A Little Hope

Hope is a seed. It plants itself in your mind and grows until suddenly...hope is a tree. This metaphor never made much sense to her. She was much more inclined to believe that hope was a flame, burning brighter and brighter 'till the fear -- in the form of choking, paralyzing blackness -- was consumed by the blaze.

Then again, hope could be that story on the news she'd seen yesterday. The one where people were pitching in to help orphans get adopted. Or maybe hope is simply everywhere, and she just has to know how to look for it.

But no matter what form hope takes, she's absolutely certain of one thing: however dire the situation may seem, she can get by with a little hope.

NOTE:

*And on that hopeful note, I leave you for the next three weeks. I'm going on an outdoor expedition in Washington (State). My next post will be on Saturday, August 7. Have an awesome three weeks!!*

The Beautiful Between by Alyssa B. Sheinmel

The Beautiful Between by Alyssa B. Sheinmel is a wonderfully written story examining the lives of those touched by leukemia. Connelly Sternin, the moderately cool, self-proclaimed Rapunzel of the story, suddenly finds herself seated next to Prince Charming. She has no idea why Jeremy Cole would want to sit next to her, much less talk to her and ask her for help studying the SAT vocab section.

Jeremy, it turns out, wants to talk to Connelly because her father died of leukemia -- which is what Jeremy's twelve-year-old sister, Kate, is sick with. Only, Connelly doesn't know how her father died. No one will tell her, not even her mother.

The story is told in first person by Connelly, and her lovely fairy-tale comparisons add description while staying true to the hierarchy of modern day high school. As much as I enjoyed Connelly's perspective, I would have liked a couple of the chapters to have been told from Jeremy's point of view. I think a fresh perspective would have added a lot to the story.

Still, the plot was realistic and moving, with dialogue that flowed naturally between characters. Kate, in my opinion, was the best speaker, and I would've liked more scenes to include her.At the end of the book, there were still things I wish had been resolved, such as why Marcy MacDonald dumped Jeremy.

All in all, though, The Beautiful Between was an amazing book. I definitely recommend this to everyone!

AWOL

I'm very sorry that I didn't post on Saturday. It was a hectic travel day for me and my family, and I didn't get a chance. It was unplanned, and I'm very sorry about that. On Sunday, I got caught up reading a really good book. I realize that this is a very poor excuse, and I apologize for that too. It won't happen again. I will tell you next time I can't post, unless it's for an unforseeable reason, such as I'm sick and can't get out of bed. And I will make sure to post the very next day -- it will be the very first thing I do. I'm very, very sorry.