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The Catcher in the Rye & Demanded Grand Finale For Happy Hippo Readers

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 Welcome to my last blog. The tendency of The Catcher in the Rye being nominated to must-read recommendation lists for high schoolers surprised me. Therefore, when I inadvertently came across the book in the Mahomet library, I immediately checked it out. In a nutshell, The Catcher in the Rye is an account written by the main character himself, Holden Caufield, during his stay at a mental hospital. The narrative talked about the days he roamed around on the streets and hotels of New York after he got expelled from Percy High School in New York. More specifically, the narrative focuses on his emotional struggles and anxieties about adulthood, and how he wants to preserve his innocence because everything he has heard about adulthood is corruptive and chaotic.  Honestly, I found his worries relatable. During the days of aimless roam, Holden constantly looked for help from adults, whether it was teachers, prostitutes, drivers, or old friends; however, no one took the time to actually lis
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Preparing for Summer -James

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Hi everyone, and welcome to my final blog of the frosh year. Let's finish the year with a bang, and a bang it'll be for this blog about some books that I plan to read for this coming summer. All of these books have been taken from reading other people's blogs, either from their reviews, recommendations, or even from THEIR summer reading list.  1. Scythe: I have already read this series once before, and it's still my favorite series. I always wanted to reread the series, but never found the time to do so. But blogs from Robenas and Krishna (off the top of my head) have inspired me to read this amazing sci-fi/dystopian book again. Also, I have seen that Neal Shusterman has added a prequel to the series, so I plan to read that as well. If you want to check out what the book is about, I recommend looking at Robenas or Krishna's blogs. 2. Dune: So far I have noticed many people that have read, are reading, or plan to read dune. To bve honest, I have very little knowledge
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A Blog about Blogs - Anthony

We’ve almost made it through another school year at Uni! Unfortunately, this means that it is finally time to say goodbye to our beloved Language and Literature 2 blogs. To complete my set of blogs, I thought it would be fitting to share my opinion of these blogs themselves. One thing I appreciated was that these blogs forced most of us to read something . Outside of the literature we read for class last year – Akata Witch , Macbeth , and whatever you read for the Banned Book Project – I didn’t read anything else. Yet this year I picked up 7 books to read in my own time, in addition to the 4 books we read together in class. And I happened to enjoy it – I had the freedom to choose whatever I wanted to read, and other people’s blogs provided great recommendations for what to read next. But there were times where these blogs weren’t so fun. In my last blog, for example, I mentioned that I forced myself to plow through Animal Farm in one evening because I needed to write my blog soon –
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Summer reading! (Blog by Daniel Lee)

  As finals are approaching within less than a month, I know lots of us may be stressed. But, looking on the upside, summer break is approaching soon! Summer is a great time where we can read new books or even reread books. For this blog, I’m going to recommend some books while also talking about some books I’m interested in reading too. First, let's go over some books I’ve read during our independent reading days that I would recommend. The A.B.C. Murders by Agatha Christie If you love mystery novels, this book is made for you. Agatha Christie is one of the most renowned detective novel writers, and The A.B.C. Murders is one of her best books. In the novel, the detective, Hercule Poirot, finds himself in a cat and mouse game with a serial killer. Poirot finds himself in a pickle where the killer seems impossible to find, but is able to find a sliver of hope through tiny clues. This novel is very well written, and I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in mystery. The
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Five Survive: The Final Review

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       Alas, it is my final blog of the school year, and I'm relieved. I enjoy writing blogs, but it takes a while to write. Anyway, for my final book review, I will be reviewing Five Survive , a book by Holly Jackson. I first found this book by Googling my favorite type of genre, mystery books, and this book stood out to me. I first saw the number "5" and it immediately brought me back to my favorite book, One of Us is Lying,  I was interested in it.  5 Survive  is an interesting book, to say the least.     The book takes place during spring break. There was a group of 6 friends, Red, Maddy, Simon, Arthur, Oliver, and Reyna. Red was the main protagonist, a 17-year-old girl living in Philadelphia, and Maddy was her best friend. Simon (whose uncle owned the vehicle) was a classmate of Red, and he had also brought his best friend Arthur. To surpervise the group of teenagers was Maddy's older brother, Oliver, who brought his girlfriend, Reyna. They are taking a road trip
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The Struggle to Read (James)

     In recent times, I'm sure we are all struggling to find time to pick up a good book to read. As a kid, like many of you guys, I built the healthy habit of reading before bed, but for the past year or two, that's changed. Now, I go to bed immediately after finishing my homework, completely exhausted from the day. This blog will be a sort of self-reflection, but also include discussions from articles found online.      Drew Whitaker, a student of De Smet Jesuit High School, blames social media: " It is no coincidence that the teenage reading rate has declined as technology and social media have taken over nearly all aspects of teenage life. With the downfall of teenage reading, may come the downfall of teenage education all together. With technology taking over the world, teenagers have all the knowledge they need and more right at their fingertips. There is no reason for people to open up nonfiction books anymore when they can simply pull out their phones and find any
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Speak & The Feminization of the Victim Roles in Books

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Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, is a book I read two years ago over the summer. The recent conversation with RACES in health class reignited my interest in this book (definitely not partly because I didn’t finish the book I’m currently reading…). To me, this book left an indelible impact: it was really the first book that pulled me out of my innocent, fairy-tale world and exposed me to the real world, which is not purely so radiant and joyful, but also not completely gloomy and wicked. In short, Speak circles around the freshman Melinda being sexually assaulted at a party at her friend’s house immediately before the fall semester. In panic, she calls the police who come and ruin the whole party. Once school starts, Melinda comes to a similar fate to Hester, from The Scarlet Letter, she finds herself ostracized and widely discussed. As the novel explores themes of trauma and isolation, it shows the importance of speaking up. Readers were shown the bystander effect and the horrific power
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