The Giraffe Blog

By Tessa I recently finished reading The Diminished by Kaitlyn Sage Patterson. It is set in a world where every person except royalty is born in two parts: twins. If a person loses their twin, they are destined to become one of the diminished and self-destruct. The book is written from the first person perspectives of Bo and Vi, two very different people whose lives are seemingly unconnected. Beau is royalty, and Vi is diminished, having lost her twin as a baby. The book moved slowly, and the climax and most interesting parts didn’t happen until the last 50 pages, which was disappointing because just as I was most invested into the story it ended. However, the book is still worth reading because of the unique concept and the way you can watch the characters grow. (From here on, there are vague spoilers about general things that happen in the last half of the book.) In my opinion, the character who changed the most from beginning to end of the story was Vi. While her accent, background...

      I read about a book called Rascal for my Independent Reading. This book is a heartwarming, and very fun story to read. This book talks about a boy, Sterling North, which finds a baby raccoon and decides to raise it. The book is a true story of the author's past life, and the book is very interesting because we can see the major differences between the childhood of Sterling, versus the childhood of our own. This book moves us into the world of Sterling, and describes the bond between boy and raccoon very well.     The book starts when Sterling is just a child. During that time, he was playing with his friend, when suddenly, they stumbled upon a raccoon den. All the other baby raccoons fled along with their mother, but one was too weak to walk. Sterling decides to keep the raccoon and name it Rascal. The beginning of the book starts with learning how to care for the raccoon. Sterling soon finds out that Rascal, the raccoon, is extremely intelligent. Thi...

  I read Cece Bell’s El Deafo for my independent reading, an honest and inspiring story that showcases the difficulties of growing up deaf. In this autobiographical graphic novel, Bell describes experiences at school and with friends in her early childhood surrounding her hearing aids and deafness in general. This book shows the reader what it was like for Cece and how her disability impairs her friendships and school life. This book transports the reader into Cece’s world. The book does such a good job explaining her struggles that by the end of it I was annoyed by the other characters and felt lots of empathy for Cece.  The graphic novel starts when Cece loses her hearing due to meningitis at the age of four. She has to start wearing hearing aids, and although they are helpful they are visible and the kids in her class notice them. Then, Cece goes to a class with other deaf kids and is taught how to read lips and other skills. She doesn’t make many friends, and the next yea...

                 Although we may not wish to believe our selfishness, this does not make selfishness any less true or unimportant. Richard Dawkins’s The Selfish Gene (1976) discusses multiple ways that selfishness manifests at discrete levels of life, from genes to organisms, and in different relationships. The author expounds on how the balance between the two biological authorities of an organism-- the genes’ self-centered ideals and the individual’s conscience--drives its actions and formulates the different behaviors that affect one’s chances of survival and reproduction. The interplay between many individuals under the constant pressure for survival stimulates competition between the organisms and drives the evolution.  From the beginning of the book, the author thoroughly explains how selfishness is embedded into the life of living organisms, with everything starting from a gene. He begins by providing a unique insight into th...

  I read Turtles All the Way Down by John Green for this blog post. Turtles All the Way Down is about a teenager named Aza who seems to have anxiety and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. She has an intense fear of germs and getting sick and is constantly worrying about washing her hands and being clean. Her father also recently died, which is a major stressor in her life. The plot of the story centers around Aza’s search for Mr. Pickett, a billionaire that went missing after being accused of fraud. At the beginning of the book, Aza and her best friend Daisy decide to break into the billionaire’s house to look at his security cameras and see how he disappeared. There is a $100,000 reward for anyone who can help find Mr. Pickett.  Aza meets Mr. Pickett’s son, Davis, who is in her class. He becomes the love interest in the story, and their relationship is also a major cause for anxiety for Aza. She wants to hold his hand, but she is terrified that this will make her sick and die....

  Tessa      This month, I read the old classic Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson . The story and its characters have been referenced in many books, TV shows, and movies that I’ve watched or read, but I had never read the original novel until now. It has the same feel as a Sherlock Holmes book, or any book from the late 1800’s; very wordy and rich with luxurious language and detailed settings. The characters have fascinating personalities and dynamics, and I enjoyed reading it. It makes you compare yourself with the main characters. The story overall was just creepy enough for me. It wasn’t outright scary, it’s more of a psychological thriller. I would recommend reading this book if you don’t know the story yet, or even if you do, because it’s a quick read that feels cozy and pretty seasonal.      The story’s genre is between mystery and horror. The plot is about this creepy man, Mr. Hyde who is somehow involved with a well-liked...

Treasure Island  I finished reading Treasure Island, and it was a fun experience. The book is about a boy who sets sail, looking for treasure, but in the crew are pirates that want the treasure for themselves. The book also uses terminology that is not present in today’s world but still is filled with adventure. Reading this book is not only interesting, you learn a lot about people in the 1700s lived like, talked like, and what their currency was. In the book, Jim lives with his mother and father and they own an inn. One day, a pirate comes in and decides to live there, always keeping a box around him and asking Jim to look out for a one-legged man. One day, the pirate bumps into one of his former accomplices, which they seem to be very nervous around. Jim thinks that the pirate is after the box, because he thinks that there is lots of money in there. The other pirate stabs the pirate staying at the inn and runs away, and the pirate at the inn dies, leaving Jim with the box. After...