Book Reviews

Are you looking for a book you can read for hours without noticing time passing? One that is funny and imaginative and has an adventurous heroine? Well, you can’t do much better than Aru Shah and the End of Time. This is a captivating story about Hindu mythology that is a must-read. In the story, the heroine is Aru Shah, a girl who lies very frequently to fit in with her friends. But soon, some classmates call her bluff and ask her to prove that a lamp in her mom’s museum is cursed. Aru lights the lamp, and accidentally unleashes a demon determined to wake Shiva, the God of Destruction, in nine days. And to make matters worse, he’s freezing everything in time wherever he goes. In order to stop him, Aru has to find the Three Keys and journey to the Kingdom of Death with her backpack-toting soul sister and a talking pigeon named Boo. But…how? The thing I liked most about the book was, besides the Rick Riordan-style humor, the way it wove Hindu mythology into the plot. This book taught me some really fascinating things about the Hindu myths, and made me want to read other mythology books. The central theme of the book is the meaning of family. For instance, Aru’s “soul sister” Mini isn’t directly related to Aru, but they are much closer than Aru and her father (you’ll find out who he is later…) ever could be. Mini and Aru quest together, save each other’s lives several times, and work together to solve problems. In this way, the author challenges the idea that family is just your blood relations. Family can also be chosen. I highly recommend this book to anyone, but especially for Percy Jackson and mythology fans. Aruh Shah and the End of Time by Roshani Chokshi. Rick Riordan Presents, 2018. Buy the book here and support Stone Soup in the process! Have you read this book? Or do you plan on reading it? Let us know in the comments below!

Have you thought that nothing could be worse than jail? Well you would be totally wrong because in the book Holes, the prison is about as bad as it can get — so bad that in this prison, you spend hours digging holes in the ground to find treasure for the warden. This prison is called Camp Green Lake. Stanley Yelnats is an ordinary kid going about his everyday normal life. Until one day, he is taken to court for stealing a pair of shoes (which he actually didn’t steal!). The court doesn’t believe him, and they take him to Camp Green Lake. In CGL (Camp Green Lake) Stanley meets a few friends named Zero, X-ray and more! CGL was once a nice lake in Texas EVERYONE came to, and then one day, all the water dried up. Now CGL is a dry, hot desert prison. Stanley stays at CGL for eighteen months until he finally leaves. The thing that makes Holes so interesting is how the plot develops over the course of the book. There are many scenes that are intense, leaving you in suspense and making you scared so badly. Like for example, when Stanley survives a bunch of poisonous lizards after he accidentally falls into a hole. Or when Zero (one of Stanley’s friends) hits one of the assistants working for the Warden with a shovel and runs away to a mountain called The Big Thumb. The scenes in the story are pretty violent, but are okay for kids 10 years old and up. The thing that I don’t like about the story is how sad the ending is. I don’t want to be a spoiler, but even after Stanley returns to his home, his life (although better than it was at CGL) is still not at all great. I empathized with Stanley because he was very brave and helpful to other prisoners in CGL despite it being a harsh place. I wish that when I sometimes face difficulties at school (like tough projects or homework), that I could stay more positive and not give up. Holes was published in 1998 and won the 1999 Newberry Medal. At first the book was very popular and became a classic, but as other young adult books like Harry Potter and Percy Jackson have gained appeal, less recognition has been given to Holes. Which I think is unfair. I highly recommend Holes for kids in 5th grade and up; 3rd and 4th graders might find the scenes of violence, guns and explosions too scary. If you are able to be patient and get through the first 50 pages, the story picks up its pace tremendously, especially when Stanley develops closer relationships with his prison mates. I am disappointed about three aspects of this book that wish could have been changed. One, I wish the story had less of a scary beginning. Two, I wish the ending was changed to include more action and suspense as Stanley finds Zero hiding in the mountain and brings him back to CGL. Finally, the story has a few flashbacks like telling us about how life was before CGL became a prison. However these chapters are full of violent bloody scenes of destruction and death and reading them made me feel very sad. Holes is a challenging and fun book to read. But once you complete it, you’ll be so happy and exhausted!! Holes by Louis Sachar. Yearling, 2000. Buy the book here and support Stone Soup in the process! Have you read this book? Or do you plan on reading it? If so, comment below!

This story is about promises kept, selflessness, and friendship. It’s about Ivan keeping his promise to his friend, Stella, and trying to get Ruby to a better place. Ivan is a silverback gorilla. For twenty-seven years, Ivan has lived in the mall. Every day, Ivan is in his domain watching the people outside as they go about their lives. Ivan hardly ever thinks about his old life when he was living in the jungle. Instead, he watches television, draws, and paints. Ivan’s life is not sad. Sometimes he’s happy, especially when he’s painting. But Ivan doesn’t seem to realize what he doesn’t have. He doesn’t realize that his cage is small and he insists on calling it a domain and not a cage. There’s a part where Ivan says “I know what most humans think. They think gorillas don’t have imaginations. They think we don’t remember our pasts or ponder our futures. Come to think of it, I suppose they have a point. Mostly I think about what is, not what could be.” This suggests that Ivan might not have any hope. I think it’s more that Ivan doesn’t hope for anything because he doesn’t know what to hope for. So when Stella tells him about a zoo, a place where she says humans try to make amends to the animals, he begins to have something to hope for. Ivan’s best friends are Stella and Bob. Stella is an older, wise elephant who remembers much of her old life in the jungle, and knows many stories. Stella and Ivan have a very strong friendship that compels Ivan to make a special promise to her. His other friend, Bob, is a crafty stray dog who stays at the mall, but doesn’t want an actual home. Bob’s would rather find his own food than be fed by someone else. At one point in the story, when he is asked why he doesn’t want a home, he answers, “Everywhere is my home, I am a wild beast, my friend: untamed and undaunted.” The other main character is Ruby. Ruby comes into the story when business at the mall slows down, and fewer people come to see the animals. Mack decides to get a small baby elephant (Ruby) for the circus. Ruby is young and naïve and asks lots of questions. When Ivan sees her in her small cage, and when he sees how Mack makes her practice her circus routine even when she’s very tired, Ivan decides he must make some changes. The story is narrated by Ivan. But as Ivan says, gorillas don’t waste words. I think the author did a great job incorporating that concept – short sentences and descriptions without wasting words – into the way the book was written, but without making the story too simple. This is a wonderful story for anyone ages 8-13. The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate. Harper Collins, 2012. Buy the book here and support Stone Soup in the process! Have you read this book? Or do you plan on reading it? If so, comment below!