Books that Made a Difference To William Peeples December 17, 2013

What Reading Means To Me Reading has always been an escape for me, even as a child. I’d sit down with one of my favorite books, and let the story whisk me away from my day to struggles as a kid. To this day reading is still an escape mechanism for me, if I’m in a bad mood or jus don’t feel like doing anything else I’ll open whatever book I’m reading at the moment and just dive into the story. My favorite type of books are action/adventure stories, I also like supernatural books such as the Twilight Series, or the Vampire Academy Series. One of my most recent best I’ve recently read is the Rot & Ruin series by Jonathan Maberry, this series covers the life of a teenager Benny Imura in a world overrun by zombies and what Benny and his friends Nix, Chong, Lilah, Morgie, and his brother Tom must do to survive in this world.

The Colors of US BY: Karen Katz I remember reading this book all the time when I was young, and marveling at all the different shades of brown there were. I felt proud to be among those shades and to have a book dedicated to showing just that, I also liked how it shows the similarities and differences of each and every one of us that brings us together. This book is about a girl named Lena who is seven years old, she’s the color of cinnamon and her mom said she could eat her up. After Lena and her mom take a walk around the city she sees that there are many different shades and tones of brown, other than the brown she was going to use to paint a picture of herself earlier that day. Karen Katz wrote this book for her daughter named Lena who she and her husband adopted from Guatemala, when I found this out I was surprised. In the end Lena ends up drawing a picture of everyone she knew well throughout her city with their exact shade and tone of brown. Lena found out that everyone is uniquely different eve if we may all look the same in a way.

Sarah’s Key By: Tatiana DE rOSNAY This story is about a young girl named Sarah Strazynski who’s family was arrested in a Jew round up in France. It happened on July 16th, 1942, she hid her little brother Michel in a secret cupboard with just a flashlight and his blanket. The story alternates between 1942 and 2002 between Sarah and a journalist named Julia Jarmond who is asked to cover the storyof the Vel’ d’Hiv roundup. Throughout the story it gives you a first hand account of what happened in the concentration camps and the fast forwards into the future where Julia visits that same spot later on. Towards the end of the book Julia finds Sarah’s son William Rainsferd who had no idea about Sarah’s life or family in France until Julia tells him the story. At first he doesn’t believe her, then she uncovers more and more truths about what happened to Sarah and how she ultimately died. This story connects with Julia in real life, because her husbands family moved into the apartment Sarah’s family was forced to evacuate. Once Sarah escapes from the concentration camp she was held in, and makes it back to her old apartment these two family’s lives are changed by what they discover waiting in the secret cupboard.

Same Kind of Different as Me By: Ron Hall & Denver Moore This is a pretty unique autobiography that tells the unlikely story of how two men became friends against all odds. A wealthy art dealer by the name of Ron Hall, and an angry black homeless man by the name of Denver Moore are brought together by a woman with a strong love of god who is Ron’s wife named Debbie. “A modern day slave, an international art dealer, and the unlikely woman who bound them together.” This book showed me how love, trust, and friendship conquers all; the story starts off with Ron and Denver telling their story in separate chapters that flip flop between each other. Denver was born in rural Louisiana and after several bad events happened he went to live with his aunt and uncle who were sharecroppers. Ron was born in Blooming Grove, Texas, he was delivered by his grandmother in the kitchen, from his words he grew up in the bed of his grandfather’s bed of his Chevy pickup; if you want to learn more about Ron and Denver you have to read the book. Same Kind of Different as Me By: Ron Hall & Denver Moore