying three book series. Giving me chills throughout the novel Poblocki did an excell
David Hammond Jr. 4/3/18

St. Christopher ELA

Book Review

Shadow House, No Way Out is a thrilling fantasy book written by Dan Poblocki. This book was the end of a horrifying three book series. Giving me chills throughout the novel Poblocki did an excellent job with his use of indirect and direct characterization to inform the reader of the characters he or she was reading about. The descriptive wording of Poblocki allowed me to understand what was happening and make myself feel like I was in the same area as the characters witnessing the same events. There were many parts of the novel that I can recall easily simply because of his great way of explaining events.

One event I can remember in particular was a scene where the characters were in an forest looking at a carnival. Poblocki’s great description allowed me to feel as if I was inside of the carnival itself. Poblocki used the third person point of view, which made me feel like I was behind the characters as all the events occurred. As the story developed Poblocki did an excellent job of building up suspense. The monster known as the “Shadow Creature” was who Poblocki used to build suspense along with small images throughout the novel. This creature built suspense because the reader and the characters were clueless about the creatures whereabouts and where it was going to be next.

As the novel developed even more, they realized that they could not even trust their friends anymore. The shadow creature had the ability to take over bodies. With this information the characters had to be well aware of the personality changes of their friends. This helped bring me to a conclusion on what Poblocki’s message was by writing this book. He wanted people to be more aware of their surroundings and to not be afraid of the “Shadow Creatures” that are possessing our friends such as anger or sadness.

This is an excellent book for anyone to read if they have a taste in fantasy and horror. This novel has given me a new sense of urgency to be more aware of my surroundings as well as occasional chills. Even if this book is not in your genre it is an excellent novel to read. Poblocki’s amazing descriptions and chilling situations will leave you speechless after you finish reading. This spine chilling novel was one of three, all of which will have you look into the shadows more than once. ...more "

May 13, 2018 10:54AM · see review

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Refugee

by Alan Gratz (Goodreads Author)

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" David Hammond Jr. 2/1/18
St. Christopher ELA

Refugee by Alan Gratz was one of the most excellent books I have read throughout my eighth grade year. This historical fiction connected three totally different people from three totally different time zone David Hammond Jr. 2/1/18
St. Christopher ELA

Refugee by Alan Gratz was one of the most excellent books I have read throughout my eighth grade year. This historical fiction connected three totally different people from three totally different time zones. This shows that our world hasn’t changed but has the potential to become better. Josef, Isabel and Mahmoud all go through terrible events leading to destruction of their own family or their own lives. Although separated by time, all these characters are intertwined with the series of events they are forced to go through in order to reach refuge. After I read the story I was able to connect all the characters and make my own persona; connections as well.
Josef is a young Jewish boy in Nazi Germany in a family of four. He must face the threats of getting sent to concentration camps everyday and fear separation from his family. One day Josef woke up and two Nazi Soldiers, Hitler’s stormtroopers, were infiltrating his home. Josef’s sister, Ruth, began to screaming alerting everyone in the residence. After the soldiers destroyed more of his family’s objects they took Josef’s father. Josef tried his hardest to get his father back but the soldiers wouldn’t budge and they proceeded with their process. The same process has happened to nearly every Jewish person living close to Josef. This horrible night was given the name Kristallnacht. Later in the novel Josef met his father at a train station. He seemed haggard, parched and treated very poorly. His father rushed them to get on the nearest train as if he was being chased and had just escaped. After their train ride they got on the M.S St. Louis which was an actual ship used to bring Nazi’s to Cuba in the 1930’s
Isabel is a young girl from Cuba in 1994. Isabel and her family have just got the notice that Fidel Castro is allowing Cubans to legally leave the country. After hearing this Isabel and her family immediately start getting their things together to only realize that they don't have anything. Isabel went to the neighboring family, the Castillo’s and asked for their assistance. The Castillo’s accepted but only on the condition that they were allowed to come with them. Preparing to leave, Isabel’s family got their most valuable belongings and gas for the boat. Later, the Castillo’s and Fernandez’s hit the beach and they were off to the United States. About 4 days after they had gone out to sea, the youngest Castillo, Ivan died. Isabel had known Ivan her whole life and had considered him a brother. The only way they could dispose of the body was to toss it overboard respectfully. As they did so both families said prayers and proceeded on their journey. If that wasn’t enough Isabel’s mother had gone into labor about 1 mile away from the coast. The coast guards ship was now following them and if they had gone any slower they would have been caught. At this point in the story my heart was racing. I felt as if I were alongside the families with the pressures of making it to the coast and the safety of a newborn baby. Gratz used excellent description words to put me right inside the book alongside these characters.
Mahmoud is a young boy living in Syria in 2015. His family’s apartment had just got bombed. If it were to get struck one more time the whole thing would have collapsed. Luckily Mahmoud’s family escaped quickly. When their father arrived after leaving worked they packed all the belongings they had, got in the car and began their journey. Along the way the met a group of soldiers. The soldiers had the same plan as Mahmoud’s family and took that as an invitation to tag along. As the began driving up the street each soldier was shot and killed. Mahmoud’s family escape all crossfire and continued on their journey. Once again I found my heart racing anxious to find out what was going to happen in the novel next. No parts of this novel were predictable leaving me with cliffhangers at the end of each chapter. The more cliffhangers there were the more I desired to read the book. Towards the end you figure out that no matter where (or when) a person person is from, you never know how much you can relate to them, whether it’s escaping the terrible events of you hometown or unfortunate deaths in families. I would recommend this book to young readers in the 6th, 7th or 8th grade as a prime example showing how history repeats itself in the best of ways and in the worst of ways. ...more "

Jan 31, 2018 07:42PM · see review

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