The Mockingbirds by Daisy Whitney -- a review by Hope Austin

The Mockingbirds
by Daisy Whitney
***stars
Alex Patrick is an aspiring pianist at Themis Academy, an ultra-elite boarding school. One morning she wakes up in a strange bed with only a fuzzy recollection of how she got there. As her memories recover, Alex has a shocking realization: she was date-raped. Luckily for her, she has options. She seeks out the help of the Mockingbirds, a To Kill a Mockingbird-inspired, for-the-students-by-the-students group that swears to deliver justice to all students who are wronged.

The author tries to combine the topic of rape with a thriller about vigilante students. It doesn't work. It seems like she wanted to write a story about the aftermath of a date rape, but didn't want anything to do with the trappings of the American legal system, so she made up her own. The story could easily have taken place without the Mockingbirds. That being said, the book does deliver a good (albeit heavy-handed) message about rape and society, specifically about how society sees rape victims.

Good Enough -- a review by George Morejon

Good Enough

by Paula Yoo

**** stars

Good Enough is a book that tells the story of a first generation Korean girl and her last year of high school as she struggles to choose between following the path of school and life her parents want for her or choosing to do what she wants. To work hard and get accepted into all the Ivy League collages (Harvardyaleprinceton) or to follow her love for music and go to Juillard, the best music school in America.

Good Enough starts off with Patti Yoon's audition for the all-state high school orchestra. When she's suppose to be warming up, she sees someone she's never met but thinks is cute, who she calls Cute Trumpet Guy. She screws up playing in front of the judges, and only gets second chair, a major embarrassment for the 3 year first chair holder. Needless to say, her parents were disappointed greatly in her.

When she starts school, she sits behind the new transfer student from Michigan, who happens to be Cute Trumpet Guy. He introduces himself as Ben Wheeler, and they become great friends fast. Patti's surprised by this, because Ben's a popular jock who was captain of his track team, while she's just a nerdy girl who studies for all her AP classes and takes practice SATs all the time.

Ben teaches Patti over the course their school year to be more outgoing though, encouraging her to listen to rock music artists she's never heard of instead of only classical music, and going to his house to play music with him and jam instead of staying home and studying.

She eventually tells her youth group, who are all competitive Korean students around her age. Amazingly, they help her do the craziest thing yet: escaping from the youth group's lock-in event (all the students each bring a friend and are put in a rec room together, to show everyone that church is cool!) to go out and see a rock concert with Ben, where she tells him how she really feels about him.

And while struggling with these problems, she's trying to think about what to do about playing the violin too! Her parents first had her play it to stand out from other students when applying to Harvardyaleprinceton, but she realises she really likes it and doesn't want to give it up once she goes to collage. Her violin instructor and Ben both see this, and they encourage her to apply to the Juillard music school. But she's worried about what her parents will do if they find her applying to a place not Havardyaleprinceton...