I originally had to read this book as a summer assignment for a class, but once I opened it, I simply couldn't put it down. From the start, you're immersed in O'Brien's world. At the time, he's a young man with his whole life ahead of him, sent to fight in the war in Vietnam. Through each of his stories, you're able to paint a picture of everyone he knew, the ones they loved and the ones they lost. Perhaps one of the most accurate depictions of life as a war veteran and an eye-opening recollection on American values, 'The Things They Carried' will make you experience a wide range of emotions, all the while rejuvenating your inner sense of patriotism.

"If nothing changed, there'd be no such things as butterflies." This was a sweet surprise! I mostly read adult fiction nowadays, but I've missed books like this! What surprised me is that THE CANDYMAKERS took itself surprisingly seriously - it sold itself as a mystery, and it was a mystery, and an especially good one at that! It starts out as a fun, sweet candy-making adventure, but it doesn't end on that note. It's never until it's over: THE CANDYMAKERS doesn't stop revealing secrets until the very last page. Somehow both unexpectedly funny and unexpectedly touching, THE CANDYMAKERS never turns treacly and the fun never fizzles out - it has plenty of meaningful stories to tell. There is something so nostalgic about reading something I would have enjoyed as a child. Some things never change: I will always love elaborate candy factories and child detectives, and this was the sweetest, funniest, smartest combination of both.

"If nothing changed, there'd be no such things as butterflies." This was a sweet surprise! I mostly read adult fiction nowadays, but I've missed books like this! What surprised me is that THE CANDYMAKERS took itself surprisingly seriously - it sold itself as a mystery, and it was a mystery, and an especially good one at that! It starts out as a fun, sweet candy-making adventure, but it doesn't end on that note. It's never until it's over: THE CANDYMAKERS doesn't stop revealing secrets until the very last page. Somehow both unexpectedly funny and unexpectedly touching, THE CANDYMAKERS never turns treacly and the fun never fizzles out - it has plenty of meaningful stories to tell. There is something so nostalgic about reading something I would have enjoyed as a child. Some things never change: I will always love elaborate candy factories and child detectives, and this was the sweetest, funniest, smartest combination of both.

The Candymakers is definitely a sweet surprise! The story takes place in the Life is Sweet candy factory where the candy-making contest was taking place. Daisy, Philips, Logan, and Miles are the four protagonists of the story. This book is unique compared to others because it gives the same story in four different perspectives. I appreciate that Wendy Mass presented the story in that format because it gives readers a sense of what is going on without giving only one biased perspective and it helps you understand each character better. The four are oblivious to the secrets each person held. Peculiarly, the secrets they had ended up to be what kept them apart, but they used it to protect the factory and to reconcile. By the end, everyone learns something about each other and became close friends.

I'm glad that no one was hurt, but I wonder if that'll stay the same in the long run, with all of the space debris + uncontrolled substances in our atmosphere at the moment. I really hope that the debris doesn't hit the International Space Station, and that we do get to explore space a bit more! It would be a shame to be grounded, after all of the hard work in the 'sixties and seventies.

Dazzling and brilliantly executed, The School for Good and Evil manages to be both heartwarming and seriously sweet. It's a middle-grade novel written by Soman Chainani, and it utilizes fairy-tale tropes to excellent effect –– it had me giggling for a while, because this is exactly the type of light-hearted, snappy humor that always makes me laugh. Sophie and Agatha, the two protagonists, represent why teenage girls shouldn't be taken lightly––they are characters that grow on you, and they are characters that grow with you. Like Shrek and other fairy-tale adaptations, The School for Good and Evil stays true to its roots. It's true that female villains are often the most delightfully wicked of all, and I especially liked how earnest Sophie's very turbulent, atypically teenage emotions were exploited––it was very real, and her motives were explained in a way that made sense. I think I would consider this a "light read," because it was coming-of-age and just very adorable, but––there was a lot of surprisingly hidden depth, lurking under the surface. Digging up the history and the world-building was enlightening, and the writing delves into answering some philosophical questions: What is the true nature of friendship? What even is "good and evil," exactly? What choices really matter in the long-run? We don't live in a world with castles and brambly forests and fairy-tale heroines, but that's the point––we can apply the lessons and questions from The School for Good and Evil and use it in our own worlds, in our own surroundings, in our own situations. I will tell you this: by far, the most important lesson that the School for Good and Evil strived to teach is that your nature is self-determined. We are not inherently good or evil, and we do not have to be what people expect us to be. We are more than capable of breaking out of our molds, and blazing our own paths into the future––in the real world, we can't travel back in time, but there is always (always!) room for change inside our souls.

