[Movie Review] The Giver

Based on: The Giver by Lois Lowry (published in 1993)
Directed by: Phillip Noyce
Screenplay by: Michael Mitnick, Robert B. Weide
Cast: Brenton Thwaites, Odeya Rush, Alexander Skarsgård, Katie Holmes, Jeff Bridges, Meryl Streep, etc.
Film released in: 2014
MPAA Rating: PG-13

Synopsis:
The haunting story of “The Giver” centers on Jonas (Brenton Thwaites), a young man who lives in a seemingly ideal, if colorless, world of conformity and contentment. Yet as he begins to spend time with The Giver (Jeff Bridges), who is the sole keeper of all the community’s memories, Jonas quickly begins to discover the dark and deadly truths of his community’s secret past. With this newfound power of knowledge, he realizes that the stakes are higher than imagined – a matter of life and death for himself and those he loves most. At extreme odds, Jonas knows that he must escape their world to protect them all – a challenge that no one has ever succeeded at before.

“The Giver” is based on Lois Lowry’s beloved young adult novel of the same name, which was the winner of the 1994 Newbery Medal and has sold over 10 million copies worldwide.

(Synopsis taken from the movie’s official website)

[Book Review] WARP: The Reluctant Assassin

Title: WARP: The Reluctant Assassin (WARP series, Book 1)
Author: Eoin Colfer
Genre: Science fiction
Published: May 2013 by Disney-Hyperion
Recommended for ages 12 and up
Source: Purchased

WHAT’S THE BOOK ABOUT?

Here’s a synopsis from the author’s website:

The reluctant assassin is Riley, a Victorian boy who is suddenly plucked from his own time and whisked into the twenty-first century, accused of murder and on the run.

Riley has been pulled into the FBI’s covert W.A.R.P. operation (Witness Anonymous Relocation Program). He and young FBI Agent Chevie Savano are forced to flee terrifying assassin-for-hire Albert Garrick, who pursues Riley through time and will not stop until he has hunted him down. Barely staying one step ahead, Riley and Chevie must stay alive and stop Garrick returning to his own time with knowledge and power that could change the world forever.

[Book Review] Moribito II: Guardian of the Darkness

Title: Moribito II: Guardian of the Darkness (Moribito series, Book 2)
Author: Nahoko Uehashi (English translation by Cathy Hirano)
Genre: Fantasy, Adventure, Middle Grade/Young Adult
Published: May 2009 by Arthur A. Levine/Scholastic Inc.
Recommended for ages 12 and up
Source: Purchased

WHAT’S THE BOOK ABOUT?

Here’s a synopsis from the publisher:

For many years, through countless fights, Balsa has survived. The evil King Rogsam tried to kill her when she was only six. Eight assassins pursued her in the long flight that followed. But her mentor, Jiguro, protected her until his death, and then Balsa became a bodyguard herself, helping other people survive the challenges they face. When she returns to her native country of Kanbal, she hopes to see Jiguro’s family and her own for the first time in many years. But what should be a simple visit of truth and reconciliation becomes a fight for her life when she learns that King Rogsam framed Jiguro for the deaths of the eight assassins—as well as a crime that threatens the very existence of Kanbal. With the help of two Kanbalese children, Balsa must unwind the conspiracy surrounding Jiguro and the mystery of the Guardians of the Darkness, before it’s too late.

[Book Review] The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Title: The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Author: Stephen Chbosky
Genre: Young adult, Coming-of-age
Published: February 1999 by MTV Books
Recommended for ages 14 and up
Source: Lent by a friend

WHAT’S THE BOOK ABOUT?

Here’s a description from the publisher:

Standing on the fringes of life offers a unique perspective…but there comes a time to see what it looks like from the dance floor.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a story about what it’s like to travel that strange course through the uncharted territory of high school. The world of first dates, family dramas, and new friends. Of sex, drugs, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Of those wild and poignant roller-coaster days known as growing up.

[Book Review] Seraphina

Title: Seraphina (Book 1)
Author: Rachel Hartman
Genre: Fantasy
Published: July 2012 by Random House Children’s Books
Recommended for ages 12 and up
Source: Purchased from the bookstore

WHAT’S THE BOOK ABOUT?

Here’s a description from the publisher:

Four decades of peace have done little to ease the mistrust between humans and dragons in the kingdom of Goredd. Folding themselves into human shape, dragons attend court as ambassadors, and lend their rational, mathematical minds to universities as scholars and teachers. As the treaty’s anniversary draws near, however, tensions are high.

Seraphina Dombegh has reason to fear both sides. An unusually gifted musician, she joins the court just as a member of the royal family is murdered—in suspiciously draconian fashion. Seraphina is drawn into the investigation, partnering with the captain of the Queen’s Guard, the dangerously perceptive Prince Lucian Kiggs. While they begin to uncover hints of a sinister plot to destroy the peace, Seraphina struggles to protect her own secret, the secret behind her musical gift, one so terrible that its discovery could mean her very life.

[Book Review] An Abundance of Katherines

Title: An Abundance of Katherines
Author: John Green
Genre: Young adult
Published: September 2006 by Penguin Group (USA)
The publisher rates it as suitable for ages 12-14 and up
Source: Purchased from the bookstore

WHAT’S THE BOOK ABOUT?

Here’s a description from the publisher:

When it comes to relationships, Colin Singleton’s type is girls named Katherine. And when it comes to girls named Katherine, Colin is always getting dumped. Nineteen times, to be exact. On a road trip miles from home, this anagram-happy, washed-up child prodigy has ten thousand dollars in his pocket, a bloodthirsty feral hog on his trail, and an overweight, Judge Judy–loving best friend riding shotgun—but no Katherines. Colin is on a mission to prove The Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability, which he hopes will predict the future of any relationship, avenge Dumpees everywhere, and finally win him the girl.