The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien, shares stories about what some American soldiers carried in the Vietnam War. Some of the things they carried were intangible, such as guilt and fear, while others were tangible, such as matches and weapons. Reading reviews, soldiers who fought in Vietnam remembered things differently. Did they have different […]

Just Mercy, by Bryan Stevenson, is about his experience as a legal advocate for those wrongfully accused or sentenced harshly.   The book profiles many people but focuses on Walter McMillian, a black man wrongly accused of murder and sentenced to death. Stevenson and the organization he founded (the Equal Justice Initiative, or EJI) eventually got

The Giver, by Lois Lowry, is told through the experience of a young boy named Jonas. Jonas is an eleven-year-old boy who lives in a futuristic world without fear, pain, hatred, and war. No one has free will, and every person is assigned a role based on their ability. Jonas is chosen to receive special

Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer, is about a young man who leaves everything to live in the wild. Christopher Johnson McCandless leaves his family and gives away everything to start a new life. Some people in the book’s reviews criticize Christopher as a whiny, spoiled brat. But few people follow through on their dreams.

Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley, is about a dystopian future world. In this world, people value pleasure more than freedom and individuality. They have limited intellectual pursuits. And people are limited to their planned roles. But some people are unhappy and question this new world. Will the brave new world learn the error of