The Rules of Survival reviewed by Molly Varney

By: Nancy Werlin * * * * *

Matthew's rules of survival are 1. Sometimes, the people who mean you harm are the ones who say they love you 2. Fear is your friend. When you feel it, act 3. Protect the little ones 4. If you coped before you can cope now and 5. Always remember: In the end, the survivor gets to tell the story. These are the rules Matthew, Callie, and Emmy have to live by each day. Their mother, Nikki, is crazy they think. She says she loves them then goes and has one of her horrible fits. She'll lock them in their room for hours or dissapear for a couple days. None of them even think about telling someone else. Until one night, when Callie and Matthewsnuck out to get popsicles, they met Murdoch. You wouldn't look twice at him, he was just another man. But when he stood up to a man hurting his son in the store, Matthew felt someting. That was hope. Hope for a future without crazy Nikki, without having to watch what you say and how you say it. Where he could think about talking to girls and not keeping him and his sister out of harms way. Matthew's story begins with meeting a man who gave him hope for a future where he could be normal.

I thought this was a great book. The story was sad and almost scary sometimes but I enjoyed reading it. I liked how it was written, because Matthew was writing it all down after everything had happened and it was really cool. I really liked how all of the characters were portrayed. My favorite character was probably Matthew because he was the oldest and the strongest out of the three siblings. The story was very realistic and it held a very powerful message. It also wasn't very long and took me no time to finish it.

Runaway – a review by George Morejon

Runaway by Wendelin van Draanen

**** stars

Runaway tells the story about 12 year old orphan girl named Holly. Holly's had some problems in her life, and has been lost in the foster care system. The current family she is living with treats her terribly, locking her in a laundry room most of the time, among other things. Her English teacher, Ms Leone, doesn't know Holly's current situation, but gives her a journal because she thinks it will help.

Eventually, Holly "breaks" one too many rules in her foster parent's house. She gets severely punished, and decides to run away. She gathers some supplies and steals off one day; and just like that, she's gone. The first part, getting out of the area, is the hardest. Everyone snoops too much and she has problems, but once she can hop on a train heading west, she's clear some of her problems.

When she's travelling up and down the west coast, she runs into problems she didn't even imagine when she left: what will she use for shelter? how will she keep the cops' suspicions off of her? how does a 12 year old girl protect herself on the streets of Los Angeles?

I thought Runaway was a good book. The topic of being orphaned and what a girl in an abusive home would have to deal with was something I had never really thought of before. The fact that Holly is only 12 years old gives it a different tone though. A happy, optimistic tone that says "I can do this. Even if everything doesn't go my way, I can do this because I'm strong and I'll make it work!" Holly gets in some tough spots along the way, but she does make it work in the end. The journal format made it seem more personal, and it was a great ~6 hours I spent reading.

Sucker Punch -- a review by Jorge Morejón

Sucker Punch

by David Hernández

** stars

Sucker Punch is a book about two Hispanic brothers (Marcus and Enrique), who live in California with their mother after their father left them. Marcus, or "Nub" as his some of his friends call him, is a senior in high school. Senior's in high school named Marcus Mendoza have lots of problems. They only have only 9 fingers after a bad skateboarding incident, their friend's dad just killed himself and they have to figure out what to say, and they’re too shy to talk to any girl; not to mention the fact that his little brother Enrique is better than him at almost everything. But there is one advantage he has over Enrique; he didn't get beat by their dad for 5 years since he left. Enrique's scarred by this, and practically falls apart without his anti-depressants. Marcus feels guilty for never doing anything to stop it, and after a few month's of getting high and tripping out with his friends, the two of them decide to make things better themselves after their mom tells them their dad wants to come back. Enrique has the bright idea of showing his dad what it feels like to be the one with no power, and Marcus, along with Ashley (Enrique's girlfriend who Marcus is oh so jealous of) and one of Marcus friends, come along too. Enrique and Marcus take a gun with them when they go talk to their father, and Enrique feels like what it really is like to be the one in power. After the incident with their father on the way back, Marcus finds out what it's like to have to take a life after a man's trailer crashes and his horse has to be put down. When they get back, there's a crow that stays with their family. Right after Marcus starts getting comfortable with the crow, he leaves and flies off, never to be seen again.

Overall, this book wasn't that good. I read it in 3 hours, one sitting, and wasn't that impressed. The story-telling was very casual, but the material wasn't that good. I found it interesting to read how Enrique was becoming more like the man he despised through the book, without it being completely spelled out. I never felt that close to Marcus. He feels alienated by people and his drug-ridden, dysfunctional failure lifestyle was presented in a way that made me feel somewhat alienated from him too. I just couldn't get that comfortable with his way of thinking and describing things. This book isn't all butterflies and rainbows, so don't expect that at least.

This book isn't available in the O'Hara library, but can be ordered through the public library for delivery to O'Hara.