#1 Favorite Book And My Birthday

So my favorite book of all time is… Drum roll!

The Only Alien on the Planet

by Kristen D. Randle

I first picked up this book when I was in middle school. It was in the teen section and I was on a Sci-fi high (not a Sci-fi book). I saw the cover and instantly thought, yes! And then I took it home to read. Not only is it not a sci-fi book about a lonely alien trying to get back home, it’s not your average teen read. At least that’s what I thought when at eleven I wanted to read it over and over again. I grinned, my eyes got teary, I got angry, all from this book. The new cover… I’ll admit, not a fan of.

Old Cover (very 90s)/New Cover:




















Smitty Tibbs is the boy who doesn’t speak, doesn’t laugh, and students avoid him like the plague. Ginny Christianson has just moved to town and doesn’t realize there are unspoken rules about interaction with Smitty. With her persistent curiosity Ginny is able to unmask a secret about Smitty some would have rather kept hidden. I love this book and still re-read my battered copy.

Check this out: Breaking Rank – by Kristen D. Randle This novel challenges stereotypes and stigmas when an unprecedented friendship develops between two teens of rival high school groups. "Randle is adept at conveying ingrained prejudices as well as the frustration and alienation that leads some youths to forsake the `straight' world for a more friendly and accepting one of their own making” (PW).





EDITED: And! Today happens to be my 21^st birthday! And I was sick all day… Yay!

Favorite Book #2

The Hero and the Crown

by Robin McKinley

I was assigned to read The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley in the fifth grade and no one wanted to read it (including me). I was in that phase where I didn’t want to read anything assigned to me especially because I’d hated all of the previously assigned books. Everyone complained; the boys didn’t want to read a book with a girl protagonist and the girls were turned off by the cover on the left.

But once I started reading I realized its story was similar to many of the books I had been staying up late to read in the middle of the night. Aerin’s voice carried me throughout the entire book through royal lineage, a destiny, dragons, knights, mystery, and love.

The Hero and the Crown is one of those classic fantasy novels where the princess is itching to escape the castle and goes against everything that is expected of her.

From childhood, Aerin had been haunted by the story of her mother-a "witchwoman" who enspelled the king and then died in childbirth, leaving behind a newborn daughter and an heirless land. Left to her own devices, Aerin grew up wild, doing her best to live up to her reputation as the disappointment of the realm. But little did the young princess know the long-dormant powers of her mother would wield their own destiny, and leave Aerin with a duty to her scornful homeland that she couldn't refuse (Amazon).