Dazzling and brilliantly executed, The School for Good and Evil manages to be both heartwarming and seriously sweet. It's a middle-grade novel written by Soman Chainani, and it utilizes fairy-tale tropes to excellent effect –– it had me giggling for a while, because this is exactly the type of light-hearted, snappy humor that always makes me laugh. Sophie and Agatha, the two protagonists, represent why teenage girls shouldn't be taken lightly––they are characters that grow on you, and they are characters that grow with you. Like Shrek and other fairy-tale adaptations, The School for Good and Evil stays true to its roots. It's true that female villains are often the most delightfully wicked of all, and I especially liked how earnest Sophie's very turbulent, atypically teenage emotions were exploited––it was very real, and her motives were explained in a way that made sense. I think I would consider this a "light read," because it was coming-of-age and just very adorable, but––there was a lot of surprisingly hidden depth, lurking under the surface. Digging up the history and the world-building was enlightening, and the writing delves into answering some philosophical questions: What is the true nature of friendship? What even is "good and evil," exactly? What choices really matter in the long-run? We don't live in a world with castles and brambly forests and fairy-tale heroines, but that's the point––we can apply the lessons and questions from The School for Good and Evil and use it in our own worlds, in our own surroundings, in our own situations. I will tell you this: by far, the most important lesson that the School for Good and Evil strived to teach is that your nature is self-determined. We are not inherently good or evil, and we do not have to be what people expect us to be. We are more than capable of breaking out of our molds, and blazing our own paths into the future––in the real world, we can't travel back in time, but there is always (always!) room for change inside our souls.

Did you know that at St. Paul, Alberta, Canada that there is a UFO landing pad to bring in Martians to this vicinity?? I apologize for not being on DOGO for the past year--yes I was MIA, but that does not mean I stopped reading (I blame the Martians--jkjk). Gosh I really missed DOGO <3 so much!!! Sorry for sounding too sappy, but yes, I have come to this wonderfully made website to express my feelings! WARNING: this will be a long review, sort of to make up for time I was gone... STORYTIME/REVIEW: In school, I have been reading very… um…. let us say classics, Shakespeare, and all that good stuff (I was being sarcastic, I do not want to read another romantic, yet tragic death of Romeo and Juliet… Sorry if you do like Shakespeare), but to be honest my head was so tired of reading something that sounded like a foreign language to me. So once I came back home from school, I saw a book… the color, the length, the width, the--YES, it was not a book from Shakespeare…. I had a “curiosity overload” as I walked closer and closer to it. I brought up the book and I saw the eyeball as it constantly dilated then contracted. Dilated. Contracted. Dilated. Contracted. I was fascinated, what was even this sorcery *Harry Potter lives in this book* (JKJKJK)? My imagination grew even wilder, filling with hopes and dreams. As time passed by, the moment that I waited for finally happened! My hand trembled to open up the book to explore the pages. BABAMMM!!! I felt an electric shock go through my fingertips, I was ecstatic! *YES, this is the exact feeling you will feel when you see the book for yourself!* So this huge book with 245 pages occupied my mind for hours as I devoured each page, as my brain was trying to retain all the information I was learning. Yes--this book--you actually learn and retain pieces of information because the colorful prints and pictures help you able to visualize it clearly, which later gets memorized (sort of like muscle memory). I am being very serious, for example, a couple days ago I read about a huge tumor, which induced Gurmeet Singh to undergo a surgery to remove this tumor (121 LBS!!!)... and somehow all of this information stayed with me; it even followed me to my dreams!! (IM SERIOUS) I am a person who dreams all the time, and I dreamed of being a surgeon actually performing the surgery on Singh to remove this malignant tumor (yes, all of this is true and happened in real life). I feel like even though all of these information are random, there are certain topics in which the book spreads out by (which is very helpful, if you want to read about certain topics). Anyways all of these information will be handy one day, I can definitely assure you. Also, when reading this book, it does not seem like you’re studying, but you technically are learning and studying (but it’s disguised because the book is really fun when reading through this). Like there’s so much information--and also there could be information that might be useful to you in general, or even for school! All these pieces of information with visuals are strategically placed, its like this book is a genius. But to be honest, just get the book for yourself!! This colorful, yet factual book is something that you do not want to miss out (especially if you have been reading Shakespeare)!! Also, just please read this book, this book needs all the love it can get due to its amazing information, it will definitely SHATTER YOUR SENSES!! I assure you that you will be 10 times smarter after reading this book! :) Enjoy!! ~~bibliophile