Lush By: Natasha Friend

Lush is about a young teenage girl named Samantha. Her dad is an alcoholic and has struggled with his drinking problems quite some time now. A lot of young people could relate to this book because Samantha goes through a lot of the same things as other kids do. Her dad has a drinking problem, which causes family problems, a lot of them, a boy in her grade is constantly picking on her, her friends find out the truth about her family and they wonder if they can still trust her, those mean girls at school that seem to be out to get her. Samantha gets a pen pal that she writes often, that has almost the same issues she has. Samantha goes to the library, where she rides her letter in a book and where she writes her pen pal back. This could also be relatable to to kids because that's how people get help and advice, not neccessarily just by writing letters, but talking to their friends seems to be the way all kids/teens get help with their issues. I would deffinitaly reccomend Lush to my friends.

Did certain parts of the book make you feel uncomfortable? If so, why did you feel that way? Did this lead to a new understanding or awareness of some aspect of your life you might not have thought about before?
- The part of the book where Samantha was talking about her dad constantly being drunk and it ruining her family life and how her dad was so drunk one time he hit her little brother over the head with a beer bottle and all the life changing events that happened after that incident. This part of the book doesn't relate to my life in any way, it just made me release that some kids go through this exact same thing.


What specific themes do you think the author emphasized throughout the novel? What do you think he or she is trying to get across to the reader?
- Well since Natasha, the author, talked about how crazy her dad and his drinking problems were and how it greatly affected Samantha's family, I think she was trying to get a point across that this is reality and a lot of kids go through this same thing on a daily basis. And maybe the same thing happened to her or a friend too as she was growing up.

That Summer By: Sarah Dessen

That Summer is about a girl named Haven, who is a typical teenager and is going through some life diffucuties like her parents getting divorced, her mom is going through her mid-life crisis and her dad is ignoring her a lot. All throughout the book, Haven is finding more and more about herself since she is pretty much being ignored by her parents. She also begins to re-develop a crush that she once had on her sister's boyfriend, Sumner. Haven had been mad at her sister because she thought that her sister had broken Sumner's heart, but really Sumner had cheated on her and it caused the relationship to end. Since Haven felt bad for Sumner, she began feeling sorry for him and started to like him again and wanting to pursue a relationship with him. Haven also began to like Sumner because she was always around him and her family loved him. I really enjoyed this book because it talked about a normal, everyday teenage girl that was going through a really tough time in her life and she wasn't afraid to express her feeling and opinions. Also, she found ways to be independent and come through all the things going on in her life.


1. Do the characters seem real and believable? Can you relate to their predicaments? To what extent do they remind you of yourself or someone you know?
Yes, the characters seem real and believable because they act just like normal teenagers do. I think anyone can relate to thier predicaments because a lot of teenagers go through the same things that Haven was going through.

2.How do the characters change or evolve throughout the course of story? What events trigger such changes?
Haven begans to re like her sister's boyfriend/now ex-boyfriend. She begans to like him because after they break up, she feels bad for him and he also spent a lot of time with her family when Sumner was dating Ashley, Haven's sister.